Category Archives: Freedom

Monitoring

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From the Chicago Tribune (and here):

In a documentary taped earlier but scheduled to be broadcast Sunday on the BBC, Peter Clarke, head of Scotland Yard’s anti-terrorism branch, said that “thousands” of British Muslims are now being monitored by police and intelligence agencies.

And from The Observer:

Police are investigating a network of terror training camps across Britain which they fear are nurturing a new wave of home-grown Islamic extremists. The investigation is linked to raids late on Friday in which anti-terrorism officers arrested 14 people.

Yesterday police also sealed off a school in East Sussex run by an Islamic charity, Jameah Islamiyah, in the grounds of which The Observer understands the jailed cleric Abu Hamza secretly ran terror camps, training young militant Muslim men to use firearms.

…

A counter-terrorism official described the arrests as part of a ‘new plank’ of attack against Islamic terrorists in Britain, one that targets their ‘upstream’ activities. ‘It is not just about disrupting specific plots,’ the source said. ‘It is about closing down their opportunities to plan these attacks. Those that set up terror training camps are very much in our sights.’

The source said they were not just talking about military-style camps, but bases where religious extremists ‘bonded’ and indoctrination took place preparing young extremists to become suicide bombers.

The source refused to quantify the number of camps they were investigating, but confirmed there were likely to be several around the UK, both in metropolitan areas and remote rural regions.

The Observer understands camps have operated in some of Britain’s most isolated areas including Scotland, Wales and the Lake District. There has long been speculation that Abu Hamza operated a training camp in the Brecon Beacons in Wales and an unknown location in Scotland. At least two of the 7/7 bombers were known to have gone on white water trips in North Wales before their lethal attacks in London, and the use of activity-based training camps are suspected of playing a pivotal role in preparing young extremists.

At first glance this might seem reasonable. But what of the precedent being set? What if it were Jews being monitored and their firearms training being investigated in Germany in 1938? For those that don’t pay that much attention the German Weapons Control Act of 1938 forbid Jews from owning firearms.

I am certain we must Destroy Their Culture. But unless there is some probable cause (does being Muslim constitute probable cause?) I’m uncomfortable with widespread monitoring. Yes, I realize this is the U.K. we are talking about in this case but in many cases restrictions on human rights in the U.K. are a predictor of things to come in the U.S.

Sometimes it’s tempting to teach them a lesson

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Airport security is getting a lot of attention recently. And as I have often noted it doesn’t stand up well to scrutiny. Here is more data supporting my point:

NEW YORK, Sept 2 (Reuters) – The Transportation Security Administration is suspending installation of the only airport checkpoint device that automatically screens passengers for hidden explosives due to problems with the system’s reliability, The New York Times reported in Sunday editions.

“We are seeing some issues that we did not anticipate” with the devices known as “puffers,” the Times quoted Randy Null, the agency’s chief technology officer as saying.

Duh! It’s an insolvable problem.

They are trying however. I’m actually surprised at the level of effort they are putting into it–without realizing they can’t solve the problem:

Spread out on a table at the Transportation Security Laboratory outside Atlantic City last week, like a dim sum meal, was a collection of small dishes with samples of the explosives people here are working to defeat. They included Semtex, TNT, C4, British RDX and dynamite – several of which are popular among suicide bombers and have been used in successful airline plots – along with liquid explosives in bottles marked only “A,” “A1” and “B.”

Scientists and technicians carefully stuff these raw materials into computers, small electronic devices, shoes and cigar boxes, building every imaginable bomb and then testing them on detection equipment.

“We do our best to try to figure out all the options before someone else does,” said a laboratory technician who would identify himself only as “Mr. T” in accordance with a laboratory policy of not identifying staff members.

Criticism of the Homeland Security Department and the Transportation Security Administration is not so much directed at the 190 federal employees and contractors at the laboratory here, or at Susan Hallowell, the chemist who runs the place.

They are spending millions and millions of dollars on this and yet I am virtually certain that with a team of no more than five people and a couple hours of work by each team member we could shut down all commercial air traffic in the U.S. for a several days without breaking any existing explosives laws or anyone getting physically hurt (economic damage would be rather high however). Repeat once a week or so and within a couple months they would abandon their expensive and stupid attempts at preventing explosives from getting on planes.

