Showing posts with label civil asset forfeiture. Show all posts
Showing posts with label civil asset forfeiture. Show all posts

June 6, 2020


From 9/11 to COVID-19, it’s been a perpetual state of emergency

fromTheRutherfordInstitute: "Freedom from servitude comes not from violent action, but from the refusal to serve. Tyrants fall when the people withdraw their support.” —Étienne De La Boétie, The Politics Of Obedience
Police State America

Joe Biden basically admits libertarians were right all along: cops shouldn't have military gear

fromReason: Biden voted for the 1997 bill that created the Pentagon's 1033 program, which allows surplus military gear to be passed along to local cops. It took 23 years, but he finally changed his opinion.
Police State America           Politics and Other Official Acts of Corruption

Policing for profit: How civil asset forfeiture has perverted American law enforcement

fromAmmo: Asset forfeiture is having devastating consequences: In 2014 alone, law enforcement took more stuff from American citizens than burglars did.
Police State America

The state’s priority is protecting itself, not you

fromLibertarianInstitute: The state is far more punitive against those that threaten the comfort and authority of government institutions and workers than they are against crimes against citizens.
Police State America

The lockdowns are now a scandal

fromNationalReview: Last week, the media, politicians, and many experts decided that every argument they made for destroying the lives of millions of people in America could be deferred to advance a preferred political cause.
The Government is Not Us

Lockdown supporters embraced wildly wrong COVID-19 projections that fit their preconceptions

fromReason: The episode illustrates the perils of confirmation bias on both sides of the debate about disease control measures.
Police State America           Politics and Other Official Acts of Corruption

March 19, 2020


Panic will end but tyranny will not

fromDailyMail: We saw it with 9/11 and we’re seeing it the covid-19: people will give up their freedom and accept expanding government power when they’re afraid.

Joe Biden’s plan to shut down the firearms industry

fromNationalReview: His political attacks on the industry are why we have a law barring attempts to hold arms manufacturers legally responsible for shootings.

To track virus, governments weigh surveillance tools that push privacy limits

fromWallStreetJournal: Geolocation and facial-recognition systems can locate vectors of infections, but they also gather highly personal data.

Civil asset forfeiture should be eliminated entirely

fromStarTribune: Police and prosecutors should be bound by criminal law, a system where citizens—and their stuff—are innocent until proven guilty.

Orange County threatens to jail people who walk outside with others not in household

fromDailyMail: Covid-19 has given authoritarians carte-blanche to run roughshod over the rights of citizens
Regulation Nation                      The Government is Not Us

The plastic bag ban backfires

fromWallStreetJournal: While California's governor is quick to close bars under the pretense of stopping the spread of the virus, they promote reusable bags that are notoriously dirty transmitters.

Regulation Nation                      The Government is Not Us


February 5, 2020


The state owns you: The problem with "national service"

fromMises: Rather than attempt to persuade people that they ought to join the military or sign up for community service, the first instinct of draft supporters is to use coercion.
The Government is Not Us

America's self-inflicted wound: The war on drugs has been a 100 year war on our neighbors

fromMilwaukeeIndependent: For more than a century, the U.S. has worked to build a harsh global drug prohibition regime – grounded in draconian laws, enforced by pervasive policing, and punished with mass incarceration.
The War on Unapproved Voluntary Exchange

New Jersey is now the 16th state to require convictions for civil forfeiture

fromForbes: But sadly, policing for profit continues to trample rights in the other 34 states.
Police State America

Lindsey Graham wants to use mistrust of big Tech to destroy your right to online privacy

fromFreedomBunker: Online platforms would have to "earn" speech protections by compromising encryption—
all in the name of fighting child porn.
The Government is Not Us

A new backlash to gun control begins in Virginia

fromNewYorker: Activists at a gun-rights rally in Richmond last week called Virginia, a state with a pro-gun tradition now on the brink of passing restrictions, “the canary in the coal mine.”
2nd Amendment Assaults

