According to DHS, your "Rights" aren't your Rights

Mayor Anthony R. Silva, who was elected in November 2012, had traveled to China for a mayor’s conference, he said in a statement. Upon his return home on Monday, Silva was briefly detained by Department of Homeland Security agents and had his belongings searched, he said.

“A few minutes later, DHS agents confiscated all my electronic devices including my personal cell phone. Unfortunately, they were not willing or able to produce a search warrant or any court documents suggesting they had a legal right to take my property. In addition, they were persistent about requiring my passwords for all devices,” Silva said.

Silva was not allowed to leave the airport until he gave his passwords to the agents, which the mayor’s personal attorney, Mark Reichel, claimed is illegal.

The mayor said the agents told him confiscating property from travelers at the airport was “in fact routine and not unusual,” and promised to return the items within a few days.

Silva was also told he had “no right for a lawyer to be present” and that being a U.S. citizen did not “entitle me to rights that I probably thought.”

Since when does DHS (Department of Homeland Security) decide on what is and is not a "Right" guaranteed to us under the Constitution?

Are they Judges? Have they been to law school? Are they sworn in by the State Bar?

I'm sorry, this needs to be RE-Litigated.

Evidently, our Rights don't begin until we are 100 miles + from a Customs or Border Checkpoint.

Someone needs to read the Constitution, especially the 4th Amendment.

Waco PD and D.A. Ya Dun Goofed - 8th Amendment

"Waco, Texas – Earlier today, detainees in the Jack Harwell Detention Center in Waco were told that in exchange for bond reductions, they must sign a document stating the Waco police “had the right to arrest the inmate and that he/she will not file a lawsuit against McLennan County and/or the City of Waco.”

If you don't smell something piscine here, you evidently don't have a sense of smell.

More and More Police departments, D.A.'s, P.A.'s and S.A.'s are realizing just how badly something got screwed up and they are now open to BIG-TIME Liability. So they pull stuff like this out, using the power of the state to basically blackmail people into signing away their Rights under the threat of increased incarceration/bail. Seriously this is something Congress and the D.O.J. SHOULD be looking at.

But of course they won't. They don't want to leave themselves open for that Liability either.

Personally I think these folks have a good 8th Amendment Tort against the Waco PD, and Waco D.A.

I like Kenny's take on it.

"So basically the way I see it is the DA is saying “We may have fucked up and we’re willing to reduce your bail if you agree to not sue us for the aforementioned fuck up. If you don’t sign, then we didn’t fuck up and your ass is gonna rot in jail.”

ETA: Found this, the original story may be egregiously false.

"By TOMMY WITHERSPOON twitherspoon@wacotrib.com

A Houston attorney’s media release alleging that jailed bikers were being forced to waive their rights to sue the city and county is false, but the controversy it created has that lawyer squaring off with a Waco attorney over the rumors."

Yes, the FBI has been surveilling you from that plane

"WASHINGTON (AP) — The FBI is operating a small air force with scores of low-flying planes across the country carrying video and, at times, cellphone surveillance technology — all hidden behind fictitious companies that are fronts for the government, The Associated Press has learned.

The planes' surveillance equipment is generally used without a judge's approval, and the FBI said the flights are used for specific, ongoing investigations. In a recent 30-day period, the agency flew above more than 30 cities in 11 states across the country, an AP review found.

Aerial surveillance represents a changing frontier for law enforcement, providing what the government maintains is an important tool in criminal, terrorism or intelligence probes. But the program raises questions about whether there should be updated policies protecting civil liberties as new technologies pose intrusive opportunities for government spying.

U.S. law enforcement officials confirmed for the first time the wide-scale use of the aircraft, which the AP traced to at least 13 fake companies, such as FVX Research, KQM Aviation, NBR Aviation and PXW Services. Even basic aspects of the program are withheld from the public in censored versions of official reports from the Justice Department's"

Did you notice the "KICKER" in that. Let me reiterate it.

The planes' surveillance equipment is generally used without a judge's approval, and the FBI said the flights are used for specific, ongoing investigations. In a recent 30-day period, the agency flew above more than 30 cities in 11 states across the country, an AP review found.


Did you see it yet?

No?

Here let me narrow it down.

generally used without a judge's approval

Do you see it now?

In other words, they didn't bother to go to a Judge to get a warrant. They just decided to fly over a city and video record people and in what they SAY is "Some" flights, they also collect "Cellphone" traffic. IOW they are taking your picture and listening to your cellphone while you are out in public. And DESPITE your Constitutionally Protected Right that they MUST have a Warrant to do so, they haven't bothered to fill out the paperwork and are listening to you and everyone else, anyway.

