TSA Doing Random Truck Searches On Tennessee Highway 578
OverTheGeicoE writes "TSA is expanding its presence to the American road system. As part of its Visible Intermodal Prevention and Response (VIPR) program, TSA agents are now working at 5 weigh stations and two bus stations in Tennessee. They are randomly checking trucks with 'drug and bomb sniffing dogs', and encouraging truck drivers to join their First Observer Highway Security Program and report anything suspicious that they see to authorities. VIPR is allegedly not a response to any particular threat."
What happened to the constitution? (Score:5, Insightful)
Freedom to travel not something we have anymore?
Should I be carrying my papers?
At what point do we tell these assholes to fuck off? This is one government department that needs to be shutdown.
Why bother with a 4th amendment at all (Score:5, Insightful)
It is a response to a very specific threat. (Score:5, Insightful)
VIPR is allegedly not a response to any particular threat
The threat is very clear - budget cuts. With Osama gone, Al Qaeda a thin shadow of its former self (which was really never much to begin with) and no significant acts of terrorism for the last 10 years, the TSA and the DHS are in jeopardy of being pared back to a size much more appropriate to the risk -- i.e. practically nothing.
If they don't remind us to be scared, who will?
Occupied Country (Score:5, Insightful)
We pay for this.. (Score:1, Insightful)
We, the taxpaying middle class, pay for this.. We pay to randomly search vehicles for hopes of finding a terrorist.. I'd rather pay government agents to search for gold nuggets.
Re:Wow. (Score:5, Insightful)
that analogy is irrelevant. one was a response to something we KNOW was going to happen BEFORE it happened (or rather didn't, due to the dilligent work of those that sought to prevent it), the other was a knee-jerk response to something that should have been spotted before it happened, but wasn't.
you can't say attacks have been prevented by the TSA's ball groping, and naked-scanning-irradiating-machines without some form of proof. considering the massive scale of abuses the TSA is committing, it'd better be solid proof of thousands of attacks directly foiled by ball-groping, otherwise it simply is not worth the sacrifice in freedom.
"I heard... (Score:5, Insightful)
If you can't beat'em, pretend to be relevant (Score:5, Insightful)
My father drove trucks here for years through Tennessee, and I don't even need to ask him whether he thinks this is a ridiculous waste of time and taxpayer dollars. Every minute they waste off the road is money from their pockets. Especially when in many cases you leave the truck running during all of this bullshit in order to pull it to the various road markers for different pointless checks.
They will likely never find a single truck carrying anything of federal importance. All they'll do is use it for catching things which the THP or other federal agencies should already be handling, like catching drugs, and add one more level of red tape to the honest hard-working people.
Job program. (Score:5, Insightful)
There are only so many TSA people you can fit inside an airport.
Let's hire MORE and put them to work ... checking TRUCKS! And buses, yeah! Because that's where the terrorists will strike next.
In the year 2035, 51% of the population will be employed by the DHS/TSA to watch/search the other 49%.
Re:Wow. (Score:5, Insightful)
I hope our freedom was worth it.
Likelihood (Score:5, Insightful)
"Where is a terrorist more apt to be found? Not these days on an airplane more likely on the interstate," said Tennessee Department of Safety & Homeland Security Commissioner Bill Gibbons.
I wonder, has the TSA ever found a real terrorist? Except from their employees, that is. :)
Uncontrolled search and seizure (Score:5, Insightful)
Uncontrolled search and seizure is one of the first and most effective weapons in the arsenal of every arbitrary government. Among deprivations of rights, none is so effective in cowing a population, crushing the spirit of the individual and putting terror in every heart.
Justice Robert Jackson, chief U.S. prosecutor at the Nuremberg Trials
Re:Wow. (Score:5, Insightful)
First they came for the airline passengers... (Score:4, Insightful)
and I was told I just shouldn't fly on airplanes.
Then they came for the truck drivers in Tennessee...
and I was told I just shouldn't drive trucks in Tennessee.
Then...
Re:Job program. (Score:5, Insightful)
An Israeli security expert, maybe Rafi Sela, said it's a mistake to put threat assessment and security implementation in the same organization. Do that, and it starts inventing reasons why it should grow.
