White People Mad About Homeland Security “How to Identify A Terrorist” Video
This has been blowing up in the conservative blogosphere and media since Paul Joseph Watson posted it on InfoWars yesterday:
A new promotional video released by the Department of Homeland Security characterizes white middle class Americans as the most likely terrorists, as Big Sis continues its relentless drive to cement the myth that mad bombers are hiding around every corner, when in reality Americans are just as likely to be killed by lightning strikes or peanut allergies.
Surgically Implanted Bombs Are New Terror Threat
Get ready, the U.S. Government’s TSA is warning airlines of a new twist on suicide bombing that will undoubtedly lead to more intrusive searches at airports. Christi Parsons reports for the LA Times:
The government has warned airlines that terrorists are considering surgically implanting explosives into people in an attempt to circumvent screening procedures, according to U.S. officials.
There is no indication of an immediate plot, but the new information could lead to additional screening procedures at the nation’s airports. Existing scanners would not necessarily detect bombs implanted under a person’s skin, experts said.
While the information suggests such a threat would come from overseas rather than domestic groups, federal officials are ordering precautions both in the U.S. and abroad, the official said.
The idea of surgically implanting bombs has been examined by intelligence agencies in the past, but new information has suggested that terrorist groups are seriously considering the technique, officials said.
A spokesman…
TSA Orders 95-Year-Old Woman To Remove Adult Diaper
Enough with the madness – this is way, way too far over the line. And the TSA is not even apologizing! From CNN:
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.
Reports of the incident took hold in social media, with scores of comments on the topic and reposts appearing hourly on Twitter Sunday afternoon…
Terrorist ‘Pre-Crime’ Detector Has Been Field Tested in the U.S.
Hmm, do the results even matter or is this something we’ll see anyway in the near future? Sharon Weinberger wrote recently in Nature News:
Planning a sojourn in the northeastern United States? You could soon be taking part in a novel security programme that can supposedly ’sense’ whether you are planning to commit a crime.
Future Attribute Screening Technology (FAST), a US Department of Homeland Security (DHS) programme designed to spot people who are intending to commit a terrorist act, has in the past few months completed its first round of field tests at an undisclosed location in the northeast, Nature has learned.
Like a lie detector, FAST measures a variety of physiological indicators, ranging from heart rate to the steadiness of a person’s gaze, to judge a subject’s state of mind. But there are major differences from the polygraph. FAST relies on non-contact sensors, so it can measure indicators as someone walks…
Was A Furby Threat to National Security?
A blast from the past. CNN reported back in 1999…
Can the cute, popular toy Furby be a threat to national security? The government thinks so, and has banned it from National Security Agency premises in Maryland.
Furby is embedded with a computer chip that allows it to record words. Because of that ability, NSA officials were worried “that people would take them home and they’d start talking classified,” one Capitol Hill source told The Washington Post.
In a warning to employees, the NSA said, “Personally owned photographic, video and audio recording equipment are prohibited items. This includes toys, such as ‘Furbys,’ with built-in recorders that repeat the audio with synthesized sound to mimic the original signal.”
“We are prohibited from introducing these items into NSA spaces. Those who have should contact their Staff Security Office for guidance,” a memo said.
U.S. Warns Of Zombie Apocalypse
Hard to believe that this is a real communication from the U.S. Centers for Disease Control, but it is! From the official CDC blog:
There are all kinds of emergencies out there that we can prepare for. Take a zombie apocalypse for example. That’s right, I said z-o-m-b-i-e a-p-o-c-a-l-y-p-s-e. You may laugh now, but when it happens you’ll be happy you read this, and hey, maybe you’ll even learn a thing or two about how to prepare for a real emergency.
A Brief History of Zombies
We’ve all seen at least one movie about flesh-eating zombies taking over (my personal favorite is Resident Evil), but where do zombies come from and why do they love eating brains so much? The word zombie comes from Haitian and New Orleans voodoo origins. Although its meaning has changed slightly over the years, it refers to a human corpse mysteriously reanimated to serve the undead. Through ancient voodoo…
A Baby Gets a TSA Patdown (Photo)
Cynthia Newsome reports on NBC KSHB-TV
KANSAS CITY, Missouri— A photo of two Transportation Security Administration agents doing a full pat down on a baby, approximately 8 months old, has gone viral.
It happened at the Kansas City International Airport.
A passenger, Jacob Jester, captured the image on his cell phone. Since he tweeted the picture on Saturday, it has had more than 200,000 hits.
The photo shows the helpless baby being held up in the air by his mother while the TSA workers do their job. Jester has an 8-month-old son and would not want his son to be subjected to a hand search by TSA agents.
U.S. Homeland Security Changes Color Coded Terror Alert
From Peter Fedynsky at Voice Of America:
The United States is adopting a new terror alert system to replace the color-coded one put into place after the 2001 terrorist attacks on New York and Washington. Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano made the announcement Wednesday in New York’s Grand Central railway station. The new system is set to go into effect on April 26.
