Hope you feel safer now

[ElNono]

TSA Has 95-Year-Old Remove Her Diaper For Screening

"The Transportation Security Administration stood by its security officers Sunday after a Florida woman complained that her cancer-stricken, 95-year-old mother was patted down and forced to remove her adult diaper while going through security (http://www.cnn.com/2011/US/06/26/florida.tsa.incident/index.html?hpt=hp_p1&iref=NS1). 'While every person and item must be screened before entering the secure boarding area, TSA works with passengers to resolve security alarms in a respectful and sensitive manner,' the federal agency said. 'We have reviewed the circumstances involving this screening and determined that our officers acted professionally and according to proper procedure.'"

[boutons_deux]

"TSA works with passengers to resolve security alarms in a respectful and sensitive manner"

what bullshit. "get out of your wheel chair, take your diapers and panties off, GranMa. You are a threat"

[boutons_deux]

Another one:

Exclusive: Hackers unearth FBI report on ‘KopBusters’ filmmaker Barry Cooper

Computer hackers with the group 'Lulz Security" have unearthed a Federal Bureau of Investigations (FBI) intelligence assessment of Barry Cooper, the former Texas narcotics officer who turned against the drug war and began setting up hidden camera stunts looking to catch corrupt police in the act.

The document, composed in Feb. 2009 by the FBI field office in El Paso, Texas, came just one month before officers in Williamson County, Texas staged a SWAT raid on his home over a Class B misdemeanor, filed after a series of stunts seeking to catch police stealing money from official evidence.

The FBI's "Situational Intelligence Report" on Cooper is marked "unclassified," and recipients were specifically instructed to take "precautions" to prevent it from falling into the media's hands. It came to light after hackers stole a trove of documents from police in Arizona and published them online in an operation they called "Chinga La Migra" (or "Fuck the Border Patrol").

http://www.rawstory.com/rs/2011/06/27/exclusive-hackers-unearth-fbi-report-on-kopbusters-filmmaker-barry-cooper/?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+TheRawStory+%28The+Raw+Story% 29

[boutons_deux]

And another:

Microsoft patent application opens door to spying on Skype

A U.S. patent application filed by Microsoft in 2009 specifically mentions "Skype" and "Skype-like applications" as being likely candidates for software that would give government spies easy, official access to any and all communications, public documents show.

While back doors in software for "legal intercepts" are not uncommon in the age of mass data intercepts conducted by the National Security Agency and carried out by the major telecom providers, it provides an exclamation point to civil libertarians concerned about ongoing mass surveillance programs, and should serve as a reminder that virtually no electronic communications are truly private.

"[T]raditional techniques for silently recording telephone communication may not work correctly with [Voice-over-IP] and other network-based communication technology," the patent application notes. "As used hereafter, the term VoIP is used to refer to standard VoIP as well as any other form of packet-based communication that may be used to transmit audio over a wireless and/or wired network. For example, VoIP may include audio messages transmitted via gaming systems, instant messaging protocols that transmit audio, Skype and Skype-like applications, meeting software, video conferencing software, and the like."

http://www.rawstory.com/rs/2011/06/27/microsoft-patent-application-opens-door-to-spying-on-skype/?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+TheRawStory+%28The+Raw+Story% 29

[Winehole23]

The TSA's internal investigation found nothing improper. Next?

[mingus]

What if a terrorist threatens a family by telling them if they don't hide explosives in grandma's diaper, he'll kill the all?

Sounds funny but is that out of the realm of possibility? I'm not willing to take the chance that it can't happen. These terrorists will search all avenues as they the ones that they're currently taking get closed off thanks to beefed security and policing. They'll get smarter and we've got to keep our foot on the pedal.

[Blake]

TSA Has 95-Year-Old Remove Her Diaper For Screening



......An agent told Weber "they felt something suspicious on (her mother's) leg and they couldn't determine what it was" -- leading them to take her into a private, closed room.

Soon after, Weber said, a TSA agent came out and told her that her mother's Depend undergarment was "wet and it was firm, and they couldn't check it thoroughly."

oh man....

:lol :lol

[jack sommerset]

I got to say I do feel safer. If these peeps are checking some old hags diaper for bombs (lol) they must be doing a great job checking everyone else. Again, I am on the fence with all this TSA stuff but I do feel safer.

[DarrinS]

They must be using the wrong profile.


Last time I checked, 90-yr old white women aren't jihadists.

[DarrinS]

My bad --- 95 yr old.

wtf are these people doing? Seriously?

[DarrinS]

Explosive diarrhea was the only potential explosive that 95 yr old had.

[Blake]

They must be using the wrong profile.


Last time I checked, 90-yr old white women aren't jihadists.

so it's 90 year old dark women that terrify you

[DarrinS]

so it's 90 year old dark women that terrify you

nope

[Fabbs]

What if a terrorist threatens a family by telling them if they don't hide explosives in grandma's diaper, he'll kill the all?

Sounds funny but is that out of the realm of possibility? I'm not willing to take the chance that it can't happen. These terrorists will search all avenues as they the ones that they're currently taking get closed off thanks to beefed security and policing. They'll get smarter and we've got to keep our foot on the pedal.
I'm siding with Mingus. No, i don't suspect Granny either. But as Mingus mentions, we've seen the extent terrorist losers have gone to in other mudercide bombing cases. So yeah, what's their next scheme?

[Blake]

nope

Interesting.

What is the age cutoff in which darker women cease to terrify you?

[ElNono]

What if a terrorist threatens a family by telling them if they don't hide explosives in grandma's diaper, he'll kill the all?

Sounds funny but is that out of the realm of possibility? I'm not willing to take the chance that it can't happen. These terrorists will search all avenues as they the ones that they're currently taking get closed off thanks to beefed security and policing. They'll get smarter and we've got to keep our foot on the pedal.

What if terrorist threatens them to stuff grandma's ass with explosives?
I gotta say, between media and politicians, they've done a great job at keeping you scared.

I appreciate the job these guys do, but sometimes a little common sense goes a long way.

[ElNono]

I'm siding with Mingus. No, i don't suspect Granny either. But as Mingus mentions, we've seen the extent terrorist losers have gone to in other mudercide bombing cases. So yeah, what's their next scheme?

You mean something you haven't already seen in 24?

[ElNono]

Another tidbit I found... Haven't read the linked documents yet, but I figured I'll pass it along...

