Smoking weed, Jewish ex-FBI agent makes blunt bid for Congress
Benjamin Thomas Wolf garners attention with campaign ad pushing for legalization of recreational marijuana
Michael Bachner is a news editor at The Times of Israel
A Jewish former FBI official running for Congress published a campaign photo of himself Monday smoking marijuana in front of a painting of the American flag, in a call for the drug to be legalized.
Little-known Benjamin Thomas Wolf is running for the Democratic nomination against incumbent Mike Quigley in Illinois’ fifth district.
He is running on a progressive platform, which also includes banning assault weapons “immediately and indefinitely,” and solidarity with Israel.
The self-branded “Cannabis Candidate” caught media attention with his campaign photo, which he posted on Facebook alongside the message “Legalize Cannabis.”
“As a cannabis user, I think it’s important we get out front and talk about it,” Wolf told the Chicago Sun Times.
https://www.facebook.com/wolfforcongress2018/photos/a.1061493283897038.1073741831.1046374028742297/1638887952824232/?type=3
“We realize that cannabis can bring billions of dollars to the state, it’s medicine for millions of people around the country, it changes criminal justice reform and personally I think it’s a wonderful recreational substance as well.”
Wolf has also been outspoken against Illinois candidate Arthur Jones, a Holocaust denier and anti-Semite who has been running uncontested for the Republican nomination in the state’s Democratic-dominated third district, even challenging him to meet him for a “fight.”
In a CNN interview earlier in February, Jones, a former chair of the American Nazi Party, dismissed the Holocaust as “poppycock” and a “scam,” blamed the pro-Israel lobby for miring America in endless Middle East wars, and said the Jews controlled the nation’s government, its economy and the media.
https://www.facebook.com/wolfforcongress2018/photos/a.1061493283897038.1073741831.1046374028742297/1626111797435181/?type=3
In response, Wolf wrote on Facebook that “as a Jewish American, I’m not merely offended by your comments; I’m furious. Those that deny the Holocaust deny the life and death of millions of innocent people as well as part of my own heritage. My own grandfather fought the Nazis in During World War II.”
“I’m proud to confront and fight Nazis right here in Chicago,” he wrote. “When and where shall we meet?”
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