• NegativeLookBehind@kbin.social
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    8 months ago

    Meanwhile, Trump’s a free man, goose stepping around in his fucking lift shoes, with 91 Federal charges against him. This country is so backwards.

      • stoly@lemmy.world
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        8 months ago

        I once mentioned to my father that most people are likely felons without realizing it because everyone will have violated a whole slew of laws they are unaware of or that are obscure/unenforced. He, being a conservative, became angry with me.

        • tsonfeir@lemm.ee
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          8 months ago

          I can probably come up with a dozen felonies and goodness knows how many misdemeanors I’ve committed in my life, and I’m definitely not a menace to society.

          None of these are violent or sexual in nature.

          • stoly@lemmy.world
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            8 months ago

            Exactly. The worst thing that most people do as far as common laws are concerned is speeding.

            The real bad things that happen that are rarely enforced is spousal and child abuse, religious abuse, abuse from certain authorities, etc. These destroy lives.

      • werefreeatlast@lemmy.world
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        8 months ago

        You wouldn’t download a car, a House, two beautiful women or their chi…you know a highrise I mean. You wouldn’t download a highrise or a jet plane or two really hot babes. right?

          • werefreeatlast@lemmy.world
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            8 months ago

            I don’t know, have you guys developed the quantum teleportation reflux trackrowave transmission elometer yet? Cuz you’re gonna need at least three of those in a bisiouscope to download anything of value really. And if you’re looking at porn, dude, zoom out until the entire body is in view. It’s a warning you must heed. Otherwise you better figure out how to get rid of body parts if you know what I mean.

        • tsonfeir@lemm.ee
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          8 months ago

          I think the voting system has established that you’re the troll.

          • NocturnalMorning@lemmy.world
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            8 months ago

            I still think it’s you. A lot of foreign actors want the U.S. system to collapse. Maybe you’re not, but your earlier comment sure sounded like it. People are downvoting me bcz they misunderstood what my comment was directed at. I actually agree with the sentiment, but ignoring all of our laws outright is a good way to have no government at all.

            • tsonfeir@lemm.ee
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              8 months ago

              Doesn’t it make you feel like the law is less important when all these rich cunts are breaking laws left and right, that would send you to jail real fast, and no one seems to do anything about it?

    • Verdant Banana@lemmy.world
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      8 months ago

      and biden is out running for president too after promising to legalize and police reform and firing staffers for using cannabis

      people seem to still support him too

      US elections are fucking insane

      like watching clones dressed in different skins begging for votes with whatever empty promises they think and know the populace will eat up

      • NegativeLookBehind@kbin.social
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        8 months ago

        Empty political promises are one thing and par for the course. Literally getting away with high treason on several documented accounts and still being able to run for president is another.

  • I_Fart_Glitter@lemmy.world
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    8 months ago

    It’s a flower that makes people happy and hungry. God fucking damn it. There is no fucking reason to destroy people’s lives over this.

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          8 months ago

          I don’t even think that article adequately conveys how thoroughly racist the roots of it is. They don’t even quote the awful things Anslinger said to justify cannabis prohibition.

          “There are 100,000 total marijuana smokers in the US, and most are Negroes, Hispanics, Filipinos, and entertainers. Their Satanic music, jazz, and swing, result from marijuana use. This marijuana causes white women to seek sexual relations with Negroes, entertainers, and any others.”

          “…the primary reason to outlaw marijuana is its effect on the degenerate races.”

          “Marijuana is an addictive drug which produces in its users insanity, criminality, and death.”

          “Reefer makes darkies think they’re as good as white men.”

          “Marihuana leads to pacifism and communist brainwashing”

          “You smoke a joint and you’re likely to kill your brother.”

          “Marijuana is the most violence-causing drug in the history of mankind.”

          https://fee.org/articles/the-racist-roots-of-marijuana-prohibition/

           

          And then there’s this from Nixon staffer John Ehrlichman:

          “The Nixon campaign in 1968, and the Nixon White House after that, had two enemies: the antiwar left and black people,” former Nixon domestic policy chief John Ehrlichman told Harper’s writer Dan Baum for the April cover story published Tuesday.

          “You understand what I’m saying? We knew we couldn’t make it illegal to be either against the war or black, but by getting the public to associate the hippies with marijuana and blacks with heroin. And then criminalizing both heavily, we could disrupt those communities,” Ehrlichman said. “We could arrest their leaders. raid their homes, break up their meetings, and vilify them night after night on the evening news. Did we know we were lying about the drugs? Of course we did.”

          https://www.cnn.com/2016/03/23/politics/john-ehrlichman-richard-nixon-drug-war-blacks-hippie/index.html

      • prole@sh.itjust.works
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        8 months ago

        Nobody has ever been able to explain to me how cannabis use is incompatible with Christianity in any way.

        But then again, I don’t expect Christians to be consistent or logical about anything.

        • theneverfox@pawb.social
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          8 months ago

          Remember that part of the Bible where Jesus was like “forget all the old laws, and just focus on the point, being cool to one another” and then gave a speech about the importance of monogamy? Or when he held the last supper, demonstrating a way to worship without needing a fancy temple, and then said “this is my blood, I’m using a simple cup, but you should always use a gold chalice for this part”. Or how he explained you need a relic of a saint (usually a bit of bone) in every altar or the magic won’t work?