But the problem is that most people really don’t appreciate being taught a lesson–especially if it makes them look incredibly stupid. If we were identified as their teachers, unlikely but possible, the odds are that the thanks we received would be in the form of free room and board and a “spouse” that rented us out several times a day for a couple packs of cigarettes.

Legal versus justice system

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This started out to be a comment to SayUncle’s post on jury nullication but ended up being a blog post instead.

We have a legal system. Not a justice system. I’m not saying this is avoidable, it’s just a statement of the facts.

IMHO our legal system is an approximation to a justice system. That given I fully agree there are lots of laws that need to be eliminated or changed. There is more than one path to that end. There is the obvious path through the legislature and is to be preferred but there are alternatives as well.

One alternate path to legal change is jury nullification. After I was on a jury I talked to the prosecutor about this very issue. Read about it here if you want.

Another path that is less palatable is demanding the vigorous enforcement of unjust laws. If fornication is against the law (it was in Idaho the last time I looked), so demand the unmarried child of the prosecutor, or police chief living with there significant other be prosecuted. Make a big stink about it such that it gets in the papers. Make it such that the law enforcement community of that jurisdiction comes out and literally says, “We will not prosecute cases under this law.” The law is, in essence, stricken from the books in that jurisdiction. The down side is that if you can’t find someone that is “conviction proof” to make the stink over you might end up with lot of “innocent” people convicted. If you can fill the jails with “innocent” people the legislature will fix the problem because of the population at large will demand it. But, in essence, you will be creating martyrs for your cause. You should get their permission to be martyred before doing so. It is considered very rude to martyr someone without their permission and could result in their own version of justice being visited upon you.

Quote of the day–George W. Bush

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Despite their differences, these groups form the outline of a single movement, a worldwide network of radicals that use terror to kill those who stand in the way of their totalitarian ideology. And the unifying feature of this movement, the link that spans sectarian divisions and local grievances, is the rigid conviction that free societies are a threat to their twisted view of Islam.

George W. Bush
President of the United States of America
In a speech to veterans at an American Legion convention in Salt Lake City.
August 31, 2006

Released felons and RKBA

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SayUncle brings up an interesting point. I don’t bring it up very often, but my position has long been that if someone has proved themselves so dangerous to society they can’t be trusted with possession of a gun then they can’t be trusted with a can of gasoline and a book of matches either. Either lock them up and try to keep them from possessing any weapons or let them out where they have access to all types of weapons. Prohibiting them from possession of a firearm just doesn’t make any sense to me.

Are Tannerite’s days numbered?

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A couple months ago I heard some rumors of police hostility to Tannerite in some jurisdictions. And I also keep getting hits from “interesting” places looking at my posts on Tannerite. I wonder if it’s getting a little bit too much attention from the wrong people. I’m nearly certain that it stores very well if kept cool and dry (and protected from theft!). You might want to stock up…

Here are some of the hits I’m getting:

This is the most recent:

Domain Name   senate.gov ? (United States Government)
IP Address   156.33.195.# (U.S. Senate Sergeant at Arms)
ISP   U.S. Senate Sergeant at Arms
Location  
Continent  :  North America
Country  :  United States  (Facts)
State  :  District of Columbia
City  :  Washington
Lat/Long  :  38.8933, -77.0146 (Map)
Distance  :  2,072 miles
Language   English (United States)
en-us
Operating System   Microsoft Win2000
Browser   Internet Explorer 6.0
Mozilla/4.0 (compatible; MSIE 6.0; Windows NT 5.0; .NET CLR 2.0.50727)
Javascript   version 1.3
Monitor  

Resolution  :  1024 x 768
Color Depth  :  16 bits

Time of Visit   Aug 30 2006 7:12:15 am
Last Page View   Aug 30 2006 7:12:15 am
Visit Length   0 seconds
Page Views   1
Referring URL http://www.google.co…,RNWE:en&q=tannerite
Search Engine google.com
Search Words tannerite
Visit Entry Page   http://blog.joehuffm…ite And The Law.aspx
Visit Exit Page   http://blog.joehuffm…ite And The Law.aspx
Out Click    
Time Zone   UTC-8:00
Visitor’s Time   Aug 30 2006 7:12:15 am
Visit Number   96,907

