Efforts to Stop Government From Unjustly Taking Private Property Gain Steam

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Civil asset forfeiture reform is gaining momentum in federal and state legislatures, and not a moment too soon.

As outlined in a Heritage Foundation report, “Arresting Your Property,” a legal tool that began as a means of pursuing pirates and smugglers in the age of sail has expanded in scope in the last few decades, dragging everyday Americans into a system unfairly skewed against them.

Thanks to the combination of powerful financial incentives that allow law enforcement agencies to generate revenue through civil forfeiture, and lax or nonexistent political oversight and accountability, the modern civil forfeiture system is frequently abused.

Civil forfeiture is premised on the legal fiction that property can be guilty of a crime. As a consequence, civil forfeiture proceedings target property, not people, and allow for money or property suspected of involvement in a criminal act to be forfeited regardless of whether the owner himself is ever charged with, much less convicted of, a crime. In fact, to defend his property rights, an owner must essentially prove his own innocence—without a lawyer if he cannot afford one—in a process fraught with complicated legal hurdles.

The result: a large and growing body of stories of individuals who have had their homes, their cars, and their life savings seized based on little or no evidence, and in many cases, seemingly little interest in the question of their actual guilt or innocence. Heritage’s database of abusive forfeitures documents nearly 70 of these stories, including nine recent additions. Here are some of the new cases:

Upon returning from vacation on April 1, 2015, Claudeen Crank came home to find that her car was missing. When she called the police department to report her vehicle stolen, she was surprised to find out that the car had been crashed by a woman named Heather Bitsillie. Bitsillie had been arrested for aggravated drunken driving and the wrecked car was seized by the city of Albuquerque, New Mexico.

Despite no involvement in the crime itself, it fell to Crank to fight to retrieve her stolen property—not from the thief, but from the police department. She was held responsible for the towing, impounding, and administrative fees, and she eventually decided to sign the vehicle over to the city because the car had been totaled, and was not worth the cost of fighting to win it back.

Eh Wah, a Burmese immigrant and fully naturalized citizen of the United States for more than 10 years, is the manager of a Burmese Christian rock band touring to raise money for various charitable organizations. On Feb. 27, Eh Wah was driving through Oklahoma on a vacation to see his family, and was pulled over for having a broken taillight. The officer called for a drug-sniffing dog, searched the vehicle, and found $53,234 in cash, the proceeds from 19 concerts performed earlier on the band’s tour.

Some of the money had been placed in separate envelopes and marked for different destinations, including a liberal arts college in Burma and an orphanage in Thailand. Eh Wah was taken to the station for questioning. Citing “inconsistent stories,” the police decided the money was the proceeds from drug sales and seized it, but let Eh Wah go, only to charge him five weeks later with acquiring and transporting proceeds from drug activity.

The Institute for Justice took Eh Wah’s case pro bono, and just hours after The Washington Post published an article on his plight, the district attorney dropped the charges and returned the seized money.

Proceeds from forfeitures often go into what amounts to a “slush fund” that is subject to little, if any, outside oversight or accountability.

A report from the Texas State Auditor’s Office published in 2015 shows that during fiscal years 2013 and 2014 the Dallas County District Attorney’s Office misused a significant portion of its forfeiture funds.

According to the report, about $80,000 in expenditures were found to have been prohibited by the Texas Code of Criminal Procedure, including personal legal fees, exorbitant travel arrangements, and private donations. Additionally, $71,000 in expenditures were not documented well enough for the auditors to determine whether the purchases were legitimate. Many transactions using forfeiture funds lacked approval, receipts, or proper monitoring of the funds, allowing much of the money to be used frivolously or for personal affairs.

These are just a few of the new additions to the database, but they are representative of the stories that have captured the attentions of lawmakers and laypersons alike and are driving the efforts toward reform.

Recently, New Hampshire passed a law that would require a criminal conviction before property can be forfeited, re-establish the presumption of the innocence of the property owner, raise the burden of proof, and remove the direct profit motive.

