Veteran Cops Recognize ‘Fast and Furious’ as a Foolhardy Idea
Cops expect to face risks on the job. What they do not expect, what they cannot accept, is when their superiors have a hand in providing the weapons that others will use to kill them.
I have withheld judgment on Operation Fast and Furious until now. Surely, I thought, there would emerge some explanation for what on first reading appeared to be a staggering level of stupidity and incompetence on the part of some in the ATF and the Justice Department. They could not possibly, I hoped, have been that obtuse. Having been a police officer for as long as I have, I should have known better.
Every front-line cop has had this experience: A change in command brings in some new suit eager to show he’s full to bursting with the right stuff, that he is not just another office-bound bureaucrat content with doing things the same old things in the same old way. He promises his full support for the troops as he speaks of his willingness to innovate in crime-fighting tactics and to “think outside the box.” All well and good, but as those front-line cops know, that box is there for a reason, and thinking too far outside it can get people killed.
And that’s what happened with Fast and Furious.
The details of the scandal have been amply documented elsewhere, notably here on PJMedia in the work of Bob Owens, but the goals of Operation Fast and Furious can be distilled thus: Allow the straw purchases of firearms in the U.S. and then track the weapons into the hands of members of Mexican drug cartels who can then be identified and arrested. It sounds so simple, what could go wrong?
As we now know, plenty could and did go horribly, horribly wrong.
I can appreciate the desire to use novel law enforcement approaches in confronting the violence attendant to drug trafficking in Mexico. Someone, displaying a bit of that outside-the-box thinking, came up with the idea of allowing thousands of weapons to be bought on this side of the border with the idea that they could be tracked as they made their way through the network of cartel members and facilitators and into the hands of Mexican outlaws.
This was a pipe dream. To me, it is inconceivable that this operation ever made it out of the first meeting where it was discussed. It goes to show how detached police executives can be from the reality of police work as it is actually practiced. There is simply no effective way to track a gun once it leaves the store where it was purchased.
Let’s say we are suspicious that straw purchases are being made at a gun store in Tucson. We can scrutinize the records of all the store’s sales in search of telltale signs of illegality, we can place undercover operators in the store, we can install surveillance equipment and remotely monitor the customer traffic, or we can do surveillance on people we believe to be straw purchasers in the hope they’ll lead us deeper into the criminal network.
The ATF agents on the ground were ordered NOT to follow gun buyers after they left the store. There was NO plan in place to trace the guns once they left the store/country. The gun store owners were ordered by ATF to sell the guns to known straw buyers after the owners reported the buys. The LE in Mexico were not informed of the actions. After the guns were found used in crimes to include murder the same store owners were informed by ATF they were under investigation for selling to straw buyers. The entire “plan” was a “back door” approach to O getting the AWB back in place. Cause the crisis and then establish the cure, more laws on the law abiding. Notice the ATF is NOW forcing gun stores on the border to report any purchase over one gun a month to,….wait for it,…the ATF. With the revelation of Two more murders this week this is going to be a nightmare for O and the criminal AG as it should be.
35 year vet cop.
THANK YOU!
That damned guise/ruse/lie that continues to be respected by otherwise respectable reporters and commentators INFURIATES my sense of injustice.
It is obvious this operation was never designed for its stated purpose. US agents have no jurisdictional authority to arrest inside Mexico. Holder has been caught lying to Congress, a felony, yet the media by and large ignores this still developing Congressional investigation. I am reminded of the zeal with which the media pursued any and all allegations against former US Attorneys General Ed Meese, Alberto Gonzales or John Ashcroft. In fact AG Meese was forced to resign over allegations that were unsubstantiated and no where the seriousness of either the New Black Panthers case or Fast and Furious.
My view is that what was done is exactly what they wanted done. Shipping thousands of arms to anti Mexican government groups.
The purpose is to destabilize Mexico from inside, like they are doing in other countries (Egypt, Libya, Yemen, US, Israel, many more) so that they can effect a take over or the need for the US to invade to solve the disorder, and create a world wide Socialist revolution.
The gun law crack down is only a smoke screen cover.
No, that would smack too much of “Western imperialism”, which The One and his minions have a visceral hatred of. Eastern imperialism, by comparison, they love, and the more mystically-inspired it is the better they like it.
Dr. Joseph Bell observed that when you eliminate all the impossible answers to a question, whatever remains, however unlikely, must be the correct answer. (BTW, Bell was the mentor of Dr., later Sir, Arthur Conan Doyle, the creator of Sherlock Holmes.)
