Trump proposes the death penalty for drug dealers

Donald Trump

Trump’s admiration for authoritarians has always been evident, and he’s now flirting with yet another idea from their despotic playbook:

Trump said that allowing prosecutors to seek the death penalty for drug dealers — an idea he said he got from Chinese President Xi Jinping — is “a discussion we have to start thinking about. I don’t know if this country’s ready for it.”

“Do you think the drug dealers who kill thousands of people during their lifetime, do you think they care who’s on a blue-ribbon committee?” Trump asked. “The only way to solve the drug problem is through toughness. When you catch a drug dealer, you’ve got to put him away for a long time.”

It was not the first time Trump had suggested executing drug dealers. Earlier this month, he described it as a way to fight the opioid epidemic. And on Friday, The Washington Post reported that the Trump administration was considering policy changes to allow prosecutors to seek the death penalty.

Modern US presidents don’t have a particularly strong record of upholding democratic values once they become inconvenient to their goals, but Trump is the first to throw away any pretense at giving any damn at all. Though, to be perfectly fair, that’s probably in part because he doesn’t know or understand the first thing about due process, or Constitutional safeguards – not surprising from a man who (reportedly) rolled his eyes four Amendments into the actual text of his country’s founding document.

(It should go without saying, but in addition to violating the core principles of a democratic justice system, imposing the death penalty on drug dealers would do absolutely nothing to curb the dealing of drugs. “Toughness” on crime does not work, largely because would-be criminals simply don’t consider the legal penalties at play, if they’re even aware of them, when engaging in criminal acts. The idea that harsher sentences lowers crime is a myth that’s now only promoted by dinosaurs like Trump and his Attorney General.)

The man is like a broken, neverending carnival ride – you just never know where he’s going next and how much whiplash everyone else will suffer from it. It’s highly unlikely he’ll make a serious push for this, just as it’s unlikely he’ll push for almost any policy he proposes. The man has absolutely no sincere ideological or political beliefs; he just repeats whatever he last picked up from someone else. And with someone who spends so much time fraternizing with strongmen and autocrats, that’s something to be concerned about.

(via @radleybalko)

Studies: Legalizing marijuana reduces alcohol and opioid use

The myth: Pot is a “gateway drug” that will send users spiraling into drug addiction, forcing them to turn tricks to pay for their next heroin fix.

The reality:

A new working paper by researchers at the University of Connecticut and Georgia State University found that in some states that had legalized medical marijuana, alcohol sales had fallen up to 15%.

[…]

This finding is significant, as the consequences for alcohol use are generally considered to be more severe than for marijuana use. This past summer, in a survey of their consumers by Eaze, a cannabis technology company that facilitates delivery of medical marijuana, the company found that many people who used medical marijuana decreased their alcohol use.

Of the respondents that consumed alcohol, 87% said they had reduced their drinking because of their cannabis use and 13% said they had replaced alcohol completely with cannabis.

And it’s not just alcohol being replaced. Fewer people are using opiates, with fewer deaths as a result, and that’s also traceable to marijuana legalization:

A recent study in the American Journal of Public Health concluded that marijuana legalization in Colorado had resulted in short-term reductions in opioid-related deaths. Other research has corroborated this trend, noting that fewer prescription painkillers are prescribed in states where cannabis is legal.

Why, it’s almost as though “drug warriors” were talking out of their ass, and that removing arbitrary and historically racist restrictions on a substance that’s only fractionally as dangerous as drugs that are already legal were an idea that made sense.

(via @fark)

Daily Links: 01/07/18 – SWATting in a land of warrior cops

• Radley Balko writes about the deadly risks of “SWATting” hoaxes in a time when police are trained to feel constantly threatened by the populace they serve.

• Actual attorney Ken “Popehat” White breaks down the ramifications of Attorney General Sessions’s revocation of Justice Department memos meant to curb federal interference in states where marijuana has been legalized. In short: Nothing much changes, individual users aren’t more likely to be arrested, but it casts FUD on what the future holds.

• Skeptic Magazine: Dismissing sexual assault victims and defending convicted serial child molesters. It’s time to put the professional skeptic movement on the same moral pedestal as the Catholic Church.

• Knoxville News Sentinel columnist sees the Freedom From Religion Foundation sending polite letters warning about Establishment Clause violations, compares them to ISIS trying to kill Jesus.

• “Let me talk to you. Let me help you, please.” If we criticize, as we should, cops who jump the gun and cause needless bloodshed, so should we celebrate officers who put themselves at risk to try and deescalate situations.
  (via @radleybalko)

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Daily Links: 12/20/17 – The problems with “drug-free zones”

Rep. Marsha Blackburn (R-TN)

• The Myth of the Playground Pusher: How “drug-free zones” are less about protecting children and a lot more about drug-warrior politicians who want to burnish their creds with tougher sentences, innocence be damned.
  (via @radleybalko)

• Rep. Marsha Blackburn ^[pictured] (R-TN), noted telecom shill who understands nothing about net neutrality, introduces a bill that would codify the FCC’s anti-net-neutrality position into law.