New Hampshire is not the first state to reform the practice, and it will not be the last. The legal system exists to protect innocent property owners, not endanger them, and states are slowly realizing that it is possible to reform their forfeiture practices to make them fairer without unduly hampering law enforcement officials or letting criminals go free. (For more from the author of “Efforts to Stop Government From Unjustly Taking Private Property Gain Steam” please click HERE)

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Parents Beat Back Obama’s Transgender Bathroom Mandate in Texas Schools

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Administrators of a Texas school district changed guidelines for transgender students to involve parents and work with families on a case-by-case basis, after an uproar among parents.

The Fort Worth Independent School District announced the two new pages of guidelines dated July 19 after parents and others had a chance to speak at school board meetings, six public forums, and five meetings of a safety advisory panel, among others.

“The new guidelines place a heavy emphasis on involving parents and trusts students, teachers, and parents to work together to make the right decisions,” Superintendent Kent Scribner said in a prepared statement.

“We are grateful Superintendent Scribner reversed and repealed his illegal transgender directive,” a group of students, parents, and taxpayers called Stand for Fort Worth, said of the change.

The school district, comprised of 143 schools and 87,000 students, said it received comment from 235 individuals, including 119 separate emails.

“The new guidelines reflect what we’ve heard from students and teachers, parents and pastors,” Scribner said. “Our focus from the beginning has been the safety of all children and that, overwhelmingly, was the concern we heard from our parents and others.”

The previous eight pages of guidelines, approved by Scribner in April, allowed students to use the male or female restroom of their choice and directed school personnel to address a student by the name or gender pronoun he or she prefers, even without permission from a parent or guardian.

The Board of Education Trustees oversees the management and policymaking of the Fort Worth school district.

Scribner prepared the original guidelines, “completely done in secret,” and without “all the board members being aware of it, much less having parents having input on the process,” Julia Keyes, a Fort Worth resident and mother of five children, told The Daily Signal.

“It kind of came as a shock,” Keyes said.

Keyes, a member of Stand for Fort Worth, said parents and others were “outraged” and sent over 2,000 emails to school board members to hold the superintendent accountable.

“It was really the community that rose up,” Keyes said.

In May, the Obama administration issued a transgender student directive to schools around the nation, threatening to withhold federal funding if schools do not open up restrooms and shower facilities based on a student’s chosen gender identity.

Roger Severino, director of the DeVos Center for Religion and Civil Society at The Heritage Foundation, told The Daily Signal:

Texas and 23 other states have already sued the administration over its lawless edict on school showers, bathrooms, and dorms. So it’s not surprising to see concerned parents in Fort Worth and around the country standing up to school bureaucrats to ensure the safety and privacy interests of their children.

“We feel good about the guidelines as they stand,” Keyes said. “However, trust has been broken with the superintendent.”

In an email to The Daily Signal, Matthew Kacsmaryk, deputy general counsel at First Liberty Institute, said Scribner’s original guidelines overrode rights guaranteed by the First and 14th Amendments to the Constitution:

Like its federal counterpart, [Scribner’s directive] was replete with speech codes that violated the free speech clause, shower mandates that violated the free exercise clause, and parent blocks that violated the 14th Amendment rights of parents to the care, custody, and management of their children.

Texas Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick, a Republican, called for Scribner’s resignation over his unilateral implementation of the original guidelines.

Kacsmaryk said the Fort Worth school district’s original directive “expressly discouraged use of binary terms like ‘boy’ and ‘girl’” and made “no reasonable accommodation for dissenting Muslims, Jews, Mormons, Catholics, and Protestants who adhere to the Book of Genesis and continue to believe that God ‘created them male and female.”

The First Liberty Institute lawyer, who consulted with Keyes and her husband before Scribner backed down, added:

This is not diversity but displacement, the absolutist imposition of a sexually revolutionized view of the human person without any accommodation for religious dissenters who may have a different view of man and woman, male and female.

The group Stand for Fort Worth said it had “mobilized a bipartisan, multiracial coalition of students, taxpayers, and parents who were initially excluded from the process but whose voices have now been heard.”

The new guidelines say the school district will work with parents to create individual support plans for transgender students to address “the student’s unique needs.”

