Urban Farmers Targeted By City, Issued Multiple Threats After Property Was Vandalized

Source: TheDailySheeple
via: NaturalNews.com
Claire Bernish
July 26, 2016

Southeast Oklahoma City residents Charles and Julie Henry face a blatantly unconstitutional invasion of their rights thanks to a stifling change to a city ordinance making vandalism to their property essentially a crime — by them.

(Article by Claire Bernish, republished from www.thedailysheeple.com)

Though the Henrys complied with the code, albeit a bit late due to a prohibitive financial situation, an opportunistic code enforcer triggered a chain of events no law-abiding property owner should ever be subjected to — including the possibility their property may be raided by Oklahoma County Sheriffs under a blanket warrant in direct violation of the Fourth Amendment.

According to a GoFundMe page set up to assist the family’s legal battle against the City, their low-income neighborhood typically experiences an outbreak of vandalism each spring — which the city promptly cleans up to discourage other vandals from copying. [1]

But a startling change in city code placed the onus of responsibility for covering up vandals’ handiwork on property owners, essentially victimizing them twice — particularly for Charles and Julie who don’t have room in their budget to afford paint. And, as expected when spring came this year, the Henrys’ privacy fence became a canvas for vandals.

This time, however, the Henrys realized they’d run out of paint and had to buy more — which, due to budgetary reasons, took longer than expected. During the week it took the family to procure paint, a city code enforcement inspector performing the annual sweep cited the Henrys for the violation and demand the graffiti be covered.

But the inspector didn’t stop there — using his camera as a periscope, he peered behind the privacy fence and noted other minor violations of city ordinance and citing the Henrys for each one. Confronted by this blatant invasion of privacy, the inspector falsely claimed the “right of easement” allowed him onto the family’s property. Knowing that claim didn’t hold weight, Charles rightly told the code enforcer a warrant would be necessary for inspections and photographs — and though the inspector left immediately, he forked over the lengthy list of violations.

As proven in time-stamped pictures which appear on the GoFundMe page, the Henrys complied with the order to paint the fence less in less than a month, but responded to the additional violations with an appropriately-annotated list of U.S. Supreme Court rulings — showing Fourth Amendment reasons the case had no merit — demanding the city not proceed to enforce the inspector’s citations.

Two months without any response from the City, and the Henrys were never summoned to appear in Municipal Court. But it became clear the City simply ignored the legitimate, legal rebuttal of the citations when it filed the matter with Oklahoma County District Court, inaccurately claiming they supplied a written refusal to comply — and falsely stating they failed to address any of the citations, including that the fence was never painted.

As Steve Dickson, who started the GoFundMe page for the Henrys, explained, [2]

“Based on the lie that the graffiti was never abated, the City is asking the District Court for a Writ of Assistance to enter the Henry’s property by force of the Oklahoma County Sheriff and is asking for what is in essence a ‘General Warrant’ to search the property for compliance of cited issues and for discovery of further issues.

“Think about that for a moment. Graffiti on a fence seems to give the city the idea that they have the right to invade private property on a witch hunt for more code violations by which they can fine, force removal of private property or jail the property owner under the protection of the county Sheriff’s office.”

In its egregious, overly-aggressive attempt to extort money and invade personal property under the protection of a gun and a badge, the city is acting no better than a common thug — or, perhaps more accurately, as an organized criminal.

Unfortunately, as the city’s actions prove, knowing your rights doesn’t necessarily guarantee the State — the thug government — will comply.

Read more at: www.thedailysheeple.com

Read More At: NaturalNews.com

Sources:

[1] https://www.gofundme.com/2e3akuh3

[2] https://www.gofundme.com/2e3akuh3

Thanks to John McCain, the FBI Almost Just Got Access to Your Browser History

Source: UndergroundReporter.org
James Holbrooks
June 23, 2016

On Wednesday, a bill that would’ve broadly expanded the FBI’s ability to capture an individual’s internet records — by bypassing the need for a warrant altogether — was narrowly defeated.

Falling just two votes short of the 60 required for it to advance, the bill — sponsored by Senator John McCain and attached to the Commerce, Justice, Science, and Related Agencies Act of 2016 — sought to allow the federal government to use “national security letters” (NSLs) to track suspected terrorists’ browsing history and email metadata, among other things.

“We aren’t asking for content, we’re asking for usage,” McCain stated in defense of the failed amendment. “This is an important tool.”

But others saw the bill — civil liberty and Fourth Amendment issues aside — as completely unnecessary on its face, given that the USA Freedom Act, passed last year, already grants agencies the ability to conduct warrantless surveillance in urgent situations.

Senator Ron Wyden of Oregon, for instance, argued Wednesday that the USA Freedom Act already “allows the FBI to demand all of these records in an emergency and then go get court approval after the fact. So unless you’re opposed to court oversight, even after the fact, there’s no need to support this amendment.”

Wednesday’s vote was part of an ongoing attempt by senators to greatly expand the use of NSLs, which bypass courts and often involve gag orders. Such instruments, if utilized in the capacity many long for, would compel private companies to supply government agencies with individuals’ personal internet data.

