We want yer munny

For those not familiar with how things work here in Harris County, METRO is short for Metropolitan Transit Authority - the agency in charge of mass transit in the Houston area. This year METRO wants authority to issue a bunch of bonds whose supposed purpose is to improve mass transit but is really all about widening roads for the benefit of developers in the suburbs.

But, regardless of your feelings on how METRO operates, do you really trust them with your money if they can't even spell?

Talk back to METRO about the TSA

Once again it's time to voice your displeasure toward METRO's decision to ask TSA to send agents down to harass bus and rail passengers. During their time here last month, TSA agents kept their agency's perfect record in the War on the Constitution Terrorism. To date TSA has yet to detect one terrorist at any airport, bus station or train station in these United States.

The meeting will be held at 9am in the 2nd floor boardroom at METRO headquarters located at 1900 Main Street in downtown Houston.

HCCLA packs METRO board meeting

Yesterday the Harris County Criminal Lawyers Association made its presence felt at the monthly Metropolitan Transit Authority's (METRO) monthly board meeting regarding the use of TSA's VIPR teams on April 13, 2012.

Click here for a link to the video of the board meeting.

Prior to the meeting a letter from METRO CEO George Grenias was circulated that attempted to explain all the confusion about whether or not there were random searches of bags on April 13. According to the letter the initial press release on April 13 and the blog post on April 16 quoted from TSA's national "campaign" literature. Board members stressed that they were unaware of any random bag searches on April 13. Of course some of the board members, namely Burt Ballanfant, said they were unaware of the controversy.

Metro letter 04/26/12

Earl Musick, president of HCCLA, spoke about the duty to uphold the Constitution. He read the text of the Fourth Amendment to the board and presented the board with a copy of the Constitution suitable for framing. Past HCCLA presidents Mark Bennett and Robb Fickman also spoke. Mr. Bennett let the board know that a viper is one of the most dangerous snakes on the planet and that once you let a viper in your house you may never get it out. Mr. Fickman told the board that if METRO police wanted to practice their counter-terrorism moves they should practice them on each other, not the citizens of Harris County. He decried the assault on the civil liberties of the bus-riding public.

Also speaking from HCCLA were Randall Kallinen who reminded the board of their fiduciary duty to protect METRO's assets from plaintiffs' attorneys, Franklin Bynum, who spoke "from the heart" about the respect that was due those who use METRO's services and yours truly who equated the war on terrorism with the war against individual liberty.

Also present and speaking at the meeting were US Congressional Candidate Steve Sussman (in his "Tyranny Response Team" T-shirt and members of the Houston Free Thinkers. One of the Free Thinkers quoted Benjamin Franklin's line "those who would sacrifice freedom for security deserve neither."

According to METRO Chairman Gilbert Garcia, as long as he serves as chairman there will be no random bag searches on METRO buses. He also stated that TSA was here on METRO's request and that METRO set the parameters on the operation. While the purpose of the operation was supposedly to ferret out any terrorists who might be riding the bus, no terrorists were caught. The arrests were for prostitution and drug possession.

We were also informed that TSA agents had been on METRO rail many times in the past but that April 13 was the first time they had gotten involved with the buses. What were TSA agents doing on the trains? METRO serves the Houston metropolitan area. Every point of departure and arrival is within Harris County (with a few exceptions where the city limits stretch into Fort Bend County). There are already a bevy of law enforcement agencies in Harris County - we don't need to add TSA to the mix.

After the meeting, as we had lunch at Zydeco's, I was left with a couple of thoughts to ponder. First, if the board knew as little about the operation as they claimed, who's really running the show down on Main Street? Second, is anyone vetting press releases and social media posts before they get circulated?

See also:

"Metro says it won't do random bag checks," Houston Chronicle (Apr. 27, 2012)
"Metro faces public backlash over counter-terror initiative," KTRK-13 (Apr. 26, 2012)

Too much, the magic bus

If you were thinking about hopping on that Metro bus for any reason, you might want to think again. According to an article in the Houston Chronicle, Metro is planning on subjecting more riders to TSA's brand new counter-terrorism measure.

That's right. Expect to see the police searching bags, asking for identification and running drug dogs around buses and bus stops for the next 60-90 days. They'll even have TSA's own behavioral detection officers who are trained to fuck with people for no good reason figure out who's a terrorist and who isn't.

According to the Metro police chief (that's the head of the bus cops), the Anti-Fourth Amendment brigade will be patrolling certain routes based on "crime data and trends and information" provided by drivers and passengers.

Looking for terrorists? Really?

How many terrorists did y'all pick up last Friday?

That's right - none. Because you know if they had found a terrorist the police would have made a lot of noise about it. But after gloating about the random bag searches, Metro began changing its story. First it morphed into bag were only searched if there was probable cause to search. Then Metro denied any bags were searched.

*   *   *

Law officials performed random bag checks, conducted sweeps with our K-9 drug and bomb-detecting dogs, and assigned both uniformed and plainclothes officers at transit centers and rail platforms to detect and prevent criminal activity.

