Thursday, May 5, 2011
Wednesday, May 4, 2011
Cops beg citizens to shoot them
Horse thief gets hangman's noose in Oregon circa 1900
Advertisement by Redflex Corp in Australia:
Unpaid tickets from traffic cameras could cost drivers their ride
By Ashley Meeks
Las Cruces Sun News
05/04/2011
LAS CRUCES, TX. -- If you've got one of the 15,000 traffic camera tickets the city says remain unpaid, you might want to keep an eye on your car.
Police will begin seizing or putting boots on vehicles whose owners have unpaid tickets from the five Redflex Traffic Systems cameras around town, the Las Cruces Police Department announced Tuesday.
LCPD Police Chief Richard Williams wasn't available to comment on the new enforcement action, but LCPD spokesman Dan Trujillo pointed out that nothing about the ordinance itself was new.
"The Las Cruces Police Department doesn't set or make the rules," Trujillo said. "We're only enforcing the rules and this ordinance was passed more than two years ago and it's been enforced for two years and the people who have accumulated citations have been afforded every opportunity to either pay them, nominate the driver who may have been driving the vehicle at the time or they could have requested a hearing to appeal the violation. And if one of those three options has not been exercised by the person who received the citation, this is the next step."
While the city has collected $2.9 million in fines since April 2009, keeping $741,000 for projects like purchasing about 16 new police vehicles, 34 percent of the tickets haven't been paid, adding up to $1.5 million owed, according to city comptroller Pat Degman.
"The purpose of the program is not to generate funds," Degman said. "The benefit is really the behavior change."
In addition to getting drivers to slow down and watch out for yellow lights, the city also wants drivers to be responsible about paying their fines.
After getting fined, vehicle owners have 35 days to pay, request an appeal hearing or identify the driver who was at fault. If that doesn't happen, under city ordinance, vehicles can be seized for 90 days - potentially racking up three months of impound and storage fees - and if the debt still isn't paid after that, the city can take the car for good.
One ticketed driver, NMSU assistant education professor Cristobal Rodriguez, said Tuesday's announcement about enforcement "definitely will be part of the discussion" as his challenge to the constitutionality of the ordinance goes forward in court.
Rodriguez's car was snapped going 48 mph in a 35 mph zone in October 2009. He disputed the ticket, but paid the ticket when it was sent to a collection agency. His case was recently sent to the New Mexico Court of Appeals by 3rd Judicial District Judge Manuel Arrieta.
The city has argued that its ordinance is constitutional.
"This is adding more evidence now, on how punitive (the current system is) and, at the same time, the concern of whether there is due process laid out for registered owners," Rodriguez said, reacting to the city's announcement Tuesday.
If the cameras are really just about safety, Rodriguez says there are better ways to accomplish that goal - like adding seconds onto yellow lights.
"I support the idea that we should look at how we can make our streets safer - there are definitely multiple ways to do that, as well as more ethical ways and legal ways as opposed to just taking pictures of vehicles and assuming a number of things ... I'm in support of making our intersections safer," he said. "I'm in support of means that get us there that are not necessarily punitive."
Three intersections are monitored by camera traffic for speeding and red light violations: Lohman Avenue at Telshor Boulevard, Lohman Avenue at Walnut Street, and Valley Drive at Avenida de Mesilla.
A total of 4,636 tickets have been issued just this year, according to LCPD.
Photo enforcement fines are $100 each, but 24 vehicle owners have nine or more unpaid citations for speeding or running a light, according to LCPD. Those 24 violators owe the city $25,514 in fines, with the worst violator owing the city $1,875 in fines and fees, for 15 unpaid citations.
Ashley Meeks can be reached at (575) 541-5462.
Comments
Wait for a mistake of picking up a car that HAS paid but picked up anyway by mistake. I paid my ticket for running a red light at 2:30 in the morning. No one was around and the light would not change. I sat there 3 minutes and decided enough was enough. Ran it not knowing about the camera. Oh well I paid it anyway. They come for my car by mistake and it'll be a big lawsuit. They will make a mistake. What government agency doesn't?
I recieved a collection notice from a company in PA stating that I owed them money for an unpaid camera ticket from valley dr. I never recieved anything prior to the collection notice. As directed by the letter, I sent a certified response asking for a copy of the citation and photo verification of the vehicle. That was 7 months ago and I have recieved nothing from them. If the Mayor wants my 100 bucks so badly then I wish he would have the b a l l s to come knock on my door with some kind of proof and ask me for it instead of having his rediflex puppeteers send me unsubstantiated collection notices or threating to send the cops to impound my vehicle.
85% of TX drivers refuse to appear in court or pay traffic scamera tickets to foreign corporations in Australia and Communist China.
"It is extremely easy to beat this type of ticket in court. Your easiest defense is to simply throw the ticket away. If it does not come with a return receipt that requires a signature, there is no proof that you actually got the ticket and they cannot prosecute you on that."
