They really ARE monitoring what ordinary schmucks say

Two British tourists were barred from entering America after joking on Twitter that they were going to 'destroy America' and 'dig up Marilyn Monroe'. Leigh Van Bryan, 26, was handcuffed and kept under armed guard in a cell with Mexican drug dealers for 12 hours after landing in Los Angeles with pal Emily Bunting. The Department of Homeland Security flagged him as a potential threat when he posted an excited tweet to his pals about his forthcoming trip to Hollywood which read: 'Free this week, for quick gossip/prep before I go and destroy America?'

Read the whole article here.

GR4U - Ok, this is for all those head-in-the-sand types who keep telling themselves that tyranny can't happen in America! If ordinary schmucks like these two clowns are being monitored, then can we finally accept that Big Brother has truly come to America? The technology is here, the Nanny Staters are firmly in charge, and that pesky Bill of Rights has been completely marginalized.

Where the hell is Capt John Parker when you really need him!

H/T to Joel for spotting this one

He shot a tractor ... and destroyed his own career

Excerpt:

After receiving permission from his battalion commanders, Waddell ordered Marine snipers to open fire on the man, and he was hit. A group of Afghans rushed to the man, put him on a tractor and attempted to flee. Waddell ordered the snipers to hit the engine block of the tractor, disabling it so the man believed to be a bomb maker would not escape. The tractor was hit but no civilians were injured.

Then, about three weeks later, the civilians who helped remove the wounded man from the area were found to be teenagers.

As a result, Waddell was demoted from executive officer, and the battalion commander, Lt. Col. Seth Folsom, determined he had violated rules of engagement that governed when Marines could fire, and at whom. Folsom said Wadell "is not recommended for promotion" and "in violation of [combat rules] during an engagement." The report stated that "noncombatant local nationals" were in the area of direct fire and that "the engagement resulted in a damaged local national vehicle."

Read the entire article here

GR4U - Why the hell do heroic young men want to serve this rotten corrupt empire any longer? Please don't give me any of that crap about having to fight them over there so we don't have to fight them here! Our government is fighting US, it's own citizens! If freedom is being defended by our troops, then someone needs to redeploy our troops to every airport in America, because freedom is under a much more egregious assault in American airports than it is in Afghanistan!

Oh and here's another heroic young man who gave his life for "freedom" and will never see his newborn son

All in the name of security

9 Examples Of Elderly Americans Being Strip-Searched Or Sexually Molested By TSA Agents At U.S. Airports

So... when are you going to start getting pissed off about this crap America? Or are you happy to remain SHEEP?

If solders are defending our freedom...

Then why are we so "free" at the airport? Hell! Soldiers aren't free either! Watch this and tell me how free we all are:

TSA reacts to pilot's YouTube videos

SACRAMENTO, CA - An airline pilot is being disciplined by the Transportation Security Administration (TSA) for posting video on YouTube pointing out what he believes are serious flaws in airport security.

The 50-year-old pilot, who lives outside Sacramento, asked that neither he nor his airline be identified. He has worked for the airline for more than a decade and was deputized by the TSA to carry a gun in the cockpit.

He is also a helicopter test pilot in the Army Reserve and flew missions for the United Nations in Macedonia.

Three days after he posted a series of six video clips recorded with a cell phone camera at San Francisco International Airport, four federal air marshals and two sheriff's deputies arrived at his house to confiscate his federally-issued firearm. The pilot recorded that event as well and provided all the video to News10.

At the same time as the federal marshals took the pilot's gun, a deputy sheriff asked him to surrender his state-issued permit to carry a concealed weapon.

A follow-up letter from the sheriff's department said the CCW permit would be reevaluated following the outcome of the federal investigation.

The YouTube videos, posted Nov. 28, show what the pilot calls the irony of flight crews being forced to go through TSA screening while ground crew who service the aircraft are able to access secure areas simply by swiping a card.

"As you can see, airport security is kind of a farce. It's only smoke and mirrors so you people believe there is actually something going on here," the pilot narrates.

Video shot in the cockpit shows a medieval-looking rescue ax available on the flight deck after the pilots have gone through the metal detectors. "I would say a two-foot crash ax looks a lot more formidable than a box cutter," the pilot remarked.