Secretary Napolitano told reporters that most Americans have ignored current alert system, while some have lived in fear because of it.
“We don’t want people to live in fear; we want people to live in a state of alertness and awareness,” said Secretary Napolitano. “And we want people to know how they can help themselves, how they can assist their community. One way to do that is to provide people with more information.”
Napolitano noted that the new National Threat Advisory System minimizes, but does not eliminate, the risk of terrorist attacks…
The Muslim ‘Radicalization’ Myth Debunked
Justin Elliot at Salon.com talks with the author of a report from the Brennan Center for Justice on the difference between Peter King’s hysterical homeland security hearings and actual work to combat terrorism:
When Rep. Peter King’s controversial hearing on Muslim “radicalization” finally convened on Thursday, members of Congress had the opportunity to take some good shots at each other, and the relatives of two Americans who became extremists gave emotional testimony about their experiences.
What the hearing did not feature was any serious, evidence-based consideration of the actual issue of so-called homegrown terrorism by Muslim Americans.
King and other Republicans spent a lot of time going after the Muslim group CAIR and defending themselves from Democratic complaints that the hearing was bigoted. As TPM put it: “Peter King Hearing Focuses On Whether Peter King Hearing Was a Good Idea.”
As it turns out, there is rigorous academic work being done on the “radicalization” issue. The Brennan…
Congressman Peter King Resurrects McCarthyism: This Time Around the “Communists” are Muslim
Aaron Cynic writes at Diatribe Media:
Peter King’s brand new version of the HUAC hearings and the glory days of the McCarthy era is set to begin Thursday, when King will hold hearings deciding whether or not American Muslims have been “radicalized.” King told CNN’s State of the Union “We’re talking about the affiliates of Al Qaeda who have been radicalizing, and there’s been self-radicalization going on within the Muslim community, within a very small minority, but it’s there. And that’s where the threat is coming from at this time.”
King justified his witch hunt, titled “The Extent of Radicalization in the American Muslim Community and that Community’s Response” by citing three terrorist incidents in the U.S. instances involving Muslims – the tragic shooting at Fort Hood in 2009 and two bomb plots in New York. King said “People in this country are being self-radicalized, whether it’s Major Hasan or whether it’s Shahzad or…
$1.2 Trillion: The Real Cost of U.S. National Security
Christopher Hellman writes on TomDispatch.com:
So the big week is here as the federal budget heads for the Washington operating table. The question in the media will be: to shut or not to shut the government down — and whether that shutdown is likely to happen now, two weeks from now, or in the spring when raising the debt ceiling comes up for debate. In the meantime, the new Republican majority in the House of Representatives is intent on taking out fuel subsidies for the poor, federal funding for Planned Parenthood, money for National Public Radio and the Public Broadcasting System, and the Maternal and Child Health Block Grant that “supports state-based prenatal care programs and services for children with special needs,” among many other programs, but not (as New York Times columnist Gail Collins pointed out recently) the millions of dollars the U.S. Army sinks into its “relationship” with NASCAR. The House voted down a proposal to eliminate that program…
US Government Accidentally Shuts Down 84,000 Websites
Photo: Zapyon (CC)
What happens when the government is given an internet kill switch? They accidentally shut down 84,000 websites whose identity they’ve mistaken during a child porn raid. Daily Tech reports:
In evidence of the dangers of the U.S. government’s increasing “kill switch” powers regarding web servers inside the U.S., the Department of Justice and Homeland Security’s ICE last week essentially shut down 84,000 sites in a case of mistaken identity.
The shutdowns targeted mooo.com, the most popular shared domain at free web service provider FreeDNS. FreeDNS is a free domain service that is immensely popular among file sharers, blogs, small businesses, and other independent operators. Its homepage is afraid.org.
With the mooo.com shutdown last Friday, the ICE accidentally shut down 84,000 subdomain pages. The pages were all redirected to a banner that stated “Advertisement, distribution, transportation, receipt, and possession of child pornography constitute federal crimes that carry penalties for first time offenders of up to 30 years…
Preparing America For ‘See Something, Say Something’
The “If You See Something, Say Something” campaign that’s so familiar to New Yorkers is going where no New Yorker can: Walmart. Scaring the crap out of middle America appears to be a priority for the U.S. Department of Homeland Security, reaching into formerly safe havens such as the Mall of America.
With that in mind, a group of independent filmmakers from New York have created a short film entitled Terminal Night that should help get the rest of America in the mood for the constant vigilance demanded of them by Janet Napoletano and the gang at DOHS.
