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2010-01-06 -Lurid Crime Tales-

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Posted by Anonymoose 2010-01-06 00:00|| || Front Page|| [11130 views ] Top

#1 refusing to say how much money I make

Strange question to ask. Is he sure he wasn't asked how much he was bringing in (to the country) rather than how much he earned? Could be a misunderstanding of the question.

Posted by Solomon Glulet1502 2010-01-06 07:17|| 2010-01-06 07:17|| Front Page Top

#2 Yon is a very experienced traveller and a careful observer / reporter. Not likely he made a mistake, especially considering they also asked him for whom he works.

Posted by lotp 2010-01-06 07:30|| 2010-01-06 07:30|| Front Page Top

#3 The question was not ridiculous: with his travel history he should reasonably be expected to explain how & why he has it and how he pays for it. He should not have to answer specifically (Just "Not nearly enough; I am a self-employed war correspondent, here is a link to my website/work etc.") It is wrong for TSA to act the way they often do, whether to Mr. Yon or the eunuchbomber.

Posted by Glenmore 2010-01-06 08:17|| 2010-01-06 08:17|| Front Page Top

#4 We need to see more of this and I am not kidding. All the stupid rules have yet to pass one security test and only inconvience us. I mean come on which of you is going to surrender an aircraft to a person with nail clippers (even toenail ones)? Mike should have answered "Way more that you do."

Mike I support your refusal, but the simple answer would be "Way more than you do."

Posted by Cyber Sarge 2010-01-06 08:53|| 2010-01-06 08:53|| Front Page Top

#5 My boss who retired a few years ago and his wife were really hasseled recently. She is in the early stages of Alzheimer's and couldn't remember where she was going when asked. Even with her prescriptions and the doctor's notes they still kept them for several hours. These people are in their early 70's. Real threats. TSA is a very bad joke.

Posted by Deacon Blues 2010-01-06 09:08|| 2010-01-06 09:08|| Front Page Top

#6 CS, I'm afraid "Way more than you do." would have gotten Mr. Yon a beating as well for "resisting arrest" or some other handy police euphemism.

As far as I can tell the TSA has turned into a bureaucratic police organization not answerable to anyone. Just one more step down the road to a police state.

Posted by AlanC 2010-01-06 09:08|| 2010-01-06 09:08|| Front Page Top

#7 The TSA has not turned into anything. It has been this since day 1.

Posted by Nimble Spemble 2010-01-06 09:28|| 2010-01-06 09:28|| Front Page Top

#8 Mr. Yon has made a statement that it wasn't the TSA, but the Border Bullies (his term).

Posted by Deacon Blues 2010-01-06 09:46|| 2010-01-06 09:46|| Front Page Top

#9 Asking uncomfortable and seemingly irrelevant questions is a common interrogation method for gauging aggression. Often the answer to the question is not as important as the response. Any reasonble figure would be an acceptable answer to that question becuase TSA has no way to verify his income.

Posted by DepotGuy 2010-01-06 10:26|| 2010-01-06 10:26|| Front Page Top

#10 Every time I see them pull an oldster, child, or family out of line for additional screening, I feel a lttle LESS safe. I also want to scream "OH COME ON!" but I know that I will be put on a No-Fly list with Joan Rivers.

Posted by Cyber Sarge 2010-01-06 11:28|| 2010-01-06 11:28|| Front Page Top

#11 While I clearly understand the technique of unexpected questions used to gauge the subjects response, neither the TSA nor any other agency has unlimited right to my privacy information. A reasonable response, delivered politely, that it really isn't their business, should lead perhaps to additional questions, but shouldn't be accepted as an immediate sign of uncooperative behavior. Somewhere in this I think you will find ego-driven adolescent behavior on the part of TSA, and principled resistence by Mr. Yon.

Posted by NoMoreBS 2010-01-06 11:47|| 2010-01-06 11:47|| Front Page Top

#12 Michael Yon: "There is some confusion about who arrested me. TSA was not involved. The Customs people (CBP) were the actors who handcuffed me."

Posted by Deacon Blues 2010-01-06 11:47|| 2010-01-06 11:47|| Front Page Top

#13 Michael should have answered them in Tagalog.

Posted by GolfBravoUSMC 2010-01-06 12:13|| 2010-01-06 12:13|| Front Page Top

#14 The Customs People (if that's who put the cuffs on Yon) can ask any question they want & can do pretty much anything they wish to someone who falls into their clutches. This has always been the case, even prior to 9/11. Yon's problem was merely insubordination.

Posted by Anguper Hupomosing9418 2010-01-06 13:01|| 2010-01-06 13:01|| Front Page Top

#15 Keeping the nation safe from Joan Rivers aka Joan Rosenberg: The 76-year-old comedienne says she was set to get on a flight [from Costa Rica] to Newark Liberty International Airport -- the last flight out that night -- when she was bumped by a gate agent who found her married and professional names on her boarding pass "fishy."

"At the last minute," Rivers said on CNN's "Larry King Live," "some moron, idiot decided, as we were literally going to the plane and ripping your ticket, that they didn't understand why my passport had two names on it. And I was denied access to the plane." [Dave Letterman quipped] "We got Joan Rivers, and we still can't get Osama Bin Laden!"

Posted by Anguper Hupomosing9418 2010-01-06 13:09|| 2010-01-06 13:09|| Front Page Top

#16 And keep in mind, DeMint is fighting to keep the TSA from going Union.

I think I remember that that was a big debate when TSA was getting organized.

National Treasury Employees Union (NTEU) includes Customs and Border Protection.

Posted by Sherry 2010-01-06 15:48|| 2010-01-06 15:48|| Front Page Top

#17 Yon is reporting on facebook that gov folks are trashing him on blackfive and other sites over this. He is talking with his legal staff about suing the Fed Gov for LIBEL!

Posted by 3dc 2010-01-06 19:54|| 2010-01-06 19:54|| Front Page Top

#18 Yon: " People are asking if I plan to file a lawsuit against the Federal Government. The answer has been "no" up until recently, when what appears to be a DHS employee made false statements about me on Blackfive. Now it's getting serious. The Feds should release their tapes of my arrest."

and
Am going to ask my attorney to examine a lawsuit for libel against the Federal government for the post on Blackfive.

Posted by 3dc 2010-01-06 19:56|| 2010-01-06 19:56|| Front Page Top

#19 Interesting. In the comment thread at Blackfive, there's a poster from Homeland Security (Blackfive backtracked the IP address). He claims -- and this does make sense -- that they have responsibilities to catch drug smugglers and everything else, not just jihadi terrorists, and also that Mr. Yon has a bit of a history when he returns from abroad. Scroll down to the bottom, then clink on the Comment link thingy. I'd send you directly there, but I don't know how to do that yet. Sorry.

Posted by trailing wife 2010-01-06 22:09|| 2010-01-06 22:09|| Front Page Top

#20 CS, the proper answer to how much money you make is "nunya."

As in "nunya goddam business."

Posted by Barbara Skolaut 2010-01-06 23:32|| 2010-01-06 23:32|| Front Page Top

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