TSA Moron Trick
July 29, 2012 1:45 PM   Subscribe

Luke Rudkowski of WeAreChange breaks down WRC Correspondent Julio Rausseo’s experience at the Chicago Union Station, 1 week after releasing a video exposing TSA checkpoints being setup there. (This was posted on Reddit yesterday, but wearechange.org's server crashed for a while (I think)...so here it is, in all its wtf glory.)
posted by pjmoy (46 comments total) 7 users marked this as a favorite
 
I saw this yesterday on Reddit. What a bunch of assholes. The TSA agents should be arrested for harassment and forced to listen to about 30 hours of constitutional law lectures.
The one thing that I detest about the Obama administration,, which includes his horrid little DHS leader, is this: this freaking invasion of privacy and outrageous expansion of police-like authority at the borders.
posted by etaoin at 1:56 PM on July 29, 2012




Where exactly are these checkpoints going? I'm in Union Station every day and I haven't seen any.
posted by shakespeherian at 1:58 PM on July 29, 2012 [1 favorite]


Just waiting for the TSA to figure out they own the rights to the TSA uniforms, and that agents own the rights to their own image and they start attacking people for copyright violations.
posted by Ad hominem at 1:59 PM on July 29, 2012 [1 favorite]


Chicago activists need to send about 100 people with video cameras down to that checkpoint.
posted by LarryC at 2:47 PM on July 29, 2012 [4 favorites]


What part of "Self" do these Testicular Self-Assessment officers not understand? I can soap my own fingers, thank you very much!
posted by Ice Cream Socialist at 2:50 PM on July 29, 2012 [1 favorite]


Journalism requires a permit and a government escort? Were these thugs trained in North Korea or what?
posted by EatTheWeek at 2:54 PM on July 29, 2012 [9 favorites]




Oops. Too many tabs. NSA, TSA, who can keep track, anyway?
posted by homunculus at 3:01 PM on July 29, 2012


The NSA keeps track. They keep track of everything.
posted by ceribus peribus at 3:05 PM on July 29, 2012 [3 favorites]




So, let's make this more clear for non-Chicagoans.

The TSA appears to be setting up a checkpoint for Amtrak passengers (that's an Amtrak lounge, I've been in that lounge a number of times). Of course, we have no idea when this occurred or how many times. I rode Amtrak repeatedly from the summer of 2010 to the summer of 2011 and there was never a TSA checkpoint in that lounge.

As for the "confrontation" in the second video (including the so-called full version), give me a break. There's no proof of any of the claims made by Julio: that this was a TSA agent; that he was "tracked down" while eating in Union Station; etc. The whole thing is just weird: if this occurred a week after his initial filming of the TSA at the Amtrak lounge, was he just sitting in this bar, recording for shits and giggles? Really? And while recording for shits and giggles, some TSA people just happen to come up to him and start arguing? Really?

Calling oneself a journalist does not make it so, and a glance at his uploaded videos list. . . well, it really speaks for itself.
posted by gsh at 3:33 PM on July 29, 2012 [1 favorite]


Obama hasn't expanded anything at tsa, this is all left over bush administration shit.
posted by empath at 3:33 PM on July 29, 2012 [1 favorite]


WTF is happening in Anaheim

someone found a che guevara flag in his grandfather's attic?

i know why they're protesting and it should be protested - but, really ...
posted by pyramid termite at 3:37 PM on July 29, 2012 [1 favorite]


Considering that I unilaterally declared victory on the War on Terror after the 10th anniversary 9/11, why do we still have the TSA anyway?
posted by ckape at 3:44 PM on July 29, 2012 [2 favorites]


Obama hasn't expanded anything at tsa, this is all left over bush administration shit.

Yeah. Some of us were kinda hoping he might use his good offices to rein some of this sht in, though. Seeing as he's not Bush and all that.
posted by flapjax at midnite at 3:54 PM on July 29, 2012 [37 favorites]


Yeah. Some of us were kinda hoping he might use his good offices to rein some of this sht in, though. Seeing as he's not Bush and all that.


