One Airport; One TSA Agent; $400K in Merchandise Gone

While it’s recently made the news that one TSA agentat Newark Liberty Airport was able to steal $400,000 in goods (allegedly acting alone), there have been hundreds of cases of TSA theft.  A $2,500 laptop, $47,900 worth of camera equipment, $80,000 in cash – all went missing from passenger luggage while in the care of the TSA at New York area airports.   Some reports show that TSA agents made a regular habit of theft, stealing $400-$700 cash per day from passengers making their way through the security check points.

Readers of the NCLAG blog are already aware that theft of personal property by the TSA is the crime to which airline passengers are most likely to fall victim (not terrorism).  However, readers may not be aware of the extent to which TSA agents are involved in this theft.  NY Press’ Spencer Wilking recently wrote an excellent article outlining the failure of the TSA to keep passengers safe.  I highly recommend reading it.

Be sure to show up to Union Square on June 10th 4:30p-7p to support legislation to “Ban the Scan NYC!” Don’t for get to RSVP on the “Ban the Scan NYC” Facebook page.

Thinking of Opening a Business in NYC? Thought Not.

Ever wonder what is takes to open a restaurant in New York City?  Here is a shocking excerpt from National Review.  Mark Steyn writes:

For example, in New York City, applying for the “right” to open a restaurant requires dealing with the conflicting demands of at least eleven municipal agencies, plus submitting to 23 city inspections and applying for 30 different permits and certificates. Not including the state liquor license. Recognizing that this could all get very complicated, the city set up a new bureaucratic body to help you negotiate your way through all the other bureaucratic bodies.

The article, call “Tyrannous Regulation” can be read here.

LGBTQ & Libertarians: A Love Story

Given that New York’s current marriage laws still prohibit same-sex unions, it’s no wonder that Jim Swimm of Swish, a gay straight alliance, pines for a more meaningful show of support from the straight (and particularly, straight male) population:

There’s been a group of people who seem to be “sitting this one out”. Though I’ve talked to a few who are genuinely troubled, men —specifically, straight men — don’t seem to speak very loudly, if at all, on this issue.

Despite the stereotype of libertarians as cold-hearted, logic-spouting, gun toting, free-market rambling machines, there is a softer side to many of the hard constitutionalists who presently walk the streets of New York.  Although libertarians espouse a willingness to be labeled as “conservative” because of a strict policy of adherence to the constitution and fiscal responsibility, most libertarians are anything but when it comes to social issues.

Ban the Scan from NYC!

Join us on June 10, 2011, as the Manhattan Libertarian Party, We Won’t Fly, Campaign for Liberty and NYC LAG co-host a rally at Union Square in New York City to promote legislation currently being drafted by the New York City Council to eliminate TSA body scanners and pat-downs from NYC.

The event starts at 4:30 PM and features:

• Jim Babb, co-founder of We Won’t Fly
• Amie Stepanovich, National Security Fellow at the Electronic Privacy Information Center (EPIC)
• NYC Councilmember Dan Halloran
• 9/11 Family Members and more.

An informal networking happy hour will follow.

Show your support and RSVP on the Facebook Event Page!

LaBaNeNis or Law Banning Neighborhood Nicknames

In a recent NY Times articletitled ProCro, SoBro, FiDi, BoCoCa: A Lawmaker Says, ‘Enough’, Cara Buckley writes a fairly comprehensive history of New York neighborhood and sub-neighborhood nicknames.

The abbreviation floodgates appear to have been opened by SoHo, a name that gained traction in the mid-1960s as artists began to live illegally in factory spaces south of Houston Street. It also had the allure of having a twin, nomenclaturally speaking, in London’s Soho, a centuries-old area whose name appears to have roots in a hunting call.

ReasonTV: The War on Walmart

Who’s Your Father?

Last month National Review’s Jeff Stier commented on an Obama Administration strategy, libertarian paternalism: the idea that government can participate in coercion of consumers through different tactics.

TSA: Complaining = Security Threat

Legislation is currently being drafted to ban the TSA’s us of x-ray scanners in New York City.  Join us in the rally against the TSA.

140/Day

140 citizens arrested for small amounts of marijuana EVERY DAY.  The record is now up to 50,000 arrests for the Blooberg administration.  Those are the statistics reported by WNYC here.

Last Night at Webster Hall

Ron Paul at Webster Hall