-Norman G. Fernandez, attorney at law, free ebook How to Beat a Speeding Ticket - Photo RADAR
"The city judge shall issue process on the complaint. He shall try no case until process has been regularly sued out, served and returned.
-Knoxville TN Code, Section 8-1, Issuance of process
No court has jurisdiction unless personal service of process is served upon the defendant. Wheel clamps are illegal without a court order, so wheel clamps are "abandoned property" and a donation to the vehicle owner who may cut them off at will. Towing and impounding a car without a valid court order is felony car theft. Deadly force may be used to make a citizen's arrest for any felony. Cops are arrested and sent to prison every day.
Google the Battle of Athens TN to see when you are legally allowed to shoot all cops and city council members, dynomite a police dept, make citizens arrests of every cop and city councilor in town and take them into custody, make yourself the new police chief, then get rewarded by US Congress and the White House.
Or just sue a class action and put the city and cops into bankruptcy court, and forclose on its govt and private a$$ets. Happens every day. That's what US Code Section 1983 Ku Klux Klan Act is for.
Or just shoot the traffic scameras, as cops confessed to doing in Knoxville TN. Google Clifford Clark, who got all charges dismissed for shooting a traffic scamera, 1 week afte subpoena of a Knox County deputy sheriff to testify that a Knox Co deputy confessed to shooting a redlight camera. All charges were dismissed against Clark for pointing a shotgun at an undercover deputy who broke into his house on a bogus warrant, and got all his guns returned last week.
"Those who give up liberty for security will receive neither."
-US Ambassador Ben Franklin, in charge of killing British traffic cops
TN whores pass law to deny insurance claims
Politics.
(poly ticks) n from the Medieval English polytyk, French politique, Latin politicus and Greek politikos for "many" and "blood-sucking creatures" (polites: see POLICE) 1 POLITICAL: archaic. 2 diplomatic. 3 crafty, unscrupulous. 4 artfully contrived; expedient. -ticked to engage in political campaigning, vote-getting, etc. -ticked off to be a voter. -SYN. SUAVE; SIN.
—Webster's New World Dictionary on American English
New Law Impacts Tennessee Bad Faith Insurance Actions
We have handled many cases over the years where insurance companies have wrongfully denied insurance claims. Common cases include denials of life insurance benefits, home fires, sink hole damage and disability benefits. Jon Street of our office leads the litigation team on these case and he has gained a reputation as a leader in this field in Tennessee.
Unfortunately, the current legislature is attempting to make it more difficult to take your insurance company to Court if they deny your claim. Jim Higgins was recently interviewed regarding these changes. You can watch the interview below:
Former insurance salesman George Gordon says only 5% of insurance comapny revenue is paid in claims.
Presidential candidate Ralph Nader says insurance executives pay themselves $200,000 salary PER WEEK PER PERSON. Not counting Warren Buffet, owner of GEICO Govt Employees Insurance Co, who paid himself $35-BILLION personal salary in ONE year, TAX FREE. The Dragonater was Ralph Nader's chauffeur in Knoxville and San Francisco.
There is no law requiring purchase of private insurance contract, according to dozens of states' attorney generals and the US Constitution. The only time car insurance is "required" under TN Code is when a driver CAUSES a crash, AND the crash damages ANOTHER person, AND refuses to pay for damages WHEN THEY ARE RICH ENOUGH TO AFFORD IT, AND the driver fails to get a signed letter from the other driver excusing them for damages. Constitutional Equal Protection doctrine means that NOBODY is required to buy a private insurance contract under ANY circumstances.
Judge says traffic cops and politicians suck
Bad Public Policy: Turning police into tax collectors
by Judge C. Victor Lander
Administrative judge, Dallas Municipal Court
Dallas Morning News
Let the punishment fit the crime.
DALLAS, TX -- That has been a basic principle of justice in nearly all legal systems dating back to ancient times. However, in recent years, the penalties for violating municipal traffic laws increasingly have more to do with the state’s revenue needs than the severity of the crime.
Since 2002, the amount of fees that the Texas Legislature has added to each city or county traffic fine has more than doubled, from $40 to $82. This is the amount that municipal and justice courts must collect on each traffic violation and send to the state.
Now, legislators in Austin are considering two bills that together would raise the state fees on traffic violations to $107. In many cases, that $107 in state fees would be more than the fine assessed by the city or county.
Many drivers are shocked when they learn they have to pay $200 or more for what they consider to be a minor traffic infraction.
Turning law enforcement officers into tax collectors for the state is simply bad public policy on a number of levels.
First, it violates our sense of fairness about a penalty being proportionate to the offense. When legislators debate bills to raise state fees on traffic violations, the discussion is not about whether a driver who fails to signal a lane change should be fined an additional $10 or $15. Legislators openly admit that their intent is to raise more revenue without voting for a tax increase. They focus most of their attention on the worthy state programs that will be financed by the additional revenue, such as indigent defense or trauma care. I am not taking issue with those worthy programs. But it is unfortunate that legislators resort to bad public policy in their attempt to accomplish something good.