Cancer Cluster Possibly Found Among TSA Workers

"TSA employees at Logan International Airport believe they have identified a cancer cluster in their ranks, according to documents obtained under the Freedom of Information Act (http://epic.org/2011/06/epic-v-dhs-lawsuit----foiad-do.html) and released by the Electronic Privacy Information Center (http://epic.org/). They have requested dosimetry to counter 'TSA's improperly non-monitored radiation threat.' (http://epic.org/privacy/backscatter/radiation_cluster_dosimeter.pdf) So far, at least, they have not received it. The documents also reveal a paper from Johns Hopkins (http://epic.org/privacy/backscatter/radiation_hopkins.pdf) that essentially questions whether it is even safe to stand near an operating scanner, let alone inside one. Also, the National Institute of Standards and Technology says that the Dept. of Homeland Security 'mischaracterized' their work (http://epic.org/privacy/backscatter/radiation_NIST_USAToday.pdf) by telling USA Today that NIST affirmed the safety of the scanners (http://epic.org/privacy/backscatter/USAToday.pdf) when in fact NIST does not do product safety testing and never tested a scanner for safety."

[LnGrrrR]

It's a double-edged sword.

If they say, "We're not going to inspect this woman", then automatically you can probably rule out other kinds of disabled people, children, and other cases that might cause outrage that terrorists could theoretically exploit. Also, that leads to the question of who SHOULD be inspected, because if you're not inspecting randomly, then you're profiling, which leads to all sorts of other issues.

If you do it randomly, like this, you're forced to degrade a person and make them strip down, when there's a 99.99999% chance this person isn't a terrorist.

The best answer would probably be to profile, but not be dumb enough to let the public know. That's not a "good" answer, but I'm not sure there is one.

[ElNono]

It's a double-edged sword.

If they say, "We're not going to inspect this woman", then automatically you can probably rule out other kinds of disabled people, children, and other cases that might cause outrage that terrorists could theoretically exploit. Also, that leads to the question of who SHOULD be inspected, because if you're not inspecting randomly, then you're profiling, which leads to all sorts of other issues.

If you do it randomly, like this, you're forced to degrade a person and make them strip down, when there's a 99.99999% chance this person isn't a terrorist.

The best answer would probably be to profile, but not be dumb enough to let the public know. That's not a "good" answer, but I'm not sure there is one.

I was going to say... don't tell me they're not profiling... or do tell me and I won't buy it :lol

[mingus]

What if terrorist threatens them to stuff grandma's ass with explosives?
I gotta say, between media and politicians, they've done a great job at keeping you scared.

I appreciate the job these guys do, but sometimes a little common sense goes a long way.

we've become such a pussified country, for lack of a better word. this whole thing is an inconvenience, not a problem. americans in general don't know what the hell a problem is. maybe if they stepped outside of their fantasy world and saw some real shit, they'd stop whining incessently about what are actually inconveniences and stop diagnosing them as problems, esp. when these inconveniences lead to a safer country.

/rant.

[ElNono]

we've become such a pussified country, for lack of a better word. this whole thing is an inconvenience, not a problem. americans in general don't know what the hell a problem is. maybe if they stepped outside of their fantasy world and saw some real shit, they'd stop whining incessently about what are actually inconveniences and stop diagnosing them as problems, esp. when these inconveniences lead to a safer country.

Couldn't agree more with the pussified part. I actually didn't grow up in America. I grew up with a military dictatorship, where you end up really understanding the true value of those little pesky civil rights such as privacy, freedom, presumption of innocence, etc. You know, the kind of things that are being taken away from under your nose right now under the guise of a security theater. Once taken, those things ain't coming back. It's probably the biggest complain I have about this administration. Not only not reversing course from the previous one, but actually entrenching the whole thing even more. This country isn't getting any safer while you have thousands every year crossing the porous border illegally. That's a real problem that a million pat downs are not going to fix.
Ultimately, I have less of a problem with TSA employees since they're just doing their job. It's the political class (as usual), dictating the policy.

/rant

[mingus]

i'll agree to disagree then. i won't underestimate the cunning of these jihadists.

[ElNono]

i'll agree to disagree then. i won't underestimate the cunning of these jihadists.

You mean a bunch of boxcutters? When it comes to attitude like yours, the bad guys already won.

That's ok though. That's what's great about America. Everybody is entitled to their opinion.

[mingus]

You mean a bunch of boxcutters?

i'm a cynical, suspicious person. can't say i've been fucked over many times for being that way though. it's worked out well.

[Wild Cobra]

The TSA's internal investigation found nothing improper. Next?
Sure, it's not legally improper when the law itself is improper.

These TSA fucks have a twisted sense of humor. Love to be a fly on the wall in their break room and see what stories they have and who tries to outdo who of fucking with people.

[ElNono]

i'm a cynical, suspicious person. can't say i've been fucked over many times for being that way though. it's worked out well.

Touché :toast

[Blake]

Sure, it's not legally improper when the law itself is improper.

These TSA fucks have a twisted sense of humor. Love to be a fly on the wall in their break room and see what stories they have and who tries to outdo who of fucking with people.

so you think that one of the TSA fucks actually wanted to search a 95 year old lady's bladder control undergarments just to have a hilarious story in the break room?

:lol

[Agloco]

It's a double-edged sword.

If they say, "We're not going to inspect this woman", then automatically you can probably rule out other kinds of disabled people, children, and other cases that might cause outrage that terrorists could theoretically exploit. Also, that leads to the question of who SHOULD be inspected, because if you're not inspecting randomly, then you're profiling, which leads to all sorts of other issues.

If you do it randomly, like this, you're forced to degrade a person and make them strip down, when there's a 99.99999% chance this person isn't a terrorist.

The best answer would probably be to profile, but not be dumb enough to let the public know. That's not a "good" answer, but I'm not sure there is one.

Exactly. They're damned if they do, damned if they don't. The public will be in an uproar over any security as tight as this. I'd rather it be about searching grandma than about searching the wreckage of a downed airliner.

[boutons_deux]

"damned if they don't"

who's going to damn them if they don't radiate/sexually fondle kids and old people?

Who's gonna damn them if the quit treating EVERY FUCKING Human-American as guilty until radiated/sexually fondled as innocent?

Police state policies and actions are never rolled back, only ratcheted up and oward.

While OBL laughs, and laughs, and laughs, and laughs, and laughs, and laughs,.....

And Imperial UCA keeps busting into, blowing up, and occupying Muslim/oil countries.

[ElNono]

Exactly. They're damned if they do, damned if they don't. The public will be in an uproar over any security as tight as this. I'd rather it be about searching grandma than about searching the wreckage of a downed airliner.

There was a guy that parked a car in Times Square in broad daylight ready to blow and only his ineptitude is what prevented a catastrophe. Are you really getting the security that you think you're getting for what you're giving up?

[DarrinS]

There was a guy that parked a car in Times Square in broad daylight ready to blow and only his ineptitude is what prevented a catastrophe. Are you really getting the security that you think you're getting for what you're giving up?


Yes, I remember it well.


The Times Square bomber fit a particular profile.

The left can't seem to figure out what that profile is.

Someone who hates Obamacare? Mr. Bloomberg elaborates:


QdbUwlM4bK4

[boutons_deux]

So it's Obama causing people to become mass murderers?

NOT inflammatory lies from Fox Repug Propaganda network and the VRWC right-wing hate media and stink tanks?

