Activists seek to decriminalize ‘magic’ mushrooms in DC

 

FILE - In this May 24, 2019, file photo a vendor bags psilocybin mushrooms at a pop-up cannabis market in Los Angeles. Despite pandemic conditions that made normal signature-gathering almost impossible, activists in the nation's capital say they have enough signatures for a November ballot initiative that would decriminalize natural psychedelics such as mescaline and psilocybin mushrooms. (AP Photo/Richard Vogel, File)

WASHINGTON (AP) — The posters started blanketing light posts just a few weeks after the city entered what would be a monthslong stay-at-home order. Vividly colored and bearing a three-headed mushroom, they asked Washingtonians to “reform laws for plant and fungi medicines” by making natural psychedelics “the lowest level police enforcement priority.”

It was the start of an underdog campaign that just managed a truly improbable political feat: a successful grassroots petition drive conducted entirely under pandemic lockdown conditions.

Last Monday, activists presented more than 36,000 signatures to the Board of Elections. If the signatures hold up through the verification process, voters in the nation’s capital will face a November ballot initiative that would decriminalize psilocybin “magic” mushrooms and other natural psychedelics like mescaline.

If passed, it would be the first of its kind for an Eastern city; Denver became the first U.S. city to pass such an initiative in May 2019, with the California cities of Oakland and Santa Cruz following suit. It would also likely face efforts in Congress to overturn or block its implementation.

Activists are deemphasizing the recreational aspects of the drugs, focusing almost exclusively on the therapeutic and medical benefits as treatment for depression, trauma and addiction.

“D.C. could really lead the way on this,” said campaign manager Melissa Lavasani. “You shouldn’t bear the repercussions of the drug war while you are healing yourself.”

Just getting on the ballot required a innovative change in normal grassroots signature-gathering tactics and an assist from the D.C. Council. Activists had planned to launch their campaign in March with traditional door-to-door canvassing and street-corner volunteers. But they decided to hold off as the novel coronavirus made inroads and the local infection numbers started climbing. By April, it became clear that the lockdown would last months and they decided to proceed anyway.

“Part of it was me just not wanting to give up,” Lavasani said. “We were already organized and we didn’t want to just lose the year.”

They did briefly try some door-to-door in the Capitol Hill neighborhood, but found that families under virus lockdown weren’t really receptive to a stranger at the door with a clipboard. So they shifted tactics and appealed to the D.C. Council for help. The council, as part of a larger coronavirus relief package, approved a landmark set of changes that allowed residents to download a copy of the petition, sign it and submit a picture of the signed paper.

Volunteers set up signature booths outside grocery stores, at polling stations on the day of Washington’s primary election and even at the site of the city’s ongoing protests over systemic racism and police brutality.

Organizers also mailed copies of the petition and detailed packages centering around Lavasani’s family and her personal story to about 220,000 households. A D.C. government employee and a mother of two, she says she successfully treated crippling post-partum depression that included suicidal thoughts with controlled doses of psilocybin mushrooms and later with another natural psychedelic called ayahuasca.

“I started micro-dosing with psilocybin and within a matter of days I felt like myself again,” she said. “It was really scary to know that if anybody found out I was doing this, I would lose everything.”

It’s a message that Lavasani believes will resonate in a nation reeling under the psychological burdens of an ongoing pandemic, nationwide protests over racial injustice and what promises to be the most divisive presidential election in living memory.

“We’re going to be in rough shape when we get through this and we’re going to need all the help we can get,” she said. “There’s a lot of people suffering out there.”

It’s also a message that had gained a foothold within mainstream scientific circles. A growing body of work is looking at the effects of natural psychedelics to treat depression, trauma and addiction. Last year, Johns Hopkins University opened the Center for Psychedelic and Consciousness Research with plans to study the effects of psychedelics on a host of ailments, from anorexia to Alzheimer’s disease.

In an article, center director Roland Griffiths called natural psychedelics “a fascinating class of compounds” that can “produce a unique and profound change of consciousness over the course of just several hours.”

The proposed D.C. ballot initiative would apply to psilocybin mushrooms, iboga, mescaline and ayuhuasca, but not to peyote or to man-made psychedelics like LSD. It would instruct the Metropolitan Police Department to treat such substances as a low priority. If successful, Lavasani said she envisions patients being able to consume such substances in controlled circumstances and in consultation with doctors or therapists.

