What’s interesting to me regarding all this is that nobody ever points out that all of the supposed attacks have come from overseas. (Shoe bomber — from France. Crotch bomber — from Amsterdam. Liquid bomber — never happened, but were in the UK). Two real incidents from almost one billion flights since 9/11. Yet passengers flying from Oakland to Seattle are groped and filmed naked “just in case.” It’s a statistical joke. And the fact that it is so vigorously defended makes you wonder what is the real agenda. Apparently the agenda is to take away our 4th Amendment on a de facto basis. This has been a goal of the FBI among other police agencies for decades, and long before 9/11. Why? To make their jobs easier, that’s why. If you can snoop, scan people and spy on everyone 24/7 without limitations, then law-enforcement is a breeze. This is called a police state. When you talk about how privacy is not important and you personally have nothing to hide. You are inviting a police state. This airport scanner thing is a ruse, a salvo to see how much the public will tolerate before they can up the ante. If you have not noticed, they up the ante every time. There has been no instance or pulling back, ever.
Why has the alert perpetually been on Orange? It’s never yellow any more. It’s never been green for 9 years. Why? what’s up? They upped the ante, that’s why.
“Ex-TSA Security Chief Says Screw the 4th Amendment”
Not in this clip, he didn’t. He merely said it was necessary to ignore it.
Why do most of these clips show the scanner images from millimeter wave equipment when they’re using x-ray backscatter? The MW images are more surrealistic – bodies look robotic – whereas the backscatter devices let you trace the veins on the junk! (Well, almost.)
John, This time I must agree with you on all points.
@#1
0:52
“Nobody likes having their 4th amendment violated going through a security line but the truth of the matter is we’re going to have to do it.”
You can just ignore any part of the constitution that is inconvenient? Thought that was the ultimate law of the land in your USofA?
#4 It seems that Americans over the years have been de-educated regarding their rights and obligations. Ask a high school kid about the Bill of Rights and you’d be lucky if they even knew what you were talking about. Dumbing down the public with a focus on celebrity news adds to the problem, To be honest. It’s hopeless.
None of this, of course, is helped by the legions of apologists and stooges who defend all this bullcrap.
Bush/Cheney INGNORED THE LAW SINCE THE 2000 ELECTION “RECOUNT” !!! The “Patriot” Act just legimated MORE LAW BREAKING !!! The Police State run RIOT !!! Look at the so-called “Free Speech Zones” – behind BARBED WIRE at the Repuke Convention !!! Repukes LOVE A POLICE STATE !!! That’s why Repukes like Nixon loved all those foreign dictators !!! Any labor problems ? Take the organizers out and “Dissapear” them !!!
I wonder how soon the M$ Kinect will be co-opted to the cause of “National Security” and “Protecting the Children” ? Orwell’s “TeleScreen” anybody ?
#6 you’re part of the problem focusing on the “Repukes” instead of the system. Hey dude, this is Obama putting the naked body scanners in play. Obama could have returned habeas corpus. Obama obama..I can play the game too. It’s a distraction and stupid. Focus on loss of rights and corruption.
BTW the Dems in Denver had a even more onerous “Free Speech Zone.” Get a clue that it is not about these political parties. You end up being a stooge for one or the other. Think for yourself. Stand up for your Constitutional rights!!
@5
I read crap celeb news and ignore real news about politics. Why? Because I know that any say in politics have been taken away from me for good. It’s a pretty carefully rigged game, the corporations have won, there is really nothing I can do at all, except maybe plan escape routes, to other countries if necessary. Meanwhile, crappy news about crappy celebs keep me entertained.
I suspect the general public feels the same way: what’s going on doesn’t matter anymore, they deal the cards, our hands are tied.
John, I’m a Canadian. I’m starting to think my 15 year old son understands the US Constitution and its intent better than most Americans. That’s more than a bit sad.
When you print your sign _ GesTSApo _ make the letters TSA a different color.
Maybe like pink, for perverts.
GesTSApo
John,
This perverse invasion of privacy for the illusion of security has bothered me for a long time. I travel frequently and agree that they keep upping the ante.
I find it sadly ironic that American soldiers have fought for more than 230 years, some making the ultimate sacrifice, to protect our Constitution and the rights it guarantees, yet the American public seems completely satisfied to exchange those rights for perceived security on an airplane.
