Constitutional amendments are being pushed big time this year in states, including states predicted to go for Trump, such as Florida.

Two amendments have been approved that bring out D voters in huge numbers 1) Abortion 2) Recreational MJ. Regardless on ones idea that recreational MJ has zero impact, it does at the ballot box and both issues are being used in for now up to 14 states. In CO recreational MJ helped turn the state from purple to Blue and we know how that has gone for gun rights and conservative agenda/politicians.

The questions are will it cause a larger than normal voter turnout of D who will vote yes for Rec MJ, Yes for abortion and in turn D candidates including POTUS, Governor, and other key political races turning a once clear Red state Blue, similar to CO.

In FL, the courts have approved to allow Recreational Marijuana on the ballot initiatives and the war against Trumps being elected now hits Florida. One of the big sponsors is John Morgan head of the multi billion dollar PI law firm, big MJ supporter for Medical and now Recreational, big D donor.

Link

Florida marijuana amendment OK’d by state Supreme Court Story by Steven Lemongello, Skyler Swisher, Orlando Sentinel

Florida could become yet another state to legalize recreational marijuana after the state Supreme Court determined Monday that the question should go before the voters in November.

If approved with 60% of the vote, the constitutional amendment would allow adults 21 or older to “possess, purchase, or use” up to 3 ounces of marijuana products, as well as legalize marijuana accessories.

It would also allow medical marijuana treatment centers and other state-licensed businesses to “acquire, cultivate, process, manufacture, sell, and distribute such products and accessories.”

The approval comes two years after the court ruled a similar marijuana measure was misleading and struck it from the 2022 ballot.
This time, the court ruled 5-2 that the amendment had a singular purpose and clear language.

Republican Attorney General Ashley Moody had opposed the measure, arguing it shouldn’t be put on the ballot because it would be misleading to voters as she thought it didn’t make clear marijuana is illegal under federal law.

Justices rejected that argument, along with the idea that voters would think the amendment would allow companies to “immediately enter the cannabis market” without a license.

The two dissenters, Justices Renatha Francis and Meredith Sasso, were Gov. Ron DeSantis’ two most recent appointees to the bench. Three other DeSantis appointees voted to allow the ballot measure.

The amendment was backed by Trulieve, the state’s largest medical marijuana producer, which put about $40 million into the campaign to get it on the ballot.

“We look forward to supporting this campaign as it heads to the ballot this fall,” Trulieve CEO Kim Rivers said in a statement, adding the company will also be a strong backer of “the next important phase to educate Floridians on the amendment and secure a yes vote on Amendment 3 this November.”

DeSantis has said he opposes legalization, adding that he doesn’t like the “pungent odor” of marijuana in public spaces. He warned the ballot initiative’s language is too broad to control the smell, but supporters say it allows the Florida Legislature to put limits on outdoor consumption.

Following the ruling, Republican Florida House Speaker Paul Renner also said Monday he didn’t see a “critical need” for legalizing recreational marijuana.

“It looks innocuous,” he said. “But then you start asking yourself, ‘Can you smoke on a child’s playground? Can you smoke in an elevator?’ … The marijuana amendment is overly broad to serve the self-interest of those that are going to grow it and make billions and billions of dollars off of it.”

The justices wrote, however, that the amendment “leaves untouched the Department of Health’s existing authority to ‘issue reasonable regulations.'”

Democratic state Rep. Tom Keen, D-Orlando, praised the ruling on X, formerly known as Twitter. “It’s clear that Floridians wanted legislators to take action to allow adult use of cannabis. Now, Floridians will have the opportunity to make their voices heard.”

What effect the amendment will have on turnout for the general election is unclear, however.

“This would be coming up in the context of a presidential election,” said Gregory Koger, a professor of political science at the University of Miami. “We were already expecting voter turnout to be high, above 60%. That being said, this initiative could bring additional voters to the polls who are more interested in increasing access to marijuana than voting for either one of the two candidates.”

Recreational pot is fully legal in 24 of the 50 states, with 13 others, including Florida, having legalized medicinal marijuana. Five states have decriminalized pot.

A Gallup poll from November showed 68% of Americans thought marijuana should be legal.

In Florida, where medicinal pot was legalized in 2016 with 71% of the vote, a University of North Florida poll from November found that 67% said they would vote for the recreational marijuana amendment.

A Florida Chamber of Commerce poll, meanwhile, found only 57% of Florida voters supported the amendment, which would not be enough to meet the 60% threshold for passage.