Metro's in-house blog (4/16/12)

Houston METRO ‏ @METROHouston @

MarkWBennett NO random bag checks were performed during BusSafe exercise. We search only w/ probable cause or consent.

Metro's Twitter feed (4/18/12)

Houston METRO ‏ @METROHouston
@ChuckStanfield @frankbynum There were NO bag searches conducted during this operation..

Metro's Twitter feed (4/18/12)

*   *   *

If these guys can't even keep their stories straight, how can you believe anything that comes out of their mouths?

This assault on the people's right to be left alone isn't about finding terrorists on city buses. It's about finding excuses to arrest folks on nothing more than a hunch. The behavioral detection officers will provide the cover for the unlawful searches by claiming a passenger was acting in a suspicious manner. The uniformed officer will then use that "finding" to violate the rider's Fourth Amendment rights by conducting a search without either a warrant or probable cause. And guess what? No one's going to find any bombs on board - they'll find a little pot, some crack, maybe some powder and other assorted pharmaceuticals.

Law enforcement expects the public to eat up this counter-terrorism bullshit while they conspire to violate the Fourth Amendment rights of everyone who steps into a bus station, onto a platform or who rides the bus or train. We can't allow them to get away with it.

H/T Mark Bennett

Mussolini made the trains run on time

It was bad enough when airport harassment security was handed over to the newly-formed TSA following the attacks on 9/11. Of course the real tragedy was the attack on the Constitution by our own government using 9/11 as an excuse to crack down on rampant civil liberties.

It was a mild pain in the ass to travel by air prior to the hijackings. But since that time we have seen one more intrusion into our privacy after another. Every few months the muckety-mucks at TSA decide to implement a new strategy to fight yesterday's attack.

If you read Scott Greenfield yesterday you know about the sudden insights that Kip Hawley has had since he quit running TSA. While he is now troubled by the intrusion into travelers' privacy, it didn't seem to bother him too much when he was running the show.

Last night my colleague Mark Bennett posted a piece on his blawg that went beyond merely disturbing. Now Mark and I share a couple of things in common - neither one of us will fly as our little protest against the means by which los federales have used to trample the privacy rights of the citizenry. It turns out that TSA is not satisfied with fucking airport security up beyond belief. Now it's their mission to fuck up the rest of the nation's transportation system.

TSA's VIPR (Visible Intermodal Prevention and Response) unit descended upon Houston recently and trampled upon the rights of folks hopping a ride on METRO. That's right. Somehow it's now under TSA's purview to implement security measures for those so brazen as to take advantage of public transportation.

Law officials performed random bag checks, conducted sweeps with our K-9 drug and bomb-detecting dogs, and assigned both uniformed and plainclothes officers at transit centers and rail platforms to detect and prevent criminal activity. 

At a news conference last Friday, METRO Police Chief Victor Rodriguez called METRO's transit system one of the safest in the world. "We at METRO take our responsibility seriously. We have a safe and secure system," said Rodriguez. "This initiative is going to help us maintain and enhance the safety of our system. It takes this collaborative effort to synergize those expertise and skills for the benefit of all of Houston." 

Doyle Raines, general manager at the Transportation Security Administration, said Rodriguez invited the TSA to bring its viper teams to join in this grassroots pilot program that grew from a peer advisory group of mass transit police chiefs and security directors that included METRO's Rodriguez. 

The VIPR squad, assisted by the Harris County Sheriff's Office, the METRO police and Harris County Constables carried out a counter-terrorism exercise by subjecting riders to "random" bag searches and K-9 sniffs. The stormtroopers agencies recorded eight felony arrests.

So tell me, Mr. Rodriguez, just how many of those who got arrested were subjected to searches without probable cause? Not that it matters, I suppose, because the courts in Harris County aren't known for suppressing searches just because the police might (and i stress might) have overstepped their legal authority. I mean, the guy had the goods on him, didn't he?

Houston Congresswoman Sheila Jackson Lee (who has never missed an opportunity to mug for the camera) exclaimed that she was ecstatic that the TSA was subjecting bus riders to the same inconveniences that airline passengers put up with.

But how many people had their rights trampled upon? How many times did the police ignore the proscriptions of the 4th Amendment and subject folks to unreasonable search and seizure? How much more of this can we endure? How long until even the most docile American stands up and tells the government that enough is enough?

We used to have a reasonable expectation of privacy. Not any more. At the airport you have none. At home the NSA is downloading all of your phone calls and internet searches. And now, the people who take public transportation (and down here that's mainly folks who can't afford a working car) have none.

If you're fed up here's your chance to do something about it. METRO will hold its next board meeting on April 26, 2012 in the second floor boardroom at 1900 Main at 9:00 a.m. Let's pack the room and let METRO know how we feel about the steady erosion of our rights.

Mark is mad as hell and I can't take it anymore.