Mexican Cartels Build Mad Max Narco Tanks 343
Hugh Pickens writes "Not content with building their own submarines, using bazookas, rocket-propelled grenades or land mines, drug cartels are now building armored assault vehicles, complete with gun turrets, inch-thick armor plates, firing ports and bulletproof glass. The monsters look like a cross between a handmade assault vehicle used by a Somali warlord and something out of a post-apocalyptic Mad Max movie, and have already appeared in several confrontations with Mexican authorities. A look inside a captured 'monster' truck (YouTube video) reveals that in addition to swiveling turrets to shoot in any direction, they have hatches and peepholes for snipers, their spacious interiors can fit as many as 20 armed men, and they are coated with polyurethane for insulation and to reduce noise. Still Patrick Corcoran writes that the armored vehicles are not a game changer. 'While the "narco-tanks," as the vehicles are often called, make for great blog fodder and provide entertaining videos, seeing their rise as a significant escalation in Mexico's drug war would be wrongheaded,' writes Corcoran. 'In the end, the "tanks" are a sexy narrative, but these mistaken notions about the criminals' "military might" not only inflate the power of Mexico's groups far beyond any reasonable assessment, they also obscure the problem, and its potential solutions.'"
Thank you Wachovia (Score:5, Informative)
This was all made possible because Wachovia laundered a sum of money equal to 1/3 of Mexico's GDP for the drug cartels [guardian.co.uk].
Of course as soon as this was discovered the Justice Department sprang into action and initiated a RICO takedown of the entire institution and all its executives (in an alternate universe). What they actually did was politely request that the company pay a fine equal to 2% of their profits which was then refunded to them by the Treasury Department via a $54 billion bailout.
It makes sense because laws don't apply to the aristocracy like they apply to us peasants - they're doing God's work [businessinsider.com] after all.
Re:Problem? (Score:5, Informative)
When a socially repressive law which is opposed by the mass of the population is overturned because of that popular opposition, that is a good thing.
But I take your point that once the state starts to bow to the will of the people, they are setting a very dangerous precedent. People might start to take the word "democracy" seriously.
Re:Problem? (Score:5, Informative)
American government have no problem stomping on rights of citizens because of the "war on terror" (read: against us, Muslims), surely, they would have no problem restricting them in order to suppress the culture of drugs in US.
You must not have been paying attention: our rights have already been stomped on by the war on drugs, right from the very beginning. You do realize that cocaine was first made illegal because congress was told that "cocaine niggers" (black men who used cocaine) became unstoppable monsters with superior aim with a handgun, right? Shortly after the New York Times published the story detailing how "the cocaine nigger sure is hard to kill," souther police forces began increasing the caliber of their standard issue handguns. Marijuana was made illegal under similar circumstances; it helped that industries that competed with the hemp industry put pressure on congress.
You think your rights have not been stomped on? Take a look around. The United States has police forces that can only be described as paramilitary squads. When the local cops are as heavily armed as a small army unit, we are in serious trouble. If you need something more concrete than the abstract, "militant police forces are a problem," consider this:
http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/pages/frontline/shows/drugs/interviews/wald.html [pbs.org]
Yes, the obvious reading is the correct one: a police force that pays its own wages by seizing assets from drug dealers. This is not limited to Florida:
http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=91490480 [npr.org]
The only reason you do not perceive your rights being stomped on by the war on drugs is that it has been happening for so long now that you and most other people have generally forgotten that they ever had the rights they lost. Remember the days when the police had to obtain a warrant to search your home? Not anymore:
http://www.upi.com/Top_News/US/2011/05/16/Warrantless-searches-expanded-in-drug-case/UPI-27821305557337/ [upi.com]
It has gotten so bad that the DEA can now unilaterally declare a drug to be illegal for an entire year, without congressional approval:
http://www.dosenation.com/listing.php?smlid=8021 [dosenation.com]
You used to be able to make large cash transactions in private; now that is automatically reported to the government, as part of an effort to crack down on drug dealers. Even so much as a misdemeanor drug offense now causes a person's right to buy a gun to be denied. Any company that does contracting work for the government is required, by law, to maintain a "drug free workplace." A drug offense can mean the loss of scholarships for students, regardless of their academic merit.
