(US GOVERNMENT) Agency in the Department of Homeland Security (DHS). Mostly a new entity, which is perhaps the single most conspicuous domestic policy failure of the US government since 2000.
The TSA's job is to inspect baggage carried on flights at 450 international airports in the USA. Implementing this mandate simply consisted of "federalizing" thousands of private-sector employees who had been woefully under-qualified. Initially, the DHS had been formed explicitly to break law enforcement unions (which contribute to fighting corruption in law enforcement, as well as protecting law enforcement officers' rights as employees). In the case of the TSA, this had disastrous consequences for the quality of air travel.
The TSA's job is to inspect baggage carried on flights at 450 international airports in the USA. Implementing this mandate simply consisted of "federalizing" thousands of private-sector employees who had been woefully under-qualified. Initially, the DHS had been formed explicitly to break law enforcement unions (which contribute to fighting corruption in law enforcement, as well as protecting law enforcement officers' rights as employees). In the case of the TSA, this had disastrous consequences for the quality of air travel.
The Transportation Security Administration has one mission, namely, to check passengers and luggage at 450 international airports across the USA. It does not inspect freight or border entries; that is done by Customs and Border Protection. For this function, it employs 45,000 screeners under lousy conditions with awful pay. And it spends more doing this one thing than Sweden spends on its entire military.
by Primus Intra Pares June 19, 2010
(MULTILATERAL GOVERNMENT) Also known as the world court; tribunal for trying civil cases, i.e., court cases involving torts, liabilities, and disputes in international law. Separate and distinct from the International Criminal Court (ICC). Based in the Hague, a coastal city in the Netherlands.
The Court is composed of 15 judges, who are elected for terms of office of nine years by the United Nations General Assembly and the United Nations Security Council. It is assisted by a Registry, its administrative organ. Its official languages are English and French.
Only States (States Members of the United Nations and other States which have become parties to the Statute of the Court or which have accepted its jurisdiction under certain conditions) may be parties to contentious cases.
The Court is composed of 15 judges, who are elected for terms of office of nine years by the United Nations General Assembly and the United Nations Security Council. It is assisted by a Registry, its administrative organ. Its official languages are English and French.
Only States (States Members of the United Nations and other States which have become parties to the Statute of the Court or which have accepted its jurisdiction under certain conditions) may be parties to contentious cases.
The International Court of Justice was created in 1945 by the UN Charter. Unfortunately, the USA withdrew from ICJ jurisdiction in 1986*, and only accepts its involvement on a case-by-case basis.
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*The Reagan Administration withdrew from the ICJ when the later ruled that the USA was in violation of the UN Charter by mining the territorial waters of Nicaragua, etc.
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*The Reagan Administration withdrew from the ICJ when the later ruled that the USA was in violation of the UN Charter by mining the territorial waters of Nicaragua, etc.
by Primus Intra Pares July 19, 2010