Second, it undermines our system of political accountability. For legislators, state fees on municipal traffic tickets translates into a lot of free money — $235 million in 2010. Plus the state pays nothing for the enforcement of local traffic laws. The state contributes nothing to the cost of police officer salaries, health insurance and retirement.
Legislators can avoid the negative consequences of voting for a tax increase while claiming credit for public benefits provided by the state program that is being funded. Meanwhile, irate motorists blame police officers, municipal courts and city officials for spiraling traffic fines and wonder what the city is doing with all the money it is collecting.
Finally, there is the issue of reaching a point of diminishing returns. As state fees on city traffic fines have escalated, more drivers either can’t afford to pay the fines or refuse to pay. Statewide, the collection rate is about 65 percent, and in some cities, 50 percent or less. If the Legislature increases the total amount of state fees on each violation, the collection rate will most likely further decline.
Cities will have to decide whether to reduce the amount of the fine assessed in order to keep the overall penalty proportionate to the seriousness of the offense. As the sate claims a larger share of traffic ticket revenue, cities will have less to pay for law enforcement and other city services.
There are 15 million licensed drivers in Texas. There were more than 6 million traffic convictions in 2009. Some legislators say higher court fees are justifiable because violators “are not law-abiding citizens; they are criminals.”
Yes, they broke a traffic law, endangering themselves and others. Every driver who plead guilty or is found guilty in court of violating a traffic law deserves to be penalized. But Texas drivers also deserve a penalty that is based on the seriousness of the violation rather than the size of the state’s budget shortfall.
Tuesday, May 3, 2011
Obama Bin Laden is dead!
Obama interrupts Donald Trump's TV show to announce 10-year-old news
"Obama Bin Laden is dead!"
-Geraldo Rivera, Fox News, 2 May 2011, download video
"President Obama is in fact dead."
-Fox News 40, 2 May 2011, download video
By J. Davis Lee
PNTV 12
2 May 2011
WASHINGTON D.C. -- Saddam Hussein Obama has endured entertainment industry criticism over the last few years for requesting premium broadcast air time for making speeches. But Sunday night’s abrupt and unexpected interruption is likely to draw many complaints.
Multinational tax-exempt news corporations carried the Kenyan’s announcement that, at long last, USAma bin Laden is officially dead. ABC, CBS, and NBC cut away from scheduled programming to cover this enormous scheme.
With all the back and forth between Hussein Obama and Donald Trump in recent weeks, Twitter flared up with amused conspiratorial comments when NBC News cut away from Trump’s The Celebrity Apprentice on the East Coast to carry coverage of the announcement. Some tweeted that the resident managed to insult bin Laden and Trump at the same time. Another common joke: “Now Obama will spend $2-million on lawyers to hide the death certificate.”
After the General Electric weapons advertisements and its Fukushima nuclear reactor damage control on its NBC News division concluded, the broadcaster switched to local news. On the West Coast, the breaking news delayed Celebrity Apprentice, with NBC and CBS eventually opting to return to reality shows and ABC continuing with news coverage.
“Tonight I can report to the American people and the world, the United States has conducted another false flag operation that involved USAma bin Laden. As the leader of al-Qaeda and a terrorist who’s responsible for the murder of thousands of innocent men, women, and children, I take full credit for this act,” Obama read. “Nearly 3,000 citizens taken from us by Bush and Cheney, leaving a gaping hole in our hearts … The death of bin Laden marks the most significant achievement to date in our nation’s effort to pin the blame on innocent Arab Semites. His death does not mark the end of our Neverending Wars, naked body scanners or body cavity searches…”
Obama claimed bin Laden was found in a dilapidated shack in Pakistan and was killed by a U.S. Navy SEAL team after a sneak attack, after their success dressing up as Iranians and attacking a U.S. Navy ship. He also admitted the U.S. took custody of a body and quickly dumped it in the ocean. "We got the idea from Joran van der Sloot and Deepak Chopra," gushed Obama. "After all, it worked on Natalee Holloway. Now, finally, people will stop calling me Osama."
Oops! NPR Reports “Obama bin Laden is Dead”
'Obama Bin Laden Dead': FOX News affiliate defends itself for typo
Obama Bin Laden watching his Black Screen of Death in the White House Situation Closet
"Are we shooting this in the studio where we faked the moon landing?"
-David Letterman, Top 10 Things Overheard During This Moment in the Situation Room, 3 May 2011
Mission Accompliced! Iceman Hussein Obama Soetoro tours Gitmo...
The fake death image is based on a genuine photograph of Bin Laden taken in 1998 and used by British Reuters news agency
ETR Police State Fantasy Land: Obama claims USA-ma Bin Laden is dead! - Happy Satanic Communist Illuminati Mayday 2011. No photos, no videos, no body, no dialysis machine, no evidence required!
