Depraved Indifference

By Tim Dellas and Rita Carlson

September 04, 2016 "Information Clearing House" - Back in January, the New York Times printed an editorial with the title “Depraved Indifference Toward Flint,” pointing out that -- “At every juncture when state officials could have avoided or reduced the harm in Flint, they ignored public pleas and made every effort to dismiss the truth.”(1) This, too, can be said about the federal government and its War on Drugs.

For more than a century, America has been at war with some drugs. Yet, after decades of flushing more than a trillion taxpayer dollars down the drain,(2) the present opioid “epidemic” reminds us -- let us not forget the other epidemics– synthetic drugs, meth, crack, heroin, huffing, alcohol, for example -- that what America has been doing is not working.

In fact, America’s war on drugs has caused enormous harm. Pope Francis, speaking at the United Nations, described it this way:

“…another kind of conflict which is not always so open, yet is silently killing millions of people. Another kind of war experienced by many of our societies as a result of the narcotics trade. A war which is taken for granted and poorly fought. Drug trafficking is by its very nature accompanied by trafficking in persons, money laundering, the arms trade, child exploitation and other forms of corruption. A corruption which has penetrated to different levels of social, political, military, artistic and religious life, and, in many cases, has given rise to a parallel structure which threatens the credibility of our institutions.”(3)

Or more simply put by psychotherapist Gary Greenberg:

“….the war on drugs has done nothing to alleviate the problem of drug abuse. Instead it’s created mass incarceration. The harm it’s caused to the African American population in this country – and, to a lesser extent, the Latino population and the poor—is a crime against humanity.”(4)

Yet, the federal government that generated the present dangerously unregulated black market economy marches on with its ever-increasing enforcement bureaucracy pursuing a policy based in hypocrisy.

Hypocrisy?

The policy goes against human nature: It is human nature to explore the variety of human experience. “Archaeological evidence from across the world has revealed a human inclination to seek altered states of consciousness through the use of psychoactive substances.”(5) To this day, this inclination has not left us. Just ask, for example, Barack Obama, Jeb and George Bush, John Kasich, Ted Cruz, Rand Paul, Bill Clinton, just to name a few.(6) All have been known to abuse illicit substances. (In federal drug war language, all illicit substance use is abuse.)

These same folks, by the way, went on to achieve positions of power and leadership while, for the most part, continuing to support the status quo drug war policy that has harmed so many others. So much for the gateway theory unless we’re talking about a gateway to government hypocrisy, or as Journalist Conor Friedersdorf observed:

“What about character? When leaders like Presidents Clinton, George W. Bush, and Obama support policies that incarcerate young people for behavior that they themselves engaged in without any apparent harm to themselves, their futures, or anyone else, it is they who exhibit character failures.”(7)

The government’s treatment of some psychoactive substances is arbitrary. In the words of clinical psychologist Bruce E. Levine:

“The war on drugs is in truth a war on some drugs, their enemy status the result of historical accident, cultural prejudice, and institutional imperative.... Is it the quality of addictiveness that renders a substance illicit? Not in the case of tobacco, which I am free to grow in this garden. Curiously, the current campaign against tobacco dwells less on cigarettes’ addictiveness than on their threat to our health. So is it toxicity that renders a substance a public menace? Well, my garden is full of plants—datura and euphorbia, castor beans, and even the stems of my rhubarb—that would sicken and possibly kill me if I ingested them, but the government trusts me to be careful. Is it, then, the prospect of pleasure—of “recreational use”—that puts a substance beyond the pale? Not in the case of alcohol: I can legally produce wine or hard cider or beer from my garden for my personal use (though there are regulations governing its distribution to others). So could it be a drug’s “mind-altering” properties that make it evil? Certainly not in the case of Prozac, a drug that, much like opium, mimics chemical compounds manufactured in the brain.”(8)

Recognizing that the 20th century alcohol prohibition was a failure (alcohol consumption was not eliminated while an unregulated marketplace fueled violence, corruption, and disrespect for the law), why would American leadership undertake an enforcement bureaucracy scheme based on an arbitrary ban? Judge James P. Gray explains:

“Professors Richard J. Bonnie and Charles H. Whitebread II published an extensive inquiry into the legal history of American marijuana prohibition in the October 1970 issue of the Virginia Law Review. Their work includes many citations of the Congressional Record that show that public health and safety issues were not even considered by Congress in making this substance illegal. Instead, the motives appear to have been racism, fear, empire building, and ignorance.”(9)

More bluntly, John Ehrlichman, in an interview with writer Dan Baum in 1994, had this to say.

