TSA Groping Out Of Control

[Unhypnotized]

TSA alert: Thermoses could be used as bombs

MSNBC
Friday, December 24, 2010

WASHINGTON — U.S. authorities are warning air travelers to expect greater scrutiny of thermoses and other insulated drink containers at security checkpoints after intelligence suggested they could be used to hide explosives.

A notice on the Transportation Security Administration’s website warned about the possibility that explosives might be hidden inside the beverage containers and said the warning was “based on intelligence.”

It said TSA “is carefully monitoring information related to terrorist tactics and working with our international partners to share information and security best practices.”

Those carrying the containers can expect additional screening of them using procedures currently in place, including X-rays, physical inspection and the use of explosives detection technology, the notice posted Thursday said.


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[Unhypnotized]

Rape victim arrested for refusing TSA pat down

Eric W. Dolan
Raw Story
Friday, December 24, 2010

A 56-year-old woman who says she is a rape victim was arrested and banned from Austin-Bergstrom International Airport Wednesday after refusing to receive a pat down from a Transportation Security Agency (TSA) officer.

Claire Hirschkind could not receive a body scan because of a pacemaker-type device in her chest and was escorted to a female TSA officer to receive an enhanced pat down.

“I told them, ‘No, I’m not going to have my breasts felt,’ and she said, ‘Yes, you are,’” Hirschkind told KVUE.

After refusing to receive the enhanced pat down, she was arrested.

“The police actually pushed me to the floor, and handcuffed me,” she said. “I was crying by then. They drug me 25 yards across the floor in front of the whole security.”

Hirschkind said her constitutional rights were violated.

About 70 airports have put into use over 400 backscatter x-ray machines that can see beneath passengers’ clothing. Passengers who set off a metal detector or body scan machine or refuses to be scanned receive an invasive physical pat down.

Full story here.


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[Unhypnotized]

Actors Join Fray Over TSA Scan

Los Angeles Times
Sunday, December 26, 2010

Since the Transportation Security Administration enhanced its pat-down search technique and increased the use of full-body scanners at airport security checkpoints, the loudest critics have been civil-rights activists such as the ACLU.

Now Hollywood has joined the chorus of protests.

Comedian Rob Schneider complained on a podcast recently about the screening he underwent at Boston’s Logan International Airport. He said he refused to go through the full-body scanners because he fears the radiation used by the machines to look through a passenger’s clothes can be harmful.

“I can’t believe more people are not opting out,” he said.

Full story here.
http://www.post-gazette.com/pg/10360/1113066-67.stm#ixzz19DNPHRWN

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[Unhypnotized]

TSA employee sees a frozen chicken, airport shuts down

Daily Caller
Sunday, December 26, 2010

As airport security becomes more of a concern during the holiday travel season, travelers will be seeing delays of all sorts. But an hour-long delay for Lafayette Regional Airport users Tuesday morning was of a nature most fowl.

The airport was briefly shut down as authorities investigated a suspicious package that turned out to contain a frozen chicken and a head lamp, said Lt. Craig Stansbury, spokesman for the Lafayette Parish Sheriff’s Office.

Full story here.

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[Unhypnotized]

Napolitano: ‘See Something, Say Something’ campaign isn’t Big Brother

Politico
Monday, December 27, 2010

FLASHBACK: Americans Outraged As Big Sis Launches DHS Invasion Of Society

The federal government’s “If You See Something, Say Something” campaign to encourage citizen vigilance against terrorism threats doesn’t amount to a Big Brother-style spying effort, Department of Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano said in an interview aired Sunday.

“It just sounds very Big Brother to me, turning in the next door neighbor.” CNN’s Candy Crowley said to Napolitano during an interview on “State of the Union.”

“It’s not,” Napolitano insisted. “It depends on the common sense of the American people. I think they have common sense. And it depends on, again … getting through this notion that our safety, our security and the world we live in today is a shared responsibility.”

Full story here.

