What Freedom Of The Press? (My Latest TSA Complaint)
I just filed this at their website:
My boyfriend was told he had to stop videotaping the TSA officer giving me a "pat-down" (ie, groping my breasts, hair, and near my vagina) at the New Orleans airport on Sunday, July 24, at approximately 6 am.The man (who stopped him) was a dark-haired thin man standing on the other side (the exit side) of the screening. I am a nationally syndicated newspaper columnist and I blog about TSA issues, and my boyfriend was taking the video to post on my site, and as evidence of the Fourth Amendment violation that goes on every time I am groped as a condition of normal business travel.
(The fact that I needed to go to a newspaper conference in New Orleans, and then fly home to Los Angeles, is not probable cause.)
Please note that this complaint is a vociferous objection to the officer's violation of my First Amendment rights, and the very necessary freedom of the press to protect what rights that still remain. Too many TSA workers seem to think they are members of an army in some banana republic.
I unfortunately was not able to get the officer's name because my boyfriend was disturbed because I was sobbing due to the vile touching of my sexual parts, inside my waistband -- and my HAIR! -- as a form of blackmail to be allowed to travel.
But, this officer should be clearly visible on videotape of the screening travesty, telling my tall, white boyfriend to put away his iPhone that he was using to videotape. (I'm a tall, pale white redheaded woman and I was all in black, in a short sleeve shirt and long pants, with my hair in a ponytail.) The screener was a short black woman. I wept as she violated me.
Post the video here?
a_random_guy at July 26, 2011 1:17 AM
It will be interesting to see if you get a response. I bet no, or at leastnot meaningful.
Sam at July 26, 2011 1:17 AM
We should fire all of TSA and give them new jobs as Glenn Beck's personal assistants.
Patrick at July 26, 2011 3:55 AM
Sam, she will get a bullshit response. A boiler-plate letter stating that the TSA did everything by the book, proper and appropriate, blah blah blah.
Amy, you should also try to post this at the TSA's bullshit blog, where they routinely censor comments, though where enough of them get through telling the TSA what lawless, hopeless wankers they are. Bloghdad Bob is the propaganda master over there:
http://blog.tsa.gov/
I doubt he'll allow your comment to go through, but ya never know.
Also, anyone who's interested is invited to join Travel Underground (dot-org), where there's a wealth of knowledge on and experience with the TSA and its criminality.
Lisa Simeone at July 26, 2011 4:40 AM
What does the color of any of you have to do with the issue? Should they not have felt the need to pat you down because you were both white? Are they more criminally culpable because they were not? I guess I'm missing the point of that part...
Renee at July 26, 2011 4:45 AM
Here's yet another example of outrageous, yet predictable abuse by the TSA. Of, yet again, an elderly woman in a wheelchair:
http://www.travelunderground.org/index.php?threads/tsa-strip-searches-a-97-year-old-woman.518/
Don't know how often I can repeat this: NEVER let them take you alone to a private room. NEVER. You need witnesses. You must have witnesses.
Lisa Simeone at July 26, 2011 4:52 AM
Renee, she describes herself and the screener to identify them in the video (I assume she sent them the video).
Amy, it's the fourth amendment. Also TSA rules do NOT forbid photography (see my comment on your Sunday 'Twitter hash' blog). And regardless of flak there, no reasonable person calls what happened to you a 'reasonable' search (supposed court rulings are using the 'unreasonable search' argument, not probable cause).
The TSA officially PERMITS photography excepting that you do not 'interfere' with the screeners and you do not photo/video x-ray or scanner screens. Airport rules and local regulations may prohibit photography, but if a TSA lackey told Greg to stop filming, they are in the wrong.
Filming? Did I just say filming? Who uses film anymore?
DrCos at July 26, 2011 4:58 AM
DrCros, yes, but as we've learned over and over and over again, TSA agents routinely ignore their own rules, make up new ones as they go along, and abuse people with impunity. Their rules mean nothing, because Pistole and his chiefs don't give a shit about enforcing them.
