This article was in Rolling Stone last week, and I believe it’s an important read, if you haven’t already…
Five Reasons Cops Want to Legalize Weed
Of course, it’s more than just weed, and LEAP is on record for being in favor of legalized regulation of all recreational drugs, and these points still hold.
1. It’s about public safety. […]
2. Cops want to focus on crimes that hurt real victims. […]
3. Cops want strong relationships with the communities they serve. […]
4. The war on pot encourages bad – and even illegal – police practices. […]
5. Cops want to stop kids from abusing drugs.
These are good reasons for cops to support legalization, and also very good reasons for the rest of us to want legalization — so that we can work toward restoring a proper relationship between law enforcement and the communities they are sworn to protect and serve.
Police officers need to end marijuana prohibition for more than just five reasons. Many reasons apply.
Prohibition has a sordid history, beginning with the Redcoats’ enforcement of tariffs and products/materials restrictions with regard to a British monopoly on imported goods that ultimately precipitated the American Revolution. Cops don’t want to end up like the Redcoats, now do they?
Here is Benjamin Franklin’s sarcasm directed at the Royal Navy’s newly assigned anti-smuggling job:
Benjamin Franklin would have done very well blogging here on DrugWarRant.
I agree. There is zero doubt in my mind that Ben Franklin would be standing (and probably sitting on the couch) with us, if he were alive today. The current crop in DC would consider him a dangerous radical. Jefferson, Paine and Washington would also be likely, but definitely Ben.
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What did Ben Franklin do for a living? I know he had lots and lots of jobs. It sure seems like he financed the Revolution. It’s almost like he was the central character, yet no formal connection. He was a very strange man. Two years of formal education, now that really blew me away. Why did he write his memoirs in French? Pardon my ignorance if I’m missing something simple, I’m just now becoming fascinated with the man. I suppose I’m going to have to read his memoirs. Is there a movie version? I really hate to read.
The Founding Fathers were all lawbreakers, no doubt. No penny ante nonsense either, they went all the way.
Duncan, you’ve got to read up on Ben. For real, he was a character. Definitely the dead dude I’d love to bring back. He would be raising hell if he saw what had become of this country.
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How we have gone astray when we change the concept of law enforcement as an activity that stops people from hurting other people to one that more closely resembles a group that preys upon the public.
Its been nicely described before ( http://tinyurl.com/c4u5muw ) by Retired Police Captain and LEAP co-founder, Peter Christ.
Cops can’t do their jobs when they are part of the problem instead of the solution. The paradigm that our police departments operate from must change.
It would be a much nicer world if all cops were members of LEAP. Unfortunately, not every member of law enforcement is motivated by the same high-minded ideals.
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Five Reasons Cops Want to Legalize Weed
And Five Reasons They Don’t
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1. It’s about public safety. […]
1. It’s about money and job security. An ever-expanding drug war provides cops with plenty of both.
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2. Cops want to focus on crimes that hurt real victims. […]
2. Cops want to focus on padding their arrest statistics and accumulating overtime. Busting stoners for dimebags is a lot easier (and a lot less dangerous) than going after murderers, rapists, and thieves.
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3. Cops want strong relationships with the communities they serve. […]
3. Cops want the ego trip of wielding arbitrary authority over their fellow citizens and the chance to dress up and play with cool toys while acting out their soldier fantasies.
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4. The war on pot encourages bad – and even illegal – police practices. […]
4. The war on drugs makes it easy to get away with all kinds of shit that wouldn’t otherwise fly. Want to sexually assault a pretty woman? Just tell her you need to search her person for drugs. Want to make a little extra cash on the side? The drug war creates massive opportunities for cops to profit from bribes and other forms of corruption.
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5. Cops want to stop kids from abusing drugs.
5. Cops don’t give a shit about kids. But they do appreciate the fact that they’re smaller, weaker, and generally easier to abuse with impunity.
Francis, I think you broke it down correctly, couldn’t have said it better myself!
Thanks! I’d just watched this video (which everyone here absolutely needs to see). It didn’t leave me feeling very charitable towards “America’s largest criminal gang.”
