Category: Uncategorized

No-Fly List Conclusion: Government Declines to Appeal, Full Order To Be Released (?)

If you’ve been following, I’ve been covering the case of Rahinah Ibrahim, the university professor who was accidentally placed on the no-fly list — which came with a whole host of other issues — because an FBI agent accidentally checked the wrong box. This woman was forced to go to court to correct this obvious mistake, because either the government was embarrassed or, perhaps, simply doesn’t care.

The case was a circus, with the government attempting to protect her inclusion on the list as a “state secret,” in addition to being classified. This argument was sternly rebuked by the judge. The government also blocked a witness for the plaintiff from entering the country. The judge’s ruling on that is largely redacted. In the end, the judge ruled in favor of Dr. Ibrahim and ordered that she be removed from any lists she found herself on as a result of the FBI’s error.

The government’s time frame to file an appeal has now expired, and so Dr. Ibrahim’s case is finally over. It has now been demonstrated that there is a right to due process with the no-fly list, and the government cannot simply take away your right to travel and say, “sorry, that’s a secret.” Those redactions may also be short-lived, and we may get a fuller story soon, as the judge found that his ruling should not be redacted and agreed to keep his conclusions a partial secret only pending appeal. It will be exciting to have the final pieces of this story laid out.

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The Most Sued NYPD Officer: 28 Times in 8 Years, $884K Paid in Settlements

Det. Valentin -- NYC's Most Sued CopMeet Detective Peter Valentin. Det. Valentin makes approximately $125,000 per year, including overtime, for his role as a narcotics officer with the NYPD. In the last 8 years, this cop has been sued for violating the civil rights of the people 28 times, or about once every 3 months or so. The suits that have settled have already cost the city (read: the taxpayers) over $884,000, as exposed by the NY Daily News.

The fact that these suits were settled means that the city found them to be credible. New York doesn’t simply settle lawsuits to get rid of them if it thinks they can win, and as you may have noticed on my blog, goes through great lengths to convince the courts (often successfully) of some very creative defenses. Yet, despite the fact that the city has plenty of reason to believe that this cop routinely violates the citizens, Det. Valentin is still a member of the NYPD.

Although Det. Valentin holds the record for “most sued officer,” he is hardly alone. The top 12 most sued NYPD officers were involved in a total of 231 cases and have cost the taxpayers at least $7,709,071. All of them are still employed. And there’s another interesting anomaly: of the top 12, nine of them are narcotics officers. The “war on drugs” is, of course, responsible for the rise of the American police state moreso than any other factor, and brings us all of these “no-knock warrants” that leave 80 year old men shot in their beds, searches authorized by dogs rather than warrants, and “I smelled marijuana!” as the universal justification for police assholery.

Why is it that these men are allowed to continue to victimize the population? Possibly because despite costing the city $7.7M, in addition to their salary, narcotics officers bring the city significant revenue in the form of civil forfeitures. Perhaps the NYPD looks at these lawsuits, and the beatings and false arrests doled out to innocents caught up in the dragnet, as “the cost of doing business.” After all, despite the fact that these cops are sued personally, the city still picks up the tab, so there is zero reason for these officers to behave as long as they keep bringing in the dollars.

Sad.

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A Quick “Thank You!” To My Bitcoin Donors

Most of the donors, who generously support my work against intrusive government agencies, do so by PayPal, which allows me to send a “thank you” for funds received. But, the beauty of Bitcoin is that it is anonymous, so I have no idea who these supporters are unless they have also contacted me by e-mail. So to you, anonymous donors, thank you so much!

My “‘Change We Can Believe In’ Donation Drive” (where I will be paying the NYPD $820.15 in court fees with loose change) has been a huge success so far, and the NYPD will be receiving a care package around Christmas. 🙂 If you’d still like to help…

  • Coins: Mail to Jonathan Corbett, 228 Park Ave. S. #86952, New York, NY 10003
  • PayPal: Donate here!
  • Bitcoin: 15ftA2938sp7Mnsi8U7wYVmEtd4BRbFnkT
  • Check: Make out to Jonathan Corbett and mail to the address above

This is my coin collection so far (a little under $400… about half way there!)…

Coins

Fun fact: The U.S. mint no longer circulates half-dollars! They still print them and sell them at a small markup to collectors, so I’ve purchased a few of them to sprinkle in. 😀

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Reddit: Pictures of Kittens, Inteviews with Makeup Artists = Good, Civil Rights Advocacy = Spam

I’m a little bit bitter. When news of my video last year broke, the story topped Reddit for at least 2 full days. Little did I know that during those two days, I was actually banned from the site because an automated spam filter decided I must be a spammer since I was focused on one topic. I say “little did I know” because when you’re banned from Reddit, they don’t tell you and everything appears as normal, but your posts aren’t visible to anyone but you. I figured it out a year later — a year’s worth of my posts there went down the memory hole.