In this case, it is obvious that tracking the weapons was not even considered. (Myself, I’d have secreted GPS units inside them. Forget tracking the vehicle, track the weapon itself.) And while I’m sure Obama would love to have an excuse to re-institute the Assault Weapon Ban by Executive Order (following the example of Bush 41, resulting in “thumbhole stocks”), turning Mexico into a free-fire zone to do it falls into the “blowing up the mansion to kill the mouse” category.
No, the only answer which makes sense, bizarre as it sounds, is that Obama & Co. want a Mexican government beholden to, or better yet controlled by, the drug cartels. (Think the Medellin’ and Cali cartels in Columbia for the model.) Part of their visceral hatred of Westernism is their chafing at drug laws which prevent them, and their like-minded supporters, from getting stoned whenever they feel like it.
In their minds, a law-abiding citizen who owns a firearm is an example of irredeemable evil; a drug-impaired “stoner” is a free spirit who should be nurtured and valued as an example of what a “real person” should be. Fast & Furious, in all its (numerous and varied) incarnations, was designed to attack the former, but only as a second-level objective. Its main objective was to make it easier for the latter to spend his life in a permanent state of euphoria. (Including in the voting booth, most likely.)
The main objective was to remove the Mexican government as an obstacle to the drug trade. The endgame being to inundate this country with drugs to the point that we would all throw up our hands and let The One legalize them- all of them. (And probably make them eligible for taxpayer funding under O-Care, as well.)
The One believes that a disarmed populace that is drifting in drug-induced dreams is one step closer to Utopia. That is what this was supposed to help achieve.
No, it is not realistic. But The One does not submit to the dictates of reality. He is, quite simply, a megalomaniac, narcissistic fantasist who sees the world not through rose-colored glasses but through the haze of autocratic theorists like Alinsky, Ayers, and Dewey.
He is the sort who would see Huxley’s “Brave New World” as a model for a perfect society. And like Napoleon, he is firmly convinced that omelet-making requires egg-breaking, and the more eggs broken, the finer the omelet will be.
And he will then, of course, be free to eat his waffle in peace.
clear ether
eon
eon, you probably have already researched Progressive Insurance’s Mr. Lewis(think his first name is Carl). If not, you will find his open society views, as well as his work on behalf of the Democrat Party, quite interesting.
I seem to remember that George Soros is big on legalizing drugs also, so I wouldn’t be a bit surprised to see his fingers all over this as well.
Sorry, but Dr. Bell was quoting Occam’s razor, which has been around since the 14th century.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Occam's_razor
William of Occam’s rule was “the simplest explanation which fits the available facts is most likely correct”. Not quite the same thing.
And when dealing with people whose worldview is based on beliefs, delusions, and their pet fantasies, facts often have little bearing on their motivations, or actions.
While Occam’s rule is a handy meter stick when dealing with the physical world, it doesn’t always work when dealing with the actions of human beings. Who, as Mr. Spock once observed, do not always behave logically. Or, indeed, even rationally.
cheers
eon
Bravo!
And, Oscumbo is a certifiable psychopath, just click on Antisocial Personality and see hoe he fits all the diagnostic criteria. What we on the sane side often fail to appreciate is that demonic minds like Oshambos’ delight in the exact opposite of that which enchants Right, Responsible, Realistic minds. The Demonics love chaos, death, evil, harm, failure. We who appreciate order, love, life, good, success, seem to them to be damned souls, with no comprehension of the beauty they find in desolation and abomination.
Yes, I agree that the wouldbe Grand Caliph will continue to self-destruct; but how much collateral damage will he do before his time runs out and the Gates of Hell open wide to welcome him home.
I think that the whole Gunwalker scheme had to do with Obama’s desire to make gun sales and ownership look bad, so that he could come up with more ways to infringe on our Second Amendment rights.
“To me, it is inconceivable that this operation ever made it out of the first meeting where it was discussed.”
Well, you probably aren’t a left winger who thinks it’s o.k. to arrange the murder of innocent people in order to achieve the noble goal of establishing a totalitarian police state in America that will lord it over an unarmed and helpless population.
You said what I was trying to say, but you said it much better! Thank you!
This was planned by the Justice Dept and the O, they do not understand the new media the plan was to blame the NRA and say we need stricter gun laws.
The O has in the past, since his re-election, promised the gun control crowd that they should not worry, he is with them, and has plans.
woops “re-election” saying that…is a bad omen.