          Do you remember the part where Jesus claimed he was the one and only child of a deity? Because when I read it, he called himself “the son of man” and called everyone his brothers and sisters

          Jesus was born in July. The Roman sun god had a son, who was sacrificed for the sake of humanity. Want to guess when his birthday was?

          There’s a reason why it makes no sense. It’s not the religion you think it is

    • frezik@midwest.social
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      8 months ago

      Reminds me of the Ballarat Bandit: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u-gBErW4aoY

      To put it short, he was a guy who led federal officers on a chase through the desert. They didn’t know who he was, but he was stealing from travelers passing through. It wasn’t far from some US government facilities, and this being not long after 9/11, they’re super worried he’s a terrorist.

      Spoiler: he was a Canadian who started growing weed to help his wife’s medical issues. He apparently made some primo bud and started selling it. Naturally, he got caught and was thrown in jail. When he got out, he moved out to the desert and tried to survive on his own.

      Jail changed him. He became more paranoid and detached from his family, friends, and society. He wasn’t the least bit dangerous until they threw him in prison.

      • EssentialCoffee@midwest.social
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        8 months ago

        I’m all for legalized marijuana, but going into another country and breaking their laws is never a good idea. There are places in the world that would be a death sentence.

        • frezik@midwest.social
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          8 months ago

          The guy was clearly mentally unstable after he left prison. He never would have done that in the first place otherwise. And he effectively did get a death sentence for it.

          • ShaggySnacks@lemmy.myserv.one
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            8 months ago

            According to the article titled ‘Ballarat Bandit’ lost to family for years, August 4, 2006 for Pahrump Valley Times, Johnston was living in Canada when they were arrested and charged with trafficking marijuana.

            Eventually, the couple left Anarchist Mountain and returned to Prince Edward Island, where Rob Johnston had been born and raised. After the birth of her fourth child, Tommi was diagnosed with leukemia and access to medical care became vital. Johnston began cultivating marijuana, discovered he had a knack for it and turned it into a cash crop.

            In 1997, when the crop was discovered by Royal Canadian Mounted Police, Johnston was sentenced to two consecutive four-year prison terms. It was then that the couple was legally married, in what Tommi described as an ultimately futile effort on her part to convince him that she would not abandon him.

            Edit: HTML linking

  • vortic@lemmy.world
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    8 months ago

    I don’t understand how 40 years of prison for a non-violent crime isn’t considered to be both “cruel” and “unusual”. It is objectively cruel. I certainly hope that it is also unusual. I certainly hope that there aren’t many more like him, imprisoned for decades for what amounts to personal-use levels of pot. 5.5 lbs of pot when you include the stem and roots isn’t that much and certainly sounds like a personal supply to me.

    • marxistsynths19
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      8 months ago

      These people are kept in jail to be used in labor. It’s not about being cruel. It’s about making money in the cheapest way possible. Since Alabama is a hellhole with no workforce they turn to modern day slavery.

      • Maggoty@lemmy.world
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        8 months ago

        Oh it’s both. It’s definitely both, the cruelty and the slave labor, which is cruel in and of itself as well.

      • buddascrayon@lemmy.world
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        8 months ago

        Yeah, when you read the article you see that the parole board has stopped issuing paroles almost entirely in the last couple of years. This is 100% about manufacturing cheap labor and keeping the oligarchy running smoothly.

      • some_guy@lemmy.sdf.org
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        8 months ago

        Wtf. If they were growing five hundred plants, 40 years is too much. It’s fucking pot. People get rich selling that shit legally now. Growers should be released.

      • Rooter@lemmy.world
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        8 months ago

        Bullshit, reported for spreading false information.

        there is no record of any previous arrests or charges for Leon Bud Hotchkiss in Alabama¹²³. He was a first-time offender when he was convicted of marijuana trafficking in 2013². He has maintained a clean institutional record since then².

        Fucking trump supporters are the worst, you can’t get anything right.

      • stevedidWHAT@lemmy.world
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        8 months ago

        Alabama has plenty of problems outside of being able to smoke weed or not

        For example choosing to imprison older people to what is effectively a life sentence for a non violent charge

      • 【J】【u】【s】【t】【Z】@lemmy.world
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        8 months ago

        Code of Alabama Sec. 13A-6-64 - Sodomy in the Second Degree.

        Includes consenting adults having oral and anal sex. But Alabama says they do not and will not prosecute people for it. Still on the books, though.

        • meat_popsicle@sh.itjust.works
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          8 months ago

          Lawyers fucking suck. They always have to play fucking games with unspoken language. Their full sentence is:

          “do not and will not prosecute people for it…until the Comstock Act comes back into effect or the 14th Amendment no longer provides privacy protections.”

          Lawyers would weasel us out of any and all rights just because it gives them more billable hours and more casework.

          • BigWheelPowerBrakeSlider@lemmy.world
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            8 months ago

            Overzealous legislators who make the laws and mandatory minimums suck first and foremost, then prosecutors and sentencing judges who do not use judicial discretion fairly and empathetically. Lots of lawyers are good people and it’s worth noting that civil rights are protected almost exclusively by lawyers.

