How Many People Has the TSA Gotten Killed?

Last Friday, those of you who get the newsletters from Ammo.com received a link to a story on the TSA.  That story, combined with the post from ASM286 on Borepatch today, about the Lesson of Manchester got me thinking.

One version of the Law of Unintended Consequences says that no matter how good the intent, or indeed the actual construction of a program, there are always unintended consequences.  They may be hidden or they may be slap-your-face obvious but they are always there.

An undeniable aspect of the TSA's Airport Security Theater of the Mind is that it's annoying; something that people put up with simply because they have to.  That leads to an unintended consequence: people will say "I'm not putting up with that for a trip that's an easy drive" and will drive to their destination instead of flying.  Driving is more dangerous than flying, statistically.  Using that information, some researchers have concluded in a 2005 journal article that

We find that driving fatalities increased significantly following the terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001, an event which prompted many travelers to substitute less-safe surface transportation for safer air transportation. After controlling for time trends, weather, road conditions, and other factors, we attribute an increase of 242 driving fatalities per month to additional road travel undertaken in response to 9/11. In total, our results suggest that at least 1,200 additional driving deaths are attributable to the effect of 9/11. We also provide evidence that is consistent with the 9/11 effect on road fatalities weakening over time as drivers return to flying. Our results show that the public response to terrorist threats can create unintended consequences that rival the attacks themselves in severity. [Bold added - SiG]

242 fatalities per month??  Depending on exact model and carrier, a Boeing 737 might carry between 85 and 200 people.  The reaction to the TSA causing 242 fatalities could be the equivalent of two or three fully loaded 737s crashing and killing everyone on board every month.  

Unfortunately, that's a snapshot study so while we can think it has gotten worse in the 12 years since 2005, we don't have real numbers.  They say that drivers were returning to flying, but we also hear air travel is increasing so perhaps those two trends offset each other.  If the number of 242/month has stayed constant, we're talking on the order of 3000 people dying from the TSA itself.  9/11 itself officially claimed 2996 lives, so it's possible that the TSA has killed as many people as the terrorists themselves. 

The TSA would say it's not their fault that those people died.  The fault lies with the people who decided to drive rather than go into the loving care of the TSA and airline reaccommodation.  I'm going to reference IMAO on this, from a completely unrelated topic. 

And that’s how government rolls: burn down your house, then blame you for choosing not to continue dwelling on the ash heap.

But if you do decide to face Uncle Pervy of the TSA, there's another unintended consequence: the TSA is completely, horribly ineffective at what it's supposed to be doing.   It's the worst kind of security kabuki. 

During covert tests conducted by the DHS in 2015, TSA agents failed to detect guns and fake explosives 95 percent of the time. In one test, an undercover DHS agent was stopped and received an "enhanced" pat-down search after setting off a metal detector, but the TSA screener failed to detect the fake bomb taped to the agent’s back.

If the BATF is the "F Troop" of federal law enforcement, they finally have someone to feel superior to.  Clever Hans, the horse that was famous for knowing arithmetic almost 120 years ago, could look down on the rank and file TSA.

A 95% failure to detect bombs and other contraband, of course, means that if someone suffering Sudden Jihadi Syndrome had actually tried to sneak a bomb onto a plane, there's a 95% chance they would have succeeded.  If there had been two trying on the same day at different airports, it's a virtual certainty that one would have succeeded with only 1/4% chance of them both being found.  If a duplicate of Operation Bojinka happened with one suicide bomber at each of 10 different airports on one day... well, you can complete that sentence. 

Still, that all might well pale in comparison to the biggest unintended consequence: the kind of mass murder the TSA could facilitate even if they caught everything they should catch - as ASM286 points out over at Borepatch's.  It doesn't require the TSA to mess up at all, just do what they do with the crowd in the airport. 

The lesson of Manchester is you don't need to get on a plane, into a secure area, or past a search.

Think about that the next time you're standing in the cattle chutes with your shoes in your hand hoping you don't get selected for extra screening. All those people in line with you haven't been screened yet either. That rolling suitcase the next guy has could be his underwear and socks for a week or it could be another nail bomb like the one at Manchester.

 (Source: Click Orlando)
While problems like that remain, private security employed at various airports around the country has been tested and found to be better at their jobs than the TSA. 

Private screeners at SPP airports (Screening Partnership Program) have proven themselves to be more efficient and more effective than the TSA. A report by a House oversight committee in 2013 found that private screeners at San Francisco International Airport were much better at detecting prohibited items than TSA screeners at LAX, and wait times were shorter. As a result of the report, calls are growing in Congress to abolish the TSA and return to private screening companies.

Having flown out of one of those SPP airports, abolishing the TSA and going back to private contractors is a move I could get behind.

The Probulation Agency

The TSA (Theatrical Security Agency) is at it again.  The widespread deployment of the naked porn scanners has caused a sort of Rubicon of sorts where they are trying to force people through the scanners instead of a manual pat down.  In an effort to get everyone to follow the intended path, they have decided to make the groping so painful, embarassing, dehumanizing and humiliating that you'll let the strangers watch you naked instead of being groped. 

"From now on I'm going to refer to it as the Testicle Squeezing Authority."(Alex Sears -- Facebook, as posted by Billy Beck)

Of course, the Feds say the images won't be saved.  Riiiggghhht.  And since they're such professionals, we don't have to worry about them playing immature pranks, now, do we?  Personally, I don't have much concern; nobody wants to look at a fat old guy naked, but if you're a decent-looking woman, you're going to have problems.  When they first started talking about the things, I told my wife the first time Angelina Jolie or another famous actress goes through one, the images will be online before the plane leaves the ground. 

Look, the net is ablaze with talk about this: this article about a guy who set up his trip so he wouldn't encounter one of these machines, then did, and got into a conflict with agents, has almost 5000 comments in a few days.  One more little voice isn't going to mean much.  But can I shine the light from a slightly different angle? 

