On Monday, U.S. Senator Rand Paul was detained by the TSA for about two hours at an airport in Nashville. By doing so, TSA officials directly violated the U.S. Constitution and they demonstrated once again why the rest of the world is coming to regard us as a bunch of disgusting, arrogant "pig people". Do we really want to get such a bad reputation that virtually nobody will ever want to visit this country? We are going to absolutely destroy our tourism industry with this nonsense. Yes, we all want to fly safely, but other countries get the job done without their security officials running around acting like a bunch of Nazi prison guards. The TSA should be shut down, but if Congress wants it to continue to exist it should be given a dual mandate. It should be directed to protect the dignity of the American people first, and the safety of the American people second. If those running the TSA don't believe that this is possible, then they should be immediately replaced, because there are a whole lot of good people out there that could get the job done. Right now, TSA officials are treating American citizens like they aren't even human. The truth is that Rand Paul got off easy compared to what has happened to many other Americans. As I have written about previously, some elderly Americans have been strip-searched, some have had their adult diapers removed, and some have even been left covered in urine by invasive TSA searches. If the TSA will treat Senator Rand Paul like a scumbag, and if they will brutally strip-search elderly women, than what do you think they are going to do to you when the time comes?
I don't know about you, but I did not sign up to live in North Korea.
I signed up to live in America.
But the country we are living in does not look much like America anymore.
It is as if the U.S. Constitution does not even matter anymore.
When TSA thugs detained Senator Rand Paul, they directly violated the U.S. Constitution, and nobody in the mainstream media seems upset by this.
Fortunately, many in the alternative media have taken note of this constitutional violation. The following is from an article by Steve Watson....
The Constitution specifically protects federal lawmakers from being detained while en route to Washington DC.
Article I, Section 6 states:
“The Senators and Representatives…shall in all Cases, except Treason, Felony and Breach of the Peace, be privileged from Arrest during their Attendance at the Session of their respective Houses, and in going to and returning from the same….”
Rand Paul was travelling from his home in Louisville to attend a session in the Senate today.
The TSA is publicly saying that "normal procedure" was followed during the episode involving Senator Rand Paul. He was detained in a small cubicle for approximately two hours after he inadvertently set off a scanner alarm.
A Daily Caller article described what happened to Senator Paul when he attempted to leave the cubicle that he was being held in....
“I tried to leave the cubicle to speak to one of the TSA people and I was barked at: ‘Do not leave the cubicle!’ So, that, to me sounds like I’m being asked not to leave the cubicle. It sounds a little bit like I’m being detained.”
That is how TSA agents are trained to behave. They are trained to bark orders at us. It doesn't even matter if you are a U.S Senator apparently.
TSA agents on the scene wanted to subject Senator Paul to an "enhanced pat-down" during which his genitals would be touched. Understandably, Senator Paul did not want to submit to such a humiliating inspection....
“For an hour and a half, they said ‘absolutely, I would have to [accept a pat-down],’” Paul said. “And, because I used my cell phone, they told me I would have to do a full body pat down because you’re not allowed to use your cell phone when you’re being detained.”
Thankfully, Senator Paul was eventually allowed to go back through the original scanner and it did not beep the second time through.
Other travelers have not been treated so nicely.
When informed about this incident, the Obama administration was quick to defend the TSA.
White House press secretary Jay Carney said the following about the incident....
"I think it is absolutely essential that we take necessary actions to ensure that air travel is safe."
Of course that is a bunch of nonsense. Dozens of other countries have a far better air security record than we do and yet they do not subject their citizens to this kind of abuse.
Rand Paul's father, presidential candidate Ron Paul, issued a statement which strongly condemned the actions of the TSA....
"The police state in this country is growing out of control. One of the ultimate embodiments of this is the TSA that gropes and grabs our children, our seniors, and our loved ones and neighbors with disabilities. The TSA does all of this while doing nothing to keep us safe."
Hopefully this will become a major issue during the race for the Republican nomination.
Instead of spending all of our time discussing Mitt Romney's taxes or Newt Gingrich's "skeletons", we should be spending a lot more time talking about how the United States of America is rapidly being transformed into a totalitarian police state.
It is absolutely disgusting what some Americans are being forced to endure just to get on a flight.
During a Congressional hearing in 2011, Senator Paul expressed outrage over the fact that TSA agents are feeling up the private areas of little girls in the name of "national security"....
"You’ve gone overboard and you’re missing the boat on terrorism because you’re doing these invasive searches on six-year-old girls."
And you know what?
What the federal government does sets an example for the rest of the nation.
Over in Stark County Ohio a couple of years ago, it was documented that police strip-searched female suspects until they were fully naked, recorded them on video and then left them naked in their cells for up to six hours.
Of course all of that was done in the name of "keeping us safe", right?
Some example we are setting for the rest of the world, eh?
Our country is going downhill so fast that it is hard to find words to describe it.
A lot of us are not flying anymore because we don't want the TSA examining our private parts, but now the TSA is bringing its own special brand of "security" to thousands of other locations across the United States as the Los Angeles Times recently detailed....
The Transportation Security Administration isn't just in airports anymore. TSA teams are increasingly conducting searches and screenings at train stations, subways, ferry terminals and other mass transit locations around the country.
"We are not the Airport Security Administration," said Ray Dineen, the air marshal in charge of the TSA office in Charlotte. "We take that transportation part seriously."
The TSA's 25 "viper" teams – for Visible Intermodal Prevention and Response – have run more than 9,300 unannounced checkpoints and other search operations in the last year. Department of Homeland Security officials have asked Congress for funding to add 12 more teams next year.
Who ever thought that we would see the day when "VIPER teams" were running around all over America setting up internal security checkpoints?
Even if you just sit home all day there is still a good chance that you will get the attention of the Department of Homeland Security.
The Department of Homeland Security has announced that it is now diligently watching the Internet.
According to a recent Fox News article, the Department of Homeland Security has decided that it is important for them to keep an eye on "forums, blogs, public websites and message boards"....
Though still in development, DHS is looking to establish a system for monitoring "forums, blogs, public websites and message boards." The idea is to gather and analyze publicly available information, and then use that information to help officials respond to disasters and other situations.
In case you were wondering, yes, they will probably read this article. Hopefully it will shame some of them into cleaning up their acts.
This country is being run by a bunch of psychotic control freaks that are obsessed with watching, monitoring, tracking and controlling virtually everything that we do.
Sadly, most Americans have bought into the lie that unless they give up huge chunks of liberty and freedom none of us will be safe.
But when we give these un-American control freaks an inch, they just keep trying to take a mile.
