A truck with bomb near the Capitol goes undetected for three weeks.
According to an indictment filed in District of Columbia Superior Court, Michael Gorbey, 38, of Rapidan, Va., faces charges of planning to set off a bomb. He also is accused of making or transporting an explosive device with the intent of using it against people or property and multiple firearms charges.With this and the news that perhaps only 1% of flights in the U.S. have air marshals on them (pilots and marshals told CNN about the dearth of agents out there), what is all that Homeland Security cash going?Gorbey allegedly tried to manufacture a “weapon of mass destruction, that is, an explosive device capable of causing multiple deaths or serious bodily injuries to multiple persons, or massive destruction of property,” according to the indictment.
He was arrested Jan. 18 for carrying the shotgun and a sword outside the Capitol. Gorbey told police he was headed to an appointment at the Supreme Court. No one was injured in the incident, which caused gridlock for hours on Capitol Hill.
U.S. Capitol Police discovered the explosive device three weeks later when they returned with a search warrant to check the truck, which was in a government parking lot.
Terrance Gainer, the Senate sergeant-at-arms, told The Washington Post the device in Gorbey’s truck, which was parked about two blocks from the Capitol, “could have caused serious injuries,” if detonated.
One marshal said that while security is certainly one reason the numbers are kept secret, he believes the agency simply doesn’t want taxpayers to know the truth.“I would be very embarrassed by [the numbers] if they were to get out,” one air marshal said. “The American public would be shocked. … I think the average person understands there’s no physical way to protect every single flight everywhere,” the air marshal said. “But it’s such a small percentage. It’s just very aggravating for us.”
32 Responses to “Your tax dollars at work securing the homeland”
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I’ve said it before, I’ll say it again - the Department of Homeland Security is creating a police state where the policemen are all Barney Fife (the Andy Griffith Show.)
Be prepared for Fox/Limbaugh/Coulter to label this guy either:
1) a Muslim
2) a Democrat
Be prepared for Fox/Limbaugh/Coulter to make the following claims:
1) Citizens need conceal and carry laws to defend themselves around men like this.
2) Nothing about this man’s record of felony convictions should trouble people when wondering how he was still able to obtain firearms.
Be prepared for the mainstream media in entirety to avoid discussing the subject of crazy Christian white male crime. Notably, his defense is pro se.
I’m preparing for claims that the truck would have been searched earlier if the stupid Constitution didn’t make them go get a stupid warrant from some stupid judge.
I thought all of the illegal spying on Americans (notably started way BEFORE 9/11) was supposed to help them find guys like this before anything bad happens.
Or is all that spying really just to get information about their political enemies and has nothing whatsoever to do with actually keeping us safe?…
Except that Sheriff Andy lets them have bullets. That’s the scary part.
You mistake policing evildoers with Stasi. The recent hires will most likely enforce on the civilian population of the US to deter dissent or populist uprisings. Cheney did not build those camps for Islamists, he built them for ecoterrorists, consumer rights terrorists, liberals, free-thinkers, atheists, professors, teachers, and the like.
“Cheney did not build those camps for Islamists, he built them for ecoterrorists, consumer rights terrorists, liberals, free-thinkers, atheists, professors, teachers, and the like.”
It’s almost like he’s our own Pol Pot…
I’m not worried about the 1% air marshall story so much as this story about the PILOT!!!
And if he had had a bottle of booze, would he have been yelling “Yee-haw!” and firing out of the window?Just a funny aside, calling on my PhD…
In the Third Reich, Himmler consolidated the SS and police into a quasi-governmental organization he named the Reichssicherheitshauptamt. Translation: Department of National Security.
So…reverse-translating…we have the Heimatssicherheitshauptamt.
Remember that for the future.
And yes, I do realize I just invoked Godwin.
Where’s all the OHS money going? Dick Cheney’s man-sized safe (probably in the form of gold bars and Euros, after being laundered through a series of shell corporations).
Even I can’t tell anymore if I’m joking or serious.
“Even I can’t tell anymore if I’m joking or serious.”
It’s pretty clear the money is going down a rathole.
Whose rathole it is, how much went down, and whether we can hold anybody accountable are the only remaining questions.
I guess in that respect, DHS is just a variation on Iraq, Katrina, and a whole lot of other examples of purposeful abuses of government…
Thanks for the puzzler, tannenburg!!
He
emits
irregular
messages
at
the
strange
silently
irritated
children
harkening
every
rational
human
exiting
into
the
serene
holodeck
and
urging
peaceful
thoughts
and
music
tonight
And if that makes sense to anyone other than governmental workers, we’re all screwed!