First off, my frequent read, brother Borepatch has an excellent summary (and some, frankly, disturbing video) of a TSA agent groping a little girl.  There is no situation under which this should be acceptable conduct. 

Second off, the Feds have spent a wad of money on these things and resistance is not an option.  You are going to get it one way or the other.  So what was the overall intent of 9-11?  First of all, it was an attack on symbols of American power: the WTC, the Pentagon and the Capital.  It was an attack on our economy.  It was an attempt to shut down businesses.  Last week, the threat of bombs sent as cargo shut down shipping and shut down air cargo service into and out of Persian Gulf states. 

Is this an attempt to do the same thing, orchestrated by the people who want to shut down the US economy - in other words, domestic economic terrorism?  Orchestrated by the watermelon environmentalists, socialists, and new-world-order nut jobs who want to knock the US standard of living down?  What if the national opt-out day protests work and air travel is shut down next Wednesday - perhaps the busiest day of the year?  What if it leads to a violent uprising?  Can you imagine a father reacting violently when a TSA goon treats his little girl like that?  I sure can.  Many people have suggested the president needs a Reichstag Fire moment - or more politely, an Oklahoma City moment - to get his magic back.  That is, to impose even more draconian restrictions on personal liberties. Consider what would happen if the TSA relents, mothballs the machines and doesn't do anything else - and a plane goes down.  Even if it can't be shown it was a terrorist attack, the screaming media would be saying that the evil racist Tea-partiers and stupid libertarians caused the attack to happen, by interfering with the important work of the TSA.

What you, dear reader, and I know that the TSA apparently does not, is that the bomb is not the weapon, nor is the gun, the knife, or the box cutter.  The weapon is the brain; anything else is just a tool.  The path the TSA on is now and is always going to be - has to be - reactive, and therefore, too late.  The government was in charge of airline security the morning of 9/11 and they didn't do much good.  The government was in charge of airline security when the underwear bomber was stopped by passengers, and they were in charge when the shoe bomber was stopped by passengers.  Until they stop playing with more and more expensive and offensive screening and adopt the methods El Al, the Israeli state airline uses, this is not going to get any better. 

Did you know you get real steak knife on El Al flights?  I rest my case.

Oh the Precious Goal in Life to Be A Victim

There was a story this week, toward the bottom of the news where it belongs, about a dude who considers himself a woman, but hasn't actually had the surgery that matters the most, yet.  You know, the surgery Rush used to call the Chopadickoffofme.  When poor dude goes through the TSA checks to get on an airplane, they always find this anomaly between his legs and need to resolve it.  Dude has gone screaming to any camera and microphone that he can find to scream to about (I suppose) how unfair it is that the scanners can't read his mind and learn how he identifies.  The story on the Blaze says that model and content creator Rosalynne Montoya recently shared an experience with social media users and insisted that TSA is transphobic.  

"Can we talk about how horrible it is to travel while being transgender sometimes?" Montoya asked in the now-viral video, which has been seen by at least 18 million people at the time of this reporting. "I always have immense anxiety leading up to going through security. And this means that I totally recognize the privilege of having all of my documents correct. So, the gender marker on my license, for example, says 'female.'"

"But, going through the scanner, there's a male scanner and a female scanner in the TSA checkpoint," Montoya continued. "And, looking at me, you know, I look like a woman and I am a woman. So, that's great. I love having systemic privilege when I feel unsafe, which is in an airport. But, going through the scanner, I always have an 'anomaly' between my legs that sets off the alarm.

Pardon me if I get your pronouns wrong, but the TSA isn't transphobic; they're bomb-phobic. 

He/she/xe/xshe (whatever) tells the sad story about always having the anomaly between his legs if he goes through the scanners as a woman and has an anomaly in his chest if he goes through as a man.  Apparently he was committed enough to get breast implants, so augmented, but not committed enough to get subtracted from. 

The story is also covered at PJ Media, who got in contact with TSA and reprints much of the way they address the situation. 

I have a simpler example.  Back two days before New Years Day of Y2K, Mrs. Graybeard and I were hit by a pickup truck while riding our bikes.  She had several stainless rods inserted in her back; we call it a pound but don't really know what it weighed.  As a result, she was given a card by her doctor to hand to the TSA.  It states she has implants that will show up on their scanners.  We've taken at least a dozen trips in the intervening years and Every Single Time she goes through the scanners, they stop her for more thorough investigation.  Every Single Time we've asked the TSA about the cards they say (in effect) "nice cards, but we have to be sure."  Essentially, anyone could print up cards like that. 

And that's what's going on with Rosalynne Montoya.  Anybody could say they're a trans woman and have a pound of explosives between their legs.  Once the anomaly shows up, they have to prove it's safe.  They're responding to the risk, not the person. 

Yo: TSA. You're Not Making it Any Better

Remember back around Christmas when a woman had her cupcake confiscated by the TSA as a security threat?  Ok, it turns out that this wasn't a normal cupcake.  Like me, you probably envisioned the cupcake on the left.  The TSA says it was the one on the right:

I'm terrified, I tell ya.

The TSA runs a blog where someone will comment on stories like this and "Blogger Bob" brings the TSA official story to the party.  The problem is their explanation just doesn't make it better.  Let me try to pull some quotes to show you what I mean:

I wanted to make it clear that this wasn’t your everyday, run-of-the-mill cupcake. If you’re not familiar with it, we have a policy directly related to the UK liquid bomb plot of 2006 called 3-1-1 that  limits the amount of liquids, gels and aerosols you can bring in your carry-on luggage. Icing falls under the “gel” category.  As you can see from the picture, unlike a thin layer of icing that resides on the top of most cupcakes, this cupcake had a thick layer of icing inside a jar.

