The Pacific northwestern region of the United States might finally be awakening from its long slumber. A couple of otherwise-unrelated stories circulating up here suggest that the region's (in)famous latte-sipping liberals have finally had enough of being polite while everything goes to hell.
Consumer advocate Christopher Elliott reports on one local business that has taken its disgust with the Transportation Security Adminstration to a new level:
And this is, apparently, legal enough that McLawson claims local police have assisted with the removal of TSA agents from the unnamed business. Elliott wonders in his blog what the TSA might have done to warrant such treatment. "And then," he writes, "I reviewed the week's troubling news."
That news includes the charging of two TSA agents from JFK airport in New York with the theft of forty-thousand dollars. Of course, to be fair, Elliott wonders: "But what about the passenger who checked a bag containing $170,000? Isn't that asking for trouble?"
Meanwhile, TSA agent Michael Arato, formerly working out of Newark, New Jersey, pled guilty to the theft "thousands of dollars in cash and other valuables", mostly from people who do not speak English. Arato has also confessed to taking kickbacks from thefts committed by at least one subordinate.
And there are, of course, the security lapses. In Dallas, Texas, last week, an undercover agent successfully carried a handgun through the controversial full-body scan:
"So why do passengers hate the TSA?" wonders Elliott. "Perhaps a better question is, 'Why not?'"
Still, though, it seems a difficult route toward making a point, especially when the business in question is itself reluctant to go on the record. McLawson's boss apparently declined an interview with Elliott.
Meanwhile, the Emerald City is experiencing some turmoil as many citizens have finally had enough of the Seattle Police Department.
Recent days have seen protests against SPD regarding the shooting of John T. Williams. While a review board determined that Officer Ian Birk was not justified in shooting the woodcarver who did not quickly enough drop a knife that was either open or closed, and Deputy Chief Clark Kimerer expressed that the "unequivocal conclusion" of the review board findings was that the shooting was not justified, King County Prosecutor Dan Satterberg has refused to file charges.
This has led to days of minor protests and marches demanding justice for the late Mr. Williams.
Yet the Williams shooting is the latest in a series of incidents locals find distasteful, including the punching out of a student for jaywalking, the threat by an officer to "stomp the Mexican piss" out of a suspect, a lawsuit seeking $450,000 after the videotaped assault of a teenage suspect who was trying to surrender, and a moronic rant published in the Seattle Police union's newspaper that for many has shed light on the attitudes of SPD officers.
That's a short list. Some might remember a 1997 lawsuit by area cops against the estate of a deceased bank robber some years ago. "Hollywood" Scott Scurlock heisted at least fifteen banks in the 1990s, killing himself as officers closed in. Six officers of the Puget Sound Violent Crime Task Force sued Scurlock's estate for emotional distress. Over the years, the department has wrangled with issues of racial profiling and the alleged theft of personal effects from corpses.
And every time, it's always a bad apple, and you can't throw out the whole barrel.
When officers were caught on videotape several years ago beating and planting evidence on a wheelchair-bound suspect, few were surprised that the review board found nothing amiss about the officers' conduct. Few were surprised when the civilian run second investigation found numerous problems with the officers' conduct. Few were surprised that the mayor meddled in the investigation. Few were surprised when the city attorney tried to bury the civilian review report.
The Williams shooting seems to be a flashpoint. In a region wracked by several tragic murders of police officers, many have been reluctant to go too hard on any given department. But in the wake of Satterberg's decision to let former Officer Birk walk, the town is showing its uglier side.
Last Friday, demonstrators marched against the police department. Some of the rhetoric was bad enough—e.g., "Cops are flammable"—so the minor violence including a smashed cruiser window and, apparently, an attempted arson against the station at 23rd and Union, did nothing to help.
But yesterday things took a turn for the morbidly amusing.
"I was downtown earlier today," explains Kelly O, of Seattle's weekly The Stranger, "and somebody's hijacked a whole bunch of Seattle Times newspaper boxes".
No, no, they didn't fly them to Cuba, or smash them into a highrise. But they did post this dummy page:
Welcome to Seattle. A better form of civil disobedience than setting things on fire?
While the broader reaction to the stunt is yet unassessed, people seemed somewhat amused. There really was no question about the prank, as above the headline were two capsules:
And as Ms. O notes, "Smiles, We Have Smiles":
Wisdom of the Ages. What? She gets the joke ....
These might become collector's items; Kelly O advises that, "They appear to be signed and numbered, like you would do with art. I can't make out the signature."
