dChan - Q Origins Project Archive

Bush crime family income stream dried up

Taliban bans poppy cultivation

Militant group follows through on promise to outlaw opium production in Afghanistan, world’s biggest supplier of illicit heroin

Taliban supreme leader Mullah Hibatullah Akhundzada has outlawed the cultivation of poppy, the source of sap that is refined into morphine and heroin, in a decree issued on Sunday, fulfilling its promise to ban the narcotic, made after seizing power last year. Afghanistan is estimated to have accounted for 90% of global opium trade in 2021.

“If anyone violates the decree, the crop will be destroyed immediately and the violator will be treated according to the Sharia law,” Taliban deputy spokesman Inamullah Samangani tweeted on Sunday. In addition, the governing militant group has also banned the consumption, transportation, sale, export and import of all kinds of drugs and alcohol.

Taliban has expected harsh resistance within the group against the ban and has reportedly said that there had been a rise in the number of farmers cultivating poppies in previous months, according to Reuters’ sources in the militant group.

On Sunday, Afghan farmers collected their first opium harvest of the season in the southern province of Helmand, in Taliban’s political heartland. Poppy prices have more than doubled prior to rumors that a ban would ensue, according to an anonymous farmer in the province speaking to Reuters.

Any repression of poppy cultivation is expected to hit farmers. Last August, Taliban pleaded for “international assistance” to provide them with alternative crops to the booming poppy fields. The United Nations has responded by calling for action on the pledges.

Returning to power after seizing the capital Kabul last year, Taliban announced its government would be going back to its zero-tolerance drug policy. The militant group had previously ruled Afghanistan between 1996 and 2001 until they were toppled during the US-led invasion of the country.

The Taliban needs foreign help to eradicate opium trafficking, spokesman tells Russian media READ MORE: The Taliban needs foreign help to eradicate opium trafficking, spokesman tells Russian media

90% of the world's opium and heroin came from Afghanistan last year. With production and exports centered in Taliban-controlled areas, the militant group is thought to have taxed the drugs during their 20-year insurgency.

Deputy Prime Minister Abdul Salam Hanafi has pushed back against claims the Taliban helped fuel poppy cultivation, saying on Sunday “How come it was exported all over the world when they (US-led forces) had full control over Afghanistan?”

UN officials reported that the Taliban likely earned more than $400 million between 2018 and 2019 from the drug. The amount of land planted with poppies hit a record high in 2017 and has averaged around 250,000 hectares in the last four years, roughly four times the level of the mid-1990s, UN figures show.

The UN expects that another country in Asia will step up its poppy cultivation, Myanmar, which was the biggest heroin producer in the world in the 1980s, before more cost-efficient Afghanistan took over.

https://www.rt.com/news/553221-taliban-ban-poppy-cultivation/

>>16007017

Judge rules on Ghislaine Maxwell retrial (no dice)

A US federal judge has refused to grant convicted underage sex trafficker Ghislaine Maxwell a new trial, ruling on Friday that a juror who failed to disclose his childhood history of sexual abuse had not done so maliciously.

Epstein and Maxwell were a ‘Batman and Robin’ duo, says Prince Andrew’s ex

Epstein and Maxwell were a ‘Batman and Robin’ duo, says Prince Andrew’s ex

Judge Alison Nathan declared that while juror Scotty David’s failure to reveal his experiences of being sexually abused as a child was “highly unfortunate,” it was not “deliberate.” She reportedly said that David had “harbored no bias toward the defendant and could serve as a fair and impartial juror.”

David, too, insisted he did not “lie in order to get on this jury,” instead arguing he “flew through” an on-screen questionnaire designed to evaluate potential jurors because he was “super distracted” by noise in the jury room. Nor did he try to cover up his personal history in subsequent media interviews, going so far as to describe “a moment during the deliberations when he told fellow jurors in Maxwell’s trial that, like some of the victims of the late financier Epstein, he had been sexually abused as a child.”

Based on his own experience, he explained to his fellow jurors, just because a victim does not perfectly remember their abuse does not mean they are lying. Jurors heard from several alleged victims of Maxwell and her partner in crime Jeffrey Epstein in the course of the trial, convicting the accused trafficker after 40 hours of deliberation.

Maxwell’s attorneys, however, demanded a new trial, arguing that David’s “concealed history of sexual abuse” had called the appearance of justice into question, and that even if he had answered the question honestly, they would raise issue with whether he was able to interpret the evidence without bias. More than a few legal analysts agreed, warning that allowing the anomaly to stand would create a “dangerous precedent.” But after David was questioned by Nathan last month, the prosecution attempted to dismiss the whole matter as an “honest mistake.”

The court had incorrectly claimed that Judge Nathan would be replaced on the mistrial appeal filed by Maxwell’s attorneys, initially stating on Friday that the case would be heard by Judge Vernon S. Broderick. However, it issued a correction later that day, blaming an “administrative error.”

The 60-year-old disgraced socialite was convicted in December of five out of six charges related to trafficking underage girls for the purposes of illegal sexual activity. Her sentencing remains scheduled for June 2022, and while she has yet to be tried on two counts of perjury, her existing convictions could put her in prison for up to 65 years – effectively the rest of her life.

READ MORE: Ghislaine Maxwell’s family ‘fear for her safety’

Maxwell was a constant fixture by the side of deceased pedophile Jeffrey Epstein, allegedly procuring hundreds of girls for him to abuse. The jet-setting predator died under suspicious circumstances in August 2019 while awaiting trial in a Manhattan jail. His death was ruled a suicide, though many questions remain as to how he was able to kill himself under what was supposed to be intensive surveillance.

https://www.rt.com/news/553234-ghislaine-maxwell-retrial-denied-conviction/

>>16007017

=='Now It's My Turn!': Trump Officially Endorses 'Wonderful Patriot' Sarah Palin for Congress

1 hour ago==

(Updated: 26 minutes ago)

Former governor of Alaska Sarah Palin said on Friday that she intends to fill the "big shoes" left by late Rep. Don Young, who died earlier this year following a 49-year career in Congress.

Former US President Donald Trump on Sunday expressed his support to Sarah Palin in her bid for a congressional seat.

According to the ex-president's statement shared with the media, "wonderful patriot" Palin will be "a true America First fighter on the ballot to replace the late and legendary Congressman Don Young."

"Sarah shocked many when she endorsed me very early in 2016, and we won big," he said. "Now, it's my turn! Sarah has been a champion for Alaska values, Alaska energy, Alaska jobs, and the great people of Alaska."

Furthermore, Trump praised Palin for being a "popular" governor due to her stance against "corruption in both state government and the fake news media."

Notably, prior to announcing her decision, Palin, once John McCain's 2008 presidential running mate, reportedly spoke with Trump before filing paperwork to run for Alaska's vacant House seat.

And the former president claimed that it was Palin who "lifted the McCain presidential campaign out of the dumps,” even though the politician was battling "some very evil, stupid, and jealous people within the campaign itself."

"Sarah Palin is tough and smart and will never back down, and I am proud to give her my Complete and Total Endorsement, and encourage all Republicans to unite behind this wonderful person and her campaign to put America First!" Trump wrote.

Palin's campaign is one of many in an already crowded special election, with at least 50 people reportedly vying for the coveted House seat.

After Young, who had held Alaska's at-large House seat since 1973, died last month, Alaska Gov. Mike Dunleavy called for a special election.

Palin was Alaska's ninth governor from 2006 to 2009, when she resigned.

https://sputniknews.com/20220404/now-its-my-turn-trump-officially-endorses-wonderful-patriot-sarah-palin-for-congress-1094451544.html