Re:Occupied Country (Score:3, Insightful)
The US federal budget deficit has exceeded $1 trillion for the third year in a row. Ron Paul proposes $1 trillion in cuts to end the madness, and dumbass Americans think he's on the nutty end.
I'm just waiting for the next US credit rating downgrade.
Re:What happened to the constitution? (Score:5, Insightful)
Yeah.... I play a different game with those fuckers.
Agent: What citizenship are you?
Me: The one on my drivers license.
Agent: Where you coming from?
Me: Where I have been.
Agent: Where do you live?
me: Where I came from.
Agent: Didnt you just come from El Centro?
me: I don't know.
Agent: El Centro is where you just came from.
Me: Then why did you ask?
Agent: How long you staying where you going?
me: I don't know yet.
Agent: How could you not know?
Me: It depends.
Agent: On what?
Me: On what happens when I get there
Agent: You have anything in the trunk I should know about?
Me: I have no idea.
Agent: You don't know what is in your trunk?
Me: No, I know what is in my trunk more or less.
Agent: Then is there anything I should know about?
Me: I don't know who you are or what your job description *is* so that is impossible to answer.
This goes on till one of two things happen. A tazer or they just get frustrated and let me go.
Voting (Score:4, Insightful)
Does jack squat any more. I watch as these Occupy people sit around and sing songs, people up at the capital sing slogans, and they expect things are going to change.
Not gonna happen. If you had the ability to print an infinite amount of money and give it to your friends and yourself, would you give up that sort of power and influence?
You certainly would! Right before you nuke every major city on the globe!
So this whole crapola thing with the TSA isn't going to go away without a real nasty revolution.
No way are the people who have that power going to step aside. They will put a terrorist boogey man in every place they can. If they can't they will nuke a city, and tell you if you don't give us complete control, another "terrorist" will nuke another city.
This is way out of control of the voting booth now.
I would seriously consider having a plan in place to leave the country sooner than later.
Because, if history is any guide, the next thing TSA will be doing is preventing any people from leaving the country, while of course if you are illegal, fine no problem.
There is a definite agenda here, and it is has nothing to do with terrorists that much is for sure.
-Hack.
Re:Wow. (Score:3, Insightful)
How I can I prove a negative? If a terrorist planned on taking over a plane, then abandoned the plan once he saw the security line at the airport, how would anyone know? I, for one, used to carry plastic weapons on planes for self defense. Now, I don't, because I don't want to get caught. I agree the security is too much, but there's no way of knowing what was prevented.
Yeah...because a terrorist would have seen a gigantic security line at the airport and thought, "damnit, my plan is foiled!" instead of taking the opportunity of the high density of people to start killing them right there.
Re:Wow. (Score:5, Insightful)
Re:Why bother with a 4th amendment at all (Score:2, Insightful)
Nothing you can do about it, really?
Ask yourself what George Washington would have d... No wait, ask yourself what he DID when a government decided to take away his rights and freedom.
I keep being amazed at how Americans claim there's nothing they can do in the face of such government abuse. Look at what the Tunisians and Egyptians did with pitchforks and rocks! You're the country with the most guns in the hands of civilians and you're telling me you can't even TP government buildings, are you serious??
This shit happens in my country of origin (I'm from Europe but live abroad) I'm in a plane overnight and when I get back there, if I have to I'm picking up a gun, knife, pen or whatever else I can find to take down the government along with any corrupt cop that would stand in my way. And I have no doubt the majority of the population would approve of my actions, and many people would fight by my side whether it is physically or intellectually.
Also, if my countrymen didn't care enough about government abuse to stand up against it, I would make them care.
I would protest the government peacefully but illegally. Once I'm jailed, there will be public outrage. Others will follow my example, they'll get jailed which will cause more outrage, and once the public is sufficiently outraged at those abusive sentences, they'll get off their couches and actively fight government abuse. 4 months in jail to make sure my kids and grand-kids have a good world to grow up in is well worth it. Better than a lifetime out of prison but at the mercy of power-abusing cops and politicians!
RIGHTS AND FREEDOM FOR ALL!
