Amtrak Chief Bars TSA For Conducting “Illegal” Searches at Train Station

One more example to those that think by not flying they can avoid the illegal and unconstitutional searches done by the TSA at airports.

Amtrak Chief  Bars TSA For Conducting “Illegal” Searches at Train Station

Amtrak police chief bars Transportation Security Administration from some security operations

n
late February, the Transportation Security Administration took over
the Amtrak station in Savannah, Ga., and thoroughly searched every
person who entered. None of the passengers got into trouble, but the
TSA certainly did — big time.

Amtrak Police Chief John O’Connor said
he first thought a blog posting about the incident was a joke. When
he discovered that the TSA’s VIPR team did at least some of what the
blog said, he was livid. He ordered the VIPR teams off Amtrak
property, at least until a firm agreement can be drawn up to prevent
the TSA from taking actions that the chief said were illegal and
clearly contrary to Amtrak policy.

“When I saw it, I didn’t
believe it was real,” O’Connor said. When it developed that the
posting on an anti-TSA blog was not a joke, “I hit the ceiling.”

O’Connor
said the TSA VIPR teams have no right to do more than what Amtrak
police do occasionally, which has produced few if any protests and
which O’Connor said is clearly within the law and the Constitution.
More than a thousand times, Amtrak teams (sometimes including VIPR)
have performed security screenings at Amtrak stations. These screenings
are only occasional and random, and inspect the bags of only about one
in 10 passengers. There is no wanding of passengers and no sterile
area. O’Connor said the TSA violated every one of these rules.

A
posting in late February to the Transportation Security
Administration’s blog, which serves as a public relations tool of the
TSA, tried to explain why TSA agents took over the Amtrak station in
Savannah. But O’Connor said the “facts” as posted on the TSA blog were
incorrect. He said the blog indicated that Amtrak had approved of the
operation, but it had not. He called the TSA’s posting on blog.tsa.gov “inaccurate and insensitive.” As of the time this story was filed, the same posting remained on the blog.

CS Trains.com

TSA, AMTRACK, John O’Connor

Trusted Traveler Program Lets Mexicans Skip TSA Airport Security

You just have to ask yourself….what the heck is going on with this TSA stuff and Janet Napolitano. Mexicans and Muslim Women can skip this nonsense with the TSA, but God above forbid you and I skip these naked body scans or pat downs. Making these exceptions violates the 14th amendment. Of course the searches violate the 4th amendment, but who in the government cares about the Constitution anymore or even some judges too. Some how we’ve got to get back to the Constitution and rule of law in stead of this appearance of lawlessness message the government is sending out to us and the world.

Trusted Traveler Program Lets Mexicans Skip Airport Security

As violent drug cartels take over Mexico and expand their criminal enterprises north, the United States has signed a “trusted traveler” agreement that allows pre-screened Mexican airline passengers to bypass lengthy airport security checkpoints.

The foreigners will get “trusted traveler cards” with fingerprints and other biometric data and they must answer customs declarations questions on touch-screen kiosks before leaving airport inspection areas. Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano claims it’s a way to enhance information sharing and mutual security in the face of “ever-evolving, multinational threats.”

• 

About 84 million Mexicans are expected to qualify for the trusted traveler program, according to Mexico’s Interior Ministry Secretary, who signed the agreement on behalf of his country this week. Celebrating the festive occasion, the Mexican government official assured that the new accord will facilitate the U.S. entry of business travelers and tourists who are key factors in economic development, growth of trade and cultural exchange.

Mexicans will get the perk through the U.S. government’s Global Entry Program, which allows participants to obtain security clearance by presenting a “machine-readable” passport or resident card at airport “Global Entry kiosks.” The machines issue the foreign travelers a transaction receipt and directions to baggage claim and the exit into the United States. Applying is easy. Candidates fill out an online application, provide valid identification and answer a few questions from a Customs and Border Protection officer.

While Napolitano was in Mexico finalizing the trusted traveler agreement this week, she also took the opportunity to sign a “letter of intent” to develop a plan for protecting immigrants from criminal attacks as they cross the border—illegally—into the U.S. Mexican officials have long complained that American law enforcement officers stand by as illegal immigrants are robbed, killed or violently beaten. Napolitano has committed to reducing the risk to life and security of migrants, according to the Mexican minister.

Judical Watch

GM, Amtrak and an Increasingly Fascist America

Last week, General Motors finally declared bankruptcy. Many in government thought $20 billion in taxpayer dollars would save the company, but as predicted, it only postponed the inevitable. The government will dump another $30 billion into GM and take a 60 percent controlling interest for it. Public officials are now involving themselves in tactical business decisions such as where GM’s headquarters should move and what kind of cars it will build.

The promise that this is temporary and will eventually be profitable is supposed to ease the American people into accepting this arrangement, but it is of little comfort to those who remember similar promises when the American taxpayers bought Amtrak. After three years, government was supposed to be out of the passenger rail business. 40 years and billions of dollars later, the government is still operating Amtrak at a loss, despite the fact that they have created a monopoly by making it illegal to compete with Amtrak. Imagine what they can now do to what is left of the great American auto industry!

In a truly free market, GM would get your money one way and one way only – by selling you a car you want, at a price you are willing to pay. Instead, the government is giving public money to a private company in spite of the market signals it has been sending. Throwing money at GM does not stop it from being an engine of wealth destruction; on the contrary, it simply gives it more wealth to destroy.

Had it been allowed to fail naturally, the profitable pieces of GM would have been bought up and put to good use by now. The laid off employees would likely have found new jobs and all that capital would be in private hands, reinvested in companies that produce products demanded by consumers. Instead, we are all poorer now.

Political pressure, rather than the rule of law, is deciding how to divide up the remains of GM. The bondholders had billions in retirement savings invested in the company, and though they were entitled to nearly three times as much as the United Auto Workers, the bondholders were left with just a 10 percent stake compared to the union’s 17.5 percent stake. For their 60 percent stake, taxpayers have a future of constant bailouts to look forward to.

Comingling public control of private business is known as fascism. While today’s politicians may feel emboldened with all their new power, history will only repeat itself as all this collapses on itself. It is the height of hubris for bureaucrats and politicians to attempt to control the market and the freewill of the American people. In the end, the market always wins out. Maybe one day future generations will wise up and allow free markets to function and thrive without the albatross of government around its neck. For now, it looks like those in charge have not learned the lessons of the past, and have doomed us to repeat those mistakes once again.

DailyPaul.com