Mark Levin interviews Walter E Williams

fromFoxNews: From Life, Liberty and Levin, Mark probes the mind of Dr. Williams regarding capitalism and the future of liberty.
Individual Liberty: America's First Principle          Economic Policy: Statism Vs The Free Market

August 12, 2019


Overbearing regulations are slowly killing restaurants

fromReason: Running a restaurant is hard enough without government micromanagers trying to stir the pot.
Regulation Nation

TSA drops fine against man who opted not to board a flight rather than be subjected to invasive search

fromRutherfordInstitute: Texas man not punished for opting out of third warrantless search. He refused an invasive pat-down after he had already been through metal detector and whole body scanner.
Police State America       The Government is Not Us

FBI stats show knives kill far more people than rifles In America – it’s not even close

fromDailyCaller: According to the FBI, 1,604 people were killed by “knives and cutting instruments” and 374 were killed by “rifles” in 2016.
2nd Amendment Assaults

How the government can steal your stuff: 6 questions about civil asset forfeiture answered

fromPennsylvaniaCapital-Star: Law professor and criminal justice expert Nora V. Demleitner explains how this procedure works and why it irks conservatives and progressives alike.
Police State America

Cops still not charged after dumping 26 rounds Into truck full of small children, shooting 3 Of them

fromFreeThoughtProject: “How am I supposed to tell my kids that the people who are supposed to protect them are the ones that shot them?” father of the children, Quin Jacobs said.

June 14, 2019


Cuba rations food as its socialist economy enters crisis mode

fromMises: You probably know what is going on in Venezuela. You probably don't know what is going on in Cuba.
Economic Policy: Statism Versus The Free Market

Great lakes reveal a fatal flaw in climate change ‘science’

fromIssues&Insights: "if nothing can disprove a theory, and every event, no matter how contradictory, is proof that the theory is valid, is that really science? Sounds more like a religion."
Political Correctness and Other Nitwittery

New cars to be equipped with breathalyzers, drivers given mental health assessments

fromActivistPosts: Seeking to emulate China, Rep. Kathleen Rice’s H.R. 3374 bill, otherwise known as the End Drunk Driving Act, would put breathalyzers and ignition interlock devices in every new car.
Regulation Nation

The city of Vallejo, California, has a police problem—and it's all being caught on camera

fromReason: A small city in California has been plagued by police shootings, costly civil rights lawsuits, and incidents of excessive force.
Police State America

From 2015 to ’18, Contra Costa cops seized $1.1 million from people not charged with a crime

fromMises: Marijuana made up $1.2 million, the largest single source of cash. If we are governed by consent of the people, the people must have been demanding this. Or, perhaps we should check our premises.

Rising conservatives are as hostile to freedom as the Leftists they disdain

fromReason: Republicans, who have gleefully warned the public about Democratic flirtations with socialism, shouldn't be quick to gloat given the emergence of an anti-freedom movement on the Right.

May 17, 2019


Judgment day for John Brennan

fromTheUnzReview:   What's ahead for the mastermind of the Russia hoax.
Politics and Other Official Acts of Corruption

Stung by tariffs, farmers seek bailouts and more protectionism

fromReason:   While Trump prepares another round of aid payments for farmers, Marco Rubio is pushing for tariffs on Mexican fruits and vegetables that will send prices soaring.
Economic Policy: Statism Versus The Free Market

☆ VIDEO: Remy - People will die

fromReason/YouTube:   Remy channels his inner Elizabeth Warren to vilify the other side.
Politics and Other Official Acts of Corruption

Fear, loathing, intolerance – and worse

fromWattsUpWithThat:   The climate-fearing, capitalism-loathing Left cannot abide questions or differing opinions.
Political Correctness and Other Nitwittery

Conviction will soon be required before civil asset forfeiture is initiated

fromTheUnzReview:   New standard may hamstring law enforcement's ability to legally steal.

