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Exclusive: Border guard fired, ‘interrogated’ for saying pot should be legalized

Cold Highway

Cold Highway

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Gonzalez was issued a termination letter stating that he was fired because he "held personal views that were contrary to the core characteristics of Border Patrol Agents, which are patriotism, dedication and esprit de corps," according to the lawsuit.

The border guard's firing has drawn the attention of Law Enforcement Against Prohibition (LEAP), an organization of current and former law enforcement agents who are fighting to end the war on drugs.
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Gee you would think that the 1st Amendment would apply those who are working for the government. Criticism of failed wars/policy will not be tolerated

Exclusive: Border guard fired, ‘interrogated’ for saying pot should be legalized | Raw Story
 
I will never understand the governments ridiculous "War on Drugs." It has never worked and has the negative impact of leading to increased violence that would decrease immensely if drugs such as marijuana were simply legalized.

The officer in question will hopefully win this suit and put an end to free speech restrictions on government employees.
 
Quite honestly I think the war on drugs continues because it employs too many people...

Think about it, all those prison gaurds employed to watch the oh so dangerous potheads would be out of a job.
 
Jetboogieman said:
Quite honestly I think the war on drugs continues because it employs too many people...

Think about it, all those prison gaurds employed to watch the oh so dangerous potheads would be out of a job.
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You are quite right. It has become an institution and a mini-economy with all of the seized property and drug money, as well as the jobs it provides.
 
Well...very nice. Instead of the border patrol being empowered to police the border they focus on the true criminals...people that disagree with them.
 
chevydriver1123 said:
Gee you would think that the 1st Amendment would apply those who are working for the government. Criticism of failed wars/policy will not be tolerated

Exclusive: Border guard fired, ‘interrogated’ for saying pot should be legalized | Raw Story
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Federal employees are actually guaranteed to the right to express their politics or anything else -- off the job. Go to Page 30 in this pdf: http://www.fas.org/sgp/crs/misc/95-815.pdf

On the job, when they are representing their employer (the Federal government), the court has held that their freedom of speech may be abridged in certain circumstances. I guess we'll see if this guy's breach was really one of those "certain circumstances."
 
Somehow (off topic) this reminds me of the accidental friendly-fire shooting of Pat Tillman (RIP).

It appears that this border patrol guard mentioned the weed thing to the wrong co-worker. Personally, I think he should win this case. The fact that his view was "contrary to the core characteristics of Border Patrol Agents, which are patriotism, dedication and esprit de corps" is bull****. If it's not, the core characteristics need to be changed to jive with the Bill of Rights.
 
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