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Boisterous protest over airport-groping bill
By Mike Ward | Wednesday, May 25, 2011, 03:16 PM

http://www.statesman.com/blogs/content/shared-gen/blogs/austin/politics/entries/2011/05/25/protestors_try_to_storm_senate.html

A boisterous group of protesters angry over the Texas Senate’s failure to vote on the airport groping bill tried to enter the public gallery this afternoon and were blocked by state troopers.

Shouting “treason” and “cowards” and carrying signs and placards, and led by radio talk show host Alex Jones, the group of perhaps as many as 100 people entered the State Capitol shortly after 3 p.m. and first went to the House chamber.

There, House members quickly informed the shouting group that it was the Senate that had failed to take action late Tuesday on House Bill 1937, which would have made it a crime for security checkpoint screeners to handle the private parts of anyone they screened.

The group then marched to the Senate side of the Capitol and tried to enter the third-floor public gallery. Troopers with arms folded blocked them from entry.

They stood outside for several minutes, chanting: “Co-wards, co-wards,” Trea-son, trea-son,” and shouted slogans accusing senators and Lt. Gov. David Dewhurst of being “federal pimps” and “scallawag trash.”

They vowed to vote out of office Dewhurst and the senators who opposed passage of the bill.

After shouting chants for about 30 minutes, the group left and troopers reopened the gallery doors. The activists then went to other parts of the Capitol to continue their protest.

Dewhurst has said the bill did not have the votes to pass, a fact he learned after the debate began. Patrick pulled down the bill from consideration after the debate began, and a vote never took place. The bill had lost support after senators had learned that federal officials had warned that such ban would violate federal law and could bring court challenges and airport shutdowns.

Read more about the brouhaha here.
http://www.statesman.com/blogs/content/ ... e_for.html

Get more Legislative coverage inside the Virtual Capitol

http://www.statesman.com/blogs/content/ ... enate.html

Senate stirs pot with TSA groping bill, sanctuary cities
By Mike Ward
AMERICAN-STATESMAN STAFF
Updated: 11:02 p.m. Wednesday, May 25, 2011
Published: 10:30 p.m. Wednesday, May 25, 2011

Protesters led by radio host Alex Jones, center, gathered outside the doors to the Senate gallery Wednesday, upset that the upper chamber sunk a bill that would have prohibited 'intrusive touching' by airport screeners. Bill sponsor Sen. Dan Patrick is upset, too. Larry Kolvoord/AMERICAN-STATESMAN

Two hot-button political issues that were sunk by the Texas Senate in dramatic late-night action — the so-called airport groping ban and the sanctuary cities bill — sparked new controversy Wednesday amid a growing argument over who was to blame.

And whether either could still be passed into law.

Sen. Dan Patrick, R-Houston, amped up his public beef with fellow Republican Lt. Gov. David Dewhurst, whom he blamed for the death of his airport bill, by questioning whether Dewhurst should be elected to higher office.

The public spat marked a rare breach in Senate protocol. Senators rarely criticize their presiding officer, and the presiding officer almost never lobbies against a senator's bill after it is brought up for debate.

House Bill 1937, which would make it a state crime for security screeners to intrusively grope the people they are screening at airports or other public buildings, was withdrawn from debate late Tuesday by Patrick, who accused Dewhurst of lobbying against its passage on the Senate floor.

Patrick has said the bill is aimed at federal Transportation Security Administration screeners, who recently launched more stringent patdowns at airports to guard against terrorists.

"Someone who will not stand up to the federal government, you have to ask yourself, is that the kind of person we need in the U.S. Senate?" said Patrick, who pronounced the bill "dead."

Dewhurst, who is seen as a likely candidate for retiring Sen. Kay Bailey Hutchison's seat, denied improperly working against the bill. He said Wednesday that he went onto the Senate floor during the debate Tuesday to discuss the sanctuary cities bill with senators, and several questioned why Patrick had been allowed to bring up the TSA bill and said they intended to vote against it. He said that he did not stop debate on the bill, that Patrick did.

Dewhurst said he would give the bill another chance to be passed late Wednesday.

Patrick also said federal officials had improperly lobbied against the bill, including sending legislative leaders a letter that declared the proposed law illegal.

Within hours after Tuesday night's halt to the debate, conservative social networking and blog sites lit up with anger. They demanded that the Senate pass the bill Wednesday, the last day the chamber could pass House bills.

