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Jeff Sessions Tells Americans to ‘Just Say No’ to Drugs While Falsely Declaring Addiction ‘Starts With Marijuana’

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Channels His Inner Nancy Reagan…

Remember Nancy Reagan’s famous “just say no to drugs”? Jeff Sessions sure does. The Attorney General clearly hasn’t learned anything about drugs since the 1980’s, telling Americans today several falsehoods, including that debunked claim that marijuana is a gateway to addiction.

The opioid crisis is stealing the lives of more than 60,000 Americans a year now, but battling it takes information, science, and resources – not opinion and failed policies. The Trump administration today on all fronts chose the latter, ensuring likely failure.

“I do think this whole country needs to not be so lackadaisical about drugs,” Sessions told attendees at a forum held by the far right wing Heritage Foundation, as Buzzfeed’s Dominic Holden reports. “When you talk to police chiefs, consistently they say much of the addiction starts with marijuana. It’s not a harmless drug.”

“We’ve got to to reestablish, first, a view that you should just say no,” Sessions said, channeling his inner Nancy Reagan. “People should say no to drug use.”

Sessions is wrong. Regardless what some law enforcement officers may have told him, studies show marijuana is not a so-called gateway drug to dangerous drugs, and it is almost entirely not addictive. A strong majority of Americans – 64% – now support the legalization of marijuana. Even the majority of Republicans support pot legalization.

The Guardian reports “there is no evidence that cannabis use actually causes the use of later drug use.” 

Bottom line: abstinence programs, from sex ed to drugs, have been proven to just not work. 

To prove how addicted the attorney general is to Reagan-era policies he literally began his speech in Washington, D.C. Thursday afternoon by praising Reagan’s Attorney General, Edwin Meese, who coincidentally, just like Sessions, was highly criticized for ethical lapses.

“The ‘Just Say No’ slogan was popularized by former First Lady Nancy Reagan as part of a vigorous drug crackdown in the 1980s,” Buzzfeed’s Holden notes, “spurred in part by a fear of crack in urban cores. The push toward abstinence messages accompanied policing efforts to comb cities for drug offenders and sentence convicts to mandatory prison terms of years or decades. The approach has since been blamed for driving up prison populations with a disproportionate number of inmates of color.”

Sessions early on reversed an Obama-era policy that the federal government would stop use of private prisons. Not only does he support the use of private prisons, he has called for an increase in the number of prisoners the federal government can house. 

“The federal prison population is on the decline,” the Associated Press reported in February, “but a new attorney general who talks tough on drugs and crime and already has indicated a looming need for private prison cells seems poised to usher in a reversal of that trend.”

Jeff Sessions, a former federal prosecutor sworn in this month as the country’s chief law enforcement officer, signaled at his confirmation hearing — and during private meetings in his first days on the job — that he sees a central role for the federal government in combating drug addiction and violence as well as in strict enforcement of immigration laws.

The result could be in an increase not only in the number of drug prosecutions brought by the Justice Department but also in the average length of sentence prosecutors pursue for even lower-level criminals. If that happens, the resources of a prison system that for years has struggled with overcrowding, but experienced a population drop as Justice Department leaders pushed a different approach to drug prosecutions, could be taxed again.

In May Sessions directed all U.S. Attorneys to pursue the harshest possible charges against all criminal defendants, a move that’s guaranteed to vastly increase the U.S. prison population. Private prisons donated big bucks to Trump’s campaign Super PAC and his inauguration fund. Bigly. (And it may have been illegal.)

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‘Utter Detachment From Reality’: Expert Breaks Down Trump’s Economic Policy Flaws

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November 12, 2025

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Amid increasing bipartisan anger over the state of the Trump economy, one economist says he can explain the flaws at the root of President Donald Trump’s economic policies.

The most recent available data show a steady uptick in inflation, to 3%. Costs at the grocery store checkout line have increased across a large range of goods. Major corporations have announced or are planning to lay off thousands — or even tens of thousands — of workers. Unemployment is estimated to be up, to a four-year high, per the most recent data. Consumer confidence has dropped to a near-record low. There is a possibility that some parts of the country may already be in a recession, according to one economist.

As the Trump White House weighs launching a nationwide blitz to improve the President’s economic approval numbers, which are underwater, Justin Wolfers, professor of economics and public policy and a frequent cable news guest, is targeting what he sees as the underlying problem in the president’s economic policies.

READ MORE: ‘What Could Go Wrong?’: Religious AI Chatbots Let You Text With ‘Jesus’ — or ‘Satan’

Trump has been highly criticized for holding a “Great Gatsby” themed party on the eve of tens of millions of Americans losing SNAP benefits. Demolishing the East Wing of the White House was widely unpopular. Overall, according to data from The New York Times, Trump’s average approval rating has never been lower and his average disapproval rating has never been higher.

“The problem isn’t losing touch with the American people,” Professor Wolfers told CNN. “It’s literally losing touch with reality.”

“The claim that prices are falling at the drugstore, at the grocery store, in our everyday lives, is just on its face flat out false,” he continued. “You and I can see it. I can point you to any number of data collections that show it. I could point you to any number of stores whose annual report suggests that their prices are continuing to rise.”

“This is literally undisputable,” said Wolfers, who is also a nonresident senior fellow at The Brookings Institution.

READ MORE: GOP ‘Complicit’ in ‘Massive’ Epstein Files ‘Cover-Up’: Democrat

Wolfers paraphrased President Trump from an earlier CNN clip, saying, “The economy is booming, because I brought in $20 trillion worth of investment.”