^ THIS!
posted by humannaire at 4:03 PM on July 29, 2012


Totally calling bullshit on that video. Pics or it didn't happen. Audio alone just don't cut it.
posted by Ardiril at 4:08 PM on July 29, 2012


Calling oneself a journalist does not make it so...

The government hasn't started issuing licenses yet, so yes. It does.
posted by ChurchHatesTucker at 4:12 PM on July 29, 2012 [14 favorites]


Some of us were kinda hoping he might use his good offices to rein some of this sht in, though. Seeing as he's not Bush and all that.

TSA employees overwhelmingly support Obama's re-election, interestingly.
posted by Blazecock Pileon at 4:21 PM on July 29, 2012


gsh writes "The whole thing is just weird: if this occurred a week after his initial filming of the TSA at the Amtrak lounge, was he just sitting in this bar, recording for shits and giggles? Really?"

Why not? The marginal cost is essentially zero and you never know when you might get a hit.
posted by Mitheral at 4:24 PM on July 29, 2012


Is there a link to the first video? (of the TSA setting up?)
Also, in the linked article/video, it says that it's the Amtrak Police that is arguing with the reporter, a week later.
posted by stifford at 4:49 PM on July 29, 2012


I'm still confused because I took the Amtrak out of Union Station this last Tuesday. I was the last person onto the train, I ran straight from the ticketing machine to the platform, looking all sweaty and security-risky. There was no checkpoint at all, no one stopped me or even looked at my ticket until after the first stop on the way to Milwaukee. Where is this checkpoint set up?
posted by shakespeherian at 4:50 PM on July 29, 2012 [1 favorite]


"Is there a link to the first video? (of the TSA setting up?)"

In the linked video? That guy dragging a table? That is supposed to be TSA setting up a checkpoint.
posted by Ardiril at 4:53 PM on July 29, 2012


Calling oneself a journalist does not make it so...

Actually, yes, that is how it works. It helps to have a matching business card, tho.
posted by TwelveTwo at 4:54 PM on July 29, 2012


"It helps to have a matching business card, tho."

... and a hat with a band to stick it in.
posted by Ardiril at 4:55 PM on July 29, 2012 [5 favorites]


"Is there a link to the first video? (of the TSA setting up?)"

In the linked video? That guy dragging a table? That is supposed to be TSA setting up a checkpoint.


Yeah, they showed a clip of it in the this link, I was looking for that actual video (I tried going back a week, then a month on this website, but they didn't have it).

But just to tally, as far as the "bad guys" shown, we have:
Amtrak Police, harassing this dude.
"The Government", that send this dude's video to Amtrak Police.
and the TSA...that may have carried a table somewhere, a week ago?

It seems like the TSA hasn't done that much (as presented so far) in these incidents.
posted by stifford at 5:03 PM on July 29, 2012


Calling oneself a journalist does not make it so...

Actually, yes, that is how it works. It helps to have a matching business card, tho.


James O'Keefe?
Andrew Breitbart?
Matt Drudge?
posted by to sir with millipedes at 5:11 PM on July 29, 2012


journalist doesn't have to mean "good journalist". ; )
posted by stifford at 5:12 PM on July 29, 2012 [4 favorites]


Well, let's look at another piece of hard hitting journalism from this guy, shall we? Like the work he puts into warning us about the HAARP Rings and man-made weather, for example.
posted by gsh at 5:31 PM on July 29, 2012 [1 favorite]


Fucking christ. It takes the TSA to make me sympathise with 9/11 Troofer morons.
posted by ocschwar at 5:40 PM on July 29, 2012


Yeah... That site reeks of truther/conspiracy nonsense.
posted by graphnerd at 5:51 PM on July 29, 2012


Blazecock Pileon: TSA employees overwhelmingly support Obama's re-election, interestingly.

