Friday, June 19, 2015

AT THIS WEEKENDS ARMS EXPO IN WASHINGTON STATE THE CLEAR MESSAGE IS....WE WILL NOT COMPLY.


At This Weekend's Arms Expo In Washington State, The Clear Message Is....We Will Not Comply....
Posted By: Watchman
Date: Friday, 19-Jun-2015 09:42:47
An event that bills itself as a “liberty market and gun show” set for this weekend plans to allow active non-compliance with ballot Initiative 594, the state’s controversial expanded background check law.
Organizers for the Arms Expo 2015, scheduled for Yakima June 20-21 describes the event as a constitutional gun show and has made clear that the reach of the Evergreen State’s new gun law stops at the door.
“Private sales and vendors of guns, supplies, and food will be welcome. We encourage commercial vendors to refuse unconstitutional laws and background checks, and encourage patriots to support those bold vendors as well as buy from each other in defiance of lawless legislation,” reads the event’s website.
“We will be exercising what I would refer to as constitutional sales where there’s no background check of any sort,” organizer Sam Wilson told Oregon Public Radio.
The event will also offer AR-15 building classes, speakers such as Mike Vanderboegh who runs the popular Sipsey Street Irregulars website and demonstrations on, “canning, patriot networking, self-defense, how to apply liberty to your everyday life, and much more!”
Washington’s I-594 background check initiative, which was backed extensively by a core group of billionaires and national gun control groups, was approved by voters in November.
However, in the days and weeks after its passage, the measure has been derided and made the subject of protests that have drawn thousands.
The Expo has caught the attention of preparedness bloggers and groups such as the Oath Keepers who have been very active in the Pacific Northwest and elsewhere in recent months.
“The Arms Expo in Yakima is just the latest example of the nationwide campaign of armed civil disobedience in the wake of the unconstitutional state laws passed in the anti-firearm hysteria after Sandy Hook,” Vanderboegh told Guns.com Thursday.
To Vanderboegh, non-compliance is a logical step to help defeat draconian gun laws.
“In each of the states – Connecticut, New York, Maryland, Colorado, Washington state and now Oregon these laws have been nullified by quiet campaigns of non-compliance. We have publicly defied them, resisted them, evaded them, smuggled in forbidden items and dared the politicians to do anything about it and to date they have not known whether to defecate or go blind,” Vanderboegh said. “We have declared that our God-given, natural, and inalienable rights to liberty and property are not subject to negotiation. The question is not why are we going to be in Yakima defying Bloomberg’s purchased tyranny. The question is, why are you not?”
As for the Yakima Police Department, it will be hands-off for the event.
“The Yakima Police Department has never policed gun shows and we have no intention to start doing that despite this new law that we believe is going to be challenged in courts,” Spokesperson Mike Bastinelli told local media. “It’s really the responsibility of the people putting on the gun shows to police themselves.”
Guns.com reached out to I-594 backers, the Washington Alliance for Gun Responsibility, for a statement but did not receive comment by article posting. http://www.guns.com/2015/06/18/arms-expo-refuses-to-comply-with-washingtons-new-background-check-law/#.VYNuhpKVL70.email

The Clear Message Is....We Will Not Comply....


AT THIS WEEKEND'S ARMS EXPO IN WASHINGTON STATE
THE CLEAR MESSAGE IS:  "WE WILL NOT COMPLY"

