TSA Outrage funded by Koch

[Nina~ 431]

TSAstroturf: The Washington Lobbyists and Koch-Funded Libertarians Behind the TSA Scandal

Mark Ames and Yasha Levine | November 23, 2010

Does anyone else sense something strange is going on with the apparently spontaneous revolt against the TSA? This past week, the media turned an "ordinary guy," 31-year-old Californian John Tyner, who blogs under the pseudonym "Johnny Edge," into a national hero after he posted a cell phone video of himself defending his liberty against the evil government oppressors in charge of airport security.

While this issue is certainly important—and offensive—to Americans, we are nonetheless skeptical about how and why this story turned into a national movement. In fact, this whole campaign feels a bit like déjà-vu: As the first reporters to expose the Tea Party as an Astroturf PR campaign [1] funded by FreedomWorks and Koch-related front groups back in February, 2009, we see many of the same elements driving the current "rebellion" against the TSA: Koch-related libertarians, Washington lobbyists and PR operatives posing as "ordinary citizens," and suspicious fake-grassroots outrage relentlessly promoted in the same old right-wing echo chamber.

So far, all we know about "ordinary guy" John Tyner III, the freedom fighter who took on the TSA agents, is that, according to a friendly hometown profile in the San Diego Union-Tribune, "he leans strongly libertarian and doesn't believe in voting. TSA security policy, he asserts 'isn't Republican and it isn't Democratic.' " [Emphasis added.]

Tyner attended private Christian schools in Southern California and lives in Oceanside, a Republican stronghold next to Camp Pendleton, the largest Marine Corps base on the West Coast.

At least one local TSA administrator wondered if Tyner hadn't come to the airport prepared to create a scandal. Tyner switched on his recording device before even entering the checkpoint—and recorded himself as he refused to go through the body scanner. Most importantly, Tyner recorded himself saying, "If you touch my junk, I'm gonna have you arrested!"—which quickly morphed on blogs into the more media-savvy tagline, "Don't touch my junk!"

According to the Union-Tribune, when asked if the TSA was set up by Tyner, the local administrator coyly replied, "I don't know that it was an actual set up—but we are concerned that this passenger did have his recording [on] prior to entering the checkpoint so there is some concern that it was an intentional behavior on his part."

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We could take it all at face value and just trust that they're all "ordinary guys." Or we could ask, "Who profits?"

One person who seems to have the answer is Rep. John Mica, the Florida Republican who is set to chair the Transportation Committee. Mica co-wrote the bill establishing the TSA in 2001, just over a month after the terrorist attacks on New York and Washington, DC. A little-known provision in that bill allowed airports to "opt out" from the federal agency's security umbrella and to instead hire private contractors. As Media Matters pointed out recently, the whole reason why the TSA was formed was because private contractors paying airport security minimum wages were considered a big part of the reason why the 9/11 terror attacks were allowed to happen. Since the formation of the TSA, not a single terror attack originating from an American airport has taken place. But apparently that's not nearly as relevant as the complaints of a few libertarians.

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[^_^ 5,021]

Speaking of Koch - do they own Koch Foods? I recently closely read the halal certification at a restaurant I like. I was waiting for food and it was in readable distance. Apparently, Koch Foods certifies the meat as halal.

[one...two...tree 2,762]

Interesting. Creating the news these days seems to be all the craze and the spineless, corporate driven media gobbles it up.

[Ban Hammer 12,864]

Interesting. Creating the news these days seems to be all the craze and the spineless, corporate driven media gobbles it up.

[Obama 2012 1,714]

Yes, all the outrage is fake. Yup all of it. Geez.....

What a garbage article to post in hopes of helping the government agencies grab even more power...

NONE of this changes the fact of what the TSA is doing.

[one...two...tree 2,762]

Yes, all the outrage is fake. Yup all of it. Geez.....

What a garbage article to post in hopes of helping the government agencies grab even more power...

NONE of this changes the fact of what the TSA is doing.

You don't think astroturfing exists?

[Obama 2012 1,714]

You don't think astroturfing exists?

