Author: Simon

My friend Frank sent me an e-mail with a link to the following analysis of the Drug War. Mexico, which neither produces nor uses a lot of drugs, lies between Colombia, which produces vast amounts of drugs, and Americans, who want vast amounts of drugs. Washington does not want Americans to have vast amounts of…

Egyptian protesters have attacked the Israeli Embassy in Egypt. What were they mad about (other than the usual)? “This action shows the state of anger and frustration the young Egyptian revolutionaries feel against Israel especially after the recent Israeli attacks on the Egyptian borders that led to the killing of Egyptian soldiers,” Egyptian political analyst…

I was discussing the Drug War with a friend of mine. We got to talking about Drug War racism. He said that a friend of a friend was in the anti-narcotics bureau in Chicago. He says they discussed the subject in depth. The deal is he said, “Blacks have no protection.” If they started arresting…

This band is good. Especially the electric violin. So much so that I grabbed my Marine Band C and started wailing. There is absolutely nothing like a harp and an electric violin together. If you play either instrument find your counterpart and give it a try. Let me add that I first heard Bob Dylan…

Ron Paul says the TSA is like a sexual predator. In Wednesday night’s GOP presidential debate held in California, Texas Congressman Ron Paul let it rip on TSA abuses of airline passengers (via TheHill): “If the perpetrators were a gang of criminals, their headquarters would be raided by SWAT teams and armed federal agents,” he…

Electricity. Ain’t it wonderful. Note: you may have to wiggle your cursor on the page to see how the motor is built and how it operates. Cross Posted at Power and Control

The title of this post comes from a statement made about 4:30 into the video. Part 2 – Every President since Nixon made it worse Part 3 – Obscene profit motive – Osama Bin Laden made almost all his money selling heroin in the US – Prohibition is a security risk – The more people…

Researchers at Rice are exploring a new technology that allows wireless devices to “talk” and “listen” on the same frequency could pave the way for 4.5G and 5G networks and could allow wireless phone companies to double throughput on their networks without adding a single cell tower. H/T ECN Magazine Cross Posted at Power and…

From the NAACP Criminal Justice Summit. The title of this post comes from a statement made about 4:30 into the video. I also very much liked the “they weigh the money they don’t count it” from early in the video. H/T Law Enforcement Against Prohibition Cross Posted at Power and Control

I’m going to make some generalizations here so let us not get nitpicky. And each case is an event unto itself. But this is my general principle. What does a lefty want? Your money. Your labor. Sometimes 95% or 99%. That has got to hurt. And it does. But give him the money he wants…

Reuters is looking at the disparities in Drug Prohibition Enforcement in America. The numbers tell the story of a criminal justice system blighted by racial disparities in drug law enforcement: African-Americans make up around 12 percent of the U.S. population, account for 33.6 percent of drug arrests and 37 percent of state prison inmates serving…

Fromma Harrop in an article entitled The Progressives’ Freedom Agenda has this to say about Rick Perry. The third week in July, Republican Gov. Rick Perry said that the U.S. Constitution — whose 10th Amendment limits federal power — gives states the right to decide on such matters as abortion and gay marriage. The fourth…

The Daily Show The above graph is from The Futurist Cross Posted at Power and Control

This is what the Drug War looks like in New York City. From 1978 to 1996, there were 49,326 marijuana possession arrests, according to an analysis for the alliance done by Harry Levine, a sociology professor at Queens College and an expert on marijuana enforcement. The increased enforcement, the policy alliance says, is due not…

From a review of the book the movie is based on: Okrent identifies five dry constituencies that formed a very unlikely coalition for the purposes of banning booze. Racists, progressives, populists, suffragists, and nativists linked hands across party and regional lines to agree on this one issue alone. Southern Democrats who used the spectacle of…

From what I can tell the Democrats are going to use Drug War Racism against the right in the next election (it is about all they have – it might be enough). I really love it!!!! My socon friends are going to have to choose between Prohibition and defeating the President. Tough choice. For them.…

A commenter on my blog repeatedly says: It is statists vs anti-statists. Right and left have no meaning except to define which things the particular brand of statists thinks is important. Update: My friend Eric just sent me a link to a Reason article which covers the same subject in a lot more depth (it…

I dunno. But it is usually a prelude to war. Wot? In? The? Hell? Is? He? Talking? About? This: Turkey Suspends Trade, Defense Ties with Israel. Turkey says it is “totally suspending” all trade and military ties with Israel as relations between the two countries continue to worsen. Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan announced…

Inspired by the awful news at Zero Hedge. I can’t recall if I posted this before. Even if I did it is topical today. In my estimation these guys are in some ways the successors to Flanders and Swann So what is happening? We are going into Phase II of the Depression. General economic collapse.…

Here is some news I missed. The NAACP is calling for an end to the Drug War. The so-called war on drugs has been a failure of colossal proportions — from both racial and preventive standpoints — and the NAACP passed a resolution demanding President Obama and Congress end the program altogether. The overall message…