I respectfully disagree. This went beyond just one newbie at one location. As more is more uncovered this effort has been shown to include multiple ATF regions- Florida, Texas and now Indiana(wtf?) Additionally, it required the cooperation of DEA/DHS/DOJ- all places where this could have should have been stopped if it was as described, an attempt to interdict weapons. Incompetence also doesn’t describe the failure to inform ATF agents in Mexico or the Mexican officials required to interdict and arrest at the supposed end goal.
On top of all of that is the information that the State Dept approved an export license for Vietnam era military weapons to a front company for the drug cartels. http://pajamasmedia.com/blog/worse-than-gunwalker-state-dept-allegedly-sold-guns-to-zetas/
There is far too much going on in too many agencies to be explained by simple incompetence.
Forgot to add the FBI as a cooperating agency including the use of stimulus money to fund informants purchasing weapons for the cartels.
You are far too generous in your judgment of the motives of the perpetrators. Just because they have the authority of their badges and offices, does not mean that they are not criminals and possibly traitors. There always are bent badges, the more so where politicians are involved. Especially, but not exclusively, politicians of the Left who believe that their personal motives outweigh both the law and the Constitution.
There is no indication, other than obvious cover stories being floated, that this ever had any legitimate law enforcement function. I agree with your statement that it should not have made it out of the first meeting where it was discussed. But there is an assumption implicit there. That the participants were LEO’s whose goal was the enforcement of the law and the protection of the public. If the participants were more concerned with political goals and avoiding or changing the law, the assumption does not hold.
ATF has never been known for either obedience to the Constitution or an unwillingness to be used for purely political ends. Today, the increased number of Federal uniformed and armed personnel seem to be adopting the ATF template. I am retired after wearing a badge for 28 years. I have seen an example of this attitude up close and personal since retirement. Some friends of mine [who are appalled] have a son in law who works for ICE. Said son in law is very vocal about how, being Federal, they are above the law and the Constitution and can do anything that they are ordered to do.
Granting that when choosing between malice and incompetence as motives, that it is usually safe to choose incompetence. However, there is nothing that bars either malice or both being operative. If you look at the perpetrators the way that you would look at non-government personnel doing the same thing; I suspect that you would lean toward malice.
Subotai Bahadur
Mr. Bahadur,
Since I am clearly a racist ethnophobe, being a conservative Republican since birth, and tending, in sympathy, towards the Tea Party, who would never therefore give the time of day to any American of “color”, you may assume I think you’re wrong.
But you would be mistaken. God bless.
Funny thing. I use my computer to design T-shirts I wear to make Liberals’ heads explode. One of the ones I am finishing tonight has a Gadsden Flag. Above the flag are the words, “Proud TEA Party Patriot ‘SOB’”. Below the flag are the words, “I’m your huckleberry”. For those not familiar with the second phrase, in the 1800′s it was the equivalent of, “Y’all want a piece of me? Come and get it.”
Somehow, I don’t think we would have a problem.
Subotai Bahadur
What did the O know about this, and when did he know it?
Hey Jack,
As a money manager, I feel the same way about his spending binge. Guess it’s all coming from the same pit of you-know-what.
No, Jack, only ONE thing went wrong.
They got caught.
This was never about catching gun runners. The truth is far worse than mere incompetence.
Mr. Dunphy operates under the faulty assumption that a Marxist Regime in Washington, D.C. has the best interests of America and Americans at heart. “To me, it is inconceivable that this operation ever made it out of the first meeting where it was discussed.”—he says. If this would destabilize America and perhaps lead to disarming Americans, they loved the idea!
Talk about naive!
“There is simply no effective way to track a gun once it leaves the store where it was purchased.”
“There is only one way to track a weapon after it’s left the seller’s hands, and that’s to wait for it to turn up at a crime scene …”
“I suspect none of this entered the minds of those who, from the safety and comfort of their offices, hatched Operation Fast and Furious.”
Jack Dunphy, that is exactly what was in their minds. You give them too much credit, and that is understandable because in a sense you see them as your colleagues. They are not your colleagues. They are not cops, they are politicians in the law enforcement community. Not only that, they are the bad apples that taint the whole Law Enforcement community in the minds of so many.
And I dont mean just a little bit bad. These guys and their bosses, all the way up the ladder, are evil to the core. I was going to expound on that, but I cant beat Dave Surls on that. “it’s o.k. to arrange the murder of innocent people in order to achieve the noble goal of establishing a totalitarian police state in America that will lord it over an unarmed and helpless population.”
