Law Enforcement: A Parallel Universe

What happens in the business world when an idea, product, or service becomes outdated, unsustainable, and ultimately meets with failure?

Answer: That failed idea, product, or service is promptly relegated to the "Book of Lessons Learned", never to be repeated under sentence of perpetual poverty.

Well today I had the opportunity to attend a round table discussion hosted by California's Lt. Governor Gavin Newsome on the topic of cannabis legal reform, with an emphasis on taxation, and land use law. 

From the outset Lt. Governor Newsome made it clear that he believes a cannabis legalization ballot initiative was all but certain for 2016, and it's passage is more probable than not. Having said that, we should prepare for the new reality before us, in the most proactively responsible way possible.
Just when the Lt. Governor said, "Good people can disagree." somebody did...in a most disagreeable way.

When asked, the President of the California Police Chiefs Association, Chief Garza of the Reedley Police Dept. stated: "It's mine and our organizations view that marijuana should not be legal"..."we have to protect my four children, and all the kids in the community..." 

Now remember we're supposed to be discussing taxation and land use after inevitable legalization, not his organizations preference for failed policy.

What happened to staying on subject?

My guess is, this guy didn't go to business school, because he never once addressed the topic at hand.

Chief Garza kept beating the dead horse argument that expensive enforcement and incarceration is somehow fiscally more responsible than collecting taxes, and reallocating resources to real drug education, not propaganda.

In my world; dude is F-I-R-E-D.

This is our fundamental problem; if we have people running law enforcement that can't recognize failed policy repeatedly slapping them in the face, how will they transition to the new reality of cannabis legalization?

It's like J. Edgar Hoover, the 'esteemed', and allegedly cross dressing, founder and long time Director of the F.B.I., who until his dying breath refused to acknowledge the reality of the Mafia. 

J. Edgar's not alone, throughout history we have examples of authority "turning a blind eye" to the reality we all know exists; but what motivates the top cop in the country to ignore the albatross shitting on our heads?

Could it be cash?

In the case of today's police chiefs, we know it's the cash.

Federal grants, and military equipment have been flowing to these forces the past 30 years at a rate we could only dream of for our schools. The War on Drugs has our prisons bursting, with the number of prison guards becoming so large, they are the best funded lobby in Sacramento, while at the same time more cannabis, heroin, meth, and just about any pharmaceutical drug you want is easier to find than at any time in the last 40 years. Just ask Chief Jerry Dyer of the Fresno P.D., his Deputy Chief was recently busted in a FBI sting supplying pharmaceutical drugs to undercover agents...and Jerry didn't have a clue.

Reality Check Chief Garza, repeated application of failed policy to a problem will only yield the same predictable result: failure.

I can only imagine the rationale going through the minds of law enforcement, but it must be something like this:

"When you have a vested interest in your own failure, and there's no penalty for that failure, it's in your own best interest to perpetuate that failure, even though it's not in the best interest of those you serve, the people who ultimately sign your checks."

Thanks for the clarification Chief Garza.

Immigration Reform: Welfare for Defense Contractors

Is it just me or is history repeating itself?? Source: Google Images

With our decade long War of Terror on the world slowly winding down; we now find ourselves with a very troublesome quandary.

Question: How does a nation ween itself from an economy heavily weighted towards the waging of war, and the production and export of war material?

Answer: We don't.

We take those weapons, sensors, and manpower and use them to militarize one of our two peaceful borders.

Why? Two reasons; first we have to satisfy the governments' manufactured xenophobia permeating the old angry white people among us, who simply fear people with brown skin.

Second, and perhaps even more insidious; we have an economy based on building and using tools of destruction.

If our nation is not involved in a war directly, our proxies provide a ready market for some of our excess capacity.

Sounds familiar doesn't it? Source: Google Images

But here's the rub, with so many of us drawing our incomes from government and the industry of war, it becomes political and economic suicide to reduce spending in these sectors.

Naturally the solution is to use these tools at home in new "Wars of Paranoia" by building a larger, more obtrusive Big Brother State.

Witness the IRS training agents to use AR-15 assault rifles, Department of Homeland Security buying all the hollow point ammo they can get their hands on.

Let's all sign up today!
Source: Google Images

Department of Homeland Security...so reminiscent of the German Gestapo protecting the Fatherland.

Can we get more Orwellian?
Really?

What happens after we have "secured" the border with Mexico; Boeing, Lockheed et al, will still need more war work to satisfy their millionaire and billionaire shareholders.
Does Mexico then become a "legitimate" target for drone strikes under the ruse of providing safe haven to the drug cartels we created?
When will Barry or one of his successors apply the use of "signature" strikes to the "War on Drugs"?
Have we already crossed that line Barry?
Considering we operate freely around the globe, I have no reason to believe otherwise.

Holy crow! The Canadians are coming!

Will we then militarize our border with Canada?

Under what guise?

Imminent invasion of the Canucks?

In reality, these expenditures are not about keeping the Mexicans out, it's about keeping US in line.