With our children, they are starting very early. As I have written about previously, most of our public schools are being turned into indoctrination centers and prison camps. Millions upon millions of Americans children are being trained to be good little slaves and most parents have no idea what is going on.
America is supposed to be about freedom and liberty.
It is supposed to be a place where we don't have control freaks on our backs 24 hours a day.
But instead we are becoming the exact opposite of what America is supposed to be.
No matter how much liberty and freedom we give up, the world is always going to be a very dangerous place.
In the future, there are undoubtedly going to be some very bad things that happen in our world.
But having TSA thugs touch the private parts of our women and our children is not going to prevent any of it from happening.
Instead of being an example for the rest of the world, we are becoming a bad joke.
Please wake up America.
Reprinted with permission from End of the American Dream.
Showing posts with label TSA. Show all posts
Showing posts with label TSA. Show all posts
Sunday, January 29, 2012
Sunday, November 13, 2011
TSA Bribes Passengers To Give Up Personal Info
(NaturalNews) The US Transportation Security Administration (TSA) has launched a new pilot program that bribes air travelers to "voluntarily" surrender personal and other information in exchange for an expedited and less-invasive screening experience at the airport. And the program has reportedly been so successful at the first few airports in which it was tested that the Obama Administration is planning to expand it to many more airports.
Hartsfield Jackson Atlanta International, Detroit Metropolitan Wayne County, Dallas Fort Worth International, and Miami International Airport all participated in the TSA's PreCheck program which was unveiled last month. The program offers certain American Airlines (AA) and Delta Air Lines (DAL) frequent fliers the "opportunity" to avoid full-body pat downs and naked body scans by agreeing to provide the TSA with information about themselves.
Lest anyone forget, these heinous TSA "enhanced" security protocols, which were unveiled just over a year ago, are a blatant violation of the Fourth Amendment to the US Constitution. And throughout the past year, we here at NaturalNews have covered numerous incidents of abuse involving these protocols by TSA agents against passengers.
But instead of scrapping these illegal invasions of personal privacy, the TSA is now using them as a deterrent to persuade the public into surrendering personal information instead. The TSA obviously knows its "enhanced" screening requirements are excessive, unreasonable, and felonious, which is why it is now offering incentives to travelers to bypass them.
In a press release announcing PreCheck, the TSA specifically states that the surrendering of personal information in exchange for faster and less-intrusive screenings is "voluntary," because it knows that it cannot technically force this information out of travelers. Using its illegal screenings as a way to extort information is basically the same thing -- it is just far less obvious to most travelers who will be more than willing to "voluntarily" concede to this TSA extortion racket.
The federal government has absolutely no business mandating that travelers comply with unwarranted search and seizure in the first place, which is exactly what the TSA screening process at US airports truly is. But the agency's PreCheck "alternative" is just an extension of this government takeover designed to manipulate the public into capitulating to tyranny.
Learn more: Here
Wednesday, November 2, 2011
Papers Please, Hotels Pimp DHS
The Department of Homeland Security is recruiting hotel guests to join the fight against terrorism.
Starting today, the welcome screens on 1.2 million hotel television sets in Marriott, Hilton, Sheraton, Holiday Inn and other hotels in the USA will show a short public service announcement from DHS. The 15-second spot encourages viewers to be vigilant and call law enforcement if they witness something suspicious during their travels.
During the PSA, which starts with a woman exiting a yellow taxi in front of a train station, a narrator says, "Maybe you see something suspicious. Can you be sure? If you see something, say something to authorities."
The PSA, which will be interspersed with other messages on the welcome screen, will be the same in all 5,400 hotels that LodgeNet serves. It ends by telling viewers to contact "local authorities."
Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano says that reaching the "millions of guests that stay at hotels and motels each year is a significant step in engaging the full range of partners in our Homeland Security efforts."
The federal government gained access to hotel TV sets by forming a partnership with the hotel industry's largest association — the American Hotel & Lodging Association — which connected DHS with LodgeNet, the industry's largest TV-content provider.
By entering hotels at a time when the hospitality industry is on the rebound, the government has the power to tap a growing, captive audience. Recent research from LodgeNet says 98% of hotel guests turn on their hotel TV, and the average guest keeps it on for more than three hours per day.
Ann Parker, a LodgeNet spokeswoman, describes the PSAs as "well done and professional" and says the decision to air them was not difficult.
"It's about everyone doing their part to help keep each other and the country safe," she says.
But critics of the campaign point out potential pitfalls. Josh Meyer of the Washington-based National Security Journalism Initiative predicts it will generate "a huge amount of potentially baseless tips that will inundate local, state and federal law enforcement authorities."
DHS spokesman Peter Boogaard, however, cites successful citizen interventions, such as the May 2010 incident in which two street vendors helped thwart a car bombing attempt in New York City's Times Square by noticing a smoking vehicle and reporting it to police.
In the last two years, DHS has formed partnerships with a variety of groups including Amtrak, the U.S. Tennis Association, the National Football League and the Mall of America to enlist public support.
Read The Rest Here
Starting today, the welcome screens on 1.2 million hotel television sets in Marriott, Hilton, Sheraton, Holiday Inn and other hotels in the USA will show a short public service announcement from DHS. The 15-second spot encourages viewers to be vigilant and call law enforcement if they witness something suspicious during their travels.
During the PSA, which starts with a woman exiting a yellow taxi in front of a train station, a narrator says, "Maybe you see something suspicious. Can you be sure? If you see something, say something to authorities."
The PSA, which will be interspersed with other messages on the welcome screen, will be the same in all 5,400 hotels that LodgeNet serves. It ends by telling viewers to contact "local authorities."
Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano says that reaching the "millions of guests that stay at hotels and motels each year is a significant step in engaging the full range of partners in our Homeland Security efforts."
The federal government gained access to hotel TV sets by forming a partnership with the hotel industry's largest association — the American Hotel & Lodging Association — which connected DHS with LodgeNet, the industry's largest TV-content provider.
By entering hotels at a time when the hospitality industry is on the rebound, the government has the power to tap a growing, captive audience. Recent research from LodgeNet says 98% of hotel guests turn on their hotel TV, and the average guest keeps it on for more than three hours per day.
Ann Parker, a LodgeNet spokeswoman, describes the PSAs as "well done and professional" and says the decision to air them was not difficult.
"It's about everyone doing their part to help keep each other and the country safe," she says.
But critics of the campaign point out potential pitfalls. Josh Meyer of the Washington-based National Security Journalism Initiative predicts it will generate "a huge amount of potentially baseless tips that will inundate local, state and federal law enforcement authorities."
DHS spokesman Peter Boogaard, however, cites successful citizen interventions, such as the May 2010 incident in which two street vendors helped thwart a car bombing attempt in New York City's Times Square by noticing a smoking vehicle and reporting it to police.
