Showing posts with label Amtrak. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Amtrak. Show all posts

Tuesday, May 10, 2011

Amtrak Backs Schumer Proposal For “No Ride List”

TSA goons would oversee implementation of Soviet-style internal passport system for rail travel

Paul Joseph Watson
Prison Planet.com
Tuesday, May 10, 2011

Following New York Senator Chuck Schumer’s call for a “no ride list” that would mimic the notoriously sweeping, oppressive and ineffective “no fly list,” Amtrak has publicly backed the idea, which would officially create a Soviet-style internal passport for American citizens and make the presence of TSA workers conducting grope downs at train stations ubiquitous.



Approving of Schumer’s proposal, Amtrak Spokesperson Cliff Cole released the following statement;

“Amtrak is committed to the safety and security of our passengers and remains a safe way to travel. All countermeasures add value in creating an overall security posture in protecting a rail system that operates in an open environment. The creation of a “do not ride” list is no exception. It would, however, have to be developed in close coordination with the Transportation Security Administration (TSA) and implemented in a way that respects civil rights and allows for the rapid flow of persons and trains, necessary for effective mass transit. “

Of course, the notion of TSA goons ‘respecting civil rights,’ is a complete oxymoron, as their behavior has become synonymous with harassment, perversion and criminality. Latest examples include the disgraceful sexual groping of a 6-year-old girl, as well as yesterday’s ludicrous image which showed TSA agents at KCIA airport checking a baby’s diaper for “poop bombs”.

The “no ride list” move is part of a long-planned agenda to force Americans into accepting an internal passport that they would need to display at security checkpoints littered across the country at so-called “soft target” locations like subways, malls and sports stadiums. Every single form of transport is slated to be included under an internal passport system that would treat Americans similarly to how Israeli troops treat citizens in occupied Palestine.

An internal passport for Americans is codified under the December 2004 Intelligence Reform and Terrorism Prevention Act, which Congressman Ron Paul warned at the time would, “Allow the government to establish a Soviet-style internal passport system” that would subject “every citizen to surveillance and screening points”.

It’s also about isolating so-called “domestic extremists” under the terms of the MIAC report who will have their freedom of movement restricted and basic liberties such as Second Amendment rights stripped by the federal government. Chicago Mayor Rahm Emanuel wants people on the “no fly” list, and by extension a “no ride” list, to also be on a “no buy” list and be prevented from purchasing firearms.

“Anyone, even a member of al-Qaida could purchase a train ticket and board an Amtrak train without so much as a question asked,” Schumer said on Sunday. “So that’s why I’m calling for the creation of an Amtrak no ride list. That would take the secure flight program and apply it to Amtrak trains.”

Of course, anyone could enter a shopping mall or sports stadium with no questions asked, but does that mean America should be festooned with checkpoints staffed by TSA goons asking for people’s papers? Yes, according to Schumer and others who are aggressively pushing for TSA agents, who have continually proven to be prone to predatory criminal behavior, sexual molestation and abuse, to become a literal occupying Gestapo army as America sinks further into a Sovietized police state.

Schumer justified the idea by pointing to alleged evidence obtained from Osama Bin Laden’s compound in Pakistan, which the White House claimed divulged plans for Al-Qaeda to attack the US train system. The plot, described as “aspirational rather than operational,” was targeted against trains that travel at 500mph, none of which exist in the United States or indeed the world, and was set to center around a sabotage of railway tracks rather than the train itself, rendering Schumer’s call for a no ride list completely obsolete anyway.

As we have documented, VIPR teams are now already swarming America in the name of “security,” having expanded from airports, to train stations, highways and street corners.

The TSA is also already performing grope downs of passengers, including young children, inside train stations. In one case, passengers who disembarked from a train in Savannah, Georgia and were trying to leave the station after their journey were forced by TSA thugs to enter the terminal building in order to be subjected to pat downs. The TSA later lied about the sequence of events in an effort to dismiss criticism.

The no fly list that Schumer seeks to imitate for trains now contains well over one million names and is exponentially expanding. Reports have confirmed that the watch list contains the names of thousands of innocent Americans, including children, lawyers and even a retired Air National Guard brigadier, now a commercial pilot for a major airline.

In some cases, credit reports have been used in calculating the risk score, while the list has also been used to target political activists and anti-war protesters.

In 2008, the chairman of a House technology oversight subcommittee warned that the database used to produce the government’s terror watch lists is “crippled by technical flaws,” and the system designed to replace it may be even worse.

In a letter to the inspector general at the Office of the Director of National Intelligence, Rep. Brad Miller (D-NC) warned that the upgrade “if actually deployed will leave our country more vulnerable than the existing yet flawed system in operation today.”