Obviously all the DHS money is going to ICE detention centers.
Where is the money going?
Fancy machines, that will never work, that allow them to see your garter belt and underwire bra. Or in Larry Craig’s case, the dildo between his cheeks…
Where else is the money going? Halliburton, Raytheon, Boeing, Bechtel, etc… All ‘loyal Bushy grade’ corporations who are more desirous of the money than air marshals who stuck out like sore thumbs because some Poindexter decried that they would dress in a manner that just screamed “I’M A FEDERAL AGENT!!!” to everyone on the plane…
Those ‘air shower’ booths at the airports are cozy and not cheap. All those upgraded x-ray units for cargo (that haven’t been deployed yet because they still don’t work) aren’t cheap either. CHA-CHING!!!
“With this and the news that perhaps only 1% of flights in the U.S. have air marshals on them (pilots and marshals told CNN about the dearth of agents out there), what is all that Homeland Security cash going?”
I’m a reporter who covers (among other things) county government and local schools in Michigan.
I don’t know total percentages in any detail, but homeland security money has, in my recollection, put cameras in local school buildings, bought the sheriff’s department a mobile command center (read RV), bought local police and firefighters radio units, reeuipped a SWAT team and bought various other equipment for local police and fire that the county, cities and townships probabably have ponied up for only some of.
Is this a boondoggle? The best argument for it is while, only the Severly Braindamaged Liberation Front is going to hit west Michigan with a terrorist attack, but in event of a major incident in a nearby city, the podunk departments would go to help and use some of their fancy gear (if it works).
But is this stuff the highest priority for Creepy Name Federal Agency, which was sold to the public as protecting us from Those People? I can hardle believe its anything other than keeping senators sweet on the program.
It’s enough to make me go read Reason a few times.
So THAT’S where Santorum went!!
Keep pitchin ‘em, Pinky; I’m betting I can get the next one over the Green Monster!
Thinking I should invest in companies that make shredders before January; can you imagine how much paper DHS has to get rid of before a Dem administration goes over their books??
So they have to be able to read my email RIGHT NOW or the terrorists will kill us all, and it’s so important that they can’t even get a retroactive warrant. But searching the vehicle of a known criminal who was wandering around DC with a shotgun and a freaking sword, that they can take their sweeet time on.
“So they have to be able to read my email RIGHT NOW or the terrorists will kill us all, and it’s so important that they can’t even get a retroactive warrant.”
…and they have to listen to your phone call RIGHT NOW, and they have to log all your Internet use RIGHT NOW, and they have to search through every computer database ever created RIGHT NOW, they have to pick through POTUS candidate passport info RIGHT NOW, etc., etc., etc.
They’re probably so busy doing all that spying RIGHT NOW they didn’t have the time to worry about shotgun/sword/bomb guy wandering DC. I mean, they’re only human you know…
I think the best description is something said by a transportation security expert on another board:
All the machines that go “bing” and press conferences and blather amount to is “Security Theater”.
I half expect the current government considers Shrub to be expendable at this point. They were probably hoping that some terrists will take him out and ensure the fear-based system continues intact through the next election.
Wait, so a pipe bomb is a WMD now? A bullet is also an explosive device capable of causing serious bodily injury to multiple persons. Why do we even bother with dictionaries?
President Cheney wants you to shush now, Ms Kate…
They had to change the definition of Weapon of Mass Destruction so they could continue to say there were some in Iraq.
Carrying a sword, didn’t get himself killed resisting arrest… an undertreated mental patient ready to get locked up for safety’s sake? I know some of them reach the point of dramatic display of danger because it’s the only way into the system.
What Homeland Security funds are used for, part 19(84).
A friend of mine worked at the Department of Motor Vehicles. Besides the regular job, he was also the Union Rep, because he’s really good at knowing and understanding regulations. Some of his co-workers were given training by the Department of Homeland Security.
What did they do with this important training on keeping America safe?
Tried to make him stop (re)reading Orwell’s 1984. Well, he already knew enough to know they had nothing to back up their attempt to censor his reading. But… it seemed both funny and creepy that the government was more or less fessing up to being Orwellian!
Glenn Greenwald’s passport records were gone through, and someone posted that they had them on Free Republic for anyone to see.
Patrick Smith has labeled the current airport security a screaming joke before.
