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As a formerly dumbed down Democrat, I start this blog to counter the division created by the left / right paradigm. There are the the Elite and then there are the rest of us. This left / right paradigm is used to divide and conquer. This technique is as old as time.
The American Civil Liberties Union may have just earned itself a few more Republican admirers.
Announcing a lawsuit against the Transportation Security Administration for the “illegal” detention of the Campaign for Liberty’s treasurer in April at a St. Louis airport, the ACLU damned what it called a “troubling pattern” of aggressive invasions of privacy by the TSA.
Steve Bierfeldt, the man at the center of the controversy, recorded his confrontation with the airport security agents on his phone. The audio caused waves of indignation across the Internet, as he was seemingly harassed merely for carrying cash and Ron Paul campaign material.
In it, he is clearly wary of the security agents and takes steps to ensure he says nothing to incriminate himself under questioning by the agents. He told journalists later that he was also fearful of the agents because of the so-called “Missouri memo” that, while retracted, branded Ron Paul supporters as potential “militia.”
The Campaign for Liberty was founded by Texas Republican Congressman Ron Paul, who attracted a groundswell of support during his failed bid for the GOP presidential nomination. Many of the group’s members were in St. Louis in early April for a major rally.
“Due to the current economical [sic] and political situation, a lush environment for militia activity has been created,” the retracted memo reads. It goes on to cite possible militia members as people who talk about the New World Order conspiracy, express anger with the Federal Reserve banking system, resist paying taxes, warn other citizens about the perceived dangers of radio frequency identification (RFID) or lobby for a return to strict constitutionalism as possible threats to law enforcement.
More than half of the U.S. House of Representatives have co-sponsored Congressman Ron Paul’s proposed legislation to audit the Federal Reserve. Hearings and debate on the bill by the full House are expected next month.
Along with specifically highlighting former presidential candidates Ron Paul, Chuck Baldwin and Bob Barr as icons of the militia movement, it also cautioned police to be on the lookout for bumper stickers advertising third party candidates, or people with copies of the United States Constitution. The Missouri Department of Public Safety later apologized profusely after the three men signed a letter demanding a retraction, and the state’s Lt. governor promised to look into the memo’s origins.
“Mr. Bierfeldt’s experience represents a troubling pattern of TSA attempting to transform its valid but limited search authority into a license to invade people’s privacy in a manner that would never be accepted outside the airport context,” said ACLU attorney Larry Schwartztol in a Thursday media advisory. “Just as the Constitution prevents the police on the street from conducting freewheeling searches in the hopes of uncovering wrongdoing, it protects travelers from the kind of treatment Mr. Bierfeldt suffered.”
The release adds: “TSA officials have the authority to conduct safety-related searches for weapons and explosives. According to the ACLU’s lawsuit, TSA agents are using heightened security measures after 9/11 as an excuse to exceed their search authority and engage in unlawful searches that violate the privacy rights of passengers. The lawsuit also charges that unconstitutional searches and detention by TSA agents have become the norm.”
The full press release follows.
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NEW YORK – The Transportation Security Administration (TSA) is subjecting innocent Americans to unreasonable searches and detentions that violate the Constitution, according to a lawsuit filed today by the American Civil Liberties Union. The ACLU filed the complaint on behalf of a traveler who was illegally detained and harassed by TSA agents at the airport for carrying approximately $4,700 in cash.
“Airport searches are the most common encounters between Americans and law enforcement agents. That’s why it is so important for TSA agents to do the job they were trained to do and not engage in fishing expeditions that do nothing to promote flight safety,” said Ben Wizner, a staff attorney with the ACLU National Security Project. “It is, of course, very important to ensure the safety of flights and keep illegal weapons and explosives off planes. But allowing TSA screeners to conduct general purpose law enforcement searches violates the Constitution while diverting limited resources from TSA’s core mission of protecting safety. For the sake of public safety and constitutional values, these unlawful searches should stop.”
On March 29, 2009, Steven Bierfeldt was detained in a small room at Lambert-St. Louis International Airport and interrogated by TSA officials for nearly half an hour after he passed a metal box containing cash through a security checkpoint X-ray machine. Bierfeldt was carrying the cash in connection with his duties as the Director of Development for the Campaign for Liberty, a political organization that grew out of Congressman Ron Paul’s presidential campaign.
Bierfeldt was detained and questioned as he returned home from a Campaign for Liberty event transporting proceeds from the sale of tickets, t-shirts, stickers and campaign material. Bierfeldt repeatedly asked the agents to explain the scope of their authority to detain and interrogate him and received no explanation. Instead, the agents escalated the threatening tone of their questions and ultimately told Bierfeldt that he was being placed under arrest. Bierfeldt recorded the audio of the entire incident with his iPhone.
