Posted by deancameron on August 23, 2010 under Freedom Fighters, The TSA, U.S. Constitution, USA PATRIOT ACT | 
If the Bill of Rights – Security Edition cards are anything, they are an art project. My goal is to begin a discussion: “What are you willing to give up in exchange for the feeling of security.” I always emphasize the word “feeling” because any action by anyone that claims there’s been an increase in “security” is impossible to falsify. It can only be a claim because it can’t be tested.
There haven’t been any massive terrorist attacks on major cities in the U.S. since the TSA and USA PATRIOT ACT has been around. Correlation is not causation. There’s no way to visit the parallel universe where our politicians remained calm and level-headed so the post-9/11 TSA and USA PATRIOT ACT don’t exist and we could see if there were terror attacks on major U.S. cities or not.
We’re required to take it on faith that the TSA is protecting us. Faith is fine if you like church and gambling but faith is worthless when facts are available.
Cut to: http://carlosmiller.com/. The blog is called “Photography is not a crime”. It will kill you. Carlos Miller actively antagonizes people to test laws. He’s trying to find out where the line is. He is a hero.
If you watch some of the videos, you realize that many of the people enforcing the laws, be they real cops or rent-a-cops, sometimes don’t even know the laws. Watch videos or read stories of other photographers who have been harassed and jailed by the overzealous will get your blood boiling.
And much of it is being done in the name of “fighting terrorism”: You can’t photograph a building because of terrorism. We are living in a world where the phrase “If you’ve got nothing to hide, then you shouldn’t mind if we search you…” is gaining ground. You and I know that it’s wrong, but our kids are going to think it’s weird if they’re not searched in public.
Whenever I hear friends or talking heads on t.v. discuss terrorism, I enjoy seeing how long it takes before they begin playing the “If I Were A Terrorist” game. The folks who don’t want you photographing buildings are masters at playing the “If I Were A Terrorist” game. “A terrorist wants photographs of buildings and subway stations and malls and other public and private places so they can study the place and then blow it up!!!!” and then we join them in the game by thinking… or saying… “A terrorist wouldn’t take pictures in the middle of the day…” the reply to that being: “See, that’s why I’m in law enforcement, because you never know what a terrorist looks like and looking like a regular guy and taking a photo in the middle of the day is exactly what a terrorist would do. THAT’S REVERSE PSYCHOLOGY!!!” and we are then playing this un-winnable game where privacy, rational thought and liberty lose.
Sometimes, Carlos is sort of a jerk. But that’s okay. He’s pissed off and those of us who are pissed off ALL OF THE TIME get a bit jerky now and again. Give him a break. Visit his site. He has a legal defense fund. He needs your money. Give him 10 bucks.
Posted by deancameron on February 25, 2010 under The TSA, You're kidding me! |
Fighter Jets for jerks… genius!
Two F-15 fighter jets escorted a passenger jet that had been headed for Hawaii back to Portland International Airport in Oregon after a passenger in coach became “uncooperative,” an airline official said Wednesday.
thanks again to facebook group: f*** the tsa
Posted by deancameron on February 21, 2010 under The TSA, USA PATRIOT ACT |
8 Year Old Boy on TSA Watch List
Myth: The No-Fly list includes an 8-year-old boy.
Buster: No 8-year-old is on a T.S.A. watch list.
“Meet Mikey Hicks,” said Najlah Feanny Hicks, introducing her 8-year-old son, a New Jersey Cub Scout and frequent traveler who has seldom boarded a plane without a hassle because he shares the name of a suspicious person. “It’s not a myth.”
thanks again to facebook group: f*** the tsa
Posted by deancameron on February 18, 2010 under Good News, The TSA |
This is stunning.
A “funny” TSA Agent in Philly pulls a “prank” on a passenger.
Special thanks to the group on Facebook: F*** The TSA
Posted by deancameron on October 16, 2009 under The TSA, USA PATRIOT ACT, Uncategorized |
After you read this, you will want to go to Atlanta and have a chat with some TSA Agents.
http://www.mybottlesup.com/tsa-agents-took-my-son/
The female TSA agent stood in front of me while I sat with Jackson and she continued to watch luggage come through the conveyor belt.
“Ma’am, can someone please just search me so we can be on our way? We are going to miss our flight,” I said.
The female agent then called an older gentleman, also a TSA agent over. The male TSA agent stood in front of me and said “I’m going to have to pat down your son.”
With Jackson still sitting in my lap (he was being so good despite all of this chaos) I said ok and continued to hold on to my son, expecting the male TSA agent to start touching Jackson.
He then told me, “I’m going to have to pick him up to inspect him.”
I rolled my eyes and sternly told him “It’s his pacifier clip that went off, can’t you just run that back through the belt and let us go. We are going to miss our flight.”
The female TSA agent, who had been standing there the entire time said to me, “You need to adjust your attitude and do as you are told.”
The male TSA agent repeated, “I’m going to have to pick him up to inspect him.”
I handed him my son.
I handed him my son and he walked away with my child.
My eyes welled up with tears, I stood up from my chair and I asked the female TSA agent, “Where is he going? Where is he taking my child? Why is he leaving?”
Jackson, while being whisked away looked at the male TSA agent awkwardly and repeated “no no no no.”
I started crying.
The female TSA agent did not answer me.
Panic set in. My hands began to shake. My body was sweating. My breath was short and my heart was racing.
They had taken my child and not told me.