When I figured it out and contacted Reddit’s admins about it, they fixed it and told me it was a mistake, but I got no apology and was told it could happen again. Sure enough, today I was doing an officially scheduled “Ask Me Anything” (a Reddit mainstay where people who have done something interesting are essentially interviewed by the community) to promote awareness of the public comment period now open regarding the TSA’s nude body scanners and my post was deleted, again silently. For hours I checked my computer for questions from the community to respond to before trying from another device to see that my post had been vaporized. I was told that my post was “mistakenly” deleted, but told to repost only if I didn’t include the words “We need your help.”

Reddit, your priorities are misaligned when photos of cats and AMAs with make-up artists dominate, but a civil rights advocate can only do an AMA if he doesn’t advocate. Your culture of silent bans and deletions unnecessarily make legitimate posters waste countless hours interacting with a site that will never post those interactions and making people feel like their contributions are of no value to your community. Please remove the ability of subreddit (forum) moderators to silent delete and remove the ability of the automated spam filter to silent ban. It’s worth a little more spam to avoid missing out on the contributions of your legitimate users.

Feel free to share on Reddit. 🙂

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June is “No Surveillance State Month” …plus Catch Me on Reddit IAmA!

Databases, technical gadgets, electronic payment, and cameras everywhere mean that each person can be tracked like never before. Where once the government had to use scarce human resources, thereby limiting its ability to spy to worthy targets only, computers make it possible to spy on everyone at all times.

June is my birth month, and to celebrate, I’ll be posting one way to avoid the constant intrusion on your privacy — whether that intrusion is effected by governments, corporations, or mere fraudsters — each day for the entire month. These 30 tips will highlight some more obvious, some less obvious, things that most of us do (or fail to do) that help our watchers to watch us, and what we can do instead to “opt-out” with minimal time and effort.

Also, this Tuesday, May 28th, 2013, at 11:00 AM ET, I’ll be doing an “Ask Me Anything” on Reddit. Reddit sent literally hundreds of thousands of hits to my blog back when my video was released and consists of a community that is largely interested in and aware of privacy issues and government overreach. Register an account and come chat with me then! 😀

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Miami (Finally) Pays Parking Ticket Appeal Costs

ptikcheck

In 2011, I was given an improper parking ticket on South Beach, which naturally I brought to court. However, Hearing Officer Carmen Dominguez was not interested in, well, hearing, and repeatedly made me discontinue relevant lines of cross-examination of the meter wench who cited me. Despite that, I got said meter wench to admit that she did not know the definition of “parking” in Florida, and despite that, Carmen found me guilty. So I appealed, complete with $301 filing fee for an $18 citation, and won.

The circiut court, finding that the meter wench had “a misconception of the statutory definition of park or parking,” shortly thereafter awarded full costs to me. Six months later, I finally have the last of the money due. Success. 😀

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The Constitution is Neither Dated nor Advisory

The New York Times was one of the few newspapers in the world that couldn’t find the space to write a story about my TSA work. Not the defeat the body scanner video, not the multiple lawsuits and petition to the U.S. Supreme Court, none of it. They did, however, find space to publish an op-ed by a Georgetown University law professor who dedicated a piece to trashing the Constitution and calling for it to be, essentially, considered a piece of advice rather than binding law: Let’s Give Up on the Constitution, by Louis Michael Seidman.

I don’t understand how a constitutional law professor, or attorney of any kind, can make such claims. Lawyers take an oath to defend the Constitution, and having a man who hates the Constitution teach the future lawyers of the country about that document is absurd, and I believe the exact reason why we find judges that are so willing to bend the constitution to their will.

I wrote the following reply op-ed to the NYT, which I’m sure they’ll publish ASAP. rolleyes

In Georgetown University constitutional law professor Louis Michael Seidman’s op-ed published by the Times on December 30th, a man who is teaching the attorneys, judges, and politicians of the future preaches that our founding document is too “ancient” to be relevant to today’s issues, and we should ignore its “evil provisions.” He argues that we can instead keep our cherished rights through checks and balances between the branches of government, “tolerant debate,” and “engaged citizens.”

I’ve spent the last 2 years working to hold our government to the promises of the Constitution in my battle against abuse by the Transportation Security Administration. I am thankful that I have the Constitution behind me when I step into court. Arguments advanced by the government so far in my litigation have included requests to deny me a trial altogether, requests to consider only government-produced evidence, and a request that constitutional claims relating to TSA policies be filed within 60 days or be forever forefeited. The Constitution gives me the legal backing to demand to be heard and meaningfully petition my government for redress. Neither public debate nor checks-and-balances has yet stopped the TSA from using machines to photograph us naked at the airport, nor from putting their hands on the genitals of both our grandparents and grandchildren. There are many “engaged citizens” left in tears after prison-style airport searches of themselves and their familes wondering exactly how they can direct their anger towards the pursuit of change. Many conclude that there’s not much that can be done.

