August, 2018, Part 1, Political Class Insanity: A Chinese Spy In The Senate and Idiots At The TSA

It is another month which means it is again time to review the latest political class insanity from Washington and around the world. Political class insanity takes many forms including the wasting of taxpayer wealth, criminal fraud within government programs, inane and stupid political quotes and actions, the inability to create and implement effective and efficient government programs, stupid and ill performing economic policies and strategies, and other forms of insanity that continue to evolve and surprise and shock us.

Let’s get started:

1) Democrats and liberals in Washington and across the country have been vigorously pushing the concept that somehow Trump and the Russians are colluding together to rule the country and rule the world. The concepts and theories have grown to ridiculous proportions and none of them seem to have a grain of truth to them. Special prosecutor Robert Mueller has been looking for a smoking gun for well over a year, having wasted millions and millions of dollars in a fruitless search.

Which makes the following REALITY of what actually has happened to a major Democratic Senator even more ironic. According to various news sources including the San Francisco Chronicle and the left leaning Politico:

• Apparently, California Senator Dianne Feinstein’s personal driver for about 20 years was actually a spy for the Chinese government.
• The employee/spy was not only her personal driver but did office tasks, was a liaison to the Asian-American community, and attended Chinese government consulate events on her behalf, a reality that certainly made reporting to his handlers quite easy.
• The FBI finally told her about the spy about five years ago, catching her totally off guard, with her reportedly being “mortified” this was happening.
• Jeff Harp, a former FBI agent, was interviewed about the issue by a local TV station, KPIX 5: "Think about Diane Feinstein and what she had access to. One, she had access to the Chinese community here in San Francisco; great amount of political influence. Two, correct me if I’m wrong, Dianne Feinstein still has very close ties to the intelligence committees there in Washington, D.C. They also have an interest in the economy here. How to get political influence here. What’s being developed in Silicon Valley that has dual-use technology. All of that is tied to the Bay Area."

Great, Democrats worrying about and wasting time and taxpayer wealth on something Trump probably did not do and being oblivious to a real spy scandal in their own house. Pathetic. 

It also brings into question of how effective, or ineffective, the FBI was in this whole matter. It took them 20 years to figure out there was a Chinese spying working closely with a major U.S. Senator. Also pathetic.

2) We have never been big fans of the TSA. They always seem to rank up there as one of the most corrupt, inept, and expensive government agencies that we have. Their sole purpose is to protect the traveling public and the way and how they do that is often laughable and stupid.

Which is why this next discussion just adds to their insanity:

• According to an Independent Journal Review article by Madison Summers on August 2, 2018, the TSA is considering discontinuing doing airport security screenings at some of the smaller airports across the country.
• The logic, or illogic, is that the TSA wants to focus its security efforts only on larger airports.
• About 150 smaller sized airports that serve planes with 60 seats or fewer would see their TSA security processes shut down.

Totally insane. Obviously, terrorists and other nut ball cases would immediately use these now unprotected airports for their terrorist and criminal activities. Glen Winn, an airline security expert with over 30 years industry experience told Fox News: “I find that unbelievable, totally beyond comprehension.”

Look, like I said above, we have never been a big fan of the competence of the TSA. But under no set of assumptions can I figure out why this is a good idea. Is the TSA that stupid to think that terrorists and criminals will ignore the opportunity to bring down smaller jets, killing dozens of Americans in the process? Are they that stupid to think that terrorists only want to bring down bigger planes? Insanity.

