The valiant warriors of homeland security

[91bravojoe]

Midst the purported financial crisis, and the harrowing ordeal of 'two wars', we take comfort in the courageous battle against surreptitious MMA:

http://mmajunkie.com/news/22693/channelsurfing-net-operator-arrested-charged-with-copyright-infringement-of-ufc-events.mma

[anonamatic]

Talk about mission creep. Somehow ICE ended up handling domestic copyright fraud...
http://www.justice.gov/criminal/cybercrime/reporting.htm

No wonder they can't keep the borders secure. They're too busy jerking around pandering to big media and record labels. I suppose this is what comes from hiring too many Hollywood lawyers at DoJ.

[AdamG]

....and BATFE is deliberately letting weapons 'walk' into Mexico.

Did Lex Luther successfully turn the planet into "Bizarro Reverse World"?

[Watcher In The Middle]

IMO, If we have to depend upon the Federal Department of Homeland Security to keep us all safe, well ... WE'RE DOOMED!

Those people couldn't successfully run a one vehicle funeral procession - for 3 blocks.

[Ken White]

One block, Max... :rolleyes:

[120mm]

I say they'd be too busy defiling the corpse to even make it one block.

[Stan]

Welcome back, Drew !

The USPS is responsible for Child Exploitation and Internet Fraud matters that have a mail nexus :eek:

Could we please just concentrate their efforts on getting our mail here?

[AdamG]

TSA does what Al-Qaeda can't.


The Transportation Security Administration is re-analyzing the radiation levels of X-ray body scanners installed in airports nationwide, after testing produced dramatically higher-than-expected results.

The TSA, which has deployed at least 500 body scanners to at least 78 airports, said Tuesday the machines meet all safety standards and would remain in operation despite a “calculation error” in safety studies. The flawed results showed radiation levels 10 times higher than expected.

http://www.wired.com/threatlevel/2011/03/tsa-radiation-test-bungling/

[bourbon]

Feds, state check trucks: Closer scrutiny involved weigh stations across state (http://www.jacksonsun.com/article/20111019/NEWS01/110190307/Feds-state-check-trucks). Jackson Sun, Oct. 18, 2011.

The Transportation Security Administration and the Tennessee Department of Safety and Homeland Security set up simultaneous checks at truck weigh stations across the state on Tuesday, in a coordinated effort to maintain traffic security on interstate highways in Tennessee.

Like TSA? You'll Love VIPR! (http://www.theatlantic.com/national/archive/2011/10/like-tsa-youll-love-vipr/247221/), by James Fallows. TheAtlantic.com, Oct 23 2011.

1) "Where is a terrorist more apt to be found? Not these days on an airplane more likely on the interstate," said Tennessee Department of Safety & Homeland Security Commissioner Bill Gibbons....

[ganulv]

TSA Screener Finds Blogger’s Vibrator, Orders Her to ‘Get Freak On’ LINK (http://www.wired.com/dangerroom/2011/10/tsa-vibrator/)

Passengers at major airports can expect the Transportation Security Administration to take a snapshot of their naked bodies through their clothes — or, if they’d prefer, to be molested instead. Now they can also expect TSA to make juvenile comments about the contents of their luggage.

Well-known blogger Jill Filipovic (full disclosure: a pal) unpacked her suitcase this morning after a flight from Newark International Airport to Dublin, where she’ll be speaking to Trinity College students this week about abortion rights. She discovered that TSA agents turned a notice of inspection slip into a comment card. “GET YOUR FREAK ON GIRL,” it reads. […]
http://www.wired.com/images_blogs/dangerroom/2011/10/jillTSA.jpg
--------
But my personal favorite TSA tale comes via my mother. To paraphrase, “I was standing in the line at LaGuardia and I remembered that I had put that knife I bought in the City in my purse. I thought to myself, ‘Well, maybe they won’t notice it.’ And they didn’t!”

[bourbon]

US bars friends over Twitter joke (http://www.thesun.co.uk/sol/homepage/news/4095372/Twitter-news-US-bars-friends-over-Twitter-joke.html). The Sun (UK), 30 Jan 2012.

TWO pals were barred from entering the US after innocent tweets joking about "destroying America" were picked up by the country's anti-terror cops.

US special agents monitoring Twitter spotted Leigh Van Bryan's messages weeks before he left for a holiday in Los Angeles with pal Emily Bunting.

Leigh, who also quipped about "digging up Marilyn Monroe" on Twitter, said they were treated like terrorists on arrival at a Los Angeles International Airport. The pair were held by armed guards and quizzed for five hours before being handcuffed, put in a van with illegal immigrants and locked up overnight.

....
Agents even checked the pair's cases for SPADES and suspected that Emily was to act as "lookout" while Leigh raided the film beauty's tomb.
British Tourists Arrested in the U.S. for Tweeting (https://www.schneier.com/blog/archives/2012/01/british_tourist.html). Bruce Schneier's Blog, January 30, 2012.

[bourbon]

Confrontation With TSA Agent Leaves Grandpa's Ashes On Floor - Indianapolis Man Furious Over Treatment At Florida Airport Checkpoint. (http://www.theindychannel.com/news/31224633/detail.html) TheIndyChannel.com, June 25, 2012.

"They opened up my bag, and I told them, 'Please, be careful. These are my grandpa's ashes,'" Gross told RTV6's Norman Cox. "She picked up the jar. She opened it up.

"I was told later on that she had no right to even open it, that they could have used other devices, like an X-ray machine. So she opened it up. She used her finger and was sifting through it. And then she accidentally spilled it."
Awful, just awful.

[socal1200r]

TSA does what Al-Qaeda can't.



http://www.wired.com/threatlevel/2011/03/tsa-radiation-test-bungling/

Hmmm...10 times higher than expected...sounds like a rounding error to me, lol...

[bourbon]

Interesting blog:

Taking Sense Away - Confessions of a Former TSA Screener (https://takingsenseaway.wordpress.com/)

About:

This site is dedicated, first and foremost, to TSA employees of the thinking variety. There are not many of them out there, so I figured someone needed to give them a voice and a bit of light hearted amusement to make their thankless and bureaucratically-oppressive days on the checkpoint a little more tolerable; some reading material for the break room, if you will.

It is also for all those who think the TSA is an absurd, oversized wasteful bureaucracy, and who also possess at least a modicum of a sense of humor.

Ultimately, it is my way of giving back to the public after my many years of employment with the TSA; a sort of communal pressure valve for the public, as well as for the many good, workaday employees who, you may be surprised to find out, actually detest it far more than the flying public ever will.