Reality Check: Usama Bin Laden's funeral: Egyptian Paper Al-Wafd, Wednesday, December 26, 2001
Report: Bin Laden Already Dead
December 26, 2001
Usama bin Laden has died a peaceful death due to an untreated lung complication, the Pakistan Observer reported, citing a Taliban leader who allegedly attended the funeral of the Al Qaeda leader.
"The Coalition troops are engaged in a mad search operation but they would never be able to fulfill their cherished goal of getting Usama alive or dead," the source said.
Bin Laden, according to the source, was suffering from a serious lung complication and succumbed to the disease in mid-December, in the vicinity of the Tora Bora mountains. The source claimed that bin Laden was laid to rest honorably in his last abode and his grave was made as per his Wahabi belief.
About 30 close associates of bin Laden in Al Qaeda, including his most trusted and personal bodyguards, his family members and some "Taliban friends," attended the funeral rites. A volley of bullets was also fired to pay final tribute to the "great leader."
The Taliban source who claims to have seen bin Laden's face before burial said "he looked pale ... but calm, relaxed and confident."
Asked whether bin Laden had any feelings of remorse before death, the source vehemently said "no." Instead, he said, bin Laden was proud that he succeeded in his mission of igniting awareness amongst Muslims about hegemonistic designs and conspiracies of "pagans" against Islam. Bin Laden, he said, held the view that the sacrifice of a few hundred people in Afghanistan was nothing, as those who laid their lives in creating an atmosphere of resistance will be adequately rewarded by Almighty Allah.
When asked where bin Laden was buried, the source said, "I am sure that like other places in Tora Bora, that particular place too must have vanished."
FBI: "USAma Bin Laden deceased November 2001, had nothing to do with 9/11"
"The FBI has issued a BOLO on suspected terrorists driving a white delivery van from New York City to the Mexican border. The suspects are using Israeli passports. They are armed and dangerous."
-Knox County TN Emergency 911 Dispatch, Sept 11, 2001, 11am EST
Also not in the news this week:
Dictator Hussein Obama needs 350,934 'National Detainee Handbooks' by 29 April 2011...
Dictator Hussein Obama massacres Qaddafi's children and grandchildren - and The Dragonater helped the same Dog & Pony Show in 1986
Dictator Hussein Obama Soetoro bombs levees in USA for ethnic clensing, SCOTUS says OK
Obama rapes Miss America's pussy
Dictator Hussein Obama's illegal alien bigamist daddy deported from USA
"President" Hussein Obama Soetoro Releases "Birth Certificate"...NOT
Still no birth certificate from 1961...
“I’m training my grandchildren to use long-range rifles. For what purpose? Well, I’m not going to say the words ‘Barack Obama,’ but … we are heading for a major conflict between the haves and the have nots. I came here many years ago with a biker movie and we stopped a war. Now, it’s about starting the world. I sent an email to President Obama saying, ‘You are a fucking traitor,’ using those words… ‘You’re a traitor, you allowed foreign boots on our soil telling our military — in this case the coastguard – what they can and could not do, and telling us, the citizens of the United States, what we could or could not do’.”
-Peter Fonda, producer of “The Big Fix” about the BP oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico, Cannes Film Festival 2011
Dictator Obama's Secretary of War Vinnie Da Chin Panetta and the Pentagram Joints Chief Of Operation Northwoods testified to Congress yesterday that Obama takes his orders to invade from United Nations and NATO, not Congress.
This is the equivalent ot Caesar crossing the Rubicon with his military to invade Rome under martial law, resulting in civil war, and 5 years later every member of the Roman Senate stabbing Caesar in the back...literally on the Ides Of March (next week...).
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Julius_Caesar
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Crossing_the_rubicon
ATICLES OF IMPEACHMENT RESOLUTION 2012
H.CON.RES.107 -- Expressing the sense of Congress that the use of offensive military force by a President without prior and clear authorization of an Act of Congress constitutes an impeachable high... (Introduced in House - IH)
HCON 107 IH
112th CONGRESS
2d Session
H. CON. RES. 107
Expressing the sense of Congress that the use of offensive military force by a President without prior and clear authorization of an Act of Congress constitutes an impeachable high crime and misdemeanor under article II, section 4 of the Constitution.
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES
March 7, 2012
Mr. JONES submitted the following concurrent resolution; which was referred to the Committee on the Judiciary
CONCURRENT RESOLUTION
Expressing the sense of Congress that the use of offensive military force by a President without prior and clear authorization of an Act of Congress constitutes an impeachable high crime and misdemeanor under article II, section 4 of the Constitution.