Update: Here’s another one:

Domain Name   dsl.net ? (Network)
IP Address   65.86.162.# (Charles County Sheriff’s office)
ISP   DSL.net
Location  
Continent  :  North America
Country  :  United States  (Facts)
State  :  Maryland
City  :  La Plata
Lat/Long  :  38.5163, -77.0154 (Map)
Distance  :  2,085 miles
Language   English (United States)
en-us
Operating System   Microsoft WinXP
Browser   Internet Explorer 6.0
Mozilla/4.0 (compatible; MSIE 6.0; Windows NT 5.1; SV1; .NET CLR 1.1.4322; InfoPath.1; .NET CLR 2.0.50727)
Javascript   version 1.3
Monitor  

Resolution  :  1024 x 768
Color Depth  :  32 bits

Time of Visit   Aug 31 2006 7:00:38 am
Last Page View   Aug 31 2006 7:00:38 am
Visit Length   0 seconds
Page Views   1
Referring URL http://www.google.co…e&btnG=Google Search
Search Engine google.com
Search Words tannerite
Visit Entry Page   http://blog.joehuffm…ite And The Law.aspx
Visit Exit Page   http://blog.joehuffm…ite And The Law.aspx
Out Click    
Time Zone   UTC-5:00
Visitor’s Time   Aug 31 2006 10:00:38 am
Visit Number   97,072

Quote of the day–Donald Rumsfeld

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It was a time when a certain amount of cynicism and moral confusion set in among western democracies, when those who warned about a coming crisis, the rise of fascism and Nazism, they were ridiculed or ignored.

…

This enemy is serious, lethal and relentless. But this is still not well recognized or fully understood. It seems that in some quarters, there is more of a focus on dividing our country than acting with unity against the gathering threats.

Donald Rumsfeld
August 29, 2006
Voice Of America News August 30, 2006

Rescue a woman from slavery

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Alright guys. This has to rank near the top of the list of the most despicable crimes. Keep your eyes open as you go about your business and report anything suspicious.

Neighbours who believe they live next to property being used for sex slaves are being urged to help the fight against human trafficking.

A drive will also appeal for men who frequent brothels to contact the police anonymously and without fear of prosecution with concerns about women who appear to be working there against their will.

Senior officers want people to look out for women who cannot speak English, seem reticent or afraid and are not allowed out without being accompanied by a man.

The next time Barb takes me to a brothel you can be sure I’ll be on the lookout.

Recognizing the folly of their ways

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At least some people that will be listened to are talking about it:

Security officials should concentrate on people not objects at airports but simplistic racial profiling is not the way to thwart potential attacks on airlines, experts say.

They warn, however, that more effective behavioural profiling would be very labour-intensive, expensive and would not guarantee success.

“It’s the only methodology that can stay ahead of terrorism and terrorists,” said Philip Baum, editor of the magazine Aviation Security International.

“Screeners are spending far too long trying to confiscate scissors and shampoos and gels from people who pose absolutely no threat.”

A debate over the merits of profiling — where security staff focus their search efforts on people they regard as suspicious on grounds such as ethnicity and religion — has erupted since British police said on August 10 they had foiled a plan to blow up trans-atlantic planes using liquid explosives.

Immediately, airports across Europe and the United States tightened security: passengers were banned from taking liquids or hand luggage on board and travellers were rigorously checked. Some of those measures were later relaxed.

Baum said such actions, which caused airport chaos, flight delays and cancellations, were unnecessary and ineffective.

“The existing technologies have been proven to have limited effectiveness,” he told Reuters. “They haven’t as yet identified anybody who has been carrying an improvised explosive device on their person or in their baggage, whereas profiling has been proven to be effective.”

This is all prior to boarding and I don’t disagree with any of it. Once people are on board more changes are necessary. All alternatives should be investigated.

Rumsfeld reporting

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It’s interesting how the different media organizations spin things. This particular time it is Rumsfeld that gets run through the spin cycle of the media washing machine.

