ABT: Jeff Sessions, Asset Forfeiture & the New Old War on Drugs

NinaIllingworth July 19, 2017November 17, 2022 A Brief Thought, Adoptive asset forfeiture, Amerikan Musik, Attorney General, Bigotry, blog, Brotherhood of Evil Mutants, cash cow, civil asset forfeiture, Civil Liberties, Civil Rights, criminalization, DEA, Department of Justice, Donald Trump, easy money, Equitable Sharing program, Eric Holder, FA1, failed War on Drugs, fascism, Fascism Ascendant in the USA, FBI, Federal Government, Feds, former Alabama State AG Jeff Sessions, GOP, JA5, Jeff Sessions, Jeff Sessions is a theif, Justice, legalized mugging, local policing, Loretta Lynch, mandatory minimum sentences, Meme, News, Nina Illingworth, Obama administration, Op-Ed, Opinion, police state, policing for profit, Politics, prison, private prison lobby, private prisons, Racism, Rec Reads, Recommended Reading, Reefer Madness, Republican, RNC, sanctioned robbery, seizures, Sessions, shakedown, Six Things I Think, Social Justice, state governments, stick up, swine emperor Trump, The Fuck Barrell, the war on drugs was a disaster, theft, theives, Trump's Evil Mutants, US Attorney General Jeff Sessions, voter suppression, voting rights, war on drugs

Editor’s Note: as of roughly 10 AM this morning I still felt like complete and utter crap (even after a half a day spent in bed resting) so I’ve booked a 2 PM appointment to see my doctor again; I suspect I’m still suffering from some sort of flu bug but the off and on persistence of whatever it is probably warrants a checkup of some kind. As a consequence of the resulting time crush, today’s Brief Thought is once again going to be quite a bit shorter than normal – I just didn’t want to let this story get lost in the churn of “Russiagate” and ongoing US saber rattling against Iran.

As regular readers of ninaillingworth.com already know, I consider US Attorney General Jeff Sessions to be one of the most dangerous politicians in swine emperor Trump’s nightmare government and as such, the president’s personal hate-goblin has justifiably been a frequent target of my ire. Today is no different as I stop to take a look at the latest nightmare bullshit Sessions has cooked up for America – think legalized robbery on behalf of the state:

Note: Please be reminded that if you’re having trouble reading this info graphic, you can right click on the picture and select “view this image” to pop out a larger version. Additionally, don’t forget to check out my comments after the sources section of this article.

Sources:

Brotherhood of Evil Mutants Pt Three – Jeff Sessions

As Attorney General, Jeff Sessions Would Be a Threat to Civil Rights

I prosecuted drug offenders in the ’80s. It was a disaster. Why is Sessions taking us back?

Jeff Sessions is leading America back into Reefer Madness

Sessions restores tough drug war policies that trigger mandatory minimum sentences

Mandatory minimum sentences are cruel and ineffective. Sessions wants them back

Sessions wants to let police take more ppl’s stuff even if they aren’t convicted of a crime

Jeff Sessions wants police to take more cash from American citizens

Sessions to step up drug-war seizures

Jeff Sessions, Civil Forfeiture, What Could Go Wrong?

DEA Takes Billions In Cash From Ppl Not Charged With A Crime, Can’t Say How It’s Helping

Taken: The Rise of Civil Forfeiture

As I mentioned in the above info-graphic, the simple truth is that Jeff Sessions didn’t invent civil asset forfeiture and until very recently, he’s only been a small part of the borderline fascist trend towards policing for profit in the United States of America. Although the Obama administration briefly attempted to wash its hands of the practice by clamping down on Adoptive forfeitures (the type local authorities share with the federal government under the “Equitable Sharing” program) that lasted all of four months before the Loretta Lynch-led Department of Justice turned the mugging machine back on.

With that having been noted however please allow me to remind you that this isn’t the first time the Attorney General has deigned to make a bad situation much, much worse for the benefit of a Trump administration up to its fucking eyeballs in donation money from private prison lobbyists and it’s not all that hard to see how Session’s new “War on Drugs” ties in well with his plan to keep prisons full on behalf of his corporate masters. The fact that it also ties into the Republican crusade to suppress voting rights while allowing the Feds to vacuum up a tremendous amount of easy funding is simply the cherry on top and a demonstration that like most truly corrupt officials in modern politics, Sessions knows how to use every damn part of the (cash) cow.

Finally, I feel somewhat obligated to mention that Trump was elected in part on a Republican National Committee platform that promised to curtail civil asset forfeiture but at this point, it’s frankly more likely to be news when Herr Donald isn’t caught lying or breaking campaign promises than when he is.