            • meat_popsicle@sh.itjust.works
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              8 months ago

              Lawyers have no obligation to act with empathy. There is no obligation to act fairly - because they can always twist the definition of what “is” is. I can find a thousand examples of unfair judicial actions that legally wouldn’t be considered unfair.

              Hell, Anthony Scalia said “mere factual innocence is no reason not to carry out a death sentence properly reached.” How can that not be the definition of unfair - our SCoTUS ruled that it’s totally legal and fair to execute a factually innocent person.

              Civil rights need protection primarily because of the lawyers trying to infringe on them.

      • acockworkorange@mander.xyz
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        8 months ago

        The people of Alabama voted in an election (2014, I think) whether to keep or not the unenforceable law that forbids interracial marriage. More than 40% voted to keep it. Fuck them.

  • SuperDuper@lemmy.world
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    8 months ago

    Life sentence for growing some pot. Meanwhile the Jan 6th insurrectionists are getting maybe 2 years, or if you’re a card carrying proud boy terrorist you might be looking at up to 20 years.

  • Flying Squid@lemmy.world
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    8 months ago

    Try to overthrow the government- 18 months. Grow plants- life sentence.

    America (for the time being), fuck yeah!

  • appel
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    8 months ago

    This stuff just makes my blood boil. Those 3 assholes on the parole board are complete sociopaths. There’s absolutely no justice here.

    • stoly@lemmy.world
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      8 months ago

      It’s actually a requirement I think.

      In WA during lockdown, they requested compassionate release of someone who was paralyzed on half his body and confined to a chair. The DOC decided that he was a threat to society and needed to be kept in the COVID greenhouse.

  • roguetrick@kbin.social
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    8 months ago

    That law provides several different levels of trafficking, and Hotchkiss was convicted under the lowest level – having between 2.2 lbs and 100lbs. That weight includes all parts of the plant, root and stem and all.

    40 years, jesus fucking CHRIST.

  • scottywh@lemmy.world
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    8 months ago

    Alabama has an incredible climate for growing outdoor Cannabis, too…

    It should literally be everywhere there.

  • BruceTwarzen@kbin.social
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    8 months ago

    Dude should try to overthrow the government and attack some police officers, he’ll be back home in 2 to 5 years

  • YeetPics@mander.xyz
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    8 months ago

    The age of consent in Alabama is 16.

    Let’s not act like we were expecting much from alabama.

    • bufordt@sh.itjust.works
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      8 months ago

      It’s 16 in Minnesota and 17 in New York, but 18 in North Dakota. Let’s not act like a higher age of consent is directly tied to progressive policies.

      • tsonfeir@lemm.ee
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        8 months ago

        Also, Washington state, a solidly blue state. But also, let’s not suggest being allowed to drive a death machine is less responsibility than having sex, drinking, or voting.

      • CptOblivius@lemmy.world
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        8 months ago

        North Dakota used to be quite progressive historically, just going the other way fast in the last few decades.

        • bufordt@sh.itjust.works
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          8 months ago

          I’m going to have to press (x) to doubt. They have voted republican in every election since 1964. The only time the Republican candidate has gotten less than 50% of the vote during those years was when Ross Perot was splitting the Republican vote.

          Maybe if you’re going back past when the parties switched ideologies.

          Fargo can be progressive, I know many of the bars there have historically been pretty LGBTQ friendly, but the rest of NoDak hasn’t as been progressive.

          • CptOblivius@lemmy.world
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            8 months ago

            We have a state bank, mill, highly subsidized education system, legacy fund, one of the most progressive prison systems, etc. The state is still full of coops and unions Alot of this is left over from the NPL days. You need to go back further. We also had democrats in the house and senate for decades. You are looking way too superficially. Things are completely different now.

            • CptOblivius@lemmy.world
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              8 months ago

              All? Some of that originated 60 years ago but is still going. The prison systems are newer, education subsidies are newer, the house and senate seats are newer, the legacy fund is newer…

            • bufordt@sh.itjust.works
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              8 months ago

              All that was over 60 years ago. Double your original Few Decades comment. North Dakota has been conservative for quite some time now.

              Although in 1920 the age of consent was 18 in both North Dakota and Minnesota, or we could go back to 1880 when the age of consent was 10 (so wrong) in both North Dakota and Minnesota. /jk

      • YeetPics@mander.xyz
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        8 months ago

        So those are more states I wouldn’t expect much from either but it doesn’t lessen the “ew” I feel for Alabama.

    • nicetriangle@kbin.social
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      8 months ago

      They also just barely avoided voting for a fucking pedophile who would go cruising for little girls at the mall to the extent that they had to ban him. That state is backwards as all fuck.

    • stoly@lemmy.world
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      8 months ago

      That’s a pretty common age of consent, or are you arguing that we should lock up like 40% of all teenagers?

      • YeetPics@mander.xyz
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        8 months ago

        Arguing?

        Nah, I’m putting blame for backwards decisions on backwards states. Not here to argue with you ;]