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Wednesday, February 13, 2013
If the Constitution requirement is that a candidate for US President be that of a “natural born” citizen – and the determination is that both parents must be either born in America or be a naturalized citizen and the child born in America – then President Obama would not qualify.
If the Constitution requirement is that a candidate for US President be
that of a “natural born” citizen – and the determination is that both
parents must be either born in America or be a naturalized citizen and
the child born in America – then President Obama would not qualify.
hey obama why you give billions to you muslim brother hood club but only give this to fema
SEC. 5. AUTHORIZATION OF APPROPRIATIONS.
- There is authorized to be appropriated $180,000,000 for each of
fiscal years 2014 and 2015 to carry out this Act. Such funds shall
remain available until expended.
BREAKING NEWS: Pope Benedict resigned to avoid arrest, seizure of church wealth by Easter - Diplomatic Note was issued to Vatican just prior to his resignation - New Pope and Catholic clergy face indictment and arrest as "Easter Reclamation" plan continues... A Global Media Release and Statement from The International Tribunal into Crimes of Church and State.
BREAKING NEWS: Pope Benedict resigned to avoid arrest, seizure of church wealth by Easter - Diplomatic Note was issued to Vatican just prior to his resignation - New Pope and Catholic clergy face indictment and arrest as "Easter Reclamation" plan continues... A Global Media Release and Statement from The International Tribunal into Crimes of Church and State.
! BREAKING NEWS: Pope Benedict resigned to avoid arrest, seizure of church wealth by Easter - Diplomatic Note was issued to Vatican just prior to his resignation - New Pope and Catholic clergy face indictment and arrest as "Easter Reclamation" plan continues... A Global Media Release and Statement from The International Tribunal into Crimes of Church and State"On Friday, February 1, 2013, on the basis of evidence supplied by our affiliated Common Law Court of Justice (itccs.org), our Office concluded an agreement with representatives of a European nation and its courts to secure an arrest warrant against Joseph Ratzinger, aka Pope Benedict, for crimes against humanity and ordering a criminal conspiracy."
http://itccs.org/2013/02/13/
FOIA Documents Show FBI Using “Mosque Outreach” for Intelligence Gathering
FOIA Documents Show FBI Using “Mosque Outreach” for Intelligence Gathering
March 27, 2012
FBI’s Activities Raise Constitutional Concerns and Violate Federal Privacy Law, ACLU Says
Make a Difference
Your support helps the ACLU stand up for human rights and defend civil liberties.CONTACT: (212) 549-2666; media@aclu.org
NEW YORK – For several years, the FBI’s San Francisco office conducted a “Mosque Outreach” program through which it collected and illegally stored intelligence about American Muslims’ First Amendment-protected beliefs and religious practices, according to government documents released today by the American Civil Liberties Union from a Freedom of Information Act lawsuit brought by the ACLU of Northern California, Asian Law Caucus and the San Francisco Bay Guardian.
The San Francisco FBI’s own documents show that it recorded Muslim religious leaders’ and congregants’ identities, personal information and religious views and practices. The documents also show that the FBI labeled this information as “positive intelligence” and disseminated it to other government agencies, placing the people and organizations involved at risk of greater law enforcement scrutiny as potential national security threats. None of the documents indicate that the FBI told individuals interviewed that their information and views were being collected as intelligence and would be recorded and disseminated.
“Everyone understands that the FBI has a job to do, but it is wrong and counterproductive for the bureau to target American Muslim religious groups for secret intelligence gathering and place innocents at risk of investigation as national security threats,” said Hina Shamsi, director of the ACLU’s National Security Project. “The FBI is casting a cloud of suspicion on American Muslim religious organizations based on their faith alone, which raises grave constitutional concerns. The bureau’s documentation of religious leaders’ and congregants’ beliefs and practices violates the Privacy Act, which Congress passed to protect Americans’ First Amendment rights.”
The “Mosque Outreach” documents, from between 2004 and 2008, detail information and activities including:
• FBI visits to the Seaside Mosque five times in 2005, documenting the subject of a particular sermon and congregants’ discussions regarding a property purchase for a new mosque. Despite an apparent lack of information related to crime or terrorism, the FBI’s records of these discussions show they were classified as “secret,” marked “positive intelligence” and disseminated outside the FBI.
• FBI meetings with members of the South Bay Islamic Association four times from 2004 to 2007, documenting discussions about the Hajj pilgrimage and “Islam in general.” FBI documents show this information was classified as “secret,” marked “positive intelligence” and disseminated outside the FBI.
