Yearly Archives: 2013

Even John McCain Is Having Second Thoughts about Drug Prohibition

"What do John Stossel, Mona Charen, Gary Johnson, Pat Robertson, Cory Booker, and Richard Branson all have in common? And let’s add voters from the states of Colorado and Washington to this list. So what unites this unusual collection of people? They’ve all expressed doubts about the War on Drugs. And that’s a good thing. As explained in this video, the Drug War has been a very costly failure. Indeed, it’s been such a boondoggle that we can now add John McCain to the list of those who think maybe it’s time to consider decriminalization." Continue reading →

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CDC calls rising E-cigarette among teens ‘deeply troubling’

"Some 1.78 million US middle and high school students — around 11 to 18 years old — smoked so-called e-cigarettes in 2012, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) said in a new study. CDC smoking and health office director Tim McAfee noted that 'about 90 percent of all smokers begin smoking as teenagers.' 'We must keep our youth from experimenting or using any tobacco product.' The US government is due to announce in October its plans for regulating electronic cigarettes. For the moment, the laws are different according to each state, though a number of them have already forbidden their sale to minors." Continue reading →

Continue ReadingCDC calls rising E-cigarette among teens ‘deeply troubling’

Washington State issues how-to regs on growing, selling marijuana

"The details announced this week include the number of shops that will be able to sell pot around the state (334, with locations based on population), the number of shops or growing facilities that a single business can operate (three per individual or corporation), the size of marijuana 'grows' (30,000 square feet, or about three-quarters of an acre), the kinds of security systems that must be in place (alarms and video surveillance), and how far such shops must be from schools, parks, and other places where children may gather (1,000 yards). In all, according to the Washington State Liquor Control Board, the overall harvest for next year will be capped at 40 metric tons." Continue reading →

Continue ReadingWashington State issues how-to regs on growing, selling marijuana

The Pine Bluff PD: From Merely Dysfnctional to Downright Deadly

"No tactical genius is necessary to bring about a bloodless end to a standoff involving a 107-year-old man armed with a handgun and surrounded by police officers inside an otherwise vacant house. All that is necessary is a willingness on the part of the officers to accept a minimal amount of risk, and a time horizon longer than a half hour. In fact, only someone with a perverse appetite for gratuitous bloodshed could arrange to end that confrontation with the violent death of the centenarian suspect. As it happens, the valiant men of the Pine Bluff, Arkansas Police Department’s SWAT team were equal to that task. That’s why 107-year-old Monroe Isadore was killed in a torrent of gunfire on September 7." Continue reading →

Continue ReadingThe Pine Bluff PD: From Merely Dysfnctional to Downright Deadly

Plainclothes deputy in unmarked car pulls gun; 5 officers attack and tase brothers

"The use of Tasers against two brothers in Algiers last year by Jefferson Parish deputies – a confrontation partially caught on a cell phone video – is now the subject of a federal civil rights lawsuit. Casey and Sean Warren filed the suit last week against Sheriff Newell Normand and seven deputies in connection with the Sept. 9 police stop that resulted in both men being hit with Tasers multiple times. In the lawsuit, the brothers claim they were victims of a host of civil rights violations, including excessive force, unlawful arrest and improper seizure. The lawsuit also notes that the deputies were outside of their jurisdiction when they followed Casey Warren to his home in Algiers." Continue reading →

Continue ReadingPlainclothes deputy in unmarked car pulls gun; 5 officers attack and tase brothers

Police Shoot Man For No Reason Except Open-Carrying Rifle

"A 27-year-old Edmonds man who was shot by police after a verbal confrontation was in serious condition Saturday at Harborview Medical Center. Police spokesman Aaron Snell said the man had been walking along a street near Edmonds Elementary School carrying a rifle. His behavior prompted two 911 calls from nearby residents — the first coming in around 7:30 a.m., Snell said. He said officers don’t know of a motive for the man’s actions. 'We don’t believe he was aiming or shooting the weapon,' Snell said. The Edmonds officers who responded to the 911 calls issued verbal commands to the man, then fired at him, Snell said." Continue reading →

Continue ReadingPolice Shoot Man For No Reason Except Open-Carrying Rifle

76-Year-Old Man Loses $197,000 Home Over $134 Tax Lien

"On the day Bennie Coleman lost his house, the day armed U.S. marshals came to his door and ordered him off the property, he slumped in a folding chair across the street and watched the vestiges of his 76 years hauled to the curb. Movers carted out his easy chair, his clothes, his television. Next came the things that were closest to his heart: his Marine Corps medals and photographs of his dead wife, Martha. The duplex in Northeast Washington that Coleman bought with cash two decades earlier was emptied and shuttered. By sundown, he had nowhere to go. All because he didn’t pay a $134 property tax bill." Continue reading →

Continue Reading76-Year-Old Man Loses $197,000 Home Over $134 Tax Lien

Deputies punished for actions during 1:30 am wrong-address arrest

"Deputies went to a house in Ellenwood on July 26 to serve an arrest warrant. The family told CBS Atlanta News they were startled at 1:30 a.m. when deputies beat on their front door. Fearing for their safety, the family said they took their time to open the door. Once inside, an officer used excessive force and aggressive language, according to one family member. 'If the police come to your house and need to come in, whether you agree or not that they need to come into the home, you need to open the door,' said DeKalb County Sheriff Thomas Brown." Continue reading →

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Government Tattoo Statists of America

"Always on the lookout for opportunities to violate individual constitutional rights, statists want to interfere with that longstanding classic right of personal self expression – tattoos -- a practice which has been unregulated since the dawn of mankind. The Department of Health for the city of Washington D.C., is proposing a new regulation requiring a 24-hour waiting period and other onerous requirements for the provision of tattoo services. Sixty-five pages of rules and regulations designed to stifle tattoo parlors would require that a tattoo artist cannot apply a tattoo or body piercing until at least 24 hours after a customer requests it." Continue reading →

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New York Police Officer, Customs Officer Arrested For Trafficking Illegal Guns

"A New York Police Department officer and two of his brothers were arrested for allegedly trafficking high-powered firearms out of the United States and into the Philippines, federal law-enforcement officials announced on Friday. Rex Maralit, a 44-year-old officer assigned to police headquarters in Lower Manhattan, was arrested on charges of conspiring with his brothers to violate the Arms Export Control Act and engage in unlicensed firearms dealing, law-enforcement officials said. His brother, Wilfredo Maralit, 48, a Customs and Border Protection Officer at Los Angeles International Airport, was also arrested." Continue reading →

Continue ReadingNew York Police Officer, Customs Officer Arrested For Trafficking Illegal Guns