DN - In Secret AT&T Deal, U.S. Drug Agents Given Access to 26 Years of Americans' Phone Records

TYT - The NSA Is Handing Your Data to the DEA and Covering It Up

TYT - Obama Ignores State Marijuana Rights

TYT - Racist War On Weed - New ACLU Report

It Is Always the Little Guy

Trey Smith

The Mexican drug cartels have caught the headlines again and again due to their murderous activities. The war between the different drug cartels and the war between the cartels and government security forces has spilled the blood of tens of thousands of innocent people. The drug cartels would find it much harder to profit from their murderous activity if they didn’t have too big to fail banks willing to wash their dirty money.

In March 2010 Wachovia cut a deal with the US government which involved the bank being given fines of $160 million under a ”deferred prosecution” agreement. This was due to Wachovia’s heavy involvement in money laundering moving up to $378.4 billion over several years. Not one banker was prosecuted for illegal involvement in the drugs trade. Meanwhile small time drug dealers and users go to prison.

If any member of the public is caught in possession of a few grammes of coke or heroin you can bet your bottom dollar they will be going down to serve some hard time. However, if you are a bankster caught laundering billions of dollars for some of the most murderous people on the planet you get off with a slap on the wrist in the form of some puny fine and a deferred prosecution deal.
~ from Money Laundering and The Drug Trade: The Role of the Banks by Dylan Murphy ~

The so-called Drug War suffers from the same problem as the fight against illegal immigration: Our government goes after the little guy and let's the big boys walk.

For government leaders from both corporate parties, illegal immigration is a HUGE problem. They talk incessantly about various plans to secure our borders to insure that folks from down south -- those simply looking for jobs and a better life -- are barred from illegally walking over the border. We build walls and fences. We have armed guards -- the Border Patrol -- in the thousands monitoring our southern border. Helicopters, planes and probably drones fill the skies.

And yet, illegal immigration remains a problem. Why? Because almost all of our various strategies are aimed at the individual immigrants themselves, NOT the people who hire them. If we genuinely were serious about stopping illegal immigration, the government would go after the factory farms and big corporations who regularly employ "illegals." If we threw a few of the offending corporate honchos in jail and levied significant fines against their companies, it would send a chill up the spine of their compatriots.

But we don't do that because our economy NEEDS illegal immigrants. It is because of them that our food prices are kept far lower than they would be otherwise. It is also true that illegal immigrant workers enrich the corporate honchos who hire them by keeping labor costs low.

In this same vein, our government drops the hammer on citizens and residents who purchase small amounts of illegal drugs, while turning a blind eye to the banks who launder drug money. In the deal mentioned by Murphy above, Wachovia agreed to pay a fine equal to around 0.0004% of their ill-gotten gains. To put that percentage in perspective, that would be like someone being fined 4 pennies for stealing $100! That is not a strong deterrent by ANY stretch of the imagination.

When a rational person looks at who our government prosecutes in terms of illegal immigration and drugs, it becomes more than obvious that they aren't serious about stopping either. When huge sums of money are involved, politicians -- despite what they say -- don't really want to turn off the golden spigot.

10, 18 and 21

Trey Smith

For social conservatives, these must be maddening times. While they desperately want to hold on to the "old ways," US society, as a whole, gradually is growing more progressive. This goes a long way toward explaining why conservatives are becoming more shrill -- they realize they are losing ground and, within another generation or two, they will be a distinct minority.

Last week Rhode Island became the 10th state to legalize same-sex marriage. While this figure only represents one-fifth of the states, the number leaning this direction continues to grow. There is a good chance that Delaware will follow suit in the next few weeks. Before we know it, the number will swell to one-third and then one-half. In time, it won't be that big of an issue at all...except in the minority of states still ruled by social conservatives.

Also last week, Maryland became the 18th state to repeal the death penalty. That now means that more than one-third of the states have decided that capital punishment is not the way to go, even for the most serious crimes. Instead of the state murdering people, the worst sentence will now be life in prison without the possibility of parole. We will soon join the rest of the modern world in outlawing the death penalty.