[DarrinS]

http://www.nationalreview.com/articles/253934/time-profile-terrorists-deroy-murdock





Time to Profile Terrorists
America must focus its finite capabilities on those who crave the destruction of planes.



As Americans fly this Thanksgiving holiday, critics of new security measures are arriving at airports in kilts. Subsequent pat downs will be enhanced, indeed.

Pre-flight screening has moved from safety to comedy. Before it devolves into tragedy, officials should start profiling terrorists.

After al-Qaeda’s attempted bombing of FedEx and UPS cargo jets, any package from, say, Somalia to a San Francisco synagogue likely will get close scrutiny. This is profiling.

Now, obviously, packages are not people. Boxes have neither civil rights nor emotions. People do, and we always must be aware of and sensitive to that.

However, America must focus its finite capabilities on those who crave the destruction of planes and the people who ride them.

What would that profile be? Today’s threat comes almost exclusively from militant-Islamic males between about 18 and 35 who hail from the Middle East and predominantly Muslim African and south-Asian nations. This profile was not drawn by anti-Muslim bigots, nervous Jews, or paranoid Southern Baptists. The terrorists themselves created this profile. Aviation has obsessed them for years.

“Bring down their airplanes,” demanded Sheik Omar Abdel Rahman, who inspired the 1993 World Trade Center attack. “Slaughter them on land, sea, and air.”

“Any time you hit Kennedy, it is the most hurtful thing to the United States,” said Russell Defreitas, a Muslim who targeted fuel tanks at New York’s JFK International Airport. “To hit John F. Kennedy, wow,” he said on surveillances tapes. “They love John F. Kennedy like he’s the man. . . . If you hit that, this whole country will be in mourning. You can kill the man twice.”

Those who plot rather than prevent jet explosions usually meet this profile. The September 11 hijackers fit it perfectly. So did Ramzi bin al-Shibh, who was arrested while conspiring to crash airliners into London’s Heathrow Airport. The airborne Christmas Day crotch bomber was a young Nigerian male, and the so-called Shoe Bomber was a young, male Muslim convert.

Had security personnel at Newark, Dulles, or Boston Logan airports profiled terrorists, they might have stopped the 9/11 hijackers. If so, al-Qaeda’s 2,980 victims would be alive today, bellies full from their Thanksgiving feasts.

So, should anyone named Mustafa be waterboarded beside the first-class lounge? No. However, if he is between about 18 and 35 and from the Middle East or a predominantly Muslim country, it might be wise to ask him a few extra questions, carefully peruse his papers, and perhaps inspect him and his possessions.

Terrorist profiling recalls police deployment of limited resources. If the NYPD sought a Mafia hit man who was about to whack somebody, it most likely would not hunt him in Harlem. If the LAPD wanted an especially brutal Crip, Malibu might not be the first place to track him.

While officials need to respect the rights of innocents who fit this profile, passengers also have an overarching right to land at their destinations intact.

At best, avoiding terrorist profiling wastes scarce resources by subjecting everyone to the same time-consuming, often humiliating searches that have ignited public rage. The Transportation Safety Administration is intent on checking the prosthetic bosoms of American women who have endured breast cancer and mastectomies — as recently befell Cathy Bossy, a 32-year veteran airline employee.

Or consider the case of a Michigander named Tom Sawyer. (Really.) The 61-year-old bladder-cancer survivor collects his urine in an external plastic bag called a urostomy. Before a November 7 flight, an airport screener ignored Sawyer’s pleas for caution and ham-handedly frisked him. Predictably, the TSA agent popped the urostomy. So, Tom Sawyer flew to Orlando bathed in his own urine.

At worst, TSA officers might encounter a bomb-wielding passenger who matches the terrorist profile, but then breeze him through security so he doesn’t feel uncomfortable. The result could be the sky-high calamity that Americans have feared since September 11.

At a Monday night Intelligence Squared debate on this topic at New York University, one of my interlocutors was Debra Burlingame, sister of Charles Burlingame, the pilot of American Airlines Flight 77, which al-Qaeda smashed into the Pentagon. She cited her conversation with an American Airlines customer-service agent who worked on September 11. He checked in Nawaf and Salem al-Hazmi, two of those who hijacked that Boeing 757. While American’s seasoned employee found these two suspicious, Burlingame says he told her he did not flag them for further scrutiny “because I didn’t want my colleague to think that I was a racist and a bigot.”

Such political correctness eventually will kill innocent civilians. It’s past time to employ terrorist profiling to shield Americans from those who want to murder us.

[DarrinS]

So it's Obama causing people to become mass murderers?

NOT inflammatory lies from Fox Repug Propaganda network and the VRWC right-wing hate media and stink tanks?


:lmao God, you're a dumbass.

[ElNono]

Yes, I remember it well.

The Times Square bomber fit a particular profile.

The left can't seem to figure out what that profile is.


What's your point? You don't think profiling goes on right now?
What do you think all those guys trained for behavior detection do?

[ElNono]

Did McVeigh or the Unabomber fit that profile? Would their attacks not be considerer terror these days?

[boutons_deux]

A kindergartner with a toy gun at school is considered a terrorist.

Everybody's guilty until the police as jury decides you're innocent.

FBI doesn't need warrant, or any reason, now to snoop any citizen, and it's done without any oversight.

Remember when "warrantless wiretapping" was a outrage, a violation? Now it's an everyday occurrence.

[DarrinS]

Did McVeigh or the Unabomber fit that profile? Would their attacks not be considerer terror these days?

And neither one is a 95 year old woman or a toddler .

[Blake]

And neither one is a 95 year old woman or a toddler .

that's not the point.

the point has to do with race/ethnicity.

I think you know that.

lol.

[ElNono]

that's not the point.

the point has to do with race/ethnicity.

I think you know that.

lol.

:lol :toast

[Agloco]

"damned if they don't"

who's going to damn them if they don't radiate/sexually fondle kids and old people?

Who's gonna damn them if the quit treating EVERY FUCKING Human-American as guilty until radiated/sexually fondled as innocent?

I can guarantee this, if were ever to be shown that an elderly person or child was responsible for bringing a device onboard an airliner which caused it go down, you'd be the first in line to complain about how the TSA wasn't thorough enough in their methodologies. Either way, they can do no right in your eyes.

btw, who got sexually fondled?

No one's obligating you to get on a plane. If the price of admission is too steep, go catch another show.




There was a guy that parked a car in Times Square in broad daylight ready to blow and only his ineptitude is what prevented a catastrophe. Are you really getting the security that you think you're getting for what you're giving up?

What exactly am I giving up? You're talking to someone who's lived outside the US for extended periods of time so our experiences will obviously lead us to different responses here.

It's a multivariate problem which depends on our individual perceptions. It goes without saying that there's no correct answer for the question posed.

To answer for myself: Yes.

