Kituywbe 's Techdirt Comments
Latest Comments (25)
-
On the post: Court: Your Fourth And Fifth Amendment Rights No Longer Exist If You Leave The Country
-
On the post: Court: Your Fourth And Fifth Amendment Rights No Longer Exist If You Leave The Country
Kituywbe ( profile ), 29 Oct, 2015 @ 04:18pmRe: Re: Re: Re: Rights are absolute
I'll say it more time: The Constitution does not grant any rights AT ALL, it defines and limits the powers granted to the US Federal Government by the people. This has been shown time and again in every US Supreme Court case ever undertaken. EVERY US Supreme Court case is ALWAYS about whether the government has overstepped the powers granted to it by the Constitution.
So, if the US Constitution does not grant rights, then pray tell where did the rights come from if not from simply being human?
I don't believe my rights as a human being follow me because I am a US citizen. I believe I have those inalienable rights BECAUSE I am a human being. The same applies to any person, US citizen or not, physically in the US or not. -
On the post: Court: Your Fourth And Fifth Amendment Rights No Longer Exist If You Leave The Country
Kituywbe ( profile ), 29 Oct, 2015 @ 03:17pmRe: Re: Rights are absolute
So, you quote the preamble to the Constitution (that is, the opening paragraph explaining why the drafters felt the need to start a new government) as proof that the Bill of Rights only applies to US Citizens?
The Constitution in fact doesn't apply to any person at all, citizen or otherwise. The Constitution of the United States is a document that describes the LIMITS of the powers granted TO Federal Government BY the citizens of the newly formed country.
The first ten amendments (commonly referred to as the Bill of Rights) was added to the Constitution expressly to tell the Federal Government that the rights listed could NOT be modified, abridged, nor rescinded by the Federal Government, just in case the main Constitutional writing wasn't clear enough.
Those rights belonged to the people BEFORE the United States of America existed, something that should be obvious considering that the Constitution is not a document granting rights to the people but a document defining limits to the Federal Government. So to believe that only citizens of the United States have those rights defies both common sense and logic. -
On the post: Court: Your Fourth And Fifth Amendment Rights No Longer Exist If You Leave The Country
Kituywbe ( profile ), 29 Oct, 2015 @ 09:11amRights are absolute
There seems to be something that has been forgotten in the last few years: The Bill of Rights was added to the Constitution to remind the Federal Government that all people hold inalienable rights. The rights were listed so as to eliminate any possibility of misinterpretation of the Constitution. The Constitution does not grant those rights, it acknowledges them. More specifically, the Bill of Rights lists specific prohibitions on governmental power and abuse. This includes limits on what the courts can decree. If the courts conclude something that falls outside of the Bill of Rights in their plain reading, then the court's decision is unconstitutional (i.e. unlawful) as well. And you will notice, there is NO MENTION of citizenship in the Bill of Rights. The Bill of Rights applies to ALL peoples, not just US Citizens. It's time that people around the world start realizing this and act accordingly.
-
On the post: The Coming Collision Between EU Privacy Regulation And American Free Speech
Kituywbe ( profile ), 11 Oct, 2015 @ 09:30amComments
It's good to see the comments here, especially because the comments come from both US and from EU individuals (and no doubt other areas of the world).
If I could summarize what I've read: One cannot trust US companies to honor data privacy, and one cannot trust EU governments to honor data privacy.
I live in the US, and so let me add that one cannot trust the US Government to honor data privacy either. So for now I think we have the EU beat when it comes to not honoring data privacy.
I would add only one thing to the discussion...I would like to point out that we allow the conversation to be controlled by adversaries of the right to privacy when we repeat statements like "The European Union Charter grants data privacy". That is NOT actually correct. The correct statement is that the Charter acknowledges that data privacy is a fundamental human right. It does not grant that right, it acknowledges that the right exists, whether or not the Charter includes provisions for it.
In the same fashion, the US Constitution grants no individual rights. It acknowledges that those rights exist, irrespective of any governing body of law.
In the course of events in the last few decades, we have lost sight of that. As a US citizen, I would remind the US Government that the Constitution is a document with the specific focus of limiting GOVERNMENT. The human rights that are acknowledged by the Constitution were put into the Constitution in order to remind the Federal government that those rights cannot be abridged by any law or policy. I realize as a society that we have passed laws clarifying those rights (example, one cannot harm another by lying abut their character), but this does not detract from the fundamental rights we enjoy.
So it is important to remember that the Constitution does not grant human rights. They exist, period. If the Constitution was done away with tomorrow, the rights would still exist.
It is good to see that the vast majority of us agree that the rights acknowledged by the US Constitution and by the EU Charter apply to citizens of all countries equally.
Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: Rights are absolute
Don't know whether you just trying to be a troll, or simply don't (or won't) understand.
Last post.
"government has overstepped the powers granted to it by the Constitution."
There is no contradiction in this statement with my other posts. The Federal Government is granted powers through the Constitution BY the people, not the other way around.
"The rights granted to you by the constitution[...]"
The Constitution does not grant ANY rights to people, it is the PEOPLE granting limited power to the Federal Government.