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[redwallzyl]

Well, I decided to catch back up on the Canadian housing bubble.

It's pretty scary.

Really scary.

nothing can possibly go wrong! the free market will fix it! /s

[Baffler]

Mexico pays for the wall, kinda?

It's mostly just posturing, probably, but I thought it was pretty funny.

[scriver]

Christ, 08 didn't even phase them.

Air castles just floats above depressions, it seems.

[Greiger]

Hey, if you're going to pay for it, that seems like the best approach.

Better to not have it at all and use that money to fund law enforcement or you know... actual border patrol.  But yea I suppose if the wall is going up like it or not that's a decent place to take the money from.

Ofc this could lead to people being arrested and their assets being seized just because of suspicion of drug trade even with little evidence, so we do need to be careful there.  People will always be happy to fund the state with a criminals money but then don't realize that it incentivizes the government to jail the innocent to get access to their money.  And it's hard to come back from that.

[Strife26]

I mean, they already do that.

Nah, they don't have to jail people to take their stuff. They don't even have to charge 'em with a crime.

[sluissa]

"You were driving down the highway with $200 in your pocket. You know who else carries cash and drives on highways? Drug dealers. We're taking your money."

[Akura]

"You were driving down the highway with $200 in your pocket. You know who else carries cash and drives on highways? Drug dealers. We're taking your money."

Funnily enough, there was a story of a couple who pulled over when they had over a million dollars in cash sitting in the back seat. The cops thought it was suspicious and seized it... only it turns out that merely having a giant pile of cash on your back seat is in itself not illegal and the state had to return it with interest. The couple had just won the lottery, so the money was perfectly clean.

Unfortunately though, the police can do that, it's called Civil Asset Forfeiture.

[Neonivek]

There is a law that you cannot profit from a crime. This law has many implications...

But that is why they are allowed to seize your ill gotten gains.

[Strife26]

There is a law that you cannot profit from a crime. This law has many implications...

But that is why they are allowed to seize your ill gotten gains.

Fixed it for you.

[sluissa]

There is a law that you cannot profit from a crime. This law has many implications...

But that is why they are allowed to seize your ill gotten gains.

I don't think there's much argument against the seizing of convicted criminals property directly related to the committing of the convicted crime. And there's a fair argument for even anything tangentially related to the committing of crimes. (No, you can't keep your million dollar yacht you bought after you started selling heroin. I don't care if you were planning on buying a boat anyway.)

I think the main argument is that it's often used against people with no actual due process involved. No charges, no conviction, not even an accusation of a crime committed. Just a flimsy excuse "You know who else drank water? Hitler. We're taking your water." Police see money. They decide they have an excuse to take said money. And at least until it ends up in court enough times it's not profitable for them to do so at the drop of a hat anymore, the police will continue to do it. I believe I read something where while most of the money does go to departments (and used for actual police expenses within their budgets), some departments have actually instituted bonuses based on how much an individual police officer or a team pulls in.

[Strife26]

Government confiscating personal property without conviction of a crime to pay that police force's budget should absolutely *terrify* anyone with a care for Liberty. Even better, they'll claim a right to search your vehicle, as long as they can "give a reason for it" even if the reason is something that's not a crime (search upheld as constitutional, based on the police officer claiming he thought that legally required license plate lights were illegal) or based on manufactured evidence (lots of those drug dogs detect drugs the same way Clever Hans the horse could do division).

[Zanzetkuken The Great]

Hey, if you're going to pay for it, that seems like the best approach.

Better to not have it at all and use that money to fund law enforcement or you know... actual border patrol.  But yea I suppose if the wall is going up like it or not that's a decent place to take the money from.

I honestly want them to build the wall, simply because once it is done people in favor of it will shut up about it.  And if it somehow works as advertised, so much the better.

[Neonivek]

Government confiscating personal property without conviction of a crime to pay that police force's budget should absolutely *terrify* anyone with a care for Liberty. Even better, they'll claim a right to search your vehicle, as long as they can "give a reason for it" even if the reason is something that's not a crime (search upheld as constitutional, based on the police officer claiming he thought that legally required license plate lights were illegal) or based on manufactured evidence (lots of those drug dogs detect drugs the same way Clever Hans the horse could do division).

Most of the time what the police do is ask if they can look into your vehicle and MOST people will say yes... in fact some will be so intimidated by the police officer that they will say yes.

The police officer may also, and are allowed to, threaten an arrest or that you are obstructing justice. They are under no obligation to tell you the truth.

This is also ignoring the number of times the police tried to argue that "Refusing a search is evidence of a crime in it of itself".

There are a LOT of reasons why most lawyers tell you to NEVER EVER allow a police officer to do a search under any circumstances other than a warrant (and even then, you have to make sure not to allow them to search extra stuff) or with a Lawyer telling you how to do it safely...

They also say NEVER EVER to agree to police questioning without a lawyer either.

[sluissa]

Government confiscating personal property without conviction of a crime to pay that police force's budget should absolutely *terrify* anyone with a care for Liberty. Even better, they'll claim a right to search your vehicle, as long as they can "give a reason for it" even if the reason is something that's not a crime (search upheld as constitutional, based on the police officer claiming he thought that legally required license plate lights were illegal) or based on manufactured evidence (lots of those drug dogs detect drugs the same way Clever Hans the horse could do division).

Most of the time what the police do is ask if they can look into your vehicle and MOST people will say yes... in fact some will be so intimidated by the police officer that they will say yes.

The police officer may also, and are allowed to, threaten an arrest or that you are obstructing justice. They are under no obligation to tell you the truth.

This is also ignoring the number of times the police tried to argue that "Refusing a search is evidence of a crime in it of itself".

There are a LOT of reasons why most lawyers tell you to NEVER EVER allow a police officer to do a search under any circumstances other than a warrant (and even then, you have to make sure not to allow them to search extra stuff) or with a Lawyer telling you how to do it safely...

They also say NEVER EVER to agree to police questioning without a lawyer either.

Not always easy though. Had some pull me over and ask to search. I had nothing to hide, but also had no desire to have my car searched either. They threatened to make me stand there for two hours in winter, with no coat, at midnight while they called in back up. I was already at the edge of hypothermia from the 45 minutes I'd already been held up. I had a coat in the car, but once I was out of the car they refused to let me get back in to get it. They got their search. They found nothing. I ended up pissed off and mistrustful at the police.

[EnigmaticHat]

To be clear on this, if police seize funds or property in drug related searches, they are allowed to keep the money.  Period.  Its completely legal, they don't actually have to find the drugs or charge you with anything.  Not your stuff anymore.  Actual law on the books.

Wikipedia link if you don't like TV.

Sluissa is right, a lot of this stuff happens on lonely roads with no witnesses.  Your word against a cop, in the US.  Good luck.