Did you notice I didn't say "listening to your cell phone CONVERSATIONS", I said CELLPHONE. In this day and age of smartphones, if they put something like, ohhhh a Stingray, in one of those planes, they can actually use those planes to push thru fake updates to your smartphone, which could allow them access to every piece of data on your phone, and turn it into the hidden camera and microphone that you take with you everywhere.

And they haven't even bothered to go in front of a Judge, lay out the reasons and their Probable Cause, that they need a warrant.  They just decided to take a large bowel movement on our "RIGHTS" and fly the plane.

And did you also notice the other little tidbit in that story?

"U.S. law enforcement officials confirmed for the first time the wide-scale use of the aircraft, which the AP traced to at least 13 fake companies, such as FVX Research, KQM Aviation, NBR Aviation and PXW Services. Even basic aspects of the program are withheld from the public in censored versions of official reports from the Justice Department's inspector general.

"The FBI's aviation program is not secret," spokesman Christopher Allen said in a statement. "Specific aircraft and their capabilities are protected for operational security purposes." Allen added that the FBI's planes "are not equipped, designed or used for bulk collection activities or mass surveillance."

But the planes can capture video of unrelated criminal activity on the ground that could be handed over for prosecutions.

Some of the aircraft can also be equipped with technology that can identify thousands of people below through the cellphones they carry, even if they're not making a call or in public. Officials said that practice, which mimics cell towers and gets phones to reveal basic subscriber information, is rare."

They set up "Fake" companies to run the aircraft, and if while they are illegally taking video of you, and capturing data from your cellphone, if you DO commit a crime, they will turn that illegally collected information over, so you can be prosecuted.

WOOOOOW!!!!! they get to have their cake and eat not just it, but your cake and your neighbors cake and their neighbors cake and everyone else's cake, too.

Have you figured out yet all the various "Issues" with this program?

Keep your eyes open, you are being watched

"DENVER — Within an hour of FOX31 Denver discovering a hidden camera, which was positioned to capture and record the license plates and facial features of customers leaving a Golden Post Office, the device was ripped from the ground and disappeared."

From Kenny aka Wirecutter

California considering mandatory access to your cars OBD Computer.

But what if the traffic cop were a computer that always is transmitting data about our driving habits to a government agency? That question increasingly is being asked given technological advancements and a new proposal by the state's air-quality control agency to expand the information your car's computer would be required to collect and potentially transmit to officials.

Currently, drivers get red-light citations via mail because of cameras placed at intersections. USA Today reported that some eastern states have suspended drivers from using toll lanes after their transponders showed them to be speeders. Private fleets often closely monitor, control and punish the behavior of their drivers. What's next?

The On Board Diagnostics computer systems on all of our late-model cars now collect a wide range of information mostly related to a car's emissions. When something is amiss, your dashboard flashes with a "check engine" light and you head to a repair shop to fix it. The goal is to assure cars aren't polluting the air.

What part of NO, doesn't California understand? This is just one more little step of their planned intrusion into every facet of our lives.

How else can the Government wriggle it's way into controlling our lives?

And it always starts in California. California puts a law into effect and soon it gets picked up by the Fed Gov and the rest of the country has it imposed on them.

So this needs to be nipped in the bud.

You WILL NOT surveil my vehicle or driving WITHOUT a valid warrant signed and issued by a judge.

So until you have that go take a long walk off a short pier.

Law Enforcement can now look through your walls - Without a warrant

"WASHINGTON — At least 50 U.S. law enforcement agencies have secretly equipped their officers with radar devices that allow them to effectively peer through the walls of houses to see whether anyone is inside, a practice raising new concerns about the extent of government surveillance.

Those agencies, including the FBI and the U.S. Marshals Service, began deploying the radar systems more than two years ago with little notice to the courts and no public disclosure of when or how they would be used. The technology raises legal and privacy issues because the U.S. Supreme Court has said officers generally cannot use high-tech sensors to tell them about the inside of a person's house without first obtaining a search warrant."

The devices are sensitive enough they can even see your breath from more than 50 feet away. So they could just drive down the street, slow down and aim the device at your home and tell which room of the house you are in, if you and your significant other are having intimate relations, or if you are on the toilet or alone.

Law Enforcement say they need it to protect lives in case they have to enter after a suspect.  In a case where they HAVE a Valid and proper warrant signed by a judge, I have no problem with that.

