NYPD monitored Muslim students all over Northeast

[IDemo]

By CHRIS HAWLEY
updated 1 hour 8 minutes ago

NEW YORK — The New York Police Department monitored Muslim college students far more broadly than previously known, at schools far beyond the city limits, including the elite Ivy League colleges of Yale and the University of Pennsylvania, The Associated Press has learned.

Police talked with local authorities about professors 300 miles (480 kilometers) away in Buffalo and even sent an undercover agent on a whitewater rafting trip, where he recorded students' names and noted in police intelligence files how many times they prayed.

Detectives trawled Muslim student websites every day and, although professors and students had not been accused of any wrongdoing, their names were recorded in reports prepared for Police Commissioner Raymond Kelly.

Asked about the monitoring, police spokesman Paul Browne provided a list of 12 people arrested or convicted on terrorism charges in the United States and abroad who had once been members of Muslim student associations, which the NYPD referred to as MSAs. Jesse Morton, who this month pleaded guilty to posting online threats against the creators of the animated TV show "South Park," had once tried to recruit followers at Stony Brook University on Long Island, Browne said.

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/46440554/ns/us_news-security/

I see that the comments on the MSNBC link are overwhelmingly in favor of keeping an eye on scary brown people...

[Justice wanted]

1. This is freaky. A City's police department is moniting all of the North East of this country.

we are a police state in every way.

[dixiegrrrrl]

2. " I hold in my hand a list of 500 Communists...."

Remember THAT, folks?????

[Kolesar]

14. Third Reich?

I don't know.

[dixiegrrrrl]

17. Sen. Joseph McCarthy.

1950's, the infamous "Blacklist" when the Government went on a witch hunt for Communists and destroyed the careers of many people, esp. in Hollywood.
Worth a look at, in Wiki.
The point being, in the USA, creating lists and then persecuting the people on those lists, has happened before.

[harun]

20. Ah no..... Good ole USA

[47of74]

3. Every person above the rank of Captain in that department..

...should be fired. Now.

[cstanleytech]

6. Their opinions are irrelevant since their not involved in this thread

not to mention its bad form to call out other DU members like that.

[Scootaloo]

10. Shouldn't it be "bad form" to post shit like that in the first place?

[cstanleytech]

23. No, its not bad form for them to have a different opinion than you......sorry.

\

[Scootaloo]

24. Well, it's not a matter of opinion

It's a matter of standards for a supposedly "progressive" forum.

I guess progressivism takes a back seat to criminalizing Muslims, though.

[cstanleytech]

26. Actually them having a difference of opinion is exactly what its about.

In fact being allowed to have a difference of opinion is what separates the democrats from the republicans imo atleast because the republicans largely are encouraged not to have one.

[Scootaloo]

28. Really? Really, really?

"Oh, they think women should be forced to undergo non-consensual penetration, in order to scare them out of getting health care? Well, that's okay, it's their opinion, after all. La de da da."

"What? The new York Police Department is using taxpayer money to infringe on the privacy of hundreds of families across several states, presuming criminality on the basis of their faith? Hey! Not a problem, that's their opinion, and their entitled to it!"

"Oh, my, here's a post on democratic Underground, explaining why gay people need to be forcibly sterilized for the good of humanity. Well, I'm just going to explain to all these meanie-pants alerting on him that he is entitled to his opinion!"

There's being "open-minded," and then there's being "empty-headed." As a society, as a community, we have these things called "standards." These standards determine which opinions are acceptable and presentable in a given community. For instance, yes, a person is free to have the opinion that Jews secretly control the country and use the blood of Christian babies to make matzoh; however our society at large considers the expression of such an opinion to be reprehensible, and treats people who hold it accordingly.

Again. I'm not talking about opinions, I'm talking about standards for the level of discourse in a given community. And "we should treat them all like criminals, they're Muslim! And while we're at it, being punished for driving while black is A-OKAY too!" is not something that is generally considered acceptable by hte standards of progressive discussion.

[cstanleytech]

29. But see there is an option for you and others to use already

and there is no need to be calling people out on a thread which they arent actively involved in and that is the report feature and if that fails there is also the hosts to report it to.

[Dawson Leery]

5. Since when does a municipal police department have the right to monitor people

living in other municipalities?

[IDemo]

7. The NYPD was working with the CIA at one time

So maybe they felt they really were "America's police force".

http://www.foreignpolicy.com/articles/2011/08/26/the_lwot_nypd_worked_with_cia_on_surveillance_report

[leveymg]

9. Seems the Junior G-Men, Second Class, are also spying on university faculty across state lines.

That crosses a number of lines, unless there's whitewater rafting in Central Park now.

Tin badges, small minds, bad supervision and training. Fire them and their bosses.

[ProfessionalLeftist]

12. WHY are PDs doing OHS's work for them?

I can see them cooperating with OHS in investigating people (for cause) but DOING the investigations? This is a bit creepy to me. The police state expands...like kudzu.

[JCMach1]

13. The sad fact is 'moderate' Muslims in most cases can't even purge the fundies from their mosques

because the Saudis in many cases have footed the bill for their place of worship.

There are 'Salafists' and their ilk among us... The real question is whether the NYPD is best spending its time playing FBI agents...

[cstanleytech]

18. Just about every religion has those kinds of elements that they cannot get rid of though.

[JCMach1]

22. but in Islam the particular group in question has the money and support

and is ascendant...

[Blue in Red State]

15. Disgusting

[lunatica]

16. Why would this surprise anybody?

Did anyone really think this kind of monitoring wasn't going to happen? How soon we forget Manzanar and the McCarthy Era.

And if anyone is interested the New York City police department aren't even trying to hide the fact they've become a police state, although they don't call themselves that. I saw a comprehensive piece on it made by Rachel Maddow and Richard Engel.

Day of Destruction, Decade of War

http://video.ca.msn.com/watch/video/day-of-destruction-decade-of-war-fears-of-an-enemy-among-us/17y716pi8

[harun]

21. No surprise, although I didn't know Police Departments had the budget to do this type of thing.

[Gringostan]

19. Good thing there are no other crimes

Good thing there are no other crimes going on in NY - white collar especially!

[MrBig]

25. Racial/Ethnic profiling...

Will people ever learn?

[cstanleytech]

30. Based upon history? No

[Johnson20]

27. Heck a couple of years back

Bloomberg had agents of the NYPD going out of state with false ID,s trying to make illegal "straw purchases" of firearms. Where was the outcry then?