Billy Binion Profile picture
Apr 26 7 tweets 3 min read Twitter logo Read on Twitter
Thread: The Supreme Court is hearing a big case tomorrow. It should unite everyone: left, right & center. And the national press has almost totally ignored it.

It centers on an elderly woman who fell behind on her taxes. So the county took her home, sold it, and kept the profit. Image
Her name is Geraldine Tyler. After falling $2,300 behind on her property taxes, the county added $13,000 in penalties, interests & fees.

When she couldn't pay, they seized her condo—valued at $93,000—sold it for $40,000, and kept the leftover $25,000. reason.com/2023/04/25/rob…
The Supreme Court will decide if that's constitutional. It sounds like an easy case. But it has not been.

Multiple federal courts ruled against Geraldine, and said the government did nothing wrong by stealing her equity after it satisfied her debt. reason.com/2022/03/11/a-9…
Geraldine is far from the only victim. The stories are nauseating.

At 76 years old, Bennie Coleman lost his DC home over a $134 bill. The gov't sold the $197,000 house & kept the profit.

For months, Bennie slept on the porch—with dementia—thinking he'd locked himself out.
Then there's Tawanda Hall, who fell $900 behind on a property-tax payment plan for her Michigan home. After penalties, she owed $22,642.

The gov't seized her $300,000 house, sold it, and kept the profit.

The surplus totaled $286,000. This is not a joke. reason.com/2023/04/25/rob…
Let me put this in perspective. In Michigan, defendants found guilty of stealing over $20,000 face a decade in prison.

When the government stole *10 times* that—leaving a mom and her kids completely bankrupt—it was all in a day's work.

Make it make sense.
This preys on the most vulnerable. And the gov't has gotten away with it, bc people don't know it's happening.

Well, people need to know. Because if it can happen to them, it can happen to you. SCOTUS should call it what it is: theft, plain & simple. /end reason.com/2023/04/25/rob…

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More from @billybinion

Apr 5
In 2015, a 15-year-old named Lakeith Smith was charged with murder. He's now serving 30 years. The catch: Prosecutors know he didn't kill anyone.

A cop shot his friend during a burglary—& Smith was convicted of homicide. His case epitomizes some of our system's flaws. A thread.
Smith was convicted of felony murder, which allows the state to charge you with a killing you didn't commit if it happened during the commission of another crime.

So when a cop shot Smith's friend during a burglary, the state charged 4 teen boys with murder. /2
The other boys took plea deals. Two of them served 14 months. But Lakeith wanted a trial. So he originally got 65 years, which was reduced to 30.

The trial penalty in action. You have a constitutional right to a trial by jury, and you shouldn't be punished for using it. /3
Read 8 tweets
Apr 5
I say this without snark: I hope people outraged by Trump’s flimsy indictment take this as a lesson that prosecutors are totally unaccountable & can wield their enormous power against someone simply because they don’t like them. Most cases just don’t get front page news spreads.
Prosecutors can file false charges, lie under oath, conjure fake evidence, impanel false testimony, coerce witnesses—and there is nothing you can do to hold them to account. They are the top law enforcement officer, and they are often above the law. reason.com/2022/12/17/pro…
An example I recently covered: Prosecutors in Colorado charged a school principal w/ having child porn. But they knew he didn't have child porn.

He was investigating a sexting case. The state was mad he did the police's job after the SRO refused to help. reason.com/2022/12/09/thi…
Read 5 tweets
Mar 24
This is James King. In 2014, two law enforcement officers beat him to a pulp after they mistook him for the wrong person.

Almost 10 years later, King still can't sue. His case epitomizes how hard it is for victims of government abuse to seek justice. A thread.
King was walking alone when FBI agent Douglas Brownback & Grand Rapids detective Todd Allen accosted him. They were not in uniform & did not identify themselves as law enforcement.

"Are you mugging me?" King asked. He ran. So the officers tackled him & beat his face in. /2
Police then arrested King. But he was innocent. And that should've been obvious.

Cops were after someone who was accused of stealing liquor from a friend's apartment. That suspect is on the left. King is on the right. I'll let you decide if they look anything alike. /3
Read 7 tweets
Mar 1
Last year, cops charged a man with having child porn. The kicker: The government knew that wasn't true.

Prosecutors offered a "deal": Plead guilty to obstruction, or risk 12 years in prison & sex offender status.

The case recently concluded. It says something about our system.
Bradley Bass is a Colorado school administrator who investigated a student sexting incident—after the school resource officer said he didn't have time.

Bass did the investigation in accordance with school policy. And then cops turned around & arrested him for doing so. /2
They used an Colorado law to charge him with possessing pornography, because he did the job the school police officer should have done.

The law they charged him under makes a special exception...for cops. Wrote about that here. /3 reason.com/2022/12/09/thi…
Read 8 tweets
Feb 18
She’s unhinged, but I’ve actually seen/heard a lesser version of this from lots of folks since 2016. It’s so wrong.

Most everyone wants the same thing. They just have different ways of getting there. If you think that makes them evil, then you need to go outside.
My friends & family who think differently than me are always challenging me. They make me consider why I believe what I believe. They make me think. If you can’t engage with someone who has come to a different worldview, then you are both intellectually & emotionally lazy.
The left also talks a lot about privilege. It is deeply privileged to say that you should just cut off everyone who isn’t a carbon copy of you. That would leave many without a family & with very few friends. People are complicated. Not everyone exists on a binary.
Read 5 tweets
Feb 17
I was fascinated by the New York Times’ writers labeling “patient zero” hate speech in Emily Bazelon’s article.

So I found the definitive book on the topic, written by a trans historian. The term he used: patient zero.

And then I tracked him down. Here’s what he said.
His name is Alex Bakker. He himself is trans, and he’s chronicled the life of F.G., who was the first patient to receive a revolutionary new treatment in the 1980s. Bakker called him “patient zero.”

Here’s part of Bakker’s response to the NYT contributors:
Even more interesting: F.G.—who Bazelon called “patient zero”—also calls *himself* patient zero in this context.

Would the NYT letter writers like to tell a trans pioneer that he’s anti-trans? I doubt it. reason.com/2023/02/17/pat…
Read 6 tweets

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