But even if it passes, Lavasani acknowledges that it will probably be blocked in some way by Congress, which retains the right to alter or even overturn D.C. laws. When a 2014 ballot initiative approved legalizing marijuana use, Congress stepped in and prohibited the district government from spending any funds or resources on developing a regulatory or taxation system for marijuana sales. The result has been a thriving “gift-economy” gray market where customers and dealers maintain the thin pretense that they’re actually buying something else like a T-shirt and receiving the marijuana as a complimentary gift.

Maryland Republican Rep. Andy Harris, who sponsored the budget rider that blocked the 2014 marijuana initiative, has already indicated in press interviews that he plans to do the same if this new initiative passes. A spokesman for Harris declined to comment further on the issue. Rep. Eleanor Holmes Norton, Washington’s nonvoting delegate in the House of Representatives, has vowed to oppose any such effort.

“We will continue to fight any and all attempts to overturn D.C. laws, regardless of the policy, as D.C. has a right to self-government,” Norton, a Democrat, said in a statement.

Lavasani said she would rather not see such psychedelics simply added to that gray-market mix. She’s hoping for an upcoming “blue wave” in November elections that would shift the Senate to Democratic hands and smooth the path of Washington’s quest for statehood. The Democratic-controlled House approved a landmark D.C. statehood bill in June, but it faces insurmountable opposition in the Republican-held Senate.

For now, Lavasani said she plans a citywide educational initiative in advance of the November vote. She’s counting on the idea that ordinary voters, far from the psychedelic heyday of the 1960′s, no longer regard natural psychedelics with the kind of stigma attached to marijuana and other drugs.

“There’s more of a blank slate compared to cannabis,” she said. “A lot of people have a real issue with weed.”

AOC suggests NYC crime surge due to unemployment, residents who need to 'shoplift some bread'

Stupid Woman

New York Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez suggested over the weekend that the crime surge in New York City is likely because struggling residents are forced to shoplift in order to "feed their child."
In a virtual town hall meeting she hosted Thursday, some clips of which were shared by The Hill, the 30-year-old Democratic congresswoman was asked about the troubling uptick in violent crimes overtaking the city.
“Do we think this has to do with the fact that there’s record unemployment in the United States right now?" she responded. "The fact that people are at a level of economic desperation that we have not seen since the Great Recession?"
"Maybe this has to do with the fact that people aren't paying their rent and are scared to pay their rent and so they go out, and they need to feed their child and they don't have money," Ocasio-Cortez continued, "so they feel like they either need to shoplift some bread or go hungry.”
The New York Police Department (NYPD) has reported a staggering increase in shootings and violent crimes in recent weeks, as officials warn there’s “a storm on the horizon” amid calls for changes.
On Saturday, the New York Post reported 15 shootings in 15 hours, just one week after the city saw a bloody July Fourth weekend with 44 shootings and at least eight killed.
The congresswoman and vocal supporter of the "defund police" movement insisted, however, that the crime spike is unrelated to the $1 billion NYPD budget cuts announced by Mayor Bill de Blasio, which have not yet taken effect, she claimed.
The New York Democrat recently spoke out against the budget cuts, arguing that they don't go far enough to entirely defund the department, and accused de Blasio of using "budget tricks" and "funny math" in the calculation.
When asked later to comment on the issue, the congresswoman told viewers: "When people ask me 'What does a world where we defund the police look like?', I tell them it looks like a suburb."

Mob Rule Cartoons

Trump wears mask in public for first time during pandemic

WASHINGTON (AP) — President Donald Trump wore a mask during a visit to a military hospital on Saturday, the first time the president has been seen in public with the type of facial covering recommended by health officials as a precaution against spreading or becoming infected by the novel coronavirus.

Trump flew by helicopter to Walter Reed National Military Medical Center in suburban Washington to meet wounded servicemembers and health care providers caring for COVID-19 patients. As he left the White House, he told reporters: “When you’re in a hospital, especially ... I think it’s a great thing to wear a mask.”

Trump was wearing a mask in Walter Reed’s hallway as he began his visit. He was not wearing one when he stepped off the helicopter at the facility.

The president was a latecomer to wearing a mask during the pandemic, which has raged across the U.S. since March and infected more than 3.2 million and killed at least 134,000. Most prominent Republicans, including Vice President Mike Pence, endorsed wearing masks as the coronavirus gained ground this summer. Republican governors have been moving toward requiring or encouraging the use of masks as the pandemic has grown more serious in some states in the South and West.

Trump, however, has declined to wear a mask at news conferences, coronavirus task force updates, rallies and other public events. People close to him have told The Associated Press that the president feared a mask would make him look weak and was concerned that it shifted focus to the public health crisis rather than the economic recovery. They spoke on condition of anonymity to describe private matters.