Forbes mentions the lessons of history in regards to Hitler:

In remarks prepared for delivery to the American Legion’s national convention, Rumsfeld recited what he called the lessons of history, including the failed efforts to appease the Adolf Hitler regime in the 1930s.

CNN noticed that too and goes further:

Addressing several thousand veterans at the American Legion’s national convention, Rumsfeld recited what he called the lessons of history, including the failed efforts to appease the Adolf Hitler regime in the 1930s.

“I recount this history because once again we face the same kind of challenges in efforts to confront the rising threat of a new type of fascism” he said.

…

Rumsfeld recalled a string of recent terrorist attacks, from the 9/11 attacks to bombings in Bali, London and Madrid, and said it should be obvious to anyone that terrorists must be confronted, not appeased.

The Seattle Times didn’t mention the above and focuses on:

“They are actively manipulating the media in this country” by, for example, falsely blaming U.S. troops for civilian deaths in Iraq and Afghanistan, he said.

“They can lie with impunity,” he said, while U.S. troops are held to a high standard of conduct.

Rumsfeld made similar points later, in remarks prepared for delivery at a Reno, Nev., convention of the Veterans of Foreign Wars.

“The enemy lies constantly — almost totally without consequence,” he told the veterans group.

And from the UK again no mention of the parallels of the fascism of the 30’s with the fascism of today, just about the media being manipulated:

‘The enemy lies constantly — almost totally without conscience,’ Rumsfeld said. ‘They portray our cause as a war on Islam when in fact the overwhelming majority of victims of their terrorism have been thousands and thousands of innocent Muslims.’

Similar oversights occur in most of the media reports and Democrat commentators either ignore it (Harry Reid) or call it absurd (Stephen Elliott) without even giving us their reasoning. But one shouldn’t be surprised by this. Expecting them to reason, let alone articulate it, is like expecting a dog to be able to drive a car. They may think they are doing just fine but they will very shortly crash and drawing the unwanted attention of the entire world to their deficiencies.

Quote of the day–Thomas Jefferson

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Money, not morality, is the principle commerce of civilized nations.

Thomas Jefferson
[Islamic extremists, please take note.–Joe]

Who cares what the founding fathers thought?

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That’s the point of this editorial. Okay. Fine. All you have to do then is amend the constitution. Just don’t pretend it doesn’t exist.

You can’t get the votes to amend the constitution? Tough. Your bright ideas must not have been all that bright then. Your options are now rather limited. You can move to another country more to your liking. Maybe you can find one with the all the socialist trimmings you whine about not having. Want a few bucks for the one-way plane ticket out of the country? I’ll be glad to contribute to you leaving. Another option is you can start a revolution and overthrow the existing government by means of violence. Your choice Mr. Kurlansky. What’s it going to be?

The future of air travel

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I don’t have a problem with being interviewed before flying commercially. I do have a problem with searching through my stuff, especially when it including the clothes I’m wearing. That’s why I think it’s possible, but not likely, for these efforts to bear palatable fruit:

In the U.S., small teams of TSA screeners walk around Logan and Dulles, among others, trying to find people who look nervous. The program — dubbed Screening Passengers by Observation Technique, or SPOT — was first used by state police at Logan.

They consulted with psychiatrists to develop a behavioral profile. In addition to obvious things like someone sweating excessively on a cool day, the teams look for people whose facial expressions are deemed to be hiding an emotion. The teams haven’t caught any terrorists though they have detained several people with outstanding criminal warrants, TSA spokeswoman Peppin says.

The agency wants to expand the program and replace contractors who collect identification at airport checkpoints with staff trained in interrogation and behavior identification, Peppin says.

`Conversation With Congress’

“It may be something that we roll out initially in small airports,” she says. “Any kind of total transition would require a larger conversation with Congress and our airline partners.”

The reason I think it’s unlikely to be acceptable is because of their underlying attitude:

There may be no better time to push for tougher measures, Loy says. He contrasted today’s climate with a 1759 comment by Benjamin Franklin, who said those who would give up liberty for “a little temporary safety” deserve neither.

