Category: Politics

Philadelphia Is Shutting Down Its Asset Forfeiture Program

And paying $3 million to the people it victimized. Apparently, Philly’s was one of the most pernicious in nature.

Philadelphia hauled in $64 million in seized property over the last decade, according to an investigation by the Philadelphia Inquirer. That’s more than Brooklyn and Los Angeles combined. Not only does Philadelphia take in more than other cities, but the average seizure is significantly more petty. A City Paper review of 100 cases from 2011 and 2012 found the median amount of cash seized by the District Attorney was only $178.

Civil asset forfeiture is one of the most egregious concepts to spring from the drug war.

Do You Own What You Buy?

“You know all those movies you bought from Apple? Um, well, think different: You didn’t.” The headline from the Register is outragey, and it’s only deep in the article the real story starts coming out.

And it’s not fair to single out just Apple either: pretty much every provider of digital content has the same rules. Amazon got in hot water a few years ago when its deal with Disney expired and customers discovered that their expensive movie purchases vanished over night. In 2009 thee was a similar ruckus when it pulled George Orwell’s classic 1984 from Kindles without notice.

In reality of course, these huge companies go to great lengths to ensure that their licensing deals with the main content companies are retained so the situation happens only occasionally. And such deals are usually worth so much to both sides that they are continually renewed.

With digital media, there’s been a long-running skirmish surrounding who truly owns their media. I don’t think it’s going to be solved anytime soon. What I do know is that if you own any digital media, it needs to be free of Digital Rights Management (DRM) code and it should be on your hard drives. Or you need physical copies.

Or just take the risk.

This is How You Get BLM and Kneeling

A police officer comes home after a fifteen hour shift, goes to the wrong apartment, mistakes the resident for an intruder in “her apartment,” and shoots him dead. She’s been charged with manslaughter. My personal, uneducated opinion is manslaughter sounds right. I don’t think this was anything other than a mistake with horrific consequences. Nothing I’ve read shows that the officer had malicious intent. Still, everything I’ve learned since starting to carry a gun is that I am fully responsible to use my gun legally and properly. If I don’t, I will face charges.

So, why did the cops send narcotics to the dead man’s apartment and “let slip” there was marijuana? Exactly how is that relevant to the case at hand? She was not doing a drug bust.

Florida First on Freedom

The Cato Institute released its freedom rankings among the fifty states, and Florida came in first. From the article:

Florida won the top spot with its economic policies. The state has no personal income tax, and its “state-level tax collections are more than a standard deviation and a half below the national average,” the study says. The state also has lower-than-average levels of government consumption and debt.

From a regulatory point of view, Florida doesn’t enjoy the same level of freedom due to a variety of factors, including land-use regulations, an $8.25/hour minimum wage, regulations on managed-care plans, and a bottom-five occupational freedom ranking. In terms of personal freedom, Florida ranks 11th thanks to civil asset forfeiture reforms and educational freedom. Florida also recognizes same-sex marriage due to the Supreme Court’s 2015 ruling in Obergefell v. Hodges. The Florida state criminal code, however, still contains draconian mandatory minimums for nonviolent drug offenses and allows for capital punishment.

Who came last? New York. This is my surprised face.

Florida Governor’s Race Day One

It’s been less than twenty-four hours and already the race card is being flung at Republican Ron DeSantis like it was a shuriken. This is the kind of petty fauxrage bullshit that makes me kind of want to burn it all down. Andrew Gillum is being touted as the first black candidate for governor from one of the major parties. That’s a major accomplishment, but this kind of ridiculousness makes his candidacy look weak.

To be honest, I’m not particularly thrilled with either candidate. Both seem to be heavily courting the populist wings of their respective parties. Of course, that may be simply be pandering to their bases, which have swung wildly to the populist in the last few years.

In the end, I’ll most likely be pulling the lever for DeSantis due to the issue of guns. Gillum is very publicly anti-gun, and I can see him using the executive power of the governor to limit my rights in whatever way he think he can get away with.

To Vote or Not To Vote

I’ve missed two elections in the twenty-five years since I achieved my majority. Both were primaries where I had one or two races on the ballot. This will be the third I’m missing.

Why? Because I’ve just moved from Hillsborough County to Manatee. I know close to nothing about the local politics, and I refuse to be a low-information voter.

Now, the November elections? I’ll be ready for them.

First Question

If I’m going to debate someone, one of the first questions that need to be addressed is this:

Do you believe, or are you willing to concede that I believe, that I want you to have the best life you can according to your needs, wants, and desires?

If the answer is “yes,” then we can have a civilized conversation about the best means of bringing this about. If the answer is “no,” there is real doubt we can even have a conversation. Because there are very few people that I want them to have less than the best life possible. Those generally fall into those who willfully and maliciously harm others.