Critics have charged that the list is already far too expansive to be in any way effective. Expanding the list to include Amtrak trains, as suggested by Senator Schumer, would only add to this problem.

As Steve Chapman writes for the Chicago Tribune, “Sen. Charles Schumer, D-N.Y., wants to create a “no-ride” list for Amtrak, which makes even less sense than the “no-fly” list for airlines. And that’s saying something.

“The terrorist watch list is an odd creature. As the American Civil Liberties Union says, it’s “a vast and growing list of individuals whom the government deems too dangerous to fly, but are too harmless to arrest.”

“If these people are truly, provably dangerous, why aren’t they in jail? Why are they allowed to venture into shopping malls, subway stations, the Willis Tower or Wrigley Field? It doesn’t make a lot of sense to let jihadists go anywhere except a plane or train.”

The transparent haste with which Schumer, a putrid figure whose every action as Senator seems designed to eviscerate the constitutional rights of Americans, seized upon the dubious Bin Laden raid to push his anti-American police state agenda was a revolting display of public relations manipulation.

Internal passports enforced by TSA goons at security checkpoints have no place in America. Chuckie Schumer should be sent to North Korea, Zimbabwe, Uzbekistan or somewhere similar if he wishes to live in a country where citizens are forced to show their papers at every turn – and then he should be put on a no fly list to ensure he never comes back to disgrace the public discourse with this kind of garbage again.

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Paul Joseph Watson is the editor and writer for Prison Planet.com. He is the author of Order Out Of Chaos. Watson is also a regular fill-in host for The Alex Jones Show.


Saturday, October 9, 2010

Operation RAILSAFE

Anti-terror drill puts rails to test

Boston Herald - Richard Weir
Armed officers patrolled platforms and police dogs sniffed for bombs aboard Amtrak trains throughout the Bay State and across the nation ...

Amtrak Rail Security Drill Underway: K-9 Technology Still Man's Best Friend

ABC News - Jason Ryan
Rail passengers across the country may have noticed more police and heavily armed guards on trains today as part of a national rail security ...

Rail security sweeps underway

Washington Post (blog) - Michael Bolden
Law enforcement across the country are conducting security sweeps at rail stations today as part of Operation RAILSAFE (Regional Alliance Including Local, ...

How Safe Will You Be Riding the Rails This Holiday Weekend?

FOXNews (blog) - Jamie Colby
It's often said that when it comes to transportation security, there is security you see and plenty of security measures you don't. ...

Amtrak Part Of Counterterrorism Security Training

WBZ
Passengers on Amtrak trains noticed a lot of extra security on the ride home Friday night. It was part of Operation Rail Safe and was a counterterrorism ...

Cops, Bomb-Sniffing Dogs Out in Full Force for Operation RailSafe

NBC New York
Notice a little machine gun-toting, bomb-sniffing dog-leading company on your commute this morning? Don't worry, it was just a drill. ...

US: Expect high transit security Friday

UPI.com
WASHINGTON, Oct. 8 (UPI) -- US federal, state and local law enforcement officials told commuters to expect to see a heightened security presence on rail ...

Tuesday, October 5, 2010

Law Enforcement to Practice 'Surge' Exercises on Amtrak Trains

U.S. Plans Law Enforcement 'Surge' On Trains
Stepped-Up Security on Amtrak Trains; 12 Suspects Arrested in France



U.S. authorities plan a law enforcement surge this week along Amtrak routes, an exercise called RailSafe, and the heads of the country's biggest mass transit systems were briefed today on the possible terror threat, all part of what is being called an abundance of caution.

Amtrak is holding a high-security exercise Friday in which uniformed officers will be a visible presence on national transit routes. RailSafe will include all the local police agencies along the Amtrak routes involved in the exercise...

[Full Article]


Government Exploits CIA Patsy to Hype Police State “Surge” Exercise On Amtrak Routes

Kurt Nimmo
Infowars.com
October 5, 2010

As the mid-term elections rapidly approach and Barry Obama’s popularity numbers continue down the tubes, the government is pulling out all the stops to hype the possibility of a “Mumbai-style” terror attack on Europe and the homeland.

“U.S. authorities plan a law enforcement surge this week along Amtrak routes, an exercise called RailSafe, and the heads of the country’s biggest mass transit systems were briefed today on the possible terror threat, all part of what is being called an abundance of caution,” reports ABC News today. The “high-security exercise” will be held on Friday.

No less than five exercises and drills occurred on September 11, 2001, as Muslim cave-dwellers supposedly plowed aircraft into the WTC and the Pentagon. The exercises that simulated the behavior of hijacked aircraft paralyzed the FAA, NORAD and the Air Force and prevented them from using the standard operating procedures they had used previously to escort wayward aircraft, mostly notably that of professional golfer Payne Stewart in October of 1999...

[Full Article]