This would be a good time to remind people to read Radley Balko’s excellent book: “Rise of the Warrior Cop: The Militarization of America’s Police Forces
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I hope he gets his job back. Man, I hope my town isn’t like that. Have any of you read on the history of the gun and TNT battle between the Local Law and the citizens in Tennessee shortly after WWII?
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_Athens_(1946)
Who’s read Balko’s book? What do you think?
yeah, that’s a goodie. Hey, you’ve mentioned the marine vet shot by SWAT in AZ. Here’s another couple from the archives you need add to your file:
Death Squad In Delaware – The Case Of The Murdered Marine
http://www.rense.com/general76/del.htm
and one of my perennial favorites:
Dave Herrick’s Strange Odyssey Through The U.S. War On Drugs
http://www.mapinc.org/drugnews/v99/n1367/a06.html
The Delaware Incident is disturbing. Thanks for the ‘Odyssey’ one Allan.
When the good cops get fired,
what do you have left?
2013 Drug War Killings ECP related
When is the Police State coming? Nevermind…
techdirt â€@techdirt 10m
Feds Now Demanding Internet Companies Hand Over User Passwords Too http://goo.gl/fb/swbnK
First and foremost, thank you Justin Hanners! This country needs a lot more cops like you. If I were in the position to do so, I’d offer you a job in a heartbeat.
Also much respect to Mr. Balko for so effectively exposing this corruption to the public at large. I am absolutely amazed at some of the negative press that I’m seeing around his excellent book.
That was one of the most disturbing things I’ve seen in a while. The recorded comments of the chief ordering them to harass the citizens and do the “fun” things that they are paid to do was sickening.
Good to hear it all from the cops perspective.
Washington legalized it so it’s ok now! We’re winning one state at a time! Prohibs lose!
http://www.theolympian.com/2012/07/24/2637228/feds-bust-one-medical-marijuana.html
and on the border they are turning traffickers with less than 150 lbs of brick weed lose with no charges.
Now comes the job the feds don’t want,,getting a guilty verdict from a jury made up of the voters that made marijuana legal.
DEA Raids Seattle-Area Dispensaries
By Mike Hughes · Thu Jul 25, 2013
Federal agents raided several medical marijuana dispensaries in the Seattle area Wednesday evening. Drug Enforcement Administration spokeswoman Jodie Underwood confirmed the raids but would not give specific details of the operation.
D.E.A.th & Pillage Incremental Retardation
Officer Justin Hanners is a good cop who is valiantly fighting a local corrupt government, and he needs whistleblower protection.
The Whistle Blower Protection Act of 1989 only applies to federal employees, and it’s been whittled down so much as to be useless in most cases, thanks to a revision done in 1994, and various court cases brought before corrupt federal judges. For instance, the Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit has heard 203 whistleblower cases, and has ruled in favor of whistleblowers only three times.
A federal whistleblower enhancement act introduced in 2009 was put on hold thanks to three senators, Jon Kyl (R-AZ), Jeff Sessions (R-AL), and Jim Risch (R-ID). The threat of whistleblowers to agencies such as the DEA is obvious.
Alabama has whistleblower laws. According to FindLaw : “Alabama can not discharge, discipline, threaten, harass, blacklist, or in any other manner discriminate if employee disclosed information, refused to obey an illegal order, or revealed any violation of this chapter.â€
It will be interesting to see how serious the State of Alabama is about its whistleblower laws regarding Officer Hanners. It may be too much to hope that they do better with it than the feds.
Now local ties and politics step on the stage,,if they have been operating at the levels the tape suggested the local pressure could change things pretty quick. Ain’t nothing like about 400>500 tickets a month to a relatively small community,,a lynching party of eager volunteers to hold the rope will probably be at the next city council meeting.
This whole thing goes much deeper than just one chief goading his troops into improper actions. Who hired this thug? Who hires the new cops to replace the good ones who leave? Who writes policy for the remaining goons to follow? Ever notice that whenever a cop is criticized, the PTB always say that he was ‘following policy’ or ‘following proper protocol’ or ‘following proper procedures’. As if that means anything. If the policy, the hiring practices and the selection of chief are as flawed as they appear, there is a much bigger problem. In the end, it comes back to the taxpayers. If they do not accept this behaviour from their cops, it is up to the citizens to make changes in the local government to avoid such things. If they do not make these changes, then they are accepting these behaviours. That is why it is extremely important to sue the city for vast sums whenever possible; if the claim is larger than the insurance coverage, the citizens will be forced to pay more taxes to pay the claim, and the insurance company may well increase premiums if there are many claims. This is the only way to instigate change, because until the public sees the consequences they will not see why change is needed.