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[Unhypnotized]

US to step up security at hotels and malls

AFP
Monday, December 27, 2010

The United States is stepping up security at “soft targets” like hotels and shopping malls, as well as trains and ports, as it counters the evolving Al-Qaeda threat, a top official said Sunday.

A year after a foiled plot to bomb a US-bound passenger plane, Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano told CNN’s “State of the Union” program that other places and modes of transportation must now be scrutinized.

“We look at so-called soft targets — the hotels, shopping malls, for example — all of which we have reached out to in the past year and have done a fair amount of training for their own employees,” Napolitano said.

Since an attempted bombing on a packed Saturday night in Times Square in May, New York, for example, has installed hundreds of security cameras as part of a plan to triple the number of cameras to 3,000.

Full story here.



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[Unhypnotized]

Napolitano: Pat-Downs are Here to Stay

David Edwards
Raw Story
Monday, December 27, 2010

Airline passengers should get used to invasive full body scans and enhanced pat-downs, the Homeland Security secretary suggested Sunday.

CNN’s Candy Crowley asked Janet Napolitano if she expected changes to the controversial Transportation Security Administration (TSA) screening procedures in the near future.

“Not for the foreseeable future,” Napolitano replied.

“You know we’re always looking to improve systems and so forth, but the new technology, the pat-downs — just objectively safer for our traveling public,” she said.

About 70 airports have put into use more than 400 backscatter x-ray machines that can see beneath passengers’ clothing. Passengers who set off a metal detector or body scan machine or refuse to be scanned receive an invasive physical pat down.

The American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) said it received over 900 complaints from travelers in November who were subjected to the new screening procedures of the TSA.

“Under the newly implemented enhanced pat-down, a TSA officer slides his or her hands over an individual’s breasts, buttocks, groin, and inner thighs, and inserts his or her fingers inside the entire circumference of the pant’s waistband,” a lawsuit filed against Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano and TSA administrator John Pistole stated.

Full story here.


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[Unhypnotized]

Feds target airline pilot for exposing TSA security sham on YouTube

Ethan A. Huff
Natural News
Monday, December 27, 2010

(NaturalNews) A Sacramento-based airline pilot is the subject of a federal investigation for exposing what he says are serious flaws in the U.S. Transportation Security Administration’s (TSA) airport security protocols. According to ABC News10 in Sacramento, the 50-year-old pilot who requested to remain anonymous says that TSA applies its strict screening protocols to passengers and even flight crews, but ground crews are freely able to access secure areas with a simple card swipe.

“As you can see, airport security is kind of a farce,” the pilot explains in his video, as he shows an entrance to a secure area. “It’s only smoke and mirrors so you people believe there is actually something going on here.”

The pilot has worked for his airline for more than ten years and had been issued a federal handgun to carry with him in the cockpit. But after blowing the whistle on the serious security breaches taking place at the airport, four federal air marshals and two sheriff’s deputies shows up at his house to confiscate the weapon, and they also asked him to give up his state-issued concealed weapon carry permit.

On December 6, the pilot also received a letter from the TSA explaining that “an administrative review into your deputation status as a Federal Flight Deck Officer has been initiated,” a move that he believes is a warning from the Feds saying not to mess with the system, unless you want to face the consequences.

According to the same ABC News10 report, the pilot’s airline asked him to remove the videos from YouTube shortly after he posted them, but portions of the videos captured as part of the ABC News10 report can be viewed at the following link:

Sources for this story include:

http://www.news10.net/news/article…http://www.naturalnews.com/030844_airline_pilot_TSA.html#ixzz19Iyb1etg

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[Unhypnotized]

Former TSA agent gets probation, not jail time, for stealing passengers’ computers

Jonathan Benson
Natural News
Tuesday, December 28, 2010

(NaturalNews) Americans might want to exercise more caution when dealing with the potential terrorists operating the security lines at the airport than those allegedly trying to get through them and onto planes.Another report of U.S. Transportation Security Administration (TSA) misconduct released by USA Today explains that a former TSA agent has been put on three years probation for stealing thousands of dollars worth of computer and electronic equipment from passengers’ luggage.

