+Jason “Xinbi” Scheuerman if they did that, it would completely diminish the importance of laws. Those people are in jail because they broke the law. Not because they smoked weed.
+Eric Thomassie No, it wouldn't. Some laws are total bullshit because people's thinking can suck as well. Is it okay to put someone in jail for 20 years for smoking some weed when cigarretes which are much worst for everybody are totally legal?
Erick Rodriguez It's not an issue with the law, it's an issue for "laws" in general. At the time those people were arrested they were knowingly breaking the law. Whether or not its a stupid law - which it obviously is - is irrelevant to the fact that they actively disobeyed a law.
+Eric Thomassie That's ridiculous. You can break the law without knowing it in a million different ways. Should we then release the countless people who were found guilty on frivelous charges/ignorance/mental illness? The court ruled them guilty because the justice system has bias. Just face the facts. They never should have been arrested.
I agree , I dont think that it should have been illegal in the first place though. Thats my opinion. When I was 18 I spent 6 months in jail and have had a felony on my record every since. Did nt graduate highschool because of this but I did end up getting my GED & eventually earned my barbers license.
What Bernie is describing is referred to as the cycle of poverty. When african american people talk about the systemic issues surrounding poverty and incarceration, this is precisely what they mean. It just keeps looping. What's sad is if we got decent work for people stuck in this system, it would have a substantial impact on the American economy. You'd have millions new people who are paying taxes and restoring economic prosperity. What a pity we can't figure out how to get along for long enough to make things better and get out of our own way.
+B-Rational illegal immigrants come to this country and live in worse conditions, yet somehow their kids use our tax money to go to school and have succesful lives, if they can do it why can't blacks
Black Star It's interesting you mention that. I have a couple friends who are college students who fall under the DACA act. Their college experience from what I've learned has been incredibly difficult. They don't have the ability to get most college grants and simple things that wouldn't phase people who have paperwork have absolutely wrecked their lives for long durations of time. I.E. my car broke down. I'm not sure what lifestyle you're referring to, but in my view, illegal immigrants don't live in candyland and while there are success stories, that isn't representative of the norm. The norm is struggle. Happiness is the exception.
If Bernie Sanders doesn't get the presidency it's going to be a sad day for American history. This is the only man in congress that is telling the truth and representing the informed public.
Very well said on all counts. I had to move to a legal state just to not fear having my life ruined. I am a cannabis user treating my asperger's and chronic pains. The former isn't on the list of applicable disabilities, but I trust it will inevitably. You are fighting to make my medicine legal like it always should have been. If people want to have a fun recreational time with the safe drug, they should have all the rights as well! Thank you for speaking on my behalf; you're amazing Bernie!
Bernie is spot on about allowing an end to federal(and hopefully all) penalties for possessing and using pot. I also agree that victimless crimes should not be punished by imprisonment. I know he mentioned non-violent criminals should not be in jail. But there are crimes(such as theft/burglary, and vandalism) that should include prison time. But I do believe that capital punishment does have its place. Certain murders and including rape/abuse cases should be considered for the death penalty.
It's not just about keeping people locked up, though. It's also important to give the people a positive outlook on their lives after they have rightfully spent their time in prison. Free education, the option of getting degrees, doing internships, being a vital part of society even during their imprisonment is important to prevent them from becoming criminals again because let's face it - if you spent years in prison without work experience no one is going to hire you, which not only means you can't earn your income and therefore create tax money for the country, but you're also likely to get imprisoned again and COST tax money. The cycle needs to be broken. Take a look at the scandinavian countries' prison system. It works.
I want to join in your journey and come along to help in any way I can. Much of what you talk about I've been seeing develop around me since the 90's (I was a teenager), and when I brought it up to friends some of them listened, some thought I was too "conspiracy theorist" and shrugged it off. Now that things are so dire and you are getting the spotlight, people are coming out of the woodwork to assist your causes. We want to hand you the POTUS seat. I'm doing everything I can from here in Maine. The economy here is wrecked. The wealthy are just fine, but the workers are exhausted and miserable. I know it's like that all over the country. I'm voting and sharing your videos. I'm talking to people. I'm poor, so I can not help as much as I want to and need to. I want a place that feels good to live in. I want a real home. Why can't people just have a place to call home? Help each other, people. Please.