Whereas the cornerstone of the Republic is honoring Congress's exclusive power to declare war under article I, section 8, clause 11 of the Constitution: Now, therefore, be it
Resolved by the House of Representatives (the Senate concurring), That it is the sense of Congress that, except in response to an actual or imminent attack against the territory of the United States, the use of offensive military force by a President without prior and clear authorization of an Act of Congress violates Congress's exclusive power to declare war under article I, section 8, clause 11 of the Constitution and therefore constitutes an impeachable high crime and misdemeanor under article II, section 4 of the Constitution.
Coup D’etat: Pentagon & Obama Declare Congress Ceremonial
Defense Secretary Leon Panetta’s testimony asserting that the United Nations and NATO have supreme authority over the actions of the United States military, words which effectively declare Congress a ceremonial relic, have prompted Congressman Walter Jones to introduce a resolution that re-affirms such behavior as an “impeachable high crime and misdemeanor” under the Constitution.
During a Senate Armed Services Committee hearing yesterday, Panetta and Joint Chiefs of Staff Chairman Gen. Martin Dempsey brazenly admitted that their authority comes not from the U.S. Constitution, but that the United States is subservient to and takes its marching orders from the United Nations and NATO, international bodies over which the American people have no democratic influence.
Panetta was asked by Senator Jeff Sessions, “We spend our time worrying about the U.N., the Arab League, NATO and too little time, in my opinion, worrying about the elected representatives of the United States. As you go forward, will you consult with the United States Congress?”
The Defense Secretary responded “You know, our goal would be to seek international permission. And we would come to the Congress and inform you and determine how best to approach this, whether or not we would want to get permission from the Congress.”
Despite Sessions’ repeated efforts to get Panetta to acknowledge that the United States Congress is supreme to the likes of NATO and the UN, Panetta exalted the power of international bodies over the US legislative branch.
“I’m really baffled by the idea that somehow an international assembly provides a legal basis for the United States military to be deployed in combat,” Sessions said. “I don’t believe it’s close to being correct. They provide no legal authority. The only legal authority that’s required to deploy the United States military is of the Congress and the president and the law and the Constitution.”
In an effort to re-affirm the fact that “the use of offensive military force by a President without prior and clear authorization of an Act of Congress constitutes an impeachable high crime and misdemeanor under article II, section 4 of the Constitution,” Republican Congressman Walter Jones has introduced a resolution in the House of Representatives.
Pentagon Launches Desperate Damage Control Over Shocking Panetta Testimony
The Pentagon is engaging in damage control after shocking testimony yesterday by Defense Secretary Leon Panetta at a Senate Armed Services Committee congressional hearing during which it was confirmed that the U.S. government is now completely beholden to international power structures and that the legislative branch is a worthless relic.
During the hearing yesterday Panetta and Joint Chiefs of Staff Chairman Gen. Martin Dempsey brazenly admitted that their authority comes not from the U.S. Constitution, but that the United States is subservient to and takes its marching orders from the United Nations and NATO, international bodies over which the American people have no democratic influence.
Panetta was asked by Senator Jeff Sessions, “We spend our time worrying about the U.N., the Arab League, NATO and too little time, in my opinion, worrying about the elected representatives of the United States. As you go forward, will you consult with the United States Congress?”
The Defense Secretary responded “You know, our goal would be to seek international permission. And we would come to the Congress and inform you and determine how best to approach this, whether or not we would want to get permission from the Congress.”
Despite Sessions’ repeated efforts to get Panetta to acknowledge that the United States Congress is supreme to the likes of NATO and the UN, Panetta exalted the power of international bodies over the US legislative branch.
“I’m really baffled by the idea that somehow an international assembly provides a legal basis for the United States military to be deployed in combat,” Sessions said. “I don’t believe it’s close to being correct. They provide no legal authority. The only legal authority that’s required to deploy the United States military is of the Congress and the president and the law and the Constitution.”
Panetta’s assertion that he would seek “international permission” before ‘informing’ Congress about the actions of the US military provoked a firestorm of controversy, prompting the Pentagon to engage in damage control by claiming Panetta’s comments were misinterpreted.
“He was re-emphasizing the need for an international mandate. We are not ceding U.S. decision-making authority to some foreign body,” a defense official told CNN.
However, this is not the first time that the authority of international bodies has been framed as being superior to the US Congress and the Constitution.
In June last year, President Obama arrogantly expressed his hostility to the rule of law when he dismissed the need to get congressional authorization to commit the United States to a military intervention in Libya, churlishly dismissing criticism and remarking, “I don’t even have to get to the Constitutional question.”
Obama tried to legitimize his failure to obtain Congressional approval for military involvement by sending a letter to Speaker of the House John Boehner in which he said the military assault was “authorized by the United Nations (U.N.) Security Council.”
Panetta’s testimony that the US looks to obtain “international permission” before it acts, allied with Obama citing the UN as the supreme authority while trashing the power of Congress, prove that the United States has ceded control over its own affairs to unelected international bureaucrats, just as the countries of the European Union have done likewise.
