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A Modest Suggestion Regarding Trump's Threat to Execute Drug Dealers!

Start with the Billionaires

On Monday, Donald Trump rolled out his "get tough" game-plan to tackle the country's opioid epidemic in New Hampshire. It called for harsher penalties for high-intensity drug traffickers, including the death penalty for some cases.

Shades of Philippine autocrat Rodrigo Duterte!

Here's a suggestion: Instead of jailing the petty perps in the streets, Trump might be better advised to impose his threatened death sentences on the Opioid Oligarchs—the kingpins in the suites. 

With Trump's edict in mind, Smithereens is hereby endorsing the execution of billionaire one-percenters John Kapoor and Raymond Sackler. 

John Kapoor, the billionaire majority owner of Insys Therapeutics was busted in October 2017 for using bribes and fraud to promote the use of Subsys—a powerful cancer drug—on patients who were cancer-free. Kapoor's fentanyl spray produces the same opioid kick as morphine and heroin. 

"In the midst of a nationwide opioid epidemic," Acting US Attorney William D. Weinreb declared, "Mr. Kapoor and his company stand accused of bribing doctors to overprescribe a potent opioid and [of] committing fraud on insurance companies solely for profit." Kapoor (number 335 on the 2016 Forbes 400 list of America's wealthiest) is said to be worth as much as $3.3 billion. 

Raymond Sackler, (whose wealth reportedly exceeds $13 billion) is the head of Purdue Pharma, the company that produces the notorious opioid, OxyContin. Purdue consistently lied to doctors, claiming the drug had a low addiction rate. 

According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, the death toll from OxyContin and similar prescription opioids now tops 200,000, with 2.4 million Americans struggling with opioid addiction. 

In 2006—more than a decade ago!—Purdue Pharma pleaded guilty to marketing OxyContin "with the intent to defraud or mislead." The Feds let the company off with a relatively small $600 million wrist-slap while Purdue's execs were hit with an additional $34.5 million in fines. 

200,000 Americans dead. No jail time. No electric chair. 

Presumably the outcome will be different (and more lethal) under Drug Czar Trump. 

Open Secrets Blocked 

An attempt to discover the political leanings of Kapoor and Sackler, using the Open Secrets.org website, was blocked by an "Error 504" alert. There was, however, some information on the Google search page that suggests Sackler has donated to both the GOP and the Dems. It reads: 

"Republican National Cmte (R). Money to Parties, SACKLER, RAYMOND R MD GREENWICH, CT 06830, PURDUE PHARMA, 10-23-2015, $10,000.00, Connecticut Democratic State . . . ." 

A subsequent, successful check at Open Secrets revealed that John Kapoor's contributions appear to have gone exclusively to Republican politicians. (Note: The Open Secrets site, operated by the Center for Responsive Politics, is desperately in need of funding to continue its work.) 

Generating Hope 

When Generation X (the Boomers) gave way to the Millennials ("brash, narcissistic, entitled" as the New York Times put it), there was concern that the country's future would soon fall into the hands of Generation Y, as in "Why?" (apathetic, disengaged, self-absorbed), and eventually to Generation Z, as in "ZZZ" (comatose, incoherent, moribund). 

But now, in the wake of the tragic Parkland shootings, we've seen a new generation of alert, committed, energized and extremely articulate youngsters surging through the streets and demanding fundamental change. 

I'm calling them "Gen !" as in "Generation Xclamation Point!" 

Favorite Quotes of the Week 

Antiwar activist Cindy Sheehan at the "Stop the War Machine. Save the Planet" summit in Orinda on March 17. "We need gun control—for the Pentagon." 

Texas Democratic Senatorial Candidate Beto O'Rourke to Bill Maher, regarding his state's incarceration status: "We have the country's largest prison population—bar none." [Emphasis added.] 

Why I Like Berkeley 

After speaking at a "Stop the War Machine" summit in Orinda on March 17, I caught a ride home with a fellow who works for NASA in the Lawrence Lab atop the Berkeley Hills. When I asked what he did at NASA he casually replied, "Well, I built a mass spectrometer that's now circling the planet Mars." 