I realize there is no definitive proof, yet, but to everyone who has followed this story it is plain what happened. They havent even bothered to deny the allegations as far as I know. Every action they have taken points to guilt. Obama’s ‘under the radar’ comments….emails from the ATF asking for examples of straw sales to use for examples (examples identical to the ones Obama subsequently made new regulations about in spite of congress ) ….the promoting of the actors and operators….the firing of the whistleblowers. Its like finding a kid in the kitchen with cookie crumbs on their face and an empty cookie jar….you know what happened. I know what happened. We all know what happened and what their motives were. Perhaps it is just too terrifying to face, too unbelievable that American law enforcement officers would do such a thing.
If you think they did it out of stupidity, you are in denial. You painted a plain picture of what happened yourself. Now take your hands away from your eyes and see what you painted.
Well said-those who participated in this(Melson , when told about the increased border violence in the winter of 2010 , was said to be “happy”) are just as bad as the pols in DC. Just like Islam, there kooks cannot exist without there ENABLERS. The ATF agents who THREATENED legetimate gunshop owners with bureaucratic action against them are EQUALLY as complicit as Holder and Obama. So is the US Atty who refused to deal with the complaints made to his office. When ATF agents had to go to the Maricopa county SHERIFFS office(yup Sheriff Joe Arpaio) to get action, it shows the whole stinkin thing needs to be torn down.
BRAVO!
Suthenboy – You dropped a neutron bomb into the clone of a boiler-plater! Everything looks normal, but another zombie has been kindly put out of our misery:)
Thank you!
You may be right. Add the facts of Ruby Ridge and Waco and the conspiracy theory takes on a better light. What a lot of people don’t know, is that the FBI shooter at Ruby Ridge was also at Waco. The ATF initiated both fiascos.
Has anyone compared the timing of DHS, DOJ, and State Department statements on lax gun laws being responsible for deaths in Mexico, with various stages of the Gun Walker operation (or tied to specific batches of weapons going to Mexico).
I noted this entire thing started with Hillary Clinton telling the press that American guns were accounting for 90% of the gun violence along the border-that was in the summer of 2009-right about the time the US Atty in Phoenix was telling the ATF to threaten gun store owners who wouldnt participate in this scam. I know. I happen to be one of them.
What we are all trying to chew on is the notion that this administration is careless with the lives of our people.
To continue your metaphor Valarie, see how this tastes.
The second amendment fundamentally defines the relationship between the citizen and the state. To allow citizens to arm themselves in defense of their own lives and liberty is a plain statement that the state considers the individual’s life and liberty inherently valuable. In disarming the citizenry the state is saying quite loudly ” An individual’s life or liberty is of no value except in it’s utility to the state.”
The lives of the victims of ‘fast and furious’ guns have no value to the people who perpetrated this crime. Their murders did.
I forgot to say that that is why any candidate’s position on the second amendment is my single litmus test for that person’s fitness to be a government official. It tells me how that person views the citizen/state relationship. It tells me what their position is on a wide range of issues. It tells me how they view me and my family.
Suthenboy- The state does NOT “allow” citizens the right to keep and bear arms!
Clearly, if it were up to the state, the war of attrition against the 2nd Amendment would never have begun… FDR, or a predecessor [Wilson?] would have treated us like Australians or Subjects of the Crown.
Valerie- Obama argued for the legalization of INFANTICIDE from the floor of the Illinois State Legislature. It was one of his few “leadership” moments. If he can do that, the only bounds he will respect are those which can be forced upon him.
Spit it out before the poison gets to you!
Valerie-
Obama argued for the legalization of INFANTICIDE from the floor of the Illinois State Legislature!
It was a singular “leadership” moment for “Mr. Present”.
It proves that he respects no bounds, other than those which can be forced upon him.
Suthenboy- The Second Amendment RECOGNIZES our pre-existing right to keep and bear arms. It “allows” nothing from the state, it was meant to constrain tyrants….
Having read your masterful comments, I suspect you suffered a momentary stroke or seizure. Please take care….
Y’all are correct and I knew that. Poor word choice on my part.
Thank you for the ‘masterful’ compliment, but I must credit Patrick Richardson on that last one, I was paraphrasing him from comments on an earlier article. ( paraphrasing badly with the use of ‘allow’)
A few refinements to add to the excellent article. I listened to retired detectives who were appalled at what has occurred. They have “sold” weapons to criminals in undercover work, with full approval from management, but in each case the weapon was disabled prior to delivery, and the arrest had to follow closely thereafter, before the nonfunctioning weapon was discovered. No peace officer, even a ninety day wonder, would sell a lethal weapon to killers.
As noted by 1. Sulaco, the ATF officers were given direct orders to permit the vehicle under surveillance, filled with weapons to pass into Mexico, where no effective surveillance was possible. Moreover, as 5. styrgwillidar states, apparently it occurred among several independent departments, the incompetency was pandemic, and government wide.