“The national Gallup poll has got 52% of conservatives supporting legal marijuana,” Koger said. “It’s splitting them in half. … It sort of puts the Republican Party in an interesting position. I imagine there would be some degree of tension on this issue. So I’m intrigued to see how they manage that conflict.”

For Democrats, the impact on turnout could be less than in a lower-turnout midterm year but still noticeable, said Daniel A. Smith, political science chair at the University of Florida

“Democrats should benefit,” Smith said. “Democratic positions are aligned … and voters should be able to make an easy connection between the candidates with a D next to their name and their support for these measures.”

Future Florida Leaders, a progressive young-voter organization, wasted no time in announcing Monday it would immediately start distributing “College Democrats-branded condoms and rolling papers” on college campuses. The goal would be to raise awareness of the marijuana measure and abortion rights amendment, which also was given a green light by the court.

But the pot referendum might allow Republicans “to have their cake and eat it too,” Smith said.

“There are certainly a lot of folks in this state who have their medical marijuana card but are also MAGA supporters,” Smith said. “Those hard-core Trump supporters are not going to be thinking about this issue as aligning their position with the Democratic Party. That’s just not going to happen.”

Matt Isbell, a Democratic elections analyst who runs the MCIMaps site, said the effect on turnout for Democrats “really depends on the campaign.”

“I don’t think that by itself, it’s automatically going to have a super-notably statistical change,” Isbell said. “… The only way it’s going to have a real effect is if there’s a heavy campaign about it.”

He cited the 2014 medical marijuana initiative, which largely was detached from the governor’s race that year and did not boost turnout among Democrats. That measure failed, while a better-organized measure passed two years later.

David Jolly, a former Republican Congress member from St. Petersburg and co-founder of the Forward Party, said that much of the public has started to tune out marijuana opponents after their worst-case scenario predictions for medicinal marijuana haven’t panned out.

“We haven’t seen those negative consequences of it as a society,” Jolly said. “And I think that’s one of the reasons you see such broad support for [recreational use] now.”

John Morgan, head of the Orlando law firm Morgan & Morgan, who spearheaded the 2016 medicinal pot amendment, also said he believed the recreational measure would get widespread support.

“It’s bipartisan now,” Morgan said. “Only a few very old white men are still against it, and they don’t know why.”


Article on the Abortion Amendment

Link Abortion Amendment

Joey D
4/1/24

quote:

Originally posted by HRK:
If approved with 60% of the vote, the constitutional amendment would allow adults 21 or older to “possess, purchase, or use” up to 3 ounces of marijuana products, as well as legalize marijuana accessories.

Concerning indeed.

https://twitter.com/ScottPresl.../1775247032757756304

The number of voters registering without a photo ID is SKYROCKETING in 3 key swing states: (Is Texas a swing state now?)

Arizona, Texas, and Pennsylvania.

Since the start of 2024:

TX: 1,250,710
PA: 580,513
AZ: 220,731

HAVV allows voters to register with a Social Security Number (4 digits).

Illegals are not able to get licenses there. But they can get Social Security Cards (for work authorization permits).

Data is publicly available: https://ssa.gov/open/havv/havv-weekly-2024-01-13.html



Scott Presler gives a little perspective...

"
People need to also understand that you do not need a photo ID to register to vote.

In order to register to vote, you either need a Driver’s License or the last 4 of your Social Security Number.

If someone does not have a DL, they use the SSN.

For voter registration, there is also a box that voters must check to indicate they are American citizens.

As someone who registers voters across the country, I know this information first-hand.

Furthermore, we are also registering a lot of Amish to vote. The Amish do not have photo ID. (I am not saying these numbers reflect Amish voter registration.)

The information above just serves to point to other ways people may register to vote."


...nevertheless, this absolutely deserves some scrutiny.



https://twitter.com/ScottPresl.../1775252503765860607

It's right there on the page. You think Manuel who came cross the border two months ago has an SSN?

Additionally, do you guys really believe every one of these peasants are going to vote?

Let's just take it easy, please.

In Texas, it is the law that one needs a state photo ID to VOTE, they scan the barcode on the back to get info. If they register without ID, they'll still need one at the polls. And getting a mail in ballot has very narrow restrictions and requirements.

Since the subject of illegals having Social Security Numbers has come up, here are the facts:

Myth #1: Border Patrol and Customs enforcement is issuing SS numbers to illegals.

Bullshit. Not happening. Never did. https://apnews.com/article/fac...-border-552180846074.

Myth #2: OK. Must be SSA is giving out SS numbers to illegals.