I have an idea for Bernie when some one ask him was a socialist he should say a socialist is someone who thinks when kid is dying of cancer he should be able to get treatment for free and without the parents becoming bankrupt
People defend the legal system because “it’s not black or white, it’s full of grayzone”. Well here’s the problem with grayness. It inevitably leads to double-standards, inconsistency, and biased exploitation. And we need to be more aware of the problems with it.
Anytime you have a state with a capital punishment law in place you regularly have people who willfully and flagrantly commit crimes they know will earn them the death penalty-all they’re doing is committing murder/suicide, yet forcing the state to pull the trigger. They’d be more “punished” if the state forced them to live with what they’ve done-made it so that if they still want to commit suicide, they’ve got figure-out some clumsy and very likely painful way of doing it themselves. That would also completely end the practice of executing the wrongfully convicted.
Mr. Senator (hopefully, someday soon, Mr. President), I seriously hope that you are NOT in the minority. The last time I checked, the roads of Kansas are littered with signs saying that "Every life is sacred" and "Every beating heart is a gift from God". If this is true of an unborn infant who may enter the world without ANY familial support or, worse, enter into an abusive home where they will grow up surrounded by things like drugs, sexual exploitation, and violence... If THAT life is sacred enough to save (at the possible cost of the mother's physical or mental health, sometimes permanently), then surely, so too is the life of an adult, whether s/he be poor, homeless, imprisoned, mentally ill, or even *le gasp* a minority some people seem to dislike (such as Muslim or African American). Don't get me wrong, I disapprove of abortion quite strongly and hope that people would only choose such a route when absolutely neccessary, however, whether they do or do not use it responcibly is NOT the business of government. That is personal choice (which comes with personal accountability, but that accountability is not to a civil judge but to an Eternal One). What does it say of a society that forces unwilling mothers to give birth but then may murder that child 30 years later because they fell into the life of those who live in the gutters of society, almost never even allowed the opporotunity to rise to a higher income class? What kind of insanity IS this?! So, no, Mr. Senator, I hope you are not in the minority. I wish to assign to all the basic logical sence that I feel all Humans must possess, even while I strongly doubt that such is so (because I've actually had occassion to watch a bit of Fox News from time to time, and the level of Orwellian double-speak they espouse makes me very, very sad).
The types of people that oppose the legalization of cannabis for adults: 1. The Bible-thumper: Those who have never read Genesis 1:11, 1:29, 9:3, and Ecclesiasticus 38:4 or just ignore them. 2. The Authoritarian: Those that think that people have the right to tell another peaceable person what they can or cannot put on or in their own body under threat of physical and monetary punishment. 3. The Sheep: Those who just do as they are told without question and think the government knows what's best for them. Remember, slavery was legal. The Holocaust was legal. Segregation was legal. Never use the state as a metric of ethics. 4. The Over Protective Parent: Those who don't want it in the hands of children, yet they probably have alcohol and prescription drugs in the fridge or cupboard, not realizing that those can kill their children and cannabis cannot. 5. The Ignorant: Those who think that it can kill you; and those who think it has no medicinal value even though it has an LD50 of between 1:20,000-1:40,000 and we have things like Marinol and U.S. Patent #6630507. Those that think smoking cannabis is the only way to ingest it and those that think it kills brain cells. www.drugpolicy.org/blog/does-marijuana-kill-brain-cells 6. The Idiot: Those who aren't intelligent enough to realize that something that can't kill you (cannabis) is unequivocally less dangerous than something that can kill you (alcohol, caffeine, cocaine, crack, heroin, meth, nicotine, prescription drugs). It is a safer alternative to lethal, recreational chemicals. 7. The A**hole: Those who don't want to admit that they have been wrong all these years and/or have punished someone for it. 8. The Pig: Those who enjoy depriving humans of their life, liberty, happiness, loved ones and possessions over non-violent, victim-less acts such as possessing an all-natural and 100% non-lethal plant. Also, anyone who benefits from asset forfeiture. Cops, judges, prosecutors. 