A Virginia Lawmaker Takes On Policing For Profit

How Asset Forfeiture Allows Cops To Steal From Citizens

 

 

 

 

” It probably seemed like a bright idea at the time: Let the police seize the ill-gotten gains of alleged drug dealers and other suspected criminals and sell it, using the proceeds to buy much-needed crime-fighting gear.

  Unfortunately, the process—civil asset forfeiture—did not require convicting anybody of a crime. In fact, it didn’t even require charging anybody with a crime. Not surprisingly, this led to rampant abuse, which has been abundantly documented for many years. Various reform efforts, including a 2000 federal law, have been unable to stop what’s become known as policing for profit.

  But Virginia lawmaker Mark Cole is going to give it another shot. That’s as good a sign as any that civil asset forfeiture has jumped the shark. “

 

 

  We wish Mr Cole good luck . Legalized theft , aka civil asset forfeiture , is an abuse that is completely incompatible with the spirit of America as well as being blatantly unconstitutional .

 

Reason

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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Teacher’s Unions Fighting Parental Choice In California

UNIONS TAKE AIM AT PARENT-TRIGGER LAW

 

 

” Most reforms are like rocks that land in an empty field. They don’t anger anyone because they don’t challenge any vested interests. But in 2010, Democratic state Sen. Gloria Romero of East Los Angeles introduced the Parent Empowerment Act, which passed the Legislature and was signed into law by then-Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger.

Better known as the “parent trigger” law, it allows parents of students attending schools that continually fall below state and federal testing standards to force district officials to make significant changes. If 51 percent of parents sign the requisite petitions, parents can insist on a new principal or turn the school into a charter.

The law has only been applied a handful of times. But such efforts have been opposed politically and in the courts by the state’s teachers’ unions, which still are furious about it three years later. Newspapers report that United Teachers of Los Angeles (UTLA), the city’s main teachers’ union, voted to recruit a legislator to carry a bill that would “reform” the law.”

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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Another Surprising Venue For Civil Liberties Protection … Washington DC

Don’t Look Now But Washington DC May Actually Reform Civil Asset Forfeiture

” Washington D.C. city council members are considering a bill that would give D.C. residents the strongest protections against the abuse of civil asset forfeiture in the country. Currently, the Metropolitan Police Department (MPD) seizes millions of dollars of property from thousands of people each year—and keeps 100 percent of the profits.

Unlike with criminal forfeiture, where the government seizes assets after convicting someone of a crime, with civil forfeiture there is no legal requirement to prove a crime was committed or even to file criminal charges. Instead, once police confiscate property, the burden is on the owner to prove innocence. Property owners who can’t afford a legal battle or whose property is worth less than court costs often simply relinquish their property by default.”

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Scalawags All …

US Senate Passes Watered-Down Filibuster Reform

 

 

 

 

 

” Will the move keep the minority — currently Republicans — from obstructing major bills? Certainly not. But it could reduce the pervasive use of dilatory tactics that have killed off countless pieces of legislation and delayed presidential nominees, sometimes for months.

The changes, which passed 86-9, will help legislation reach the floor of the chamber more quickly by barring a senator from using a blocking tactic, known as the filibuster, at the beginning of debate on a bill.

“It is a step in the right direction,” Democrat Tom Harkin said of the deal which was brokered by four Senate Democrats and four Republicans after weeks of negotiation.

Harkin was among a small group of progressive senators who pushed for more radical alterations to the chamber’s rules, including a requirement that senators talk out their filibusters live on the Senate floor, as in the Hollywood classic “Mr Smith Goes to Washington.”

But those bids were defeated, as Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid and top Republican Mitch McConnell agreed to a compromise hashed out by the bipartisan group.

Senate rules until now allowed a lawmaker to filibuster a bill at many stages of the process.

But senators including Democrat Carl Levin and Republican John McCain argued that members had abused a favored blocking tactic by the minority, essentially killing legislation by filibustering the motion to move toward debating a bill.”

Related articles

• Harry Reid: “I’m not personally, at this stage, ready to get rid of the 60-vote threshold” (washingtonpost.com)
• Liberals irate as Senate passes watered-down filibuster reform (thehill.com)
• Tentative agreement reached to modestly curb filibusters (oregonlive.com)
• Top senators reach deal to curb filibusters (cnsnews.com)
• The Senate approves rules for a sort-of reformed filibuster (dailykos.com)
• Top Senators: Tentative Deal To Curb Filibusters (npr.org)
• Levin leads push to ease threat of ‘meltdown’ in US Senate – Detroit Free Press (freep.com)

More Democrat Votes

Obama to Seek Immigration Overhaul in Single, Giant Bill

 

 

 

 

” As President Obama begins his second term, it seems he intends to make good on campaign promises to reform American immigration policy. The New York Times reports today that the president and his fellow Democrats in the Senate are seeking to create a giant omnibus bill that would remake the entire system.

Mr. Obama and Senate Democrats will propose the changes in one comprehensive bill, the officials said, resisting efforts by some Republicans to break the overhaul into smaller pieces — separately addressing young illegal immigrants, migrant farmworkers or highly skilled foreigners — which might be easier for reluctant members of their party to accept. […]

Mr. Obama is expected to lay out his plan in the coming weeks, perhaps in his State of the Union address early next month, administration officials said. The White House will argue that its solution for illegal immigrants is not an amnesty, as many critics insist, because it would include fines, the payment of back taxes and other hurdles for illegal immigrants who would obtain legal status, the officials said.

The president’s plan would also impose nationwide verification of legal status for all newly hired workers; add visas to relieve backlogs and allow highly skilled immigrants to stay; and create some form of guest-worker program to bring in low-wage immigrants in the future. “

Related articles

• Obama plans to push Congress on immigration reform (kansas.com)
• Obama Wants Comprehensive Immigration Law With Path to Citizenship (hispanicallyspeakingnews.com)
• Obama Plans Big Immigration Push (politicalwire.com)
• Obama Will Seek Citizenship Path in One Big Immigration Overhaul (dailyqueernews.wordpress.com)