I stole it,,you should not have been so nice about it.
I think the problem with police attitudes and actions can all be laid on the ONDCP’s doorstep,,bounty money for drug arrests are what is responsible for most of the problems police have with doing their jobs correctly,,the cops are too busy chasing the big bust that could land their agency millions of dollars,,if it gets turned in.
The ONDCP has created a lottery for police officers and they are buying tickets as fast as they can.
The FBI reports that 80% of violent crimes go unpunished and as long as the police are chasing their lottery tickets they don’t/won’t have time to solve them.
Cops also want money, and incredible power over the citizenry.
That is why this war (and all the other wars on everything) never ends. It is just human nature.
Protect and Serve (Themselves!)
When America says jumps, many nations are left asking, “how high†. . . so much jumping that it becomes common place amongst the government and law enforcement of other nations –so much jumping that foreign police grow up with the war on drugs and the notion that they are doing their job and that it’s a necessary job. Yet America has greatly influenced the world when it comes to democratic ideas, trade and business, technology, consumerism, literature and entertainment just to name a few. If the U.S. legalizes pot –it will be the gateway legislation for other nations to do so and this will lead to decriminalization of other drugs, which will lead to legalization and global drug legalization. A reversal of the 1961 U.N. Single Convention will reduce all sorts of crime, wars, genocides and terrorism. It maybe the drug users fault for using drugs, but it’s not their fault for using illegal drugs –that blame rests squarely on the shoulders of Law Enforcement, the courts and the politicians as to why anyone uses illegal drugs. No greater ally did the 9/11 hijackers have than the NYPD Blue and all the rest in American Law Enforcement.
If you help a man commit murder, you are a murder and if you pay a man to murder, you are likewise a murder and cops pay terrorists everyday via drug laws that create drug money. So, do we forgive cops for flying airplanes into the World Trade Center and Pentagon . . . do we forgive American cops for blowing up a train in Spain or a double decker bus in London and all the other atrocities they have committed. Law Enforcement have had ample time to study their relationship between the violence in Mexico and policing up drugs, dealers and users in America. When one’s job in Law supports the funding of all sorts of bad men and their criminal/war organizations, then one becomes a member of those organizations as well. Every American police officer belongs to every Latin American Cartel, Terror organization, street gang, militant group, genocidal regime and mafia –as do every cop from every other nation who supports the Drug War.
A huge reason why cops should support legalizing drugs is to reduce funding and therefore the membership belonging to Gangs, Cartels, the Mafia, Jihad Terrorism, insurgencies, genocidal groups and militias. And if America’s long bastard of a War on Terror created the hugest sources for our recession and the War on Terror is about fighting drug money, then cops would want to support drug legalization for the security of the American economy.
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Who says a drug has to be all illegal for the cops to have fun? I believe I’ve mentioned here before that the VA ABC Police don’t play nice. Here’s what they do when they catch some college kids suspected of illegally buying alcoholic beverages (April 2013):
It’s a darn good thing that the benefit wasn’t for the ASPCA Rescue Kennel or there may have been a blood bath. Somebody must have slipped the C.A. a hit of acid, it’s hard to believe he’s cutting her loose. Not that it’s not the right thing to do, unbelievable because it is and he’s doing it.
Shouldn’t it be a requirement for an ABC agents to be able to tell Beer from Bottled Water before we give them badges & guns?
Beer from bottled water? Next you’ll be expecting them to tell hemp from drug cannabis…or their assholes from holes in the ground.
