TSA looks to Walmart

[Irving]

So I heard on NPR today that the TSA is going to be expanding their "See something, say something" message to Walmart stores, Mall of America, sporting events, etc. I guess in Walmart, there will be videos where Janet Napoliano will be saying how if you see anything suspicious in the parking lot, report something to the Walmart management.

I really wish I was joking about this, or heard this from The Onion, but alas, I am not joking. At first I was angry, but not surprised. I've been thinking about this a lot though. It actually seems fitting. I'd put Walmart employees and TSA employees on about the same level, as far as reporting suspicious things to them. *Excluding our local Walmart employee of course.* Some of the comments of the people in the parking lot were interesting. Others were.....well, I don't know what to say about them.

The comments ranged from stuff like,
"I just can't imagine any people like that shopping at Walmart!"
"People at Walmart are on a mission to buy things, not blow the place up!"
"It's so sad that we have to be on alert even while we're at Walmart." Really? I can't think of many places I'm more on alert than at a Walmart.

to stuff like,
"I don't really think I'd trust anyone at Walmart to care about anything reported to them.
"Is this really necessary?"

Usually, NPR makes me angry because they lean way left and their reporters ask stupid questions that play right into liberal hands and completely miss the point. This time however, I was surprised and felt like the reporter asked some well thought out, pointed questions to Ole Janet, and it felt like the reporter was holding back on ripping into that turd.

I personally find it ironic that the TSA is basically asking the public to do their jobs for them. On one hand they tell everyone how they can't be safe unless the TSA is there to violate people's rights with their brain dead policies and employees that are incompetent in every way possible. On the other hand, they are expanding themselves WAY beyond the sphere of "Travel" and asking the public to basically do their job for them. I'm in utter shock that a government program that was born from a knee jerk reaction to a tragedy has developed in this way. Okay, we all know I'm not surprised.

Lastly, Janet, the head of TSA, cited the example of the "alert New York citizen, who alerted police" to the parked car with smoke coming out of it as her example of how the public can help keep an eye out for terrorism. When the reporter asked for a specific example of what kinds of things the public should keep an eye out for, Janet responded with, Well, smoke coming out of a car for one thing, or something along those lines.

Great. Does that mean that every morning when I go warm up the car before my family gets into it, I'm going to be accosted by some irate, blue-shirted manager from the local 24 Hour Walmart? I sure hope not.

At least there was a decent amount of "the other side" displayed in the news piece. I'm happy about that.

[clublights]

I personally find it ironic that the TSA is basically asking the public to do their jobs for them. On one hand they tell everyone how they can't be safe unless the TSA is there to violate people's rights with their brain dead policies and employees that are incompetent in every way possible. On the other hand, they are expanding themselves WAY beyond the sphere of "Travel" and asking the public to basically do their job for them. I'm in utter shock that a government program that was born from a knee jerk reaction to a tragedy has developed in this way. Okay, we all know I'm not surprised.

Lastly, Janet, the head of TSA, cited the example of the "alert New York citizen, who alerted police" to the parked car with smoke coming out of it as her example of how the public can help keep an eye out for terrorism. When the reporter asked for a specific example of what kinds of things the public should keep an eye out for, Janet responded with, Well, smoke coming out of a car for one thing, or something along those lines.

Great. Does that mean that every morning when I go warm up the car before my family gets into it, I'm going to be accosted by some irate, blue-shirted manager from the local 24 Hour Walmart? I sure hope not.

At least there was a decent amount of "the other side" displayed in the news piece. I'm happy about that.


Would you call the cops for someone breaking into you neighbors house? and / Or do something about it??
If no one speaks up .. the cops have nothing to work with . just like when some gangbanger shoots a child in the face. if no one points him to what do the cops have to work with ?

Sorry if my post is not perfect... I just got home from work after a couple cocktails.

I hope it makes sense.

[clublights]

What about if you saw an obviously drunk driver? ( serving, no headlights.. crossing the lines) or some guy beating his wife or kids?

would you turn a blind eye and say " the cops shoulda seen it "

or would you call it in ?

I pray to god that the TSA/ FBI / CBI/ DPD NEVER get large enough to catch everything all by themselves

If they did I'd never get away with ANYTHING. ( like speeding or maybe not fully stoping that stop sign )

you can't tell me you NEVER EVER EVER break ANY laws Stuart. would you really want the cops big enough to catch EVERYTHING?

[68Charger]

what does Walmart have to do with transportation?

seems like jurisdiction creep...