• Law firm Appleby, whose leaked documents were the basis for the Paradise Papers, sues The Guardian and the BBC over their reporting, claiming “there was no public interest in the stories”.
  (via @KyellGold)

• Speaking of bad lawsuits: Password manager company Keeper is suing an Ars Technica reporter who wrote about a security flaw that has since been fixed. Considering that security firms’ credibility rests largely on their transparency regarding security flaws, this mostly ensures that no-one will trust Keeper again.
  (via @normative; RT: @Popehat)

• More data, this time from Las Vegas, shows that police body cameras reduce the number of complaints and use-of-force incidents.

• Ding dong, the child-molestation-enabling cardinal is dead. Naturally, he’ll get a full Vatican funeral with Pope Francis’s blessing.

• Sen. Al Franken (D-MN) sets his resignation date for January 2, 2018.
  (via Joe.My.God.)

• Finally, it’s a victory against breed-specific legislation as Montréal, Québec strikes down its pit bull ban.

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Daily Links: 10/23/17 – WHO appoint(ed) dictator Mugabe as “goodwill ambassador”

Robert Mugabe

• It took all of one day for the World Health Organization to appoint Zimbabwean dictator Robert Mugabe ^[pictured] as “goodwill ambassador” and then reverse course. In other news, wait what

• Indiana’s Lawrence County ends proven-to-work, life-saving needle exchange program … because Jesus.

• Cub Scout asks senator why she sponsored a bill to allow domestic abusers to own guns, gets kicked out of his group.
  (via Pharyngula)

• The sitting President of the United States can’t get enough of his favorite pastime of arguing with war widows.
  (via Joe.My.God.)

• Finally, pro tip for Bill O’Reilly: A good way not to put your family through a “horror show” with a sexual harassment scandal is to not sexually harass anyone.
  (via Joe.My.God.)

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Daily Links: 09/26/17 – Graham-Cassidy repeal bill bites the dust

• Another Republican healthcare repeal bill bites the dust. Stay tuned for attempt no. 48 this time next week.

• The problem isn’t so much North Korea, which acts utterly predictably, as it is the unpredictable imbecile in the White House.

• Saudi Arabia to allow women to drive. What’s next, letting them get married without a man’s permission? Walk around with bare hair? I tell ya, give these feminists an inch …
  (via Joe.My.God.)

• North Carolina legislators have subverted the use of bodycams to make police even less accountable for abuse.
  (via @radleybalko)

• “The most devoted opponents of drug legalization or decriminalization are drug gangs themselves.”

• Be it Creationism or medical quackery: magical thinking is dangerous.

• Finally, as welcome as this is, it just looks … wrong:

This is a small change, but a big move for us. 140 was an arbitrary choice based on the 160 character SMS limit. Proud of how thoughtful the team has been in solving a real problem people have when trying to tweet. And at the same time maintaining our brevity, speed, and essence! https://t.co/TuHj51MsTu

— jack (@jack) September 26, 2017

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Daily Links: 08/25/17 – Trump to pardon ex-Sheriff Joe Arpaio [updated]

Ex-Sheriff Joe Arpaio

• Arizona ex-Sheriff Joe Arpaio ^[pictured] is a racist monster who threw suspected undocumented immigrants into inhumane prison camps, and was convicted of contempt for disobeying a federal court order to stop his racial profiling. So of course Trump plans to pardon him. | UPDATE (@ 10:08 PM ET): That was fast.

• The Orange County Register has a sobering piece on the frequency of animal-related police shootings and the near-complete lack of accountability over it.
  (via Dogs Shot by Police | Facebook)

• Law enforcement in the US has gone off the rails. This sting involved using a paid informant to seduce a struggling ex-con, trick her into setting up drug deals (which she didn’t attend) to “save his life”, then bust her for it.
  (via @YasminYonis; RT: @Popehat)

• Massachusetts Supreme Court rules Fourth Amendment protections against warrantless phone searches also apply to digital cameras.

• Nancy Pelosi, who’s spent her professional working life in Congress, still doesn’t understand the First Amendment.
  (via @charlescwcooke; RT: @Popehat)

• And finally, The Economist rebuts baseless claims that Black Lives Matter condones violence or anti-White hatred.
  (via @radleybalko)

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Daily Links: 08/03/17 – Court denies compensation to US citizen wrongly detained by ICE for 3 years

Davino Waters

• Appeals court rules a naturalized US citizen ^[pictured] who was wrongly imprisoned by ICE for three-and-a-half years without a lawyer isn’t eligible for compensation because the statute of limitations expired whilst he was in custody.
  (via RT by @radleybalko)

• Sen. Cory Booker (D-NJ) presents a bill to decriminalize pot nationwide, cut funding to states that target minorities, and dump that money back into Drug War-ravaged communities. It’s a commonsensical move that would improve lives and wellbeing all over, so of course it has zero chance of passing, least of all with Trump and his Drug-Warrior Attorney General.
  (via @ggreenwald & Joe.My.God.)