Las Vegas, which just authorized cannabis lounges, aspires to be the 'new Amsterdam'

fromReason:   The tourist mecca will be one of the few U.S. jurisdictions that give visitors a place where they can legally use the marijuana they can legally buy.

Feb 28, 2019


Marijuana legalization bills are advancing in several states

fromForbes:  Marijuana legalization advocates came into 2019 expecting it to be a huge year for cannabis, and lawmakers around the country are not disappointing them so far.
The War on Unapproved Voluntary Exchange

No drugs, no crime and just pennies for school: how police use civil asset forfeiture

fromPulitzerCenter:  In the past two decades, the federal government took in $36.5 billion in assets police seized from the America people, many of whom never were charged with a crime or shown to have drugs.
Police State America

Political bias is destroying people’s faith in journalism

fromNYPost:  A war on liberty and the pursuit of happiness is not enough. Democrats go for the trifecta, as 44 vote for infanticide.
Media Bias on Parade

Apple's intensifying privacy & encryption stance worsening FBI struggles with lawbreakers 'going dark'

fromAppleInsider:  Because of Apple's and other companies' stances on end-to-end encryption, the U.S. government's trouble in intercepting online communications is only accelerating.
Government is Watching Every Move You Make

Additional Little Rock residents share stories of "unjustified" no-knock warrants

fromKATV:  Civil rights attorney Benjamin Crump: "So as long as officers know that police involved shooting reviews that are meaningless rubber-stamps, they have no incentive to change their behavior."
Police State America

How Is abortion after birth not news?

fromLATimes:  A war on liberty and the pursuit of happiness is not enough. Democrats go for the trifecta, as 44 vote for infanticide.

Feb 20, 2019


Record high name government as most important problem

fromGallup:  Thirty-five percent of Americans name the government, poor leadership or politicians as the greatest problem facing the U.S. This is the highest percentage Gallup has recorded for this concern.
The Government is Not Us

After innocent couple murdered over cop’s lies, Houston police vow no more no-knock raids

fromFreeThoughtProject:  After a no-knock raid, based on lies, led to the murder of an innocent couple, Houston police chief Art Acevedo vows to no longer use them.
Police State America

Victor Davis Hanson pronounces the coup against Trump dead, then performs an autopsy

fromRedState:  FBI officials, like Andrew McCabe, found that the media was more than willing to oblige. Correspondents would happily publish any “leaks” officials were willing to provide.
Media Bias on Parade         Politics and Other Official Acts of Corruption

‘Free expression/free speech’ for students being muzzled

fromInsideSources:  Years of Supreme Court decisions have left student expression rights at a crossroads, even as justices have expanded safeguards for nearly every other area of free expression.
Indoctrination and Censorship

How the Feds are using civil asset forfeiture to threaten free speech

fromReason:  Sex, publishing, and quasi-legal theft collide in the Backpage prosecution.
Police State America       

A look into the legal distinction between sex trafficking and prostitution

from1011Now:  Prostitution is a consensual, but illegal, voluntary exchange. Human trafficking, is modern day slavery. Big difference.

Feb 13, 2019


Rights and non-rights: a simple way to distinguish the two

fromFEE:  It’s readily apparent today that Americans are of widely different views on what a right is, how many we have, where rights come from, or why we have any in the first place.
Individual Liberty: America's First Principle 

Some Washington sheriffs refuse to enforce new gun laws

fromABCNews:  Sheriffs in a dozen Washington counties say they won't enforce the state's sweeping new restrictions on semi-automatic rifles until the courts decide whether they are constitutional.
2nd Amendment Assaults

Police can seize cash in the mail. An innocent man found out the hard way.

fromGreenvilleNews:  Not since the days of the Sheriff of Nottingham have cops so openly practiced state-sponsored theft.
Police State America

Senator files '420' marijuana bill to legalize it federally

fromForbes:  The proposal would remove it from the Controlled Substances Act (CSA), impose more taxes on sales and create a system of permits for businesses to engage in cannabis commerce.
The War on Unapproved Voluntary Exchange

Study: voter ID laws don’t stop people voting

fromFreeBeacon:  Strict voter ID laws do not suppress turnout, a new paper finds, regardless of sex, race, Hispanic identity, or party affiliation.
Political Correctness and Other Nitwittery

Abuse of Force: Body camera video shows man tased 11 times by officers in Arizona

fromKSHBKansasCity:  Multiple independent law enforcement experts, who agreed to review the incident, said the officers’ conduct was unlawful, potentially criminal.

