H/t to Courtney Knapp. Despite his high-flying campaign promises, the Big O has turned out to be possibly the worst President-turned-drug-warrior in American history. By my count his administration has also threatened doctors and states for medical marijuana policies, giving him a clean sweep. YES! WE! CAN! YES! WE! CAN!
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Two by two, hands of blue... Flickr/Dunechaser
Yep, they’ve gone too far. You could face an $11,000 fine for refusing the body scanner and the enhanced pat-down on the grounds of disrupting the security process. They’ve prompted complaints. Today, the day before Thanksgiving, is now National Opt-Out Day. Some are even questioning their safety. Or even further, some say that the TSA is killing people. Meanwhile, al Qaeda is laughing.
Now some airports are opting out of the screening. According to the TSA, currently there are 16 airports with private security screening, and I imagine an uptick in the number of private contract applications in the future. However, private screeners still must follow all the same standards that the TSA deems necessary, which likely include the implementation of the nudie body scanners and the junk-groping enhanced pat-downs.
As I’d mentioned in a previous post, not even the Israeli airport security is using these procedures. I think we could learn from them. They place a higher priority on behavior over the contents a person is carrying.
And this is another reason why we’re engaging in “security theatre” rather than actual increased safety:
…the agency was working under what Freeman calls “an unachievable mandate.” Congress demanded an agency that eliminated risk. But the risks are always changing, as terrorists devise new methods and government parries. That has led to an agency that is always in crisis mode, constantly adding new policies designed to respond to the last terror plot.
An internal TSA report reveals that screeners missed the fake bombs 60% of the time during their tests in 2006 at Los Angeles and Chicago airports.
Some people think it’s ok and maybe it’ll reduce airport congestion. Others are submitting their “break up” letters to their frequented airlines. If current procedures don’t change, I anticipate a major drop off in airline activity around the end of January and February, because people likely encountering the new security procedures now will find alternative modes of transportation for their next trips. Or they will sign up for a program that allows them to bypass the current procedures. Until then, we’ll probably see more interesting and creative exchanges between the public and the TSA.
Ah, the good old days.
Props to anyone who gets the picture reference without peeking at the link.
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Could just as easily read "Republicans"
We’re no strangers to podcasting ’round these parts. So trust me when I say that this week’s episode of Creative Destruction with Cord Blomquist and Rob Montz is the best thing to come out of the midterm elections.
Seriously, it’s like smooth jazz and sound logic, hot-wired straight to your front-brain. Cord notes that, all apologies to John Stuart, the sanity comes from …. Howard Dean? REALLY:
There was a misunderstanding of the kind of change people wanted. Democrats wanted policy change; and independents and republicans wanted to change the way business was done in Washington. And that really hasn’t happened.
I’m scared too. Breathe deep, we’re going to get through this together. Listen up, people.
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The safest way to make laws respected is to make them respectable. – Frederic Bastiat
As most people are aware there is a proposition on California’s ballot in Novemberto legalize, regulate and tax the use of marijuana for recreational use. Most polls show this measure will pass. Californians are close to deciding, for one reason or another, that the war on marijuana has failed. I agree for many, many reasons. Unfortunately, the federal government does not see it that way.
Eric Holder recently announced that the federal government will continue to prosecute marijuana possession in California. Holder even stated that marijuana crimes are a “core priority”. Now, most rational people have realized that our republic has long been dead. We have a federal government that continues to overstep its constitutional bounds and the constitution is only payed lip-service to during election cycles. This is a little bit different though. This is the next step towards tyranny.
We now have a government that openly says, “we don’t care what ‘the people’ want, we don’t care what laws are passed, we are going to hunt you down in your homes if you do something we don’t like”. Many people argue that we are a nation of laws and if you don’t like it then change the laws… well what recourse is there when laws are changed and bureaucrats and other public servants refuse to obey? That is a strong move towards serfdom (shameless Hayek plug).
Sure, some people may argue that you need to change federal law then. First, there shouldn’t be federal laws in regard to marijuana use unless a constitutional amendment is passed giving them the authority. As it stands now appointed bureaucrats are making and enforcing “laws” with impunity.
Secondly, the government will not police itself. The DEA isn’t going to admit that marijuana is safer than cigarettes or alcohol because that is where they get their funding. The federal government isn’t going to admit that the social costs of drug use and abuse would go down if drugs were decriminalized and abuse was treated as a medical issue because they would lose power, money and control. The incentives are not there, so it is up to the people to change the laws… only the government is openly admitting they don’t care what the people want. The government continues to lie about the harm caused by most drugs and they aren’t going to go back on those lies now.
