Sorry, but I don’t buy it…
Drug smugglers set free for lack of money to prosecute
Each year the Border Patrol checkpoint seizes hundreds of thousands of pounds of marijuana.
“We have ’em put it in spare tires and gas tanks,” said a Border Patrol agent, whose voice and identity has been disguised because the agent feared of being fired for telling us what happens next – that up to 60 smugglers a month are being let go.
This Border Patrol agent, who’s in disguise for fear of being fired, said that up to 60 drug smugglers a month are being released. “We catch ’em, but then because our hands are tied, they end up walking and being released,” said the agent. […]
Police here say federal authorities generally won’t prosecute traffickers moving less than 150 pounds of marijuana with a street value of $120,000. So they leave those cases and the costs to local district attorneys, including Carlos Garcia of Brooks County.
“If we were to accept them, we’re accepting them with all those financial responsibilities as well, and right now we’re just not at a point where we can do that,” Garcia said, adding that they just can’t afford it.
The Justice Department used to help pay for the prosecutions in border areas. The funding reached $31 million in 2010 but fell to $5 million this year. There’s no money in the White House budget request for next year.
There’s absolutely no lack of money in the drug war.
If this was of a concern to the feds, they could move some of the money they’re spending on going after medical marijuana providers.
A little more research shows that it’s all about making a case to get more money. The reason that the money was cut was that an audit shows the county had been overpaid almost $2 million by the feds that they haven’t paid back.
Everybody wants their piece of the drug war pie.
It is just further proof of the corruption in our government,,they know the jails are full and that it is more important to defeat MMJ and legal marijuana at home than putting mules in prison.
They are simply applying the pressure where it does the most to follow the drug czars policy,,”anything necessary”
Wall St runs the Ganjawar, rinse, repeat…
It’s the bust and until Koch roaches get the 50 state max cap contracts for privatizing profits. Why let the guvmint pay themselves for cages? How much recidivism is the same as the new efficiency for profit hospitals and clinics treating illness and injury, while banning cures and prevention. Don’t care if you’re in a healing environment. Save money shorting staff, bells and whistles frantic nurses is where its at. Go home and then come back and do it all over again. Kaching! Its the check marks for head counts that brings in the bloated budgets. Selling NRA bullets and guns to each Koch rent a cop. Man, its the same old shit. Its their only game plan from sabotaging Ganja to swift boating politicians. McCain and Kerry if memory serves. The hype brings the no bid contracts. Iraq, Vietfuckingnam or this stupid non sense but big buck Ganjawar.
Probably the same 60 people getting busted. They just busted “TONS” the reporter shrieked. Mexicans of coarse. In central CA. Didn’t see them, spotlight the copters dragging the poor babies through the sky, not even budding. Such a shame. Too logical to donate the “manufactured” Ganja? Frankenfud is manufactured, Ganja is a plant. Let the citizens get a break, is that really too far fetched? Let the homeless build homes with the hemp. Let the drunks and junkies have something to take the edge off. Returning Vets and who the hell ever. The fricking roots of this Ganjawar are based on falsisity. You can never ever never get good fruit from a tree with poison roots. It just don’t work that way. Selling this poison fruit to the public, paid by the public for their “safety”. Kinky.
Where was I, oh ya and another thing. The same GOPers and Krats killing farm bills and hissy fitting over the borders. Are the very same ones hiring them at scab wages. Bitching about the growers luring away their tourist trap workers by paying a living wage. Like the preacher who wouldn’t accept money for food donations from growers vs the Dispensary trading joints for thousands of pounds of food. Now I guess they want them to wear bright yellow Stars of David with a picture of the taco bell dog and get social security wrist tatoos and tracking implants, while they serve for less than minimum wage with no health care or comps. It took protests to get porta potty’s the NRA wants to stash a Koch rent a cop near by. In case of drug use.
Of coarse they release them. If they keep them they have to take c., well maybe not care, but it still cost thousands more than they would make on their own. This way they build statistics to justify 100 ft walls with check points to see ifn zee papers are in order. Clean civilized orderly exploitation. Plus what they don’t burn they can sell. Let the product go through and send the mule back for another load. Hey, let Fox try again. Last time they threatened trade barriers but now he’s not prez. If Mexicans could grow their own houses, clothing, nutritional seed and oil. Thousands of products to use, trade or sell. Why would they risk their lives and life savings crossing a brutal desert for a non livable wage? Its a scam, but a profitable one chuck full of red flags flying and no one looking up. No media to show it and plenty of lobby grease for the Congressions to ignore reality another year.
Elaine : The gear is down and we’re ready to land.
Towerguy: Captain,
maybe we ought to turn on the search lights now.
MCrosky: No,thats just what they’ll be expecting us to do
“We have spent over a trillion dollars trying to eradicate the world’s most beneficial plant off the face of the earth. Imagine what a better world this would be if that money had been spent on treatment, education and studying the medical benefits of marijuana.”
— Steve Hager
No, thats just what they’ll be expecting us to do
I’d say it stinks. CBS mainstream Media “leaking” the “stories” the Feds want to be seen. Anybody else recall that they recently okayed domestic propaganda? Does this not fail the smell test? Of COURSE it does. Just LOOK at who’s “breaking” this “big” story….
