Tag: The Law

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Oh Brittney!

Brittney Griner has been sentenced to 9 years in a Russian jail.

OMG! The Horror!

Yeah, right!

The story is here

Griner, had a prescription from a US doctor for medical Cannabis. However what she was carrying was a vape pen with hash oil cartridges.

Yeah, Hash Oil is cannabis so technically she was carrying what the doctor’s note said she should have been carrying.

That being said, Cannabis is illegal in Russia. She must have known that. Her excuse was essentially, “I forgot that was in my bag.”

I’m sure everyone in the Russian court rolled their eyes when she said that. I know I would have.

Every country that you travel to has different laws.

It pays to make sure that you aren’t prescribed or carrying anything in your bags or on your person that is illegal in a country you plan to visit.

I checked that my BP medication was in fact legal when I went to the Netherland Antilles a few years back. It was entirely likely that the medication was legal, checking to be sure took exactly 1 minute and I did that 4 weeks before my departure. The Netherlands Consulate was very kind and helpful. At the same time I also made sure that I’d been vaccinated against any diseases endemic to that area of the Caribbean.

If you’re traveling internationally you must adhere to the local laws and regulations. Most countries make zero exceptions for Americans. I suspect this in part, because so many Americans are so poorly behaved when they visit other countries.

Helpful hint my fellow Americans. We’re guests, we should act like it. We should not act like we’re above the law, because uhh we’re not!

Anyway. This lady was carrying an illegal substance into the country. It doesn’t matter what the quantity was, or the form it took, or anything else. The questions are:

  1. Is the substance illegal?
  2. Did the person bring the substance into the country.

Item 1 is true. Brittney Griner admitted that item 2 was true. Therefore she’s guilty of breaking Russian law, and she has been sentenced according to that law.

Seems like a pretty cut & dried case. I honestly don’t see what all the fuss is about.

I’m sure that Brittney thought since she was a basketball “Star” she didn’t have to obey silly Russian laws. “What to they know anyway?”

It must be hard for her to deal with the fact that in Russia she’s not accorded special privileges.

Well Brittney, not all countries are as insane as America has become.

Here’s your prize… 9 and a half years. At least they gave you 6 months off your sentence for time served!

I’m sorry that I can’t muster much concern or outrage over this lady’s punishment.

Little Brittney is going to learn something about real oppression in a Russian prison. From what I understand, the Russians don’t mess around. On the bright side, she will probably learn Russian while she’s in prison so she may have a new career as a translator at the UN when she gets out.

I have to wonder what would happen if I was returning to the United States with ivermectin or hydroxychloroquine in my bag after having traveled in Africa or South America.

Both of those drugs are available without a prescription in many areas of the world, because of their utility and commonplace usage. Would I be detained at the US border and thrown into jail for smuggling?

There was a time when I could say without hesitation that I wouldn’t be. But these days… In the age of COVID? Honestly, I’d expect to be whisked away to the gulag in Washington D.C. and placed in a small cell with the Jan 6th protesters.

After all the CDC and FDA have said these drugs are forbidden.

The Biden administration is involved trying to negotiate a prisoner trade for Brittney.

If I was her I’d be very worried about that. 9 and a half years could turn into 20 years, the way this administration bungles things.

Perhaps if we modeled our drug responses after Russia we wouldn’t be drowning in fentanyl, meth, crack, heroin, and whatever the hell else is being imported.

I know, it’s a crazy idea. Actual punishment for breaking a law???

Get outta here!

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Finally!

18 months or longer after the news broke of Hunter Biden’s laptop, the DOJ has actually done their job. They’re investigating the laptop and Hunter Biden.

One could assume that there’s now enough pressure to force the DOJ to take action.

I suspect darker motives.

We went from, “The Laptop is Russian disinformation,” and memory holing the information contained on it.

To, “The laptop appears to really be Hunter’s.”

To, “Hunter is being investigated for tax fraud.”

To actually investigating the data on the laptop that appears to implicate Joe Biden being somehow involved in Hunter’s business dealings.

In part, this investigation may have been caused by hackers busting into Hunter’s cloud accounts and then spreading the information around. But I think it’s more than that.

I think that Joe has outlived his usefulness and now the laptop serves as a convenient way to dispose of Joe.

This will allow the appearance of the Democratic Party actually doing something constructive. They’ll have the opportunity to say to the American people, “See we don’t tolerate corruption,” while elevating Kamala to the Presidency.

The timing is nice. If they pull this off before the midterms they might be able to win back some of the voters they’re losing, and pull their asses out of the fire. They’ll also be able to parlay dumping Joe over corruption charges into some legitimacy for the Jan 6th committee.

Think about it. “If we dumped Joe, and he was from our party. Of course our investigation into Trump and the insurrection is legitimate. We wouldn’t lie to you.”

Uh Huh.

It’s what I’d do. Put a woman of color into the Oval Office. You win the female voters, the pro abortion voters, and theoretically the person of color votes all at the same time.

