I found this in the local newspaper. I've included the link so people can read the whole story but have focused upon one incident in the article. As usual, I am amazed at how the press manages to miss important facts or dismiss them as being irrelevant and/or unimportant. A tipster apparently also told the FBI the student had pictures of suicide bombers on his cellphone. He didn't. Here we had a student innocently expressing his right to free speech. Nothing threatening. Nothing disruptive.
Apparently, the local newspaper doesn't think a student in school reported to have images of suicide bombers on his cell phone is threatening or anything that should at least be investigated or checked out to ensure other students, faculty, etc. are safe.
A 16-year-old Elk Grove student was pulled out of class...
Why would the FBI drag a teenager out of class...
I've read this article a few times and can't help but notice that it has been hyped up with almost certain inaccurate descriptions of how the student was removed from class. If this school was like any other school in the country, the student was likely sent to the office by a teacher or brought there by some kind of hall monitor.
I've investigated reported crimes at high schools, junior high schools and grade schools on numerous occasions (mostly minor crimes but a few felonies) and on every occasion, the student has been brought to the principal's office by school personnel. I have never "dragged" or "pulled" any student from a class. I have spoken about this with other cops I work with and none of them has ever "dragged" a student from class either.
I know I'm required to be accurate when I write a report and am not allowed to embellish the report. It's too bad that journalists aren't held to the same standard. Such a requirement would obviously help the public discourse in determining what is really happening or not happening to our civil liberties.
Editorial: Watch listed Doodling? Reading wrong book? Look out var ppt=new Date(); var ppp=new Date('Tue Dec 27 02:15:00 PST 2005'); var ppe=new Date(ppp.getTime()+1*(86400000)); var ppv=0; if (ppt Published 2:15 am PST Tuesday, December 27, 2005var ppn='Page B6';if(ppv==1){ppn=''+ppn+'';}document.write('Story appeared in Editorials section, '+ppn); As headlines focus on warrantless wiretaps and "cruel, inhuman and degrading" techniques for interrogating detainees, other events affecting Americans' civil liberties occur with little notice. Here are two examples, on opposite coasts, one close to home in Elk Grove and another in Massachusetts.
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A 16-year-old Elk Grove student was pulled out of class Sept. 27 and interrogated by two FBI agents. They focused on an incident two years earlier in a math class. The student had written the letters "PLO" on his binder. His teacher called the PLO a terrorist organization and said anyone who supported it was a terrorist. The student defended the PLO as a legitimate political group that opposed Israeli occupation. A tipster apparently also told the FBI the student had pictures of suicide bombers on his cellphone. He didn't.
Here we had a student innocently expressing his right to free speech. Nothing threatening. Nothing disruptive.
The incident raises obvious questions: Why would the FBI drag a teenager out of class to interrogate him about a 2-year-old doodle on a notebook? Does the FBI assess tips (and the possible motives of tipsters) before touching off needless scares and upending people's lives? Why interrogate people who have been linked to no crimes?
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If you're certain you know everything, there's little opportunity to learn anything.
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In most cases abuse under the PA will never be known, because those that were spied upon will never know it. It's estimated that the FBI has issued 30,000 security letters (effectively warrants without judicial review) annually since 9/11. Certainly the opportunity to abuse the system is there.
I read of the FBI questioning a college student because he checked out Mao Tse Tung's Little Red Book. We really have a threat from communism nowadays don't we.? Glad I read it before it was on the feds' 'watch list.'
A 16-year-old Elk Grove student was pulled out of class Sept. 27 and interrogated by two FBI agents.
Pulled out of class, that's just a way of saying it.
It doesn't state that he was pulled out by the FBI agents does it. Actually it doesn't say who pulled him out of class at all.
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Apparently, the local newspaper doesn't think a student in school reported to have images of suicide bombers on his cell phone is threatening or anything that should at least be investigated or checked out to ensure other students, faculty, etc. are safe.
So are you saying that a teenager who by your own words you would consider a threat be escorted by a hall monitor or a teacher?
Now was this an editoral from a priviate citzen or someone at the paper. Your link goes to a registration page and your cut and paste has a bunch of gobbly gook in it.
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It is an editorial at the paper Charlie. I just followed the same link and was able to pull up the editorial without a problem and no registration. Since you're having a problem with the link, here's the entire story although I previously stated I was only addressing the first incident.
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Editorial: Watch listed Doodling? Reading wrong book? Look out Published 2:15 am PST Tuesday, December 27, 2005 As headlines focus on warrantless wiretaps and "cruel, inhuman and degrading" techniques for interrogating detainees, other events affecting Americans' civil liberties occur with little notice. Here are two examples, on opposite coasts, one close to home in Elk Grove and another in Massachusetts.