While not wearing one himself, Trump has sent mixed signals about masks, acknowledging that they would be appropriate if worn in an indoor setting where people were close together. But he has accused reporters of wearing them to be politically correct and has retweeted messages making fun of Democratic rival Joe Biden for wearing a mask and implying that Biden looks weak.

Questions remain whether Trump will wear a mask with any regularity.

The wearing of masks became another political dividing line, with Republicans more resistant to wearing them than Democrats. Few masks were seen at recent Trump campaign events in Tulsa, Oklahoma, Phoenix and South Dakota’s Mount Rushmore.

The only time Trump has been known to wear a mask was during a private part of a tour of a Ford plant in Michigan.

A spokesman for the Biden campaign cast the president’s action as too little, too late.

“Donald Trump spent months ignoring the advice of medical experts and politicizing wearing a mask, one of the most important things we can do to prevent the spread of the virus,” spokesman Andrew Bates said in a statement. “Rather than taking responsibility and leading, he wasted four months that Americans have been making sacrifices by stoking divisions and actively discouraging people from taking a very basic step to protect each other.”

On its website, Walter Reed carries this recommendation: “Whenever you’re out in public, like at your local grocery store or pharmacy, where it’s difficult to maintain 6 feet of social distance, you should wear a cloth face covering.” The facility also notes that the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention recommends wearing cloth face coverings to slow the spread of the coronavirus.”

Louisville mayor upstaged by protesters at news conference

It appears nobody had Louisville Mayor Greg Fischer’s back during a news conference on Friday.
While making an announcement at a city housing project, the mayor’s speech was interrupted by protesters who came up from behind him, and drowned him out with chants of “Fire! Fire! Gentrifier!” while holding a large banner.
Others signs referred to the Black Lives Matter movement and protesters also made remarks about the March 13 fatal police shooting of Breonna Taylor, which has rocked Kentucky’s largest city, the Courier Journal of Louisville reported.
LOUISVILLE POLICE OFFICERS WALK OUT ON MAYOR AS FORM OF PROTEST, CLAIMING DISRESPECT
Video of Fischer’s news conference was posted on social media -- showing the mayor speaking with the protesters and then slinking away as the demonstrators took control.
Another video showed some protesters following Fischer to his vehicle and chanting – and placing signs on the vehicle’s front window, the newspaper reported.
Afterward, a mayoral spokeswoman said Fischer was in the city’s Portland neighborhood to announce a $2.9 million investment in affordable housing. She added that he supports the rights of the public to engage in peaceful protests.

Louisville Democrat Mayor Greg Fischer.

"The Mayor has consistently advocated for and supports peaceful protests over the impact of systemic racism, and he remains committed to restoring public trust in ongoing efforts to address the racial inequalities that have plagued our city and our nation for far too long," spokeswoman Jean Porter told the Courier Journal.
Fischer, 62, a Democrat, has been mayor of Louisville since January 2011.
In June, dozens of city police officers walked out on Fischer in protest, with a police union official saying afterward that officers felt “disrespected” as they worked to maintain law and order amid numerous riots and protests in recent weeks.

Missouri couple’s gun rights defended in letter to AG Barr from 12 GOP lawmakers Rights threatened 'by mob rule'

Twelve Republican members of Congress have written to U.S. Attorney General William Barr, arguing in defense of the Second Amendment rights of a Missouri couple whose rifle and handgun are now in the possession of local authorities.
Mark and Patricia McCloskey, who made national headlines in late June when they took up arms to defend their home from protesters who entered their St. Louis neighborhood, had their rifle seized Friday when local police executed a search warrant.
Then on Saturday, a lawyer -- who represented the couple until recently – surrendered to police a handgun that Patricia McCloskey held during the June incident, FOX 2 of St. Louis reported.
Attorney Al Watkins said he had taken possession of the handgun while still representing the couple, in anticipation of using it as evidence in a possible court appearance, FOX 2 reported.
“It was my duty and obligation to make sure that evidence was preserved to maintain the integrity of the defense of Mr. and/or Mrs. McCloskey in the event, in what I believe the highly unlikely event, of any charges being brought,” Watkins said, according to KSDK-TV of St. Louis.

