Thousands of U.S. agents and local police officers arrested and interrogated suspected associates of Mexican drug cartels across the United States on Thursday in response to the killing of a U.S. anti-narcotics agent in Mexico last week. […]
DEA officials said the sweep netted more than 100 suspects – most of them low-level – in Atlanta, Oakland, St. Louis, Denver, Detroit, San Antonio, San Diego, Chicago and New Jersey, as well as in Colombia, Brazil and Central America. […]
The DEA action, widely reported Thursday in Mexico, is intended to send a strong message to Mexican mafias that U.S. agents are off-limits, officials said.
“We’re doing what we always do. But a message was sent.”
Really?
So, these “cartels” who haven’t been deterred by the entire might of the Mexican army, who hire and dispose of mules and foot-soldiers with no regard to their lives, who slaughter rivals and innocents with a sadistic glee… What, they’re now going to quake in their boots because the DEA rousted a bunch of Americans with Mexican-sounding names… and questioned them?
“We’re sending a strong message.” >>translation>> “Uh, I got nuthin.”
“U.S. agents are off limits”
“we’re doing what we always do”
The response of the cartels “no speak a the english”
“The DEA action, widely reported Thursday in Mexico, is intended to send a strong message to Mexican mafias that U.S. agents are off-limits, officials said.”
apparently the message they want to send is that LEO’s and agents are off limits, but everyone else is fair game. have fun boys!
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Recently they’ve put up “DUI enforcement zone” signs on the Interstate near my home. My first thought was, so can I drive as drunk as I please outside of the zone? I think you could make a good case for entrapment by estoppel if you were arrested outside the “enforcement zone.” Ah well I’ll leave that controversy to the fans of drinking alcohol.
I did mention how the writers of CSI:Miami portrayed the State’s Attorney sending a message to the local gang in that particular alternative universe.
http://www.drugwarrant.com/2011/02/open-thread-233/comment-page-1/#comment-72939
Hey Pete, almost 3/4 of the way to 100k comments. Impressive.
It means that adults will be jailed for pot – because a child (prohibitionists assure us) might misunderstand this or that.
Don’t we always jail adults to prevent children from misunderstanding something? This is a will-established precept of American jurisprudence.
Whenever politicians, police or prosecutors assert kids might need to get a message, what further need of witnesses have we? That’s proof enough. Adults need always to go to jail for pot, because prohibitionists insist such will send a message. Proved. Q.E.D. Pravda. Case closed.
Lets grab at some straws oh no I got a dog turd.
It’s the law enforcement version of a sternly worded letter.
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Fuck you Hans Blick!
I never knew before I saw that movie that North Korea was a puppet regime.
It means the corruption from prohibition has filtered down,just as crap rolls down hill,our politicians corrupted with lobbyist funding,the bureaucrats funded by budgets and responsibilities for maintaining the status quo for their employees and to actually lie to America,,,,and that is a form of corruption.
Any agent must pass an IQ test to even get the job so although he may start out with high ideals and expectations of ridding America of drugs,it must become apparent to even them that the ONDCP/DEA campaign against marijuana is as unsupported by any scientific evidence,economical study or investigative action by the federal courts and even our congress’s,whose every study has recommended decriminalization on marijuana laws.
The fact that our congress has ignored every study does not take the information away for any inquisitive mind,
including DEA,Border Patrol.Customs Agents,Sheriffs, Police ,etc,etc,etc. And since these LEO’s live with complete knowledge that something is rotten in Denmark,,, something like being required to lie to America could grow like a cancer in any true patriotic LEO’s conscience.
That is probably the very reason we have L.E.A.P and other Judicial/LEO organizations supporting legalization/decriminalization of marijuana exist.
If a few rotten apples spoils the whole barrel,we have a bureaucracy with rotten apples sowing corruption from the top down,,,,if it’s OK for the top to be corrupted,it must be OK for the bottom.
“…arrested and interrogated suspected associates…”
“…more than 100 suspects – most of them low-level…”
“…intended to send a strong message…”
“We’re doing what we always do.”
Interesting quotes from this article.
One wonders why they would even make such ineffectual hand waving public…much less trumpet it as a response to the death of an agent. It’s as if they’re saying “Look at us! We’re USELESS!”
Oddly enough, I can’t recall the last time I saw Pete linking to an article directly on mapinc.org.
Chris, I used to do it all the time, largely because MAP articles are forever, while newspaper articles can expire. But in recent years, I’ve tended to go with the source more often, partly because my newsreader usually catches them for me before they show up on MAP, partly because tips usually come with source links, and partly because many of the readers here like to go to those articles and add their own comments.
I do still depend on MAP, though, both for permanency and catching some things I otherwise miss.
Here’s the message…
Why can’t the US legalize drugs? There’s ‘too much money in it,’ Clinton says
Thousands of U.S. agents x $60/hr…
and local police officers
DEA to raid Humboldt County… 400 agents x $60/hr…
Median Hourly Rate by Years/Experience
1-4 years $44.38
5-9 years $44.21
10-19 years $55.00
20 years or more $73.00
Q: What is the starting salary and grade for Special Agents?
