MINNE$OTA NICE BBY (almost)

[Aktungbby]

http://www.sent-trib.com/news/states-go-after-unclaimed-property-use-it-to-patch-budgets/article_a54cde98-7526-11e5-8bf6-a3ec2a40496e.html "
When Americans lose track of money — in neglected bank accounts, paychecks they forgot to cash and elsewhere (such as unclaimed insurance policies) — state governments are increasingly aggressive in taking control of the cash.
Now, with those efforts swelling state coffers by more than $40 billion and lawmakers using some of it to patch budget holes, skirmishes are breaking out between states and companies with their own interest in holding on to the unclaimed property." "But critics say rightful owners too often get short shrift.
"The analogy is to finding somebody's lost wallet. In Minnesota, anyway, we give people their wallets back. It's just what we do here. But it's not what the state is doing," said Joe Atkins, a state representative from outside St. Paul who last year introduced a bill calling for increased funding to track down property owners.Still, Minnesota is among states that set up booths at state fairs to inform people of the missing money, efforts that have helped boost its return rate to about 45 percent of what it takes in.

While other states, too, have increased efforts to reunite owners with their property, many have changed laws to let them take control of more unclaimed property more quickly."
California, meanwhile, continues to battle a lawsuit filed in 2001, accusing the state of doing too little to find and notify owners. In 2007, a federal court temporarily shut down the state's property claims process, forcing legislators to pass a law to fix it.
Since the process restarted, property claimed by California has swelled from $4.1 billion to $7.6 billion. 'MERIKA! attn. subsimmers! be seen stirring your bank accounts lest you appear 'dormant'; the 'robber baron$' are back and in Fette Beute mode!

[Oberon]

Got to solve that gaping hole that is the deficit somehow I guess...

[Aktungbby]

https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/wonk/wp/2015/11/23/cops-took-more-stuff-from-people-than-burglars-did-last-year/

Here's an interesting factoid about contemporary policing: In 2014, for the first time ever, law enforcement officers took more property from American citizens than burglars did. Martin Armstrong pointed this out at his blog, Armstrong Economics, last week.
Officers can take cash and property from people without convicting or even charging them with a crime — yes, really! — through the highly controversial practice known as civil asset forfeiture. Last year, according to the Institute for Justice, the Treasury and Justice departments deposited more than $5 billion into their respective asset forfeiture funds. That same year, the FBI reports that burglary losses topped out at $3.5 billion.

AT least in Brussels the police give back to the Kitty "Pour les chats qui nous ont aidé hier soir... Servez-vous!"

[Aktungbby]

Originally Posted by Oberon

Got to solve that gaping hole that is the deficit somehow I guess...

OBAMA keeps preaching gun control but maintains a bit of a 'double standard' imho

Special agents at the IRS equipped with AR-15 military-style rifles? Health and Human Services “Special Office of Inspector General Agents” being trained by the Army’s Special Forces contractors? The Department of Veterans Affairs arming 3,700 employees?
The number of non-Defense Department federal officers authorized to make arrests and carry firearms (200,000) now exceeds the number of U.S. Marines (182,000). In its escalating arms and ammo stockpiling, this federal arms race is unlike anything in history. Over the last 20 years, the number of these federal officers with arrest-and-firearm authority has nearly tripled to over 200,000 today, from 74,500 in 1996.
What exactly is the Obama administration up to?
On Friday, June 17, our organization, American Transparency, is releasing its OpenTheBooks.com oversight report on the militarization of America. The report catalogs federal purchases of guns, ammunition and military-style equipment by seemingly bureaucratic federal agencies. During a nine-year period through 2014, we found, 67 agencies unaffiliated with the Department of Defense spent $1.48 billion on guns and ammo. Of that total, $335.1 million was spent by agencies traditionally viewed as regulatory or administrative, such as the Smithsonian Institution and the U.S. Mint.
Some examples of spending from 2005 through 2014 raise the question: Who are they preparing to battle?
• The Internal Revenue Service, which has 2,316 special agents, spent nearly $11 million on guns, ammunition and military-style equipment. That’s nearly $5,000 in gear for each agent.
• The Department of Veterans Affairs, which has 3,700 law-enforcement officers guarding and securing VA medical centers, spent $11.66 million. It spent more than $200,000 on night-vision equipment, $2.3 million for body armor, more than $2 million on guns, and $3.6 million for ammunition. The VA employed no officers with firearm authorization as recently as 1995.
• The Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service spent $4.77 million purchasing shotguns, .308 caliber rifles, night-vision goggles, propane cannons, liquid explosives, pyro supplies, buckshot, LP gas cannons, drones, remote-control helicopters, thermal cameras, military waterproof thermal infrared scopes and more.
• The Environmental Protection Agency spent $3.1 million on guns, ammunition and military-style equipment. The EPA has put nearly $800 million since 2005 into its “Criminal Enforcement Division.”
• The Food and Drug Administration employs 183 heavily armed “special agents.”
• The University of California, Berkeley acquired 14 5.56mm assault rifles and Yale University police accepted 20 5.56mm assault rifles from the Defense Department. Texas Southern University and Saddleback College police even acquired Mine Resistant Vehicles (MRVs).
Other paper-pushing federal agencies with firearm-and-arrest authority that have expanded their arsenals since 2006 include the Small Business Administration, Social Security Administration, National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, Education Department, Energy Department, Bureau of Engraving and Printing, National Institute of Standards and Technology and many others.
People from both ends of the political spectrum have expressed alarm at this trend. Conservatives argue that it is hypocritical, unconstitutional and costly for political leaders to undermine the Second Amendment while simultaneously equipping nonmilitary agencies with heavy weapons, hollow-point bullets and military-style equipment. Progressives like Sen. Bernie Sanders have raised civil liberties concerns about the militarization of local police with vehicles built for war and other heavy weaponry.
Meanwhile, federal authorities are silent on the growing arsenal at federal agencies. In fact, we asked the IRS for an asset accounting of their gun locker—their guns and ammunition asset inventory by location. Their response? “We don’t have one [an inventory], but could create one for you, if important.”
Our data shows that the federal government has become a gun show that never adjourns. Taxpayers need to tell Washington that police powers belong primarily to cities and states, not the feds.

http://www.mcclatchydc.com/news/politics-government/congress/article78611982.html "We have met the enemy...and it is U.S.??!!" -pogo

[Rockstar]

The worst shooting masacre in American history wasnt in Orlando. It was at a place called Wounded Knee where representitives of the government shot and killed 250 Sioux.

[Oberon]

Originally Posted by Rockstar

The worst shooting masacre in American history wasnt in Orlando. It was at a place called Wounded Knee where representitives of the government shot and killed 250 Sioux.

I was only thinking about that book this morning, must read it one day.

[Wolferz]

There seems to be no end to the now armed and unconstitutional agencies of our government here in 'Merica.

I think they're afraid of us or sumthin.

[Oberon]

Hey, on the upside, at least the firearms business is booming.