Get FISA Right

Anyone who’s used the Metro for any length of time practically knows it by heart –two little chimes, followed by this announcement by Metro Transit Police Chief Michael Taborn:

The Metro Transit Police will be performing random inspections of carry-on items throughout the Metro system…

Now everyone else can listen in too, thanks to the magic of digital recording devices and the tedium of switching one on every time I went into the Metro for weeks on end — except when I forgot to, which was invariably when the announcement would play.

The announcement closes, “…and remember: if you see something, say something, and call the Metro Transit Police” at 202-962-2121.

So the video above says what *we* see: suspicionless, warrantless searches, security theater, Fourth Amendment violations, and more.  The video also reminds people they’re free to refuse the search, but notes that Chief Taborn has also famously warned that…

Dear Takoma Park City Council,

Please find attached a draft resolution…

• urging the repeal of the indefinite detention provisions of the recently passed National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA),
• calling for the expiration of the Authorization of Use of Military Force (AUMF) upon cessation of combat operations in Afghanistan,
• instructing city agencies to see to it that any detainees in Takoma Park have access to a trial, counsel, and due process, and to decline federal agency requests under color of NDAA that would infringe on constitutionally guaranteed rights,
• stating the sense of the City Council that neither the NDAA nor the AUMF can authorize US armed forces to arrest, detain, or try persons within the US, or militarily detain without trial civilians captured anywhere, and
• requesting that our Congressman and Senators monitor the implementation of of the NDAA and work for its repeal.

The draft incorporates wording developed by the