“He wasn’t getting on airplanes,” Loy says.

That statement hightlights they don’t fully understand the problem. The problem isn’t just that existing airport/airplane security is a joke, the problem includes that there are certain inalienable rights being infringed.

Quote of the day–Michael Cousineau

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The war on terrorism doesn’t resemble other wars with fairly defined battlefields. Today’s enemy could be as close as the person sitting next to you on an airplane.

Michael Cousineau
Training against air terror
August 27, 2006
Union Leader
New Hampshire

Talking to the barking moonbats

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I can’t imagine who would believe this:

Vice President Gholamreza Aghazadeh, head of Iran’s Atomic Energy Organization, said Saturday that the heavy-water plant will also be used to treat and diagnose AIDS and cancer, and for other medicinal and agricultural purposes.

Well, there are the barking moonbats I guess. They probably will believe it.

I just read Scott Adams thought experiment about dealing with Iran. Scott’s hypothesis is it’s mostly about pride. But I think he is ignoring the Islam component and nearly a 1000 years of history. But while I regard it as a worthwhile thought experiment I don’t see any reason to revise my inclinations on what to do about Iran.

Quote of the day–Robert A. Humphrey

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An undefined problem has an infinite number of solutions.

Robert A. Humphrey
[Early in my career as an engineer a wise technical manager, Ken M. at Teltone, told me it was more important to define the problem than discover a solution. It took me a few real world experiences to fully appreciate this observation. Now I see the wisdom of his counsel all around me. Gun control becomes crime control, airport security becomes defending against terrorists, and the war on terror becomes the war against Islamic extremists.–Joe]

Just in case you had some doubts

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Airport security is a joke. It only exists to make some people feel better. Case in point:

HOUSTON – A college student’s checked luggage on a Continental Airlines flight to Houston from Argentina on Friday contained dynamite, and federal authorities are investigating why he had it and what he intended to do with it, an FBI spokeswoman said.

“Certainly we are doing a thorough investigation and trying to find out what this individual’s intention was in trying to bring dynamite here,” FBI spokeswoman Shauna Dunlap said Friday.

The dynamite was found during a luggage search in a federal inspection station at Bush Intercontinental Airport shortly after Continental Flight 52 landed about 6 a.m. Friday. Marlene McClinton, spokeswoman for the Houston Airport System, said a bomb-sniffing dog “had a hit” on explosive residue during a further search.

Read that closely. They found the dynamite AFTER the plane landed.

This has to be one the easiest to detect cases. One of the problems with explosives sniffers is that someone can custom make an explosive that isn’t detected by existing detection devices. The problem is similar to the computer anti-virus vendors. They have databases of “virus signatures” they compare suspect attachments and files to. If it matches something they have in their database they flag it as a virus and handle it appropriately. If a new virus shows up they have to update their database with the new signature. Commercially available explosives, such as dynamite, should be within the capabilities of the explosives sniffer.

Even in this easy case the system failed. We don’t yet know why it failed this time but in general it’s an exceedingly tough problem because of what is called the “attack surface”. There are many hundreds of airport, thousands of sensors, doors, gates, fences, and walls defining the “secure” areas, and tens of thousands of people with privileged access to the “secure” areas. Each of these airports, each of these secure areas, and each of these people is a potential point of attack. Together they form the “attack surface”.  Because the attack surface is so large the probability of their being a weak spot someplace is very high. Hence the problem is very difficult to solve.

IMHO the problem is so difficult to solve using the existing paradigm we should divert all the existing resources to a different paradigm. That new paradigm is being on the offense rather than being entirely defensive/reactive. First (back in the 70’s) we defended against guns, then box-cutters and knives, then cigarette lighters, and most recently liquids and gels. We are always defending against the most recent attack. We need to make them be defending against our attacks. This paradigm change would also stop the infringment of some of our rights.

But, as you know, airport “security” isn’t about actual security. It’s about making some people feel better.

Update: I forgot to mention that Sean gave me the link to the article.