A letter from the TSA dated Dec. 6 informed the pilot that "an administrative review into your deputation status as a Federal Flight Deck Officer has been initiated."

According to the letter, the review was directly related to the discovery by TSA staff of the YouTube videos. "The content and subject of these videos may have violated regulations concerning disclosure of sensitive security information," the letter said.

The pilot's attorney, Don Werno of Santa Ana, said he believed the federal government sent six people to the house to send a message.

"And the message was you've angered us by telling the truth and by showing America that there are major security problems despite the fact that we've spent billions of dollars allegedly to improve airline safety," Werno said.

The pilot said he is not in trouble with his airline, but a supervisor asked him to remove public access to the YouTube videos.

He does, however, face potential civil penalties from the TSA. He said he would likely go public when it becomes clear what the government plans to do with him.

===========================

Here's another article where the pilot is interviewed and explains why he did it.

I tell you with all honesty my friends, Nanny-provided "public safety" (and "officer safety" when it comes to our LEO masters) has totally destroyed ANY concept of personal liberty or individual rights in the country.

Mother harrassed by TSA for breast milk

Breast milk must be a dangerous substance now!

Read this

Regarding tots, testes & the TSA

Just who in blazes would want to work at a job where you:

- are hated and despised by all your “customers”
- must publicly fondle the genitals of an endless stream of fat, smelly, surly, sweaty, strangers – with a straight face
- are accumulating a massive lifetime dose of radiation to the only body you have
- must routinely pry screaming children from their parents arms in order to frisk them like you would a prison inmate

What does this say about the psyche of someone who wants a job like this?

I have no choice but to fly on two occasions each year. I am NOT standing in that microwave powered “body-print” machine (given my predisposition to skin cancer), and I am NOT sure how I’m going to react when someone I’ve never met grabs a hold of my short arm!

Now go read the short but VERY enlightening post over at Confederate Yankee she entitles: Good News! TSA Scanners Damage DNA, Increase Cancer Risk to Everyone, But Will Kill Small Children and TSA Agents First

Remember that what you don’t know CAN hurt you.

Is this TSA crackdown payback for the election?

I have to admit that this had not occurred to me prior to reading this comment to a blog elsewhere:

When [are] you all going to realize these pat downs are our (the American people's) punishment for the 'shelackin' (Obama's word) we gave Obama on Nov 2nd? This is Obama's revenge. When did the 'enhanced' security measures kick in? Nov 1st, a day before the election that everyone knew would be a bad day for Obama. Also notice in today’s news Velma Hart, the woman who stood up and told BO that she was tired of defending him has been laid off from her gov't job. I don't think this is all a coincidence. This is a very angry man-child we have for a president. The next 2 years will be a bumpy ride.

To accept this as a possibility one must simply buy into two basic truths:

First – our government is capable of any dirty trick imaginable! Haven’t they already proven that time and time again?

Second – Obama is personally a very hateful and vindictive man. He has proven this repeatedly as well. You merely have to read either of "his" two books to discover the vitriol this man has in his heart.

The collectivist leadership personified by the likes of Obama, Napolitano, Reid, Pelosi et al, are all absolutely committed to the idea that THEY know what’s best for America. And the American people’s wishes on any issue are utterly ignored; think Obamacare here – the nation said NO resoundingly, but via backroom deals, arm-twisting and no doubt other dirty tricks, that legislation was forced upon us. Now add a generous dose of Obama’s petulance and vindictiveness, and I think the idea of payback for the election’s results is not outside the realm of possibility at all.

Our government just loves to make lists of people!

This article is dated, but given what's going on right now at your local airport, it's still highly relevant!

TSA Keeping List of Misbehaving Passengers
May 26, 2010 2:35 pm by Carl Unger

USA Today reports that in addition to terrorist watchlists and no-fly lists, the government is tracking airport threats of another kind: Frustrated (but otherwise harmless) passengers. Or, more specifically, frustrated travelers who let their emotions get the better of them.

"The Transportation Security Administration (TSA) says it is keeping records of people who make its screeners feel threatened as part of an effort to prevent workplace violence," writes Thomas Frank, meaning "airline passengers who get frustrated and kick a wall, throw a suitcase or make a pithy comment to a screener could find themselves [on the] little-known Homeland Security database."