3) Let’s stay with the TSA to again confirm why the logic process and strategic thinking of this agency is defective in other areas of its domain, not just whether or not it should protect Americans traveling via smaller airports. Consider a recent article by Bob Barr, former Congressman and former Libertarian candidate for President:

• The TSA maintains a list of suspicious actions that could indicate that you are a terrorist when you travel, which on the surface seems like a good thing to have.
• But if your Adam’s apple bobs too much, if you sweat too much, if you glance out the window too much, or if you visit the bathroom more than once, you are now considered a terrorist suspect by the TSA.
• These innocent actions are part of the TSA’s “Quiet Skies” program and the list of suspicious activities is not limited to the above examples.
• So if you have a medical condition that causes you to sweat excessively or need to go to the bathroom more than normal, or if, heaven forbid, your Adam’s apple bobbles, the TSA is watching you. 
• Mr. Barr provided no evidence that any of these actions are based on any science or experience or if they have captured a sweaty terrorist, probably because no evidence exists. Keep in mind that before anyone gets to an airport gate, their luggage and their carryons, their body, their personal history has been already checked for terrorism tendencies and realities. 
• Checking bodily fluids at this point in time is likely useless and dangerous from a Fourth Amendment perspective as Mr. Barr lays out: “When passengers are “watched” surreptitiously by government agents, or by airline employees at the behest of those agents, what information is noted, in what form is it collected, where is it maintained, and for how long? Might a law-abiding, but excessively nervous passenger find himself unwittingly on a watch list; a list that becomes part of a vast database of information subject to algorithmic manipulation that might show up in the future as a flag identifying the individual as untrustworthy, or perhaps even unfit to purchase a firearm or engage in other endeavors? These are not crazy, hypothetical questions; and citizens have a right to know whether, how, why and to what extent, their movements are being surveilled and cataloged by government agents simply because they have decided to travel by air.”

So very well said. A high risk of privacy and Fourth Amendment right violations with little upside from a security perspective. Insane.

That will do it for today’s political class insanity update: a Chinese spy in the Senate and idiots at the TSA, sounds about right. More insanity to come.

Our book, "Love My Country, Loathe My Government - Fifty First Steps To Restoring Our Freedom And Destroying The American Political Class" is now available at:

www.loathemygovernment.com

It is also available online at Amazon and Barnes and Noble. Please pass our message of freedom onward. Let your friends and family know about our websites and blogs, ask your library to carry the book, and respect freedom for both yourselves and others everyday.

Please visit the following sites for freedom:

Term Limits Now: http://www.howmuchworsecoulditget.com
http://www.reason.com
http://www.cato.org
http://www.bankruptingamerica.org
http://www.conventionofstates.com
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=08j0sYUOb5w

TSA Horror Update, Part 2: How TSA Really Operates

Yesterday we did a review of the latest antics and outrages from the Transportation Safety Administration (TSA), the Federal entity that is supposed to keep airline traveling Americans safe. We learned that the organization failed to detect a fake bomb being smuggled onto a plane even though the undercover agent received a security patdown.

We learned that TSA decided it would be a good idea to update their agents uniforms despite an almost $17 TRILLION national debt and the fact that the $50 million wardrobe update would include buying the new uniforms from Mexican companies.

We learned that TSA security procedures were so slow and so bad that at least 11 individuals with real criminal backgrounds were given clearance passes to supposedly secure airport locations.

And to our amusement, we found out that a U.S. Senator is much like most Americans when she was made “uncomfortable” by a hand patdown by TSA agent at an airport gate when her hands registered a suspicious substance.

We concluded yesterday’s post with two suggestion on how fix the incompetence and better protect the traveling public. Very scary, very disgraceful behavior by a poorly performing government agency.

If you thought yesterday’s stories were harrowing, today will be even worse. The following paragraphs are lifted verbatim from a March 10, 2013 New York Post article. Rather than trying to summarize the contents of the article, I thought it better to read exactly what the article says since it is the a behind-the-scenes description of how the TSA actually operates, given by a former TSA employee from Newark Airport.

Newark Airport was where the fake bomb undercover operation took place, the operation where TSA screeners did not identify a fake bomb during security screening. I cannot say that this gentleman’s experience are true or if he is exaggerating the problems. However, given our previous research and writing on this topic, I would probably bet that most, if no all, of what he describes is pretty close to reality.

According to the Post article, the ex-TSA screener calls the TSA polices silly and that lazy workers do little to stop real terrorist and violent threats to Americans:

*********************************

A LOT of what we do is make-believe.