I travel by air quite a bit. I can't say as I am 100% in love with what I see but I do think the TSA is doing an ok job. It will never be perfect, so at the end of the day you're left with playing the game or walking away.

I'm not familiar with the background story on the Times-Square bomber. I'm assuming that law enforcement seriously screwed the pooch on that one?

[DisAsTerBot]

If you want total security, go to prison. There you're fed, clothed, given medical care and so on. The only thing lacking... is freedom.
Dwight D. Eisenhower

[boutons_deux]

Exposed documents reveal Napolitano, TSA lied about safety of cancer-causing naked body scanners

Worse, NIST had actually warned DHS and TSA that the machines were not necessarily safe, and that airport screening agents should avoid standing next to them because of the harmful radiation they emit. It is unclear whether or not this warning was ever taken seriously by TSA officials.

Napolitano also falsely claimed that research conducted by the Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory confirms the safety of naked body scanners, even though the research actually suggests the opposite. Dr. Michael Love from the school publicly stated that the machines are going to give people skin cancer, and the specific findings of the report indicate that "radiation zones" around the machines emit enough radiation to exceed the "General Public Dose Limit."

http://www.naturalnews.com/z032839_body_scanners_TSA.html

[Agloco]

Exposed documents reveal Napolitano, TSA lied about safety of cancer-causing naked body scanners

Worse, NIST had actually warned DHS and TSA that the machines were not necessarily safe, and that airport screening agents should avoid standing next to them because of the harmful radiation they emit. It is unclear whether or not this warning was ever taken seriously by TSA officials.

Napolitano also falsely claimed that research conducted by the Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory confirms the safety of naked body scanners, even though the research actually suggests the opposite. Dr. Michael Love from the school publicly stated that the machines are going to give people skin cancer, and the specific findings of the report indicate that "radiation zones" around the machines emit enough radiation to exceed the "General Public Dose Limit."

http://www.naturalnews.com/z032839_body_scanners_TSA.html

Yes Boutons, the same danger exists if I put you next to any X-ray modality for extended periods regardless of where it's located.

The TSA needs to establish safe zones for their employees. That should actually be the first order of business when commissioning the machine.

[ElNono]

The TSA needs to establish safe zones for their employees. That should actually be the first order of business when commissioning the machine.

Apparently they're not even providing densitometers that the employees requested to measure the radiation. I'm somewhat concerned about this. I rarely travel as much these days, but these employees do have to be there all day. It would be nice to get some assurances that this wasn't something rushed in and "to be checked later".

[boutons_deux]

is the "modality" the same as "repeated/continuous exposure" ?

[Agloco]

Apparently they're not even providing densitometers that the employees requested to measure the radiation. I'm somewhat concerned about this. I rarely travel as much these days, but these employees do have to be there all day. It would be nice to get some assurances that this wasn't something rushed in and "to be checked later".

I'm very concerned, and I fully agree. Every employee should have the designation of "radiation worker" which necessitates the issue of a personal dosimeter. If that's not the case, this is an example of gross negligence on the governments part. I think I'll investigate that point further. I'm heading to Vancouver later this month for the annual AAPM meeting. I'll have the opportunity to bounce some ideas/questions off of the physicists who work with TSA.


is the "modality" the same as "repeated/continuous exposure" ?

Yes.

As stated in my example, if I placed you next to an X-ray producing device for an extended period of time you would share the same risks. In that case you would be subjected to repeated exposures.

The underlying physical interactions involved in backscatter imaging don't necessitate a marked departure from the techniques used in the hospital diagnostic setting.

[ElNono]

I'm very concerned, and I fully agree. Every employee should have the designation of "radiation worker" which necessitates the issue of a personal dosimeter. If that's not the case, this is an example of gross negligence on the governments part. I think I'll investigate that point further. I'm heading to Vancouver later this month for the annual AAPM meeting. I'll have the opportunity to bounce some ideas/questions off of the physicists who work with TSA.

Interesting stuff on this previous post (http://www.spurstalk.com/forums/showpost.php?p=5327836&postcount=18) you might have missed.

[Agloco]

Interesting stuff on this previous post (http://www.spurstalk.com/forums/showpost.php?p=5327836&postcount=18) you might have missed.

:tu

Good stuff. I'll take a closer look at it.

[Agloco]

tbh...I feel the need to carry a Cutie Pie onto my next flight so I can check some instantaneous dose readings for myself.

[Agloco]

Yes, this dose emanating from the top of the machines will result in scatter analogous to skyshine as well as primary dose to those standing above it. Here's a link to clarify the phenomenon, it's found in megavoltage therapy environments:

http://www.whiterockscience.com/moritz/aex.html

In a nutshell, it's scatter radiation from a primary gamma beam (or in this case our friendly X-ray machine) from atmospheric dispersion.

How much dose this results in is a function of the technique used to produce the backscatter images. The more I read, the more I'm willing to bet that those aren't consistent either. For reference, I've inserted a quick dose calc based on the dose rates we use in radiotherapy. In reality, the dose rates seen with these scanners is an order of magnitude lower (10-20 mGy)

If anyone is interested, you can follow either this pdf which walks through the calculations:

http://www.aapm.org/meetings/07ss/documents/SKYSHINEANDADJACENTSTRUCTURES.pdf

or........... suffer through reading a thesis about it as I do:

http://www.cvmbs.colostate.edu/erhs/Health%20Physics/D_Elder_Thesis.pdf

Again: Of note.......those calcs are done on megavoltage machines (6-18Mev) whereas the scans done on these machines use energies 3 orders of magnitude lower. That translates to dose rates in the 10 mGy range instead of the 10cGy range used in the calcs. Good thing is that the physical interaction mode does not change. Extrapolate carefully!!

From both examples we can see that doses are in the nSv/uR range. The problem is the volume of scans that a worker is exposed to over the course of a workday (I don't know the exact amount but I'm guessing it's pretty high.....300-400 perhaps?), and their proximity to the machine during those scans. Cumulative dose can become problematic in that case.

Hell, even an X-ray tech walks out of the door or behind a wall before yelling "X-ray!!!". TSA employees stand next to the controls the entire time.

You essentially have a non-licensed operator(s) in charge of operating machinery that imparts dose to people. I don't understand why this is allowed. Quite disturbing tbh.

[ElNono]

Wouldn't a proper (full, longtime) study by a couple of recognized entities make sense before deployment? Is it too much to ask? Now you have the NIST saying they didn't say what the TSA say they did.

smh

[ElNono]

What exactly am I giving up? You're talking to someone who's lived outside the US for extended periods of time so our experiences will obviously lead us to different responses here.

I lived most of my life outside of the US too :lol
But I do agree that different experiences will probably lead you to different conclusions.

[Wild Cobra]

so you think that one of the TSA fucks actually wanted to search a 95 year old lady's bladder control undergarments just to have a hilarious story in the break room?

:lol
I think some of them are rather twisted. I simply think it's a possibility.

