Well I Certainly Feel Safer

FoxNews is reporting that TSA has changed its policies and now only Senior TSA officials will be allowed to pat-down three-year olds. Muslim women however, will only be be subjected to a pat-down around the head and neck areas and will not be using the full-body scan method because it violates their religious beliefs. No word on who gets to fondle the nuns and your grandmother.

You know what violates MY religious beliefs? Killing innocent people in the name of pedophile prophet.

From Eric Erickson at Redstate

Erick has an update to this article that basically verifies that YES the story is true and YES Erick knows this individual.

Another TSA Outrage

As the Chalk Leader for my flight home from Afghanistan, I witnessed the following:

When we were on our way back from Afghanistan, we flew out of Baghram Air Field. We went through customs at BAF, full body scanners (no groping), had all of our bags searched, the whole nine yards.

Our first stop was Shannon, Ireland to refuel. After that, we had to stop at Indianapolis, Indiana to drop off about 100 folks from the Indiana National Guard. That’s where the stupid started.

First, everyone was forced to get off the plane–even though the plane wasn’t refueling again. All 330 people got off that plane, rather than let the 100 people from the ING get off. We were filed from the plane to a holding area. No vending machines, no means of escape. Only a male/female latrine.

It’s probably important to mention that we were ALL carrying weapons. Everyone was carrying an M4 Carbine (rifle) and some, like me, were also carrying an M9 pistol. Oh, and our gunners had M-240B machine guns. Of course, the weapons weren’t loaded. And we had been cleared of all ammo well before we even got to customs at Baghram, then AGAIN at customs.

The TSA personnel at the airport seriously considered making us unload all of the baggage from the SECURE cargo hold to have it reinspected. Keep in mind, this cargo had been unpacked, inspected piece by piece by U.S. Customs officials, resealed and had bomb-sniffing dogs give it a one-hour run through. After two hours of sitting in this holding area, the TSA decided not to reinspect our Cargo–just to inspect us again: Soldiers on the way home from war, who had already been inspected, reinspected and kept in a SECURE holding area for 2 hours. Ok, whatever. So we lined up to go through security AGAIN.

This is probably another good time to remind you all that all of us were carrying actual assault rifles, and some of us were also carrying pistols.

So we’re in line, going through one at a time. One of our Soldiers had his Gerber multi-tool. TSA confiscated it. Kind of ridiculous, but it gets better. A few minutes later, a guy empties his pockets and has a pair of nail clippers. Nail clippers. TSA informs the Soldier that they’re going to confiscate his nail clippers. The conversation went something like this:

TSA Guy: You can’t take those on the plane.

Soldier: What? I’ve had them since we left country.

TSA Guy: You’re not suppose to have them.

Soldier: Why?

TSA Guy: They can be used as a weapon.

Soldier: [touches butt stock of the rifle] But this actually is a weapon. And I’m allowed to take it on.

TSA Guy: Yeah but you can’t use it to take over the plane. You don’t have bullets.

Soldier: And I can take over the plane with nail clippers?

TSA Guy: [awkward silence]

Me: Dude, just give him your damn nail clippers so we can get the f**k out of here. I’ll buy you a new set.

Soldier: [hands nail clippers to TSA guy, makes it through security]

This might be a good time to remind everyone that approximately 233 people re-boarded that plane with assault rifles, pistols, and machine guns–but nothing that could have been used as a weapon.

Where does TSA get their applicants? Is there a test for determnining extra-stupid?
Do these people need to be told to get dressed before they leave their house?

New TSA Screening Procedures

Hug A Jew Airport Terror Screen Tech

An Illusion of Security; Pelosi Says Drop Dead

TODAY'S WASHINGTON EXAMINER EDITORIAL SECTION HIGHLIGHTS

Time for reporters covering Obamacare to show some cojones
Examiner Editorial
"The last thing Reid and Pelosi want is the spectacle of the Capitol Hill Police dragging protesting journalists away from the closed doors. It's time to show some cojones, people."

Pelosi to public, C-SPAN: Drop Dead!
Mark Tapscott, Examiner Columnist
"Besides, she added threateningly, 'we will do what is necessary to pass this bill.' In other words, stay the hell out of her way."

Abolish TSA as we know it
David Freddoso, Examiner Columnist
"In order to provide an illusion of security, we have made air travel impractical for nearly any trip that is less than a full day's drive."

TSA handcuffs dangerous man at Seattle Airport

We are in the very, very, best of hands.......

Michael Yon, America's premier independent war reporter and genuine hero was arrested (as per any definition I can find) by our The Stupid Agency aka America's Security Theater troop.
From his Facebook Page:

Got arrested at the Seattle airport for refusing to say how much money I make. (The uniformed ones say I was not "arrested", but they definitely handcuffed me.)

Michelle Malkin and Mudville Gazette are both on the story. Gateway Pundit even has a follow up from Michael Yon.

Of course, Laughing Wolf lets us know what he thinks about it....

Heritage Morning Bell - Does Zero Realize We Are At War?

Does Obama Realize We Are at War Yet?

Refusing to interrupt his Hawaiian golf vacation for almost three full days after the Flight 253 attack, President Barack Obama finally emerged on December 28th to assure the American people that Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab was “an isolated extremist” and that he had already “been charged with attempting to destroy an aircraft.” Continuing to treat the incident like a common law enforcement problem Obama referred to Abdulmutallab as the “suspect” five times and promised he would “not rest until we find all who were involved and hold them accountable.”