"It was my duty and obligation to make sure that evidence was preserved to maintain the integrity of the defense of Mr. and/or Mrs. McCloskey."
— Al Watkins, attorney

Watkins said the gun was “inoperable” prior to the June incident, and Patricia McCloskey knew it was inoperable. But he said there were some potential legal issues with the way Patricia McCloskey held her weapon versus the way Mark McCloskey held his, making the weapon's condition an issue, KSDK reported.
Since the June incident, the McCloskeys have faced scrutiny from the St. Louis Police Department and from the city’s circuit attorney, Kimberly Gardner, who have been investigating the incident – but there was no indication the couple were facing any charges.
In a statement June 29, Gardner wrote that protesters had First Amendment rights that needed to be protected from “intimidation or threat of deadly force,” and said any such behavior would “not be tolerated.”

Rights threatened 'by mob rule'

In their letter to Barr, dated Friday, the dozen Republican lawmakers claimed that any charges filed against the couple would have “a chilling effect” on an American populace whose rights to bear arms are guaranteed in the Second Amendment of the U.S. Constitution.
“At this crucial time in history, our nation needs the Department of Justice to exert strong leadership to ensure that none of our constitutional protections are eroded by mob rule,” the lawmakers wrote in part to Barr. “Charges against this couple will have a chilling effect on the entire nation, sending the message that American citizens no longer have the right to protect themselves at their own homes.”

“Charges against this couple will have a chilling effect on the entire nation, sending the message that American citizens no longer have the right to protect themselves at their own homes.”
— Letter to AG Barr from 12 GOP lawmakers

Signing the letter were U.S. Reps. Louis Gohmert of Texas; Mo Brooks of Alabama; Greg Steube of Florida; Brian Babin of Texas; Paul Gosar of Arizona; Alex Mooney of West Virginia; Andy Harris of Maryland; Ted Budd of North Carolina; Steve King of Iowa; Steve Watkins of Kansas; Jody Hice of Georgia; and Scott Perry of Pennsylvania.
Saturday’s handover of the pistol occurred outside Watkins’ St. Louis office, in full view of reporters and bystanders, who watched and took photos. Some photos appeared on the website of FOX 2 of St. Louis.
Watkins said he was no longer representing the McCloskeys because his decision to hold the couple’s handgun in his office had made him a potential witness in any court case involving the couple, KSDK reported. The couple’s new lawyer is Joel Schwartz.

Mark and Patricia McCloskey are seen outside their St. Louis home in a clash with protesters, June 28, 2020. (Getty Images)

Authorities wanted the handgun in their possession to be sure it was inoperable as the McCloskeys and Watkins have claimed, FOX 2 reported. The reason for the rifle being confiscated on Friday remained unclear.
The protesters reportedly marched past the McCloskeys’ home on the way to a planned gathering outside the home of St. Louis Mayor Lyda Krewson.
Schwartz, the couple’s new lawyer, told KSDK on Friday that he does not believe the McCloskeys will face any charges in connection with the June incident, and said he is trying to arrange a meeting with the office of Gardner, the circuit attorney.
If they do face charges and are convicted, they would likely get probation or be required to perform community service, a law professor at St. Louis University told KSDK.
“There’s very little likelihood that the McCloskeys would see any jail time or prison time on these kind of charges,” Professor John Ammann told the station.

Dr. Atlas: Coronavirus surges linked mostly to protests -- and proximity to US-Mexico border

The recent surges in U.S. coronavirus cases can be traced to two key factors -- crowds of protesters and proximity to the U.S.-Mexico border, Dr. Scott Atlas, a senior fellow at The Hoover Institution, said Saturday night.

Most of the cases in the Southwest -- California, Arizona and Texas -- are occuring in counties closest to the U.S.-Mexico border, Atlas told anchor Jon Scott during an appearance on on "Fox Report Weekend."
"When you look in the southern counties of California, Arizona and the bordering counties of Texas -- with the Mexico border -- these are where most of these cases are really exploding," Atlas said. "And then you look at the Mexico map and in Mexico, that's where their cases are. Their cases are in the northern border zone states. And it turns out the timeline here correlates much more to the Mexico timeline of increasing cases than anything else."
Spikes in Texas, Florida and Arizona don't essentially line up with reopening but with Mexico's surge and the recent protests that have gripped the U.S., Atlas said.
"When you really look closely at these so-called re-opening policies, whether it's in Georgia or Florida or Texas, you know, we didn't really see a big correlation of cases and hospitalizations from that," Atlas said. "That's really not true. That's sort of some sloppy thinking, I think, again. We really ... have to look closely at why these things are happening.
"By the way. California didn't really reopen. Yet they have cases coming up. Why is that? I mean, that's because these cases don't really correlate to that."

