TSA Detains Ron Paul Worker for Carrying Cash

The mission of the Transportation Security Administration (TSA) is to protect the nation’s transportation systems to ensure freedom of movement for people and commerce. Unfortunately, especially at airports, increasingly the TSA causes great inconvenience and discomfort to travelers.

In this video a worker for Ron Paul has attended a Ron Paul rally in Saint Louis, Missouri. At the rally about $4,700 in books, T-Shirts, and brochures were sold and the well dressed young man was carrying the cash back to headquarters. The cash was in his carry on bag.

In a search of the bag by TSA personnel the cash was discovered. The Ron Paul worker was taken to a windowless interrogation room and asked a series of questions as to where the cash came from and what he was going to do with it. His response was a simple question that went unanswered. He asked only if by law he was required to answer questions about carrying a fairly small amount of cash.

Lucky for us technology allows us to hear for ourselves the tone of the TSA questioning. The young man was carrying a cell phone that also serves as a recorder. So he secretly recorded almost 25 minutes of the unpleasant interrogation.

Watch the video. It is a disturbing account of what America has degraded to. Of course, all in the name of protection. Now we are at risk of being detained and held as a terrorist if we carry a few thousand dollars in cash through an airport.

An even worse incident involving TSA happened to a good friend as he was trying to return to Atlanta from a business trip to Seattle. My friend is a health nut of sorts. He carried a herbal supplement with him and had causally tossed it into his carry on bag. Big mistake.

When TSA found the white powder (the supplement is intended to be mixed with fruit juice) they went nuts. Rather than give the power any kind of test at the airport my friend was handcuffed and turned over to DEA. The DEA had him locked up over night. He was booked on narcotics possession charges. I am not making this up.

After a night in jail he was taken to court the next afternoon. Fortunately, by the time his case came before the judge a lab report had been completed and handed to the judge. Guess what? The lab report identified the substance as a herbal supplement.

So my friend was released from police custody and escorted outside the courtroom. He was released at some unknown place to him far from the airport. As it was too late to book a flight that evening he had to take a taxi and find a hotel room near the airport. The next morning he was able to take a taxi to the airport, locate his luggage, and pay the airline $150 for a ticket change. All in all with taxi fares, a hotel room , extra meals, and a ticket change fee that little bottle of white powder and TSA inspection cost my friend an extra $300 and the loss of two days time.

And get this. No apologies were offered by TSA, DEA, the Seattle Police Department, the airline, or anyone else.

The moral to these two stories. America has changed. With the heavy hand of government, surveillance and intrusions by authorities everywhere America is now much closer to being a fascist state than a democracy.

Some advice. When traveling by air leave your herbal supplements at home and carry a minimum amount of cash. If stopped be calm and as quite as possible. Remember that at the airport you are in the hands of TSA idiots and that anything can happen in the name of freedom and bureaucratic guidelines. If you support Ron Paul you had better keep that fact to yourself. Ron Paul supporters have been singled out as possible terrorist operatives. Do not carry Ron Paul bumper stickers or literature with you when you travel.

If you are detained for carrying a few thousand dollars in cash be prepared to answer a lot of questions that by law you do not have to answer. Of course, by not answering you may be transported to an undisclosed location in Afghanistan. You have been warned. This is the new America.