“Authorities say 37-year-old Troy Davis, of Willingboro, N.J., took five laptop computers and a PlayStation game in March 2009,” wrote The Associated Press. “An airline baggage handler spotted him hiding the items behind an explosive-detection machine.”

Davis pleaded guilty to the crimes back in October 2009. And although he was ordered to pay $5,000 in fines, Davis was not sentenced to any jail time because he allegedly served in the military prior to working for the TSA, which prompted the judge to adjust his sentence accordingly.

TSA officials in charge of hiring airport security agents seem to have a faulty screening process, despite the ironic fact that the agency serves as the primary security screening system at the nation’s airports. Numerous cases of heinous crimes being committed by TSA agents continue to come to light, especially now that the agency has been given free reign to openly violate passenger privacy and molest travelers in the name of national security.

Last week, a former TSA agent out of Boston was arrested on child pornography charges (http://www.naturalnews.com/030787_c…). Last month, an Orlando-based TSA screener was arrested for molesting a 12-year-old girl (http://www.clickorlando.com/news/22…). And earlier in the year, another Boston-based TSA agent was arrested for sex crimes against an underage girl (http://www.naturalnews.com/030787_c…).

Sources for this story include:

http://travel.usatoday.com/flights/…

Learn more: http://www.naturalnews.com/030848_TSA_stealing.html#ixzz19OlnW2gh

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[Unhypnotized]

Pilot Who Took On Big Sis Goes Public

George Warren
News 10
Tuesday, December 28, 2010

COLFAX, CA – WORLD EXCLUSIVE: The airline pilot who lost his federally-issued gun and badge for posting video on YouTube critical of airport security has chosen to go public with his identity.

“My name is Chris Liu and I’m an airline pilot,” Liu said during an exclusive interview Monday with News10 at his home in Colfax.

Liu’s cell phone video tour of security at San Francisco International Airport led to a team of six federal agents and sheriff’s deputies coming to his home on Dec. 2 to take his handgun and Federal Flight Deck Officer (FFDO) credentials.

Liu’s state-issued permit to carry a concealed weapon was also suspended by the Placer County sheriff.

Full story here.


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[Unhypnotized]

Obscene, Threatening Comments Posted at Anti-TSA Website Traced to Homeland Security Servers

Jonathan Benson
Natural News
Wednesday, December 29, 2010

(NaturalNews) Officials from the U.S. Department of Homeland Security (DHS) seem to now be going on the offensive against those who oppose its new invasive and unconstitutional airport security protocols being carried out by agents of the U.S. Transportation Security Administration (TSA). According to George Donnelly, owner of WeWontFly.com, government workers appear to be posting hateful messages on his anti-TSA blog under the guise of anonymity.

One such comment, which has since been deleted, said, “F**k you, f**k all you c**ksuckers, you wont change anything.” Another stated, “Ride the bus, TSA is here to stay there [sic] doing a great job keeping americia [sic] safe.”

Donnelly says that upon tracing the origin of the comments, he discovered that they came from the servers of dhs.gov, the official website of the U.S. Department of Homeland Security. Nineteen comments in total were all posted from the same server, including the two previously mentioned. And while all were worded in different tones and voices, they all expressed hostility to those opposing the TSA.

“Some questions come to mind,” wrote Donnelly on his blog in response to his findings. “Is this an official statement? If not, is it an accurate representation of the DHS position? Was this person on the public dime when he or she posted this? Who posted this and what is their position with DHS?”

“This is not the first time we have been trolled by individuals connected to the TSA. Someone posted a personal attack on me from an IP belonging to mitre,org, a corporation whose core competency is securing federal government contracts, including DHS and TSA ones. Any effective TSA resistance threatens not only the TSA itself but also the bureaucrats who got us to this point and the corporations who are getting paid for the technology.”

WeWontFly.com is working towards abolishing the new TSA protocols by pushing airlines to take a stand. And according to a Washington Post piece from November, the Electronic Privacy Information Center, a civil liberties group, has filed a lawsuit against the TSA citing the unconstitutionality of its current actions.

