Soon you won't be safe from random searches by TSA goons anywhere. They're coming to a bus, ferry, train, etc., etc. near you soon.

TSA and Sheila Jackson Lee abolish 4th Amendment for Houston Metro Riders

You don't believe me?; do some checking on your own.

Will they be wearing brown shirts?

TSA and Sheila Jackson Lee Abolish 4th Amendment for Houston Metro Riders - YouTube!

» Big Sis Launches Undercover TSA Spies To Ride Houston Buses Alex Jones' Infowars: There's a war on for your mind!

Not suprised.

This happened in Boston a while back - random searches on the MBTA (Massachuetts Bay Transportation Authority, known locally as "The 'T'"). It didn't last long after an outcry from the public. The only difference is that I *believe* the checks were NOT done by the TSA but by other law-enforcement agents.

More on the transformation of the U.S. into a Police State.

"If we can't feel your nipples, they must be a bomb"

The TSA's mission creep is making the US a police state | Jennifer Abel | Comment is free | guardian.co.uk

When you couple this with the NSA facilities now being constructed in Utah that will record every electronic communication including your phone calls, emails, text messages, Facebook postings, etc. - this is becoming more than a little scary, NSA

Originally Posted by BBQMan

When you couple this with the NSA facilities now being constructed in Utah that will record every electronic communication including your phone calls, emails, text messages, Facebook postings, etc. - this is becoming more than a little scary, NSA

Absolutely BBQ. I hope the partisans can get past their bias and realize this is not the American way. People need to speak up.

Bin Laden won.

Originally Posted by waynet

Bin Laden won.

Wayne, I could not agree with you more. In response to terror attacks (whether real or feared) we have given up basic liberties.

Originally Posted by RichieLion

More on the transformation of the U.S. into a Police State.

"If we can't feel your nipples, they must be a bomb"

The TSA's mission creep is making the US a police state | Jennifer Abel | Comment is free | guardian.co.uk

As usual, you delight on telling us why the glass is half-empty, or worse. This gratuitous thread with all those hot button words like 'soviet' and 'police state', and your hot button conclusions about the terrible loss of personal liberty could not be farther from what our real world is in 2012.

Instead of making a superficial, out of context commentary your cherished focus, why not recognize the way America is working today, and how remarkably good that is under the circumstances.

It is nothing short of miraculous that there has been no large scale domestic terrorist disaster in eleven years. Law enforcement agencies from coast to coast have recorded hundreds of 'near misses', many stopped only because of vigilance. You don't like vigilance because it means watching and listening, which the bad old authorities should never be able to BEGIN to do without court orders, warrants, etc. We've written lots of laws to protect our precious liberties, most before the requirement of urgent action to effectively combat sophisticated terrorism.

What you completely miss is all the other laws and the recourse we have if our precious liberties are 'violated'. We can complain, like the "T" riders did in Boston, and excesses stop. We can sue, and have our rights upheld, make a big pile of money for our clever lawyer, and a little pile for us! What a great country!!! Law enforcement agencies are obsessed with avoiding complaints and lawsuits. That keeps their 'police state' mentality in check. And when they are really professional and carefully record or video incidents, they expose the perp who hollers "police brutality" pulling the gun and firing off the first dozen rounds.

What you also completely miss is that the power to know everything through vigilance is our greatest protection. We need to have the most well developed information gathering capability possible.

Maybe I can make the big picture simpler for you. Would you rather have someone someone search your bag for 'no apparent reason' as you get on the subway, or spend a few months in the hospital with severe burns from the bomb?

Go ahead, choose. It's another one of your rights.

I am impressed with the point/counter point type dialogue on an important issue.

Now if we could get the same kind of participation in the thread on voter ID....I'm just sayin'....

btk

Originally Posted by ijusluvit

As usual, you delight on telling us why the glass is half-empty, or worse. This gratuitous thread with all those hot button words like 'soviet' and 'police state', and your hot button conclusions about the terrible loss of personal liberty could not be farther from what our real world is in 2012.

Instead of making a superficial, out of context commentary your cherished focus, why not recognize the way America is working today, and how remarkably good that is under the circumstances.

It is nothing short of miraculous that there has been no large scale domestic terrorist disaster in eleven years. Law enforcement agencies from coast to coast have recorded hundreds of 'near misses', many stopped only because of vigilance. You don't like vigilance because it means watching and listening, which the bad old authorities should never be able to BEGIN to do without court orders, warrants, etc. We've written lots of laws to protect our precious liberties, most before the requirement of urgent action to effectively combat sophisticated terrorism.

