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In March of 2016, President Barack Obama granted Carol Denise Richardson a commutation of the life sentence she received in June 2006 after being convicted on two counts of conspiring to distribute crack cocaine and other drug-related charges. Her long criminal history included two previous felony drug offenses, which brought her a lifetime sentence for her later convictions.

Richardson was one of 1,715 federal inmates, including 567 others serving life sentences, selected by the Obama administrations far-reaching clemency program. A major focus of the clemency effort was easing punishments meted out to nonviolent drug offenders serving lengthy sentences.

When she was released through the clemency program from a federal prison for women in Aliceville, Alabama on July 28, 2016, Richardson had served almost 10 years of her sentence. A condition of her release was that she remain under court supervision for the next 10 years.

But less than a year later, on April 13 this year, Richardson was arrested in the Houston suburb of Pasadena for allegedly stealing $60 worth of laundry detergent. Her court-appointed lawyer said she planned to sell the detergent to buy drugs, since she had relapsed into addiction to crack. In addition to the theft arrest, federal prosecutors said Richardson had violated five other conditions of her release among them failing to tell the court of her arrest or her change of address, and having been fired from a job for not showing up for work.

Now 49, Richardson lives in the Galveston area and has four children and two grandchildren. Her former husband, Eskico Garner, 37 years her senior, died in prison after drawing a 30-year sentence (later reduced to 20 years) for heading up a drug operation.

At a June 8 hearing, federal district Judge Keith Ellison voiced disappointment that Richardson had squandered the new opportunity she had received when her former sentence was commuted. He ordered her back to prison for 14 months, to be followed by a five-year supervised release. The judge also noted that he would make successful completion of a drug rehabilitation program a condition of her release.

Richardsons lawyer requested that she be referred to a drug rehab program and questioned why she had not been allowed to take part in a 500-hour residential program offered in prison. The judge replied that, as an inmate serving a life sentence, she had not been eligible for that drug rehabilitation program while she had been incarcerated, under Federal Bureau of Prisons policy.

According to CAN-DO, a pro-clemency activist group which worked to gain clemency for Richardson and others, while incarcerated, the Texas grandmother completed a 40-hour nonresidential drug abuse program less than a year before receiving her presidential grant of clemency.

Amy Povah, the groups founder and herself a clemency recipient who spent over nine years in prison due to her husbands ecstasy-manufacturing operation, notes Richardson suffers from bi-polar disorder, has twice attempted suicide, and may have lost access to her medications after being released. Reportedly, after being released, she also became involved with a man who was a bad influence on her, resumed using drugs, and stopped keeping in contact with her family.

Richardson's case underscores the need for rehabilitative approaches to incarceration, and raises the question as to whether the simple use of illicit drugs should result in a prison sentence. Povah says clemency was not wasted on Richardson, because she "did not hurt anyone but herself," and asserted that society's attitudes toward addiction must change, unless we're willing to lock up tens of millions of addicts for the behavior associated with addiction. The current drug war, she says, is further fuelled by racial bigotry. "If Carol had been born into a white, affluent family, its doubtful she would be in this current situation," Povah wrote in a Huffington Post op-ed.

Christopher Zoukis is the author of Federal Prison Handbook: The Definitive Guide to Surviving the Federal Bureau of Prisons, College for Convicts: The Case for Higher Education in American Prisons (McFarland & Co., 2014) and Prison Education Guide (Prison Legal News Publishing, 2016). He can be found online at ChristopherZoukis.com and PrisonerResource.com.

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Texas Grandmother Freed by Obama Heading Back to Prison - HuffPost

Long before he became President Donald Trumps White House communications director, Anthony Scaramucci was a simple hedge fund manager getting shut down by Barack Obama.

In 2010, as the nation was digging its way out of the 2008 financial collapse, Scaramucci took the microphone at a CNBC town hall to ask the then-president a former Harvard classmate and sometimes opponent on the basketball court whether he planned to stop whacking at the Wall Street piata.

Scaramucci didnt get the answer he was looking for.

I have been amused over the last couple years, this sense of somehow me beating up on Wall Street, Obama said. I think most folks on Main Street feel they got beat up on.

The line was met with applause.

In a four-minute response to Scaramuccis question, Obama discussed the need to nurture a vibrant financial sector, but to do so in a responsible way and took aim at critics who compared his practical financial reform efforts to Adolf Hitler storming Poland.

Me saying, Maybe you should be taxed more like your secretary, when youre pulling home a billion dollars or a hundred million dollars a year I dont think is me being extremist or me being anti-business, Obama said.

The White House appointed Scaramucci to the role of White House communications director on Friday. He had previously made donations to Obama, and has made anti-Trump comments in the past.

In a Twitter rant early Saturday morning, Trump said Scaramucci would have endorsed him early on if the hedge fund manager had known he was running.