So it wasn't a run-of-the-mill cupcake, it was a particularly scary cupcake; not just a little puff of cake with a smear of frosting on it, this is jar full of frosting with some cake allegedly embedded somewhere in it.  Looking at the Cupcake of Doooooooom  ... um, excuse me, Cupcake in a Jar, I was immediately struck with fear -- of diabetes, not of a bomb.  Blogger Bob goes on to say:

In general, cakes and pies are allowed in carry-on luggage, however, the officer in this case used their discretion on whether or not to allow the newfangled modern take on a cupcake per 3-1-1 guidelines. They chose not to let it go.

So a pie is smaller than this jar o' frosting?  A whole pie doesn't contain more than 3 ounces?  That's some wimpy pie!  Momma's key lime pies would certainly contain over 8 ounces of filling - and you'd best not try to put one in a zip lock bag, if you don't want Momma to chew your head off. .  

Alright, I'll get serious.  The first problem this illustrates with the TSA is that the rulings are "arbitrary and capricious"; they're never the same from agent to agent, from airport to bus station.  The same woman - and others - have flown with more of these cupcakes many times, and are probably flying with them today.  The second problem is that their rulings are illogical: would you think a pie is more or less likely to be stopped than a jar of frosting?  I personally would guess there isn't even more than 3 ounces of frosting in there.  But the real trouble is the big one: this is security theater.  I'm sure these agents think they're doing the right things, but security doesn't come from stopping things it comes from stopping people and that ain't going to happen until we start allowing El Al style passenger profiling and interviews.  Right now, the TSA antics are beyond useless, they're threatening real security by creating a false sense that they're doing something useful.  They need to be sent home, with about 40% of the government work force. 

TSA To Oversee High School Prom??

I was just visiting the TSA careers web page, and I didn't see a single item that said you would provide security at high school proms - or, to put a more accurate description on it - not a single thing that said you would pat down high school girls at their prom.  That seems to be the job this month, though.  This is confusing, but apparently Candice Herrera and her sister went to the Capital High School prom and were treated roughly by the security officer at that prom

Candice Herrera said, "She grabbed my breast and grabbed the inner part of my bra and shook it and then picked up the front of my dress to like mid thigh." Herrera said. "She was patting down my bare legs which kind of didn't make sense."

So to ensure rough treatment of high school girls doesn't happen, the Santa Fe school board has hired the TSA to pat down the girls.  

On Friday, the court ordered Santa Fe Public Schools and the security company ASI to provide at least one TSA certified person at the Santa Fe High School prom and the Capital High School graduation.

Oh - the highly professional TSA is being brought in to provide a higher level of ... professionalism?  What could possibly go wrong?  Every single word there is a separate link, and I don't even scratch the surface. 

A Weekend Must Read

Back in the (relatively) slower and more gentile days many of us grew up in, the Sunday newspaper was so big it almost required our little red wagons to bring it inside.  This was the day it was filled with longer, more thoughtful articles.  In that spirit, I'm going to link to this excellent post on the TSA from a guy with 25 years in anti-terrorism.  H/T Borepatch.  Your teaser:

The report goes on to state that the virtual strip search screening machines are a failure in that they cannot detect the type of explosives used by the “underwear bomber” or even a pistol used as a TSA’s own real-world test of the machines.  Yet TSA has spent approximately $60 billion since 2002 and now has over 65,000 employees, more than the Department of State, more than the Department of Energy, more than the Department of Labor, more than the Department of Education, more than the Department of Housing and Urban Development---combined. TSA has become, according to the report,  “an enormous, inflexible and distracted bureaucracy more concerned with……consolidating power.”

Huh.  Who would have seen that one coming?  I mean besides all of us?

Thousands Standing Around

Everyone's favorite agency, conceptually paired forever with the Patriot Act, the TSA has just turned in some wonderful performance on "Red Team" tests where agents try to smuggle guns, bombs and knives onto aircraft.

Homeland Security officials confirmed to Fox News that TSA screeners failed 67 out of 70 tests -- or 96 percent -- carried out by special investigators known as "red teams."

In one case, an undercover agent with a fake bomb strapped to his back set off a magnetometer -- but the screener still failed to find it.

Karl Denninger has a good perspective:

If there had been a mere 10 said people in this country (out of 330,000,000 people in the nation) nine planes would have been blown up and the 10th guy would have detonated himself when he got caught, blowing up the airport instead.

It also says, as Karl more or less points out, that nobody in the last 12 years has even tried to smuggle something onto a plane in America because the odds are almost certain that they would have succeeded.    

But the most important thing it's saying is that every penny spent on the TSA is a waste.  Again, the only surprise here is that they admitted it.

Cheer up, TSA.  You're not completely worthless.  You can always serve as a bad example.

The Coming End of Privacy

Gizmodo reports this week about a new remote detection system that will be able to detect "interesting" chemicals on your body from over 160 feet (50 meters).  The system is said to work on Terahertz radiation; a part of the electromagnetic spectrum where the techniques lean toward optical approaches rather than conventional radio.  It appears to be an infrared laser spectrometer system, like other systems that are showing up (this last one in Russia).   

From traces of drugs or gun powder on your clothes to what you had for breakfast to the adrenaline level in your body—agents will be able to get any information they want without even touching you.

TSA - the DHS - has already contracted for these systems from a company called Genia Photonics, under contract to another company, In-Q-Tel, a company founded "in February 1999 by a group of private citizens at the request of the Director of the CIA and with the support of the U.S. Congress."  This is one of those private sector/fed.gov joined-at-the-hip relationships we read about.