“The Nixon campaign in 1968, and the Nixon White House after that, had two enemies: the antiwar left and black people. You understand what I’m saying? We knew we couldn’t make it illegal to be either against the war or black, but by getting the public to associate the hippies with marijuana and blacks with heroin, and then criminalizing both heavily, we could disrupt those communities. We could arrest their leaders, raid their homes, break up their meetings, and vilify them night after night on the evening news.

Did we know we were lying about the drugs? Of course we did.”(10)

However, if you talk to someone like former presidential candidate and former cannabis consumer John Kasich, it’s about the children: it’s about the message we send to our children. “The problem with marijuana is this: We don't want to tell our kids, 'Don't do drugs, but by the way, this drug's OK.'"(11)

But what message does hypocrisy send to our kids?

That mastering the rules of the game, rather than exercising good judgment, is what matters? For example, a WHO report says “…binge drinking is a popular sport in the US, even among teenagers.”(12) According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention:

“Although drinking by persons under the age of 21 is illegal, people aged 12 to 20 years drink 11% of all alcohol consumed in the United States. More than 90% of this alcohol is consumed in the form of binge drinks.….Youth who start drinking before age 15 years are six times more likely to develop alcohol dependence or abuse later in life than those who begin drinking at or after age 21 years.”(13)

Further, studies show that alcohol consumers tend to become more aggressive whereas cannabis consumers become less aggressive (14). Less aggression means less potential for violence, including domestic violence.

If we care so much about children, why not apply our present drug war strategy and make alcohol a Schedule I controlled substance. Oh, that’s right. We tried alcohol prohibition. It didn’t work.

Yet, in states where cannabis is legal, studies show there is less cannabis consumption by youth (15), less opioid consumption and less opioid abuse (16).

And what becomes of children trained to conform to a culture of hypocrisy?

“America represents 5% of the world’s population but consumes 50% of the world’s prescription pills and over 80% of the world’s prescription narcotics; this is NOT a coincidence.”(17) So much for the messages we send to our kids.

Do we really care about children anyway?

We spend more on prisons than schools.(18) We readily over-medicate kids in foster care.(19); allow children to be maimed or killed by paramilitary-style drug war enforcers (20); expose youth to risk of death by using them as confidential informants (21); harm the futures of youth by branding them with a criminal record; and because of draconian sentencing laws, leave children to grow up without fathers or mothers so America can lead the world in per capita incarceration rate.

And what about children harmed by America’s political interventions in other countries preceded by DEA or other drug war incursions, like Honduras, for example, the refugee children fleeing prohibition market violence, a market mainly serving American consumers?

Commentators, when reporting on the children refugee crisis, often faulted the American drug consumer for the market violence south of the border. More recently, a presidential candidate’s fervent pitch about building a wall to keep drugs out met with thunderous applause from a convention audience.

It’s the policy, stupid.

Too bad, pundits and politicians don’t ask – how is it that they and other leaders in this great country continue to support a “regulation” (of interstate commerce) that created a violent and unregulated marketplace (22); that did not reduce drug consumption as intended; that was based in racism and resulted in the land of the free having the highest incarceration rate in the world; and that is “now costing taxpayers more than ever…. $31 billion…” in Obama’s 2017 drug budget (23)?

Let’s be clear, rejecting America’s war on drugs in not about claiming a right to be intoxicated, rather it is about affirming the constitutional promise of liberty, that is, the right of the individual to be free from abuse of power by government. When a regulation is without factual basis for reducing harm as was supposedly intended, and, in fact, does not reduce harm but results in greater harm, and, additionally, is racist in origin and application, the law is arbitrary and unfair.

Is it Constitutional?

Are unfair and arbitrary laws an abuse of power by government? That depends on the government. If government power is based on majority rule and the majority supports a rule of law based on control and compliance rather than justice and liberty, then unfair and arbitrary laws may be permissible. After all, majority rule, in its least enlightened form, reduces to, basically, “might makes right” or predatory democracy.

Evidently, the Supreme Court agrees because, when it comes to the Controlled Substance Act, it consistently has deferred to majority rule, upholding the judgment of a democratically elected congress as representing the will of the people, saying, for example, in the 2005 Raich cannabis decision – “The question, however, is whether Congress’ contrary policy judgment… was constitutionally deficient. We have no difficulty concluding that Congress acted rationally ….” (24)

Given that the war on drugs, for decades, is and has been a disaster, the predatory democracy model explains the failed policy’s longevity. Otherwise, some might be left to wonder whether Americans are simply incompetent, incapable of recognizing when a course of action is not working, or, perhaps, morally feeble when it comes to confronting truth.