I don’t know, guys. You could probably teach cops to tell water from beer (well, real beer at least, probably not, say, Bud Light), although it would require weeks of intensive training (and lots of new federal funding). But young people have also been known to refill water bottles with vodka. And there’s just no way you’re going to make cops smart enough to square that particular circle. No, I’m afraid the only solution is to ban bottled water or, at the very least, prohibit sales to minors.
might as well ban tap water….come to think of it, river water is hard to tell from vodka too….oh heck!best be on the safe side and ban the oceans too….that way even the stupidest cop won’t have problems telling vodka from h2o… we have to keep the children safe
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You know what’s really sad is that I can see that they’re moving in the direction of becoming civilized. In years past they would have arrested all of them and probably convicted at least some of them. The driver would have been charged with attempted murder, no doubt. The VA ABC police have a long tradition of giving jack booted thugs lessons. The first person I ever saw arrested was at a 7-11 by the ABC police for buying beer for an undercover child. That guy most certainly required dental reconstructive surgery after they got through with him. That was in 1976. I was 15 and at first I thought I was watching a murder. The violence was gratuitous, unnecessary, and quite frankly criminal. Since there was blood (a lot) it was an open and shut case of “malicious wounding” in Virginia legalese, aggravated assault in the rest of the world, either way a major felony. The guy was a toothpick of a poor schmuck that had no thought of committing a crime before being approached by the undercover boy scout. I really hate this memory. I think that it might have something to do with why I find “the law is the law (blah, blah, blah)” crowd who have no problem with cops breaking the law while allegedly enforcing the law so disturbing. Some things really are better off forgotten.
We live in an insane asylum run by the lunatics and some of the wards are worse than the others.
Along those lines….Cartels are suffering in the face of stiff competition…from little old Mom and Pops and the MMJ industry. Seems their ability to sell schwagg has been hit hard: http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2009/10/06/AR2009100603847.html?hpid=artslot
The serious drug warrior in the U.S. — guys like Ralph Reyes who have wasted a significant chunk of their adult lives on the insanity and futility of drug prohibition — will never in their mind associate the inherent violence of the war on certain drugs with the severing of people’s heads in Mexico. The cognitive dissonance is simply too powerful.
gosh…
They just recently said that cartels weren’t all that involved, that it was small scale entrepreneurs… headline in the WaPo, Dec 31, 2012, Pot in National Forests Tied to Mexicans – But Not Cartels
so… like… ummm… stupid question I know, but do they just make shit up as they go?
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So Prof Kleiman was regurgitating some more of his own “facts” today, including the “fact” that there are now 500,000 ER “visits” caused by cannabis according to that keeper of “facts” AKA DAWN Only 2.3 million for adverse reactions to pharmaceuticals used as directed.
Prof Kleiman, you’re a bald faced liar, albeit a very clever one.
PS I got tricked into visiting that site. It actually showed up on Google News. For some reason I thought that News meant news, not regurgitated propaganda posing as “facts”. “Reality” is a most different critter in Prof. Kleiman’s world.
I’m really starting to believe that “in denial” thing isn’t a fantasy. But just like reefer madness it’s the outsiders that suffer the extreme cases.
It took appx 4 months for the ONDCP and FBI reporting to congress those 60% figures to get a study from Rand that shrunk the cash going to Mexico for weed down too 1>3 billion and only 10% of the cartels cash flow,,I wonder how long we have to wait for the one that shrinks America’s green market?
Five Reasons Cops Want to Legalize Marijuana
Joe McNamara
Prohibition Inc.
Lobbyists Are Getting Rich Off of WoD
Now They’re Coming For The 1st?
I have started another assault on our legislators and would appreciate some help.
Please post and spread this or your version of it everywhere it fits.
“With 80% of American citizens supporting the use of marijuana as a medicine it does not matter what politicians and bureaucrats believe about marijuana as a medicine.
PLEASE CALL OR WRITE YOUR LEGISLATORS AND REMIND THEM OF THAT!!!””
If we can get a few of the advocacy groups with “prepared letters” and links to peoples legislators we could give legislators something else to think about.
I am sure they are tired of thinking about Paula Deene by now.
What did the Washington Liquor Board do about cannabis concentrates?
by Mark A.R. Kleiman â€@MarkARKleiman
This wouldn’t post… on his site…
Maybe he has to approve them,
Maybe he meant, Everyone is entitled to his opinion?
