@TomSea I think it's interesting that your guy starts off by talking about Customs and
Admiralty Law in connection with
contraband issues.
Since when could money be automatically treated as contraband?
I believe that this very peculiar (actually idiotic) position traces to crypto-Socialist Feds who were persuaded, in essence, that
might makes right. A lawyer friend of mine maintains that Admiralty Law is one of the favorite tools of would-be tyrants in Anglo countries. My friend points out that the doctrines of Admiralty Law became weirdly popular under FDR and have been supplanting our traditional Common Law throughout our government ever since.
Admiralty Law, he tells me by way of example, has become a sort of paradigm for what we call Administrative Law (the stuff of bureaucratic regulations). For example, if you are ever charged with a regulatory violation, the regulators do not have to prove you are guilty; rather, you have to prove you are innocent. As a related problem, Admiralty Law tends to criminalize innocent mistakes. "No excuses for you!" cries the Admiralty.
The Deep State Bureaucrats love Admiralty Law. If you love Admiralty Law, just wait until they come after you. (And do not trust a guy like Jeff Sessions when he winks and assures us that the Feds are always the good guys.)