Predatory democracy enables a culture of exploitation in which liberty can take the form of an almost unfettered ability to profit. Of course, a culture of exploitation requires subjects for exploitation, and the war on drugs has fostered a jobs program for law enforcement officers, prison guards, DEA (25) and other federal agents and has been referred to as a “a make-work program for corporate prisons.” (26)

“The law enforcement lobby worked hard in 2014 to kill a bill that would roll back tough mandatory sentences for people convicted of federal drug offenses….. In California and Minnesota, law enforcement lobbying has worked to pressure lawmakers to once again prohibit medical marijuana and water down other kinds of medical marijuana legislation. The lobby is widely pushing back against the scaling back of drug war policies that have proved to be a cash cow for local police departments.” (27)

According to author Michelle Alexander, “If four out of five people were released from prisons, far more than a million people could lose their jobs. There is also the private-sector investment to consider.” (28)

When liberty amounts to seeking financial profit over human dignity, what does it mean for justice or the greater public good?

Stephen Colbert, when he asked John Kasich if he would have become Governor had he been arrested for his earlier marijuana use, Kasich’s avoidance of a direct answer shows us the true state of American exception-alism. Predatory democracy allows for exceptions to the rule for some.

American exception-alism.

When it comes to the greater good, pharmaceutical companies and Wall Street bankers have been known to cause harm to the public and, yet, when called to account are allowed to simply settle their charges by paying a fine.(29) No mandatory minimum lengthy prison sentence for pharmaceutical traffickers or Wall Street banker drug money launderers. The predatory democracy model allows for criminal justice exceptions when it comes to “wealthy private interests buying politicians and making sure the rules are written in their favor.” (30)

If you are not among the class of “exceptions,” that is you can’t afford to pay to play and you decline to obey, the justice system, mass-incarceration style, puts you to work – for them. No showing of harm is needed to impose lengthy prison sentences on those who trade in non-permitted substances among consenting adults.

The super predator that needs to be brought to heel?

American exception-alism, thanks to predatory democracy, makes it okay to ignore decades of enormous harm to individuals and families, harm caused by a government pushing policy that is based on falsehood, racism, and hypocrisy, a government acting with depraved indifference.

Notes:

(1) “Depraved Indifference Toward Flint,” By The Editorial Board, Jan. 22, 2016, The New York Times.

(2) “The War on Drugs: After 45 years, more than $1 trillion wasted, and the creation of the world’s largest prison system, America still lacks the political will to change its failed drug policy,” By Tim Dickinson; Rolling Stone, May 19, 2016.

(3) Pope Francis, address to UN Assembly, September 2015.

(4) “Who Are You Calling Crazy? Gary Greenberg on How We Define Mental Illness – And How it Defines Us,” by Zander Sherman; The Sun, July 2016; page 11.

(5) “Effective Drug Control: Toward A New Legal Framework: State-Level Regulation as a Workable Alternative to the ‘War on Drugs’; King County Bar Association Drug Policy Project; Seattle, Washington 98101; © Copyright 2005 King County Bar Association.
See also --
“Were Bronze Age Weed Dealers the Founders of Western Civilization? New research says that’s entirely possible”; by Phillip Smith; Alternet; July 13, 2016.
“Michael Pollan Explains Why Psychedelic Drugs Are the Ultimate Meal for Your Mind, The legendary food writer takes us on a trip”; by Maddie Oatman and Tom Philpott; Mother Jones, June 17, 2016.
“Why Do Humans Have an Innate Desire to Get High?” by James Carney, The Conversation, June 13, 2016, published on Alternet.
“Were Paleolithic Cave Painters High on Psychedelic Drugs? Scientists Propose Ingenious Theory for Why They Might Have Been,” By Steven Rosenfeld, published on Alternet; July 8, 2013.
“Why the War on Drugs Is a War on Human Nature,” By Lewis Lapham, TomDispatch.com; December 9, 2012.

