Those of you old enough to have watched “The Lone Ranger” on television growing up in the 1950s will recognize the heading here—it was the question often asked after the masked Texas ranger had gotten retribution or cured an injustice of some sort.
Immigrant targets of the investigator in New Jersey a couple weeks back are now asking themselves the same question after the NJ Department of Health denied that any of its investigators were involved in the raw dairy probe described in my previous post. The investigator visited the homes of at least four raw milk drop sites, taking photos of coolers containing raw dairy products, and warning the residents that they could be fined for allowing their homes to be used for product pickups by food club members.
The drop site residents, afraid of the investigator, quickly complied with his request to open coolers and allow photos to be taken. No one thought to ask for a search warrant, or even to demand an ID or a business card. They just wanted the investigator to move on.
All thought the investigator was from the NJ Department of Health, and when I inquired with the agency last Friday, providing details of what the drop site residents had reported, the agency seemed to effectively confirm its involvement by issuing a one-sentence statement saying it was “unable to confirm or deny if an investigation is ongoing.”
By yesterday, though, the response had changed. The spokeswoman who had sent the original hedge now was adamant: “Your story is erroneous. No one from the New Jersey Department of Health has visited these homes nor conducted an investigation targeting a particular population of people. Please correct this immediately.”
When I reminded her that I had provided details about my understanding of the investigation in my original inquiry, and questioned if the agency was shifting its stance, I received another denial: “Those were not our inspectors at the residences you wrote about. I want to be clear it was not an inspector with the New Jersey Department of Health, as it currently says in your story.”
So, whose inspector might it have been? I learned in some further inquiries that an investigator or investigators may well have been sent out by one or more county health departments in New Jersey. I will continue checking. In the meantime, I have adjusted my previous post to reflect the agency’s denial.
The plot thickens…
UDDER MILK is still in business with the same principals running it although possibly using a different trade name .Udder Milk is under cease and desist orders from the states of N.J ,N.Y.CT.and R.I.do we really want a lawless nation,that says it all .
William,
No one here is advocating a “lawless nation”, but rather that the law and its enforcers respect human dignity and free will. Government officials that overstep their boundaries and intrude into the private affairs and property of individuals who merely want a choice when buying food, or what medical care they receive, is what “says it all”.
Your specious focus on government rules and regulation a.k.a. “the law” is an offence against human dignity and, natural law… is there no room for common sense and reason apart from the law in your so called “land of the free”?
Consider these quotes…
“A just law is a man-made code that squares with the moral law or the law of God. An unjust law is a code that is out of harmony with the moral law. To put it in the terms of Saint Thomas Aquinas, an unjust law is a human law that is not rooted in eternal and natural law.” Martin Luther
“THIS law of nature, being coeval with mankind and dictated by God himself, is of course superior in obligation to any other. It is binding over all the globe, in all countries, and at all times: no human laws are of any validity, if contrary to this; and such of them as are valid derive all their force, and all their authority, mediately or immediately, from this original.” William Blackstone
In some states, departments of Ag or Health also carry an FDA badge as they work for both state and Fed. It is entirely possible it was ‘their guy’ but not operating in official state capacity (or at least not after the heat came on locally).
Good point, Pete. These agencies do cooperate very closely, sometimes doing each other’s investigating.
When inspectors show up…always turn on the cameras and take business cards from everyone. That’s rule number one. Rule number two….don’t let them in until and unless they can show a reason or a warrant.
Volunteering your private property to support access to real food for the community is one of the most selfless things that humans can do for others! For the feds or state to threaten this sort of community service is treasonous. ALWAYS check credentials and all ways demand a warrant to enter your premises. This is private food. Period
Well said Alvin…
Thank you for trying to figure out the facts on this story, David. No matter who is doing the inspections, it’s really unfortunate that they’re targeting vulnerable immigrants. And I agree with your suspicions that the FDA is involved at some level.
