Betty McCollum (D-MN) has recently filed bill H.R. 4391 “Promoting Human Rights by Ending Israeli Military Detention of Palestinian Children Act.”
Does Congressman Capuano support this bill? Would he consider becoming a co-sponsor? (of the 17 co-sponsors currently listed, only Jim McGovern is from Massachusetts.) How about Ayanna Presley? Would she support such a bill? What would she do to get it passed?
Because I live in the 7th district, and there is competition between two progressives, there is at least the possiblity that the candidates will answer some of the above questions. That’s not a small thing.
Think of the unlucky souls in 4th district where the current representative, despite being a walking advertisement of the dangers of not smoking marijuana–how not smoking can turn you into a mumbling simpleton barely able to express a coherent thought-has no opposition. [ed. note: JKIII in MA-04 does have a challenger.]
Christopher says
Is co-sponsorship for anything other than show? It seems those who actually work on initiating the legislation should be co-sponsors. Otherwise just a pledge to vote for it should be enough.
Also, you seem to take a lot of nasty and immature swipes at Joe Kennedy. What has he done to you? It sounds personal.
bob-gardner says
You bet it’s personal. Someone I knew was once stopped by a cop who smelled pot smoke in that person’s car. That person was then blackmailed by the police, who attempted for several weeks. to get their victim to make a buy from a stranger that they wanted to nab.
Someone who, like Joe Kennedy, takes all privilege of a famous name and then uses it to wish –explicitly– for a return of such police behavior is beneath contempt. I wasn’t nasty enough.
doubleman says
Yeah, his marijuana positions are absolutely disqualifying for me without a bigtime change of heart and mea culpa. It’s similar to having an otherwise OK Dem be virulently anti-choice. I hope it comes out more and more (same goes for Moulton’s despicable positions on consumer protection) so people see past the perfect-looking package, including the very practiced trying-to-give-speeches-like-Obama-but-with-slower-pauses-and-no-real-feel-for-the-task. He seems like he’s trying to cover every historical center-right and center-left Dem area – tough on crime, nearly unquestionably pro-Israel (although he got dinged on that for cosponsoring the clearly unconstitutional anti-BDS bill without reading it), not ready for single payer (can’t lose that industry support), and can’t rock the boat by opposing the tabling of articles of impeachment against Trump, He’s going to be a formidable 90s-style Dem in a few years.
Christopher says
Seems the purity police are out in force on this thread. If I ever run for anything remind me not to waste my time asking for either of your votes.
doubleman says
Just don’t have awful indefensible positions if you want to get promoted. đŸ™‚
Christopher says
Well, it was illegal then and it’s standard practice to try to get a user/possessor to flip on a dealer.
doubleman says
“Standard practice” of the destructive failed war on drugs, you mean. The smell and search technique was/is a very effective way to go about harassing black and brown kids. Also, the idea that this practice has disappeared or isn’t still employed against certain populations is hilarious. It’s like how prosecutors brought intent to distribute charges against kids who had 3 pre-rolled joints in their pocket after decriminalization passed. Guess what, it wasn’t the kids in Newton.
In addition to this backwards position that Kennedy still supports, he has also voted to allow the DEA to go after medical marijuana users in states that have legalized medical cannabis.
His stance on these issues is another reason why I find experience as a prosecutor to be one of the worst backgrounds for politicians.
Gary_Rucinski says
While not well-known yet, I am currently contesting the MA-4 House seat in the Democratic primary: http://www.garyrucinski.com. I am running because I believe we need more members of Congress who are willing to make climate change their headline issue.
doubleman says
That’s great to hear. Best of luck.
I do hope you realize that right now the only headline issue that matters is Russia. đŸ™‚