I’ve had to screen small children and explain to their parents I had no choice but to “check” them. I would only place my hands on their arms and bottom half of their legs, and the entire “pat-down” lasted 10 seconds. This goes completely against TSA procedure.

Because the cameras are recording our every move, we have to do something. If someone isn’t checked or even screened properly, the entire terminal would shut down, as this constitutes a security breach.

But since most TSA supervisors are too daft to actually supervise, bending the rules is easy to do.

Did you know you don’t need a high-school diploma or GED to work as a security screener? These are the same screeners that TSA chief John Pistole and Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano refer to as a first-class first line of defense in the war on terror.

These are the employees who could never keep a job in the private sector. I wouldn’t trust them to walk my dog.

An agent got through Newark last week with an improvised explosive device? That’s not even news to anyone who works there. It happens all the time. The failure rate is pretty high, especially with federal investigators, and the pat-down itself is ridiculous. As invasive as it is, you still can’t find anything using the back of your hand on certain areas.

When there are internal tests, conducted by the Newark training department, it’s easy to cheat because they use our co-workers. You could be working with someone all morning, and then they’re gone. Word gets around the checkpoint. Someone will come over to you and say, “Hey, it’s Joe. He’s got a blue duffel bag.”

What are the chances of you being on a flight where something happens? We always said it’s not a question of if terrorists get through — it’s a question of when. Our feeling is nothing’s happened because they haven’t wanted it to happen. We’re not any big deterrent. It’s all for show.

A real pat-down is when a police officer pulls you over, uses his hands to search, actually goes into your clothes. We have to use the back of our hands around certain areas. It just doesn’t work. It’s a really bad way to pat somebody down.

If I had to guess, I’m sure lots of things get through. One screener told me about something he did going through security when he went on vacation. Let’s just say the screeners did not catch something that was really obvious to anyone who was paying attention.

Most TSA screeners know their job is a complete joke. Their goal is to use this as a stepping stone to another government agency.

We work in a culture where common sense has no place. All but a very few TSA personnel know they’re employed by a bottom-of-the-barrel agency.

Our first question to anyone in a wheelchair is to ask if they’re able to stand for a pat-down. If someone is in a wheelchair, he likely can’t stand. Even when they’re sitting, we’re required to ask them to move so we can check under their buttocks.

All I needed was for a passenger to fall over because I asked them to stand. And if that did happen, the screener would be vilified and the official p.r. spin would be that he needed “additional training.” Every time you read about a TSA horror story, it’s usually about a screener doing what he or she is instructed to do.

Supervisors play absolutely no role in day-to-day functions except to tell you not to chew gum. Gum chewing is a huge issue with management. I once saw a supervisor make an officer open his mouth to prove he had a mint and not a piece of gum.

Goofing off and half-hour-long bathroom breaks are the only way to break up the monotony. There is also a lot of ogling of female passengers by the male screeners. So, ladies, cover up when you get to the airport. These guys are checking you out constantly.

A small number of screeners are delusional zealots who believe they’re keeping America safe by taking your snow globe, your 2-inch pocket knife, your 4-ounce bottle of shampoo and performing invasive pat-downs on your kids.

(Incidentally, the flap over the new rule allowing small pocketknives is overblown. Most of the public doesn’t realize it, but you are already allowed to bring scissors, screwdrivers, tweezers, knitting needles and any number of sharp instruments on board.)

The rest are only there for the paycheck and generous benefits. Screeners start at $15 per hour, and there is tons of overtime — mainly because they are filling in for the many screeners who don’t bother coming to work. For every 40 hours you work, you receive four hours of vacation and four hours of sick time.

One screener didn’t come to work for four weeks. When he finally reappeared, he asked for another week off. The answer was no. So what did this brainiac decide to do? He took another week off — and didn’t get terminated.

People have been caught falling asleep on the job. They get written up, it’s put in their file, and that’s it.

New hires see how bad it is working there, and, believe it or not, TSA does manage to hire some pretty decent people. They just don’t last because they can get a normal job.