It is impossible to use reason in an insane world. Nothing makes sense; there is no answer to the question: why did all of you people knowingly aid and abet murder?
I can only conclude that some one knows something big and is still silent. Even if he is in the ground, his secret will be disclosed as long as honorable Americans keep shining the light. The retired cops predict that heads will roll, now that the secret is out, the secret as we now know it.
I suspect you may be right. As much as I can be opinionated and loudmouthed or let emotion color my language, I hardly dare to speculate on what else there might be. It is plain that attacking the second amendment was part of the plan, even if it was only the cherry-on-top. I will stick to squawking about that for now.
I too am confident that all or most of it will come out, and I hope Obama and Holder realize that. I hope they are having to wear ‘depends’ adult diapers day and night over it.
Like the Starfish Prime detonation in the 1960s, the intent was good, but what resulted from it sadly is cosmic radiation gone wild as evidence in the preliminary results of the CLOUD project under CERN.
Starfish Prime sound like a Japanese delicacy.
Phase II: Sell some nuclear warheads to Al Qaeda. Then we won’t have to speculate about terrorists acquiring weapons of mass destruction. When AQ blows up New York, we’ll know they definitely have some.
If you are a victim of Managed Media, you may not yet know that Roger Noriega has long reported Iran’s interaction with the Chavez regime in Venezuela.
The construction of an Iranian missile base on Venezuelan soil has been confirmed.
I commend Frank Gaffney’s Secure Freedom Radio/podcasts to all such victims.
Fire all gov’t police both local and federal and get the real pros like Gavin de Becker & Associates or Thomas Dale & Associates to provide security.
The gov’t sucks, bureaucrats suck and civil service and their unions is the reason they all suck!
Years ago I was hearing some RUMINT that a major European communication company (that also supplies the US Military) was selling high tech radio equipment to Mexican drug cartels. This was on top of unconfirmed reports that when the Colombians and the DEA finally moved in on the Cali cartel that they found them operating nothing less than a Cray super-computer in their compound. They had been wondering why their snitches kept getting the chop and the rumor is that the cartel was running their own SIGINT platform. I wish I knew how much of it was true but a few days ago I did spot a very interesting report from Borderland Beat.
The Mexican Marines reportedly dismantled a number of radio towers and encryption equipment that the Zeta drug cartel was operating to coordinate their activities in Veracruz. This is some true 5th Generation Warfare going on south of the border, a conflict that at least one commentator has dubbed as the world’s first “post-political war.”
Keep in mind that I was just a knuckle-dragger in the military but in the video news report I believe we are looking at the radio masts, solar cells, Motorola ICOM type radios, industrial size batteries, and the kit needed to set up micro-wave relay stations. There is plenty of other gear that I’m unable to identify so maybe those commo guys out there can help the rest of us hard heads out with this one…
I blame Obama because he’s a black socialist.
And that sums it up, completely. Once you embrace that he really is the Manchurian, or “Chicagoan” candidate, all seems plain.
Go ahead. Revisit all the info you now have on him, and see how it matches.
1) What the hell is Bill Ayers doing this close to any position of power? He should have been hung, many years ago.
2) Why can’t we see any medical or academic info on O’Blinkey? Wouldn’t he be proud of it, if it was true? I would be.
3) Why didn’t he or Moochelle ever really practice law, but instead surrendered their law licenses voluntarily. Why? Maybe because it would embarrass their affirmative action sponsors, if they ever hit a courtroom? Well, easy come, easy go. Not me (or Bill Clinton, who was really pissed about it).
4) Linguistic analysis has been a hot thing for many years in academia (don’t even bring up Bacon and Shakespeare, for God’s sake). How come any actually attributable writings, few they may be, of The One and Moochelle have the syntax and grammar of a retarded fifth grader? What would have happened if they actually submitted a brief to a court, and it made no sense?
5) Why vote “present”, in a truly demented manner (who else can you say this about?), if not to obfuscate? Why even bother to get elected? Why, indeed.
People, did you notice the tone of that latest congressional photo-op? It bespoke a con gone bad. He is pumping like mad, because he ain’t got nuthin’, and methinks his buddies, who have always simply told him what to do, until now, are no longer returning his calls. When you’ve lost the Daily Beast, it’s friggin’ ovuh!