(6) “4 GOP Presidential Hopefuls Who Admitted They Smoked Weed,” By Phillip Smith; AlterNet; February 5, 2015.
“9 Politicians Busted for Drugs (Even Staunch Drug War Supporters),” By McCarton Ackerman; The Fix, Published on Alternet; June 20, 2013.
"’Drugs Aren’t the Problem’: Neuroscientist Carl Hart on Brain Science & Myths About Addiction,” Democracy Now!; January 6, 2014.
“Ted Cruz Smoked Marijuana as a Teen — But Wants to Jail Others for Doing the Same,” By Eric W. Dolan; Raw Story; published on Alternet; February 5, 2015.
“Rand Paul's Attack on Jeb Bush's Pot 'Hypocrisy' Heralds a Signal Issue for 2016 Campaign,” By Paul Waldman; The American Prospect; published on Alternet; February 3, 2015.
“John Kasich talks marijuana with Stephen Colbert,” By Reena Flores, CBS News; November 7, 2015; see full 3-1/2 minute interview, “Stephen Grills John Kasich On Pot Legalization," at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mu2tMTkz4Bk.

(7) “The War on Drugs Is Far More Immoral Than Most Drug Use,” Conor Friedersdorf; The Atlantic; Apr 4 2013.

(8) “Illegal-Psychiatric Drug Hypocrisy and Why Michael Pollan Is Smarter Than I Am,” by Bruce E. Levine; AlterNet; July 19, 2014.

(9) “Why Our Drug Laws Have Failed and What We Can Do About It,” by Judge James P. Gray; Temple University Press; (2001).
See also--
“The Insane, Racist Crack Myths Fueling America's Worst Drug Laws,” By Carl L. Hart; The Nation; Published on Alternet; February 5, 2014.
“Here's Why We Should Probably Say 'Cannabis' Instead of 'Marijuana': The word marijuana has a rotten history.”
By April M. Short; AlterNet; July 23, 2016.
“Our Drug Laws Have Always Been Racist: America's Ugly History of Prohibition as a Tool to Oppress Minorities:
A short history of our racist drug war.” By Dr. David Bearman; AlterNet; August 15, 2016.

(10) “Legalize It All, How to win the war on drugs,” by Dan Baum from the April 2016 issue, Harper’s Magazine.

(11) John Kasich talks marijuana with Stephen Colbert, By Reena Flores; CBS News; November 7, 2015.

(12) “The Real Way to Curb Binge Drinking,” By Sadhbh Walshe; The Guardian Published on Alternet; May 16, 2014.

(13) Fact Sheets - Underage Drinking,” Centers for Disease Control and Prevention; http://www.cdc.gov/alcohol/fact-sheets/underage-drinking.htm; July 24, 2016.
See also--
“Underage Drinking,” National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism; https://niaaa.nih.gov/alcohol-health/special-populations-co-occurring-disorders/underage-drinking; July 24, 2016.
“Clinical Report: Binge Drinking,” From the American Academy of Pediatrics; Lorena Siqueira, Vincent C. Smith, Committee On Substance Abuse; Volume 136 / Issue 3; September 2015.
“Binge drinking in childhood can cause damage to brain for life,” by Damir Sagolj; RT News, Reuters ; April 28, 2015.
“Alcohol Alert,” National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism; No. 37; July 1997; http://pubs.niaaa.nih.gov/publications/aa37.htm

(14) “Researchers got people drunk or high, then made a fascinating discovery about how we respond,” By Christopher Ingraham, Wonkblog, The Washington Post; July 20, 2016.
See also--
“Pot is 114 Times Safer Than Booze, Says Study,” By Cliff Weathers; AlterNet; February 24, 2015.
“Marijuana Advocates Challenge Police to 'Drug Duels' to Prove Pot Is Safer than Booze,” By David Sirota; AlterNet; October 24, 2014.
“Pot Smokers Are Less Likely to Commit Domestic Violence,” By Paul Armentano; AlterNet; August 26, 2014.
“Could Legalizing Weed Curb Alcohol-Related Violence,” By Victoria Kim; The Fix, Published on Alternet; July 11, 2013.
“5 Reasons Booze Is Deadlier than Heroin and Other Drugs That'll Land You in Jail,” By April M. Short; AlterNet; August 29, 2014.
“7 Ways Booze Is More Dangerous Than Pot,” By April M. Short; AlterNet; August 20, 2013.

