01-29-2018, 11:31 AM
(01-29-2018, 11:27 AM)David Horn Wrote: There was a case of a young man carrying a bag on a train who was approached by a DEA agent and asked to show the contents of his bag. He had no drugs but he did have several thousand dollars in cash. He claimed it was seed money for a business. There was no evidence to the contrary. The DEA agent seized the money, and told him that he would have to go to court to get it back. He tried. He had proof that his story was valid, though he had no reason to need an excuse, but the court OK'd the DEA keeping the money anyway. Needless to say, the business opportunity died. Apparently, this is a common practice.
Asset forfeiture prior to conviction is wrong on every level.
Carrying seed money as cash is asking for trouble. It might be how some communities do business, but there are safer ways to hold assets -- like debit cards and cashier's checks.
The ideal subject of totalitarian rule is not the convinced Nazi or the dedicated Communist but instead the people for whom the distinction between fact and fiction, true and false, no longer exists -- Hannah Arendt.