Maryland also became the 21st state to legalize medical marijuana. When you combine this number with the two states that simply have legalized pot outright -- Colorado and Washington -- we are almost up to fifty percent. It is too bad that the federal government remains behind the times, but the day is coming when they will be forced to change their tune.

There remain many vexing problems facing our society, but in terms of social issue, we seem to be headed in a progressive direction. Yeah!

TYT - Should Politicians Also Be Drug Tested?

Let 'Em Walk

Trey Smith

For the sake of argument, let's say that you are a serial litterbug. I don't mean that you drop gum wrappers all over town -- you litter like there's no tomorrow! You dump used appliances and cars into vacant lots. You take drums of vile chemicals and dump them -- sometimes in broad daylight -- in area streams. And you drive around town heaving reams of paper into the air.

The government's been watching and filming you for months. They've amassed so much evidence that a 6 year old prosecutor could easily win a conviction. They make a big splashy announcement in the newspaper that your day of reckoning is coming soon. Just when everyone in town is ready for you to get your comeuppance, the local DA announces that he's had a talk with you and, rather than receive a stiff sentence for your habitual egregious acts, you have agreed to pay a piddly ass fine. Once you pay up, the matter will be dropped completely.

Sounds farfetched, doesn't it?

If you happen to be a peon like the vast majority of people who read this blog -- or a peon like any of the three of us who write here -- this wouldn't happen. No, the DA would throw the book at you. You'd be lucky to be let out of prison before your 80th birthday.

But if you were deemed to be an important person -- a vital cog in the financial wellbeing of your community -- the scenario outlined above ain't farfetched at all. Welcome to the two-tiered American justice system! It's a system in which America abides by the rule of law...except when it's inconvenient or might jeopardize the oligarchy. When that happens, who cares about silly 'ol law?

Over the last year, federal investigators found that one of the world's largest banks, HSBC, spent years committing serious crimes, involving money laundering for terrorists; "facilitat[ing] money laundering by Mexican drug cartels"; and "mov[ing] tainted money for Saudi banks tied to terrorist groups". Those investigations uncovered substantial evidence "that senior bank officials were complicit in the illegal activity." As but one example, "an HSBC executive at one point argued that the bank should continue working with the Saudi Al Rajhi bank, which has supported Al Qaeda."

Needless to say, these are the kinds of crimes for which ordinary and powerless people are prosecuted and imprisoned with the greatest aggression possible. If you're Muslim and your conduct gets anywhere near helping a terrorist group, even by accident, you're going to prison for a long, long time. In fact, powerless, obscure, low-level employees are routinely sentenced to long prison terms for engaging in relatively petty money laundering schemes, unrelated to terrorism, and on a scale that is a tiny fraction of what HSBC and its senior officials are alleged to have done.

But not HSBC. On Tuesday, not only did the US Justice Department announce that HSBC would not be criminally prosecuted, but outright claimed that the reason is that they are too important, too instrumental to subject them to such disruptions. In other words, shielding them from the system of criminal sanction to which the rest of us are subject is not for their good, but for our common good.

~ from HSBC,Too Big to Jail, Is the New Poster Child for US Two-TIered Justice System by Glenn Greenwald ~

If you've ever been arrested on a drug charge, if you've ever spent even a day in jail for having a stem of marijuana in your pocket or "drug paraphernalia" in your gym bag, Assistant Attorney General and longtime Bill Clinton pal Lanny Breuer has a message for you: Bite me.

Breuer this week signed off on a settlement deal with the British banking giant HSBC that is the ultimate insult to every ordinary person who's ever had his life altered by a narcotics charge. Despite the fact that HSBC admitted to laundering billions of dollars for Colombian and Mexican drug cartels (among others) and violating a host of important banking laws (from the Bank Secrecy Act to the Trading With the Enemy Act), Breuer and his Justice Department elected not to pursue criminal prosecutions of the bank, opting instead for a "record" financial settlement of $1.9 billion, which as one analyst noted is about five weeks of income for the bank.

