• Adkml [he/him]@hexbear.net
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    9 months ago

    Didn’t he already do this and then people pointed out since it was only federal charges and only for possession not intent to distribute (aka having a scale or an empty bag somewhere in your car) it applied to about 30 people?

    Whatsbdifferent this time around.

    • EmmaGoldman [she/her, comrade/them]@hexbear.netM
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      9 months ago

      Doing the most means tested marijuana decriminalization possible and pretending it’s as good as full legalization and blanket pardons… Just like they did the most means tested student loan relief possible and pretending it’s as good as a complete debt jubilee.

      • blashork [she/her]@hexbear.netM
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        9 months ago

        weed possession pardons for students who only smoked mids from a pell grant and operate their weed selling in a disadvantaged community for at least 5 years

        • InevitableSwing [none/use name]@hexbear.netOP
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          9 months ago

          “Bro, what’s wrong?”

          “I didn’t get a pardon.”

          “Why? You jumped through all the hoops!”

          “I was a student who only smoked mids and I operated my weed selling in a disadvantaged community but it was only for 1,798 days. One month short.”

  • InevitableSwing [none/use name]@hexbear.netOP
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    9 months ago

    Over time as we get closer to the election I expect Genocide Joe to do a lot of tiny surprise moves like this to try to generate positive spin. I learned about this news from this deceptive tweet…

    Biden just blanket pardoned all marijuana possession cases regardless of whether there’s been a charge or conviction. This is huge! whitehouse.gov link

    It has 3k likes because - of course - it’s dem propaganda because the word “federal” is missing. Oopsie.

    • davel [he/him]@hexbear.net
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      9 months ago

      He can cancel any and all students debts with the stroke of a pen, but I don’t give it good odds, no matter how dismal his polling numbers. The financial industry has always come first for the Clintonian political dynasty.

        • davel [he/him]@hexbear.net
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          9 months ago

          I think the HEROES act was designed to allow time for the Republicans to wreck it before it took effect. If he had signed an immediate debt forgiveness, it would have been a very hard thing to un-forgive.

          • JoeByeThen [he/him, they/them]@hexbear.net
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            9 months ago

            I think the HEROES act was designed to allow time for the Republicans to wreck it before it took effect.

            100% agree, I even think the IDR stuff that was done was the only thing that was supposed to happen because how easily it can be undone by future admins.

            If he had signed an immediate debt forgiveness, it would have been a very hard thing to un-forgive.

            That’s what I thought too, until I learned about all the steps along the way it takes to happen because of all the private companies involved. For example, a lot of the students that are having their debt forgiven as part of the ITT lawsuit have been waiting for over a year now. They’ll get it eventually, but that’s a lot of time for something much more controversial. Maybe he would’ve gotten away with it he had done it first, but I firmly believe it’s just impossible now. The precedent is set for lawsuits to grind the process to a halt indefinitely, I think.

    • autismdragon [he/him, they/them]@hexbear.net
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      9 months ago

      I know Hexbear has little patience for “is the president powerful” discourse, but is there actually anything he can do about state charges? I feel like thats one thing where “the president cant do that” actually applies no?

      Like obviously he can and should deschedule Marijuana and can fuck off with this until he does, but im curious if theres something he can do about state charges idk about.

      Tell the govenors to do it i guess? Only Democrats would listen but i guess thats something.

      • footfaults [none/use name]@hexbear.net
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        9 months ago

        The federal government, specifically the DEA assists states with prosecuting these cases and providing resources to local law enforcement.

        He could zero out the budgets for those programs and tell the DEA to stop assisting

  • blashork [she/her]@hexbear.netM
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    9 months ago

    The article says thousands will get a pardon, and 11 people serving long sentences will have them reduced.

    So this is just a load of boiled piss? There’s way more people than that serving time for weed, especially people serving ridiculous sentences. This is the same shit as when weed got legalized here in kkkanada . Barely anyone who was actually serving time for it was really pardoned. The government did a whole fucking song and dance and big show, but in the end barely anyone was let out.

    I hope genocide Joe takes a rip off a vape pen too hard and dies of ‘couldn’t handle the phat hit’ disease.

    • Maoo [none/use name]@hexbear.net
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      9 months ago

      Most marijuana-related charges are state-level or are other things found during a search that used the flimsy excuse of “smelling weed”.

    • theposterformerlyknownasgood@hexbear.net
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      9 months ago

      He’s still not pardoning anyone for state charges, but only DC and other federal territories. It’s better than nothing and good for all those who benefit. It’s not a fix for the carceral state and doesn’t end the issue of people being in prison for things that aren’t even crimes, but it’s as much as could be expected within the US federal framework by a person like Biden and it seems to be him doing that thing everyone thought he did a while back.

  • chungusamonugs [he/him]@hexbear.net
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    9 months ago

    The purpose of Marijuana convictions isn’t to minimize use or dismantle distribution, it’s to entrap marginalized people into prisons to extract their labor. Without reparation for lost time (transition assistance and halfway houses do not meet this criteria, as they do not come close to providing the value you created or missed out on by being falsely imprisoned) this is simply performative. The system got what they wanted out of these people and now it’s trying to buy good faith among the liberals for writing a wrong it purposefully created.

  • WhatDoYouMeanPodcast [comrade/them]@hexbear.net
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    9 months ago

    The cynical knowledge that the war on drugs is an abject failure+its consequences are wildly unpopular and that there’s things to be done about it, but only weild that power as an aesthetic for election season. Such poor character

  • krolden
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    9 months ago

    But doesn’t actually decriminalize it. Typical.

    This is just like forgiving student debt without a free public college option.