Particularly interesting (or ominous) is this factoid:

The machine is ten million times faster—and one million times more sensitive—than any currently available system. That means that it can be used systematically on everyone passing through airport security, not just suspect or randomly sampled people.
...
Meanwhile, In-Q-Tel states that "an important benefit of Genia Photonics' implementation as compared to existing solutions is that the entire synchronized laser system is comprised in a single, robust and alignment-free unit that may be easily transported for use in many environments… This compact and robust laser has the ability to rapidly sweep wavelengths in any pattern and sequence."

That means it could be placed anywhere, and with a radius of 50m, they could be placed in stadiums, bus terminals, shopping malls - anywhere. 

On the one hand, if it were limited to current TSA installations, it sounds better than the extended TSA Molocaust  and general douchbaggery we see everyday, but on the other, In-Q-Tel doesn't talk about false alarm rates, or other problems that always exist in sophisticated systems - and you can bet they won't.  You know these systems will produce false positives, getting innocent people pulled over,  false negatives, letting people with "contraband" pass, and the boxes will fail.  The systems are expected to be showing up in airports as soon as next year.

Going well beyond eavesdropping, it seems quite possible that U.S. government plans on recording molecular data on travelers without their consent, or even knowledge that it's possible—a scary thought. While the medical uses could revolutionize the way doctors diagnose illness, and any technology that could replace an aggressive pat-down is tempting, there's a potential dark side to this implementation, and we need to shine some light on it before it's implemented.

But what are the chances this will be limited?  The ruling class will be unable to resist a toy like this.

Extended Quote of the Day

Concerned American over at Western Rifle Shooter's Association links to a powerful post by Gerard Vanderleun at American Digest.  But the extended QoTD belongs to commenter Dedicated_Dad:

(... about half deleted...)

At this moment, all I can see in my head is that picture of the dirty, barefoot, stone-age tribesman in his cave, saying “… and THEN the TSA cups their balls, like THIS…”

What our DOMESTIC enemies have done to us enrages me FAR, FAR more than the acts of the foreign ones.

That I cannot get on a G-d-damned AIRPLANE without submitting to a sexual assault, EVEN THOUGH THE WORTHLESS BASTARDS HAVEN’T STOPPED A SINGLE BAD-GUY – NOT A SINGLE FRIGGING ONE , in TEN FRIGGING YEARS – makes me see frigging RED!

And that the pussies who SURROUND me have put into power a worthless turd who proclaims ME — !!*ME*!! — a “terrorist” BECAUSE I BELIEVE IN OUR FOUNDERS’ REPUBLIC AND QUOTE THEM TO EXPLAIN WHY?

It makes me long for the sort of PURGE that THEIR fellow-travellers are famous for! It makes me want to see them swinging from lamp-posts, feet kicking out the last futile gasps of their verminous existence. It makes me want to see them squirm like the filthy insects they really are, after catching a blast from the RAID can.

And it makes me SICK to think that I am capable of such thoughts.

Don’t get me wrong – I hate the musloid pestilence too, but THAT hate is the sort I’d feel for a rabid animal who’d threatened my family. I’d gladly kill it – but I wouldn’t feel GOOD about it, it would just be and unpleasant DUTY. Part of being a MAN.

No – the DOMESTIC enemies are an especially vile sort – a virulent cancer eating away at everything good, sucking the very LIFE out of the greatest nation ever blessed to inhabit G-d’s Earth – and doing it DELIBERATELY! – WITH MALICE AFORETHOUGHT! They’ve reduced the greatest people in the world to shuffling cattle, chewing their cud as they docilely wait their turn in the squeeze-chute.

“…And THEN the TSA cups their balls, like THIS…”

I’ve just decided that I’ll be spending Sunday at the range…

I will just add to this:

"... and THEN the TSA puts their hands into their wife's clothes, and then goes and puts their hands on their little daughter's crotch"

More About the Probulation Agency

 

Both from the peerless PeoplesCube.com.  

The problem with the TSA is not so much that in many folks' opinions they violate the 4th amendment prohibition from "unreasonable search", but that it's not going to be effective.  There are many reports of people who accidentally went through security with forbidden items and were never detected.  In their own audits of themselves, they fail far too often.  We need to adopt Israeli methods - use trained, intelligent people instead of grunts with million dollar machines.  (This article, while almost a year old, is a "must read".)  Don't tell me there's too much air traffic in the US to do what they do.  Being a big country means we have lots of resources, such as our spectacularly trained military.  

The other day, I was listening to lawyer Peter Johnson, Jr., who is regular contributor on Fox News, talking with Sean Hannity on his radio show, as I was driving home flipping channels.  Johnson said, "when the plane blows up, if they find your body in one piece, it will be naked on the coroner's table, too".  I almost smacked my radio.  That's so wrong it's hard to find a starting place, but how about that it assumes the TSA will find 100% of bombs, and that there is no better way to find them than to essentially molest innocent citizens.  Both of those assumptions are wrong. 

Popehat had this rather interesting take in the fantastically-entitled, "A Thought Experiment Regarding Genitals":  

Imagine this:
A terrorist group — let’s call them, I don’t know, the Pervert Jihad — issues a videotaped threat.
Their demand: America must select 25 million of its citizens per year. Those citizens must give complete strangers working for the government a brief look at a blurry naked picture of themselves. In addition, the complete strangers working for the government must select 1 million of the citizens — men, women, and children of all ages — for “special treatment.” That “special treatment” involves the one million lucky citizens submitting to the strangers from the government briefly running their hands over the citizens’ clothed breasts and genitals, in public, in front of a crowd of annoyed strangers. The whole experience takes about an hour of the citizens’ time every time they have to put up with it.
The Pervert Jihad says that if America does not comply, they will kill Americans every year. They’ll kill, let’s say, about 450 — the capacity of a jumbo jet. We have reason to believe they may or may not succeed at this mass murder if they try.
Query:
Would we do it?

It's just a matter of time until something bad happens on a plane.   When that happens, instead of trying to find better ways to screen people instead of looking for devices, they'll come up with more invasive scans, and cavity searches will begin.  And, no, not the kind your dentist does. 

