Your Government Is A Thief...Again

 "A Michigan couple says their town seized a building they owned and then demanded that they buy two cars for the police department to get their own property back."

https://reason.com/2022/05/19/michigan-couple-says-town-seized-their-building-and-offered-to-return-it-if-they-bought-two-cars-for-police/

"A February 24, 2021, email provided to Reason by the Kozbials' attorney, Marc Deldin, shows that a Highland Park police officer, ferrying a message from city attorney Terry Ford, sent the Kozbials quotes for two cars from a local Ford dealership, totaling about $70,000.

Civil liberties groups often criticize civil forfeiture for creating a perverse profit incentive for police and local governments, since forfeiture revenues often go straight into their budgets, but it's practically unheard of to see such an overt shakedown put into emails and court documents.

"Extortion, there's no other way to explain it," Deldin says."

An interesting document that is very common from other cases:

https://www.documentcloud.org/documents/4614019-Chappell-Notice-of-Intent-to-Forfeit.html

Brookside, Alabama's Government REALLY Hates You!

 Emblematic of everything that is wrong with civil asset forfeiture, the fact that this is not stopped instantly tells you everything you need to know about Your Government's disdain for you and your rights. You are an ATM.

https://blog.simplejustice.us/2022/01/20/a-dog-named-cash/

Your Government Robs Armored Cars!!

 Millions of dollars in legal marijuana proceeds are being stolen by cops who literally rob them off of armored trucks under the guise of Civil Asset Forfeiture.

https://reason.com/2022/01/18/kansas-and-california-cops-used-civil-forfeiture-to-stage-armored-car-heists-stealing-money-earned-by-licensed-marijuana-businesses/

Your Government Are Fucking Thieves!!!!!

 Watch the video...

Of a Marine...

Being robbed of his life savings...

https://reason.com/2021/12/01/watch-nevada-highway-patrol-officers-seize-a-veterans-life-savings-through-asset-forfeiture/

China May Be Incompetently (In Addition to Evilly) Lead

 "A big lesson of the past twenty years has been “actually liberal democracy isn’t necessary to reach developed-country status”, so it would be quite the twist if it turned out you needed liberal democracy to reach developed-country status. This gets pretty close to the great mystery of why some less-developed countries “catch up” and others don’t; whatever happens in China is going to be a really useful data point." - Astral Codex Ten

https://noahpinion.substack.com/p/what-if-xi-jinping-just-isnt-that

China - If You Believe Them You Are Deluded - #MeToo Not Allowed There

 Anyone who thinks that powerful Communist Party officials didn't sexually harass or assault with as much or more impunity as the powerful in America is on crack. The main difference between China and America is that while the powerful could, at least until recently, make you figuratively disappear from public view and fame, the Chinese Communist Party can LITERALLY make you disappear:

https://www.espn.com/tennis/story/_/id/32665214/china-foreign-ministry-not-aware-situation-surrounding-tennis-player-peng-shuai

https://www.cnn.com/2021/11/18/china/wta-ceo-peng-shuai-steve-simon-intl-hnk/index.html

UPDATE: In which I still don't believe those liars:

https://www.espn.com/tennis/story/_/id/32671331/photos-missing-chinese-tennis-star-peng-shuai-posted-online

UPDATE: Still not buying it:

https://www.cnn.com/2021/11/23/sport/hrw-peng-shuai-china-sportswashing-spt-intl/index.html

Your Government Is Made Up Of Criminals

 Just a nice summary of Philadelphia's criminal enterprise that would make The Godfather jealous:

https://reason.com/2021/10/20/in-a-new-survey-victims-of-philadelphias-forfeiture-racket-highlight-the-hazards-of-giving-cops-a-license-to-steal/