[Wild Cobra]

Exactly. They're damned if they do, damned if they don't. The public will be in an uproar over any security as tight as this. I'd rather it be about searching grandma than about searching the wreckage of a downed airliner.
They've secured the cockpits, and the terrorists cannot guide a plane any longer. I say go back to the security before 9/11. Sure, it's possible they will blow up a plane, but for just a few hundred innocent, there are easier targets if they want to kill someone. At least it won't be thousands.

This has become too high a price in loss of freedom.

[DarrinS]

that's not the point.

the point has to do with race/ethnicity.

I think you know that.

lol.


Do the stats. McVeigh and unibomber are statistical anomalies (outliers).

[Wild Cobra]

Do the stats. McVeigh and unibomber are statistical anomalies (outliers).
Too many people don't appreciate statistics.

[Wild Cobra's Surgeon]

Too many people don't appreciate statistics.

Amen, sir. Take these for example:

http://www.nmanet.org/images/uploads/Documents/The_Black_Physician_Workforce.pdf

Damn shame.

[LnGrrrR]

Do the stats. McVeigh and unibomber are statistical anomalies (outliers).

We're not counting abortion bombers in this, are we?

And how could anyone forget Ayers? :lol

[ElNono]

Do the stats. McVeigh and unibomber are statistical anomalies (outliers).

What does the statistics say about confirmed attempted terror attacks by muslims in America? I count 3 total, but I might be missing some.

From that perspective, McVeigh and Unabomber are not outliers, just simply another sub-group.

[ElNono]

This has become too high a price in loss of freedom.

Yet another instance of being for it before being against it.
What changed your mind on this now? Is it just the change of administration?

[Wild Cobra]

Yet another instance of being for it before being against it.
What changed your mind on this now? Is it just the change of administration?
I challenge you to look at my earliest posts regarding airline safety.

Show me where I changed my mind please.

[ElNono]

I challenge you to look at my earliest posts regarding airline safety.

Show me where I changed my mind please.

I'm pretty sure I remember them well. At least, I remember you starting bickering about it once the patdowns were put in place. I'll try to do a search later, although I don't know that you can search over a year old posts.

[Wild Cobra]

I'm pretty sure I remember them well. At least, I remember you starting bickering about it once the patdowns were put in place. I'll try to do a search later, although I don't know that you can search over a year old posts.
It will give you results over a year.

You can also used google and use site:spurstalk.com <search string>

I'm pretty sure I've been consistent on this. I will really be surprised of you can show otherwise.

[ElNono]

I'm pretty sure I've been consistent on this. I will really be surprised of you can show otherwise.


I blame them too. But for anyone to blame these invasive techniques on president Bush, or the republicans, are flat out wrong.

I knew I recalled something... just the regular partisan bickering, I suppose.

[mingus]

What does the statistics say about confirmed attempted terror attacks by muslims in America? I count 3 total, but I might be missing some.

From that perspective, McVeigh and Unabomber are not outliers, just simply another sub-group.

and over 20 have not been able to be carried out because of security we have now.

yeah and i don't have a source for that, heard it from a general on one of the news programs a couple months ago.

[ElNono]

and over 20 have not been able to be carried out because of security we have now.

yeah and i don't have a source for that, heard it from a general on one of the news programs a couple months ago.

I'm always pretty skeptic with such claims. Especially when you can't discern what's directly attributable to airport checkpoints vs actionable intelligence.

Don't get me wrong, I understand you're just the messenger passing it along, and I appreciate it. :toast

I'm actually on the record that I have no problem with beefed up intelligence on passengers. From what I've read on the matter, there's substantially more value there.

[DarrinS]

What does the statistics say about confirmed attempted terror attacks by muslims in America? I count 3 total, but I might be missing some.

From that perspective, McVeigh and Unabomber are not outliers, just simply another sub-group.

Why don't you research the last 40 years of terrorism and figure out who matches the profile.

[Winehole23]

Why don't you stop hiding behind rhetorical questions and say what you mean?

[Wild Cobra]

Why don't you stop hiding behind rhetorical questions and say what you mean?
He did say what he meant. Did it go over your head?

[Winehole23]

Not at all. Perhaps Darrin will deign to share the research he alludes to.

[DUNCANownsKOBE]

and over 20 have not been able to be carried out because of security we have now.

yeah and i don't have a source for that, heard it from a general on one of the news programs a couple months ago.
Given that military officers brainwash people for a living, I wouldn't really take a general's word for it when he tries to fear monger.

[Blake]

Do the stats. McVeigh and unibomber are statistical anomalies (outliers).

So it's possible for non-Muslims to commit terrorist acts.

More continued confirmation of your Islamophobia.

[DarrinS]

So it's possible for non-Muslims to commit terrorist acts.

More continued confirmation of your Islamophobia.

Silly me -- I thought this thread was about TSA screening and airport security. What group of people have been responsible for a large number of hijackings in the past 40 years. The data must be "islamophobic". Btw, I can't find a single instance of a hijacking by a 95 yr old woman or toddler (regardless of --gasp-- "ethnicity")

[Blake]

Silly me -- I thought this thread was about TSA screening and airport security. What group of people have been responsible for a large number of hijackings in the past 40 years. The data must be "islamophobic". Btw, I can't find a single instance of a hijacking by a 95 yr old woman or toddler (regardless of --gasp-- "ethnicity")

Do you think only Muslims should be screened at the airport?

yes or no

[boutons_deux]

NRA Board Members in the Tank with Domestic Terrorists

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/josh-horwitz/nra-board-members-in-the_b_847895.html?view=print

Palling Around With Terrorists: Alaskan Militia Politics

http://mediamatters.org/blog/201103230032?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+MediaMattersForAmerica-CountyFair+%28Media+Matters+for+America+-+County+Fair%29

[DarrinS]

Do you think only Muslims should be screened at the airport?

yes or no

If the FBI is cracking down on the mafia, they probably don't focus their attention on 95 yr old women of non-Italian ancestry. The TSA forcing that old woman to remove her diaper was stupid. They behaved stupidly.

[boutons_deux]

NRA Shrugs Off Private Sale Gun Show Loophole Dangers After Al Qaeda Urged Its Supporters To Exploit It

Days after an al Qaeda spokesman in a YouTube video urged the terrorist group’s sympathizers in the U.S. to exploit the private sale gun show loophole in order to purchase weapons to use against Americans, ThinkProgress repeatedly asked the National Rifle Association for comment. However, the powerful gun lobby wouldn’t talk.

But on Friday, the NRA broke its silence. In a post on the website of the group’s legislative action arm, the NRA downplayed the video, saying that closing the loophole will have no effect on “committed terrorists.”

http://thinkprogress.org/security/2011/06/13/243783/nra-loophole-al-qaeda/

======

NRA and 2nd Amendment bullshit is all about the Guns & Ammo Bu$ine$$, not about politics, freedom, and apple pie.