I’ve run into this behavior all my life. You cannot extricate yourself from it, and he will never change or admit he’s wrong. It’s gone too far, already. You, on the other hand, must man up, and realize that he really is destroying the country. It matters not if he’s a dunce in the control of nefarious forces, or just a garden variety dunce. He will prove very dangerous, if he snaps (as it appears he’s now doing). He is a narcissistic boob (Lord Jim ain’t in it!). Given his history (have you ever looked up all the letters his Mom sent to the Immigration Department re: Oblinkey, and his scummy pop? Read them all. It will cause scales to fall from your eyes. He is descended from com-men, and not really good com-men. The notes in the margins of her letters are super-funny. Some old, white, lifetime civil servants, in 1960, had their number, to a “T”. Remember that Harvard finally turned Pop into the Immigration guys, as a charlatan and troublemaker (read “liar”).Don’t ever forget that his white Gramma and Grampa were fuzzy bunny communists, to boot, which means lying is justified in all things, because they are on the side of good, millions of dead bodies notwithstanding. Why do you think they moved to Hawaii, a hotbed of tolerance, and, indeed, nutjobbery and license, especially in the ’60s? When I found out how easy it was to google it all, I was fascinated, then appalled. You will be, too.
Someday history will marvel at how stupid we were. The Germans didn’t have the internet. We do. Let’s hope noone ever has to say, “Never again.”
I still don’t understand what the purpose of this operation was. How can you track an inanimate object? How was it supposed to work? If they caught someone with the weapons – hallelujah and so what? Exactly what would they uncover? What is the difference between having these illegal weapons or other illegal weapons?
If they found the weapons in Mexico, exactly what could they deduct from that fact?
It all makes sense if you remember that Obama is deliberately destroying our country and wants us disarmed for that day when the deep sleepers wake up and realize it’s too late.
Bingo!
I will vote for the Palin/Bachmann ticket precisely for this reason.
1) Welcome to the party. This story was first broken in late December 2010 by Mike Vanderboegh and David Codrea. CBS got to it in late March 2011. Where the [expletive] have you been? 2) F & F is much worse than Watergate – Americans have died as a result of this government program. No one died in Watergate. Can you say accessory to murder? 3) As head of DOJ (to which BATFE reports) Holder knew or should have known – which makes him criminally liable. Might well go to the White House, and likely includes Hillary, Napolitano and Mueller. 4) Stop buying into the cover story that this was a botched operation. The only thing botched was the cover up.
Once the guns cross into Mexico there is zero chance for the Federals to track the guns. They are not allowed to even go down there.
It still does not make any sense. Even the Federal Government is not that dumb.
Obviously you are wrong. The federal government is staffed with either apathetics or incompetents. They are the ones who think a soup sandwich is a good idea. Federal employees, for the most part, are incompetent boobs who can’t cut it in the civilian business world. If it weren’t for civil service the unemployment rate would be dramatically higher. A scalpel needs to be taken to federal employment and it needs to be a series of deep, deep incisions.
The basis for this program is the same as most government programs, money.
If there was ever an Audit of retired DEA / ATF / CIA / _______ employee’s holdings, there is a very high percentage with millions more than they actually earned. Graft, bribes, corruption is rampant at these agencies and has been since Prohibition.
There is so much drug and weapons smuggling within US agencies, so many people that have been murdered as a result, it is our nations tragedy and our shame we continue a blind eye to what our own government is involved in.
we enable these programs with willful ignorance.
Yes, it’s the only explanation that makes any sense.
And it wouldn’t be the first time that government officials created a phony surveillance operation as cover for arms smuggling. It’s the perfect cover. And it is very hard to prove.
A boss from the Sineloa Cartel was extradited to US, the hearing was held recently [Aug/Sept] in Chicago- He claimed US agents offered safe passage / unfettered operations in exchange for info on competitor cartels. I have to go… I believe the name is Nieblas….
The money is just an added bonus along his merry road to the destruction of America.
Bingo again!
OK, these were just some really dim bulbs among the many in the Obama administration, although they’re all lawyers. I understand the propensity for the “best and the brightest” to feel the need to reinvent the wheel when promoted to their highest level of incompetence–especially when they’ve never had a real job. But usually when people get killed because of gross negligence involving piss poor policy selection (a policy that certainly looks criminal on its face to me), criminal charges are generally in order. Where’s the indictments? I mean, this is the same Obama justice department that wanted to prosecute some CIA interrogators over DOJ approved enhanced interrogations of three war criminals who are in fact still alive and well and getting fat off the American taxpayers nine years after their acts of war. No one died as a result of those interrogations. But it is curious that a black Attorney General and a black President, Afro Americans, would sign off on or condone state sanctioned arms smuggling in which Hispanics would be the likely victims of the guns. Looks to me like senate faculty types “gang banging” on a higher social level where they don’t have to do the wet work and get their hands dirty.