(15) “Number of Teens Smoking Legal weed doesn't seem to have the same cachet for kids as the forbidden fruit,” By Kylie Cheung; The Frisky; published on Alternet; July 1, 2016.
“Fear Mongers Go Home: New Study Shows Legalization Prevents Underage Drug Use,” By John Vibes; The Free Thought Project; published on Alternet; June 16, 2015.
“Studies Show Pot Legalization Has Not Impacted Teen Use,” By Lizabeth Paulat; Care2; 06 January 2015.
“Legalization of Marijuana: What Are We Saying to the Kids?” By Marsha Rosenbaum; AlterNet; December 2, 2014.
“No, Teens Don't Smoke More Pot In Medical Marijuana States,” By April M. Short; AlterNet; July 30, 2014.

(16) “One striking chart shows why pharma companies are fighting legal marijuana,” By Christopher Ingraham; The Washington Post; July 13, 2016.
“Study: Pharmaceuticals Kill More Teens Than Illegal Substances In The US,” by Monica Thunder; reset.me; March 26, 2015.

(17) “American addict,” Jose Luiz Gonzalez; RT.com, Reuters, May 15, 2015.
See also--
“You Won't Believe the Outrageous Ways Big Pharma Has Bribed Doctors to Shill Drugs: Think lap dances, trips to the Caribbean, and countless free lunches,” By Martha Rosenberg; The Influence, published on Alternet; July 21, 2016.

(18) “U.S. spending on prisons grew at three times rate of school spending: report,” By Stephanie Kelly; Reuters.com; Jul 7, 2016.

(19) “McGuire blasts psychotropic medication audit delay,” by Hunter Cresswell; “Times-Standard”; June 24, 2016.

(20) “A SWAT Team Blew a Hole in My 2-Year-Old Son,” By Alecia Phonesavanh; Salon, Published on Alternet; June 24, 2014.
“Police Covered Up Their Murder of 7-Year-Old Girl, Lawsuit Alleges: Aiyana Stanley-Jones was killed when police mistakenly raided the wrong home and launched a flash-bang grenade,” By Josie Wales; The Free Thought Project; April 3, 2015.
“Lawsuit: FBI raided New Mexico home with sleeping children,” By: Russell Contreras; Associated Press; 11/10/2015.
“Cops Bombed the Wrong Guys, Family Says,” By Pat Pemberton; courthousenews.com; November 19, 2014,

(21) “Family of dead student who served as drug informant sues for wrongful death,” Associated Press; foxnews.com; Published June 27, 2016.
“The Dangers of a College Student Becoming a Campus Police Drug Informant,” By Gail Deutsch, Stephanie Fuerte, Jonathan Balthaser and Lauren Effron; abcnews.go.com; Jan 23, 2015.
“Undercover students used in drug busts at some University of Wisconsin campuses: Experts raise concerns about coercion, campus officials stress safeguards,” By Sean Kirkby; wisconsinwatch.org; September 14, 2014.
“Throwaways: Recruited by Police & Thrown into Danger, Young Informants are Drug War's Latest Victims”; Democracy Now!; February 20, 2013.
“Use Of Confidential Informants Mostly Unregulated,” Heard on Talk of the Nation; npr.org; September 5, 2012.

(22) “The War on Drugs and HIV/AIDS: How the Criminalization of Drug Use Fuels the Global Pandemic,” Report of The Global Commission On Drug Policy, June 2012:
“As was the case with the US prohibition of alcohol in the 1920s, the global prohibition of drugs now fuels drug market violence around the world. For instance, it is estimated that more than 50,000 individuals have been killed since a 2006 military escalation against drug cartels by Mexican government forces.”

(23) “The War on Drugs: After 45 years, more than $1 trillion wasted, and the creation of the world’s largest prison system, America still lacks the political will to change its failed drug policy,” By Tim Dickinson; Rolling Stone, May 19, 2016.

(24) “Gonzales v. Raich,” 545 U.S. 1 (2005); Justice Stevens delivered the opinion of the Court.