[Drachen]

If the FBI is cracking down on the mafia, they probably don't focus their attention on 95 yr old women of non-Italian ancestry. The TSA forcing that old woman to remove her diaper was stupid. They behaved stupidly.

They did not even ask her to remove it.... The daughter already admitted that she removed it of her own volition.

[DarrinS]

They did not even ask her to remove it.... The daughter already admitted that she removed it of her own volition.

I'm just saying that a guy named Ibin Farteen with a student visa from Yemen might warrant more scrutiny than, say, Sally Jones from Deluth.

[Drachen]

I'm just saying that a guy named Ibin Farteen with a student visa from Yemen might warrant more scrutiny than, say, Sally Jones from Deluth.

I understand the point you are trying to make, I am just informing you so that you don't lie to get your point across.

[Blake]

I'm just saying that a guy named Ibin Farteen with a student visa from Yemen might warrant more scrutiny than, say, Sally Jones from Deluth.

What if Ibin Farteen was a Muslim born and raised in Deluth?

[ElNono]

Why don't you research the last 40 years of terrorism and figure out who matches the profile.

In America?

[Drachen]

What if Ibin Farteen was a Muslim born and raised in Deluth?

After all, isn't the Muslim miss america from MN???

Edit: oh and unless we are talking about a different city, it is spelled Duluth.

[ElNono]

I also think it's hilarious that the quoted/highlighted profile is "militant-Islamic"...

How do you know who is a "militant-Islamic"? You ask them?

[Drachen]

I also think it's hilarious that the quoted/highlighted profile is "militant-Islamic"...

How do you know who is a "militant-Islamic"? You ask them?

Or you could just assume all Islamic-y people are militant. That would make the job easier, don't you think? (Sorry Sikh, I don't know what that means, but I am sure that you are a muslim)

[mingus]

Given that military officers brainwash people for a living, I wouldn't really take a general's word for it when he tries to fear monger.

You don't have to take a general's word for it. It's out-in-the-open. Look at all the terrorist attacks on Israel over the last 10 years alone. It's calmed lately, though there was one a few months ago.

[ElNono]

You don't have to take a general's word for it. It's out-in-the-open. Look at all the terrorist attacks on Israel over the last 10 years alone. It's calmed lately, though there was one a few months ago.

You don't think trying to equate Israel's attack rate against the US is somewhat misguided, considering the geographical and geopolitical (not to mention religious) differences between the two countries?

[DarrinS]

Why not use more dogs at airports?

Dogs can't be accused of racial/ethnic profiling and won't unnecessarily harass the very young and very old.


Can't we all agree that the random screening/groping of people needs to stop?


Besides, has the TSA ever actually thwarted a hijacking or terrorist attack? Seems to me, that groups of average citizens have prevented more attacks than this dumbass agency.


EDIT> The suggestion for using dogs is in no way meant to offend cats or cat owners. Apologies to Manny.

[ElNono]

No problem here with more dogs at airports. I'll leave the beef jerky at home.

[Winehole23]

http://www.spurstalk.com/forums/showpost.php?p=3809682&postcount=261

[DarrinS]

http://www.spurstalk.com/forums/showpost.php?p=3809682&postcount=261


and?

[Winehole23]

There's a melange of bad guys, Darrin. It isn't just one group.

[Winehole23]

If you exclude war zones, most terrorist attacks on the US are committed by people who are neither foreign nor Islamic.

[Winehole23]

The ratio is something like 2/3.

[Winehole23]

You didn't post anything backing up your silly hypothesis in the Fort Hood thread. Have you done any research since? What you got?

[ElNono]

In America?


http://www.spurstalk.com/forums/showpost.php?p=3809682&postcount=261

Exactly

[FalleNxWiZarDx]

let them check her pampers....

if she had no bombs she has nothing tow orry about :)

[DarrinS]

If you exclude war zones, most terrorist attacks on the US are committed by people who are neither foreign nor Islamic.

What if you exclude all places that have nothing to do with airports or airplanes?

Thread is about TSA.

[Winehole23]

Your hypothesis, your homework. Get em tiger!

[Winehole23]

I look forward to seeing what you have learned from researching the last 40 years.

[Agloco]

Wouldn't a proper (full, longtime) study by a couple of recognized entities make sense before deployment? Is it too much to ask? Now you have the NIST saying they didn't say what the TSA say they did.

smh

Yes, but at the very least there should be some data about he commissioning process at each site. Since they were in a rush to develop and deploy it, the least they could do is give each operator and any employee who was going to near near it ( say roughly <20ft) a heads up about how those things work.

Man o man.


They've secured the cockpits, and the terrorists cannot guide a plane any longer. I say go back to the security before 9/11. Sure, it's possible they will blow up a plane, but for just a few hundred innocent, there are easier targets if they want to kill someone. At least it won't be thousands.

This has become too high a price in loss of freedom.

Ok.

[DarrinS]

Your hypothesis, your homework. Get em tiger!

At least get the hypothesis right.

http://www.spurstalk.com/forums/showpost.php?p=5329962&postcount=75

[Winehole23]

So, is the data homophobic or not? You've posted dick-all so far.

[Winehole23]

Your references to data and research seem to be pretentious fig leaves for a begged question.

[DarrinS]

So, is the data homophobic or not? You've posted dick-all so far.

homophobic? :lmao

WH has Freudian slip.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_aircraft_hijackings

[DarrinS]

Oh, and there have been no hijackings by 95 year old women or toddlers.

[Winehole23]

(In fairness, brazenly assuming data you have never seen backs up your bullshit, is more your style.)

[Winehole23]

homophobic? :lmaoGot me. Islamophobic.

[DarrinS]

(In fairness, brazenly assuming data you have never seen backs up your bullshit, is more your style.)

Uh, ok. El Al airlines profiles young, Muslim males and hasn't had a single incident in over 30 years. Probably just coincidence though.


But, like I said, just use dogs and no ones "feewings" get hurt.

[Winehole23]

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of...aft_hijackings (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_aircraft_hijackings)Impressive research. High tide of hijackings in the US seems to be the 1970's. Oh, and no US planes hijacked since 2001.

Thanks for setting my mind at ease, Darrin. The TSA must be doing a hell of a job.

[Winehole23]

http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/thumb/f/f2/Edit-clear.svg/40px-Edit-clear.svg.png[
This article may require cleaning up (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:Cleanup) to meet Wikipedia's quality standards (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:Manual_of_Style). Please improve this article (http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=List_of_aircraft_hijackings&action=edit) if you can. The talk page (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Talk:List_of_aircraft_hijackings) may contain suggestions. (February 2008) (Consider using more specific clean up instructions (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:Template_messages/Cleanup).) http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/thumb/9/99/Question_book-new.svg/50px-Question_book-new.svg.png
This article needs additional citations (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:Citing_sources#Inline_citations) for verification (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:Verifiability). Please help improve this article (http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=List_of_aircraft_hijackings&action=edit) by adding reliable references (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:Identifying_reliable_sources). Unsourced material may be challenged (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Template:Citation_needed) and removed (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:Verifiability#Burden_of_evidence). (May 2010)

[Winehole23]

Uh, ok. El Al airlines profiles young, Muslim males and hasn't had a single incident in over 30 years. Probably just coincidence though.We're not Israel. Vive la difference.