Those protests gelled at the Capitol on Wednesday, in a boisterous protest outside the statehouse and then inside, where as many as 100 sign-carrying demonstrators tried to enter the Senate gallery. They were blocked by state troopers. Waving placards accusing lawmakers of being traitors and cowards, the group yelled slogans for about 30 minutes. They had initially gone to the House, where lawmakers quickly assured them that they had passed the bill and sent them down the hall to the Senate.

"We're here to tell these cowards that they need to stand up for Texans' rights, states' rights, and that if they don't approve this bill, we're going to throw the scallywag trash out in the next election," said Randy Turner, 38, of Austin, who wore a Texas-flag bandana on his head.

In the letter delivered to leaders Tuesday, U.S. Attorney John Murphy of San Antonio warned: "Texas has no authority to regulate federal agents and employees in the performance of their federal duties or to pass a statute that conflicts with federal law." He noted that the federal government would seek a court order to prevent enforcement of the law if passed, and "TSA would likely be required to cancel any flight or series of flights for which it could not ensure the safety of the passengers and crew."

The other bill at issue in the Senate is House Bill 12, the controversial sanctuary cities measure, which would bar local law enforcement from having policies that prevent officers from asking about a person's immigration status. Supporters say the measure would help police stop crimes by illegal immigrants. Opponents, including many police departments, say it will ostracize immigrant communities.

The bill, a measure named a priority by Gov. Rick Perry, has sparked filibuster threats from Democratic senators.

Late Tuesday, it failed to get enough votes to be brought up for debate in the Senate — a turndown that left leaders in the GOP-controlled Senate frustrated and somewhat red-faced. The vote was 19-12, along party lines.

Twenty-one votes were needed.

On Wednesday, Republican senators said privately that they were still holding out hope the measure can be attached to another bill, while Democrats insisted that they would block any such attempt.

"I think they're going to try, but I don't know how," said Sen. Rodney Ellis, D-Houston. "I don't think it's going to pass."

mward@statesman.com; 474-2791

Additional material from The Associated Press.


http://www.statesman.com/news/texas-pol ... 98725.html

KXAN.com - ‎5 hours ago‎
Web Extra: Protesters at Texas Capitol, May 25, 2011

A crowd of people yell "criminals" inside the Capitol in protest of the failure of the anti-groping bill which is about TSA body checks at airports.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XdETlZDDvEE

Texas Legislature, Federal Government Clash Over Airport Pat-Down Bill
NPR (blog) - Eyder Peralta - ‎7 hours ago‎
A Transportation Security Administration agent performs a pat-down check on an airline passenger at a security checkpoint at Phoenix Sky Harbor International Airport. A Transportation Security Administration agent performs a pat-down ...
http://www.npr.org/blogs/thetwo-way/201 ... -down-bill

9/11 Truther, Radio Host Leads Mob to Capitol
Houston Chronicle (blog) - Gary Scharrer - ‎7 hours ago‎
Alex Jones — a man best known for claiming the Sept. 11th terrorist attacks were an inside job and hosting Charlie Sheen's phone-in program of choice — led a group of about 100 people, initially, to the wrong chamber as they protested the failure of ... http://blog.chron.com/texaspolitics/201 ... o-capitol/

9/11 ‘Truther,’ Radio Host Leads Mob to Capitol

Alex Jones — a man best known for claiming the Sept. 11th terrorist attacks were an inside job and hosting Charlie Sheen’s phone-in program of choice — led a group of about 100 people, initially, to the wrong chamber as they protested the failure of the anti-pat down bill Wednesday afternoon.

After discovering their error, they left the House and headed over to the Senate, the chamber the measure is stuck in. There, Jones claimed that the state senators had sold out the country to foreign banks, were “enemies of the Republic of Texas and the Republic of the United States” and had sided with “King George III.”

As the small crowd listened to his speech — some of them wearing t-shirts that declared, “911 was an inside job” or “Live Free or Die” and they held signs that exclaimed “NO TSA Gropers” — several of them followed the radio host in chanting “resistance is victory.”

Jones, in a shrieking voice, complained about TSA officials of “groping children.” He also complained about the “new world order.”

Cross then implored the crowd to go to Senators offices and “tell their little boyfriends” (who are, apparently, blackmailing the Senators about their sexuality in order to prevent them from acting in the interest of the nation) to vote in favor of the ban on pat downs.

When asked about the demonstration, Sen. Dan Patrick said that he was pleased that Texans had turned out to protest the failure of his anti-pat down legislation, but said that Jones was in no way affiliated with him.

