Civil asset forfeiture is way for police to confiscate people's property and share the bounty with prosecutors' offices, without the tiresome hassle of due process.
The ACLU reports that Philadelphia law enforcement use civil asset forfeiture to seize assets small (under $100) and large (an entire home, such as the one taken from a woman because cops found drug paraphernalia belonging to her son in her house). When someone gets their assets swiped through civil asset forfeiture, their only recourse is to "wage complicated and time-consuming legal battles in civil court without the help of counsel or other safeguards." And the reason it's hard to get your property back is because the district attorney wants to sell it and keep the money for himself.
About $2.2 million of the seized money goes to the Philadelphia district attorney's office, providing 7.3 percent of its budget. Not coincidentally, the same office supervises the asset forfeiture program.
The Washington Post reports: The Treasury Department announced Wednesday that it will loan $700 million to a trucking firm that ships military equipment, in exchange for having U.S. taxpayers acquire an almost 30 percent stake in the company. Under the unusual arrangement, the Treasury Department will provide the emergency loan to YRC Worldwide, while taking […]
Bad legal news for Orange President Kleptocrat today. He’s gonna be in a mood.
Asked about the Justice Department’s intent to drop all criminal charges against impeached President Trump’s first national security advisor, Mike Flynn, Trump’s Attorney General Bill Barr says nothing matters, and “history is written by the winners.”
You probably have a lot of items in your home that you’d hate to lose to theft or damage. While certainly no one ever hopes to fall victim to a natural disaster or home invasion, you need to be prepared just in case it does happen. When it comes to choosing a reliable renters insurance, […]
The average US household replaces their mattress about every seven years. So if it’s been more than that, or even a lot more than that, it might be time to invest in a new slumber HQ. And most sleep experts will tell you the right mattress really should be looked at as an investment. Because […]
If there’s any knock on most smartwatches, up to and including the industry-leading Apple Watch, it’s probably that the bands aren’t…well, they aren’t usually the greatest. While Apple is certainly making strides in the watchband game, most models are just as black, boring and nondescript as you’d expect from a tech company. And where many […]
