OPINION: TSA the new KGB?
Thuggery. That’s about the most polite word one can use to describe the attitude and actions of TSA in light of the massive public pushback to the agency’s aggressive fondling of airline passengers.
Over the weekend, more and more instances of abuse were reported from passengers who were subjected to the new TSA search rules.
• An ABC News employee was subjected to a search Sunday that included a TSA agent putting her hands down in the woman’s underwear.
• A woman in North Carolina, a flight attendant, was told to remove a prosthetic breast that was in place due to cancer surgery.
• A YouTube video shows TSA searching a small boy during which the boy’s shirt is removed (although it’s not clear if the father removed the shirt or the agents.) The man who shot that video was later confronted by TSA agents and asked to delete the video. When he refused, he was followed by two other agents to his gate. Is the TSA the new KGB?
• A Michigan man and cancer survivor was left covered in his own urine after a pat-down by TSA. Although he warned the TSA agent he had a urostomy bag due to bladder cancer, the agent burst the seal on the bag, leaving the man covered in urine.
• A man with a knee replacement was told to drop his pants in the open airport after he set off a metal detector.
There are other stories, but these kinds of instances are why Americans are so fed up with their government. None of this is really about security — as one observer said, its just “theater” designed to make people feel safe, but doesn’t really provide safety.
Anyone could have predicted that this type of confrontation was coming. TSA has long put inane rules in place under the guise of “safety” — no water bottles; take your shoes off; remove your belt.
And TSA has made a point of searching people who are obviously no security threat. The elderly in wheelchairs and young children; they swab walking canes for explosives; political correctness rules TSA policies, but defies common sense.
But the biggest problems are the TSA agents themselves. It’s as if TSA went out to hire the rudest people they could to be agents. While some agents seem to have a little sense, many are just little people who were given big powers. The result of that combination is predictable. Abuse.
None of this is making America safer. Rather than searching people for objects, airline security should focus on people themselves. Stop hassling old people and kids; stop invading the privacy of people who are obviously not terrorists; focus on people who act suspicious or who have questionable identification. Focus on foreign passports.
There’s one sure way to put a stop to all of this: Have President Obama and his wife and children fly on a commercial airline rather than Air Force One. Let the president stand there and watch as TSA agents fondle his wife and daughters, reaching hands down into their underwear.
I’ll bet if those in Washington had to follow the rules that they’re forcing on the rest of us, things would change in a hurry.
Mike Buffington is editor of The Jackson Herald. He can be reached at mike@mainstreetnews.com.
• An ABC News employee was subjected to a search Sunday that included a TSA agent putting her hands down in the woman’s underwear.
• A woman in North Carolina, a flight attendant, was told to remove a prosthetic breast that was in place due to cancer surgery.
• A YouTube video shows TSA searching a small boy during which the boy’s shirt is removed (although it’s not clear if the father removed the shirt or the agents.) The man who shot that video was later confronted by TSA agents and asked to delete the video. When he refused, he was followed by two other agents to his gate. Is the TSA the new KGB?
• A Michigan man and cancer survivor was left covered in his own urine after a pat-down by TSA. Although he warned the TSA agent he had a urostomy bag due to bladder cancer, the agent burst the seal on the bag, leaving the man covered in urine.
• A man with a knee replacement was told to drop his pants in the open airport after he set off a metal detector.
There are other stories, but these kinds of instances are why Americans are so fed up with their government. None of this is really about security — as one observer said, its just “theater” designed to make people feel safe, but doesn’t really provide safety.
Anyone could have predicted that this type of confrontation was coming. TSA has long put inane rules in place under the guise of “safety” — no water bottles; take your shoes off; remove your belt.
And TSA has made a point of searching people who are obviously no security threat. The elderly in wheelchairs and young children; they swab walking canes for explosives; political correctness rules TSA policies, but defies common sense.
But the biggest problems are the TSA agents themselves. It’s as if TSA went out to hire the rudest people they could to be agents. While some agents seem to have a little sense, many are just little people who were given big powers. The result of that combination is predictable. Abuse.
None of this is making America safer. Rather than searching people for objects, airline security should focus on people themselves. Stop hassling old people and kids; stop invading the privacy of people who are obviously not terrorists; focus on people who act suspicious or who have questionable identification. Focus on foreign passports.