Now, the list is small, meaning two things: Incidents like this are rare, and incidents bad enough to warrant placement on the list are even more so. The list presently consists of roughly 240 incidents, some 30 of which involve attacks against TSA officials. So, what gets you on the list? Anything from verbal threats to physical bullying, pulling a weapon, or intentionally scaring TSA employees by punching or kicking things.

Still, the potential privacy violations have people concerned. According to USA Today, "A TSA document published in February says database information can be given to government agencies and to airports, airlines and rail and bus systems in cases involving their workers or job applicants." American Civil Liberties Union lawyer Michael German told USA Today, "there's a potential for the misuse of information or the mischaracterization of harmless events as potential threats."

I have to say I agree. A traveler acting like a jerk in an airport is probably not a credible threat to air safety, and should be handled by local police or airport security. Maintaining a watchlist seems like a waste of the TSA's energy and resources, and, given the isolated nature of these incidents, probably isn't that useful in the long run.

That said, my feeling is that if you do something bad enough to land on this list, you probably deserve whatever you get. Airport security is one of the most frustrating aspects of traveling, but that's no excuse for lashing out at TSA officials who, for better or worse, are simply doing their job. [Excuse me Mr Government Propagandist, but weren't the guards at Auschwitz just doing their jobs as well? And didn't the ruling at Nuremburg completely destroy that as a form of acceptible excuse?] They don't make the policies they enforce, they simply scan your bags and look for suspicious materials. Could some of them be friendlier? Could some of them use a little more common sense? Sure. But so could many travelers. [And couldn't they conclude that theirs is a Liberty-destroying occupation that ushers in Tyranny. Go get a job somewhere else for Pete's sake!]

John Galt's solution to the tyranny of the TSA

The Solution to TSA Groping and Scanning

By John Galt
November 16, 2010

The story of John Tyner has proven to be another black eye for bureaucrats nationwide and a reinforcement of the warnings after September 11th that hiring burger flippers to handle security positions would end in a disaster. The disaster in this case though is not a terrorist attack or threat thereof, but another abrogation of that damned piece of paper behind the glass which used to be the basis for the rule of law inside the United States. Tonight on my radio show I discussed a solution, a brilliant one I might add, as proposed by my charming wife during a conversation we had earlier.

The presumption behind a pat down and grope your groin search is that you, the passenger, are guilty of hiding something. The same philosophy or idea can be applied to the full body scanner which pilots are objecting to now due to the invasion of privacy. Thus the premise that you are guilty before being declared innocent and allowed to proceed is the methodology used by the TSA which is a direct violation of the concept of Due Process.

Thus if you are flying a simple solution. These cards can be typed up or written up on an index card or feel free to print this screen and hand it to your grope happy TSA agent when you fly:



If you are going to be treated like a criminal, politely ask the officer two questions:

1. Are you a law enforcement officer?

2. If so, are you willing to abide and uphold the Constitution as per the oath you have sworn to uphold?

Presuming both questions are answered “yes” then per the Supreme Court ruling of Miranda v. Arizona you wish for your rights to be read to you as per the card above, in the event that a violation to your Constitutional right of due process is incurred by the actions of the TSA officer.

No guarantees you’ll get on your flight, but in my non-legal non-binding opinion, this might hold water in a court of law since there has been no warrant issued nor reasonable causation for such a search to take place. In other words demand to be Mirandized every time you are pulled out of the line for the body scanner or gropefest inspection. If that doesn’t work, just remember the Stasi had other methods to force its citizens to cooperate also.

In the mean time, I’ll continue my course of action by persuading others not to fly and hoping that once two or three major carriers go bankrupt, again, that perhaps they just might figure this out and the EL AL security solution might finally be adopted to put an end to this insanity.

================================================
GR4US: What we Americans endure at airports these days is surely causing the corpses of men like Samuel Adams and Patrick Henry to spin like tops in their graves.

Even a moment's worth of dispassionate and objective review should reveal that what masquerades as "security" is nothing more than security theater! And if you doubt me, be sure to follow that link AND then review some of the sheeple's comments found anywhere there's an internet debate about current TSA practices. Time and again you will read some variation of: It makes me feel safer.

Well hell! I feel safer carrying my .40 wherever I go too. But they're not going to let me fly with it. But maybe therein lies the real solution to this Liberty-stealing mess.