The banks' laundering transactions were so brazen that the NSA probably could have spotted them from space.

~ from Outrageous HSBC Settlement Proves the Drug War is a Joke by Matt Taibbi ~

Could It Be?

Trey Smith

I few days ago I shared with you the information that I voted in favor of legalizing marijuana and same-sex marriage in my state of Washington. I also told you that I was supremely confident that neither initiative had ANY chance of passage. To be quite candid, I thought it was more likely that pigs would fly!

Well, just to show how well I understand the pulse of Washington voters, a recent poll from Seattle's NBC affiliate, King 5, shows that both measures stand a better than even chance of being passed!

The ballot initiative to legalize marijuana, as of 5 days ago, showed 56% in favor, 37% in opposition with 7% not sure. Unless the pollsters are way off or something really strange happens in the last few days of the campaign, this measure should pass easily. The same-sex marriage initiative is a bit closer, but 52% say they will vote in favor.

If either of these ballot measures passes, I will be overjoyed, to say the least. I also will be completely flabbergasted. I truly thought we were at least a decade or two away from such victories.

Of course, I am a realist too. If one or both of these measures pass, I'm very confident neither will go into effect anytime soon. As it almost always happens, the opposition will file lawsuits and/or injunctions against to try to thwart the will of the voters. What this means is that the passage of one or both measures will represent a symbolic victory in the short-term and who knows what in the long-term.

But I've been wrong before!

Tarnished Pot

Trey Smith

As of earlier this month, exiled LSU cornerback/kick returner Tyrann Mathieu was back in classes in Baton Rouge, paying his own way, and every indication from coach Les Miles was that his former star would have a "very legitimate chance" of returning to the team next year. That chance now seems significantly less legitimate after Mathieu was arrested along with three former teammates Thursday afternoon for possession of marijuana.
~ from Tyrann Mathieu, Jordan Jefferson Among Four Ex-LSU Players Booked on Marijuana Charges by Matt Hinton ~

We see these kinds of headlines frequently. The star athlete -- often a person of color -- has their reputation tarnished because they got caught smoking pot. We're not talking child porn here. We're not talking about violence towards anyone. We not talking about stealing or robbery. No, their reputation gets dragged through the mud because they were in possession of the wacky weed.

Upon entering Mathieu's apartment, officers reported "a strong odor of marijuana" and this led to the arrests. Three of the "suspects" are age 22, while Mathieu is a mere 20.

Imagine if this scene had played out so that, instead of a strong odor of marijuana, the officers had smelled tobacco in the form of cigarette or cigar smoke. No one would have thought a thing about it and it is very unlikely anyone would have been arrested.

What if the odor coming from the apartment was that of recently baked chocolate chip cookies and the officers had found the occupants gorging on them? While eating cookies nonstop is not good for a person's blood sugar and if it is habitual can lead to obesity and many corresponding health issues, we can be almost certain that such information wouldn't have merited a mention in the police report. It is highly unlikely -- even in Louisiana -- that any arrests would have been made for reckless eating!

What if the odor coming from the apartment was that of beer? Since Mathieu is underage, this might still have led to one or more arrests. However, if Mathieu was not present and the three 22 year olds were just sitting there sharing a beer, this again would not have led to national headlines.

No, it's only a story because of the marijuana, a substance that is no better or worse than tobacco or alcohol. It is a story only because of our outdated drug laws.

Now Mathieu -- who has been touted as a star college athlete and potential professional star as well -- is being looked down on for engaging in an activity that is not atypical in the least for a sizable segment of the population. His "character" is in question because he was hanging out with his buds and smoking a little weed.