Jan 31, 2019


Free speech liberalism is dying in its birthplace

fromTheAmericanConservative: Britain, the home of Swift and Mill, is increasingly clamping down on expression.
Indoctrination and Censorship

TAKEN: How police departments make millions by seizing property

fromGreenvilleOnline: In South Carolina, civil forfeiture targets black people’s money most of all. 
Police State America

The Trump administration’s crackdown on marijuana legalization might end under Bill Barr

fromTheSpokesmanReview: Trump’s nominee to replace Sessions as attorney general confirmed that he won’t be continuing that push to crack down on legal pot if he is confirmed by the Senate. 
The War on Unapproved Voluntary Exchange

The 100-mile rule runs contrary to reasonable searches

fromTheSpokesmanReview: Federal agents board buses and perform “show-us-your-papers checks” that are exactly the kind of fishing expedition the Fourth Amendment seems designed to prevent. 
Police State America

Chronic pain patients gather to protest opioid regulations

fromGreeleyTribune: When law enforcement policy, not medical evaluation, decides who gets painkillers, the citizens suffer. 
Police State America      Regulation Nation

Make individualism great again

from71Republic: Across the country, we are witnessing a decline of the influence of individualism in our society with the effects of this being purely negative. 

Jan 19, 2019


Congressman slams civil forfeiture as 'a series of government shakedowns'

fromForbes: Under federal law, property owners facing civil forfeiture are essentially guilty until proven innocent and must bear the burden of proof, unlike criminal cases.
Police State America     Justice is a Result, Not Just a Process

VIDEO: John Stossel: Government shutdown shows private Is better

fromReason: Shutdown teaches us that much of government is NOT essential.
Economic Policy: Statism Versus The Free Market       The Government is Not Us

How long can Congress keep pretending marijuana legalization isn’t the norm?

fromCourant: As more states vote to legalize adult recreational use, they are creating a powerful coalition against the federal government, which continues to classify marijuana as an illegal Schedule 1 drug on par with heroin.
The War on Unapproved Voluntary Exchange

How U.S. surveillance technology is propping up authoritarian regimes

fromWashingtonPost: The sale of technologies such as spyware and facial-recognition systems to human rights abusers enables insidious social control and encroachment on basic civil liberties.
Government is Watching Every Move You Make

VIDEO: Why they keep coming - The migrant caravans

fromLibertyPen/YouTube: A look at the incentives that attract migrants and have politicians blocking attempts to secure the border. Also, a look at the political dynamics driving the government shutdown.
Politics and Other Official Acts of Corruption

Norway readies 'Big Brother' GPS-based taxation per mile-driven

fromZeroHedge: Coming to a tyranny near you. The idea is to transform the public to electric cars, then make up lost fuel tax revenue with a scheme like this.

Jan 14, 2019


Please, TSA workers, don’t come back

fromReason: And take the rest of your federal colleagues with you.
Government is Watching Every Move You Make   Regulation Nation    Police State America

Congressman slams civil forfeiture as 'a series of government shakedowns'

fromForbes: Tim Walberg (R-MI) sharply criticized the federal government’s use of civil forfeiture, which lets law enforcement confiscate property and pocket the proceeds for themselves, all without filing criminal charges.
Police State America

A marijuana "420" bill was just introduced in Congress

fromTheMotleyFool: If passed, cannabis would be removed as a controlled substance at the federal level and treated like alcohol. Could the end of government's reefer madness be in sight?
The War on Unapproved Voluntary Exchange

Publishers, not Trump, endanger free speech

fromNationalReview: And take the rest of your federal colleagues with you.
Indoctrination and Censorship

Assault weapon bans are all about appearance

fromReason: Sen. Dianne Feinstein’s latest bill classifies firearms not by what they do but based on how much their looks scare her.
2nd Amendment Assaults

LA's battle for Venice Beach: homeless surge puts Hollywood's progressive ideals to the test

fromHollywoodReporter: It finally happened. California's elitist left is now having to deal with the ramifications of their policies.