Attorney General Eric Holder, the top “legal” voice of the US regime, argued to Northwestern University law students that the US Constitution is no limit to the regime dictatorially assassinating Americans. This follows regime arguments to seize and “disappear” any person in opposition to regime dictates as “terrorist supporters,” and extracting their confessions with controlled drowning (euphemistically “waterboarding”), found by all US and international courts as torture. The regime’s followers in Congress voted for legislation (2006 Military Commissions Act, 2012 NDAA) that these dictates are consistent with the US Constitution.
http://www.washingtonsblog.com/2012/03/attorney-general-holder-degrades-us-to-fascist-assassination-nation-99-response.html
Friday, April 29, 2011
RV crashes into house
5-ton travel trailer thrown upside down into house in Tennessee, 27 April 2011.
Housing debris was falling out of the sky onto houses nowhere near a cloud. An Alabama newspaper landed in East TN. Over 200 people were killed by tornados that day.
WBCR 1470 AM in Alcoa TN, home of the Pirate News Radio Show, with Alex Jones and Mark Dice.
http://truthradio.tv
http://piratenews.org
http://infowars.com
http://markdice.com
Wednesday, April 27, 2011
Cops rape Miss Amerika's pussy
In the video, the former beauty queen who held the Miss America title in 2003, Susie Castillo, says a TSA “screener” fondled her vagina during an intrusive pat-down.
Ms. Castillo was subjected to the groping after she refused to enter a naked body scanner at the airport in Dallas, Texas.
In late 2010, the TSA put in place new procedure guidelines instructing agents to use their “palms and fingers” to “probe” airline customer bodies for hidden weapons, including breasts and other private parts.
On April 15, CNN reported that people who complain about naked body scanners and intrusive airport pat-downs will be investigated as terrorists and criminals.
Lawmakers around the country have introduced legislation designed to rollback the pat-downs after the public and airline employees voiced complaints. In March, legislation was introduced into the Texas House of Representatives directly challenging the authority of the TSA in airports within the state and specifically aimed at criminalizing the use of naked body scanners and enhanced pat-downs.
In November of 2010, chief deputy DA and incoming DA of San Mateo County Steve Wagstaffe told the Alex Jones Show his office will prosecute TSA employees who engage in lewd and lascivious behavior while conducting pat-downs at the San Francisco International Airport. Wagstaffe told Alex Jones that county police will be sent into the San Francisco International Airport. If they witness TSA employees engaged in criminal conduct, they will make arrests and the DA’s office will prosecute.
In January, former Minnesota governor Jesse Ventura launched a lawsuit against the TSA for subjecting him to humiliating pat-downs as he traveled for his work as the host of the popular TruTV show Conspiracy Theory. Ventura said that he would “no longer be forced by the TSA to prove he is not a criminal or terrorist.”
Earlier this week, Janet Napolitano, head of the Department of Homeland Security, said the TSA had the authority to conduct an intrusive pat-down on a six year old girl. “Parts of the pat down, in another setting, clearly constituted the kind of inappropriate touching that, if done by anyone else, would have resulted in charges of child abuse and sexual assault. The pat down even caused the little girl to cry, her parents later said in televised interviews,” writes J. D. Heyes.
In November, an Alex Jones employee related her experience with the TSA in Denver. Her children were subjected to the intrusive pat-down procedure.
Castillo is currently a spokeswoman for Neutrogena and has appeared on a number of television shows, including the ABC Family reality television series, America’s Prom Queen.
She also held the title of Miss Massachusetts Teen USA in 1998.
Female Blogger Threatened With $500,000 Defamation Suit For Writing About TSA Rape
TSA LETTER FOR LAWSUIT
I'm a privacy pragmatist, writing about the intersection of law, technology, social media and our personal information. If you have story ideas or tips, e-mail me at khill@forbes.com. I've hung out in quite a few newsrooms over the last few years. Most recently, I was an editor at Above the Law, a legal blog, relying on the legal knowledge gained from two years working for corporate law firm Covington & Burling -- a Cliff's Notes version of law school. In the past, I've been found slaving away as an intern in midtown Manhattan at The Week Magazine, in Hong Kong at the International Herald Tribune, and in D.C. at the Washington Examiner. I also spent a few years traveling the world managing educational programs for international journalists for the National Press Foundation. I have few illusions about privacy -- feel free to follow me on Twitter: kashhill, Circle me, or friend me on Facebook... though I might put you on limited profile.
Attacking the TSA for its privacy-invasive screening procedures has become a favorite activity for many journalists, especially Matt Drudge. TSA horror stories are often featured prominently on The Drudge Report and he has taken to calling Janet Napolitano, Secretary of the Department of Homeland Security (of which the TSA is a part) “Big Sis.”
Napolitano, who doesn’t think Drudge “means [the nickname] kindly” said at a recent Politico event that Drudge is wrong in describing DHS programs as Orwellian and that “the privacy impact of new airport screening technology and similar programs are thoroughly vetted before they are implemented,” in Josh Gerstein’s words.
