Privateers Rising?

Remember the privateers? From my earlier blog:

“What we’d call pirates were either pirates or privateers to the British. The difference? Privateers had legal authorization from the Crown to attack vessels of other countries with which Britain was at war. In return for this “privilege” and exemption from prosecution, the Crown got a percentage of the profits.”

 

I was amused and surprised to hear that one legislator in present-day Texas has introduced a legislation that “would allow U.S. citizens to seize the yachts, jets, and other property belonging to Russian oligarchs who have been sanctioned in response to the invasion of Ukraine”!

 

This bill, should it become law, would “require President Biden to issue letters of marque to seize yachts and other assets belonging to sanctioned Russian citizens”.

 

One can imagine why a government can be authorized to seize assets, but authorizing private citizens to do it as well, in return for a cut? And here you thought Trump was an aberration…

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