[brokenscout]

FTF gun deals? Are the police going to become a part off every transaction? I would prefer not to have them called

[SideShow Bob]

Remember the "car bomb" at that federal building in Okie city? Now imagine it in front of your local Wally world on a busy saturday afternoon. That is what terrorists want, maximum damage, preferably people, and maximum psychological effect.
But we do need observant people that are trained a hell of a lot better than the TSA or average Wally world employee.

[Ah Pook]

We should close all Walmarts. That would solve the problem. [Roll1]



The TSA, like any other govt. bureaucracy, is trying to expand it's power and job security. I don't see it as left or right, just the nature of the beast. When will we, as a people, put a stop to these intrusions into our civil rights?

[SA Friday]

We should close all Walmarts. That would solve the problem. [Roll1]



The TSA, like any other govt. bureaucracy, is trying to expand it's power and job security. I don't see it as left or right, just the nature of the beast. When will we, as a people, put a stop to these intrusions into our civil rights?

Ya and the boogie man is in the closet... Reading this an extension of governmental power is like saying your neighbors are too snoopy after they call the cops because they saw someone break into your house while you were away.

The military uses this system of reporting. It works ultimately as a gigantic deterant to the planners when conduction info gathering and pre surveillance of targets. Too many eyes paying attention. It hardens the target.

Although, telling a walmart manager is telling a deaf person to listen to you. I know I've been there. Told a manager about a guy that set off my 'oh shit' alarm big time. She looked at me like I sprouted a third eye. So if followed him and asked him if he needed any help about three times in different places in the store. He left. Hardened target.

[Irving]

Clublights: You are missing the point. The TSA shouldn't even exist in the first place. Now they want to move to Walmart, other retail outlets and sporting events. That is wrong. Terrorism has succeeded in America.

Instead of just facing the small chance that you could be affected by a terrorist act, LESS of a chance than getting into a car accident; we now face that same tiny chance of being blown up by terrorists + 99% chance of our rights being violated by the government anytime we want to travel by air, train, or bus + 99% chance that we will constantly be accosted by bunk government agency messages while we shop, attend sporting events, etc. How long will it be before there are daily messages to "Report your local terror" on the radio and every television and satellite channel? People already call suspicious things in to authorities. I've had more than one person arrested by calling the police for crazy stuff happening around my place.

I can work out what kind of situations need attention from the authorities or not all by myself, without constant fear mongering reminders from an agency that only exists to siphon my tax dollars and leave a slime trail of false fear every where it touches.

[theGinsue]

Well said Stuart. I'm with you on this one 100%.

[Byte Stryke]

We should close all Walmarts and give them a multi-trillion dollar bailout


Fixed it for you

[2ndChildhood]

X3 for Stuart

[BPTactical]

Fricking amazing how this administration and its hypocrisy work.
Juan Williams gets fired from NPR for stating the obvious, that he is aware of his surroundings and increases that awareness when he sees an individual that he perceives as noteworthy.
Now Janet Ninconpoop preaches the same message to the patrons of WallyWorld and it is all fuzzy wuzzy.[Rant2]

[Byte Stryke]

So what you are saying is that we are supposed to report anything Strange, unusual or out of the ordinary at wal-mart...

how in the hell are we supposed to know what that is? (http://www.peopleofwalmart.com/?page_id=9798)

[BPTactical]

So what you are saying is that we are supposed to report anything Strange, unusual or out of the ordinary at wal-mart...

how in the hell are we supposed to know what that is? (http://www.peopleofwalmart.com/?page_id=9798)




[ROFL3]

[roberth]

There are some awesome pix in that Walmart collection.

I didn't see any of me, of course I just wear eyeshadow like Dee Snider. [Flower]

I go to Walmart during off-peak hours.



Back to topic, Janet and her ilk have no clue about security, they are just bureaucrats ensuring they keep their jobs.

[2ndAmendment]

Is This The Stuff They Want Us To Report?????

[2ndAmendment]

Or More Along The Lines Of This

[mx'r]

Or More Along The Lines Of This

LMAO[ROFL1]. How do we not get along?

[2ndAmendment]

LMAO[ROFL1]. How do we not get along?


LOL we do now.

[Hoosier]

I can't be the only one who thought of 1984

http://i.dailymail.co.uk/i/pix/2008/10/21/article-1079415-006800C100000258-766_468x286.jpg

[Irving]

The reporter asked Janet if she felt anything "Big Brothery" about seeing her face on a monitor all over. Janet actually laughed and laughed about the comment. The reporter also asked Janet if she thought that this was like East Germany asking the citizens to tattle on each other all the time. Janet didn't like that one at all and said something stupid along the lines of "Oh, not at all. We're just asking citizens to report anything out of the ordinary that they might be seeing."