Lisa Simeone at July 26, 2011 5:14 AM
Amy, it's the fourth amendment. Also TSA rules do NOT forbid photography
Both my Fourth AND First Amendment rights were violated, which I state above:
That latter part is about the officer stopping my boyfriend's videotaping.
And I know that TSA rules do not forbid photography, nor should they, because the First Amendment does not stop at the airport door. Nor does the Fourth.
Also, I've heard reports of some signs saying there can be no disruptive behavior in the TSA line. If anyone sees one of these, can you please photograph for me? Apparently, there's one in the Denver airport.
Again, the First Amendment does NOT end at the airport door. None of them do.
And Renee, are you yet another person who feels it's racist to merely describe a person using their skin color? I forgot to mention that we were on a Delta flight, but I didn't have any names of any of these people, and so describing all of us would help them identify us on videotape.
I am so, so sick of people who manage to find racism at every turn. Was I potentially "hair-ist" for describing myself as a redhead?
Amy Alkon at July 26, 2011 5:22 AM
Are you going to blog about the Norway terrorist? You always say the fanatical Christians are much less of a concern than Muslims, but this dude did a good job showing any religious nut is bad.
I don't understand why you have these traumatic experiences in the airport. Are you trying to get a pat down? I've travelled 3 times this year and have never had a patdown or had to go thru the new scanner. Just took off my shoes and walked thru the metal detector. All the TSA agents I encountered were smiling, nice and professional. It seems you are looking for a fight and sadly, you are getting one.
Like another posted said previously, you don't have a constitutional right to fly. You agree to the TSA nonsense when you buy the ticket. All your posts about it have a sort of hysterical tone and I don't think that approach will get you very far in your quest to bring down the TSA or whatever it is you are hoping for.
Casey at July 26, 2011 5:31 AM
Amy Alkon
http://www.advicegoddess.com/archives/2011/07/26/what_freedom_of.html#comment-2382041">comment from CaseyAre you going to blog about the Norway terrorist? You always say the fanatical Christians are much less of a concern than Muslims, but this dude did a good job showing any religious nut is bad.
Nuts are bad. Loughner, McVeigh, the Norway mass murderer.
Here's the thing: the Quran, unlike any other book, is to be taken literally and unquestioningly as the word of god, and it commands the death or conversion of the infidel. Most Muslims will not go around slaughtering the rest of us, but far too many understand that that is their duty, as per the Quran, in order to be good Muslims. This is a problem. I also have problems with Muslims slaughtering homosexuals, and women who are raped or adulterous. Don't you?
Do you see comparable beliefs and activities in Christianity or Judaism, or Quakers or the Amish?
There have been about eight abortion clinic bombers -- in decades. People will use religion (or other forms of fundamentalism -- like communism) to justify horrible things, but there's only one religion that commands the murder of those who don't share their beliefs, and where we've seen many preaching this, and far too many willing to carry it out.
Do you notice little Jewish children being taught that the murder of Muslims is good -- the way Muslim children are? No. And Jewish hospitals in Israel save the lives of Muslims -- Muslims who leave healthy and vowing to live on to kill Jews. Sick.
Amy Alkon at July 26, 2011 5:40 AM
Casey: another sheeple speaks. "This abuse has never happened to me; therefore, it isn't happening!"
Read through this list and tell me everyone on it was just "looking for a fight." Like the 97-year-old woman I mentioned above just minutes ago:
http://www.travelunderground.org/index.php?threads/master-lists-of-tsa-abuses-crimes.317/
Lisa Simeone at July 26, 2011 5:40 AM
And Casey is wrong again: we do have a right to fly, as affirmed in legal jurisprudence and in the commerce clause of the Constitution. I've only posted the evidence countless times. But I guess I'll have to post it again:
Current US Code addresses air travel specifically. In 49 U.S.C. § 40103, "Sovereignty and use of airspace", the Code specifies that "A citizen of the United States has a public right of transit through the navigable airspace."
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The “public right of freedom of transit” by air is guaranteed by the Airline Deregulation Act of 1978, and the TSA is required by Federal law (49 USC § 40101) to consider this right when it issues regulations. Freedom of movement is required in order for us to exercise our right to assemble, which is guaranteed by the First Amendment. Freedom of movement is also guaranteed by Article 12 of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, a human rights treaty signed and ratified by the United States.