A 16-year-old Elk Grove student was pulled out of class Sept. 27 and interrogated by two FBI agents. They focused on an incident two years earlier in a math class. The student had written the letters "PLO" on his binder. His teacher called the PLO a terrorist organization and said anyone who supported it was a terrorist. The student defended the PLO as a legitimate political group that opposed Israeli occupation. A tipster apparently also told the FBI the student had pictures of suicide bombers on his cellphone. He didn't.
Here we had a student innocently expressing his right to free speech. Nothing threatening. Nothing disruptive.
The incident raises obvious questions: Why would the FBI drag a teenager out of class to interrogate him about a 2-year-old doodle on a notebook? Does the FBI assess tips (and the possible motives of tipsters) before touching off needless scares and upending people's lives? Why interrogate people who have been linked to no crimes?
Then there's the story reported in The Standard-Times newspaper in Massachusetts of a University of Massachusetts, Dartmouth, student doing a research paper for a history class on fascism and totalitarianism. He requested a copy of Mao Tse-Tung's "Little Red Book" through interlibrary loan for a paper on communism. Two agents of the Department of Homeland Security later showed up at his parents' home in New Bedford, Mass., to interrogate him, telling him they were there because the book was on a "watch list" and the student had spent time abroad.
What else is on that "watch list" - Karl Marx's "Communist Manifesto" or "Das Kapital"? Hitler's "Mein Kampf"? Other staples in the history of political thought courses?
Such abuses led U.S. senators to filibuster to force changes to the USA Patriot Act. Parts of that law were set to expire Dec. 31, but Congress has agreed to temporarily extend it to work out language among the House, Senate and president. The Senate is holding out for language that would require some connection between the records sought and a person suspected of being a terrorist - which is altogether reasonable.
Incidents such as these make it appear that our national security agencies have no idea what they're doing. So they resort to random, oceanwide fishing expeditions in the vain hope they'll turn up something. That does little to advance the war against terrorism, but it does unnecessarily alienate, humiliate and frighten innocent people whose trust is needed.
Quote:
[blockquote]quote:
Apparently, the local newspaper doesn't think a student in school reported to have images of suicide bombers on his cell phone is threatening or anything that should at least be investigated or checked out to ensure other students, faculty, etc. are safe.
[/blockquote] So are you saying that a teenager who by your own words you would consider a threat be escorted by a hall monitor or a teacher?
Charlie P
Actually Charlie, I was pointing out that it would be responsible to investigate such a complaint to ensure there wasn't a threat and if there was that it was handled properly. or anything that should at least be investigated or checked out to ensure other students, faculty, etc. are safe.
__________________
Jesus Christ--The reason for the season!
If you can read this, thank a teacher. If you can read this in English, thank a veteran.
If you're certain you know everything, there's little opportunity to learn anything.
I tend to agree with the tone of the article. There can be, in times like these, a certain subtle hysteria that causes rumors and reactionary embellishment as "authorities" try to err on the side of safety. In the process, lives can be destroyed or smeared.
Here's a perfect example from the article provided:
Then there's the story reported in The Standard-Times newspaper in Massachusetts of a University of Massachusetts, Dartmouth, student doing a research paper for a history class on fascism and totalitarianism. He requested a copy of Mao Tse-Tung's "Little Red Book" through interlibrary loan for a paper on communism. Two agents of the Department of Homeland Security later showed up at his parents' home in New Bedford, Mass., to interrogate him, telling him they were there because the book was on a"watch list" and the student had spent time abroad.
We'll jump up and question a student that has "spent time abroad" and asked for the wrong books, but we'll turn our backs as five MILLION people come into our nation illegally without so much as a "How do you do?" We know almost nothing about them, their intentions, their past, their criminal history, their health problems, etc...but we'll "nail" some kid for checking out the wrong books.
Then there's the story reported in The Standard-Times newspaper in Massachusetts of a University of Massachusetts, Dartmouth, student doing a research paper for a history class on fascism and totalitarianism. He requested a copy of Mao Tse-Tung's "Little Red Book" through interlibrary loan for a paper on communism. Two agents of the Department of Homeland Security later showed up at his parents' home in New Bedford, Mass., to interrogate him, telling him they were there because the book was on a "watch list" and the student had spent time abroad.
What else is on that "watch list" - Karl Marx's "Communist Manifesto" or "Das Kapital"? Hitler's "Mein Kampf"? Other staples in the history of political thought courses?
Actually Charlie, I was pointing out that it would be responsible to investigate such a complaint to ensure there wasn't a threat and if there was that it was handled properly. or anything that should at least be investigated or checked out to ensure other students, faculty, etc. are safe.
Understood but you also stated you had never heard of a kid getting pulled out of class by an FBI agent and how certain you were that this info was inaccurate. What I'm saying is todays society do you want a kid escorted by a teacher or hall moniter that have no formal training in law enforcement? That could lead to a Columbine or an explosion in the school.
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Patriot Act Abuse???