Perhaps Obama should have stayed on the links for another 24 hours, because by yesterday it had become exceedingly clear that Abdulmutallab was in no conceivable way “isolated” and was instead very much part of al Qaeda’s larger war on the United States. Here’s what we know so far:

• According to CBS News, as early as August of 2009 the Central Intelligence Agency was picking up information on a person of interest dubbed “The Nigerian,” suspected of meeting with “terrorist elements” in Yemen.
• According to the Wall Street Journal, the father of Mr. Abdulmutallab warned the CIA of his son’s likely radicalization at the U.S. embassy in Abuja, Nigeria. That led to a broader gathering of agencies the next day, including the Department of Homeland Security, the Federal Bureau of Investigation and the State Department, in which the information was shared.
• According to CNN, information on Abdulmutallab, including his passport number and possible connection to extremists, had been sent to CIA headquarters in Langley, Virginia, but it sat there for five weeks and was not disseminated.
• Also according to the Wall Street Journal, the National Security Agency who had been monitoring former Guantanamo detainees in Yemen had communications intercepts suggesting a Nigerian was being prepped for a terror strike by al Qaeda operatives in that country.
• And the Washington Post reports that not only did the British government reject an Abdulmutallab visa application this May, but that British Home Secretary Alan Johnson said that U.S. officials should have been told about the rejection and that he believes they were.
  

Faced with this preponderance of evidence that Abdulmutallab did not act alone President Obama finally admitted yesterday that “a systemic failure has occurred. And I consider that totally unacceptable.” It may have taken Obama four full days to reach this conclusion, after both White House Press Secretary Robert Gibbs and Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano spent all of Sunday trying to convince the American people that “the system worked”, but his belated acknowledgment of the seriousness of the situation is welcome.Also belatedly welcome is the acknowledgment that al Qaeda is a major force in Yemen that must be dealt with carefully.

The Washington Post describes al Qaeda in Yemen as a ”major new threat to the United States,” but there is nothing new about it. In fact, al-Qaeda’s first terrorist attack against Americans came in Yemen, the ancestral homeland of Osama bin Laden’s father, who had migrated to neighboring Saudi Arabia before the birth of the al-Qaeda leader.

In December 1992, bin Laden’s followers bombed a hotel in Yemen that was used by U.S. military personnel involved in supporting the humanitarian food relief flights to Somalia. And in October 2000, seventeen American sailors on board the USS Cole, were killed in an al-Qaeda bombing in the harbor of Aden, Yemen’s main port.

The Obama administration must stop thinking of al Qaeda and Abdulmutallab as mere criminals. Obama’s blindness to Abdulmutallab’s al Qaeda connections and his insistence on calling him a “suspect” in the “alleged” bombing is the same mindset dictating Obama’s decision to send Khalid Sheikh Mohammed and four other terrorists to New York for a civilian trial in federal court. Hopefully this incident will prod Obama into revisiting that historically bad decision.

What Exactly "Worked"?

Family Security Matters

What exactly “worked?”
An expert source close to FSM breaks down the AP article that describes Napolitano’s claim of success:

quote:

1. "Homeland security head: The security system worked"

Nothing we did prevented that plane from being blown up. This was a case of a bad guy fumbling the ball on the one yard line through the end zone for a touchback. If the security system worked, then the system STINKS. Either Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab's detonator was bad or else it was a case of "you need to be smarter than the equipment you're using" and he screwed up. But if not for their screw-up, we'd have had a U.S. airliner blown up and crashing over a populated area on Christmas with hundreds killed.

quote:

2. "The father of the man accused of attempting to blow up the jetliner told U.S. officials in Nigeria he was concerned about his son's extreme religious views. However, Napolitano says there was no specific information to place Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab on a no-fly list."

This is a byproduct of refusing to recognize the religious component integral to the enemies we face. The fact that the father informed us that his son was a Jihadi wasn't enough for our PC system to keep him out of the U.S. This is the modern-day equivalent to allowing members of the SS into America because their membership in the SS was not sufficient specific information to exclude them.

quote:

3. Napolitano says that within 60 to 90 minutes of the incident all 120 flights that were in the air at time were contacted to make sure the attempted bombing did not extend beyond the flight to Detroit.

How were those other air crews supposed to know? Did they announce over the intercom, "Any terrorists on board with an explosive device strapped to your crotch, please raise your hand"?

Ace of Spades wonders

… what the hell it's going to look like when the system doesn't work, by the Obama Administration's lights. If this is what they deem a "success," Good Lord in Heaven, I tremble for what will come that provokes them to concede "mistakes were made."

If Napolitano is going to make such idiotic claims as “the system worked” when it clearly failed, then no American should take to the skies until she has resigned. And the sooner the better.

Security Theater

Security Theater. What a great name for what occurs in our nation's airports. I saw it in action when National Guardsmen were assigned to airports with M-16's. To do.....what? Shoot whom? Fire high powered armor piercing rounds in a crowded area against what target?
It was all a sham to "make the public feel safe."

While traveling on active duty, I was never pulled out for secondary attention while traveling alone, if I used my driver's license for ID. But every time I used my military ID, I was pulled out of line for more attention. Hmmmm....could it be that I was, then, a known law-abiding citizen that would not cause problems, yet I filled a quota of passengers that had to be checked? We'll never know.

Jeffery Goldberg broke the law. He broke the law many, many times. He admits it. And proved that the TSA is a failure:

Airport security in America is a sham—“security theater” designed to make travelers feel better and catch stupid terrorists. Smart ones can get through security with fake boarding passes and all manner of prohibited items—as our correspondent did with ease.

“Counter­terrorism in the airport is a show designed to make people feel better,” he said. “Only two things have made flying safer: the reinforcement of cockpit doors, and the fact that passengers know now to resist hijackers.”

Read this and feel safe that the same people that designed THIS system now want to run the financial systems and take over the medical systems of the USA.

Don't you feel safer?