(1) Obama picks a gun-hater to lead the BATF, and claims that Mexican drug cartels are getting most of their guns from America. Proposes new gun restrictions on Americans so that illegal aliens have a harder time getting guns.
(2) Critics object, pointing out that Mexican drug cartels are getting only about 20% of their guns from America, which doesn’t make that much of a difference.
(3) Project GunWalker is instituted to make it easier for the drug cartels to get guns from America, so that as the percentage of guns they get from America rises perhaps those Congressional representatives who still resist more gun control will be hurt politically.
(4) The thinking is that even if more cops die now, perhaps it will be made up by fewer cops dying after new gun control laws are passed. Even if the reverse happens, e.g. if cartel members begin ambushing and murdering cops to get their guns, well, cops are expendable. The key objective is to put ordinary Americans in their place where they belong — dependent upon the government for all of their protection.
Mr. Dunphy,
I know you read the comment section, as I have seen you respond to some comments. There is a theme here, most folks believe fast and Furious was a deliberate action by the Administration to create support for more gun control. You have seen the LAPD do similar actions, such as the infamous news conference were the LAPD trotted out one of their Barrett 50 cals to show the danger of these weapons. This helped to get a state wide ban of Barrett type 50 cal weapons and also resulted in Barrett stopping all tech support for LAPD. (Bet they didn’t see that coming)
So, what do you think? You wrote the article and folks are saying you’re dead wrong.
GaGunner, you’re right. I was LAPD Lt. for for 30 years and saw the LAPD become under far too many liberal politicians. That “direction” fractured the LAPD regarding the 2nd. During the last few years on the Department, I was the Assistant Commanding Officer of SID. One officer in the fireams unit who was very pro 2nd was in effect muzzled by political correctness from “above.” Officers were latter directed to in effect over-audit gun dealers in L.A. which resulted in nearly all gun dealers moveing out of the City. They just nitpicked paperwork. As for the .50 cal., to my knowledge, there has never been a .50 cal. high power rifle used in a crime in L.A., now or before. For the full story, look at a book, “Political Sabotage: The LAPD Experience . . . .” It’s not a big seller, particularly in L.A. where it’s still needed the most.
The ATF? Give me a break. While there must be a few outstanding officers there, at too many times it’s contrary to the Second Amendment. Just add Ruby Ridge and Waco to this current boondoggle.
Waco, Ruby Ridge, F&F, all show that the management of the ATF is willing to pursue any political agenda that will further empower the agency, the Constitution and the lives of their field agents be damned.
“There is only one way to track a weapon after it’s left the seller’s hands, and that’s to wait for it to turn up at a crime scene…….”
That was exactly the point Jack, to have guns sold in America and walked to Mexico, to show up in crimes. All in order to support the bogus claim that Southwestern gun stores in the U.S., were responsible for arming the cartels. Fabricated evidence to push for the re-implementation of the assault rifle ban, and other gun control laws. There is no limit to how low the Obama administration will go to push it’s agenda.
In discussing how the ATF operates one should include the Oklahoma City Bombing as well. I have a friend who was a cop on duty there and observed how the Feds took over immediately and banned all rescue efforts for six hours while they took what ever they didn’t want the public to see out of the rubble. In the mean time, people were dying! Then the cover-up started and cops were intimidated by the FBI not to speak to the news media about what they saw and heard from witnesses who saw a middle-eastern looking man with McVeigh shortly before the explosion. Remember that the McVeigh trial was moved to Denver, a big Fed HQ, where not one of the witnesses who saw an additonal man with McVeigh were allowed to testify, including my friend! There is treason afoot in our government, in my opinion. Retired LAPD 10166
Suggest you take a look at The Third Terrorist, by Jayna Davis.
Consider this ststement by a person who has access to Obummer.
Occasionally those who do not agree with our Founding Fathers slip and somehow the truth comes out. Here is a direct quote from Sarah Brady of Handgun Control:
“Our main agenda is to have ALL guns banned. We must use whatever means possible. It doesn’t matter if you have to distort facts or even lie. Our task of creating a socialist America can only succeed when those who would resist us have been totally disarmed.” to Senator Howard Metzenbaum – The National Educator, January, 1994, Page 3.
Let me see, who else in history has disarmed their citizens so they could force a political ideology that the people resisted? Hitler comes to mind. Then there was Stalin, Pol-Pot, and Mao.
Sarah Brady seems to be in exalted but definitely evil company.
