We each speak from our own body of experience, chewie.  There's a difference between being 'afraid', and merely being realistic.

I've got a lot of respect for the ability of this government to decide a person needs special attention.  Such as they did at Ruby Ridge.  Such as they did at Waco.

By all means speak your mind. 

 I gather from your attitude what's in your mind won't offend them, in any case.  You can speak with total confidence they won't do anything.  That's the cool thing about having attitudes unlike the one JPorter has.  You can speak your mind, wave your flag, and bluster about not being afraid to speak your mind.

However, having said that, I agree with you completely.  Nobody should be afraid of this government.  Everyone should feel completely comfortable about posting seditious, statements online.  Shouting them from the rooftops.  Do it with impunity, without fear.

Namely I can say that because I also don't hold those views.  It's none of my business what they do, nor what the government does to them in any acts of reprisal.  I strongly suggest anyone with views the government mightn't like go public with them.

Fortunately, I don't happen to have any of those kinds of views.

Jack

You're confusing fact with fiction Jack.

I am not talking about blantantly violating the lawful direction of law enforcement officers, shooting at law enforcement officers, or spending my spare hours converting my rifles to automatic weapons in violation of Federal Law.

I lost a friend at Waco; he was a decent person, trying to raise a family, and live the American dream. He lost his life following the lawful direction of a Federal Judge. He was killed by some slime balls who NEVER did any thing to improve life in this country, by people who spent their evenings screwing children and beating women.

Both the clowns at Ruby Ridge, and those at Waco, had the ability to end their unlawful way of life and follow the same process as the other millions of Americans who drive between the white lines every day of their lifes. America became America because of those who do drive between the lines, not because of those who have no respect for anything but themselves. They wanted to make a point, and that is what they got - the point of a bullet.

Don't confuse the freedom of speech right with the stupidity of people who willing shoot Americans trying to enforce the law.  Those slime balls at Waco and Ruby Ridge were no different than the D.C. Snipers.

I spent twenty-two years wearing a uniform, and some of that time fighting a war, to enable people to speak their mind. I did not do that so some slime ball could shoot my neighbor in the back and claim they did it for God!

Whew.  One of us has his facts entirely reversed as to what actually happened at Ruby Ridge and Waco.

I won't change your view, have no reason to try.  And my own facts are so accurate I'd never allow you to change them.

Plus, neither of us has any reason to give another thought to what the other believes.

We'll agree to disagree, Chewie.

However, if it helps, I'm willing to believe you spent 22 years in a uniform of one sort or another.  On the other hand, whatever war you might have fought in, you aren't old enough for it to have had anything much to do with protecting my freedom, nor anyone elses.

Jack

Do not "bet-on-court" Mr. betancourt cause you will lose basically everything! 

Timing is everything, weshar.  This guy had purely lousy timing.

If he'd had that money where he could get to it, say, and they'd come down on him with indictments from something he did pre-win, he could have upchucked enough money into the right places to walk.  In fact, probably never would have been arrested enough to reach the newspapers.

As it was, the guy evidently didn't have the good sense to clean up his life.... he was arrested for something he did AFTER he had a winning ticket and knew it.  Maybe he had some inseverable ties with the Mexican Mafia chewie believes he knows something about.

There's a high price to be paid for a certain type of idiocy.  Sometimes, anyway. 

Fortunately for most of us, a lot of forms of idiocy allow us to just keep on, no penalties involved.

Jack

Seems the forfeiture has been based upon the lottery winner not being a US citizen and committing a felony on US soil. 

Also since he had no previous verifiable job history, it was illegal funds received through drug trade which purchased the ticket  .... therefore he didn't legally own the ticket in the first place.

My question is WHY would someone who just won 5.5 mil be still selling drugs???

Likely he already had commitments he couldn't free himself from easily.

The people who carry drugs across the national boundaries have to live with a constant readjustment process.  Where they come from there's not a large body of opinion assigning the 'wrong-right' judgements to the drug issues.  It's all a matter of legal-illegal, with the legality up for grabs depending on the connections.

But once they come into this country they have to rearrange their thinking to keep in mind that the legal/illegal part of the equation is structured and the payoffs a lot more subtle, there's also a mindset among middle class citizens that it's both illegal and immoral, worthy of long-term prison sentences and confiscation of property.  Even the portions of each layer of society involved in addictive or recreational drug use pay lip service to this condemnation, when they're outside their immediate circles.

This guy had a timing problem, a maladjustment problem, a culture shock of sorts. He was out of step with US legality and morality.  Now he's taken care of  at taxpayer expense for the next quarter-century.  Serves him right, I suppose.

Jack

He WON the jackpot fair and square, if I found a dollar on the street bought a ticket and WON or bought a ticket after cashing my pay-check and WON your still winning it shouldn't matter where the money came from.(just my opinion) now if he killed someone for the money too play then he definitely doesn't deserve it.

It would be a similar rule of law applied on the Federal level is he had robbed a a bank, getting the money in an illegal manner .... making the money he got through possession with intent is not lawfully earned by him.  Whatever is gained by using illegally obtained money is considered not the property of the person who got it and subject to seizure.

Similar ruling applied to this Lottery Post article .....

  http://www.lotterypost.com/news/118343.htm 

Finding a dollar on the street is a different matter especially if no one is looking around trying to find what they'd lost saying they lost it.  You wouldn't be stealing anything.