It’s the people who’ve been there a good number of years who could never find employment elsewhere. When you have a real job, it usually means you have to actually work and think, which a lot of them have a hard time doing.

Anyone boarding an aircraft should feel maybe only a teeny tiny bit safer than if there were no TSA at all.

*****************************

Let’s review some of the descriptions that were used to describe the worker environment within the TSA:

• Supervisors are too daft to actually supervise.
• Bending the rules is easy to do.
• Failure rate is pretty high.
• We’re not any big deterrent.
• It’s all for show.
• Lots of things get through.
• Their job is a complete joke.
• Gum chewing is a huge issue for management.
• People have been caught sleeping on the job.

Scary, scary stuff. Incompetent people managed by incompetent management, all doing an incompetent job of protecting Americans. And everyone knows about the situation, except all but one member of Congress (Senator McCaskill) which probably explains why the situation is never addressed, failures are never fired, and taxpayer wealth is constantly wasted for an illusion of safety and security.

This is a disaster waiting to happen, a disaster that will not be pretty and which would have been totally avoidable if our two suggestions from yesterday’s post had been implemented:

1) The United States is one of the few countries in the world where the government operates almost every aspect of airport security. Most countries do it far better than us by using outside experts and companies that are professionals, not government employees. And we have previously discussed the fact that when some domestic airports have used private, professional security firms, the results have been much more efficient, save, and less expensive, as proven by the private/Federal Screening Partnership Program:

http://loathemygovernment.blogspot.com/2011/06/transportation-security-adminstration.html

2) TSA continues to be a great example of why Step 34 from “Love My Country, Loathe My Government” is so desperately needed. Step 34 would remove all Congressional committee members from committees that do not adequately do their job. In this case, we have known for a long time what Senator McCaskill has just found out: TSA is a bloated, ineffective, and fourth amendment rights destroying government bureaucracy.

Until these two steps are executed, I think I’ll drive.

Our book, "Love My Country, Loathe My Government - Fifty First Steps To Restoring Our Freedom And Destroying The American Political Class" is now available at:

www.loathemygovernment.com

It is also available online at Amazon and Barnes and Noble. Please pass our message of freedom onward. Let your friends and family know about our websites and blogs, ask your library to carry the book, and respect freedom for both yourselves and others everyday.

Please visit the following sites for freedom:

http://www.reason.com/
http://www.cato.org/
http://www.robertringer.com/
http://realpolichick.blogspot.com
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=08j0sYUOb5w
 

More TSA Horror Stories, Part 1: A Senator Gets Groped, Fake Bombs Get Through, But The New Uniforms Are Marvelous

The Transportation Safety Administration has always been a fertile ground for material used in this blog. They have shown over the years to be one of the most incompetent, wasteful, useless, and freedom destroying Federal government organizations across just about any measure. Some of the previous posts that were dedicated to their insanity included the following:

http://loathemygovernment.blogspot.com/2011/06/transportation-security-adminstration.html

http://loathemygovernment.blogspot.com/2012/10/november-2012-political-class-insanity.html

http://loathemygovernment.blogspot.com/2012/05/wasteful-government-spending-week-tsa.html

These are just a small subset of TSA screw ups from the past few years. You can use the search feature in the upper left corner of this blog to search other mishaps and affronts to the American traveling public.

Today’s blog will be devoted to a review of the latest shenanigans from the TSA, the organization that keeps on giving when it comes to incompetence:

1) We have already covered this first bit of recent TSA news but wanted to do it again. In the light of shutting down White House tours because of the budget sequester, an annual cost of under $1 million, the TSA announced that it was spending $50 million to retrofit the uniforms that TSA officers wear while on the job.

Call me silly but it seems that the current uniforms did the job quite well and that the $50 million unnecessarily spent on new uniforms would have been much better spent keeping the White House tours function going for the next fifty years. And to add insult to injury, news reports are now reporting that the new uniforms will be purchased from a company in Mexico and thus, the $50 million will not even be used to help the U.S. economy, the wealth will be sent to Mexico.