If the student requests access to an opposite-sex restroom, locker room, or related facility, the campus administrator, the student and his or her parent or guardian, and guidance counselor will review the request on a case-by-case basis.

The goal will be to create a “safe and supportive environment for students impacted by the accommodation with due recognition of the privacy rights of all students,” the guidelines say. (For more from the author of “Parents Beat Back Obama’s Transgender Bathroom Mandate in Texas Schools” please click HERE)

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Watch: Grinning Obama JOKES During Statement on Munich Massacre

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By David Martosko. As news reports of a gun massacre in Munich crossed the Atlantic Ocean on Friday, the President of the United States was cracking jokes.

Barack Obama delivered a brief update to reporters at the White House about the still-unfolding shooting rampage that left the German city on lockdown . . .

But as cameras rolled on the somber moment, Obama grinned and chuckled – and drew laughs from his audience – about his elder daughter Malia leaving the nest and heading for college . . .

‘Our way of life, our freedoms,’ he said, ‘our ability to go about our business every day, raising our kids’ – and suddenly the president’s mood shifted.

‘And seeing them grow up and graduate from high school, and now about to leave their dad,’ he continued, waving his hand and breaking the tension as the room erupted in laughter. (Read more from “Grinning Obama JOKES During Statement on Munich Massacre” HERE)

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Obama Jokes During Comments on Munich Shooting

By RT. President Barack Obama made the White House press corps giggle while speaking about the deadly Munich attack, shifting the tragic topic to his personal feelings about his daughters. The shooting rampage in Germany saw nine people killed and 16 injured . . .

“We don’t know exactly what’s happening there, but obviously our hearts go out to those who may have been injured,” he told reporters.

However the president, in his final months in office, did not dwell on the tragedy for long. He quickly changed the topic, calling the Munich tragedy “a good reminder” of his recent words, that “our way of life, our freedoms,” are threatened.

That’s when Obama began to ramble about children growing and “leaving their dad,” obviously referring to his older daughter, Malia.

“I’m sorry. I’m getting a little too personal. Getting a little too personal there,” Obama cut himself short, drawing the audience’s laughter. (Read more from “Obama Jokes During Comments on Munich Shooting” HERE)

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Like a Moth to a Flame, Trump Heaps Scorn on Cruz, Keeps Feud Alive to His Detriment

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By Sandy Fitzgerald. GOP nominee Donald Trump said Friday that scorned former rival Ted Cruz added negative remarks to his controversial Republican National Convention speech after submitting it to Trump for review.

Trump dropped the bombshell during an even to applaud the volunteers and others behind what he called a very successful RNC. . .

“I knew his speech, I saw exactly what his speech was because when you go up to speak, you have to give your speech, you know? We don’t want surprises, right? So they gave it,” Trump said. “They came to me and said it’s a boring speech, Mr. Trump. He congratulates you on the victory — congratulates you on the victory

But “Ted Cruz took his speech that was done, was on the teleprompter, said hello, then made a statement that wasn’t on the speech and then went back to his speech,” he said.

“To me, that’s dishonorable. To me, not signing a pledge is dishonorable. OK? Not a nice thing to do.” (Read more from “Like a Moth to a Flame, Trump Heaps Scorn on Cruz, Keeps Feud Alive to His Detriment” HERE)

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Donald Trump Just Can’t Seem to Let Go of His Grudge With Ted Cruz, Because Donald Trump

By Amber Phillips. If there’s one thing we’ve learned about Donald Trump through this campaign, it’s that, for better or worse, the man can hold a grudge.

And hours after winning the Republican nomination, Trump was celebratory, yes, but also in a mood to call out his enemies — mainly the guy who wronged him this week, Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Tex.).

Trump spoke to Republican National Committee volunteers on Friday morning in Cleveland, where he spent a significant amount of time insulting Cruz after the runner-up gave a speech where he refused to endorse Trump. . .

Anyway, that whole drama happened Wednesday. And here we are on Friday, still talking about it. That’s because Trump spent so much time going on about Cruz that if you were suddenly dropped from outer space and forced to watch CNN on Friday morning, you would think America was still in the middle of a hard-fought, incredibly acrimonious and personally offensive primary campaign between the two men. . .