9. The Greedy: Those who stand to lose money if it was legalized nationally. Cops, judges, prosecutors, cartels, the private prison system, oil companies, Big Pharma, lumber industries, alcohol companies, tobacco companies, etc. 10. The Hypocrites: Those who think it makes you dumb, yet they will never be as intelligent as Carl Sagan; those who think it makes you lazy, yet will never be as physically adept as Micheal Phelps; and those who think it makes people worthless, yet will never be as talented as their favorite musician. Also, people who drink alcohol and say that drugs are bad, not realizing that alcohol is a drug. 11. The Nosy: Those who want it to stay illegal because they don't like the smell of it. Even though by that logic we should outlaw cooking meat because vegans don't like the smell of burning flesh. They probably think we should outlaw farts and water treatment plants, too. 12. The Straight edge: The arrogant people who think that because they don't want or like something, no one else should be allowed. 13. The Gateway theorists: Those that think it is a gateway drug. If that's true, Willie Nelson has some explaining to do. Also, curiosity is the only gateway drug. 14. The "it causes crime" people: Cannabis doesn't cause crime, prohibition does. Example: Alcohol prohibition and Al Capone. www.drugpolicy.org/resource/marijuana-legalization-colorado-one-year-status-report Cannabis doesn't kill people. People kill people. Which makes it unequivocally less dangerous than those who have failed at their endeavor to eradicate it from our country.
+corebass420 well my house was robbed and my kid assaulted for some weed, so I would fall into the "it causes crime" camp. If it's legal they will still rob and steal to get money to pay for it.
80 million marijuana arrests per year and the population of the United States is 300 million. That's too much of the population to single out for no provable reason.
By sentencing someone to death for killing another person, you are basically doing the exact same thing you said was wrong in the first place. Hypocritical?
I think he should have stuck to the pot, and ended it there. My personal opinion is pro death penalty, but that's not why I'm saying this. He nailed the pot thing, and the prison state thing. I think even the most closed minded asshole at least agreed with him a little, enough to make him think. When he started talking about saving people from the death penalty, he swayed from fringe and edgy to soft. I think less people took him seriously after that. I'm not saying the subject isn't worth discussion. I'm just saying that wasn't the time. It weakened his first arguments.
+lukus black You are wrong. It actually makes his first argument stronger, because what we are talking about here is, justice. It is unjust for African-Americans to be busted at 4 times the rate that European-Americans are busted. It is also unjust for innocent people to be killed by the state. With the death penalty, it is a sure thing that innocent people WILL be killed by the state, because the legal system is imperfect and innocent people get convicted of crimes that they did not commit, fairly often. His arguments are consistently in favor of justice.
+lukus black +projeckt2501 I think you are both right. For the *real* Bernie, this is about justice and equality above all, so I think his message was perfect. For the abused Anti-Bernie being portrayed in the media, it gives them something to take focus off the real message. Luckily, this issue is far bigger than the broken main stream media, so it might slow awareness in the immediate short term, but the actual progress of the bill will constantly reflect back to Bernie's entire speech. Not to mention, continued speeches to come will become more and more refined to truly frame this important topic of debate, and put congress in the hot seat for sure. Forcing them to go against their corporate sponsors, or go against their declared principles. Their is no right choice for them here, it becomes a personal choice for each. Here's to hoping that they choose to take the third option. The one John Boehner choose. :)
brianin802 Yes, I like what you have to say there. Most educated people know that capital punishment doesn't work on any level, as a deterrent, as a punishment, as justice. Mostly, I wanted to make that argument and couch it in an argument supporting Bernie's logic. But I don't know, maybe the timing is bad, we shall see. I think it's more important for Bernie to be consistent, than to be calculating. People are looking for honesty and integrity, and that is Bernie all day, all night.