In the last two years, DHS has formed partnerships with a variety of groups including Amtrak, the U.S. Tennis Association, the National Football League and the Mall of America to enlist public support.
Read The Rest Here
Sunday, October 23, 2011
Man, I've been busy.
Over the last couple of weeks, I've been running a little ragged.
It started with helping out with a float for the Atlanta Pride Parade. The Libertarian Party of Georgia made its third annual appearance in the parade and also hosted an outreach booth in Atlanta's Piedmont Park. The parade was on Sunday and took about 12 hours out of my weekend. Totally worth it, though. We gathered a few hundred new subscribers to our weekly online newsletter "Georgia Libertarian Online". The LP Float had the world's largest QR code on either side that took the scanner directly to the LP Georgia sign up page. I think we had about 125 people scan the code while we eased on down the road.
Monday morning following the Pride weekend, I hopped on a flight from Atlanta to Harrisburg, PA to visit a customer. The outbound airport experience was nothing out of the ordinary. I fly so much that I know most of the TSA agents by name, all 300 of them.
I ended up working in my client's manufacturing plant about 70 hours over the next 4 days. My feet and back are still sore a week later.
My return trip started out ok, but as I approached the TSA screening area, the agents stopped using the magnetometer (walk through metal detector) and fired up the Microwave Oven Naked Body Scanner. Now, I have no use for the security theater that goes on in airports these days and have no intention of having my DNA scrambled in a Jiffy Pop popcorn cooker, so I "opted out" and had an "enhanced pat down".
This was no "pat down". I am a former Federal Law Enforcement Officer and have been trained in the art of searching suspects as part of an arrest. I truly thought a cavity search was coming. I asked Barney Fife how he liked poking and prodding the genitals of complete strangers. That got a smirk. I then recited the 4th Amendment of the US Constitution to him.
"The right of the people to be secure in their persons, houses, papers, and effects, against unreasonable searches and seizures, shall not be violated, and no Warrants shall issue, but upon probable cause, supported by Oath or affirmation, and particularly describing the place to be searched, and the persons or things to be seized."
This only pissed him off. He attempted to tell me that it didn't apply, since I was not under arrest. Hmm, I think he confused that pesky Constitutional Amendment with the Miranda Act. Obviously, pointing out his mistake led to a little Constitutional Convention of our own with the TSA agent, his supervisor and local law enforcement. I offered all of the participants a parting gift from my briefcase (Campaign for Liberty Pocket Constitutions with a foreword by Congressman Ron Paul) and made my way to the gate.
The following Saturday, I was honored to take part in a round table discussion for television on "We Speak". The subject matter for the show: Constitutional Powers - Expressed Vs. Implied. It was a ton of fun teaching the Executive Director of the GA Democratic Party a few things about why her interpretation of the General Welfare clause is just plain wrong, but that will have to wait for another post.
I spent this week catching up, so I apologize for my absence.
It started with helping out with a float for the Atlanta Pride Parade. The Libertarian Party of Georgia made its third annual appearance in the parade and also hosted an outreach booth in Atlanta's Piedmont Park. The parade was on Sunday and took about 12 hours out of my weekend. Totally worth it, though. We gathered a few hundred new subscribers to our weekly online newsletter "Georgia Libertarian Online". The LP Float had the world's largest QR code on either side that took the scanner directly to the LP Georgia sign up page. I think we had about 125 people scan the code while we eased on down the road.
Monday morning following the Pride weekend, I hopped on a flight from Atlanta to Harrisburg, PA to visit a customer. The outbound airport experience was nothing out of the ordinary. I fly so much that I know most of the TSA agents by name, all 300 of them.
I ended up working in my client's manufacturing plant about 70 hours over the next 4 days. My feet and back are still sore a week later.
My return trip started out ok, but as I approached the TSA screening area, the agents stopped using the magnetometer (walk through metal detector) and fired up the Microwave Oven Naked Body Scanner. Now, I have no use for the security theater that goes on in airports these days and have no intention of having my DNA scrambled in a Jiffy Pop popcorn cooker, so I "opted out" and had an "enhanced pat down".
This was no "pat down". I am a former Federal Law Enforcement Officer and have been trained in the art of searching suspects as part of an arrest. I truly thought a cavity search was coming. I asked Barney Fife how he liked poking and prodding the genitals of complete strangers. That got a smirk. I then recited the 4th Amendment of the US Constitution to him.
"The right of the people to be secure in their persons, houses, papers, and effects, against unreasonable searches and seizures, shall not be violated, and no Warrants shall issue, but upon probable cause, supported by Oath or affirmation, and particularly describing the place to be searched, and the persons or things to be seized."
This only pissed him off. He attempted to tell me that it didn't apply, since I was not under arrest. Hmm, I think he confused that pesky Constitutional Amendment with the Miranda Act. Obviously, pointing out his mistake led to a little Constitutional Convention of our own with the TSA agent, his supervisor and local law enforcement. I offered all of the participants a parting gift from my briefcase (Campaign for Liberty Pocket Constitutions with a foreword by Congressman Ron Paul) and made my way to the gate.
The following Saturday, I was honored to take part in a round table discussion for television on "We Speak". The subject matter for the show: Constitutional Powers - Expressed Vs. Implied. It was a ton of fun teaching the Executive Director of the GA Democratic Party a few things about why her interpretation of the General Welfare clause is just plain wrong, but that will have to wait for another post.
I spent this week catching up, so I apologize for my absence.
Monday, June 27, 2011
TSA - Terminal Statist Agenda
http://www.cnn.com/2011/TRAVEL/06/27/florida.tsa.incident/index.html
Well of course the TSA will deny it. Doesn't mean it didn't happen, actually it reinforces the likelihood of it being true.
Hide everything in plain sight. Deny, Deny, Deny. Eventually, the public will accept it as truth.
Well of course the TSA will deny it. Doesn't mean it didn't happen, actually it reinforces the likelihood of it being true.
Hide everything in plain sight. Deny, Deny, Deny. Eventually, the public will accept it as truth.
Friday, March 4, 2011
Loss of 4th Amendment Rights, Updated.
Even USA Today has caught on to the issue.
Here's the original article YOU No Longer Have Any Right To Privacy
Here's the original article YOU No Longer Have Any Right To Privacy
Friday, February 4, 2011
Americans are oppressed too.
Paul Craig Roberts
Infowars.com
February 4, 2011
Police in the US now rival criminals, and exceed terrorists, as the greatest threat to the American public. Rogelio Serrato is the latest case to be in the news of an innocent person murdered by the police. Serrato was the wrong man, but the Monterey County, California, SWAT team killed the 31-year old father of four and left the family home a charred ruin.