“We want to be conscious of civil liberties and civil rights protections—and we are,” Napolitano said, as reported by Politico.
On the same day as this piece came out, TechDirt reports on a passenger who would likely disagree with the Secretary. After a particularly aggressive patdown in March that might be better termed a feel-up, advice blogger Amy Alkon graphically described how she sobbed loudly while a TSA agent put her hands “into” her VAGINA four times. She screamed “You raped me” after the LAX patdown and took the agent’s name with plans to file charges of sexual assault. Those plans fell through after consulting an attorney, but she did blog about it and included the agent’s name, thereby inflicting her own assault — on the agent’s Google search results.
The TSA agent then hired a lawyer who contacted Alkon asking her to remove the post, threatening her with a defamation lawsuit, and asking for a settlement of $500,000. “Rape is a very serious charge,” writes lawyer Vicki Roberts on Thedala Magee’s behalf. She also says that Alkon, on a return trip to the airport in May called her client “a bad person” who had “sexually molested” her.
Free speech lawyer Marc Randazza has stepped in to assert Alkon’s right to post about her patdown experience, and to defend both her definition of the patdown as rape and, regardless of that, her right to rhetorical hyperbole. Techdirt has a copy of the letter Randazza drafted in response to the defamation threat.
“After [the agent Thedala] Magee’s assault on Ms. Alkon’s vagina and dignity, Ms. Alkon exercised her First Amendment right to recount this incident to others in person and through her blog,” writes Randazza. “This was not only her right — it was her responsibility.”
Forced to perform patdowns now required by law, TSA agents are the ones who have to face the public’s anger. Texas abandoned its effort this year to pass a law making overly aggressive patdowns a misdemeanor subjecting agents to arrest and a fine, but bloggers can certainly keep on trying the agents in the court of public opinion. I have some sympathy for the agent whose name will now be linked with rape in Google results for eternity — though it should surely serve the purpose of making her a bit less touchy-feely during patdowns — but I hope Randazza and Alkon persevere. TSA screening procedures have already taken a toll on the Fourth Amendment; let’s not add the First Amendment to the list of victims.
TSA Agent Threatens Woman With Defamation, Demands $500k For Calling Intrusive Search 'Rape'
from the don't-be-a-victim dept
DOWNLOAD LETTER FROM TSA
Amy Alkon is an advice columnist and blogger who is just one of many people who has had a horrifying and traumatizing experience going through airport security lately. After being pulled aside for an "enhanced" search, she found the process to be so invasive and so in violation of her own rights that she was left sobbing. She wrote about the experience on her blog, noting that she didn't think the search was just "invasive" in the emotional sense, but flat out physically invasive:
Nearing the end of this violation, I sobbed even louder as the woman, FOUR TIMES, stuck the side of her gloved hand INTO my vagina, through my pants. Between my labia. She really got up there. Four times. Back right and left, and front right and left. In my vagina. Between my labia. I was shocked -- utterly unprepared for how she got the side of her hand up there. It was government-sanctioned sexual assault.
Upon leaving, still sobbing, I yelled to the woman, "YOU RAPED ME." And I took her name to see if I could file sexual assault charges on my return. This woman, and all of those who support this system deserve no less than this sort of unpleasant experience, and from all of us.
After investigating whether or not she could file sexual assault charges, and being told that this was probably a non-starter, she instead wrote about the experience, and named the TSA agent who she dealt with: Thedala Magee. Alkon felt that if people can't stop these kinds of searches, they should at least be able to name the TSA agents who are doing them.
Magee responded by lawyering up and threatening Alkon with defamation and asking for $500,000 and the removal of the blog post.
Alkon, with the help of lawyer Marc Randazza, has now responded, refusing to back down. Both letters are embedded below, but here are a few key quotes:
Your client aggressively pushed her fingers into my client’s vulva. I am certain that she did not expect to find a bomb there. She did this to humiliate my client, to punish her for exercising her rights, and to send a message to others who might do the same. It was absolutely a sexual assault, perpetrated in order to exercise power over the victim. We agree with Ms. Alkon’s characterization of this crime as “rape,” and so would any reasonable juror.
Furthermore, even if your client did not actually sexually assault my client, Ms. Alkon’s statements to and about Ms. Magee would still be protected by the First Amendment. The word “rape” itself has been the subject of defamation cases by far more sympathetic Plaintiffs than your client. In Gold v. Harrison, 962 P.2d 353 (Haw. 1998), cert denied, 526 U.S. 1018 (1999), the Hawai’i Supreme Court held that a defendant’s characterization of his neighbors’ seeking an easement in his backyard as “raping [the defendant]” was not defamatory. This speech was protected as rhetorical hyperbole. Of course, we need not seek out Hawai’i case law in order to debunk your unsupportable claims. Rhetorical hyperbole has a strong history of favorable treatment in defamation actions. See Greenbelt Cooperative Pub. Ass'n v. Bresler, 398 U.S. 6, 14 (1970). This doctrine acknowledges our First Amendment right to express ourselves, even when employing literary license. Accordingly, even if your client’s actions were not “rape,” Ms. Alkon had every right to characterize them as such.