Sources for this story include:

http://www.rawstory.com/rs/2010/12/…

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dy…

Learn more: http://www.naturalnews.com/030860_TSA_Homeland_Security.html#ixzz19Ud7k73n

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[Unhypnotized]

Woman Who Protested TSA Pat-Downs At OKC Airport Banned From Flying

News On 6
Wednesday, December 29, 2010

http://www.newson6.com/Global/categ...default&clipId=5422168&flvUri=&partnerclipid=

OKLAHOMA CITY — The woman who made national headlines for her near-naked protest at the airport in Oklahoma City is back and once again banned from flying.

Full story here.

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[Unhypnotized]

Congress to Demand Answers From TSA in Airport Security Flaws

Nick Monacelli
ABC News 10
Wednesday, December 29, 2010

Exactly one month after Chris Liu posted videos to YouTube showing what he calls “critical security flaws,” the new chairman of a House subcommittee said he will call Transporation Security Administration (TSA) leaders to Capitol Hill for an explanation.

The videos, captured by Liu’s cell phone camera, show ground crews entering and exiting secure areas while never going through a screening process.

Liu posted the videos hoping Congressional leaders would address “gaping holes in airport security.”

“We’re spending of millions of dollars on technology, but we’re not doing the basics,” said Congressman Jason Chaffetz, R-Utah, who will chair the subcommitee on National Security, Homeland Defense and Foreign Operations. “We’ve got to be doing the basics to secure the airlines.”

Full story here.


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[Unhypnotized]

Naked Wheelchair Protester Targeted by TSA Over Buttocks

Agents single out woman who stood up to airport tyranny, ban her from flying

Steve Watson
Prisonplanet.com
Dec 30, 2010

A woman who hit headlines earlier this month for protesting the invasive new TSA airport security theatre by donning just a bra and panties has been targeted and prevented from flying by TSA officials who cited an “unusual contour” around her buttocks.

Wheelchair user Tammy Banovac was once again groped by TSA agents at Oklahoma City’s Will Rogers World Airport, where on November 30 she stripped to her underwear to protest what she described as persistent violation, involving the touching of her genitals at the hands of the TSA.

“If it happened anywhere else, it would have been sexual assault,” Ms Banovac has said, noting that she is hand searched every time she flies because of her disability.

Ms. Banovac’s protest led to an hour long interrogation at the hands of the TSA before she was denied access to her flight by officials who claimed they found traces of nitrates, which can be used in explosives, on her wheelchair

A video of the protest quickly became a viral Youtube sensation:

Now Ms Banovac has been targeted once again by the TSA.

This time she was fully clothed, yet TSA agents decided that after another full body groping, they were not happy for Banovac to board her flight to Phoenix.

“The stated reason was there was… They were unable to clear an unusual contour of my buttocks area,” Banovac told NewsOn6 in Oklahoma City.

According to the report Banovac was told she would be allowed to board her flight home the next day (Wed 29th December), after she had spent the night in the airport, for what purpose it is not clear.

“This is the most ridiculous sky security theatrics imaginable,” she told the reporters.

Banovac says that her earlier naked protest has backfired and that she is now routinely recognized by the TSA at airports.

Given the bizarre explanation or lack thereof for preventing her from flying for 24 hours, there can be little doubt that TSA agents are intent on punishing Banovac for her earlier protest by making her life hell every time she enters the airport.

Watch the NewsOn6 report:

http://www.newson6.com/Global/categ...=info&LaunchPageAdTag=homepage&clipFormat=flv

This would not be the first time TSA agents have been caught pursuing a vendetta against a slave who has dared to step out of line and question the gods.

Earlier this year Stacey Armato was locked inside a glass box for almost an hour by TSA agents at Phoenix airport after she refused to allow them to put her breast milk through an x-ray device, a legitimate request that is even written into the TSA’s own guidelines.

