We’ve had yet another incident of a TSA agent humiliating and disrespecting a passenger. At Orlando airport in Florida, John Gross was transporting his grandfather’s ashes in an urn marked “Human Remains.” As he told the IndyChannel in his hometown of Indianapolis:

A reader wrote to TSA News with the story of his assault at the hands of a TSA agent at Chicago’s O’Hare Airport on Sunday, June 24th. After verifying his identity, we agreed to tell his story but keep his name private.

READ THE REST HERE.

by Wendy Thomson

With the May 30th passing of Rep. Jackie Speier’s legislation allowing the TSA to share data with all manner of ground transportation, the question comes to mind, what’s next? Will we be assaulted every time we try to travel from point A to point B, no matter by what means?  

READ THE REST HERE.

The arrest, torture and abuse of a young University girl student by the men of John Timoney and John Yates have shaken the country to the core. Zahra Al Shaikh, 21, from Karbabad, was arrested for taking part in an anti-regime peaceful protest. She was subjected to horrific treatment, stripped and indecent images of her taken by the security forces. She is accused of anti-regime activities and is threatened with long term prison sentence. Bahrainis have been horrified at the treatment of this young Bahraini girl and have vowed not to accept Alkhalifa rule and to resist it at any cost.

As the Alkhalifa regime intensified its crackdown against Bahrainis, Mohammad Al Buflasa has been arrested and taken to the torture chambers. Mr Al Buflasa is a young Bahraini who was the first to be imprisoned after the Revolution following a speech at the Pearl Roundabout in February 2011. He remained behind bars for ten months before being released. He comes from Sunni background and his participation in the people’s revolution has angered the Alkhalifa who have been trying to present a sectarian argument to explain the Revolution. Several NGOs have issued statements demanding Al Buflasa’s immediate release, but, to date, Mohammad is still in incarceration at the Alkhalifa torture dungeons.

One of the Alkhlaifa courts has issued ruling against re-building the mosques that had been destroyed by the Al Khalifa/Al Saud joint forces. The Alkhalifa’ ministry of Justice has considered their rebuilding at the h ands of the citizens as illegal. Thus a new War of the Mosques has thus developed and more Shia mosques may are being targeted for demolition. The Bissioni report was critical of destroying religious symbols of the native inhabitants.

The death of Prince Nayef bin Abdul Aziz has led to a political mayhem in Saudi Arabia which fears of political vacuum after his demise. While Bahrainis have not expressed any sign of sorrow arguing that Nayef had been responsible for the invasion of Bahrain by the Saudi troops, the general mood is against continuing attacks on Bahrainis by Saudi and Alkhalifa forces. The Saudi role in Bahrain has been disastrous and had led to many deaths and injuries.

The situation in the prisons has been described as becoming harsher following the threats by the dictator against Bahrainis. Kumail Al Manami, a 30 years old young Bahraini is languishing in underground dungeons of the Alkhalifa jails. His family has confirmed that his health is deteriorating and he is gradually losing his eye sight. Since his arrest on 31st March 2009, Mr Manami has been subjected to continuous torture, held in solitary confinement and denied access to daylight except for one hour each day. Several other Bahrainis have been languishing in Alkhalifa torture dungeons for years as Washington and London supplied the regime with men of torture and repression. This is one of the underpinning causes of the ongoing Revolution that has become impossible to defeat or contain. Native Bahrainis (Shia and Sunni) are determined to rid the country of minority rule (confined to Alkhalifa members who occupy more than half the cabinet posts).

Meanwhile the campaign against allowing Nasser bin Hamad Al Khalifa, the notorious torturer who is also the son of Bahrain’s dictator has started in earnest. On 14th June the Liberal Democrat MP Dan Rogerson (representing North Cornwall) asked the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs what consideration he has given to the human rights records of members of the Bahraini government who plan to visit the UK during the London 2012 Olympic and Paralympics Games. Alistair Burt (Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Afghanistan/South Asia, counter terrorism/proliferation, North America, Middle East and North Africa), Foreign and Commonwealth Office; North East Bedfordshire, Conservative) said:

The Government has been clear that regardless of the country concerned where there is independent, reliable and credible evidence that an individual has committed human rights abuses, the individual will not normally be permitted to enter the UK.

On 21st June the Guardian newspaper published an article titled: “Britain urged to ban royal head of Bahrain Olympic committee” in which it said: Son of Bahrain’s king set to visit London 2012 despite being accused of violating athletes”. There is now a campaign to arrest the Alkhalifa torturer upon his arrival in London.

Bahrain Freedom Movement
22nd June 2012

In an about-face from what the TSA has been claiming since 2010 — and from what hundreds of thousands of travelers have experienced — a TSA supervisor claimed the other day that TSA agents are, in fact, not supposed to use the front of their hands to grope passengers in a search, only the back of their hands, “unless there is a good reason to believe the passenger is hiding something.”

READ THE REST HERE.

Tell Cook County State's Attorney Alvarez, Cook County Sheriff Dart, Chicago Police Superintendent McCarthy, Chicago Mayor Emanuel, President Obama, Attorney General Holder, DOJ Inspector General Fine, the Senate and House Judiciary Committees, Congressional Leaders, U.N. Secy Gen Ban, and members of the media to DROP ALL CHARGES AGAINST THE ANTI-NATO PROTESTERS AND RELEASE ALL PROTESTERS NOW!

Initiated by the Committee to Stop FBI Repression stopfbi.net stopfbi@gmail.com 

Click HERE to Sign the online petition (scroll down to view petition text)  

Drop all charges against the NATO 5 and all anti-NATO protesters!
Eight protesters are still being held in Cook County Jail in Chicago. Release them all now! 

The charges against the NATO 5 and the others are false. All these prisoners urgently need your solidarity. Please sign our petition. Share it with your family, friends and coworkers. Signing the petition will generate a direct email to:

• Illinois State’s Attorney Anita Alvarez
• Cook County Sheriff Tom Dart
• Chicago Police Superintendent Garry McCarthy,
• Chicago Mayor Rahm Emanuel,

and many other officials
demanding all charges against the NATO 5 be dropped. 

Background: 

Eight people continue to be held in jail in Chicago, arrested before or during the protests against the NATO summit in Chicago in May. 

Four of the men face terrorism-related charges and the other four serious felonies, while the NATO generals responsible for the deaths of tens of thousands have left town to return to their occupation of Afghanistan and plotting for their next war. 

Brian Church, Jared Chase, Brent Vincent Betterly and Sebastian Senakiewicz have been charged under a State of Illinois anti-terrorism law passed after 9/11 that has never been used. Together withMark Neiweem, they’ve been called the NATO 5 for the seriousness of their charges and because they were all targeted by undercover officers exposed by the National Lawyers Guild. The agents went by the nicknames “Mo” and “Gloves.” 

The NATO 5 were arrested without any evidence of their involvement in violence, other than the statements of undercover provocateurs. The first three arrests took place in an unlawful police raid of a home on Wednesday night, May 16, during which the police kicked in doors without presenting a warrant, beat up people, shackled protesters hand and foot, and then “disappeared” 11 people for up to 40 hours. The National Lawyers Guild and Occupy Chicago activists faced repeated denials by the Chicago Police in their attempts to locate those arrested. 

The next two were arrested several days later. Again, no evidence has been presented other than the statements of the undercover police. Both of those men were held longer than the 48 hours required by law before being given access to use of a telephone or to speak with an attorney. 

The remaining three who are still being held were involved in a protest action at the point which the police turned violent, causing over 70 injuries from baton blows, including many serious head injuries. Over 24 protesters had to be treated at area hospitals for broken bones, knocked out teeth, concussions and wounds requiring stitches or staples. 

On top of the arrests and charges, the protesters are being held with outrageous bails: $1.5 million each for the first three facing terrorism charges; $750,000 for the fourth charged under the same state terrorism law; $500,000 for the last of the NATO 5; and as high as $250,000 for the rest. 

It is the Chicago Police Department that is responsible for the violence that took place during the anti- NATO protests. The Chicago Police Department and the State’s Attorney are violating the law and the Constitution. 

Charges of terrorism, preemptive raids and prosecution, charges based on entrapment and violence against protesters are all standard procedure when the U.S. government declares a National Special Security Event, as they did with the NATO summit. These tactics were employed at the Republican National Convention in 2008, resulting in the cases of the RNC 8; the 23 anti-war activists raided by the FBI and subpoenaed to a grand jury for investigation of support for foreign terrorists; and the trial of Carlos Montes in Los Angeles. Now in Chicago, they’ve added the element of excessive bail. 

The charges against the NATO 5 and the others are false. All these prisoners urgently need your solidarity. Please sign our petition. Share it with your family, friends, and co-workers. Signing the petition will generate a direct email to State’s Attorney Anita Alvarez, Cook County Sheriff Tom Dart, Chicago Police Superintendent Garry McCarthy, and Chicago Mayor Rahm Emanuel, demanding all charges be dropped. 

Click HERE to Sign the online petition (scroll down to view petition text) 

Petition Text 

To: State’s Attorney Anita Alvarez, Cook County Sheriff Tom Dart, Chicago Police Superintendent Garry McCarthy, and Chicago Mayor Rahm Emanuel 

cc: President Obama, Attorney General Holder, DOJ Inspector General Fine, Secretary of State Clinton, the Senate and House Judiciary Committees, Congressional Leaders, U.N. Secy Gen Ban, and members of the Chicago and National media 

** Drop all charges against the NATO 5 and all anti-NATO protesters! ** Release all protesters still being held in Cook County Jail in Chicago NOW! 

Eight people continue to be held in jail in Chicago, arrested before or during the protests against the NATO summit in Chicago in May. 

Four of the men face terrorism-related charges and the other four serious felonies, while the NATO generals responsible for the deaths of tens of thousands have left town to return to their occupation of Afghanistan and plotting for their next war. 

Brian Church, Jared Chase, Brent Vincent Betterly and Sebastian Senakiewicz have been charged under a State of Illinois anti-terrorism law passed after 9/11 that has never been used. Together withMark Neiweem, they’ve been called the NATO 5 for the seriousness of their charges and because they were all targeted by undercover officers exposed by the National Lawyers Guild. The agents went by the nicknames “Mo” and “Gloves.” 

The NATO 5 were arrested without any evidence of their involvement in violence, other than the statements of undercover provocateurs. The first three arrests took place in an unlawful police raid of a home on Wednesday night, May 16, during which the police kicked in doors without presenting a warrant, beat up people, shackled protesters hand and foot, and then “disappeared” 11 people for up to 40 hours. The National Lawyers Guild and Occupy Chicago activists faced repeated denials by the Chicago Police in their attempts to locate those arrested. 

The next two were arrested several days later. Again, no evidence has been presented other than the statements of the undercover police. Both of those men were held longer than the 48 hours required by law before being given access to use of a telephone or to speak with an attorney. 

The remaining three who are still being held were involved in a protest action at the point which the police turned violent, causing over 70 injuries from baton blows, including many serious head injuries. Over 24 protesters had to be treated at area hospitals for broken bones, knocked out teeth, concussions and wounds requiring stitches or staples. 

On top of the arrests and charges, the protesters are being held with outrageous bails: $1.5 million each for the first three facing terrorism charges; $750,000 for the fourth charged under the same state terrorism law; $500,000 for the last of the NATO 5; and as high as $250,000 for the rest. 

It is the Chicago Police Department that is responsible for the violence that took place during the anti- NATO protests. The Chicago Police Department and the State’s Attorney are violating the law and the Constitution. 

Charges of terrorism, preemptive raids and prosecution, charges based on entrapment and violence against protesters are all standard procedure when the U.S. government declares a National Special Security Event, as they did with the NATO summit. These tactics were employed at the Republican National Convention in 2008, resulting in the cases of the RNC 8; the 23 anti-war activists raided by the FBI and subpoenaed to a grand jury for investigation of support for foreign terrorists; and the trial of Carlos Montes in Los Angeles. Now in Chicago, they’ve added the element of excessive bail. 

The charges against the NATO 5 and the other defendants are false. Drop all these charges immediately, and release all those still being held, NOW! 

Click  HERE  to Sign the online petition

Initiated by the Committee to Stop FBI Repression stopfbi.net stopfbi@gmail.com 

By Dave Lindorff

Julian Assange’s Artful Dodge

Editor Note: Faced with extradition from London to Sweden to face sex-abuse allegations, WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange fled to the Ecuadorian embassy and asked for asylum, what ex-CIA analyst Ray McGovern considers an artful dodge to avoid possible U.S. persecution.

By Ray McGovern

Barring a CIA drone strike on the Ecuadorian embassy in London, WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange’s sudden appeal for asylum there may spare him a prison stay in Sweden or possibly the United States. Assange’s freedom now depends largely on Ecuadorian President Rafael Vicente Correa Delgado, a new breed of independent-minded leader like Venezuelan President Hugo Chávez.

RT @davidcnswanson We in the United States beg you @MashiRafael to save #Assange from our government. RT if you oppose jailing/killing journalists.

Ah, well, isn’t it nice to know that it’s not just the hoi polloi who get bullied, harassed, and abused by the TSA, but also Congressmen, Senators, 

On Sept. 11, 2001, I lost a friend from high school who had gone to the World Trade Center in New York City that day to make a speech. I cannot imagine the depth of the pain suffered by the families of the 9/11 victims.

I share their frustration with the delays in bringing the alleged perpetrators of the attacks to justice. Most recently, those delays have afflicted the military commission at Guantanomo Bay, Cuba, that is trying the reputed mastermind of the attacks, Khalid Sheikh Mohammed, and four associates for war crimes.

By United for Peace and Justice

(New York – June 17) Come join Global Justice and Peace organizations as we march with civil rights, labor, religious, youth and students, and diverse community groups in a Father’s Day silent march to end the stop and frisk policy of the New York Police Department.

There is a growing movement to oppose this outrageous example of policing as a key element of state repression. As activists and organizers in the Peace and Global Justice movement, come march in solidarity with over 200 domestic economic and social justice organizations.

Read our statement (below) to better understand the importance of Peace and Global Justice organizations participating in this historic march.

When: Sunday, June 17th at 3 pm

Yesterday and the day before TSA News had two posts on misleading news reports about the supposed safety of backscatter (x-ray) scanners.

by Bill Fisher

Over the weekend the Los Angeles Times featured a story with this headline: “TSA scanners pose negligible risk to passengers, new test shows.”

  Supreme Court Approves Police State Harshness

by Stephen Lendman

On June 12, 2008, the Supreme Court ruled 5 - 4 in Boumediene v. Bush. It affirmed habeas rights for Guantanamo detainees. It let them petition for release from lawlessly imposed custody.

Some of us here at TSA News and at Travel Underground stopped flying long ago. Though we love — no, adore — travel, we stopped flying when the Reign of Molestation was implemented. I took the last flight of my life in September 2010.

by Amy Alkon

I’m not offended by traditional porn — the kind with naked people and and kinky this and that (as long as it isn’t kiddie porn and as long as the participants are consenting adults).

What I am offended by is the obscene constant daily violation by the TSA of Americans’ Fourth Amendment right to not be searched without probable cause. There was yet another disgusting TSA-inflicted ball-grabbing — that became an intense disgusting TSA-inflicted ball probing — of the husband of conservative commentator Dana Loesch:

by Deborah Newell Tornello

All the airport’s a stage, and all the blue-clad men and women merely players.

Actors often remark on the power of costume in terms of bringing a character to life: before donning the white-blonde wig, the pirate’s eye-patch, or the Batsuit, they say, it’s just line-reading and imagination. But once they emerge from wardrobe, Presto! The make-believe becomes near-reality.

Action South

Attorney Ben Scales with a victorious Lisa Landis

by Bill Fisher

Each week there are reports of the TSA groping children and harassing the elderly, along with stories of internal corruption and theft. To divert attention from this continual bad publicity, the TSA likes to place stories trying to show that its employees sometimes do their job and find a weapon that a passenger forgot to remove from a carry-on bag. (Though how doing one’s job is somehow newsworthy is puzzling. Imagine if Domino’s issued a press release every time it delivered a pizza.)

READ THE REST HERE.

Total run time: 29:00

Host: David Swanson.

Producer: David Swanson.

Engineer: Christiane Brown.

Music by Duke Ellington.

Download or get embed code from Archive.org or AudioPort or LetsTryDemocracy or RadioProject.

Syndicated by Pacifica Network.

Please encourage your local radio stations to carry this program every week!

Embed on your own site with this code:

<object autostart="false" data="http://davidswanson.org/sites/davidswanson.org/files/talknationradio/talknationradio_20120606.mp3" height="100px" width="400px"></object>

By Ellen Barfield

A standing-room-only crowd of activists heard oral arguments Thursday afternoon 31 May, 2012, seeking summary judgement from NYC US District Court Judge Sullivan in multiple class action and individual suits brought by people who experienced the mass arrests and long-holding times in miserable conditions during the 2004 Republican National Convention. Basically attorneys for the activists argued that mass arrests with little or no individual criminal evidence, and long holding times resulting from "no summons" policies which prevent timely release of out-of-towners or those expected to repeat unwanted disruptive behavior, are unconstitutional.

Several legal decisions reached since the 2004 RNC seem to give the city more ability to do such mass sweeps, but those cases involved actual rioting with dangerous crowd behavior like stone throwing and fire, needing to be rapidly quelled, and the mixed crowds were carefully examined to exclude by-standers from arrest, unlike the broad sweeps at the RNC. The attorney for the city elicited many laughs in his anxious attempts to portray mostly peaceful and cooperative people as dangerous criminals. The judge delighted
the crowd when he pointed out to the city attorney that the Commander at the Fulton Street arrests near Ground Zero basically threw a hissy fit and unreasonably forced the arrests of about 200 people.

Summary judgement is fairly unlikely actually, and the cases will probably need to go to trial, but it was good to finally see SOMETHING happening on these long-delayed cases.

By John Grant

“No, Charlotte, I’m the jury now. I sentence you to death.”
The roar of the .45 shook the room. Charlotte staggered back a step.
“How c-could you?” she gasped.
“It was easy.”
- Mickey Spillane, I, The Jury

By Dave Lindorff

My wife and I live on a 2.3-acre plot of forested land in a pre-Revolutionary house with a run-down old barn. When we first moved here, there was a rather large set of grassy areas, one in front of the house, another behind the kitchen, a large field in the back, behind the barn, a smaller lawn in front of the barn, and a hidden glen, as well as an island of grass in the middle of a circular gravel driveway. 

By Jennifer McClendon

The difference between what happens to a rapist and a rape victim has shocked the senses of the American public since US Congressional Representative Jackie Speier (D-CA) began in 2011 sharing the personal accounts of military rape victims to other members of the House of Representatives in a weekly address to the House.

I do not like the term “Military Sexual Trauma.” Rape is a horrible and gut-wrenching event that destabilizes the family and the community and shocks the victim. Military Sexual Trauma is a watered down term for a horrendous human rights violation that is too often dismissed by military legal authorities.

Produced by David Swanson, Christiane Brown of Talk Nation Radio

Left KU Channel
Thursday, May 30th, 2012 3:00 PM EST
TRT: 29:00

Download as broadcast quality .mp3:
http://audioport.org/index.php?op=program-info&program_id=50450&nav=&

This week's Sprouts is a discussion with Chase Madar, author of the new book "The Passion of Bradley Manning: The Story of the Suspect Behind the Largest Security Breach in U.S. History." Speaking with Madar is David Swanson, host of the weekly program Talk Nation Radio, produced in Charllottesville, Va. Madar discusses the voluminous information that Manning is accused of providing to Wikileaks and to us, and some of the startling insights it gives us into what our supposedly representative government has been up to. The show also looks at the official and public responses to Manning, his mistreatment, his legal status, and the fate of whistleblowers under the Obama administration.

Sprouts is a weekly program that features local radio production and stories from many radio stations and local media groups around the world.It is produced in collaboration with community radio stations and independent producers across the country.

The program is coordinated and distributed by Pacifica Radio and offered free of charge to all radio stations.

From The Guardian:

• WikiLeaks founder given 14 days to decide whether to ask supreme court to reopen the case
• Read a summary of key events
• Read more: Julian Assange loses appeal