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Scaramucci once asked Barack Obama on live TV if he'd be softer on Wall Street. It didn't end well. - Mic

Editor's note: FreedomFest, held every July in Las Vegas, is the largest annual gathering of libertarians in the country. Today is the first day of the four-day long conference, which is being headlined in its 10th year by William Shatner, John Stossel, Greg Gutfeld, and others. Taking inspiration from the site Humans of New York, Reason is happy to offer Humans of FreedomFest, a series of portraits and brief interviews with various attendees. To read previous installments, go here.

Sarah Siskind, Reason

"My father used the word 'libertarian' as a swear word. 'Oh that's libertarian'... But I was a marxist at the time so I thought, well that's not something I should be. It took me a long time to get over that. I was an anarchist to begin with when I was 15. Then I was a socialist, kind of a Joan Baez socialist. I played the guitar... I know more socialist songs than my socialist colleagues. I wasn't a scholarly Marxist. I read half the Communist Manifesto and I figured that was enough. But the songs were terrific."

Sarah Siskind

"Because I'm pro-choice, among the Republicans sometimes I get into trouble. But I'm a physician. So I leave it to the patient to decide what they want. My feeling, being pro-choice, is that it's a woman's individual decision. Not mine."

"Back in England, at the London School of Economics, he was a socialist when I met him. When we first met."

So did you turn him into a libertarian?

"No. Buying private property, having rent control slammed on us, is what radicalized us."

...Who are you people?

"We can't decide."

Are those your real names?

"We're coming to a conference on privacy. It would be crazy to register in your own name!"

...Can I take your picture?

Both: "No."

This is part of a series. Read previous installments here.

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Humans of FreedomFest, Part 4: "My father used...'libertarian' as a swear word." - Reason (blog)

While Rogers County residents may be familiar with the various political party groups that exist within the county, a fledgling political group is hoping to make inroads into Claremore the Northeast Oklahoma Libertarian Party.

Formed earlier this year, the Tulsa-based NEOLP is a group of like-minded Oklahomans who are seeking to gain interest in their philosophies and ideas as an alternative to the traditional two party system.

NEOLP Vice-Chairman Lee Miller of Tulsa explains the groups origins:

In the last presidential election, when (Libertarian candidate) Gary Johnson got more than two and a half percent of the votes (in Oklahoma), that gave the Libertarian party automatic status as an official party in the state, and in response to this, the Northeast Oklahoma Libertarian Party was created, Miller said. The group was formed in April and weve been gaining momentum ever since as people have learned more about us, who we are, what our core ideas are, etc.

Currently, were based in Tulsa, but were wanting to expand, to grow and were hoping to be able to do so in Claremore, to form a smaller, regional group there, he said. Were hoping to inform and educate people in Claremore and Rogers County about the (Libertarian) party to give them another choice besides just Democrat or Republican.

As to Libertarian positions, Miller said the party is less a group of positions than it is a philosophy and set of values, a moral principle of self-ownership, which oftentimes can be misunderstood by those who subscribe to the standard two-party system.

I think the struggle with the party is often that its misunderstood its more of a philosophy, a way of thinking about our rights as citizens in some ways, its more Republican, in other ways, its more Democratic, he said. These misunderstandings (about the party) are simply from people not being informed about what we stand for.

Miller encapsulated the partys key believes in three philosophies:

Firstly, the party is about non-aggression were not going to initiate aggression against another person because of their beliefs, he said. As a party, most of our members are pro-gun, but that doesnt mean its a party of aggression its a party of individual rights and duties.

Secondly, we focus on personal responsibility, he continued. When we make choices in life, there are consequences good choices lead to good consequences, and bad choices lead to bad consequences, and as individuals, those consequences for our actions and choices are ours and ours alone as individuals.

And lastly, were strong proponents of property rights, he said. Whatever you make and can produce, the fruits of your labor whether thats a job you do that earns you a wage or what you can grow out of the ground you should be able to determine what should be done with that. Currently, when we produce something, the government immediately takes a large percentage of it and frequently, theyll take even more again when its time to pay taxes. We feel the individual should have the right the liberty to determine how to distribute what he or she can produce.

What Miller said the group is seeking in Claremore are individuals who want to learn more about the party and to become involved in the groups operations.

There are 800 registered Libertarians in Oklahoma, but right now, the Northeast Oklahoma Libertarian Party group isnt a dues-paying organization, so were not sure how large our membership is, he said. Were wanting to become more-organized, educate the public more, and to be more known for our core values.

Persons interested in learning more about the NEOLP may contact Miller at 918-949-1484 or those wishing to learn more about the Libertarian party may visit the Oklahoma group online at http://www.oklp.org.

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Libertarian group seeks expansion into Rogers County - Claremore Daily Progress

Common Dreams

For Republicans, Fear and Loathing is a Winning Message Common Dreams It would be too easy to dismiss Donald Trump's Commission on Electoral Integrity as superfluous evidence of the intellectual erosion of the Republican Party. As a Twitter observer who styles himself LOLGOP quipped last week when the commission held its ... and more »

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For Republicans, Fear and Loathing is a Winning Message - Common Dreams