If You Like Song Parodies

Then you must see Iowahawk's latest (first?) parody video:



So what's really going on with the Junk In The Trunk pat downs?  And wouldn't Pat Downs be a better name for the director of Homeland Security than Janet Napolitano?  (I have to say, John Pistole is pretty good name for the head of the TSA, though).   Glenn Beck thinks the whole thing is to get the TSA to become the "poor abused workers" who have to be unionized through the AFL-CIO.  Tam (View From the Porch) points to an article that supports that thinking. 

I wrote more about this a few days ago.  Considering the anti-business attitudes of everyone in the administration I can think of,  they have the lowest aggregate experience in the private sector in at least a hundred years, the possibility that they are deliberately trying to collapse the airline industry can't be dismissed.  It would give the Fed.gov a new industry (add it to the banks, auto industry, health care, top-end insurance), reduce the air travel carbon footprint, kill off more citizens (due to the higher accident fatality rate driving than flying) and it would solidify their destruction of the productive class.  Sounds like a natural. 

Hat tip to lawyer/law professor Ann Althouse for this:

Living in a Constitution-Free Zone

In case you missed it, in a rare New Years' Day ruling, Federal Judge Edward Korman declared that the "Constitution-Free Zone", 100 miles from any border of the US, including the oceans and gulf, was legal.  Combining the two linked articles, with the first paragraph by syndicated radio host Kim Komando:

He had a case before him involving a U.S. citizen – a Ph.D. student at McGill University in Montreal – who had his computer confiscated while returning to the States. The judge ruled, sweepingly, that, yes, the federal government had a right to confiscate laptops at the border without probable cause.
...
The ACLU originally challenged the administration's policy, which can be applied anywhere within 100 miles of the border, after U.S. Customs agents stopped student Pascal Abidor on a train traveling from Canada to New York. After noticing Abidor had two passports -- not uncommon for journalists and those with dual citizenship -- agents asked to see his laptop. Since Abidor was a student of Middle Eastern affairs, his computer contained photos of political rallies held by Hamas and Hezbollah, known terrorist groups.

"I explained to the immigration officer that the reason I had these photos was this was my research," said Abidor, a U.S. citizen. "I determined they looked at my personal photos and personal chats with my girlfriend. I knew I needed help."

This is a remarkable case in that it joins together the incredibly liberal ACLU with the strong libertarian right, and a milestone ruling in the favor of liberty comes from the 9th circus court.  In other words, everyone except the doctrinaire tyrants, like judge Korman, thinks discarding the fourth amendment - already bleeding out from the TSA and so many other infringements - is a bad idea.  The constitution is essentially dead.  I haven't heard of anyone having soldiers quartered in their houses, but I can't say I'd be surprised to hear that today.

But in March, a panel of three judges in the 9th Circuit Court of Appeals in California said the government needs "reasonable suspicion" to search a traveler's personal electronic device. When two federal courts interpret a law differently, the U.S. Supreme Court often resolves the conflict.

The ACLU says nearly 2/3 of the US population lives within the constitution-free zone.  I certainly do, along with every person in Florida.  All of the major urban centers of the country: New York, Chicago, El Lay, San Francisco, Seattle, DC, Tucson... virtually every major city, virtually everyone is inside this zone.  I can't call it WROL because it's fully legal - in the same sense that everything the Nazis did was fully legal under their legal system.

Kim Komando hosts a syndicated radio program of computer tips and advice, so you can expect she'll have a deeply personal, gut reaction to the issue of searching digital information.  Her article is powerfully written, almost poetic about the shear violation of having your laptop or cellphone taken and examined, and you should go RTWT.  To pull a couple of paragraphs:

The taking of a laptop today is a striking act of confiscation almost without an equivalent 25 years ago. Back then, it would have taken a team of FBI agents days if not weeks to so comprehensively vacuum up a single American's health, business, financial and personal information, not to mention that of so many of his or her friends, family members, and business associates.

Today, Nosy McPatterson, your local TSA staffer, or Roscoe the border agent who got up on the wrong side of the bed that morning, can accomplish the same feat, and in an instant. They can paw through your photos and email during their lunch hour. And anyone present with a 13-year-old's understanding of computing can easily and unnoticeably make a quick copy of it onto a device that slips easily into a pants pocket.

As I always say, it's not that bad - it's worse.  In addition to the 100 mile constitution free zone, police are routinely grabbing cellphones during traffic stops for anything, and searching the content on the phone (often with automated cracking devices) without a warrant.  The supreme court has decided to review two cases related to this, but it continues unabated.  According to this lawyer, in United States v. Zavala, 541 F.3d 562, 577 (5th Cir. 2008), the court ruled that this was just “general rummaging in order to discover incriminating evidence.” and that rummaging was forbidden.  Other courts have ruled the other way.  The original police justification for starting to look at phones was that they had hands free cellphone laws, so they had the right to look at the time of your last call to determine if you used it while driving - admitting to breaking the law. 

Cellebrite, the maker of those "Forensic Extraction Devices", brags they can suck your history out of a phone, iPad, Tom Tom GPS, and more.  It cracks password protected devices, so don't expect that to help you much.  With phones and tablets merging into "phablets", and both replacing laptops, it's effectively performing the same data collection that started the case which ended on Judge Korman's bench.  It has the effect of making the entire country a constitution-free zone.  All you need to do is be stopped in traffic - seat belt check? sobriety check? - and have a something electronic with you.  After that it's simply a question of whether they want to charge you with something.   With the average person committing three felonies every day, chances are they can find something in your history they don't like. 

QoTD

From Gunslinger's Journal, a quote from a comment on American Thinker

There was a time when the IRS acted against Al Capone. Now, under Obama, the IRS acts like Al Capone.