Effectively no cargo is scanned but in the beginning, grandma couldn’t take her knitting needles on the plane because they were sharp and pointy and look terroristy…
People were having to surrender bottles of booze and perfume those first days of the ban just because ‘we say so’. Someone could just stick something in their checked bag and who the hell would know. It’s not likely to be scanned, especially at smaller ‘feeder’ airports.
Most, something like 90% of the containers arriving from foreign ports isn’t scanned prior to being trucked to your local Wal-Mart.
The ‘image of security’ is ultra high but the actual practice of security is like a screen door on a submarine: full of holes…
But, we take our shoes off at the security area. We frantically pack our shampoo and lip gloss into those little ziploc bags. We nearly strip ourselves to get through those beige arches. ‘Feeling safe’ is easier than ‘being safe’…
Glenn Greenwald’s passport records were gone through, and someone posted that they had them on Free Republic for anyone to see.
Patrick Smith has labeled the current airport security a screaming joke before.
Effectively no cargo is scanned but in the beginning, grandma couldn’t take her knitting needles on the plane because they were sharp and pointy and look terroristy…
People were having to surrender bottles of booze and perfume those first days of the ban just because ‘we say so’. Someone could just stick something in their checked bag and who the hell would know. It’s not likely to be scanned, especially at smaller ‘feeder’ airports.
Most, something like 90% of the containers arriving from foreign ports isn’t scanned prior to being trucked to your local Wal-Mart.
The ‘image of security’ is ultra high but the actual practice of security is like a screen door on a submarine: full of holes…
But, we take our shoes off at the security area. We frantically pack our shampoo and lip gloss into those little ziploc bags. We nearly strip ourselves to get through those beige arches. ‘Feeling safe’ is easier than ‘being safe’…
How the hell does that work? How can anyone think they can censor someone’s reading material on behalf of the gov’t under gov’t training???Shit. Did he tell them to go read the First Amendment and get back to him?
Since we’ve already Godwinned, I’ll put out my quandary–are we the Nazis or the Soviets? Condi is a Soviet scholar, and it seems like she’s helped put in place all the things I was taught to hate about that regime.
It reminds me of that STar Trek episode where some guy tried to help civilize a planet by introducing Nazism, thinking he could do just the good part (organization, uniting the people, making trains run on time) without the bad part (torturing and killing scapegoats). Except in Star Trek all parties realized that Nazi version 2.0 was bad, whereas in America 2.0 the bugs seem to be a feature.
“Since we’ve already Godwinned, I’ll put out my quandary–are we the Nazis or the Soviets?”
And the answer is YES!
As we form the our budding police state, we have learned the important lesson that ALL previous dictatorships/police-states have something to offer us, regardless of their nominal political basis.
America is embracing ecumenicalism!
…at least when it comes to choosing the worst aspects of our political rivals to incorporate into America v2.0…
“What did they do with this important training on keeping America safe?
Tried to make him stop (re)reading Orwell’s 1984.”
Huh!??? How did this work?
Well, that’s an interesting question. I think it’s best summed up like this:
The Nazis took power semi-legally, within the context of a crisis perceived by the majority of the middle and upper classes to be one of survival. After an initial period of excess, Hitler took care to mollify the majority of the citizens by appealing to stability and national pride, only allowing the slow infiltration of his more radical followers into positions of power where they gradually implemented the apparatuses of the overarching police state. Most importantly for the retention of Nazi power was the implementation of citizens self-policing - ordinary Germans watching other ordinary Germans for lapses in patriotism and subversive thoughts.
The Soviets, on the other hand, started from a complete revolution, overturning all social structures and mores and attempting to build an entirely new society. Only slowly did Stalin turn to “traditional” values such as nationalism and hierarchies based on loyalty to the Party to solidify his power.
What I would take away from the current conditions in the United States is that liberty is not lost overnight. It is lost in a hundred little compromises, such as those made in Germany from 1933 to 1945, where each step rises from the previous one, and all seem reasonable at the time given the perception of threat and danger. The Nazis swaggered to power on fear and paranoia, the gripping terror of the German people that Germany stood on the brink of destruction, that Deutsches Kultur was on the edge of the abyss.
Fear and the search for security excuses many things. Such tyrannies are built on the perception of weakness, not strength.
Not Pol Pot, but a return to the days of robber barons and Palmer raids. It disturbs him greatly that the working class has a vote and some modicum of comfort. He obviously wants the Bad Old Days with the tenements, cheap labor, pandemics, and ease for the comfortably well off. Servants only work when there is absolutely nothing else.
A sword??!
(Maybe there IS something to that “omg D&D is ev0l!!” panic after all!
)