ICE Agent During Search: "The Warrant is Coming Out of My Balls"
By Jorge Rivas
October 29, 2011
The ACLU of Tennessee filed a lawsuit this week in federal court on behalf of fifteen residents of an apartment complex in Nashville, TN who say they were targets of an unlawful immigration raid. The defendants allege that ICE agents and Metro Nashville police officers forced their way into their homes without warrants. When residents asked the officers to show a warrant, one agentreportedly said, “We don’t need a warrant, we’re ICE.” Then, gesturing to his genitals, the officer reportedly said “the warrant is coming out of my balls.”
The ACLU notes on its website that the Fourth Amendment strictly prohibits warrantless intrusions into private homes — and it applies to both citizens and non-citizens. “In the absence of a judicially authorized warrant, there must be voluntary and knowing consent; ICE officers forcing themselves into someone’s home does not constitute consent.”
“Looking Latino and speaking Spanish is not enough to justify probable cause for questioning and arresting a person” Lindsay Kee, from the ACLU of Tennessee writes in a blog post.
The ACLU’s “Blog of Rights” provides more details of the events:
On the night of October 20, 2010, Angel Escobar and Jorge Sarmiento were in bed in their small, two-bedroom apartment in the Clairmont complex in Nashville. The doors and windows were all shut and locked. Suddenly there was a loud banging at the door and voices shouting “Police!” and “Policia!” When no one answered, the agents tried to force the door open. Scared, Jesus hid in a closet. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents began hitting objects against the bedroom windows, trying to break in. Without a search warrant and without consent, the ICE agents eventually knocked in the front door and shattered a window, shouting racial slurs and storming into the bedrooms, holding guns to their heads. When asked if they had a warrant, one agent reportedly said, “We don’t need a warrant, we’re ICE,” and, gesturing to his genitals, “the warrant is coming out of my balls.”
The raids in Nashville aren’t isolated incidents. Similar claims have been filed in recent years following raids on immigrant homes in New Jersey, New York, Connecticut, Georgia and Northern California.
In 2008, a lawsuit brought by lawyers at the Center for Social Justice at Seton Hall Law School in Newark found ICE agents systematically entered homes and made arrests without proper warrants during raids to round up “immigration fugitives” in New Jersey.
In both the Nashville and Newark cases, U.S. citizens were detained. In the Newark case, one plaintiff in the lawsuit, Maria Argueta — who’s been a legal immigrant since 2001 — was detained and held for 36 hours, according to the New York Times. ICE agents entered her home by telling her they were police officers searching for a “wanted criminal.” Alternet
“We don’t need a warrant, we’re ICE”
Visa, MasterCard and PayPal: Hate Groups Good Wikileaks Bad
One more step down the road to totalitarianism. Wikileaks today, who's it going to be tomorrow? It could be you.
Update: ICH are currently alerting to a Naomi Wolf article that I featured back in 2007. Article at ICH with video, or direct link to the Guardian.
There is little worth linking to when I ran the article in 07, other than perhaps my one brief, now in retrospect, insightful comment. It just having to skip an election to come to fruition.
Update: ICH are currently alerting to a Naomi Wolf article that I featured back in 2007. Article at ICH with video, or direct link to the Guardian.
There is little worth linking to when I ran the article in 07, other than perhaps my one brief, now in retrospect, insightful comment. It just having to skip an election to come to fruition.
Visa, Mastercard, PayPal And Other Payment Companies Still Choking Off Funding to WikiLeaks, Threatening Whistleblower's Survival
Allowing corporations to arbitrarily bankrupt law-abiding people or organizations with whom they disagree, poses a significant threat to free speech.
By Rania Khalek
October 26, 2011
The whistleblower Web site WikiLeaks—whose publication of leaked classified documents has exposed the corruption of some of the world’s most powerful governments—is being muzzled by a handful of financial institutions, according to the organization's founder.
On Monday, Oct. 24, Julian Assange announced that WikiLeaks has been forced to suspend publication to focus its energy on urgently needed fundraising due to what he termed an “illegal blockade." He told reporters that WikiLeaks has relied on cash reserves to fund the past 11 months of operations due to the refusal of Bank of America, PayPal, Visa, Mastercard, and Western Union to process donations, starving the organization of 95 percent of its revenue stream. He added that WikiLeaks, with a staff of about 20 employees, needs $3.5 million to stay afloat through 2013.