I’m usually chided for replying to my own comments, but that’s the way I usually think, in dialog. Whatever. Here goes:
One of the major problems with the Fed’s attempts at this stuff is they always play to the peanut gallery. There is no sense that they are even minimally clued to the fact that if you aim your propaganda at the mean, those who fall to the right of the curve (fully 50% of the people) will see right through their crap. Their shite might work if it weren’t for the niggling little detail that those who fall to the left of the curve are exposed to those on the right. So that sets up what I’ll refer to as “opinion drift”. “Opinion drift” occurs at family picnics, baseball games, barbecues and birthdays. (and online, in the comments ections of crap like this…which refused to recognize my FB persona…) And it’s inexorable. Well they are, as a result, losing. And good. Because my laptop just warned me it’s shutting down if I don’t. G’night…
I think they’re aiming at a smaller group – the one below one standard deviation below the mean. IQ 85 or less. The useful idiots, the easily programmed. It has been a winning strategy for them for some time, in a world where the teevee is the only source of info.
BUT – in a world with internet access, instant information, they can’t get the same traction. Good! Fucking liars, using their lies to enforce unjust dominion.
.
.
It is their arrogance that is a primary driver that’s enabling re-legalization. George Bush the 41st and Jack Lawn as DEA director actually believed that they could quash medicinal cannabis. Just for a moment presume that had Mr. Lawn done the right thing after Judge Young issued his ruling and not stand in the way of cannabis as a prescription medicine. Now speculate where we would be. In your speculation remember that in this alternate time line there was never a Compassionate Use Act for California voters to approve. Instead of seeing “California Proposition 215, the Medical Marijuana Initiative (1996)” on the ballot it would have been “California Proposition 215, Taxes on Healthcare Businesses (1996)” Steve DeAngelo would never have moved to California. Richard Lee wouldn’t have sponsored Prop 19. No one outside of her circle would have ever heard of Angel Raich because she would be getting the medicine she needs. I could go on all day giving similar examples but think that should be enough to help anyone reading to catch my drift.
Dennis Peron and friends were spot on…get the medicine to sick people and everyone in their circle would be disabused of the notion that cannabis turns people into the (hysterical rhetoric of the day)
The truly amazing thing is that the idiot prohibitionists still haven’t figured out that their intransigent arrogance is helping, not hindering us. I actually used to worry about saying these things out loud for fear that it would give them ideas. But not anymore because I’ve realized that along with their intransigence and arrogance that they’re also dumber than a sack of rocks.
Well anyway we’re going into the bottom of the 9th, the prohibitionists are behind 27 to 3, and…WTF? The prohibitionists are frickin’ arguing with the umpire, screaming that he should just forfeit the game to them because it was illegal for us to form a team in the first place. The umpire is just standing there, looking at Coach Kerlikowske like he’s bat shit crazy.
I can’t hate them for being stupid because I’m too darn grateful that they’re idiots.
Radley Balko â€@radleybalko
On the way to do Chris Hayes’ show,
I just saw Buster Bluth.
Or if you prefer, Gary Walsh.
All in with Chris Hayes MSNBC
Robert Platshorn
Not doing too well raising funds to air “Should Grandm Smoke Pot?”. I’ve closed on two of three broadcast contracts, but still need another $1,500 to close the deal on 52 broadcasts on a major network station in Indiana. The Silver Tour and “Grandma” are the only mass media outreach to seniors and mainstream voters. With the Silver Tour, you know exactly how you donations are being used to end cannabis prohibition for EVERYONE. Please kick in what you can so that I don’t lose this station. http://www.thesilvertour.org
The Black Tuna is trolling and catching seniors,,he has already raised the support among baby boomers faster than any other groups climb towards legalization. IMO
Bob can sure pick his audiences, and does a really good job. As for his choice of a target audience I highly agree. Its right in line with what Ethan Nadelmann has been saying lately that when legalization occurs it will probably be the older crowd who gets the most use of it:
http://tinyurl.com/nyxmany
I borrowed $25 to send him $50,,I hope I get a pin,,I wear leather cowboy suspenders and my NORML pin and LEAP pin need a new partner,,working on an ASA pin next. When I get both sides covered I will be full grown.
PS:Pete don’t got no pins or it would be top left
The gov’t knows how to get away with this stuff. Just read the comments in the CBS story.
.
.
So what’s your point? Should we just give up because the big, bad government will just huff and puff and blow our house in? I think that you’ve missed the fact that over a decade ago we started building our houses with bricks.
You can only fool some of the people all of the time and every member of that cohort is a moron.
Drug war pie must be an acquired taste. The smell of it makes me gag and I can’t understand why anyone would eat a pie where the active ingredient is regurgitated bull shit.
well, not quite regurgitated bullshit but it is a pie:
Good Though!
With whistle-blower hysteria in the news, CBS is sensationalizing the story, making it look like some kind of WikiLeaks’ disclosure. It didn’t work. WikiLeaks disclosures are far better, and infinitely more trustworthy.
There is no whistleblowing here. Deporting illegal immigrants who smuggle less than 150-pounds of marijuana into the U.S. is common knowledge. It’s been publicly known for years. Feds, along with governors ordered by federal judges to reduce prison populations, routinely deport foreign, smalltime drug offenders to their native countries as a cost-savings measure.
CBS has historically been prohibition friendly. Journalists working in lockstep with government agencies is nothing new. Former drug czar Barry McCaffrey was caught and reprimanded for not disclosing his media propagandizing. Operation Mockingbird, a long-running CIA program, was exposed by the Frank Church Senate committee on intelligence activities in 1975.
We can readily guess who or what the anonymous source is, since the CBS story indirectly promotes the prison industrial complex and its ideal of turning both American continents into some giant, human warehouse – one more example of the government’s incestuous relationship with corporatists who together exercise their protection rackets in conjunction with a coordinated war on humanity and the taxpayer.
Well, the FLA vs GZ case just plucked some federal tail feathers and settlement costs for the suit against NBC just skyrocketed!