The horror stories about the Transportation Security Administration are indisputable. In the post 911 environment, civil liberties are routinely ignored or eliminated, and become a mere memory in a country that once prided itself as the beacon of freedom for the entire world. The TSA is part of the Department of Homeland Security. FEMA, the Federal Emergency Management Agency is also an agency of DHS. The public relation spin for the purpose of such authorities is to protect citizens and guard the nation. The reality is that DHS bureaus have the same mission, keep the government safe from potential real or imaginary threats. Interpret threats to mean anyone who opposes the establishment regime, now known as, the military-industrial-financial-security complex. DHS is the third largest Cabinet department, after the Departments of Defense and Veterans Affairs. A Department of Homeland Security site acknowledges a FY 2012 Budget of $56,941,507,000, in the latest testimony of DHS Secretary Janet Napolitano before Congress, “The Fiscal Year (FY) 2013 Budget for DHS is $58.6 billion in total budget authority, $48.7 billion in gross discretionary funding, and $39.5 billion in net discretionary funding. Net discretionary budget authority is 0.5 percent below the FY 2012 enacted level. An additional $5.5 billion for the Disaster Relief Fund (DRF) is provided under the disaster relief cap adjustment, pursuant to the Budget Control Act of 2011 (BCA).”

The House of Representatives has approved an amendment to the draconian National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA) that will limit the Department of Defense from using data collected by unmanned spy drones against Americans. The Amendment, introduced by Congressman Landry (R-LA), will prohibit information collected by DoD drones without a warrant from being used as evidence in court. The amendment, was approved early Thursday afternoon along with 19 other en bloc amendments, reads: “Notwithstanding any other provision of law, information acquired by an unmanned aerial vehicle operated by the Department of Defense may not be admitted in a Federal court, State court, or court of a political subdivision of a State as evidence against a United States citizen unless such information was obtained by such unmanned aerial vehicle pursuant to a court order.”

Crime is down in Louisiana, but the state still holds the ignominious title of “the world’s prison capital.” An exposé by the New Orleans Times-Picayune found that Louisiana incarcerates more people per capita than any other state or country in the world. One out of every 86 adults is behind bars, which is nearly double the U.S. average. This means Louisiana’s prison rate is nearly three times higher than Iran’s, seven times more than China’s, and 10 times that of Germany. For African-Americans from New Orleans, one in 14 is in prison, and one out of seven is either in prison, on parole, or on probation. Overall, Louisiana’s prison population has doubled over the past 20 years.

Despite the fact that the TSA attracts more bad publicity than any other federal agency in existence for its routine harassment of the traveling public and its penchant for hiring criminals, Congressman Mike Rogers has called for the TSA to get even “tougher” in the name of preventing the next terrorist attack. “TSA likes to talk about their successes and I’m proud of their successes — we haven’t had another successful attack in 10 years. The problem is, we have only have to miss one and it’s a disaster,” Rogers (R-Ala.) said on CNN’s “Starting Point.” “We want TSA to become smarter, leaner and tougher.” It’s somewhat difficult to grasp precisely how the TSA should heed Rogers’ call to get “tougher” with people traveling through airports and other transportation hubs which are now festooned with TSA agents.

Just a few days after a senior US counter-terrorism expert warned that US drone strikes were turning Yemen into the “Arabian equivalent of Waziristan”, US drone strikes yesterday aped the tactic of ‘follow up’ strikes used by the US in Pakistan. According to CNN, a strike in which seven suspected Al-Qaeda militants were killed was followed by a strike on local residents rushing to the scene to help the injured. Local sources said that between eight and twelve civilians were killed in the second, follow-up strike. A Yemeni security officials expressed regret for the civilian casualties and injuries. “The targets of the raids were not the civilians, and we give our condolences to the families of those who lost a loved one.” Over the past few weeks US drone strikes and other military activity has been ratcheted up in Yemen as the White House has given ‘greater leeway’ to the CIA and JSOC to launch attacks. Micah Zenko at the US Council on Foreign Relations estimates there will be more US strikes this month in Yemen than there has ever been in a single month in Pakistan. For details see the Bureau of Investigative Journalism’s excellent database of US covert activity in Yemen.