Re:Why bother with a 4th amendment at all (Score:5, Insightful)
By "about half the country feeling directly opposite of us" I have to assume you are talking about the more conservative part of the country. I guess I need to remind you that this program is being put in place and run by the liberals. The fact is, neither end of the political spectrum lack people willing to stomp on the rights of their countrymen to advance their political agendas and consolidate power. Until we get over the "left vs right" paradigm and focus on a "right vs wrong" paradigm this kind of crap will prevail no matter which party is in power.
Re:Courts hold driving is a right, not a privilege (Score:4, Insightful)
I beg to differ. A very good friend is approaching her thirtieth birthday and does not have a driver's license. The overwhelming majority of her transport is by walking or by train or bus, and she lives in Dallas, where public transportation is decent but not great. She travels as a passenger in a car with friends sometimes, but to my knowledge has never been in the driver's seat of a vehicle with the engine running. She has an active social life and is out with or at the homes of friends about half of her evenings.
There are also cities like Chicago and New York that have excellent public transportation. I spent a week in New York as a tourist and except for a couple of journeys down to southern New Jersey when friends drove, I felt little need to even use a cab, let alone rent a car.
As to your quotes, nothing there suggests to me a right to drive. A right to use the public roads is not a right to drive, but a right to travel along them in a legal manner. This may be as a licensed driver or as a passenger in a car, bus, or cab. In some cases, it includes other methods such as bicycle, walking, or even horse-drawn buggy or horseback. Driving is a privilege and has been recognized as such by the courts. For example, in John Doe No. 1 v. Georgia Dept of Public Safety, a federal court specified as much.
You have the right to travel. You do not have the right to drive.
Re:Job program. (Score:4, Insightful)
Well, it sounds like it's actually been quite successful, just as the TSA airport searches have been successful. People keep saying "but they haven't caught any terrorists!" and "they failed to catch several bombs!", but who cares? That's not the reason for the TSA's existence. The TSA's purpose is to help prosecute the Drug War, and they're doing a pretty good job at that, as they've caught lots of people transporting drugs. This is good because then these people can be thrown into private prisons, and those prisons make more profit, part of which they can give to various politicians in bags handed under the table.
Re:What happened to the constitution? (Score:5, Insightful)
I'm saying this nicely, as a person from another country, yes, you are signing up for it, because you do nothing.
Blind Freddy can see you are in a police state, and it's getting worse by the day. The fate of the USA is inevitable.
So, what are YOU going to do about it?
Interesting isn't it.
Re:Wow. (Score:4, Insightful)
You mean it was better back when more people were dying in airports than there were people whining about hijackings? I'm not so sure.
When was that, actually?
No, seriously. No one's getting killed in the airports. There was one horrific day that no one sane wishes to see repeated. Without any change in security, the circumstances that allowed the attack to occur were gone: placid passengers who would quietly let themselves be highjacked.
More to your point, is it worth it to molest (or violate in another way) one million passengers to save one life? Because at best this is how much protection we are getting from this.
Re:What happened to the constitution? (Score:5, Insightful)
...which was why the weigh station system was built.
This is not true. States have weight limits. Mostly based on the amount of tonnage allowable per axle. They have these for safety, and road maintenance. Smuggling has nothing to do with it, as a weigh station would be useless for finding it, unless your smuggling tons of material. How would a weigh station even detect smuggling? A lot of times trucks aren't weighed upon leaving the terminal, unless it is to measure compliance with local laws about load weight. And truck weight is highly variable too. So if a truck left the depot weighing X (there is no requirement as far as I know to report this to the state, if this measurement is even taken), and ends up at a station weighing X+1, that weight could even fuel, oil, the trucker purchasing souvenirs, a hitchhiker, a passenger, mud stuck to the chassis, etc...
Re:Wow. (Score:5, Insightful)
I think he must have meant back in the 70s or so. There was a time period when there was a lot of hijacking, relatively speaking. Then there was almost none for a long time. Then there was 911 and everyone invented a lot of largely irrational security safeguards. If you secure the cockpit door, it becomes almost impossible to hijack a plane. The most you can do is blow one up, and that involves killing fewer people than you would kill if you blew up a bomb at a medium-sized high school sporting event.
Which makes the TSA, mostly, a massive way of pumping money into the economy. I don't mind a few of those--it's good to keep people employed--but we should have them employed in a productive way, rather than one which makes the system less efficient. Put them on environmental projects, for example.