It is way past time we started shooting back.
The UK is a country that imprisons people from defending their homes against burglars while routinely turning burglars loose. The UK leads all "rich countries" in home invasions as a result.
Selling dodgy orchids on the grey market is not a particularly serious offense, but in the UK self-defense is a crime punishable by imprisonment.
Moreover, the statistics on impriosonment between the US and the UK are simply not comparable. While about 8 million, or 3%, of all US adults are under legal supervision (either in jail, on parole or on probation), more than half of that number consists of members of a sole ethnic group - a group that is 12% of the US population and 2% of the UK population.
Mr Norris was 65 years old at the time, and a collector of orchids.
A truly truly sad sad story ...
They used to hang horse thieves. And some bicycles can be pretty expensive.
Make everyone a criminal, then charge whomever you want based on politics and/or profit.
“Did you really think we want those laws observed? said Dr. Ferris. We want them to be broken. You’d better get it straight that it’s not a bunch of boy scouts you’re up against... We’re after power and we mean it... There’s no way to rule innocent men. The only power any government has is the power to crack down on criminals. Well, when there aren’t enough criminals one makes them. One declares so many things to be a crime that it becomes impossible for men to live without breaking laws. Who wants a nation of law-abiding citizens? What’s there in that for anyone? But just pass the kind of laws that can neither be observed nor enforced or objectively interpreted ? and you create a nation of law-breakers ? and then you cash in on guilt. Now that’s the system, Mr. Reardon, that’s the game, and once you understand it, you’ll bemuch easier to deal with.” (’Atlas Shrugged’ 1957)
Also see my tag...
So our government can locate a man who brings in maybe a dozen undocumented plants but cannot locate and deal with 12,000,000 illegal aliens? This so unbelievable. Did I wake up in Bizzaro?
In the “land of the free” of the United States, if ALL of the laws currently on the books could be enforced, we would be the most oppressed nation on earth.
Point in case - there are well over 20,000 gun laws actively in the books across the United States and, yet, NONE of them will prevent either the next gun-related crime nor will they stop the Congress, a state legislature or city council from adding more gun laws!!!
It’s time that our “legislators” STOP passing laws for the sake of passing laws that are more for show and justifying their jobs!! It’s time that the laws we have either be repealed if they are unenforceable or that they are enforced. Passing more laws that do nothing is pointless and ONLY opens the door for someone to, eventually, try to enforce them all.
Then, we will rue the day when everyone is in jail and no one can bail us out.
Great article.
Maybe it would be helpful if instead of state and federal legislators dreaming up vaguely written laws for actions that shouldn’t be considered crimes, they’d go over all the vague and unconstitutional laws on their books and purge them.
Either that or meet once every five years or so. When they’re in session, they’re a menace.
Sheesh! Your tax dollars at work!
That's because we have a Constitution. My daughter spent 6 weeks studying in Russia earlier in the summer. She personally witnessed petty criminals like purse snatchers, pickpockets, and shoplifters being beaten senseless by Police officers, then left bleeding and lying on the street. It reminds me of training puppies. Once you smack them with a newspaper a couple of times, they learn.
Rather than being aghast, she suggested that we could reduce crime in the US by adopting a similar strategy.
And think about that. For most of us, even six months in prison for breaking a law we didn't even know about would be enough to lose our jobs, our homes, our cars, all of our possessions and wipe out our savings accounts. You'll get out of jail after six months and find your car repo'd, your home foreclosed and everything you owned sold off by the bank. Have fun starting over again from scratch, with a criminal record to boot.
“Spring Texas isn’t what one thinks of when you hear international criminal or trafficking in endangered species, but a local resident has been uncovered as the head of an international criminal syndicate involved in importing endangered plants from South America.
In an effort to halt this practice officials were tipped to this smuggling operation and obtained a search warrant to search the property of George Norris. Six officers executed a search warrant and recovered 37 boxes of evidence that took three pickup trucks to move.
It took five months to process all of that evidence and prosecutors described Mr. Norris as the kingpin of an international smuggling ring. Mr. Norris has refused to cooperate with prosecutors on his accomplices and claimed that he never made more than $20,000. The facts were laid before a grand jury and Mr. Norris was indicted. With the evidence, proof of his coordinating efforts out of the country, and undercover buys from a federal official, Mr. Norris pled guilty and was sentenced to 17 months in prison.
Released on appeal Mr. Norris, did not prevail and garnered further problems when caught smuggling drugs into prison. Mr. Norris received 71 days in solitary for this offense, but received no additional criminal charges.”
It isn’t about Mr. Norris or this story; it’s about how the news is presented. The writer spins this story and so far, many have happily been led down the garden path. This story could have been about anything-food, politics, religion, economics, etc. That isn’t the point. The point is to understand the writer isn’t conveying information, he is conveying a very specific and slanted view. I have no idea if Mr. Norris is an innocent man run through the machine of an uncaring over regulated society, or a crook with an unusual scam. After reading the piece written here, no one else does either. What really happened? How can you trust the rest of the article when the first was so patently biased?
Is it any wonder that so many people are gullible? How many liberals have you met who were good people but believe the most amazing things? Articles like this are the reason why.
Climb in the trucks boyzs, we gots us a live one. It says heeare on this warrant, that this slimeball, is selling illeegal flyeers. Be shore to put on yur flak jackeets, lock and load. It’s partay time!
YEE HA!
Friggin embilciles.
Too dangerous to go after gangs running drugs (besides they have corrupted law enforcement agencies and politicians on both sides of the border).
Too politically incorrect to go after sex slave trade or other illegal immigrants and those who traffic in them.
Besides it's more profitable to fine someone than to lock them up.
Every Juror should be given a pamphlet explaining “Jury Nulliufication”.
It’s the prison industrial complex. And it needs new inputs all the time.
By making darn near everything a felony, we’ve turned a significant portion of the population into convicted felons. And in the final analysis, you still can’t walk in areas of any good sized city at night.
This is a failed and immoral strategy.
OK.
I got sucked in.
It took a while to get to the heart of this article, another diatribe by the "drug users are misunderstood" contingent.
Wish they had made the point sooner and saved me lots of time.
Obama and others like him believe society should be one huge concentration camp. We used to call those people communists, now they call themselves progressives.
I can’t believe what I’ve just read. This is beyond unacceptable!
I thought we’d surely hit the low water mark a few years back, when the U.S. beat out Russia to become #1 in the world in number of prisoners per capita. But after reading this post, I guess the situation has not only worsened, it’s become... I can’t find the words...
Why has there been no public outcry?? Why is this allowed to continue?? What can we do to stop it — for clearly “we the people” MUST stop it!
These victims are American citizens, they are us. This could happen to any one of us, or to members of our families — and if it did, then we’d just become “invisible” to the rest of the American public? We’d just “disappear”? That’s not supposed to happen here!! That’s against every principle we’ve fought for in the history of this country!!
I ask once more — what can we do to stop this? We can’t just pretend that these people don’t exist. They do exist, and we have a responsibility to stand up and defend them against this intolerable injustice. But how? Can someone please tell me how? What can we do — what can I do?
Sorry if I sound too emotional — I feel like I’m about to explode.
rebecca