Regular patrol officers in Florida are to be provided with bullet-proof ballistic shields in another sign of how police departments are preparing for violence and civil unrest in America. “Saxon Security and its partner LCOA Defense have been named suppliers to the St. Petersburg (Florida) police department for new ballistic shields for general patrol officers,” reports BusinessWire. 45 ballistic shields will be provided to routine beat cops. The video above shows the Deadstop Ballistic Shield repelling bullets. The clip displays the use of the shield in SWAT-style scenarios but now regular beat officers will also carry it while on patrol. LCOA’s website also clearly places the use of the shield in the context of SWAT operations, not day to day patrols.

The TSA is not looking for al-Qaeda miscreants who want to blow up airplanes because they hate us for our freedom, as we are repeatedly told. Beyond turbans and dark skin, its ill-trained employees know nothing about Arabs or Muslims. It does not use that predicate to initiate searches. That would be racial and religious profiling, which is forbidden under the hallowed tenets of political correctness. Like some kind of lame predatory animal, it prefers instead to harass and molest the elderly, the very young, those in wheelchairs or hobbling along on crutches. It especially prefers to pat-down and run through naked body porno scanners attractive women. On Friday, the TSA revealed that it not only does not know anything about terrorism, it also does not know who our rulers and their prized minions are.

A Freedom of Information Act request filed by the Electronic Frontier Foundation has revealed a plan by the Department of Homeland Security to collect DNA from children 14 years old and up without a search warrant or criminal prosecution. EFF reported on Monday that the DHS plan appears to be working its way through DHS in the wake of regulations from the Department of Justice that require all federal agencies – including DHS and its components such as ICE – to collect DNA from individuals arrested for federal crimes as well as “from non-United States persons who are detained under the authority of the United States,” whether or not they have been involved in criminal activity. “Collecting DNA from anyone detained by the government for any number of non-criminal reasons – especially juveniles – seems to be yet another step on the slippery slope to collecting DNA from everyone in the United States, no matter their status,” writes Jennifer Lynch for the digital rights organization.

Seven hundred National Guard members from the Northeast and Caribbean will be in central New York this week for disaster preparedness training. They will train for certification as a regional disaster response force capable of assisting responders following a chemical, biological, nuclear or high-explosive incident, according to the Associated Press. Talking surveillance cameras that bark orders at passers-by and can also record conversations are heading for U.S. streets, with manufacturer Illuminating Concepts announcing the progress of its ‘Intellistreets’ system.

Seven hundred National Guard members from the Northeast and Caribbean will be in central New York this week for disaster preparedness training. They will train for certification as a regional disaster response force capable of assisting responders following a chemical, biological, nuclear or high-explosive incident, according to the Associated Press. They are part of the National Guard Homeland Response Force (HRF) controlled by the Department of Defense. There are currently ten HRF units hosted by one state in each FEMA region, according to the Pentagon. In February, it was reported that FEMA plans to move National Guard troops from one FEMA district to another during natural disasters and other emergencies. FEMA administrator Craig Fugate made the announcement after Obama signed Presidential Policy Directive 8 on March 30, 2011. “PPD-8 reflects the Obama Administration’s belief that the whole community – including all levels of government, the private and nonprofit sectors, and individual citizens – plays a key role in preparedness efforts,” the National Guard website reported. PPD-8 allows FEMA to “facilitate an integrated, all-of-nation/whole community, capabilities-based approach to preparedness” that involves “federal partners, state, local and tribal leaders, the private sector, non-governmental organizations, faith based and community organizations ─ and most importantly the general public” in the effort, according to the FEMA website.