There was a time when the DOJ fought crime syndicates. Now, under Obama, the DOJ is a crime syndicate.

There was a time when the FBI investigated crime syndicates. Now, under Obama, the FBI investigates for a crime syndicate.

There was a time when the ATF stopped Gun Running Gangs. Now, under Obama, the ATF is a Gun Running Gang.

There was a time when the TSA protected women's privacy at airports. Now, under Obama, the TSA inspects women's privates at airports.

There was a time when the DOD left no man behind. Now, under Obama, every man has to watch his behind (double meaning intended).

There was a time when people in India dreamed of coming to America to get Health Care. Soon now, under Obama, people in America will dream of going to India to get Health Care.

  

Off To A Busy Start for Florida Gun Legislation

Courtesy of our friends at Florida Carry, we learn that the first bills of the new legislative session have already been filed.  The one that is possibly the most important bill, Senate Bill 140, is coming to committee on January 10th, next Tuesday.  SB 140 is being talked about as the Open Carry law, but it also includes Campus Carry, and enlarges areas where carry is permitted. The Panty Wetters are predictably getting all concerned about it. 

The first, and arguably the most important pro Second Amendment rights bill of the 2017 legislative session is about to be heard by the Senate Judiciary Committee on January 10th at 2pm. 

Florida Carry urges you to contact committee members to tell them you want their support for this crucial bill.

Senator Steube's bill regains some of the ground lost since shall-issue became lawful in 1987.

Open Carry - The legislature took this away in 1987, after the fear-mongering of Janet Reno and a complicit media whined loud enough. In a special session called for budgetary issues, without debate or public discussion, the legislature replaced the Right to bear arms with a license to conceal handguns and other non-firearm defensive weapons.  The right to choose the appropriate method of carry was taken from you. This has resulted in the arrest of scores of law-abiding licensees, whose only crime was their handgun became visible. Law enforcement presumes any visible firearm is unlawful, and regardless of those exceptions in FS 790.25(3), can and has arrested licensees, sometimes so forcefully that permanent injury has been sustained by the carrier. An exception for "brief exposure" added in 2011 has been ineffective at stopping the harassment, arrest, and prosecution of gun owners. Even hiking in the predator-filled Everglades with a visible firearm has been used as grounds for arrest and prosecution. Open carry is lawful in 45 states, 30 of which respect the Right to Bear Arms by not requiring a license. NONE of the suggested carnage of the anti-Second Amendment lobby has occurred on those states.  [Bold added - SiG]
...
Campus Carry - The bill removes the prohibition against licensee carry at schools, including K-12, Career Center, and College education facilities. (a "Career Center" is commonly know as a Technical College or Trade School) Even mere seconds awaiting armed response potentially means lives lost. In the overwhelming number of cases, school attackers have immediately surrendered or committed suicide upon the arrival of armed opposition. To date, no school shooting attack has been committed by a licensed student or parent in any state.

The bill includes two other extensions.  First, it enlarges the areas where concealed carry is lawful in airports.  I'm familiar with Orlando International Airport, a place where Florida Carry tells us 633 violent crimes were committed last year, and the way the airport is laid out, one can drive up to the baggage pickup area to wait for someone they're meeting, and be in compliance, but if they were to get out of their temporarily parked car and go a few feet toward the baggage area, they're in violation of the airport's passenger terminal.  44 states allow carry in the passenger terminal.  The passenger terminal area does not include anywhere past the TSA screening area, or the TSA area itself.

The second extension is to include meetings of state and local government.  Even at the state capitol, licensees are allowed to carry in the halls and offices of the Legislature, but are forbidden from walking through a door into a Legislative meeting. Once again, law enforcement officers, who are statistically six times more likely to commit a crime than a Florida CWFL holder, are welcome.

While Florida is more red than blue, there are sections that are as deeply blue as New York City, New Jersey or San Francisco.  The anti-gun forces in Ft. Lauderdale, Miami, Tampa, Orlando or elsewhere are not going to let a session go by without trying to restrict our rights farther.  Florida Carry refers to Senate Bill 142 on Storage of Firearms, introduced by a senator from deepest blue Broward County (which had the highest Hillary vote percentage in the state).  The bill has apparently had language stricken from it already (pdf warning) and appears to simply echo existing law.  I don't expect it will get out of committee.  Next, Sen. Oscar Braynon II of Miami Gardens (where I grew up), never one to see patterns of mass shootings, wants to expand gun free zones.  Sen. Braynon's SB 170 bill would add performing arts centers and "legitimate theaters" to the prohibited places list.  Because we know nothing bad ever happens in a theater.   

It's early in the session, yet, so expect more to be introduced.  If you're in Florida and want to keep up with what's going on, you can subscribe to the newsletters from Florida Carry, or better yet, join for  $25/year.  They're good folks doing a big job. 

If you're inclined to pester write your legislators, they include the complete list of committee members along with a sample, polite letter to email them.

Indiana's Supreme Court Kills the Fourth Amendment

Getting back to normal after the great blogger crash of May 2011.  The crash ate almost all of the comments to my post from Tuesday.  I see the same thing being said at a lot of blogs, so we all understand.

I see from John at Improved Clinch that the Indiana state supreme court has ruled the 4th amendment to the US constitution is no longer in effect. 

Overturning a common law dating back to the English Magna Carta of 1215, the Indiana Supreme Court ruled Thursday that Hoosiers have no right to resist unlawful police entry into their homes.  

In a 3-2 decision, Justice Steven David writing for the court said if a police officer wants to enter a home for any reason or no reason at all, a homeowner cannot do anything to block the officer's entry.

I knew the 4th amendment was on the ropes, beaten silly by the modern security state: the TSA invasive body searches of people not accused of any crime, including babies, the Homeland Security/Walmart  program to have you watch and report on your neighbors and more.  I just thought it had more life left in it. 

