Civil forfeiture: You can't make this stuff up

There have been several threads about this topic.. Just for clarification the problems has not gone away nor is it restricted to any state in particular.

For example, on April 15, 2013, on westbound Interstate 80, Bart Davis and John Newmerzhycky were stopped by Iowa State Patrol for failure to signal. Dash-camera footage clearly shows the vehicle using its signal, meaning this traffic stop had no basis and was illegal. But what happens next is what is really egregious. Rightfully earned poker winnings in the amount of $100,200 were seized due to a nonexistent connection to an unspecified crime. The victims are now suing the state. This incident certainly left an imprint on my mind, but apparently to Baudler, it is just another day for Iowa law enforcement.

In another case, United States v. $32,820.56, federal authorities seized bank deposits of Mrs. Lady's Mexican Food in Spirit Lake, the entirety of Carole Hinder's business account, without charging her. She fought the forfeiture and this year got her money back after a federal prosecutor filed a motion to drop the case. Representative Baudler dismissed the abuse of federal laws as beyond his scope of concern.

www.desmoinesregister.com...

a reply to: 727Sky

Constitutional Rights are essentially an illusion now. If the government doesn't like what you're saying, they will silence you. If the government doesn't want you to have a firearm, they will disarm you. If the government wants to know what you have, they will search you. If the government wants to take your belongings, they will seize them. If the government wants to know what you're saying,they will spy on you. If the government wants power over a state matter, they will take it.

Freedom is currently a Goddamned pipedream the instant it veers from the convenience of the jackasses in DC... whether it has always been this way and they are just becoming more brazen, I cannot say. I can say that I wholeheartedly believe Thomas Jefferson would be out there fertilizing the Tree of Liberty if he were alive today.

a reply to: burdman30ott6

Most people are afraid to rock the boat, because most can still keep a roof over there head and food on the table for the kids.

But we are closing in on the bad times...

a reply to: 727Sky

In Australaia this is call the "The Proceeds of Crime Act"

a reply to: 727Sky

These are the dying days of US Federal Empire.

Empires die from within, by their own people in the end.

Like flowing water, it will cut through rock, all it takes is time. And time is something that won't run out.

a reply to: 727Sky

Yepper SnF

I cannot recognize my country anymore having lived in Englanderville for 30 years...

I am blown away each week by John Oliver

Here is what he has to say on this subject



Most damning proof of stealing from Joe Public is the LEO under oath explaining how they decide what to take...

a reply to: burdman30ott6

I agree with your post 100% except for Jefferson watering the tree of Liberty.
He spent most of war in France and never touched a rifle to give this country it's independence.
He wrote many great sayings and lofty thoughts but it was men like Washington and Nathan Hale that actually put their lives on the line.

The problem with civil forfeiture is nearly all cash has traces of illegal drugs on it and based on that alone the Feds can seize and keep it. What has happened to these people very nearly ruined them (or has in other cases). The IRS along with other federal agencies have way too much power.

You're correct about our rights, they can only be kept at the expense of our own lives.

You haven't heard nothing yet. Get this...


Link

Rivers, 22, wasn’t detained and has not been charged with any crime since his money was taken last month.

All the money – $16,000 in cash – that Joseph Rivers said he had saved and relatives had given him to launch his dream in Hollywood is gone, seized during his trip out West not by thieves but by Drug Enforcement Administration agents during a stop at the Amtrak train station in Albuquerque.

No charge of any kind. Just a straight up theft by the DEA of this kids money while traveling on the train. But this is best/worst part and probably the most F*cked up quote I've ever heard from the DEA agent himself.

“We don’t have to prove that the person is guilty,” Waite said. “It’s that the money is presumed to be guilty.”

WTF is that??? The money is guilty??? Are you kidding me???

Here's the TYT report on the story for those with video.

Here this is happening yet some Americans on here wanna jingoistically tell us about their unrivalled freedoms.

originally posted by: TheLaughingGod
Here this is happening yet some Americans on here wanna jingoistically tell us about their unrivalled freedoms.