The fact that SWAT teams often go to the wrong door shows the carelessness with which excessive force is used. In one instance the police even confused the town’s mayor with a drug dealer, broke into his home, shot dead the family’s pet dogs, and held the mayor and his wife and children at gun point. But most cases of police brutality never make the news.
Most who suffer abuse from the police don’t bother to complain. They know that to make an enemy of the police brings a lifetime of troubles. Those who do file complaints find that police departments tend to be self-protective and that the naive and gullible public tends to side with the police.
However, you can find plenty of examples of police brutality on youtube, more than you can watch in a lifetime. I have just searched google for “youtube police brutality” and the result is: “497,000 results.” There’s everything from police shooting a guy in a wheelchair to body slamming a befuddled 89-year old great grandmother to tasering kids and mothers with small children. The fat goon cops love to beat up on women, kids, and old people.
The 497,000 google results may contain duplicates as more than one person might have posted a video of the same event, and the incidents occurred over more than one year. However, probably only a small percentage of incidents are captured on video by onlookers, and many incidents of police brutality have no witnesses. What the videos reveal is that a large percentage of police move with alacrity to assault the public. The number of incidences could be very high. One million annually would not be an exaggeration.
In contrast, according to the U.S. Department of Justice, in 2009 (the most recent year for which data is compiled), there were 806,000 aggravated assaults (not including assaults by police against the public) by criminals against the public, of which 216,814 were committed by hands and feet and not by weapons. (In the U.S. if you merely push a person or grab his arm, you have committed assault. “Freedom and democracy” America uses any excuse to multiply the number of felons.)
Considering the data, one might conclude that the police are a greater danger to the public than are criminals.
Indeed, the trauma from police assault can be worse than from assault by criminals. The public thinks the police are there to protect them. Thus, the emotional and psychological shock from assault by police is greater than the trauma from being mugged because you stupidly wandered into the wrong part of town.
Why are the police so aggressive toward the public?
In part because their ranks attract bullies, sociopaths and psychopaths. Even normal cops are proud of their authority and expect deference. Even cops who are not primed to be set off can turn nasty in a heartbeat.
In part because police are not accountable. The effort decades ago to have civilian police review boards was beat back by “law and order” conservatives.
In part because the police have been militarized by the federal government, equipped with military weapons, and trained to view the public as the enemy.
In part because the Bush/Cheney/Obama regimes have made every American a suspect. The only civil liberty that has any force in the U.S. today is the law against racial discrimination. This law requires that every American citizen be treated as if he were a Muslim terrorist. The Transportation Security Administration rigorously enforces the refusal to discriminate between terrorist and citizen at airports and is now taking its gestapo violations of privacy into every form of travel and congregation: trucking, bus and train travel, sports events, and, without doubt, shopping centers and automobile traffic.
This despite the fact that there have been no terrorist incidents that could be used to justify such an expansive intrusion into privacy and freedom of movement.
The TSA has not caught a single terrorist. However, it has abused and inconvenienced several hundred thousand innocent American citizens.
The abuse happens, because people with authority are dying to use the authority. The absence of terrorists means that the TSA turns innocent Americans into terrorists. There have been so many absurd cases. One woman traveling with her ill and dying mother, who required special food, had contacted the TSA prior to the flight, explained the situation, and was given permission to take the special food onboard. But when she went through “security,” the food was taken away, and when she protested she was arrested and hauled off, leaving the elderly mother in a wheelchair deserted.
Others have been arrested because a member of the household used a suitcase or carry bag to take guns and ammunition to the gun club or on a hunting trip and forgot to remove all the ammo, or the explosives test detected gunpowder residuals. Boy Scouts forgot to remove pocket knives from backpacks that they took on camping trips. Lactating mothers forced to give up breast milk. And so on.
These are the “great dangers” that the TSA protect the american sheeple from, and the sheeple submit, even servilely thanking their oppressors for protecting them.
Submission is what the government and the police want. Anyone who argues with TSA or the police will be abused. An American who stands up for his rights is likely to be beaten to a pulp. TSA has announced that such Americans are “suspects” and will be held in indefinite detention.
And “our” government assures us that we have “freedom and democracy.” We have a police state, and everyone who forgets it is in deep trouble.
The Amerikan police state is closely allied with police states all over the world–Egypt, Yemen, Jordan, Saudi Arabia and Israel in the Middle East and former constituent parts of the Soviet Empire in Central Asia. The U.S. government never lifts a finger in behalf of democracy anywhere. In fact, the U.S. government quickly moves to overthrow democracy wherever it rears its head, as the U.S. recently did in Honduras. Before Honduras it was Palestine where the U.S. overturned the election that brought Hamas to power. Now Washington is targeting Lebanon where Hisbollah has gained.
Everywhere on earth the U.S.government prefers an autocracy that it can purchase to free elections that bring to power candidates unwilling to serve as American puppets.
The U.S. government is the most determined foe of democracy in the world. Yet, Washington lectures China, which has more civil liberties than Bush/Cheney/Obama permit Americans.
Infowars.com
February 4, 2011
Police in the US now rival criminals, and exceed terrorists, as the greatest threat to the American public. Rogelio Serrato is the latest case to be in the news of an innocent person murdered by the police. Serrato was the wrong man, but the Monterey County, California, SWAT team killed the 31-year old father of four and left the family home a charred ruin.
The fact that SWAT teams often go to the wrong door shows the carelessness with which excessive force is used. In one instance the police even confused the town’s mayor with a drug dealer, broke into his home, shot dead the family’s pet dogs, and held the mayor and his wife and children at gun point. But most cases of police brutality never make the news.
Most who suffer abuse from the police don’t bother to complain. They know that to make an enemy of the police brings a lifetime of troubles. Those who do file complaints find that police departments tend to be self-protective and that the naive and gullible public tends to side with the police.
However, you can find plenty of examples of police brutality on youtube, more than you can watch in a lifetime. I have just searched google for “youtube police brutality” and the result is: “497,000 results.” There’s everything from police shooting a guy in a wheelchair to body slamming a befuddled 89-year old great grandmother to tasering kids and mothers with small children. The fat goon cops love to beat up on women, kids, and old people.
The 497,000 google results may contain duplicates as more than one person might have posted a video of the same event, and the incidents occurred over more than one year. However, probably only a small percentage of incidents are captured on video by onlookers, and many incidents of police brutality have no witnesses. What the videos reveal is that a large percentage of police move with alacrity to assault the public. The number of incidences could be very high. One million annually would not be an exaggeration.