Mark,
It is only as complicated as the policy makers make it. For their own profits, not for the safety of society already using it. The hospital visits as well as rehabilitation comes from court orders and admittance forms manipulating statistics. Same as the DEA placing one toke as abuse. DAWN records all cannabis use in hospital visits as the reason for the visit. Or the DEA justifying its own existence saving the kids showing off huge eradication numbers when the majority is non psychoactive ditchweed. Cannabis has been used safely in all forms including extracts and concentrates. Without policy or even instructions. We figured it out. The pharmaceuticals were forced to include a remedy for overdose so they added strong coffee as an antidote. You and the prohibitionists are causing the hazards of using cannabis. Shame on the profiteers of misery.
The vast majority of prohibitionists
profit on the drug war,..
… and that is their only motive.
Now They’re Coming For The 1st?
Marijuana and Creativity:
Does Weed Turbocharge Outside The Box Thinking?
We have documented human history, which is rich with creative thinkers across a broad spectrum of disciplines, who say otherwise. That marijuana is indeed a Gateway… to creativity, insight, and acute pattern recognition, where life’s associative net truths become clear…an epiphany of interconnecting concepts.
American High Society
Carl Sagan: A Life in The Cosmos
His unrelenting drive in this direction irked those scientists who were less talented in communication and who secretly envied him. Some, in a petty and small-minded way, would point out that his Sagan’s scientific achievements were “only” very good. But that was to miss the point. The media went to Sagan because he inspired in a way that no other scientist was able to do.
In retrospect Sagan’s scientific achievements seem to grow, perhaps they are becoming better appreciated now that he is no longer on our TV screens.
Over a 40-year working life Sagan published over 300 scientific papers, many are landmarks. That is one every six weeks! Few scientists have ever matched that.
Cosmic creativity
Many things are revealed in the biographies that were not known outside a close circle of friends. For much of his adult life Sagan used marijuana and believed that it gave him many of his best ideas.
Ancient Temple Hashish Incense! Did Jesus Inhale?
12,000 years of cannabis use, then cold turkey prohibition. Again I say. Abstinence makes the heart grow harder. And they are just starting to map out cannabinoids and the bodies endocannabinoid system? One might think after 12,000 years this intricate system of the body might have already been known and mapped. Seems logical to me, the reichwing, prohibitionist chicken little chicken hawks are inflicted with…
Clinical Endocannabinoid Deficiency
leading to
Having Larger ‘Fear Centers’ in Their Brains
Getting us back to where we once belonged jojo…
Using Pot To Save Brains!
Oh My This Just In….
The DEA is investigating Mariguana Activists discovery that Endo cannabinoid transmitters are transmitting secret messages to other activists Endo cannabinoid receptors… Even the NSA can’t tap them…. Oh this will never do. We can’t have our people talking to themselves without our supervision… Oh deary me… Lordy Jesus…
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Well here’s something I sure don’t expect to see: St. Louis Police Allows Cop to Lobby for Marijuana Legalization
By Allen St. Pierre
NORML Executive Director
thanks for posting that Duncan, I was wondering when resolution would be reached concerning Sgt Weigert’s lobbying.
They’ll find another way to silence and or punish him. I have to say….it’s hard to step outside that box they put them in. He deserves our respect.
D.C., They already have….did you read the entire Snipit?
” Wiegert worked for three years as a lobbyist for the St. Louis Tea Party. In February, he submitted a new application to the department. The application did not require him to state for whom he would lobby. It was approved but revoked after the department learned Wiegert was lobbying for the pro-marijuana group.”
‘It as approved but revoked after the state-lobbying-okay-department leaned Wiegert was LOBBYING for the PRO-MARIJUANA GROUP’.
This way the police can claim they are the good guys as they were ‘supposedly’ letting him lobby, it was the STATE that put the calabash on everything! But as you can I am sure, read the words between the lines so to speak with this one, police/state, all in bed together again, politics/money.
Nothing to see here folks, move along, nothing to see…….
WTF? A public servant, paid by taxes, living under the Constitution is “allowed” to speak freely about Ganja? This tax paid cop shop of public servants are in some capacity above the Constitution and can grant exemptions or in this case actually give their blessing to someone acting on their birth right. Ain’t that special. A rare case no less. The ones who serve to protect us from remedies and reducing stress they cause serving and protecting the Walmartians Ganjawar. Land of the
free.Fire is the ultimate purifier
For your morning coffee and a roach you wish came out from under the refrigerator all the time:
http://tinyurl.com/mzaghuv
Gosh, I never coulda predicted that this would happen. Another “Unforeseeable” consequence of the war on drugs.