Because some people have never heard of this or if they have they refuse to believe it. Others have simply drank the Cool-Aid so to speak and can't get past their programming.

People on here don't have an excuse though. Unless they're still new here I guess. But to anyone who's been a member here for a while and who also can read, they don't have an excuse as far as I'm concerned.

This isn't even a new thing. It's been happening for a while now and has been reported on by multiple sources and examples. But the truth isn't always a pleasant thing to know so I'm sure most just don't want to believe it.

a reply to: mOjOm

This isn't even a new thing. It's been happening for a while now and has been reported on by multiple sources and examples. But the truth isn't always a pleasant thing to know so I'm sure most just don't want to believe it.

Certain humans always duck their heads and avoid eye contact when confronted with evil.. This is straight up evil disguised in well meaning laws that the corrupt have totally corrupted.

a reply to: TheLaughingGod

In many ways America is still an amazingly free country, it's just in 2001 many people agreed to sacrifice some liberty for the perception of security and that open the door to rampant abuse.

Civil asset forfeiture started with regan I think but not many places ran with it because it was fought tooth and nail because national security wasn't a buzz word with the power to trample your rights.

originally posted by: Irishhaf
a reply to: TheLaughingGod

In many ways America is still an amazingly free country, it's just in 2001 many people agreed to sacrifice some liberty for the perception of security and that open the door to rampant abuse.

Civil asset forfeiture started with regan I think but not many places ran with it because it was fought tooth and nail because national security wasn't a buzz word with the power to trample your rights.

In the 1960s, as drugs became symbols of youthful rebellion, social upheaval, and political dissent, the government halted scientific research to evaluate their medical safety and efficacy.

In June 1971, President Nixon declared a “war on drugs.” He dramatically increased the size and presence of federal drug control agencies, and pushed through measures such as mandatory sentencing and no-knock warrants. Nixon temporarily placed marijuana in Schedule One, the most restrictive category of drugs, pending review by a commission he appointed led by Republican Pennsylvania Governor Raymond Shafer. In 1972, the commission unanimously recommended decriminalizing the possession and distribution of marijuana for personal use. Nixon ignored the report and rejected its recommendations.

Between 1973 and 1977, however, eleven states decriminalized marijuana possession. In January 1977, President Jimmy Carter was inaugurated on a campaign platform that included marijuana decriminalization. In October 1977, the Senate Judiciary Committee voted to decriminalize possession of up to an ounce of marijuana for personal use.

Within just a few years, though, the tide had shifted. Proposals to decriminalize marijuana were abandoned as parents became increasingly concerned about high rates of teen marijuana use. Marijuana was ultimately caught up in a broader cultural backlash against the perceived permissiveness of the 1970s.

The presidency of Ronald Reagan marked the start of a long period of skyrocketing rates of incarceration, largely thanks to his unprecedented expansion of the drug war. The number of people behind bars for nonviolent drug law offenses increased from 50,000 in 1980 to over 400,000 by 1997.

Iran Contra ... good for the few and incarceration for the many ?

www.drugpolicy.org...

a reply to: mOjOm

a reply to: Irishhaf

Yeah, looking at it from the outside it seems quite bad. I'm rooting for you guys though, seems like a lot of people are waking up too. But from there on it's a long way, that's the hard part, fighting it when it has become so entrenched. Something has got to give eventually and I don't really see a peaceful resolution in the end, or at least not a cheap one.

Do you guys believe in a second American revolution? I remember coming on here in 2008 and 2009 and the Tea Party were all the rage, kind of swept me up there for a second. I still think the US has defiance and courage in its blood, one wonders what the founding fathers would have been doing in this situation.. it's sad that they more or less warned about this exact thing eventually happening, with the banks etcetera and I can't help but think that if their values were more widely spread and taught about this wouldn't have happened at all. Somehow they sneaked past those prescient warnings though..