See also—

“U.S. v Timothy Dellas,” No. 07-10060, D.C. No. CR-03-00226-MHP, Memorandum; before D.W. Nelson, Kleinfeld, and Hawkins, Circuit Judges; Submitted February 11, 2008; Filed February 19, 2008; This disposition is not appropriate for publication and is not precedent except as provided by 9th Cir. R. 36-3; This panel unanimously finds this case suitable for decision without oral argument.
“Constitutionality of 21 U.S.C. § 841:… Citing that commission’s findings and more recent studies, he asserts that the evidence demonstrates that marijuana ‘is not harmful and has medical use.’ He argues that Congress was constitutionally irrational when it ‘relied on the yet-to-be released findings of the National Commission on Marijuana and Drug Abuse to justify its harsh marijuana laws,’ because ‘the Commission’s Report wholly undermined Congress’ actions.’
“For the sake of argument, we can stipulate: (1) that Dellas accurately interprets the scientific evidence, and (2) that, in some circumstances, a law could be declared violative of due process because the factual assumptions underlying the law have been subsequently disproved, and the legislature has failed to respond in any manner. Even with these stipulations, Dellas’s challenge fails. In 1998, Congress explained that it ‘continues to support the existing Federal legal process for determining the safety and efficacy of drugs and opposes efforts to circumvent this process by legalizing marijuana.’ Omnibus Consolidated and Emergency Supplemental Appropriations Act, Pub. L. No. 105-277, Division F, § 11, 112 Stat. 2681, 2681-768 (1998). This legislation reveals that Congress considered marijuana regulation long after the commission reported its findings. Further, Congress’s desire not to rush to judgment is rational. The district court did not abuse its discretion in denying Dellas’s request for an evidentiary hearing on this issue. United States v. Smith, 155 F.3d 1051, 1063 n.18 (9th Cir. 1998).”

(25) “Reefer Madness,” by Eric Schlosser, Houghton Mifflin Company, 2003:
“As late as 1967, the Federal Bureau of Narcotics had only 300 agents. Its successor, the DEA, now has 4,600. During the 1980s federal spending to incarcerate drug offenders rose more than 1,300 percent, from $88 million to $1.3 billion.”

“War On Drugs: Legislation in the 108th Congress and Related Developments,” Mark Eddy, Domestic Social Policy Division, CRS Issue Brief for Congress, Received through the CRS Web, Order Code IB10113; Updated January 10, 2005:
“This breakdown reveals that a large part of the price society pays for drug use arises not from the effects of the drugs themselves, but from the costs of enforcing the laws that prohibit them.”

(26) “Serpico: I Almost Died for Exposing Police Corruption — Cops Lack Legitimacy and They Must Gain it Back,” By Frank Serpico; The Nation, Published on Alternet; January 14, 2015.

“Michelle Alexander: Locked Out of America,” Interview with Bill Moyers; December 20, 2013; excerpt --
“MICHELLE ALEXANDER: Well, when there's a profit motive it ensures that more and more people will be locked up and remain locked up in order for companies to maintain their profit margins. You know, the largest prison company, private prison company in the United States, The Corrections Corporation of America, sent a letter to 48 governors basically with an offer: we will buy your state-run prisons in exchange for a promise, a guarantee, that you will keep these prisons filled at least 90 percent capacity.”

“How government money fueled the explosion in arrests for petty crimes,” Fusion; 6/22/16.
“Gavin Newsom Helped Make Gay Marriage Legal. Now He Wants to Legalize Pot. "People don't get what a big deal" the war on drugs is, he says.” By Josh Harkinson; Mother Jones; May 9, 2016.

(27) “Is Campaign Cash From Police Unions Watering Down Democrats' Reform Efforts?” By Candice Bernd, Truthout; 14 October 2015.

(28) The New Jim Crow: Mass Incarceration in the Age of Colorblindness,” by Michelle Alexander, c 2010, 2012, p 230.

(29) “Who Goes to Jail? Matt Taibbi on American Injustice Gap from Wall Street to Main Street,” Democracy Now!; April 15, 2014.
“Matt Taibbi and Bank Whistleblower on How JPMorgan Chase Helped Wreck the Economy, Avoid Prosecution,” Democracy Now!; November 7, 2014.

“UN Special Rapporteur: US Falls Short on the Rights to Freedom of Peaceful Assembly and of Association,” by Chip Gibbons; BORDC/DDF; bordc.org; July 28, 2016:
“When talking about what Kiai referred to as ‘the ‘so-called’ War on Drugs’ Kiai mentioned that, ‘These discriminatory laws and practices need to be seen in the larger context. Wall Street bankers looted billions of dollars through crooked schemes, devastating the finances of millions of Americans and saddling taxpayers with a massive bailout bill. Yet during my mission I did not hear any suggestions of a ‘War on Wall Street theft.’ Instead, criminal justice resources go towards enforcing a different type of law and order, targeting primarily African-Americans and other minorities.”

(30) “Following Horrific Violence, Something More Is Required of Us,” Michelle Alexander first shared this post on her Facebook page; By Michelle Alexander, Moyers & Company; 11 July 2016.