[12/21/14, 8:00:39 PM] Eto: wait
[12/21/14, 8:00:43 PM] Eto: seattle is
[12/21/14, 8:00:46 PM] Eto: on the west coast?
[12/21/14, 8:00:49 PM] Mike: Yeah
[12/21/14, 8:00:52 PM] Eto: .________.
[12/21/14, 8:00:56 PM] Mike: Washington State lol
[12/21/14, 8:00:59 PM] Eto: well alrighty then
[12/21/14, 8:01:01 PM] Eto: OH
[12/21/14, 8:01:02 PM] Eto: god
[12/21/14, 8:01:07 PM] Eto: That would be why then
[12/21/14, 8:01:14 PM] Eto: Until relatively recently
[12/21/14, 8:01:19 PM] Eto: washington = DC
[12/21/14, 8:01:22 PM] Mike: Britbongs try and label American States.

The states of Nebraska and Oklahoma filed a federal lawsuit in the U.S. Supreme Court Thursday, claiming that Colorado's legalization of recreational marijuana is unconstitutional under federal law.

"Federal law undisputedly prohibits the production and sale of marijuana," Nebraska Attorney General Jon Bruning said Thursday in a statement. "Colorado has undermined the United States Constitution, and I hope the U.S. Supreme Court will uphold our constitutional principles."

But Colorado Attorney General John Suthers isn't backing down. In a statement, he said he intends to defend the state's marijuana laws.

“Because neighboring states have expressed concern about Colorado-grown marijuana coming into their states, we are not entirely surprised by this action," Suthers said. "However, it appears the plaintiffs’ primary grievance stems from non-enforcement of federal laws regarding marijuana, as opposed to choices made by the voters of Colorado. We believe this suit is without merit and we will vigorously defend against it in the U.S. Supreme Court.”

Bruning, along with Oklahoma Attorney General Scott Pruitt, argue that under the U.S. Constitution's Supremacy Clause, Colorado's legalization of recreational marijuana is unconstitutional because marijuana remains illegal under federal law. The clause states that in general, federal law takes precedence over state law.

"The illegal products being distributed in Colorado are being trafficked across state lines thereby injuring neighboring states like Oklahoma and Nebraska," Pruitt said in a statement.

The regulation of recreational marijuana -- as seen in programs currently in place in Colorado and Washington state, as well as those that will soon go into effect in Oregon and Alaska -- remains illegal under the 1970 Controlled Substances Act. The states that have legalized marijuana or softened penalties for possession have only been able to do so because of federal guidance urging federal prosecutors to refrain from targeting state-legal marijuana operations.

Colorado voters approved Amendment 64, legalizing recreational marijuana in the state, in 2012. The first retail marijuana shops opened their doors on New Years Day 2014. To date, 23 states and the District of Columbia have legalized marijuana for medical purposes. Four states have legalized recreational marijuana, along with voters in D.C. -- though the D.C. measure is the subject of a congressional Republican effort to block its implementation.

With a majority of Americans now supporting marijuana legalization, and with states continuing to pass legalization laws, it seems unlikely that the federal government would push back against the legalizations. But it's not impossible. If the Supreme Court were to rule in favor of Nebraska and Oklahoma, all state marijuana laws, in any form, could be in jeopardy of being unraveled.

Harvard economist Jeff Miron, a vocal supporter of marijuana policy reform, highlighted the precarious nature of state marijuana laws in a November op-ed for CNN, saying that Congress needs to act now on federal marijuana policy.

"Despite the compelling case for legalization, and progress toward legalization at the state level, ultimate success is not assured," Miron wrote. "Federal law still prohibits marijuana, and existing jurisprudence (Gonzales v. Raich 2005) holds that federal law trumps state law when it comes to marijuana prohibition. So far, the federal government has mostly taken a hands-off approach to state medicalizations and legalizations, but in January 2017, the country will have a new president. That person could order the attorney general to enforce federal prohibition regardless of state law."

Kevin Sabet, president of anti-legalization group Smart Approaches to Marijuana, applauded the action by Nebraska and Oklahoma.

