TSA to USA: We see you naked, and worse, try to make your life hell

Our friend at Taking Sense Away, about whom we've written several times, and who up to now has remained anonymous, has just revealed his identity. In a very public way.

Our buddy "N. J." is really Jason Harrington. And his tell-all about life as a TSA screener was published last night by Politico.

The Great Arundhati Roy

Holder the Hypocrite

Russell Mokhiber is Editor of the invaluable Corporate Crime Reporter. I'm reprinting his column on Department of Justice (sic) head Eric Holder, which appeared first in Corporate Crime Reporter and then in Counterpunch. I'm reposting it in its entirety, with the Counterpunch title, "Holder the Hypocrite":

Ted Rall Strikes Again

Will somebody give this guy a McArthur already?!

American Hypocrisy -- again

As always, click images to enlarge. And see tags for related posts. Cartoon is by Ted Rall.

"Take me out to the ball game" -- so I can be groped?

Ah, well, it was only a matter of time. Anybody with a brain knew it was only a matter of time.

American Police Brutality and Clueless Judge

Behold the words of an American judge, who, upon discovering the type of police brutality that goes on in this country every day, is shocked:

“Defendant’s motion describes facts so extreme and unusual that this can truly be deemed sui generis,” Judge Statsinger wrote.

Sui generis?? Are you kidding me? What rock has he been living under?

USA

Dialectical Dilemma

Congress, unwilling to stop TSA from abusing passengers, wants it to be polite

U.S. Rep. Gerry Connolly has your back. The Democrat from Virginia is threatening the TSA. And boy, he means business.

Denver police initiate sexual assault investigation after TSA pat-down

UPDATE BELOW.

Finally! Someone in law enforcement is taking seriously the charge of sexual assault by TSA workers.

Jamelyn Steenhoek, 39, was accompanying her 13-year-old daughter to the gate for the daughter’s flight. Steenhoek “alarmed” when she went through the metal detector. Then her hands were swabbed and they “alarmed.”

Americans and Their Hypocrisy Over Football

I'm 56 years old. Like most people my age, I've had to endure my share of bores at dinners and cocktail parties blathering on endlessly about their personal obsessions, not noticing the glazed look in the eyes of their interlocutors. These bores are often men. And no subject gets them going quite like the testosterone-soaked game known as American football.

WTF

Talk Nation Radio: Lisa Simeone on How the TSA Trains Us in Obedience

I did a phone interview a few weeks ago with longtime political activist David Swanson on the TSA and its many and sundry abuses of our civil liberties. Yeah, I should’ve Skyped ’cause my portion of the audio isn’t so great, but c'est la vie.

"I Wear the Badge of 'Socialist' with Honor"

Newly elected Seattle City Council member -- running on a socialist platform -- Kshama Sawant just took her oath of office. You can watch the video at this link, but here's the full text of her speech after her swearing in. I've bolded certain passages:

Psychopath of the Week

Another in our continuing series, Psychopath of the Week. It's always a tough call, because there are so many of them. This week, however, there's no contest.

Because we have the smarmiest of the smarmy, the personification of a sophist, which is to say someone who twists language and meaning and decency and his own soul beyond limits to justify the unjustifiable:

Same As It Ever Was

The Onion Strikes Again!

Quoting the friend who sent it to me, "hilarious and heartbreaking" video from The Onion: "Judge Rules White Girl Will Be Tried As Black Adult."

(For my non-American readers -- and even, god help us, some American ones -- this isn't actual news; it's satire. That's what The Onion does. Satire. Farce. Sick humor to make a political point.)

CBP: just as vile as the TSA

Customs and Border Protection (CBP) is the agency that greets you when you return to this country. Or, if you're a foreign tourist, when you enter it. And like the TSA, it can be capricious, ruthless, and abusive.

The latest outrage comes from JFK airport in New York, where a Canadian musician named Boujemaa Razgui was returning with his 11 rare, handmade wooden flutes. What did the brilliant minds of CBP do when confronted with these nefarious instruments?