That sounded curious to me, so I thought I'd check it out. The top Google results come from FreeRepublic, two Alex Jones' sites, and this National Review article, which seems to be the origin. This claim is based on the following fact:
Through June 30, political donors who listed their employer as “Transportation Security Administration” or “TSA” donated $4,379 to President Obama’s reelection campaign, and only $498 to Mitt Romney’s presidential campaign.
Let's estimate that the average contribution is $30. That means 17 contributing to Romney, compared to 146 contributing to Obama. Out of 58,000 employees. The most honest conclusion is that the vast majority of TSA employees don't have a preference, or even better, we have no idea, based on that fact, who they prefer.

Luckily, the National Review article goes on to conclude
So the next time you find yourself taking off your sneakers, being told to stand in this line, not that one, and generally treated like cattle, you can think, “Hmm. A nine-to-one ratio.”,
so I don't need to change my view of the NR as a bunch of smarmy deceptive assholes.
posted by benito.strauss at 6:23 PM on July 29, 2012 [13 favorites]


Um, I was in Union Station yesterday, and unless they've opened up secret checkpoint bunkers in the basement somewhere, the dude is full of it.

Of course, the HAARP Rings are probably making me say that.

...besides, gimme a few hours and I can probably slap together a reasonably convincing "video" demonstrating that this is all the fault of the Gnomes of Zurich, who are naturally trying to oppress the Pure White Patriots by implanting mind-control lasers in the track rats.

Yes, I said hours. I suck at iMovie.
posted by aramaic at 6:41 PM on July 29, 2012 [1 favorite]


Stopped watching at "Illinoiz"
posted by Sailormom at 7:03 PM on July 29, 2012 [2 favorites]


Oh man, Jerome Corsi alert.

Surely there are better sources than this critical of the TSA...?
posted by fleetmouse at 7:17 PM on July 29, 2012


What?! This blatant breaking of OSHA table moving regulations isn't enough for you?
posted by Ardiril at 7:26 PM on July 29, 2012


Sailormom: "Stopped watching at "Illinoiz""

Her men are all like Abilard,
Her women like Heloise.
All honest, virtuous people
For they live in Illinois.
posted by Reverend John at 7:28 PM on July 29, 2012 [1 favorite]


benito.strauss: That sounded curious to me, so I thought I'd check it out.

See that? See what benito.strauss did upthread? That is journalism.
posted by to sir with millipedes at 8:25 PM on July 29, 2012 [4 favorites]


"[P]olitical donors who listed their employer as “Transportation Security Administration” or “TSA” donated...."

A lot of TSA people say they work for the Department of Homeland Security (since it is technically true, and doesn't get you flack at the party) or "in the government."
posted by Monday at 2:59 AM on July 30, 2012


Calling oneself a journalist does not make it so...

The government hasn't started issuing licenses yet, so yes. It does.


There's also the charming old-school notion that someone should be reasonably skilled at their job in order to claim the job title. I'd be very alarmed at this, if it were true, and might actually be motivated to add my voice to the protest against this if there were more compelling proof than this.
posted by Halloween Jack at 5:23 AM on July 30, 2012


Short version of the original video:

"The TSA is in Union Station. The TSA is in Union Station. The TSA is in Union Station. The TSA is in Union Station. The TSA is in Union Station. The TSA is in Union Station."

Dude says this about 30 times. We get it. I hate YT videos that could easily be 30 seconds instead of nearly four minutes.
posted by desjardins at 9:02 AM on July 30, 2012


A lot of TSA people say they work for the Department of Homeland Security ... or "in the government."

That's a valid point. But I really don't think that Jim Geraghty cares whether or not he's being accurate.
posted by benito.strauss at 9:21 AM on July 30, 2012




WTF is happening in Anaheim

There's a thread about it here.
posted by homunculus at 3:28 PM on August 2, 2012




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