Thousands of Contra Costa County Pot Convictions to Be Cleared Under Prop 64 – NBC Bay Area

Posted on January 13, 2020 by Danzig

Thousands of marijuana convictions out of Contra CostaCounty will be dismissed as part of a push by the district attorney's office toabide by the terms of Proposition 64, which decriminalized personal use ofcannabis in 2016.

Prosecutors worked with Code for America to cull throughthousands of records in order to identify and clear 3,264 marijuana convictionsfor roughly 2,400 people eligible under the law, according to the Contra Costa CountyDistrict Attorney's Office.

Prop. 64 allows anyone 21 years old or older to buy andpossess up to 28.5 grams of marijuana and up to 8 grams of "concentratedcannabis."

In 2018, then-Gov. Jerry Brown signed a law that requires prosecutorsto review all marijuana convictions by July 1, 2020 to determine if they areeligible to be dismissed and sealed from public view.

The law requires courts to automatically reduce or dismisssuch convictions if prosecutors don't file a dispute by that same date.

"Far too often old criminal convictions for minor drugoffenses can leave a lasting mark on an individual's life," said DistrictAttorney Diana Becton in a news release. "The removal of these convictionseffectively reduces barriers to licensing, education, housing andemployment."

The effort is intended to "address wrongs caused by thefailed war on drugs" that disproportionately affected people of color,prosecutors said.

About 36 percent of county residents whose marijuana caseswill be dismissed are African-American, 15 percent are Latino, 2 percent areAsian or Pacific Islanders, 45 percent are white and 2 percent are"other" or unknown, prosecutors said.

Becton said it's "extremely unlikely" any of thedismissals will result in anyone being released from jail since "these arejust not the types of offences that would have received very lengthysentences."

"Having one on your record does interfere with a personsability to move on with their lives," she said.

Prosecutors used Code for America's "Clear MyRecord" technology, which automatically culled through huge amounts ofcriminal history data from the California Department of Justice going back toabout 1970 in mere moments, and saved Becton's office untold hours ofpainstaking work.

"I can't even imagine how many hours it would havetaken us to pull together this kind of data," she said.

Code for America, which donated its time and resources tothe county, is a nonprofit organization that works to develop technology solutionsto make government more accessible and efficient.

Contra Costa County is the fifth county to work with Codefor America to clear marijuana convictions; other counties include SanFrancisco, Sacramento, San Joaquin and Los Angeles.

While the county doesn't have a way to contact everyindividual affected by the dismissals, people can email the Contra Costa CountyDistrict Attorney's Office at DA-Prop64@contracostada.org to see if theirrecords are involved.

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Thousands of Contra Costa County Pot Convictions to Be Cleared Under Prop 64 - NBC Bay Area

Of numbers and trust – INQUIRER.net

Posted on January 13, 2020 by Danzig

From birth to death, numbers are quite ubiquitous in our daily lives. On the day we were born, a number, or some numbers have already been associated with us: our birth date, the time, day and year, and even the order of birth, if we are in a household of multiple siblings.

On the day of our birth, we become part of that days statistics. When we die, it is the same thing.

And journalists write 30 when they die. In between birth and death, we deal with numbers in everything we do. In elementary and high school, numbers starting with 75 up to 95 mean a lotthese numbers become the determinants of your place in school. You are either part of the slow learners section with 75 as your average grade, or you are part of the honors class if your grades are within the 90s. In college, students with grades of the least number, like 1, enjoy accolades and perks as graduates with Latin titles (summa cum laude, magna cum laude).

Numbers also define peoples socioeconomic location, in terms of their familys income and what this income can do to put them and their family in an esteemed place in society. So if the numbers associated with family income are quite meager, some people resort to nefarious activities to even up the equation, to be able to enjoy the perks of having a lot of money at their disposal. As one former coworker once said to me, It would be nice to go to a department store and not look at the price tags of things I want to buy and just grab and show everyone that I am the least concerned about the cost

On the other hand, trust is something that we all need to have to be able to forge lasting relationshipsfilial, friendly, romantic, platonicall these are nourished with trust as the foundation. These relationships later on would be shattered when trust between or among partners is broken.

But, can we use numbers to measure trust in our leaders?

What does it mean when the President sitting in Malacaang enjoys a trust rating of more than 50 percent? Is this level of trust characteristic of a satisfactory relationship between the President and the mass of Filipinos, whose children cannot go to school because of poverty? Many of these children live in isolated, hard-to-reach areas where there are no schools. Some children in Mindanao have not been going to school because they are frequently evacuating due to recurring violence in their communities. The recent 42-page report of Vice President Leni Robredo has used a lot of information with numbers, all of which are sourced from the Philippine Drug Enforcement Agency (PDEA), the Philippine National Police and other related government agencies working on the drug problem. In her report, the Vice President argues that despite governments relentless efforts in the war on drugs, the consumption of illegal drugs continues to rise, thus, the war on drugs is largely a failure.Sen. Ronald Bato dela Rosa, the promoter of Operation Tokhang, has denounced the report, saying among others that the government has been successful, just by the huge numbers of people killed in police operations. This could be a self-incriminating retort, but he doesnt seem to know the repercussions of what he said.Ironically, the Vice Presidents figures are based on data the PNP and other government agencies have provided her.

At least, the Vice President has made an incisive and provocative analysis of the numbers she got from PDEA, et al.; unlike Dela Rosa, who incriminated himself by admitting to the huge number of people killed under Operation Tokhang.

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The Deadly Reverberations of U.S. Border Policy (Review) – NACLA

Posted on January 13, 2020 by Danzig

As demonization of immigrants from Latin America continues at a fever pitch, two recent analyses of U.S. border policies and their consequences could not be more timely: John Carlos Freys Sand and Blood: Americas Stealth War on the Mexico Border and Todd Millers Empire of Borders: The Expansion of the U.S. Border Around the World.

Like Empire of Borders, Freys Sand and Blood examines U.S.-Mexico border history by placing the present brutal treatment of undocumented migrants in the context of a long history of white supremacist U.S. politics. Frey, a veteran investigative reporter, writes in clear, down-to-earth prose about the impact that U.S. immigration and border security policies have had on Latinx migrants.

Frey himself had a traumatic childhood experience with border authorities which gave him first-hand insight into the darker side of U.S. law enforcement. He was born in Mexico but his family moved to the United States when Frey was a toddler. Since his father was a U.S. citizen, Frey became naturalized but his mother remained in this country thanks to a green card. When he was about 12, Frey was taking a walk with his mother near their home in rural San Diego and briefly separated from her. When he went looking for her his mother was gone. She had been picked up by a Border Patrol agent who targeted her because of her dark skin. Though in the U.S. legally, she had not brought her ID with her. The agent did not allow her to return home for her ID; instead he took her into custody and she was deported. [See also NACLAs review of The Death and Life of Aida Hernandez.]

Frey opens Sand and Blood by describing the Chinese Exclusion Act of 1882, an early example anti-immigrant racism in the United States. That legislation allowed the military to patrol the U.S.-Mexico border to block Chinese workers from entering this country. By the time the Border Patrol was officially established in 1924, U.S. laws restricted entry to Asians, illiterates, prostitutes, criminals, contract laborers, unaccompanied children, idiots, epileptics, the insane, the diseased and defective, alcoholics, beggars, polygamists, anarchists, among others.

Large agricultural interests kept Mexicans from being added to that list because those big landowners needed underpaid laborers to maintain hefty profit margins. Mexican workers crossed the border regularly, sometimes daily, to toil on large farms in California, Texas, and Arizona. Though granted entry, these men and women were treated abysmally: for more than 40 years, the delousing of Mexicans crossing between Juarez and El Paso involved being sprayed with cyanogen, which is toxic to humans.

Frey describes how, in 1917, a teenager named Carmelita Torres stood up to that inhumane process by refusing to strip for the spraying ritual, then convincing 30 other women at the bridge between Juarez and El Paso to resist also. These women sparked a wave of resistance later called the bath riots, and Mexicans began avoiding the official checkpoint altogether. Authorities in El Paso responded by assigning patrols of mounted agents, precursors to the U.S. Border Patrol, to monitor unauthorized crossings.

Sand and Blood fast-forwards from that initial wave of illegal crossings to the Bracero (manual laborer in Spanish) program created by the U.S. and Mexican governments during WWII labor shortages. This program, which ran from 1942 to 1964, allowed millions of farmworkers to work in the United States. Some of the workers stayed in the United States without government permission, contributing to a much greater Latinx population in the Southwest and elsewhere. Big agribusiness was happy to continue to employ workers who overstayed the expiration of their work permits.

Frey argues that the current military enforcement of the U.S.-Mexico border can be traced to Ronald Reagans 1986 Immigration Reform and Control Act, under which employers of undocumented workers were fined and border security was tightened to lessen immigration flows.Unlike todays approach, however, pathways to citizenship were left flexible. Reagan stated, I believe in the idea of amnesty for those who have put down roots and lived here, even though sometime back they may have entered illegally.

Such support for a path to legal permanent residency was not wildly popular among other politicians. Many focused on lawbreakers among immigrants and exploited nativist fears of illegal aliens. In his 1995 bid for reelection, Californias governor Pete Wilson turned around a losing campaign by playing on paranoia about undocumented brown people overrunning California. In the 1990s, Bill Clinton also gained political capital by sounding like a hardline Republican on immigration. While Frey notes that after the September 11, 2001 attacks George W. Bush oversaw a near doubling of the size of the Border Patrol, he writes, The blueprint for a militarized approach, one that caused massive death, began in earnest under the administration of a Democrat, Bill Clinton. Frey meticulously lays out a case that, in its messaging, the Clinton Administration perpetuated a negative, anti-immigrant stereotype that remains in the political lexicon today.

U.S. trade policies in the 1990s only exacerbated economic insecurity in Mexico, which in turn increased the influx of migrants from our Southern neighbor. Under the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA), U.S. corn flooded into Mexico, driving rural farmers from their traditional livelihoods. This and other aspects of NAFTAs pro-business economics helped increase Mexicos extreme poverty rate from 21 percent in 1994 to 37 percent in 1997. [2]

As more Mexicans decided to leave their homeland in the wake of NAFTA, the Clinton Administration responded with a policy called prevention through deterrence, which increased Border Patrol enforcement in and near El Paso, San Diego, and other urban areas. The result: Migrants began crossing in remote rural areas, and more and more died of exposure in the desert.

As part of the War on Drugs, George H.W. Bush committed to using the U.S. military to stop drug smuggling at the southern border. Frey notes that though 97 percent of cocaine and close to 100 percent of heroin and methamphetamine entered the U.S. by land or sea vehicles, inspections of such vehicles did not increase. Instead, as the 1990s went on, the military worked in tandem with the Border Patrol to target migrants on foot.

War on Terror alarmism after September 11, 2001 replaced the drug interdiction rationale for border crackdowns. Suddenly the specter of terrorist attacks from the south became a talking point for fear-mongering nativists. Congressman Silvestre Reyes, former chairman of the House Intelligence Committee, told Frey, There was no terrorist threat coming from Mexico and there never has beenPoliticians have used Mexicans and immigrants as scapegoats for so long that they believe there is a real threat so its not too far to go to turn them into real terrorists. The George W. Bush Administrations Department of Homeland Security oversaw the new agency Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), a billion-dollar bludgeon to be wielded against undocumented immigrants. In 2003, the Bureau of Customs and Border Protection (CBP) was created as a sister agency to ICE. CBP, in effect the largest police force in the United States, with a budget of $13.5 billion, oversees the Border Patrol.

A Border Patrol agent told Frey, After 9/11, the gloves came off, and we were trained to see the migrants as possible terrorists. Abuse of migrants became commonplace. To quickly increase the size of the Border Patrol, the Bush administration lowered hiring standards with less thorough vetting of recruits and less training. Frey has reported on incidents of Border Patrol agents firing at and killing Mexican nationals across the border. He has spent years investigating Border Patrol killings of migrants and, after repeated information requests, received no useful feedback on those killings from the U.S. government. But despite government stonewalling, the Southern Border Communities Coalition has documented 80 cases of immigrants killed by Border Patrol agents with no guilty verdicts for agents who were responsible.

Though Barack Obama has the reputation of being more humane than his predecessor, Frey notes: Obama continued the legacy of all U.S. presidents and administrations since Ronald Reagan, making life more difficult for immigrants. In his time in office, Obama deported more than 5 million people. Obamas presidential campaigns received large contributions from defense contractors who profited greatly from border spending: Boeing, which received a billion-dollar contract for a virtual fence that failed on all counts, gave Obama around $191,000 in 2012. Lockheed Martin also gave generously.

Frey cultivated sources inside government agencies and doggedly peppered elected officials with questions mainstream media outlets tend to avoid. He also did more than spending time talking with people attempting to make it across the border: After making contact with a high-ranking member of the Sinaloa cartel who oversees a large number of highly profitable illegal crossings, Frey participated in a trek of migrants across the border. After walking all day in the blazing sun, Frey woke up with blisters on his feet, a parched throat, and little remaining water. He soon told the cartels guide that he couldnt go on. But unlike others attempting the journey, Frey had a satellite phone to call for help. As an air conditioned vehicle took him away, Frey reflected that if he had stayed in the desert, the smugglers would have left him to die.

A forensic anthropologist told Frey, Nobody cares about dead immigrants. Theyre invisible when theyre alive, and theyre even more invisible when theyre dead. No one knows how many thousands have perished while attempting to enter the US through desert terrain, and the U.S. government has little to no interest in tracking such deaths. And after members of the faith-based coalition No More Deaths placed gallon jugs of water in areas of migrant passage, Border Patrol agents were caught on camera kicking such jugs over, increasing the likelihood of yet more deaths from dehydration.

Such acts of wanton cruelty have been emblematic of the Trump presidency. His administration has systematically instituted zero tolerance policies under which young children are separated from parents without bothering to track them, children and adults die in detention camps, and asylum appeals are denied en masse.