Ruthless Mexican drug cartel recruiting in U.S.; Los Zetas looks to prisons, street gangs
http://tinyurl.com/m5rq7z7
not sure the exact dates used and the numbers but that’s long been one of the LEAPsters’ talking points… in 2000 there were foreign drug syndicates in 30 cities, in 2008 they were in 250 cities, in 2012 in over 1,000 cities. Kinda sounds like a highly contagious disease. Of course if it were a disease, this would be a freaking epidemic.
And Calvina screeches about a US flag made of hemp… dog I love watching the shrinking of that woman’s prominence. “I’m melting…”
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Seriously, watching the hysterical rhetoric mongers being marginalized is so much fun it almost makes the entire war on (some) drugs worth it. Keyword = almost. Even better these clowns are wholly clueless that it’s over except for working out the details. Well, there’s just one word left to say to Ms. Fay, Prof. Kleiman, Mr. Sabet, et al…
Toodles!
Please don’t dismiss Sabet yet,,I want him to explain to me what harm being addicted to marijuana does in a world where it can be obtained legally,,I understand worrying about marijuana addicts when it is illegal because they are breaking a law to obtain it,,remove prohibition and what harms are left?
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What in the world makes you think Kev-Kev is going anywhere? He hasn’t got any other natural talents, interests, or alternative training. But don’t spend too much time worrying, you’re not going to see him at the traffic light near your home with a cardboard “will drug test urine for money or food god bless” sign.
The elite prohibitionist parasites will still find sycophants
with blood to suckto provide the needed resources in a movement to revive prohibition including salaries for a non-profit, perhaps called ABNORML, the Prohibition Policy Project or maybe even Senseless America. The foaming at the mouth simply are not going to walk away from this issue, just like the foaming at the mouth anti-abortionists didn’t disappear after the ruling in Roe v Wade was announce. That was 30 years ago. I’ll betcha that the Fays, Sabets, Kleimans and the rest of the elite from that particular stripe of batshit crazy advocacy are getting ready to retire with a reliable pension and guaranteed healthcare. Kev-Kev won’t be as wealthy as he would without the opportunity to suckle from the government teat but he’ll never be indigent for as long as there are sycophants to provide him his dailybloodbread.Restore the 4th was a huge success!
Thom Hartmann
Over the holiday, tens of thousands of protesters joined rallies in cities all over our nation to speak out against government surveillance. About 20,000 people participated in “Restore the Fourth†events nationwide, in cities like Boston, D.C., New York, San Francisco, and Portland. People gathered, marched, and chanted against the NSA surveillance programs, and the violation of our Fourth Amendment rights. Protestors carried signs saying things like, “Who’s watching the watchers?†and “1984 was not an instruction manual.â€
Despite the turnout, there was little coverage by the mainstream media. While more than 250 local TV and radio stations reported on the events, the Restore the Fourth movement was mentioned only eight times on major networks. But, regardless of the coverage, organizers called the day a success, and vowed to keep pushing to protect our privacy. Nationally, and internationally, citizens and lawmakers have spoken out against government spying programs, and it appears this movement is just getting started.
Restore the 4th facebook
Thursday, July 4, 2013
09:00 – 10:00: Gathering outside the Old State House in preparation for the day.
10:00 – 11:00: Listening reverently to the Declaration of Independence. We need to be respectful, save the protests for after.
11:00 – 12:00: We’ll spend a bit of time at the Old State House milling about and talking with the crowds that gathered for the reading. We will then head just up the street to some mobile stores to perform a ‘cease & desist’ regarding the data they are handing over to the U.S. Government. Afterwards …we will make our way to Boston Common.
12:00 – 13:00: We’ll be demonstrating on the Common as well as gathering signatures against the upcoming MA wiretapping bill. This bill looks to largely expand the use of surveillance against MA citizens.