In a statement of stunning ignorance,

"Professor Ivan Bodensteiner, of Valparaiso University School of Law, said the court's decision is consistent with the idea of preventing violence." 

In reality, like gun control laws, this will increase violence against people who obey laws.  Think of it a bonus for any aspiring home invaders.  All they have to do is get something that passes for a police uniform and come to your door.  Do you really know exactly, to the detail of buttons, what your local police uniforms look like?  How about their SWAT teams?  Once inside, being a peaceful, law biding citizen, you'll assume the position, leaving them free to rape, torture, murder, whatever they want to do with minimal risk.  Folks trained in self-defense have long complained that the 3AM door-breaking raids police carry out are impossible to tell from determined home invasions.  You have milliseconds to decide if that person in a black ski mask pushing into your house is a home invader or a policeman at the wrong address.  Criminal gangs have used this attack pattern for years.  The dynamics of identifying them have just gotten worse.

William Grigg of Pro Libertate Blog writes here,

In the interests of brevity, these rulings should be consolidated under the name “Rapist Doctrine,” in recognition of the ... pseudo-scholarly versions of the advice once urged upon women enduring sexual assault: Don’t resist — it will only make things worse.

Watch this one.  Bad law decisions like this can sweep out of one state into the rest of the country.  There seems to be a few gun bloggers in Indiana; you guys need to try to get your legislature to overturn this.

Parkland

I haven't said anything about the Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School shooting last week down in Parkland.  I know the area and was in Parkland about a month ago (drove through it); it's about 7 or 8 miles from where my brother lives and along the route we used to drive from his place to my mom's house.  A couple miles closer to where I lived in the late 70s/early 80s.  Not that it's particularly relevant. 

To begin with, if you want to see a truly epic fisking of "we're coming to take your guns", see Raconteur Report's perspective, but there are lots of others people talking about this.  If anything, I see the result of a Feinstein-like, "turn them all in, America" as being worse (for them) than he says.  And, as McThag said for so many of us, I'm sick to death of being blamed for things I had nothing to do with.

The media and the Evil party (pardon my redundancy) are without exception saying we need to do something ("ban all the things!") and have completely steadfastly avoided mentioning anything that might actually work.

In intervening days, I've heard a few of the kids from school sounding very rational - as a counterpoint to the political demonstrations where the Useful Idiots staged a die in.  What's that awful smell?  Is it the DNC?  George Soros?  Michael Bloomberg?  What's the difference? 

With surprising regularity, comedians "get it" far more than their serious counterparts (exceptions for certain so-much-smarter-than-us late night comedians).  Saturday nights at 10 PM, Fox News channel runs the Greg Gutfeld show.  It's a time I frequently find myself sitting in the living room finishing up an hour of guitar practice, so I frequently end up watching. 

Greg's regular panel of commentators includes former professional wrestler Tyrus, who has also been a teacher and a personal bodyguard (to Snoop Dog).  He actually had a pretty good summary of what will work and I'm going to paraphrase madly.  He started by saying that just as 9/11 changed air travel forever, we need to change schools forever.  First, schools need access control.  One of the kids I heard said the killer walked onto campus from a nearby field (it tends to be woodsy in Parkland) and then into a doorway to a stairwell on school property.  That's where he started the attacks.  Nothing to block just walking into the building.  No locks, no searches, no "scanning in" with a card, no combination locks, nothing.  Why is that banks have access control, along with every other institution you can name, but not every school?   

Let's leave out the TSA grope and Perv-o-scan, though, and maybe just scan backpacks.  

Second, much like the air marshals on planes and arming pilots, we need to empower any teachers who are already concealed carriers and get them more training.  We're not talking about arming teachers, just helping those who have the ability to be better.  Guys like Coach Feis, who was a CCW carrier, but forbidden to have his gun at work, and so died because of that.   Polk County Sheriff Grady Judd made news over the weekend for saying he's going to train any teacher that wants it.  They call it their Sentinel Program and it was adopted by Southeastern University in Lakeland, Florida last year.  And my favorite part:

He acknowledged that some would not agree with his plan. However, he also noted that those who criticize have not offered alternatives, saying: “OK, Einstein, you got a better idea?”

Third, the media has to stop giving these horrible losers wall-to-wall news coverage.  They want their picture everywhere.  They thrive on being notorious for carrying out the worst shooting evah.  That's one of the reasons they do this.   Yeah, it's big news, but for cripe's sake, could you not show his picture every 5 seconds, like not show it at all?  And don't mention the guy's name.  He wants fame, not anonymity. 

Every other place that has things we value is protected by armed guards.  One "resource officer" isn't enough for a school the size of Stoneman Douglas - or anything much bigger than a one room schoolhouse.  Tyrus threw around the number that he understands approximately 435,000 veterans of the current wars are unemployed.  Many, if not all, are well trained in the use of firearms and would be easy to integrate into the school community.  Help the vets and help protect the kids in one move.

Frankly, while the talk about more screening for mental illness has some sense to it, it also raises my hackles about 4th amendment problems.  I was working on a long piece on this, but this guy on WRSA covers a lot of it.  As always, who decides and on what grounds?  What test?  Is there actual due process?  Do you get committed because a neighbor who's pissed off about your house/yard/car/dog/kids calls you in to the sheriff?  When the the Broward County sheriff's office is saying that people should call them when their neighbor comes back from the gun range instead of the grocery store (23:30 to 24:00 in that video), is that the kind of thing that gets you locked up for mental issues? 

It's hard to sum this up, but let's try this:  there are things we can do that will work, and then there's meaningless gun control blather.  All we're hearing in most of the media is things that we know won't work.  We need to try to push the discussion in the right direction. Give the PTB a little clue by four. 

