Jesse Ventura Files Lawsuit Against DHS/TSA for Violations of Fourth Amendment

From Alex Jones at InfoWars:

Former Governor Jesse Ventura has taken steps to sue the TSA and the Department of Homeland Security, naming their chiefs John Pistole and ‘Big Sis’ Janet Napolitano in a lawsuit that will take on invasive airport pat-downs [READ LAWSUIT]. Ventura first told Alex Jones of his intent to sue the TSA privately back in September while traveling for the making of TruTV’s “Conspiracy Theory,” expressing grave concern about what he viewed as his country’s transformation into East Germany . . . 

Wharton on the Paranoid Style and the Surveillance State

From Billy Wharton at the Examiner:

If there is a political crisis, there is an opportunity.  Jared Lee Loughner’s attempted assassination of Representative Gabrielle Giffords in Arizona certainly created a crisis.  The New York Police Department (NYPD) is now ready to cash in on the opportunity.  Or so their recent report entitled “Active Shooter: Recommendations and Analysis for Risk Mitigation,” suggests.  However, this will be a bit of an unusual reward for the men in blue – they score the ideological points while the surveillance industry reaps the monetary profits. . . .

it recommends preventative and preparation measures, both done in fine post 9/11 paranoid style.  For prevention, the NYPD recommends the installation of surveillance cameras that cover all angles in the workplace and feed into a centralized location.  This is a good example of advancing a pre-existing ideological agenda into a moment of crisis.  Quite a financial boon to the surveillance camera makers and to those who wish to have every corner of New York City filmed for the purpose of total surveillance of the population . . .

Wes Benedict: "I wish more Democrats and Republicans took our Constitution and Bill of Rights seriously"

Wes Benedict, Executive Director of the Libertarian National Committee, recently gave a speech at a conference entitled "The Stripping of Freedom: A Careful Scan of TSA Security Procedures."  The Libertarian Party blog has republished Benedict's comments in full.  Excerpt:

The Libertarian Party strongly opposes the full-body scanners program. I recognize that different groups oppose these scanners for different reasons. Ralph Nader has always been a strong consumer safety advocate. He often sees a role for government in providing safety. Libertarians would like to see the government do less. When Libertarians and Ralph Nader agree a program is bad...it's time for our government to listen. I'm glad we have a Congressman or two participating today. I wish more Republicans and Democrats took our Constitution and Bill of Rights seriously.

FL: Libertarian Party Supports Ban of Red Light Cameras, Expansion of the Surveillance State

From the LP of Citrus County:

Through its Executive Committee, the Libertarian Party of Florida has voted to support future legislation to ban the use of red light cameras within the State of Florida.

The cameras have been popping up in various communities throughout the state as local government coffers dry up. Recent support for the cameras by local governments seems to correlate to the reduction of regular tax revenues.

The Libertarian Party of Florida has successfully lobbied the state legislature in past years to keep the state from approving their use and now seeks an all-out ban of the devices which create more problems then they solve. . . .

Jesse Ventura to Avoid Air Travel in Protest of TSA

Former governor of Minnesota, Jesse Ventura, said in an interview with Alex Jones that he will boycott air travel to avoid invasive and unconstitutional searches conducted by the federal government in the name of supposed security.  From Infowars:

Ventura said he made the decision to avoid public aircraft after he found himself becoming too comfortable with being routinely searched. He said he was subjected to pat down and search three or four times a week when he traveled for his television show. Ventura had hip surgery and the metal in his body invariably sets off airport metal detectors. . . . Jesse said he will no longer be forced by the TSA to prove he is not a criminal or terrorist. He refuses to be considered guilty until proven innocent by the government in violation of the Fourth Amendment. He also admitted the decision not to fly may put an end to his career.

NJ: Libertarian Party Plans Airport Protest on Opt-Out Day

From the NJ Libertarian Party:

The NJ Libertarian Party is joining We Won't Fly by organizing the National Opt Out Day demonstration at Newark Airport. On Wednesday, November 24th we urge all travelers who are "selected" to undergo the intrusive full body scanning to Opt Out. Instead they will be forced to participate in the more time consuming and humiliating enhanced "pat downs". The pat downs include moving hands up legs until contact pressure is made with genitals.  We are meeting on November 24th at 6:00 PM at the bar of Chile's Too in terminal B. Demonstrations will start at 6:30.  Our goal is to raise awareness among travelers over this new TSA procedure.

