Police Departments Have Budget Lines For “Expected” Asset Forfeiture Revenues

DC Police Department Budgets Its Asset Forfeiture Proceeds Years In Advance

 

 

 

 

” Asset forfeiture may be the greatest scam perpetuated on the American people by their government — and it’s all legal. For the most part, assets seized translate directly to monetary or physical gains for the agencies doing the seizing, an act often wholly separated from any American ideals of due process.

  The New York Times recently obtained recording of asset forfeiture conferences which showed prosecutors advising cops on how to best exploit these programs to obtain additional funds and goods for their respective law enforcement agencies. In short, it appears that many agencies use asset forfeiture to fill departmental shopping lists, rather than as the criminal syndicate-crippling action it was intended to be.

  The Washington Post has been digging into the oft-abused programs for the last six weeks. The latest article in this series comes to similar conclusions about how the programs are viewed by law enforcement agencies.

  D.C. police have made plans for millions of dollars in anticipated proceeds from future civil seizures of cash and property, even though federal guidelines say “agencies may not commit” to such spending in advance, documents show.

  The city’s proposed budget and financial plan for fiscal 2015 includes about $2.7 million for the District police department’s “special purpose fund” through 2018. The fund covers payments for informants and rewards. “

TechDirt has more on this grand scheme of legalized theft

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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$20 Billion In Recent Federal “Secret” Expenditures Bought $30K In Starbucks Coffee , Gym Memberships & JC Penny Clothes

Federal Government Made $20 Billion In Secret Purchases In Recent Months

 

 

 

” The federal government has spent at least $20 billion in taxpayer money this year on items and services that it is permitted to keep secret from the public, according to an investigation by the News4 I-Team.

  The purchases, known among federal employees as “micropurchases,” are made by some of the thousands of agency employees who are issued taxpayer-funded purchase cards. The purchases, in most cases, remain confidential and are not publicly disclosed by the agencies. A sampling of those purchases, obtained by the I-Team via the Freedom of Information Act, reveals at least one agency used those cards to buy $30,000 in Starbucks Coffee drinks and products in one year without having to disclose or detail the purchases to the public.

  A series of other recent purchases, reviewed by internal government auditors, include wasteful and inappropriate purchases by government employees — including a gym membership and JC Penney clothing — that were not detected or stopped until after the purchase was completed.”

Read more

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Cato Institute : I.R.S. Abusing Americans Is Nothing New

The I.R.S. Abusing Americans Is Nothing New

Published on May 15, 2013

” The I.R.S. targeting of tea party groups in the United States is par for the course. It’s not the first time the agency has been used for partisan political ends. Whether or not the targeting was undertaken as a directive from the White House, the agency’s broad latitude in determining what constitutes partisan political activity is very problematic. The solutions offered by campaign finance reformers would unfortunately only give the agency more power.

Featuring: David Keating, President of the Center for Competitive Politics / Michael W. MacLeod-Ball, Chief Legislative and Policy Counsel, ACLU / John Samples, Director of the Cato Institute’s Center for Representative Government / Gene Healy, Vice-President, Cato Institute

Related podcast/video with David Keating:http://www.cato.org/multimedia/daily-… /http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d8V_9c…
Related podcast with Michael MacLeod-Ball:http://www.cato.org/multimedia/daily-…

Video produced by Caleb O. Brown and Austin Bragg. Additional footage gathered by Lester Romero.”

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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Andrew “HUD” Cuomo’s Arrogance Takes Toll Among Staffers

Cuomo Staffers Elect To Quit

 

 

 

” Disenchanted members of Gov. Cuomo’s administration, embarrassed by the worsening government scandals and convinced that Cuomo won’t be president, will soon leave their jobs — just as the governor is stepping up plans to run for re-election next year.

Several “significant departures’’ are expected in the coming months, sources told The Post.

“A lot of people are looking to get out. They’re tired and, frankly, it’s not the best place to work,’’ said a source with first-hand knowledge of the situation. “There’s a lot of abuse that’s involved in working for the governor, and more and more people are saying, ‘What do we need this for?’ ’’ the source continued.”

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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“We want people to call us if the guy down the street says he hates the government”

 

Palm Beach County Sheriff Gets $1 Million For Violence Prevention Unit Amid Questions About Civil Liberties, Care For Mentally Ill

 

 

 

 

” Florida House and Senate budget leaders have awarded Palm Beach County Sheriff Ric Bradshaw $1 million for a new violence prevention unit aimed at preventing tragedies like those in Newtown, Conn., and Aurora, Colo., from occurring on his turf.

Bradshaw plans to use the extra $1 million to launch “prevention intervention” units featuring specially trained deputies, mental health professionals and caseworkers. The teams will respond to citizen phone calls to a 24-hour hotline with a knock on the door and a referral to services, if needed.