The Republicans can still be painted as evil, and the “Red Wave” hits the rocks before it really starts. The Democratic Party retains their power while maintaining a sock puppet in office who is remarkably even less popular than Joe.

Joe gets to retire. Hunter goes to jail, then is released after a few months to house arrest. Trump is mired in court cases, a little blood is spilled to appease the American People and at least in theory, all is right with the world.

Keep telling the people via CNN and other news media that the Democratic Party is strong, and takes action running up to the mid terms and there will be voters that buy it.

It’s actually pretty clever.

That being said, given the way this administration has handled the simplest of things. I doubt they or the Democratic Party have the ability to pull it off seamlessly. So the cleverness will be lost in the cluster fuck that would define the attempt.

The enemies of our country must be rubbing their hands together with absolute joy in anticipation of Kamala Harris potentially being President given her abject failure in almost every diplomatic encounter she’s had.

Well, at this point only time will tell. In the mean time, I suspect the screwing will continue and we’re all on our backs with our legs in the air.

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They Said this would never happen.

The SAID it couldn’t happen.

They said that they weren’t making a database. They said the information was safe. They said anyone who questioned them was a child hating, war mongering, insanely violent, racist, monster.

Yet here we are.

The Los Angeles Times is reporting a California DOJ breach of every single Concealed Carry permit holder in the state. Initial reports said the breach was limited, but subsequent reports now state the breach was all the records.

Other news outlets report that the data exposed not only those who had concealed carry permits, but all those who applied for permits, granted or not.

Breaking news… It appears now that even the information about people who’d obtained a California Gun Safety Certificate had their data exposed. FYI a California Gun Safety Certificate does not mean you own a gun, it only provides proof that you’re aware of pretty basic gun safety rules and some of the California laws surrounding gun ownership.

The California Gun Safety Certificate is a quick and easy way for California to collect $20 every 4 or 5 years and have you pay the California DOJ for the privilege of having your name, address, and other personal information put into their database. The safety certificate is a big nothing burger, but it’s required before you can purchase a gun.

All the better to identify law abiding citizens who may, possibly, need to have their homes raided by a SWAT team at 2AM, if California decides that person might, possibly, just maybe, need to have red flag search and seizure of property contained in their home.

Back in Oct of 2016, The California DOJ had another “oopsie” and released the names and addresses of 3500 firearms instructors.

I haven’t checked, but I seem to recall there was some kind of gun control law moving through the California Legislature which was encountering a lot of opposition. I don’t remember if the firearms instructors were being vocal about opposing the legislation at the time. It would be an interesting coincidence if they were.

California wants a complete gun registry. The California DOJ wants to know about every single gun in the state. Even if those guns were legally owned by a citizen prior to them moving into the state.

California lawmakers claim this is to provide better safety to the people of California. They often use the safety of California children as their justification.

Really? Using Children? How about lawmakers actually address the problem of crime in the state? That would be a refreshing change.

Lest I forget… the California DOJ approves of guns via a very expensive testing procedure that gun manufacturers must pay for, and must also provide every variation (even if the variation is color,) of gun for testing.

If a manufacturer chooses not to provide a weapon and pay a fee, then the California DOJ will say that gun can’t be sold in California. The funny thing is that the California DOJ will drop guns from the approved list after that gun may have been approved for several years. Does that mean anyone owning such a gun is now in possession of an illegal firearm? Is that otherwise law abiding citizen committing a felony?

The fact is, there are some guns which are family heirlooms (think grandpa’s gun). Others that were gifts. All legally owned, and handed down father to son, or brother to brother. California, wants all of these guns to be subject to registration and investigation. How does California deal with these guns, many of which were likely never approved for sale by the California DOJ ?

While California dilly dallies around investigating, those weapons are supposed to be handed to a licensed gun dealer for a fee until California “approves”. Which means, that those guns are now not under the physical control of the owners. Should the gun go missing, and be used in a crime… The owner of record is still responsible even though the gun in question, wasn’t in their possession due to California’s regulations.

It doesn’t matter to the California legislature, that the guns may have been sitting in a law abiding citizen’s safe for a decade or more and haven’t been used in some horrendous mass shooting.

Various gun owners associations have repeatedly pointed out that such a gun registry doesn’t help Law Enforcement, nor does it make law abiding citizens safer. Law abiding citizens aren’t the folks engaging in the rampant gun violence plaguing California. Criminals are responsible for the gun violence. Guess what? They’re probably not buying their guns legally!

What such a registry does, is allow weaponization of various police agencies. It provides unscrupulous politicians an avenue of retaliation against those who might speak in opposition to them.

Or, as in this latest data breach…

The California DOJ has exposed the names, addresses, driver’s license numbers, home phone, and other personal data to anyone who might wish to engage in identity theft, target certain judges, citizens, or law enforcement personnel, or who might be looking for a target of opportunity to steal guns.

Great job California DOJ! Well Done! Instead of insuring the safety of law abiding citizens… You’ve painted a target on their backs!

On the plus side… You’ve destroyed any credibility of a gun registry!