Pirate Party Exclusive: DHS/TSA Security Theater is Reactive and Ineffective, Aims at Compliance and Submission

The importance of protecting and strengthening the rights to privacy and transparent government are emphasized at the very top of the Pirate Party of Oklahoma's platform.  As the Pirate Party has also long been critical of full-body scanners and "enhanced pat-downs," I contacted the Administrator of the PPOK, Marcus Kessler, for comment on the recent uproar and controversy over the DHS/TSA's new security protocols.  Markus was kind enough to provide a detailed response, which is published in full below.

TPID: What is the Pirate Party's response to the TSA/DHS's roll-out of the new and highly invasive body scanner screening procedures and "enhanced pat-downs"?

Marcus Kessler:  The Pirate Party is really not surprised that the TSA is pushing heavily to get these machines deployed. Every time a new plot is discovered, such as the "Christmas Bomber" or the "Printer Cartridge Plot", it becomes more obvious that the current tactics and security theatre orchestrated by the TSA are ineffective. Not surprisingly, instead of realizing that the current system does not provide any meaningful safety, the TSA responds to each incident with further reactionary and ineffective directives. A good example is the current use of "Trace Explosive Detection Technology". These devices are used to swab carry-on luggage and passengers hands to test for the presence of explosives including PETN, the type of explosive reported to have been found inside the [bomb-rigged] ink-toner cartridges last month. The TSA reports that we have spend $15 million on this technology in 2010, and the 2011 federal budget calls for $39 million to be used to purchase this technology. Since ink-toners are now at risk of containing PETN, we are no longer allowed to bring toner and ink cartridges over 16 ounces on a plane. It appears that we are spending over $50 million on technology that is so ineffective, the TSA thinks it is safer to just ban these objects from the sky, instead of trusting this expensive technology.  

We also take great issue with the current use of the "enhanced pat-down" as a punitive measure to ensure greater compliance and submission to the enhanced imaging devices. There have been multiple reports that the strategy employed by the TSA is to make the pat-down so intrusive that passengers will choose to be viewed naked on screen instead of being touched. We don't think that having to choose between "show your scrotum on screen or let us touch your scrotum" qualifies as a reasonable search according to the constitution. The physical pat-down is also more time consuming, often requiring passengers to wait on a qualified employee that has been trained on the enhanced pat-down, or an employee of the same gender. At the same time, many airports that use the imaging devices have reduced the number of lanes that can be used for screening. This leads to longer wait times which requires passengers to decide whether to allow the TSA to view their naked body, or opt-out of the screening and risk missing their flight.

The only real surprise to the Pirate Party of Oklahoma is the fact that only lately there has been a large outcry about these operations. The use of enhanced imaging devices has been a target of the PPOK since our formation in January, and our members have been vocal opponents of this technology since it was introduced. We are glad to see that people are becoming more aware of this issue, but at the same time we are sad to realize that for a long timeframe people did not mind having this technology render them naked.

Marcus Kesler
Administrator
Pirate Party of Oklahoma

Van-Mounted Body Scanners Coming Soon to a Street Near You?

With all of the controversy surrounding the TSA's security protocols and expanded use of full body scanners at airports across the country, it should be recalled that efforts by law enforcement agencies are already underway to move these machines from the airports and into our streets.  From the US Pirate Party, this past September:

US law enforcement agencies are among the customers of a Massachusetts-based company that is selling full-body scanners to be mounted inside vans and used on streets, says a report from Forbes.

American Science & Engineering, based in Billerica, Mass., told Forbes blogger Andy Greenberg that it has sold more than 500 "Z Backscatter Vans," mobile x-ray scanning units that can be used to detect bombs, contraband and smuggled people inside nearby cars.

The company says its largest customer by far is the US military, which has purchased the machines to search for car bombs and other threats in war zones. But AS&E's vice president of marketing, Joe Reiss, said US law enforcement agencies have also bought the machines "to search for vehicle-based bombs in the US," Greenberg reports.

AS&E has not revealed the names of its US law enforcement customers, or how many of the machines they bought. But Reiss describes the van-mounted scanning system as "the largest selling cargo and vehicle inspection system ever."

News of the mobile scanners has alarmed civil libertarians who worry the technology could be used to violate people's privacy without legal justification.

Read the rest.

The Democratic-Republican Party's War Against the People of the United States: the Police State and the Surveillance Society

From TocqueDeville at Docudharma:

There is no other way to put it. We are under attack. They are looting the people's real wealth. They are sabotaging our environment and looting our resources. They have engaged in information warfare to manipulate public opinion. They are setting up a mass surveillance state using telecommunications technology and the internet. They have even taken over our most sacred democratic instrument: the ballot box.