Frey also spent time traveling with one of the Central American caravans that Trump demonized relentlessly. The large group offered safety in numbers to travelers who in isolation routinely face extortion, robbery, kidnapping, and rape while attempting to pass through Mexico. Many of the people Frey spoke to discussed leaving home because of gang violence and the grueling poverty that is endemic throughout Central America. But he also heard a climate cause rarely mentioned in U.S. media: The land itself was no longer hospitable to these poor people. A prolonged drought in the dry corridor of Central Americawhich includes parts of Guatemala, El Salvador, Honduras, and Nicaraguahad resulted in almost complete crop failure in many areas.

Journalist Todd Miller, who has been writing about U.S. border issues for more than two decades, including in his previous books Storming the Wall: Climate Change, Migration, and Homeland Security (2017) and Border Patrol Nation: Dispatches From the Front Lines of Homeland Security (2014), expands on the connections between climate change and illegal immigration. His most recent book, Empire of Borders, focuses on border enforcement and climate-related refugees. He opens by quoting a climate scientist who describes Honduras, Guatemala, and El Salvador as ground zero for climate change in the Americas, then looks at Washingtons world-wide heavily militarized border security apparatus.

In Storming the Wall, Miller echoes Frey when he discusses the severity of the climate crisis in Central America. Citing a 2016 report, he writes, from 1995 to 2014 Honduras was indeed ground zero, the country most impacted by severe weather. During those 19 years, Honduras endured 73 extreme weather events and an average of 302 climate-related deaths per year. But reflecting on his time talking to activists and agricultural workers in Honduras, Miller writes, From the perspective of the border enforcement regime, its immaterial whether or not there is a drought, whether or not there is a harvest, or whether or not there is sufficient food. Droughts do not matter. Persistent storms do not matter. To the on-the-ground immigration authorities, when it comes to interdiction, incarceration, and deportation, it means nothing that a new era of climate instability has begun. All that matters is whether or not a person has the proper documents.

Though the current occupant of the White House claims to not believe in climate change, the U.S. military has for years been making contingency plans for its future effects on immigration. In 2015, a U.S. Brigadier General told Miller, As it gets hotter, as the catastrophic events become more frequent, its having an impact on how they grow their agriculture in the Latin American countries, and employment is becoming a problem, and its driving people up north. U.S. military planning for wide-scale flight from climate changes includes the equivalent of war games. This is a continuation of policy leanings going back more than 20 years: In 1994, Secretary of State Madeline Albright said, We believe that environmental degradation is not simply an irritation but a real threat to our national security. This threat involves an enormous amount of people who will need new places to live: the numbers who will be fleeing extreme weather in their home countries is staggering, with estimates that go as high as one billion by 2050.

In Empire of Borders, Miller encounters soldiers familiar with BORTAC, the little-known special forces and tactical unit of the U.S. Border Patrol, at the border between Guatemala and Honduras. BORTAC, which Miller describes as Border Patrol robocops, has had a global presence in the Americas and the Caribbean, Kenya, Tanzania, Uganda, Ukraine, Kosovo, and Tajikistan. The U.S. influence on global border construction and enforcement is staggering. Miller writes, Close your eyes and point to any land mass on a world map, and your finger will probably find a country that is building up its borders in some way with Washingtons assistance.

Millers analysis of the history of punitive measures on the U.S.-Mexico border dovetails with Freys. Clearly Donald Trumps brutally sadistic policies built on and worsened already existing policies from Obamas presidency. Miller cites a 2011 report that details the permanent separation of 5,100 children from their families. He makes a convincing case that the roots of such racist policies go back to the creation of the U.S.-Mexico borderthe result of a bloody war of conquest in which the U.S. seized land that today makes up much of Southern California and the southwestern states.

But it is not just at Mexicos northern border that the United States maintains a heavily militarized presence. The American Civil Liberties Union calls the 100-mile zones around both the southern and northern borders Constitution-free zone(s). Miller spoke to a CBP official who pointed out that the Fourth Amendment does not apply to the Department of Homeland Security, which CBP is part of. CBP and DHS are also exempt from restrictions on racial profiling that apply to other branches of the U.S. government.

Millers travels to global hot spots where CBP has a profound influence leads him to quote a journalist who calls the organization global capitalisms bouncers. He also cites anthropologist Jeff Halper, who argues that global border enforcement promotes a certain social order while also ensuring the smooth flow of capital.

Miller talks to activists from different countries who argue for military-free open borders. Despite the global siege mentality, he documents so effectively in Empire of Borders, Miller sees the possibility of radically more humane arrangements than the current state of affairs. Miller notes, Leaders talk of border security as if it were as natural and timeless as a mountain or a river. It is not. The hardened militarized borders insisted upon by politicians are a recent phenomenon, as are political boundaries between nation-states, as are nation-states themselves.

Against this backdrop, I found Millers optimism about the possibilities of a shift toward global solidarity and empathy beyond the confines of nation state provincialism the least convincing part of Empire of Borders. The lack of compassion for others in the right-wing, anti-immigrant regimes now in power in the United States and elsewhere dont seem likely to make a leftward shift toward open borders any time soon. As Miller notes elsewhere in this excellent book, In the climate era, coexisting worlds of luxury living and impoverished desperation will only be magnified and compounded.

The reality of millions driven from their homes is not some dystopian future scenario: The UN High Commissioner on Refugees reported in 2015 that their were more than 65 million forcibly displaced people in the world. That number does not include migrants forced to move by global poverty.

Although the powerful countries most responsible for our climate crisis show little interest in becoming more welcoming to climate refugees, the more positive possibilities that Miller points to are worth fighting for. To mangle a riff from the great Italian Marxist Antonio Gramsci, no matter how much pessimism dominates our intellects, optimism of the will still has a chance to prevail.

Ben Terrall is a San Francisco-based writer whose work has appeared in CounterPunch, In These Times, The San Francisco Bay Guardian, Noir City, January Magazine, and other outlets.

Disclaimer: Todd Miller is a member of NACLAs Editorial Board.

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The Deadly Reverberations of U.S. Border Policy (Review) - NACLA

We All Want Someones Best Songs of the 2010s – We All Want Someone To Shout For

Posted on January 13, 2020 by Danzig

While making our best albums of the decade list wasnt an easy task, figuring out our best songs was ten times more difficult. Do you pick the obvious single or that hidden gem that revealed its true glory with every new listen? How many songs do I even include? 200 is a lot, 100 is too little to really showcase the best of ten years. So I had some fun with it (the only sane way to take on an insane task like this) and decided that since its 2020, Id do a list of 220 songs.Like any list of this sort, theres a lot that you will probably expect, some obvious choices and hopefully, some that you wont. I always try and make it clear that these are more so my favorite songs that anything that I think is the best, as these are indeed distinctly different concepts.

All of these songs were obsessed over at some point by me, whether it be the many hours spent alone in my car to and from shows, working on this blog in college, hanging with friends, whatever it may be, these were the songs that soundtracked the last decade.

Find the full list posted below and of course a giant Spotify playlist that I challenge you to listen in its entirety. (2 songs on the list Joanna Newsom Divers + Flyte Light Me Up werent on Spotify)

220. Ski Lodge Just to Be Like You219. Mean Lady Bop Bop218. Murals Eyes Of Love217. Caroline Rose Soul Number 5216. Theme Park Milk215. Jens Lekman Whats That Perfume That You Wear?214. Summer Fiction Chandeliers213. Queens of the Stone Age I Sat By The Ocean212. The Districts Funeral Beds211. Tyler, The Creator Yonkers210. My Morning Jacket Holdin On To Black Metal209. John Maus Hey Moon208. Radiohead Lotus Flower207. The Weeknd The Morning206. Forth Wanderers Slop205. Houndmouth Sedona204. Tobias Jesso Jr. How Could You Babe203. Deafheaven Dream House202. Hundred Waters Murmurs201. Unknown Mortal Orchestra So Good at Being in Trouble200. Pantha Du Prince Stick To My Side (Feat. Panda Bear)199. The New Pornographers War On The East Coast198. Lower Dens Brains197. Jack White Over and Over and Over196. Sylvan Esso Coffee195. Beach House 10 Mile Stereo194. Japanese Breakfast Everybody Wants to Love You193. Leon Bridges River192. Real Estate Saturday191. Panda Bear Last Night At The Jetty190. Rubblebucket Came Out Of A Lady189. The War On Drugs Holding On188. Titus Andronicus A More Perfect Union187. Destroyer Kaputt186. Hamilton Leithauser I Retired185. Earl Sweatshirt -Chum184. Courtney Barnett Avant Gardener183. The Vaccines If You Wanna182. Beach Fossils Daydream181. Summer Camp Better Off Without You180. Pusha-T Trouble On My Mind (feat. Tyler, The Creator)179. Free Energy Dream City178. Portugal. The Man Sleep Forever177. Purple Mountains All My Happiness Is Gone176. Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds Jubilee Street175. Blur Thought I Was a Spaceman174. Tennis Marathon173. Wild Nothing Chinatown172. Aldous Harding The Barrel171. Thee Oh Sees I Come From The Mountain170. Jay Som The Bus Song169. Ra Ra Riot Boy168. Big Boi Shutterbugg (feat. Cutty)167. Smith Westerns All Die Young166. Mac DeMarco Freaking Out the Neighborhood165. Deerhunter Helicopter164. Grimes Kill V. Maim163. Khruangbin People Everywhere (Still Alive)162. Caveman Old Friend161. Girls Honey Bunny160. Dirty Projectors About To Die159. Parquet Courts Stoned and Starving158. King Gizzard & The Lizard Wizard Cellophane157. Daft Punk Instant Crush (feat. Julian Casablancas)156. Alvvays Not My Baby155. The National Dark Side Of The Gym154. Future Islands Balance153. Two Door Cinema Club What You Know152. Foxygen -Make It Known151. Lucy Dacus Night Shift150. Vampire Weekend Diplomats Son149. The XX Fiction148. Girl Band Paul147. Animal Collective FloriDada146. Kurt Vile Babys Arms145. Tanlines Real Life144. Wolf Alice Moaning Lisa Smile143. DIIV Doused142. Tame Impala The Less I Know The Better141. Cloud Nothings Im Not Part of Me140. Wild Beasts Wanderlust139. Wolf Parade What Did My Lover Say? (It Always Had to Go This Way)138. Ariel Pinks Haunted Graffiti Round and Round137. Whitney No Woman136. Bombay Bicycle Club Eat, Sleep, Wake (Nothing But You)135. Alt J Taro134. Little Green Cars My Love Took Me Down To The River To Silence Me133. Fiona Apple Every Single Night132. Kanye West Dark Fantasy131. Beach House Silver Soul130. Snail Mail Pristine129. The Black Keys Tighten Up128. Los Campesinos! Avocado, Baby127. Vince Staples Norf Norf126. Caribou Odessa125. The Gaslight Anthem American Slang124. Joanna Newsom Divers123. Run The Jewels Thursday In The Danger Room (feat. Kamasi Washington)122. Hot Chip I Feel Better121. Black Midi bmbmbm120. Craft Spells After The Moment119. Crystal Castles Baptism118. EL VY Return to the Moon (Political Song for Didi Bloome to Sing, with Crescendo)117. Flyte Light Me Up116. Palma Violets Best Of Friends115. Someone Still Loves You Boris Yeltsin Sink/Let It Sway114. LCD Soundsystem Home113. The Vaccines All In White112. Arcade Fire Afterlife111. The Growlers Going Gets Tuff110. Ty Segall Youre The Doctor109. Soccer Mommy Your Dog108. The Drums Best Friend107. The Tins Green Room106. Magic Kids Hey Boy105. Yeasayer O.N.E.104. Danny Brown Grown Up103. Perfume Genius Slip Away102. Alvvays Party Police101. Wilco Art Of Almost100. The War On Drugs An Ocean in Between the Waves99. Sufjan Stevens Futile Devices98. Thee Oh Sees The Dream97. The Walkmen Blue As Your Blood96. Frightened Rabbit Holy95. Stornoway Zorbing94. Julia Holter Sea Calls Me Home93. Men I Trust Tailwhip92. Kevin Morby Harlem River91. Grizzly Bear Mourning Sound90. James Blake Retrograde89. Grimes Oblivion88. The Rapture How Deep Is Your Love?87. The Strokes Under Cover of Darkness86. MGMT Siberian Breaks85. Cut Copy Need You Now84. Real Estate Its Real83. Fontaines D.C. Boys in the Better Land82. Weyes Blood Andromeda81. Phoebe Bridgers Motion Sickness80. White Reaper Judy French79. Arctic Monkeys Do I Wanna Know?78. Deerhunter Desire Lines77. Port St. Willow Amawalk76. Spoon Let Me Be Mine75. CHVRCHES The Mother We Share74. Hop Along Tibetan Pop Stars73. Kendrick Lamar The Blacker The Berry72. St. Vincent Cruel71. Cults Go Outside70. Purity Ring Fineshrine69. Frank Ocean Ivy68. Tuneyards Bizness67. Julien Baker Something66. (Sandy) Alex G Change65. The Last Shadow Puppets Miracle Aligner64. The Horrors Still Life63. Chromatics These Streets Will Never Look the Same62. DAngelo Really Love61. Metric Black Sheep60. Sharon Van Etten Seventeen59. Alex Turner Stuck On The Puzzle58. Angel Olsen Shut Up Kiss Me57. Mitski First Love / Late Spring56. Arcade Fire The Suburbs55. The National Bloodbuzz Ohio54. Hamilton Leithauser + Rostam In A Black Out53. Big Thief Not52. Amen Dunes Believe51. Car Seat Headrest Bodys50. Vampire Weekend Step49. Arctic Monkeys Star Treatment48. Youth Lagoon Montana47. A Tribe Called Quest We The People.46. The National Oblivions45. The Walkmen Heaven44. The Twilight Sad It Never Was The Same43. Foals Spanish Sahara42. Pure Bathing Culture Ivory Coast41. The Radio Dept. Heavens On Fire40. Jay-Z & Kanye West Niggas in Paris39. Lana Del Rey Video Games38. Villagers Becoming A Jackal37. Bon Iver Holocene36. The Tallest Man on Earth Love Is All35. Pinegrove Aphasia34. Frank Ocean Thinkin Bout You33. David Bowie Lazarus32. Tame Impala Feels Like We Only Go Backwards31. Slowdive No Longer Making Time30. Courtney Barnett Pedestrian at Best29. Gorillaz On Melancholy Hill28. Kendrick Lamar FEAR.27. Robyn Dancing On My Own26. Daft Punk Get Lucky (feat. Pharrell Williams)25. Andy Shauf Quite Like You24. The Last Shadow Puppets The Dream Synopsis23. Childish Gambino Redbone22. Father John Misty So Im Growing Old on Magic Mountain21. The National Pink Rabbits20. The Morning Benders Excuses19. Arctic Monkeys Thats Where Youre Wrong18. Fleet Foxes Helplessness Blues17. Idles Never Fight a Man with a Perm16. Arcade Fire Sprawl II (Mountains Beyond Mountains)15. Future Islands Seasons (Waiting on You)14. Beach House Myth13. Vampire Weekend Hannah Hunt12. M83 Midnight City11. Alabama Shakes Hold On10. Alex Turner Piledriver Waltz