Anyone interested in hearing the actual report, because I'm sure I'm getting stuff wrong, can just go to www.cpr.org and find it there.

[Pistol Packing Preacher]

I am reporting all of you!

[UZI]

[TFOGGER]

Stuart, when I saw the title to this, the following continuation of your title came in to my mind:

....for better quality employees.....


While awareness of one's surroundings is an admirable trait, I think the TSA should concentrate on doing things that will make an actual difference in air/train/port security, rather than trying to draft the (rather dubious) employees of a private business to try to cast a bigger net. If everyone HAD common sense, and was motivated enough to take responsibility for their own safety, the TSA would have even less reason to exist than it does currently. Ms. Napolitano is anxious to be seen as doing SOMETHING, even if it's just more feel good bullshit security theater. [Rant1] Now, if only there were laws on the books to prevent outsiders with ill intent from entering our country illegally.....[Bang]

[BPTactical]

What do you think the possibility is that "Aunt Janet" and associates are on the way to focusing on "Domestic Terrorists"?
Could WallyWorld be a testing platform to getting Joe Public to be the "eyes and ears" of TPTB?

[OneGuy67]

The TSA, like any other govt. bureaucracy, is trying to expand it's power and job security. I don't see it as left or right, just the nature of the beast. When will we, as a people, put a stop to these intrusions into our civil rights?


The director of TSA was in Pueblo a few months ago conducting a tour of the Pueblo Army Depot and related trains and expressed his desire to have TSA conduct the training and security for the trains and ALL related transportation. I do see him pushing to take over other transportation related segments of the federal government like the National Highway Transportation Safety Administration (NHTSA), Amtrack, and others.

That concerns me greatly.

[BPTactical]

The director of TSA was in Pueblo a few months ago conducting a tour of the Pueblo Army Depot and related trains and expressed his desire to have TSA conduct the training and security for the trains and ALL related transportation. I do see him pushing to take over other transportation related segments of the federal government like the National Highway Transportation Safety Administration (NHTSA), Amtrack, and others.

That concerns me greatly.

So you could conceivably envision TSA over ALL forms of transportation? Great, gonna have to get groped just to drive to work or get on the bus.[Rant2]

Is this going to be the "Civilian Security Force" that Oboingo has touted?

[hurley842002]

So you could conceivably envision TSA over ALL forms of transportation? Great, gonna have to get groped just to drive to work or get on the bus.[Rant2]

Is this going to be the "Civilian Security Force" that Oboingo has touted?

There was a time I would have said "when it gets to that point, the Gov will have problems", anymore I don't trust that the majority of "The People", would even object, and THAT'S what scares me.

[2ndAmendment]

I reported this yesterday to the TSA and got no response back.....al-Qa'ida man with what look like a bag of fertilizer in his shopping kart and a suit on that was to big for him.....Could of swore I saw c4 under there. [ROFL3]

[Irving]

Just this morning I heard a report about a young man who walked onto an airport tarmac, climbed up an airplane's running gear, stowed away in the compartment in a flight from South Carolina to Boston, then fell to his death when the running gear opened above Boston.

Now, I swore that this happened a few months back in another part of the world (I want to say China), and I'm not 100% sure if this is new or not. Either way, my question is Was the TSA too busy fingering toddlers to notice a kid walk onto a run way off the street and climb into the belly of an airplane? I would expect this kind of atrocious failure from the TSA, but not Walmart. This makes me really sad. Perhaps everyone was too busy watching The Janet Hour playing on 10,000 different monitors through out the airport to see something or say something?

[Irving]

Here are some links:

http://www.wsbtv.com/news/26093502/detail.html

http://www.boston.com/news/local/breaking_news/2010/12/police_recover_1.html

[Byte Stryke]

Here are some links:

http://www.wsbtv.com/news/26093502/detail.html

http://www.boston.com/news/local/breaking_news/2010/12/police_recover_1.html


I Blame the TSA for failing to secure the aircraft.
I think each and every officer and manager at the originating airport should be charged with misappropriation of government funding at a minimum. Obviously they weren't doing the job for which they are being paid.

[Irving]

The TSA says that it is the airports job to screen people coming onto airport property.

I guess everything is always someone eles' job, and never the TSA's job. Which is fine by me. The shift manager should step in and start sending the TSA home early every day, then reduce their hours till they get the point and stop coming to work.

[Graves]

eeQHMgy00xk

[Byte Stryke]

eeQHMgy00xk

was kinda wondering when someone was going to connect those dots.
funny video though

[Irving]

Awesome video. Thanks.

[2ndAmendment]

Nice video