I'm not one to condemn violence for the sake of condemning violence, but the reality is that the situation in the Emerald City has not reached the point that violence is necessary.
Of course, some folks would suggest such pranks don't "advance the dialog" (see comments to Kelly O), but two points come to mind. One is the counterpoint in the comments:
And the other is that, quite simply, this sort of stunt ranks a hell of a lot higher on my list than setting a police station on fire, or throwing rocks at a bunch of cops you already think are trigger-happy, bloodthirsty bastards.
No, I don't like the SPD. Few around here do anymore. But there's no need to resort to violence. In the first place, you blow any sympathy you might otherwise win from the general public and, to the other, even if you can manage to establish justification, it won't fly in court around here. Violence is a dead end in lieu of a solution. This is a town where cops can be caught on videotape beating a man in a wheelchair and then planting evidence on him to justify an arrest, and everything is supposed to be cool. This is a town where cops can shoot people without cause and walk away scot-free. What the hell does anyone think they can accomplish by doing unto the police remotely as the police have done unto the community? It doesn't work that way up here.
So this protest "newspaper" is a breath of fresh air, even if it has been done before. Seattlites, quite obviously, are wearying of being polite about the willfully rude. It is comforting to see folks in the region stirring in their sleep. Perhaps some more merry prankstering will bring the fun back to being disgusted at society. Heaven knows it's been a humorless endeavor for at least a decade up here.
Let the comedians prevail, and leave the thuggery to the SPD.
____________________
Notes:
Elliott, Christopher. "Business bans TSA agents – will more follow?" February 19, 2011. Elliott.org. February 23, 2011. http://www.elliott.org/blog/why-does-everyone-hate-the-tsa-lets-count-the-reasons/
Stinchfield, Grant. "TSA Source: Armed Agent Slips Past DFW Body Scanner". NBC-DFW. February 21, 2011. NBCDFW.com. February 23, 2011. http://www.nbcdfw.com/news/local-be...gh-DFW-Body-Scanner-With-a-Gun-116497568.html
Pulkkinen, Levi. "Review: Birk didn't have cause believe Williams a threat". Seattle 911. February 16, 2011. Blog.SeattlePI.com. February 23, 2011. http://blog.seattlepi.com/seattle91...k-didnt-have-cause-believe-williams-a-threat/
Pomper, Steve. "Just Shut Up and Be a Good Little Socialist". The Guardian. December, 2010. TheStranger.com. February 23, 2011. http://www.thestranger.com/extras/images/Guardian2.pdf
Holden, Dominic. "What Some Seattle Cops Think the Problem Is". The Stranger. January 11, 2011. TheStranger.com. February 23, 2011. http://www.thestranger.com/seattle/what-some-seattle-cops-think-the-problem-is/Content?oid=6266406
"Anti-police protesters return to Seattle streets". The Seattle Times. February 18, 2011. SeattleTimes.NWSource.com. February 23, 2011. http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/localnews/2014271817_protests19m.html
McNerthney, Casey. "Police officer assaulted near Pike Place Market". February 22, 2011. SeattlePI.com. February 23, 2011. http://www.seattlepi.com/local/435927_police23.html
O, Kelly. "'We're Killing Everybody We Can,' Seattle Police Declare". Slog. February 22, 2011. Slog.TheStranger.com. February 23, 2011. http://slog.thestranger.com/slog/ar...lling-everybody-we-can-seattle-police-declare
Consumer advocate Christopher Elliott reports on one local business that has taken its disgust with the Transportation Security Adminstration to a new level:
KC McLawson works for a cafe near Seattle-Tacoma International Airport, and since the body-scan and patdown controversy last November, her boss has taken extraordinary measures to ensure the TSA knows of his displeasure.
"We have posted signs on our doors basically saying that they aren't allowed to come into our business," she says. "We have the right to refuse service to anyone."
Banning TSA from a restaurant. Seems a little harsh, doesn't it?
McLawson explains.
"We have posted signs on our doors basically saying that they aren't allowed to come into our business," she says. "We have the right to refuse service to anyone."
Banning TSA from a restaurant. Seems a little harsh, doesn't it?
McLawson explains.
My boss flies quite a bit and he has an amazing ability to remember faces. If he sees a TSA agent come in we turn our backs and completely ignore them, and tell them to leave.
Their kind aren't welcomed in our establishment.
A large majority of our customers — over 90 percent — agree with our stance and stand by our decision.
Their kind aren't welcomed in our establishment.
A large majority of our customers — over 90 percent — agree with our stance and stand by our decision.