The blockade was enacted last December, just days after WikiLeaks, in concert with the New York Times, the Guardian, Der Spiegel, and El Pais, published a small fraction of some 250,000 classified US state department cables. The news outlets that actually published the cables suffered no halts in payment.
This financial blockade, if left unchallenged, will likely affect more than just WikiLeaks. Trevor Timm, an activist and blogger for the Electronic Frontier Foundation recently explained to TechNewsWorld, "The financial blockade is a free speech issue,” adding, "WikiLeaks has not been convicted of -- or even officially accused of -- a crime by the United States. In fact, it's clear to most First Amendment experts that they've done nothing illegal."
In January, House Homeland Security Chairman Peter King, R-N.Y., wrote a letter to Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner demanding that WikiLeaks and its founder, Julian Assange be added to the Treasury’s Specially Designated National and Blocked Persons list, a move that would have banned U.S. companies and individuals from doing business with the whistleblowing Web site. It's essentially an economic blacklist that blocks financial dealings with suspected terrorists and drug traffickers who make up the majority of the list.
At the time, Assange accused King of trying to enact an embargo "on the truth." Treasury ultimately refused to comply with King's demands and released the following statement: "We do not have evidence at this time as to Julian Assange or WikiLeaks meeting criteria under which [Treasury] may designate persons and place them on the [sanctions list]."
Flawed Reasoning
Timm went on to tell TechNewsDaily, "The most outrageous part about the financial blockade is the companies' supposed reasoning. Many of them have said that WikiLeaks violated their terms of use because they engaged in 'illegal' activity. This is just false."
When I contacted PayPal about the reason behind its refusal to process WikiLeaks donations, its media representative referred me to a December 2010 statement by PayPal general counsel John Muller, which reads: "Ultimately, our difficult decision was based on a belief that the WikiLeaks website was encouraging sources to release classified material, which is likely a violation of law by the source."
Investigative journalist James Ball points out the blatant contradiction of this rationale in the Guardian. He writes:Visa, MasterCard and PayPal are none-too-choosy about who they provide payment services for. Want to use your credit card to donate to the Ku Klux Klan? Go right ahead. Prefer to support the English Defence League? PayPal will happily sort you out. Prefer to give cash to Americans for Truth about Homosexuality, who oppose the "radical homosexual agenda"? Feel free to use your Visa, Mastercard or Paypal.
Bank of America’s reason for cutting off WikiLeaks may have an element of retaliation. Last November, Bank of America’s stock plummeted 3 percent after WikiLeaks claimed to possess internal Bank of America documents. In August, former WikiLeaks co-spokesman Daniel Domscheit-Berg, who was fired from WikiLeaks last year and has since created the rival organization OpenLeaks, told Reuters that he destroyed those documents in August.
I contacted Bank of America, Mastercard and Western Union for comment, but did not hear back. Visa declined to comment.
Unforeseen Consequences
Whether you support or detest WikiLeaks is irrelevant. The fact remains that WikiLeaks, as Timm points out, has not been charged, prosecuted or convicted of any crime in any court in any part of the world, makes this financial blockade tantamount to an extrajudicial stifling of free speech.
Yet these payment companies continue to single out WikiLeaks. Vesting private corporations with the power to arbitrarily bankrupt law-abiding people or organizations with whom they disagree, is detrimental to free speech.
At Monday’s press conference, Assange told reporters, “If this financial attack stands unchallenged, a dangerous, oppressive and undemocratic precedent will have been set, the implications of which go far beyond WikiLeaks and its work. Any organization that falls foul of powerful finance companies or their political allies can expect similar extrajudicial action.” source with links
Heard it First on NHN - Gardasil for Boys
Natural Health News has been convering Gardsil and the issue surrounding Gardsil for boys and men since 2006 and early in 2008. You can be sure to get the first reports of real health and natural health news at Natural Health News, frequently copied, never duplicated.
ask us about remedies for vaccine concerns
Merck says that this vaccine, at $360 a series, will not have data on vaccination of little boys until 2008. Of course adding to the already heavy overlay of harmful vaccines will do little but raise money for Merck in the meantime. The Feds are also boosting profits by ... NVIC maintains that Merck's clinical trials did not prove the human papillomavirus (HPV) vaccine designed to prevent cervical cancer and genital warts is safe to give to young girls. ...
