Legal child molestation

A father posted a video of his 10-year old daughter getting a TSA enhanced pat-down after they found her smuggling a Capri Sun (Horrors!) through security. Watching this video literally made my stomach turn, and it is an excellent reminder of why my children and I haven't flown since widespread use of the scanners and associated pat-downs.

It is also disturbing to read the defenses of the TSA procedures in this case. For example, one blogger wrote:

Sure, it probably felt awkward to be singled out. And yes, it was inconvenient. But I’m having a hard time understanding how this simple pat-down crossed any lines.

 "Awkward" and "inconvenient" are not nearly strong enough words for how I would feel about be the object of such a pat-down, let alone how a child might feel or a loving parent might feel seeing this happen to their child. I will grant that I am more sensitive than some (many? most?) others; my husband, for example, opts-out and feels akin to "awkward" and "inconvenienced". But, some of the words I would use if this applied to me or my children are: Violated, Molested, Assaulted, etc...

SPOT Humor

From Reason, a little TSA humor:

A protestor states his case

Kevin McElroy, a writer and father, sent me this video of his reasons for not flying:

Viral video of TSA torture

I first saw this reported on LewRockwell.com a few days ago, and now the press is picking up this heartbreaking video:
 
This is why I won't fly. I don't know how I would react to a pat-down, and I don't want to feel the way this woman feels.

Security at the Superbowl

Before the Superbowl, there were confirmed reports of a DHS presence, including bag searches and x-ray ray scanners for bags and trucks. As if that wasn't bad enough, there were also rumors that naked scanners would be employed.

When I read this, I though "Welcome to your police state."

So what actually happened? It was arguably much worse in some ways. The night before, we got this report:

Helicopters and planes equipped with special monitors for radiation and biological agents constantly hover and scan high above Super Bowl village...

In addition to air patrol, on the ground police use giant x-ray machines to scan every vehicle arriving at the stadium, and surveillance cameras, which allow officers to monitor both the interior and exterior of the stadium. The videos are streamed into command centers set up throughout the area nearby. Hidden monitors test the air for toxins and biological weapons, and police patrol with portable radiation detectors. 

Although vehicles were subjected to x-ray scanning, there does not appear to have been naked scanners for people. But, everyone go a pat-down! And, if you watch this video, at least some football fans didn't care about this gross violation of their rights as long as it didn't take too long (which it didn't):



Why are  so many okay with the feds interfering with a nominally private event? (And when will truckers stand up to the cargo scanners that are quite dangerous?)

Another woman is harassed

Soldier gets groped

As I just posted over at LRC, there's a video circulating showing a soldier getting a pat-down at an airport: It's good to know that the TSA is going to continue to give us fodder for the cause of abolishing this unconstitutional agency.

Sexual assault courtesy of TSA

And the BBC picks up the story.

H/T for video: Bill Fisher

Why did the TSA treat Mommy like a criminal?

A brave young girl recorded her mom's pat-down:



H/T Bill Fisher

Latest 6-year-old pat-down

H/T Bill Fisher

Airport video of Andrea Abbott's arrest

I was unable to get this video to play when it first came out and I thought it was just a newscast covering Andrea Abbott's arrest last month. It is amazing to watch in retrospect after seeing commenters across the blogosphere say how this woman deserved it for losing her cool. But, she looks very calm during the entire video and it is unclear why she was even arrested after it was all over.

Making another woman cry at ORD

A gentleman posts in Flyertalk:

While waiting for my now chronically delayed flight from ORD, I noticed a pregnant TSO working around the AIT. The TSO was performing pat-downs, but was constantly moving near the machines. I found it concerning that (1) a pregnant woman would willingly expose herself to a radiation-laden work environment with no protection and (2) that her employers would allow her to do so. At the very least, couldn't they assign her duties that don't have her working right next to the machines

I grabbed a few photos. Then I noticed that the woman she was patting down was visibly upset by being patted down. The lady had gone through the AIT, but was not allowed to leave.

He posted some pictures, including this one:

And then links to the video he made: "I quickly turned on my camera and grabbed the following video:"

Abolish the TSA? Of course!

That's my opinion and I don't see any reason I will fly commercially again until the TSA is gone. Here's Ron Paul on the subject:

A pilot on the TSA's inappropriate behavior

H/T Boycott Flying

Scanned then molested. But, why?

This frequent-flier was reduced to tears and wants to know why:

Security theater defined, Part 2

Disabled are targeted by TSA (but we already knew that)

The disabled are finally getting a little press regarding their mistreatment by the TSA:

This time it's a 94-year old, not a 95-year old, wheelchair-bound woman

TSA everywhere

Here's a summary of all of the places where TSA has conducted searches (with their VIPR program, in which local agencies get involved). It also links to the video below from February:

Texan politicians share their groping stories