There’s one sure way to put a stop to all of this: Have President Obama and his wife and children fly on a commercial airline rather than Air Force One. Let the president stand there and watch as TSA agents fondle his wife and daughters, reaching hands down into their underwear.
I’ll bet if those in Washington had to follow the rules that they’re forcing on the rest of us, things would change in a hurry.
Mike Buffington is editor of The Jackson Herald. He can be reached at mike@mainstreetnews.com.
What I DO have a problem with, is not being able to opt out of this barbaric and embarassing situation, once you've been chosen for a "search". No one can explain to me how the TSA is able to hold you against your will, once you've decided not to partake of the service they're offering.
Only a socialist regime would spread the constitutional violations across the broader public just to prove that they were not using a reasonable and effective intelligence based profiling system like that used on EL AL.
Just as the Obama Thugocracy put auto dealers out of business for the sole purpose of making those owners share the pain that union members felt, they are devaluing the dollar so that those of us who have put a couple of dollars away will help pay for the massive transfer of wealth orchestrated by Obama.
Remember that the NAZI party under Hitler was the National Socialist Workers Party and note that we are marching down the path Hitler took.
So instead of making the comparison to the KGB, you might be more accurate to refer to Hitler's SS.
This is (what used to be) our government overreaching.
Plain and simple.
——–
As the Chalk Leader for my flight home from Afghanistan, I witnessed the following:
When we were on our way back from Afghanistan, we flew out of Baghram Air Field. We went through customs at BAF, full body scanners (no groping), had all of our bags searched, the whole nine yards.
Our first stop was Shannon, Ireland to refuel. After that, we had to stop at Indianapolis, Indiana to drop off about 100 folks from the Indiana National Guard. That’s where the stupid started.
First, everyone was forced to get off the plane–even though the plane wasn’t refueling again. All 330 people got off that plane, rather than let the 100 people from the ING get off.
We were filed from the plane to a holding area. No vending machines, no
means of escape. Only a male/female latrine.
It’s probably important to mention that we were ALL carrying weapons. Everyone was carrying an M4 Carbine (rifle) and some, like me, were also carrying an M9 pistol. Oh, and our gunners had M-240B machine
guns. Of course, the weapons weren’t loaded. And we had been cleared of
all ammo well before we even got to customs at Baghram, then AGAIN at
customs.
The TSA personnel at the airport seriously considered making us unload all of the baggage from the SECURE cargo hold to have it reinspected. Keep in mind, this cargo had been unpacked, inspected
piece by piece by U.S. Customs officials, resealed and had bomb-sniffing
dogs give it a one-hour run through. After two hours of sitting in
this holding area, the TSA decided not to reinspect our Cargo–just to
inspect us again: Soldiers on the way home from war, who had already
been inspected, reinspected and kept in a SECURE holding area for 2
hours. Ok, whatever. So we lined up to go through security AGAIN.
This is probably another good time to remind you all that all of us were carrying actual assault rifles, and some of us were also carrying pistols.
So we’re in line, going through one at a time. One of our Soldiers had his Gerber multi-tool. TSA confiscated it. Kind of ridiculous, but it gets better. A few minutes later, a
guy empties his pockets and has a pair of nail clippers. Nail
clippers. TSA informs the Soldier that they’re going to confiscate his
nail clippers. The conversation went something like this:
TSA Guy: You can’t take those on the plane.
Soldier: What? I’ve had them since we left country.
TSA Guy: You’re not suppose to have them.
Soldier: Why?
TSA Guy: They can be used as a weapon.
Soldier: [touches butt stock of the rifle] But this actually is a weapon. And I’m allowed to take it on.
TSA Guy: Yeah but you can’t use it to take over the plane. You don’t have bullets.
Soldier: And I can take over the plane with nail clippers?
TSA Guy: [awkward silence]
Me: Dude, just give him your damn nail clippers so we can get the f**k out of here. I’ll buy you a new set.
Soldier: [hands nail clippers to TSA guy, makes it through security]
This might be a good time to remind everyone that approximately 233 people re-boarded that plane with assault rifles, pistols, and machine guns–but nothing that
could have been used as a weapon.
Right on:
The people you should be angry with are the folks that got second mortgages to purchase depreciating assets. There is now no other choice than to devalue our currency...However, that will not work.
shame on us!