T.S.A. Expands Duties Beyond Airport Security

New York Times ^ | 08/06/2013 | RON NIXON

[SeekAndFind]

WASHINGTON — As hundreds of commuters emerged from Amtrak and commuter trains at Union Station on a recent morning, an armed squad of men and women dressed in bulletproof vests made their way through the crowds.

The squad was not with the Washington police department or Amtrak’s police force, but was one of the Transportation Security Administration’s Visible Intermodal Prevention and Response squads — VIPR teams for short — assigned to perform random security sweeps to prevent terrorist attacks at transportation hubs across the United States.

“The T.S.A., huh,” said Donald Neubauer of Greenville, Ohio, as he walked past the squad. “I thought they were just at the airports.”

With little fanfare, the agency best known for airport screenings has vastly expanded its reach to sporting events, music festivals, rodeos, highway weigh stations and train terminals. Not everyone is happy.

[Vigilanteman]

More security theater to enforce the Obama Doctrine: Every citizen, a potential terrorist; every terrorist, a potential higher breed of citizen.

[no-to-illegals]

We don’t have to have more junk touched, do we?

[Buckeye McFrog]

Yet more impetus for what I feel is a coming Libertarian Political Tsunami.

[OneWingedShark]

Always remember to prostrate yourself before government agents:
Stop, Drop, and Cower
[Direct Link]

[Mouton]

“Not everyone is happy.”

Not since the time of the Sheriff of Nottingham has anyone been less happy at having roving bands of the king’s men out roaming the countryside under the banner of enforcing the king’s laws. Does ANYONE actually think that a roaming band of heavily armed troops patroling the streets is going ot prevent some terror attack? If that were true, facilities in Vichy France would have had no sabotage. Well, we know how that worked out for the Nazi occupiers.

[no-to-illegals]

Gee ... this means we have to grow more junk? I don’t know how to do that.

[Paladin2]

Maybe they just need Wiener training so they know how to run around holding their own junk.

[COBOL2Java]

Terrific. I take Union Station to get to work, now I have to deal with these Mall Cop rejects. Guess I have to find another way to commute.

[The Great RJ]

The very thought of TSA gumshoes being armed is scary.

[Georgia Girl 2]

Those fools could not find their azz with both hands. They have no authority and everyone that encounters them should tell them that. That agency needs to be shut down and the sooner the better.

The one reason I would overlook Rand Paul’s stance on immigration and vote him President is because he would move to shut some of these agencies down. He has a real dislike of the TSA.

[Uncle Miltie]

Because expensive bureaucratic incompetence at airports isn’t enough!

[TurboZamboni]

In some states, taxpayers even fund your addadictome procedure.

[PGR88]

We are creating for ourselves an extremely complex, and expensive system - trying to anticipate and eliminate every outlier event - whether it be in security, foreign affairs, economics, or society.

It will prove impossible and it won’t last.

[Stormdog]

“Terrific. I take Union Station to get to work, now I have to deal with these Mall Cop rejects. Guess I have to find another way to commute.”

Don’t get too comfy. These wannabees are conducting roadblocks. “Papers...Vee must see your papers....”

[novemberslady]

As hundreds of commuters emerged from Amtrak and commuter trains at Union Station on a recent morning, an armed squad of men and women dressed in bulletproof vests made their way through the crowds

They're here from the government, and they're here to help.

Yep they're helping themselves...to everything.

[DTogo]

"the Transportation Security Administration’s Visible Intermodal Prevention and Response squads — VIPR teams for short"

So should Freedom-loving Americans start referring to themselves as a mongoose?

[Vigilanteman]

Those fools could not find their azz with both hands.

You just brought back fond memories of two of my Daddy's favorite expressions:

1. . . . a bureaucrat so dumb that he couldn't find his bare ass in the dark with both hands and a flashlight.
   
2. Eisenhower didn't have the sense to pour p*ss out of a boot with the directional arrow stamped on the heel.

God bless his memory!

[Carry_Okie]

The squad was not with the Washington police department or Amtrak’s police force, but was one of the Transportation Security Administration’s Visible Intermodal Prevention and Response squads — VIPR teams for short — assigned to perform random security sweeps to prevent terrorist attacks at transportation hubs across the United States.

TSA exists because the bulk of air transportation is interstate.

“The T.S.A., huh,” said Donald Neubauer of Greenville, Ohio, as he walked past the squad. “I thought they were just at the airports.”

The moron ought to realize that TSA policing intrastate transportation is blatantly unconstitutional.