NY Gov. Andrew Cuomo Advances Marijuana Decriminalization for "Racial Justice" // Dems Losing Races Over "War on Drugs"

Cuomo Trailblazes Another Issue for 2016 White House Run

UPDATE: MarylandReporter.com today published a long piece about racial disparities in the Free State's prison system. Like much of the United States, people of color in Maryland are disproportionately targeted by law enforcement. The article comes after a Maryland committee heard testimony about the problem of overincarceration in Maryland. Can the timing of Mr. Cuomo's effort be a coincidence? I think not! See this excerpt from Maryland Reporter:

It's Official: Blaine Young Announces for 2014 Governor // MD Tea Party Fanatic Pushed English-Only Law, Frederick Sprawl

Drawing of Blaine Young from his website.

It's official -- Frederick County's attention-seeking Tea Partier, Blaine Young, has launched a bid for Maryland Governor in 2014. Mr. Young is the head of Frederick's Board of Commissioners, and Maryland Juice has previously written about some of his controversial actions.

He recently ensured that Frederick passed a useless law declaring English the official language of the County, and Frederick residents previously tried to launch a movement to recall him over his war on government employees. His hard turn to the right began after he was linked to an area Madame's prostitution scandal, in an incident that locals refer to as Blaine Young's "Black Book Scandal."

You can catch a television report of the announcement at Your4State.com, but The Frederick News-Post carried a print report (excerpt below):

FREDERICK NEWS-POST: Blaine Young says he will seek the Republican nomination for governor in 2014. In an announcement sent to media outlets today from his Yellow Cab email address, the Frederick County Commissioners president stated he has filed a statement of organization with the Maryland Board of Elections to create Blaine Young for Maryland as the first step in his gubernatorial bid....

GOP Lawmaker Pat McDonough Warns About "Black Youth Mobs" in Baltimore // The Same Guy Made "Speak English" Signs

UPDATE: Yesterday a former Press Secretary for former GOP Congressman (and Maryland Governor) Bob Ehrlich published a blog post scorching Pat McDonough for his comments (see excerpt below):

Why Republicans Should Be Angry at Pat McDonough

There’s one thing, and not much else, you have to know to understand Delegate Pat McDonough: He craves attention.

I realized this in 1995, when he called me – then the newly-minted Press Secretary to Congressman Bob Ehrlich – and gently scolded me for not including him on my press list for his impending “newspaper,” Maryland Citizen....

McDonough has no substance as a policymaker, legislator, or opinion-leader, but like many low grade talk radio hosts, he has a need and a knack for self-promotion. He serves this need by locating the sweet spot on issues sure to appeal to the political fringe.

Among the go-nowhere causes which he has championed: support for so-called “English First” legislation, opposition to a resolution calling upon Maryland to apologize for slavery, and a bill to keep an alleged exodus of Washington, D. C. rats from entering Maryland.

While none of his efforts achieved any real results, he usually wound up with his name in the paper – his real objective all along....

Now, the supporters of in-state tuition for illegal immigrants have, in Pat McDonough, a powerful asset: A right wing, race-baiting, demagogic delegate with a vocal hatred of all people of color, including immigrants. 

OMG: Frederick Tea Partier Blaine Young Announces Exploratory Bid for 2014 MD Governor - HAHAHA (Seriously!)

OMG: So the rumors have been true. Blaine Young -- Frederick County's Tea Party loudmouth -- is running for Governor of Maryland in 2014. Blaine Young is the man responsible for making English the "official language" of Frederick County, and who once served as a Democrat -- until his name appeared in a madam's little black book. He is currently serving in his first term as President of the Frederick County Board of Commissioners. The Frederick News-Post publishes an email from Mr. Young, where he describes his fantasy (see excerpts below):

BLAINE YOUNG: I’ve been watching politics in Maryland for a long time and I can honestly say I have never felt as uneasy – and almost physically ill – as I do now watching what is going on in Annapolis.

 The absolute domination of this state by one political party, which seems to know no limits to how far they are willing to exploit their monopoly of power, is taking us all for a ride that I am afraid will end up in a massive and fiery crash and burn....

  It seems to me that there is very little real prospect of Republicans gaining enough seats to overturn the Democrat majority in either the House or the Senate. Their majorities are overwhelming numerically; and, with their further gerrymandering of the legislative map, it will be next to impossible to gain a significant number of seats. Our legislature is going to be Democrat, liberal and clamoring for our money for as far into the future as the eye can see.