Some of our top stories about Gardasil -
Oct 16, 2009
Merck now targeting men with Gardasil, boys weren't enough. UPDATE: 10/17/09. The Risks and Benefits of HPV Vaccination What your doctor or other health care provider is required to tell you by law, before you get a jab, ...
Jun 29, 2008
23 December, 2010: Natural Health News first reported on boys and Gardasil in 2006 and early in 2008. ... It found that Gardasil was 78% effective in preventing anal intraepithelial neoplasia related to the HPV-16 and HPV-18 viral serotypes. ...
Mar 22, 2009
Media Issues Propaganda To Boost HPV Vaccine Sales And Renewed Confidence Following Children's Deaths. UPDATE: ... http://naturalhealthnews.blogspot.com/2008/06/boys-now-targeted-by-big-pharmas.html ...
Jul 06, 2008
More evidence the Merck HPV vaccine is not ready for the public and no state funds should be used to provide access for this vaccine. 25-page report: ..... Kids are using diet pop in schools, in chewing gum, especially ...
Fukushima Roundup From Fairewinds Associates
I have a been a little lax of late in keeping up with the goings on at Fukushima, so here are the updates for the last month from Fairewinds.
Oldest first, but before that, a couple of links on issues that I have railed against since day one. By no means am I being smug or saying 'I told you so' because the issues were there as plain as day, well they were to anyone other than the Japanese government, who seemed quite content to be led around the ring by TEPCO.
And something Arnie Guunderson raises in the first clip, the far too cosy relationship between operators and regulators.
In line with my pregnant schoolgirl analogy.
And virtually every other previous post of mine has about kids in the affected area.
Nuclear Oversight Lacking Worldwide (Jobs for the boys!)
Are Regulators And The Nuclear Industry Applying The Valuable Lessons Learned From Fukushima?
Fairewinds chief engineer Arnie Gundersen discusses three nuclear safety problems uncovered during the Fukushima accident that nuclear regulators and the nuclear industry wish they could ignore. Why isn't the industry designing nuclear plants to withstand the worst natural events? Why aren't nuclear regulators, governments, and citizens who live and work near a nuclear plant prepared for a nuclear accident? How much does the NRC value human life? Finally, Fairewinds' Gundersen concludes that the NRC is not implementing adequate safety changes because the NRC believes that a serious accident is impossible.
New TEPCO Photographs Substantiate Significant Damage to Fukushima Unit 3
Post Fukushima: All the King's Horses and All the King's Men...
Oldest first, but before that, a couple of links on issues that I have railed against since day one. By no means am I being smug or saying 'I told you so' because the issues were there as plain as day, well they were to anyone other than the Japanese government, who seemed quite content to be led around the ring by TEPCO.
And something Arnie Guunderson raises in the first clip, the far too cosy relationship between operators and regulators.
In line with my pregnant schoolgirl analogy.
Fukushima released 30 times more radiation in ocean than government claims, says French government
And virtually every other previous post of mine has about kids in the affected area.
Unto the children: The nuke thing creeps on
Women stage sit-in protest against nuclear policy, meet with Nuclear Safety Commission
- - -
Nuclear Oversight Lacking Worldwide (Jobs for the boys!)
Nuclear Oversight Lacking Worldwide from Fairewinds Associates on Vimeo.
Fairewinds disagrees with a recent New York Times Opinion that claims that Fukushima was caused because Japanese regulators did not properly oversee Tokyo Electric. Fairewinds shows that in the United States, the same cozy relationship exists between the NRC and the nuclear industry. Proper regulation of nuclear power has been coopted worldwide by industry refusal to implement the cost to assure nuclear safety.- - -
Are Regulators And The Nuclear Industry Applying The Valuable Lessons Learned From Fukushima?
Are Regulators And The Nuclear Industry Applying The Valuable Lessons Learned From Fukushima? from Fairewinds Associates on Vimeo.
