Dana Rebik of Fox News in Tacoma, Washington reported that a 13 year old, Vito LaPinta, a seventh grader from the Tacoma School District is apparently one of our latest “terror” threats.
A Secret Service agent had the boy torn from his fourth period class without his mother's knowledge or permission to interrogate him over a post on his Facebook page.
Vito was called to the principal's office. After sitting in the vice-principal's office for ten minutes without being told why he was there, a man walked in and said he was with the Secret Service. The boy was told his Facebook post indicated he was a threat to the President. What was this “threatening” post? According to Vito, "I was saying how Osama was dead and for Obama to be careful because there could be suicide bombers." In other words, the boy says he was just saying Obama could be targeted for murder by a hit man or squad just as was Bin Laden.
His mother, Timi Robertson, said she'd just finished lunch when she received a call from the school. The principal didn't have the guts to make the call himself but delegated the dirty work to a security guard. The guard told Mrs. Robertson that the boy was already being interrogated by the SS and the Tacoma Police Department.
The school district tried to excuse the inexcusable by saying the principal was on another line. What could have been more important than notifying a parent that his/her child was being interrogated by the SS.
The claim was also made that they didn't think the mother took the call from the guard seriously so they went ahead without her permission or presence. Mrs. Robertson called that a “blatant lie” and said she rushed to Truman Middle School and learned her boy had already been interrogated for half an hour.
This raises a question. Vito's mom took the call seriously, but how many moms and dads would when the call is made by a “security guard?” I would probably take it as someone's idea of a bad joke.
The teenager said the agent finished the interview and told the boy he was not in any trouble when his mom showed up.
Fox News reports that civil-rights attorney John Kinnan said the law has been a little vague since 9/11.
It quotes Kinnan, "Children in a school do have a right to have their parent present during questioning by police or government agents, but it depends on the age of the child and severity of what the charge against the child is."
The U.S. Attorney's office said government agents can interview a minor without a parent’s knowledge or consent, but magnanimously added that doesn't mean the child has to answer.
Again Fox quotes Kinnan, "They could invoke their rights under the Fifth Amendment to remain silent or further invoke their rights under the Sixth Amendment, to have an attorney present during any questioning," Sure, the average thirteen year old child is going to invoke his/her Fifth and Sixth Amendment rights when being terrorized by federal agents. The teenager would probably then be informed that that only applied in America under the old order. Under the new order they have the right to be water-boarded.
Fox reporter Rebik says, “His mother says she isn't financially able to take legal action but hopes her family's story raises awareness about the treatment she said her son endured.” The sad thing is that, even if she were able to sue, the perpetrators of this crime would not be punished. The taxpayers, who were also victims of these official crimes, whose rights have also been tread on, would be stuck with the bill.
You might wonder how the Fedstapo learned of this child's Facebook post. In a related Fox article, security consultant Mike Andrews is quoted as saying, "In the process of crawling the Facebook web page of this young man, it (a special program) came across the key words that alerted the program and sent a notification. Then an agent got involved, ...”
Furthermore, under Clinton, the National Security Agency started a surveillance network called "Echelon" that monitors electronic communications around the world. Yes, Virginia! Your Big Brother is listening to your phone call.
The Secret Service agent told Vito’s mom that there are teams of people whose only job is to track every text, every post, whether it’s Twitter, Facebook... and cue on specific words.
A couple of afterthoughts. I find it amazing that the Secret Service is so paranoid or so lacks confidence in its ability to protect the President (or both) that they find a Facebook post from a 13 year old schoolboy threatening. It's also obvious that we have gone full circle from government of man by law to government of man by outlaws.