"We support this action by the attorneys general of Oklahoma and Nebraska because Colorado's decisions regarding marijuana are not without consequences to neighboring states, and indeed all Americans," Sabet said. "The legalization of marijuana is clearly in violation of the federal Controlled Substances Act and is not implemented in a vacuum."

Mason Tvert, communications director for Marijuana Policy Project, told The Huffington Post that MPP agrees with Suthers' opinion that the suit is "without merit."

"Nebraska officials are acting like bullies, and they have no business trying to dictate Colorado's marijuana laws," Tvert said to HuffPost. "They are wasting their taxpayers’ dollars by filing this suit and forcing Coloradans to pick up the bill for defending our state against it. Colorado's top law enforcement officials have better things to do and you’d think Nebraska’s would, as well. These guys are on the wrong side of history."

Marijuana Industry Group's Mike Elliott echoed Tvert's sentiments, adding that despite the multi-decade federal war on drugs, marijuana remains "universally available" -- including in Nebraska and Oklahoma.

"If Nebraska and Oklahoma succeed, they will put the violent criminal organizations back in charge," Elliott said.

Rep. Jared Polis (D-Colo.), a vocal supporter of drug policy reform who has sponsored multiple bills seeking protection for state-legal marijuana businesses and advocated full-scale federal legalization of the drug, told HuffPost that Nebraska and Oklahoma attempting to overturn the will of Colorado's voters is "outrageous."

“Our federalist system is based on individual states being able to enact policies that benefit their citizens, without the interference of other states," Polis said.

Alison Lundergan Grimes, Kentucky’s secretary of state, is threatening to take Rand Paul to court to block him from running simultaneously for president and reelection to the Senate in 2016.

In her first television interview since Sen. Mitch McConnell routed her by 15 points last month, the Democratic Senate nominee declared that she will not be “bullied” by Paul, who is a heavy favorite to win a second Senate term if he’s allowed to stay on the ballot.

“The law is clear,” Grimes told WHAS-TV in Louisville. “You can’t be on the ballot twice for two offices.”
“We’ll look to the court for any guidance that is needed,” she added. “And at the end of the day, we’re not going to be bullied.”

Grimes also told the Louisville ABC affiliate in the interview published Wednesday that she has not decided whether to seek a second term as secretary of state in the 2015 election.

The 36-year-old left no doubt that she continues to harbor political ambitions beyond the Bluegrass State’s chief elections official. She would be a top Democratic recruit to run for Senate in 2016 if Paul bows out.

Grimes said she knows “there’s a bigger plan in store” and said she is “excited for 2015.” She’s also been talked about as a Democratic primary challenger to Attorney General Jack Conway in next year’s Kentucky governor’s race or against GOP Rep. Andy Barr in 2016.

“There’s encouragement from all different directions, no shortage of opinions, that’s for sure,” she told the station. “But no election should be run unless it’s in your heart and the facts are there to win, and that’s what I will weigh before I make any determination.”

Grimes’ comments about Paul seem aimed as much at rallying her liberal base after a tough loss as anything else. If she doesn’t run for reelection as the state’s chief election official, she would have no legal basis to challenge Paul’s dual candidacy.

Republicans failed to take over the Kentucky Statehouse last month, which would have given them control of the state Legislature and the ability to override the veto of Kentucky’s Democratic governor, Steve Beshear. That would have enabled Paul’s allies to change the law to allow him to appear on the ballot twice, as some other states allow; Vice President Joe Biden was elected to a new Senate term in Delaware the same day he ran as Barack Obama’s running mate.

Paul has announced that he will run for reelection to the Senate, and his team expresses confidence that they will find a way legally to allow him to also run for president.

A Paul spokesman did not have an immediate response to Grimes’ legal threat.

WASHINGTON — The United States will restore full diplomatic relations with Cuba and open an embassy in Havana for the first time in more than a half-century after the release of an American contractor held in prison for five years, American officials said Wednesday.

