Category: Crime
Platner Confronted By Woman Over His Past Reddit Comments
RI judge intervenes after ICE wrongfully detains Superior Court intern
The story below shows how lawless and belligerent ICE has gotten. The laws and the legal authority of a judge mean nothing to them. There is a video at the link below.
On a personal note I have a doctor’s appointment this morning for steroid injections. Depending on how it goes I may need them for the next three months. I will try to do a video to explain as it is too hard to type out. I am way too tired starting from when Ron and I had what we think is Covid a few months ago. Hugs
“If they had the wrong person, then they didn’t know who they were looking for, which calls into question whether they had the legal right to seize anybody,” Weizenbaum said. “It’s very frightening.”
Lieutenant Governor Sabina Matos referred to the ICE agents’ actions as an “attempted abduction,” adding that it only emphasizes “the danger of flooding our streets with masked thugs who can’t tell the difference between a hardened criminal and a high school student.”
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A Rhode Island Superior Court intern was briefly taken into custody by Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents in Providence Thursday afternoon before a judge intervened, according to the state’s Judiciary office.
The student, a high school intern at Superior Court, was reportedly detained by the agents outside the Licht Judicial Complex on Benefit Street.
Superior Court Judge Joseph McBurney insisted the agents had the wrong person. It was not until ICE verified their information and admitted the intern was not their intended target that he was released.
Multiple sources told Target 12 that Rhode Island sheriffs earlier noticed someone taking photos of the intern inside the courthouse and in Superior Court Judge McBurney’s courtroom. When approached, the individual identified himself as an ICE agent and was told to abide by standard courthouse rules, and to stop taking pictures.
The intern was reportedly shaken, so McBurney offered to drive him home. ICE agents then surrounded the judge’s car and demanded everyone to exit the vehicle, threatening to smash in the windows if they did not comply.
Dana Smith, Head of Security Operations for R.I. Superior Court, confronted the agents and told both the judge and the intern to stay inside the car. After an argument, ICE confirmed they had misidentified the teen and left. The intern was released once his ID was checked.
Community reaction
“This egregious incident underscores both the community’s and the Judiciary’s concerns about how ICE is conducting its operations in Rhode Island,” R.I. Supreme Court Chief Justice Paul A. Suttell said.
Citing that climate, Suttell said the Judiciary understands recent calls to expand the use of virtual court hearings in Providence.
“The need to balance constitutional considerations, the public’s right of access, and the integrity of testimonial and evidentiary processes do not allow for a fully virtual court system,” Suttell said. “What occurred today, however, reinforces the Judiciary’s need to focus on ways to enhance access to virtual hearings and to educate the public as to how to request such hearings.”
Attorney Miriam Weizenbaum was outside the courthouse as the intern was being detained.
“If they had the wrong person, then they didn’t know who they were looking for, which calls into question whether they had the legal right to seize anybody,” Weizenbaum said. “It’s very frightening.”
Gov. Dan McKee described the intern’s wrongful detainment as being “an outrageous and indefensible act that could have completely upended a young person’s life. “
“Rhode Islanders should not have to fear federal agents operating with such reckless disregard for the law and human dignity,” McKee said. “This was not a harmless mistake. It was the direct result of callous and chaotic policies by the Trump administration. Moreover, ICE’s failure to exercise even a shred of due diligence is shameful and underscores just how broken and dangerous these federal policies are.”
McKee said he supports the judiciary’s commitment “to enhance access to virtual hearings and promote safe access to courts.”
Rep. Seth Magaziner called the incident “completely unacceptable.”
“This is yet another example of the disregard for civil liberties by immigration enforcement under the Trump administration,” Magaziner said, adding that he will “continue to call out the administration’s reckless actions.”
Lieutenant Governor Sabina Matos referred to the ICE agents’ actions as an “attempted abduction,” adding that it only emphasizes “the danger of flooding our streets with masked thugs who can’t tell the difference between a hardened criminal and a high school student.”
Matos commended Judge McBurney for using his position to speak up, while condemning those who continue to support ICE.
Tim White (twhite@wpri.com) is Target 12 managing editor and chief investigative reporter and host of Newsmakers for 12 News. Connect with him on Twitter and Facebook.