In contrast, according to the U.S. Department of Justice, in 2009 (the most recent year for which data is compiled), there were 806,000 aggravated assaults (not including assaults by police against the public) by criminals against the public, of which 216,814 were committed by hands and feet and not by weapons. (In the U.S. if you merely push a person or grab his arm, you have committed assault. “Freedom and democracy” America uses any excuse to multiply the number of felons.)
Considering the data, one might conclude that the police are a greater danger to the public than are criminals.
Indeed, the trauma from police assault can be worse than from assault by criminals. The public thinks the police are there to protect them. Thus, the emotional and psychological shock from assault by police is greater than the trauma from being mugged because you stupidly wandered into the wrong part of town.
Why are the police so aggressive toward the public?
In part because their ranks attract bullies, sociopaths and psychopaths. Even normal cops are proud of their authority and expect deference. Even cops who are not primed to be set off can turn nasty in a heartbeat.
In part because police are not accountable. The effort decades ago to have civilian police review boards was beat back by “law and order” conservatives.
In part because the police have been militarized by the federal government, equipped with military weapons, and trained to view the public as the enemy.
In part because the Bush/Cheney/Obama regimes have made every American a suspect. The only civil liberty that has any force in the U.S. today is the law against racial discrimination. This law requires that every American citizen be treated as if he were a Muslim terrorist. The Transportation Security Administration rigorously enforces the refusal to discriminate between terrorist and citizen at airports and is now taking its gestapo violations of privacy into every form of travel and congregation: trucking, bus and train travel, sports events, and, without doubt, shopping centers and automobile traffic.
This despite the fact that there have been no terrorist incidents that could be used to justify such an expansive intrusion into privacy and freedom of movement.
The TSA has not caught a single terrorist. However, it has abused and inconvenienced several hundred thousand innocent American citizens.
The abuse happens, because people with authority are dying to use the authority. The absence of terrorists means that the TSA turns innocent Americans into terrorists. There have been so many absurd cases. One woman traveling with her ill and dying mother, who required special food, had contacted the TSA prior to the flight, explained the situation, and was given permission to take the special food onboard. But when she went through “security,” the food was taken away, and when she protested she was arrested and hauled off, leaving the elderly mother in a wheelchair deserted.
Others have been arrested because a member of the household used a suitcase or carry bag to take guns and ammunition to the gun club or on a hunting trip and forgot to remove all the ammo, or the explosives test detected gunpowder residuals. Boy Scouts forgot to remove pocket knives from backpacks that they took on camping trips. Lactating mothers forced to give up breast milk. And so on.
These are the “great dangers” that the TSA protect the american sheeple from, and the sheeple submit, even servilely thanking their oppressors for protecting them.
Submission is what the government and the police want. Anyone who argues with TSA or the police will be abused. An American who stands up for his rights is likely to be beaten to a pulp. TSA has announced that such Americans are “suspects” and will be held in indefinite detention.
And “our” government assures us that we have “freedom and democracy.” We have a police state, and everyone who forgets it is in deep trouble.
The Amerikan police state is closely allied with police states all over the world–Egypt, Yemen, Jordan, Saudi Arabia and Israel in the Middle East and former constituent parts of the Soviet Empire in Central Asia. The U.S. government never lifts a finger in behalf of democracy anywhere. In fact, the U.S. government quickly moves to overthrow democracy wherever it rears its head, as the U.S. recently did in Honduras. Before Honduras it was Palestine where the U.S. overturned the election that brought Hamas to power. Now Washington is targeting Lebanon where Hisbollah has gained.
Everywhere on earth the U.S.government prefers an autocracy that it can purchase to free elections that bring to power candidates unwilling to serve as American puppets.
The U.S. government is the most determined foe of democracy in the world. Yet, Washington lectures China, which has more civil liberties than Bush/Cheney/Obama permit Americans.
Sunday, January 2, 2011
TSA Photocopies Traveller's Credit Cards and Other Personal Documents
Perhaps they just wanted to know how to keep tabs on someone who stood up to them? Papers Please!
Saturday, January 1, 2011
A New Year brings new ways for the government to infringe upon our rights.
In a brave stand against the TSA, a Charlottesville, VA man stripped naked at a security checkpoint in Richmond yesterday. On the chest and stomach of 21 year old Aaron Tobey were written these words: " Amendment 4: The right of the people to be secure against unreasonable searches and seizures will not be violated".
Mr. Tobey was witnessed at the checkpoint "absent of shirt and pants in full public view, exposing language regarding the 4th amendment, on his chest and abdomen". He was promptly arrested for disorderly conduct, given a citation and released. The article did not mention if he was allowed to continue on his journey via air.
As frustration grows amongst air travelers who are very vocal to the airlines, many airports are considering dropping the TSA in favor of private security firms, a move that many Libertarians, such as myself, consider the right thing to do.
We all must remain diligent and steadfast in our rights and challenge the unconstitutional behavior of the Federal Government every time it occurs or we will find ourselves one generation away from totalitarianism.
Mr. Tobey was witnessed at the checkpoint "absent of shirt and pants in full public view, exposing language regarding the 4th amendment, on his chest and abdomen". He was promptly arrested for disorderly conduct, given a citation and released. The article did not mention if he was allowed to continue on his journey via air.
As frustration grows amongst air travelers who are very vocal to the airlines, many airports are considering dropping the TSA in favor of private security firms, a move that many Libertarians, such as myself, consider the right thing to do.
We all must remain diligent and steadfast in our rights and challenge the unconstitutional behavior of the Federal Government every time it occurs or we will find ourselves one generation away from totalitarianism.
Thursday, December 30, 2010
More attack on the 4th Amendment
The TSA molests or forces nude photos of every air passenger, but there are now random bag searches in the DC Metro, and as of today forced blood sampling at DUI check points.
At what point do we, as individuals, say enough is enough? Personally, I think that moment passed a long time ago.
At what point do we, as individuals, say enough is enough? Personally, I think that moment passed a long time ago.
Friday, December 17, 2010
More Security Theater Delivered By The TSA
A report from ABC News this morning reveals just what we all thought about the TSA in the first place. They are ineffective in doing anything other than violating our rights.
"Last fall, as he had done hundreds of times, Iranian-American businessman Farid Seif passed through security at a Houston airport and boarded an international flight.
He didn't realize he had forgotten to remove the loaded snub nose "baby" Glock pistol from his computer bag. But TSA officers never noticed as his bag glided along the belt and was x-rayed. When he got to his hotel after the three-hour flight, he was shocked to discover the gun traveled unnoticed from Houston. "
John Pistole, new head of the TSA has admitted that in tests at several airports, where guns, bomb parts and knives are placed "control baggage" to test the TSA Screeners, anywhere from 70% to in one airports case 100% of them are missed and allowed to flow through to the passenger.