In a deal negotiated during 18 months of secret talks hosted largely by Canada and encouraged by Pope Francis, who hosted a final meeting at the Vatican, President Obama and President Raúl Castro of Cuba agreed in a telephone call to put aside decades of hostility to find a new relationship between the United States and the island nation just 90 minutes off the American coast.

The contractor, Alan Gross, boarded an American government plane bound for the United States on Wednesday morning, and the United States sent back three Cuban spies who have been in an American prison since 1981. American officials said the Cuban spies were swapped for a United States intelligence agent who has been in a Cuban prison for nearly 20 years and said Mr. Gross was not technically part of the swap but released separately on “humanitarian grounds.”

In addition, the United States will ease restrictions on remittances, travel and banking relations, and Cuba will release 53 Cuban prisoners identified as political prisoners by the United States government. Although the decades-old American embargo on Cuba will remain in place for now, the administration signaled that it would welcome a move by Congress to ease or lift it should lawmakers choose to.

“Today, the United States is taking historic steps to chart a new course in our relations with Cuba and to further engage and empower the Cuban people,” the White House said in a written statement.

President Obama plans to make a televised statement from the White House at noon to discuss the breakthrough, which could shape his legacy heading into his final two years in office.

Mr. Gross’s sister, Bonnie Rubinstein, was “beyond ecstatic” at the news of his release, according to her husband, Harold. “We are extremely grateful that he’s on his way home,” Mr. Rubinstein said by telephone from Dallas. “It’s been a long ordeal.”

Mr. Obama spoke with Mr. Castro by telephone on Tuesday to finalize the agreement in a call that lasted more than 45 minutes, the first direct contact between the leaders of the two countries in more than 50 years, American officials said.

American officials said Mr. Gross’s release was made on humanitarian grounds and not directly part of a prisoner swap. Instead, the United States traded the three Cuban spies for what officials called an “intelligence asset” who has been imprisoned in Cuba for 20 years.

Diplomatic relations between the United States and Cuba were severed in January 1961 after the rise of Fidel Castro and his Communist government. Mr. Obama has instructed Secretary of State John Kerry to immediately initiate discussions with Cuba about reestablishing diplomatic relations and to begin the process of removing Cuba from the list of states that sponsor terrorism, which it has been on since 1982, the White House said.

Officials said they would re-establish an embassy in Havana and carry out high-level exchanges and visits between the two governments within months. Mr. Obama will send an assistant secretary of state to Havana next month to lead an American delegation to the next round of talks on Cuban-American migration. The United States will also begin working with Cuba on issues like counternarcotics, environmental protection and human trafficking.

The United States will also ease travel restrictions across all 12 categories currently envisioned under limited circumstances under American law, including family visits, official visits and journalistic, professional, educational and religious activities, public performances, officials said. Ordinary tourism, however, will remain prohibited.

Mr. Obama will also allow greater banking ties and raise the level of remittances allowed to be sent to Cuban nationals to $2,000 every three months from the current limit of $500. Intermediaries forwarding remittances will no longer require a specific license from the government. American travelers will also be allowed to import up to $400 worth of goods from Cuba, including up to $100 in tobacco and alcohol products.

“This is being done because we believe the policy of the past has not worked and we believe the best way to bring democracy and prosperity to Cuba is through a different kind of policy,” a senior administration official told reporters on a conference call under White House ground rules that did not permit the official to be identified.

But the official said the shift would not diminish the American focus on human rights in Cuba. “Our emphasis on human rights will be just as strong and we believe more effective under this policy,” the official said. “We will engage directly with the Cuban government on human rights.”

Mr. Gross’s health has been failing. He has reportedly lost more than 100 pounds in prison and is losing vision in his right eye. He went on a nine-day hunger strike in April. After turning 65 in May, he told relatives that he might try to kill himself if not released soon.

Three members of Congress were on the plane that picked up Mr. Gross in Cuba on Wednesday and accompanied him back to the United States, officials said: Senator Patrick J. Leahy, Democrat of Vermont, Senator Jeff Flake, Republican of Arizona, and Representative Chris Van Hollen, Democrat of Maryland.