But McCain’s bill would’ve also made permanent a “lone wolf” provision of the USA Freedom Act that, according to the ACLU, already“improperly allows the government to obtain secret Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (FISA) orders for individuals who are not connected to an international terrorist group or foreign nation.”

To that end, McCain himself invoked the “lone wolf” aspect of the proposed amendment — as well as the recent mass shooting in Orlando — in promotion of the legislation on Monday.

“In the wake of the tragic massacre in Orlando,” the senator stated in a press release, “it is important our law enforcement have the tools they need to conduct counterterrorism investigations and track ‘lone wolves,’ or ISIL-inspired terrorists who do not have direct connections to foreign terrorist organizations but who seek to harm Americans.”

But Neema Singh Guliani, legislative counsel with the ACLU, sees through that argument. Speaking to AlterNet, she said:

“We shouldn’t have a kneejerk reaction to say that there needs to be more surveillance and less oversight. Gutting civil liberties is not an appropriate response. This amendment runs counter to the conversation over the last several years where we talked about how do we rein in surveillance abuses. This says, ‘let’s expand the types of information the FBI can get without ever seeing a judge.”

In contrast to Wednesday’s vote in the Senate, last week the House voted down a measure — attached to a spending bill just days after the Orlando shooting — that would’ve prohibited the government from searching the online communications of American citizens without a warrant.

Read More At: UndergroundReporter.org

US Navy Considers Microchipping The Brains Of Americans With Trackable Implants

Source: NaturalNews.com
Daniel Barker
June 23, 2016

The government and military are becoming increasingly brazen in their efforts to monitor and track all citizens at all times, and are admittedly exploring new invasive techniques for doing so – such as placing GPS microchip implants in humans.

In the name of national security, the powers that be have created an intricate and vast surveillance network that violates the privacy of all citizens, and have been so successful at it that they no longer bother to hide the fact that they want to invade our lives even further.

Among the latest schemes under consideration are the use of biomedical devices, smart appliances and even children’s toys as part of a “signals intelligence bonanza” available to the NSA or anyone else “authorized” to spy on us – at home or wherever we go.

From The New American:

“Always anxious to expand the size of its surveillance dragnet, the National Security Agency (NSA) is exploring the possibility of seizing data from Internet-connected biomedical devices such as pacemakers, Richard Ledgett, the NSA’s deputy director said at a June 10 convention in Washington, D.C. ‘We’re looking at it sort of theoretically from a research point of view right now,’ Ledgett told the attendees of the 2016 Defense One Tech Summit.

“Ledgett referred to the life-saving devices as ‘another tool in the toolbox’ of the snoops. He agreed with a comment saying that the data that could be gathered from the biomedical devices would be a ‘signals intelligence bonanza.'”

Your refrigerator may be spying on you

In a February Senate hearing, Director of National Intelligence James Clapper said that smart technology and other internet devices could be used for “identification, surveillance, monitoring, location tracking, and targeting for recruitment, or to gain access to networks or user credentials.”

These devices could include “a refrigerator, a washing machine, or a child’s toy,” according to Clapper.

The New American‘s Joe Wolverton points out that, although this type of surveillance violates the spirit of the Fourth Amendment, the government uses what it perceives as a loophole in the amendment’s wording to justify its actions:

“The Fourth Amendment to the Constitution guarantees that: ‘The right of the people to be secure in their persons, houses, papers, and effects, against unreasonable searches and seizures, shall not be violated, and no warrants shall issue, but upon probable cause, supported by oath or affirmation, and particularly describing the place to be searched, and the persons or things to be seized.’

“Of course, the federal government would argue that pacemakers aren’t papers; therefore, they aren’t covered by the Fourth Amendment’s mandates.”

The U.S. Navy wants YOU (to get a microchip implant)!

As if children’s toys and pacemakers weren’t enough, the U.S. Navy is interested in placing a GPS monitoring microchip implant inside your body, according to a recent article posted by The Sun:

“The US Navy has held meetings to discuss highly controversial technology which could one day allow the government to track the movements of every single citizen in the country, The Sun has learned.

“A number of naval officers visited the home of an American presidential candidate and “transhumanist” called Zoltan Istvan, who believes human beings should be fitted with technology to boost their brain power or enhance physical attributes.

“Istvan said they discussed the possibility of implanting humans with chips fitted with global positioning (GPS) technology.”

U.S. Navy Vice Admiral James Wisecup, who helps develop “revolutionary warfare concepts” for the Chief of Naval Operations Strategic Studies Group, wrote in a letter to Istvan that the meeting broadened “our understanding… of the merger of humans and machines”.

“Your personal perspectives were interesting and timely as we begin our research process,” he continued,”You have had a direct impact on our viewpoints for future concepts.”

Not even George Orwell himself could have dreamed this up…

Read More At: NaturalNews.com

Judge Napolitano: NSA Can Record 100% Of Entire Country’s Phone Calls

Crosstracking New Way Internet Giants Are Snooping On You

Legal and media analyst Lionel of Lionel media joins RT’s Ed Schultz to discuss the new method internet giants are spying on average citizens. Lionel says that the new method, crosstracking, doesn’t violate the Fourth Amendment, because it is corporations who are conducting unreasonable searches – not the government.