Category: News You Need to Know

TSA’s Mission Creep Continues

The Transportation Sexual Assaulters Security Administration (TSA) are performing an orchestra that should sound familiar to all of us, their expanding their mission far beyond the one they were originally chartered to perform:

An all-too-familiar sight at LAX and the rest of the nation’s airports will soon be coming to the city’s busiest train station.

KNX 1070′s Pete Demetriou reports rail passengers have started seeing Transportation Security Administration on patrol at Union Station on a more frequent basis.

As many as 25 VIPR (Visible Intermodal Prevention & Response) teams began patrolling train stations nationwide last summer conducting an estimated 9,300 “suspicionless” spot searches of travelers.

These Visible Interrogation and Public Repression (VIPR) teams are getting out of hand. I’m sure we’ve all watched enough war movies where the a Nazi soldier is asking a random traveler for their papers before allowing the traveler to be on his or her way. This is exactly what these VIPR teams are, jack booted thugs demanding to see traveler’s papers before allowing free passage.

Mission creep is always the way police states are established. The tyrannical programs are introduced piece by piece until the populace is surprised to see their freedoms entirely suspended. Mark my words, unless the TSA’s VIPR teams are disbanded they will be setting up checkpoints on state borders and you will be subjected to their interrogation before being allowed to travers from one state to another.

Yet Another Reason to Avoid the Mall of America

The Mall of America is a hellhole if one ever existed. Most of the stores sell clothing, everything you want to visit is on the opposite end of the mall from each other, their security brags about the number of people they needlessly interrogate , and they have nonconforming signs trying to ban people from carrying guns insides. On top of that mountain of fail there are several stories a year about shit like this:

A noisy, fast-moving crowd made up of more than 200 young people created a chaotic scene at the jam-packed Mall of America Monday evening, frightening shoppers and causing some stores to close early, eyewitnesses and officials said.

It took more than an hour to quell the disturbance, which began as a single fight involving a large group in a food court and spread through the nation’s largest mall, said spokeswoman Bridget Jewell. At least 10 juveniles and young adults were arrested on suspicion of disorderly conduct by Bloomington police and mall security officers, police said later Monday.

200 pissed off mall goers all jam packed in a single building? Sign me right the fuck up… to be somewhere else. Something to note about the Mall of America, while their mall cops are pretty worthless they do have a Bloomington Police Department precinct within the premises. For those who are participating in disturbances like the one mention in the story that means real cops can show up very quickly to arrest your ass.

While this incident didn’t involve any weaponry there have been shootings and stabbings at this mall as well making me wonder why they attempt to prohibit mall goers from carrying a means of self-defense, but that’s an entirely different story.

Everybody’s a Terrorist

You’re a terrorist, I’m a terrorist, we’re all terrorists! Hell, 16 year-old girls are terrorists:

An Ottumwa High School student has been charged with conspiracy to commit terrorism.

Police arrested Emily Kay Six, 16, Ottumwa, on Thursday. Officials said they began investigating after Six allegedly began trying to recruit students for what police called “a plan to harm a number of students.”

The charge is a Class D felony. Six was taken to a juvenile detention facility following her arrest.

Things certainly have changed in the decade since I graduated high school. Back in my day this would be called trying to start a fight. Nowadays is known as conspiracy to commit terrorism. As is common with cases involving children or teenagers the accusations are being vehemently denied by the parents. Ultimately it matters not until the police release their evidence but no matter how you swing it, short of plotting to detonate a bomb in the school, there is no grounds for accusing the girl of terrorism.

Terrorists are the new communists. What I mean by that is we use the label terrorist on anybody who disagrees with us instead of a specific group of people, much like people would accuse somebody they hated of being a communist during the Cold War. The shooters at Columbine would fit the definition of terrorists but a 16 year-old girl trying to get a gang together to beat the snot out of a fellow student is far from being a terrorist.

Lawsuit Over the Assassination of Anwar al-Awlaki Filed

Charlie Savage and The New York Times have filed a lawsuit against the Department of Justice (DoJ) over their unwillingness to release the memo authorization the assassination of Anwar al-Awalki:

That story has become, in part, the basis for a lawsuit Savage and the Times have filed against the DOJ for not disclosing the memo that justifies al-Awlaki’s assassination. The lawsuit, which Savage posted online today, “seek[s] the production of agency records improperly withheld by the United States Department of Justice in response to requests properly made by Plaintiffs.” While Savage and the Times don’t know how many documents exist, Savage’s contact in the administration revealed to him that “there exists at least one legal memorandum detailing the legal analysis justifying the government’s use of targeted killing.”

Good on them. Unfortunately in this country the president is above the law has history demonstrates:

Even if The New York Times and Savage win their suit, there is a chance the Obama administration will not comply with the ruling. In spring 2009 Obama refused to comply with a U.S. Court of Appeals decision ordering the Pentagon to release photos of detainees captured in Iraq and Afghanistan.

Regardless of the fact we have a kind instead of a president I’m glad somebody has finally brought attention to this mess. Anwar al-Awalki may have been a terrible person but we’ll never know because no trial was every held, he was an American citizen killed by simple decree for the king. What makes matters worse is nobody besides the king’s men have even seen this decree.

In a country supposedly built upon equality under the law al-Awalki should have been captured and brought to trial to face is accusers. Instead we flew a drone over to his hiding place and sent a missile in to blow him apare.

Explain to Me Again How Cell Phone Bans Will Improve Automobile Safety

I’ve already explained that the increased use in cellular phones is not responsible for automobile accident rates in the United States as cellular phone usage has increased drastically while the rate of accidents has decreased. Now the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety are brining up the fact cell phone bans accomplish nothing (except increase revenue for police departments of course):

Cell phone bans, such as those recently recommended by the National Transportation Safety Board, have so far proven useless when it comes to actually reducing car crashes, according to the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety.