Dec 27, 2018


Policing for Profit

fromHPR: A primary incentive to violate citizen's rights. Money is a powerful driving force, an element of abuse, whether based upon good intentions or simply just a failure to reform.
Police State America

Top 10 inbound vs. top 10 outbound US states in 2017

fromAEI: Americans are moving from states with higher tax burdens and unfriendly business climates with fewer economic opportunities to fiscally sound states that are more economically vibrant.
Economic Policy: Statism Versus The Free Market

More Syria Thoughts: The Case for Intervention Was Never Made

fromNationalReview: "Someone needs to explain to me why I should be outraged at Trump, but not outraged that we got into this mess without making sure the public, through Congress, was on board."
Defense Versus The War Machine

John Stossel's New Year's resolution

fromTownhall: My New Year's resolution: Make a careful distinction between speech and violence.
Individual Liberty: America's First Principle

Kansas Supreme Court says cops can search your home without a warrant if they claim it smells like pot

fromReason: Cops supposedly smelled 25 grams of pot inside a plastic container inside a safe inside a closet 30 feet from a guy's doorstep.
The War on Unapproved Voluntary Exchange     Police State America

Cop gets 15 day vacation for drunken road rage shooting that left Innocent dad paralyzed

fromFreeThoughtProject: For shooting two innocent people in a fit of road rage, leaving one of them paralyzed, a San Antonio cop received just 15 days suspension and is back on the job.

Dec 21, 2018


Because a citizen filmed it, cop found guilty for punting handcuffed teen’s head like a football

fromCreators: "In all of FDA's history, I am unable to find a single instance where a congressional committee investigated the failure of FDA to approve a new drug."
Police State America

Congress ramps up war on sex workers and their customers with four new 'protection' laws

fromReason: A national strategy for arresting sex buyers and letting local cops wiretap sex workers are among the approved changes. Government supports anything that empowers them at the individual's expense.
Regulation Nation     Police State America      The War on Unapproved Voluntary Exchange

Cops can't ignore New Mexico's ban on civil forfeiture, court rules

fromForbes: "In all of FDA's history, I am unable to find a single instance where a congressional committee investigated the failure of FDA to approve a new drug."
Police State America

Walter E Williams: FDA policies kill

fromCreators: "In all of FDA's history, I am unable to find a single instance where a congressional committee investigated the failure of FDA to approve a new drug."
Regulation Nation

It looks like Trump Is about to pull the U.S. out of Afghanistan too

fromReason: After announcing draw-down from Syria, the president may be seriously contemplating getting out of Afghanistan as well.
Defense Versus The War Machine

Why men support marijuana legalization more than women do

fromWashingtonPost: What best explains the gender gap in marijuana attitudes is the gender gap in marijuana use. Men report using marijuana more often than women.

Nov 30, 2018


Profitable penalties imperil justice

fromReason: Forfeit a $42,000 Land Rover for a minor drug offense? The Supreme Court is now looking at law enforcement's shameless policing for profit scheme.
Police State America     Justice is a Result, Not Just a Process

What government scientists are doing to make their insane extreme climate forecasts

fromEconomicJournal: Dr. Patrick Michaels, director of the Center for the Study of Science at the Cato Institute, discusses the parameterization of the models, the cherry-picking that goes on and the skewed incentives.
Political Correctness and Other Nitwittery

