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posted by martyb on Friday July 29 2016, @08:38PM   Printer-friendly
from the and-many-other-things dept.

SovereignMan.com has an article regarding a woman's interaction with US Customs and Border Protection:

According to the published case files, she was frisked, and then ordered to squat so that a drug-sniffing dog could check out her nether regions.

Apparently the dog liked what he smelled, because Ms. Doe was then taken to yet another room, ordered to pull down her pants, and crouch.

At that point an agent from Customs and Border Protection "inspected her anus with a flashlight."

She was then ordered to lean backwards in a crouched position, after which another agent inserted a speculum into her vagina to search for drugs.

Another agent then "parted Ms. Doe's vulva with her hand, pressed her fingers into Ms. Doe's vagina, and visually examined her genitalia with a flashlight."

They then took her to a hospital for a further 6 hours of involuntary testing, which included forcing her to have a bowel movement as they all watched, plus X-rays, CT scans, and more.

[...] Ms. Doe was "brutally probed against her will" for hours and hours without judicial oversight, due process, or even reasonable suspicion. And they found nothing.

[...] They told her that if she signed a consent form, retroactively giving her permission to be abused and violated, that the government would pay for all the tests and various medical expenses.

But if she didn't sign the consent form, she'd have to pay for them all herself.

Ms. Doe refused to sign, and the United States government sent her a bill for more than $5,000, essentially demanding that she pay for her own sexual assault.

Emotionally shattered she went home feeling like a rape victim. She sued.

[...] Finally, as of a few days ago, the case has been settled. And the US government agreed to pay Ms. Doe $475,000.


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  • (Score: 5, Insightful) by Anal Pumpernickel on Saturday July 30 2016, @02:06AM

    by Anal Pumpernickel (776) on Saturday July 30 2016, @02:06AM (#381845)

    A whole line of people need to go to prison for this. This is rape.

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  • (Score: 1) by Francis on Saturday July 30 2016, @03:59AM

    by Francis (5544) on Saturday July 30 2016, @03:59AM (#381873)

    Calling it rape is being rather generous. It's whatever is worse than rape. This wasn't some random skeezy person at a party, or a shady character hiding in an alley, these were medical personnel and law enforcement officers. I'm not sure how much worse it can get than that.

    • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Saturday July 30 2016, @06:05AM

      by Anonymous Coward on Saturday July 30 2016, @06:05AM (#381891)

      Gang raped at the hands of the police state. How about we call it... Korean rape?

    • (Score: 1) by khallow on Saturday July 30 2016, @09:00PM

      by khallow (3766) Subscriber Badge on Saturday July 30 2016, @09:00PM (#382050) Journal
      Calling it rape is an insult to actual victims of rape. I note, for example, no chance of injury, venereal disease, or pregnancy which are common concerns with rape victims. We can see that this is a crime without the puffery.
      • (Score: 2) by Runaway1956 on Sunday July 31 2016, @01:39AM

        by Runaway1956 (2926) Subscriber Badge on Sunday July 31 2016, @01:39AM (#382129) Journal

        Dismissing any chance of injury or disease is to dismiss the possibility of malpractice, incompetence, carelessness, or simple mistakes. I'll grant that these weren't complicated procedures, they weren't major surgury, but still, any time your body is invaded by foreign objects, there is a chance of infection.

        Pregnancey is out - unless, of course, a lecherous TSA employee is left to guard the victim alone. In this case, it seems that all male personnel involved kept their penises in their pants. In another, similar case, that may not happen. Let us remember that rape is generally regarded as a crime of violence, rather than sex. The rapist already has the victim naked and helpless - it's only a small step from there to insert a penis, along with the risk of injury, disease, and pregnancy.

        OK - now I've argued against your poiont. Now let me argue FOR your point. The word "rape" is often inadequate to describe what happens to a female at the hands of a male. The same word is used to describe a brutal beating, rape, and murder by a strange abductor. The same word is used to describe an overenthusiastic lover who pushes things along a little to quickly. It is also used to describe consensual sex between an 18 year old male, and a 17 year, 11 month, and twenty day old female when her parents don't approve of the relationship.

        Oftentimes, our language is simply inadequate. To make matters worse, people often use the language to exaggerate what has actually happened.

        • (Score: 1) by Francis on Sunday July 31 2016, @02:03AM

          by Francis (5544) on Sunday July 31 2016, @02:03AM (#382135)

          It's probably 6 of one and half-dozen of the other, there's probably less chance of pregnancy or disease, but when law enforcement does it, that carries with it a ton of baggage. I've known women that were raped and the risk there is generally sorted out pretty quickly. Within a matter of weeks you know whether or not you've contracted something in most cases and pregnancy is something that would be known usually within a month.

          But, the law enforcement abuse is something that's there permanently. I'd probably be hesitant to ever go to the police for help again if I were abused to that degree. I think most people would as well.

        • (Score: 1) by khallow on Sunday July 31 2016, @02:31AM

          by khallow (3766) Subscriber Badge on Sunday July 31 2016, @02:31AM (#382143) Journal

          it's only a small step from there to insert a penis

          No more than killing someone is a small step of a little pressure of the finger on a trigger or pushing a knife a few inches. Some things aren't "small steps" no matter how little effort it takes.

      • (Score: 2, Insightful) by Francis on Sunday July 31 2016, @02:00AM

        by Francis (5544) on Sunday July 31 2016, @02:00AM (#382133)

        You're a thoroughly rotten human being, aren't you?

        Rape is rape and it's rather ridiculous to diminish her pain like that. She's not any less sexually assaulted because law enforcement abused its authority to force her to be penetrated against her will.

        • (Score: 1) by khallow on Sunday July 31 2016, @02:59AM

          by khallow (3766) Subscriber Badge on Sunday July 31 2016, @02:59AM (#382148) Journal

          You're a thoroughly rotten human being, aren't you?

          Look who's talking. Words mean things. Sexual assault != rape and clinical inspection of female genitalia need not be sexual assault (it depends on whether they met the required level of probable cause or not as well as the procedures of the inspection - I think not in this case).

          Further, there are real cases of rape by the state and those are far blacker crimes than what happened here. Equating lesser crimes with rape diminishes the pain of real victims of rape.

          One final thing that is missed here is why did law enforcement look so damn hard? I bet they had inside information on criminal activity, which may have been acquired via illegal means. We may be looking at a desperate attempt to establish parallel construction for an existing operation that already costed well over half a million dollars. In which case, it is unlikely that the occasional threat of half a million fines will deter law enforcement from such intrusive inspections. They have more than that riding on securing a bust.