The goal will be avoiding crime — and making sure law enforcement knows about potential powder kegs before tragedies occur, Bradshaw said. But the earmark, which is a one-time-only funding provision, provoked a debate Monday among mental health advocates and providers about the balance between civil liberties, privacy and protecting the public.

Bradshaw said his proposal is a first-of-its-kind in the nation, and he hopes it will become a model for the rest of the state like his gang prevention and pill-mill units.

“Every single incident, whether it’s Newtown, that movie theater, or the guy who spouts off at work and then goes home and kills his wife and two kids — in every single case, there were people who said they knew ahead of time that there was a problem,” Bradshaw said. “If the neighbor of the mom in Newtown had called somebody, this might have saved 25 kids’ lives.”

“We want people to call us if the guy down the street says he hates the government, hates the mayor and he’s gonna shoot him,” Bradshaw said. “What does it hurt to have somebody knock on a door and ask, ‘Hey, is everything OK?’ ”

He said he met with Bradshaw about the program and “got assurances from the sheriff that this is going to be done in a way that respects people’s autonomy and privacy, and that he makes sure to protect against people making false claims.”

Bradshaw acknowledged the risk that anyone in a messy divorce or in a dispute with a neighbor could abuse the hotline. But, he said, he’s confident that his trained professionals will know how to sort out fact from fiction.”

 

 

 

 

 

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Gun Control … ” Under The Radar ”

ATF Ruling On Sporting Purposes Exemption To Armor Piercing Ammunition

 

 

 

” Take careful note, too, what they say concerns them: “BATFE also expressed concern that since the law was adopted, various new rifle-caliber handguns have been invented.”

I wonder how many Department of Justice employees are equally concerned when SWAT teams raids the homes of unsuspecting and incorrect targets, such as Mr. Eurie Stamps, or Ms. Zaelit, or Mr. Tuppeny, or Ms.Lloyd, or Thomas and Rosalie Avina, or Mr. Kenneth Wright?  Statists will be statists.  Can a leopard change its spots?

Finally, this issue of the sporting purposes test is laughable.  The ATF didn’t listen when I pointed this out before, and they aren’t likely to start now.  It isn’t that the test is difficult, or convoluted, or hard to apply, but necessary nonetheless because it’s the law.  The issue is that it is self referentially incoherent.  It cannot be logically applied because it presupposes the consequent.

The ATF must decide what is the “sporting purposes” category by populating the list with examples, and then make the claim that such-and-such an example is deemed to be or not to be a “sporting purpose” because it is or isn’t on the list.  It reasons in a circle.

Not that the ATF will care.  And not that they will care what we have to say about ammunition either. ”

 

 

From The Comments :

 “On December 11, 2012 at 10:33 am, SDN said:

So the ATF is going to rule that non-lead bullets aren’t legal, while the EPA rules that lead bullets aren’t legal either.

Well, the President did say gun control was going to be under the radar; may be the first campaign promise he’s kept.”

 

 

 

HT/ Professor Reynolds

Related articles

• ATF Whistleblower Fired in Denny’s Parking Lot For Exposing Corruption (townhall.com)
• Fast & Furious firings coming: WSJ (hotair.com)
• ATF Withdraws Additional Agents Brought To Flint (detroit.cbslocal.com)
• Nita Ghei’s Column On BATFE’s New Asset Forfeiture Authority…. (forfeiturereform.com)
• Gunwalking: Vince Strikes Back (tarpon.wordpress.com)
• SWAT Team Fires Semi-Automatic Weapons At Unarmed Teenage Girl (infiniteunknown.net)
• Orchid Advisors – Company Launch Targets Firearm ATF and FCPA Regulations as DOJ Pressure Heats Up (prweb.com)
• ATF Fires Managers over Fast and Furious, Obama and Holder Get Off Scot-Free (americanthinker.com)

OUTSPOKEN OBAMA CLASSMATE:

 THE PRESIDENT USED THE IRS TO PUNISH ME THROUGH 18-MONTH ‘WITCH HUNT’

 

 

 

 

 

  ” Wayne Allyn Root, the 2008 Libertarian Party’s vice-presidential nominee, is an outspoken political commentator. The politico, who recently announced that he’s rejoining the Republican Party and supporting Mitt Romney for president, also has a new purported role: An active member of President Barack Obama’s enemies list. Root is now alleging that the president is targeting him and using the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) to do it.

The problems started in January 2011, when Root, who claims to have a perfect tax record, was put through a surprise audit. At the time, he claims to have received a call from an IRS agent who said that he is a fan of Root and that it would be “an honor” to audit him — sentiments that struck the commentator as odd. The agent also told Root that he has read his political columns, listened to him on radio and visited his web site, and that he agrees with his politics.

“I found that very strange, actually chilling. It did not feel right. I got a sick feeling in pit of my stomach,” Root told WND in a recent interview. “Why would an IRS agent say such personal things? Why would he disclose that he’s a fan of mine and agrees with my politics? Isn’t that a conflict of interest?” “

Vote Buying is His Speciality

“Sugar Daddy in Chief”

 

“And Obama has repeatedly over the past several months used his executive authority to reward certain key constituencies, a process sometimes referred to as “vote buying.”

