Posted November 27th, 2010 at 9:11 AM by Jeff A. Taylor All kinds of wrong here. First, understand that the Border Patrol runs its own TSA-like operations across the Southwest — throwing up “checkpoints” across federal interstates to harass US citizens because it is easier than patrolling the actual border. It was at one such papers-please interrogation site on I-10 in Sierra Blanca, TX that Willie Nelson’s tour bus rolled up on Friday. A wily and courageous Border Patrol agent smelled pot — gasp! — and arrested Nelson. Hudspeth County Sheriff Arvin West via the El Paso Times: “It’s kind of surprising, but I mean we treat him like anybody else,” West said. “He could get 180 days in county jail, which if he does, I’m going to make him cook and clean,” West said. “He can wear the stripy uniforms just like the other ones do.” A court date has yet to be set. The Border Patrol checkpoint along Interstate 10 at Sierra Blanca averages 10 to 15 drug-related arrests a day West said, and he expects several more arrests during the weekend as holiday travelers pack the road. Uh, sheriff — no it is not surprising. It is Willie Nelson. Perhaps one of the best known pot smokers on the planet. And why oh why is the Border Patrol making 70 to 100 “drug-related arrests” a week at a single US interstate barricade? That is not its job. Just like it was not the TSA’s damn job to accuse Charlotte banker Kathy Parker of money laundering and/or leaving her husband just because an invasive TSA search turned up checks the TSA deemed suspicious. But without mission creep — without the federales unilaterally moving to expand the scope of their jurisdictions to all manner of possible criminal conduct — we might have actual accountability and responsibility among our various federal police overlords. And we can’t have that. Better just book Willie Nelson and declare victory. http://charlotte.johnlocke.org/blog/?p=10347 <object width="853" height="505"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/jzjUjNPYzLg?fs=1&hl=en_US"></param><param name="allowFullScreen" value="true"></param><param name="allowscriptaccess" value="always"></param><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/jzjUjNPYzLg?fs=1&hl=en_US" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowscriptaccess="always" allowfullscreen="true" width="853" height="505"></embed></object> Obama Administration Steps Up Opposition to Prop. 19 In a letter sent last week to former Drug Enforcement Administration officials, U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder noted that the Department of Justice "strongly opposes Proposition 19," which would legalize mar1juana in California. He wrote, "If passed, this legislation will greatly complicate federal drug enforcement efforts to the detriment of our citizens." Holder also indicated that the federal government might sue to overturn the ballot measure if it is passed by voters on Nov. 2, writing that DOJ "is considering all available legal and policy options." <object width="853" height="505"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/bvFYCky0muY?fs=1&hl=en_US"></param><param name="allowFullScreen" value="true"></param><param name="allowscriptaccess" value="always"></param><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/bvFYCky0muY?fs=1&hl=en_US" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowscriptaccess="always" allowfullscreen="true" width="853" height="505"></embed></object>
1.Texas passed HB 902 in 2009 which would allow counties to decriminalize mar1juana. no one outside of Austin took advantage of the measure. Willie Nelson, Lil Wayne, or Snoop Dogg choosing to travel by bus through Texas is a bad idea. 2. your Prop 19 update is about three weeks behind. Prop 19 failed. 3. Are you going to start sharing everything you read on infowars and prisonplanet?
I sure hope not. I feel like every white, middle class 14 year old that reads Atlas Shrugs makes it their life goal to spread libertarianism.
He was detained by US Border Control - a federal agency - then handed over to the local police. Prop 19 did fail, and it made the Obama administration very happy.
And what, exactly, is wrong with this? If the US Border Patrol discovers someone has committed a crime, should they not turn them over to proper law enforcement? I'm assuming you're not suggesting that they only look for immigration status and nothing else. If so, you'd be saying that if discover a dead body in the back of someone's car but no immigration violation, they should do nothing because that's not what they are looking for?
Nelson is an idiot for driving through a border crossing with that much weed -- especially since they had just smoked.
Actually, drug enforcement was not a duty of the federal law enforcement agency US Border Control until 2005 - mission creep is food for big-government and statism. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mission_creep
Even ignoring whether it was their duty - if they discover it, shouldn't they be addressing it regardless? I'd have expected them to hand those people over to local law enforcement prior to 2005 as well. That's not mission creep. That's called common sense.
Every day you are turning into the Ron Paul version of ToyCen. IF Ron Paul was actually for progress and forward thinking that would move this country into 2011...dont you think he would have more support other than you?
He's got a lot more support than you realize. Pick up his book, End the Fed. Great read if you can push aside that institutionalized mentality. So, the topic of this thread seems to be-Is the War on Drugs and our border policies a success? If these are the reported results/'successes' along with the kidnappings, murders and border violence then obviously not. The special interest focused leadership of this country the last 35 years had led us to this point but they're doing a great job-why the need for alternative thinking?
The agency's mission has been expanded from enforcing the admission laws of foreign-born people to domestic drug law enforcement. That fact can not be denied. "The Border Patrol was founded on May 28, 1924 as an agency of the United States Department of Labor to prevent illegal entries along the Mexico–United States border and the United States-Canada border. The first two border patrol stations were in El Paso, Texas and Detroit, Michigan.[1] Additional operations were established along the Gulf Coast in 1927 to perform crewman control to insure that non-American crewmen departed on the same ship on which they arrived. Additional stations were temporarily added along the Gulf Coast, Florida and the Eastern Seaboard during the sixties when in Cuba triumphed the Cuban Revolution and emerged the Cuban Missile Crisis." In 2010 it's mission is to search automobiles for drugs at a checkpoint in Sierra Blanca and arrest Willie Nelson for pot on his way home to Austin from California. That checkpoint averages 15 drug arrests a day.
Ron Paul draws from both the left and right wing fringes making his appeal seem broader than reality (or sanity) would dictate. The dude has not agreed with any government decision in the last 150 years. Why does he hate America? PS The sheer volume of Paul thread activity is rapidly becoming basso-like.
I think the anti-Muslim threads are giving both a run for the money. That said I am with Paul here. The drug war is a total failure and Willie Nelson should be free.
This quote cannot be posted enough, IMO: There are two novels that can change a bookish fourteen-year old's life: The Lord of the Rings and Atlas Shrugged. One is a childish fantasy that often engenders a lifelong obsession with its unbelievable heroes, leading to an emotionally stunted, socially crippled adulthood, unable to deal with the real world. The other, of course, involves orcs.
yeah, the guy tours all the time - they should know better. i dont understand why more celebrities who are public about their weed smoking dont get busted more. the border patrol is allowed to operate w/in either 50 or 100 miles of the u.s. border - i cant remember which. but they do maintain checkpoints on roads you wouldnt expect them to be on. aside from that main one on I-10 outside el paso, ive come across them in new mexico out in the mountains - we must have been about 40-50 miles from the border there and it wasnt even on a main highway. they also have a checkpoint north of big bend, so keep that in mind if you head out there w/ extra goodies.
