Obama Commutes Sentences for 214 Prisoners

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Like many other conservatarians, I’m extremely worried about the upcoming presidential election. After all, both Hillary Clinton and Donald Trump are horrendous candidates who’ll likely make matters worse, not better.

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Having said that, I think we can all agree that the end of Obama’s presidency is worth a little party. Or a very big one:

President Barack Obama is cutting short the sentences of 214 federal inmates, including 67 serving life sentences.

The White House says it’s the largest batch of commutations on a single day in more than a century. Almost all the prisoners were serving time for nonviolent drug offenses.

The commutations bring to 562 the total number of sentences Obama has shortened. The White House says that’s more than the past nine presidents combined. Almost 200 of those who have benefited were serving life sentences.

There’s something important to point out. These crimes may be called “non-violent,” but everybody understands that the drug trade is inherently violent.

It’s sheer insanity when someone who’s caught smoking weed is sentenced to life in prison. However, such cases don’t happen nearly as often as the left wants you to believe. Even The Clemency Report — an organization that’s pushing the federal government to release “non-violent” criminals — admits on its website that many “lifers” were caught dealing — rather than doing — drugs.

Some examples of individuals who, according to The Clemency Report, “deserve” commutation of their sentences:

Bill Dekle

“Gringo Billy,” as he was called, went where the pot was – Colombia, Nicaragua, Jamaica, the Bahamas and Belize — and brought it home to American consumers. He was a character from a Jimmy Buffett song, making $20,000 or more some months and pissing it away as fast as it came in. He was arrested in 1990 and is serving life without parole.

Antonio Bascaro

Antonio was a role player in a group who helped import marijuana from Colombia to the U.S. by fishing boat in the late 1970s. The Cuban who ran the business was released in 1994. The legendary American pot wholesaler who bought and distributed all the pot was released in 1996. Only Antonio, now 80, now in a wheelchair, remains in prison.

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Are these the kind of “non-violent” criminals Obama loves so much? If so, does anyone actually believe that you can be involved in the drug trade (from, say, Colombia to the United States) without there being some kind of violence involved?

As long as the drug trade is illegal, it will be violent. That’s why there is no such thing as a non-violent drug dealer.

Every single person with at least a modicum of common sense understands that, but Obama apparently does not. What a joy it will be when this man retires from politics altogether.

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