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Title: DHS Head to America: Shut Up, Be Terrified, and Do What You’re Told
Source:
Reason
URL Source: https://reason.com/blog/2017/04/18/ ... o-america-shut-up-be-terrified
Published: Apr 18, 2017
Author: Scott Shackford
Post Date: 2017-04-19 05:16:05 by Deckard
Keywords: None
Views: 9357
Comments: 57
Department of Homeland Security (DHS) Secretary John Kelly has heard all of that criticism from Americans who are upset at the way his employees treat them and other people, and he has a response for all of you ingrates: Shut up. If you've ever dealt with surly Transportation Security Administration (TSA) staff who treat you as though you work for them and not the other way around, such behavior goes all the way to the top. In a wide-ranging speech designed to reinforce President Donald Trump's attitude that America is under siege, Kelly spoke told an audience at George Washington University and pretty much told them that without the aggressive approaches of the DHS we'd all be murdered by drug cartels and terrorist groups. So can it with the criticism. The whole speech is watchable here at C-Span for the so-inclined. His speech was essentially a combination of every single post-9/11 security state speech combined with every single '80s and '90s drug warrior panic speech. The media responses are highlighting his defensiveness to criticism. Via The Hill: Personnel are "often ridiculed and insulted by public officials, and frequently convicted in the court of public opinion on unfounded allegations testified to by street lawyers and spokespersons," Kelly said. "If lawmakers do not like the laws they've passed and we are charged to enforce — then they should have the courage and skill to change the laws. Otherwise they should shut up and support the men and women on the front lines," Kelly said, to a burst of applause in the auditorium. These comments came toward the end of his prepared speech, so it's useful to provide some context with the other things he talked about. He described the way Americans are treated by TSA when we travel as "a little bit of an inconvenience." He was not being sarcastic. He still believes that marijuana is a "gateway drug" and said so. He added that DHS will continue to force federal law on marijuana as long as it's against federal law, regardless of whatever the states may want. So keep that in mind if you're thinking of bringing some on a flight to anywhere. He also, incidentally, made a big deal that DHS employees swear an oath to defend the Constitution, which is notable inasmuch as there is no sign that the DHS has any respect for the Fourth Amendment whatsoever when it comes to searching Americans anywhere near the nation's borders. Even further, a good chunk of his speech was full of fearmongering about drug cartels and recent increases in drug-related deaths to emphasize the rhetoric that our nation is under attack. He says at one point more people are dying from drugs than died during World War I, but his idea of dealing with increasing drug deaths is a "comprehensive plan to reduce drug demand." The problem is us, not them, you see. They have to figure out how to stop us from wanting to use drugs. Kelly has a very typical cognitive dissonance issue we see a lot with law-and-order types. He insists that his people are enforcing the law, true enough. But his comments also make it very, very clear that he supports the drug war, though he does acknowledge at some point that America "can't arrest our way" out of the drug problem. But who are the biggest opponents to changes in drug laws to maybe stop arresting people? Time and time again it's law enforcement lobbyists, whether we're talking about police, prosecutors, or prison representatives, who oppose any and all attempts to scale back their authorities to arrest and imprison people. The same folks who say "We're just enforcing the law" will fight tooth-and-nail any effort to crank back those laws. There's a tremendous amount of grant money and funding involved in "enforcing the law." They have strong incentives not to permit changes. Similarly, Kelly therefore has every incentive to exaggerate the threats America faces, because his budgets depend on it, and President Trump is looking to spend, spend, spend on DHS and border security. In his speech he tries to suggest that DHS's budget has been cut to the bone. Though DHS's discretionary budget was cut during the sequester in 2008, DHS budgets and spending have been inching upward year after year (Check out this chart and read the text below to see which DHS agencies have been seeing the biggest boosts). Kelly and his agents have every reason in the world to scare Americans into total compliance, every reason to insist that the drug war and terrorism is a constant threat, and every reason to suspect every traveler coming into the country could be a threat, and every reason to treat us as though we citizens are merely subjects of government authority. This also means that many of the domestic terror threats he mentions having prevented in his speech were frequently the result of undercover FBI stings that frequently are encouraging people to act out so that they can bust them, and it's not clear (and will never be clear) how many of these men would have actually done anything had undercover agents not been helping them along. And the security theater driving the TSA's searches has long been exposed as ineffective, insulting, and incomprehensible. Their failures in catching actual threats compared to the inane overreactions they have to perfectly harmless objects are well known, and the result has been to actually dumb down procedures and make searches even more invasive rather than more effective. Hey, Kelly, want to know why people hate you and your employees? Watch this video from ReasonTV. This is what you're telling Americans and lawmakers they should support: 
The fondling will continue until morale improves.
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Begin Trace Mode for Comment # 44.
#1. To: All (#0)
(Edited)
Author: Scott Schakford Let’s see who is telling what, so we can try to determine why … Shackford comes to Reason after nearly a decade of serving in various editing positions for Freedom Communications, a libertarian-leaning media chain that may or may not still exist depending on when this profile is being read. Prior to moving to Reason, he was editor in chief of the Desert Dispatch in Barstow, California, where he wrote editorials focusing on libertarian issues like wasteful municipal spending, school choice, the drug war and abuse of police authority. He also editorialized about state and federal transportation and energy spending. Living in the midst of heavily subsidized solar developments in the Mojave Desert, he warned about potential problems with the Department of Energy’s guaranteed loan program months before Solyndra actually filed for bankruptcy. He was one of the few newspaper editors in California to endorse Proposition 19 to legalize marijuana. Before becoming part of the massive libertarian media establishment, Shackford once weighed in on much more important matters as a show recapper at Television Without Pity. There, his dislike of Clay Aiken and his disappointment with the writing on Firefly earned him the enmity of the entire Internet. All of it. Shackford lives in Los Angeles.
