As we reflect on some of the most successful entrepreneurs of our time, who comes quickly to mind? Is it Bill Gates, co-founder of Microsoft? Stephen Jobs, co-founder of Apple? Mark Zuckerberg co-founder of Facebook? Or how about Ross William Ulbricht founder of the Silk Road?
Ulbricht was a drug dealer. He is the guy who made a billion bucks selling drugs on-line before the federal government caught up with him and shut him down in 2013. But the genie is out of the bottle and others are taking his place.
Ulbricht founded the Silk Road in 2011 and created a website in a hidden portion of the internet known as the “Dark Web.” In the beginning, customers could purchase “magic mushrooms” on the web with a “Cryptocurrency” known as “bitcoin.”
The Silk Road became a market place that linked dealers and buyers with an e-Bay style rating system before Ulbricht’s arrest in 2013. He is serving a life sentence in federal prison
Selling drugs on line is not new.
The first drug ever bought or sold on the internet was marijuana, when Stanford and MIT students used Arpanet to cut a deal in the early 70”s, according to the book, “Drugs Unlimited-the web revolution that changes how the world gets high,” by Mike Power.
“The online market in narcotics isn’t just changing the way drugs are bought and sold, it’s changing the nature of drugs themselves. Enterprising dealers are using the Web to engage highly skilled foreign chemists to tweak the chemical structures of banned drugs—just enough to create a similar effect and just enough to render them legal in most parts of the world.
The threat of internet sales brings into question the value of the proposed Wall separating the United States and Mexico.
A physical wall between Mexico and the United States would no doubt help stem the tide of drugs, but the grim reality is that a physical wall would have no affect on growing internet sales.
It’s also true, as many have observed, that a wall on our southern border leaves drug dealers the option to approach from the north, east and west by boat or by car.
Lest we despair over the evil that is abroad in the land we should be reassured by the strength and inherent decency of the majority of our citizens which has been displayed during hard times.
Hero’s give us hope.
Take James H. Hagler of Edgemont, Arkansas who passed away peacefully in his home on June 8, 2017 at the age of 96. His obituary appeared in the issue of the local paper which ran the article on the Silk Road, and it reminds us of our strength. It reminds us of what a real man, barely 21, does in time of crisis.
“While in the armed forces in World War II,” his obituary said, “he served in the 82nd Air Borne Division 505 Regiment, under General James Gavin. He also served in Africa, as well as Italy and Sicily. On June 6, 1944, he took part in the D-Day invasion of Normandy, France where he was wounded after parachuting into St. Mere Elise.”
If you saw the movie, “Saving Private Ryan,” you have an inkling of the savage battle at Normandy and the beginning of the end of Nazi Germany’s quest for world domination..
“Jim made three war parachute jumps during the war,” his obituary said. “The first was in Sicily. His second jump landed him in Italy where U.S. forces were fighting under General George Patton’s command.
In his final jump, during the D-Day invasion at Normandy, he was shot and severely wounded seven miles behind the German lines, but ended up in American hands.”
For him, the war was over.
While in a full body cast, he came home aboard the Queen Mary. Also on board were dancer Fred Astaire and crooner Bing Crosby, who thanked Jim for his service and signed his cast.
In 1945, Jim met Polly, and they were married on October 11 of that year. At the time of his death, they had been married 73 years.
As we contemplate the quiet competence and bravery of Jim Hagler and the young soldiers serving our country, it is hard to stomach the behavior of some of today’s immature college students who, at what was Jim’s age, now take to the streets in senseless riots.
Jim Hagler served his country with extraordinary valor, and, like many other veterans of a war that killed over 400,000 American soldiers, quietly overcame his wounds and returned to normal life.
Editor’s note: for those interested in learning more about Ulbricht, the dark web’s dark prince, buy “American Kingpin” by Nick Bilton.
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