• FBI contacts with representatives of the Bay Area Cultural Connections (formerly the Turkish Center Musalla), describing the group’s mission and activities, as well as the ethnicity of its members. A memo indicates the FBI used a meeting participant’s cell phone number to search LexisNexis and Department of Motor Vehicle records and obtained and recorded detailed information about him, including his date of birth, social security number, address and home telephone number. FBI documents show this information was classified as “secret.”
“The FBI can only be successful if the American public supports its mission and methods, and community outreach plays an essential role in building the trust and mutual understanding to ensure the FBI is effectively and appropriately protecting both our security our civil rights,” said Mike German, ACLU senior policy counsel and a former FBI agent. “By exploiting the good faith of Muslim groups and their members, the FBI is undermining community support for the government’s legitimate law enforcement activities.”
In light of these new documents, the ACLU is renewing its call on the Justice Department’s Inspector General to investigate Privacy Act violations in the FBI’s San Francisco Division and to initiate a broader audit of FBI practices nationwide to determine the scope of the problem and identify solutions. The ACLU is also urging the FBI to stop using community outreach for intelligence purposes, to be honest with community organizations regarding what information is collected and retained during community meetings and to purge all information collected improperly.
A detailed description of examples (with links to FOIA documents) showing the FBI's improper collection of information at community outreach meetings is available at:
www.aclu.org/FBI-mosque-outreach
More on the ACLU’s documentation and analysis of the FBI’s improper surveillance and intelligence gathering activities is available at:
www.aclu.org/mappingtheFBI
FOIA Documents Show FBI Illegally Collecting Intelligence Under Guise of "Community Outreach"
FOIA Documents Show FBI Illegally Collecting Intelligence Under Guise of "Community Outreach"
FBI Storing Information on Activities Protected by the First Amendment, Memos Obtained by ACLU Show
Make a Difference
Your support helps the ACLU stand up for human rights and defend civil liberties.CONTACT: (212) 549-2666; media@aclu.org
NEW YORK – The FBI has been illegally using its community outreach programs to secretly collect and store information about activities protected by the First Amendment for intelligence purposes, according to FBI documents released today by the American Civil Liberties Union.
“The trust that community outreach efforts aim to create is undermined when the FBI exploits these programs to gather intelligence on the very members of the religious and community organizations agents are meeting with,” said Michael German, ACLU senior policy counsel and a former FBI agent. “The FBI should be honest with community organizations about what information is being collected during meetings and purge any improperly collected information.”
FOIA documents showing instances of inappropriate intelligence gathering include:
• San Francisco FBI memos, written in 2007 and 2008 by agents who attended Ramadan Iftar dinners under the guise of the FBI’s mosque outreach program, documenting participants’ names, conversations and presentations. The 2008 memo also recorded participants’ contact information and descriptions of their opinions and associations.
• A 2009 San Jose, Calif. FBI memo describing FBI participation in a career day sponsored by an Assyrian community organization. Agents detailed conversations with three community leaders and members about their opinions, backgrounds and charitable activities.
• A 2007 San Jose, Calif. FBI memo describing a mosque outreach meeting attended by 50 people representing 27 Muslim community and religious organizations, identifying each person by name and organization and analyzing their “demographics.”
“Except under certain special circumstances, the Privacy Act bars the FBI from maintaining records like these describing how Americans exercise their First Amendment rights to freedom of speech and association,” said Nusrat Choudhury, a staff attorney with the ACLU National Security Project. “Congress passed this law to prevent records obtained by the government for one purpose from being used for another reason without a person’s consent, but that is precisely what the FBI has done.”
There is no indication in the FOIA documents that community members were informed that the FBI’s outreach activities were used for intelligence gathering purposes or could be potentially used to target these people and their organizations for investigations.
One of the organizations whose members were noted attending the mosque outreach meeting was the Muslim Community Association (MCA). “Like all Americans, we want to help the FBI. Now we feel betrayed,” said MCA Board Secretary Isa Shaw. “We support the idea of building trust through FBI community outreach programs, but the government should not be taking advantage of it to violate our First Amendment rights like this.”
The ACLU is calling on the Department of Justice Inspector General to investigate Privacy Act violations in the FBI’s San Francisco and Sacramento Divisions and to initiate a broader audit of FBI practices nationwide. It is also urging the FBI to stop using community outreach for intelligence purposes, to be honest with community organizations regarding what information is collected and retained during community outreach meetings and to purge all improperly collected information.
The request for these documents was made by the ACLU of Northern California, the Asian Law Caucus and the San Francisco Bay Guardian.
A detailed description of examples (with links to FOIA documents) showing the FBI's improper collection of information at community outreach meetings is available at:
www.aclu.org/national-security/aclu-eye-fbi-alert-community-outreach-int...