“I don’t know who Alex Jones is… No idea,” Patrick said.

Later, Jones led what had almost become a mob from the Senate to the House because one of Jones’ supporters said that a member of the House staff hadn’t expressed concern about the pat downs.

One of the members of the crowd identified one of the doormen who stand of the House, who are typically instructed not to say much of anything to people, had made the remarks.

Jones and his cohorts, then proceeded to chase the doorman around the capitol dome and then yelled at the young man for the offense of not showing great enough concern for their cause.

“You think we’re your slaves,” Jones yelled at the doorman.

“You think you’re going to use big government to have your way with us, you parasite?! You’re going to be defeated!,” his yells devolving into screams.

He promised to bring 50,000 people to the Capitol next time.

— Chronicle/Express-News reporter Gary Scharrer contributed to this report

The TSA war appears over and Dan Patrick lost
Houston Chronicle (blog) - ‎7 hours ago‎
The headlines out on the Internet about the death of Houston Sen. Dan Patrick's anti-groping TSA bill sound so dramatic: Yesterday, Patrick accused Dewhurst of undermining his anti-pat down bill on the Senate floor. Today, he took his complaints a step ...
http://blog.chron.com/newswatch/2011/05 ... rick-lost/

Protesters at the Capitol
KXAN.com - ‎5 hours ago‎
Crowds spoke out loudly in protest of the failure of the anti-groping bill in the Texas Capitol Wednesday.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=esW0mCkChxQ

Alex Jones Storms The Capitol
Texas Tribune - ‎6 hours ago‎
May 25, 2011 Talk show host Alex Jones gathered a group to protest the Texas Senates so-called TSA "groping" bill.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=42kDecHQjdo

Anti-TSA protesters storm through Capitol halls
Dallas Morning News (blog) - Kelley Shannon - ‎8 hours ago‎
Protesters shouting "cowards, cowards" and "treason, treason" marched through the Capitol halls on Wednesday protesting the reluctance of the Senate to take up a bill banning routine invasive pat-downs by the Transportation Security Administration. ...
http://trailblazersblog.dallasnews.com/ ... -thro.html

TSA Threatens To Cancel All Flights Out Of Texas If 'Groping Bill' Passed
Forbes (blog) - Kashmir Hill - ‎14 hours ago‎

Upset about invasive screening techniques at the airport, the Lone Star State was considering a bill that would make a TSA patdown that involves touching “the anus, sexual organ, buttocks, or breast of another person including through ...
http://blogs.forbes.com/kashmirhill/201 ... ll-passed/

Nordic wrote:

23 wrote:Have any feelings about participating in future protests, re. this issue, in your neck of the woods, elfismiles?

Powerful Bi-Partisan Caucus Prepares to Fight TSA

http://www.texastribune.org/texas-local ... s/?c=16857

I testified against HB 1937 before the Committee for reasons discussed at http://constitution.org/reform/us/tx/nu ... llcomm.htm . It is a poorly conceived approach to solve this and other problems of unconstitutional federal action, given the existing state of judicial support for such unconstitutional action. The present legal reality is that "federal agent" is now a title of nobility, and federal agents may murder, rape, steal, or do anything they want, protected by the judicial doctrine of official immunity. If federal courts were still devoted to the Constitution, a bill like HB 1837 would be okay, but they are not. What is needed is a more subtle, comprehensive approach, and I have proposed one that might work: the establishment by amendment to the Texas Constitution of a Federal Action Review Commission, a grand jury empowered to hear citizen complaints of federal usurpations, and if it found them unconstitutional, that finding would trigger a requirement for all state officials, agents, and contractors to refuse to cooperate in any way with such usurpations, and encourage private citizens to do the same. Since the state is not allowed to represent citizens in court who might do so, it would provide a fund to pay the legal and other expenses of those who thus resisted. This would engage the entire state in concerted non-violent civil disobedience, which is about the only way left to us to get the central government to abandon its unconstitutional practices.

However, now that the U.S. Attorney has foolishly threatened the State if it merely passes the bill, we have no choice but to go ahead and pass it, and I urge the Legislature to do so. My proposal would be a far better solution, but we must not yield to such pressure.

-- Jon

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Constitution Society http://constitution.org
2900 W Anderson Ln C-200-322 twitter.com/lex_rex
Austin, TX 78757 512/299-5001 jon.roland@constitution.org