Happy 4th of July! It's a grand day to celebrate liberty, sober or (as most of your writers will be very soon) drunk and full of hot dogs. Now, your Friday Morning Roar!Civil Libertarian Groups Challenge Judge Who Sentenced Drug Offender to 19 Years The "War on Drugs" is one of the greatest threats to liberty that this country has ever faced. It's the primary reason that the U.S. has the highest prison population in the world, owed to strict laws against drug use and possession, which bring with them nonsensical & lengthy sentences for nonviolent crimes.One such case is that of Antuan Ball, who (along with two others) faces up to 19 years in prison over a $600 drug deal. The Cato and Rutherford Institutes have teamed up to jointly file a petition with the U.S. Supreme Court fighting the verdict. From Rare: 

The groups are accusing the trial judge of “overreach by finding facts at sentencing that jurors expressly rejected in their verdict,”  the Washington Times reports, and concerned about “carte blanche” powers given to federal judges.Ball and two others, Desmond Thurston and Joseph Jones, were all convicted in 2008.Jim McElhatton of the Washington Times  notes that “Sentencing judges are permitted to take into account charged conduct against defendants that jurors rejected or never considered at trial,” but all the appeals lawyers say the sentences were “unreasonably lengthy.”Ball was acquitted of murder, racketeering, conspiracy and other felonies by the jury, but U.S. District Judge Richard Roberts ruled that “clear and convincing” evidence showed Ball and the others belonged to a conspiracy to deal crack cocaine, which exponentially increased the sentences.

This is a situation where the jurors, had they known, should have utilized the power of jury nullification to address some or all of the charges. Doubtless, however, did they fail to realize this judge would deem himself god of these three accused men and decide that the jury of peers wasn't good enough when they made their initial verdict, and decide to "throw the book" at the accused. We'll keep track of this as it develops.Berkeley, CA Passes Amendment Forcing Marijuana Dispensaries to Provide Free Product to the Poor The legalization (or decriminalization) of marijuana in numerous states across the republic has given us all hope that the drug war and its disturbing effects, as cited above, will soon cease. But of course, the State, once let into the regulation of a product and the laws that govern it, will find a way to screw things up. Enter the City Council of Berkeley California. From CBS:

The city of Berkeley will require medical marijuana dispensaries to give away two percent of the amount of cannabis they sell each year free to low-income patients.“Basically, the city council wants to make sure that low-income, homeless, indigent folks have access to their medical marijuana, their medicine,” said Berkeley City Councilmember Darryl Moore.Under the proposal, at least two percent of all medical weed dispensed at a club would have to be provided at no cost to very low-income members — and it must be the same quality that’s dispensed to regular paying customers.

So these privately owned companies are being forced by the government to give away valuable product to the poor for what reason? Because they may possibly be sick and need it and don't have the money? Not to sound hard-hearted, but that is absolutely insane. You don't see pharmacies forced to give away drugs for free do you? Why should dispensaries?Some people have legitimate need of medical marijuana. The great majority of people have no medical need for it and simply are using the state-provided loophole of getting a "prescription" to enjoy what should be a legal product. At Venice Beach, CA you can get a prescription in 15 minutes at an open-air boardwalk "doctor's" office. Forcing these companies to give away product and take a financial loss on it is an insulting overreach of power.The final motion is set to pass next Friday. I have to think that the dispensaries will take legal action over an immediate loss of 2% of their revenue.Crpytome Claims They Will Release All Snowden DocumentsGlenn Greenwald was set to release major revelations from previously unpublished documents provided by Edward Snowden before the US government intervened. From the July 2nd TMR:

In  No Place to Hide, Greenwald explained how most journalistic organizations, such as the  The Washington Post and Greenwald’s former employer  The Guardian will always contact the U.S. government before they are about to reveal classified material. Greenwald himself expressed how this practice bothered him, but explained that they do it in order to avoid possible espionage charges, and to allow the government the opportunity to discredit the documents or point out any possible national security risks before going ahead to publish. While technically these organizations are not obtaining “permission” from the U.S. government, it is largely seen by most as a necessary step in the process.

At the last minute before the release of the documents, the government filed some last minute claims with him, so he was forced to pull back until it could be resolved. Cyrptome isn't buying it and is intent on releasing all of the documents, whether the government has any claims or not. From BenSwann.com:

According to ‪Cryptome,  in July, everything will be dumped.

Cryptome is a repository for leaked and confidential documents co-founded by John Young, who confirmed with Vocativ that he intends to release them potentially around the beginning of a hacker and whistleblower conference this month in New York City called HOPE X, where Pentagon Papers leaker Daniel Ellsberg is the keynote speaker. (Possibly around July 18th.)

I know today is the 4th of July, but it sounds like July 18th is the day that we'll truly see the fireworks.

Have a happy holiday, everyone.

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