• For the second time in as many weeks, a group of Baltimore, MD cops gets busted planted drugs because they didn’t understand how their body cameras work.
  (via RT by @radleybalko)

• 56 retired US generals and flag officers warn in a press release that Trump’s trans military ban would cause significant disruptions and degrade military readiness, contrary to the howling of the far-Right fringe.
  (via Joe.My.God.)

• Statue of Liberty: “Give me your tired, your poor, your huddled masses yearning to breathe free.” Trump White House: Ignore that.
  (via RT by @radleybalko)

• Poll: Trump’s approval rating continues to plummet with his credibility SO MUCH WINNING
  (via Joe.My.God.)

• And finally, from the ACLU of West Virginia, in an actual court document regarding coal king Bob Murray’s ridiculous SLAPP lawsuit against John Oliver: “Anyone Can Legally Say ‘Eat Shit, Bob!’” It only gets better from there.
  

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Daily Links: 07/29/17 – Obamacare repeal’s true Republican opponents

Sens. Lisa Murkowski (R-AK, top) & Susan Collins (R-ME)

• Whilst Sen. John McCain (R-AZ) deserves credit for his swing vote, don’t forget the two Republican women, Sens. Lisa Murkowski (AK) and Susan Collins (ME) ^{[both pictured]}, who’ve opposed repealing Obamacare from the start despite physical threats from male colleagues.
  (via Right Wing Watch)

• In the wake of the “skinny repeal” failure, Trump calls for the end of the Senate filibuster … even though it wouldn’t have saved the repeal bill.
  (via Joe.My.God.)

• US Senate Appropriations Committee undermines AG Jeff Sessions’s pot crackdown by voting to protect medical marijuana.
  (via @radleybalko)

• Hungarian teenager finds ridiculous and obvious security flaw in Budapest transit authority website, contacts website owners directly to avoid embarrassing them. Owners have him arrested on accusations of hacking.

• Scientists find evidence indicating there might be large amounts of water trapped beneath the surface of the Moon.

• And finally, Arby’s shows how to be awesome at dealing with a Twitter troll. (Spoiler: It involves a puppy.)

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Portugal’s drug decriminalization experiment in one chart

In 2001, Portugal took a bold new direction in their fight against the drug epidemic: decriminalizing it all, refocusing their efforts on rehabilitating addicts rather than treating them as criminals. Over a decade later, the results speak for themselves:

Meanwhile, the top law enforcement official in the United States wants to jump-start the Drug War by bringing back long-failed policies and cracking down on pot users.

What a contrast.

(via @ggreenwald)

Daily Links: 07/21/17 – Oregon removes kids from parents with low IQ

Eric Ziegler (left) & Amy Fabbrini

• Oregon officials take couple’s ^[pictured] children away and put them up for adoption after declaring the parents’ IQ is too low; there are no reports of neglect or abuse. I have no words.
  (via @radleybalko)

• Iowa prosecutor magnanimously agrees not to ruin a 14-year-old’s life by putting her on the sex offender registry for sexting.
  (via RT by @radleybalko)

• Good write-up on AG Jeff Sessions’s wish to bring back decades’ worth of failed Drug War policies, including the useless-at-best DARE program.

• New York City evidently has run out of serious crime, since it’s now cracking down on people who watch other people’s pets for money.
  (via @radleybalko)

• Perpetually butthurt Todd Starnes joins other butthurt prudes in attacking Teen Vogue over its article on practicing safe butt sex.

• Two cases: A White cop shot and killed a Black teenager, and a Black cop shot and killed a White woman. Guess which story (and the nationality of the shooter) Fox News focused on.

• James Woods: Conservative actor, litigious asshole and weapons-grade hypocrite.

• And finally, it’s Big Bigot Ken’s Big Gay Boat Ride^*:

[full size (568×582)]

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* For the uninitiated.

Daily Links: 07/19/17 – Minneapolis, MN cop kills unarmed woman in PJs who called 911

Justine Damond

Micro-review: War for the Planet of the Apes – A solidly written and executed story, amplified by powerhouse leads in both Andy Serkis and Woody Harrelson. You really care for those damn dirty apes’ struggle. 8½ monkey paws out of 10.

• Minneapolis, MN: Woman ^[pictured] in PJs calls police over possible assault in alley. Cops arrive. Woman approaches car, starts talking to officer. Other cop immediately shoots her dead. Can’t wait to hear the police union’s defense for this one.

• EU Parliament committees vote to expand and worsen copyright laws, would impose fees just for linking to certain (free) material.

• Experts warn the UK’s nanny-statist plan to force adult websites to verify users’ age with ID checks starting next year is unworkable and would lead to a privacy nightmare, so of course the gov’t is ramming it through anyway.
  (via Privacy Online News)

• Lengthy exposé by the Australian ABC finds plenty of overlap between domestic abuse and evangelical Christian beliefs.
  (via @religionnews)

• And finally, on the “limited government” hypocrisy of drug warriors like Jeff Sessions.
  (via @fark)

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