Sorry, but it is not wise to leave any matter like this up to the states. It should be legalized across the country at the federal level. Cannot stand the states rights argument. Same story with marriage equality.
As states decriminalize marijuana use, they should release anyone convicted of marijuana use in those states.
+Jason “Xinbi” Scheuerman if they did that, it would completely diminish the importance of laws. Those people are in jail because they broke the law. Not because they smoked weed.
+Eric Thomassie No, it wouldn't. Some laws are total bullshit because people's thinking can suck as well. Is it okay to put someone in jail for 20 years for smoking some weed when cigarretes which are much worst for everybody are totally legal?
Erick Rodriguez It's not an issue with the law, it's an issue for "laws" in general. At the time those people were arrested they were knowingly breaking the law. Whether or not its a stupid law - which it obviously is - is irrelevant to the fact that they actively disobeyed a law.
+Eric Thomassie That's ridiculous. You can break the law without knowing it in a million different ways. Should we then release the countless people who were found guilty on frivelous charges/ignorance/mental illness? The court ruled them guilty because the justice system has bias. Just face the facts. They never should have been arrested.
I agree , I dont think that it should have been illegal in the first place though. Thats my opinion.
When I was 18 I spent 6 months in jail and have had a felony on my record every since.
Did nt graduate highschool because of this but I did end up getting my GED & eventually earned my barbers license.
What Bernie is describing is referred to as the cycle of poverty. When african american people talk about the systemic issues surrounding poverty and incarceration, this is precisely what they mean. It just keeps looping. What's sad is if we got decent work for people stuck in this system, it would have a substantial impact on the American economy. You'd have millions new people who are paying taxes and restoring economic prosperity. What a pity we can't figure out how to get along for long enough to make things better and get out of our own way.
Making me happy
+Box Boi Telling the truth leaves bad taste for the people with hate.
+B-Rational Well said.
+B-Rational illegal immigrants come to this country and live in worse conditions, yet somehow their kids use our tax money to go to school and have succesful lives, if they can do it why can't blacks
Black Star It's interesting you mention that. I have a couple friends who are college students who fall under the DACA act. Their college experience from what I've learned has been incredibly difficult. They don't have the ability to get most college grants and simple things that wouldn't phase people who have paperwork have absolutely wrecked their lives for long durations of time. I.E. my car broke down. I'm not sure what lifestyle you're referring to, but in my view, illegal immigrants don't live in candyland and while there are success stories, that isn't representative of the norm. The norm is struggle. Happiness is the exception.
The next president bernie sanders
Remember if you caucus don't mark Clinton as your second! You'll raise her poll too!
If Bernie Sanders doesn't get the presidency it's going to be a sad day for American history. This is the only man in congress that is telling the truth and representing the informed public.
If you want to see the worst criminals just follow the money trail of the prison system!!!
Thanks for bringing up the issues that really need emphasis, and have always!
Jail is such a waste for the taxpayer and the prisoner.
Bern speaks the truth!
Thank you senator Bernie for your courage and the facts stop this immediately
doing work!! Bernie is the true definition of a leader. he has the highest set of morals and values. go Bernie
that one dislike is Hilary Clinton
Bernie will be an A+ president!
Bravo!!! mr. Sanders.
Bernie needs to go after Clinton more aggressively in the primary.
+TheIdealGasLaw agreed
+Eric Melendez lol, i just saw your pictures at first.. i thought that the original poster was agreeing with themselves xD
WeThePeopleAreFucked xD
+TheIdealGasLaw AGREED. how do we push him to do so?
#FeelTheBern
Justice and equality!!! This man is Awesome!
Very well said on all counts.
I had to move to a legal state just to not fear having my life ruined. I am a cannabis user treating my asperger's and chronic pains. The former isn't on the list of applicable disabilities, but I trust it will inevitably. You are fighting to make my medicine legal like it always should have been. If people want to have a fun recreational time with the safe drug, they should have all the rights as well!