And this is, apparently, legal enough that McLawson claims local police have assisted with the removal of TSA agents from the unnamed business. Elliott wonders in his blog what the TSA might have done to warrant such treatment. "And then," he writes, "I reviewed the week's troubling news."
That news includes the charging of two TSA agents from JFK airport in New York with the theft of forty-thousand dollars. Of course, to be fair, Elliott wonders: "But what about the passenger who checked a bag containing $170,000? Isn't that asking for trouble?"
Meanwhile, TSA agent Michael Arato, formerly working out of Newark, New Jersey, pled guilty to the theft "thousands of dollars in cash and other valuables", mostly from people who do not speak English. Arato has also confessed to taking kickbacks from thefts committed by at least one subordinate.
And there are, of course, the security lapses. In Dallas, Texas, last week, an undercover agent successfully carried a handgun through the controversial full-body scan:
An undercover TSA agent was able to get through security at Dallas/Fort Worth International Airport with a handgun during testing of the enhanced-imaging body scanners, according to a high-ranking, inside source at the Transportation Security Administration.
The source said the undercover agent carried a pistol in her undergarments when she put the body scanners to the test. The officer successfully made it through the airport's body scanners every time she tried, the source said.
"In this case, where they had a test, and it was just a dismal failure as I'm told," said Larry Wansley, former head of security at American Airlines. "As I've heard (it), you got a problem, especially with a fire arm" ....
.... The TSA insider who blew the whistle on the test also said that none of the TSA agents who failed to spot the gun on the scanned image were disciplined. The source said the agents continue to work the body scanners today.
(Stinchfield)
The source said the undercover agent carried a pistol in her undergarments when she put the body scanners to the test. The officer successfully made it through the airport's body scanners every time she tried, the source said.
"In this case, where they had a test, and it was just a dismal failure as I'm told," said Larry Wansley, former head of security at American Airlines. "As I've heard (it), you got a problem, especially with a fire arm" ....
.... The TSA insider who blew the whistle on the test also said that none of the TSA agents who failed to spot the gun on the scanned image were disciplined. The source said the agents continue to work the body scanners today.
(Stinchfield)
"So why do passengers hate the TSA?" wonders Elliott. "Perhaps a better question is, 'Why not?'"
Still, though, it seems a difficult route toward making a point, especially when the business in question is itself reluctant to go on the record. McLawson's boss apparently declined an interview with Elliott.
• • •
Meanwhile, the Emerald City is experiencing some turmoil as many citizens have finally had enough of the Seattle Police Department.
Recent days have seen protests against SPD regarding the shooting of John T. Williams. While a review board determined that Officer Ian Birk was not justified in shooting the woodcarver who did not quickly enough drop a knife that was either open or closed, and Deputy Chief Clark Kimerer expressed that the "unequivocal conclusion" of the review board findings was that the shooting was not justified, King County Prosecutor Dan Satterberg has refused to file charges.
This has led to days of minor protests and marches demanding justice for the late Mr. Williams.
Yet the Williams shooting is the latest in a series of incidents locals find distasteful, including the punching out of a student for jaywalking, the threat by an officer to "stomp the Mexican piss" out of a suspect, a lawsuit seeking $450,000 after the videotaped assault of a teenage suspect who was trying to surrender, and a moronic rant published in the Seattle Police union's newspaper that for many has shed light on the attitudes of SPD officers.
That's a short list. Some might remember a 1997 lawsuit by area cops against the estate of a deceased bank robber some years ago. "Hollywood" Scott Scurlock heisted at least fifteen banks in the 1990s, killing himself as officers closed in. Six officers of the Puget Sound Violent Crime Task Force sued Scurlock's estate for emotional distress. Over the years, the department has wrangled with issues of racial profiling and the alleged theft of personal effects from corpses.
And every time, it's always a bad apple, and you can't throw out the whole barrel.
When officers were caught on videotape several years ago beating and planting evidence on a wheelchair-bound suspect, few were surprised that the review board found nothing amiss about the officers' conduct. Few were surprised when the civilian run second investigation found numerous problems with the officers' conduct. Few were surprised that the mayor meddled in the investigation. Few were surprised when the city attorney tried to bury the civilian review report.
The Williams shooting seems to be a flashpoint. In a region wracked by several tragic murders of police officers, many have been reluctant to go too hard on any given department. But in the wake of Satterberg's decision to let former Officer Birk walk, the town is showing its uglier side.
Last Friday, demonstrators marched against the police department. Some of the rhetoric was bad enough—e.g., "Cops are flammable"—so the minor violence including a smashed cruiser window and, apparently, an attempted arson against the station at 23rd and Union, did nothing to help.