CAIR-MN Welcomes FBI Probe of Alleged Abuses by Agents
Agents reportedly used intimidation tactics on Somali Muslim
MINNEAPOLIS, Jan. 30, 2013 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- The Minnesota
chapter of the Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR-MN) today
welcomed an FBI investigation into alleged intimidation tactics used on a
Somali Muslim by two agents.
Last
week, CAIR-MN sent a letter to Special Agent in Charge J. Chris
Warrener about allegations of improper behavior by the two agents and
asked that an investigation be launched into the matter.
The
complainant told CAIR-MN that two FBI agents approached him at his home
and sought to pressure him to work for the agency reportedly as an
informant. The man said he asserted his right to an attorney three
times, but the agents continued to intimidate and coerce him.
According
to the complainant, the agents threatened to withhold the man's asylum
application, defame him in the Muslim community so others would fear
speaking to him and influence his current employment by visiting his job
site if he did not agree to work with their office.
Two
days after the FBI visit, the man was followed by an SUV in which the
driver took photographs of him while he was working for a transportation
company. A few weeks after his interaction with the FBI, the alleged
victim was fired from his job.
Last
week, a local FBI official contacted CAIR-MN to acknowledge receipt of
the letter and to state that the agency is looking into the matter.
The FBI is "prohibited from using threats or coercion" to blackmail individuals. Minnesota law also prohibits such conduct.
SEE: The Informants (Mother Jones)
http://tinyurl.com/722kx78
http://tinyurl.com/722kx78
"These
tactics of intimidation are not only unethical and detrimental to
building trust in the Muslim and Somali community, they are potentially
unlawful," said CAIR-MN Executive Director Lori Saroya . "We welcome the FBI's decision to investigate the agents' actions."
Saroya said her office has seen a recent increase in calls from individuals approached to become FBI informants.
Under
Minnesota Statute 609.27 Subds. 1(3)&(4), it is unlawful to
threaten to injure a person's profession or reputation in an effort to
elicit action against a person's will. Minnesota Statute 609.43 (1)
& (3), deems it unlawful for a public officer or employee to
intentionally refuse to perform a known mandatory duty or use color or
official authority to injure another.
Minnesota Statutes
https://www.revisor.mn.gov/statutes/?id=609.27
https://www.revisor.mn.gov/statutes/?id=609.43
https://www.revisor.mn.gov/statutes/?id=609.27
https://www.revisor.mn.gov/statutes/?id=609.43
During
a 2009 FBI investigation into Somali men who went abroad to join a
terrorist organization, community members reported similar coercive
tactics to CAIR-MN.
Community
members reported being stopped at random on the streets and in shopping
malls; Somali businesses were raided; students were approached by
federal agents in campus libraries; community leaders were denied
boarding passes without due process; agents talked their way into homes
without warrants; non-English-speaking Somalis were interviewed without
translators; agents in unmarked cars staked out Somali mosques, and;
informants were allegedly sent inside mosques.
SEE: Rights Groups Say Somalis Being Stopped, Questioned (MPR)
http://tinyurl.com/alphwj
http://tinyurl.com/alphwj
CAIR
is America's largest Muslim civil liberties and advocacy organization.
Its mission is to enhance the understanding of Islam, encourage
dialogue, protect civil liberties, empower American Muslims, and build
coalitions that promote justice and mutual understanding.
CONTACT: CAIR-MN Executive Director Lori Saroya , 612-327-6700, E-Mail: lsaroya@cair.com; CAIR National Communications Director Ibrahim Hooper , 202-744-7726, E-Mail: ihooper@cair.com
SOURCE Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR)CAIR-SFBA: Some Question FBI Tactics Against Terror Suspect Islamophobia Watch: Pat Robertson Says Islam is Demonic, Not a Religion Oklahoma Considers New Anti-Islam Bill FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE Muslim Group Seeks DOJ Probe of FBI 'Retaliation' in Minnesota (WASHINGTON, D.C., 2/13/2013) -- The Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR), the nation's largest Muslim civil rights and advocacy organization, today called on Attorney General Eric Holder to investigate an apparent act of retaliation against a local community leader by FBI agents at the Minnesota field office. CAIR says the alleged retaliation, in the form of an FBI visit to the home of the director of the civil rights group's Minnesota chapter Lori Saroya, followed just two business days after public disclosure by that chapter of an FBI investigation into alleged intimidation tactics used on a local Somali Muslim by two agents. SEE: CAIR-MN Welcomes FBI Probe of Alleged Abuses by Agents In a letter to Attorney General Holder, CAIR National Legal Director Nadhira Al-Khalili wrote in part: "[The FBI agent] later informed CAIR-MN's Civil Rights Director that the purpose of the visit was 'community outreach.' However, upon knowledge and belief, no other neighboring