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posted by on Tuesday May 16 2017, @04:08AM   Printer-friendly
from the guilty dept.

Attorney General Jeff Sessions said Friday that he has directed his federal prosecutors to pursue the most severe penalties possible, including mandatory minimum sentences, in his first step toward a return to the war on drugs of the 1980s and 1990s that resulted in long sentences for many minority defendants and packed U.S. prisons.

[...] In the later years of the Obama administration, a bipartisan consensus emerged on Capitol Hill for sentencing reform legislation, which Sessions opposed and successfully worked to derail.

In a two-page memo to federal prosecutors across the country, Sessions overturned former attorney general Eric H. Holder's sweeping criminal charging policy that instructed his prosecutors to avoid charging certain defendants with offenses that would trigger long mandatory minimum sentences. In its place, Sessions told his more than 5,000 assistant U.S. attorneys to charge defendants with the most serious crimes, carrying the toughest penalties.

More at Washington Post, Fox News, Huffington Post, The Hill

Memorandum on Department Charging and Sentencing Policy - US Department of Justice PDF


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  • (Score: 2) by Phoenix666 on Thursday May 18 2017, @03:31AM (1 child)

    by Phoenix666 (552) on Thursday May 18 2017, @03:31AM (#511525) Journal

    First of all, you have to want that. I should be stating the obvious in noting that most people simply aren't behaving in a way that would accumulate wealth at a class-shifting level. Have you tried to do the things that very rich people have done to get rich? Most of them have run multiple businesses and tried aggressively to make advantageous connections.

    Ah, OK. They want it more. As for doing the things very rich people have done to get rich, do you mean using my buddies to hand me a sweetheart, no-bid contract? No, of course not. You imply they have better instincts and business savvy than everyone else. One question, khallow, do you really know any rich people?

    Second, they tend to be really competent at what they do which comes from learning from experience combined with a lot of experience.

    Do you really know any rich people?

    Third, be really focused on growing the value of the businesses and investments they own.

    Haha, OK. I've got to stop you there. Jesus. Social Darwinism really is forever here, isn't it? It's all about the breeding, you see...

    As for the rest, you have an oddly insousciant view of how things are going in the world, and moreover, how everyone else thinks things are going in the world. I think it's safe to say that the consensus is that the status quo is broken. Great Britain voted for Brexit because they think the status quo is broken. People voted for Trump because they think the status quo is broken. Marine Le Pen, who couldn't get the time of day in France for decades, was the runner-up candidate in France this time. France, where people who are homeless and unemployed go on strike when their benefits are cut, and win! Markets don't wring their hands about the potential break-up of the Eurozone because, well, nearly everyone in it thinks things are swell. Billionaires don't gather in Davos and chatter about their bug-out bunkers because they think the plebes are fat and happy. We have Michael Moore and Pat Buchanan nearly on the same page about where Americans' heads are at, and that is not normal.

    It's like you live in a parallel universe. Do you not see any of these things, or is it that you're paid not to? I don't get it.

    --
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  • (Score: 1) by khallow on Thursday May 18 2017, @12:23PM

    by khallow (3766) Subscriber Badge on Thursday May 18 2017, @12:23PM (#511653) Journal

    Ah, OK. They want it more. As for doing the things very rich people have done to get rich, do you mean using my buddies to hand me a sweetheart, no-bid contract? No, of course not. You imply they have better instincts and business savvy than everyone else.

    Well, looking at those ten people on the richest list that I mentioned yesterday, not a one got that way through sweetheart deals.

    You imply they have better instincts and business savvy than everyone else.

    No, if I had implied that, I would have implied that. However, if you don't do anything that would develop those instincts, then why do you think you would have better instincts?

    One question, khallow, do you really know any rich people?

    How does "knowing" rich people help you figure out how to get rich? Is that working for you?

    As for the rest, you have an oddly insousciant view of how things are going in the world, and moreover, how everyone else thinks things are going in the world.

    The current developed world troubles are temporary. There isn't an infinite supply of cheap developing world labor. My view is that the developed world is currently under an economic stress that can't be fixed with politics, but only by elevating most of the rest of the world to developed world status. Further, we're well on our way to getting that done. I believe 2050 will see a very different developed world than the present.

    I think it's safe to say that the consensus is that the status quo is broken. Great Britain voted for Brexit because they think the status quo is broken. People voted for Trump because they think the status quo is broken. Marine Le Pen, who couldn't get the time of day in France for decades, was the runner-up candidate in France this time.

    So what? Those activities are all completely democratic and legal, and are examples of voting populations attempting to fix perceived problems in their countries. Sure, good intentions don't magically result in good outcomes, but you do want voters to try to fix the things they see as wrong, right?

    It's like you live in a parallel universe. Do you not see any of these things, or is it that you're paid not to? I don't get it.

    The problem is your provincial perception. Look at all that verbiage you wrote. What continents did the various activities you mention fall on? North America and Europe. At best, that's roughly a billion people, a seventh of the world's population. You ignore what happens to a much greater portion of the world's population. China and India are each elevating more than a billion people into the developed world, for example.