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I Was Arrested for Learning a Foreign Language. Today, I Have Some Closure

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Re: I Was Arrested for Learning a Foreign Language. Today, I Have Some Closure

#21

Post by adventured »

gaius wrote: post #9
adventured wrote: post #6

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It wasn't specific to just the north. Ireland slashed the corporate tax rate, set up a global tax evasion hub, and lured thousands of very large companies to their shores, drastically boosting employment and skill development, which took their per capita income from half of Britain's to greater than Britain's in ~20 years. That significantly reduced the number of disgruntled persons, reducing the supply of terrorist-…

Don't forget the buckets of money "from the EU" (i.e. The UK). And the British jobs lured there by the artificially low taxes. Like Scotland, Ireland plays the victim card very well to extort money from the English.

Definitely, it was an expensive peace. I suppose most are though.

Re: I Was Arrested for Learning a Foreign Language. Today, I Have Some Closure

#22

Post by lazyant »

mathetic wrote: post #16

> "Do you know who did 9/11?" Taken totally aback, I answered: "Osama Bin Laden." Then she asked me if I knew what language Osama Bin Laden spoke. "Arabic," I replied. "So do you see why these cards are suspicious?" she finished. As horrific as the situation, I think we can all enjoy the humorous nature of the conversation above. Lack of shame and intelligence is surreal.

Yes, that line sounds more fit for "The Simpsons" than real life.

Re: I Was Arrested for Learning a Foreign Language. Today, I Have Some Closure

#23

Post by yabatopia »

mathetic wrote: post #16

> "Do you know who did 9/11?" Taken totally aback, I answered: "Osama Bin Laden." Then she asked me if I knew what language Osama Bin Laden spoke. "Arabic," I replied. "So do you see why these cards are suspicious?" she finished. As horrific as the situation, I think we can all enjoy the humorous nature of the conversation above. Lack of shame and intelligence is surreal.

"Do you know who did 9/11? Osama Bin Laden! And did you know that Osama Bin Laden had shoes? So you see why your shoes are suspicious and we have to arrest you?"

Re: I Was Arrested for Learning a Foreign Language. Today, I Have Some Closure

#24

Post by jkot »

intopieces wrote: post #14
jkot wrote: post #10

Yet another story from american airport. It kind of reminds me soviet countries, where people would get prosecuted for speaking English. On other side author was detained for 5 hours. That is practically rounding error in __ANY__ country. I would argue there are other causes, more worthy money and effort.

> I would argue there are other causes, more worthy money and effort. Serious question: How many hours does a person have to be detained illegally in the United States for it to warrant money and effort from the ACLU? You appear to have a specific metric for when injustice warrants response and I'm afraid I'm going to have to take you to task about it.

Serious cases starts somewhere around 2 months. Around that time permanent damage starts to pile up.

I am not sure what exact laws are in US. But in most countries police has right to detain people up to 24 hours without a warrant. I think in that case it was 'illegal' because police officer forgot some paperwork or said something explicit on record. Easy shot for ACLU.

Re: I Was Arrested for Learning a Foreign Language. Today, I Have Some Closure

#25

Post by revelation »

Great of the ACLU to post the actual court orders and opinions that would otherwise locked behind a rent-seeking government contractors "portal".

Here is why we can't have nice things:

We caution, however, that the detention at the hands of these TSA Officials is at the outer boundary of the Fourth Amendment. Once TSA Officials were satisfied that George was not armed or carrying explosives, much of the concern that justified his detention dissipated. However, it did not totally vanish or suggest that further inquiry was not warranted. Suspicion remained, and that suspicion was objectively reasonable given the realities and perils of air passenger safety. The TSA Officials still were confronted with an individual who was carrying Arabic-English flashcards bearing such words as: “bomb,” “terrorist,” “to kill,” etc. In a world where air passenger safety must contend with such nuanced threats as attempts to convert underwear into bombs and shoes into incendiary devices, we think that the brief detention that followed the initial administrative search of George was reasonable.

(https://www.aclu.org/sites/default/files/assets/george-v-reh...)

It's basically pages upon pages of personal opinions and value judgements. At the end of the day, the law does nothing to protect you when the judge dealing with the government appeal is a right-wing nutjob that attaches no significance to constitutional freedoms.

Re: I Was Arrested for Learning a Foreign Language. Today, I Have Some Closure

#27

Post by [deleted] »

anomalous wrote: post #20
thomasfl wrote: post #2

"Five years ago, the Philadelphia police thought that carrying Arabic-language flashcards was enough to warrant the arrest of an innocent traveler." From a norwegian standpoint, where police are not allowed to wear guns, it's fascinating to see how the answer to security problems is more police, harder prison sentences and more violence. What about increasing happiness? In northern Ireland they eventually got rid of…

I don't know that it's worthwhile to compare small countries with ethnically homogenous populations, homogenous communities, different social values, and citizens with reduced access to weaponry to a large, ethnically diverse nation, with diverse and segregated communities, with different social values and history, and citizens with greater access to firearms.

[deleted]

Re: I Was Arrested for Learning a Foreign Language. Today, I Have Some Closure

#28

Post by jqm »

This is horrible, and the abuses of police and security personal in the US are egregious. In addition, US foreign policy as of late (late being the the last 150 years or so) is also pretty lame.

That said, I often suspect there is more to stories like this than is being told. More than the book and flashcards. A suspicious look. Furtive eye movement in the TSA line. A "look" that might be interpreted as capable of violence. And lastly, pissing someone with a gun and a badge off with an insolent attitude.

None of which makes what happened right of course. But maybe there is more to the story.

Re: I Was Arrested for Learning a Foreign Language. Today, I Have Some Closure

#29

Post by GFK_of_xmaspast »

gaius wrote: post #9
adventured wrote: post #6

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It wasn't specific to just the north. Ireland slashed the corporate tax rate, set up a global tax evasion hub, and lured thousands of very large companies to their shores, drastically boosting employment and skill development, which took their per capita income from half of Britain's to greater than Britain's in ~20 years. That significantly reduced the number of disgruntled persons, reducing the supply of terrorist-…

Don't forget the buckets of money "from the EU" (i.e. The UK). And the British jobs lured there by the artificially low taxes. Like Scotland, Ireland plays the victim card very well to extort money from the English.

Given the historical realities of the English-Irish relationship, good for them.

Re: I Was Arrested for Learning a Foreign Language. Today, I Have Some Closure

#30

Post by coldtea »

gaius wrote: post #9
adventured wrote: post #6

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It wasn't specific to just the north. Ireland slashed the corporate tax rate, set up a global tax evasion hub, and lured thousands of very large companies to their shores, drastically boosting employment and skill development, which took their per capita income from half of Britain's to greater than Britain's in ~20 years. That significantly reduced the number of disgruntled persons, reducing the supply of terrorist-…

Don't forget the buckets of money "from the EU" (i.e. The UK). And the British jobs lured there by the artificially low taxes. Like Scotland, Ireland plays the victim card very well to extort money from the English.

>Like Scotland, Ireland plays the victim card very well to extort money from the English.

Yeah, if only the British haven't raped their freedoms, they'd be playing the victim totally virtually.

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