Some Difference! 16/17

Trey Smith

1 The 40 year war on drugs must continue, and even mention of the prison state is unthinkable. There are 2.3 million people in US prisons and jails today, a per capita total that beats the world. Politicians of both parties wag their fingers in multiple directions. But as Michelle Alexander points out, if the US prison population were rolled back to say, only 1 million, the level it was about 1980, this would mean one million jobs, as contractors, sheriffs, cops, bailiffs, judges and functionaries of all kinds would have to go out and find real jobs.
~ from Closer Than You Think: Top 15 Things Romney and Obama Agree On by Bruce A. Dixon ~

Just like his predecessor, Obama has gone after those states who have had the temerity to legalize medical marijuana! Though both Democrats and Republicans talk about the important concept of states rights, they only defend this ideal when states pass laws that they like!

There is no logical reason for marijuana to be illegal, IF alcohol and cigarettes are legal. If you truly believe that pot is a health hazard, then you should jump on the band wagon to outlaw the consumption of liquor and the smoking/chewing of tobacco.

Of course, few "serious" politicians would recommend this because both employ powerful lobbies and contribute big money into campaign coffers. In addition, since our prison system is more and more being shifted to the private sector, the legalization of weed would mean far less inmates and this would wreck the bottom lines of the prison-industrial complex.

I mean, we can't allow a sane public policy decision to bankrupt a few well-connected corporations, can we?

The New Drug War

Trey Smith

Gee, things didn't go as planned when President Obama headed to South America earlier this week for a summit with leaders of the continent. Not only was there a scandal involving Secret Service agents, but his fellow leaders urged the president to abandon the failed war on drugs.

“Despite all of the efforts, the immense efforts, the huge costs, we have to recognize that the illicit drug business is prospering,” Colombian President Juan Manuel Santos told the attending leaders. He even advocated a process of decriminalization, though he recognized this was only a “starting point to begin a discussion that we have been postponing for far too long.”

As I've mentioned many times before, I've never tried an illicit drug. While most of my contemporaries have experimented with marijuana and many use it regularly, I'm not one of them. (I've never been intoxicated with alcohol either.) Despite the fact that I am not a user, I understand that there is no rational reason that marijuana is illegal, but alcohol and tobacco are not.

What gets me is that there is another "drug" -- one I wrote about yesterday morning -- that is a far greater threat to American health and yet, not only is it legal, but we subsidize the production of it to the hilt. The way I see it, if marijuana is illegal, then so should be corn!

Corn is used to make High-Fructose Corn Syrup (HFCS) and that stuff is truly dangerous! Recent studies have indicated that HFCS may lead to a host of serious health issues, including obesity, cardiovascular disease, tooth decay, Type-II diabetes, non-alcoholic fatty liver disease and autism. I've never heard anyone suggest that marijuana use leads to ANY of these kinds of problems.

In fact, doctors often prescribe marijuana for

the amelioration of nausea and vomiting, stimulation of hunger in chemotherapy and AIDS patients, lowered intraocular eye pressure (shown to be effective for treating glaucoma), as well as general analgesic effects (pain reliever).

Have you ever heard of a doctor prescribing HFCS for any reason?

Now some people will argue that corn has many uses other than that as an addictive sweetener. But the very same thing can be said of the cannabis plant. Hemp has been grown for centuries for its fiber as well as for its nutritional value. The hemp form of the cannabis plant is physically different (easy to see with the naked eye) from the one used for drug purposes and yet the industrial hemp plant is illegal to grow in the United States!

So, I think we should legalize hemp/marijuana and turn our attention toward stamping out the production of corn! HFCS is a far bigger threat to public health than pot.

Afternoon Matinee: Biblically Incorrect, 4 of 8

Warning: Bill Maher is a self-professed pottymouth!

Hell Has Frozen Over and Pigs Fly

Trey Smith

You know how when you smoke some righteous weed and think you see God, but worry maybe you shouldn't mention it to the vicar? Well, good news! One of America's premier religious leaders now says that a little ganja isn't such a heinous sin, after all.

The Rev Pat Robertson, TV preacher, Christian Coalition founder and rightwing icon, has called for the decriminalisation of marijuana:

I just think it's shocking how many of these young people wind up in prison and they get turned into hardcore criminals because they had a possession of a very small amount of a controlled substance.

