Mexican drug cartels, the abominations that sprang from the environment of Prohibition, probably executed the 8-member Ohio family.  A large marijuana-growing operation was found on their property.  Either to protect their black market turf or out of some other vendetta, the reasons come from the Drug War.  The Drug War gave life to the murderous cartels by creating an environment where only violent criminals buy and sell marijuana, cocaine, meth, or the myriad other prohibited substances.  This is how a black market operates, this will always happen as long as governments of the world insist on enforcing Prohibition.  The drug cartels would disappear if drugs were legalized in the US.  By enforcing the Drug War at home, the US government is creating an optimal environment for the invasion of these foreign cartels, who know how to handle the feds.

Prohibition is societal poison, it incentivizes criminal behavior on both sides of the law, destroys families, lives, liberties, and consumes taxpayer billions that are wasted all for an endeavor that is worse than futile.

Justin Raimondo ably exposes criminal language of the Obama administration who claims “no boots on the ground” as he sends boots to die on Syrian ground. Antiwar

From the article: “There are now over 4,000 US troops in Iraq, “advising” and “assisting” the Iraq military: there are hundreds in Syria – and this latter represents a significant extension of US intervention over and above what George W. Bush ever tried. Back in the days of “Operation Iraqi Freedom,” the Bush administration continually threatened the Syrian government with “regime change,” but never made a serious move to translate rhetoric into action. The Obama administration recognizes no such constraints – and a second Clinton administration, if such there is to be, is likely to throw reticence to the winds and charge full-bore into Syria.

President Obama won the White House largely on the promise that he would not repeat Bush’s folly in the Middle East. Yet his legacy is likely to be that the war he hung around Hillary Clinton’s neck was restarted in the final months of his presidency. And if Mrs. Clinton does indeed succeed him, I have no doubt that she will escalate the war in Syria and in Iraq, with consequences down the road that we can only imagine.”

Did the feds meet with the hijackers beforehand, hoping to take them down before any damage was done?  In other words: was this a sting gone horribly awry, a la OKC bombing?  Or even similar to the 1993 World Trade Center bombing, another FBI sting gone live?  My guess, unfortunately, is that nothing of value will be gleaned, which is why the National Security director seems fine with their release.

Under 20 percent of prescription drug spending is controlled by patients. NCPA Health Blog

They’re not giving up on the lawsuit against Colorado’s legal marijuana. High Times

Three reasons, from Forbes‘ Steven Salzburg.

So says Director of National Intelligence, James Clapper. NY Times

Music to the ears of the Military/Industrial Complex.  And you can bet they’re cranking them out at record rates, too.  This is the purpose of endless war. Antiwar

The feds are testing a new informant program that’s billed as a way to bring Muslims at risk of “radicalization” back from the brink, but will not differ at all from the myriad other spying programs in place that target Muslims.  Willing informants are usually desperate people that will say anything, and these surveillance/entrapment programs do nothing other than inflame distrust and feelings of marginalization, feelings that lead to radicalization, in the very communities the FBI is professing to want to help. Reason

And it could’ve been much, much worse. VICE