It’s not like Trump will have one flash of anger with a microphone in his face and this will all be over. In an interview taped Thursday with CBS’s Ted Koppel, Trump called Cruz being booed “beautiful.” (Read more from “Donald Trump Just Can’t Seem to Let Go of His Grudge With Ted Cruz, Because Donald Trump” HERE)

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Boehner on Cruz’s Non-Endorsement: ‘Lucifer Is Back’

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Former House Speaker John Boehner (R-Ohio) summed up his reaction to Sen. Ted Cruz’s controversial Republican National Committee speech in three words, according to a former aide: “Lucifer is back.”

David Schnittger, a longtime Boehner aide, tweeted the former Speaker’s response after Cruz declined to endorse Trump during a prime-time convention speech Wednesday night.

“To those listening, please, don’t stay home in November,” Cruz said in Cleveland. “Stand and speak and vote your conscience, vote for candidates up and down the ticket who you trust to defend our freedom and to be faithful to our Constitution.”

The speech drew jeers from convention attendees who wanted Cruz to get behind the GOP’s presidential nominee.

Cruz on Thursday defended his refusal to endorse Trump, pointing out the businessman’s personal attacks on Cruz’s father and wife. (Read more from “Boehner on Cruz’s Non-Endorsement: ‘Lucifer Is Back'” HERE)

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Benghazi Hero Warns of Exodus of Special Operators If Hillary Becomes President

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According to one of the heroes of Benghazi, special operators will leave military and government service if Hillary Clinton becomes president, because they do not believe she would have their backs.

Former CIA operative and Marine John “Tig” Tiegen told The Daily Caller that sentiment is based both on her actions during the Sept. 11, 2012 attacks in Benghazi, and her treatment of highly classified information.

“There’s guys leaving now just because of that,” Tiegen said during an interview Tuesday. “because they don’t know if the call for help is going to be heard.”

“Her leadership that night on 9/11 (2012) shows what kind of leader she would probably end up being as a president,” the Benghazi survivor contended.

He noted what the Select Committee on Benghazi discovered in its investigation: Much of Clinton’s time during the two-hour meeting in the White House Situation Room as the attacks were unfolding was spent discussing the false internet video narrative that she and others the Obama administration would claim was the cause of the attack.

“Instead of making sure … the Americans she sent there come home safe … she goes home. That’s it,” he stated. “If you’re going to be a leader and your employees are under attack, you should be in the Situation Room watching it.”

Based on her actions that night, “I don’t see how anyone can trust her as a commander-in-chief,” Tiegen said.

The former CIA operative was also troubled by Clinton’s handling of highly classified material.

“Her lack of respect for security information, top secret information, that just puts lives in jeopardy, not just American lives, but our foreign assets. Who wants to work with us, if you have somebody like that?” he wondered.

“Espionage is such a big thing because information kills people, it destroys countries … Her lackadaisical attitude towards it, blows [special operators’] minds,” Tiegen added, pointing out if any of them did what Clinton has done, they would be hauled off to jail, not permitted to run for president of the United States.

As reported by Western Journalism, Tiegen and fellow Benghazi hero Mark “Oz” Geist endorsed Donald Trump for president in February.

Speaking at the GOP convention in Cleveland Monday night, Geist echoed Tiegen’s sentiment of how important it is to know the commander-in-chief will support those sent into harm’s way.

“As Americans we have an opportunity to elect somebody who will make this country safe again,” Geist said. “We have to elect someone who will have our backs. Someone who will bring our guys home. Won’t leave anybody behind.”

(For more from the author of “Benghazi Hero Warns of Exodus of Special Operators If Hillary Becomes President” please click HERE)

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Huckabee Denounces Cruz as ‘Self-Absorbed Politician’ for RNC Speech

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Former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee, who is no stranger to supporting a Republican presidential nominee that has bested him in the primaries, said Texas Sen. Ted Cruz “walked in tall and walked out small” by giving a speech Wednesday night that did not include an endorsement of GOP presidential nominee Donald Trump.

