“She was honest,” said Sheriff Mike H. Leidholt of Hughes County, S.D. “She may get fired. But she was honest.”
I would like to think she was simply announcing her imminent retirement in the most inflammatory way possible.
The bulk of the article was about how Leonhart was disgusted by recent statements by the President, who had the gall to compare smoking marijuana to drinking alcohol.
…Leonhart called out Obama for what Youngblood described as “irresponsible” comments that were a “big slap in the face” to cops who have lost their lives keeping drugs off the street.
Why stop there? What of the cops who lost their lives enforcing prohibition in the 1920s and 1930s? Don’t they deserve to be honored by sending ever more people to die in a decades-long war they never had any chance of winning?
So, are we obliged to genuflect to effort and sacrifice even if it’s made in the service of a brutal and largely counterproductive cause now?
I really loath the “But if you don’t agree with X, you spit on the orphans of everyone who ever died in the service of X!!!” school of argument. Dedication, perseverance, and sacrifice are really entirely orthogonal to the objective to which they are put. It’s trivially apparent that you can find people toiling and sacrificing for all kinds of things, from the most loathsome of causes, to building life-size models out of toothpicks, to the noblest of ends. Working for a lousy cause doesn’t change your degree of dedication; but neither does your degree of dedication redeem your cause.
How about we drink a toast to their memory?
Takes flag-burning to a whole new level.
We can at least appreciate her for being clear and direct about her priorities.
Won’t someone think of the children! Drug Warriors are generally the most unreflective of warriors.
odds on that it wasn’t the smoking kind.
Stupid Person was offended by flag of natural fibre.
I thought dea chiefs were statutorily required to make absurd arguments for destructive policies?
Kern County, Calif., Sheriff Donny Youngblood, president of the Major Counties Sheriffs’ Association, the group that sponsored Leonhart’s talk Tuesday at its annual meeting in Washington, D.C., said Leonhart called out Obama for what Youngblood described as “irresponsible” comments that were a “big slap in the face” to cops who have lost their lives keeping drugs off the street.
It sounds to me like putting people on the front lines of an idiotic war would be a bigger insult. But hey, what do I know? I “don’t understand the science” obviously.
Apparently she didn’t notice that HSBC funneled billions to narco-terrorists and only got a hand slap. If only she read bb every day…
Did any cops die in the prohibition? I mean, I assume some did but…
“She’s frustrated for the same reasons we are,” Hodgson said. “She said she felt the administration didn’t understand the science enough to make those statements.”
Right, Obama and the accomplished professional scientists who advise him don’t understand the science, unlike a room full of sheriffs and a bureaucrat with a degree in, uh, criminal justice… none of whom appear to be aware that our nation’s first flags were made of hemp fiber.
Bowman's banner is constructed from hemp that was grown in the marijuana-tolerant state of Colorado. While this hemp flag is technically THC-free (i.e. you can't smoke it), the association is a given.So, this American flag is pretty much 100% US origin, which probably makes it more American than most flags that have flown over DC in the past 25 years.
I do believe that the flag that Betsy Ross created was made out of hemp.
I have no idea how many police were killed for enforcing alcohol prohibition, but I’m guessing a lot fewer than have died in the current drug war since alcohol prohibition only lasted 13 years. Here’s one to get you started.
Another major effect on law enforcement was the widespread corruption brought on by bribery and intimidation. Make something as popular as alcohol illegal, and it both erodes respect for the people keeping you from getting it (law enforcement) and creates tolerance or even admiration for the people who provide it (organized crime, dirty cops, etc.).
http://www.albany.edu/~wm731882/organized_crime1_final.html
The following are statistics detailing how much worse crime got:
Police funding: INCREASED $11.4 Million
Arrests for Prohibition Las Violations: INCREASED 102+%
Arrests for Drunkenness and Disorderly Conduct: INCREASED 41%
Arrests of Drunken Drivers: INCREASED 81%
Thefts and Burglaries: INCREASED 9%
Homicides, Assault, and Battery: INCREASED 13%
Number of Federal Convicts: INCREASED 561%
Federal Prison Population: INCREASED 366%
Total Federal Expenditures on Penal Institutions: INCREASED 1,000%Yeah, well. Federal employment and a fully-vested retirement fund’ll do that…
Plus, not at all unusual for them to retire and make a pile working for private industry for a few more years.
She’s merely announcing her availability. I mean, she couldn’t stump on the basis of any personal contributions to society, so…
hey @frauenfelder you might also like the exhibit on the prohibition that debuted at the national constitutional center.
Had some neat interactive exhibits, including a rube-goldberg machine and a rum-runner video-game.
Tour Schedule. Now in @maggiek’s neck of the woods.
Cheers!