Nope.
What do I need to submit to the Social Security office?
You need to prove your identity and work
authorized immigration status.
To prove your identity and work-authorized immigration
status, show us your current U.S. immigration documents
and your unexpired foreign passport. Acceptable immigration
documents include your:
• Form I-551 (Lawful Permanent Resident Card, Machine
Readable Immigrant Visa).
• Form I-94 (Arrival/Departure Record).
• Form I-766 (Employment Authorization Document/EAD).
• Admission stamp showing a class of admission permitting
work.
Exchange visitors: If you’re a J-1 or J-2 exchange visitor,
we also need to see your DS-2019, Certificate of Eligibility
for Exchange Visitor Status or EAD. If you are a J-1 student,
student intern, or international visitor, you must provide a letter
from your sponsor. The letter should be on sponsor letterhead
with an original signature that authorizes your employment.
International students: If you’re an F-1 or M-1 student,
we need to see your Form I-20, Certificate of Eligibility for
Nonimmigrant Student Status or Designated School Official
(DSO) letter. For information on other documents that students
must provide, read International Students and Social Security.

Q. What about illegals that go to SSA with fake documents requesting a card?

A. SSA has direct data access to INS records. If an illegal comes in with a fake document, even a really good one, they get caught when we check it with INS.

Thank you both.

Rebuking the judge should work out well for Smith.


Trump prosecutor signals appeal in classified documents case, rebukes judge

https://www.washingtonexaminer...fied-documents-case/

Let's hope this "awakening" keeps growing

Wisconsin voters approved an amendment on Tuesday night, banning the private funding of elections in the swing state.

The amendment directs that “donations and grants may not be applied for, accepted, expended, or used in…connection with the conduct of any primary, election, or referendum,” according to the question phrasing that the Wisconsin State Legislature listed. Associated Press election results showed the ballot question passed by a 54.4 percent to 45.6 percent vote.

Wisconsinites also voted in favor of a second part to the amendment on ballot question two, mandating “that only election officials designated by law may perform tasks in the conduct of primaries, elections, and referendums.” That question passed with 58.6 percent of support.

The votes come four years after the Center for Technology and Civic Life (CTCL), gave more than $10 million in grants in Wisconsin in the 2020 election, as Capital Research Center reported.

“Mark Zuckerberg and wife Priscilla Chan notoriously poured hundreds of millions of ‘Zuckerbucks’ into” the CTCL “for the purpose of getting out the vote in Democrat-leaning areas in the 2020 election,” Breitbart News previously noted.

The Badger State went for President Joe Biden in that year’s presidential election by just 20,682 votes. In 2021, the state had an opportunity to ban the private funding of elections, but Gov. Tony Evers (D-WI) vetoed a bill that the state legislature passed that would have done so.

Former President Donald Trump encouraged voters at a rally on Wednesday evening in Green Bay — while polls were still open — to “ban Zuckerbucks” by voting for the ballot questions, and Republicans celebrated the outcome.

quote:

Originally posted by sdy:
Let's hope this "awakening" keeps growing

I'm convinced that these "little" rulings and actions will all add up big in the next 7 months. From my viewpoint, things are rolling ahead to deal with "election interference" and ballot fraud in general.

quote:

Originally posted by wcb6092:
Rebuking the judge should work out well for Smith.


Trump prosecutor signals appeal in classified documents case, rebukes judge

https://www.washingtonexaminer...fied-documents-case/

FIFY
https://www.washingtonexaminer...fied-documents-case/

JP

Another small win heading towards November.

Remember how DEMs maneuvered to change election laws & procedures in 2020? There have been reports that the 2020 presidential election was lost long before election day because the rules in key states were adjusted to allow drop boxes, enable mail in voting w little/no signature matching, Zuckerburg funded individuals running some election offices, etc.

Now:

Former Obama 2012 campaign manager Jim Messina said Wednesday on MSNBC’s “Morning Joe” that Republicans would be “changing the rules” in the middle of an election when discussing former President Donald Trump and Nebraska Gov. Jim Pillen calling on the state legislature to assign it’s Electoral College votes with the winner-take-all standard.

Co-host Jonathan Lemire said, “If that changes and we don’t know that it will, the state legislature is going to look at it, but if that changes, that takes away Biden’s best path to win because if you get, if he wins Wisconsin, Pennsylvania, Michigan, then loses the other swing states and no longer picks up the one in, Nebraska that’s 269.”

Messina said, “This is what the modern Republican Party has become, they’re now changing the rules in the middle trying to benefit themselves. This is the hell that Donald Trump hath wrought.”

