TSA Changes Rules On Airport Searches ... Very Quietly
Thu, 12 Nov '09
Searches Must Be Related To Airline Safety
TSA has changed two rules about airport searches after an aide to Congressman Ron Paul recorded an incident on his iPhone. The rules changes have prompted the ACLU to drop legal action against TSA on behalf of Steve Bierfeldt.
Bierfeldt was detained in March while attempting to board a plane at Lambert-St. Louis International Airport carrying $4,700 in cash. TSA agents spent half an hour questioning him about why he was carrying so much cash, and Bierfeldt recorded the exchange on his iPhone.
- more at www.aero-news.net/index.cfm?ContentBlockID=615e45f8-4a6e-4e58-a2d7-84971d404419
The TSA Taken Down a Notch
Discussion in 'News & Current Events' started by KenH, Nov 14, 2009.
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Since when is a month's pay a lot of cash? Before the days of direct deposit it felt good to cash a paycheck and walk around for one day a month with a big lump of bills in the wallet.
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$4700 is much more than I make in a month! Dang, Bill! What do you do that they pay you $30.00/hour plus benefits? You probably get 5 weeks of vacation a year, so theres $5K/yr you're getting paid to do nothing.
And you don't call that a large amount of cash? -
point is, it was his cash, and they had no right to question him about it.
A few months ago, we received an inheritance, which allowed us to replace our flooring in our house (which was in pretty rough shape). We can't buy Microsoft or anything...but it was a few thousand dollars.
I'm big on paying with cash...seeing that much reminds me of how much we're spending...and it sometimes entices the seller into making a better deal.
Now...we didn't carry it around for long (no sense being stupid), but we had several thousand dollars in our pockets. -
Often people who carry large amounts of cash are either into drugs sales or other illegal activity.
Only DUMB people carry large amounts of cash - as a fool and his money are soon parted.
Salty -
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One night I was sleeping in my car in a parking
lot (w/out of State plates), a cop woke me up
to see what I was doing. I commend that cop
for doing his job!
[/CODE] -
In essence, my credit cards are way more "cash" than this man was carrying.
It is not the government's business what my credit line is on my credit cards and it is not the government's business how much cash money I am carrying around. -
I'm surprised you don't see this as unnecessary governmental intervention. -
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It's none of the business to be definining what is "excessive" cash(as if there is such a thing). None.
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$4700/month is around $28/hour.
http://www.cityofseattle.net/police/jobs/benefits/salary.htm
If I was still working my monthly pay would be around $6,620.00
My base retirement is 60% (2%/year) or $3972. This is no secret.
THERE is something wrong with the system when the only decent jobs are government jobs. -
*posted before saw that you were a police officer* This is indeed a legitimate government job.
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While we are at it, who does the govt think they are when they set speed limits. I should be able to determine what an "excessive speed" is.
How about having a wife, why should the govt care how many wives a man may want.
Then there is radio stations, why should the govt decide if there is an excessive number of radio stations in a certain area.
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2) It shouldn't and until quite recently in human history it didn't.
3) It shouldn't.
But none of that is related to this thread about the TSA. Maybe you should start a new thread about that area of your inquiry. -
Speed limits make the roads safer if people pay attention to them. The road is safest when every vehicle is going the same speed. Speeding tickets are easy for the officer to write and to win in court.
The tickets should be written for following to close and unsafe lane change but these are harder to prove in court.
In the bad old days, traffic tickets were a criminal offense and everyone got their day in court. The judge or jury had to be convinced beyond all reasonable doubt and tickets were occasionally tossed by the judge. Since the traffic code has been substantially "decriminalized" the burden of proof has been reduced to 51% guilty and it is almost impossible to beat a speeding ticket unless the judge thinks the officer is plain lying.
The speed on the freeway is substantially self-regulating. Most people instinctively slow down when the road conditions and weather get bad. Even when there was no speed limit in Montana hardly anyone went over 80.
Why does traffic slow when it gets heavy? Because the maximum capacity of a freeway doubles when the average vehicle speed drops from 70 to 35 or 40 mph. See any highway engineering text. It is because of vehicle spacing. In metro areas, IF people obeyed the speed limit and IF the speed limit was automatically dropped as traffic increased then most stop and go driving would be eliminated. The system would be very expensive and no one would pay any attention to it unless it was enforced by automatic camera.
When I hired on patrol officers were supposed to write at least one ticket a day and I hated writing tickets except for obviously intentional stuff. When I got my 20 years on the job I quit looking for tickets. I don't know what the policy is now. -
Given how little the average person makes (in billwald's world anyway) is it not then unusual for someone to be boarding a plane with a month's pay in cash?
In your experience as a police officer did you often encounter persons carrying $4,700 in cash?
When stopping someone in their vehicle and you suspected that they dealt in the sale of drugs, was not large amounts of cash (even less than $4,700) considered as evidence of such activity? -
>In your experience as a police officer did you often encounter persons carrying $4,700 in cash?
Most people carrying large sums are smart enough to avoid being arrested?
I've been retired since 1996. When I joined the SPD in 1965 $4700 would have been a year's pay for many people. <G> I think I was grossing $530/month, something like that. Many people were paid once or twice a month and the first stop after work was to a bank to cash the check.
Credit cards were only invent in 1955 and didn't become common until the '60s. My first real job in 1959 - with the telephone company - paid cash, not a check. It would have not been rare for a person to have a month's pay in cash. Most US government jobs - the armed forces - paid monthly. Direct deposit and credit cards changed all of that. -
If some hijacker or drug dealer had gotten through airport security, and it was discovered that he was carrying on $4700 in cash, we'd all be asking why no one thought the cash was a red flag.
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