Tag: Fourth Amendment

Holiday Wishes from the TSA

The police arrest you for reading the Constitution in a public space during an Occupy demonstration. Later, you get a letter saying that reading the Constitution in a loud voice, in that place, at that time, broke a small statute of the law, and therefore you will be fined $1,500. If you disagree with this assessment, you can plead your case in a letter to the Chief of Police at the station where the arresting officer works. If they don’t hear from you in, oh, I don’t know, 20 days, then they will assume you agree with the fine.

Oh, and by the way, everything in their letter is top secret and you have to get the Chief of Police’s permission to share it with your lawyer, your husband or your…well let’s say readers.

What? You have a problem with that?

So do I…

Tales from The Edge of a Revolution #3: The Goddess of Travel

The hotel shuttle pulls up to San Francisco’s airport half an hour late. I push a dollar into the driver’s hand and grab my bag. Less than an hour remains to negotiate San Francisco’s ever present chaos to make my flight. I join the line snaking back and forth through an infinite channel of nylon belts and down the backs of airline ticket booths, tapping my finger impatiently on the handle of my bag. There are no other flights to Albuquerque until late tonight and that would mean missing work.

I make it past the first ID screening and still the line crisscrosses for a mile in front of me. Then, the Goddess of Travel intercedes. Right in front of me, a TSA officer unclips the nylon belt holding us at bay and announces they are opening a new screening area. I thank the Goddess, and follow the woman beckoning with her hand.



Like a pied piper she leads us past the rows of ticketing desks and into a lonely corridor. We walk forever and I wonder if I actually saved any time.

“Can we get to United’s gates from back here?” a man asks, mirroring my own growing unease as we travel well past the last ticketing booth.

“Yes, all gates from here,” our guide replies with confidence.

Finally, we round a bend in the deserted hall and stop. I suck my breath in and curse the Goddess of Travel.  That witch, she’s tricked me again. The Rape-U scans have finally come to San Francisco.

The Constitution Breaks Bad in Albuquerque

Oct. 17, 2011

Albuquerque International Sunport Security Checkpoint:

I pass a camera crew filming the ticket counter. I stop and consider telling them what I am about to do, but decide against it. They probably won’t care. Instead, I wheel my baggage to the security area.

I can feel my heart beat in my chest. I’ve never done anything like this. I’ve always said “Yes sir,” even when I didn’t agree. Even this simple act fills me with conflicting emotions.

New Mexico is far warmer than my native Pacific Northwest. I’m sweating by the time I reach the first inspection of my ID. I’m sure I already look like a terrorist. The TSA agent, perched on his stool, takes no notice. I look enough like my driver’s license and I have a valid airline ticket. He black lights my ID and lets me pass with hardly a glance.

I’ve come here to moonlight from my real job. My daughter had an operation, and I had to come up with thousands in deductible. She’s in college and, so far, I’ve managed to keep her from becoming a debt slave, like her mother. I took eight extra weekends of work in the Land of Enchantment to cover the cost. I’m lucky, I guess, I can do that. Others, with fewer job opportunities, have no choice but to go bankrupt.

My heart kicks it up another notch when I get to the conveyor belt. Shouldn’t have had that coffee this morning but thank God I didn’t eat anything, or I’d be hugging the trash can right now.

Come on, I tell myself, what are they going to do? Confiscate your toothpaste? Say something mean to you? So what. Relax. You can do this. You should do this. You have to do this.

I take off my shoes and strip my backpack of computer and the baggie of incidentals. I stand in line while my armpits grow embarrassingly moist and I feel my heart race. I think, Get a hold of yourself. You’re being a drama queen.

When it is my turn, I decline to go through the monitor that scans under your clothes, as I always do. The TSA agent starts his spiel about how safe it is. I’ve done my research. His statements are questionable, but that is not why I am doing this. I start my own spiel.

“The Fourth Amendment of the Constitution reads: The right of the people to be secure in their persons, houses, papers, and effects, against unreasonable searches and seizures, shall not be violated, and no warrant shall issue, but upon probable cause, supported by oath or affirmation, an particularly describing the place to be searched, and the persons or things to be seized.”

The Patriot Act Extension Backstory

The Bill of Rights

Fourth Amendment – Protection from unreasonable search and seizure.

The right of the people to be secure in their persons, houses, papers, and effects, against unreasonable searches and seizures, shall not be violated, and no Warrants shall issue, but upon probable cause, supported by Oath or affirmation, and particularly describing the place to be searched, and the persons or things to be seized.

The Patriot Act was extended for another year this week.  Read this information about it from the ACLU:


http://www.aclu.org/national-s…

Late last year, to avoid expiration on December 31, 2009, Congress extended the provisions through February 28, 2010. Despite bills pending in both the House and the Senate to amend the three expiring provisions and other sections of the Patriot Act, Congress decided instead to move ahead with a straightforward reauthorization.

Since the Patriot Act’s passage in 2001, there have been several consecutive reports (including one released in January) from the Department of Justice Office of the Inspector General that have outlined widespread and blatant abuse of the statute. FBI agents routinely claimed false terrorism emergencies to use “exigent letters,” or emergency letters, in order to gain private records for investigations when no emergency existed. The FBI also regularly issued NSLs after the fact in an attempt to legitimize the use of exigent letters. Even after today’s vote, there remain bills pending in both the House and Senate that were specifically introduced to narrow the scope of the NSL statute.

Dystopia 17: The Spy

“Every man is surrounded by a neighborhood of voluntary spies.” Jane Austen

FISA From Here (Well Almost)

Not really an essay, but some thoughts on where FISA goes after Congress passes and Bush signs it.

1.  This does not kill lawsuits.  It changes them.  The fight now becomes whether the New FISA is constitutional under the 4th Amendment.  The Fourth Amendment is pretty clear.  It requires probable cause and a search warrant.  Neither is required under this version.  Now, there are exceptions to the 4th amdmt. rule.  You can look at them at Wikipedia.  http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/F… None seem to really cover this area and, clearly, stuff you say over your phone or through emails and even searches you do on the internet do carry with them a reasonable expectation of privacy.

2.  So EFF and/or the ACLU attacks the statute.  But to attack it may require inquiries as to what is really happening, what the dragnet or data mine actually does.  And that, not the 4th Amdt. may be the rub.  It’s called the state secrets doctrine and may do more to end these cases than anything else.  However, there are some good opinions out there that say no state secrets since much of the details of program were disclosed by Bush.

3.  So it stays in court, the attorney general’s office defends against the lawsuit.  Who controls the AG’s office?  The president.  Who is president?  Perhaps Obama.  If the AG ultimately agrees the New FISA is Uncon, the Constitution is preserved.  That is why it is important to watch what Obama says and does now.

4.  Will the Supreme Court have an opportunity to ultimately defy the executive branch/A.G’s office and court’s own power to determine probable cause and find the bill Constitutional ?  It would surely be an ironic ending–the legislative and judicial branches, so eminently ignored by the executive now, will ultimately be the one responsible for breaking the Constitution.

Dennis Kucinich on his vote against the FISA bill. w/poll

Several people have wondered why Dennis Kucinich would vote aginst the FISA bill which didn’t have retroactive immunity, known as HR 3773.  Here’s his statement as to his reasoning:

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