Richard Nixon won re-election by a landslide even as the Watergate scandal was breaking. Barack Obama didn’t win reelection by as great a margin, but there are plenty of scandals bubbling away in the background that could bring the president down. No really. If I was a betting man, I’d place my chips on the Fast and Furious scandal—but only if it widens out . . .
The idea that F&F was a “botched sting” aimed at catching the “big fish” of a gun smuggling ring has never been fully challenged. The idea that ATF-enabled gun running was part and parcel of official U.S. government policy to aid and abet the Sinaloa cartel (against Los Zetas) has never been given a full airing.
And despite what I just wrote, it may not. But there’s new evidence putting Uncle Sam and the narco-terrorists are in bed together. Check out this revelation from Revista Contralinea [via wired.com] . . .
The testimony of a Mexican hitman turned government witness has revealed some astonishing details of life inside Mexico’s criminal underworld. Most astonishing of all: claims that cartel assassins obtained guns from the U.S. Border Patrol.
According to Mexican magazine Revista Contralinea, the testimony comes from a protected government witness and former hitman, who cooperated in the prosecution of a Sinaloa Cartel accountant by the Mexican Attorney General’s Office.
The testimony details a series of battles fought by a group of cartel members attempting to drive out rival gangsters from territory in Mexico’s desert west. To do it, the group sought weapons from the U.S., including at least 30 WASR-10 rifles — a variant of the AK-47 —allegedly acquired from Border Patrol agents.
This is the first time we’ve heard of the CPB selling/providing guns to goons. But it’s hardly surprising. The entire border region is awash with billions of narco-dollars. Cash money. Why wouldn’t U.S. government employees put their kids through college by turning a blind eye, once?
More than that, they may have simply been doing their job. If the ATF was happy to allow indeed subsidize straw purchases from U.S. gun stores to Mexican drug thugs, why wouldn’t the CPB get a similar memo from the Powers That Be?
We’ve already highlighted the DEA’s money laundering ops (as reported by The New York Times) and the testimony of Jesus Vicente Zambada-Niebla, the captured Sinaloa cartel’s “logistics coordinator” who claims he was on the CIA’s payroll, and that the fed’s F&F guns were smuggled to his compadres with Uncle Sam’s blessing.
Not to mention Operation Castaway, the ATF gun running program channeling firearms to Honduras. Or the “grenade walker” scandal, wherein the ATF captured and released a known IED maker, who headed straight for Mexico to continue his explosive fabrication.
None of these black bag jobs are enough to topple the Prez. Obviously. But there is a pattern of government duplicity and cooperation with the world’s worst criminal conspiracy that involves enormous corruption. Contributing to the death of tens of thousands of Mexicans and a U.S. Border Patrol Agent named Brian Terry.
If Congress wants to topple Obama, and hey why not?, they need to pull on these threads. Not even Barack Obama could survive if he was revealed as the Drug Smuggler in Chief.
you want economic stimulus and less government? Legalize it. I will advertise. Probably the only way out of this mess. Colorado has a start. Until the feds roll in and take the money. They don’t want the drugs, they want the asset seizures. Then, more Wasr’s for the cartels.
Were the magwells sloppy?
You have provided me an opportunity to debunk the drug legalization = less crime and all the tax money legal drugs will provide memes.
Illinois, Cook County and Chicago are taxing the heck out of legal cigarettes. Guess what? Cigarette tax revenue collapsed. Chicago street gangs now make as much money smuggling tax free cigarettes as they do with drugs. (See link below) . If you think you can make money on legal weed you are deluded. Weed is easy to grow, anybody can do it and taxing it will just result in untaxed weed smuggling just like cigarettes.
http://hotair.com/archives/2012/11/10/chicago-creating-great-jobs-for-tobacco-pirates/
Fine don’t tax it….
Thank you. I’ve been saying this for years – of course, I hail from BC (Better Cannabis), Canada. I am not wholly opposed to legalization of at least pot to end or reduce this stupid “war” but to believe that it will lead to a tax bonanza – well, that requires some of that cannabis.
People don’t drink bathtub gin (much) because the real stuff tastes better and won’t make you blind. Well, do you really think that Philip Morris pot is going to be a lot better than the stuff grown in the bush by some hippie who’s been perfecting his craft for 30 years?