11/21 Is A Newsy Day In Peace & Justice History
| November 21, 1945 200,000 members of the United Auto Workers went on strike against General Motors, the first major strike following World War II. The UAW’s demand for a 30% wage increase was based on the increase in the cost of living during the war (28% according to the Department of Labor), the wartime freeze on wages, and the cut in the average workweek with the disappearance of overtime pay in manufacturing.   But the UAW also considered profits and prices a subject for negotiation, a position rejected by GM. The union did not merely say that labor was entitled to enough wages to live on. It also said that labor was entitled to share in the wealth produced by industry. “… Unless we get a more realistic distribution of America’s wealth, we won’t get enough to keep this machine going.”–Walter Reuther, UAW President More about the strike |
| November 21, 1973 President Richard Nixon’s attorney, J. Fred Buzhardt, revealed the existence of an 18 1/2-minute gap in one of the subpoenaed White House tape recordings of Watergate conversations made by President Richard Nixon in the days after the Watergate break-in.The erasure was blamed on an accident by Nixon’s private secretary, Rose Mary Woods, but scientific analysis determined the erasures to be deliberate. White House Chief of Staff Alexander Haig later attributed the gap to “sinister forces.”  Rose Mary Woods, demonstrating how she might have created the Watergate tape gap More about Rose Mary Woods |
| November 21, 1974 Both Houses of Congress voted to override President Gerald Ford’s veto of updates to the Freedom of Information Act. Originally passed in 1966, it required federal agencies to release information upon request to citizens and journalists.The amendments put an end to governmental resistance to compliance, including excessive fees, bureaucratic delays, and the need to sometimes resort to expensive litigation to force the government to share copies of documents. Ford advisors Chief of Staff Donald Rumsfeld, his deputy Dick Cheney, and government lawyer Antonin Scalia advised him to veto it.  Chief of Staff Donald Rumsfeld, President Gerald Ford, and Deputy Chief of Staff Richard Cheney April 28, 1975 What was the dispute? (Verified the story is there.) |
| November 21, 1975 The Senate Select Committee to Study Governmental Operations with Respect to Intelligence Activities, led by Senator Frank Church (D-Idaho), issued a report charging U.S. government officials were behind assassination plots against two foreign leaders – Fidel Castro (Cuba) and Patrice Lumumba (Congo), and were heavily involved in at least three other plots: Rafael Trujillo (Dominican Republic), Ngo Dinh Diem (Vietnam), Rene Schneider (Chile).  Senator Frank Church, left, chairman of the Senate Select Intelligence Committee, displays a poison dart gun as co-chairman Senator John Tower (R-TX) watches. The committee, a precursor to the Senate Intelligence Committee, was established to look into misuse of and abuse by intelligence agencies, particularly the CIA and FBI, some of which had been revealed by the Watergate investigations.      Fidel Castro / Patrice Lumumba / Rafael Trujillo / Ngo Dinh Diem / Rene Schneider Read more |
| November 21, 1981 More than 350,000 demonstrated in Amsterdam against U.S. nuclear-armed cruise missiles on European soil. |
| November 21, 1985 A full-scale summit conference, the first of five between the President Ronald Reagan of the U.S. and General Secretary Mikhail Gorbachev of the Soviet Union concluded. There was optimism over beginning a more productive and cooperative relationship between the two countries, each of which had thousands of nuclear warheads targeted at the other.The U.S. had proposed building a space-based anti-ballistic missile system, commonly known as “Star Wars,” which the Soviets had strongly opposed as an escalation of the nuclear arms race.In an unofficial meeting the previous evening, President Reagan had noted that he and Gorbachev were meeting for the first time at this level and had little practice. Nevertheless, having read the history of previous summit meetings, he had concluded that those earlier leaders had not accomplished very much. Therefore, he suggested that he and Gorbachev say, “To hell with the past, we’ll do it our way and get something done.” Gorbachev concurred.  Reagan and Gorbachev at their first summit |
| November 21, 1986 National Security Council member Oliver North and his secretary, Fawn Hall, began shredding documents that would have exposed their participation in a range of illegal activities regarding the sale of arms to Iran in an attempt to free hostages, and the diversion of the proceeds to an insurgent Nicaraguan group known as the contras.  Fawn Hall  Oliver North More on Fawn Hall |
| November 21, 1995 China officially charged well-known human rights activist and political dissident Wei Jingsheng with trying to “overthrow the government.” Wei had not been seen for a year and a half after disappearing into police custody after meeting with a U.S. assistant secretary of state for human rights and humanitarian affairs.“If the people allow the power holders, in the peoples’ name, to violate and ignore the rights of some of the people then, at the same time, they are giving the power holders the power to violate the rights of all the people.” “ Most people wait until others are standing to make their move, very few are willing to stand up first or to stand alone. That’s why my friends call me a fool! But I don’t have any regrets.” – Wei Jingsheng  Wei Jingsheng He had been imprisoned previously for his involvement with the Democracy Wall movement, including years in solitary confinement. He had also spoken out on behalf of the Tibetans. |
https://www.peacebuttons.info/E-News/peacehistorynovember.htm#november21
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TRUMP’S LOSING IT
Two clips about horrific ICE actions from The Majority Report
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Just One
I do want to add a content alert; there is little to nothing horrible in Annie’s post, but there is a link to testimony that could be at the least disturbing. This is such an important story, and it really is on us to make sure this stuff stays out front all the time until there is justice.
Epstein Emails Reveal “Bubba” Bombshell About Trump & Republicans Pretend It’s NBD | The Daily Show
It’s Very Powerful-
Watch it, then share it, and CALL your congresspeople.
