"Human rights group faults Mexican police over shootings" Associated Press October 29, 2015
MEXICO CITY — Human Rights Watch said in a report released Wednesday that evidence in two recent shootings in Mexico suggests that federal police killed protesting civilians and criminal suspects who were fleeing or had surrendered.
A combined total of 50 people were killed in the two confrontations that caused barely any police casualties. In Tanhuato, 42 suspected criminals died in a reported shootout and one federal police officer was killed. In Apatzingan, eight civilians were shot dead in the street, some huddled under an SUV....
They are ‘‘major atrocities,’’ but Mexico is an ally and the United States government is hardly in a position to lecture given the behavior and performance of its law enforcement officials.
--more--"
Related: Mexican Mulch
That is what everything in my paper seems to turn to, yeah.
I'm going to be a bit mean myself today because I'm putting on my boots and walking away for the rest of the day (will change into sneakers later). Haven't read a word of the Globe yet (other than a few quick scans), nor do I want to at this point. Sorry.
NEXT DAY UPDATE:
Maybe not.
"Mexico court says marijuana should be legal; A challenge to tough stance on substance abuse" by Elisabeth Malkin and Azam Ahmed New York Times November 05, 2015
The Mexican Supreme Court opened the door to legalizing marijuana on Wednesday, delivering a pointed challenge to the nation’s strict substance abuse laws and adding its weight to the growing debate in Latin America over the costs and consequences of the war against drugs.
Related(?): Drug War Defeat
What's next to be questioned, the war on terrorism against self-created, -directed, and -funded terrorists like Al-CIA-Duh and ISIS™?
The vote by the court’s criminal chamber declared that individuals should have the right to grow and distribute marijuana for their personal use.
Woa! That's radical!
While the ruling does not strike down current drug laws, it lays the groundwork for a wave of legal actions that could ultimately rewrite them, proponents of legalization say.
For legal marijuana to become the law of the land, the justices in the court’s criminal chamber will have to rule the same way five times, or eight of the 11 members of the full court will have to vote in favor.
The decision reflects a changing dynamic in Mexico, where for decades the US-backed war on drugs has produced much upheaval but few lasting victories. Today, the flow of drugs to the United States continues, along with the political corruption it fuels in Mexico. The country, dispirited by the ceaseless fight with traffickers, remains engulfed in violence.
Umm, duh.
Think about all this for a minute. The traffickers are more often than not government agencies or those contracted by them. This goes back to Iran-Contra and continues to this day in South America and Central Asia. Global banks benefit from laundering the loot, and the government is collecting all electronic communications.
Yes, somehow the problem is never solved by those working both sides of it (the straw man help to the Sinaloa via the many Fast and Furious-like gun "tracking" programs not mentioned, down the memory hole with that scandal) -- with the convenient fig leaf to overturn governments by either overt or covert means.
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With little to show after years of tough-on-crime policies, countries in the Western Hemisphere have enacted laws allowing some marijuana use.
Uruguay, Chile, and more than 20 states in the United States have passed laws allowing medical or recreational use.
Of course, the authorities that never wanted it are dragging their heals (we have seen that with the clinics up here), but don't let that spoil the narrative. Besides, I'm opposed now. That vote for sick and suffering people is the one in which I have the most regret. Never again.
The rate of marijuana use in Mexico is low, and most Mexicans oppose legalization. The United States is the main market for marijuana grown there.
The trade is controlled by violent criminal gangs who also make money from other drugs, kidnapping and extortion. Crime analysts say legalizing marijuana would do little to diminish their power.
The marijuana case has ignited a debate about the effectiveness of imprisoning drug users, in a country with some of the most conservative drug laws in Latin America. But across the region, a growing number of voices are questioning Washington’s strategy in the drug war. With little to show for tough-on-crime policies, the balance appears to be slowly shifting toward other approaches.
WHAT?
They must be smoking something.
Uruguay enacted a law in 2013 to legalize marijuana, although the creation of a legal marijuana industry in the small country has unfolded slowly.
Yeah, deja vu to you, too.
"Concerns about possibly creating what was dubbed ‘‘a marijuana monopoly’’ appeared to be the major factor in its defeat, and a leading voice in the mainstream legalization movement said that sent an important national message. Economists more likely would have considered the growing site setup an oligopoly, a not-so-voter-friendly word."
Then the voters did the right thing in rejecting i$$ue 3.
Btw, that's what the medical law did here. Have to have $1 million dollars just to get started.
Chile gathered its first harvest of medical marijuana this year. In Brazil, the Supreme Court recently debated the decriminalization of marijuana, cocaine, and other drugs. Bolivia allows traditional uses of coca, the plant used to make cocaine, while in the northern part of the hemisphere, Canada’s new prime minister has pledged in the past to legalize marijuana.
Well, you know, those Canadians:
"Trudeau’s victory should improve Canada’s ties with the United States. Harper was angered by President Obama’s reluctance to approve the Keystone XL pipeline from Alberta to Texas, and it damaged relations. Although Trudeau supports the pipeline, he argues relations should not hinge on the project. Harper, one of the longest-serving Western leaders, fought hard to reverse the image of a liberal Canada, cutting corporate and sales taxes and removing Canada from a climate change agreement. Trudeau, by contrast, tapped into an appetite for change with a plan to reject austerity and spend billions on infrastructure, running deficits for three years to do so. Trudeau has a busy agenda ahead with four global conferences to attend, including the G-20 summit in Turkey and the UN Climate Change Conference in Paris."
Yeah, meanwhile, in Arizona(?) (printed photo only, please).
As for the bu$ine$$ side of things:
Canadian firm asks US to halt Keystone XL review
Obama won’t agree to delay Keystone pipeline decision
US won’t halt Keystone pipeline review
Obummer is leaning toward denying it and cementing his "legacy (until the next president, anyway)?"
Many leaders in Latin America have called for a shift in the war on drugs, including President Juan Manuel Santos of Colombia. In May, his government ordering a halt to the aerial spraying of illegal coca fields, rejecting a major tool in the US-backed anti-drug campaign because of concerns that the herbicide spray causes cancer.
Well, yeah, and its also a form of chemical warfare. Of course, when it's the EUSraeli empire doing such things in the name of right, well, you know. It's of no great import, nor is it worth much concern or comment in the pre$$ -- if for no other rea$on than the chemical company making a buck of the green-killing poisons.
Wasn't Vietnam enough?
Although Santos is one of Washington’s allies in the region, he has pointed out the incongruity of jailing poor farmers for growing marijuana while it is being decriminalized in the United States.
Not just one, the closest and strongest! Fact is the U.S. doesn't really have many allies given its treatment of the region for about what, 200 years now?
Mexicans seeking a new strategy have also been struck by the situation. “We are killing ourselves to stop the production of something that is heading to the US, where it’s legal,” said Armando Santacruz, another plaintiff.
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I suppose they are not so bad after all, huh?
UPDATE: All of a sudden marijuana is no big deal (but they are still busting people for it).