In the speech, Cruz urged Americans to vote. But unlike speakers who urged support for the GOP, Cruz said they should “vote their conscience.”

“The question of the night was whether Ted Cruz would honor his word and support the nominee or earn the moniker ‘Lyin Ted’ given to him by the man who won,” Huckabee wrote on Facebook.

Huckabee noted that Cruz could either focus on his wants or the nation’s needs, and chose the former.

“The question was whether Cruz would make his speech about HIS future or the future of the country. And that question was answered when Ted Cruz chose to not keep his word that he (along with me and every other GOP candidate) gave one year ago in that very arena where tonight he put his own ambitions above country.”

Huckabee said Cruz was given a precedent-breaking opportunity, and squandered it.

“Donald Trump did something no previous nominee has done — he allowed Ted Cruz to speak without his promising to support the nominee. Trump trusted Ted and was rewarded with a betrayal, but the delegates in that arena booed Cruz off the stage and out of Cleveland,” Huckabee wrote.

Huckabee said the Cruz debacle is not about policy, but honesty.

” … when a person gives his word, he should keep it,” Huckabee wrote. “When a person is treated with generosity to give a speech, he should either respond with respect or graciously decline. And when a person loses, he should accept the will of the voters and then offer support to the victor of the primary to defeat the anti-gun, pro-abortion, incompetent, dishonest, and dishonorable nominee of the Democrat party.”

Huckabee acknowledged that Cruz’s supporters may see the speech in a different light.

“But from where I sit, I didn’t see a statesman step forth for the country’s future. I saw a self-absorbed politician grab the microphone and try to line up his own future. Ted walked in tall and walked out small,” Huckabee wrote. (For more from the author of “Huckabee Denounces Cruz as ‘Self-Absorbed Politician’ for RNC Speech” please click HERE)

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Clinton Picks Liberal Sen. Tim Kaine for Running Mate and Zzzzzzzzz…

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Hillary Clinton has finally announced her choice for vice president on a Friday night when every journalist covering the story wanted to do literally anything else.

Clinton’s choice? Senator Tim Kaine, D-Va. (F, 0%)!

Kaine has a long resume in Democratic politics. He was Mayor of Richmond, Lieutenant Governor of Virginia, Governor, Chairman of the Democratic National Committee, and now serves in the U.S. Senate.

His candidacy solidifies the Democratic ticket as perhaps the most Washington-establishment-friendly ticket in American political history.

The response to Clinton’s pick for running mate has been nothing short of “meh.”

Though, the Democrats who weren’t put to sleep by Clinton’s running mate were angry that he wasn’t enough of a radical leftist.

Don’t believe the Left’s Bolshevik/Menshevik spat. Tim Kaine is as liberal as they come.

He’s most famous for proposing a “minimum tax level” during a debate when he ran for Senate in 2012.

GREGORY: Do you believe everyone in Virginia should pay something in federal income taxes?

KAINE: Everyone pays taxes.

GREGORY: But federal income taxes?

KAINE: I would be open to a proposal that would have some minimum tax level for everyone. But I do insist — many of the 47 percent that Gov. Romney was going after pay a higher percentage of their income in taxes than he does.

Hang on to your wallets folks. It’s going to be rough four years if the Democrats win in November. (For more from the author of “Clinton Picks Liberal Sen. Tim Kaine for Running Mate and Zzzzzzzzz…” please click HERE)

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Ivanka Channels Ted Cruz, Says She Votes Her Conscience

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Ivanka Trump’s speech to the Republican National Convention Thursday night was met with rave reviews from those who tuned in.

But one Twitter user noticed something the pundits weren’t picking up on.

Lest you forget, the Trump supporters at the RNC booed Cruz during his speech when he said:

How is that different from what Ivaka Trump said? (It isn’t.)

And also note, when Ms. Trump wasn’t confirming Ted Cruz’s point, she was reiterating Hillary Clinton’s. (For more from the author of “Ivanka Channels Ted Cruz, Says She Votes Her Conscience” please click HERE)

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The Force Is Not With You: Government Rules Could Land Star Wars Drone Pilots in Prison

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What kid hasn’t watched “Star Wars” and imagined skimming the Death Star trench in an X-Wing, tangling with TIE Fighters to save the Rebel cause?