[ElNono]

The problem with more dogs is that Chertoff won't me making multi-million dollars per unit and maintenance, AFAIK.

[Winehole23]

http://metroparkusa.files.wordpress.com/2009/06/ed_mcmahon.jpg?w=510&h=343


Hiyohh!

[ElNono]

Nigerian flies N.Y. to L.A. with old boarding pass not in his name (http://latimesblogs.latimes.com/lanow/2011/06/man-from-nigeria-flies-to-lax-without-valid-boarding-pass-and-identification.html)

A Nigerian man flew from New York to Los Angeles using an expired boarding pass that belonged to someone else, media outlets reported Thursday morning. Olajide Oluwaseun Noibi reportedly boarded Virgin American Flight 415 at New York's JFK International Airport bound for Los Angeles on Friday.

At this time, investigators are suggesting that Noibi is a tourist rather than a terrorist. Noibi apparently went through and cleared the physical screening process, but no one caught the invalid travel documents.

It wasn't until after the flight took off that attendants realized an extra passenger was on board, officials said. During the flight, crew members asked Noibi for his boarding pass and, after hesitating, he handed over a boarding pass from the day before, KTLA quotes FBI officials as confirming. That boarding pass had another person's name on it.

Noibi allegedly told the crew that the pass was outdated because he had missed that flight a day earlier.

The man whose name was on the boarding pass later told FBI officials that the document had disappeared from his back pocket when he arrived at JFK International Airport on June 23.

On arrival in Los Angeles, Noibi left the airport without being detained.

He was arrested after he returned to LAX on Wednesday and attempted to board a Delta flight bound for Atlanta, again using an expired boarding pass, FBI spokeswoman Laura Eimiller told KTLA.

Noibi allegedly told authorities he was traveling to Los Angeles to recruit people for his software business.

A search of Noibi's bags at LAX turned up more than 10 boarding passes with various individuals' names, none of which were his own, FBI officials said.

Noibi is being held at the Los Angeles County Men's Detention Center, according to reports.

[Wild Cobra]

Our hard earned tax dollars at work, hiring Jerry's Children as TSA screeners.

Oooppps...

Didn't mean to offend Jerry's Children.

[Winehole23]

Well, you just did.

[boutons_deux]

America the Vulnerable: Government Does Nothing as Right Wing Violence Surges

That's exactly the kind of violence that the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) warned law enforcement agencies about two years ago in a report about the growing threat of terrorism from right-wing extremists.

But after that 2009 report was leaked to the media, conservative groups and politicians complained — quite wrongly — that it unfairly tarred those on the political right as violent extremists. The American Legion, for example, didn't like the report's assertion that extremists would be interested in recruiting veterans returning from Iraq and Afghanistan, even though it was completely accurate.

Rather than defend the report, Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano quickly disavowed it — and criticized it as shoddy work that had not been properly reviewed within the agency.

Bowing to misguided political criticism was bad enough. Now we know that the DHS went much further: It gutted the unit that developed intelligence on the activities of non-Islamic domestic extremists — making it much harder to catch the next Timothy McVeigh before he strikes.

http://www.alternet.org/module/printversion/151437

[boutons_deux]

Having completely blown homeland defense on 9/11, the FBI lies about the "terrorists" that it "stops", nothing but fraud (I guess this puts me on the FBI watch list). FBI would certainly be sucking down all posts from a "politics" forum. Feel violated, yet?

5 Outrageous Examples of FBI Intimidation and Entrapment

1. FBI’s Use of Warrantless GPS Tracking

2. FBI Targeting WikiLeaks and Bradley Manning Supporters

3. FBI Spied on Children While Using 'Roving Wiretaps,' Intentionally Misled Courts on Freedom of Information Act Requests

4. FBI Entrapment of Muslims

5. The Criminalization of Travel by the FBI

http://www.alternet.org/module/printversion/151468

[Agloco]

Having completely blown homeland defense on 9/11, the FBI lies about the "terrorists" that it "stops", nothing but fraud (I guess this puts me on the FBI watch list). FBI would certainly be sucking down all posts from a "politics" forum. Feel violated, yet?

5 Outrageous Examples of FBI Intimidation and Entrapment

1. FBI’s Use of Warrantless GPS Tracking

2. FBI Targeting WikiLeaks and Bradley Manning Supporters

3. FBI Spied on Children While Using 'Roving Wiretaps,' Intentionally Misled Courts on Freedom of Information Act Requests

4. FBI Entrapment of Muslims

5. The Criminalization of Travel by the FBI

http://www.alternet.org/module/printversion/151468

You're being a tad bit melodramatic here no?

[Wild Cobra]

You're being a tad bit melodramatic here no?
That's his M.O.

[boutons_deux]

Why Do the Police Have Tanks? The Strange and Dangerous Militarization of the US Police Force

The majority of paramilitary drug raid proponents maintain that military-style law enforcement is required to reduce the risk of potential violence, injury and death to both police officers and innocents. The reality is that SWAT team raids actually escalate provocation, usually resulting in senseless violence in what would otherwise be a routine, nonviolent police procedure.

http://www.alternet.org/module/printversion/151528

====

The US is now a complete police state. No need to respect posse comitatus. The police force is as equipped as the military, and with the same collateral damages and deaths.

[ElNono]

"A Continental Airlines employee Monday caught Nelson Santiago-Serrano, 30, stealing an iPad from a suitcase in Fort Lauderdale-Hollywood International Airport, according to the Broward County Sheriff's Office. Over the past six months, Santiago-Serrano told authorities he stole $50,000 worth of computers, GPS devices and other electronics from luggage he screened (http://www.cnn.com/2011/TRAVEL/07/07/florida.tsa.employee.theft/), took pictures of them to post for sale online and sold the items often by the time his shift ended."

[Winehole23]

Cold.

[boutons_deux]

Michigan Woman Faces 93 Days in Jail for Planting a Vegetable Garden

Her crime? Planting a vegetable garden in the front yard.

This is not some gated community with HOA regulations. This is an ordinary, working class neighborhood in Oakland County, Michigan. Like nearly every other city in my home state right now, Oak Park is facing financial issues. Here at home, people are amazed that a cash-strapped city has the resources to investigate, charge, and prosecute a resident for something as innocuous as planting a vegetable garden.

http://www.alternet.org/module/printversion/151572

[Wild Cobra]

I don't think she will get out of this. I couldn't find the related code, but what I did read about the community, clearly spells out some specific beautification examples. "Suitable" I doubt is specifically defines, but the whole beautification standards of the community seem to come in play.