Watchman
Friday, 19-Jun-2015 09:42:47

 
An event that bills itself as a “liberty market and gun show” set for this weekend plans to allow active non-compliance with ballot Initiative 594, the state’s controversial expanded background check law.
Organizers for the Arms Expo 2015, scheduled for Yakima June 20-21 describes the event as a constitutional gun show and has made clear that the reach of the Evergreen State’s new gun law stops at the door.
“Private sales and vendors of guns, supplies, and food will be welcome. We encourage commercial vendors to refuse unconstitutional laws and background checks, and encourage patriots to support those bold vendors as well as buy from each other in defiance of lawless legislation,” reads the event’s website.
“We will be exercising what I would refer to as constitutional sales where there’s no background check of any sort,” organizer Sam Wilson told Oregon Public Radio.
The event will also offer AR-15 building classes, speakers such as Mike Vanderboegh who runs the popular Sipsey Street Irregulars website and demonstrations on, “canning, patriot networking, self-defense, how to apply liberty to your everyday life, and much more!”
Washington’s I-594 background check initiative, which was backed extensively by a core group of billionaires and national gun control groups, was approved by voters in November.
However, in the days and weeks after its passage, the measure has been derided and made the subject of protests that have drawn thousands.
The Expo has caught the attention of preparedness bloggers and groups such as the Oath Keepers who have been very active in the Pacific Northwest and elsewhere in recent months.
“The Arms Expo in Yakima is just the latest example of the nationwide campaign of armed civil disobedience in the wake of the unconstitutional state laws passed in the anti-firearm hysteria after Sandy Hook,” Vanderboegh told Guns.com Thursday.
To Vanderboegh, non-compliance is a logical step to help defeat draconian gun laws.
“In each of the states – Connecticut, New York, Maryland, Colorado, Washington state and now Oregon these laws have been nullified by quiet campaigns of non-compliance. We have publicly defied them, resisted them, evaded them, smuggled in forbidden items and dared the politicians to do anything about it and to date they have not known whether to defecate or go blind,” Vanderboegh said. “We have declared that our God-given, natural, and inalienable rights to liberty and property are not subject to negotiation. The question is not why are we going to be in Yakima defying Bloomberg’s purchased tyranny. The question is, why are you not?”
As for the Yakima Police Department, it will be hands-off for the event.
“The Yakima Police Department has never policed gun shows and we have no intention to start doing that despite this new law that we believe is going to be challenged in courts,” Spokesperson Mike Bastinelli told local media. “It’s really the responsibility of the people putting on the gun shows to police themselves.”
Guns.com reached out to I-594 backers, the Washington Alliance for Gun Responsibility, for a statement but did not receive comment by article posting.
http://www.guns.com/2015/06/18/arms-expo-refuses-to-comply-with-washingtons-new-background-check-law/#.VYNuhpKVL70.email
 

Large Mid-Pacific M6.1 Earthquake — rare event goes UNREPORTED by the USGS

New post on Dutchsinse

6/19/2015 — Large Mid-Pacific M6.1 Earthquake — rare event goes UNREPORTED by the USGS

by Michael Janitch
A rare central Pacific magnitude 6.1 earthquake has struck.
The USGS is not reporting the event (yet) .. even though it has been several hours since the earthquake occurred.
pacific 6.1 earthquake usgs does not report june 19 2015
________
Information from the European service EMSC:

M 6.1 - NORTH PACIFIC OCEAN - 2015-06-19 14:51:17 UTC

MagnitudeM 6.1
RegionNORTH PACIFIC OCEAN
Date time2015-06-19 14:51:17.1 UTC
Location24.70 N ; 171.54 E
Depth10 km
Distances1949 km N of Majuro, Marshall Islands / pop: 25,400 / local time: 02:51:17.1 2015-06-20 2591 km N of Tarawa, Kiribati / pop: 40,311 / local time: 02:51:17.1 2015-06-20 2890 km NE of Saipan, Northern Mariana Islands / pop: 48,220 / local time: 00:51:17.1 2015-06-20
________
Clearly the USGS is not reporting this event.
Here is a screenshot of the feed, and the program I personally use.. both the USGS website feed of worldwide M2.5+ earthquakes, and the regular feeds everyone uses for apps/programs.
No information yet on this rare M6.1 event.  Wonder why?