How many billions of dollars have we wasted on these theatrics? It's time to stop and time to abolish the TSA.
"Last fall, as he had done hundreds of times, Iranian-American businessman Farid Seif passed through security at a Houston airport and boarded an international flight.
He didn't realize he had forgotten to remove the loaded snub nose "baby" Glock pistol from his computer bag. But TSA officers never noticed as his bag glided along the belt and was x-rayed. When he got to his hotel after the three-hour flight, he was shocked to discover the gun traveled unnoticed from Houston. "
John Pistole, new head of the TSA has admitted that in tests at several airports, where guns, bomb parts and knives are placed "control baggage" to test the TSA Screeners, anywhere from 70% to in one airports case 100% of them are missed and allowed to flow through to the passenger.
How many billions of dollars have we wasted on these theatrics? It's time to stop and time to abolish the TSA.
Tuesday, November 30, 2010
Decline the TSA Gate Rape and find yourself Blacklisted
According to the Canada Free Press, the TSA is now compiling "Blacklists" of everyone that decides the 4th Amendment trumps the rules of the TSA.
It does not surprise me that the Obama Administration responds to the backlash against the unconstitutional fourth amendment violating TSA screening measures by blacklisting air travelers who object to the over reaching intrusive searches at the airports. They are trying to send a chilling effect not to protest the TSA groping and body scanners that has the public in an uproar.
Will they add them to a list were you can not buy a new car .apply for employment or do business.Will people be put on this list that will make life hard to function because the government has blackballed people who objected to the abusive TSA.These secretive list shows the abusive executive branch bypassing the courts and due process blacklisting their political enemies and opposition.
It does not surprise me that the Obama Administration responds to the backlash against the unconstitutional fourth amendment violating TSA screening measures by blacklisting air travelers who object to the over reaching intrusive searches at the airports. They are trying to send a chilling effect not to protest the TSA groping and body scanners that has the public in an uproar.
Will they add them to a list were you can not buy a new car .apply for employment or do business.Will people be put on this list that will make life hard to function because the government has blackballed people who objected to the abusive TSA.These secretive list shows the abusive executive branch bypassing the courts and due process blacklisting their political enemies and opposition.
Tuesday, November 23, 2010
Free Market Solution To The Naked Body Scanners - Updated
My original post about Free Market Solution To The Naked Body Scanners seems to have gotten attention from some big players. Rep. Dr. Ron Paul, R-TX (although mostly Libertarian) has picked up on my idea and has called for a boycott of the airlines until this stuff stops.
Dr. Paul, you can thank me later. I just hope it works.
Dr. Paul, you can thank me later. I just hope it works.
Friday, November 19, 2010
Surrender Your Rights To The TSA, Or Stay Home
"The right of the people to be secure in their persons, houses, papers, and effects, against unreasonable searches and seizures, shall not be violated, and no warrants shall issue, but upon probable cause, supported by oath or affirmation, and particularly describing the place to be searched, and the persons or things to be seized." - For those unfamiliar, the above statement is the 4th Amendment to The Constitution of The United States of America. No one, including a government agency, may infringe upon that right without facing Federal Criminal Prosecution.
NO ONE.
Unless, of course, you are the TSA.
"Nobody likes having their Fourth Amendment [rights] violated going through a security line, but the truth of the matter is, we're gonna have to do it." — Mo McGowan, former Director of TSA Security Operations
I'm sorry, Mr. McGowan, you are incorrect and as such can kiss my ass. The Constitution is the Supreme Law of The Land, but I suppose you, like most of the current administration, are unfamiliar with that particular document.
Just in case you haven't read it: Article VI, Section 2, of the U.S. Constitution is known as the Supremacy Clause because it provides that the "Constitution, and the Laws of the United States … shall be the supreme Law of the Land."
Here it is in it's entirety:
Article VI (That's 6 in case you don't understand Roman Numerals)
Clause 2: This Constitution, and the Laws of the United States which shall be made in Pursuance thereof; and all Treaties made, or which shall be made, under the Authority of the United States, shall be the supreme Law of the Land; and the Judges in every State shall be bound thereby, any Thing in the Constitution or Laws of any State to the Contrary notwithstanding.
NO ONE.
Unless, of course, you are the TSA.
"Nobody likes having their Fourth Amendment [rights] violated going through a security line, but the truth of the matter is, we're gonna have to do it." — Mo McGowan, former Director of TSA Security Operations
I'm sorry, Mr. McGowan, you are incorrect and as such can kiss my ass. The Constitution is the Supreme Law of The Land, but I suppose you, like most of the current administration, are unfamiliar with that particular document.
Just in case you haven't read it: Article VI, Section 2, of the U.S. Constitution is known as the Supremacy Clause because it provides that the "Constitution, and the Laws of the United States … shall be the supreme Law of the Land."
Here it is in it's entirety:
Article VI (That's 6 in case you don't understand Roman Numerals)
Clause 2: This Constitution, and the Laws of the United States which shall be made in Pursuance thereof; and all Treaties made, or which shall be made, under the Authority of the United States, shall be the supreme Law of the Land; and the Judges in every State shall be bound thereby, any Thing in the Constitution or Laws of any State to the Contrary notwithstanding.
Wednesday, November 17, 2010
Free Market Solution To The Naked Body Scanners
Are you tired of having some minimum wage TSA agent violate your rights as protected under the 4th Amendment to US Constitution? Tired of the abnormal amounts of radiation and groping of yours and your children's genitals? Don't complain to the TSA - They Don't Care.
Complain to the airline that you frequent and let their UNION employees make the calls to the government. After all, if the airlines aren't making any money, they will go bankrupt and then even the union workers will have to find a job.
Use the handy links below to contact your favorite airlines and let them know WHY you won't be buying a ticket from them and will drive or take a bus or train instead:
US Airways
American Airlines
Delta Airlines
Frontier Airlines
United Airlines
Spirit Airlines
Continental Airlines
Airtran Airways
Southwest Airlines
Jet Blue
Or if it's not listed look for your favorite airline here:
Airline Contact Info Page
Try the following as a sample "cut and paste" for your e-mail, especially if you are a frequent flyer on a specific airline:
Dear sir or madame,
It is with great sadness that I have to inform you that I have decided to sever my allegiance to your fine company. I have travelled with you for many years and many hundreds of thousands of miles. You have always had the best of service and safety while I have flown with you, but I am left with little choice.
You see, your company, along with scores of others has stood idly by while the rights of the travelling public are being violated by the Federal Government. We have, since the Patriot Act, endured more and more infringement on our civil rights, especially our right to privacy as defined by the 4th Amendment to The US Constitution. Now, the Transportation Security Agency and Department of Homeland Security have gone too far.