Robertson says if alcohol is legal, cannabis should be, too.
~ from Pat Robertson's Marijuana Message: What Weed Jesus Do? by Diane Roberts ~

When I first saw the headline for this article, I figured it must be a joke. But it's no joke, folks. Loony Pat Robertson is calling for the legalization of pot.

I'm not sure that he represents the best spokesman for the cause, but you never know. My hope is that more influential people come to their senses as he has.

The War on Drugs -- particularly marihuana -- is bankrupting the country. It's throwing far too many of our potentially best and brightest behind bars for little more than smoking or selling a bit of weed. For all the money we've thrown at this "problem," we don't seem to be making much headway.

As I've related to you before, I'm probably one of the few people from my generation who has never tried pot. I have no interest in doing so. (I've also never been drunk.) But even a teetotaler like myself understands that if alcohol is legal, there is no rational reason in the world that weed should be illegal.

On the Surface...

The growing number of poor Americans now face a new indignity, thanks to a legislative trend sweeping through state capitols: mandatory drug tests for needy citizens. This year alone, at least 30 state legislatures (including Louisiana, Massachusetts and Illinois) have considered bills that would require people to pass a drug test to become eligible to receive welfare benefits. Some states — including New Mexico, Maine and Kentucky — have proposed extending the practice to those collecting unemployment, Medicaid and food stamps.
~ from New Drug Tests Target the Poor by Rania Khalek ~

You know, on the surface, this doesn't seem like such a bad initiative. Who wants to fund people's addictions with public moneys? But dig a bit deeper and policies like these smack of extreme unfairness.

Are there such drug tests for companies that contract with the government? Do executives from Halliburton and Blackwater (they go by a new name now) who fail such tests lose their right to government contracts for up to a year?

Of course, the answer is no. In fact, big corporations can be found to defraud the government outright and they don't lose their ability to snatch up more pricey federal contracts in the short-term future!

So, it seems that we have a big double standard here. Poor people have to toe an exceedingly rigid line, but wealthy individuals and corporations don't.

Afternoon Matinee: Freedom's Bloody Corpse

You Call This Justice?

This high-profile investigation ultimately revealed that from 2004-2007, a staggering amount of illegal drug proceeds totaling $378.4 billion dollars were transferred into Wachovia by the Mexico-based Casa Cambios that violated U.S. government anti-money laundering compliance.

Following these findings a slew of federal charges filed in 2009 by Federal prosecutors in Florida hit Wachovia with the largest violation of the Bank Secrecy Act in U.S. history.

Douglas Edwards, senior vice president of Wachovia Bank confessed they didn't do enough to spot illicit funds in handling the $378.4 billions for the Mexico's Casa Cambios. But Edwards declined to answer specific questions including how much they earned for handling the billions of dollars for the currency operation.

Overall, the amount of drug proceeds ($378 billion dollars) that the CDC deposited into Wachovia Bank actually equaled one third of Mexico's entire $1.4 trillion dollar annual GDP.

As part of the agreement Wachovia agreed to pay the government a fine of $110 million dollars with an additional fine of $50 million dollars to be paid to the U.S. Treasury Department. The total fine of $160 million dollars was less than 2% of the bank's $12.3 billion dollars in profit made in 2009. By the time Wachovia agreed to pay the hefty fine, Wells Fargo purchased Wachovia during the banking crisis for $12.7 billion. Then Wells Fargo reaped a windfall from the government, a gift of $25 billion dollars of taxpayers money as part of President Obama stimulus package in 2009. (emphasis added)
~ from American Banks 'High' On Drug Money: How a Whistleblower Blew the Lid Off Wachovia-Drug Cartel Money Laundering Scheme by Clarence Walker ~

If you get caught selling a dime bag on your neighborhood street corner, you might spend some time in jail and/or pay a stiff fine. But not so, if you're a too-big-to-fail bank!

Mile High

A high-level international panel slammed the war on drugs as a failure Thursday and called on governments to undertake experiments to decriminalize the use of drugs, especially marijuana, to undermine the power of organized crime.