Man who bit off cops finger free after jail beating video is revealed

fromDailyMail: Registered sex offender who chomped off piece of cop's finger and swallowed it is ACQUITTED after jail surveillance footage shows officers pinning him down and beating him.
Police State America     Justice is a Result, Not Just a Process

VIDEO: This Stupid F*king Caravan

fromDailyMail: That stupid migrant caravan that Obama and the Left contended was "a lie" is now arriving.
Politics and Other Official Acts of Corruption

8 Shocking demographic trends which will greatly shape America’s future

fromEndofAmericanDream: We are witnessing a fundamental transformation of America.  Some welcome the changes that are happening, while others are greatly resisting them.  But one thing is very clear – the United States is a very different place than it was 40 or 50 years ago.

Mueller’s RussiaGate probe: Conflicts, presuppositions and special interests

fromDisobedientMedia: Rep Louie Gohmert: “Mueller has a long and sordid history of illicitly targeting innocent people that is a stain upon the legacy of American jurisprudence.”
Politics and Other Official Acts of Corruption

Nov 28, 2018


George Will: Civil forfeiture makes law enforcement lawless

fromAVPress: "Such laws are incentives for abusive governments, because the entity that seizes the property frequently is allowed to profit by keeping or selling it. Lucrative law enforcement will become lawless."
Police State America        The Government is Not Us

Grade school rolls out fingerprint ID lunch system, parents don’t approve

fromNYPost: A Nebraska public school system is failing kids by forcing them to get their fingers scanned to pay for lunch, according to irate parents.
Government is Watching Every Move You Make

After losing $1 billion to tariffs, General Motors announces 14,000 layoffs

fromReason: Trump's rally promises won't happen because of his trade policies.
Economic Policy: Statism Versus The Free Market

Proposed New York gun law violates five Constitutional amendments

fromIndependentSentinel: In New York, they want to allow law enforcement to peruse your social media history going back three years to decide if you are fit to exercise your Second Amendment right to own firearms.
2nd Amendment Assaults

Drug-sniffing dogs facing early retirements due to legalization of marijuana

fromFoxNews: Snitch dogs are free to become man's best friend again. 
The War on Unapproved Voluntary Exchange

Red flag gun laws: Yet another government weapon for compliance and control

fromRutherfordInstitute: We never learn. In the right (or wrong) hands, benevolent plans can easily be put to malevolent purposes.
2nd Amendment Assaults

Nov 13, 2018


The real winner of the 2018 midterms: individual liberty

fromTheHill: The most important takeaway is that we will have a divided federal government, with the executive branch and Senate controlled by the Republicans and the House controlled by the Democrats.
Politics and Other Official Acts of Corruption

Civil forfeiture is worse than its proponents proclaim

fromSaltLakeTribune: For the uninitiated, this is a law that allows the government to legally take possession of your property without even having to charge you with commission of a crime, let alone secure a conviction.
Police State America

Pot proponents claim victory, set sights on national legalization

fromNBCNews: "Marijuana has now been legalized for adult use in one out of every five states, so I think it's safe to say federal laws are in need of an update," he said.
The War on Unapproved Voluntary Exchange

VIDEO: Tucker Carlson - Racism as a Political Tactic

fromLibertyPen/YouTube: From Tucker Carlson Tonight, a look at how racism has been reduced to virtually a meaningless political tactic. Christopher Harris.
Political Correctness and Other Nitwittery     Politics and Other Official Acts of Corruption

Gov’t denies homeless people food by raiding charity, pouring bleach on food to destroy it

fromTheFreeThoughtProject: Earlier this month, the kind folks over at Free Hot Soup Kansas City hosted a picnic at their local park and invited hundreds of homeless people to partake in the food. 
Regulation Nation     The Government is Not Us

DEA and ICE 'are hiding secret cameras inside streetlights and traffic barrels across the country'

fromDailyMail: The US Drug Enforcement Administration and Immigration and Customs Enforcement agencies have hidden a number of covert surveillance cameras inside street lights, according to federal contracting documents.
Government is Watching Every Move You Make