Biden Bombs Iraq and Syria, Supreme Court to Decriminalize Marijuana?, Unarmed Teen Shot By Police in Arkansas (And Ignored), Major Verdict Against Vaping (The Five for 06/29/21)
Hey,
Welcome to The Five.
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So, thank you for continuing to show up. I’ll keep doing the same.
And with that being said, let’s get into the news.
[one]
A Hezbollah demonstration in Syria. The terrorist organization allegedly continues to attack U.S. troops with rockets and drones.
The Biden Administration authorized (allegedly Iranian-backed) militias in Iraq and Syria.
The US says it has carried out air strikes against Iran-backed militias near the Iraq-Syria border in response to drone attacks on its forces in Iraq.
A Pentagon spokesman said the strikes targeted "operational and weapons storage facilities" at three locations.
President Biden had been clear he would act to protect US personnel, he added.
A powerful Iraqi militia alliance, the Popular Mobilisation Forces (PMF), said four members of one faction were killed and threatened to retaliate.
About 2,500 US troops are in Iraq as part of a global coalition supporting local security forces in their fight against the jihadist group, Islamic State (IS).
There have been at least five drone attacks against facilities used by US and coalition personnel since April, US officials say. Rockets have also been fired at them and supply convoys have been targeted by improvised explosive devices.
From the looks of things, the U.S. withdrawal from Afghanistan will only shift the focus, not end, conflict in the Middle East.
[two]
Clarence Thomas, who is among the most staunchly conservative Justices on the Supreme Court, seems to be ready to decriminalize marijuana, due to the complicated tax issues surrounding state-by-state legalization.
Clarence Thomas, one of the Supreme Court's most conservative justices, said Monday that because of the hodgepodge of federal policies on marijuana, federal laws against its sale or cultivation may no longer make sense.
"A prohibition on interstate use or cultivation of marijuana may no longer be necessary or proper to support the federal government's piecemeal approach," he wrote.
His views came as the court declined to hear the appeal of a Colorado medical marijuana dispensary that was denied federal tax breaks that other businesses are allowed.
Thomas said the Supreme Court's ruling in 2005 upholding federal laws making marijuana possession illegal may now be out of date.
"Federal policies of the past 16 years have greatly undermined its reasoning," he said. "The federal government's current approach is a half-in, half-out regime that simultaneously tolerates and forbids local use of marijuana.”
Thirty-six states now allow medical marijuana, and 18 also allow recreational use. But federal tax law does not allow marijuana businesses to deduct their business expenses.
Under this rule, a business that is still in the red after it pays its workers and keeps the lights on might nonetheless owe substantial federal income tax," Thomas said.
The Department of Justice has instructed the nation's federal prosecutors not to pursue cases against marijuana businesses that follow state law. And since 2015, Congress has prohibited the Justice Department from spending federal money to prevent states from carrying out their own laws.
This reminds me of how Donald Trump was viewed as a staunchly anti-LGBT President, despite being the first incoming POTUS to support gay marriage as a part of his campaign platform. (Obama ran on gay Civil Unions, but no gay marriage…although I can’t explain the difference between the two offhand).
If you look at marijuana on a state-by-state basis, the Devil’s Lettuce is available (in some form) in roughly as many deep red areas as deep blue states.
By the strictest definition of the word, Thomas’ assumed views on Cannabis are traditionally conservative, as he’s proposing states and local municipalities to rule themselves, in the classical Federalist style.
Meanwhile, the Biden Administration has made no moves towards national decriminalization despite VP Harris’ very pro-weed statements on the campaign trail.
It’s yet another odd entry into 2021, where politicians seem to get more credit for views shared on the campaign trail and via social media and then quietly doing the opposite, with little pushback from the media. (See also: Biden and student loan forgiveness).
[three]
The late Hunter Brittain, who aspired to be a NASCAR driver.
An unarmed teenager in Arkansas was shot and killed after being pulled over.
During a traffic stop last week, an Arkansas sheriff’s deputy shot and killed a teenage boy who was only armed with a neon-blue jug of antifreeze, family members told VICE News.
Lonoke County Sheriff’s Office Sgt. Michael Davis stopped 17-year-old Hunter Brittain near Cabot, Arkansas, at about 3 a.m. last Wednesday, and it’s still unclear why. Hunter had been having trouble with his truck when Davis pulled in behind him outside of a local auto repair shop and flashed his emergency lights, according to the account of a 16-year-old riding with Hunter at the time. When Hunter went to put the antifreeze behind his back tire so his vehicle wouldn’t roll into the officer’s, Davis allegedly fired at him.
“Before he could get there, he was shot in the neck,” Hunter’s uncle, Jesse Brittain, told VICE News. “We can’t begin to understand why he would take a shot at that boy.”
Here’s a good rule of thumb…if a person doesn’t care about an issue across the board, it’s safe to assume they don’t care at all.
The lazy angle here would be “this kid is white, so the media isn’t covering it.” But I don’t think that’s the case. George Floyd was covered by the media after the video went viral, so it was the people who decided the story was important.
Part of that virality was the horror of a man call out for his mother as he died, but part of it was good old fashioned dopamine. It feels good to jump on a bandwagon, feels good to be angry about what other people are angry about.
This story is still developing, but at first impression it looks like 17 year old Hunter Brittain was shot due to poor decision making on the part of Officer Davis, and possible poor job training. It’s a much less sexy story to retweet than George Floyd, so the mob didn’t jump in.
