Showdown! Rick Perry puts TSA 'no-grope' Bill on Agenda

This is huge and sets the stage for a big showdown between the Feds and the State of Texas. During Texas' regular legislative session, HB 1937 unanimously passed the House but was defeated in the Senate, not with a vote but with a letter of intimidation from the Feds. The Senate withdrew the bill and the regular session ended. Ah, but hold on. That regular session ended without passage of a bill that could not be left unresolved. Why? Because a Democrat Senator named Wendy Davis (D-Fort Worth) filibustered the bill.

Perry was forced to call a special session, where he has far more power. In special session, the governor has sole responsibility for putting bills on the agenda and simple majorities are all that's needed - no filibuster can stop passage of a bill. In addition to Perry putting SB 9 - a tough sanctuary cities bill - on the agenda recently, he has now put the TSA no-groping bill on the agenda as well.

Via the Houston Chronicle:

Gov. Rick Perry announced he had added legislation that would make it illegal for TSA agents to engage in “intrusive touching” at airports security checkpoints without probable cause to the list of items for the legislature to consider during the special session.

The measure had previously failed to pass in the Texas Senate after the Justice Department wrote a scathing memo against the bill that threatened legal action against the state and the bill became enmeshed in Senate politics.

There are questions about what affect the legislation might have since airport security is a federal matter.

Lt. Gov. David Dewhurst, who was accused of lobbying against the bill in May said he was “pleased” by Perry’s decision.

“I’m very pleased that Governor Perry agreed to add this legislation to his Special Session call,” Dewhurst said. “Addressing unreasonable and unlawful searches of innocent travelers by some TSA employees is an issue that affects all Texans who use air travel, and it should not wait until next Session.”

Perry is being assailed by many in the conservative movement for his RINO streak. I must say, I've been one of them but he is making some bold moves in this special session that should please the state's rights crowd.

Read it all.

Are Illegal Aliens setting all these Wildfires?

This is beyond disturbing if true. Fires are popping up along the routes illegal aliens take after they cross over the border and into our country. In an email I received from Gene Cafarelli - an extremely reliable source - he sent these pictures of wildfires along our southwestern border. Apparently, the Obama-speak terminology like 'man-caused disaster' is trickling down to local municipalities. Cafarelli includes a report from Hugh Holub in which citizens demanded to know the cause of the fire in their area. The answer they got back?

'Human caused and under investigation.'

A necessary ingredient for fires not to be cause by arson, is lightning. There has been no lightning that has preceded these fires. Holub asks the question. Why isn't the Forest Service admitting that illegal aliens and drug smugglers are starting these fires? That prompts him to ask two additional questions:

Is it because President Obama's claims everything is just wonderful on the border would look false if drug smugglers were starting fires so their drug mules could sneak thousands of pounds of marijuana into the country?

Is it because Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano would look bad if the truth were that illegal aliens that got across the border where there is no border security were burning the country down as they passed through?

Cafarelli also includes a letter from Zack Taylor of the National Association of Former Border Patrol Officers (NAFBPO):

Dear Friends,

This photograph was taken today, June 3, 2011. Inside the center of smoke plume is the Atascosa Ranch, residence of David and Edith Lowell, in Rio Rico, Arizona. Ten miles north of the Mexican Border.

The Forest Service determined to allow this fire to jump Peck Canyon South and go up the North face of the Atascosa Mountains rather than attempt to control the fire, they are simply watching the fire now for four days rather than trying to fight it or control it.

The North Lowell allotment grazing pastures went up in smoke the last three days and the Forest Service is going to allow the second allotment to go up today. The Lowell’s will have to sell their cattle because there is no grass for them to graze on.

The drums along the border say that Border Patrol jumped a group of 12 marijuana backpackers who intentionally set the mountains on fire to effect their escape. Allegedly, between two and three of the illegal alien marijuana backpackers were apprehended and admitted setting the fire. Also, one of these arsonists is reported to be on life support at a local American hospital.

The beating drums also say that the Forest Service will not admit that the fire was caused by illegal aliens, only that it is human caused.

The border is not secure, America is in jeopardy as are all residents along the Arizona Border. Do not believe otherwise.

Zack Taylor, NAFBPO.org

There is zero doubt left that our leaders are failing us at best and betraying us at worst.



h/t GC

MSM Finally Dragged - Kicking and Screaming - to Gunrunner Scandal

Well, the clock has been ticking on the MSM since February on this scandal. That's when CBS reporter Sharyl Attkisson attempted to take the story national but got nowhere with the liberal media establishment. In fact, she got virtually nowhere with her own network, which relegated her story to the bottom shelf. Finally, we can yell 'TIME!' Four months after a scandal broke that implicates the Department of Justice in a 'Watergate-with-murder' cover-up, outlets like the Washington Post and CNN finally decide they can no longer avoid it.

What did it take? First, a round of explosive hearings that could only be seen on C-SPAN 3, which were instrumental in ATF Director Kenneth Melson's inevitable departure, which is what finally caught the MSM's attention. However, the Washington Post perfectly telegraphs their reluctance.

In print journalism, the rule is you put the most explosive information at the beginning, which includes the headline. WaPo got that part wrong. Instead of focusing on Melson's exit, they choose, instead, to focus on Obama's nominee to replace him - Andrew Traver. Remember, the breaking news story is that fact that this scandal is forcing Melson out. Check out WaPo's headline:

Obama’s nominee for ATF chief to meet with Justice Department officials

They don't even get to Melson until the end of the third paragraph.

Via the Washington Post:

President Obama’s nominee to head the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives is scheduled to meet with senior Justice Department officials Tuesday amid growing pressure on the agency’s leadership over a controversial gun-trafficking operation.

Andrew Traver, who runs the ATF’s Chicago office, is arriving in Washington as political fallout is continuing from the agency’s “Fast and Furious” operation, which targeted Mexican gun traffickers but has been linked to the killing of a U.S. law enforcement officer. Republicans in Congress have criticized the ATF’s handling of the investigation.

One U.S. official, who spoke on the condition of anonymity to discuss internal deliberations, said Traver may be offered the ATF’s top job on an acting basis at a meeting Tuesday with Attorney General Eric H. Holder Jr. CNN reported Monday that the current acting director, Kenneth E. Melson, is expected to resign under pressure.

But law enforcement and other sources said Melson has told associates that he believes he has done nothing wrong. Officials said the White House is watching the situation warily and is concerned about the ATF but has not asked for Melson’s resignation.

The most interesting development to come from all this will be what Melson chooses to do. He's basically down to two choices:

1.) Tell Issa everything he knows in hopes of being granted immunity
2.) Fall on the sword of a very corrupt administration

Sipsey Street thinks it's likely to be #1 based on Melson's contention that he 'did nothing wrong.'