In addition to suing the city, the PD, and all in the chain of command from the cop perpetrator right on up to the highest official who has any kind of oversight of the PD and every lackey in between need to be sued as individuals, for their part in it, even if it was just excusing it or turning a blind eye. It has got to hit those responsible in THEIR wallets, too, if we are to make any progress against unlawful acts committed by individual cops or even entire PDs.
This Just in: Pope says Jesus wants people locked in a cage for using Cannabis.
http://latino.foxnews.com/latino/news/2013/07/25/pope-francis-speaks-against-drug-liberalization/
(Odd, I just posted this and now it seems to be gone, so here goes for number two)
That will throw a huge damper on getting anything legalized in Uruguay or just about any SA country until the economics forces them to join the market.
I suspect that even in Latin America, the power of the church isn’t what it was. With every word the pope reaffirms his irrelevancy. Sort of like what happened when a former pope came out against birth control. A large part of the world went ‘Meh’ and embraced BC. As a result there are now only two catholic churches in my city of 65,000. Not only did the birthrate among catholics drop, a lot of them lapsed from the church. Latin America will probably experience something similar. That leaves only Africa as a source of converts, and they are all dying of AIDS. The catholic church, the very very corrupt catholic church is on its way out.
If Francis was hoping for sainthood, his chances just took a big dive the moment he promoted drug warfare in South America.
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Someone please have Francis’ Law engraved on a plaque and then send it to Pope.
Servetus, it appears that you don’t an in depth understanding of the catholic process of canonization. Yes, they’ve loosened up a number of the requirements similar to Great Britain now Knighting every John, Paul, George, and Ringo, but you still have to be dead to win the designation of Saint.
DEA raid several dispensaries in Washington on the 24th of July.
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/07/25/dea-raid-marijuana-dispensaries-washington-state_n_3653071.html?utm_hp_ref=politics
Now they are just plain violating the 1890 Sherman Anti Trust Act by only taking product and money . . . and many other violations. America has free markets -yeah right . . . but one day we will when we win this fight. The DEA are just a private firm cloaked as a Federal Agency.
Now they are just plain violating the 1890 Sherman Anti Trust Act by only taking product and money . . . and many other violations. America has free markets -yeah right . . . but one day we will when we win this fight. The DEA are just a private firm cloaked as a Federal Agency.,
Not with so may gullible chasing the wrong rabbit down the wrong rabbit hole. Anyone who wants to sell it has to remove it from the CSA, that’s it. Whining they aren’t fair is childish as it sounds. They know and they don’t care. Happy now? They’re safe until they set up their own Dispensaries already in the works. The only thing the profiteers are doing is limiting what the Feds have no say in. That is called shooting yourself in the foot. Commerce is anything sold, including vapes as paraphernalia but not rolling papers or pipes if you say its for tobacco. Don’t like it, don’t think its fair. Well the same things were said 42 years ago and they keep the sheep herded very well it seems. Enough to worry more about the so called excerpts than the cops. Incremental Retardation is epidemic.
Follow CA or Bust’
Commerce Claus trumps all else since Raich v Gonzales. The more people hide from it the more will be hurt by it. Obama never lied about busting individuals in states, he has no authority. Only those wanting to sell it. It is those profiteers putting everyone in jeopardy for their stinking profits. We are legal in CA as individuals unless some asshole tries to tweak prop 215 like the other incrementalists and add limits as Lee tried with 19. Moneysluts suck! This is what we have been telling everyone and no one paid it any mind, now you want me to feel sorry for WA and CO who is next on the chopping block? Don’t let your cops write initiatives or linmits will get you busted in a catch 22, state or feds makes no difference. Both cages, both tax paid.
Dennis Peron — A guiding force behind California’s medical marijuana law who says he was fired by Prop. 19 co-author Richard Lee’s Oaksterdam University because of his opposition to the measure, Peron, of San Francisco, feels the measure is too tough on marijuana. Limiting people to an ounce or 25 square feet of growing space is like limiting wine collectors to one bottle; taxation would be disproportionate and unfair; and prison terms for teens who toke or parents who smoke in front of their kids are excessive, he says.