Quote of the day–David Crockett

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Mr. Speaker–I have as much respect for the memory of the deceased, and as much sympathy for the sufferings of the living, if suffering there be, as any man in this House, but we must not permit our respect for the dead or our sympathy for a part of the living to lead us into an act of injustice to the balance of the living. I will not go into an argument to prove that Congress has not the power to appropriate this money as an act of charity. Every member upon this floor knows it. We have the right, as individuals, to give away as much of our own money as we please in charity; but as members of Congress we have no right so to appropriate a dollar of the public money. Some eloquent appeals have been made to us upon the ground that it is a debt due the deceased. Mr. Speaker, the deceased lived long after the close of the war; he was in office to the day of his death, and I have never heard that the government was in arrears to him. Every man in this House knows it is not a debt. We cannot, without the grossest corruption, appropriate this money as the payment of a debt. We have not the semblance of authority to appropriate it as charity. Mr. Speaker, I have said we have the right to give as much money of our own as we please. I am the poorest man on this floor. I cannot vote for this bill, but I will give one week’s pay to the object, and if every member of Congress will do the same, it will amount to more than the bill asks.

Representative David Crockett (TN)
[See also this quote by Crockett.–Joe]

Getting thrills from strange things

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It may not come as a surprise to many of my readers that I am just a little bit ‘different’ from most other people. Among my probable differences is that I get a thrill from seeing this in my sitemeter:

Domain Name   treas.gov ? (United States Government)
IP Address   199.196.144.# (Executive Office of Asset Forfeiture)
ISP   Executive Office of Asset Forfeiture
Location  
Continent  :  North America
Country  :  United States  (Facts)
State  :  Virginia
City  :  Dulles
Lat/Long  :  39.0853, -77.6452 (Map)
Distance  :  2,036 miles
Language   English (United States)
en-us
Operating System   Microsoft WinXP
Browser   Internet Explorer 6.0
Mozilla/4.0 (compatible; MSIE 6.0; Windows NT 5.1; SV1; FunWebProducts; .NET CLR 1.0.3705; .NET CLR 1.1.4322)
Javascript   version 1.3
Monitor  

Resolution  :  1024 x 768
Color Depth  :  32 bits

Time of Visit   Aug 24 2006 9:53:37 am
Last Page View   Aug 24 2006 9:54:37 am
Visit Length   60 seconds
Page Views   2
Referring URL http://www.google.co…en&lr=&start=10&sa=N
Search Engine google.com
Search Words seattle university blog
Visit Entry Page   http://blog.joehuffm…ttle University.aspx
Visit Exit Page   http://blog.joehuffm…d3-01f14d508357.aspx
Out Click    
Time Zone   UTC-5:00
Visitor’s Time   Aug 24 2006 12:53:37 pm
Visit Number   95,929

The “Executive Office of Asset Forfeiture” with the U.S. Treasury Department. Doesn’t that just warm your heart? It thrills me to be able to point out such an office exists and they are actively out there, hard at work, doing whatever it is they do, looking at my websites (they also visit Boomershoot.org).

I’m not paranoid but if I ever am I’m certain I’ll be able to find plenty of justification.

Bomb scare over penis pump

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They shouldn’t be violating our 4th amendment rights to begin with so this issues should never have come up. But now it has and I have been sort of following this story. I probably wouldn’t have commented on it but then he said:

Amin may not want his mother to know he has a penis pump, but he said he doesn’t consider it an unusual device to own.

“It’s normal,” he said. “Half of America they use it.”

Half of America would mean virtually all males. I don’t think so. My guess it would be in the fraction of one percent range, but then Dr. Joe hasn’t done accurate surveys on that particular topic.

I don’t think he should be prosecuted over this since the public embarrassment would seem to be sufficient punishment. I mean, if you were so embarrassed by it that you didn’t want your mother to know you had it and told security it was a bomb rather than a penis pump can you imagined the discomfort he is experiencing when the entire world can read about it and is making jokes at his expense?

Poor guy. Let that be a lesson to you. If are going to bring sex toys on the plane bring something that won’t be mistaken for a weapon. The only sex toy I take on my airline flights is my spouse which no one has yet considered a weapon (no, I’m not going to go for the joke, my own “homeland security” would come down on me way too hard). But if you don’t have one you might consider an anatomically correct inflatable sheep or something.