Lastly, the two party system has failed us when it comes to individual liberties. The party of fiscal responsibility refuses to endorse legalization even though it would significantly help the budget by reducing enforcement costs, housing non-violent offenders, and would raise money through taxation. The party of equality is staying neutral despite huge racial and socio-economic status discrepancies in enforcement and prosecution.
The core argument should be that it is morally wrong to punish someone who has not harmed another person… but both parties long ago abandoned this principle. On the national level the political groups only listen to their loud bases and their corporate supporters. “The people” are not cared about and the system is so rigged and so controlled by the Republicrats that it is impossible for a third party candidate to get elected.
Government officials realize that they have lost every logical argument for maintaining the prohibition on marijuana so they have resorted to force, something they do best.
So what do we do now? What do you do when the government no longer obeys laws, creates its own rules to oppress the people and has rigged the system so that dissenting opinions are either ruled terrorism or marginalized by corporate media? What do we do?
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Because we can’t wax poetic/libertarian about EVERYTHING on the internet.
I Studied Abroad In Africa! – White people acting like they care never gets old.
Robopanda makes a tea bag joke and references Maslow. Also, GRAVITY GUN IN GTA.
Investor’s Business Daily blasts the anonymous White House aide who suggested Koch Industries was cheating the government by … paying their taxes.
What most offends me about liberals: if you think you know how to run someone else’s life, you routinely end up treating them like garbage. This SHOULD indicate a flaw in your assumptions, but few liberals ever make that connection. Case in point, the trapped Chilean Mine workers and their psychologists. Somewhere, Kafka nods his head.
For all you DC area photographers, tomorrow is the solstice, which means DCHenge is a thing. Which is happening.
Manly visiting cards. I like the one that just reads “Distinguished Gentleman”.
And in happy news, “Bed Intruder Song” unintentional singer Antoine Dodson, GOT PAID.
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Image courtesy PRNewsWire for a T.G.I. Friday's in Texas, not Don Pablo's in Virginia.
In the months since my roommate introduced me to Don Pablo’s margarita and sangriarita (just like it sounds–a combo of sangria and margarita) pitchers just down the road from our apartment complex, we’ve been frequenting the spot often during these hot summer months. I’ve heard, as many Virginians probably have, that it is technically illegal to serve liquor-based drinks in pitchers in Virginia bars and restaurants. There’s even a law against restaurants and bars directly advertising alcohol happy hour special (HH appetizer adverts are fine), but third parties can get away with it. Here are the rules, and the happy hour excerpt:
Happy Hours and Advertising-It is unlawful to conduct a happy hour between the hours of 9 p.m. and 2 a.m.-A person cannot possess more than two drinks at one time.-It is illegal to sell pitchers of mixed beverages, sell two or more drinks for one price, giveaway drinks, sell unlimited drinks for one price, or advertise happy hour in the media or on exterior advertising.Happy Hours and Advertising-It is unlawful to conduct a happy hour between the hours of 9 p.m. and 2 a.m.-A person cannot possess more than two drinks at one time.-It is illegal to sell pitchers of mixed beverages, sell two or more drinks for one price, giveaway drinks, sell unlimited drinks for one price, or advertise happy hour in the media or on exterior advertising.
(3 VAC 5-50-160)
But that’s a whole ‘nother post; back to the pitchers. In fact, I asked my roommate how it was possible that they were capable of serving pitchers that contained liquor, but I certainly wasn’t going to turn down the offer. After all, at the time, I could’ve heard wrong about the law.
However, our journey to Don Pablo’s the last Monday of August came with a surprise. On a recent, rather early Saturday evening, an ABC employee busted one of Don Pablo’s several Virginia locations for serving margarita pitchers. Meanwhile, service immediately stopped at that location, in spite of many customers still enjoying their remaining pitchers on the table. Apparently the news was phoned around, and all of Don Pablo’s Virginia locations removed all margarita and sangriarita pitchers from their menus. One of the waiters told us that based on his experience, at least 50 percent of customers come in knowing exactly what they want, and a lot of people came to the restaurant specifically for the pitchers of margarita (and perhaps like us, for that addictive queso blanco). I sincerely doubt that Don Pablo’s was operating knowingly against the Virginia law and as a national chain accidentally overlooked that nuance in state law, but such a bust just demonstrates the insanity of such a law’s existence. Especially so, when customers can merely enter the District of Columbia and order a pitcher of mojito, sangria (with brandy) or margarita, just like many NoVa customers already purchase their liquor in DC rather than Virginia for the lower total cost and greater selection.
I imagine that having a job at ABC as a “Special Agent” busting restaurants and bars in Virginia for alcohol violations makes one a contender for most disliked, perhaps rivaling parking enforcement…
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