2) The New York Post recently ran an article that reported on a major TSA screw up involving an undercover TSA agent that was able to smuggle a fake bomb onto an airliner despite going through two TSA security checks. Unbelievably, one of the security checks included an actual pat down from TSA employees who failed to detect the fake bomb.

This failure comes on the heels of a recent announcement that TSA agents will no longer worry about passengers bringing small knives onto airplanes, another bit of insanity in itself. The justification for allowing small knives to be carried onto airplanes is that it will allow TSA screeners to concentrate on more dangerous materials like say, bombs!

So now, taking these two news stories together, TSA will allow sharp objects onto planes AND not be able to detect bombs even given their increased focus. No thanks, I’ll drive to my destination. I remember that the 9-11 hijackers/terrorists were able to carry out their death and destruction without bombs but with small sharp instruments. Has the TSA forgotten that reality?

3) A recent report from the Department of Homeland Security’s Inspector General’s office had some more bad news on TSA incompetence. According to the Inspector General’s research, TSA allowed airports to issue security badges to employees without conducting Federally required background checks between April 20 and June 1 of 2012 because the TSA had a heavy backlog of security checks work yet to be done.

As a result of their incompetence, the airports issued security badges to at least 11 individuals with criminal backgrounds that allowed these past criminals easy access to secure areas of U.S. airports, i.e. allowed unescorted access to secured areas of airports. The investigation concluded that there still may be individuals with criminal records who are working in secured areas of airports.

Let’s review: members of the Federal government, including some in Congress, want all law abiding citizens to go through extensive background checks before they can use their Second Amendment rights to purchase a gun. But other parts of the Federal government, i.e. TSA, have no problem allowing criminals to access secure areas of airports where the potential for death and destruction is very high. Talk about incompetence and hypocrisy.

4) This last item shows how out of touch Washington politicians are with the reality of common Americans. Senator Claire McCaskill was recently subjected to a patdown while traveling through airport security. You know, the kind of affront and groping experience that millions of Americans have had to endure since 9-11 and she did not like the experience, tweeting out the following message: “Today in my airport screening, test on my hands was positive. Got private, more aggressive pat down. OMG. #veryuncomfortable”

That is what America has been telling Washington for the past ten years, it is very uncomfortable to have your body groped or to see your kid’s body groped by a government employee. Uncomfortable? Is she just finding this out now? More importantly, what is she going to do about it?

It is fun, though, when a politician gets hit in the face with the reality of everyday Americans.

All of this gets us to two important points:

- The United States is one of the few countries in the world where the government operates every aspect of airport security. Most countries do it far better than us by using outside experts and companies that are professionals, not government employees. And we have previously discussed the fact that when some domestic airports have used private, professional security firms, the results have been much more efficient, save, and less expensive, as proven by the private/Federal Screening Partnership Program:

http://loathemygovernment.blogspot.com/2011/06/transportation-security-adminstration.html

- TSA continues to be a great example of why Step 34 from “Love My Country, Loathe My Government” is so desperately needed. Step 34 would remove all Congressional committee members from committees that do not adequately do their job. In this case, we have known for a long time what Senator McCaskill has just found out: TSA is a bloated, ineffective, and fourth amendment rights destroying government bureaucracy.

Those Washington politicians sitting on the Congressional committees responsible for oversight of the TSA should be replaced with other members of Congress that might actually provide some effective and efficient oversight of the TSA mess. Those politicians that have been on those committees over time have certainly bungled their jobs.

That is enough TSA horror stories for today. Tomorrow we will dedicate the entire post to the actual experiences of a former TSA employee and how bad the situation really is, as told by a former insider. After tomorrow, you may never fly again.

Our book, "Love My Country, Loathe My Government - Fifty First Steps To Restoring Our Freedom And Destroying The American Political Class" is now available at:

www.loathemygovernment.com

It is also available online at Amazon and Barnes and Noble. Please pass our message of freedom onward. Let your friends and family know about our websites and blogs, ask your library to carry the book, and respect freedom for both yourselves and others everyday.

