John Oliver

The DEA Strikes Again – Agents Seize Man’s Life Savings Under Civil Asset Forfeiture Without Charges

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All the money – $16,000 in cash – that Joseph Rivers said he had saved and relatives had given him to launch his dream in Hollywood is gone, seized during his trip out West not by thieves but by Drug Enforcement Administration agents during a stop at the Amtrak train station in Albuquerque.

Rivers, 22, wasn’t detained and has not been charged with any crime since his money was taken last month.

That doesn’t matter. Under a federal law enforcement tool called civil asset forfeiture, he need never be arrested or convicted of a crime for the government to take away his cash, cars or property – and keep it.

Rivers was left penniless, his dream deferred.

From the Albuquerque Journal article: DEA to Traveler: Thanks, I’ll Take That Cash

In the “land of the free” you might be innocent until proven guilty, but your assets aren’t.

In one of the most uncivilized and preposterous loopholes in America, federal agents are allowed to steal citizens’ assets; cars, cash, even homes, based on suspicion alone. I’ve covered this barbaric and backward practice on many occasions, but here’s a quick refresher from the first post I wrote on the subject in 2013, Why You Should Never, Ever Drive Through Tenaha, Texas:

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NYU Professor Uncovers How the FDA Systematically Covers Up Fraud and Misconduct in Drug Trials

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Screen Shot 2015-02-17 at 11.12.14 AM That misconduct happens isn’t shocking. What is: When the FDA finds scientific fraud or misconduct, the agency doesn’t notify the public, the medical establishment, or even the scientific community that the results of a medical experiment are not to be trusted. On the contrary. For more than a decade, the FDA has shown a pattern of burying the details of misconduct. As a result, nobody ever finds out which data is bogus, which experiments are tainted, and which drugs might be on the market under false pretenses. The FDA has repeatedly hidden evidence of scientific fraud not just from the public, but also from its most trusted scientific advisers, even as they were deciding whether or not a new drug should be allowed on the market. Even a congressional panel investigating a case of fraud regarding a dangerous drug couldn’t get forthright answers. For an agency devoted to protecting the public from bogus medical science, the FDA seems to be spending an awful lot of effort protecting the perpetrators of bogus science from the public.

The sworn purpose of the FDA is to protect the public health, to assure us that all the drugs on the market are proven safe and effective by reputable scientific trials. Yet, over and over again, the agency has proven itself willing to keep scientists, doctors, and the public in the dark about incidents when those scientific trials turn out to be less than reputable. It does so not only by passive silence, but by active deception. And despite being called out numerous times over the years for its bad behavior, including from some very pissed-off members of Congress, the agency is stubbornly resistant to change. It’s a sign that the FDA is deeply captured, drawn firmly into the orbit of the pharmaceutical industry that it’s supposed to regulate. We can no longer hope that the situation will get better without firm action from the legislature.

From the Slate article: Are Your Medications Safe? 

In the past week or so, I’ve come across several important articles that will leave any rational observer increasingly skeptical of the entire medial industry in the U.S. This isn’t something I say lightly, and I think it’s an absolutely horrific development for our society.

Just last week, Liberty Blitzkrieg published an article titled, Introducing “Physician Dispensing” – The Latest Troubling Medical Industry Scam, which expounded on why an erosion of trust in doctors is so troubling. If you missed that piece, I suggest going back and reading it. Here’s an excerpt:

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Introducing “Physician Dispensing” – The Latest Troubling Medical Industry Scam

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Screen Shot 2015-02-10 at 11.13.33 AMOver the last two years, states nationwide have moved to crack down on so-called physician dispensing of prescription drugs, a practice largely limited to doctors who treat injured workers. But doctors and companies have responded by exploiting loopholes in those rules and adopting new strategies to stay one step ahead, recent studies suggest.

One tactic has been to create novel dosages of old drugs to get around cost controls on traditional ones, according to a report issued in January by the Workers Compensation Research Institute, a group in Cambridge, Mass. Along with the 7.5-milligram version of cyclobenzaprine, the muscle relaxant, new dosages of two older painkillers, tramadol and hydrocodone, that carry far higher prices than the standard versions, have also appeared, the study found.

– From today’s New York Times article: New Dosages of Old Drugs Are Used to Raise Their Prices

The main theme here at Liberty Blitzkrieg since inception has been that these United States, indeed much of the world, has become completely captured by a corrupt, greedy, ruthless oligarchy that has made itself entirely unaccountable, thus destroying the rule of law. In order to keep the racket going, the oligarchy relies on a minion class to support the power structure. Naturally, this minion class is generally too brainwashed, ignorant or stupid to even understand their place in the social structure, which makes them far more effective. Basically, “useful idiots.”

This class is also often given immunity from prosecution, which ensures that the worst rise to the top. Police fall into this category, which is partly why we have seen such insane criminality in recent years, ranging the gamut from extreme violence to outright theft. All of this has been happening as crime in America has been declining for decades.

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Quote of the Day – An Incredible Statement from the City Attorney of Las Cruces, New Mexico

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He describes to a roomful of local officials from across the state how Las Cruces police officers waited outside a bar for a man they hoped would walk out drunk because they “could hardly wait” to get their hands on his 2008 Mercedes, which they then hoped to put up for auction.

“We could be czars,” he tells the room. “We could own the city. We could be in the real estate business.”

– From the NPR article: Police Can Seize And Sell Assets Even When The Owner Broke No Law

The above quotes refer to statements made by Harry S. Connelly, the city attorney of Las Cruces, N.M., in a video posted over the weekend by the New York Times. His comments refer to the feudal and tyrannical tactic known as civil asset forfeiture, in which police across these United States are allowed to intentionally steal citizens’ property based on “suspicion” alone, without charging them with a crime. This topic has as been a key theme on this site all year. In fact, one of my most popular posts of 2014 was: “Common People Do Not Carry This Much U.S. Currency…” – This is How Police Justify Stealing American Citizens’ Money. If you never read that post, or saw John Oliver’s hilarious video, I suggest checking it out.

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“Common People Do Not Carry This Much U.S. Currency…” – This is How Police Justify Stealing American Citizens’ Money

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Screen Shot 2014-10-06 at 11.05.00 AMPolice confiscating Americans’ hard earned cash, as well as a wide variety of other valuables, without an arrest or conviction is a disturbing and growing practice throughput these United States. Since cops get to keep the seized funds and use the money on pretty much anything they want, the practice is becoming endemic in certain parts of the nation. The theft is often referred to simply as civil forfeiture, or civil asset forfeiture. Incredibly, under civil forfeiture laws your property is “guilty until you prove it innocent.”

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Video of the Day – Meet Australia’s Creepy Prime Minister, Tony Abbott

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Screen Shot 2014-06-12 at 5.14.34 PMIt’s not often that I write posts critiquing foreign nations or their leaders, as there is simply too much to focus on in my own backyard. That said, every now and again I come across something so despicable I simply cannot help but highlight the horror. Today, that thing is a person. That person, is the extraordinarily creepy Prime Minister of Australia, Tony Abbott.

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