The Freedom Bulletin

In the midst of the heightened security since Osama bin Laden’s death, I thought it would be a good time to post the above video, in case you haven’t seen it yet. Last week, Susie Castillo, a former Miss USA and Miss Massachusetts, explained her experience of being sexually assaulted by a TSA agent during a pat-down. Please listen to this brave young lady’s words and read her blog post about her ordeal.

I admire Susie for taking the side of freedom and standing up to the TSA. Please support her at her site and follow her on Twitter.

In related news, in response to these unconstitutional, invasive searches, the Texas legislature is considering a bill making them a felony. According to the bill, ”An airport operator may not allow body imaging scanning equipment to be installed or operated in any airport in this state.” Additionally, the bill would make a felon out of anyone who  ”intentionally, knowingly, or recklessly…searches another person without probable cause to believe the person committed an offense [or] touches the anus, sexual organ, or breasts of the other person, including touching through clothing, or touches the other person in a manner that would be offensive to a reasonable person.”

More from the Tenth Amendment Center and the Humble Libertarian.

May 4 update: The New American has a great article about Texas state representative David Simpson, who introduced three great anti-TSA bills, and the reactions of Congressmen John Carter, Louie Gohmert, and Ron Paul. A majority of the state legislators have signed on as co-sponsors of one bill!

Warning: if you believe in freedom, you will probably find the following video more than a little creepy and wrong:

At an ever-increasing number of airports, people who want to board an airplane are forced to submit to either this or being seen naked through their clothes. It is simply wrong for a government to treat its people this way, whether they are children or adults. As W.E. Messamore at the Humble Libertarian writes, “If this is how it all ends, the terrorists have indeed won.” I couldn’t have said it better myself.

I am excited to report that on Monday, former wrestler and Minnesota governor Jesse Ventura filed a lawsuit against the TSA. He is asking for an injunction against their use of whole body imaging (strip search machines) and intrusive pat-downs.

In the complaint, he writes that Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano and TSA chief John Pistole “have, and unless enjoined or restrained will continue to violate his rights under the Fourth Amendment to the United States Constitution to be free from unreasonable searches and seizures.” As the host of Conspiracy Theory on TruTV, he must travel frequently. Because of his hip replacement surgery, he sets off the metal detector every time he flies, and is now subjected to full-body scanners and pat-downs, even though prior to November, he had only been subjected to a “non-invasive magnetic hand-wand inspection.”

“TSA and DHS have no factual basis to support any reasonable suspicion that Governor Ventura poses any threat to airline safety, nor does he in fact post any such threat,” he points out. In November 2010 he was selected for “additional security” and “was not free to leave the airport security area or to decline his scheduled flight to avoid additional screening, which is a seizure of his person, and he was subjected to a pat-down body search, which is a search of his person.”

The complaint continues,

“WBI violates Governor Ventura’s basic rights to dignity and privacy and his right to be free from unreasonable searches and seizures, because through generation of a three-dimensional image of his person in an unclothed state, which image is viewed by others and can be electronically stored, saved, reproduced and transmitted, the procedure is tantamount to a warrantless, non-suspicion-based, electronically-recorded strip search.

The WBIs…meet the definition of unlawful video voyeurism…and are demeaning and degrading…

Pat-down body searches violate Governor Ventura’s basic rights to privacy and dignity, and his right to be free from unreasonable searches and seizures, because they include warrantless, non-suspicion-based offensive touching, gripping, and rubbing of the genital and other sensitive areas of his body.

The pat-down body searches…meet the definition for an unlawful sexual assault…and are demeaning and degrading.”

This might be the most high profile anti-TSA lawsuit yet, and I am so glad that Ventura decided to stand up for not only his rights, but the rights of all of us. I agree strongly with everything he says in the complaint. Go Jesse, go!

Read the full text of the complaint (PDF).