Michael Yon Handcuffed by TSA at SeaTac (Updated)("refusing to say how much money I make")

The Jawa Report ^ | January 05, 2010 | Dr. Rusty Shackleford

[fight_truth_decay]

This from Michael Yon on Facebook: http://ww.facebook.com/MichaelYonFanPage

Got arrested at the Seattle airport for refusing to say how much money I make. (The uniformed ones say I was not "arrested", but they definitely handcuffed me.) Their videos and audios should show that I was polite, but simply refused questions that had nothing to do with national security. Port authority police eve...eventually came -- they were professionals -- and rescued me from the border bullies.

h/t tip North Shore Journal

Instead of going after those that are suspected terrorists, this happens? I was reading a post at JWF, where Joan Rivers was booted from a flight from Newark bound flight to Costa Rica because of the the two names on her passport:

Joan Rosenberg AKA Joan Rivers. Rosenberg was her late husband's last name. Wow, talk about going after the wrong people.....sheesh

Update:

Michael Yon

When they handcuffed me, I said that no country has ever treated me so badly. Not China. Not Vietnam. Not Afghanistan. Definitely not Singapore or India or Nepal or Germany, not Brunei, not Indonesia, or Malaysia, or Kuwait or Qatar or United Arab Emirates. No county has treated me with the disrespect that can be expected from our border bullies

Amazing shite right here. A freelance journalist puts his life on the line to tell the truth about the war against the terrorists and he gets handcuffed??? God help us all.

[fight_truth_decay]

Responses to Michael Yon FaceBook

[parthian shot]

Have no idea how much he makes, but I hope that he is getting ready to make a lot more.

[skeeter]

A more obnoxious bunch of 'public servants' I've never met than the TSA officers at airports around here.

When I can understand what they're saying, that is.

[Harley]

Here's a lawsuit made in Heaven. The TSA is not a law enforcement organization. They are not a terrorist investigation arm. They have only one function. They are charged with finding harmful things from getting on airplanes. They got their hands severely slapped a couple of months ago because they thought a passenger had too much cash on him. When are they going to learn their function and stop this insanity that has nothing to do with airline security?

[humblegunner]

Why is he afraid to disclose his income?

[wac3rd]

He could have said, probably not as much as the lifetime pension and benefits afforded at taxpayer expense for TSA employees via crooked unions.

[Common Sense 101]

Why should he have to?

[originalbuckeye]

Why is his income any business of TSA?

[jeffc]

Why is he afraid to disclose his income?

What makes you think he is?

Why should he say how much he makes to board a plane? Should you?

So how much do you make?

[WoofDog123]

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/steve-bierfeldt/how-my-lawsuit-against-th_b_352660.html

as described, the question about his income appears to violate TSA’s own new guideline.

Hope he nails them in court.

[Not A Snowbird]

As I just posted elsewhere, we’re getting one side of the story from a clearly biased source.

Step back and recognize that we’re not getting the entire story here.

[dumpthelibs]

If they weren’t doing this the TSA would be the guys and gals in the restrooms handing you towels for tips.

[Cicero]

How much do you make?

[CodeToad]

“If they weren’t doing this the TSA would be the guys and gals in the restrooms handing you towels for tips.”

To borrow Lewis Black’s joke: These were the kids in high school that ran the audio/visual aids.

[humblegunner]

So how much do you make?

Per post on a single thread or by percentage?

It varies depending. Why? Did you negotiate poorly?

[sausageseller]

I see you haven't dealt with the MORON TSA agents much!

[STARWISE]

~~Strange ........... PING! Ex-Green Beret and War Correspondent Michael Yon Arrested at SeaTac for Not Reporting His Salary By Caleb Hannan in Transportation Tuesday, Jan. 5 2010 @ 2:28PM Michael Yon says he was arrested at SeaTac for not telling "border bullies" how much money he made. ​UPDATE: A spokesman from U.S. Customs and Border Protection says there are two sides to every story. Details after the jump. Airport security is a big deal these days. But since when has reporting your income been a matter of national security? Michael Yon is an ex-Green Beret turned war correspondent who's spent much of the past four years covering the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. His passport, therefore, is likely to have the kind of stamps that might make TSA agents think twice, especially in the wake of Christmas Day's underpants bomber. But according to Yon, it was his refusal to tell SeaTac officials how much money he made that apparently landed him in cuffs. ​ Yon says he was rescued from his "border bullies" by Port Authority police who advised the agents (still trying to confirm if that means TSA or Border Patrol) to let him go. And in a later Facebook post, Yon said that his treatment at SeaTac was the worst he'd ever received, a pretty strong statement from a guy who's made his way through airports in Brunei, Kuwait and, of course, Afghanistan. Daily Weekly has a call in to the Port Authority police spokesperson's office and TSA's regional office to confirm the incident. We'll let you know what we find out. UPDATE: Unfortunately for us, the government's side isn't going to be made public anytime soon. "In any situation there's two sides to the story," says CBP spokesman Mike Milne. "You've heard one side, and we're prohibited by the Privacy Act from telling our side." Although Milne wouldn't provide any details, he did say that TSA had nothing to do with Yon's arrest. (A fact that should have been obvious to me -- when was the last time you saw a TSA agent wearing handcuffs? -- but I didn't want to assume anything since Yon hadn't been specific.) http://blogs.seattleweekly.com/dailyweekly/2010/01/ex-green_beret_and_war_corresp.php

[bjc]

On the face of it TSA over-stepped its bounds. However, there are rules on how much money you can take out of the country. Asking how much M Yon makes seems an irrelevancy. I normally would say that there has to be more to this story - but with TSA Mall Cops who knows.

[bjc]

On the face of it TSA over-stepped its bounds. However, there are rules on how much money you can take out of the country. Asking how much M Yon makes seems an irrelevancy. I normally would say that there has to be more to this story - but with TSA Mall Cops who knows.

[jamz]

He should’ve just said he made a meeeeelllyon dollars and held a pinky to his lip.

Oh...and that he blew it all on strippers the night before.