SAR #16131

The easiest way to wealth is to loan money to someone willing to work.

Alice In Arkansas: Following a traffic stop, cops took nearly $20,000 from the driver under cover of the civil forfeiture laws. There was never a charge laid against the man, and the prosecutors tried to dismiss the case, but the Arkansas Court of Appeals has ruled that the cops can keep the money. Civil forfeiture laws must go.

The Enemy of My Enemy: Information found in the Panama Papers revealed that Saudi King Salman provided $80 million to Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's re-election campaign.

Popular Opinion: A super PAC 'coordinating' with the Clinton campaign has a million bucks on hand to seek out and “confront social media users who post unflattering” comments about Hillary. That translates to flame wars on those whose political beliefs they don't like.

Clause And Effect: Negative interest rates are essentially a tax on banks' reserves. Like all taxes, it is passed – directly or indirectly – to the banks' customers. Increasing taxes reduces consumer resources and results in less consumption. Not quite what the central bankers and their economists are seeking.

Bought, if Not Sold: Within hours after the citizens of Austin, TX voted to require drivers of ride-sharing services like Uber and Lyft undergo basic fingerprinting and background checks, State Senator Charles Schwertner of Georgetown (just north of Austin) announced he would push a bill for statewide regulation of such services – suggesting he was quite willing to overturn the will of the voters. Wonder why? Also wonder why Uber and Lyft don't want to know about their drivers' criminal history.

Easy Come, Easier Go: Coral reefs off the Florida Keys are dissolving quite rapidly today, despite prior expert belief that CO2 driven increasing ocean acidification would not dissolve the reefs until 2050 or so. Yet another instance of the consequences of global climate change arriving far earlier than the IPCC predicted. Something, most likely global warming, has also added four feet to Lake Michigan in the last few years, gobbling up beaches and eroding the shoreline.

Money Quote: Sorry folks, the economy is rigged -- better to believe the politicians than the economists.

Horror Story: Officials at Penn State knew about Sandusky's sexual abuse of minors since the 1970's, but did nothing. Nothing but pay his victims for their silence. So far they've forked out $90 million to settle more than 30 civil cases. And for “Penn State Officials”, read Joe Paterno. Raises the question why Paterno helped hide Sandusky's crimes for 30 years, doesn't it?

Omen: Kenya, citing both costs and national security, is going to close all of its refugee camps, and force 600,000 refugees to return to places they've fled unless international agencies step in. There has not yet been any suggestion of how much money it would take to get the government to reverse this decision.

The Way It Is: The Republican party is no longer a normal political party; it fed the irrational fears and rage of its rank and file until the would-be leaders could no longer control the beast they had created. It has ceasaed to be a rational political party andhas become an extremist sect. They wanted a revolution, just not this one.

Porn O'Graph: Crushing the debt burden.