Light Ice Cream

I like to be a content provider, but I'm researching an angle on this administration corruption story that's proving tough to get facts on, so tonight I bow to Sean Linnane on NSA Warrantless Surveillance

When they want to implement the coup, first we’ll lose satellites - the Global Positioning Satellite constellation has the capability to be encrypted at the touch of a button. Only the government and military will have commo. Second we will lose electricity. Easy enough to do; the national grid is computer/satellite controlled. The masses will be in the dark literally and figuratively. Riots will ensue and effective resistance to Government control measures will be mitigated. The Powers That Be, all they have to do is sit back and wait, the populace will take itself down; after a period of time the Department of Homeland Security - think TSA, think ATF; think New Orleans after Katrina, think Waco - can walk into areas, restore order, eliminate any rebel opposition and turn the lights back on.

Big is picture right, but of the 2/3 of a million hams in America, I guess fully half of them are prepared for grid down communications, so strike that part about only the .mil has comms.  No way to guess how many of that 300,000 are prepared for long term, real off-grid living, but hams pride themselves on being ready when everything else is down.  It won't be a bloodless coup. 

Quite Possibly The Most Stupid Stunt You'll See

ARS Technica reports the story of two "adventurers" whose idea was to break into a Russian military base in Kazakhstan where the decrepit old Soviet Buran Space Shuttles are decaying away.

Mrs. Graybeard hasn't worked on the Cape since the late '90s, so maybe I've got things wrong, but in the days before 9/11 security on the Cape didn't typically shoot trespassers.  It's not like they couldn't shoot gate runners, but the few incidents I heard about, the idiot was always some bozo tourist who thought he'd run the gate.  The guards would shoot out their tires so they couldn't go any farther - or at least so they got the message they shouldn't go any farther.  (Shooting the people probably involved too much paperwork).  Maybe in the post 9/11, TSA at the Greyhound bus stop world, they do shoot people trying to run the gates, but I honestly don't know. 

I just didn't think the Russian or Kazakh guards suffered fools as patiently as US guards.  These guys drove out to a remote corner of the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan where Soyuz rockets are still launched, and broke into the buildings.

Now, two adventurers who post videos on YouTube and style themselves as "Exploring the Unbeaten Path" have posted a dramatic video after sneaking onto the well-guarded grounds of the Kazakhstan spaceport at night. The duo spent the next day in the hidden hangar of the Buran vehicles taking impressive photos, videos, and capturing some pretty amazing drone footage of two mostly completed orbiters.

There's a 15 minute video they created of their adventure, if you're into that.  I wasn't interested enough to watch it. 

Sarah Palin Nails OWS Hypocrisy

At a Republican meeting not far from here, Sarah Palin nailed the difference between the Tea Party and the Occupy Whatever crowds. While we all may agree that the bailouts were wrong, and we should end the fed, as some occupiers seem to protest, my answer is make the government so small and impotent they can't give bailouts.  OWS says "give me the money instead of them". 

"They say 'Wall Street fat cats got a bailout so now I want one too.' And the correct answer is no one is entitled to a bailout," Palin told the crowd of about 1,000 at the Republican Party of Florida dinner. "The American dream, our foundation, is about work ethic and empowerment, not entitlement."

She compared the protesters and President Barack Obama to the "crony capitalists" they say they oppose.

"Barack Obama is owned by Wall Street [see here - Graybeard]. The fat cats, as he calls them, they're his friends. They're his pals. That's where he gets his campaign donations. And he's very generous about giving these cats their cat nip — bigger returns on their investments in bailouts," Palin said.

She went on to try and convince OWS that they need to be protesting Washington, where the policies they claim to oppose come from.  Fat chance.

Photo from the Orlando Sentinel.

As long as this coalition holds together, I remain convinced this is open source civil war.  They are coming for us.  It's a non-violent movement?  "Puh-leeze".  They desperately want violence.  They desperately need violence to provoke a government clamp down.  Once the regular folks see enough violence, they'll beg the government to clamp down on the protesters - and they'll clamp down on all of us.  "Top down, bottom up, inside out" as Van Jones calls for.  Hate going through TSA molestations at the airports or on the interstate?  That's only the beginning. 

Just a couple of weeks ago, I was pondering how communists and anarchists could possibly march together when one wants no government whatsoever and the other wants absolute totalitarian government that controls every aspect of their lives.  El Marco records this poster seen on location in Evil Clowns and Radical Ringmasters of the Anti-Capitalist Revolution in Denver 

Translation: stick together until we overthrow the government, then we can kill them.

Happy Constitution Day

As a friend said:  Today is Constitution Day.  Read it and weep.

Someone cranked up the Quick Meme generator and there already are almost 1500 copies of posters based on the photo of the arrest of film maker Nakoula Basseley Nakoula.  H/T to Sister Toldjah and PJ Tatler. Zombie on PJ Tatler lists several of his favorites, and I include two my favorites here:

There's a lot of really good ones in there, and a lot of repetition.  It's your time, but look around. 

Frederick Douglass said in an 1860 speech, "Liberty is meaningless where the right to utter one's thoughts and opinions has ceased to exist.  That, of all rights, is the dread of tyrants.  It is the right which they first of all strike down". 

While the first amendment may be under more threat today, don't forget the attacks on pretty much all religions except Islam, the second amendment is under constant threat from outsiders.  The Supremes may have been marginally accommodating to the right to bear arms, the same doesn't apply to the UN.  So, yeah, the last meeting of the UN Arms Trade Treaty broke down, but they're still working on it. 

The fourth is pretty much gone, between the TSA's groping children and randomly seizing cupcakes, no-knock SWAT raids,  and courts ruling, for example, you have no right to resist police entry into your home even if it's unlawful entry.  

Of course, the constitution is more than just the Bill of Rights.  They're tearing it all apart at an amazing rate.  Time to read it before it's all gone.

And weep.