Quoting United States Code TITLE 49—TRANSPORTATION > SUBTITLE VII—AVIATION PROGRAMS > PART A—AIR COMMERCE AND SAFETY >subpart i—general > CHAPTER 401—GENERAL PROVISIONS > § 40101. Policy:
(c) General Safety Considerations. — In carrying out subpart III of this part and those provisions of subpart IV applicable in carrying out subpart III, the Administrator of the Federal Aviation Administration shall consider the following matters:
(1) the requirements of national defense and commercial and general aviation.
(2) the public right of freedom of transit through the navigable airspace.
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Supreme Court case (U.S. v. Guest 383 U.S. 745 (1966)): “In any event, freedom to travel throughout the United States has long been recognized as a basic right under the Constitution.”
Another US Supreme Court case, Shapiro v Thompson, 394 U.S. 618 (1969) very strongly supports the right to travel…
The TSA is violating due process at every turn. They do not have warrants. They detain persons (keep them from proceeding) unless they bow to the TSA’s will and be x-rayed or molested. This detainment is assault in and of itself.
Lisa Simeone at July 26, 2011 5:44 AM
Amy Alkon
http://www.advicegoddess.com/archives/2011/07/26/what_freedom_of.html#comment-2382048">comment from CaseyOh, and Casey, hijacking a topic and turning it into another topic is not appreciated.
I don't understand why you have these traumatic experiences in the airport. Are you trying to get a pat down?
United at LAX pats down EVERYONE getting on the plane, unless you, idiotically, go through the scanner that Napolitano lied and said was tested and shown to be safe.
In New Orleans, it happened because I try to be kind and considerate. A man in a wheelchair was going through, and I saw that I seemed to be separating him and his wife, and thought I'd accidentally cut in front of him, so I changed lines. (Gregg, a very savvy traveler, had seen that one line went through to the scanner and picked another one.)
The reason you don't have these "traumatic experiences," Casey, is that you are one of the sheeple, and you think it is nothing to have your rights violated, to have your body touched, your hair touched.
You care little for freedom of the press. Not to worry, people like me, those of us who remain, will fight for your rights, too, as you snore through the Constitutional abuses.
I read the Fourth Amendment to Gregg on the plane. It's a beautiful thing.
"You agree to the TSA nonsense when you buy the ticket." I absofuckinglutely do not. This is no different than being told "Fuck me or you lose your job." It is institutional, government-ordered, Constitution-violating sexual assault. I cooperate with the TSA personnel, because I cannot drive across the country to New Orleans (I can barely make it to West Hollywood without getting exhausted behind the wheel), but I do not consent to what they do.
You busy yourself with your airline pretzels, dear.
"I don't think that approach will get you very far in your quest to bring down the TSA or whatever it is you are hoping for."
Remember those words, Casey.
Amy Alkon at July 26, 2011 5:48 AM
Amy Alkon
http://www.advicegoddess.com/archives/2011/07/26/what_freedom_of.html#comment-2382051">comment from Amy AlkonThank you, Lisa. It's not easy, fighting back. My inclination, always, is to be friendly and sweet to everyone I encounter. I'm the girl who gets up out of her seat to open the door for you at the coffee place when I see you carrying two coffees.
Those who earn a living violating our rights -- groping our HAIR and sex parts as a form of blackmail in order to allow us to travel, and grooming us to be compliant about future rights violations -- do not deserve our compliance or our smiles.
Amy Alkon at July 26, 2011 5:55 AM
Amy Alkon
http://www.advicegoddess.com/archives/2011/07/26/what_freedom_of.html#comment-2382058">comment from Amy AlkonLisa, I just read that link you posted. Here's the direct link. Disgusting. A 98-year-old, wheelchair bound woman was STRIP-SEARCHED. Look at the photos of this darling and dignified woman they did this to.
http://www.filmannex.com/posts/blog_show_post/no-tlc-from-the-tsa-by-susan-sacirbey/32501
And I echo what Lisa says: Never let them violate you in private.