9. Japandroids The House That Heaven Built

8. Rolling Blackouts Coastal Fever Talking Straight

7. LCD Soundsystem Dance Yourself Clean

6. The War On Drugs Red Eyes

5. Wu Lyf We Bros

4. Kanye West Runaway

3. Radiohead True Love Waits

2. The National Terrible Love (Alternative Version)

1. Alvvays Archie, Marry Me

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We All Want Someones Best Songs of the 2010s - We All Want Someone To Shout For

Study: Blame The War On Drugs (And Not Prescriptions) For America’s Opioid Crisis – Yahoo News

Posted on January 5, 2020 by Danzig

Key point: As prescription volume precipitously drops, the overdose rate continues apace.

A new study reported in the November 1, 2019Annals of Emergency Medicinepours morecold water on the false but persistent narrative that the opioid overdose crisis wascaused by doctors prescribing opioids to patients in pain.

This prospective cohort study by researchers in the Department of Emergency Medicine at Albert Einstein College of Medicine followed 484 opioid nave patients prescribed opioids for acute pain upon release from the emergency department during a six month period. The statewide prescription drug monitoring program was employed in addition to regular follow up telephone interviews. One percent (five patients) met the criteria for persistent opioid use by the end of the follow up period. Four of the five patients still had moderate or severe pain in the affected body part six months after release from the emergency department.

The study comes after a much larger retrospective cohort studyreported in theBMJof more than 568,000 opioid nave patients prescribed opioids for acute postoperative pain between 2008 and 2016. Investigators found a totalmisuserate of 0.6 percent.The researchersdefined misuse as follows:

The primary outcome was an ICD-9 (international classification of diseases, ninth revision) diagnosis code of opioid dependence, abuse, or overdoseOpioid misuse was defined as the presence of at least one of these ICD codes after discharge and encompasses a composite of a wide range of forms of misuse. We included only diagnosis codes related specifically to prescription opioids.

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Study: Blame The War On Drugs (And Not Prescriptions) For America's Opioid Crisis - Yahoo News

Watch The War On Drugs Cover Neil Young, Patti Smith, And The Pretenders At First Shows In A Year – Stereogum

Posted on January 5, 2020 by Danzig

After releasing their heavily anticipated album A Deeper Understanding in 2017, subsequently touring behind it through 2018, and along the way becoming bigger than plausibly expected even following the success of Lost In The Dream, the War On Drugs have kept pretty quiet through 2019. Maybe that means somethings on the horizon for 2020? In the meantime, the band has returned for some hometown shows to close out the decade that saw their ascension, and theyve brought some nice surprises along with them.

Last year, the War On Drugs capped off 2018 with a three-night run of shows called A Drug-Cember To Remember, starting at the tiny Philly club Johnny Brendas and working their way up to the Tower Theater. Its been just over a year since those performances which makes it just over a year since the band played onstage, period and this time around they returned for a two-night stand at Union Transfer and the Fillmore. (Though the Fillmore is a pretty big club, these would still qualify as intimate shows by TWOD standards these days.)

The setlists marked the occasion well. On one hand, they were gesturing toward career-spanning, with the great Slave Ambient getting more love than it did through much of the tour behind A Deeper Understanding. (That tour found the Drugs as a much stronger live band than in the past, so the absence of The Animator and Come To The City was a bummer.) And they also unveiled some new covers.

The War On Drugs are no strangers to incorporating covers into their live shows, including stuff from John Lennon, George Harrison, and the Waterboys over the years. This time, they dug into Neil Youngs Look Out For My Love (after previously covering Like A Hurricane). And on each night, Philadelphia-based songwriter Rosali joined them for some bigger surprises: the Pretenders Birds Of Paradise and Patti Smiths Because The Night. (Though when you consider Bruce Springsteen wrote the latter, maybe its not too surprising a cover option for the Drugs.) In addition, they revisited their version of Warren Zevons Accidentally Like A Martyr, which they performed a bunch through 2017 and 2018. Check out videos of the new covers below.

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Watch The War On Drugs Cover Neil Young, Patti Smith, And The Pretenders At First Shows In A Year - Stereogum

The War On Drugs Guitarist Anthony LaMarca On The Building Record, ‘PETRA’ : World Cafe – NPR

Posted on January 5, 2020 by Danzig

Who doesn't love a good dog? Here at World Cafe, we are pro-doggo, and so is our next guest, Anthony LaMarca, who fronts a band called The Building (that is, when he isn't busy playing guitar in the Grammy award-winning band, The War on Drugs). After moving back to his hometown of Youngstown, Ohio, a few years ago, LaMarca adopted a dog because his wife wanted one which is a pretty good reason, I might add.

The dog's name is Petra, and Petra was by LaMarca's side as he battled cancer. PETRA is also the title of The Building's latest album, in which the name takes on a new meaning as an acronym: Peace's Eternal Truth Renews All. Anthony will explain what that means, and we'll hear a performance from the band, starting with "Warning." That and more in the audio player above.

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The War On Drugs Guitarist Anthony LaMarca On The Building Record, 'PETRA' : World Cafe - NPR

The Golden Globes used to be a joke now it is one of the most prestigious awards shows on the planet – The Independent

Posted on January 5, 2020 by Danzig

A giggling Bette Midler tells a dirty joke and simulates performing a lewd act upon the gold-lacquered gong she has just accepted. Oliver Stone, his hair spooling madly down towards his shoulders, rants about Americas war on drugs as boos ring out and host Chevy Chase tells him to just say thank you and leave the stage.

And lets not forget Emma Thompson flinging her shoes over her shoulder and handing her martini to an assistant, or noted chuckle champion Cate Blanchett joking about that time Judy Garland was force-fed barbiturates. Renee Zellweger almost misses her big moment entirely because she has gone to the loo. Hugh Grant is up at the podium accepting a gleaming accolade on her behalf when she bursts back into the room, pegging it through the crowd in her couture gown.

We could be talking about the Oscars, but obviously we arent. All the above incidents occurred at the Golden Globes, the awards show where Hollywood allows its crazy side off the leash, which returns on Sunday night with impish Ricky Gervais as host. And though this junior sibling of the Academy Awards has calmed down significantly in the past several years, the annual Hollywood Foreign Press Association gong-giving ceremony is still far more riotous than the Oscars, or most other awards, would dare to be.

Sharing the full story, not just the headlines

The zaniness isnt just confined to tipsy A-listers briefly setting down their vodkas (which is what Blanchett says shed been drinking when she dropped her Garland wisecrack in 2014) in order to lurch to the podium to receive their gleaming mementoes. In its 77 years, the Globes has defied received wisdom and industry convention with gusto. And yet, here it is in 2020, the second most prestigious awards show on the planet after the Oscars.

The Globes litany of head-scratching gestures includes giving the Best New Star award in 1982 to the unknown lead in a bizarre incest movie (more on which later), honouring Ridley Scott sci-fi drama The Martian as Best Musical or Comedyin 2016, and applauding Lady Gaga for her stilted turn in American Horror Story. This year, meanwhile, there is every possibility the Globes will name opinion-splitting Joker as Best Drama, and hand the Best Musical or Comedy prize to Once Upon A Time in Hollywood, Quentin Tarantinos often brutal deconstruction of the Manson murders. At the Globes, anything goes.

After hosting the Golden Globes from 2010 to 2012, Gervais returned to the ceremony in 2016 and chose to devote part of his opening monologue to joking about Caitlyn Jenner, who had recently come out as transgender and was documenting her transition publicly. Hey @RickyGervais. Its 2016. Jokes at the expense of trans people are so tired. Catch up, GLAAD tweeted at the time. Gervais has since doubled down on this line of comedy in a Netflix special. In September 2019, he tweeted: You can joke about whatever the f*** you like. And some people won't like it and they will tell you they don't like it. And then it's up to you whether you give a f*** or not. And so on. It's a good system. Hence, the bottom spot in this ranking.

YouTube / NBC

Fresh off a particularly biting 2011 hosting set, was Gervais struggling to figure out just the right amount of meanness for the ceremony? The comedian didnt seem quite like himself that time around. He delivered some good lines, among them: For any of you who dont know, the Golden Globes are just like the Oscars, but without all that esteem and The Hollywood Foreign Press have warned me that if I insult any of you, or any of them, or offend any viewers, or cause any controversy whatsoever, theyll definitely invite me back next year. Still, this year doesnt stand out in Gervaiss Golden Globes history.

YouTube / NBC

In 2011, Gervaiss jokes were so incisive, so daring and lets just say it, mean that they elicited occasional gasps from the audience. Over the course of the evening, the comedian took aim at the 2010 film The Tourist starring Johnny Depp and Angelina Jolie (It seems like everything this year was three-dimensional, except the characters in The Tourist, he quipped), Robert Downey Jr, and the president of the Hollywood Foreign Press Association, which organises the Golden Globes. Gervaiss set was so controversial that some wondered whether it would prove to be his last but the comedian has now been invited back three more times.

YouTube / NBC

Gervaiss first turn as host was also his best. Almost 10 years ago, the comedian proved to be a delightfully sarcastic emcee, capable of the most ferocious take-downs. His best lines of the night were delivered with fake enthusiasm, such as when Gervais the creator of the original version of The Office in the UK, tore into the US version starring Steve Carell (Where does he get his ideas from? Gervais mused). The 2010 ceremony also included this brilliant bit about writers in Hollywood: This next category is a bit of a downer, to be honest: its for writing. We all know writers get way too much credit in Hollywood, and thats due to the generosity of actors sometimes mentioning them. And lets not forget what is perhaps Gervaiss most celebrated Golden Globes quip, through which he introduced Mel Gibson to the stage: I like a drink as much as the next man, Gervais said, glass in hand. Unless the next man is Mel Gibson.

YouTube / NBC

The real question, of course, is how an event organised by an obscure club of expat journalists (which today has a membership of around 90) has come to be one of Hollywoods most important bellwethers. Success at the Globes can bring real momentum, transforming a dark horse into a genuine contender.

That was certainly the case last year when the journey of Bohemian Rhapsody from troubled production (director Bryan Singer was fired halfway through the shoot) to awards season challenger began in earnest with Rami Maleks Best Actor win at the Globes. When he went on to repeat that feat at the Oscars, it was understood that the HFPAs endorsement had boosted his chances enormously. It helps that the deadline for Academy of Motion Pictures Arts and Sciences members to submit their Oscar nominations is early January, when the Golden Globes are still fresh in the memory.

The Globes arent necessarily taken seriously in Hollywood. Coverage tends to focus on the riotous atmosphere as stars let down their hair to an extent unimaginable at the Oscars. But they are taken seriously enough that all the nominees turn up. And success at the Golden Globes carries far more clout than winning at the SAGs or Baftas. Against all logic, the Globes have become hugely important.

Brian May, RamiMalek and Roger Taylor during the 76th Golden Globes(Getty)

The Hollywood Foreign Press Association has made some head-scratching decisions with their nominees in recent years, says Rebecca Daniel, who writes about cinema and award ceremonies at the website Show Me The Movies. Take, for instance, Vice or Get Out nominated in Best Picture Musical or Comedy. Both films tackled pretty serious issues without being particularly comedic or musically inclined.

Just six awards were handed out at the first Golden Globes, held at the 20th Century Fox studio in West LA in January 1944 (Best Picture went to The Song of Bernadette). And the winners didnt even receive one of the iconic Globes: instead, they were awarded certificates, which were sent to their homes the following day. The Globes, depicting the world wreathed in a dramatic swirl of celluloid and plated in 24-carat gold, would not make an appearance until the following year.

But not even the arrival of the titular gongs could do much to raise the Globes credibility in those early years. They did distinguish themselves from the Oscars in 1957, though, when award categories for television were announced. To this day, it is in TV where the Globes reputation is arguably strongest. The Golden Globes were, for instance, the first awards ceremony to take streaming seriously by naming Amazons Mozart in the Jungle Best Comedy Television Series in 2016. At the time, the Emmys still looked on Netflix and its rivals as though they were a novelty that might sink back to irrelevance.

The Globes had, by then, travelled a long way from what was perceived as their lowest moment: the awarding in 1982 of Best New Star to the unheard-of Pia Zadora, over Kathleen Turner and Elizabeth McGovern. The New York Times had likened her to Brigitte Bardot recycled through a kitchen compactor after her screen debut in incest drama Butterfly, an independent movie bankrolled by her billionaire husband, 30 years her senior.