I would much rather live with the possibility that I might become the victim of a terrorist act than the certainty that my rights will be steadily eroded by the government.
Schreck
Someone seeing us naked or touching our genitals may be offensive, but the fact is that these practices do not reveal any extra information. I am more concerned about someone going through my personal effects (which do contain information) when I fly, but the courts decided that issue in the early 1970s.
What is more worrisome is that the terrorists will attack something different in the future. Will we submit to these “administrative searches” to get into football games? University classrooms? Shopping malls?
After all, we can _choose_ not to do these things to avoid being searched (as some like to argue). Will we eventually have to just stay home?
John,
I completely agree with you. Honestly, I wish our government was more about empowering and less about protecting. Sadly this will never happen because (I believe) most people just want the protection and are too blindly ignorant to realize it’s all a ruse.
“Why has the alert perpetually been on Orange?”
Whew! I thought it was just every time I went to the airport.
This report must be a lie, it’s on Fox. Right?
AlanB, “do not reveal any extra information.”
I don’t know about you, buddy, but for me it reveals a LOT of extra information! 🙂
#13 Schreck – My words exactly. I’ve been telling my associates and friends that since the beginning of the TSA. Most agree with me but there are a few who think it’s a necessary evil. Those are the guys whom I steal lunches from in the company fridge. I eat everything but the milquetoast.
YES!! The MEME is catching on
National Opt Out Day is NOV 24th 2010
http://optoutday.com/
I say lets make everyday national opt out day.
Is it weird that I heard the JCD pet peeve of the day jingle in my head after reading #7?
The only thing missing from the ex-TSA Nazi jack-boot goon cocksucker motherfucker is his swastika armband.
Catching criminals is “hard” whereas scanning and patting down citizens is “easy.” What we are seeming is the confusion of input vs outcome. If we have hired xx thousand TSA goons, and spend $xx million, and scan for xxx thousand of flights, then law enforcement/government has facts/statistics they can look to. Its all input. Now, the one output which is number of bombs that have gone off/number of hijackings is zero==so who can tell whether the hard job is being done or not??
As to the 4th Amendment, who can spot the wild weasel?:
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.
Yep, you all got it: “unreasonable” which is gauged by the severity of the threat and the degree of invasion with due consideration to available alternatives.
In the case of airport searches, we are all on notice of the pat down search “so” if you don’t want to submit to that===don’t fly. Easy Peasy.
Silly whining little self absorbed hypocrites to think your privacy is being violated when you drive 15 miles and stand in line in order to have it occur. Stupid Really.
You got your Quakers not using modern machinery because of their value/religious system, you got your Jews not doing any work on their sabbath for their values. If you have any “values” besides the enjoyment in mindlessly bitching about what a more crowded world necessitates, you would “choose” not to fly if the search was that upsetting. But why not be hypocrites instead???
Make a real choice for a change. “We were never more free than during the German occupation.”
Heh, heh. Silly Hoomans–thinking their rights are grounded in anything they don’t like.
The Alert is never green because Bush/Clinton/BushII/Obama have all failed. Failed miserably.
Frankly it all boils down to the radical Muslims don’t like what our government(s) (the “Western Powers”) do in their backyard. Sound familiar – yet?
Metal detectors and common sense is all that is needed. Revocation of the 4th Amend. will not stand!.
Opt out of the porn machine. Take a hand/wand pat-down. If the pat-down gets personal simply state in a loud clear voice, “STOP TOUCHING ME IN A SEXUAL MANNER”. Ditto with the children. Be polite, stand up for yourself …
No means NO! Chunk that through your dingbat head Janet et. al!
Searching for specific ITEMS is a fools errand.
We should be watching for specific PEOPLE.
But, this means hiring highly qualified, trained and competent TSA agents. Who, of course, are highly paid.
This goes against the conservative strategy of “privatization” where contractors get labor at the lowest possible wages to maximize profits.
Former airline employee — airline security consultant for EgyptAir.
http://ctc.usma.edu/harmony/profile_pdf/ali-mohammed.pdf
Two words no one has used:
PATRIOT ACT.
The provisions of this Act invalidate parts of the Bill of Rights. Our elected representatives voted for it, and Obama signed its extension, instead of letting it expire.
