This is a story that took place early in the year, so with all the water that’s passed under the bridge since then it might call for a quick refresher course. Do you remember these DEA agents who were working to foil the cartels in Colombia?

Drug Enforcement Administration agents allegedly had “sex parties” with prostitutes hired by local drug cartels overseas over a period of several years, according to a report released Thursday by the Justice Department’s watchdog.

The report did not specify the country where the parties occurred, but a law enforcement official familiar with the matter identified it as Colombia.

Seven of the 10 DEA agents alleged to have participated in the gatherings — most of which took place at an agent’s “quarters” leased by the U.S. government — admitted to having attended the parties, the report found. The agents, some of whom had top-secret security clearances, received suspensions of two to 10 days.

Yeah… whatever happened to those guys? That line about the suspensions must have been referring to the initial investigation, or so I assume. I mean, they’re Drug Enforcement Agency officers. If they’ve been caught having sex parties with hookers sent over by the cocaine cartel lords it’s hard to even imagine what happens next. I don’t know if you can send them to jail for it, but they’re clearly going to have to hit the bricks. Well, with luck they might have gotten their lives straightened out and found new jobs in the private sector.

Oh, wait. That’s right… they work for the government. (Washington Post)

Federal drug enforcement agents got bonuses worth thousands of dollars while they were investigated and disciplined for allegedly attending sex parties with prostitutes in Columbia, according to a new probe into the scandal.

In a report issued Thursday, Justice Department Inspector General Michael Horowitz found that the bonus issued by the Drug Enforcement Administration violated an agency policy prohibiting employees from receiving promotions, awards or other favorable personnel actions for three years after discipline for significant misconduct, or while misconduct is investigated.

The awards ranged from $1,500 to $32,000, with the high end going to senior executives disciplined for their role in the scandal.

There were fourteen agents involved. Of the fourteen, zero were fired. The majority of them (that would be eight) received bonuses. Some of the bonuses were more than the cost of a brand new 2016 Dodge Ram 1500.

How many of these watchdog stories do we have to hear? Nobody was fired at the IRS, including Lois Lerner, and nobody will face any charges. Nobody was fired at the Veterans Administration. Nobody was fired at the hilariously named Environmental Protection Agency and they poisoned the water supply in three states. Nobody was fired at the BATF three years after Brian Terry was murdered and those guys probably sold some of the guns to the same people who supplied the hookers for the DEA sex parties. And every time someone has the impertinence to ask why nobody gets fired the answer is pretty much the same, just as it was with the BATF.

[ATF Director B. Todd] Jones said the agency followed civil service due process rules. He also admitted he delegated the decision to his deputy director.

“Is it fair to say your number two made the call?” Issa asked. “That’s fair to say,” Jones replied.

Rep. Jason Chaffetz, R-Utah, also challenged Jones. “Is it safe to report … Fast and Furious was fatally flawed?” he asked.

“That’s why I’m here,” Jones told the committee. “It was a lack of oversight and leadership failure.”

Look… we get it. You can’t fire anyone even if they essentially get one of our own people killed, so the bar is set pretty low for everyone else. But at a bare minimum do you think you could hold off on giving them huge bonuses for a while? I mean… just for the appearance of things?

Of course, that’s probably asking too much.