I don't tend to harp on what MIGHT happen. I care about actual actions. If I was worried about what MIGHT happen all of the time I'd likely be too afraid to get out of bed. So people reacting to things Trump said, and saying he is going to do X, etc. I said I didn't really care about any of that because politicians say a lot of things and then do something very different. I stated I would complain when there were actual actions to complain about.

So far there have been TWO things that I was not pleased about with Trump. There are others that could have been handled another way, but personally I did not have much to say about them.

I am going to write about these two things, because they are not getting much coverage, and I did promise I WOULD say something if Trump did something I found to be bad. I am not a Hillary supporter, and up until this point if I mentioned Trump at all it was me arguing against people bashing him. I am no Trump supporter either. I didn't vote for either of them.

If you have been following my posts about Con-Sourcing which I consider a big modern day problem that has existed since the time of the 13th amendment, then these things that I disapprove of do tie into that. So the groundwork for these problems already existed before Trump. He didn't create these problems, but he appears to be interested in continuing them.

Asset Forfeiture

Asset Forfeiture for those of you that do not know is the process where law enforcement can seize your property if it is linked to a drug related crime. For example: If your teenage child brings some pot home and hides it in their room, and for some reason they get busted and that is discovered then the police can seize YOUR home, cars, etc.

They can make a lot of extra money by auctioning these things off. Does this impact drug dealers? Sure. Yet, there is a ton of collateral damage from this process. In fact, I'd argue that the majority of the victims of asset forfeiture would be considered collateral damage in the so-called War On Drugs. If you've followed my other articles you'll know that I consider collateral damage as an unacceptable evil. It is treated as acceptable, when it should be treated as accidental and all steps taken to make sure further incidents of collateral damage of that type don't occur. Instead the term "collateral damage" is mentioned, and people shrug and continue with their activities. This is pure evil that a phrase is all it takes to shrug off such actions. This is not just in the War on Drugs, it is yet another controlling phrase they've conditioned the masses with.

So what does this have to do with Trump?

A couple of weeks ago President Trump met with the sheriff's association. He actually had them speak and ask questions and it was not simply the typical sit there and let the President speak "at them" that historically has been the case. That part was a positive. Then it got down to asset forfeiture and one of the sheriff's not being happy about opposition to that. Trump indicated he supported asset forfeiture and would help them continue this. Yet, it didn't stop there. It actually got worse. Another sheriff brought it up and said their were laws trying to stop them from being able to seize assets WITHOUT conviction. Trump told them he'd support them and would make sure that doesn't happen.

I have some serious problems with that. We are supposed to live in a country where you are INNOCENT UNTIL PROVEN GUILTY, but I think most of us know that actually hasn't been the case for awhile. Yet, to believe you should be able to seize assets before a person is convicted is very bad as far as I'm concerned. NOTE: This is not something Trump created. So we can't blame this on him. Yet his willingness to extend and support it is concerning. Obama supported this, Bush supported this, etc. This is not a Trump thing. Yet it also is not making America Great again.

It gives a far too tempting reason to wrongfully profile and go after people. It essentially enables property to be stolen without conviction. Furthermore, if there are other family members that were not involved but lived in the same house. They can steal their property too.

Getting property back when it is seized this way can take a considerable amount of time, and it has harmed people before.

Marijuana Legalization

First before we get too far into this topic on marijuana legalization. I do not smoke or use marijuana myself. I do have family members that do, and I was raised as a young child around it. I did smoke it for one month about 30 years ago. I decided it was not my thing. I also decided alcohol and other things were not my thing then as well. The only drugs I've taken in over 30 years have been caffeine, and the rare ones prescribed when I am sick. That's it.

With that said I support legalizing ALL drugs. I see prohibition and banning as very bad ideas that don't work for their stated goal. They do work for other goals such as the Con-sourcing I mentioned above. The land of the free, and the home of the brave actually has the largest prison population on the planet.

I think people should be learning from what Portugal did well over a decade ago when they decriminalized all drugs and instead focused on helping people who wanted the help. All drug related crimes, addictions, HIV cases, etc declined dramatically. At this point as far as I know they don't have much in the way of a drug problem in that country.

Prohibition and banning DO NOT WORK to address the reason that is given to the public. They do increase the cost of the product and create a lucrative market for those that have ties to the black market. They also increase the prison population which the Prison Industrial Complex loves that. A lot of people may not know their history and may not realize how many of the Presidents actually made it into office off of wealth generated by their family due to dealing in alcohol during prohibition, or in doing business with other restricted parties. It made them fantastically wealthy and gave them great power. When prohibition went away this cash cow dried up. They needed a new one.