However, Law Enforcement Agencies having been using these for at least 2 years, and the general public is just NOW hearing about these?  SO how long have these devices been used without a warrant or proper supervision?

Who has access to these devices?

Do they have a built in recording function?

Just how detailed are they?

Can a person be readily identifiable?

How many children may have been viewed with these devices?

Do you see what the problem is?

Law Enforcement agencies could have used these devices to go on "Fishing Expeditions", drive down a street peering through peoples walls, see something they think might be a crime and the next thing you know, you have a SWAT Team kicking in your door and people and property getting damaged, injured or killed.

So right now, we the Citizens, need to know WHO is using these devices. HOW their use is regulated and supervised, WHETHER or not they have the ability to record the information and JUST HOW detailed that information is.

And we need to be sure they ARE NOT being used by Law Enforcement to violate our 4th Amendment Rights.

Looking through our walls to see if someone is doing something, or even if someone has a grow operation, WITHOUT a warrant is a violation of our Rights.

So if the Police want to use these, they need to have a Valid Warrant specifying exactly where the device is to be used, and limits just how long that device can be used at that location before another warrant is required.

For all we know, a Law Enforcement Agency could get a warrant for an arrest or a search and then leave one of these devices across the street surveilling  the location for weeks, recording what the occupants do.

Think I'm crazy?  Look around you now at all of the stuff going on.

NYPD Officers were found planting firearms on suspects just recently.  In the past that and the planting of narcotics have also been done.  It's documented FACT.

Do you think for a second, that if the cops had this kind of technology in their hands that they WOULDN'T abuse it?

It' human nature.

Another 4th Amendment violation

"Police to begin checking bags for explosives at CTA stations

The newest Chicago Police counterterrorism effort will involve assigning officers to high-traffic CTA train stations to randomly check riders’ bags for explosives.

Starting the week of Nov. 3, officers will ask “randomly selected” individuals if they are willing to have their bags screened before they pay to enter a station, police said in a statement Friday. If someone declines the screening, they will not be allowed to ride the train."

Excuse me.  If I don't want to submit to their intrusive screening, I CANNOT ride the train?

Under what section of the Law or the Constitution are they performing these checks?

H/t .357 Magnum aka TFS

All warrants in Texas considered "No Knock"

"Texas courts have ruled that because legally owned firearms represent “a threat of physical violence” to police, officers may ignore the 4th Amendment rights of Texas residents by treating ALL legally issued warrants as “No Knock” warrants, even if the issuing judge has made it clear that officers “…must knock on the door and announce their identity and purpose before attempting a forcible entry.”

Oh HAIL no.

I will talking with my Sheriff about this.  Maybe I can get his opinion on this on video.

H/t Kenny

.GOV Demands Internet Companies turn over User Passwords.

"The U.S. government has demanded that major Internet companies divulge users' stored passwords, according to two industry sources familiar with these orders, which represent an escalation in surveillance techniques that has not previously been disclosed."

Excuse me?  Have any of those users committed a crime?  Do you have a valid Warrant or Indictment?  Then you have NO REASON to make that demand.

Just another rape of our Constitutional Rights by a government that is trying to destroy our rights and turn us all into obedient little drones.

Bloggers' beware

You Could Be Next

I'm sorry I will not sign anything without my attorney checking it out first.  

If you have done nothing wrong why worry?

"Unsurprisingly, the usual Big Brother apologists chimed in with the rebuttal, “If you have nothing to hide, you have nothing to worry about.”"

Because under the Constitution and the Bill of Rights, I have an "Expectation of Privacy".  Which mean I can feel secure in my home, on my computer, on my cell phone from intrusion by ANYONE.  It doesn't matter if I haven't committed a crime or an offense.  I have an Expectation of Privacy.  Therefore the .GOV has no legal Right to examine, surveil, record or in any way shape or form, monitor me or my communications.

Until such time as they gather evidence of any wrong doing by me, they cannot monitor my communications, surveil me or intrude on my privacy.  For them to do that they are REQUIRED to present their evidence of my alleged wrong doing to a judge, who then makes the determination as to whether they have enough evidence to reach the threshold of "Probable Cause"

They are FOBIDDEN by the Constitution and the Bill of Rights from "Dragnet" surveillance, which is just like it sounds.  Throwing out a net and gathering in as much information as they can from as many people as they can in order to look for any wrong doing.

Did you catch that?

They don't have a suspicion of wrong doing by any one particular person, but they are gathering data on people to LOOK for any evidence of wrong doing.

That is Unconstitutional.

In other words, it is ILLEGAL.