What you completely miss is all the other laws and the recourse we have if our precious liberties are 'violated'. We can complain, like the "T" riders did in Boston, and excesses stop. We can sue, and have our rights upheld, make a big pile of money for our clever lawyer, and a little pile for us! What a great country!!! Law enforcement agencies are obsessed with avoiding complaints and lawsuits. That keeps their 'police state' mentality in check. And when they are really professional and carefully record or video incidents, they expose the perp who hollers "police brutality" pulling the gun and firing off the first dozen rounds.

What you also completely miss is that the power to know everything through vigilance is our greatest protection. We need to have the most well developed information gathering capability possible.

Maybe I can make the big picture simpler for you. Would you rather have someone someone search your bag for 'no apparent reason' as you get on the subway, or spend a few months in the hospital with severe burns from the bomb?

Go ahead, choose. It's another one of your rights.

Very well presented!

Originally Posted by ijusluvit

As usual, you delight on telling us why the glass is half-empty, or worse. This gratuitous thread with all those hot button words like 'soviet' and 'police state', and your hot button conclusions about the terrible loss of personal liberty could not be farther from what our real world is in 2012.

Instead of making a superficial, out of context commentary your cherished focus, why not recognize the way America is working today, and how remarkably good that is under the circumstances.

It is nothing short of miraculous that there has been no large scale domestic terrorist disaster in eleven years. Law enforcement agencies from coast to coast have recorded hundreds of 'near misses', many stopped only because of vigilance. You don't like vigilance because it means watching and listening, which the bad old authorities should never be able to BEGIN to do without court orders, warrants, etc. We've written lots of laws to protect our precious liberties, most before the requirement of urgent action to effectively combat sophisticated terrorism.

What you completely miss is all the other laws and the recourse we have if our precious liberties are 'violated'. We can complain, like the "T" riders did in Boston, and excesses stop. We can sue, and have our rights upheld, make a big pile of money for our clever lawyer, and a little pile for us! What a great country!!! Law enforcement agencies are obsessed with avoiding complaints and lawsuits. That keeps their 'police state' mentality in check. And when they are really professional and carefully record or video incidents, they expose the perp who hollers "police brutality" pulling the gun and firing off the first dozen rounds.

What you also completely miss is that the power to know everything through vigilance is our greatest protection. We need to have the most well developed information gathering capability possible.

Maybe I can make the big picture simpler for you. Would you rather have someone someone search your bag for 'no apparent reason' as you get on the subway, or spend a few months in the hospital with severe burns from the bomb?

Go ahead, choose. It's another one of your rights.

I don't ignore that we've been relatively safe, for now, but I don't think that the intrusive tactics of our government in the form of the TSA has had diddly to do with it.

All you need to know, is to read my standard signature sentence.

Our freedoms should not be given up to government whims so readily.

ijusluvit: You make a very good point that I completely agree with.

*LAW ENFORCEMENT* has discovered plots, arrested terrorists before disasters and provided intel to share amongst their agencies.

Name me *ONE* big break the TSA has made. ONE foiled plot.

The aspects of the "USA PATRIOT Act" that allowed for sharing of intelligence between law enforcement agencies is something I wholeheartedly supported and still do.

The TSA is security theater and nothing more.

Originally Posted by djplong

ijusluvit: You make a very good point that I completely agree with.

*LAW ENFORCEMENT* has discovered plots, arrested terrorists before disasters and provided intel to share amongst their agencies.

Name me *ONE* big break the TSA has made. ONE foiled plot.

The aspects of the "USA PATRIOT Act" that allowed for sharing of intelligence between law enforcement agencies is something I wholeheartedly supported and still do.

The TSA is security theater and nothing more.

Your last sentence is the first time I've ever seen you qualify for the "Off-The-Wall Ridiculous Generalization Club".

There's nothing more vulnerable and no 'bigger' strategic target for terrorists than an airplane. Shoe bombers, underwear bombers...have we not had everything but body cavity bombers?!! The TSA has had to scramble furiously to keep up, with the stakes always incredibly high. We all think we could do a better job. We are all so outraged at the excesses the media loves to embellish.

Yes, with imperfect humans doing every operation, and in the necessity to anticipate every possibility, the TSA has made some errors of commission. But not a single one of omission. That's 0 terrorist strikes on airplanes in eleven years.

Originally Posted by RichieLion

I don't ignore that we've been relatively safe, for now, but I don't think that the intrusive tactics of our government in the form of the TSA has had diddly to do with it.

All you need to know, is to read my standard signature sentence.

Our freedoms should not be given up to government whims so readily.

Your first sentence reinforces your position as a charter member of the "Off-The-Wall Ridiculous Generalizations Club".