Recently, it has become a condition of travel on your airline to give up my Civil Rights as guaranteed by the Constitution, be sexually molested or threatened with Civil Litigation if I refuse the first two activities. Apparently this is a policy that you approve of, since I have seen no indication that you are in any way pushing back against the totalitarian policies of our government.
Since my Liberties are more important to me, my family and the future of my country than an on time departure, I will from this point onward until this failure of policy is rectified, be seeking alternative transportation.
Sincerely,
The Bitter Patriot
Complain to the airline that you frequent and let their UNION employees make the calls to the government. After all, if the airlines aren't making any money, they will go bankrupt and then even the union workers will have to find a job.
Use the handy links below to contact your favorite airlines and let them know WHY you won't be buying a ticket from them and will drive or take a bus or train instead:
US Airways
American Airlines
Delta Airlines
Frontier Airlines
United Airlines
Spirit Airlines
Continental Airlines
Airtran Airways
Southwest Airlines
Jet Blue
Or if it's not listed look for your favorite airline here:
Airline Contact Info Page
Try the following as a sample "cut and paste" for your e-mail, especially if you are a frequent flyer on a specific airline:
Dear sir or madame,
It is with great sadness that I have to inform you that I have decided to sever my allegiance to your fine company. I have travelled with you for many years and many hundreds of thousands of miles. You have always had the best of service and safety while I have flown with you, but I am left with little choice.
You see, your company, along with scores of others has stood idly by while the rights of the travelling public are being violated by the Federal Government. We have, since the Patriot Act, endured more and more infringement on our civil rights, especially our right to privacy as defined by the 4th Amendment to The US Constitution. Now, the Transportation Security Agency and Department of Homeland Security have gone too far.
Recently, it has become a condition of travel on your airline to give up my Civil Rights as guaranteed by the Constitution, be sexually molested or threatened with Civil Litigation if I refuse the first two activities. Apparently this is a policy that you approve of, since I have seen no indication that you are in any way pushing back against the totalitarian policies of our government.
Since my Liberties are more important to me, my family and the future of my country than an on time departure, I will from this point onward until this failure of policy is rectified, be seeking alternative transportation.
Sincerely,
The Bitter Patriot
Congressman John Duncan Blasts TSA On House Floor
WASHINGTON – Congressman John J. Duncan, Jr. (R-Tenn.) blasted the Transportation Security Administration Wednesday during a speech on the floor of the House of Representatives for invasive “pat-downs” of U.S. citizens and the role lucrative government contracts played in the use of body scanning machines at airport checkpoints.Duncan, former Chairman of the House Aviation Subcommittee and the current top Republican on the House Subcommittee on Highways and Transit, said: “Unfortunately, for the traveling public, big brother never makes a mistake, so I am not surprised they are trying to defend the purchase of these scanners.”The text of Rep. Duncan’s speech is copied below:
Mr. Speaker:A nationwide revolt is developing over the body scanners at the airports, and it should. Hundreds of thousands of frequent fliers who fly each week are upset about getting these frequent doses of radiation. Parents are upset about being forced to have their children radiated or being touched inappropriately by an unrelated adult. There is already plenty of security at the airport, but now we are going to spend up to $300 million to install 1,000 scanners. This is much more about money than it is about security. The former Secretary of Homeland Security, Michael Chertoff, represents Rapiscan, the company which is selling these scanners to his former department. Far too many federal contracts are sweetheart, insider deals.
Companies hire former high ranking federal officials, and then magically, those companies get hugely profitable federal contracts.The American people should not have to choose between having full-body radiation or a very embarrassing, intrusive pat-down every time they fly, as if they were criminals.We need a little more balance and common sense on this.
VIDEO
Mr. Speaker:A nationwide revolt is developing over the body scanners at the airports, and it should. Hundreds of thousands of frequent fliers who fly each week are upset about getting these frequent doses of radiation. Parents are upset about being forced to have their children radiated or being touched inappropriately by an unrelated adult. There is already plenty of security at the airport, but now we are going to spend up to $300 million to install 1,000 scanners. This is much more about money than it is about security. The former Secretary of Homeland Security, Michael Chertoff, represents Rapiscan, the company which is selling these scanners to his former department. Far too many federal contracts are sweetheart, insider deals.
Companies hire former high ranking federal officials, and then magically, those companies get hugely profitable federal contracts.The American people should not have to choose between having full-body radiation or a very embarrassing, intrusive pat-down every time they fly, as if they were criminals.We need a little more balance and common sense on this.
VIDEO
Tuesday, November 16, 2010
TSA to investigate body scan resister
Well of course they will investigate anyone who stands up to the abuse of power being perpetrated by the Federal Government. If you don't want to be bombarded with a dose of radiation that several scientists say is unhealthy, and you don't want to have the TSA sexually assault you in order to board a plane, then there must be something criminally wrong with you.
The manual searches being conducted by the TSA are not "pat downs" they are the same sort of search that you would receive if you were being arrested.
The manual searches being conducted by the TSA are not "pat downs" they are the same sort of search that you would receive if you were being arrested.
Monday, November 15, 2010
Write your Congressman - Abolish the TSA.
We live in a supposedly Free Society, but don't fool yourselves, it's anything but free. We are now being conditioned to accept whatever the government wants to do to our bodies under the guise of "public safety".
The Republicans control the House of Representatives and are bracing for a long battle over the President’s health care proposal. In the spirit of bipartisanship and sanity, I propose that the first thing on the chopping block should be an ineffective organization that wastes money, violates our rights, and encourages us to make decisions that imperil our safety. I’m talking about the Transportation Security Administration.
Bipartisan support should be immediate. For fiscal conservatives, it’s hard to come up with a more wasteful agency than the TSA. For privacy advocates, eliminating an organization that requires you to choose between a nude body scan or genital groping in order to board a plane should be a no-brainer.
But won’t that compromise safety? I doubt it. The airlines have enormous sums of money riding on passenger safety, and the notion that a government bureaucracy has better incentives to provide safe travels than airlines with billions of dollars worth of capital and goodwill on the line strains credibility. This might be beside the point: in 2003, William Anderson incisively argued that some of the steps that airlines (and passengers) would have needed to take to prevent the 9/11 disaster probably would have been illegal.
The odds of dying from a terrorist attack are much lower than the odds of dying from doing any of a number of incredibly mundane things we do every day. You are almost certainly more likely to die or be injured driving to the airport than you are to be injured by a terrorist once you’re in the air, even without a TSA. Indeed, once you have successfully made it to the airport, the most dangerous part of your trip is over. Until it’s time to drive home, that is.