The Democratic party is complicit in all of this. They are now implementing so-called austerity measures in the US that the IMF and World Bank have been imposing on poor third world countries for decades. They have manuals for how to deal with the aftermath of austerity measures. It involves a massive police state. Mass cages. Mass propaganda. But it can't happen here? Please. It is all around you. The public (now there's a quaint word) coffers are being bled dry. They will not stop until we are a fully corporate controlled state.

OK: Pirate Party Objects to Expansion of the Surveillance State

A press release from the Pirate Party of Oklahoma, sent via email:

Oklahoma City, OK - August 11th, 2010 - The recent obstacles in implementing a state-wide camera system to monitor Oklahomans should bring a sigh of relief to residents of the Sooner State says the Pirate Party of Oklahoma.  "We are very happy that the delay in implementing this technology has surfaced," states Marcus Kesler, state administrator of the Pirate Party of Oklahoma.  "But we remain disappointed that the reason for the delay is purely logistical and does not take into account the legal and ethical implications of monitoring every driver in Oklahoma."

The Oklahoma Department of Public Safety (DPS) is pursuing a contract with a private for-profit company that would require the monitoring of all motor vehicles on Oklahoma roads, even if no laws are being violated.  The contract would also require the retention of all data collected using this automated system.  This system would allow DPS to maintain records that would document the date, time, and location of each vehicle that drives past a particular camera or bar code reader. "You may drive the posted speed limit, wear your seatbelt, have valid insurance, and be in full compliance with all Oklahoma statutes; yet DPS want to maintain a database tracking your lawful activities.", states Marcus Kesler.  "How does operating a car in Oklahoma give DPS the right to maintain these records without any reasonable cause of an actual crime?"

FBI Files Detail Investigation of Historian Howard Zinn's Relationship with "Communist Front Groups" and the Communist Party USA

From TPM:

The FBI today released a 423-page file on Howard Zinn, the radical progressive historian who wrote A People's History of the United States. Zinn died in January. We're digging through the file right now. Help us out -- leave what you find in comments or email us.

From Raw Story:

Those who knew of the dissident historian Howard Zinn would not be surprised that J. Edgar Hoover's FBI kept tabs on him for decades during the Cold War. . . .

"In 1949, the FBI opened a domestic security investigation on Zinn," the bureau states. The Bureau noted Zinn’s activities in what were called Communist Front Groups and received informant reports that Zinn was an active member of the CPUSA; Zinn denied ever being a member when he was questioned by agents in the 1950s. . . . The release describes the historian as "radical."

From The Other McCain:

Going through the PDFs and — wow! — Zinn’s file from the 1940s and ’50s makes for fascinating reading to anyone familiar with Communist Party history. Any innocent liberal might have unwittingly joined a CPUSA front group or two. But only a card-carrying Commie would have joined every front group that came along, as Zinn evidently did . . .

Links and more discussion at Memeorandum.

Australian Pirate Party Stands Up Against the Surveillance Society

From ITNews:

the Pirate Party warned that "Orwellian" law enforcement surveillance powers would degrade the privacy of Australian citizens. "CCTV does not solve crime, it does not resolve underlying issues that are the root cause of crime," said Party Secretary Rodney Serkowski in a statement on Friday. "What it does do is create an environment of fear and distrust," he said. "It is obvious that the NSW Government has absolutely no consideration for, or understanding of, fundamental rights. The right to privacy underpins human dignity. The right to privacy underpins our democracy." Serkowski likened a pervasive CCTV network to "putting every citizen, unknowingly, in a police line up", warning that Police Commissioners were lobbying to apply the technology more broadly than to just suspects of crimes.

ME: Republicans Put Independent Gubernatorial Candidate Eliot Cutler Under Video Surveillance

Independent candidate for governor of Maine Eliot Cutler must be worrying the Republican Governor's Association.  From the Press Herald:

An independent candidate for governor complained to a national Republican group this week about a woman it hired to follow him and other opponents with a video camera.  Eliot Cutler called it a juvenile practice that distracts from real campaign issues and turns off voters. The Republican Governors Association had a simple response: Get used to it.

From the Cutler campaign's website:

Independent gubernatorial candidate Eliot Cutler has written a letter to the chairman of the Republican Governors Association to complain about a tracker who he says lied to him about her identity.

“While I realize that the RGA — or any other group — has every right to stalk candidates with a video camera, I have to confess that I find both the practice and this manner of doing so highly objectionable,” he said in a statement. “Its only purpose — starting in March no less — is to hopefully capture a few seconds of some ‘gotcha’ moment that can be used in a 30-second negative ad this fall.”