If the Constitution did not exist, or somehow becomes advisory rather than compulsory as Mr. Seidman fantasizes, short of armed revolution, they would be right. Checks and balances between branches of government are useful, but the ultimate check is against the will of the people, and the foundation of that is the document that spells out what we the people have empowered and forbidden our government to do. It is a crystal clear history lesson that every government that ever was has relentlessly sought to gain as much power as it possibly can. There is no doubt that over 200 years later, a black-and-white notice of the people’s demand for freedom of speech, fair elections, due process, protection from unreasonable search, and (dare I say it) the right to be armed (and not just for hunting, but for defense against criminals and tyranny alike) is still relevant and necessary. With the help of this “ancient text,” we can avoid a situation in which the people are left with no recourse but to fight their government as those in Lybia were forced to do after their government shut down the “tolerant debate” of the engaged citizens.

The problem of “infidelity” to the Constitution described by Mr. Seidman comes from judges, politicians, and government lawyers who decide that their judgment is superior to the document that founded the greatest nation on this earth. Where could they possibly have imparted the idea that such an arrogant disregard of the will of the people was acceptable? Perhaps they studied law at Georgetown University.

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Texas State Trooper Fingers Two Women on Side of Highway, “Might Be Marijuana In There”

A Texas state trooper pulls over two women for littering a cigarette butt out the window. He decides that he “smells marijuana” and orders the two women out of the car. A female trooper is called in to search the women, who proceeds to insert her fingers into the women on the side of the highway — from both front and back — and without changing gloves. All of this is caught by the dash cam. No drugs are found. Source and video: http://www.rawstory.com/rs/2012/12/19/two-women-sue-texas-troopers-for-illegal-roadside-cavity-search/

This is the #1 reason to end the war on drugs: it is a constant excuse to violate the rights of the people.

If you’d like to tell the trooper what you think of her work, I’m pretty sure this is her Facebook. Same name, looks vaguely like the woman in the video, and friends with a bunch of cops. You can also send your thoughts as to whether or not she should be charged to the Texas Dept. of Public Safety at cle@dps.texas.gov.

Please share.

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The Pussification of America — Why We Should Play in the Rain

Emergency AlertsSunday afternoon, 30 hours before the hurricane is scheduled to hit Manhattan, there are cars with garbage bags taped to them. The subways are preparing to shut down. And I’m walking around looking for brunch past dozens of restaurants that are “closed for the hurricane.” That evening, the streets are empty and the East Village’s usually bustling nightlife is reduced to nothing, with half the bars closed and the other half empty.

My cell phone pops up multiple “emergency alerts” — text messages sent to my phone without my request from the local government, telling me of “mandatory” evacuations, flooding, and to “Go indoors immediately and remain inside.” Business contacts, friends, and family are exchanging messages of “be safe!”

So naturally, I went out exploring in the hurricane and enjoyed the night.

The city that never sleeps was — and still is — shut down now for over 48 hours by a Category 1 (the smallest category) hurricane centered almost 100 miles away. The “death toll” in this city of 8,000,000+, which has over 100 natural deaths on any given day, has reached about 12. Yet people were so afraid that they went out and bought weeks worth of food and water and then holed up in their apartments… unless of course they were asked leave their homes by their governments, in which case they happily obliged.

“Out of an abundance of caution.”

That phrase is uttered by the TSA any time they do something stupid. It is their personal motto — that if there is a one in a billion chance that their actions might be useful, then they should act even if there is a certainty that they will violate people in the process. This is why they take your child’s juice box, why grandma has to explain her Depends, and why we should spend $1B on machines that digitally strip you naked, even if they don’t really work too well.

It seems we are increasingly fearful of everything, and I dare say that New York shut down for the same reason many put up with the TSA. It’s the same reason why we tolerate the NYPD stopping-and-frisking innocent people on the street for no reason. “Anything for our safety!”

How utterly stupid is that expression? Would you truly give anything any time someone comes along and says, “If you don’t, there’s a chance it might not turn out well!” The time has come for us to collectively grow some balls. Spending your life worrying about remote possibilities will not make you a happy person, and the cost in life opportunities is far outweighed by the chance that your time is up. “Playing it safe” always has a cost associated with it. If current TSA nonsense takes just 5 extra minutes of each air traveler’s time, every year the TSA wastes 7,000 man-years, or 90 lifetimes worth of time. …and after all, the man who hides in his home may be killed by a falling tree, just as the man who insists on thorough airport security may find himself blown up in the security line.

Life is about evaluating risks and making reasoned decisions about when to move forward. Tip the balance too far to one side and you die; too far to the other, and you never live. You’re never going to get the perfect balance, but why not choose to err on the side of living your life?

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