Tag: Blue

But when a state Senate vote was abruptly put off Monday because it didn't have enough support, the delay was a reminder that the politics of pot legalization aren't purely partisan. The key question instead can be whether voters or legislators are making the decision, experts say. Several states where it passed — like Massachusetts, Michigan and Vermont — are less blue than purple, with governors and legislative leaders of different parties. The Democratic governors and legislature leaders of New York and New Jersey have been jostling to make their states next in line to legalize marijuana, but the effort hasn't gone as smoothly as they might have hoped. Those are also among the sticking points that prompted the New Jersey Senate to postpone Monday's planned vote, which would fulfill a campaign promise from Gov. Pot advocates, meanwhile, say they don't expect it to be easy to change policy about a drug that was illegal in all 50 states for decades, and still is in the federal government's view. Nine of the 10 states that have legalized recreational marijuana did so through voter referendums — not through their legislatures. "I actually see this as a populist-movement-vs.-representative (body) issue," says Andrew Freedman, who helped set up Colorado's recreational-pot program and now consults governments on doing so. For all that, lawmakers in 21 states at least proposed legalizing marijuana last year, according to the National Conference of State Legislatures. “States are talking about it in the rainbow of red, blue and purple.”

NEW YORK (AP) — To anyone who figured the path of legalizing recreational marijuana use ran along blue state-red state lines, a sudden setback for pot advocates in New Jersey may show the issue isn’t so black-and-white. But when a state Senate vote was abruptly put off Monday because it didn’t have enough support, the delay was a reminder that the politics of pot legalization aren’t purely partisan. The key question instead can be whether voters or legislators are making the decision, experts say. Several states where it passed — like Massachusetts, Michigan and Vermont — are less blue than purple, with governors and legislative leaders of different parties. The Democratic governors and legislature leaders of New York and New Jersey have been jostling to make their states next in line to legalize, but the effort hasn’t gone as smoothly as they might have hoped. Those are also among the sticking points that prompted the New Jersey Senate to postpone Monday’s planned vote, which would fulfill a campaign promise from Gov. Nine of the 10 states that have legalized recreational marijuana did so through voter referendums — not through their legislatures. “I actually see this as a populist-movement-vs.-representative (body) issue,” says Andrew Freedman, who helped set up Colorado’s recreational-pot program and now consults governments on doing so. For all that, lawmakers in 21 states at least proposed legalizing marijuana last year, according to the National Conference of State Legislatures. “States are talking about it in the rainbow of red, blue and purple.” ___ Peltz is a member of AP’s marijuana beat team.

NEW YORK (AP) — To anyone who figured the path of legalizing recreational marijuana use ran along blue state-red state lines, a sudden setback for pot advocates in New Jersey may show the issue isn’t so black-and-white. But when a state Senate vote was abruptly put off Monday because it didn’t have enough support, the delay was a reminder that the politics of pot legalization aren’t purely partisan. The key question instead can be whether voters or legislators are making the decision, experts say. Several states where it passed — like Massachusetts, Michigan and Vermont — are less blue than purple, with governors and legislative leaders of different parties. The Democratic governors and legislature leaders of New York and New Jersey have been jostling to make their states next in line to legalize, but the effort hasn’t gone as smoothly as they might have hoped. Those are also among the sticking points that prompted the New Jersey Senate to postpone Monday’s planned vote, which would fulfill a campaign promise from Gov. Nine of the 10 states that have legalized recreational marijuana did so through voter referendums — not through their legislatures. “I actually see this as a populist-movement-vs.-representative (body) issue,” says Andrew Freedman, who helped set up Colorado’s recreational-pot program and now consults governments on doing so. For all that, lawmakers in 21 states at least proposed legalizing marijuana last year, according to the National Conference of State Legislatures. “States are talking about it in the rainbow of red, blue and purple.” ___ Peltz is a member of AP’s marijuana beat team.