  It seems the only way to do anything about the one party monopoly in Annapolis is to do something in the Governor’s Mansion. Bob Ehrlich proved 10 years ago that although it is against long odds a Republican can win the Governor’s Mansion. This strategy, though daunting, at least from a historical prospective, is achievable with the right candidate and the right campaign that focuses on the excesses and arrogance of the one party rule in Annapolis. If voters truly are tired of being dictated to by a political monopoly, it is much easier for them to switch over to the other side of the ballot in the statewide race than to vote against their local delegates or senators, who many of them have met and may know well....

  This is why it is so important that the Republicans get serious about the 2014 Maryland gubernatorial campaign and start thinking about and doing what is necessary to try to win back the Governor’s Mansion. You say it’s only early 2012, and there is still plenty of time to think about an election 2 1/2 years from now? Think again!

  The Democrats are way ahead. Attorney General Doug Gansler has over $4 million in the bank, and there is no question he is going to run for governor. Comptroller Peter Franchot has raised more than $1 million. Howard County Executive Ken Ulman has also raised over a $1 million, and Lt. Gov. Anthony Brown has raised more than $800,000. The primary election is two years from this June, and from experience I can tell you, when you are trying to raise money, that two years will go by awfully fast.

  From Republicans we’ve heard some talk but haven’t seen much action. I have heard some say that they will make a decision late this year or early next year. Based on what the Democrats are doing, that will be too late. Republicans had better get serious now, and start working to raise the money which will be necessary to compete with whichever Democrat comes out of what should be a very interesting and contested primary.

  Many probably know that I am considering a run for governor of Maryland as a Republican. I am going to get this going over the next few months with an exploratory committee, and open a campaign account to raise money. My message will be very simple: One Vote Stops It All. One vote from Gov. Blaine R. Young will block any and all future tax and fee increases in the State of Maryland. And I promise I will use that one vote to veto....

  Blaine R. Young

Anne Arundel GOP Pols Reveal More Stupidity In Effort To Keep All-White Council // Glen Burnie a "Ghetto" & "Gook" Not a Slur?

Last week, Maryland Juice highlighted the deplorable actions of three Republican Anne Arundel Councilmembers who are dead-set on maintaining a 100% white, male government. The three stooges forced over 100 rounds of balloting and resorted to racial slurs like calling Asians "gooks" in their shameful public meeting to fill a vacancy for the county's District 1 council seat. The council failed to come to a resolution on the matter and postponed further action until March.

Today, Maryland Reporter flagged follow-up coverage of this controversy, and it appears that the defiant GOP Councilmembers are just as tone-deaf and nasty as we had originally imagined. The Baltimore Sun reports that Councilmember Dick Ladd recently attended a community forum, where he was asked to explain his comments. His explanation was an utter failure -- since he said he doesn't find the word "gook" to be a slur -- and he ended up storming out of the meeting:

An Anne Arundel county councilman was peppered with questions Saturday about diversity on the all-white, all-male council — and criticized for his public use of a racial slur — before storming out of a community forum in Odenton...

Ladd was also asked to explain his use at a recent council meeting of a derogatory term for people of Asian descent....

Councilman John J. Grasso, a Glen Burnie Republican whose recent comments referring to Glen Burnie as "ghetto" were also questioned at the meeting, was invited to the forum but did not attend.

WOW: Frederick County Makes English Official Language // Montgomery & Baltimore Join Federal Deportation Program

WTOP is reporting that last night, Frederick County voted to make English their official language:

Frederick County has become the first in Maryland to make English the official language of the government.

The vote was 4-1 on Tuesday, with the lone dissent coming from Commissioner David Gray....

A public hearing regarding the issue took nearly three hours, during which most of the 19 people who spoke were against the measure.

Among those speaking against the ordinance was Meredith Kelly, who says the first settlers of Frederick County were German.

"By various reports, English was not the area language until the Irish immigrants came in in the late 1840s. The original newspapers were published in both German and English. So, I have to look at the history of the county and wonder, what the hell is the point of this legislation? What does it benefit, because it looks like pure anti-immigrant posturing," Kelly says.

Meanwhile, CASA de Maryland reports that today is doomsday for many Latino families in Maryland. Montgomery County and Baltimore City are set to implement the so-called "Secure Communities" program that was rejected by Democratic Governors in New York, Massachusetts and Illinois. The federal program demands that local governments check and transfer information about the citizenship status of residents, even if they are not convicted of a crime. The District of Columbia also rejected the program on the day that researchers released disturbing findings about the program. A number of actual U.S. citizens were arrested under Secure Communities (oops!), and the program disproportionately targets Latinos, sometimes breaking up families over trivial issues:

The study is the first to analyze government data on the program. Among its findings:

• 1.6 percent of those arrested were actually U.S. citizens
• 39 percent of people arrested through Secure Communities have at least one child or spouse who is a U.S. citizen
• 93 percent of those arrested are Latinos, even though they account for 77 percent of the entire undocumented population

See the press release from CASA below: