You may remember John Brennan, the frequently flying businessman who became so tired of the TSA’s nonsense at Portland’s airport he stripped naked at the checkpoint. “’They’re getting close to seeing us naked, so I thought I’d up the ante,’ he testified” at his trial earlier this week – because yes, the TSA had him arrested.
I know: you’d think these perverts would appreciate so cooperative a passenger, but they don’t. In fact, anyone who removes more of his clothing than the TSA directs finds himself in handcuffs – or, as the TSA’s spokesliar sniffs, “When a passenger chooses to be purposefully disruptive,” you naughty children, you, “we notify law enforcement.” Proving yet again that the TSA has nothing to do with security and everything to do with training us to obey.
But in a very rare victory for the serfs (at least, a very rare victory in Leviathan’s courts – the court of public opinion is another matter entirely), and a very tiny one, too, the judge declared Mr. Brennan’s nudity “a form of protest, which is protected speech,” not the “disruption” the TSA alleged. Which is sorta like the Israelites’ asking the Egyptians, “Hey, we don’t wanna build with brick, how ’bout we use stone instead?” In the end, the slaves build pyramids and strip naked at Their Masters’ command.
Whatever, the injustice system has declared Mr. Brennan “not guilty.” Ah, “but things aren’t over for Brennan yet. The TSA is also investigating to see if he possibly interfered with the screening process. If they find him guilty, he could be forced to pay an $11,000 fine and be put on the no-fly list.”
Double jeopardy, anyone? And remember that there are no juries nor supposedly impartial judges in the “administrative hearings” bureaucracies hold: it’ll be Mr. Brennan pleading his case to the bureaucrats who’ve accused him and who will benefit from the fine they extort.
Then again, what’s a little double jeopardy and denial of due process, given how thoroughly the TSA tramples the rest of the Constitution?
10:14 am on July 20, 2012