In contrast to dear Sarah and in support of the true meaning of the Second Amendment here are a few quotes:
“The very atmosphere of firearms anywhere and everywhere restrains evil interference. They deserve a place of honor with all that is good. When firearms go, all goes. We need them every hour.” – George Washington in address to the 2nd session of united States Congress.
The American Diary Association can find what cow, from what state, from what herd came from what mother cow had Mad Cow disease….but the ATF and DOJ cannot find the weapons “they” placed in the hands of the cartel that will no doubt be used to kill law enforcement officers for a long time to come…..maybe Fast and Furious should have been a ADA caper instead of one for the ATF/DOJ. At least the Diary Association knows how to track things…pretty damn sad!
Sir, as a retired deputy sheriff and former “FTO” (field training officer), the “fast and furious” plan would not have passed muster by even the newest of recruits. If I had presented such a plan at a sergeant’s meeting, I would have been immediately sent for a mental evaluation and place on unpaid administrative leave. Great article, keep up the good work.
Jack, you’re from L.A. right, what is up with this?
CALIFORNIA SCIENCE CENTER DISCRIMINATION LAWSUIT SETTLEMENT
By: Staff
Discovery Institute
http://www.discovery.org/a/17391
August 29, 2011
LOS ANGELES – The state-run California Science Center (CSC) has paid
$110,000 to settle a lawsuit by American Freedom Alliance (AFA)
against CSC for violating AFA’s First Amendment free speech rights to
advocate intelligent design (ID). As part of the settlement, the CSC
also has invited AFA to present the ID event it previously cancelled.
CSC rented its IMAX theater to AFA to show Darwin’s Dilemma, a science
documentary advocating ID. However, when CSC learned the film would
portray ID favorably, CSC cancelled AFA’s event. AFA filed suit in
California Superior Court alleging viewpoint discrimination and breach
of contract.
“This is an historic victory for the ID movement,” said Casey Luskin,
an attorney and policy analyst with Discovery Institute’s Center for
Science & Culture. “The First Amendment forbids government preference
for one viewpoint over another, yet evidence disclosed in this case
shows the CSC, Smithsonian Institution, and the Natural History Museum
of Los Angeles County attempted to stifle dissent from Darwinism. The
result was illegal state-sponsored suppression of protected speech.”
AFA was represented by William J. Becker, Jr. of The Becker Law Firm,
who was supported in the case by the Rutherford Institute. The case
number is BC 423687.
“This is the first free speech case for the ID movement, and its first
victory in that field,” said Becker. “This settlement represents an
acknowledgement that a state-owned science institution sought to
censor an event solely because it related to ID. It’s a vindication
for ID, and First Amendment guarantees of free speech.”
This case reflects the ongoing trend of discrimination against
intelligent design. In January, the University of Kentucky paid over
$100,000 to settle astronomer Martin Gaskell’s claim that he was
wrongfully denied employment for doubting Darwinism. Soon thereafter,
Applied Mathematics Letters paid thousands of dollars and publicly
apologized to avoid litigation after it wrongfully withdrew
mathematician Granville Sewell’s paper critiquing neo-Darwinism.
“Although Discovery Institute did not host the event, and was not a
party to this lawsuit, we were dragged into the case when CSC sought
to compel disclosure of thousands of pages of internal documents,”
said Joshua Youngkin, Discovery Institute’s Program Officer in Public
Policy and Legal Affairs. “This case warns bullies in the Darwin Lobby
there will be consequences for trying to suppress free speech on
evolution.”
Is intelligent design a scientific theory?
Yes. The scientific method is commonly described as a four-step process involving observations, hypothesis, experiments, and conclusion. Intelligent design begins with the observation that intelligent agents produce complex and specified information (CSI). Design theorists hypothesize that if a natural object was designed, it will contain high levels of CSI. Scientists then perform experimental tests upon natural objects to determine if they contain complex and specified information. One easily testable form of CSI is irreducible complexity, which can be discovered by experimentally reverse-engineering biological structures to see if they require all of their parts to function. When ID researchers find irreducible complexity in biology, they conclude that such structures were designed.
An argument is circular if its conclusion is among its premises, if it assumes (either explicitly or not) what it is trying to prove. Such arguments are said to beg the question. A circular argument fails as a proof because it will only be judged to be sound by those who already accept its conclusion.
Anyone who rejects the argument’s conclusion should also reject at least one of its premises (the one that is the same as its conclusion), and so should reject the argument as a whole. Anyone who accepts all of the argument’s premises already accepts the argument’s conclusion, so can’t be said to have been persuaded by the argument. In neither case, then, will the argument be successful.
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