Category Archives: The Drug War

Legalizing weed? Trump is for it

Posted on April 14, 2018 | Leave a comment

“On the first great-weather day of Spring 2018, President Donald Trump has committed to withdrawing federal objections to the legalization of marijuana, reports Tom Angell of Marijuana Moment.”

It was a great weather day here, too, though a cold front and thunderboomers marred it somewhat. But this is startling news, after AG Sessions’ gungho drug war rhetoric. Maybe he really is on the outs and may resign over this.

“This is huge, as it would unambiguously allow states to pursue legalization without worrying about a federal crackdown such as the one proposed by Attorney General Jeff Sessions at the start of this year. ”

Via Nick Gillespie at Reason

UPDATE:  Ilya Somin of the Volokh Conspiracy doesn’t trust Trump or the House GOP on this.

MORE:  Not to be outdone by Trump, who wants to allow individual states to pursue legalization, the Dims are going for across-the-board federal decriminalization. Wonder how that would apply to states like Texas where it still is illegal.

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Posted in The Drug War, The Economy

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From the Mainstream to the Mediacrats

Posted on March 21, 2017 | 2 comments

“The media and Democrats are so close in association and so close in their philosophical views that we might as well use one word to describe both, and that’s ‘Mediacrats,'” said Texas Rep. Lamar Smith, founder of the House Media Fairness Caucus.

Works for me.

Via Instapundit

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Posted in Blogosphere, Scribbles, The Drug War, Trump

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Trump, our unelected (so far) president

Posted on September 1, 2016 | 8 comments

Some of the usual suspects are giving his staff credit for engineering Trump’s meeting with Mexico’s president Enrique Pena Nieto. They should read Trump’s The Art of the Deal and Don Surber’s Trump The Press. It’s much more likely it was The Donald’s idea to take Pena Nieto up on his invitation before the Hildabeast did.

“President Peña Nieto invited both Trump and Clinton to meet with him to discuss immigration, and now it will look sort of like a pathetic game of catch up if Hillary accepts and meets with him second.”

The cool thing is that Trump came away looking, as he did when he beat Obama and Clinton to flooded Louisiana, and riotous Milwaukee, like a president. One uncowed by lack of political experience or humbled by the usual name-calling put-downs from the lapdog Democrat news media.

Not only that, the immigration speech he followed it with played up an angle the lapdogs have ignored. A less-permeable wall than the one we already have (yes, Virginia, we have a wall; it’s called a fence) would do more than help diminish if not stop illegal immigration. It could put the drug cartels out of business. They need our market and if they can’t get to it in sufficient numbers…

Turns out the cartels are what Pena Nieto is most concerned about, so he and Trump had common ground to stand on, whatever El Presidente’s feeling about illegal immigration. It has been, after all, a safety valve for Mexico’s ruling class, bleeding off the wretched poor who might otherwise stage another revolution.

Adds the Instapundit: “He’s turning her into Jeb, isn’t he?” Indeed he is.

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Posted in Blogosphere, Obamalot, South of the Border, The Drug War, Trump

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I’m Libertarian!

Posted on April 12, 2016 | 1 comment

According to this presidential candidate poll, I am. Which I warn you will take about 15 minutes to complete, unless you’ve already thought about most of what is asked. I had not.

My own answers led to four Libertarians I never heard of: Austin Petersen, Gary Johnson, John McAfee and Marc Allen Feldman. Pity they have no chance.

Of the more likely candidates I side best with our Ted Cruz, followed closely by Trump. The Hildabeast is 30 points south of Trump in my poll results, and Bernie is 32. I don’t side with her on any major issues and him only on some foreign policy ones. Not a surprise.

Via Curmudgeonly and Mouth of the Brazos, who both came down with Cruz first.

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Posted in Blogosphere, The Culture, The Drug War, The Economy

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Legalizing marijuana in Canada

Posted on December 8, 2015 | 7 comments

Mr. B. was crowing the other day about how Canada is the first country to legalize marijuana. Hasn’t actually done so yet but is expected to soon. It fit with his belief that legal barriers will continue to fall and users and sellers will no longer be punished. Not by the law, at least.

I agree, and long have, that these mind-altering substances should be legal across the board. Government has no business telling us what to do with them and, certainly, their attempts to police it for the past few decades has been a failure. All that has done is create a vast network of prisons and young prisoners whose lives have, essentially, been ruined by the state. Plus raise the street price.

However, I know from long experience that children, whose brains are still developing, have no business with it, and shouldn’t be encouraged in any way to use marijuana. Even for adults it has two major drawbacks: 1) the more you do it the harder it is to stop and 2) it is one of the world’s greatest de-motivators. It will gradually quash whatever ambition you may have.

As for Mr. B., any thought that he has for doing pot is being tempered by the realization that his father and the parents of his friends are organizing to try and turn around what schoolkids hereabouts regard as “no big deal.” It’s a very bad deal for them and we want educators to place an onus on it similar to texting-and-driving and drinking-and-driving. But I’d still like to see the government and the police butt out.

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Posted in Mr. Boy, Obsessions, The Culture, The Drug War

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How to improve policing

Posted on August 29, 2015 | Comments Off on How to improve policing

Want to stop all the police killings and (apparently) retaliatory killings of police? The Instapundit’s Glenn Reynolds has a solution. Even if it’s unlikely to be taken.

“(1) abolish official immunity; (2) require insurance for all police; (3) give people a choice of who polices their neighborhoods. That won’t happen, though, because it’s bad for public employee unions and it doesn’t make for appealing slogans designed to drive black [Democrat] voter turnout in November of 2016.”

Repealing the drug war or, at least, decriminalizing marijuana, would help. Also getting rid of SWAT teams. But both are entrenched now and few pols are brave enough to be take them on. They might lose their chance to keep on stealing.

Via Instapundit.

UPDATE:  The Harris County (Houston) deputy slain (at first link above) was killed by a black man who has now been arrested. As Instapundit says: HOW MANY MORE WILL DIE BECAUSE OF OBAMA’S RACIALLY CHARGED RHETORIC? First the black Virginia killer. Now this Texas one.

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Posted in Blogosphere, The Culture, The Drug War

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Reducing drug sentences

Posted on July 15, 2015 | Comments Off on Reducing drug sentences

Finally, something our Little Barry Hussein does that I can agree with.

Although it would be better if he had the guts to champion, and the negotiating skills to push through Congress an end to the drug war. Of course he doesn’t, and therefore he won’t.

But commuting the disproportionate federal prison sentences for minor drug dealers (people caught with more than a small amount are blithely assumed to be dealers) is better than nothing.

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Posted in The Drug War

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