usgs does not report 6.1 earthquake june 19 2015a usgs does not report 6.1 earthquake june 19 2015
________
The last time we saw an earthquake at this location of any noteworthy magnitude was in December 2012, when President Obama visited Hawaii, and at the time the EVENT WAS NOT REPORTED BY THE USGS!
That earthquake was a strange event indeed....now we see this earthquake go on the omitted / delayed list by the USGS.
Very odd indeed.
Here is my post from the M6.4 which struck on December 27, 2012 , which is still up on facebook:



Michael Janitch | June 19, 2015 at 11:01 am | Categories: earthquakes and volcano activity, earthquakes and volcanoes | URL: http://wp.me/p3C2xU-47M


Trouble clicking? Copy and paste this URL into your browser:
http://dutchsinse.com/6192015-large-mid-pacific-m6-1-earthquake-rare-event-goes-unreported-by-the-usgs/              

Jade Helm-September 20, 2015 big event


UPDATE June 5, 2015 ; MUST SEE THIS VIDEO. PALESTINIAN STATE AFTER "70TH" OPENING.

This is all coming together in September. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Tq7cw...

This video is posted around the internet, and I don't know who the author is but credit is due them. The only thing they got wrong is the month of July instead of September, because they didn't use Kabbalist Numerology.

She was talking in Kabbal numerology. Kabbal is the same occult/witchcraft sect of which Madonna is a member. G-7 and G-20 are the same date. G is the number 7, but not on the Gregorian calendar but the Jewish calendar. The 7th month on the Jewish calendar is Tishri (September). The 7th day (Tishri) is the 20th of September. So the day is September 20th.

What about the year? The year is 2015. How do we know? Because when you square the number 7, you get 49 years. The Jewish festivals run in 7 year cycles. 7 times 7 equals 49 years. 49 years is the number of years since the last Jewish Jubilee. 2015 is the 49th year. She did not say it would be the year 2014, but she would use 2014 as an example of the magical number 7 and how to compress numbers. She was very specific in her details.

2015 is also the end of a 7 year cycle, which is the shemitah year, the year all debt is wiped away (on the last day of the year.) This is also following the solar and lunar cycles (which she mentioned). Check out this article: http://www.wnd.com/2013/10/blood-moon...

ps.  7 states of the USA will be effected by Jade Helm and there are 7 continents in the world (see: Transatlantic Trade Partnership)

Also, she says: "We had seven long years and hopefully it will be followed by seven strong years." She's referring to Jewish seven year cycle. Everything goes in seven year cycles. She also referred to past big events and was using that to refer to next big event.

She also referred to climate change by saying we were at that time moving from the deep freeze (ice age when the polar caps were allegedly formed) and moving into a new age. (In Torah and Bible a day is like a year or a thousand years. In 7 days or 7 thousand years, or 1 week or 7 years the Earth was created with ice caps.) She was talking mystically about the passing of a 7 years cycle of the Earth.  See the 70 weeks of Daniel: Daniel 9:24-27

So the next big event is definitely going to have something to do with climate change and possibly financial (because as she said hopefully the IMF would have something to do with it), but it would be g7 or g20 for sure. "G" in numerology is the number 7 (in this case the 7th month-Tishri).

This is the same time the French minister said would be the end of our climate as we know it.



 





Escape California Now - one resident's report



Escape California Now –

While You Still Can!

 Michael Relfe


One resident's report on the water crisis throughout California


California-drought
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CALIFORNIA IS DOOMED!

No Water = No People

No People = No Economy

Millions will Flee

What will America do with Millions of Water Refugees?


