TSA Policy: Molest Children Leaving Airports

ABC News: "The girl's father said that while his daughter was polite and respectful during the screening, she broke down into tears afterwards.

"Initially she was just confused," Todd Drexel said. "She really didn't understand what she had done wrong." He said he and his wife struggled with how to explain to their child what had happened after teaching her previously it was not ok to be touched in certain places. "Now she's been pat down in a public setting, in an airport."

The family was leaving New Orleans Armstrong International Airport when the incident happened on April 5. The Drexels have two other children, a 9-year-old and a 2-year-old."

-Video

Blogger Bob (intentionally reminiscent of Baghdad Bob?) of our Transportation Security Administration chips in with a gem:

"A video taken of one of our officers patting down a six year-old has attracted quite a bit of attention. Some folks are asking if the proper procedures were followed. Yes. TSA has reviewed the incident and the security officer in the video followed the current standard operating procedures."

At what point did it become necessary to do the following:

1. Sponsor child molestation

2. Require the Parents to watch.

3. Molest children leaving airports

4. Engage in random screenings without probably cause? Hello, 4th amendment?

In no way is this an isolated incident, as the TSA has done the same to disembarking train passengers (Bonus, Minors included!), stolen from those who are 'protected', indexed naked pictures of airline passengers, ripped off the taxpayer, and pilfered receipts" 

This particular Rubicon was passed in the wake of 9/11. In the media fueled, GOP encouraged rush to trade the liberties of the individual in for the sake of the security of society, the ground work for this nightmare was crafted. The Department of Homeland Security, created under George W. Bush under the steadying hand of a militia of neocon advisers created yet another federal monster. 

When did we start calling it homeland? When did the Department of Defense become insufficient for military threats, and the National Security Agency become insufficient for domestic intelligence, and the FBI become insufficient for enforcing laws that clearly forbade terrorism? When did it become acceptable to require Americans to remove their shoes for the sole purpose of proving innocence for a crime that has not been committed? 

Its a burgeoning state of fear that is being sold to us, a state based neither on rational reason nor emergency. This state we are growing into seeks to propagate its own power for the sake of greater power, for the profit of those involved on the inside track. In regards to the TSA, see Michael Chertoff and Rapiscan.

Sadly, there is no change en route from the champions of so called social justice. National Democrats are a party devoid of ideas without interest in giving up the power of government in any form. In that manner, they sail under the same flag as the National Republicans.  May God help us, for we seem unable to help ourselves. 

TSA To Children: Molestation is Ok

In the event that america has yet to realize that its government is groping and drug testing 6 year olds looking to peacefully board a flight with their mothers, this should serve as a reminder.


Caption for the video:
"Watch out, she may look like a 6 year old child but shes actually high on crack with a bomb in her pocket"

Wisdom to be Found on Facebook 3

"HOME. Sweet. HOME. Side item: Lesson of the day - don't be the only brown-skinned person in an airport security line, unless you want to experience a body scanner and a pat-down....

Oh, and so during the pat down, Mr. TSA says "empty your pockets", so I did - 2 gum wrappers, a wadded napkin, pocket fuzz, a receipt from Starbucks... yes, I feel so secure now!"

-Apollo Silva

Your TSA: Now Protecting Trains from Disembarking Passengers

AOL Travel: "[Brian] Gamble...was bringing a small group that included other firefighters and policemen to Savannah for a Valentine's Day getaway. They were among 30 or 40 people getting off the train when he says TSA officers ordered everyone into the terminal.
"They sent us all into a roped-off holding area and said 'Y'all are going to be searched,'" Gamble says. "We were getting off the train. This didn't make sense."
Once in the area, the group was guarded while TSA officers began doing what Gamble says were "intrusive"pat-downs.
When he saw a family with young kids in the lineup, he took out his camera and started filming. He does not know the identity of the family....
Nearing the front of the line for his own search, Gamble complained to a TSA supervisor but says he was told to calm down. "They wouldn't give us an explanation for the search."...."
H/t Hit and Run


In the event we've forgotten, this has to stop. 


Video of Agents doing pat down searches on boys who have just left the train with their parents. 




Was it mentioned that THESE ARE PEOPLE LEAVING THE TRAIN?

