Liberal Idaho Media Supports Illegal Gambling Enterprise

Nothing screams liberal media like this story.  Because it allows newsroom lefties to scream that Donald Trump is being mean to an oppressed minority.  Trump is mean is a whole news genre.  You have a group of people at an illegal horse racing and betting operation, and the FBI swooped in, broke it up, and made arrests.

First, I’ll address the libertarian whine about gambling.  If brothers Joe and Jim wager 50 bucks on who has the fastest horse, they don’t get arrested.  Nobody notices.  On the other hand, if large crowds gather to bet and watch horse races, then we start edging up against quality-of-life issues.  You may not like government getting in the way, but as a policeman once told me, laws are made and enforced because it’s what the public wants.  When a majority changes its mind, then the laws change.

Second, the story from the Idaho Capital Sun explains that the ACLU called a news conference and complained that federal agents were rough.  Gee, you’re telling me that if people refuse to come along peacefully that the agents should leave?  The ACLU isn’t described as the far-left organization most sane people recognize.  One part of the complaint says kids were zip-tied.  If they were, is it possible they were climbing on the backs of agents trying to do their duty?  That would be a very dangerous situation.

Third, while we aren’t supposed to make assumptions journalistically, as a reader, I make them all the time.

This story smacks of a crackdown on organized crime.  We’re not supposed to stereotype because the left wants to whitewash what may actually be going on in Canyon County.  Some gangs have moved on from other activities into more complex betting schemes.  This could be the top of a criminal pyramid that features drugs, animal fights, trafficking, and now horse racing.  But don’t expect newsrooms to try and look at those possibilities.  Instead, stay woke, and let the cancer grow.