How is asset forfeiture not precisely the system of police bribery and police corruption that we routinely criticize "third world" countries for having?
He was given a receipt.
A 64-year-old put his life savings in his carry-on, and U.S. Customs took it
211–220 of 286 posts
Re: A 64-year-old put his life savings in his carry-on, and U.S. Customs took it
#212Earlier quoted context omitted.
…right. That article bemoans the use of "shouting fire in a crowded theater" as a rhetorical device, but doesn't actually discuss the legality of such speech. (IANAL, but there exists such a thing as depraved indifference murder: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Depraved-heart_murder )
The ruling standard is Brandenburg v. Ohio, which draws the line at incitement to "imminent lawless action." Which is to say, you have to be rallying people to start a riot right now . Doing something that is merely provocative, such as marching a neo-Nazi parade through a neighborhood of Holocaust survivors, is protected First Amendment speech. Literally shouting fire in a crowded theater in an attempt to cause a pa…
No contest here! The only thing my reply addresses is the parent's assertion that the specific example of shouting fire in a crowded theater is protected speech.
Re: A 64-year-old put his life savings in his carry-on, and U.S. Customs took it
#213Earlier quoted context omitted.
You mean like arresting people when they say something the gov't doesn't like? [1] I'll take a pass, thank you. [1] https://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/arrests-for-offensive-...
I can't wrap my head around how you can see it as positive that these kind of actions would go unpunished, in the name of "freedom". If I were harassed and bullied I'd not feel very free, but rather anxious, threatened, depressed. I'm quite happy my government takes measures to assure a certain level of personal safety, both physical and psychological.
In the UK, you can be arrested for saying absolutely anything as long as somebody who heard it claims to be offended and a policeman also agrees it's offensive. There's no boundary or guideline that you can follow.
Re: A 64-year-old put his life savings in his carry-on, and U.S. Customs took it
#214Earlier quoted context omitted.
The first 3 have long been exhausted for civil forfeiture.
I disagree and I strongly discourage you from shooting people. There is still a large portion of the public who don't know what civil forfeiture is or why it's a bad thing. If you want to make a difference the best thing you can do right is educate people.
> I disagree
He's factually correct though. I don't see how you can disagree with the fact that the supreme court already ruled these practices legal (jury), neither republicans nor democrats managed to fix the matter (ballot), and the average american showers once a day...
Stories like these have been all over the news under both republican and democratic presidents and congress - nothing changed.
Don't give people a four-step program and then act aghast they're considering to go through with it. Find a better four-step program/quote instead.
Re: A 64-year-old put his life savings in his carry-on, and U.S. Customs took it
#215> Erald Kazazi said the ordeal has affected his father's health and turned their lives upside down. But, he said, his father's high opinion of the United States has not changed. > “He's not going to let the actions of some employees that made a mistake in their duties change his opinion of the country,” he said. I wish people wouldn’t put the USA on high pedestals and realize this (among other things) are very seriou…
His father was being diplomatic. It's easier to admit you messed up once than admitting you have a systemic problem.
Re: A 64-year-old put his life savings in his carry-on, and U.S. Customs took it
#216So the police steal as much as everyone else combined, but it's still only a few bad apples? Every last beat cop on up (especially if they are part of a union) is a bad, rotten apple. Every single one of these cops are propping up ridiculous systems of mass theft and murder orchestrated by their colleagues and their counterparts in prosecutors' offices. These people have no concept of justice or fairness or serving o…
> the police steal as much as everyone else combined No, that's a "fake news" myth. https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/wonk/wp/2015/11/23/cops-... > If you add up all the property stolen in 2014, from burglary, theft, motor vehicle theft and other means, you arrive at roughly $12.3 billion, > The total value of asset forfeitures was more than one-third of the total value of property stolen by criminals in 2014.
But only around 20% of property stolen gets recovered (value). So the police actually take more than they recover, operating at a net negative.
And that isn't counting the wages of people working there yet...
I realize this comparison isn't fair at all - the problem appears to be that it comes to mind at all.
Re: A 64-year-old put his life savings in his carry-on, and U.S. Customs took it
#217Earlier quoted context omitted.
You mean like arresting people when they say something the gov't doesn't like? [1] I'll take a pass, thank you. [1] https://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/arrests-for-offensive-...
I can't wrap my head around how you can see it as positive that these kind of actions would go unpunished, in the name of "freedom". If I were harassed and bullied I'd not feel very free, but rather anxious, threatened, depressed. I'm quite happy my government takes measures to assure a certain level of personal safety, both physical and psychological.
Do you also want to lock up people who criticized the color of Trump's skin or the size of his hands? When you outlaw offending people, there's not clear boundary as to what's allowed and what's not. It creates a scary power imbalance so that people can suffer severe consequences for simply responding to an insult, or saying something innocent that's misinterpreted. If you've ever seen an insult on Twitter, those people would be criminals. All of them, not just the ones who insulted people you like. Anyone who says "cops are pigs" needs locking up too. The US has clear boundaries to what's legal to say but the UK doesn't.
Re: A 64-year-old put his life savings in his carry-on, and U.S. Customs took it
#218Earlier quoted context omitted.
You start holing these cops personally accountable for this or any of the massive amounts of other disgusting actions they commit on a daily basis and I guarantee this fixes itself overnight. Cop murders someone, electric chair. Cops steals money, they pay back their entire life savings. It's about time we hold public servants to a higher set of standards rather than a lower one. If only there were such incentives, t…
This isn't what I intended to communicate at all. Lower level personnel behaving badly is just a symptom of the real problem, and punishing them would be an easy scapegoat for higher up authority. Just like with a toxic CEO in a company, firing some employees isn't a long term solution to fixing the culture. The leaders, the heads of the departments, is where the accountability should be.
It's a criminal conspiracy - you go after the leaders and the low level thugs.
Re: A 64-year-old put his life savings in his carry-on, and U.S. Customs took it
#219Earlier quoted context omitted.
I don't consider arresting and immediately sentencing an individual to 13 months in prison for broadcasting outside of a public trial to be sensible in the least. https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/worldviews/wp/2018/05/29...
I think your missing the context here, and falling for clickbaity anger inducing headlines. He had a previous suspended sentence for filming inside a court a couple of months earlier. He then thought "hey, you know what's a good idea? Disobeying a judge's direct no-reporting order (to maintain the integrity of the trial) literally right outside the freaking courthouse . I consider not giving him a slap on the wrist p…
«judge's direct no-reporting order» I can’t seem to be able to find a source that confirms that order actually existed. Do you happen to have a credible one so I can verify it isn’t fake news?
Re: A 64-year-old put his life savings in his carry-on, and U.S. Customs took it
#220Here's something that gets me... A lot of Second Amendment advocates say we need the right to bear arms to protect ourselves from a tyrannical government. Well...here's your tyranny. Now where's that armed uprising?
There is a common saying: "There are four boxes to be used in the defense of liberty: soap, ballot, jury and ammo. Please use in that order." Emphasis on Please use in that order. I can't believe this needs to be emphasized, but killing people should be a last resort. I'm glad these "2nd Amendment advocates" aren't as trigger happy as you seem to suggest they be. I don't think it's hyperbolic to say that shooting peo…
Technology has obsoleted all four of those boxen. Democracy went from a metric to the model, which was then economically optimized out. Now the information flow runs the other direction - the modern political apparatus efficiently distributes public opinion rather than gathering it.
Our remaining hope is a newfound fifth - the personal computation box.