He continued, “In the middle of this changing the rules 200 days before the election is ridiculous. I think you’re right. I think there are real simulation problems when you look at the map, that one electoral vote really matters in the combination of other things. Then you need another state. The easiest pathway to victory has always been the Midwestern three states combined with Nebraska.”

Messina added, “Something tells me they’re not going to get away with this easy. There will be a national outcry for trying to change the rules here.”

The masters of cheating complaining about rule changing

Wife Of Judge In Trump 'Hush Money' Trial Worked For AG Letitia James

https://www.zerohedge.com/poli...ked-ag-letitia-james

Lara Merchan, the wife of the judge presiding over former President Donald Trump’s “hush money” case in Manhattan, once worked for New York Attorney General Letitia James, who brought the massive $350 million civil fraud case against the former president, with the revelation reviving claims of bias and calls for the judge’s recusal.

Records reviewed by The Epoch Times show that Ms. Merchan worked for 21 years as a Special Assistant to the AG in New York, including three years under Ms. James. She changed jobs over two years ago.

Judge Juan Merchan is presiding over a separate criminal trial involving President Trump in New York, in which the former president is accused of falsifying business records in order to conceal a $130,000 “hush money” payoff to an adult performer to stay quiet about their alleged affair.

The former president has also alleged that the judge’s daughter, Loren Merchan, has a partisan interest in the case because she leads a political marketing firm and has represented President Trump’s political opponents, receiving millions from them.

Judge Merchan imposed a gag order against President Trump in the case and, on April 1, expanded it to include family members of the judge and Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg.

Judge Merchan has already declined to recuse himself from the case.

In the case, Mr. Bragg charged President Trump with 34 counts of falsifying business records, alleging a scheme to influence the 2016 election with payments meant to bury unfavorable news coverage of the alleged affair with the adult performer, which the former president has denied.

The trial has been set for April 15, and in less than two weeks, the first-ever criminal trial of a former American president will take place in Manhattan.

More at link

That’s not going to be a real trial

It is political theater by a phony wearing a robe

Link

New Biden rule aims to protect US federal employees if Trump is elected

Joe Biden’s administration issued a new rule on Thursday making it harder to fire thousands of federal employees, hoping to head off the risk that if Donald Trump wins back the White House in November he won’t be able to bully and decimate the workforce as he imposes the radical ideologies he’s been pushing on the campaign trail, escalating what he did while in office.

New regulations coming out of the government’s chief human resources agency, the Office of Personnel Management, will bar career civil servants from being reclassified as political appointees or as other at-will workers – who are more easily dismissed from their jobs.

The move comes in response to so-called “Schedule F”, an executive order Trump issued in 2020 that sought to allow for reclassifying tens of thousands of the 2.2m federal employees and thus reduce their job security protections.
Biden nullified Schedule F upon taking office. But if Trump were to win the election for the Republicans and revive it during a second administration, he could dramatically increase number of federal employees – around 4,000 – who are considered political appointees and typically change with each new president.

In a statement issued Thursday, Biden called the rule a “step toward combatting corruption and partisan interference to ensure civil servants are able to focus on the most important task at hand: delivering for the American people”.

The potential effects of the change are wide-reaching because the number of federal employees who might have been affected by Schedule F under Trump is unclear.

The National Treasury Employee Union used freedom of information requests to obtain documents suggesting that workers such as office managers and specialists in human resources and cybersecurity might have been among those subject to reclassification.

The Biden administration’s new rule moves to counter a future Schedule F order by spelling out procedural requirements for reclassifying federal employees and clarifying that civil service protections accrued by employees can’t be taken away, regardless of job type. It also makes clear that policymaking classifications apply to noncareer, political appointments.

“It will now be much harder for any president to arbitrarily remove the nonpartisan professionals who staff our federal agencies just to make room for hand-picked partisan loyalists,” said Doreen Greenwald, president of National Treasury Employees Union, in a statement.

Groups advocating for ethical government, and liberal think tanks and activists, praise the rule. They viewed cementing federal worker protections as a top priority given that replacing existing government employees with new, more conservative alternatives is key to the conservative Heritage Foundation’s nearly 1,000-page playbook known as Project 2025.

That plan calls for vetting and potentially firing scores of federal workers and recruiting conservative replacements to wipe out what leading Republicans have long decried as the “deep state” governmental bureaucracy that allegedly worked against Trump from the inside. This is a debunked concept that even Trump acolyte Steve Bannon has dismissed as untrue despite being part of the hard right movement that first aggressively promoted the idea and continues to market it.