Here are five prominent examples:”

 

Be Afraid , Be Very Afraid

  Why does SSA and NOAA need ammo ?

  ” First the Department of Homeland Security ordered 450 MILLION rounds of ammunition , then the National Oceanic Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) submitted an order
for 46,000 rounds of high powered ammo, and now Business Insider reports that the Social Security Administration is asking to
purchase 174,000 rounds of .357 Sig 125 grain bonded jacketed hollow point bullets. ”

  There is something rotten afoot . Does anyone wonder why our domestic law enforcement agencys seem to be preparing for war ?

  

Orwell was Ahead of Schedule

“Court Upholds Domestic Drone Use in Arrest of American Citizen”

”  This makes me generally uncomfortable. I’m a law and order gal as you all know, but this does seem to unfold a slippery-slope when it comes to what the government is allowed to do here on our own soil against American citizens involved in local, civil activity. I suppose I’m a bit of a Libertarian on these issues, but my concern also rests within my commitment to small, unobtrusive, constitutional

It feels to me as another example of crazy overreach by the Fed as we saw with Ruby Ridge and, arguably, Waco. I’m curious to seen where you stand on this. ”

   We here at YouViewed share Tammy’s concerns . This whole concept is ripe for abuse given the level of trust that our government engenders in it’s citizenry .

Farm Subsidy Abuse

Government watching the purse strings as always . 

 

  ” ALBUQUERQUE (KRQE) – Back in the Great Depression, the federal government created a program to help farmers weather the ups and downs of the growing season.

Today, however, recipients of farm subsidies don’t even have to be actual farmers.

In fact, a Larry Barker investigation found hundreds of Albuquerque residents have collected millions of dollars in farm payments over the years without ever planting a single seed, hoeing a row or firing up a tractor.

“The average New Mexican ought to care about farm subsidies because we’re talking about billions of dollars–of their dollars, taxpayer dollars–going in to be paid to people who aren’t even doing farming,” said Sen. Tom Udall, D-N.M. “If you are not on the land working the farm, it seems to me that you’re not a farmer.” “

“US drone industry: Nothing to hide – nothing to fear”

More Police Thuggery in California

Reason 

 

  “When mostly Latino residents in an Anaheim, California neighborhood gathered to protest a police shooting, the cops responded by…shooting rubber bullets and siccing a police dog on a mother holding an infant child.”

Richard Milhouse Obama

Enemies List 

 

  ” A Republican donor featured prominently on President Obama’s “enemies list” is facing intense scrutiny from federal authorities, the Wall Street Journal’s Kim Strasselreports.

Frank VanderSloot, an Idaho businessman who has contributed significantly to Mitt Romney’s campaign, was previously targeted by the Obama campaign as a “less-than-reputable” individual, as well as a “litigious, combative and a bitter foe of the gay rights movement.”

That was only the beginning of his troubles, apparently.”

“TIGTA: IRS Did Not Follow Law in 22% of Seizures of Taxpayers’ Property “

Ya think ?

” When legal and internal guidelines are not followed, it could result in the abuse of taxpayers’ rights. “

I Play , You Pay …. Not

  Good for Durham for refusing to make her citizens underwrite Obama’s campaign .

” Last week the Obama crew demanded that Karl Rove and his Crossroads group should
reveal their list of private donors, ironically just hours before claiming executive privilege to try and continue the cover-up of the Obama-Holder Fast & Furious
scandal. So isn’t it curious that while on his daily fundraising binge Monday, Obama himself had someone privately foot the tab for security at a New Hampshire
stop after the locals decided they’d had enough of this freeloader campaigning on the public dime.
Yet they won’t disclose the donor .

With an anonymous donor picking up Durham’s $20,000 security tab for President Obama’s campaign stop yesterday, local conservatives are demanding transparency, and
questioning whether the arrangement might put the Democratic candidate on the wrong side of election laws. “

EPA Must Go

    Not content bullying and terrorizing private citizens , the EPA exercises the same mindset amongst it’s own . Is no one safe from the “Brown Shirts ” of the EnviroCops ?

  ” The Daily Caller has obtained an internal “report of violence in the workplace” notifying top officials at the Environmental Protection Agency about the abusive behavior of a political appointee close to EPA Administrator Lisa Jackson.

The report and call for an independent investigation and action highlights the behavior of Stephanie Owens, an EPA deputy associate administrator in the Office of the Administrator’s Office of External Affairs and Environmental Education. It details a March 14 incident in which Owens, a political appointee, verbally attacked a bargaining unit employee to the point that the union member was afraid to return to her office — for the second time in two weeks . “

Teacher Yells at Student Over Obama Criticism

https://www.youtube.com/v/LPhnjRq-KFM