Massachusetts

The town of Gloucester, Massachusetts, has decided to stop putting all heroin and opioid addicts behind bars. Instead, the individuals are given a chance to get clean.
Under a policy launched in June, heroin and opioid addicts who voluntarily turn themselves into the police are fast-tracked into treatment services, with the help of police officers, volunteers, and trained clinicians. The sick aren’t charged with a crime, while public and private insurances and grants by service providers and police cover the cost of the detox. [1]

There are now 23 states, as well as D.C., which have legalized marijuana in some form. The only states to have legalized marijuana for recreational purposes are Colorado, Washington, Alaska, and Oregon, while the rest have medical marijuana laws in place. And as many might suspect, we’ll soon be seeing some blockbuster years for marijuana legalization. 

There aren't going to be all that many Democratic freshmen next year. Seth Moulton's win in MA-06 yesterday was one of the bright spots. The district is the northeast corner of the state where the 495 and the 95 join up and head up into New Hampshire. It starts in the Boston's northern outer suburbs-- Lynn, Saugus, Wakefield, Burlington and Bedford and shoots north to Salem, Gloucester, Ipswich, Newbury and Merrimac. It's been John Tierney's district since 1997 but Moulton beat him in a primary on September 9.

ACLU – 12/14/2013

BOSTON — The ACLU of Massachusetts calls for a moratorium on the use of controversial and unregulated license plate scanner technology in all Massachusetts police departments, following a Boston Globe exposé of problems in the Boston Police Department’s program.

Whoever wins the Democratic primary in MA-05 today will be Congress' next member-- and they walk right into the dysfunctional mess in DC. Only one candidate is prepared to walk into that mess and take a significant role and that's Carl Sciortino. No way to be sure who's going to win today.

Of course Elizabeth Warren refused to endorse conservative shill Katherine Clark, but that didn't keep EMILY's List from printing up these fliersLast April, Digby exposed the EMILY's List strategy for beating progressive L.A. mayoral contender-- and now progressive L.A.

There are no teabaggers we have to worry about in the race to replace Ed Markey in the deep blue Massachusetts House seat that will be decided a week from today. Most of the candidates are garden variety Democrats looking to advance their careers. True to form, EMILY's List has backed the most conservative woman running, Katherine Clark, best known for her efforts to pass domestic spying legislation in Massachusetts-- yes a bill that allows people to be spied on without a warrant.

Politics as a bloodsport even predates Ted Cruz immigrating to the United States. Alexander Hamilton and Aaron Burr weren't dueling over a damsel. That video above may win a congressional seat for Carl Sciortino because people like the message. No, not especially the messages on the Blue America billboards based on the video, although those are popular messages in MA-05. But it is the message of comity between an unabashed progressive and a Tea Party member that makes it so compelling.

Maybe you already started getting the desperate and pathetic e-mails from multimillionaire congressmen, like Scott Peters, begging for your money to finance his career-- which is all about supporting Wall Street corporate special interests. Or maybe you got one of those ridiculous Steve Israel e-mails telling you that [fill in the blank] is the most important race of the cycle and please give more money.

If you're a regular DWT reader, you already know that Blue America endorsed Carl Sciortino for Ed Markey's old congressional seat (MA-05).