TSA Gangsters, Like All Gangsters, Incompetent

Some news stories write themselves. NY Post:

"Two TSA agents were busted today at Kennedy Airport for stealing $160,000 in cash from bags, authorities said.
Davon Webb, 30, and Couman Perad, who turned 36 today, were arrested after admitting they had regularly stolen from checked bags, sources said.
...
Perad and Webb would screen bags looking for loot, then swipe the cash once the luggage was opened in a private screening room, sources said.


...Also today, the TSA confirmed that a string of security lapses took place at Newark Airport within the past month, the Newark Star-Ledger reported.
A knife inside a carry-on made it past a checkpoint and two passengers were allowed to board flights despite issues with their full-body scans, TSA officials told the newspaper.
The officials, who spoke on condition of anonymity, said the two incidents were among a string of five security lapses at Newark within the last 30 days."


Molesting people embarking on legitimate business? Check.
Stealing from the molested? Check.
Performing security theater for nigh a decade? Check.


Keeping the tubes of flight safe? No.

This Isn't Over

Time: "He directed me through the nearby metal detector (the one that would have been good enough if I'd just chosen another line) and motioned for me to wait for a pat-down agent: "Female opt-out!" A female agent led me to a table where she set my bags and then skeptically asked if I knew what the pat down involved. Yes, indeedy (thanks, Jeff Goldberg!) "Do you want to do this somewhere private?" No, thank you. The agent calmly explained what she was going to do before she performed each part of the procedure, and very briskly but thoroughly went through the pat-down. The whole thing was over in a matter of minutes and was a completely professional experience.
Or it was, until a male TSA agent walked behind us and hollered: "Hey, I thought she was mine! I was gonna do her!"
And that, buddy, is exactly why I'm opting out instead of standing in the see-through picture machine. Thanks for validating my choice."

Future of Tyranny

AP: "Taking a trip during the holidays isn't the only time that people might get a full-body scan to pass through security. People heading to court to testify, get a restraining order, pay a ticket or answer criminal charges could also face a full-body scan at courthouses.
The U.S. Marshals Service, which is in charge of protecting federal judges nationwide, is exploring their use at federal courthouses. And two state courthouses in Douglas and El Paso counties in Colorado have already deployed full-body scanners that use radio waves to detect all objects on a person, including paper.
A guard in a separate room monitors the gray images with pixelated faces and genital areas, and the images aren't stored on a computer. officials said. All visitors to the Douglas County Courthouse in Castle Rock, Colo., undergo full-body scans, while guards at the El Paso County Judicial Center in Colorado Springs use the scanners during peak hours."


The US Marshalls? The same agency that stored the images of 35,000 US citizens photographed with the back scatter devices?? The machines being pushed by former head of 'Homeland Security' Michael Chertoff for his own profit?


Yeah.
All of that. They have lied to us in recent memory, but full steam ahead with more of these uncompromising, malignant machines.


Need an example of what these machines can do(NSFW And if you know any women in your family, this is one heck of a picture to see. If, however, you are unaware of the existence of women upon the face of the earth, please do avoid this link)?
Gizmodo has the scoop, with over 100 individual examples put online, with the identifying features removed from the photos.


Remember, this new wave of pat down horror stories (Like clothes off searches of 5 year old boys) are being created on purpose, designed to push an agenda of the public using the backscatter imaging systems as the lesser of two evils. The obvious way to keep your junk clear of the infections gloves of TSA agents is to just have a machine take a picture of you naked, but unobtrusively and quickly.


The public will settle for the lesser of two evils, and in the mind of many, that is the Rapiscan devices. Its clever, if brutal, manipulation of the crowds by the US government. Even the outrage right now will almost inevitably lead to that. 


The next step? Installing these Iris scanners simultaneously with these machines. Already installed in Mexican municipalities, its easy to see a future for them stateside. Capable of reading 50 individuals a minute, even persons running through the machine at full speed.
Fast Company:
"The devices range from large-scale scanners like the Hbox (shown in the airport-security prototype above), which can snap up to 50 people per minute in motion, to smaller scanners like the EyeSwipe and EyeSwipe Mini, which can capture the irises of between 15 to 30 people per minute.
I tested these devices at GRI's facilities in New York City last week. It took less than a second for my irises to be scanned and registered in the company's database. Every time I went through the scanners after that--even when running through (because everybody runs, right, Tom Cruise?) my eyes were scanned and identified correctly. (...Welcome Austin," the robotic voice chimes.)"