Astroturfing existed during the 2008 elections for Obama just as much as anything else in recent years.... Interests put the story out there and as stated the media runs with it and convinces people to do things they want... ( or things they don't want ).

That doesn't change the fact there is outrage over the TSA and their actions. It doesn't change the roots of the movements either for the Tea party or whatever else... It just means they got some corporate backers too.. Which makes sense this day and age with all the corporate money out there. Each party/movement has its business backers....

[Gary and Alla 3,694]

Well thank goodness SOMEONE is taking on the TSA. Good to see it is Libertarians.

[mawilson 2,133]

Funny how the left wing seems to be pro-TSA only because conservatives are against it.

Even civil liberties are partisan, apparently.

[The_Dude 1,142]

Funny how the left wing seems to be pro-TSA only because conservatives are against it.

Even civil liberties are partisan, apparently.

I consider myself a civil libertarian, and I am against this. I have actually been yelled at (by someone on VJ) in real life for not being properly outraged. Personally, I am more upset about the huge waste of money and the false sense of security that some people think these measures imbue.

[Obama 2012 1,714]

Funny how the left wing seems to be pro-TSA only because conservatives are against it.

Even civil liberties are partisan, apparently.

It's a complete flip-flop from the Patriot Act....

[The_Dude 1,142]

It's a complete flip-flop from the Patriot Act....

Except that the government was conducting warantless searches and seizures. Big difference between real and perceived Paul.

[Obama 2012 1,714]

Except that the government was conducting warantless searches and seizures. Big difference between real and perceived Paul.

How is it different?

Do you have the right to a phone/internet/etc..?

That would be the question and the same reasoning in the way the TSA is being argued on the "right to fly."

How much of an expectation of privacy is there on phone lines? I mean those wires can be tapped into pretty easily and have to go through switchboards, etc. They have to bounce of signal towers for cell phones. It's right there for anyone with the capabilities to intercept/grab anyway.

You cannot claim one to be acceptable and not the other. I'm against both for the record.

[The_Dude 1,142]

How is it different?

Do you have the right to a phone/internet/etc..?

That would be the question and the same reasoning in the way the TSA is being argued on the "right to fly."

How much of an expectation of privacy is there on phone lines? I mean those wires can be tapped into pretty easily and have to go through switchboards, etc. They have to bounce of signal towers for cell phones. It's right there for anyone with the capabilities to intercept/grab anyway.

You cannot claim one to be acceptable and not the other. I'm against both for the record.

No, it's not the same reasoning. On the phone, there is a reasonable expectation of privacy, as defined in Katz vs. U.S., that is the metric for deciding 4th amendment issues. There is no expectation of privacy when flying. We have had ample evidence of planes blowing up and people attempting to bring explosive and inscendiary devices on planes, so I think there is some level of reason to the searches. But the way we are doing it now is horrible, and ineffective. For the record, I am against both the patriot act and the current TSA methods, but not for the same reasons you are.

[Obama 2012 1,714]

No, it's not the same reasoning. On the phone, there is a reasonable expectation of privacy, as defined in Katz vs. U.S., that is the metric for deciding 4th amendment issues. There is no expectation of privacy when flying. We have had ample evidence of planes blowing up and people attempting to bring explosive and inscendiary devices on planes, so I think there is some level of reason to the searches. But the way we are doing it now is horrible, and ineffective. For the record, I am against both the patriot act and the current TSA methods, but not for the same reasons you are.

See, that reasoning is jacked up as well. We should search everyone walking out of a grocery store because there have been ample examples of people shoplifting/attempting to shoplift.

Every student should be patted down daily who walks into a high school/college because we've had ample examples of school shootings/attempted murder on campus....

'Reasonable' as I stated before can be easily skewed. Rational thought gets skewed by the idea of something bad happening. Then it becomes irrational at that point, which would attribute the searches to being unreasonable at that point.

Then of course there's the argument that all of these changes recently are extremely unreasonable because American Citizens haven't been the ones planning the attacks that have happened over the course of the past year. The underwear bomber boarded a plane in Amsterdam, not the US. The cargo packages were put on "US Bound" planes, but not on planes that originate here... So how is it reasonable to search US Citizens for incidents that are happening abroad?