Homeland Security Ends Color Coded Threat Warnings
But how are they going to scare us into accepting their latest unconstitutional PATRIOT Act-like dismantling of the Constitution without telling us we’re on orange alert all the time?!? From CNN:
The much-maligned, color-coded Homeland Security Advisory System is about to be consigned to the proverbial dustbin of history.
Not that anyone is really paying attention.
Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano is expected to announce Thursday that the almost 9-year-old threat alert system will go away in April. It will be replaced by the new National Terror Advisory System that will focus on specific threats in geographical areas, a department source said Wednesday.
The source did not provide details of the new system, which Napolitano will unveil at what the department is calling “the first annual ‘State of America’s Homeland Security’ address” at George Washington University.
The top Democrat and Republican on the House Homeland Security Commission reacted positively to the news, although committee chairman…
Hands Off “The Body”: Jesse Ventura Sues The TSA
“The Body” wants Homeland Security and its tag team partner TSA to step into the ring. Caroline Black reports on CBS News’ Crimesider:
Jesse Ventura, former Minnesota governor and professional wrestler, sued the Department of Homeland Security and the Transportation Security Administration Monday, claiming full-body scans and pat-down at airport checkpoints violate his right to be free from unreasonable searches and seizures.
Ventura who was known as “The Body” during his tenure as a wrestler is asking a federal judge in Minnesota to issue an injunction ordering officials to stop subjecting his body to “warrantless and suspicionless” scans and searches.
Janet Napolitano, Homeland Security Secretary, and John Pistole, TSA Administrator, are named as defendants in the lawsuit which argues that searches are “unwarranted and unreasonable intrusions on Governor Ventura’s personal privacy and dignity and are a justifiable cause for him to be concerned for his personal health and well-being.”
Brad Meltzer, Red Cell Secret Agent
Brad Meltzer. Photo: Jackie Merri Meyer (CC)
There must be a new editor at the Daily News these days as the crazy stories keep flowing. This one’s authored by novelist and putative History Channel TV star Brad Meltzer, with a healthy dose of sensationalism no doubt timed to promote his new novel, The Inner Circle:
I was a real-life secret agent. I didn’t have the hand-grenade cuff links or the poison-dart pen, but in 2004 I was recruited by the Department of Homeland Security for its Red Cell program.
As they described it – and as The Washington Post later reported – Red Cell was the government’s way of trying to anticipate how terrorists would next attack the United States. To do that, the government brought together what they called “out-of-the-box thinkers.”
As a novelist who writes thrillers with scenes that take place in the underground tunnel below the White House, I was somehow identified as one of…
Lingerie-Clad Woman Who Protested TSA Pat-Downs At OKC Airport Banned From Flying (Video)
I say the reason she was/is banned is because it’s a frakin’ Cylon! These are not the movement of a human being.
But this time she was wearing all her clothes, so … via NewsOn6:
OKLAHOMA CITY — The woman who made national headlines for her near-naked protest at the airport in Oklahoma City is back and once again banned from flying. A YouTube video put Tammy Banovac in the national spotlight. Banovac says she went through security wearing next-to-nothing, to protest new security rules at airports nationwide. Banovac was back at the Will Rogers Airport Tuesday and once again, security says she can’t board her flight back home to Phoenix.
Rape Victim Arrested for Refusing To Be Groped By TSA at Austin Airport (Video)
Via KVUE News:
The TSA Let a Loaded Gun Get on an Airplane (Video)
Kevin Quinn reports for ABC KTRK-TV:
HOUSTON (KTRK) — TSA checkpoints at airports are at the front lines of preventing terrorism. When you go through security, you expect to be scanned and searched. And you expect TSA to prevent contraband from getting on planes, but as we’ve learned, that doesn’t always happen.
Houston businessman Farid Seif says it was a startling discovery. He didn’t intend to bring a loaded gun on a flight out of Houston and can’t understand how TSA screeners didn’t catch it.
Nearing the height of last year’s Christmas travel season, TSA screeners at Bush Intercontinental Airport somehow missed a loaded pistol, one that was tucked away inside a carry-on computer bag. “I mean, this is not a small gun,” Seif said. “It’s a .40 caliber gun.”
Who Else Will Congressman Peter King Investigate?
Aaron Cynic writes at Diatribe Media:
According to a recent New York Times article, Representative Peter King, incoming head of the House Homeland Security Committee, will open a Congressional inquiry into the “radicalization” of America’s Muslim community.
As Justin Elliott at Salon points out, King himself gave material support (fundraising), a crime that can land any American citizen in Gitmo, to the IRA back in the 80’s. In fact, he only broke ties with the organization back in 2005.
I wonder then, if part of King’s investigation will concern other prominent U.S. citizens who helped other Foreign Terrorist Organizations, such as those who worked on Operation Cyclone, the CIA operation which armed and trained the mujahideen (two splinter groups are currently designated FTO’s) during the Soviet war in Afghanistan, many members of which went on to join Al-Qaeda.