The Insurance Institute is a private group financed by auto insurers. The National Transportation Safety Board recently recommended that states adopt strict rules banning all non-driving-related use of hand-held devices such as cell phones — even hands-free — while driving.

Many states already have bans on hand-held cell phone use and on texting while driving. The Insurance Institute has studied crash rates before and after bans were enacted in various states and also compared them to crash rates in nearby states with no such bans.

While the bans have resulted in actual reductions in phone use, they have not resulted in any reduction in crash rates, according to the Institute.

Since insurance companies are the ones who end up paying out when automobile crashes occur I would say their best interest lies in advocating any restriction that reduces the rate of crashes. In other words it would be in their best interest to find the exact opposite of these results so any accusations about these results being skewed because of the “evil greedy corporations” need to be backed by some pretty hard evidence.

Seeing these results we’re forced to consider there is a different cause for auto accidents. Perhaps some people are just bad drivers and if they’re not distracted by their phone they’ll find something else to distract themselves with. Of course this study will be entirely ignored by various state government and our overreaching federal government because, damn it, we have to do something!

Remind Me Again How We Don’t Live in a Police State

While many still refer to the United States as the land of the free in truth we’re a police state. The incarceration rate is astounding with 2,292,133 adults in prison and 86,927 children in juvenile detention (not to mention those on probation or otherwise under surveillance). A new study shows that one in three people will have been arrested by the age of 23:

Parents and non-parents alike might be shocked to learn a new study estimates that roughly 1 in 3 U.S. youths will be arrested for a non-traffic offense by age 23 – a “substantively higher” proportion than predicted in the 1960s.

The study, posted online by the journal Pediatrics, shows that between about 25% to 41% of 23-year-olds have been arrested or taken into police custody at least once for a non-traffic offense. If you factor in missing cases, that percentage could lie between about 30% and 41%.

While I haven’t read the study yet (I am being provided the PDF by a friend though, expect more on this after I’ve read it) I’m not at all surprised by this number. The Justice Policy Institute has a report [PDF] that explains how many students in public schools are not being arrested for absolutely trivial matters. It’s true, when you criminalize everything everybody becomes a criminal.

Honestly I’m still shocked that anybody can deny the fact that this is the United Police State of America.

Kim Jong-Il is Dead

Mark this day because it’s one of the few times you’ll see me happy that a man is dead. The tyrannical butcher who ruled North Korea, Kim Jong-Il, is now a corpse:

Mr Kim, who has led the communist nation since the death of his father in 1994, died on a train while visiting an area outside the capital, the announcement said.

He suffered a stroke in 2008 and was absent from public view for months.

His designated successor is believed to be his third son, Kim Jong-un, who is thought to be in his late 20s.

He died, she said, of a heart attack brought on by mental and physical fatigue. Kim Jong-il had battled serious health problems for many years but his death has come more quickly than many expected.

His apparent heir, his son Kim Jong-un, has been groomed as the successor of the nuclear armed state for little more than a year.

The question now is whether he has the power and authority to fill his father’s shoes.

North Korea’s state-run news agency, KCNA, urged people to unite behind the younger Kim.

“All party members, military men and the public should faithfully follow the leadership of comrade Kim Jong-un and protect and further strengthen the unified front of the party, military and the public,” the news agency said.

On a related side note, North Korea’s state-run new agency has also put out a touching video commemorating the life of Kim Jong-Il:

I just hope somebody remembers to drive a stake through his heart before burying him.

The Last Ranger Rolls Off of the Assembly Line Today

Today marks the end of the Ford Ranger:

A century of auto manufacturing in Minnesota ends Friday as the last Ford Ranger rolls off the line in St. Paul. Nearly six years after announcing its intentions, Ford Motor Co. is finally shutting down its Twin Cities Assembly Plant as part of a long-term corporate restructuring.

While this is sad news indeed the only person to blame is the federal government. Thanks assholes for forcing Ford to destroy the one truck I truly love.

Now For Something Uplifting

I apologize for making you guys suffer through my rant but to make up for it I have a nice story about anonymous people being awesome:

After a Good Samaritan helped her pay off the layaway bill she’d accumulated to buy Christmas gifts for her grandchildren, Lori Stearnes planned to collect her paycheck Friday and head to Kmart anyway.
Her new plan: Pay the stranger’s kindness forward by using the money she’d budgeted to instead support somebody else.

“It just gives you a warm feeling,” said Stearnes, 53, of Omaha. “… With all the things going on the world, just to have someone do that is so, I don’t know, it’s hard to put into words.”

At Kmart stores across the country, Santa seems to be getting some help: Anonymous donors are paying off strangers’ layaway accounts, buying the Christmas gifts other families couldn’t afford, especially toys and children’s clothes set aside by impoverished parents.

Fuck yeah. It’s always nice to read stories about people helping other people out without the coercive force of government being involved.

Mission Accomplished… Again

Have you heard? We’ve declared victory in Iraq… again! I guess we had so much time winning last time we’ve decided to relive the glory and declare our victory a second time:

The US Defence Secretary, Leon Panetta, told troops the mission had been worth the cost in blood and dollars.

He said the years of war in Iraq had yielded to an era of opportunity in which the US was a committed partner.

Only about 4,000 US soldiers now remain in Iraq, but they are due to leave in the next two weeks.

All the troops are finally coming home, except for the paltry 15,000 that will be in our Vatican City sized Iraq embassy of course. I’m also betting that many of our troops in Iraq aren’t coming home but instead being redeployed to Afghanistan to prepare for our eventual invasion of Iran.

Seriously there’s so much damned doublespeak involved with our “exiting” Iraq that I can’t keep the meaning of some basic words straight anymore.