Down the line
You don’t have to fly. You can take the bus. Oh, wait. In that case, you don’t have to take the bus. You can drive. Oh wait:
Local law enforcement and federal agents conducted a checkpoint operation Tuesday afternoon in Douglas County, the Federal Air Marshal Service told the AJC.
“This is a live operation intent on deterring would-be terrorists or criminal activity,” Nelson Minerly, spokesman for the federal agency, told the AJC.
The operation created a big distraction to motorists heading eastbound on I-20 in rush hour, and many motorists let the AJC and the WSB traffic center hear about it.
But the operation, which also involves the Transportation Security Administration, is top-secret before it happens, Minerly said.
“We don’t advertise when they’re going to happen or when they’re going to be,” Minerly said.
Mostly trucks were being checked, Minerly said. Shortly before 6 p.m., nothing had been recovered in the operation, he said.
Guess they want us all to stay home?
December 2nd, 2010 at 10:05 am
Wow, it’s really happened. Bets on how long before the first dead TSA agent is found?
December 2nd, 2010 at 10:21 am
They’ve been doing these things for a while now; I remember blogging about them happening in TN some four years ago or so.
What finally caused the big stink here is that they went and did one in the middle of the city with the third most awful rush hour in the country, right in the middle of rush hour.
A lot more people tend to notice that and get pissed than if they do one at two o’clock on a Saturday afternoon on I-40 ‘way out where the buses don’t run.
December 2nd, 2010 at 10:37 am
Is the TSA is the “Civilian National Security Force”.
http://www.wnd.com/index.php?fa=PAGE.view&pageId=69784
December 2nd, 2010 at 10:37 am
They have all those mobile backscatter trucks for a reason.
December 2nd, 2010 at 10:47 am
Sorry about that “sentence”. I was gonna state it as a fact, then tried to change it to a question. Either way, is it enough to get them to start watching my house? We have a traffic camera over on the main road; maybe just aim it this way…
December 2nd, 2010 at 10:56 am
It may be they’re getting us conditioned for martial law something for which the Federal Gov’t has NO “delegated powers”. Also, martial law is forbidden by Article I, Section 25 of the Tennessee Constitution’s Declaration of Rights. The addition and expansion of rights in any State supercedes and trumps the Federal Gov’t qaccording to the 9th and 10th Amendments of the U.S. Bill of Rights.
Martial law is illegal and therefore–criminal.
December 2nd, 2010 at 10:58 am
TennGoodBoy Says:
Is the TSA is the “Civilian National Security Force”.
That occurred to me also, but I don’t think there’s any “sinister” intent here; unless you count bureaucratic “empire building” as “sinister”(on second thought).
This dovetails with what I witnessed travelling through the Orlando airport(MCO) about three weeks ago. Past the screening area, TSA was limiting access to the monorails that take passengers to the concourse. This consisting of two agents manning a retracting strap barrier at the entrance to the “station” and two more managing strap barriers at each automatic train glass door. The first set of agents would only allow about 50 passengers into the station at a time. Each trains easily hold 4 times that number. A train would arrive and the other two agents would wait until all arriving passengers had exited and then they would walk down the train opening the barriersone at a time. After the 50 passengers boarded the train, they would reset the straps and the cycle would begin anew. There was no sense of heightened alertness, they were just trudging back and forth, talking to each other and ignoring us. Their efforts resulted in a back-up all the way back through the screening area.
It all served no obvious purpose and I struggled with what I’d seen until I realized that it’s all about headcount. It was make-work for those four agents and the resulting delays will be used to justify additional hiring. When I heard about the Thanksgiving “Opt Out” plans, I realized that it would backfire also as any delays or pushback will only be used to justify hiring more screeners.
I heard recently that the original TSA legislation authorized hiring 6,000 screeners and now the agency is already over ten times that with SEIU in the wings wanting to unionize them. We need to cut the head off this snake and soon…
December 2nd, 2010 at 11:04 am
I’m not surprised, but I think that if this isn’t stopped it would not surprise me to see TSA checkpoints at state borders and major cities on all major roads within ten years. Trying to travel to another state or enter a big city without your citizenship papers? You get sit in jail until you can prove you’re not a “terrorist”.
December 2nd, 2010 at 11:19 am
“Am I being detained? Then can I be on my way? I do not consent to a search of my vehicle.”
Enough to be said.
December 2nd, 2010 at 11:26 am
Future eventual implementation…
December 2nd, 2010 at 11:58 am
Bryan,
You know that htose who talk about, carry a copy or insist on their Constitutional rights are considered postential, if not actual, “domestic terrorists”.