Thank you for speaking on my behalf; you're amazing Bernie!
Legalize It!
Thank you Bernie! #BlackFolkForBernie #FeeltheBern !!!
Annual deaths from tobacco: 400,000
Annual deaths from alcohol: 80,000
Annual deaths from heroin: 8,000
Annual deaths from pot: 0.
You tell em Bernie.
Where have you been sir because you are on point!!!
Legalize and regulate all drugs across the board.
YES.....YES say it bern say it
Amen Bernie! Your the man! Bernie 2016!
Bernie is spot on about allowing an end to federal(and hopefully all) penalties for possessing and using pot. I also agree that victimless crimes should not be punished by imprisonment. I know he mentioned non-violent criminals should not be in jail. But there are crimes(such as theft/burglary, and vandalism) that should include prison time. But I do believe that capital punishment does have its place. Certain murders and including rape/abuse cases should be considered for the death penalty.
Period
god bless free college us American kids.
It's not just about keeping people locked up, though. It's also important to give the people a positive outlook on their lives after they have rightfully spent their time in prison. Free education, the option of getting degrees, doing internships, being a vital part of society even during their imprisonment is important to prevent them from becoming criminals again because let's face it - if you spent years in prison without work experience no one is going to hire you, which not only means you can't earn your income and therefore create tax money for the country, but you're also likely to get imprisoned again and COST tax money. The cycle needs to be broken. Take a look at the scandinavian countries' prison system. It works.
I was once with the Right-Wing before this great human being inspired me. I'm an unapologetic Democratic Socialist.
I want to join in your journey and come along to help in any way I can. Much of what you talk about I've been seeing develop around me since the 90's (I was a teenager), and when I brought it up to friends some of them listened, some thought I was too "conspiracy theorist" and shrugged it off.
Now that things are so dire and you are getting the spotlight, people are coming out of the woodwork to assist your causes. We want to hand you the POTUS seat. I'm doing everything I can from here in Maine. The economy here is wrecked. The wealthy are just fine, but the workers are exhausted and miserable. I know it's like that all over the country.
I'm voting and sharing your videos. I'm talking to people. I'm poor, so I can not help as much as I want to and need to. I want a place that feels good to live in. I want a real home. Why can't people just have a place to call home?
Help each other, people. Please.
young people don't vote. If he loses it is because of that. You young people MUST get out their and VOTE
EXCELLENT! Lets stop wasting jail cells, especially corrupt private ones, lets put them in jail and restrain wallstreet instead XD
feel the bern 2016!!
BURN!
A politician that fucking cares.
💕💕💕💕
I have an idea for Bernie when some one ask him was a socialist he should say a socialist is someone who thinks when kid is dying of cancer he should be able to get treatment for free and without the parents becoming bankrupt
Next week he introduces the legislation.10/29/15
Wait What do you mean?
+Sanchan did you not watch the video? Bernie will answer that question..
+WeThePeopleAreFucked It appears Obama addressed it as well in the White House UA-cam Channel.
appreciate the info, i didn't know that.
Except no one thinks rape is a violent crime or assaulting ppl. Our state is big on letting all those guys out. Or not doing anything AT ALL!
People defend the legal system because “it’s not black or white, it’s full of grayzone”.
Well here’s the problem with grayness. It inevitably leads to double-standards, inconsistency, and biased exploitation. And we need to be more aware of the problems with it.
well spoken :)
Simple solution Bernie, don't smoke the shit.
Anytime you have a state with a capital punishment law in place you regularly have people who willfully and flagrantly commit crimes they know will earn them the death penalty-all they’re doing is committing murder/suicide, yet forcing the state to pull the trigger. They’d be more “punished” if the state forced them to live with what they’ve done-made it so that if they still want to commit suicide, they’ve got figure-out some clumsy and very likely painful way of doing it themselves. That would also completely end the practice of executing the wrongfully convicted.