An air of quiet shock fell upon the room when her name was read aloud by Timothy Hutton, Zadora herself would later recall. All sides denied it, but the suspicion was that her award had been paid for. Her husband, Meshulam Riklis, a self-proclaimed bad boy of Wall Street, flew HFPA members to Las Vegas for a screening of Butterfly, which also starred Orson Welles and Ed McMahon (it would not be released until a month after the Globes and died a quick and painful death).

The Hollywood Foreign Press Association has mostly cleaned up its reputation for being bought off over the years, says Susan Wloszczyna, a senior editor at awards prediction website Gold Derby, ever since the great Pia Zadora controversy. And, yes, they still play with the category designations, allowing Bohemian Rhapsody and A Star Is Born to vie as dramas and not as a musical or comedy. They do like to ensure that the most popular and glamorous stars are in attendance and get plenty of camera time on TV.

Which brings us back to that original question: why does Hollywood give so much credence to the Golden Globes? The stars may drink their way through the night in a way they wouldnt dare at the Oscars, but theyll still all be at the Beverly Hilton at 5pm local time, as Ricky Gervais steps up to the mic and proceeds to spray the room with insults.

Ricky Gervais hosts the 73rd Golden Globes(Getty)

The biggest shift Ive noticed is that all movie stars attend the Golden Globes, says Sasha Stone, the founder of Awards Daily. Ive been covering the awards race for 20 years and when I started it wasnt something all of the stars did, certainly not those who wanted to be taken seriously.

The attraction of the Golden Globes, she explains, is that they are an opportunity for actors to burnish their A-lister status. They get to be seen as movie stars, moving among other movie stars. In an industry where perception counts for so much, the Globes are an invaluable shop window. This is distinct from, and perhaps even more important than, whatever role they play in anointing Oscar winners. In an era where franchises such as Marvel and Star Wars count for more than individual star power, an event with the prominence of the Globes is not to be sniffed at.

The pendulum began to shift at the same time that movie stars began to lose power. Now there is a sense that every career, every movie, requires going to battle because nominations can mean higher box office, better jobs, more name recognition, says Stone.

Ive still never gotten used to not only every star showing up at the Globes, but now all of them showing up even at the Critics Choice awards, never mind the SAG and the Bafta awards. They turn up to be seen, to be known, to hold onto power that they need to survive in a fast-shifting climate. It isnt even so much that its all done to get to the Oscars, although certainly, thats part of it: the Oscars are still the top of the heap. But the Globes are in themselves a great career boost, publicity-wise. While they arent quite at the level of the number one thing people mention when you die, they are certainly more respectable today than theyve ever been.

She concludes: Think of them like the Kardashians, I suppose, or, God help us, Donald Trump. Their empires were mostly built on hate but in the end it hardly matters. Power is power, no matter how it has been attained Fame is fame. Awards are awards.

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The Golden Globes used to be a joke now it is one of the most prestigious awards shows on the planet - The Independent

WATCH: Patrolling the US Southern border in the Caribbean – Sharyl Attkisson

Posted on January 5, 2020 by Danzig

The following is a transcript of my cover story investigation on Full Measure. Watch the video by clicking the link at the end of the page.

We begin with an examination of a U.S. border that you might not have given much thought to. Like our Southern border with Mexico, its the target of nonstop efforts by drug traffickers, human smugglers and possibly even terrorists. But this U.S. border is in the Caribbean. And the job of guarding it is arguably even more complicated.

Our Caribbean journey begins at the San Juan, Puerto Rico seaport with a ferry that comes in three times a week from the Dominican Republic. It carries up to a thousand passengers and cargo including vehiclesall getting their last look before entering the U.S.

Sharyl: How does that make it easier for smugglers, the fact that Puerto Rico is out here but it is a US territory?

Roberto Vaquero: Mainly because containerized cargo coming in or leaving Puerto Rico to the US mainland doesnt see customs anymore. They dont see CBP anymore. SHARYL: After this? Vaquero: After this. So we are the last line of defense.

Roberto Vaquero is a top Border Security official here.

Sharyl: So, if they make it through Puerto Rico, theyre home free?

Vaquero: Well, basically, yes.

The U.S. territory of Puerto Rico about the size of Connecticut is about 1000 miles from the mainland U.S.. Its only about 80 miles from the Dominican Republic and Haiti across whats called the Mona Passage. Its also a straight shot from Venezuela and Colombia. That positioning makes it prime territory for drug runners and human smugglers moving illegal products into the U.S.

Sharyl: I dont think most Americans think of Puerto Rico as a place that is on the front lines of the war on drugs.

Vaquero: It is. It is. And its very unique. Were in a unique strategic location. Its an easy route for smugglers to actually move their narcotics or any other type of contraband to any secluded beach, maybe to some of the mangroves, maybe to other outer ports, other out sister islands that we have here in Puerto Rico. So, it is strategic. And also, its considered domestic if youre flying in anything from actually Puerto Rico into the US mainland. So thats a smugglers dream.

This is where U.S. border agents recently seized 311 pounds of cocaine shaped into 122 bricks and hidden in a tank. Drug sniffing border dogs in Puerto Rico have found boxes from Colombia labelled red roses but containing cocaine valued at more than $700 thousand dollars. Cocaine has been hidden in shampoo bottles. And found inside books and drugs found inside dry erase markers.

And while were here at the San Juan seaportone of the K-9s seems to be onto something. For the bad guys, moving people and drugs carries great risks as were about to see. If you think patrolling the southern U.S.-Mexico border is challenging, imagine patrolling a border thats nothing more than an invisible line in the ocean 12 nautical miles out to sea.

Schneeberger: Theres thousands of square miles of ocean to cover, all the way coming up from Venezuela, Columbia, all the way here to Puerto Rico.

Jeffrey Schneeberger is a marine agent with Customs and Border Protection.

Sharyl: Anything else you want to say about the job or what people ought to know about what happens over here?

Schneeberger: Yeah. I mean, its still the Wild West out here, I think. On the water its a needle in the haystack at that point. Its not a land border, a line in the water, or a line in the sand that you cross A plane can only do so much with a needle in the haystack, and a boat can only do so much.

Read more about Attkisson v. DOJ and FBI here.

When boats containing drugs or illegal immigrants are spotted agents coordinate with their partners in the air. Here, air units are watching as agents intercept a Colombian fast boat racing through the Caribbean Sea toward Puerto Rico. Here, theyre onto a drug boat from Venezuela. This video shows border agents chasing down a boat carrying three smugglers and 220 pounds of cocaine.

Were on a Customs and Border Protection Blackhawk helicopter. Agents show us a more than 1000-foot high antenna on the western side of Puerto Rico that smugglers use as a beacon. Then we fly out over the turquoise, blue waters to Desecheo Island, a deserted National Wildlife Refuge. Christopher Columbus landed here on his second voyage to the New World. Today, smugglers charge immigrants three to six thousand dollars each for a boat ride to get dropped off on one of these treacherous remote islands, hoping to get picked up by U.S. patrols. Officials tell us a lot of illegal cash transfers happen here, too.

In the past year throughout Puerto Rico and the US Virgin Islands, more than 1,400 illegal immigrants were picked up. About one-third of them already had criminal histories. In September, a makeshift boat overloaded with 38 illegal immigrants from the Dominican Republic capsized. Three of them drowned.

A Blackhawk crew like the one were with provided surveillance and cover when two men from the Dominican Republic were intercepted in a boat carrying more than 4000 pounds of cocaine worth $47 million. A U.S. Border air team spotted this boat carrying illegal immigrants and tracked it until it was intercepted by the Coast Guard.

We wait until dark and head out on a different aircraft a Dash 8 Turboprop plane. Our assignment: to patrol the Mona Passage between the Dominican Republic and Puerto Rico.

Before long, we spot a suspected drug boat.

Sharyl: And theres a boat off the Dominican Republic?

CBP agent: There is a vessel coming off the Dominican Republic.

In November, a plane like ours spotted a boat full of 28 of illegal immigrants. It could have capsized and had no real lifesaving equipment on board. Boat agents rescued them and learned five of the immigrants had snuck in before. Tonight, our airplane crew that spotted the suspicious boat quickly becomes distracted by immediate concerns. Theres a mechanical malfunction with our plane.

We end up having to burn off fuel so we can land.

Sharyl: So normally if you saw a boat like that and we werent having a maintenance issue, what would we do?

Unidentified: We would definitely go and see if we could a visual on that.

Sharyl: And Tonight, we just have to let it go?

Unidentified: Unfortunately.

Mechanical malfunctions arent all that uncommon, they tell us, making their job all the more difficult.

Back at San Juan seaport it turns out the drug sniffing dog was onto something big. In the rear brake drums of the Ford van, Customs and Border Protection found six pounds of heroin valued at $162-thousand dollars. Another big find at this lesser known US border hotspot.

Vasquero: So Puerto Rico is a hot point. They dont have to go through customs anymore. So this is their last point This is actually the last line of defense for anything coming into the US.

A US border that lies in the Caribbean sea where there is no chance to build a fence.

Officials report a spike in drug seizures in the Caribbean sector they say when security tightens up on the Mexican border.. things become more active there.

Watch the video investigation by clicking the link below:

http://fullmeasure.news/news/cover-story/the-caribbean-border

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WATCH: Patrolling the US Southern border in the Caribbean - Sharyl Attkisson

Interview: Alexander Mora on Finding the Right Lens to Tell of the Terror in the Philippines in The Nightcrawlers – The Moveable Fest

Posted on January 5, 2020 by Danzig

If a picture is worth a thousand words, Alexander Mora had his work cut out for him in making The Nightcrawlers, tracking the fearless photojournalists in the Philippines that have spent their evenings chasing down scenes of the countless murders that have taken place following the election of President Rodrigo Duterte and restoring the humanity to those that have been killed under the campaign promise of ridding the country of drug users and dealers. While the barrage of brutal imagery could be overwhelming, it isnt in the hands of Mora, who captures the chaos of the moment by sticking to the side of the photojournalists such as Raffy Lerma, but creates an unusually dynamic and panoramic view of the tragic situation in Manila by widened the frame to show the impact of the killings on everyone from those who have lost loved ones to the vigilantes who have been emboldened by the presidents mandate to become enforcers.

Remarkably, The Nightcrawlers is Moras first film and while he had no prior experience behind the camera, his unique qualifications to take on such a daunting production reveal themselves when a background in human rights shines through in the compassion he shows to everyone caught in the vicious cycle of violence and his decision to never tie the narrative to a particular set of subjects, instead allowing the audience to get a feel for the Philippines in all its complexities that can seemingly be ascribed as much to cinematic instincts as the considerations he gave thought to in his studies to initially be an architect. Recently, The Nightcrawlers, which can be seen below, was shortlisted as one of 10 finalists for the Best Documentary Short Award at this years Oscars and the director spoke about his crash course in filmmaking and being thrust into the dangerous war on drugs in the Philippines.

How did this come about?

I graduated from architecture school and I was starting law school as well and Doireann [Maddock], my first producer on the film had spent some time in the Philippines, so when the drug war broke out, she was following it closely online. She came across this story of Rowena Tiamson, a young lady who had been murdered with a sign that had been left on her saying, I Am a Drug User. Do Not Copy Me. She was innocent and my producer was so moved by the injustice of that one story and thought that wasnt getting over to the west about the drug war, so she recruited me to come along and direct this film because she knew I had experience working for the U.N. and human rights. I was hesitant at first because I had never directed anything before, but she was quite persistent, and with a background in architecture, she thought creatively I could be able to execute something, so eventually when I had a bit of time on my hands, so I figured I would try. The ambition [initially] was just to make a short, a 15-minute short about this very tragic story about this one girl using an iPhone, but things spiraled on from there.

Was that story what led you to the photojournalists?

Absolutely. For us, the access certainly preceded the intention in this film. The first person we reached out to was Raffy Lerma, who had a public profile because hed taken this picture, the Pieta, which became the growing symbol of the anti-Duterte movement, and the president attacked Raffy in his State of the Union address, so Doireann reached out to him and we sat with him in Manila the first night we went there, just to get some orientation as to what was going on on the ground. He was very generous with his time in that first meeting, and because it was difficult to get a sense of what he was talking about [without seeing it], being on the front line as a photojournalist, he invited me to come along on a night shift with him [where he was] a star photojournalist for the main broadsheet at the time.

My mind was completely blown by the experience. Scores of people were murdered in the most harrowing ways, like high speed chases, and everything would be quiet until 9:30 pm and then all of a sudden, the calls would be coming in. It was just the most harrowing experience of my life, not only realizing the horrors that would be happening in the city, but also the danger these photojournalists were putting themselves in. So I realized very much that these journalists were at the forefront of the drug war as it was developing and changing, and that was an inflection point in our focus from wanting to tell this story to something of a broader scope.

The cameras obviously arent iPhones were you in the photojournalists influential as far as the look of the film was concerned?

In terms of the aesthetic of it, it wasnt so straight-forward. I had doggedly held onto this idea of an iPhone documentary for quite a long time and on reflection, I think that was primarily because I never made a film before. My final thesis at Yale was examining the confluence of architecture and film, so I used Maya to do parametric [design] and exploring how film could be used to explore architectural spaces, but I certainly never really held a proper film camera before, and the iPhone was something of a safety blanket. As long as we said we were making it with an iPhone, the ambition was quite modest.