December 2nd, 2010 at 12:01 pm
How, oh how can this not be Illegal Search & Seizure?
December 2nd, 2010 at 12:04 pm
It is illegal search and seizure but they are doing it for your safety so it is ok…..
December 2nd, 2010 at 12:40 pm
“Guess they want us to stay home?”
Of course. It is easier to control you, slave. Er, Citizen.
December 2nd, 2010 at 1:37 pm
That’s the “American Security System” I talk/snark about here:
http://violentindifference.blogspot.com/2010/11/american-security-system.html
Meanwhile our borders are porous.
December 2nd, 2010 at 1:37 pm
you think shooting at them would start a civil war? i’m down for that.
December 2nd, 2010 at 1:55 pm
Wait. The Federal AIR MARSHALS service is stopping vehicles? WTF?
December 2nd, 2010 at 2:32 pm
Careful atlien you sound like an fbi mole saying things like that. Shooting at the low level employees who have a distaste for this whole matter will only cause problems.
December 2nd, 2010 at 2:54 pm
“Guess they want us all to stay home?”
Oh god, don’t give them any ideas for their next “top secret” screening operation.
December 2nd, 2010 at 3:01 pm
If I’m not free to travel within my own damn country am I really free in any meaningful way?
December 2nd, 2010 at 3:57 pm
I don’t know about most states, but in Washington you sign a statement on the vehicle registration that says you’re granting carte blanche searches of your vehicle, else you don’t get the registration. This is an inevitable result of putting transportation in the hands of government. Those are their roads, not yours. You use them at their pleasure.
December 2nd, 2010 at 4:42 pm
Its for the children … or If you don’t like it, don’t take a bus/drive/leave house.
December 2nd, 2010 at 4:58 pm
I keep pointing this out to people, but apparenatly no realizes what this implies; that you have an absolute right to travel freely, be it on foot or in a car, and guessw what – today’s “common conveyance” INCLUDES airliners.
The right of a citizen to travel upon the public highways and to transport his property thereon in the ordinary course of life and business is a common right which he has under his right to enjoy life and liberty…. It includes the right in so doing to use the ordinary and usual conveyances of the day; and under existing modes of travel includes the right to drive a horse-drawn carriage or wagon thereon, or to operate an automobile thereon for the usual and ordinary purposes of life and business. It is not a mere privilege, like the privilege of moving a house in the street, operating a business stand in the street, or transporting persons or property for hire along the street, which the city may permit or prohibit at will.
Thompson v. Smith, 154 S.E. 579, 1929
Q.E.D. What they are doing is unconstitutional. All laws MUST comply with the written words of the Constitution. The supreme Court has so ruled. Nothing has superseded that; by law, nothing can. That means their actions are illegal – prior restraint, unlawful arrest, kidnapping, extortion, blacklmail, even murder.
And our right to self defense? Still valid.
But recall if you will that there is an old cliche which says that no one gives up power unless forced to.
Anyone read Absolved lately?
December 2nd, 2010 at 6:09 pm
Hey, Georgia people: how did that attempted ban of concealed weapons (for permit holders) go for the Atlanta subway system?
did that get beaten back, and what’s the TSA’s on THAT. We have TSA on our metro Light Rail in Portland now…
December 2nd, 2010 at 7:46 pm
CarlS Says:
December 2nd, 2010 at 4:58 pm
I keep pointing this out to people, but apparenatly no realizes what this implies; that you have an absolute right to travel freely, be it on foot or in a car, and guessw what – today’s “common conveyance” INCLUDES airliners.
Carl,
You have whatever rights the guys with the guns say you have. If you think the Constitution or Bill of Rights says different then understand the Constitution and Bill of Rights “says” what 5 members of the Supreme Court decide it says and they like the TSA, etc. just fine. Guess you might as well suck it up cause it will only get worse.
Course you could always take up arms against your government You could be like one of those guys who died at Concord. Nobody recorded their names but we all do sure appreciate what they did for us.
December 2nd, 2010 at 9:39 pm
Thompson v. Smith, 154 S.E. 579, 1929
That’s not a Supreme Court cite.
December 2nd, 2010 at 9:58 pm
Probably why the cite was in a different paragraph…
December 3rd, 2010 at 12:02 pm
Re: Thompson v. Smith, 154 S.E. 579, 1929
I think it’s the Virginia supreme court, and we’ve missed out the bit after the quote about how even though it is a right it is still subject to whatever interference the legislators feel is needed to assure public safety.
It would be easier to look up if so many people hadn’t peppered the internet with an out-of-context portion.