[ElNono]

How's that relevant to the thread topic (airport security)?

[ElNono]

Not you WC, I was asking boutons

[Wild Cobra]

^^^ Relevance to airport security?
No, but I did get caught up in an interesting diversion.

[boutons_deux]

airport "security" is just another example of the authoritarian police state where everybody is a suspect.

Jailing 60+ year old women for growing vegetables, feel safer now?

Making us safer, the keystone cops at FBI are still chasing, includes busting into homes, anti-war protesters and anybody associated with them. Feel safer now?

[boutons_deux]

The great generational threat

By Glenn Greenwald

In just the past two months alone (all subsequent to the killing of Osama bin Laden), the U.S. Government has taken the following steps in the name of battling the Terrorist menace:

extended the Patriot Act by four years without a single reform;

begun a new CIA drone attack campaign in Yemen;

launched drone attacks in Somalia;

slaughtered more civilians in Pakistan;

attempted to assassinate U.S. citizen Anwar Awlaki far from any battlefield and without a whiff of due process;

invoked secrecy doctrines to conceal legal memos setting forth its views of its own domestic warrantless surveillance powers;

announced a "withdrawal"plan for Afghanistan that entails double the number of troops in that country as were there when Obama was inaugurated;

and invoked a very expansive view of its detention powers under the 2001 AUMF by detaining an alleged member of al-Shabab on a floating prison, without charges, Miranda warnings, or access to a lawyer.

That's all independent of a whole slew of drastically expanded surveillance powers seized over the past two years in the name of the same threat.

http://www.salon.com/news/opinion/glenn_greenwald/2011/07/09/terrorism/index.html

==========

... while admitting there are fewer that 100 al Quaida leaders left.

Feel Safer (and Richer) Now?

[ElNono]

Women Arrested For Refusing TSA Search of Children

"A Tennessee mother was arrested for refusing to allow TSA screening clerks to subject her child to a body scan or patdown (http://www.tennessean.com/article/20110713/NEWS01/307130115/Police-charge-mother-Nashville-airport-altercation). This comes in the wake of a promise by the TSA Administrator to make repeated attempts at non-physical screening of children, after which another video of a child patdown surfaced. This event may signify a tipping point in the public's willingness to tolerate invasive and inappropriate security procedures at airports."

[Agloco]

:lol



‘Body-bombs:’ Is the Threat Commensurate with the Hype?
July 12, 2011


By: Kerry Patton



The Transportation Security Administration (TSA) recently issued an alert regarding unconfirmed intelligence indicating terrorists continue to contemplate using so-called “body-bombs” – explosive devices that are surgically implanted into the bodies of terrorists in the hope that they will not be detected and detonated onboard passenger planes. And just as with previous alerts about possible body-bomb threats, the latest bulletins just as quickly captured the media’s attention.

http://www.hstoday.us/blogs/guest-commentaries/blog/body-bombs-is-the-threat-commensurate-with-the-hype/c8a50a99896db2c83e83ed83697cb15f.html

Just waiting for the justfication to do body cavity searches and full-body CTs now.

:lol

[Wild Cobra]

:lol




http://www.hstoday.us/blogs/guest-commentaries/blog/body-bombs-is-the-threat-commensurate-with-the-hype/c8a50a99896db2c83e83ed83697cb15f.html

Just waiting for the justfication to do body cavity searches and full-body CTs now.

:lol
Be careful what you wish for...

[boutons_deux]

Senators Ask Spy Chief: Are You Tracking Us Through Our iPhones?

“Do government agencies have the authority to collect the geolocation information of American citizens for intelligence purposes?”

Geolocation is a particular interest of Wyden’s. Technically, there are few obstacles to clandestine geodata collection, since most mobile phones feature built-in GPS. So along with a House Republican, Jason Chaffetz, Wyden introduced a bill that would require warrants for law enforcement to collect geodata. As our sister blog Threat Level has reported, a patchwork of inconsistent recent court rulings has yet to resolve whether geolocation data is protected by the Fourth Amendment.


But intelligence collection is a horse of a different color. The 2008 FISA Amendments Act that blessed the Bush administration’s warrantless surveillance programs allowed intelligence agencies greater leeway to collect metadata on Americans’ communications abroad. It’s unclear to the senators if that or any other law prompted the spy community to move into geolocation collection.

That’s why Wyden and Udall want “unclassified answers” from Clapper. If Clapper thinks his spies can go after U.S. citizens’ geodata, they want the “specific statutory basis” for that collection, along with a description of any “judicial review or approval by particular officials” that might accompany it. They also want to know if Clapper thinks there’s any affirmative legal “prohibition” to geodata collection by spies, if the spy chief doesn’t think it’s legal.


http://www.wired.com/dangerroom/2011/07/senators-ask-spy-chief-are-you-tracking-us-through-our-iphones/?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+wired%2Findex+%28Wired%3A+Ind ex+3+%28Top+Stories+2%29%29

[boutons_deux]

Georgia Police Bust Girls' Lemonade Stand In Midway

Police in Georgia have shut down a lemonade stand run by three girls trying to save up for a trip to a water park, saying they didn't have a business license or the required permits.

Midway Police Chief Kelly Morningstar says police also didn't know how the lemonade was made, who made it or what was in it.

The girls had been operating for one day when Morningstar and another officer cruised by.

The girls needed a business license, peddler's permit and food permit to operate, even on residential property. The permits cost $50 a day or $180 per year.

One girl, 14-year-old Casity Dixon, says the three had to listen to police and shut down.

The girls are now doing chores and yard work to make money.

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2011/07/15/georgia-police-bust-lemonade-stand_n_900230.html

[boutons_deux]

Obama's Secret Wars: How Our Shady Counter-Terrorism Policies Are More Dangerous Than Terrorism

This remarkable document states that the U.S. government intends to "disrupt, dismantle, and eventually defeat al-Qa'ida and its affiliates and adherents," in the following "areas of focus": "The Homeland, South Asia, Arabian Peninsula, East Africa,Europe, Iraq, Maghreb and Sahel, Southeast Asia (and) Central Asia."

This assassination strategy is already operational in six Muslim countries with a combined population of 280 million: Pakistan, Afghanistan, Iraq, Yemen, Somalia and Libya, which has become a laboratory experiment for urban drone assassinations. The London Sunday Times reported a year ago that "President Obama has secretly sanctioned a huge increase in the number of US special forces ... with American troops now operating in 75 countries." There are presently 60,000 Special Operations forces worldwide, with 7,000 U.S. assassins unleashed upon Afghanistan and 3,000 in Iraq. Lt.-Col. John Nagle (ret.), an enthusiastic assassination supporter, has correctly called these operations "an almost industrial-scale counterterrorism killing machine."

http://www.alternet.org/module/printversion/151596