A: DEA Special Agents are generally hired at the GS-7 or GS-9 level, depending on education and experience. The salary includes federal Law Enforcement Officer base pay plus a locality payment, depending on your duty station. Upon successful graduation from the DEA Training Academy 25% Availability Pay will be added to your base and locality pay. After graduation, the starting salaries are approximately $49,746 for a GS-7, and $55,483 for a GS-9. After four years of service Special Agents are eligible to progress to the GS-13 level and can earn approximately $92,592 or more per year.”
The Administration of Contracts and Agreements for Linguistic Services by the Drug Enforcement Administration
As a result, we questioned $518,91212 (13 percent) of the $4.1 million paid
How much do DEA agents get paid their salary?
DEA Special Agents can expect to earn between $36,870 and $75,025.
Employees 10,784 (2009)
Annual budget US$2.415 billion (2010)
Cost of the DEA
In 2008 according to the DEA http://www.justice.gov DEA budget was $2.4 billion. The daily budget for this was $6,575,340. After 3 years during Operation Funk 49 (2004-2007)they arrested 59 people, came up with 2 pound of heroine, 1,246 pounds of cocaine, 640 pounds of meth, and (more than likely more than) $9.1 million in cash. Assuming that the budget from 2003-2007 was $1.9 billion, the total over the three year investigation cost the taxpayers roughly $5.7 billion. That’s not including other activities by the DEA, as Operation Funk 49 was the “Feather in their cap”.
The estimated cost to incarcerate these individuals is roughly $30,000 per year.
Money Spent on the War On Drugs so far this Year
$6,476.000,000.00 state and federal
We call that “make-work”.
3,000 agents 450 arrests, accoding to this piece be Mike Whitney, CounterPunch
Operation Payback lol a freeware title if there ever was one. This one stemming from the tax dollar cookie jar. Interesting how it loads with the occaisional ‘page cannot be displayed’ Masks on, Guy Fawkes.
http://www.counterpunch.org/whitney02252011.html
Found another MexiWar site;
http://neglectedwar.com/blog/
The only DEA OR ANY ONE IN CIA ETC are send message is they are pretending to go after real criminals,instead arresting the folks who want there weed freed, Hey did anyone catch 60 min. caught part of it some official whining about Chinese stealing our secrets that could have great detrimental effects in long run for US followed guy selling secrets who worked for some agency can’t remember caught him and I’m thinking OK, HE’S Toast now sold national secrets which is a against national security moi a judge gives him barely 5 years and might lesson sentence says secrets were not that important,so why the fuck even do the story.Look people breaking drug laws get more prison time than people give away our secrets. Whats wrong with this picture.
I think the cartels are very conscious of the fact that it’s not in their best marketing interest to spread their professional conflicts and mayhem into the U.S. market place. Otherwise, such activities would already be manifesting themselves on a truly significant scale on U.S. soil, and not just in one or two isolated incidents involving the killing of DEA agents.
This latest mismanaged message from the politicians and DEA clowns is designed to take credit for a narco-political situation that already exists; in effect, something they never achieved. It’s a vapid illusion of power being spun as a success.
“We’re sending a strong message.â€
And the message is: smoking weed or snorting coke is worse than kicking in someone’s door in and murdering them. RIP Eurie Stamps.
With an annual budget of $2.4 billion, I would’ve expected a little more for my money than someone sending a vague message to some unknown recipient. Hell, call me crazy, but I would’ve thought 2.4 billion might’ve actually bought me some results.
Well if that doent scream” We’re ineffective , useless and lossing our support base, so we’ll scream,yell and wave our flag and arrest people that mean nothing to our ememies !” then i dont know what does..
Hello,foot soldiers are cheap !
WHOA,,,they are arresting the very people the DEA needs arrested,,,the competition for the black market dollars that the Dog Elimination Agency needs to continue flowing into the cartels hands,,,through the banks that make the millions and the continued violence in Mexico and around the world proving how much we NEED them.
Hey, this is off topic, but very interesting…especially if you maintain a facebook or myspace page, and/or if you are engaged in online activism the way some people here do….Creepy and a little scary…the way most real news is these days.
http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/article27577.htm
Yep, I knew of this already. I regularly try ‘poke’ people to see if they are people.
The truth is self evident. Not difficult to spot a message funded and sourced, birthed and steeped, in hate. I’m only now understanding why my uncle dumped my mother in the 1970’s. She is one of the bricklaying wall building teatsucks for the government snitch state, should know better, and is demonstrably whacko and irrevocably committed to their dark, toxic, brewed-of-cyanide liberty-killing agenda. Nothing more disgusting than people who do not even know how to change a tire demanding compliance with their psychotic bird-brain demonic flights-of-fancy.