Skye Perryman, president and CEO of Democracy Forward, which has led a coalition of nearly 30 advocacy organizations supporting the rule, called it “extraordinarily strong” and said it can effectively counter the “highly resourced, anti-democratic groups” behind Project 2025.

“This is not a wonky issue, even though it may be billed that way at times,” Perryman said. “This is really foundational to how we can ensure that the government delivers for people and, for us, that’s what a democracy is about.”

The final rule, which runs to 237 pages, is being published in the federal registry and set to formally take effect next month.

Trump as president could direct the Office of Personnel Management to draft new rules, although those would face legal challenges.

Rob Shriver, deputy director of the Office of Personnel Management, said the new rule ensures the protections “cannot be erased by a technical, HR process” that “Schedule F sought to do”.

“This rule is about making sure the American public can continue to count on federal workers to apply their skills and expertise in carrying out their jobs, no matter their personal political beliefs,” Shriver said on a call with reporters.

My county just switched to sequential serialized ballots for this November.

https://www.keranews.org/gover...wing-party-line-vote

quote:

Tarrant County will use prenumbered, sequential ballots in the Nov. 5 presidential elections following a party-line vote of the Tarrant County Election Board.

After the vote, County Judge Tim O’Hare said using prenumbered ballots was a top request from constituents, along with lowering property taxes.

“The more you can do, within reason, where people have trust that this (election) is accurate, it truly reflects the vote, I think we’re all the better,” O’Hare said.

Democratic Party Election Chair Crystal Gayden was the lone vote against purchasing the prenumbered ballots. O’Hare, Republican Party Chair Bo French and Sheriff Bill Waybourn, all Republicans, voted yes to the change. Elections Administrator Clint Ludwig recused himself from the vote, saying he did not want to vote on an agenda item that directed him to perform a task.

Both Gayden and O’Hare acknowledged that the decision fell along party lines. O’Hare questioned Democrats’ opposition to the change.

“I think the question I would have to ask of the Democrats is, why don’t you want this? Because I know it’s not because you’re doing everything you can to save $39,000.”

Following the vote, Gayden said she wasn’t convinced that elections would be made more secure using prenumbered ballots.

“Our system has shown and proven, election cycle after election cycle, that there is no need to put in additional measures because it’s not broken,” Gayden said.

Fani Willis accused of illegal recording, Nathan Wade accused of contempt

https://justthenews.com/govern...llis-and-nathan-wade

Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis is accused of illegally recording a phone conversation while Nathan Wade, her former special prosecutor and lover, is separately facing contempt of court proceedings in his divorce case.

Attorney Christopher Kachouroff, who is representing Trump co-defendant Harrison Floyd, said that Willis recorded a phone call she had with one of his Maryland-based colleagues, who was unaware that she was taping, Newsweek reported Thursday.

Maryland requires two-party consent to be recorded, and recording a private conversation without consent from both people involved may be punishable by up to five years in prison or a $10,000 fine.

Separately, Wade's estranged wife, Jocelyn Wade, filed contempt of court proceedings against him on Wednesday after he allegedly failed to pay for her urgent medical procedures or help support their children.

Wade has told his children to seek financial support from their mother, who needs money for an endoscopy, colonoscopy, and ultrasound, according to local outlet Fox 5 Atlanta.

https://www.msn.com/en-us/news...ump-case/ar-BB1kLH9l

This report says Willis will not replace Wade. She will take the lead herself.

In a significant move along these lines, according to a source close to her, Willis has decided to play a leading courtroom role herself in the sprawling conspiracy case against Donald Trump and 14 co-defendants.

Instead of replacing Wade with another lawyer from inside or outside the office, Willis is stepping up her own role in quarterbacking the case, CBS News has learned. She has already plunged into the nuts and bolts of trial strategy, including starting to lay out how evidence, including witnesses and documents, will be presented, a process known as "order of proof."

At the same time, she is thinking about how to communicate the stakes of a case about protecting the democratic rights of Georgians — a far more abstract concept than typical murder or gang prosecutions — to a Fulton County jury.

Moreover, according to one knowledgeable source, Willis will now be the primary point of contact for defense lawyers in any future plea negotiations, a role that Wade had previously played. "If defendants come to us and they decide that they want to resolve their case, I'm always open-minded and reasonable, and we will listen to those explanations," she told CNN last week. "Now those conversations will be with me and not Mr. Wade."

Perhaps most consequentially, she is gaming out her own role in trying the case. Her appearance in the courtroom will not just be symbolic. Willis is seriously considering handling opening statements for the prosecution and examining key witnesses herself, according to sources familiar with her thinking, who requested anonymity to speak freely about her approach to the case.