homes were visited during this community outreach effort. "When CAIR-MN's [attorney] later called [the agent] and asked if he was assigned to the division's community outreach program, [the agent] responded that he was not and stated that he is a field law enforcement agent who wanted to speak to a member of Ms. Saroya's household for a 'meet and greet.' "The FBI has a well-documented history of using community outreach methods as a means to coerce, threaten and intimidate members of the Muslim community. Given the above facts, it is difficult for us to reach any conclusion other than that [the agent's] visit was prompted by what the field office may have perceived as negative media attention. Further, we believe reasonable people can conclude the visit was an attempt to intimidate a highly-regarded community leader." SEE: FOIA Documents Show FBI Illegally Collecting Intelligence Under Guise of "Community Outreach" FOIA Documents Show FBI Using "Mosque Outreach" for Intelligence Gathering Al-Khalili's letter called for a formal investigation of the alleged retaliation and of the FBI's ongoing use of threats and other intimidating tactics to coerce the members of the Muslim and Somali communities into becoming informants. The letter also noted that CAIR-MN and its staff have received numerous awards recognizing their positive contributions to the state. CAIR is America's largest Muslim civil liberties and advocacy organization. Its mission is to enhance the understanding of Islam, encourage dialogue, protect civil liberties, empower American Muslims, and build coalitions that promote justice and mutual understanding. - END - CONTACT: CAIR National Legal Director Nadhira Al-Khalili, 540-514-2093, nkhalili@cair.com; CAIR-MN Executive Director Lori Saroya, 612-327-6700, lsaroya@cair.com; CAIR National Legislative Director Corey Saylor, 202-384-8857, csaylor@cair.com; CAIR National Communications Director Ibrahim Hooper, 202-744-7726, ihooper@cair.com
- CAIR-SFBA: Some Question FBI Tactics Against Terror Suspect
- Islamophobia Watch: Pat Robertson Says Islam is Demonic, Not a Religion
- Oklahoma Considers New Anti-Islam Bill
Muslim Group Seeks DOJ Probe of FBI 'Retaliation' in Minnesota
(WASHINGTON, D.C., 2/13/2013) -- The Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR), the nation's largest Muslim civil rights and advocacy organization, today called on Attorney General Eric Holder to investigate an apparent act of retaliation against a local community leader by FBI agents at the Minnesota field office. CAIR says the alleged retaliation, in the form of an FBI visit to the home of the director of the civil rights group's Minnesota chapter Lori Saroya, followed just two business days after public disclosure by that chapter of an FBI investigation into alleged intimidation tactics used on a local Somali Muslim by two agents.
SEE: CAIR-MN Welcomes FBI Probe of Alleged Abuses by Agents
In a letter to Attorney General Holder, CAIR National Legal Director Nadhira Al-Khalili wrote in part:
"[The FBI agent] later informed CAIR-MN's Civil Rights Director that the purpose of the visit was 'community outreach.' However, upon knowledge and belief, no other neighboring homes were visited during this community outreach effort.SEE: FOIA Documents Show FBI Illegally Collecting Intelligence Under Guise of "Community Outreach"
"When CAIR-MN's [attorney] later called [the agent] and asked if he was assigned to the division's community outreach program, [the agent] responded that he was not and stated that he is a field law enforcement agent who wanted to speak to a member of Ms. Saroya's household for a 'meet and greet.'
"The FBI has a well-documented history of using community outreach methods as a means to coerce, threaten and intimidate members of the Muslim community. Given the above facts, it is difficult for us to reach any conclusion other than that [the agent's] visit was prompted by what the field office may have perceived as negative media attention. Further, we believe reasonable people can conclude the visit was an attempt to intimidate a highly-regarded community leader."
FOIA Documents Show FBI Using "Mosque Outreach" for Intelligence Gathering
Al-Khalili's letter called for a formal investigation of the alleged retaliation and of the FBI's ongoing use of threats and other intimidating tactics to coerce the members of the Muslim and Somali communities into becoming informants.
The letter also noted that CAIR-MN and its staff have received numerous awards recognizing their positive contributions to the state.
CAIR is America's largest Muslim civil liberties and advocacy organization. Its mission is to enhance the understanding of Islam, encourage dialogue, protect civil liberties, empower American Muslims, and build coalitions that promote justice and mutual understanding.
- END -
CONTACT: CAIR National Legal Director Nadhira Al-Khalili,
540-514-2093, nkhalili@cair.com; CAIR-MN Executive Director Lori Saroya,
612-327-6700, lsaroya@cair.com; CAIR National Legislative Director
Corey Saylor, 202-384-8857, csaylor@cair.com; CAIR National
Communications Director Ibrahim Hooper, 202-744-7726, ihooper@cair.com
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