Except you’re forgetting that the only reason why people are going for the cheaper cigarettes is because they taxed it too much. It’s the Statist way – find something people want, then keep taxing it more and more and more.
If you applied the same sales tax to it that you do to any other product (in my county, 6.5%), no one is going to deal with the hassle of all of that over a few bucks a month. When you do stupid crap like they want and you want to have 650% taxes, well then yea, people will look for alternative sources.
Abso freakin lutely. Never in my life have I known anyone who drank smuggled tax free alcohol. Its too easy and cheap to just buy it legally and pay the taxes.
If pot is legalized and taxed at a sane rate, no one would go through the trouble of finding black market weed. People buy black market cigarettes because legal cigarettes are so heavily taxed, its worth the effort.
Every time government creates a problem, they think more government is the solution. When will the madness end?
In order for a scandal to bring down an administration, its supporters have to distance themselves due to the revelations of the scandal.
The public on the president’s side already knows Fast and Furious was shipping guns south of the border and winking about not wanting them to get away. Everyone on the president’s side already knows four men were abandoned to die in Benghazi so Libya wouldn’t be seen as an out-of-control foreign policy debacle. Outrage is not waiting in the wings for some magic detail to come out for them.
They cynically do not care, or even approve of the machinations, and these scandals, and any further ones that pop up for President Phone-giver, are not going to matter.
+1
The difference is that the public no longer sees right and wrong in the same way as they did back when Watergate happened. The OJ Simpson trial was the first time I noticed this, the idea that justice is done when your guy wins. The truth doesn’t matter- not that I personally know the truth about OJ, but my reading of public opinion was that most of the people who were pleased with the verdict did not appear to care about the facts, only that the outcome matched their emotions. To be fair, the OJ prosecution dropped the ball pretty bad, but that’s how I see it.
For F&F, most of the American public doesn’t really care. They don’t care about drugs unless it’s either a relative needing rehab for something bad, or the government trying to take their weed. They don’t care about foreign relations, because they associate that term with Iraq/Afghanistan, and are sick of hearing about it. And they don’t care about Mexicans, not because they’re racist, but because they really don’t notice anything from Mexico in their personal lives unless they’re going out for dinner and want a burrito. No hate, just isolation and apathy.
Further, to get the public at large excited or angry about this issue, you would have to at the very least, get the media excited or angry about it. Good luck with that.
+100 on the matching emotions comment.
I remember after Aurora my mother was preaching the whole no need for assault weapons and high capacity magazines, etc. etc. Any time I tried to set her straight on the facts she change the subject. She had absoloutley NO facts to back her feelings and when I asied her why she said she didnt know. Since everything has calmed down on TV about Aurora, she has too. She even likes my guns!
As far as the rest of youre comment, well put on all.
“Not even Barack Obama could survive if he was revealed as the Drug Smuggler in Chief”
You underestimate the stupidity of our electorate.
The reaction of Americans to that revelation would be “so what”. Bush started a war in Iraq right? Obama didn’t send our soldiers to die for oil, the media and nation at large would certainly retort.
well lets see, clinton (who was a drug dealing SOB) got elected…twice. and then there’s bush (where do I even begin to sum up his crimes?)…who got elected twice.
Those are two examples. Words cannot describe the immensity of the American people’s stupidity.
I’d say he more underestimates the complicity of the lapdog media, and the lengths to which they will go to protect their boyfriend. Obama’s had so many “should be scandals”, but they never amount to anything. Bill Ayers. Rev. Wright. Van Jones. F&F. Benghazi. The stiffing of the senior secured creditors in the auto takeovers.
If it’s not reported, then it did not happen.
I read a thing lately by Amber Lyon, a former CNN journalist, that was calling out CNN for openly being paid off by the government to not report things or to report false information.
totenglocke, it was primarily over the bahrain riots and the jack boot that the citizens endured when foreign saudi troops conducted “peacekeeping” operations on their soil.
Bahrain (and other nations infamous for their human rights abuses but are “US Allies”) paid CNN to shut up Amber and her documentary that threatened their image worldwide; it exposed their government as another oppressive, backwards dictatorship that we cater to because of their port access to the Persian Gulf.
I first heard about her on collapsenet and joerogan.net’s #273 podcast. Interesting stuff.
it encouraged me even more to not take mainstream media seriously. ever.