John Kelly is trying his best to keep America safe and while there are problems with TSA, he is working to correct those problems. John Kelly and Homeland Security needs support and suggestions to make their tasks easier and less intrusive for the public. Let us find reasons and ways to help with the problems….and not be a part of the problem offering only constant criticism and condemnation, which is of no help and solves nothing. All you libertarians can ever do is piss and moan about everything….while never doing anything to correct any problems. Oh, you ae helping by calling attention to the problems? That’s a bunch of crap. We are intelligent enough to already see the problems. Damn, your repeated libertarian cry baby whining is really getting to be old stuff.
Just bend over and take it slave -it's what you do best.
Exposing you malicious and demoralizing agenda is what I do best.
Come on, hondope....quite letting memes doing the talking for you. Wait, you are Deckard? Right ...
Hey, Gatlin - want to know why people hate the TSA and its employees? Watch this video from ReasonTV. This is what you're telling Americans and lawmakers they should support:
Nope! I am not interested in your Reason libertarian propaganda. The last Gallup Poll I saw revealed that the majority of Americans approve of the TSA and the work they are doing. I’ll go with the majority of Americans in this case …
That thin majority of those Americans are probably in that group that voted for Comrade Hillary.
That thin majority of those Americans are probably in that group that voted for Comrade Hillary. What? That does not make sense ...
Au contraire, mon ami. (A little French lingo there to demonstrate my fondness for little froggies.) I'm intimating there that most of those who like the herding done by the TSA cowboys probably voted for Hillary. Gatlin, you appear to be a thoughtful and intelligent man; however, one can't help but notice that you usually side with the central government on various issues. I, on the other hand, believe the central socialist government has spun out of control over the past 100 years and needs to be seriously reigned in. The TSA and the Homeland (in)Security agencies are a knee-jerk reaction to the Islamic suicide episode of 9/11. How poorly that was handled when instead of going after Saudi Arabia and carpet bombing their oil fields Bush decides to go after Saddam who protected Jews and Christians and bombed Tehran on a regular basis. There are at least 1 million federal loafers that need to be permanently furloughed and the agencies they work for shut down forever. That means to yank out the communication lines, sell off the furniture and fixtures and sell the buildings, or otherwise get out of costly leases.
I have been accused of siding with the central federal government often, by Deckard and Hondo. I can understand why they perceive that. They openly and continually spew anti-government hatred for no explainable reason, other than it stems from some fake news or yellow journalism article that goes along with what they “want” to believe. I find it hard to tolerate anyone who does not consider things objectively….and always deals with everything from their preformed opinions stemming from a closed mind. For example, someone may say “the TSA is bad” and give no legitimate reason other than something they just read in a fake news or yellow journalism article that has not been substantiated as the truth. Then, I will say that the “TSA is not bad.” But if what the person did in the article is true, then that is bad and that person needs to be retrained, or fired in it was severe enough. When I do that, no one will usually ask me explain what I mean, or accept the explanation I give…I am immediately branded a book-licking government Troll. You have heard for the last almost two years the political phrase or slogan: “Make America Great Again.” When I first heard that used by Trump, I recalled another Politician two generations ago saying and pledging to “Stand up for America.” I am of that old school where “Stand up for America” and “States Rights” went hand in hand by the same politician. I, however, was against all aspects of his segregation idea. I have never changed on that issue, but I refuse to let someone who thinks their political philosophy is better than mine, tell me I am wrong and that I must change to accept theirs….and if I don’t, I am a boot-looking supporter of all government policies. You may have gotten the opinion that I am for a strong central government because I disagreed with you today. As I said, that has happened before. But what I saw from you, and I may have been mistaken but it was what I saw, is that you were saying the TSA is bad. And I was saying no, the TSA is not bad….but some things about the TSA and some things the TSA does is bad and those things need to be changed. I feel the TSA is doing a job that needs to be done, but they must constantly improve on their efforts while retraining weak employees and replacing totally ineffective employees….which of course there are some. I could go on and write a book….but I think, or rather I hope, I have given you a proper perspective on my outlook. If I have not, I am open to any non-personal questions you many have. I do enjoy your posts. You are one of the level headed people I find here on LF who does not seem to have a biased agenda he is trying to push.
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Scott Shackford is an associate editor at Reason.com.
[Reason is a libertarian monthly print magazine].
#2. To: All (#1)
#8. To: Gatlin (#2)
#10. To: Deckard (#8)
#13. To: Gatlin (#10)
#15. To: Deckard (#13)
#16. To: Gatlin (#15)
#22. To: Deckard (#16)
- want to know why people hate the TSA and its employees?
#25. To: Gatlin (#22)
I’ll go with the majority of Americans in this case
#32. To: HomerBohn (#25)
I’ll go with the majority of Americans in this case
#39. To: Gatlin (#32)
#44. To: HomerBohn (#39)
(Edited)
Gatlin, you appear to be a thoughtful and intelligent man; however, one can't help but notice that you usually side with the central government on various issues.
Yes, I do side with the central government, only at times. And because I do at times….some assume, and want to make it appear, that I do so at all times. Which is not true. Therefore, they misunderstand me or want to make it appear that I am a supporter and strong believer in a large central federal government, only because I disagree with them on many points.
Replies to Comment # 44.
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