DdC . . . the DEA were violating the Sherman Law in regards to hemp as well –allowing Americans to buy foreign hemp. It would be obvious that all hemp products would be illegal . . . and if the building block for Cannabis/hemp prohibition was created by the MJ Tax Stamp, then wouldn’t the Sherman law require a Watermelon or Cotton Tax stamp for the MJ Tax Stamp to be legal? The DEA gets paid to make sure China and Canada sell us goods, while reducing American jobs through hemp prohibition . . . the DEA are in the business of getting jobs for China (reminds me of Wal-Mart selling a lot of made in China goods -since the DEA charges a fee to request a hemp permit). And because we were allowed to grow hemp during WWII, wouldn’t denying the American military current access to hemp be a form of treason and sabotage –especially since ‘Hemp for Victory’ would have been precedents –legal grounds during times of war and times of war only? And the fact that the DEA financed the Pakistani Jihad group responsible (through David Headley) for the 2008 Mumbai Terror attack, this further places the DEA as not only individuals committing treason, but Radical Islamic Terrorists by default –consequence . . . regardless of intentions . . . all of which would have legally stripped the DEA of their Federal Agency status, due to the nature of treason and giving aid to the enemy during war. Wouldn’t marijuana need to have been legalized before the CSA due to the fact that the MJ Tax Stamp violated Federal Law because of the Sherman Law violation . . . wouldn’t there need to be an repeal of the Sherman Act first? If that is the case, then the Cannabis portion of the CSA schedule 1 status would have been nullified –non-void. Martin Luther King Jr. said that bad laws are no laws and wouldn’t the same be true if one Federal Law trumped another Federal Law . . . breaking Federal Law to pass another one without a complete nullification of the previous Federal Law.
And speaking of war: Organized Crime is the number one reason why 9/11, Afghanistan and Iraq etc happened via drug money funding of terrorism/insurgents, so wouldn’t the law require that all State and Federal Law Enforcement be required to go to Iraq and Afghanistan to fight since the DEA set the precedents for Globe Trotting . . . and the National Guard is State, therefore wouldn’t law require –let’s say: the Indiana Highway Patrol or the Dade Country Sheriffs to do convoy missions in Baghdad or raid bomb makers? Unless we are to assume the cops and the DEA are not paid to raid drugs and seize drug money and the weapons of criminals and gang bangers . . . and doesn’t the notion of ‘terrorist’ formulate the notion of criminal more than it does ‘enemy combatant’? I learned that when I discovered the Italian and Russian Mafia, Latin American smugglers, Nigerian Gangsters and Asian Triad Gangs were being held in our CIA/DoD/Iraqi prison in Iraq . . . war kilos go cheap and organized crime runs the war on their part.
Clearly the people just voting isn’t stopping all the Drug War . . . should we not fight on two fronts: force the Feds to recognize Federal Law (Sherman Law, WWII hemp precedents, David Headley/treason) and vote as well? If it’s a beast with multiple heads, then why not try to chop them all off at once, instead of the long and expensive –one at a time strategy. At this rate, I’ll be in a nursing home by the time my state allows me to legally smoke for medical reasons only . . . it’ll be a hundred years for the War on Terror/Something Else (as seen with the U.S. military currently deployed in Africa) to end as long as drug money can finance anything from cartels to militias and insurgents.
DdC . . . the DEA were violating the Sherman Law in regards to hemp as well –allowing Americans to buy foreign hemp.
War Vet I’d say short answer, maybe reversed. Citizens can write initiatives in states more civilized. So Sherman is moot. But it seems when the state does it, against Fed law, constitutionally granted. Then business in competition with Fed ilicit commerce Ganja and Hemp, might have a case against the state. This is the same as busting Capon for tax evasion but not one individual for drinking in the entire prohibition. Only ones to suffer consequences were manufactures, “traffickers” and farmers distilling their own tractor fuel. Prohibition was repealled, but not for farmers. Sorta gave Furd second thoughts about a fleet of his car from the ground up. Still can’t distill alcohol, but you can home brew reasonable amounts of beer, as long as you don’t sell it. Counties in some Commonwealth’s can vote dry laws banning sales. A reasonable amount of Ganja grown by individuals, is under state law. As long as it isn’t sold or exchanged, or over a 99 plant limit red flagging DEA enforcement. Potentially effecting commerce in the other states. Illegal commerce. But I believe that is the irrational acts of SCotUS and the Ganjawar broker Walmartians they worship and serve.