I have the RIGHT to be secure in my home, head and communications, be they verbal, written or electronic.  WITHOUT the .GOV seeking to obtain it without "Due Process".

So it doesn't matter if I have nothing to hide.  It matters that the .GOV violated my Rights, your Rights, and BROKE THE LAW.

That is what is at issue in these scandals.

The .GOV, it's agencies and agents VIOLATED the Laws and the Constitution of this nation.

For that there needs to be consequences, for ANY AND ALL involved in those violations.  From those at the bottom who performed the violations, to those at the top who either ordered them or through inaction allowed them to occur.

This is a Nation of Rights and Laws.

If the .GOV can trample on the Rights and Laws with Impunity, what type of Nation are we?

4th Amendment AGAIN!

"The ACLU, National Association of Criminal Defense Lawyers and other groups have sued to stop the practice, saying that it violates First and Fourth amendment rights. They say allowing agents to act on a hunch encourages racial profiling. Some activists say they also worry that the FBI and other federal investigators are using laptop searches at the border to collect intelligence on terror and criminal suspects without judicial checks.

Catherine Crump, the ACLU lawyer who first requested the report, said it is the first detailed explanation of why the government believes it doesn’t need a reason to open a laptop or storage device and download files for further review. She described as inadequate the government’s argument that imposing a legal threshold to perform such searches would lead to lawsuits.

“That’s just not good enough,” Crump said. “A purely suspicionless search opens the door to ethnic profiling.”

What is it with this Administration that they are of the opinion that the Constitution and the Bill of Rights doesn't apply to them and their Agents?

I'm sorry but the Constitution and the Bill of Rights are there to SPECIFICALLY LIMIT what the Government can do. It's not a suggestion or a guideline, it is the EXPRESS SCRIPT that says you MAY NOT do that.  

H/t OldNFO

.GOV wants to know everything about you

Listen to internet radio with Texas Fellowship on BlogTalkRadio

If you have Verizon I suggest you cancel it

"The National Security Agency is currently collecting the telephone records of millions of US customers of Verizon, one of America's largest telecoms providers, under a top secret court order issued in April."

Let us see, Secret Court Orders taking the information of millions of people without their knowledge or consent.

Why that sounds a LOT like what happened to James Rosen of Fox News and his parents.

Once again this sounds more and more like a 4th Amendment Violation

Hmmm Warrantless Searches? 4th Amendment anyone?

"The boy was questioned by the principal and a sheriff’s deputy, who also wanted to search the family home without a warrant, Henkelman said. “He started asking me questions about if I have firearms, and [the deputy said] he’s going to have to search my house. Search my house? I just wanted to know what happened.”

No search was performed, and the deputy left Henkelman’s home after the father answered questions in a four-page questionnaire issued by the Sheriff’s Office."

My kids school teachers know I own firearms.  Heck a few of them read this blog. The Chief of the School Districts Police knows I have firearms.  I've offered to give him ammunition I don't use, and we've discussed firearm preferences.  He likes his .40, I like my .38 and .45.  There are two sheriffs deputies who have outstanding invitations to come shoot with me anytime they feel like it.  They like older firearms like I do.  One of them offered to buy my SKS because he likes the fully adjustable rear sight mine has.

In short they know I am a responsible firearms owner, and I will do anything I can to assist them if they ever need it.  If it's simply stopping traffic (Which I have done after 2 accidents) until backup could get there, to giving a patrol car a jump start after it's battery died.

However for a Deputy to think he can just walk in my house uninvited and search?  "GET A WARRANT"

Some will say, "If you have nothing to hide, why would you mind?"

Simple, it violates my Rights and my PRIVACY.  If they are going to come into my home with the intent to search, they better have a Warrant in their hand for me to see.  One that details down to the FINEST detail what exactly they are looking for.  If they are looking for drugs, well I have a lot of prescriptions.  Locked in my SAFE.  If they have a warrant I will gladly unlock it then step back allowing them to check it.  They will not however force the lock on my safe or be searching it unaccompanied.  I will get out the video camera to document every single part of the search.  I used to be in Law Enforcement, I KNOW what can happen if a bad cop gets it in his head you are dirty.  So no, you better have a Warrant and the search will be fully documented through video or you will wait for my lawyer to get here.


So no, no 4 page "survey", no searching my house.  I haven't done anything wrong and if you think I did, go to a Judge and get a Warrant.

4th Amendment? What 4th Amendment Amidst Them Noise

Billy has another video for us.

Please watch it and think carefully about the issues he raises.

Yup Yup, as I alluded to in a prior post

Agent Provocateur

Click read and check out his link.