Combine these with the suddenly acceptable-because-they-are-the-lesser-of-evils option Naked Body Scanners in Airports, Trains, subways, and possibly worst of all, courtrooms?
O'Brien would be proud.


When you can no longer enter a court of law to defend or to prosecute, the contract with society and the right to remain an individual with your own secrets is broken. There can be few moral reasons for a government to exist that requires those who formed it to strip naked and identify with a database before having the formal protections of the law.

Seriously, Rapiscan?

Rapiscan is the name of the company making the Transportation Security Administration's vaunted Backscatter-Imaging/Full-Body-Scanner/Naked-Body-Scanner machines. 


I thought this was a joke until just now, when I looked it up. 


But Rapiscan is the real name. 
Apropos, no?


Incidentally, the CEO of Rapiscan is a long term Obama ally and donor. 
Interesting in a different manner is the support the Rapiscan group has received from investor George Soros, (see, Moveon.org and 2004 election) and Michael Chertoff, the former head of the so-called 'Homeland Security'. 


Soros? Savvy investing, albeit with an eye for using government power to further his ends.
Chertoff? Unvarnished conflict of interest with malevolent consequences for America. 


Here's where I think this is going:
The unions will negotiate their way out of this, dulling the outrage that flows from the Flight Attendants, and from the Pilots. 
This leaves the passengers with 2 options, having naked pictures of themselves taken (and stored) by their own government, or be sexually assaulted by their own government. Pretend not that these men and women running the TSA checkpoints are even Law Enforcement, because they are not. If either of these actions were done to you in Wal-Mart, their would be grounds for charges of a criminal variety.


The remaining option? Do not fly. 
That it has come to the point in America wherein we move backwards in the scale of transportation evolution is distressing in the extreme. If the glory can be killed, we are lost.
This is the glory being killed.  


Here's what we can do.
Immediately, November 24 is National Opt-Out day. This will be the busiest travel day of the year, so opting out of the Rapiscanner's can help show the absurdity of our sham system.


If you need further proof of the lesion upon the skin of the American people this is, look no further then a complete lack of probable cause, the compulsive overreaction to children, child abuse & pornography, threats of $10,000 fines for citizens seeking a refund, and forced shoe removal can start off a long list. 


This is an administration that needs to be abolished, if not immediately then with a 30 day notice to the airlines, the airports, and the TSA brown shirts. Let the concerned parties, eg, the Airlines, the Airports, their insurance policies, and the passengers who are actually at risk in these planes, handle their own security.
Better customer service, better security, faster, cheaper, and more likely to actually be effective if there is indeed a threat. 


Until then? Opt out. Every time.  Make this an issue whenever possible.

Dave Barry on Flight Screening

Is worth a laugh. 


Although, the reality of it is far from laughable, sometimes humor is the best way into the hearts and minds of a listless populace.


"The people ahead of me were allowed to go after being scanned, but I was not. I was pulled aside and told to stand in a small roped-off area. After I had stood there for several minutes, I asked a passing TSA person what was happening. He said, quote, "You have a blurred groin."
"I have a what?" I said.
"A blurred groin," he said. And then he walked away.
I tried to sneak a peek at my groin, but this is not easy to do inconspicuously when you are confined to a small roped-off area with many people around...." Link 

TSA on Ticket Purchasing

""By buying your ticket you gave up a lot of rights,""


-Your Transportation Security Administration

TSA Abuses Liberty

Daniel Rueben: ""Everything in my purse was out, including my wallet and my checkbook. I had two prescriptions in there. One was diet pills. This was embarrassing. A TSA officer said, 'Hey, I've always been curious about these. Do they work?'

"I was just so taken aback, I said, 'Yeah.' "

What happened next, she says, was more than embarrassing. It was infuriating.

That same screener started emptying her wallet. "He was taking out the receipts and looking at them," she said.

"I understand that TSA is tasked with strengthening national security but [it] surely does not need to know what I purchased at Kohl's or Wal-Mart," she wrote in her complaint, which she sent me last week.

She says she asked what he was looking for and he replied, "Razor blades." She wondered, "Wouldn't that have shown up on the metal detector?"