Please visit the following sites for freedom:

http://www.reason.com/
http://www.cato.org/
http://www.robertringer.com/
http://realpolichick.blogspot.com
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=08j0sYUOb5w

I Was Just Wondering...About Failing Public Schools, Government Waste, Airport Security And More

I was just wondering:

• When will the American public and the political class get serious about our failed education processes, given that 70% of the finalists in the latest Intel Sciences Talent Search were children born to immigrants, most of whom were from India and China, even though children of immigrants account for only 12% of the population. (The Week magazine - June 17, 2011)
• When will the American public and the political class get serious about our failed war on drugs, given that the Mexican government has discovered that Mexican drug cartels are building armored assault vehicles  equipped with battering rams, one inch thick steel armor, and gun turrets, especially since two of the vehicles were recently confiscated at a Mexican border town. (The Week magazine - June 17, 2011)
• When will the Democratic wing of the political class finally understand that raising taxes in an economic downturn makes no sense, especially since we now know that Sweden has dropped tax rates four times since 2006, a time period that has corresponded with annual national economic growth in Sweden well beyond economic growth in most other nations, including an annualized growth rate of 6.4% in the first quarter of 2011 and 5.7% in all of 2010. (Business Week - June 20, 2011)
• When will the California political class finally understand that some of the reasons why their state is a financial basket case is because it pays some of its lifeguards over $200,000 a year and that the AVERAGE salary of Bay Area Rapid Transit Authority (the light rail system that serves the San Francisco) employees is  $114,000. (Reason magazine - June 2011)
• When will the political class finally convince the TSA to revamp its security procedures and stop the insanity so that they no longer force a 95 year old, cancer-stricken American grandmother to remove her adult diaper in order to get through airport security (various late June news reports including (CNN)  but somehow missed the fact that actor Garret Dillahunt accidentally walked through TSA security check posts with a pocketknife in his pocket. (CBS News online, June 27, 2011)
• When will the political class finally realize that the entire Afghanistan venture is and will probably always be a disaster. Militarily, we have spent over ten years in the country, we have spent almost a half a TRILLION dollars, we have lost thousands of brave American soldiers to the fighting, the country is still grossly illiterate, astonishing poor, amazingly undeveloped, and as I am writing this, the Taliban have taken over a luxury hotel in the capital of Kabul. This takeover is happening despite ten years, half a TRILLION dollars and thousands of lives lost. Disgraceful.
• When will the political class finally understand that Medicare, as it is structured today, has no chance of surviving unchanged since, according to Robert Samuelson of the Washington Post, it currently costs the American taxpayer over half a TRILLION dollars a year (about $5,000 per year per American family) and is increasing so much that by 2016 it will consume over 30% of the Federal government budget.
• When will the political class finally understand that NATO is a broken, anachronistic, and dysfunctional military coalition that is running out of ammunition just weeks into its Libyan fiasco, requires the United States to pay for 75% of the organization's budget, and 23 out of 27 NATO members are in violation of the NATO treaty by not expending enough of their domestic budgets for defense. (The Week magazine - June 24, 2011)

I was just wondering... when will the political class get its act and pride together, finally start acting like leaders, and finally start resolving the issues facing America today.





Our book, "Love My Country, Loathe My Government - Fifty First Steps To Restoring Our Freedom And Destroying The American Political Class" is now available at http://www.loathemygovernment.com/. It is also available online at Amazon and Barnes and Noble. Please pass our message of freedom onward. Let your friends and family know about our websites and blogs, ask your library to carry the book, and respect freedom for both yourselves and others everyday.

Please visit the following sites for freedom:

http://www.loathemygovernment.com/
http://www.cato.org/
http://www.robertringer.com
http://realpolichick.blogspot.com
http://www.flipcongress2010.com/
http://www.reason.com/
http://www.repealamendment.com