“I do not believe I should give up my constitutional rights each time I choose to travel by plane. I was doing nothing illegal or suspicious, yet I was treated like a potential criminal and harassed for no reason,” said Bierfeldt. “Most Americans would be surprised to learn that TSA considers simply carrying cash to be a basis for detention and questioning. I hope the court makes clear that my detention by TSA agents was unconstitutional and stops TSA from engaging in these unlawful searches and arrests. I do not want another innocent American to have to endure what I went through.”
“Mr. Bierfeldt’s experience represents a troubling pattern of TSA attempting to transform its valid but limited search authority into a license to invade people’s privacy in a manner that would never be accepted outside the airport context,” said Larry Schwartztol, a staff attorney with the ACLU National Security Project. “Just as the Constitution prevents the police on the street from conducting freewheeling searches in the hopes of uncovering wrongdoing, it protects travelers from the kind of treatment Mr. Bierfeldt suffered.”
TSA officials have the authority to conduct safety-related searches for weapons and explosives. According to the ACLU’s lawsuit, TSA agents are using heightened security measures after 9/11 as an excuse to exceed their search authority and engage in unlawful searches that violate the privacy rights of passengers. The lawsuit also charges that unconstitutional searches and detention by TSA agents have become the norm.
The ACLU’s lawsuit was filed against Janet Napolitano, Secretary of the Department of Homeland Security, which has authority over TSA. It was filed in federal court in Washington, D.C.
Attorneys on the case are Wizner, Scott Michelman and Allen Hopper of the ACLU, Art Spitzer of the ACLU National Capital Area and cooperating attorney Alan Gura of Gura and Possessky, P.L.L.C.
More information about the case, including the ACLU’s complaint and an audio recording of Bierfeldt’s detention and interrogation, is available online at: www.aclu.org/safefree/general/39922res20090618.html
June 17 (Bloomberg) -- U.S. government bonds found in the false bottom of a suitcase carried by two Japanese travelers attempting to cross into Switzerland are fake, a Treasury spokesman said.
“They’re clearly fakes,” said Stephen Meyerhardt, a spokesman for the U.S. Bureau of the Public Debt in Washington. “That’s beyond the fact that the face value is far beyond what’s out there.”
Italy’s financial police last week said they asked the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission to authenticate the seized bonds, with a face value of more than $134 billion. Colonel Rodolfo Mecarelli of the Guardia di Finanza in Como, Italy, said they were probably forgeries.
Meyerhardt said Treasury records show an estimated $105.4 billion in bearer bonds have yet to be surrendered. Most matured more than five years ago, he said. The Treasury stopped issuing bearer bonds in 1982, Meyerhardt said.
Had the notes been genuine, the pair would have been the U.S. government’s fourth-biggest creditor, ahead of the U.K. with $128 billion of U.S. debt and just behind Russia, which is owed $138 billion.
The bonds were seized in Chiasso, Italy.
To contact the reporters on this story: Vincent Del Giudice in Washington at vdelgiudice@bloomberg.net
Bee Staff
If terrorists attempt to take over a cruise ship or any other act on San Francisco Bay, they will be met with an armed response via helicopter in addition to surface ships.
The added security from the U.S. Coast Guard went into effect in February, according to a new release.
"Imagine a USS Cole-like attack on a cruise ship, on the San Francisco Bay ferry system, on our bridges," said Cmdr. Samuel Creech, commanding officer of Air Station San Francisco. "We want the opportunity to do more than shake our head and shake our fists..."
The station's MH-65 "Dolphin" helicopters can be equipped with M-14T rifles and machine guns, he said. The station has eight "highly trained gunners" available on short notice.
"The training make precise marksmen," said Petty Officer 1st Class Michael S. Conrad, who has been qualified as a marksmen since 2005 and is serving as an instructor. "Hopefully we will have to use the (marksmen), but I know that the right people are in place..."
SAO PAULO (Reuters) – Charging that toys sold with meals in fast-food outlets can lead children to develop bad eating habits, a Brazilian prosecutor on Monday asked a judge to ban such sales nationally at chains including McDonald's and Burger King.
The move comes amid global concern over the link between some fast food and illnesses such as diabetes, as the U.S. Congress considers requiring chain restaurants to disclose calories on their menus to help fight endemic obesity.
Prosecutor Marcio Schusterschitz, a federal prosecutor in Brazil's Sao Paulo state, said fast-food toy promotions encourage children to buy high-fat meals through "the abusive creation of emotional associations" that turn them into life-long eaters of high-fat foods.
These developments and others are kindling unprecedented optimism among the many Americans who want to see marijuana legalized.
Judge says museum suspect can't appear in court