I didnt want to admit that if this was anything we were going to do on such a scale, having to use proper equipment and everything else, it would be such a heavy undertaking, and philosophically as well, it begs various questions of are we the right people to be telling this story? Who are you to be telling a story like this at this scale when you havent done anything like this before? So it was easy to say we were making an iPhone documentary and I think I held onto that even after it was quite clear it wasnt a tenable thing to be doing. But we had to honor the access wed gotten and Raffy specifically kept [saying], You should really upgrade your equipment because a lot of these killings would happen at night in these incredibly dimly lit, winding alleys through the back streets of Manila, and it was impossible to get the kind of light you needed anyway [for an iPhone], so technologically, it became clear very quickly that the equipment we had was subpar..At first, we faced a very steep learning curve in terms of okay, what is the look of the film and what do we want to convey, so we had to do a lot of research into that, but also simultaneously I had to figure out how to shoot because I immediately had a sense of Manila was and the feeling that was there, so the question was how do you honestly portray that immediacy to someone who doesnt know what Manila is like? It became quite clear very quickly that the urban fabric and the landscape of the city was very much a character in and of itself and it has almost a neo-noir lighting, just because of the gritty infrastructure in Manila that lends itself to these very directional lights and I felt in many ways, it really created an atmosphere that was somewhat akin to a cyberpunk film.

Was there any point the story changed direction on you?

That was what defined the project at every juncture. Obviously, when youre shooting a film like this, control was something that had to be given up in a way because youre shooting and at the same time trying to figure out what story you have and trying to figure out the narrative structure of what youve captured. It was incredibly difficult because we started making a story that was on a very small scope we wanted to look at the tragedy of this one girls life and we ended up looking at the broader landscape of the drug war and questioning these bigger issues in and around the drug war by looking at both sides.

At what point did you realize you wanted to engage the vigilantes or have that side of it in the film?

No one knew where the killings were coming from at the beginning of the drug war, but there was a sense that there were everyday people that had taken up arms and, on the presidents mandate, decided to kill drug users and drug dealers. The president had at the time, and still has, north of a 75 percent approval rating for his policies and his administration, so it was clear that so many people supported these killings. Something I guess I was rather presumptuous in imagining was that obviously it was a self-evident truth that killing people who are drug users or drug dealers is probably not the best way for a democracy to act itself out. Due process is the cornerstone of any democracy and the Philippines, of course, calls itself a democracy, so we had to question ourselves and once we had access to the photojournalists that were very much at the epicenter of these killings on one side of it because they were firmly against it, it felt that a story about the drug war would be incomplete without looking at the other side of something thats clearly a very complex issue in the Philippines and it felt that structuring that way would emulate that struggle that was and still continues to go on.

When it seems like you had a number of careers available to you to achieve social justice goals, was it fulfilling for you to make a film?

Yeah, obviously, Ive had a longstanding interest in the law for various reasons and rights-based advocacy is something that Ive done, working for the Human Rights Journal at Yale and in the U.N. for the Office of the High Commissioner, so I was very much passionate about it. At the same time, I was also really interested in the creative arts and have been ever since I was young, so I was trying to find a symbiosis of those two worlds and as you might imagine, theres not too many avenues that allow you to synthesize both of those desires, so in some ways, this film coming along was quite fortuitous and [I worked with] a fantastic team. Obviously weve had fantastic support from NatGeo, from Carolyn Bernstein and Ryan Harrington, and everyone else who believed in the project, so its been a real communal effort.

And its an incredibly humbling experience, being able to tell such an important story and having these people entrust you to tell their stories. We were concerned if we were doing the right thing or telling it as honestly as we could, but in terms of what it has fulfilled, my hope is it could raise the profile of the work the Nightcrawlers are doing and continue to do because this is such an urgent story that continues. A few days ago, the presidents office asked about our project and questioned the veracity of the facts in the film and with the continuing support for the drug war in the Philippines, its quite clear this is an issue thats still ongoing. Were in touch with the Nightcrawlers on a regular basis and the killings are still happening, so to be able to tell this story to the world is something that Ive found profound satisfaction in and I would really consider it an honor to be able to tell other original stories in the future.

The Nightcrawlers is now streaming on National Geographic here.

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Interview: Alexander Mora on Finding the Right Lens to Tell of the Terror in the Philippines in The Nightcrawlers - The Moveable Fest

From nightclubs to crack – the evolution of a Cornwall town’s biggest crime scourge – Cornwall Live

Posted on January 5, 2020 by Danzig

A decade ago, the biggest issue for police in one Cornwall town was dealing with raucous teenagers fighting and being sick in the streets after a boozy night out.

Now, theres a different kind of battle facing cops on the streets of Newquay the scourge of heroin and crack cocaine.

Inspector Dave Meredith, Newquays most senior police officer, has retired after 26 years of service in the force.

And in his final interview with Cornwall Live, Inspector Meredith revealed that his proudest achievement is his role in the transformation of Newquay from a Wild West party destination to a more tranquil and responsible town .

Within the space of eight days in the summer of 2009, two teenagers plummeted to their deaths off the resorts cliffs, while a third was lucky to survive after suffering a broken neck and fractured skull.

The deaths of 19-year-old Andrew Curwell and Paddy Higgins, 16, put the town in the spotlight both nationally and abroad, exposing its so-called seedy underbelly and furthering its reputation as the hard-core party capital of the UK.

If you were young and looking for fun, the 'coast of dreams' was the place to be.

In June 2009 alone, 12,000 students descended on Newquay to celebrate the end of their exams. Teens were encouraged to visit Newquay in unsupervised groups to party in a town with lax rules, packed with an array of clubs, pubs and lap-dancing bars.

Shocked by the booze fuelled behaviour of revellers fighting and being sick in the streets, many visiting families were leaving their accommodation after just a single night.

The media glare left locals feeling disillusioned and sharpened the focus of campaigners, who vowed to take back the town and demanded answers from the council and police.

Residents protested outside County Hall in Truro, before later marching through the streets of Newquay to demand an end to the drunken, antisocial behaviour by thousands of young people.

Placards reading Stop the Rot, New Newquay, More Police for Newquays Streets and Keep Stags and Hens on the Farm were brandished by indignant mothers, fathers, elderly residents and children.

Cornwalls most senior police chief, Chf Supt Elaine Marshall, called for an end to the promotion of Newquay as a party capital and urged community leaders to pull together to reestablish the town as a premier family resort.

And pull together they did.

On Friday August 7, 2009, Cornwall Council launched Newquay Safe, a multi-agency partnership designed to tackle the resorts big problem.

Newquay Safe united the towns police, healthcare, tourism and council bodies, which worked together to create a safer, more family-orientated resort with less antisocial behaviour and crime and disorder.

A number of police strategies were presented, including asking nightclubs to go glass-free, and crackdowns on false IDs, obscene fancy dress and street drinking.

Newquay Safe began with a short-term campaign which lasted throughout August 2009, before the authorities developed a long-term strategy.

In 2009, it was accepted that it would take ten years to turn the town around.

Now, a decade on, Newquay Safe has repaired the towns reputation, reduced crime and made it a family-friendly resort once again.

The town was in a crisis, Inspector Meredith said. The night-time economy was causing the police, residents and local councils big problems, and something had to be done.

There was a culture of Newquay accepting the unacceptable. It was almost people saying, thats the price you pay for having a big night-time economy. And thats wrong, the culture of acceptance was wrong. You can have a good night-time economy, but with responsible behaviour.

Media coverage was very negative, but now we are getting really good coverage of the new Newquay which has evolved.

Residents and visitors seem very happy with Newquay as a family resort. You can come out of a restaurant as a family at 10pm, and there arent people fighting and being sick in the streets."

Nowadays the police work closely with pub and club owners, with most issues ironed out over a cup of tea at the monthly pub watch meeting.

If pub and club owners dont act responsibility, police have increased powers to take action.

Its testimony to the good work of the police and our partners that we didnt give up a year after it was set up," Inspector Meredith added.

We got our heads down, and worked relentlessly year and year out.

While Newquay Safe has been a roaring success, Inspector Meredith says the partners mustnt get complacent.

If we are, we will quickly move backwards and get problem premises again acting in an irresponsible manor, and be back to square one, he said. And we cant afford to do that.

Now, officers in Newquay are faced with a different kind of problem, but one which is far less visible.

Big city dealers are expanding their turf and flooding rural towns with drugs, in the hellish rise of the county lines menace which virtually appeared in Newquay overnight in the summer of 2017.

Its an ongoing battle with no end in sight.

The National Crime Agency estimates that half the communities targeted by county lines dealers are coastal towns, where theres less resistance from other dealers and a lower risk of being known by police.

In Newquay , the problem has escalated to the point that disrupting heroin and crack cocaine dealers is now the number one priority for police, having elevated itself above policing the town centre nightlife.

Its like a supermarket descending on a town and pushing the corner shop out, Inspector Meredith said. They come in, crash bang wallop, sell at low price and to anyone, bang bang bang. Drugs are far more freely available in Newquay, and thats a real concern.

And trying to stop the gangs in their tracks is far from easy. Before, officers were generally aware of who the local homegrown dealers were, and where they lived.

But county lines dealers will often have been operating in Newquay for several weeks, or even months, before police become aware of them.

They travel down from the cities under the radar, and are usually set up in a bedsit within 24 hours.

They keep an extremely low profile in an attempt to evade detection. You wont see them in the town at night, fighting or dealing drugs and bringing attention to themselves.

The dealers will establish themselves inside the home of a drug user or vulnerable person, in a practice known as 'cuckooing'.

They target and then exploit the person's vulnerability and use the home as their base of operations. Once in situ, they seek out the local drug addicts on the streets before selling drugs to them via dedicated mobile phone numbers, or lines.

Customers are given an untraceable mobile phone number with its own brand name, and sent texts offering special deals and fire sales.

There are many reasons why police take drug dealing so seriously. But county lines drug dealers are of particular concern, because of their violent behaviour.

In the cities, these gangs work in a culture that is far more severe than here, with knives and guns, whereas our local dealers its probably just fisticuffs and nothing too serious, Inspector Meredith said.

But youve got people coming from a culture where extreme violence is quite normal, and that is some concern to us.

The secret to successfully stopping the dealers has switched from serving warrants on houses to vehicle stop checks.

While building surveillance on a property can take weeks, finding drugs in a car gives officers the automatic power to search a dealers home.

Inspector Meredith admits there's no end in sight for Newquays war on drugs, which he believes will be the town station's priority for many years to come.

Community intelligence is the key to stopping the drug gangs in their tracks, he said. Police are desperate to hear from anyone who has suspicions over drug dealing.

Were always hearing people complaining about issues in their community. Theyve told a neighbour, they have a good chat about it on social media, but they dont want to tell the police.

"Crimestoppers is a way you can get straight through very quickly with the intelligence, and anonymously.

If anybody comes up on the radar, well do everything we can to take action. If the community doesnt tell us whats going on, it makes it very challenging to take action against drug dealers."

Tell us exactly what is going on. People can call Crimestoppers anonymously on 0800 555 111, email 101 or use a police intelligence form to report anything suspicious.

Inspector Merediths final day in the job was on Christmas Eve, and he believes the time is right to hand in his badge.

Newquay is probably the best station in the force, its close knit with a one team ethos and a family atmosphere," Inspector Meredith said.

I feel Newquay is in very good shape, the station is in good shape, and I feel like Im leaving at the crest of a wave.

Im happy with it, and thats probably the best time to leave a job.

Mike's work focuses mainly on crime and longread features.

Follow Mike on Twitter, here, or tweet him @mikesmallcombe1.

He's also on Instagram, here.

You can call Mike on 01872-309681 or email him at mike.smallcombe@reachplc.com

You can read more of Mike's stories, here.

We've set up a dedicated Facebook group for Newquay news, run by reporter Mike Smallcombe.

It's the place to find news and content about Newquay, and you, the community, can also use it as a platform to get in touch or to share something that youd like us to follow up.

To join the group click here and select 'join'.

Follow Mike Smallcombe on Twitter or email him mike.smallcombe@reachplc.com

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From nightclubs to crack - the evolution of a Cornwall town's biggest crime scourge - Cornwall Live

Tell it to SunStar: My take on Dutertes drug war – Yahoo Philippines News

Posted on January 5, 2020 by Danzig

THE Duterte administrations war on drugs has caused controversies in its execution and human rights activists cry foul every time they believe that due process is not followed when drug lords, drug pushers and drug addicts are killed. They averred that human life is sacred and only God has the right to terminate it. They said extrajudicial killings are obnoxious and anathema to the Divine. However, lets look at this point of view in another perspective and travel down in time in biblical history.

In Noahs time, the sins of the people against the Almighty are comparable to what todays people are doing like corruption, sodomy, infidelity, etc. so that God caused the Great Flood that killed all the sinners except the family of Noah who God saw worthy. What can we say of the present generation? How many broken families, crimes committed, myriad of our youths future destroyed because of drugs? Also, did God not say in the scripture that: If you cause my little ones to sin, better for you to tie a stone around your neck and cast yourself into the sea?

Our youth are very dear, very much loved by the Lord so that He said, Suffer the little ones to me, for unless a man becomes like one of these, they cannot enter the kingdom of God. Lets consider whats happening in our country today. What would have happened had not President Rodrigo Duterte been elected to the presidency. Perhaps, many of our youth, even our own siblings would be roaming around dazed and doomed.

God is said to be the same yesterday and today. It might be that President Duterte is only made an instrument by the Almighty so that the havoc that drugs has made in our society and His little ones can be stopped. Thats my take. (Jose Hortelano, Balamban, Cebu)

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Tell it to SunStar: My take on Dutertes drug war - Yahoo Philippines News

Rody open to working with Robredo again – Tempo

Posted on January 5, 2020 by Danzig

ROBREDO

President Duterte is open to the possibility of working with Vice President Leni Robredo again as long as she would be a team player of the government, according to a Palace official.

Presidential spokesman Salvador Panelo said the President has no regrets in placing her in charge of the war on drugs and would not rule out the possibility of working with her again in the future.

The President can work with anybody as long as his appointee would work as a team player of his administration, Panelo said.

The President has no regrets appointing the Vice President as anti-drug war czar as the former gave the latter the rare opportunity to serve under his administration, he added.