Before we dive into Trump on this please let me tell you a few things.

The Federal Government was awarded two patents on the medicinal properties of marijuana in the 1990s. They hold these patents describing the medical benefits.
To be classified as a schedule 1 drug it needs to be highly addictive and have no medical value
Marijuana has been classified as a Schedule 1 Drug right alongside Heroin
CBD Oil is a product produced from Marijuana that has none of the psychoactive properties but has been proven to have great medicinal properties both ingestive, and topical.
CBD Oil was recently classified as a schedule 1 drug
CBD Oil (and other marijuana based products) can treat some things that expensive drugs from pharmaceutical companies are less effective at.

Consider all of those things when weighing MOTIVES in your mind.

What does this have to do with Trump?

Well he recently indicated he and Sean Spicer are going to support the federal government in being able to go after banned substances such as Marijuana even in states that have legalized it. He mentioned how there is such a bad problem with opiods right now. Marijuana is NOT an opiod.

This is bad and is a step backwards in terms of freedom.

Anecdotal

Here are my anecdotal bits of information. My parents were both hippies. They smoked a lot of pot, and early in my life they both became pretty severe alcoholics. It got so bad in terms of the alcohol that by the time I was in high school I was fearless. Stupidly fearless. I was angry. I was not suicidal, but I had zero fear of someone else trying to put me out of my misery... "bring it on". I wasn't always angry. I found solace in music. Heavy Metal contrary to popular conceptions did not make me violent. It gave me something to put my anger into, and it would suck the anger out of me, and often leave me in a state of joy. Music truly did become the closest thing to a drug for me. It saved my life. It likely saved some lives, and property of other people too if I hadn't had it as an outlet at that stage in my life.

My mom had tried to quit drinking many times, and it proves much more difficult if your spouse continues drinking. I was at the point where I was totally fine with the idea of my parents getting a divorce due to the alcoholism. I guess my dad became aware of this and it was enough of a shock to make his paradigm shift. He locked himself in a trailer for 5 days and shook and said he felt like spiders were crawling all over him. He quit alcohol and never touched it again.

Their life almost instantly started improving a great deal. Yet, they both still smoked Marijuana.

I believe it was pretty clear that as far as drugs go Alcohol was far more dangerous than Marijuana. So let me ask you this? Do you think Alcohol should be a Schedule 1 drug and compared to Heroin? A lot of people use it. I wouldn't be surprised if most of you do.

So then why is Marijuana which is far less dangerous than alcohol classified as a Schedule 1 Drug? If you read the Con-Sourcing article I linked earlier in this post you'll find what I believe to be one of the primary reasons.

Now some more anecdotal goodness. I live in Colorado. We are one of the two states that legalized Marijuana for RECREATIONAL use. Guess what? Our sky hasn't fallen. Our crime has not gotten worse. We've actually brought in billions of dollars of taxes from Marijuana. It wasn't the end of the world, and things are not bad. Sure there are individual episodes of people eating edibles with high concentrations without knowing what they are doing, but those are statistically low in number, and really require cherry picking by the opponents to find them.

It has been overall a positive thing. It has been a win for freedom. This from a guy that doesn't use it himself.

So what about Trump?

Now that I've spoken about two recent things with Trump I am unhappy with I need to make sure you know that I don't see this as making Trump the worst president in a long time. I am not happy with these things.

In 2008 I voted for Obama. I liked a number of promises he made on the campaign trail. Once he was elected many of the things that convinced me to vote for him he did exactly the opposite of his campaign trail promises. Other things he mentioned he'd get rid of (e.g. Patriot Act was a huge one for me) he bashed for how bad they were on the campaign trail and then he extended them. He has spent his presidency continuing the things Bush did and continuing the bombing and attacking, and drone strikes. He authorized the NDAA with the rider that allowed indefinite detention of U.S. citizens without due process, and also authorized the presidential kill list.

I don't see Trump quite as bad as him or Bush yet. It is still early in his presidency though so that could very well change.

Source of images other than those I made is from giphy.com.

EDIT: A friend asked me for sources

On Asset forfeiture - most of this meeting is pretty positive. Near the end before they go into the Oval office is when the asset forfeiture moments come up.