The Policy Studies Journal, Vol. 45, No. 2, 2017
Framing Food Policy: The Case of Raw Milk
Wendy M. Rahn, Sarah E. Gollust, and Xuyang Tang
Policies governing the sale of raw milk—making the sales of raw milk more permissive—are gaining
traction on the legislative agendas of dozens of states. This paper examines one contributor to this
movement on the policy agenda: the role of competitive framing. By combining theoretical approaches
from policy studies and political psychology theories of competitive framing, we offer evidence
supporting the recent relative success of raw milk activists in several state legislatures. Using an
Internet survey-based experiment with a sample size of 1,630 respondents from seven Midwestern
states, we show that a frame emphasizing consumer choice and food freedom is more effective than the
frame that dominates among the policy establishment, that emphasizing public health risks. This is
true in both one-sided and competitive framing contexts. We further show that those previously
aware of this issue were less influenced by the public health frame than those na€ıve to the issue. Our
results suggest that the pro-raw milk movement may be making strides on the state policy agenda
because their frames are more resonant among the public. We also highlight the advantages gained
from considering psychological and policy processes simultaneously to understand policy change.
In a Police State you must pretend to do as you are told and try not bring attention on yourself. Is that what people who want to drink Raw Milk here in America are being forced to do?
Steve, for many immigrants today, the U.S. is now effectively a police state. Immigrants with any uncertainty in their status are being followed by immigration authorities and nabbed on their way to work, or while bringing their kids to school. Many immigrants won’t go out unless they have to–they avoid taking their kids out for Halloween or to birthday parties. It’s a different world for them, and helps explain why they won’t do what you or I might do in the same situation, which is to ask a nosy agent for ID and a search warrant and take out our iPhones and begin recording.
https://www.nytimes.com/2017/11/25/us/atlanta-immigration-arrests.html?rref=collection%2Fsectioncollection%2Fus&action=click&contentCollection=us®ion=rank&module=package&version=highlights&contentPlacement=2&pgtype=sectionfront&_r=0
https://www.bostonglobe.com/news/politics/2017/11/25/fear-trump-crackdown-haunts-daily-life-undocumented-immigrants/LozpzJlIpZS0mxQ34QMVvK/story.html
Only illegal immigrants need to be fearful of anything at all, and they know why.
The thing is, David, I know a lot of citizens of the USA (and I mean LEGAL citizens) who are now deathly afraid to go to the grocery store. I have relatives in Minneapolis – they won’t go to church anymore and they do not even like to leave the house. One of the nicest areas in the USA is now a fearful place and we all know why. If you don’t know why, you simply aren’t paying attention.
Don’t make me laugh by saying that the poor immigrants are so afraid. If they are, they can always go to their homeland. They came here of their own accord.
Not sure I know why, D. Why don’t you tell us.
You must be one of the people not paying attention, David.
Ken I believe in respecting laws “i.e.” if there is a “cease and desist “order in place you respect it until it’s resolved . Laws are changed by your vote ,in this country we go to our elected representative’s, express our thoughts and ideas and request thier help.Thats the way you get help to stop officials that overstep their bounds .Hope you learned something from from my thoughts
William March, you are very naive.
with a hint of arrogance LOL!!
“WILLIAM MARCH” — I see you are very active in these raw milk blogs. Therefore there is no way you could have missed my very specific questions to you… Again, I ask the following:
1. Can you share which “[N]ative American” Tribes or Tribal members were sold to and harassed by the NJ agency? (NJ Caught Up in Raw-Milk Dragnet with a Twist)
2. You state Udder Milk is using another name and has gone into hiding yet I see a person named Kathy on here claiming she is with, or founded Udder Milk? What is the name of the business Udder Milk is now selling under? (NJ Caught Up in Raw-Milk Dragnet with a Twist & Who Was That Masked Man?)
3. You claim, “N.J state officials are going to different neighborhoods advising people that purchased this milk to get medical attention.” Is this a blanket operation? Seems like that would be very costly for agents to be going door to door…
4. You claim that, “New Jersey is not looking to deport or intimidate Indian people…” I do not recall this article being about “deportation.” Why would you mis-inform and try and divert the narrative? It seems like you are implementing initial stages of mass gaslighting.
To be clear Mr. March, I am not name calling or attacking you in any way. I just find it hard to believe that you are not an agent provocateur trolling raw milk consumer sites and blogs based on your comments I have seen in this thread as well as other social media threads.
My final question:
5. You make very specific claims that can only be made by a government agency employee or contractor with inside information. Can you verify your source(s) or are you possibly on a government payroll to distract commenters from the original scope and topic of the pro-raw milk articles you comment on?