California has only one year’s water left, as of June 2015, and if you think “they” will fix it, think again. Your life may depend on it. Remember Hurricane Katrina. People die after 3 days without water, and the 'government' did not go in with drinking water until FIVE DAYS had gone by.
The 'government' works for the heads of giant corporations and major stockholders, period. Currently they are using 46% of water to ‘restore wetlands! Are they doing this on purpose so they can buy up  California cheaply? It sure looks that way.
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California-drought2
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THE DROUGHT IS CAUSED BY THE JET STREAM MOVING
The drought is caused by the jet stream moving, because of the Pacific warming up, and it’s not moving back again for a very, very long time.
We submit that the oceans are warming because the 3 million undersea volcanoes are starting to erupt. Evidence to support this is that there is boiling water in the Arctic, and undersea volcanoes are melting glaciers in the Antarctic.
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CALIFORNIA TOWN HAS ONLY A FEW DAYS’ WATER LEFT
On June 16 2015, the upscale town of Mountain House was told that within a few days they would have zero water, because the 'government' was cancelling the water contract to their supplier. This is more proof that the 'government' does not care about you.
While the water company may find another source of water, they may not.
Just think – within a few days those people may have no water, no place to live, a house worth nothing while they still have a mortgage, have to move and maybe have no job into the bargain.
Just like that, the property values of millions of dollars worth of homes belonging to 15,000 residents nosedives toward zero. Even though it’s a ‘master planned’ community, it would appear that noone planned a permanent supply of water.
After all, what’s the value of a home that has no running water? California isn’t Africa… yet… so the idea of carrying your own buckets of water for bathing isn’t widely accepted.
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Marina owner Mitzi Richards carries her granddaughter as they walk on their boat dock at the dried up lake bed of Huntington Lake which is at only 30 percent capacity as a severe drought continues to affect California on September 23, 2014.  California is in the grip of its third year of severe drought, the worst in decades, threatening to drain underground aquifers and leaving the taps of some 40 million people to run dry. The state's drought affected Central Valley, is the  considered the richest food-producing region in the world, where much of America's fresh fruits, nuts and vegetables being grown there.            AFP PHOTO/Mark RALSTON        (Photo credit should read MARK RALSTON/AFP/Getty Images)
Marina owner Mitzi Richards carries her granddaughter as they walk on their boat dock at the dried up lake bed of Huntington Lake which is at only 30 percent capacity as a severe drought continues to affect California on September 23, 2014. California is in the grip of its third year of severe drought, the worst in decades, threatening to drain underground aquifers and leaving the taps of some 40 million people to run dry. The state’s drought affected Central Valley, is the considered the richest food-producing region in the world, where much of America’s fresh fruits, nuts and vegetables being grown there. AFP PHOTO/Mark RALSTON (Photo credit should read MARK RALSTON/AFP/Getty Images)
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Most people take water for granted, but without water, you can’t:
  • Drink.
  • Clean dishes or clothes or anything.
  • Bathe.
  • Flush the toilet.
  • Grow anything.
  • Put out fires.
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Most people can’t face the awful reality of this situation. Don’t be like them. Don’t be emotional. Be independent. Focus on survival. Move now.
THIS IS A CRIMINAL SITUATION
Only 11% is used by private people! 
This is a criminal situation because, in addition to the wetland usage, they could have prevented much of this IF they had started planning 20+ years ago (eg desalination plants, aqueducts from Canada, using the Cycloniser) and started severe water and building restrictions years ago – but they never did, and now is too late, because 39 million people and farmers use a massive amount of water, and California is about to become a desert. The water restrictions that were not applied until 2015 are too little, too late.
2.6 million illegal aliens in California is not helping matters. Why can’t they be shipped back, along with the others who make a total 11 million illegals in the USA? What part of “illegal” is hard to understand? How about sending them home and stopping more from entering, like President Eisenhower did?
Is this a plan to buy up all of California cheaply, after everyone leaves?
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Houseboats are moored on a shrinking arm of the Oroville Lake reservoir which is now at less than 25 percent capacity as a severe drought continues to affect California on May 24, 2015.  California has recently announced sweeping statewide water restrictions for the first time in history in order to combat the region's devastating drought, the worst since records began.          AFP PHOTO/ MARK RALSTON        (Photo credit should read MARK RALSTON/AFP/Getty Images)
Houseboats are moored on a shrinking arm of the Oroville Lake reservoir which is now at less than 25 percent capacity as a severe drought continues to affect California on May 24, 2015. California has recently announced sweeping statewide water restrictions for the first time in history in order to combat the region’s devastating drought, the worst since records began. AFP PHOTO/ MARK RALSTON (Photo credit should read MARK RALSTON/AFP/Getty Images)
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The lack of water is the only reason you need to know why you should leave. But if you need more reasons to help you move, here are a few:
  • High unemployment.
  • Absurd housing prices (until people realize the water is not coming back).
  • High taxes.
  • Rise in violent Crime.
  • Traffic.
  • Pollution.
  • Oppressive government, massive red tape.
  • School legislations that go against people’s religious beliefs.
  • Overpopulation.
  • Quality of the neighborhood deteriorating.
  • Broke municipalities slashing services. eg In Oakland the police chief announced at one point that his department would no longer respond to certain crimes. The list of crimes included grand theft, burglary, car wrecks, identity theft and vandalism. Today, Oakland is considered the 5th most violent city in the United States.
  • Broke counties. eg: Orange County Employees Retirement System is estimated to have a 10 billion dollar unfunded pension liability. (How does a single county dig a 10 billion dollar hole?)
  • The coming big earthquake.
  • Illegal aliens draining state revenue & causing other problems.
  • Hospitals closing. California ranks dead last of all 50 states in the number of Emergency Rooms per million people.
  • Forced vaccinations are coming for all school children, even private, since they rigged the voting. And homeschooling in California is very unfriendly. If you are staying, make sure you join HSLDA for legal protection.
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Hundreds of thousands of Smart, Wealthy people have already left, as you can see in this map:
interstate_migration

