The following is an excerpt from an email I received a couple weeks ago:
Today when flying from Boston Logan to BWI my 17 year old daughter had quite an unpleasant experience due to the new scanner malfunctioning. There was some confusion of whether there was a scan or not. She was told that she needed to submit to a full pat down after being told “it did not scan” . She was told she would need a pat down. Being 17 she had no idea what that meant and how intense a full detailed full body pat down can be. Even when she began to cry, the TSA agent continued the pat down. My daughter felt molested and humiliated and as a parent I was helpless to stop this violation. Also, the gentleman behind her had a full body pat down which leads me to believe the machine was not working for anyone. However his pat down was not as intense as my daughters.
My daughter who is a seasoned traveler and even visited Israel this summer has never experienced such extreme searches If they were to have asked her the reason for her visit, as they do in other countries, they would have learned she was no threat and was merely on a college visit to MIT. As a parent, I have serious concerns that such a search would be done on a 17 year old minor. The searches cross the line, she was molested for no reason.
Along similar lines, here’s a lovely lady who reminds me of my own little girls in a few years:
Thanks, Nicole.
Then there’s the grown man and airline pilot who puked in his own driveway after being violated by the TSA. This is from the US Airline Pilots Association (Captain ‘Sully’ Sullenberger’s union):
Fellow Pilots,
The TSA’s rapid deployment of Advanced Imaging Technology (AIT) screening machines, followed by the new Enhanced Pat-Down procedures, have caused turmoil for airline pilots and the traveling public alike. These changes are far reaching, intrusive and have been implemented almost overnight, leaving little time for groups who are adversely affected to form a response.
…One US Airways pilot, after being selected for an enhanced pat-down, experienced a frisking that has left him unable to function as a crewmember. The words this pilot used to describe the incident included “sexual molestation,” and in the aftermath of trying to recover, this pilot reported that he had literally vomited in his own driveway while contemplating going back to work and facing the possibility of a similar encounter with the TSA…
Now, lest you tough guys think he just sounds like a whiner, keep in mind that this is the union’s retelling of the story. I’ve spoken with the guy several times myself and can tell you he’s as level-headed as they come – just a regular, 40-something airline pilot like anyone else you’d see dragging his bags through the terminal. There is a bit more to his story and I’m sure it’ll come out in the days ahead.
They can use words like ‘advanced imaging’ and ‘pat down’ all the want. But the fact is, it is what it is. And, just to be clear, my definition of is is is.
Thanks, Nicole for being so brave to describe your experience and feelings. Just watching your face as you speak and having a grown daughter of my own, I had a new realization of what it means to someone of your age. With knee replacements, I am always subjected to a search as are are Americans with joint replacement or pacemakers of all ages. WHAT is the TSA thinking? It is high time they eliminate the intrusive searches and focus instead on intelligence and no-fly lists. Honest Americans of all ages should not be subjected to intrusive searches. This is an invasion of privacy.
Geo get the Islamic terrorists, not us- we are NOT the enemy. Yes, and target the obvious- get rid of the liberal political correctness.
Thanks to Pilot Roberts for leading this charge. I have felt this way for years and thought I was being extreme. Now I realize it was misguided government, not me, who is “extreme”.
I don’t fly anymore. Period. If everyone did this, the problem would cease.
Let the TSA be our first line of defense against the disease of terrorism, and actual diseases like obesity:
http://whenfallsthecoliseum.com/2010/08/25/
let-the-tsa-be-our-first-line-of-%20defense-
against-the-disease-of-terrorism-and-
actual-diseases-like-obesity/#more-3225
“Our leaders in Washington are still ironing out the details of the health care bill that they passed. It would be easy for them to create a provision to empower TSA representatives to provide basic medical examinations to those who are already waiting in line for their planes. Travelers are already asked to remove their shoes before passing through the security line, so it would not be much more to ask that they accompany a new TSA Medical Representative behind a curtain where they would remove their shoes and the rest of their clothing so that they could receive a brief but through examination, checking for moles, rashes, lumps, brucellosis, scabies, enlarged prostates, or other medical maladies. Next, the passengers would step into an x-ray machine, where images of their bodies would display not only if they were carrying illegal contraband in their person, but also if they were carrying dangerous tumors or had non-specific fold-thickening of the duodenum. These x-ray machines would be similar to the full body scanners the TSA currently employs, to great effect. In the long run, this plan will not only help make us all safer and healthier, it will be a fiscal winner. Everyone flies; it would be easy to give people check-ups while they wait. Since they’re already at the airport, they wouldn’t have to take an extra day off from work to go to a doctor’s office, which would increase our nation’s productivity. And hiring more TSA representatives to handle the increased demand would boost our nation’s woeful employment numbers.”
Anyone who feels they have been violated should file a complaint or lawsuit. I am scheduled to fly end of December and I’m having nightmares already. I don’t want someone touching me and I certainly don’t want someone seeing me naked. We all know what they do behind the scenes. This is degrading, invasion of privacy, and a violation of the 4th Amendment. “The right of the people to be secure in their persons, houses, papers, and effects, against unreasonable searches and seizures, shall not be violated, and no Warrants shall issue, but upon probable cause, supported by Oath or affirmation, and particularly describing the place to be searched, and the persons or things to be seized.”
The government is going crazy!
Yes, indeed. The problem with filing a complaint or lawsuit after the fact, in my opinion, is that you would have consented to it. Then again, your consent was given under coercion by either holding your job or your ability to move freely about over your head – so you could argue that you didn’t have a lot of choice (though you absolutely still have a choice, and I’d respectfully encourage you to seriously reconsider your December travel plans).
Erin’s story was a little different, however.
The government is NOT going crazy — it’s going precisely as planned — and its doing exactly the sort of thing you would EXPECT an enemy of America would do once in control over its laws and having a powerful weapon at its disposal, the media.
Actually this situation is quite tame compared to what’s coming. Do you have any idea how the people of Iraq suffer on a day to day basis since the US invaded and destroyed their country? If so, their fate might provide you insight. Afterall, Iraq was and still is a testing ground for combat tactics to be used on American cities, that is, unless Americans capitulate to invasion of privacy, sexual deviancy, loss of liberties, confiscation of property and all manner of other abuse.
Thieves, cheats, bullies, perverts and even governments — will only treat you to the extent that you allow. Why complain of irradiation and inappropriate touching at airports AFTER the fact, after you consented to such violations? How hard is it to just say no? If Americans are so weak and defenseless that they whine like little girls, how will they respond when US troops and mercenaries are turned loose on them? If you can’t say no, or stop a stranger from assaulting your wife and children in a airport or bus station, should the time ever come, how could you defend their very lives as well as your own in a serious crisis?
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Opt-out. When the TSA goon touches your junk drop to your knees howling in pain, as you were just hit in the nuts. After you recover from the pain, demand to see a police officer and file assualt charges. If a few hundred TSA thugs get hauled off in handcuffs, the policy will be changes.