Elections are now about free stuff. The voters who decided the election are called low information voters for a reason. About the only “news” they watch is the Colbert Report. You can tell them all about F&F and they will believe you but they are still going to vote for the guy who gives out the free stuff.
“None of these black bag jobs are enough to topple the Prez. Obviously. But there is a pattern of government duplicity and cooperation with the world’s worst criminal conspiracy that involves enormous corruption. Contributing to the death of tens of thousands of Mexicans and a U.S. Border Patrol Agent named Brian Terry.”
The link of criminal activity to government agencies and bad guys is a long and honored tradition. The border here (as elsewhere) has always been problematic. Check out the Mafia links in NY to the US Customs Service thru out the end of the 20th century. JFK airport was known to be run by the mob. The ports across America were owned by the various org crime families, paying off all sorts of cops. Also the drug dealing of the various covert agencies since at least the Vietnam war to fund activities world wide is pretty well documented. Then there are various cloudy and less than straight and narrow lives/families of Presidents. The JFK and the mafia link started with his dad. LBJ was a thug from Texas implicated in everything up to murder. Tricky Dick might have been a brilliant international strategist but hooked up with Bebe Rebozo for all sorts of shady stuff. Including, if memory serves me right, some 200 flights between Florida and the Bahamas with Bebe that failed to check with Customs…hmmm, can you say “money laundering”? Clinton and Hil are recent enough for everyone to be familiar with their Arkansas dealings. Arkansas, now there is a state filled with honest politicians ! And so it goes….
This is not a blanket indictment of elected officials and the policing and intel agencies. Just that they are not angels. Just like in Mexico, huge rewards of money, power and good looking women always corrupts those of the state. Its part of the human condition. In these days, most of it is overlooked by the public who are more concerned about tweeting and playing HALO….
Let’s not overlook Col. North either.
Why would a drug cartel with all the money in the world want Wasr10’s? Really. They can afford HKs, Uzis, whatever.
Afford? Who says they are buying anything? For the federales and the army it’s BYOG when you join the cartel, for everyone else the good old estados unidos will be happy to provide them with whatever they need.
Theb “drug cartel” doesn’t buy guns any more than “the Mafia” buys guns. The Sinaloas do not have a purchasing department. The street soldiers buy or steal their own weapons.
Nixon didn’t have a compliant, lap-dog press to omit embarrassing “developments”. I’m not holding my breath over the likelihood that Fast and Furious will penetrate the noggins of 51% of our nation’s electorate.
Keep dreaming Robert.
America has gone insane.
In certain wards in Philly, Obama’s vote percentage exceeded that of Saddam Hussein’s in bath party strongholds in Baghdad.
Rep Jesse Jackson Jr. was re-elected in a landslide from inside the mental ward at the Mayo clinic, while being under indictment for misuse of campaign funds.
All all of you who think things like legalizing abortion, and dope would help the Republicans at all are also in fantasy land. Hell, the republican party could open party sponsored abortion clinics and dope stores and it would get them nary a vote and annihilate their base. NOBODY that matters would give them credit for it. Neither will the voters who have fallen for the idea that the government will provide them a comfy life while they sit at home and eat junk food.
Here’s what will get their attention:
A total economic collapse. Strife. Riots. Starvation and desperation. Direct oppression by the federal cabal and it’s quisling states. A crystal clear and complete failure of big government to do a damn thing about it.That’s what’s coming and NOBODY can stop it. That’s what 53% voted for and that is what a vastly larger percentage will get.
Fiscal cliff? We are already over the edge. It’s the SPLAT at the end of the drop that is going to be painful.
I often wonder where an economic collapse and maybe even a second civil war could lead us. Call me crazy, by no means do I welcome the idea but maybe it would make a little difference in how people make choices. Thats a stretch though, people actualy thinking, the collapse and war quite possible IMHO.
If Obama keeps making bad decisions like going against guns and he says something that proves he helped them. I agree with you we could have another civil war. The funniest part is the people against us are the people with IQs under 50 that support Obama.
Holy cow. Most days I enjoy the diversity of views on TTAG. Not today.
Do you all realize how batshit crazy you sound? Your lack of faith in humanity isn’t just disturbing, it’s sad. Half of you sound suicidal, and the other half sound like you’re ready to start Civil War 2.0. We are better than this.