Posted by deancameron on September 30, 2009 under Freedom Fighters, Good News, Libertarian, The TSA, U.S. Constitution, USA PATRIOT ACT |
Downsize DC is embarking on yet another grassroots campaign (it’s what they do) to roll back the wildly unconstitutional USA PATRIOT ACT. (I exaggerate to clarify)
The good news is that some parts of the PATRIOT Act could expire at the end of the year. This provides an opportunity to roll back many of these dangerous provisions. Toward this end Senator Russ Feingold introduced the JUSTICE Act (S. 1686) on September 17, Constitution Day. JUSTICE stands for the Judicious Use of Surveillance Tools In Counterterrorism Efforts.
Won’t you visit them?
Posted by deancameron on August 21, 2009 under The TSA |
httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DJeBjQAANN0&feature=player_embedded
from http://www4.infoweb.net/l/news.php.
In addition to wrassling this obvious enemy of the state to the ground, the good folks at the TSA use an elbow to the head to push her face down, twist her arms to the breaking point to handcuff her and finally lead her away.
Reason?
A spokesman from the Metropolitan Washington Airports Authority says that Kassner, “was interfering with the screening process and refusing to follow security procedures.”
Posted by deancameron on July 22, 2009 under Freedom Fighters, Good News, Libertarian, The TSA, U.S. Constitution |
dean cameron, steve bierfeldt, matt holdridge
After reading about Steve Bierfeldt’s run-in with the TSA at the Lambert-St. Louis airport, I sent him a few cards, luggage tags and keychains. When he made the completely unnecessary call to thank me, I learned that we would both be in Las Vegas the same weekend.
I’m on the left, Steve’s in the center and another Campaign For Liberty hero, Matt Holdridge, is on the right. This is us backstage at the Penn & Teller Theater at the Penn & Teller show at the beautiful Rio in Las Vegas, Nevada.
He is so nice, soft-spoken and modest. If you haven’t listened to the audio of the incident, you might want to. Goodness gracious.
Posted by deancameron on July 17, 2009 under Good News, Libertarian, The TSA, U.S. Constitution |
The freedom fighters at Downsize DC have a great campaign going on. Downsize DC wisely points out that 200 times more “innocent American civilians” have been killed in automobile accidents than terrorist attacks in the U.S. and that our leaders have grossly overreacted to the threat of terrorism.
Take a look:
I Am Not Afraid
Posted by deancameron on June 21, 2009 under The TSA |
Steve Bierfeldt is accusing the Transportation Security Administration of “harassing interrogation.”
On a recording a TSA agent can be heard berating Bierfeldt. One sample: “You want to play smartass, and I’m not going to play your f**king game.”
Bierfeldt is director of development for the Campaign for Liberty, an outgrowth of the Ron Paul presidential campaign. He was returning from a regional conference March 29 when TSA screeners at Lambert-St. Louis (Illinois) International Airport saw a metal cash box in his carry-on bag. Inside was more than $4,700 dollars in cash — proceeds from the sale of political merchandise like T-shirts and books.
There are no restrictions on carrying large sums of cash on flights within the United States, but the TSA allegedly took Bierfeldt to a windowless room and, along with other law enforcement agencies, questioned him for almost half an hour about the money.
The American Civil Liberties Union has taken up Bierfeldt’s cause and is suing Secretary of Homeland Security Janet Napolitano, whose department includes the TSA. Their complaint alleges that Bierfeldt was “subjected to harassing interrogation, and unlawfully detained.”
Larry Schwartztol of the ACLU said the TSA is suffering from mission creep.
“We think what happened to Mr. Bierfeldt is a reflection that TSA believes passenger screening is an opportunity to engage in freewheeling law enforcement investigations that have no link to flight safety,” he said.
Schwartztol believes many other passengers have been subjected to the same kind of treatment, which he claims violates constitutional protections against unlawful searches.
The TSA wouldn’t comment on the lawsuit, but said in a statement that the movement of large amounts of cash through a checkpoint may be investigated “if suspicious activity is suspected.”
Unbeknownst to the TSA agents, Bierfieldt had activated the record application on his phone and slipped it into his pocket. It captured the entire conversation.
An excerpt:
Officer: Why do you have this money? That’s the question, that’s the major question.
Bierfeldt: Yes, sir, and I’m asking whether I’m legally required to answer that question.
Officer: Answer that question first, why do you have this money.
Bierfeldt: Am I legally required to answer that question?
Officer: So you refuse to answer that question?
Bierfeldt: No, sir, I am not refusing.
Officer: Well, you’re not answering.
Bierfeldt: I’m simply asking my rights under the law.
The officers can be heard saying they will involve the Federal Bureau of Investigation and the Drug Enforcement Administration, and appear to threaten arrest, saying they are going to transport Bierfeldt to the local police station, in handcuffs if necessary.
Bierfeldt told CNN he believes their behavior was inappropriate.
“You’re in a locked room with no windows. You’ve got TSA agent. You’ve got police officers with loaded guns. They’re in your face. A few of them were swearing at me.”
But the officers did not follow through on their threats. Near the end of the recording an additional officer enters the situation and realizes the origins of the money.
Officer: So these are campaign contributions for Ron Paul?
Bierfeldt: Yes, sir.
Officer: You’re free to go.
According to the TSA, “Passengers are required to cooperate with the screening process. Cooperation may involve answering questions about their property. A passenger who refuses to answer questions may be referred to appropriate authorities for further inquiry”
Bierfeldt contends he never refused to answer a question, he only sought to clarify his constitutional rights.
“I asked them, ‘Am I required by law to tell you what you’re asking me? Am I required to tell you where I am working? Am I required to tell you how I got the cash? Nothing I’ve done is suspicious. I’m not breaking any laws. I just want to go to my flight. Please advise me as to my rights.’ And they didn’t.”
The TSA says disciplinary action has been taken against one of its employees for inappropriate tone and language.
http://www.cnn.com/2009/US/06/20/tsa.lawsuit/index.html
