Bloody America

… http://www.ouest-france.fr/monde/etats-unis/ils-devaient-passer-l-ete-aux-usa-ils-se-retrouvent-en-prison-5105950

Funny how I can’t find this story in English…

OK, so what is woofing?

OK, so what is woofing?

Probably that bloody dog again!

Sorry, I have been disingenuous for dramatic/humorous effect:

Woofing, according to the article, involves staying somewhere, food included, (in this case, a ranch) in exchange for some hours of practical and useful voluntary work.

Why “woofing”, I know not, but the poor participants were treated as illegals by the Homeland Security Service and imprisoned.

Which, considering the French gave them the (expletive adjective) Statue of (expletive adjective) Liberty, is a bit of, well, a liberty!

But, what would you expect from the current regime!

Thank goodness France seems to be on track!

I heard Frederick Forsyth being interviewed about Trump on Radio 4 a few weeks ago. I burst out laughing!

From the BBC’s website:
“Frederick Forsyth, a spy author, who worked for MI6 for 20 years, says he does not believe that the alleged dossier findings about Donald Trump are genuine.
“He tells the Today programme that if these findings were true, it would show Trump to be a “congenital idiot” and Russia to have had an unexplained interest in Trump five years before political office.

I’m also reminded that shortly before his inauguration after one of his many inane comments, a BBC reporter said “of course once he is inaugurated he won’t be saying such things/communicating like this”. I didn’t agree.
I’ve posted elsewhere that within six months of his inauguration he will tweet a threat to resign and that if he does stay he probably will be re-elected as many of his policies may have short term benefits for his supporters. I hope I’m proven wrong,

I hope I’m proven wrong

I believe that rot has already set in, though I am reminded that the United States has a history of… removing …unpopular/difficult presidents in a terminal won’t-be-coming-back sense.

WWOOF – is Willing Workers On Organic Farms
This is an international movement that allows people to move from one participating farm using ‘alternative’ practices to another. We have a collective/commune (albeit a middle class one) locally and they regularly have people participating. They even have tents set up as an option for accommodation.

This has nothing to do with Trump even though many people want to make it look like it. It’s illegal in most, if not all countries, to work without a specific work permit. WWOOF seems to think that working for food and housing is not working just because there’s no money transaction involved but in almost every country that’s illegal because it’s free or very cheap labour competing with the local population and is even considered tax avoidance. People have been arrested for similar things in many countries (including the USA) for a long time. Try doing this in Australia for example and tell the authorities about it.

My comment wasn’t so much regarding the idea of whether or not WWOOFing is “work” or not, my comment relates around this part:

« Nous avons été menottés, puis transportés en prison où nous sommes restés douze heures. » Pire, les deux Français se seraient vu injecter un produit inconnu via une seringue. « On ne sait pas ce que c’était. Un calmant, un vaccin ? », s’interroge Olivane, affirmant avoir été « traités comme des criminels ».

Allow me to translate:

“We were handcuffed and then taken to prison where we were kept for twelve hours”. Worse, the two Frenchies have been injected an unknown product via syringe. “We do not know what it was. A sedative? A vaccine?”, Olivane asks, before affirming having been “treated like criminals”.

It would suffice, if they entered the country to WWOOF, to point out that they need work visas or whatever and refuse them entry due to incorrect paperwork. Not to detain them (in handcuffs, no less) and inject god only knows what into them (doctors in Rennes are performing tests to try to figure out that it was, the Americans are saying nothing).

Trust me. If France did the exact same to an American citizen, it would be lead article news across the planet.

However we can lay the blame for this sort of behaviour on Trump. For sure, I doubt that Trump’s guiding principle of nastiness sent a diktat to demand the abuse of random French people, however his desperate searching for judges and senators willing to support his dangerous delusions has created a climate where officials feel empowered to act in such a manner and, well, if something should go horribly wrong, just mark it as “alternative facts” and pretend it’s all “fake news”; all the while the Big Orange Leader will keep on pushing unconstitutional means of selectively barring those who are clearly no longer wanted in the land of liberty.

Googling for the two names (Ewan, Olivane) brings today only two articles in English in the first three pages. TheLocal.fr and a blog that likes Trump even less and I do. The rest is in French. Which is kind of a shameful failure of the British media who would rather talk about Holly Willoughby’s latest dress…
…but this needs to be publicised. Because this week it was two Frenchies wanting to donate some of their time on a farm in return for the various experiences that such an endeavour can bring. Next week? The country is more and more deranged with each passing day, with each passing POTUS tweet. Next week it could be you.

The more I understand of this article the more I think it’s completely made up. Injected with an unknown product? That alone would be enough to start an avalanche of articles on CNN alone.