For a long time, playing out these flights of fancy was restricted to video games. But thanks to drone technology—not quite anti-gravity, but close—the Force may be coming to a neighborhood near you. A company known as Propel is marketing “Star Wars Battle Quads”—faithful miniatures of some of the most iconic craft from that galaxy far, far away—that can dogfight one another above your backyard.

When the models are released, enthusiasts will be able to blast out of their backyard spaceport in the Millennium Falcon, tangle with Darth Vader’s TIE Fighter, or dodge trees on Imperial speeders.

But, kids (and let’s be honest, adults, too), before you get too excited, keep this in mind: While most people will see these as harmless toys, regulators at the Federal Aviation Administration claim these palm-sized drones are “aircraft” no different than a passenger-laden 747 jet. That means that drones are subject to a host of federal laws and regulations that were originally written for manned aircraft, and carry severe civil and criminal penalties that are disproportionate in this context.

Here are just a few of the absurd crimes the FAA could accuse you of committing:

Destroying an aircraft—According to 18 U.S.C. § 32, anybody who willfully “damages, destroys, disables, or wrecks any aircraft in the special aircraft jurisdiction of the United States” has committed a felony punishable by up to 20 years’ imprisonment. Amazingly, the FAA has confirmed that this statute applies to drones, even though it is abundantly clear that Congress wrote the statute to criminalize takedowns of traditional, manned aircraft by terrorists and criminals. So, dogfight at your own risk—and don’t even think about recreating the speeder bike chase on Endor.

Aiming a laser pointer at an aircraft—18 U.S.C § 39(A) criminalizes “knowingly aim[ing] the beam of a laser pointer at an aircraft” or “at the flight path of such an aircraft.” Doing so can land you in prison for up to five years. Again, criminalizing this behavior only makes sense in the context of manned aviation, where a laser point can—and has—blinded pilots behind the controls of actual aircraft. What damage, however, is done by aiming a laser pointer at a drone? The jury is still out on that question, but violating this law is almost guaranteed given that these battle quads feature laser pointers intended to mimic Rebel blasters.

Failing to register as a drone owner—Last December, just days before Christmas, the FAA released a rule mandating that all drone owners register themselves with the FAA if the drone they are flying is used for hobby or recreational purposes, and weighs more than 0.55 pounds—the equivalent of two sticks of butter. Failure to register before your first flight constitutes a felony punishable by up to $277,500 in fines and three years’ imprisonment, a penalty scheme that the FAA’s own drone registry task force noted was utterly disproportionate in the drone context.

As if this is not bad enough, hapless drone operators flying purely for fun could find themselves fined for failing to comply with commercial drone regulations. For years, the FAA has divided drone activities into “recreational” and “commercial” categories along largely arbitrary and ill-defined lines. The result: Someone may think that he is flying purely for fun, but the FAA might think otherwise, and proceed to fine him for failing to comply with rules he did not know applied to him.

In fact, in one case, the FAA targeted a drone operator in Florida in precisely this fashion, determining that since he posted videos of his drone joyrides on YouTube, a site that had advertisements, his activity was, in fact, commercial. Another man, Mical Caterina, used a drone to photograph an event protesting the killing of Cecil the Lion. He did this as a favor to a friend, and for his troubles the FAA is now fining him $55,000 for failing to comply with commercial drone rules.

Thanks to draconian rules likes these, arbitrarily enforced by FAA bureaucrats without concern for the costs of unpredictable regulatory enforcement, yours may be the drones they’re looking for. It’s no wonder that some might yearn to become a Rebel and take out their frustrations on the Empire’s finest.

But future X-Wing pilots should probably restrict themselves to bull’s-eyeing womp rats instead of other drones, because if you actually take down Darth Vader’s toy TIE, you could find yourself hauled before a judge on federal felony charges. And no, “restoring peace and justice to the Galaxy” is not likely to be a winning defense. (For more from the author of “The Force Is Not With You: Government Rules Could Land Star Wars Drone Pilots in Prison” please click HERE)

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