1st Amendment Audits - Government Facilities - Good or Bad?

may be legal, but it doesn't make it less annoying as frick for the decent employees of the state just trying to do their job.

I am fascinated by those videos too. I cringe when I watch them because I think about how unemployable these folks would be with all those arrests (not convictions) on their records.

The ones who stay outside of the facilities (News Now Houston, Tom Zebra, High Desert Community Watch) are good to watch to learn your basic rights as far as when you need to ID yourself. The people who go inside the facilities (Clash with Bao, News Now Patrick, Mexican Padilla, James Freeman) are more confrontational and, as a result, have extensive legal bills.

Those videos show that police can use whatever charge they can to arrest the auditors, whether the charge is legitimate or not. Most of the police don’t like people exercising their right and retaliate. Padilla and Bao are both paying a big price for their videos. Bao just got out of solitary confinement where he was held for over a month for no articulateable reason. I think that these guys expect a big payday from lawsuits but it’s going to cost a lot and their futures are in doubt.

A couple of good videos to watch are the News Now Houston video at FBI building in El Paso and the Leon Valley press conference. NNH stayed on the sidewalk off the FBI premises but they roughed him up and forced him to come inside the building because he wouldn’t stop filming and identify himself. It’s disturbing.

The Leon Valley press conference was announced by the Chief of Police there to address auditors’ concerns. When they assembled for the PC outside the police station, the police arrested everyone and confiscated all cameras and cell phones as evidence. They held the equipment of everyone even if no charges were filed and they need to sign a waiver that says they won’t sue Leon Valley to get their equipment back.

sounds like you have a lot of experience with a douche bag.

I went down this YouTube hole a couple of days ago. It’s amazing how some people freak out because of a guy standing in the open with a camera. Some of the demands for ID from security guards and employees is hillaruous.