Wednesday January 13, 2021
When you do not have a good case supporting taking an action, one tried-and-true strategy of persuasion is to pile up a mountain of trivial and ridiculous assertions and point to it as proof that you are right. If someone diligently digs through the mountain, he will find that there is nothing of substance there. But, many people will just see a mountain of accusations and figure there must be truth behind the assertion.
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Thursday October 22, 2020
Two years back, when Republicans held the majority in the United States House of Representatives, Rep. Thomas Massie was criticizing the failure of the House Republican leadership to allow a vote of the House membership on ending the US government’s marijuana prohibition, which Massie predicted would have passed. Massie further argued that the Republicans could have maintained their majority in the House — lost in the November of 2018 general election — if leadership had just allowed a House floor vote on the popular proposition that marijuana policy be left up to the states.
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Friday September 18, 2020
Earlier this month, I wrote about a bill including marijuana legalization that United States House of Representatives Democratic leadership had planned to bring to the House floor for a vote this month. The bill — the Marijuana Opportunity Reinvestment and Expungement (MORE) Act (HR 3884), I noted, appears to have no chance of being approved in the Republican majority US Senate or of receiving a signature from President Donald Trump. This is because the virtually “Democrats only” bill includes race-based provisions and marijuana business subsidies that are anathema to many Republicans, including those who favor legalization.
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Saturday September 5, 2020
The United States House of Representatives appears set to have a floor vote this month on the Marijuana Opportunity Reinvestment and Expungement (MORE) Act (HR 3884). The bill would legalize marijuana at the national level, but, as I pointed out in a July article, the MORE Act’s “inclusion of race-based provisions and marijuana business subsidies make the bill seem incapable of gaining much Republican support.”
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Thursday July 23, 2020
If you would like the United States government to legalize marijuana soon, I have some good news and some bad news for you.
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Tuesday July 21, 2020
By a vote of 284-129, the House of Representatives soundly defeated an amendment to establish a plan to withdraw US troops from Afghanistan. A slight plurality of Democrats supported the measure, with most of the leadership opposing. All Republicans except two voted in to oppose. Libertarian Justin Amash supported the measure. The amendment to the 2021 National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA) was offered by Rep. Ilhan Omar (D-MN).
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Friday July 17, 2020
I have recently been highly critical of reports that Rep. Iihan Omar (D-MN) has given up to one million dollars in campaign funds to her own husband’s company, one of the long-standing loopholes for corruption in Washington. Omar has been highly controversial for her positions and statements but this should be a matter that unifies people across the political spectrum.
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Monday March 30, 2020
For a while last week, Congressman Thomas Massie (R-KY) was the most hated man on Capitol Hill. His sin? He tried to prevent a “voice vote” whereby none of his colleagues would have gone on the record. He wanted his fellow members of Congress to have to formally cast their votes for or against the $2.2 trillion Coronavirus stimulus bill, which is the largest spending bill in history.
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Tuesday March 24, 2020
A soon-to-be-released 255-page report from a congressionally mandated commission recommends that women, in addition to men, be subject to a United States military draft, should one be imposed. So reported Lara Seligman at Politico on Tuesday based on a review of the report that Politico obtained early. Seligman further relates that the “11-member commission’s final report, which was required by the 2017 National Defense Authorization Act, was briefed to the Pentagon on Monday and will be presented to the White House and congressional staffers Tuesday.”
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Wednesday March 11, 2020
Speaking today on the United States House of Representatives floor, Rep. Thomas Massie (R-KY) discussed how a committee markup of legislation dealing with reauthorization of USA PATRIOT Act provisions was terminated so the final bill could be drafted in a “backroom” by parties including “lobbyists and the deep state” and then rushed to the House floor for a vote.
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