Earlier this week, we published a photo of a napping TSA employee at La Guardia Airport, but didn’t quite expect the shitstorm it would create. After viewing the image, Homeland Security launched an internal investigation and reassigned the worker. A spokesperson for the agency also admitted that “it was completely inappropriate for her to rest in a public area while on her break as opposed to a nearby break room.” I couldn’t agree more. Read more »
A Downtown Express story on Randall Thomas, a pro photographer arrested for videotaping a federal building in Manhattan, features Homeland Security spokesperson Luis Martinez spouting fictitious laws banning public filming and photography: “There are certain things that the press cannot do when it comes to national security, and filming federal buildings is one of them.” Unfortunately, Martinez isn’t the only misinformed Homeland Security staffer. Last week, Secretary Janet Napolitano appeared on Fox News urging the public to report photographers as likely terrorists to police.
If that NYPD plan to scan and store information for up to a year on every vehicle entering Manhattan is causing some concern for a handful of people that still care about privacy laws, the Department of Homeland Security’s 15-year, data storing border strategy should provoke some outrage on both sides of the aisle. According to the Washington Post:
“The federal government has been using its system of border checkpoints to greatly expand a database on travelers entering the country by collecting information on all U.S. citizens crossing by land, compiling data that will be stored for 15 years and may be used in criminal and intelligence investigations.”
Image: NYMag
Despite numerous theories about the Montauk Monster and an inability to properly identify it—even with newly published photos—many are convinced that it’s most likely some sort of creature from the clandestine animal experiment lab located on lovely Plum Island just off the coast of Orient Point. However, in an official statement to Associated Content, the Department of Homeland Security run facility emphatically denied it was theirs and even speculated that it’s most likely a “cat or raccoon” based on viewing the canine teeth from the widely dispersed photo. So today we reached out and they sent another explanation, that eliminated the feline theory, claiming it could actually be a “dog or raccoon.” They also maintain that “it’s impossible to accurately identify the species of animal from the photo. There is no scale from which to judge its size.” Are they not looking at the same photo we are? The above image clearly shows a fly—probably from the depths of Hell—feasting on the animal, providing some indicator of scale. You would think hope that an agency responsible for protecting livestock and specifically engaged in highly contagious animal experimentation would have all the information at hand. Then again, it is ran by Homeland Security. Official unaltered statement after the jump. UPDATE: new ‘Monster’ found in Connecticut within relative earshot of Plum Island.
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