The President placed Robredo as co-chairman of the Inter-Agency Committee on Anti-Illegal Drugs following her criticisms on the governments war on drugs last October.

Robredo, however, was fired less than three weeks after the President was dismayed with her performance in supervising the governments anti-drug campaign.

The Palace claimed that Robredo wasted the opportunity to make the anti-drug campaign better, adding that she failed to present any new strategy to combat the menace. Among Robredos missteps that displeased Duterte were daring him to fire her, consulting with foreigners, and seeking access to classified documents.

The President, seemingly disappointed with Robredos brief stint as anti-drug war czar, later warned that the country might suffer a disaster if she guns for the presidency. He has advised Robredo against running for president because she supposedly does not know anything. (Genalyn Kabiling)

My Twitter, the last 10 years – The Manila Times

Posted on January 5, 2020 by Danzig

NOEMI LARDIZABAL-DADO

Twitter made us better, Dr. Sarah Jackson wrote in an opinion column at the New York Times on Dec. 27, 2019. While Dr. Jackson recognizes that twitter has fallen short in many ways, the past decade shows that it helped ordinary people change our world. Twitter is not commonly used in the Philippines compared to the United States of America.

WeAreSocial.com in January 2019 reports 47.05 million people in the US that could be reached with advertisements. Philippines is only 5.08 million. Compare that figure with the total advertising audience of Facebook in the Philippines, which is 75 million. While Twitter is the fifth most popular social media platform in the Philippines, popularity is not everything. On Twitter, local and international media follow topics which then gets amplified in the news. Influence is not derived by the quantity of followers, friends, clicks, or likes. Twitter focuses on keywords and your conversation reach a wider audience. On Facebook, your status would be viewed to people on your account unless it becomes viral and reaches a wider audience.

I could only talk of how twitter made a difference in my life. Each one has a Twitter story to tell. This is mine.

Twitter moved me to push social change for good. Mom blogger, making a difference in the lives of her children by advocating social change for good is my profile description on Twitter for the past 10 years. That sounds nave today but I remain optimistic despite the world of fake news, lies and propaganda. As a blogger that started out in 2006, I saw the rise of social media platforms from being harnessed for good to being exploited by bots and trolls. Looking back at my 2007 archives on my blog, I talked about how I could write the most irrelevant and mundane things without worrying if its blog-worthy or not. All Twitter does is ask: What are you doing? Bobbie Johnson described it as a baffling and seemingly pointless service but underneath it proves intriguing, useful and addictive for those who live on the move. One observer even called it, the Seinfeld of the internet a website about nothing.

2009 was a monumental year for Twitters significance as a real-time global tool and even my outlook as a blogger. President Obama as the first President to have his inauguration covered by the people on Twitter (#inaug09) made me realize the platform is not just a pointless service. Mashable described Twitter in 2009 as first-to-the-scene reporting as one of the prime reasons Twitter is valued as a news source. It wasnt just the speed people valued hearing about news through Twitter. The platform helped save lives or mobilized rescue at the height of Typhoon Ondoy (Ketsana). The hashtag #Ondoy kept me in touch with the local news and rescue operations while I was in Singapore. Soon, #BangonPinoy inspired individuals to wake up and rebuild their lives and the future of our country. That year also shifted my focus not just on parenting topics but on citizen issues like voters education. The idea for a citizen media movement for the 2010 elections began brewing then. Initially, a twitter account for @blogwatchdotph was created for political news while I kept @momblogger for my personal life. To my surprise, people followed my personal account because of my commentary.

The following hashtags which I was involved or collaborated with like #juanvote and#PassRHBill in 2010, #endchildabusePH in 2011, #epalwatch in 2012,#NoToCybercrimelaw and #MillionPeopleMarch in 2013, #ScrapPork in 2014, #BabaeAko and #FightDisinfo in 2018, paved the way for a broader movement or a change in government policy.I was not connected in any twitter campaigns in the years 2016 till 2017 because the troll attacks cowered me into silence. The realization that silence is complicity hit me as I learnedabout the number of people being killed in the war on drugs and, lies becoming facts. Yes, I blogged about Helping our Children cope with violent graphic images from this War on Drugs and I tweeted about the extrajudicial killings but it was not enough. I felt I was not as hard hitting as I should be.

10 years later, Twitter now asks, Whats happening? More than fighting disinformation, I want to give voice to the voiceless. Our kids dont have a voice unless an adult speaks up for them. Pushing for #ChildrenNotCriminals is one campaign I would continue to pursue this year. I oppose the move in the Congress to lower the minimum age of criminal responsibility from the current 15 years old to whatever age they decide on. Other hashtags and issues are just as important so it takes a village to sustain the conversation.

Use Twitter to build vibrant communities and to influence news and politics. Be one of the many people to harness Twitter for good.

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My Twitter, the last 10 years - The Manila Times

LETTER: All quiet on the opioid front – Victoria News

Posted on January 5, 2020 by Danzig

International Overdose Awareness Day came and went. Recovery Day disappeared into the discard pile of calendar events along with the hopes of political election rhetoric. Many people were trained to administer naloxone, many attended to well-informed guest speakers and many more picked up information brochures on our opioid crisis (crisis: an unstable or crucial state of affairs, especially one with the distinct possibility of a highly undesirable outcome).

Now the frozen silence of winter has settled in,and in that silence, people continue to die. They die poisoned by the substances they took to relieve their pain, to dull the sharpness of abuse infesting their memory, even to experience some promised rhapsody. And because of a still-pervasive stigma in our society, they took their drugs alone and they died alone, safe consumption sites, naloxone trainings, speeches and brochures notwithstanding. The problem is not going away.

We couldnt ignore it away. It wasnt just those people. It was policemans kids, politicians relatives, students, your neighbour, your child. It wasnt just street people. Over 80 per cent of the deaths happened at home, alone, often our home.

We couldnt police it away. Police budgets rose, more officers worked diligently, many large drug shipments were seized, and the street price of cocaine and heroin went down and the death toll rose.

We couldnt medicate it away. Dr Bruce Alexander told us in 1990 in Peaceful Measures: Canadas Answer to the War on Drugs: Treatment fails because drug addiction is not a disease, but a way of adapting to desperately difficult situations. People cannot be cured of adaptive strategies unless better alternatives are available to them.

Those desperately difficult situations abuse, homelessness, unemployment, hunger and chronic pain and the often accompanying stigma and shame are still with us too, and because we have not legislated better alternatives, many people will adapt by taking drugs and far too many of them will die.

No, it hasnt gone away. Even after six years of recognition by governments and media, even after four years of being declared a national emergency, and even after 12,800 deaths, people are still dying from poisons in the drugs they take, and of those who dont die, many are left in a vegetative state. It hasnt gone away.

If it wont go away, we need to confront it and in the arena of health care rather than in our justice system. The trials say that such a process works, that people receiving a safe supply of their drug decrease their dosage, go back to work, stop committing crimes, stop dying. The trials say the process is cheaper by half, at $25,000 annually vs $50,000 in medical care and justice interventions.

What also hasnt gone away though, are some strident voices demanding more policing, more forced treatments, more getting the visibly homeless out of sight. And they will get more more first responders worn out because it isnt easy trying to revive people every day and often failing, more taxes but not a cent going to programs that work, and more, many more, deaths.

*The government of Canada says:

Over 12,800 apparent opioid-related deaths Jan. 2016 and March 2019

3,023 deaths in 2016 & 4,120 in 2017

4,588 deaths in 2018: 1 life lost every 2 hours

1,082 deaths Jan to March 2019

In BC weve had a decrease in the number of opioid-related deaths, but that is not reason for good cheer; 1,082+ dead people is not a cheerful statistic. But we are tired of unpleasant statistics, and we all have our Christmas letters to write.

Ebeneezer Scrooge told the charity workers that the poor and destitute could die and decrease the surplus population, but we are not so hardhearted. We will write cheques to our charities, stuff the Salvation Army globes outside our liquor stores, drop off warm clothing at our churches, and donate goods in the food bank boxes at the door to our childrens school concerts. We are good people and we do not want this insanity of needless deaths to continue. We really do want someone who knows what to do to just do it. And we are the key to their doing just that.

If you believe its time to confront the national emergency of opioid deaths, Dont turn away. Tell Judy Darcy, (MH.Minister@gov.bc.ca) that you want a program of safe drug supplies to be initiated now. Say that this is your New Years resolution and you want it to be theirs as well. Write the letter; it will take less than two hours and the life you could save may be one close to you.

Derek Peach

Victoria

Derek lost a daughter to opiod overdose in 2017

LETTER: All quiet on the opioid front - Victoria News

Ralph Northams Losing Battle on Sanctuaries – National Review

Posted on January 5, 2020 by Danzig

Virginia Governor Ralph Northam speaks to gun control activists at a rally by Moms Demand Action and other family members of shooting victims outside of the Virginia State Capitol Building in Richmond, Va., July 9, 2019.(Michael A. McCoy/Reuters)His attempt to enforce unpopular and unconstitutional gun-control laws is doomed to failure.

Ralph Northam is about to make the biggest tactical mistake in Virginia since Cornwallis decided to park his army at Yorktown. With his attempt to force local commonwealths attorneys and sheriffs in Second Amendment sanctuaries to enforce his unconstitutional gun laws, Governor Northam is setting himself up for a catastrophic failure. In fact, theres no way for Northam to win the fight he seems intent on picking with Virginia gun owners and Second Amendment sanctuaries.

The governor isnt being helped by fellow Democrats such as U.S. congressman Donald McEachin, who said the governor should call out the National Guard to enforce the law, or Attorney General Mark Herring, who blithely says he expects that the laws will be followed once theyre on the books.

There are also Democrats, such as Delegate David Toscano, who have been comparing the Second Amendmentsanctuary movement to the Massive Resistance movement that unfolded in Virginia in the wake of the Brown v. Board of Education decision in 1954. Massive Resistance came about after Democratic governor Thomas B. Stanley organized a state-level opposition movement to the integration of public schools in Virginia in the late 1950s. To compare it to todays Second Amendmentsanctuary movement is to compare apples and oranges on a couple of different levels.

First of all, the Second Amendmentsanctuary movement is morally just, unlike the Massive Resistance movement of the late 50s and early 60s. The Second Amendmentsanctuary movement isnt about curtailing rights, but rather about protecting their free exercise.

Practically speaking, Massive Resistance was a top-down movement, spearheaded by U.S. senator Harry Byrd and his fellow Democrats in the governors mansion and Virginias attorney generals office. The Second Amendmentsanctuary movement, on the other hand, is a hyper-local grassroots movement that has no leader, though state-level Second Amendment groups are doing a good job of informing folks where meetings are taking place and even providing curious supervisors with examples of Second Amendmentsanctuary resolutions that have been approved elsewhere. Thousands of people show up at these board-of-supervisors meetings, and not because Philip Van Cleave or Cam Edwards or Nick Freitas or anyone else told them to be there. Theyre showing up because their neighbor told them about the meeting, or they saw something on Facebook. Theyre showing up and speaking out because they care.

Ultimately, its the people in these Second Amendmentsanctuary communities who are the last line of defense against the infringement of their rights, but thankfully we have several other defensive options at our disposal. We can even thank todays Virginia Democrats for providing a blueprint to follow. Call it passive resistance, not Massive Resistance.

Anti-gun Democrats hoping to force compliance with the impending gun-control laws frequently argue that, because Virginia is a Dillons Rule state, county supervisors have no ability to decide which laws will be enforced or not. Thats true, but it doesnt matter, because its not the county board of supervisors that enforces the law, any more than legislators in Richmond or Ralph Northam do. Law enforcement in these Second Amendment sanctuaries is largely the role of the county sheriff and the commonwealths attorney, and Democratic commonwealths attorneys have demonstrated in recent months that its possible to not enforce a state law, as long as youve got the judges to go along with you.

Norfolk and Portsmouth commonwealths attorneys Greg Underwood and Stephanie Morales, respectively, announced earlier this year that their offices will not prosecute low-level drug offenses. Morales has apparently persuaded judges in Portsmouth to go along, while in Norfolk, Underwood has had to deal with judges who have refused in some cases to dismiss the charges.

Meanwhile, although Governor Ralph Northam, Attorney General Mark Herring, and various and sundry Virginia Democrats have railed against the Second Amendmentsanctuary communities for turning the rule of law upside down, sowing chaos, and making mischief, theyve not said a word when these fellow Democrats have decided that certain laws wont be enforced. They seem to simply believe its different when Democrats do it.

Its not. Democrats have taught us a thing or two about how to #Resist over the last three years, and Virginias Second Amendment supporters are going to put those lessons to work in the months ahead.

* * *

Since Virginia Democrats have given commonwealths attorneys the green light to ignore portions of state law they dont agree with, why shouldnt sheriffs have that same authority? After all, theyre usually working with limited resources and already need to prioritize which crimes they will investigate. Why shouldnt a sheriff say hes not going to waste time and resources on investigations that solely involve non-violent possessory offenses against Northams new gun-control laws? Why shouldnt commonwealths attorneys say the same? And why shouldnt the Virginia GOP encourage sheriffs and commonwealths attorneys to do so? They would simply be taking a page from the Democrats playbook.

Even if no official or formal policy can be established, word gets around pretty fast in these rural counties, as weve seen with the turnouts for the Second Amendmentsanctuary meetings. Ralph Northam and Mark Herring cant police every decision by every officer to arrest or not, or by every prosecutor to bring a case or dismiss it, nor can they remove the discretion that must be a part of those jobs.

The simple truth is that the criminal-justice system couldnt handle full enforcement of every law on the books, especially if the defendants demanded their right to a speedy trial by a jury of their peers. The vast majority of criminal cases in Virginia are plea-bargained down, because if they all went to trial, the system would grind to a halt.