Security Theatre - now playing at an airport near you

By Daniel Pipes

As hands are wrung in the aftermath of the near-tragedy on a Northwest Airlines flight approaching Detroit, a conversation from London’s Heathrow airport in 1986 comes to mind.

It consisted of an El Al security agent quizzing one Ann-Marie Doreen Murphy, a 32-year-old recent arrival in London from Sallynoggin, Ireland. While working as a chambermaid at the Hilton Hotel on Park Lane Murphy met Nizar al-Hindawi, a far-leftist Palestinian who impregnated her. After instructing her to “get rid of the thing,” he abruptly changed his tune and insisted on immediate marriage in “the Holy Land.” He also insisted on their traveling separately.



Murphy, later described by the prosecutor as a “simple, unsophisticated Irish lass and a Catholic,” accepted unquestioningly Hindawi’s arrangements for her to fly to Israel on El Al on April 17. She also accepted a wheeled suitcase with a false bottom containing nearly 2 kilograms of Semtex, a powerful plastic explosive, and she agreed to be coached by him to answer questions posed by airport security.

Murphy successfully passed through the standard Heathrow security inspection and reached the gate with her bag, where an El Al agent questioned her. As reconstructed by Neil C. Livingstone and David Halevy in Washingtonian magazine, he started by asking whether she had packed her bags herself. She replied in the negative. Then:

“What is the purpose of your trip to Israel?” Recalling Hindawi’s instructions, Murphy answered,

“For a vacation.”

“Are you married, Miss Murphy?” “No.”

“Traveling alone?” “Yes.”

“Is this your first trip abroad?” “Yes.”

“Do you have relatives in Israel?” “No.”

“Are you going to meet someone in Israel?” “No.

“Has your vacation been planned for a long time?” “No.”

“Where will you stay while you’re in Israel?” “The Tel Aviv Hilton.”

“How much money do you have with you?” “Fifty pounds.” The Hilton at that time costing at least £70 a night, he asked:

“Do you have a credit card?” “Oh, yes,” she replied, showing him an i.d. for cashing checks.

That did it, and the agent sent her bag for additional inspection, where the bombing apparatus was discovered.

Had El Al followed the usual Western security procedures, 375 lives would surely have been lost somewhere over Austria. The bombing plot came to light, in other words, through a non-technical intervention, relying on conversation, perception, common sense, and (yes) profiling. The agent focused on the passenger, not the weaponry. Israeli counterterrorism takes passengers’ identities into account; accordingly, Arabs endure an especially tough inspection. “In Israel, security comes first,” David Harris of the American Jewish Committee explains.

Obvious as this sounds, overconfidence, political correctness, and legal liability render such an approach impossible anywhere else in the West. In the United States, for example, one month after 9/11, the Department of Transportation issued guidelines forbidding its personnel from generalizing “about the propensity of members of any racial, ethnic, religious, or national origin group to engage in unlawful activity.” (Wear a hijab, I semi-jokingly advise women wanting to avoid secondary screening at airport security.)

Worse yet, consider the panicky Mickey-Mouse, and embarrassing steps the U.S. Transportation Security Administration implemented hours after the Detroit bombing attempt: no crew announcements “concerning flight path or position over cities or landmarks,” and disabling all passenger communications services. During a flight’s final hour, passengers may not stand up, access carry-on baggage, nor “have any blankets, pillows, or personal belongings on the lap.”

Some crews went yet further, keeping cabin lights on throughout the night while turning off the in-flight entertainment, prohibiting all electronic devices, and, during the final hour, requiring passengers to keep hands visible and neither eat nor drink. Things got so bad, the Associated Press reports, “A demand by one attendant that no one could read anything … elicited gasps of disbelief and howls of laughter.”

Widely criticized for these Clouseau-like measures, TSA eventually decided to add “enhanced screening” for travelers passing through or originating from fourteen “countries of interest” – as though one’s choice of departure airport indicates a propensity for suicide bombing.

The TSA engages in “security theater” – bumbling pretend-steps that treat all passengers equally rather than risk offending anyone by focusing, say, on religion. The alternative approach is Israelification, defined by Toronto’s Star newspaper as “a system that protects life and limb without annoying you to death.”

Which do we want – theatrics or safety?