Compiled by the Global Commission on Drug Policy, the report concludes that criminalization and repressive measures have failed with devastating consequences for individuals and societies around the world.
~ from Major Panel: Drug War Failed; Legalize Marijuana by Edith M. Lederer ~

As I have pointed out in this space before, I am something of a nerd. I have never tried pot (weed, maryjane). Never had an interest in doing so. I have never been drunk either. In fact, I have probably consumed less alcohol in my whole lifetime than the average alcoholic consumes on an average weekend.

While drugs and alcohol don't figure in as part of my personal lifestyle choices, I always have been ardent supporter of the legalization of marijuana. It's no worse -- in many respects, it's not as dangerous -- as the legal usage of alcohol and tobacco. Consequently, from my humble perspective, it is insane that this substance is not legal while the other two are.

Because marijuana is illegal, it has also meant that the agricultural crop of hemp has been banned too. Hemp both is highly nutritious and has a multitude of uses, many of which are very earth-friendly.

So, I am happy to see this international panel weigh in on this matter. While some nations will take their recommendations to heart, I am confident the US won't be one of them.

Why? It would strike a sharp blow to the economic machinations of the prison-industrial complex. Why adopt such a sane policy when it negatively would impact the bottom line of the many corporations who keep the fat cats installed in Washington?

Gosh, we can't have that!!

Small Fry

I'm going to share with you two snippets from different articles. Their subject matter is related, though not the same, but both draw out a point I want to highlight.

This headline-grabbing Inquisition is a waste of time and resources. If prosecutors are sitting around with nothing to do, why don’t they go after the remorseless profiteers who nearly wrecked the global financial system? Why not shut down a human trafficking ring or two?
~ from Lance Armstrong Inquisition Is a Waste by Eugene Robinson ~

The U.S. government won convictions against 23,506 drug traffickers nationwide during 2010, sending 96 percent of the offenders to prison, according to U.S. Sentencing Commission statistics.

Yet one of the biggest entities busted by the feds for involvement in drug trafficking last year received just a wrist-slap deal from federal prosecutors with nobody getting prison time.

During 2010, the U.S. government also won convictions against 806 persons involved in smaller-time drug-related money laundering, sending nearly 77 percent of those offenders to prison.

Yet when it came to a case involving billions of dollars in illegal drug profits, the federal government gave the same unusual wrist-slap to the same entity caught giving greed-blinded assistance to Mexican drug cartels by laundering billions of dollars in illegal profits for them.

So, what is this entity that federal prosecutors found worthy of big breaks for its laundering of billions of dollars, and for its blatant facilitating or tons of smuggled cocaine?

Meet Wachovia – once the nation’s sixth largest bank by assets and now a part of Wells Fargo Bank… a too-big-to-fail bank that for the feds is apparently too-big-to jail.
~ from Too Big to Do Time?: Fed Wrist-slap for Wachovia Bank Makes a Farce of the Drug War by Linn Washington, Jr. ~

We often hear federal, state and local officials talk tough when it comes to the War on Drugs or several other criminal and/or civil offenses. Yet, too often, the police and prosecutors target the small fry and let off or slap the wrists of the kingpins.

In some parts of the country, a big deal is made about voter fraud, an almost nonexistent problem. But almost no one has gone after the corporations who manufacture vote tabulation machines -- even in areas where it is rampantly obvious that something nefarious is afoot.

Scores of homeowners across the country are dragged into court each week for foreclosure hearings, yet virtually no law enforcement is being applied to the banks and mortgage servicers who are foreclosing on folks without the legal paperwork.

Illegal immigrants regularly are rounded up to be jailed or deported, but few of the individuals, companies and corporations that knowingly hire them are subject to anything more than a slap on the wrist.

On issue after issue, it is the small fry and middlemen who bear the brunt of our criminal justice system, while the big fish generally are allowed to swim free or only slightly impeded. In other words, while the laws of this land apply to all equally on paper, it rarely works that way in practice.

In fact, the bigger you are, the greater the chance that you will be let off scot free with little more than a wink and a nod...if anyone in power even notices at all.