Similarly to the unaccompanied minor crisis at the border (which was happening under Trump with constant media scrutiny, but has swelled, and been ignored, under Biden), the inconsistency of outrage speaks volumes.
Regardless of political ideology, Americans seem to value the following more than justice: viral videos, anger, attention, social media metrics…and answers that already fit within the pre-drawn lines of political parties.
On the whole, the evidence seems to point to the brutal reality that we don’t really care about the marginalized in this country, unless there’s a viral or political tie-in. As individuals, we may, but not as masses.
[four]
Members of the Pagans Motorcycle Gang in New Jersey.
In a related story to the Defund the Police movement, there appears to be an attitude that policing is both the cause of, and response to, violence in society.
The theory seems to be that if the police weren’t around to antagonize communities through alleged profiling and harassment (and I’m not disputing that those things do happen…I’ve been a victim of the latter, one time), then we would “all just get along.”
This Utopian view completely overlooks organized crime. This week, police in New Jersey made the state a safer place to live by breaking the power of an organized crime motorcycle gang.
Breaking 911 reports:
Two high-ranking members of the Pagan’s Motorcycle Club were arrested today for assault in aid of racketeering, Acting U.S. Attorney Rachael A. Honig announced.
Luis Arocho, aka “LuRoc,” 43, of Keansburg, New Jersey, and Maurice Guzman, aka “Dawg,” 51, of Newark, are charged by complaint with one count of aggravated assault in aid of racketeering. They are scheduled to appear by videoconference today before U.S. Magistrate Judge Leda Dunn Wettre.
“Today’s arrests are the latest in a long-running investigation into the illegal activities of the Pagan’s Motorcycle Club,” Acting U.S. Attorney Honig said. “We have now charged 11 members of this outlaw gang with various weapons, drug-trafficking and violent crimes. Together with our federal, state, and local partners, we remain fully committed to combatting violent crime in New Jersey and prosecuting the members of the criminal organizations who are responsible for it.”
“This investigation has dealt a significant blow to the Pagans motorcycle gang,” Special Agent in Charge of the DEA’s New Jersey Division Susan A. Gibson said. “The use of violence, weapons, and intimidation was standard for this criminal organization, and law enforcement made it clear that their behavior would not be tolerated. It is a bad day for the Pagans when the combined forces of DEA, ATF, New Jersey State Police and Union County detectives come after you. These arrests made New Jersey safer and this investigation demonstrated the determination of DEA and our amazing partners to pursue the most violent criminal gangs who choose to violate the law.”
The Defund the Police movement seems to be born out of Blank Slate Theory, which the Association for Psychological Science defines as “humans are shaped entirely by their experiences and not by any preexisting biological mechanisms.”
In other words, Blank Slate Theory proposes that no one is born bad, and if they are bad, it’s society’s fault.
But evil is pretty self-evident in the world to nearly all people at all times, with exception being obnoxious white Millennials who’s parents paid for their silver-spoon college education.
If you want a glimpse of the kind of evil that was defeated in New Jersey this week, pick up Hunter S. Thompson’s Hells Angels: A Strange and Terrible Saga. Thompson embedded himself with the violent motorcycle gang and witnessed riots, intimidation, rape and torture…simply because these drug addled demons on two wheels found it entertaining to harm, intimidate and destroy innocent bystanders (usually under the influence of hard drugs).
[five]
The leading e-cigarrette company in the U.S. will cough up $40 million for targeting marketing messages at minors to become new smokers.
The Wall Street Journal reports:
Juul Labs Inc. agreed to pay $40 million to the state of North Carolina to settle a lawsuit alleging that the e-cigarette maker had targeted underage users, resolving the first of a string of legal and regulatory challenges facing the once-hot startup.
The lawsuit by the attorney general of North Carolina was slated to go to trial in July, one of hundreds of similar cases brought against the vaping company by state officials, school districts and young people. Those cases are pending.
North Carolina’s lawsuit alleged that Juul designed and marketed its e-cigarettes to attract teenagers and misrepresented the potency of their nicotine.
Juul has said that it didn’t target young people and is working to regain the public’s trust.
As part of the North Carolina settlement, announced by state Attorney General Josh Stein on Monday, a trove of internal Juul documents will be deposited at a North Carolina university and will be made available to the public by July 2022. The settlement funds, to be paid over six years, will support scientific research on youth vaping cessation and curbing youth use.
The effects of vaping may be even worse than smoking traditional cigarrettes, which makes targeting minors as new smokers even more sinister.
[epilogue]
A statue of Yasuke, the only African Samurai.
Yasuke arrived in Japan in 1579, traveling with a Missionary Jesuit Priest. Details on how he joined the Samurai warrior life are difficult to confirm, but it is estbalished fact that Yasuke was present at the assassination of Oda Nobunaga in 1582, one of hte most consequential events in Japanese history.
Some historians believe Yasuke was Sudanese, from the Dinka tribe due to his great height (the Dinka are the tallest tribe in Africa). However, Yasuke is not recorded as being adorned with the customary facial tattoos of that tribe, so it’s possible he was an unusually large Ethiopian.
While certainly the only African Samurai, Yasuke was far from the only foreign born warrior of the Samurai period. A handful of brave souls from Prussia, England, The Netherland ands Italy made their way to Japan for various reasons and entered military service as official immigrant Samurai between 1579-1860.
Until the next one,
-sth