Armato was informed by a police officer that she had been singled out by TSA agents who recognized her because she had filed a complaint against them regarding the handling of her breast milk the previous week.

Despite thousands of complaints over the security theatre, and even in the light of the revelation of gaping security flaws in TSA protocol, Big Sis Janet Napolitano has announced that the enhanced pat-downs and the naked body scanners are here to stay. Anyone who refuses to submit will presumably either be targeted in the same way Tammy Banovac has been, or simply arrested and carted off to prison, as in the case of rape victim and epileptic sufferer Claire Hirschkind.


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[Unhypnotized]

TSA Wants To Expand Groping Of Vaginas

The TSA’s state-mandated molestation
The humiliations of the patdown policy, which Janet Napolitano wants to expand, are an Orwellian assault on American freedom

Jennifer Abel
London Guardian
Friday, December 31, 2010

As an American – that is, someone considered lucky to get seven consecutive days off work – the only way I could possibly travel such distance is to fly. But flying includes the legal obligation I submit to having my genitalia groped by some TSA thug wearing the same latex gloves already shoved down nine dozen other strangers’ underwear. There’s only two ways an American flyer can reliably avoid this: be rich enough to buy your own plane, or a high-ranking congressman or other VIP exempt from the indignities they inflict upon ordinary citizens.

The ACLU maintains an ever-growing database of these indignities, many so graphic they’re illegal to broadcast over public airwaves. Actions that violate FCC standards are embraced by the TSA. “Mary in Texas” reported:

The TSA agent used her hands to feel under and between my breasts. She then rammed her hand up into my crotch until it jammed into my pubic bone … I was touched in the pubic region in between my labia … She then moved her hand across my pubic region and down the inner part of my upper thigh to the floor. She repeated this procedure on the other side. I was shocked and broke into tears.

​

A woman named Chris said:

“In the four times she explored the area where my inner thigh met my crotch, she touched my labia each time, and one pass made contact with my clitoris, through two layers of clothing. I told her I felt humiliated, assaulted and abused … In my work as a nurse, if I did what the TSA did against a patient’s will it would be considered assault and battery, and I did not see how the TSA should have different rules.”

​

Recipients of such treatment aren’t allowed to show distress. Melissa from Massachusetts did anyway:

“I was shaking and crying the entire time. I was begging them to hurry up but they kept stopping and telling me to calm down. It is impossible to gain composure when a stranger has her hands in your underwear.”

​

Full story here.


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[Unhypnotized]

As Frustration Grows, Airports Consider Ditching TSA

Derek Kravitz
Washington Post
Friday, December 31, 2010

Some of the nation’s biggest airports are responding to recent public outrage over security screening by weighing whether they should hire private firms such as Covenant to replace the Transportation Security Administration. Sixteen airports, including San Francisco and Kansas City International Airport, have made the switch since 2002. One Orlando airport has approved the change but needs to select a contractor, and several others are seriously considering it.

The Metropolitan Washington Airports Authority, which governs Dulles International and Reagan National airports, is studying the option, spokeswoman Tara Hamilton said.

Airports that choose private screeners must submit the request to the TSA. There are no specific criteria for approval, but federal officials can decide whether to grant the request “based on the airport’s record of compliance on security regulations and requirements.” The TSA pays for the cost of the screening and has the final say on which company gets the contract.

Rep. John L. Mica (R-Fla.), the incoming chairman of the House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee, has written to 200 of the nation’s largest airports, urging them to consider switching to private companies. The TSA was “never intended to be an army of 67,000 employees,” he said.

Full story here.


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[Unhypnotized]

Man strips to underwear, socks in protest at airport security checkpoint

Ayinde O. Chase
AHN
Friday, December 31, 2010

A man protesting airport security measures was arrested after he stripped down to his underwear and socks.

The Thursday afternoon demonstration by 21-year-old Aaron B. Tobey at Richmond International Police was confirmed by airport spokesperson Troy Bell.