We’re Americans. Together. We have our problems, but we work out solutions, better than just about any other country in the world. We debate and argue, yes, but then we find common ground and work to make our country a good place for our neighbors and our kids.
If I can get through 8 years of GWB starting wars and undermining civil liberties without losing my shit, I would hope that everyone could do the same for 8 years of President Obama’s time in office. You know, the president who signed no gun-negative legislation in his first term, and in fact has presided over 4 years of solid gains for 2A rights including CCW in national parks.
Also: the President has been doing his level best to keep our economy from imploding, and I think he’s been doing a pretty decent job. Example: all three major automakers survived and we have a new entrant (Tesla) which is selling every car they can make.
I was mostly being sarcastic on my civil war comment lol. But in all seriousness, I am not sure I have much hope in a higher percentage of our population being capable of rational thought. Maybe I just need to give more bennefit of the doubt.
Batshit crazy is a good description of our federal budget and many states and municipalities. It’s a good definition of deficit spending. How’s your arithmetic? I dare you to select any major budget item, factor in inflation and historic growth of that item, and then explain how it will be paid for in 7 to 15 years. Batshit crazy is epidemic on Wall Street and in all the major banks and they now own the batshit crazy US monetary policy which is why it will play out as Steve has described above.
Really? Trillion dollar deficits are helping? Destroying the constitution, a bit at a time helping? Tesla is in any way contributing? Tesla is a joke car for wealthy people. It’s a non factor.
2A? HIS party, of which he is the nominal head, has fought us tooth and nail, every step of the way.
Crazy? It’s crazy to be in denial. We are at the end of our rope economically. The fabric of civilization and civility is a thin one. This has been a recession, with I-pods and big screen TV’s and Obama phones.
Soon, Big Daddy Obama will not be able to provide. Those EBT cards (The modern soup line) will stop working. Federal reserve counterfeiting will reduce the dollar to next to nothing, and job creation will be non-existent.
Then watch as our morally weak, skill-less, spineless modern society collapses under the weight of it’s own delusions and dependency.
We wouldn’t have trillion dollar deficits if GWB hadn’t started two wars, one of them utterly unnecessary and the other poorly managed, all while slashing taxes and openly shifting economic policy to favor the rich.
The alternative to running deficits during the post GWB recovery is unthinkable. You want an apocalyptic scenario with total meltdown of the US as we know it? Slash those taxes and cripple the government’s role in the economy.
Romney was speaking for the conservative viewpoint when he said he would let the automakers go bankrupt. The American people very clearly signaled what they thought of that approach to leading the country.
Regarding the wars, and the debt in general: complaining about them doesn’t lower your interest payments. If you are delusional enough to think that the current path (which, yes has been the “current path” for quite some time) is going to lead anywhere but societal breakdown following a currency collapse, you don’t need to spend quality time with a calculator and the fed’s numbers, you need to look in the mirror.
The American people very clearly signaled what they thought of that approach to leading the country.
Because the American people are f-ing morons, especially when it comes to Economics. GM didn’t go bankrupt because of a bad economy, they’d been going bankrupt for over a decade and just finally ran out of money during the recession. They had horrible management, horrible quality work done by their union labor, and absurdly high labor costs (again, due to the bullying of the union labor). They deserved to go bankrupt and every scumbag that was responsible for causing it’s failure (whether they were the CEO or some guy just turning a screwdriver but demanding more money than he’s worth) deserve to be on the streets eating from garbage cans. Instead, we give them boatloads of money and reward them for their horrible failures, and sure enough, the union is already demanding more money despite GM still not being profitable.
“You want an apocalyptic scenario with total meltdown of the US as we know it? Slash those taxes and cripple the government’s role in the economy.”
Which is what happens in a free enterprise system. Government involvement to oil a squeaky economic wheel is called a “broken window fallacy”. Look that one up sometime. It is a timeless refutation of government intervention in the markets.
No action in the world can save our current monetary system. As long as the planet is finite, then its collapse is a mathematical certainty rather than “what-if” speculation.
“Romney was speaking for the conservative viewpoint when he said he would let the automakers go bankrupt.”
It wasn’t just the conservative viewpoint. Romney has no credibility either with that comment since he supported the bush-era tax cuts. Talk about schizophrenia.