Last week, I picked up a “TSA Customer Comment Card.” First, it’s important that we get one thing straight: I am not the TSA’s “customer.” The term “customer” denotes an honorable relationship in which I and a seller voluntarily trade value for value. There’s nothing voluntary about my relationship with the TSA.
A much more appropriate term for our relationship is “subject.” The TSA stands between me and those with whom I would like to trade, and I am not allowed to without their blessing.
Second, the TSA doesn’t provide security. It provides security theater, as Jeffrey Goldberg argues. The kid with the slushie in Tucson before the three-ounce-rule? The little girl in the princess costume at an airport I don’t remember? The countless grandmothers? I’m more likely to be killed tripping over my own two feet while I’m distracted by the lunacy of it all than I am to be killed by one of them in a terrorist attack. The moral cost of all this is considerable, as James Otteson and Bradley Birzer argue.
For even more theater of the absurd, consider that the TSA screens pilots. If a pilot wants to bring a plane down, he or she can probably do it with bare hands, and certainly without weapons. It’s also not entirely crazy to think that an airline will take measures to keep their pilots from turning their multi-million dollar planes into flying bombs. Through the index funds in my retirement portfolio, I’m pretty sure I own stock in at least one airline, and I’m pretty sure airline managers know that cutting corners on security isn’t in my best interests as a shareholder.
And the items being confiscated? Are nailclippers and aftershave the tools of terrorists? What about the plastic cup of water I was told to dispose of because “it could be acid” (I quote the TSA screener) in New Orleans before the three-ounce rule? What about the can of Coke I was relieved of after a flight from Copenhagen to Atlanta a few months ago? I would be more scared of someone giving a can of Coke to a child and contributing to the onset of juvenile diabetes than of using it to hide something that could compromise the safety of an aircraft.
And finally, most screening devices are ineffective because anyone who is serious about getting contraband on an airplane can smuggle it in a body cavity or a surgical implant. The scanners the TSA uses aren’t going to stop them.
Over the next few years, we’re headed for a bitter, partisan clash over legislative priorities. Before the battle starts, let’s reach for that low-hanging, bipartisan fruit. Let’s abolish the TSA.
The Republicans control the House of Representatives and are bracing for a long battle over the President’s health care proposal. In the spirit of bipartisanship and sanity, I propose that the first thing on the chopping block should be an ineffective organization that wastes money, violates our rights, and encourages us to make decisions that imperil our safety. I’m talking about the Transportation Security Administration.
Bipartisan support should be immediate. For fiscal conservatives, it’s hard to come up with a more wasteful agency than the TSA. For privacy advocates, eliminating an organization that requires you to choose between a nude body scan or genital groping in order to board a plane should be a no-brainer.
But won’t that compromise safety? I doubt it. The airlines have enormous sums of money riding on passenger safety, and the notion that a government bureaucracy has better incentives to provide safe travels than airlines with billions of dollars worth of capital and goodwill on the line strains credibility. This might be beside the point: in 2003, William Anderson incisively argued that some of the steps that airlines (and passengers) would have needed to take to prevent the 9/11 disaster probably would have been illegal.
The odds of dying from a terrorist attack are much lower than the odds of dying from doing any of a number of incredibly mundane things we do every day. You are almost certainly more likely to die or be injured driving to the airport than you are to be injured by a terrorist once you’re in the air, even without a TSA. Indeed, once you have successfully made it to the airport, the most dangerous part of your trip is over. Until it’s time to drive home, that is.
Last week, I picked up a “TSA Customer Comment Card.” First, it’s important that we get one thing straight: I am not the TSA’s “customer.” The term “customer” denotes an honorable relationship in which I and a seller voluntarily trade value for value. There’s nothing voluntary about my relationship with the TSA.
A much more appropriate term for our relationship is “subject.” The TSA stands between me and those with whom I would like to trade, and I am not allowed to without their blessing.
Second, the TSA doesn’t provide security. It provides security theater, as Jeffrey Goldberg argues. The kid with the slushie in Tucson before the three-ounce-rule? The little girl in the princess costume at an airport I don’t remember? The countless grandmothers? I’m more likely to be killed tripping over my own two feet while I’m distracted by the lunacy of it all than I am to be killed by one of them in a terrorist attack. The moral cost of all this is considerable, as James Otteson and Bradley Birzer argue.
For even more theater of the absurd, consider that the TSA screens pilots. If a pilot wants to bring a plane down, he or she can probably do it with bare hands, and certainly without weapons. It’s also not entirely crazy to think that an airline will take measures to keep their pilots from turning their multi-million dollar planes into flying bombs. Through the index funds in my retirement portfolio, I’m pretty sure I own stock in at least one airline, and I’m pretty sure airline managers know that cutting corners on security isn’t in my best interests as a shareholder.
And the items being confiscated? Are nailclippers and aftershave the tools of terrorists? What about the plastic cup of water I was told to dispose of because “it could be acid” (I quote the TSA screener) in New Orleans before the three-ounce rule? What about the can of Coke I was relieved of after a flight from Copenhagen to Atlanta a few months ago? I would be more scared of someone giving a can of Coke to a child and contributing to the onset of juvenile diabetes than of using it to hide something that could compromise the safety of an aircraft.
And finally, most screening devices are ineffective because anyone who is serious about getting contraband on an airplane can smuggle it in a body cavity or a surgical implant. The scanners the TSA uses aren’t going to stop them.
Over the next few years, we’re headed for a bitter, partisan clash over legislative priorities. Before the battle starts, let’s reach for that low-hanging, bipartisan fruit. Let’s abolish the TSA.
Friday, November 12, 2010
We Must Stop TSA Tyranny Now
Washington, DC—Airline security has always been dysfunctional from the day the FAA took over that responsibility. They began by getting a poorly thought out mandate that all passengers be screened by people we would not trust to walk our dogs.The FAA disarmed any pilots that were permitted by local laws to carry guns. Likewise they disarmed vetted, trained cops flying on our airplanes. That was because of the personal gun rights hating philosophy of these political patronage appointees.Criminals, illegal aliens and those with minimal mental capacity were hired to inspect the personal property and possessions of travelers. It was never intended to be real security but a pretend effort to fool passengers into thinking they were somehow safe.That unforgettable attack of September 11, 2001 and the FAA policies enabled the murders of nearly 3,000 and damages in the hundreds of billions. The pilots were unarmed and defenseless and two off duty cops on two of the four planes were also disarmed and helpless. Had the pilots and off-duty cops been armed, 9/11 would have been just another day.Not one FAA official or government bureaucrat was even criticized for creating the perfect conditions for the Muslim terrorists.
READ THE REST HERE
READ THE REST HERE
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