4:40 resivitet 8:40 capital punishment 9:30 no death penalty 10:30 hård straf
Mr. Senator (hopefully, someday soon, Mr. President), I seriously hope that you are NOT in the minority. The last time I checked, the roads of Kansas are littered with signs saying that "Every life is sacred" and "Every beating heart is a gift from God". If this is true of an unborn infant who may enter the world without ANY familial support or, worse, enter into an abusive home where they will grow up surrounded by things like drugs, sexual exploitation, and violence... If THAT life is sacred enough to save (at the possible cost of the mother's physical or mental health, sometimes permanently), then surely, so too is the life of an adult, whether s/he be poor, homeless, imprisoned, mentally ill, or even *le gasp* a minority some people seem to dislike (such as Muslim or African American).
Don't get me wrong, I disapprove of abortion quite strongly and hope that people would only choose such a route when absolutely neccessary, however, whether they do or do not use it responcibly is NOT the business of government. That is personal choice (which comes with personal accountability, but that accountability is not to a civil judge but to an Eternal One). What does it say of a society that forces unwilling mothers to give birth but then may murder that child 30 years later because they fell into the life of those who live in the gutters of society, almost never even allowed the opporotunity to rise to a higher income class? What kind of insanity IS this?!
So, no, Mr. Senator, I hope you are not in the minority. I wish to assign to all the basic logical sence that I feel all Humans must possess, even while I strongly doubt that such is so (because I've actually had occassion to watch a bit of Fox News from time to time, and the level of Orwellian double-speak they espouse makes me very, very sad).
The types of people that oppose the legalization of cannabis for adults:
1. The Bible-thumper: Those who have never read Genesis 1:11, 1:29, 9:3, and Ecclesiasticus 38:4 or just ignore them.
2. The Authoritarian: Those that think that people have the right to tell another peaceable person what they can or cannot put on or in their own body under threat of physical and monetary punishment.
3. The Sheep: Those who just do as they are told without question and think the government knows what's best for them. Remember, slavery was legal. The Holocaust was legal. Segregation was legal. Never use the state as a metric of ethics.
4. The Over Protective Parent: Those who don't want it in the hands of children, yet they probably have alcohol and prescription drugs in the fridge or cupboard, not realizing that those can kill their children and cannabis cannot.
5. The Ignorant: Those who think that it can kill you; and those who think it has no medicinal value even though it has an LD50 of between 1:20,000-1:40,000 and we have things like Marinol and U.S. Patent #6630507. Those that think smoking cannabis is the only way to ingest it and those that think it kills brain cells.
www.drugpolicy.org/blog/does-marijuana-kill-brain-cells
6. The Idiot: Those who aren't intelligent enough to realize that something that can't kill you (cannabis) is unequivocally less dangerous than something that can kill you (alcohol, caffeine, cocaine, crack, heroin, meth, nicotine, prescription drugs). It is a safer alternative to lethal, recreational chemicals.
7. The A**hole: Those who don't want to admit that they have been wrong all these years and/or have punished someone for it.
8. The Pig: Those who enjoy depriving humans of their life, liberty, happiness, loved ones and possessions over non-violent, victim-less acts such as possessing an all-natural and 100% non-lethal plant. Also, anyone who benefits from asset forfeiture. Cops, judges, prosecutors.
9. The Greedy: Those who stand to lose money if it was legalized nationally. Cops, judges, prosecutors, cartels, the private prison system, oil companies, Big Pharma, lumber industries, alcohol companies, tobacco companies, etc.
10. The Hypocrites: Those who think it makes you dumb, yet they will never be as intelligent as Carl Sagan; those who think it makes you lazy, yet will never be as physically adept as Micheal Phelps; and those who think it makes people worthless, yet will never be as talented as their favorite musician. Also, people who drink alcohol and say that drugs are bad, not realizing that alcohol is a drug.
11. The Nosy: Those who want it to stay illegal because they don't like the smell of it. Even though by that logic we should outlaw cooking meat because vegans don't like the smell of burning flesh. They probably think we should outlaw farts and water treatment plants, too.
