TSA Thugs

[Teresa]

I have a TON I want to say on this...

THIS MAKES MY BLOOD RUN ICE COLD!

So sad to see government bullies making it up as they go, no limits on their power, just grab people, snoop into their personal effects, assume guilt if they have anything the agents can twist with their paranoid little minds into a questionable possession. It's beyond their scope to imagine somebody just sold a bunch of literature for cash; in their bully club only criminals would have cash. The rest of us are supposed to buy on credit with all transactions recorded and monitored by Big Bro.

TSA are THUGS! it is getting worse and worse...........His biggest crime was cash..    Huh?
Oh, that's right, this is the "new America" where it is illegal to have more than the guy in the next seat!

TSA is like mall security guards.  There are a few good ones out there,( I have seen a couple that are actually "human"... and they really do a good job.
However, the majority are authority freaks and cop wanna-bes that can't cut it. It's the same mentality that seized guns from law abiding citizens after Hurricane Katrina, the same mindset that didn't allow a man who ran a red light to be with his mother in law when she died....

The same mindset that is eroding our civil liberties slowly,....

I always carry cash, and where does the threshold lie for someone to get suspicious at the airport?  $350.00,...$500, $1000, $5000?

If I have no "contraband", no warrants, no nothing.... like this man had, It's none of their damn business how much cash I have., and I am NOT obligated to answer their questions,...

I suppose it WILL be at some point, since limiting transactions to electronic transfers will leave a trail that the nanny state can follow to determine who needs re-education based upon their purchases.

What the HELL happened to the America I grew up in?  Welcome to the USSA.


Can you tell that I can go on and on and on about this.. It makes me soooo mad!

Kudos to this young man who kept his cool, remained polite/respectful even when they didn't deserve it.

[dnalexander]

Teresa, thanks for posting this. I heard about this on an early morning radio show, but it was at 5am and I was half asleep and did not get all the details. This is a good example of the steep, slippery slope we encounter when we start giving away our civil rights in the name of security. I see the danger of a slippery slope regarding gun control too. For those that argue if you aren't doing anything wrong then you should have no problem with these infringements on your rights; I say beware the steep slippery slope or you may change your mind when you find yourself at the bottom with no rights.

David

[Teresa]

Tip of the iceberg David!

The actions of the TSA goons were unnecessary and  unconstitutional. Likely, the recording of the event without permission of all the participants was also illegal in the great state of Misery. Certainly, it would not be admissible as evidence.

But, in the end, isn't this what most anthropologists would predict when you give the federal government complete authority in the form of the TSA?

Step back and remember or do the research on what started in the 80's with traveling abroad..
Russia was considered as the great enemy .....because you couldn't travel or engage in commerce without your papers...

We have become that. Look in every basement conference room at work and you will find a room full of 24 year-old accountants going through your books.
These SOX  Nazis are nothing more that a government inspection of your activities. They have been there for several years, yet nothing from the Sarbanes-Oxley act ...(  http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sarbanes-Oxley_Act)    prevented the most horrendous  collapse of financing since the depression!

But what it DOES do is ......It extends control and soft pressure which eventually yields to overt pressure.
Right now in this time ... we stand at the beginning of the biggest expansion of these powers into our daily lives through the subtle takeover of the banking system.

Again...... the government has used the exact same logic as the TSA. "We don't want to take it over, we just want to keep you safe. You won't be safe if you don't let us manage this. Please trade your liberty for safety."   
POPPYCOCK and BALDERDASH!!!

In the end, we all know the TSA doesn't make us any safer. It's a sham!!
BUT.......  it DOES extend government control over our lives. The banking takeover will be the same. It won't produce any more financial security, but it will allow the government to control the flow of capital. If this wasn't the case, why won't the government let banks pay back TARP funds? (Don't get me started on that one )  .

It is law.....There is no legal requirement to declare the fact of or source of cash under $10k.
I said it before and I will say it again. It's nobody's damn business how much cash I take on a plane as long as it's less than $10,000. ( And that amount and more shouldn't be any of their business either.. !!)And that's probably only an issue if you're going through customs, crossing boarders...etc. Otherwise, I can have as much  cash on me as I want. Since when is it illegal to carry cash?
Second, the minute they say, "we're going to the police station," you ask, "am I being detained?" and when they say "yes," you say, "on what charges?" and you refuse to say anything else until you have a lawyer present. The minute you're detained, you're no longer just a person getting on an airplane, you're a prisoner with rights.   We have these rights so that any fool with a badge can't just get his way by taking advantage of authority. The TSA is exactly that type of abuser: asking arbitrary, sometimes personal questions; detaining people without reason, warrant, or probably cause; and pretending to have an authority that they don't.

Unlawful detainment is a tort liability.

In the video the TSA claims he would have to fill out a form for that much cash but this isn't true. So to claim... as they did... that this much cash sends up a red flag that there may be somebody connected to drugs or terrorism is as legally relevant as .." I saw a black teenager in a nice car, must be involved in drugs".

Sorry for the rant... and getting off subject on the bank etc..., but I just see the creeping influence in the banking system and I look at the TSA and airport security as an analogue to what will and IS happening.

[dnalexander]

Teresa I think this particular case warrants a little rant. The reporting of $10,000 dollar bank transactions to the government also has always "rubbed me the wrong way". I am glad you added your "rant" because I would have not have been able to do it in the short space that you did.

David

[Varmit]

Teresa, you are so right, but really we don't have anyone to blame but ourselves, we have allowed the government way too much power.  We yell and scream about it, but don't really DO anything about it.