But yesterday things took a turn for the morbidly amusing.
"I was downtown earlier today," explains Kelly O, of Seattle's weekly The Stranger, "and somebody's hijacked a whole bunch of Seattle Times newspaper boxes".
No, no, they didn't fly them to Cuba, or smash them into a highrise. But they did post this dummy page:
Welcome to Seattle. A better form of civil disobedience than setting things on fire?
While the broader reaction to the stunt is yet unassessed, people seemed somewhat amused. There really was no question about the prank, as above the headline were two capsules:
• Wonders Wonder Away: Who cares about anything anymore?
• Giant humans storm the Earth: Healthy, confident.
• Giant humans storm the Earth: Healthy, confident.
And as Ms. O notes, "Smiles, We Have Smiles":
Wisdom of the Ages. What? She gets the joke ....
These might become collector's items; Kelly O advises that, "They appear to be signed and numbered, like you would do with art. I can't make out the signature."
I'm not one to condemn violence for the sake of condemning violence, but the reality is that the situation in the Emerald City has not reached the point that violence is necessary.
Of course, some folks would suggest such pranks don't "advance the dialog" (see comments to Kelly O), but two points come to mind. One is the counterpoint in the comments:
You know what else doesn't "advance the dialog"? Getting shot in the fucking head.
And the other is that, quite simply, this sort of stunt ranks a hell of a lot higher on my list than setting a police station on fire, or throwing rocks at a bunch of cops you already think are trigger-happy, bloodthirsty bastards.
No, I don't like the SPD. Few around here do anymore. But there's no need to resort to violence. In the first place, you blow any sympathy you might otherwise win from the general public and, to the other, even if you can manage to establish justification, it won't fly in court around here. Violence is a dead end in lieu of a solution. This is a town where cops can be caught on videotape beating a man in a wheelchair and then planting evidence on him to justify an arrest, and everything is supposed to be cool. This is a town where cops can shoot people without cause and walk away scot-free. What the hell does anyone think they can accomplish by doing unto the police remotely as the police have done unto the community? It doesn't work that way up here.
So this protest "newspaper" is a breath of fresh air, even if it has been done before. Seattlites, quite obviously, are wearying of being polite about the willfully rude. It is comforting to see folks in the region stirring in their sleep. Perhaps some more merry prankstering will bring the fun back to being disgusted at society. Heaven knows it's been a humorless endeavor for at least a decade up here.
Let the comedians prevail, and leave the thuggery to the SPD.
____________________
Notes:
Elliott, Christopher. "Business bans TSA agents – will more follow?" February 19, 2011. Elliott.org. February 23, 2011. http://www.elliott.org/blog/why-does-everyone-hate-the-tsa-lets-count-the-reasons/
Stinchfield, Grant. "TSA Source: Armed Agent Slips Past DFW Body Scanner". NBC-DFW. February 21, 2011. NBCDFW.com. February 23, 2011. http://www.nbcdfw.com/news/local-be...gh-DFW-Body-Scanner-With-a-Gun-116497568.html
Pulkkinen, Levi. "Review: Birk didn't have cause believe Williams a threat". Seattle 911. February 16, 2011. Blog.SeattlePI.com. February 23, 2011. http://blog.seattlepi.com/seattle91...k-didnt-have-cause-believe-williams-a-threat/
Pomper, Steve. "Just Shut Up and Be a Good Little Socialist". The Guardian. December, 2010. TheStranger.com. February 23, 2011. http://www.thestranger.com/extras/images/Guardian2.pdf
Holden, Dominic. "What Some Seattle Cops Think the Problem Is". The Stranger. January 11, 2011. TheStranger.com. February 23, 2011. http://www.thestranger.com/seattle/what-some-seattle-cops-think-the-problem-is/Content?oid=6266406
"Anti-police protesters return to Seattle streets". The Seattle Times. February 18, 2011. SeattleTimes.NWSource.com. February 23, 2011. http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/localnews/2014271817_protests19m.html
McNerthney, Casey. "Police officer assaulted near Pike Place Market". February 22, 2011. SeattlePI.com. February 23, 2011. http://www.seattlepi.com/local/435927_police23.html
O, Kelly. "'We're Killing Everybody We Can,' Seattle Police Declare". Slog. February 22, 2011. Slog.TheStranger.com. February 23, 2011. http://slog.thestranger.com/slog/ar...lling-everybody-we-can-seattle-police-declare