Fairewinds Presentation to the San Clemente City CouncilFairewinds chief engineer Arnie Gundersen discusses three nuclear safety problems uncovered during the Fukushima accident that nuclear regulators and the nuclear industry wish they could ignore. Why isn't the industry designing nuclear plants to withstand the worst natural events? Why aren't nuclear regulators, governments, and citizens who live and work near a nuclear plant prepared for a nuclear accident? How much does the NRC value human life? Finally, Fairewinds' Gundersen concludes that the NRC is not implementing adequate safety changes because the NRC believes that a serious accident is impossible.
- - -
New TEPCO Photographs Substantiate Significant Damage to Fukushima Unit 3
New TEPCO Photographs Substantiate Significant Damage to Fukushima Unit 3 from Fairewinds Associates on Vimeo.
Analysis of new Fukushima 3 photographs released last week by TEPCO substantiate Fairewinds’ claim that explosion of Unit 3 began over the spent fuel pool. Fairewinds believes that significant damage has also occurred to the containment system of Fukushima Unit 3, and that the two events (fuel pool explosion and containment breach) did not occur simultaneously. Video also includes brief discussion of tent system being constructed over Fukushima Unit 1.- - -
Post Fukushima: All the King's Horses and All the King's Men...
Post Fukushima: All the King's Horses and All the King's Men... from Fairewinds Associates on Vimeo.
Fairewinds' Chief Engineer Arnie Gundersen testifies to the NRC Petition Review Board detailing why the 23 BWR Mark 1 nuclear power plants should be shut down following the accidents at Fukushima. True wisdom means knowing when to modify something and knowing when to stop. Sometimes, all the King’s horses and all the King’s men should not try to put Humpty Dumpty together again.Occupy Wall Street: Charlie Rose - Amy Goodman - Chris Hedges Watch
A discussion about Occupy Wall Street with journalist Chris Hedges and Amy Goodman of Democracy Now!
A great little half hour, and interesting stuff from both participants, not just me girlfriend.
http://www.charlierose.com/view/interview/11961
I Know it Must Be Shite Because I read it Dacre's Daily Mail
Not to be confused with: It's Absolutely True Because I Read It In Paul Dacre's Daily Mail
When visiting my mother yesterday I had the unfortunate experience of glancing at this highly partisan article from Paul Dacre's shitty little rag, the Daily Mail. My initial reaction was one of, don't be reticent, tell people whose side your really on.
And it is no small article, there are reams of the stuff; what a pity it's all bullshit. But hey, what are truth and facts to the Mail, it's not as though it comes as a surprise when they make shit up. No of course it isn't, it is after all the Daily Mail.
Yes, all very well, but herein lies a problem, it's all bullshit.
Oh! I almost forgot.
Nice headline.
But I do wish I had a nickel for every time the media have wheeled Hitler out. When all else fails, bring on Adolf
When visiting my mother yesterday I had the unfortunate experience of glancing at this highly partisan article from Paul Dacre's shitty little rag, the Daily Mail. My initial reaction was one of, don't be reticent, tell people whose side your really on.
And it is no small article, there are reams of the stuff; what a pity it's all bullshit. But hey, what are truth and facts to the Mail, it's not as though it comes as a surprise when they make shit up. No of course it isn't, it is after all the Daily Mail.
These are the damning images that prove the anti-capitalist protest that has closed St Paul’s Cathedral is all but deserted at night.
Footage from a thermal imaging camera taken late at night reveals just a fraction of the makeshift camp was occupied.
An independent thermal imaging company, commissioned by the Daily Mail, captured these pictures after similar footage from a police helicopter found only one in ten tents were occupied after dark. A host more shite here.
Yes, all very well, but herein lies a problem, it's all bullshit.
Following all the media hype (Telegraph, The Times, Daily Mail, Daily Express) about 'empty tents' at OccupyLSX we decided to check out whether their thermal imaging evidence was true.
We got hold of *exactly* the same thermal imaging camera and showed that - surprise, surprise - you can't tell when people are in their tents.
So don't believe the lies - come down to OccupyLSX and join the vibrant community of people working for a better world. http://occupylsx.org
Oh! I almost forgot.
Surrender of St Paul's: Protest rabble force the cathedral to close, a feat that Hitler could barely manage The Wail
Nice headline.
But I do wish I had a nickel for every time the media have wheeled Hitler out. When all else fails, bring on Adolf
Swedish Churches 'Obsolete' Blow 'Em Up Say Half of Country
Yanky free thinkers, eat your heart out.