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THERE WON’T EVEN BE ENOUGH RENTAL TRUCKS WHEN THE GREAT EXODUS BEGINS
There are 38.8 million people in California. There are an average 2.6 people per household. That’s 10,700,000 million one-way truck rentals. In 365 days that’s 29,000 a day, IF people start moving now. But since most won’t move till the last, say, 3 months, that’s really 116,000 truck trips a day. There will be massive truck shortages.
You’ve seen those videos of refugees walking out of countries in Africa. You may yet see the same thing for California.

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ALREADY THERE IS A HUGE PRICE DIFFERENCE FOR TRUCK RENTALS
uhaul
U-Haul Prices 6/18/15:
Denver to Los Angeles = $985
Los Angeles to Denver = $2,273
Difference: $1,288
Here’s another one:
Atlanta to Los Angeles: $1,112
Los Angeles to Atlanta: $3,582!!!
Difference: $2,470
What will the prices be when The Exodus really gets going?
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A dried up section of the New Melones Lake reservoir is seen which is now at less than 20 percent capacity as a severe drought continues to affect California on May 26, 2015.  California has recently announced sweeping statewide water restrictions for the first time in history in order to combat the region's devastating drought, the worst since records began.          AFP PHOTO/ MARK RALSTON        (Photo credit should read MARK RALSTON/AFP/Getty Images)
A dried up section of the New Melones Lake reservoir is seen which is now at less than 20 percent capacity as a severe drought continues to affect California on May 26, 2015. California has recently announced sweeping statewide water restrictions for the first time in history in order to combat the region’s devastating drought, the worst since records began. AFP PHOTO/ MARK RALSTON (Photo credit should read MARK RALSTON/AFP/Getty Images)
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FREAK OUT AND GET OUT NOW, OR BE WITHOUT A JOB AND WITHOUT A HOME AND THE LAST ONE HOLDING WORTHLESS PROPERTY
Freak out early and you might still be able to sell and leave. But if you delay, you’ll be among the last people holding near-worthless property. Don’t be the last to turn out the light.
When 30 million people want a job in another state, how will they get one? (Assuming some households need two people to work).
When 15 million new homes are needed, where will they be?
If you leave your move too late, it won’t be just that you can’t sell your property for more than next to nothing, you won’t even be able to get a rental moving truck.
California, it seems, is reverting back to a barren desert. Meanwhile, far too many of the people who live in California remain in a state of absolute denial over where this is all headed.
Hence the coming wave of recently-bankrupt California water refugees who will flood into neighboring states seeking water, low-cost housing, jobs and/or free entitlements. That’s not gonna win friends in neighboring states, trust me. If you’re living in California right now, I urge you to strongly consider where things are really headed and start making a realistic list of your options.
 