“That is quite literally a number that he made up out of whole cloth,” Wolfers charged. “I would challenge your viewers, go to the White House website, see if you can find out where he made this up. It is implausible, it’s impossible, it’s not true, and it’s made up.”

“And this utter detachment from reality, which, I think, sort of began with the 2020 election, but now has become an increasing part of their economic policy: if you can’t see the reality and the facts in front of you, you can’t design the right policy to correct the real problems that exist.”

READ MORE: Trump Stumbles Over ‘God Bless America’ Lyrics at Veterans Day Ceremony

 

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‘What Could Go Wrong?’: Religious AI Chatbots Let You Text With ‘Jesus’ — or ‘Satan’

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November 12, 2025

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As Americans drift from organized religion and congregations consolidate, pastors are turning to artificial intelligence to shoulder parts of their ministry — while some worshippers are turning to AI for something else entirely. Certain AI tools help clergy manage schedules or craft sermons; others invite believers to text directly with “Jesus,” or even “Satan.”

Calling it a “new digital awakening,” Axios reports that “AI is helping some churches stay relevant in the face of shrinking staffs, empty pews and growing online audiences. But the practice raises new questions about who, or what, is guiding the flock.”

“New AI-powered apps allow you to ‘text with Jesus’ or ‘talk to the Bible,’ giving the impression you are communicating with a deity or angel,” according to Axios. “Other apps can create personalized prayers, let you confess your sins or offer religious advice on life’s decisions.”

READ MORE: GOP ‘Complicit’ in ‘Massive’ Epstein Files ‘Cover-Up’: Democrat

The apps that “allow” people to “talk” to “Jesus,” “Mary,” the “Bible,” or even “Satan” are reportedly the most popular.

“What could go wrong?” Robert P. Jones, CEO of the nonpartisan Public Religion Research Institute, sarcastically asked, according to Axios.

Text With Jesus bills itself as “a new, interactive way to engage with your faith.” Its website calls it “a revolutionary AI-powered chatbot app, designed for devoted Christians seeking a deeper connection with the Bible’s most iconic figures.”

In the FAQ section of the website, one question asks, “Am I really talking to Jesus? Isn’t this blasphemous?”

“Our app is a tool for exploration, education, and engagement with biblical narratives,” is the response, “and it is not intended to replace or mimic direct communication with divine entities, which is a deeply personal aspect of one’s faith.”

READ MORE: White House Eyes Major Blitz as GOP Voters Blame Trump for Failing Economy

Last month, FOX 32 Chicago reported on criticism of the app.

“Critics call the app blasphemous. In an essay for The PreachersWord, minister Ken Weliever wrote that he would ‘just open my Bible and read it for myself,’ questioning how accurate an AI ‘Jesus’ could ever be. He pointed to answers on same-sex marriage signed with rainbow emojis and called the app’s ‘Satan’ feature chilling.”

“Moody Center President James Spencer wrote in The Christian Post the AI ‘Jesus’ seemed ‘less concerned with fulfilling the Law and the Prophets than providing answers palatable to the itching ears of 21st century users.'”

According to the app’s Mac App Store pages, the company that produces Text With Jesus has additional offerings, including Text With History, Text With Authors, Texts From Bernie Sanders, and Texts From Oscar Wilde.

READ MORE: Trump Stumbles Over ‘God Bless America’ Lyrics at Veterans Day Ceremony

 

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GOP ‘Complicit’ in ‘Massive’ Epstein Files ‘Cover-Up’: Democrat

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November 12, 2025

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The top Democrat on the House Oversight Committee alleged a “massive coverup” of the Epstein files, accused congressional Republicans of being “complicit,” and signaled that he and his Democratic colleagues will release even more documents, likely later on Wednesday.

“Jeffrey Epstein referenced President Donald Trump in emails to his associate Ghislaine Maxwell and a journalist, claiming in one that Trump ‘knew about the girls,’ according to emails released by House Democrats,” NBC News reported. “Democrats on the House Oversight committee released three email chains, sent between 2011 and 2019, saying the documents came from the convicted sex offender’s estate as part of the committee’s investigation of the Epstein case.”

Ranking Member Robert Garcia (D-CA) told MSNBC his committee received about 23,000 emails “last week, and we’ve been going through — our team, of course — through all of these very carefully over the last few days.”

READ MORE: White House Eyes Major Blitz as GOP Voters Blame Trump for Failing Economy

“We obviously released some today,” he said, referring to the bombshell emails. “We’ll be releasing additional documents, likely later today.”

Noting that “we’ve been demanding that Donald Trump and the DOJ release the full Epstein files,” Garcia added, “what’s been released today” are “some quite serious, I think, connections between what Donald Trump may have known.”

Garcia said, “what’s important right now is that we want to know why Donald Trump spent the entire campaign, saying that he would release the files. And now that he’s in the White House, there is a massive cover-up going on.”

Responding to claims from White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt that the release of the documents is a “hoax,” Garcia replied, “Then release all the files.”

READ MORE: Johnson Refuses to Commit to Key Part of Senate Shutdown Deal

“If the president has nothing to hide, if the press secretary were there in her comments and statement, if they have nothing to hide at the White House or Department of Justice, then all we want is for them to release the full files,” he urged. “You can’t spend your entire campaign, saying you’re gonna do something, and make a commitment to the American people, and then backtrack.”

READ MORE: Trump Stumbles Over ‘God Bless America’ Lyrics at Veterans Day Ceremony

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