In a side pocket she had tucked a deposit slip and seven checks made out to her and her husband, worth about $8,000

Her thought: "Oh, my God, this is none of his business."

Two Philadelphia police officers joined at least four TSA officers who had gathered around her. After conferring with the TSA screeners, one of the Philadelphia officers told her he was there because her checks were numbered sequentially, which she says they were not.

"It's an indication you've embezzled these checks," she says the police officer told her. He also told her she appeared nervous. She hadn't before that moment, she says.

She protested when the officer started to walk away with the checks. "That's my money," she remembers saying. The officer's reply? "It's not your money.""

Yet another miserable story in the ever growing chronicles of Department of Homeland (when did we start calling it the Homeland?) Security's Transportation Security Administration, a tale woefully full of abuse of power against the very American's it was created to protect.


Or maybe it wasn't. It is but security theater, the delicate dance of pretending to protect people from imaginary fears to propel the bureaucracy and the power of the establishment well into the future. If we were really intended to be safe in the air from threats that actually exist, we would clear out this entire sham and put police on board flights.
Better yet, let the airlines and insurance handle their own security. Competition provides innovation, efficiency, happy customers, and better solutions. Before you complain about the current state of the Airline industry, consider how much of what is wrong is the result of Government intervention, particularly since the events of 9/11. Then ask, 'Could the airlines have handled this any worse if they had wanted to?'

A Fresh Take on Airport Security

NY Times: "“Meet Mikey Hicks,” said Najlah Feanny Hicks, introducing her 8-year-old son, a New Jersey Cub Scout and frequent traveler who has seldom boarded a plane without a hassle because he shares the name of a suspicious person. “It’s not a myth.”

Michael Winston Hicks’s mother initially sensed trouble when he was a baby and she could not get a seat for him on their flight to Florida at an airport kiosk; airline officials explained that his name “was on the list,” she recalled.

The first time he was patted down, at Newark Liberty International Airport, Mikey was 2. He cried.

After years of long delays and waits for supervisors at every airport ticket counter, this year’s vacation to the Bahamas badly shook up the family. Mikey was frisked on the way there, then more aggressively on the way home.

"Up your arms, down your arms, up your crotch, someone is patting your 8-year-old down like he’s a criminal," Mrs. Hicks recounted. “A terrorist can blow his underwear up and they don’t catch him. But my 8-year-old can’t walk through security without being frisked.”
...
Before leaving for the Bahamas on Jan. 2, she reached out to Congressman Pascrell’s office, which then enlisted a T.S.A. agent to meet the family at the airport. Even this did not prevent Mikey from an extra pat-down.

On the way home last Friday, Mikey’s boarding pass showed four giant red S’s at the airport in Nassau. “Oh, random screening,” Mrs. Hicks said. ... Mrs. Hicks said she wanted to take pictures of her son being frisked but was told it was against the rules.""

In the words of Paine's Common Sense, "Government, even in its best state, is but a necessary evil; in its worst state, an intolerable one. "

The TSA has become naught but a ponderous, intolerable, unsustainable blight upon the world.

To wit,

Mandatory removal of shoes

Inhospitable 4oz of liquid limit

Exclusion of all blades, tweezers, ect...

Now, coming to you from the main stage...

Terahertz Scanners that provide full color nude images of each Human passing though,

Terahertz Scanners that have the potential to rend your DNA into base proteins.

Under the guise of security, we are being adjusted to a posture of acceptance of draconian checkpoints, invasive regulation of inconsequential items, and a violation of all claims to physical space, even regarding children.

All of this misses the real point however, and it is a simple one. Why should the government me operating a Transportation Security Administration? The principle is that because the transportation in air is public space, then the government must maintain its security.

To follow this to its logical conclusion, we should be subject to screenings for the purposes of driving, biking, walking, riding a bus or train as well. These are in public and often on public roads, yet we would consider the suggestion foolhardy and wasteful.

Yet, air travel is regarded differently, for reasons I have yet to fathom.

Perhaps the numerous government bailouts of the failing industry has lashed them so tightly together that no other option is weighed beyond the onerous force of centralized governmental control.

If the airlines want pre-screened security, let them provide it themselves. I have no doubt they could do no worse then my government is doing now.