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Thursday, June 18, 2015

Not having brains - hope for us!!!!




My 4 Tips for Boosting Total Immunity - Anthony Gucciardi

Law Enforcement Seizes $11,000 From 24-Year-Old at Airport Without Charging Him With a Crime

Law Enforcement Seizes $11,000 From 24-Year-Old at Airport Without Charging Him With a Crime


Charles Clarke (Photo: Institute for Justice)



It was Feb. 17, 2014, and Charles Clarke, 24, just wanted to get home.
After spending several weeks with family in Cincinnati, Ohio, Clarke arrived at the Cincinnati/Northern Kentucky International Airport in Hebron, Ky., for a flight back to Orlando, Fla., where his mother lived and where he would be taking classes at the University of Central Florida.
With $11,000 in his pocket—the culmination of five years worth of savings from various jobs, financial aid, gifts from family members and benefits from his mother, a disabled veteran—Clarke checked his bag and headed to the gate to await the departure of his flight.
He would eventually return home, but the cash Clarke had in his pocket didn’t make it.
Instead, the weight of the federal government came down on the 24-year-old, and his $11,000 was seized by federal and state law enforcement before he ever boarded the plane.
“I’m not a drug dealer. I’ve never been,” Clarke said. “I didn’t have any plans on doing anything illegal. I was just trying to get home.”
‘Treated Like a Criminal’
Clarke brought the money with him to Cincinnati, Ohio, he said, because his mother was moving apartments, and he didn’t want the moving company to find his money. Additionally, because his bank had few branches, he felt safer knowing his money was near.
After Clarke checked his bag and headed to the gate, a ticketing agent with U.S. Airways—unbeknownst to the young man—placed a call to agents with the Drug Enforcement Agency and the Cincinnati/Northern Kentucky Airport Police Department. The ticketing agent told the officers that Clarke’s luggage smelled like marijuana, according to an affidavit filed by William Conrad, a Cincinnati-based officer with a DEA task force, with the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Kentucky.

Conrad and Detective Christopher Boyd approached Clarke when he was waiting at the gate and asked if had drugs or money on him. According to Conrad’s affidavit, Clarke was “free to walk away at any time.”
Clarke told the agents he had $11,000 in his pocket and agreed to let the officers search both him and his carry-on bag. The officers didn’t find any drugs. However, Clarke admitted that he had smoked marijuana on his way to the airport.
Then, the officers seized his $11,000, cellphone and iPad.
Clarke received his phone and tablet two months later. But, more than a year later, he’s fighting to have his cash returned.
“I was being treated like a criminal, and I didn’t commit a crime,” he said. “It was very frustrating,” said Charles Clarke.

