Some people might claim that the people being robbed aren’t innocent because they’ve been accused of a crime but civil asset forfeiture occurs before somebody has been found guilty of a crime, which is the problem. Under a justice system where one is supposedly innocent until proven guilty beyond a reasonable doubt there is no justification for stealing an accused individual’s property. So, yes, Jeff Sessions announced that his department is going to be stealing from innocent people and that should have everybody up in arms.
Christopher Burg
July 19, 2017
Jeff Sessions Announces Justice Department Will Increase Theft
[I have nothing to add.—Joe]
Not everybody who has assets seized is accused of a crime. There are many that aren’t. This is theft by the Government pure and simple. This is wrong.
The biggest asset forfeiture program is in the form of the income tax and the capital gains tax, wherein the only “crime” is in being productive. The stuff of this quote of the day is a pittance by comparison. It is therefore hypocritical to act incensed over one form of asset seizure and not the other.
The main purpose of government seems to be the legalization of grand larceny, making it into a legitimate, even respectable, institution. In a broader sense, government exists to promote coercion, or organized crime, as a way of life. So long as we tolerate it, we will get more. And more and more and more….
It is thus impossible to oppose, on principle, that single, narrowly defined form of asset forfeiture unless you are equally opposed to all others.
Don’t get me wrong; you can pick and choose. Just don’t tell me you’re doing it on principle– That would be like saying you’re opposed to racism against Hispanics (because racism is bad) while accepting, by way of silence, worse racism against other groups.
This type of asset forfeiture is a much easier target for elimination than income taxes which were explicitly enabled with a constitutional amendment and many acts of congress since then. These acts of forfeiture involve prosecutors writing up complaints with titles like UNITED STATES OF AMERICA, Plaintiff, against APPROXIMATELY FOUR HUNDRED FrFTY (450) ANCTENT CUNEIFORM TABLETS; and APPROXIMATELY THREE THOUSAND (3,000) ANCIENT CLAY BULLAE.
Mocking and elimination of this type of crap is going to be a lot easier than the income tax. Low hanging fruit and all that…
After low hanging fruit has been picked the advocates for this theft will have lost credibility and the more difficult “fruit” becomes easier to “pick”.
One step at a time. My income tax goes away before my paycheck even clears, as with most people’s.
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IIRC, the average .gov theft/seizure is about $5k. They know that it will cost more in lawyer fees to try to get it back, so people don’t bother. They don’t bother with big money grabs because the crime lords can afford big lawyers to fight it.
Traveling with a handful of cash, on your way to buy a vehicle? Tough shit, it’s gone. Holding cash under your mattress because you expect the banks to crash? Whoops.
Remember, any interaction with cops is fraught with danger. Sometimes it’s just a financial hazard. The problem, so far, is that there is no hazard to the thieving cops involved.
I would be much more comfortable holding cash than transporting it, personally.
Well, yes, you are less likely to encounter cops inside your house. Then again, there are those occasions of swat hitting the wrong address, or a house fire. Both end up with .gov employees wandering around inside. There are a number of other situations that can generate “interested” parties inside your place. Placing your life savings “under arrest” gets them brownie points.
Jeff Sessions is a real Asshole . We have to vote this prick out of office before he turns whole country into a police state . We don’t need to start incarcerating a whole lot of people such as , people who have drug problems that have not committed a serious crime . We don’t need cops pulling people over for speeding and searching them with no reason .Then finding the 15 grand they were going to pay for their rent or buying something they want and the fucking cops confiscating the money because they think the person is buying drugs or its drug money .Then trying to get your money back is a major major task without a lawyer or they offer to give you some of it and keep the rest though you commited no crime . Then you got people being thrown in jail for the stupidest things . Arrest everyone Jeff sessions with his annoying southern accent his draconian bullshit laws . I can’t believe trump made this prick AG. This guy is a royal asshole and a fucking Moron. WTF
Oh yeah and jeff sessions and his news about taking down the darkweb site alphabay and his sob story i heard on the news that he was talking about the people who died from drug overdoses from alpha bay site . I am sure jeff sessions could careless about anyone who overdosed . If they were not dead he would probably want them thrown in jail . The war on drugs has killed and harmed more innocent people then any drug dealer ever arrested all because of people like jeffy the super cop
The war on drugs goes way back; its origins seems to be about an equal blend of racism and continued employment for Prohibition enforcement bureaucrats. As others have pointed out, the “drug problem” is 100% created by the government.