13:00 – 14:00: We’ll make our way over to Dewey Square.
14:30-17:00: March throughtout Boston including Faneuil Hall, and the Esplanade!
Defend The 4th
Yesterday was a huge success. We reached a ton of people, we’ve been driving a ton of traffic to our websites/petitions (http://www.warrantless.org and http://www.privacysos.org), and we even had some great press in the Boston Herald.
Huge THANK YOU’s to everyone who pulled together, in spite of some severe setbacks, and made an impression on the 4th of July in Boston.
The struggle continues with hearings on Beacon Hill this Tuesday, June 9, as legislators attempt to bring these expanding anti-Constitutional powers out of Committee and on to the floor of the House.
Anyone who can show up on Tuesday, June 9, for this hearing would be greatly appreciated. Alex Marthews can fill in specifics for any interested.
As with the 1st Amendment abuses, the 4th has been eroded in the name of the Ganjawar long before NSA started snooping on peoples gossip. It’s still nice to see some getting upset over it and trying to gather support to stop it. As long as it isn’t just a compromise to protect their emails, and to hell with protecting the entire 4th amendment.
Now They’re Coming For The 1st?
Another Win For Civil Rights,
New York’s Vote to Curb Stop-And-Frisk
War on Drugs — and the Bill of Rights
By Radley Balko
A version of this article appeared on Foxnews.com, January 27, 2005
ast week, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled that if you’re pulled over by the police for speeding or, say, not wearing your seatbelt, they may bring out drug-sniffing dogs to investigate your car without violating the Fourth Amendment.
When Congress Voted Down The Fourth Amendment
Back in early 1995, the new Republican majority set out on its “limited government” agenda with a bill to chip away at the Exclusionary Rule, the policy that says evidence found in the course of an illegal search can’t be used against the suspect at trial. (Though there are some exceptions.) During the debate, Watt introduced the following amendment to the bill:
[quote]The right of the people to be secure in their persons, houses, papers, and effects, against unreasonable searches and seizures, shall not be violated, and no Warrants shall issue, but upon probable cause, supported by Oath or affirmation, and particularly describing the place to be searched, and the persons or things to be seized.[/quote]
That of course is the exact language of the Fourth Amendment to the U.S. Constitution. The House killed Watt’s amendment by nearly a 3-1 margin.
Great audio of an NSA recruiting session, recruiters get blasted by students on the lying.
Oops, forgot to give the url:
https://soundcloud.com/madiha-1/students-question-the-nsa-at
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As always, the fiction of merrywanna addiction just brings out the most laughably absurd side of the so called “doctors”. Here’s one that recommends Ambien for dealing with insomnia as a “withdrawal symptom” of merrywanna addiction. Drugs as a cure for “addiction” to “drugs”
Don’t forget to Google “Ambien death” “Ambien suicide” “Ambien addiction” “Ambien profit margin” “Ambien adverse reaction” “Ambien emergency room visit” “Ambein a dumbshit for using chemicals instead of…” “Ambien brain damage” “Ambien impaired driving” OK, two of those are meant to be funny, you guess which two and win the booby prize.
Really the Ambien impaired driving may be the most entertaining form of impaired driving on the planet…people don’t get high on Ambien and go out driving impaired, they go to sleep and then go out sleep driving. Oh well, anything is better than being a pothead I guess.
a virtual visual mental Escheresque exercise…
I was talking to my 1/2 bro the other day whilst we were standing outside, enjoying the nice summer morn, when I took off telling him about the great Calvina Fay and her addictive hemp flag debacle.
When I was done I looked at him and asked,
‘how can people with their heads so far up their asses still manage to stick their feet in their mouths?’
I don’t know that it’s original but yes, universal free use is granted as it has w i d e application and is useful in most any language or culture. In no culture or group of course can it be as accurately used as it can when describing Prohibitionists.
The Escher part comes when trying to picture just what such an occurrence would look like. All’s I can imagine is a perpetual staircase kind of effect…
Brilliant. I will use it freely (and give credit where credit is due!).
easy if you re a hemorrhoid