“I was being treated like a criminal, and I didn’t commit a crime,” he said. “It was very frustrating.”
According to court documents, Conrad said the money was seized “based on probable cause that it was proceeds of drug trafficking or was intended to be used in an illegal transaction.”
“Mitigating factors” included the purchase of a one-way ticket, inability to provide documentation noting where the money came from, a positive hit by a drug dog and the strong smell of marijuana on his checked luggage.
When the officers attempted to take Clarke’s money, Conrad alleged the 24-year-old “became irate” and grabbed Boyd by the wrist.
“A short struggle ensued and Clarke was eventually arrested and charged with assault on a police officer, resisting arrest, and disorderly conduct,” Conrad said in court documents.
However, the charges against him were dropped, and Clarke was never charged with a crime related to the alleged drug trafficking.
“I was nervous,” Clarke said of his encounter with the officers. “I didn’t want them to take my life savings. I worked hard to save this money.”
The United States attorney for the Eastern District of Kentucky did not return The Daily Signal’s request for comment.
Equitable ‘Sharing’
The Drug Enforcement Agency and Cincinnati/Northern Kentucky Airport Police Department seized Clarke’s cash through civil asset forfeiture, which gives law enforcement the power to take money or property if it’s suspected of being related to a crime.
In many cases, though, the property owner is never charged with a crime, and those who fight to have their cash and property returned are forced to prove that their belongings are innocent. The practice, policy experts argue, flips the presumption of innocence—innocent until proven guilty—on its head.
In Clarke’s case, the money was seized under the Department of Justice’s Equitable Sharing Program, which entitles local and state law enforcement agencies to up to 80 percent of the proceeds from seized cash and property.
From 2008 to 2013, according to the Arlington, Va.,-based Institute for Justice, $6.8 billion in cash and property has been seized through the Equitable Sharing Program.
Though just two agencies—the Drug Enforcement Agency and Cincinnati/Northern Kentucky Airport Police—were involved in the seizure of Clarke’s $11,000, 11 agencies across Kentucky and Ohio are arguing they’re entitled to a cut of the cash.
That’s according to Renee Flaherty, one of Clarke’s lawyers at the Institute for Justice, who spoke with The Daily Signal.
The airport police department is requesting 40 percent of the money and the Cincinnati Police Department wants just 6 percent, with the remaining 11 agencies requesting 3 percent of Clarke’s $11,000 each.
“Every little bit adds up,” Flaherty said regarding the money the agencies are requesting. “This just goes to show the perverse financial incentive that underlies civil forfeiture. If the law allows agencies to be able to keep the money they seized themselves, it’s going to incentivize law enforcement to seize as much property as possible.”
In recent years, local and state law enforcement agencies have been using civil asset forfeiture to pad their budgets, and the proceeds from money and property seized has been used to purchase things like a Dodge Viper and pay for officers’ overtime. Additionally, seizures at airports, specifically the Cincinnati/Northern Kentucky International Airport, have also skyrocketed.
According to Institute for Justice, the airport conducted just a “couple dozen” seizures per year during the late 1990s. However, by 2013, the airport participated in 100 seizures, with proceeds totaling more than $2 million.
(Photo: Institute for Justice)
(Photo: Institute for Justice)
‘Not Right’
After Clarke finally made it back to Florida—without his $11,000—he was forced to move back in with his mother, as he planned to use the money to pay for his living and school expenses. Clarke also took out additional student loans to help get himself settled at the University of Central Florida.
“It was a struggle for me. It was my life savings. I didn’t have anything to my name after they took it. It’s really frustrating and hard, being that I had to rely on my family,” he said. “Other people had priorities. It was almost like a waiting game for me. People helped me out when they could and when they couldn’t, I was pretty much in a bind. It was really hard and frustrating, saddening, and so many emotions running through me.”
Though the Institute for Justice has been successful in fighting forfeitures in court, Flaherty said the government employs a preponderance of evidence as the standard of proof in forfeiture cases—a lower standard than what’s used in criminal cases.
“The deck is really stacked against property owners, and the law is not really in our favor,” she said. “But what we’re trying to do is fight back and say, ‘No, the odor of marijuana is not enough to take someone’s life savings when there’s absolutely no evidence of a crime occurring.’”
Law enforcement argued Clarke failed to provide sufficient documentation for where his $11,000 came from, but Flaherty said she’s confident they have documentation from his three jobs and mother’s benefits to prove exactly where the money came from.
As is the case in many forfeitures, the government offered Clarke a settlement. However, neither he nor Flaherty could discuss the details of the offer. Oftentimes, though, the federal government will return just 50 percent of the money if the victim agrees to the settlement.
Clarke, though, has no plans to accept any deal from the government.
“I want everybody to know that carrying cash is not a crime,” he said. “The law is not right. Innocent people are being treated like criminals without even being convicted of anything.”