Discussion for article #233676
This is why DC wants full autonomy. Escape from the tyranny of the GOP. Kind of ironic, isnāt it? after fighting for autonomy from England, centuries later, citizens living in our nationās capitol have no representation what so ever.
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We could use a law like āno taxation without representationā.
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Way to go, Bowser!
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This, coming from an idiot whoās political party thinks states can nullify federal law, complains about federal government overreach and preaches the virtues of small government, is hypocrisy at itās finest.
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Excuse me Congressman, does this āFederal Law Supremacyā thing apply to ā¦ say ā¦ Alabama ?
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Rep. Chaffetz is chafed somewhere on his bodyā¦
Jasonās Janet Napolitano moment, this should endear him to his baseā¦
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Oh bring it the F on you two-faced, chickenshit bastard. As a DC resident I would absolutely adore the sight of a bunch of pasty white congressional Republicans having the black woman mayor of DC arrested for implementing a law that was passed by a majority of the local citizens.
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Thereās a more practical question here. What āactionā would the Mayor of D.C. take in order to āenactā this law? If the D.C. police simply donāt arrest people who have less than two ounces of pot, or if local prosecutors, exercising their prosecutorial discretion, simply nolle prosequi any such cases, on what basis could Congress put any D.C. official in jail? What appropriated funds have been used in contravention of the statute?
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āWeāre not playing a little game hereā says Jason Chaffetz, whose career has been based on playing little games.
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Golly I hope she calls the bluff. Iād love to see members of congress deal with the fallout over arresting a sitting mayor for a marijuana regulation.
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What about the GOPs big States Rights stand? Oh that is only if they agree.
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I would remind Rep Chaffetz that the AG of the US has said the Feds will not prosecute people for small amounts of weed. Why donāt you all work on the real problems facing this country instead of taking away things we actually want.
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āFederal law, signed by the president, confirms that D.C. cannot move
forward. If they are under any illusion that this would be legal, they
are wrong,ā Chaffetz said in an interview with The Washington Post.
āAnd there are very severe consequences for violating this provision.
You can go to prison for this. Weāre not playing a little game here.ā
Forgive me if I sound naive here, but Iām not understanding why this is blowing up so big right now. The voters of DC want legalization of MJ and voted to do so. Why is Chaffetz bringing this up NOW? If the Rep. really believes that this is against Federal law, why did it make it onto a ballot in the first place? Why wait until the voters have had their say and then claim itās illegal?
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Dear Rep. Chaffetz:
What if the costs of putting the initiative on the ballot was paid for by private groups and the Mayor donated the cost of the stamp to send it to Congress?
As to those who refused to participate in the demands of the initiative passed by a majority of the local citizens whom you are requesting the Mayor to identify, she should fire them.
Sincerely,
A believer in representative democracy who believes both in equal protection and statehood for the residents of DC.
P.S. Please refrain from making more of an ass of yourself than you can help.
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āā""" You can go to prison for this. Weāre not playing a little game here.""""
Actually the representative isnāt playing at all. Heās out of the picture. This is between the Mayor, with the backing of his constituents and a law enforcement agency dumb enough to arrest him, which is not going to happen .
I hope folks are watching all this stuff. You elect these guys and you elect this. And this may amuse you but these guys are wiling to abuse their authority and do so in āIn your faceā style. Perhaps you arenāt affected by this particular outrage but in timeā¦these guys are coming for you. The GOP is all about making sure you live the way they want you to. They call that freedom. They may be beating up on folks you like to see beaten up right nowā¦but in time they are going to find a reason to beat up on you.
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Either they didnāt believe it would pass, or they have just been informed of the bigger issues regarding implementing this; which is basically that such a sizable portion of D.C. is indeed actually Federal land.
Of course, this is entirely the wrong issue for republicans to try and make a stand on, what with deep red Alaska becoming the 3rd state to legalize it (and even legalizing the growing of MJ).
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Can you even imagine the freakout if a black Democratic member of Congress threatened to send federal agents to jail a white Republican local official?
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Weāre kind of a right-wing incubator for their crazy ideas. People that spend 3 days a week here when Congress is in session and force their conservative agenda in a place where 7% of the citizens are registered Republications
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