“The American people very clearly signaled what they thought of that approach to leading the country.”
Right. the same people that voted for bush…twice. The american people have little credibility when it comes to making big boy decisions. What do you expect? the department of education has created a irresistible wave of brainwashed, indoctrinated job people with no desire to create, think, or innovate. Pretty sad really.
Wow. Seems like somebody drank the BHO koolaid.
Ralph, I have my issues with Obama. His continuation of GWB’s policies claiming expanded powers for the exec branch, exceptions to due process, and Patriot (gag) Act excesses all stick in my craw.
The thing is, on a whole lot of issues that really matter to me and my family, Obama’s positions are in line with mine. There’s a big difference between being a kool-aid drinker vs making a reasoned decision about who best represents your interests, and objectively evaluating their performance in office. I don’t like everything about Obama, but he is light years better than GWB.
I’m going to take a shot in the dark and guess that these “whole lot of issues” that really matter to you all involve forcefully taking money from one person / group of people and giving it to you?
Please wake up and realize that the Left/Right paradigm is one in the same.
Obama is not any different than Bush:
Obama renewed the Patriot Act
Obama signed NDAA
Obama has kept all those wars (Iraq & Afghanistan) you opposed funded and open-ended
Obama has started numerous unnecessary wars (Egypt, Libya, Syria) and he was given a Nobel Peace Prize (HAHAHAHAHAHAHA)
Obama has spent just as much, if not more than Bush on Wall Street bailouts, handouts, etc.
Blaming Bush/Obama is just as ignorant as blaming Obama/Bush.
anybody who even remotely supports BHO and makes excuses for him is a idiot.
youre talking about the president that signed the 2012 NDAA, which gives the government authority to indefinitely detain you, torture you, deny you legal representation, and of course, assassinate you.
But I like his stance on same sex marriage LOL. Perhaps if he gives you a free cellphone that will undo the drone killings too. LMAO!!!
Man, the american people really are that fucking stupid.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/cifamerica/2012/jan/02/ndaa-historic-assault-american-liberty
I actually thought you were serious until I read:
Also: the President has been doing his level best to keep our economy from imploding, and I think he’s been doing a pretty decent job.
If you’re uneducated in Economics (or even just watching the world around you) to think that Obama has done anything beneficial for the economy, then there’s no reason to trust anything else you say either.
“the President has been doing his level best to keep our economy from imploding, and I think he’s been doing a pretty decent job.”
LOL not remotely.
Licking the english leather of Bernanke and his fellow banksters is not “doing his best”. sure. you can print your way out of the collapse of the infinite growth paradigm. LMAO!!! why didn’t they think of that before?
“Not even Barack Obama could survive if he was revealed as the Drug Smuggler in Chief.”
Big Brother finally manned up and started living the thug life? I smell a record-deal in 2016.
Before you get too excited about bringing down Obama, I have three words for you: President Joe Biden.
Ouch!
I dont think any truer words could hurt as much as thoes.
President Sarah Palin was a frightening thought.
4 years of dick jokes might be entertaining while the nation implodes.
this, from ? …???…who is pals with……who is related to {coughs behind hand}…your pal who has long history of import/export biz plus 3C itsa club…only (not really originating from) itsa so-called stated name’s locale…chaos…”tannis, anyone?”…er…nice cuppa?…teeheehee…amongst other tawdry asordid activities…oh, not counting…but yeah..them too…’is family….want that i should draw ye a picture? nice geographical flowchart? theoretically speakin’? you know, As If Tho, (not unlike the old sayin’ ’bout “sailors”?….)….how they have a girl in every port?…hrm….so many ways of interpreting things…blind eyes, heads turned, wave ’em on throughs…x amt. or # out of every ? amt. or #…just taking orders, so i heard from former guardians of coast…who were not blind or stupid…yet nonetheless confused…must be some mutual scratching of backs going on…prolly every admins. had it…and who’s to say who know what and how high or low it goes up? even w/in a dept. or a taskforce of an alphabet group? so out to topple an admin. are ye? yeah, well, but what all real proof do you have, though? speculation…hearsay…some random reports…maybe contacts…but how do you know you can trust them, or even know any of it can be proven as fact? especially when some ppl are so good at making info. dissappear into thin air? and uh, well…besides…so much dirty laundry everywhere.
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