Your rights were trampled long ago, sir.
Re:Please remember (Score:4, Informative)
Jesus did not have the last dinner with a mountain dew and did not turn water into coca cola. He very well damned had a glass of wine and in that particular wedding he brought more booze for everyone to party the fuck on. I sure do hope you guys get that through your thick heads before the cartels find out that they have to force american authorities on their soil to fuck off so they can continue doing bussiness.
That just about says it all. I have quite a few Mexican friends up here who confide in me quite a bit about their fears for their country, families and friends about this bullshit all the time. I met a businessman recently over a poker game and he was really scared. He had been threatened quite a bit and had already moved his family to some out of the way backwater place in the US. His plan is to sell everything he has in Mexico and open up some new businesses in the US. That part is easy. As I am told, as long you are a rich, whiter looking Mexican you can get special treatment and those pesky things like visas and green cards are for the really brown and poor people.
It is all about money. We have more than enough resources to make free healthcare for everyone on US soil, regardless if you are an American citizen. We are so goddamn rich in resources that we could literally put a person into a hospital and give them all the care in the world... if they could just make it to America. There are doctors here that care so much... they go on missions to other countries to perform surgeries to make people's lives better.
The reason why America is so damn poor right now and literally falling apart is the inefficiencies and greed. Anybody really think we are that different from Saudi Arabia? Pleaseeee....
You take all the money you make each month (US citizens), which is tied to your production (resources), and you would be surprised about the percentage of it that ends up in the hands of just a few thousand people. The rest ends up in share holder's hands... and those people are just basically compulsive gamblers at best.
We are all just slaves in a Feudal society. It is wrapped up in a different skin, we have the illusions of Freedom, but the truth is far different than the carefully constructed reality to keep us satiated. Basically, the standard of living is on average so much higher than the Feudalistic societies hundreds of years ago that we don't complain as much.
Seriously. As long as we get to eat Fast Food, smoke a blunt (at greatly inflated prices) and fuck each other high on something, we tend to not complain as much, or seriously get ambitious about changing our world. We are happy little slaves. It ain't a blunt, it is government approved pharma happy pills. They love you then.
Those that really are serious about change ? :)
They are marginalized and labeled as crackpots..... or you sport a team jersey. Just one big fight about ideals, that don't really matter, to distract all of those political people into yelling at each other and blaming the other sides for our problems. If just those damn Republicans would all die at the same time we would be better of right?
It's sick. Really sick.
Your country Mexico should be fucking grateful. Be glad you are not Afghanistan (Oil, Gas, and rich rare mineral resources), or Pakistan and Iraq. Or for that matter.... any country in Africa. The US of A exploits the crap out of the world to be the fat Romans that we are.
Funny thing is..... hardly anybody in America is even aware of any of this at any level. They have no idea the amount of suffering involved in their purchases from Walmart or the drug dealer on the street. It's kind of hard to be really angry at them. I mean if your life was relatively stable and you had very little to worry about, meaning, serious stuff like being kidnapped, killed, and having your head placed on a pike, you would probably slip into blissful ignorance as well.
As for the cartels?
Re:Tell the sheeple it doesn't matter who wins... (Score:4, Informative)
Barack Obama has made it American policy to not go after medical marijuana dispenserise though George W Bush (and to be fair Clinton) did attach these legal (at a state level) and illegal (at a fed level) dispenseries.
That's bullshit. The Feds are still raiding dispensaries.
Here are three articles on recent raids that come up when I type in "dispensary raid" into Google News:
"Dog Killed in Pot Dispensary Raid " (June 10, 2011)
http://temecula.patch.com/articles/dog-killed-in-pot-dispensary-raid [patch.com]
"Agents raid 5 Fresno Co. marijuana dispensaries " (June 1, 2011)
http://www.fresnobee.com/2011/06/01/2410478/warrants-served-at-2-fresno-co.html [fresnobee.com]
"Feds raid more Spokane marijuana dispensaries" (May 18, 2011)
http://www.spokesman.com/stories/2011/may/18/feds-raid-spokane-marijuana-dispensaries/ [spokesman.com]