BLOG
NY Police Handcuff Children and Shoot a Dog all for a $60 Bag of Pot
With Radley Balko busy uncovering conspiracies in Mississippi I guess Iâll address this weekâs paramilitary policing disaster:
14 Year Old Juvenile Informant; Dead at 16 years of Age. According to Police.
I thought everyone would find this interesting. I almost forgot that I had this reply that I received from a Newspaper Journalist. The Content concerned a Child that had been used as a Confidential Informant, since the tender age of 14 years old. The child ended up dead at 16 years old and his best friend has been sent to the "Pen" for 28 years. Nothing happened to the Police Officer that placed the 16 year old boy in mortal danger. This all happened in the Texas 81st Judicial District. Pay attention to the end of the article: Read on
Kinky
More polititions NEED to rethink their whole strategies for many issues concerning this country!! BETTER yet the people of this country should do it for them. After all it is the peoples tax money paying the saleries of these Gov't officials/ DEA and we all know what a waste of money/resourses that is!!!
Texas Rangers Do Not Interfere With Other Police Agencies?
The Texas Ranger I spoke with today over the phone said to me that She does not interfere with other police agencies. This would explain how Tulia, TX came about. We all know how long the legal system in Texas took to resolve that injustice.
Spying on Rock Festivals: High-Tech Hidden Surveillance at Wakarusa
UPDATE: Drug War Chronicle story about this incident online now. We wrote about police harassment of attendees at the Wakarusa Music and Camping Festival when the event occurred in June, but little did we know that was only the tip of the iceberg. Now, thanks to the bragadoccio of a high-tech surveillance equipment manufacturer and a resultant puff piece in an industry rag, we know that state, local, and federal law enforcement officials were all on hand at Wakarusa to check out a demo of some very sophisticated surveillance equipment. With hidden cameras, night vision equipment, and thermal imaging, cops were able to surveil up to 85% of the festival grounds, spot drugs and money changing hands, watch people roll joints, and subsequently make arrests.
Significance of Colorado and Nevada marijuana initiatives -- even if they lose
In my latest post on my blog, I speculate about the moral implications of the Nevada and Colorado Initiatives. Significance of Colorado and Nevada marijuana initiatives -- even if they lose
ONDCP Ads on Youtube.com
From the creators of a blog that no one reads, and podcasts that no one listens to, comesâ¦â¦Youtube videos that no one watches! Thatâs right folks, ONDCP has created a Youtube profile and itâs about as cool as you might expect. The page includes several of ONDCPâs ads (you know, the ones that were proven to cause drug use), but for ONDCP super-fans thereâs also a 3-part series featuring Drug Czar John Walters talking from behind a podium somewhere.Itâs delightfully ironic that, after a barrage of bad publicity, ONDCP has attempted to redeem its ads by placing them in an online popularity contest. Success on Youtube has much to do with viewer ratings, and after only one day, ONDCPâs ratings are as low as the system permits (note: ratings appearing in the user profile linked above are only updated periodically. You have to click on one of the videos to see how bad the ratings have gotten).
Lost This One, But Not As Bad As It Sounds
Special thanks to the roughly 1,000 DRCNet supporters who lobbied their Representatives in Congress to reject H.R. 5295, the so-called "Student and Teacher Safety Act." The House of Representatives unfortunately passed the bill, on a voice vote, which means there is no record of who voted yes and who voted no. It is also possible that there might not have really been the 2/3 majority needed to pass it, but without a member of Congress calling for a roll call, that is left up to the ear of the member leading the session. While a few Democrats did speak against the bill, none of them requested a voice vote, probably out of fear that Republican challengers would use the "Rep. So and So voted against a bill to keep kids away from drugs and guns" line in the upcoming campaigns in this high-stakes election season.
Watch School Search Bill Debate Online
CLICK HERE FOR LATEST UPDATE UPDATE: It's on right now (5:39pm). Turn on C-Span or go to c-span.org, section "live streams."
On the Thai Coup Attempt
The mass media today are full of reports about the slow-motion military coup attempt taking place in Thailand. While I'm not a big fan of military coups, I have to point out that this one couldn't have happened to a nicer guy. Long-time Chronicle readers may recall Thai Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra as the man who unleashed a "war on drugs" in 2003 where some 2,000 people summarily executed. That's human rights speak for gunned down in the streets without a trial or even an arrest.