I believe that in many rural counties we will see passive resistance adopted in practice, officially or unofficially. But even in those Second Amendment sanctuaries where police chiefs, sheriffs, and commonwealths attorneys decide that theyre going to enforce the unconstitutional gun-control laws heading our way, theres no guarantee of conviction.

As I said earlier, the last line of defense in the tactic of passive resistance is the citizens. In order for Ralph Northam to secure a conviction for a violation of one of his proposed gun laws in a Second Amendment sanctuary, heres what would have to happen.

First, a law-enforcement officer will have to decide to charge someone for a violation of one of Northams proposed laws. Perhaps its for allowing their 17-year-old daughter to have access to a firearm while she was alone in a rural farmhouse. Sure, she used the gun in self-defense when a couple of meth-heads tried to break in, but the parents broke the law and now they have to be charged. So, the officer arrests Mom and Dad.

Next the commonwealths attorney will have to prosecute Mom and Dad for allowing their daughter, whos been trained in responsible gun ownership and even competes in 4H Shooting Sports, to have access to the gun that she used in self-defense. Sure, its a good thing shes alive, but the laws the law.

Mom and Dad were at the board-of-supervisors meeting along with a thousand of their neighbors when their local Second Amendmentsanctuary resolution was passed. They know how their neighbors feel. And they decide to fight. They dont plead down to lesser charges. They take it to trial. And now a jury of their peers will have to decide if they should be punished for allowing the little girl theyve watched grow up defend herself against two intruders.

What do you think the odds are that Mom and Dad are acquitted? Personally, I dont think that case would ever get prosecuted to begin with, but in most Second Amendmentsanctuary counties I would put the odds of conviction right around 0 percent. Governor Northam can threaten county officials with consequences for not enforcing his gun-control laws, but whats he going to do when juries in rural Virginia start returning not-guilty verdicts for any charges brought under those laws?

Before Ralph Northam goes too far down this dead-end road of gun control, he should look at whats happened in a few other states that have passed state-level gun-control laws in recent years. In New York, theres been massive noncompliance with the laws, and the vast majority of prosecutions under the states SAFE Act, which restricts firearm rights, are taking place in just two of New York Citys five boroughs: the Bronx and Brooklyn. A large majority of defendants are young black men without serious criminal histories, who are facing years in prison for non-violent possessory offenses. As Slates Emily Jaffe wrote, the War on Drugs is being replaced by the War on Guns, but its still young minority men who are disproportionately impacted.

That will absolutely be the case with any gun-control laws that Northam may sign. The vast majority of enforcement will be in the Richmond, Petersburg, Norfolk/Virginia Beach, and Roanoke areas, with northern Virginia coming up close behind. The vast majority of charges will be for non-violent possessory offenses, the vast majority of defendants will be young black and Hispanic men from Virginias inner cities, and the vast majority of those defendants will not have any serious criminal history, though they may be heading down that road.

Instead of offering these individuals a way out, however, Ralph Northam wants to give them a crash course in criminality by putting them in prison.

This strategy of passive resistance can be put in place alongside the inevitable court challenges that will come for every new gun-control bill Northam signs into law, but its not a perfect solution. Some counties will absolutely enforce these laws, while the Virginia State Police will do the same. Gun stores cant passively resist any new gun laws, though many will certainly get creative in finding ways to stay within the law and still sell as robust an inventory as they can.

Red flag laws, which allow for seizure of firearms from an individual deemed to be an extreme risk of using them for violence, are another issue. If, under such a law, a judge tells a county sheriff to seize someones firearms before that person gets his day in court, how many county sheriffs will refuse? More than a few, I would guess. But if, on the other hand, local law enforcement are the ones that bring an initial petition to the judge, many judges will refuse to issue an Extreme Risk Protection Order and will stick instead with the states civil-commitment laws when they have concerns that someone may be a danger to himself or others. The county sheriffs Ive spoken to say they believe that civil commitment, under which a dangerous individual can be involuntarily confined in a mental-health unit, is a better option than a red flag order, which may force the sheriff to seize any legally owned guns but leaves the supposedly dangerous individual to his own devices. Sheriffs can easily argue that they shouldnt be forced to use a tool they dont believe is as effective as another one at their disposal.

If, however, lawmakers expand the categories of people who can file a red-flag petition, the sheriff and commonwealths attorney may not have any input at all before a judge issues an order. If Governor Ralph Northam wants to avoid a fight with Second Amendment sanctuaries, he could also structure the red-flag bill in such a way as to make it the responsibility of the state attorney generals office to handle the petitions, and of the Virginia State Police to conduct the seizure of the firearms. I suspect Northam wants this fight, unfortunately, because he navely believes he can win.

Ralph Northam can get his way, but theres no way he can win this fight. He can put the laws on the books, but he cant enforce them. He can threaten public officials with punishment, but he has already allowed commonwealths attorneys to not enforce laws they dont agree with. In most Second Amendment sanctuaries, these unconstitutional gun laws will likely be largely ignored by law enforcement. In those cases where individuals are charged solely with non-violent possessory crimes, such as violating the states universal background check, a jury of their peers will likely choose to acquit them in order to send a message to Richmond. And in deep-blue Democrat-controlled parts of the state, the laws will be strictly enforced, largely against young minority males who arent violent criminals.

After all that, he cant even be sure that the violent-crime rate will drop. It didnt happen in Colorado when the state passed a magazine ban and universal background checks back in 2013. In fact, violent crime has increased by 25 percent since then. It didnt happen in Maryland when the state passed the Firearms Safety Act in 2013. Beginning in 2014, Baltimores homicide rate began skyrocketing, and the city has had more than 300 homicides every year since (as opposed to the low 200s in the years before the acts passage). In New York City, violent crime is down but shootings are up.

By focusing his efforts on Virginias legal gun owners, Northam is only empowering violent criminals, and he will largely be punishing only young men who may not be making the best choices, but who wont be served by spending years behind bars for giving a gun to their friend to carry in self-defense on the streets of Petersburg.

* * *

Guncontrol will be Ralph Northams political Vietnam if he continues down this road, and calling in reinforcements in the form of the Virginia National Guard would only provoke another crisis, both within the Guard itself and in the Second Amendmentsanctuary communities where they would be dispatched. If Northam actually called out the Guard, hed be the first governor to use military force to restrict the exercise of a constitutional right since Arkansas governor Orval Faubus called out the National Guard to block the steps of Little Rock Central High School rather than allow the school to be integrated in 1957.

Can you imagine Donald Trump calling out the 101st Airborne to protect the rights of Virginians, as Dwight Eisenhower did to protect the rights of Arkansans? Do Virginia Democrats really want to give that shameful episode of American history a reboot? Again, there is simply no way for the governor to win here, even if he signs every gun-control law that gets to his desk. Even if ultimately the U.S. Supreme Court were to uphold every law he signed, it would only be a Pyrrhic victory at best. He can make all the laws he wants, but hes going to have a heck of a time trying to enforce them.

There is another way, though I dont think Governor Northam is likely to take it. He should sit down with gun owners and Republican lawmakers for an honest discussion about ways to effectively promote public safety without provoking a constitutional crisis or widespread civil disobedience. Republican delegate Todd Gilbert has already come up with an excellent plan to combat violent crime in the states urban areas, and it doesnt involve any new gun-control laws. Instead, it empowers cities to work with the U.S. attorneys in the area to identify and target the most violent offenders with one simple message: Youre going to stop shooting. Well help you if you let us. Well make you if we have to. Targeted prosecutions in the federal system put individuals who wont change behind bars for as long as possible, while programs allow young men to actually break away from the cycle of violence and start to take control over their lives.

In fact, more and more academics are saying that the broad strokes of gun control are ineffective at addressing the small number of individuals who are driving violent crime in our cities. Professor Bindu Kalesan of Boston University, for example, has noted that gun-related violent crime among youths has been trending upwards in recent years, even in states such as Colorado and Maryland where gun-control laws have been put on the books. She says efforts to stem gun violence must focus on the individuals and groups who are actually committing these crimes, as well as addressing the issues that may drive the violence. What we dont need, she says, are more broad and blunt gun-control laws.

Thats the better way to address drug-related and gang-related violence. What about suicide? Red-flag laws may take someones firearms from them, but it leaves them with their pills, their belts, their car keys, knives, and anything else they might use to take their own life. Supporters of red-flag laws claim that gun-related suicides have declined in Connecticut and Indiana, where these laws have been on the books for the longest amount of time, but they never mention that the overall suicide rates in both states have continued to climb, even with red-flag laws on the books. Fewer people may be killing themselves with a gun, but more people are killing themselves overall. I dont know how anybody can call that a success story.

Instead of free community college for low-income Virginians, how about spending that $145 million a year on mental-health services instead? You could do quite a bit with that much money, including expanding access in rural areas through telemedicine and mobile clinics, in urban areas through grants to counseling programs, in communities large and small by funding drug-treatment and rehabilitation programs, and in schools by hiring more counselors and psychologists.

What about domestic violence? Instead of hoping that violent domestic abusers are going to be stopped by a piece of paper, why dont we empower their victims instead? Allow individuals whove had to take out an order of protection to carry a firearm on an emergency basis, and help with expedited training if need be through state grants given to county sheriffs offices to administer.

Also, put some teeth in the existing law. If someone violates an order of protection, dont let them be immediately released on bond after theyve been arrested. Allow high bonds for domestic-violence offenders who have violated orders of protection or have been arrested for abusing the victim while an order of protection was in place. We know the state cant be present at every moment to protect these vulnerable individuals from harm, so the state has an obligation to let them protect themselves. The state also has an obligation, however, to ensure that those violating these orders should face real consequences. In addition, counseling needs to be a part of the consequences. Its not enough to lock them up for a bit and let them stew in their own anger. Rehabilitation has to be a key component of any effort to combat domestic violence.

If Ralph Northam would focus on these three areas, not only would he receive backing from gun owners for his proposals, but if he effectively implemented these plans, he could see dramatic reductions in Virginias homicide and suicide rates, and fairly quickly. Instead of the political equivalent of Vietnam, Northam could produce the political equivalent of the first Gulf War; policies that work fast, are effective, and end up enjoying a lot of popular support.

I have a feeling that the soundtrack to Virginias politics over the next few months is going to be more Country Joe & The Fishs I-Feel-Like-Im-Fixin-to-Die Rag (And its 1, 2, 3, what are we fighting for?/Dont ask me, I dont give a damn, next stop is Vietnam) than Bette Midlers unofficial anthem of the Gulf War, From a Distance, but Id love to be proven wrong.

The choice is ultimately up to Ralph Northam and Virginias Democrats. They can effectively address the states growing number of suicides and its drug- and gang-related violence, as well as domestic violence, without provoking a constitutional crisis and widespread non-enforcement of the laws, or they can go full speed ahead towards an impending political disaster and morass that will be Northams legacy for decades to come and the No. 1 issue for Virginia voters in the federal elections in 2020 and the state elections in 2021.

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Ralph Northams Losing Battle on Sanctuaries - National Review

The War on Drugs in England: Police seize drug dealers’ phone then text users! – Euro Weekly News

Posted on December 27, 2019 by Danzig

Police take over drug dealers phone numbers and then text users in a new fight against the county lines gangs.

Officers in Sussex have become the first in the country to test a pioneering new tool that allows them to get phone lines turned over to their control. Drug dealing telecommunications restriction orders (DDTROs) mean that officers can disrupt the flow of messages between dealers and users, and therefore the flow of drugs.

Detective Superintendent Jo Banks, the senior detective leading the fight against county lines drug gangs in Sussex, said: Its a disruptions tool. But actually what we are then doing is messaging out to the users from that line to say what the alternatives are for them to actually get some help and try and get out of providing that demand for the drugs line in the first place.

We would never say its the golden goose, its never the answer. But actually as a disruption tactic it is very useful.

As officers seek to clamp down on cuckooing of vulnerable peoples homes by drug dealers, gangs have started to operate from Airbnbs and hotel rooms. People need to be aware, particularly if they own the Airbnb, if theyve got second homes or whatever, and theyre hiring them out, actually what theyre being used for, said Ms Banks.

The move has come as new research shows that thousands of children are being placed in unregulated care homes, where they are at risk of exploitation of sexual predators and drug gangs.

This is significant because a recent parliamentary inquiry into children being used to traffic drugs found that 80% of 41 police forces in England and Wales expressed concerns about unregulated accommodation. Ms Banks said that dealers often have eyes and ears on the ground and know the places where children hang around.

They know who theyre looking for, she said.

They know how to spot kids that they can approach who are then going to take the free deal and then become hooked into this world.

County Lines recruitment

Research released by Mayor of London Sadiq Khan on Thursday shows that thousands of people aged between 11 and 62 have been drawn into so-called county lines gangs.

More than 4,000 people in London have been recruited by drug gangs with networks spread across 41 counties in the UK, figures show.

The criminal networks deliberately target children and vulnerable adults to courier drugs from urban bases out to customers across the country, running phone lines to take orders.

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The War on Drugs in England: Police seize drug dealers' phone then text users! - Euro Weekly News

Unwind the War on Drugs! Really? – LawOfficer.com

Posted on December 27, 2019 by Danzig

Its Finally Time to Unwind the War on Drugs in Illinois This was the title to an article in the Chicago Sun-Times, December 19, 2019, written by Kelly Cassidy, a Democratic State Representative from Illinois. She labeled those individuals arrested and convicted for possession of controlled substance, the victims of the war on drugs. And my favorite, In short, the war on drugs has been a war on those who are black and brown.

This very naive politician is pushing legislation that will remove criminalization for any small amounts of any drug possession because we know that prosecutions and convictions for simple drug possessionfall disproportionally on communities of color.

Does anyone have any issues with these proclamations?

