PLATT - MISC News

GENERAL INTEREST
PHOTOS: Haunting images of abandoned places across Northern Ireland
https://www.yahoo.com/news/photos-haunting-images-abandoned-places-across-northern-ireland-183146970.html

HEALTH CARE
Surprise Medical Bills Loom for Millions of Americans in 2019
https://start.att.net/news/read/article/fortune-surprise_medical_bills_loom_for_millions_of_americ-rtime/category/finance

PROGRESSIVES UNHINGED
De Blasio doesn’t care what parents think about his elite-school-quota plans
https://nypost.com/2018/12/09/de-blasio-doesnt-care-what-parents-think-about-his-elite-school-quota-plans/?utm_campaign=iosapp&utm_source=mail_app

This Is Why We Can’t Have Nice Things
https://townhall.com/columnists/derekhunter/2018/12/09/this-is-why-we-cant-have-nice-things-n2537200?utm_source=thdaily&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=nl&newsletterad=&bcid=3cb4e56ddeac8885c78e874bb1d8f1a4&recip=27077809

GOVERNMENT MALFEASANCE
For $8.41 in Unpaid Taxes, the Government Took Uri Rafaeli’s House
See the Wall Street Journal article, below.

TECHNOLOGY
Where is the boundary between your phone and your mind?
https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2018/dec/09/tech-mind-body-boundary-facebook-google?utm_term=RWRpdG9yaWFsX0d1YXJkaWFuVG9kYXlVUy0xODEyMDk%3D&utm_source=esp&utm_medium=Email&utm_campaign=GuardianTodayUS&CMP=GTUS_email

DEFENSE
Russia's Su-57 Stealth Fighter Has a New Feature (And It Might Be a Total Waste of Time)
https://nationalinterest.org/blog/buzz/russias-su-57-stealth-fighter-has-new-feature-and-it-might-be-total-waste-time-38287

LAW AND ORDER
Walmart shoplifting suspect’s mugshot is a thing of nightmares
https://nypost.com/2018/12/08/walmart-shoplifting-suspects-mugshot-is-a-thing-of-nightmares/?utm_campaign=iosapp&utm_source=mail_app

IRAN
How Iran turned a 'counterterror' meeting into a push for new global order 
https://www.jpost.com/Middle-East/Iran-News/How-Iran-turned-a-counter-terror-meeting-into-a-regional-push-for-new-global-order-573852

TRUMPGATE
Court filing raises question of Trump prosecution: 'There is a plausible case against the president' ($30 million wasted on this ????)
https://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2018/dec/9/donald-trump-prosecution-question-after-michael-co/?utm_source=Boomtrain&utm_medium=manual&utm_campaign=20180326&utm_term=newsalert&utm_content=newsalert&bt_ee=2Mo179uSLu2R15cjbrk369PXEiSD115tPcJy%2FJMsbYhx%2FyDx31LMikbGT6H0IMOM&bt_ts=1544380168124

The Case for Trump is Stronger Than Ever
https://nationalinterest.org/feature/case-trump-stronger-ever-38312

Rand Paul downplays potential Trump campaign finance violations: 'We’ve over-criminalized campaign finance'
https://thehill.com/homenews/sunday-talk-shows/420454-rand-paul-downplays-potential-trump-campaign-finance-violations?rnd=1544372905

POLITICS
John Kelly’s exit raises concerns about White House future
https://thehill.com/homenews/administration/420466-john-kellys-exit-raises-concerns-about-white-house-future

'Change can't wait': insurgent Democrats seek to shake up politics 
https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2018/dec/09/alexandria-ocasio-cortez-ayanna-pressley-progressive-house-democrats-future?utm_term=RWRpdG9yaWFsX0d1YXJkaWFuVG9kYXlVUy0xODEyMDk%3D&utm_source=esp&utm_medium=Email&utm_campaign=GuardianTodayUS&CMP=GTUS_email

We’ll Always Have . . . Fort Worth? 
https://www.nationalreview.com/2018/12/conservative-message-to-residents-metropolitan-areas-must-improve/?utm_source=Sailthru&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=WIR%20-%20Sunday%202018-12-09&utm_term=VDHM

-- 
"You must never confuse faith that you will prevail in the end – which you can never afford to
Lose – with the discipline to confront the most brutal facts of your current reality, whatever
they might be."
           - VAdm James Stockdale, USN (1923-2005)

FROM THE WALL STREET JOURNAL (without permission)

https://www.wsj.com/articles/for-8-41-in-unpaid-taxes-the-government-took-uri-rafaelis-house-1544227055?emailToken=89833cfc000ad917e49f41c54f7b4119HhttelSL1a/rFxCSOVedjWKNxAITUvFiflrAUQ/wcSHNi3VsxeSqjNgwL8rwyYPXpyAkONZwMXvGGo3BmdeGYw7ktXm4QWxoFrVLvvv3pqzHxllYavQ6NBJYUH7abVFr&reflink=article_email_share

For $8.41 in Unpaid Taxes, the Government Took Uri Rafaeli’s House

How Michigan misuses a procedure meant to target pirate ships and drug lords’ mansions.

By

Christina Martin

Dec. 7, 2018 6:57 p.m. ET

The Michigan Hall of Justice in Lansing, Mich., Sept. 17. Photo: Getty Images

Uri Rafaeli is an 83-year-old engineer and great-grandfather. He never expected the government to tre  at him like a drug dealer or gang banger. But last year the Michigan Court of Appeals held that a county government could use civil asset forfeiture—the same legal process used by police to confiscate drug lords’ mansions—to seize a modest rental property Mr. Rafaeli owned because he accidentally underpaid his property taxes by $8.41.

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