More – if you can read French: http://www.ouest-france.fr/monde/etats-unis/le-temoignage-d-olivane-jeune-bretonne-emprisonnee-aux-usa-5110481

They think it might have been a blood sample, not an injection, but you can imagine they’d be pretty freaked out and if someone came at them with a syringe…
Still no English language reporting by the big media, funny that.

I did wonder whether it might have been a blood sample. Still a serious invasion of privacy – you can do a full DNA analysis on a blood sample – but at least no harm to the individual (as long as the needle’s clean…)

Well, no physical harm…

Can’t you do a DNA analysis with a mouth swab? And if these people are being denied entry (incorrect visa?), then why take a sample anyway? Neither of them for the profile of “people Trump hates today”, neither were trying to enter clandestine, neither had weapons… (etc)

PS: “privacy”? America? ¡Nyahahahaha!

Can’t you do a DNA analysis with a mouth swab?

Yes, you can. Or a skin scrape. That wasn’t my point: a full DNA analysis is one of many things you can do with a blood sample, but it’s the one that’s a particularly big privacy issue. You might be wanting a blood sample from someone you’re going to incarcerate to check for HIV in particular, or any transmissible disease.

Not sure what the fuss is all about. The same would have happened in Germany and probably in most countries. Working without a work permit is not legal. If you are not able to provide evidence of your identity and a residence, you are taken into police custody to establish your identity. If there is suspicion of drug or alcohol abuse, a blood sample is taken.

Thinking that this is a result of Trump being president is hilarious.

In Australia you may just get shipped out to an island to rot.

Regarding privacy, is it really much different to being stopped by the police for blood tests?

Is it really much different to being stopped by the police for blood tests?

Not much different at all. In what kind of allegedly civilized country are you stopped by the police for blood tests?

I’m not particularly connecting this to Trump; the USA has been on my “don’t visit” list for a long time. But it’s clearly got significantly worse since the election of Trump.

And no, it’s not just the USA. If I wasn’t a UK citizen, the UK would probably be on my “don’t visit” list by now. Sadder still, since the election of Modi, India would be on my “don’t visit” list if it weren’t for the fact that all my in-laws live there.

Not much different at all. In what kind of allegedly civilized country are you stopped by the police for blood tests?

http://roadsafety.transport.nsw.gov.au/stayingsafe/alcoholdrugs/drugdriving/index.html

Read paragraph 4 of “when you are stopped” carefully.

E: this sums it up pretty well.
www.pcworld.idg.com.au/article/597512

I just want to point out that their advertising campaign is threatening and overbearing, and that’s not unusual for the government.

https://metrouk2.files.wordpress.com/2013/07/ay_115218526.jpg

(and while we’re at it, this)

gov.au/

That’s enough. Another country already on my “do not visit” list anyway, for numerous reasons.

Another country already on my “do not visit” list anyway, for numerous reasons.

Out of interest can anyone quote a country in Europe that doesn’t do breath testing and/or blood testing on people suspected of “driving under the influence of …”?

BTW the substances list includes legal medication in the UK. t’s not the legality of the substance so much as the effect on reaction times and co-ordination.

I don’t have a problem with breath testing, or with blood testing if there’s valid reason to suspect "driving under the influence (of something that a breath test wouldn’t show up). There is of course room for argument about whether there’s valid reason, but the significant point is that the blood test is relevant to the suspected offence, which doesn’t apply to immigration offences.

is relevant to the suspected offence, which doesn’t apply to immigration offences.

This. So very much this.

Here in France, if something was going on (remember we’re in a state of maximum ****-your-pants panic), I would have no problem with the police asking who I was and/or wanting to check my passport (which I always carry).

I absolutely would not expect to be given a blood test unless there is reason to suspect something that a blood test would show (such as drugs, alcohol, etc).

I was once stopped by the gendarmes for walking around the back of town at 4am. Was working night shift, cow-orker locked the gate, mama-taxi was a little late (well, it was the middle of the night). Bright light on me, some barked instructions. So I amble over, introduce myself, offer them jelly babies in my most Tom Baker impression. After a look of surprise and a polite no thanks, they went away.

but the significant point is that the blood test is relevant to the suspected offence, which doesn’t apply to immigration offences

Given that the news article is entirely told from one side we there’s no way to rule out that something happened during the arrest that warranted taking a blood sample. People being arrested have a tendency to “miss” certain details of the event.

For sure – but there’s plenty of other evidence of a rather gung-ho attitude in US law enforcement, increasingly so under Trump. It fits the pattern. That does not, of course, prove this instance.