Weapons and narcotics go hand in hand. (File photo Anaheim Police Department)

Apparently, this politician doesnt understand the gang wars of Chicago even though she claims to be from the shoot-em up city. These wars are almost always over territory and territory is fought over and protected because of drug sales. The gang that controls a territory can profit immensely from drug sales. These territorial disputes lead to hundreds of murders yearly and thousands of shootings. To date, the city of Chicago has experienced 2,197 people shot and 445 killed. By the way, over 80% of those victims are black.

State Representative Kelly Cassidy wants to decriminalize drugs.

Our Democratic liberal politicians want to end arrests and prosecutions for all drug offenses, very similar to those laws in San Francisco. San Francisco has heroin and meth addicts injecting illegal drugs on the public way and disposing of their needles on sidewalks and in the streets of a once beautiful and vibrant city: the same sidewalks and streets that children use to walk to school. It seems to me that when you view the homeless drug addicts living in squalor among increases of Hepatitis C and Cholera, with rats and feces surrounding them on public property, you may want to rethink this drug addict/victimizations paradigm.

Could authorities change the future affecting addicts and drug criminalization? Certainly. How about court ordered rehabilitation for drug possession in lieu of incarceration. And, if this doesnt get the acceptable results, court ordered mandatory forced detoxification in a guarded and secure facility. Recidivists drug users/offenders would receive progressively longer sentences for their continued drug use. Per chance, some addicts would revert to becoming non-users and potentially live decent lives. More importantly, the threat from the plague; AIDS, Hepatitis C, and Cholera would be eliminated.

Controlled substances. (File photo)

Many of these concepts have been tried before, but without the energy to enforce them. Use the moneys waisted on clean up and incarceration and focus on rehab and housing. Old factories, military bases, closed schools and other large buildings will suffice. We dont need the Ritz-Carlton. We need the most simplistic means of survival coupled with drug counselling. Quit throwing good money after bad money. Dont get fancy, focus on the cause.

All this nonsense talk about blacks being victims of society and the need for over-the-top legislation is focused on one thing, votes. Theres a contest to kowtow to every whim and fancy of the vocal minority in order to increase their dependence; this in order to increase black votes. Lets prevent these politicians continued attempt to exterminate the black race under the guise of helping it.

To all my brothers and sisters in blue, lock and load and protect each other. And as always, stay safe.

Larry Casey

Note: View Larry Caseys website at http://www.StoriesofaChicagoPoliceOfficer.com and review his book by the same name. It makes a great inexpensive gift.

(Feature image: Pixnio)

Having had a grandfather and father on the Chicago Police Department made the choice of becoming a police officer relatively simple. Between the excitement of having a real profession and the prospect of following in the Casey footprint, the Chicago Police Department seemed a natural choice. I retired at the age of fifty-six after thirty years of a very wide variety of police work and assignments. After a few months of relaxation, I started my next career as an adjunct professor of Criminal Justice at Wilbur Wright College. I taught there for ten years and recently retired again.

Trading thoughts about my police experience led me to write a book of my memories. I did not want to bore people with the typical police stories of shooting-em-ups. And seeing I was always a proponent of humor being a policemans best outlet for stress, I decided it was appropriate of me, to write a very different genre of police book. My compilation of short stories is based on the humorous side of police work. Honesty, it is also a base for many memories, stories that were too raw or considered too embarrassing for the everyday reader.

Im very proud to say, I teamed up with the Chicago Police Memorial Foundation and I send them a donation for every book I sell through Pay-Pal or at book signings. I have done book signings for charitable events, for police vests, local libraries, GOP sponsored events, local community events and many others.

My main goal in writing was to entertain and educate the public: to show that police officers are fathers, mother, sisters and brothers, etc. Were real people with hearts and souls. We laugh and cry like everybody else. We change tires and diapers, go to ball games and wash our cars. Were simply human.

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Unwind the War on Drugs! Really? - LawOfficer.com

Massachusetts has a blueprint for what’s next in criminal justice reform – NBC News

Posted on December 27, 2019 by Danzig

During the 1988 presidential race, George H. W. Bush's campaign released a notorious advertisement featuring convicted Massachusetts murderer Willie Horton, who committed heinous crimes while out on a prison furlough program championed by Massachusetts Gov. Michael Dukakis, the then-vice president's Democratic rival.

The ad was credited with sinking Dukakis' campaign, stoking racist fears and stereotypes in the era of the war on drugs, which largely targeted black communities. Two years later, during his 1990 campaign for Massachusetts governor, Republican Bill Weld vowed to reintroduce prisoners to the joys of busting rocks.

But three decades later, Democrats and Republicans in the Massachusetts Legislature almost unanimously passed a landmark bill that reimagined nearly every facet of its criminal justice system, which was signed into law by Republican Gov. Charlie Baker.

Experts say it's part of a nationwide trend among states, which are moving away from incarceration and policies that are tough on crime and instead focusing on sentencing changes, diversions to prison alternatives and robust re-entry programs.

And a year after the passage of the First Step Act, a bipartisan federal criminal justice bill signed into law by President Donald Trump, efforts at the national level to overhaul the criminal justice system have largely focused on reducing the federal prison population by easing sentencing laws stemming from the war on drugs and supporting rehabilitation programs inside prisons.

But experts point to Massachusetts as one of the blueprints for what's next for criminal justice reform as lawmakers and advocates argue more changes are needed at the federal level.

The Massachusetts law eliminated mandatory minimum sentences for certain low-level drug offenses, increased the use of treatment as an alternative to prison for drug crimes, raised the minimum age a child can be held criminally responsible from 7 to 12, overhauled the state's cash bail system by allowing judges to consider a defendants ability to pay, and allowed some records for juvenile and since-legalized crimes, such as marijuana possession, to be expunged.

Lawmakers who worked on the bill said it has helped the state move away from incarceration as punishment and reduce racial disparities in the criminal justice system.

We examined the system from soup to nuts from the question of what is criminal, what is not criminal, to the question of diversion, to bail, to sentencing and mandatory minimums, to issues in prison, including the issues of restrictive housing, most importantly, and also the issue of good time credits, said state Sen. William Brownsberger, a Democrat who is the president pro tempore of the chamber and also a lead sponsor of the bill.

We assembled basically all the good ideas that have been on the table, some of which were fairly new and others of which had been on the table for years.

Let our news meet your inbox. The news and stories that matters, delivered weekday mornings.

During the bill signing in April 2018, Baker called the legislation a product of many years of hard work, collaboration and compromise by everyone involved that will make for a better criminal justice system.

Other Republican lawmakers praised the law, as well. Rep. Susan Williams Gifford, who is part of the Republican leadership in the Massachusetts House, lauded the bill for strengthening the states opioid laws, setting harsher penalties for assaulting a police officer and creating a rape kit database.

Brownsberger said the bipartisanship on the legislation came naturally because both sides had worked closely over the years examining data, talking to advocates and experts, and looking at best practices in other states.

It's important to understand that any big legislative change has to build up over a period of years really, during which people examine their assumptions, becoming willing to entertain two approaches, he said. Things take some time to come together, but the stars really were aligned in that legislative session, and we were able to get some big things done through a lot of collaboration.

We didn't go over the top on any one single thing," Brownsberger added. "But we took major steps in dozens of areas, and that's what made it such a big bill.

Leon Smith, the executive director of Citizens for Juvenile Justice, a Massachusetts-based nonprofit that works with a coalition of criminal and juvenile justice organizations and advocated for the bill, said there was some pushback to the reforms because Massachusetts is among the states with the lowest incarceration rates. But he said racial disparities still exist, particularly the proportion of youth of color in the state's criminal justice system.

"The low incarceration rate that is often celebrated in Massachusetts hides worsening rates of racial and ethnic disparities in justice system involvement and the significant harms of system involvement and related collateral consequences on young people as they try to grow up, mature and transition into adulthood," he said. "Thus, the 2018 reform campaign focused on preventing young people's entry into the juvenile justice system as a way to prevent later criminal justice system involvement, particularly as it related to low-level offenses."

Many states around the country have made changes to criminal justice systems. This has been prompted, experts say, by the costs of incarceration or an understanding that incarceration is not effective at reducing crime. Thirty-five states have seen both a reduction in crime and incarceration through various changes over the past decade, according to a report by the Pew Charitable Trusts.

And red states, such as Georgia, Mississippi and South Carolina, have led the trend. Since 2012, Georgia has made a host of changes aimed at reforming its system, including implementing rehabilitation programs in its adult and juvenile systems as alternatives to incarceration to reduce recidivism, banning the box that prospective employees check to disclose past criminal histories, and giving judges more discretion to impose sentences below the mandatory minimums.

South Carolina and Mississippi also enacted sentencing and other changes and have seen their respective prison populations decline by 14 and 18 percent between 2008 and 2016 as a result, according to the Sentencing Project.

"I think that we are in a moment now where there is bipartisan support for criminal justice reform, where policymakers really understand that mass incarceration has not increased public safety, that it drives and reinforces deep-seated racial inequity and disproportionately punishes marginalized communities," Lauren-Brooke Eisen, an expert at the Brennan Center for Justice, said.

However, despite the sweeping overhaul, much of the effects of Massachusetts' law have yet to be fully realized, advocates said.

I think we're still waiting to see the overall impact of the reforms, Rahsaan Hall, the director of the Racial Justice Program for the Massachusetts chapter of the American Civil Liberties Union, told NBC News. Our data collection systems within the criminal legal system are substandard, and so we haven't, as advocates, we haven't been able to get a full picture of how some of these reforms are playing out.

However, that does not mean the reforms aren't working, Hall said.

We know that there are fewer people being saddled with fines and fees because some of those fines and fees have been taken off the table," Hall said. "We know, for instance, that fewer people are charged with mandatory minimum sentences for drug offenses because some of those offenses had been taken off the table. We know that judges are supposed to now take into account a person's ability to afford bail before setting conditions with bail."

Smith said that data is limited, but his organization has found that delinquency court filings are down 33 percent and juvenile arrests, 32 percent.

Some provisions Smith's organization advocated for were defeated during the debates over the law, but his organization and others are pushing a legislative campaign to adopt additional changes, such as raising the age of juvenile court jurisdiction to age 21 and increasing access to expungement for juvenile records, he said. Earlier this year, Massachusetts lawmakers also introduced legislation to end life without parole, allowing those serving life sentences to be eligible for parole after 25 years.

Hall agreed that the state law has given advocates a clearer road map to push for more shifts.

I think it was an important step in communicating that the old models of the criminal legal system no longer work and that we need to think about and embrace more progressive and transformative models, models that contemplate harm reduction as opposed to being tough on crime, he said.

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Massachusetts has a blueprint for what's next in criminal justice reform - NBC News

MMFFs Miracle in Cell No. 7 juxtaposed with the controversial drug war – InterAksyon

Posted on December 27, 2019 by Danzig

The premise of Metro Manila Film Festival entry Miracle in Cell No. 7 around the unfortunate fate of the wrongly accused languishing behind bars is a timely commentary about the failures of the justice system in the Philippines.

For some viewers, it is ironic that the local adaptation of the South Korea film turned out to be the most popular at this years festival, while the war on drugs that purportedly executed and jailed those who were not yet charged and convicted remains a popular policy of the administration.

Imagine crying over Miracle in Cell No. 7 that literally talks about a father who died for a crime he didnt commit and justifying our president along with this rigged system that kills the lives of innocent people at the same time, a Twitter user wrote, referencing President Rodrigo Duterte.

The user retweeted a post by another individual who shared the same sentiments about the movies popularity, pointing out how Filipinos continue to support actions that go against the justice system, particularly extrajudicial killings.

The local adaptation of the Miracle in Cell No. 7 was reported to be a surprise hit in most of Metro Manila cinemas on the opening day of the annual MMFF yesterday.

VIVA Films, the remakes producer, shared screenshots on its Instagram account to show that the movie was sold out.

Miracle in Cell No. 7 tells of the story of a man with a developmental disorder who is imprisoned for heinous crimes he did not commit and how he stayed reunited with his daughter through the help of fellow inmates.

RELATED:Theres some hype around Filipino remake of South Koreas Miracle in Cell No. 7

In the adapted version, veteran actor Aga Muhlach plays the role ofYong-gu, Xia Vigor is the young version of his daughterYe-seung and Bela Padilla appears as the older version.

The movie also stars Joel Torre, JC Santos, Mon Confiado, John Arcilla and Tirso Cruz III and Ronnie Lazaro.

According to polling firmPulse Asia, Duterte continues to be trusted by Filipinos. His trust ratings increased from 78% in September to 87% this month.

People who distrust him have reportedly decreased from 14% to 8% while those who disapprove of his performance as chief executive decreased from 8% to 5%.

Duterte is known for his hardline policies against illegal narcotics and has been accused of initiating and sponsoring extrajudicial killings ever since he took office in 2016.

Critics have filed complaints against him to the International Criminal Court for allegedly committing crimes against humanity over the war on drugs.

If there is enough basis for the complaint, the Hague-based court will then conduct a formal investigation into the matter.

Based on the report of ICC, various agents including the UN secretary-general, UN bodies and experts, other countries, international non-governmental organizations and national civil representatives have expressed serious concern about EJKs and Dutertes statements about the matter.

It has been viewed as endorsing the killings and fostering an environment of impunity and violence.

MMFFs Miracle in Cell No. 7 juxtaposed with the controversial drug war - InterAksyon

Futurist Transhuman News Blog

Category Archives: War On Drugs

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Rody open to working with Robredo again – Tempo

My Twitter, the last 10 years – The Manila Times

LETTER: All quiet on the opioid front – Victoria News

Ralph Northams Losing Battle on Sanctuaries – National Review

The War on Drugs in England: Police seize drug dealers’ phone then text users! – Euro Weekly News

Unwind the War on Drugs! Really? – LawOfficer.com

Massachusetts has a blueprint for what’s next in criminal justice reform – NBC News

MMFFs Miracle in Cell No. 7 juxtaposed with the controversial drug war – InterAksyon