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Homeland Security Stole Michael Arrington's Boat
An anonymous reader writes "Michael Arrington, founder of TechCrunch, lives near Seattle and bought a boat there. He ordered it from a company based near him, but across the border in Canada. Yesterday, the company tried to deliver it to him, and it had to clear customs. An agent for the Department of Homeland Security asked him to sign a form. The form contained information about the boat, including its cost. The price was correct, but it was in U.S. dollars rather than Canadian dollars. Since the form contained legal warnings about making sure everything on it is true and accurate, Arrington suggested to the agent that they correct the error. She responded by seizing the boat. 'As in, demanded that we get off the boat, demanded the keys and took physical control of it. What struck me the most about the situation is how excited she got about seizing the boat. Like she was just itching for something like this to happen. This was a very happy day for her. ... A person with a gun and a government badge asked me to swear in writing that a lie was true today. And when I didn't do what she wanted she simply took my boat and asked me to leave.'"
in the years that I imported horse manure.
I'm sure Arrington, with his long history of reporting the facts, is telling us the entire story. And if he is? It couldn't have happened to a nicer guy . . .
They told me if I voted for Romney, we'd see DHS continue with abuse power... and they were right.
I don't want to see such disparity that some people can afford private boats either.
Just so you are aware, the vast majority of boats are owned by lower and middle class people. Boats tend to be a money sink which a lot of the wealthy avoid unless they just really have so much money that they don't care.
Just so you are aware, I can completely make stuff up as well:
The VAST(cavernous? I prefer cavernous). The CAVERNOUS majority of boats are kayaks/canoes/etc that don't have associated costs of ownership. I guess if you count them then the vast majority (what is that, anyway? 75%? 90% 99.99999%?) of boats are indeed owned by the lower and middle class. If you don't take into account the "quality" of a good then the poor and middle class probably own the majority of everything. There are a lot more of them than there are rich people. They have nothing to do with this guy trying to bring his yacht through customs.
My completely made up stuff sounds more plausible, honestly.
There are other options I'd like to bring along.
- Licensed armed bodyguard, or state police officer if you have "connections"
- TV crew
- Retired Army sniper with a touch of PTSD
- an Italian-American mother who don't take no crap
Gamingmuseum.com: Give your 3D accelerator a rest.
The DHS had the authority to hold the boat the minute it arrived on US soil
If your boat ends up on US soil rather than water, aren't you doing something wrong?
To have a right to do a thing is not at all the same as to be right in doing it
On slashdot, if there's a confrontation between someone from the government and a rich guy, who do you think people will believe?
The stoner who wasn't there but has a very strong opinion about what happened.
There are other options I'd like to bring along.
- an Italian-American mother who don't take no crap
This.
Who needs a gun, when you could be packing a Sicilian matriarch?
An enigma, wrapped in a riddle, shrouded in bacon and cheese