Communications from the "Hill"
In a recent communication to me from Senator Kay Bailey Hutchinson. The Senator said that she would do what ever it takes to fight the WAR ON DRUGS. When I presented her a factual event that took place in a small south Texas town she changed her tune. I will let you all in on what I described to Senator Hutchinson. In Feb.2005 a police officer from the small town of Floresville, TX. located 30 miles south of San Antonio, TX. A Police Cpl. gave voluntary testimony against a young man that accidently shot and killed his 16 year old best friend. You can imagine the devastation that this horrible event brought to the small town of Floresville,TX. The police officer testified to having used the 16 year old as a confidential informant, since the age of 14.
Congress Considering Strip Searching Students
I believe that the following quote is appropriate considering that those sneaky S.O.B.'s on the "Hill" are coming after our children. Throughout history, it has been the inaction of those who could have acted; the indifference of those who should have known better; the silence of the voice of justice when it mattered most; that has made it possible for evil to triumph.
Free Willie!
After a 50 year investigation, Operation Follow Willie Nelsonâs Tour Bus has finally produced results:Willie Nelson and some friends were cited yesterday for illegal music downloading marijuana and mushroom possession.
We CAN stop this horrible bill! But we need to act soon...
CLICK HERE FOR UPDATE Already nearly 700 StoptheDrugWar.org members and readers are confirmed to have contacted their representatives about defeating H.R. 5295, the bill that would make it dramatically easier for schools to engage in abusive mass searches. And, SSDP and DPA are rallying their lists as well. Click http://ga0.org/campaign/searches_bill to do your part.
Freedom of Information and the U.S. Department of Justice
There has been another gang fight (9/17/2006) at the Federal Correctional Institution ("FCI") La Tuna, New Mexico/Texas (the prison actually straddles the border, though almost all prisoner claims must go to a Texas court).
How the Drug War Targets Women
The drug war has come down on women like a huge hammer in recent years. During the 1990s drug offenders accounted for the largest source of the total growth among female inmates (36 percent). As of 2004, almost one-third of all women prisoners were convicted of drug offenses; in federal prisons, this figure was 65%. In 1979 only ten percent of women in state prison were drug offenders.
A Look Inside Brazil's Drug "Commands"
Brazil, Latin America's largest and most populous nation gets surprisingly little press in the US. The mass media paid some attention back in May, when the country's "commands"--the criminal gangs formed in Brazil's prisons that control the drug trade and act as a de facto government in some of the favelas (ghettos) surrounding Sao Paulo and Rio de Janeiro--rose up in open rebellion against the Brazilian state. But since then, the silence in the US press has been deafening.
Free World
I wrote earlier with regards to Kinky Friedmans stance to the legalization of marijuana. Prison is not the place for people caught with marijauna. Many of these people fall prey to the more violent offenders. Many of these offenders(1/4 ounce and less) come from small Texas townships and receive more time than offenders convicted of child molestation, rape, murder, etc.
Being the Best "Bad Guy" You Can
Guest blogger Jay Fleming of Law Enforcement Against Prohibition points out a painful unintended consequence for police officers who do undercover work: Undercover is being the best bad guy you can.
U.S.Stamps
Saturday 16 September 2006 In 1971 the U.S. Postal Service issued a commemorative stamp Scott number 1438 titled PREVENT DRUG ABUSE; but as Post Master General Winton M. Blount stated at the First Day of Issue ceremony âThe stamp is not, in fact, a commemorative stamp at all. It is rather, a warning, a plea for help and a call to the American people to take every step to lift up those who have fallen under the use of drugs.â At that time marijuana had been illegal (Prohibition) for thirty-four years. Since then what has occurred? Well marijuana has become more expensive and its cousin hemp has begun entry into the commerce despite efforts by the DEA to stop it. In the 1980âs we have had a cocaine âcrackâ epidemic. In the 1990âs an epidemic of ECSTASY at the dance club âRAVESâ that our youth are drawn to. Now we are experiencing a METH crisis with its main root resulting in an ID theft crisis. Heroin is cheaper and more readily available. Cocaine appears in abundance, too. In these last thirty-four years our country has spent over $400,000,000,000.00 for these results. The drug criminal cartel is more violent and in 1999 made over $1,000,000,000,000.00 with profits exceeding the GDP of most U.N. member nations.