Great News: Lynne Stewart Finally Released

In a rare bit of good news, perfect to start the new year, wrongly jailed lawyer Lynne Stewart has finally received compassionate release. Democracy Now reports:

The civil rights attorney Lynne Stewart has returned home from prison after a federal judge ordered her compassionate release. Stewart is 74 years old and dying from late-stage breast cancer. Viewed by supporters as a political prisoner, she had served almost four years of a 10-year sentence for distributing press releases on behalf of her client, Omar Abdel Rahman, an Egyptian cleric known as the "blind Sheikh." Stewart arrived to a group of cheering supporters in New York City on Wednesday. Democracy Now!'s Amy Goodman and Renée Feltz were at the airport to cover the homecoming and speak with Stewart about her time behind bars and her plans to continue fighting for political prisoners — and for her own life — now that she's free.

Happy New Year from the Hypocrites

The great Ted Rall, once again speaking the truth. But the Obamabots still don't want to listen. (And for the umpteenth time, no, the Republicans aren't any better. When will you get it through your heads that "Red Team! Blue Team!" is a farce? Both teams are screwing you, people. When are you going to effing learn??)

Drone On

"Oh, why do they hate us?!" wail the idiot sheeple and American Exceptionalists every time you turn around.

Predictable: Pauley kills what Leon resurrected

Well, I was my usual fly-in-the-ointment self last week. While people were crowing over Judge Richard Leon's ruling in favor of We The People and against the NSA, I kept saying, "Don't get your hopes up. It's not going to last. It'll be appealed, and the next judge who comes down the pike will strike it down."

Eat the Rich? (nah, not very nutritious)

As people assess their charitable giving in 2013, choosing which causes are most dear to them and also looking for a few tax breaks (as well they should, especially given that so much of our money goes to war and destruction), some recent research is sobering:

MERRY CHRISTMAS!

Here's something I wrote 6 years ago, for a now-defunct blog. Of course, it rankled the p.c. folks no end. I'd like to hope they've grown up since then, but somehow I doubt it:

In addition to Papa Bear O'Reilly's inane "War on Christmas," there are other seasonal idiocies afoot. One is the taking-offense by certain wet blankets when someone wishes them a Merry Christmas. So if I may:

Ted Rall again on Dems & Repubs

Ted Rall encore. As always, click to enlarge.

Angela Merkel invokes the Stasi in comparison to the NSA

From the Guardian: 

In an angry exchange with Barack Obama, Angela Merkel has compared the snooping practices of the US with those of the Stasi, the ubiquitous and all-powerful secret police of the communist dictatorship in East Germany, where she grew up.

. . . Livid after learning from Der Spiegel magazine that the Americans were listening in to her personal mobile phone, Merkel confronted Obama with the accusation: "This is like the Stasi." 

But when the rest of us say it, we're accused of being "hyperbolic" and "lunatic."

The only lunatics out there are the naysayers who refuse to acknowledge what's right under their noses. To wit, that the U.S. is morphing more and more into a police state with every passing day. Especially if you're young and black, and just waiting for a bus. And the U.K. is no better. Its cops, too, like to Taser people just for the hell of it.

Ted Rall on Republicans and Democrats

Another great cartoon by Ted Rall. As always, click to enlarge.

TSA propaganda cartoon aimed at children

“Stop. Screen. Go.”

Those are the magic words in a new TSA video cartoon aimed at children, called Prepare for Takeoff. It’s on a nifty page — “TSA Kids” — that’s part of the “Official Website of the Department of Homeland Security,” which also includes links to other fab TSA stuff, such as “Fun Page” and “Parents Page.”

As all propagandists know, you gotta get ‘em while they’re young.

TSA’s John Pistole shovels the shit yet again redux

The media are once again doing the TSA’s dirty work for it. Who needs PR flacks when you have newspapers, TV, radio, and the internet?