That was front page news, right?
Some may remember he promised to let it expire — but that was before he was elected.
Everything being done to the flying public may legally justified, so long as this Act is in effect. Complaints to the TSA are misdirected, since the Bill of Rights ceases to exist — in the ‘Security Zone’.
Orion314 said, on November 15th, 2010 at 1:12 pm
The only thing missing from the ex-TSA Nazi jack-boot goon cocksucker motherfucker is his swastika armband.
————-
I love it when someone “digs deep”
FTW !
Awareness is the first step … good start !
/T.
Listen to what he says. He can hardly contain his glee. “there are events around the world… that are driving us TO BE ABLE TO” …scan your ass.
What they have wanted all along. Big Brother.
Two words no one has used:
PATRIOT ACT.
Everything being done ‘to’ the flying public may be legally justified — so long as this Act remains in effect.
Does anyone recall that Obama promised not to sign its renewal, before the election? And what did he in fact do, after the election?
Under the provisions of this act, portions of the Bill of Rights cease to exist, once a citizen enters the ‘Security Zone.’
Complaints to, or about, the TSA are misdirected. The real problem is a president who reversed his pre-election promise.
Your analysis is spot on John.
Some idiot terrorist puts a bomb in his shoe, and now we all have to take our shoes off.
Some idiot terrorist puts a bomb in his underwear, and now our underwear is searched.
Next thing you know some idiot will put a bomb up his ass, and we will be subjected to cavity searches.
Then some idiot terrorist will blow up a plane with a surface to air missile, proving that airport security is a complete waste of time and money.
If you get on a plane, what are the chances of you making it to your destination. Its around 99.99999%. Basically it is more likely for you to be killed by a drunk driver on your way to the airport than on a plane across the country.
If we completely got rid of the TSA and did away with the security check point, how would that change the risk? Even if it increased airplane fatalities five times, that would still make the chances of arriving to our destination 99.99995% It would still be more likely to be killed by a drunk driver on the way to the airport.
In other words, basic risk assessment math says the TSA is a complete waste of money. Even the metal detectors are completely unnecessary.
In the name of feeling safer, maybe we could keep the metal detectors and the sky marshalls, but everything else is a waste of time and money.
#22 Bobbo. I gather you think it is OK to let these strangers with little screening to touch children in private places? Do you think it is OK for them to look at naked pictures of children as well? When you look at the consequences verses the risk, in this case, the consequences to the child, who may have been a victim of sexual assault previously, it far worse than the 1 in a billion chance that they are carrying weapons. Besides this screening does nothing as anyone can shove all types of weapons up their but (and elsewhere) in order to get past this screening. If it worked that would be one thing, but all this screening does is provide opportunities for perverts and the people who make money off those nude body scan machines.
The “powers that be” (PTB as opposed to PHB) are trying to immobilize us all.
By US I refer to people who aren’t wealthy, like 90% of us, or super-wealthy, like 98% of us.
We schlubs get to ride aboard some form of mass transit.
The wealthy and the super-wealthy fly on their own planes. (Like the Saudis and other members of the OPEC oil cabal.)
That is one way to stop the Saudis and the other members of the OPEC oil cabal in their tracks. By stopping us in OUR tracks.
And this is how they’re doing it.
By putting up restrictions one after another, slowly ratcheting the collar as it were, they are making it impossible for the populace of the USoA to get together to do anything. (Actually pretty much anyone anywhere.)
Then come trains, buses, ferry boats, anything above a certain fuel carrying capacity where members of the public can be conveyed. (Lear jets are still okay, though.)
Notice that they will NOT have full-body scanners where rich people fly.
Why bother? They only make up 10% of the population and besides, only poor people kill themselves and are pissed off enough to want to take out a waiting room full of slaves and idiots.
But the mobility that people enjoyed is coming to an end.
You’d better get used to meeting “virtually” over the internet ’cause that’s all that’ll be left to us schlubs.
Of course you can call me paranoid, but that doesn’t mean that they, that wonderful, mysterious they, aren’t hiring the people who are out to get me as part of their jobs.
I’m choosing where I want to retire right now because in a few years I’ll have to die where I stand.
Travel’s going the way of all flesh.
Hope the hookers aren’t too homely and the blow’s primo where you are, ’cause that’s gonna be all there is…