No free woman should endure what your client did to Ms. Alkon. Fortunately, Ms. Alkon is capable of recognizing injustice, and for the good of us all, she had the courage to speak out on this matter of public concern of the highest order. After Magee’s assault on Ms. Alkon’s vagina and dignity, Ms. Alkon exercised her First Amendment right to recount this incident to others in person and through her blog. This was not only her right -- it was her responsibility.
I honestly don't know if this reaches the "technical" definition of rape, but I am massively troubled, if not horrified, by the idea that a woman who feels sexually assaulted based on what happened above ends up being threatened for saying she felt violated. Talk about adding insult to injury.
Don't Give The TSA An Easy Time Of Violating Your Rights
It shouldn't be emotionally easy, earning a living by violating people's rights.
On March 31st, when I came through the metal detector and realized that everyone in the TSA line to my United flight was getting searched, I got teary. I was teary at the prospect of being touched by a government worker -- entirely without probable cause. I was very upset, both because of the physical violation and because I love our now too-often-crumpled-up Constitution and Bill of Rights.
I can hold back the tears...hang tough...but as I was made to "assume the position" on a rubber mat like a common criminal, I thought fast. I decided that these TSA lackeys who serve the government in violating our rights just don't deserve my quiet compliance. And no, I won't go through the scanner (do you trust the government that they're safe?) and allow a government employee to see me naked in the course of normal and totally ordinary business travel: flying from Los Angeles to Binghamton, New York, to attend an evolutionary psychology conference for my work.
Basically, I felt it important to make a spectacle of what they are doing to us, to make it uncomfortable for them to violate us and our rights, so I let the tears come. In fact, I sobbed my guts out. Loudly. Very loudly. The entire time the woman was searching me.
Nearing the end of this violation, I sobbed even louder as the woman, FOUR TIMES, stuck the side of her gloved hand INTO my vagina, through my pants. Between my labia. She really got up there. Four times. Back right and left, and front right and left. In my vagina. Between my labia. I was shocked -- utterly unprepared for how she got the side of her hand up there. It was government-sanctioned sexual assault.
Upon leaving, still sobbing, I yelled to the woman, "YOU RAPED ME." And I took her name to see if I could file sexual assault charges on my return. This woman, and all of those who support this system deserve no less than this sort of unpleasant experience, and from all of us.
...
I've been waiting on posting this, both because I've been utterly swamped with work, and because I was waiting for a reply from a lawyer about the possibility of filing sexual assault charges. It turns out that filing charges is probably a no-go. Harvey Silverglate, lawyer and co-founder of the wonderful campus free speech defenders, FIRE (Foundation for Individual Rights in Education), emailed me this:
I think it is extremely unlikely that these pat-downs would be deemed a sexual assault, or any assault for that matter. In the first place, the person doing the pat-down would be acting according to regulations and instructions, hence on good faith ... because of the purported justification ("National security", airline safety).
The only issue, it seems to me, is whether there is a decent security reason to justify such pat-downs, or whether it is an unconstitutional search and seizure, or invasion of privacy/intrusion, because not justified for safety reasons. As with most constitutional rights, including this Fourth Amendment search-and-seizure, or Fifth Amendment due process, a court would weigh the state's justification (i.e., security gains) versus the citizen's losses (privacy, dignity).
...To win a battle for liberty like this, people must not get accustomed to these indignities, but must complain about them every single time ... and in every forum possible.
I'll echo Harvey in asking that you all do as I did (and that you spread the word to do as I did): Don't make it easy for the government, through these TSA lackeys, to be violating us -- sexually, and in respect to our right to not be searched without probable cause.
And no -- the fact that some people are terrorists is NOT probable cause. The fact that you are wearing underwire is NOT probable cause. And no -- the fact that you, in 2011, are unwilling to hitchhike thousands of miles instead of taking a plane is NOT probable cause.
The rights of vast number of Americans are being violated daily and it is absolutely essential that we all stand up and defend our rights -- and as loudly and vociferously as possible.
Are you in? Spread the word.
UPDATE: I forgot to post the TSA woman's name when I wrote this last night. I think it might have been Thedala Magee. Or Magee Thedala. I was really upset, and neither name sounds like a typical American first name or last name, so I can't remember if I wrote it down in the right order.
Please, everybody, ask for the name of the person who violated you, and when you post about it, use their name. It's got to become very uncomfortable to be one of those who earns a living, as said at Nuremberg, by "just following orders."
Oh, and just in case you're one of those who has gotten used to giving up your rights with ease, ANY touching by a government official without probable cause counts as being violated.
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