Other Democratic and Republican lawmakers were sharply critical of the deal. “Let’s be clear, this was not a ‘humanitarian’ act by the Castro regime. It was a swap of convicted spies for an innocent American,” said Senator Robert Menendez, Democrat of New Jersey and the chairman of the Foreign Relations Committee. “President Obama’s actions have vindicated the brutal behavior of the Cuban government.”

Senator Marco Rubio of Florida, considered a prospect for the 2016 Republican presidential nomination, told The Associated Press: “This is going to do absolutely nothing to further human rights and democracy in Cuba. But it potentially goes a long way in providing the economic lift that the Castro regime needs to become permanent fixtures in Cuba for generations to come.”

Mr. Gross was in Cuba to deliver satellite telephone equipment that was capable of cloaking connections to the Internet when he was arrested in 2009. The Cuban authorities, who tightly control access to the Internet in their country, initially said he was a spy, and a court there convicted him of bringing in the devices without a permit as part of a subversive plot to “destroy the revolution.”

Mr. Gross’s case drew increasing attention as his health deteriorated. He grew despondent and talked of suicide, and his wife, Judy Gross, and other supporters made urgent pleas for his release, but off-and-on diplomatic talks seemed to go nowhere.

Cuba has often raised the case of three of its spies serving federal prison time in Florida, saying they had been prosecuted unjustly and urging that they be released on humanitarian grounds. State Department officials insisted that the cases were not comparable and that Mr. Gross was not an intelligence agent.

Mr. Gross worked for Development Alternatives, of Bethesda, Md., and had traveled to more than 50 countries as an international development worker. The company had a $6 million contract with the United States Agency for International Development to distribute equipment that could get around Cuba’s Internet blockade, and Mr. Gross had made four previous trips to Cuba in 2009.

The Rev. Jesse Jackson, the former New Mexico governor and cabinet secretary Bill Richardson and several members of Congress appealed for Mr. Gross’s release, along with Jewish advocacy groups in the United States.

After visiting Mr. Gross in November, Senator Jeff Flake, Republican of Arizona and a longtime advocate of loosening the 50-year-old American trade embargo with Cuba, said he was optimistic that the case would be resolved.

American lawmakers who have drawn attention to Mr. Gross’s case celebrated his departure from Cuba. “Today, news of Alan’s release brings great relief to his loved ones and to every American who has called for his freedom,” said Senator Jerry Moran, Republican of Kansas. “I admire Alan’s strength and that of his wife Judy, who has worked tirelessly for years to free Alan and reunite her family.”

The American government has spent $264 million over the last 18 years, much of it through the development agency, in an effort to spur democratic change in Cuba. The agency said in November that it would cease the kinds of operations that Mr. Gross was involved in when he was arrested, as well as those, disclosed by The Associated Press, that allowed a contractor to set up a Twitter-like social network that hid its ties to the United States government.

Former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush announced Tuesday that he will "actively explore" the possibility of a presidential run in 2016.

Bush, the brother of former President George W. Bush and the son of President George H.W. Bush, announced in a Facebook post that he decided to take the step after spending Thanksgiving with his family.

"As a result of these conversations and thoughtful consideration of the kind of strong leadership I think America needs, I have decided to actively explore the possibility of running for President of the United States," he wrote.

Bush also said that he will establish a leadership PAC -- a political fundraising organization -- in January.

"The PAC's purpose will be to support leaders, ideas and policies that will expand opportunity and prosperity for all Americans," he said.

The preliminary move gives Bush the ability to raise money to dole out to other candidates, although it doesn't herald a formal candidacy just yet. In past cycles, a handful of candidates - like Republican Haley Barbour and Democrat Evan Bayh -- have made similar moves but ultimately decided not to mount a full-blown bid.

But the announcement will signal to donors that he's getting more serious about a run, which is likely to put pressure on other Republicans jockeying for position.

His presidential pedigree and experience leading a large and diverse state has made him a favorite of GOP establishment heavyweights. But some conservatives take issue with Bush's previous positions on immigration policy and the Common Core education standards.

A November NBC/WSJ poll found that Bush is viewed positively by 26 percent of those surveyed, while 33 percent view him negatively.