'A setup to spread cases'

"They correlate mainly to two things -- the big thousands and thousands of people with protesting, sharing megaphones, screaming. That's a setup to spread cases," Atlas said. "And also when you look at the analysis of the border counties, there's a tremendous amount of cases coming over the border and exchanging with families in the northern Mexico states."

Atlas also explained the hospital capacity situation in Texas and Arizona.
"So the real concern that that I see right now is that there are hospitals getting crowded in their ICUs and this is clearly a concern," Atlas said. "The crowding is from the reinstatement of regular medical care, which is actually very important. We have locked that down before and that policy kills people. So we don't want to go back to that."
"The solution to this is really protect the high risk in a more diligent way than we are, the very highest-risk group. We have been very, very clear about that to people," Atlas said. "The second part is increase the hospital capacity."

Democratic Creeps Cartoons

Chief: Video shows man killed by Detroit police fired first

DETROIT (AP) — Video released by Detroit police show a young man appearing to shoot at an officer at close range Friday before fellow officers opened fire, killing the suspect.

Police Chief James Craig told reporters as he released the video Friday evening that the suspect he identified as 20-year-old Hakeem Littleton was no more than 3 feet (0.91 meters) away when he began shooting.

“It’s simply a miracle he wasn’t struck in the head,” Craig said about the officer.

Hours earlier, dozens of protesters converged at the site of the shooting on Detroit’s west side, yelling at police and chanting “Black Lives Matter” and “Defund DPD!”

Craig said he wanted to released the videos promptly because of what he described as rumors about the shooting, which he said included erroneous social media postings that Littleton had been unarmed.

The shooting occurred about 12:30 p.m. as officers were investigating a Fourth of July block party shooting and arrested a different man, who did not resist.

Police had no plans to arrest Littleton for anything, Craig said. Littleton appeared calm on the video, even raising his hands before suddenly reaching into his pocket, pulling out a semi-automatic pistol, pointing and shooting it at the officer as they faced each other.

Craig said the officer closest to Littleton hadn’t even had a chance to unholster his own weapon before the shooting started.

In all, eight shots were fired over a span of five seconds, four by three different officers and four shots by Littleton, Craig said. He said Littleton continued to fire after he fell to the ground.

Craig said Littleton, who was on probation for an unarmed robbery, seemed to say something about not allowing officers to arrest his friend before he began firing.

Littleton was pronounced dead at a hospital. A gun and shell casings were recovered.

No officers were wounded. Those involved in the shooting have been placed on administrative leave pending an investigation into the shooting.

The other man taken into custody had an outstanding warrant. He is a suspect in a gang-related shooting on July 5 at a block party that left three people dead and five others wounded.

St. Louis mayor won’t quit, office says, after ‘RESIGN LYDA RESIGN’ painted near City Hall

This what happens to a Democrat when they piss on their well pump handle and crap in their on backyard  :-)

Lyda Krewson, the embattled mayor of St. Louis -- who has faced repeated protests over the past two weeks -- won’t be stepping down anytime soon, her spokesman said Friday.
Communication Director Jacob Long issued the statement Friday morning, after work crews were seen trying to remove the message “RESIGN LYDA RESIGN,” which had been painted in the street outside City Hall overnight between Thursday and Friday, according to reports.
“Mayor Krewson is not distracted by any of this and remains focused on what she was elected to do: addressing the needs of more than 300,000 St. Louisans who are counting on her to help get them through multiple public health and economic crises, including a worldwide pandemic,” Long said, according to KSDK-TV of St. Louis.
Also Friday morning, police cleared an "Occupy City Hall STL" camp that gathered outside the building, The Riverfront Times reported. Protesters had planned to stay until Krewson stepped down, the report said.

St. Louis Mayor Lyda Krewson speaks during a news conference at City Hall, Sept. 19, 2017. (Getty Images) Democrats eat their own.

Krewson, 66, a Democrat and native of Iowa who has been mayor of St. Louis since April 2017, has been under fire since a Facebook Live briefing in late June, when she read the names and partial addresses of at least 10 protesters who called for the city to defund the police.
The mayor later apologized for reading the information and for causing “distress or harm to anyone,” but also noted the names and addresses were already “public information.”
A group of protesters who claimed to be heading to Krewson’s home June 28 prompted St. Louis couple Mark and Patricia McCloskey to take up arms that day, fearing damage to their property as the protesters passed by.
The couple has been the subject of an investigation since then, and on Friday night had one of their weapons seized by authorities executing a search warrant at their home, KSDK reported.
It wasn’t immediately clear if the McCloskeys were charged with any crimes.
Fox News' Danielle Wallace contributed to this story.