Swedish churches open SPA salons and Chinese medicine centers
Anatoly Miranovsky
28.10.2011
Sweden will get rid of its churches. There are not enough funds to maintain numerous church buildings as the country, according to opinion polls, has over 80 percent of the people who classified themselves as atheists. The methods for enticing people into churches would not be approved by the founders of the Protestant denominations. Places of worship now have SPA-salons and centers of Chinese medicine.
Professor of Ethics Swedish, pastor Hans Hammar Berryer, sent an open letter to the nation, in which he proposed to blow up churches or find a different application for them: turn them into cafes, pizzerias, houses, or industrial facilities. In Sweden there are 3,384 church buildings. At best, five hundred of them are used for religious services once a month. Sweden is the least religious country in Europe.
The funding of confessions in many European countries is now obtained through the so-called church tax or its components. The payments are voluntary. This form of financing of religious infrastructure is used in Germany, Denmark, Sweden, Austria, Switzerland, Finland, Iceland, Spain and Italy.
The tax is paid in favor of a religious community. Refusal to pay means leaving the church, which takes away from a former community member a place at a church cemetery and some other temple services. Incidentally, it is not always possible to get a church tax on hand in the form of money. In some places this part of income on tax payer's request can be redirected to other purposes - charity or scientific development.
After the separation of church from the state in 2000, the right not to pay the clerics was granted to the Swedish Lutherans. Apparently, expecting a mass fleeing of the nourished herds from their pastors, the Swedish government decided to allocate 50 million euros annually for the maintenance of temple buildings through the support of the objects of cultural and historical significance.
"I have studied statistics, and it terrified me," Hans Hammar Berryer was quoted by Novye Izvestia. "Since 2000, over half a million people fled from the church (the population of Sweden is 10 million).The situation is even worse with the younger generation. The Rite of Confirmation in the 1970s was held annually by 80,000 children. Today the number has decreased to 35 thousand. There are increasingly fewer parishioners, respectively, our revenues are falling. We just do not have enough to maintain 3,384 churches existing in the country. There are only three ways out: blow the churches up, fill them with people or turn them into pizzerias and production departments. "
The Bolshevik idea to blow up churches does not scare many Swedes. According to the online survey of the Swedish newspaper "Svenska Dagbladet", 46 percent of Swedes are in favor of the demolition of churches, 54 per cent are against it. Over 80 percent of Swedes consider themselves non-believers, that is, they are not paying to those carrying "the word of God." Abandoned Protestant churches are being looted. Thieves do not only steal what is stored inside, but even take the copper from church roofs. This year 42 such instances have been recorded.
The liberal wing of the Lutheran Church parishioners is luring people with a complex of secular services. Now, the priests offer not taming, but rather gratification of the flesh. The churches offer massages, water treatment and purifying beverages. Employees of the cult attract therapists and other specialists to their business projects. In particular, clients lying on a sofa under a warm blanket in modern Swedish Lutheran church can complain about their lives not only to the pastor but also a psychotherapist. Another trend is Asian bodily practices and sale of proprietary Chinese qi energy by qualified instructors. More conservative parishes offer local developments in the form of various diets and exercise.
Thus, Protestantism that arose out of the Reformation of the Catholic Church is becoming the object of another Reformation. In 1517, Martin Luther posted his 95 theses against the orders of the Catholic Church on a church door at Wittenberg which, according to official history, marked the beginning of the Reformation. In 2007, a Protestant Congress was held in Wittenberg that declared the policy of modernization that has already passed the "point of no return." The representatives of Germany stated that the number of believers in the Protestant churches in 2030 could fall from the current 25.6 million to 17 million people. At the same time the annual income of the religious communities will be reduced from EUR 4 billion to 2 billion.
However, these numbers only take into account the income from church tax paid by parishioners. As for the total profits of the evangelical churches of Germany (unification EKD), it is approximately 10 billion euros per year. It is worth noting that the desire to bring the church to "universal values" often has the opposite effect. Thus, recognition of "normality" of sodomy by the Anglican Church and the introduction of female bishops has led to a massive exodus of parishioners and priests who do not want to deal with those degraded. Earlier this year, members of 20 former Anglican parishes and three former Anglican bishops have left for the Catholic Church. Pravda Ru