Many people have lost the ability to tell between right and wrong and they confuse it with legal and illegal. Slavery was legal while Hemp is outlawed…
The long answer…
They’re either getting their last licks in before actual, fully-legal dissemination of cannabis…or, they’re testing the waters, to see how far they can push things with the WA electorate, trying to do another end-run around democracy.
The next few weeks should be very interesting…
I vote for them trying the end run around democracy; look how well it worked in Iran, Iraq, Afghanistan, Granada, Chile, etc. etc.
Most interesting will be how many of these dispensary owners fight the charges,,I have a feeling they went after some dispensaries that even the patients in town knew were operating a “little” outside regulations.
It will still be hard to get a conviction if they let any cannabis lover on the jury or anyone sick of the WOsD.
Nebraska State Troopers tried to steal a million bucks, but couldn’t get away with it this time, despite some sneaky forfeiture money-laundering and a few dog tricks.
A stop-and-frisk of a car in Nebraska yielded cash meant for the purchase of a New Jersey bar by a woman who didn’t like banks. She won her case. A U.S. District Court judge ordered the cops to return the money.
http://tinyurl.com/ksw266z
At least she winning her case is some good news.
Lawmakers in Prime Minister Abdelilah Benkirane’s Islamist PJD, or Justice and Development party, as well as the opposition Authenticity and Modernity, are considering draft legislation proposed by the Morocco Network. Mohamed Boudra, a member of Authenticity and Modernity and governor of Hoceima-Taounate, the country’s biggest cannabis-producing region, said his party is seeking to enact the bill within three years.
“We have to ensure that any legalization is done in an optimal fashion,†said PJD lawmaker Abdelahim Allaoui. “We need to establish what the medicinal virtues of the plant are, and then think of exports, pharmaceutical industry developments, and how to draw foreign investment. This is a promising sector for the economy.â€
http://tinyurl.com/oyh7k74
About 99.9%?
It sounds like the government is going to finally look at marijuana to see if it is a medicine,,,nope,,they are still trying to find harm,,the study is more about finding people scamming the MMJ program and trying to prove the gateway theory,,more hyperbole and propaganda will follow from this “study”
http://thetriangle.org/2013/07/26/nih-funds-med-marijuana-study/
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Hasbro has decriminalized Monopoly and no longer wants their classic board game being associated with American correctional facilities. Make sure to gather up all of your get out of jail free cards and keep them safe!
Monopoly removes jail from classic board game, change angers fans
Some people need to get a life! But perhaps to appease the rank & file fans they could produce a kinder, gentler version and call it a “voluntary” “treatment” center instead of jail. Perhaps they could get some product placement fees from SAM or SAM’s direct competition.
This is a disturbing, disgusting story. Officer Hanners is to be commended for standing up to these goons.
Ticket quotas are not the sole province of PD’s. I found that out last year while working for the hospital security department at a major regional medical center.
At first, the director told us to write five parking citations a month. Those citations could be either warning tickets (no fine attached) or “city tickets” (municipal citations which carried a fine). Since we had had the option of writing warnings for years, it seemed doable, though I thought the quota angle was not a good sign.
In early 2012, the director did away with the warning tickets. Then the quota began to rise. They said we had to write the “average” number of tickets being written by the department (they avoided mentioning a set number, but supervisors would tell you in private how many more tickets you needed that month). And as I found out, not writing the “average” number of tickets resulted in discipline.
After being written up for “low” ticket numbers, I met with the director to suggest alternatives to a quota. I asked him why we were sending so much money down to city hall. He brushed off my concerns and resorted to intimidation. I resigned in protest the next day and was unemployed until very recently.
When the numbers mentality creeps in, you are expected to stop being a thinking human being. The director I worked for was ok with this. He didn’t think it was our job to think for ourselves.
Mind you, this was taking place at a not-for-profit medical center with more important security/safety issues. Comforting, isn’t it?