According to a report filed by airport officials, the University of Cincinnati student was spotted “absent of pants and shirt in full public view, exposing language regarding the 4th Amendment written on his chest and abdomen with marker or crayon.”


http://www.allheadlinenews.com/brie... at airport security checkpoint#ixzz19iNLQmPMFull story here.


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[Unhypnotized]

The TSA's State-Mandated Molestation

01-01-2011 06:40 AM

'The holiday brought bittersweet news: unless the Transportation Security Authority disbands, I'll never see a certain friend of mine again. His long-term unemployment finally ended, and next month, he starts a great new job. But it's in Texas, too far to drive; from my place in Connecticut to his new home in San Antonio is 2,000 miles – 500 more than separates London from Moscow.

As an American – that is, someone considered lucky to get seven consecutive days off work – the only way I could possibly travel such distance is to fly. But flying includes the legal obligation I submit to having my genitalia groped by some TSA thug wearing the same latex gloves already shoved down nine dozen other strangers' underwear. There's only two ways an American flyer can reliably avoid this: be rich enough to buy your own plane, or a high-ranking congressman or other VIP exempt from the indignities they inflict upon ordinary citizens.'

Read more: The TSA's State-Mandated Molestation

 

[Unhypnotized]

Passengers tell TSA: Keep your hands off my religious beliefs

Tara Bahrampour
The Washington Post
Jan 2, 2011

WASHINGTON — As Erum Ikramullah prepared to head to National Airport late last month for a flight out of Washington, she mulled two distasteful choices: the body scanner or the pat-down?

Ever since the terrorist attacks of Sept. 11, 2001, a trip to the airport has been fraught for Muslims, who sometimes think they are being unfairly scrutinized because of their religion. The addition of full-body scanners, which many say violate Islam’s requirements for modesty, has upped the stakes, especially for women.

Ikramullah, who is 29 and wears a headscarf, was reluctant to go through the new scanners, which reveal the contours of the human body in glaring detail.

In Islam, “a woman’s body and a man’s body are both pretty much private,” she said. “I choose to cover myself and dress in loose-fitting clothing so the shape of my body is not revealed to everyone in the street.”

Full article here



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[Unhypnotized]

Big Sis Photocopies Credit Cards, Confiscates Advent Calendars

Paul Joseph Watson
Prison Planet.com
Sunday, January 2, 2011

Despite the fact that TSA agents have routinely been caught abusing their power for criminal ends, the agency is now instructing its airport security screeners to make photocopies of people’s credit cards, while Big Sis is also busy fighting terrorism and protecting America by confiscating chocolate advent calendars.

A Libertarian activist from Arizona who makes videos documenting confrontations with authority figures had a recent encounter with TSA agents from the “domestic surveillance squad,” who ransacked through his personal documents and took photocopies of his credit cards.

TSA workers habitually abuse their position to conduct illegal searches and seizures that represent clear violations of the 4th Amendment. There are numerous cases where TSA thugs have demanded to read people’s private emails and obtain their personal computer passwords, while asking invasive questions about personal income, religious and political beliefs, and arresting people for refusing to answer.

The notion of TSA agents making photocopies of credit cards is even more concerning given the fact that TSA employees are prone to criminal behavior and have been caught stealing people’s laptops, iPods, cellphones and other electronics.

In another example of how Homeland Security is engaged in a total takeover of society at every conceivable level, Alex Jones relates the story of how his mother’s friend bought an expensive German Kinder advent calendar while on vacation and attempted to ship it back to the U.S.

However, instead of receiving the gift, the recipient got a letter from Homeland Security stating the calendar had been confiscated because it may have contained small toys that would have been a choking threat to children. Even though this particular calendar contained only chocolates, the mere possibility that the company may have produced a similar calendar that contained small toys was enough for DHS to block its entry into the United States.

*********************

Paul Joseph Watson is the editor and writer for Prison Planet.com. He is the author of Order Out Of Chaos. Watson is also a fill-in host for The Alex Jones Show. Watson has been interviewed by many publications and radio shows, including Vanity Fair and Coast to Coast AM, America’s most listened to late night talk show.


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