On the other side is a symbol of Cobb’s future, the Marietta Walk homes, one of many developments bringing new voters to an area that was the cradle of Newt Gingrich’s political career a few short decades ago. In 2012, Republican presidential nominee Mitt Romney won Cobb County by 12 percentage points and won Georgia by eight points. In 2016, the county swung Democratic as Hillary Clinton won Cobb by two points, even as she lost the state overall by five points. “I tend to look at this going back to 2016 when one of the most monumental things that happened was when Hillary Clinton actually won the top of the ticket here in Cobb,” said Michael Owens, the Cobb County Democratic Party Chairman. “It’s the first time in 40 years that a Democrat has won the top of the ticket.” “In 2018, in Cobb County, we carried every statewide election by 30,000 votes or more,” Owens noted. Since 2010, Cobb’s population has swelled by 10 percent, outpacing overall growth in the state. “I’d say younger people in this area definitely change the politics in this area. It’s definitely a younger crowd moving in.” That’s just Cobb County, of course. Brian Kemp lost Cobb County, but it still produced the most Republican votes of any county in the state. “I think Georgia’s been a swing state before.

(CNN)Beijing residents who are putting up with extra security checks and traffic restrictions this week for the annual meeting of the country's lawmakers are doing so without the usual compensation of glorious blue skies. The Chinese capital was choking on smog Tuesday morning, even as the city's environment bureau said an orange air pollution warning issued over the weekend was due to be lifted as the situation improved. An orange alert, the second-highest on the city's four-tier system, advises elderly people and children to remain indoors. During an orange alert, outdoor construction work is halted, and limited traffic restrictions are introduced in order to cut down on the amount of pollutants being added to the poisonous air. Beijing is currently hosting the annual meeting of lawmakers known as the "Two Sessions." Sunday was the first day of the annual Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference, a body that nominally advises on laws and policy and whose members include numerous retired officials and celebrities. That puts it in the US Environmental Protection Agency's "very unhealthy" category. In the past, major political events in Beijing have been greeted with blue skies, as the Chinese authorities shut down factories in neighboring provinces and limit traffic to ensure clean air. A study in 2016 said the practice came at a severe cost, however, as production is ramped up to compensate for economic losses incurred during the shut down. This week's pollution will be particularly embarrassing for Beijing's government, as it has actually seen a marked progress in recent years in terms of tackling smog, with numerous measures taken to cut down on pollutants.

Blue of course symbolizes the Democratic party, while red represents the GOP. But for years, both major parties used the full panoply of American red, white and blue for their own self-identification. With the spread of color television in the late 1960s, color-coded electoral maps were incorporated into election coverage, but neither red nor blue had been assigned a permanent side. So depending on the election or the network, red and blue were variously assigned to Democrats and Republicans. That year, the networks had chosen red to represent states won by the Republicans and blue to represent states won by the Democrats. However, by the end of Election Night, neither George W. Bush nor Al Gore had a definitive electoral majority to turn the country red or blue. Only on Dec. 12, when the U.S. Supreme Court suspended the recount, did Florida officially become a “red state” – and Bush was elected the 43rd president of the United States. Night after night of television coverage had fixed our political colors in the national imagination: red for Republicans and blue for Democrats. In the United Kingdom, for example, the Conservative party color is blue, while the unofficial anthem of the Labour Party begins “The people’s flag is deepest red.” In various nations, red faces off against blue, replaying social and political divides that first assumed their ideological outlines and their primary colors in the French Revolution. Now, in America, red has become the color of conservatism.

Former UKIP leader Nigel Farage has offered to produce all blue passports in his shed rather than production be based in France. Farage was ‘flabbergasted and furious’ when he discovered that blue British passports would be created in France and has come up with a solution to what he sees as a big problem. ‘We cannot allow France to weasel its way into deciding who gets into this great country. If need be, I’d happily make each blue passport by hand in my shed. While hand production in a small shed would significantly slow down the passport process, Farage doesn’t see that as a problem. ‘Quite the opposite. There are far too many people flitting in and out of Britain. ‘This is a local country for local people. We’ll have no trouble here,’ said Farage. The government are now considering Mr Farage’s proposal as it would be a boon to British employment figures.