War of Words 

The Chronicle's Otis R. Taylor, Jr. is a sharp writer, so he probably knew exactly what he was doing when he wrote: "What teachers should be armed with inside their classrooms are more computers and enough basic supplies so they don’t have to hold fundraisers. Hey, let’s give that a shot for a change." [Emphasis added.] 

America's First Female Spy-Chief? 

Gina Haspel could become the first woman to head the CIA—assuming she is confirmed and not confined (see the "P.S." below)—but she's not the first woman to occupy a place of power within the country's top spy agency. That distinction goes to Avril Haines, who served as Deputy Director of the CIA during the Obama Administration. A physics student who ran a hip DC bookstore, Haines was an unlikely spy-lord, as the following video clip reveals. 

(This is the first of a number of interview segments.) 

P.S.: CIA Chief-designate Haspel reportedly is subject to an international arrest warrant, courtesy of a European human rights court, thanks to her work overseeing the CIA's overseas waterboarding sites. 

Help Stop the Next War 

Are we heading toward a new "Tonkin Gulf" that could trigger a global conflict? A number of foreign news are blasting that warning. 

On March 17, the Russian Defense Ministry reported with alarm that US naval strike groups were moving into position for a missile attack on Syria: "Strike groups of naval carriers with cruise missiles are being formed in the Eastern part of the Mediterranean, in the Persian Gulf and in the Red Sea." Meanwhile, the Directorate of the Russian General Staff has accused the US of planning a "fake" chemical attack to justify its aggression. 

According to a March 17 report from Southfront Analysis, the US is "Preparing [a] Missile Strike on Syria In Response to Fake Chemical Incident." 

The report quotes the chief of the Main Operational Directorate of the Russian General Staff, Col. Gen. Sergey Rudskov, as stating: "We have reliable information at our disposal that US instructors have trained a number of militant groups in the vicinity of the town of At-Tanf, to stage provocations involving chemical warfare agents in southern Syria." 

Gen. Rudskov continues: 

"We note the evidence of preparation for possible attacks. Strike groups of naval carriers with cruise missiles are being formed in the Eastern part of the Mediterranean, in the Persian Gulf and in the Red Sea."
According to Rudskov: 

"Early in March, the saboteur groups were deployed to the southern de-escalation zone to the city of Deraa, where the units of the so-called Free Syrian Army are stationed. They are preparing a series of chemical munitions explosions. This fact will be used to blame the government forces. The components to produce chemical munitions have been already delivered to the southern de-escalation zone under the guise of humanitarian convoys of a number of NGOs."
Rudskov added that members of Hayat Tahrir al-Sham (Jabhat al-Nusra) and the White Helmets "are preparing a staged chemical attack in the Alghabit and Kalbb Lusa communities situated 25 km to the North-West of Idlib" and already have secured 20 chlorine containers for the attack. 

There's Only One Way to Stop a "False Flag" 

History shows that little can be done in the aftermath of a "false flag" attack. You can only stop a faked "casus belli" before it takes place. This may be a rare case in which plans for a fake attack may have been exposed before the attack takes place. And that could prevent the attack from happening. 

For the record, I have sent a packet of detailed information on these warnings to Senators Feinstein and Harris and to Rep. Barbara Lee. The information has also been shared with all three major news networks. Furthermore, I have advised the news desks that: "I have saved a copy of this request. Should there be a 'false flag' incident in Syria—and a US 'response'—I want to have a record of this prior warning." 

Feel free to share these concerns with your political representatives. It might stop the next (potentially world-ending) war. As a bonus: the exposure of such a plot might accelerate Trump's departure—and imprisonment. 

More details are available on the Environmentalists Against War website. 

Haikus on the Loose 

Tillerson is toast 

Political extinction! 

Rex T., meet T-Rex 

. . . 

In one year and gone 

Barely time to train poor Rex 

Add to Trump's train wrecks 

. . .  

Our Mega-Donald 

Likes it big: boobs, buttons, bombs 

Armageddoned, all