At the Supreme Court yesterday, a lawyer argued it was fair & just when a county took an old lady's home, sold it & kept the profit—over an unpaid tax bill.
I wanted to share a few highlights, bc it shows how far the gov't will go to preserve its right to violate you. A thread.
A reminder that this is the case of the 94-year-old woman whose home was taken by the government after she fell $2,300 behind on her taxes.
They added $13,000 in penalties, sold the home for $40,000, and kept the profit. /2 reason.com/2023/04/25/rob…
During arguments, Kagan asked if there were any limits to this practice. Could the government seize a $5 million dollar house over a small tax debt?
Arguing for the government, lawyer Neal Katyal said: Well, yes it could!
An elderly woman in Nebraska lost her *million-dollar* farm over a small tax debt. A woman in Michigan lost her *300,000* home over a small tax debt. I could go on. /4 reason.com/2023/04/27/the…
But the best exchange was with Justice Barrett, who asked if the gov't could seize a car over $20 in parking tickets.
Katyal said no, bc there "is no tradition that goes back that could be looked to."
The good news: The government was humiliated & the Court seemed likely to side with Geraldine.
The bad news: The government's embarrassingly flimsy arguments *worked* in previous courts, which partially explains how governments have been able to steal from their own citizens. /6
After all, civil forfeiture is still legal. The government can take everything you have over a mere accusation. Without due process.
Like the time it took almost *$1 million* from this family without ever filing criminal charges. Shouldn't be normal! /7 reason.com/2022/02/18/fbi…
I'll end here: Geraldine asked her lawyer how much longer this would take, because, at 94 years old, "I haven't got forever."
She spent some of her final years—almost a decade—fighting this, because *this* is the hill the gov't chose to die on. It's vile, & I hope SCOTUS agrees.
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This is 82-year-old pilot Ken Jouppi. Alaska seized his $95,000 plane—and he's spent *13 years* trying to get it back.
Why? Because a passenger once brought a 6-pack of beer on his flight.
Now he has one last hope. A thread.
In 2012, Jouppi was preparing to fly a passenger from Fairbanks, Alaska, to the remote village of Beaver—which is dry.
That passenger bought beer for her husband. (The horror!)
What she didn't realize is that state troopers were watching. /2
Police raided Jouppi's plane before takeoff & found his passenger's Budweiser. It wasn't his—but he was still convicted of a bootlegging charge (a misdemeanor).
He got 3 days in jail & a hefty fine.
But prosecutors wanted more: his $95,000 plane. /3
Call this what it is: entitlement. Some conservatives don't want competition from hardworking immigrants who outwork & outperform them. And here I'd been told progressives are the ones against merit.
The vast majority of Indian immigrants are highly skilled. They have the top median household income. They often cost more than US workers because of the costs of their visas. Companies aren't doing that for kicks. If you want the job, then stop whining & outdo your competition.
The post Charlie’s piggybacking on is laughably wrong. There’s no general visa for Indians. Laura is almost certainly talking about H-1Bs—the cap is set by law. Trump can’t wave a magic wand & increase them. Pundits shouldn’t just make stuff up.
The woman—Linda Martin—was never charged with a crime. That's par for the course with civil forfeiture, and it's outrageous. But the FBI didn't even tell her what it *suspected* her of. How are innocent people supposed to fight back when that happens? How is anyone OK with this?
A hill I will keep dying on: If the government cannot articulate why it is taking your life savings, then it...shouldn't be doing that. It's legalized larceny, and it needs to end. reason.com/2025/07/28/the…
A rant: Tipping culture is out of control. I'm a generous tipper. But 20% for someone to make eye contact & hand me a muffin is crazy. Restaurants widely suggesting people tip 30% now is kookoo bananas. At this rate we'll soon be tipping the price of the meal. Make it stop.
I always feel like a sociopath when I select "no tip" after buying, say, a $7 coffee. I should not feel that way. Someone took my money for a drink I already paid too much for, poured liquid in a cup, and handed it to me. Why is a tip merited there? What are we doing here?
I also really can't get over how POS systems are now using 20% tips as the *minimum.* Went somewhere recently that began at 25%, going to 35%. I'm not tipping a third of the price unless you defeat Gordon Ramsay in hand-to-hand combat. And I'd still have to think about it.
This is Sergio Velazquez, former police chief of Hialeah, FL.
Over $1 million in civil forfeiture funds vanished on his watch. Now he’s facing prison—because he allegedly stole a bunch of that.
It’s not the first time legalized larceny became actual larceny. A thread.
For those who aren’t familiar, civil forfeiture allows police to seize someone’s assets, even if the owner isn't charged with a crime.
Velazquez—who allegedly spent the money he stole on Rolex, Louis Vuitton & Versace—is a brazen example of how the practice is ripe for abuse. /2
Investigators say several *million* dollars went missing from the department—both from city-funded narcotics funds and cash seized through civil forfeiture.