12. The Straight edge: The arrogant people who think that because they don't want or like something, no one else should be allowed.
13. The Gateway theorists: Those that think it is a gateway drug. If that's true, Willie Nelson has some explaining to do. Also, curiosity is the only gateway drug.
14. The "it causes crime" people: Cannabis doesn't cause crime, prohibition does. Example: Alcohol prohibition and Al Capone.
www.drugpolicy.org/resource/marijuana-legalization-colorado-one-year-status-report
Cannabis doesn't kill people. People kill people. Which makes it unequivocally less dangerous than those who have failed at their endeavor to eradicate it from our country.
+corebass420 well my house was robbed and my kid assaulted for some weed, so I would fall into the "it causes crime" camp. If it's legal they will still rob and steal to get money to pay for it.
corebass420
I just got here and want to tell you that your comment was brilliant, and very factual!!!
what's name of this article
I think that the media should not show what the person looks like or say their name or print their name that commits a crime.
+Sherry Smith but that would go against the agenda. bernie will change that
A lot of people commit crimes to be seen on tv or have their name and photo in the paper.This has been going on for many years.
the educational is very. important us kids because will not. have go in selling drugs because money. that why we free college us American kids
80 million marijuana arrests per year and the population of the United States is 300 million. That's too much of the population to single out for no provable reason.
Repeated arrests, most likely.
By sentencing someone to death for killing another person, you are basically doing the exact same thing you said was wrong in the first place. Hypocritical?
*hmmm*
I think he should have stuck to the pot, and ended it there. My personal opinion is pro death penalty, but that's not why I'm saying this. He nailed the pot thing, and the prison state thing. I think even the most closed minded asshole at least agreed with him a little, enough to make him think.
When he started talking about saving people from the death penalty, he swayed from fringe and edgy to soft. I think less people took him seriously after that. I'm not saying the subject isn't worth discussion. I'm just saying that wasn't the time. It weakened his first arguments.
+lukus black You are wrong. It actually makes his first argument stronger, because what we are talking about here is, justice. It is unjust for African-Americans to be busted at 4 times the rate that European-Americans are busted. It is also unjust for innocent people to be killed by the state. With the death penalty, it is a sure thing that innocent people WILL be killed by the state, because the legal system is imperfect and innocent people get convicted of crimes that they did not commit, fairly often. His arguments are consistently in favor of justice.
+lukus black +projeckt2501 I think you are both right. For the *real* Bernie, this is about justice and equality above all, so I think his message was perfect. For the abused Anti-Bernie being portrayed in the media, it gives them something to take focus off the real message. Luckily, this issue is far bigger than the broken main stream media, so it might slow awareness in the immediate short term, but the actual progress of the bill will constantly reflect back to Bernie's entire speech. Not to mention, continued speeches to come will become more and more refined to truly frame this important topic of debate, and put congress in the hot seat for sure. Forcing them to go against their corporate sponsors, or go against their declared principles. Their is no right choice for them here, it becomes a personal choice for each. Here's to hoping that they choose to take the third option. The one John Boehner choose. :)
brianin802 Yes, I like what you have to say there. Most educated people know that capital punishment doesn't work on any level, as a deterrent, as a punishment, as justice. Mostly, I wanted to make that argument and couch it in an argument supporting Bernie's logic. But I don't know, maybe the timing is bad, we shall see. I think it's more important for Bernie to be consistent, than to be calculating. People are looking for honesty and integrity, and that is Bernie all day, all night.
I went to jail at 16 in st j for stealing a jacket. at 18 I got out n got 2 years for DUI#1. I am 42 now. Vermont ruined my life
Sorry, but it is not wise to leave any matter like this up to the states. It should be legalized across the country at the federal level. Cannot stand the states rights argument. Same story with marriage equality.
obviously Bernie did a bit of weed..
Bernie needs to go after Clinton more aggressively in the primary.