Amy Alkon at July 26, 2011 6:05 AM
I'll just agree to disagree with you. I wasn't trying to hijack your blog post, just wanted to know if you were going to blog about it because I was interested in your thoughts on it. I guess email is the correct way to ask. My bad.
I was just trying to point out that being hysterical is probably not the best way to fight the pat downs.
Caswy at July 26, 2011 6:06 AM
Amy Alkon
http://www.advicegoddess.com/archives/2011/07/26/what_freedom_of.html#comment-2382062">comment from CaswyI was just trying to point out that being hysterical is probably not the best way to fight the pat downs.
As a person who has no problem with the pat-downs, you probably aren't giving it as much thought at those of us who are passionate about our Constitutional rights and see it as our responsibility, for benefiting from those rights, to defend them.
Adam Smith wrote about sympathy as a motivator. I don't have a legal background to personally take this to court, but I put myself on the line as much as I can (vis a vis my income and this economy) to try to evoke change.
Amy Alkon at July 26, 2011 6:11 AM
The accusation of "being hysterical" is a time-honored practice for putting someone in the one-down position. It's a condescending, deliberate tactic. Just like claiming "conspiracy theorist" or using words such as "shrill," "emotional," take-your-pick.
Providing empirical evidence isn't "being hysterical." Amy can speak for herself. As for me, I've spent the past 18 months presenting statistical analysis, risk assessment, testimony of security experts, logic -- in short, many forms of empirical evidence -- yet have still been called "hysterical." That's the nature of the beast. Civil rights crusaders were also called that, and far worse. At this point, it's a fucking badge of honor.
Lisa Simeone at July 26, 2011 6:14 AM
Amy Alkon
http://www.advicegoddess.com/archives/2011/07/26/what_freedom_of.html#comment-2382079">comment from Lisa SimeoneLisa, what you've done in keeping on this inspires me. It's easy to feel very much alone in this as I see so many others bending over to have their rights violated.
Amy Alkon at July 26, 2011 6:24 AM
Amy Alkon
http://www.advicegoddess.com/archives/2011/07/26/what_freedom_of.html#comment-2382095">comment from Amy AlkonFYI, this was the book Gregg carried in his suitcase for me to the conference, Constitutional scholar and UCLA law prof Eugene Volokh's "The First Amendment":
http://www.amazon.com/First-Amendment-Related-Statutes-University/dp/1599413388/ref=sr_1_3?ie=UTF8&qid=1311686950&sr=8-3
It's a college textbook, but fascinating and important reading.
Amy Alkon at July 26, 2011 6:30 AM
I, for one, will NOT be flying until the TSA is disbanded and gone for good. And if it doesn't happen in my lifetime, so be it, but I will NEVER allow anyone to touch me just because I want to get on a plane. I am a patriot and used to be proud to be an American. Now I'm made as hell at the bullshit we're all being subjected to, and everyone else should be angry too. My grandfathers, great-uncles and cousins fought in two world wars to bring an end to communism, and now we're being subjected to it in our own country. The politicians who enacted the bullshit "Patriot Act" and imposed the bullshit TSA theatre on us should be haning their heads in shame.
Flynne at July 26, 2011 6:45 AM
Sorry, mad not "made" and hanGing, not "haning". Need more coffee.
Flynne at July 26, 2011 6:48 AM
Some of you may remember the story of the cancer survivor who got soaked in his own urine by the TSA... he was even an issued an apology from John Pistole
Guess what? It happened again. To the same guy.
http://news.travel.aol.com/2011/07/25/thomas-sawyer-cancer-survivor-gets-soaked-by-his-own-urine-aga/?icid=maing-grid7%7Cmaing8%7Cdl1%7Csec3_lnk1%7C81010
Does this make you sheeple feel safer? This guy gets violated and humilated TWICE in the name of "safety".
Sabrina at July 26, 2011 6:51 AM
I think this is an airport issue, not a TSA one.
http://www.tsa.gov/travelers/airtravel/taking_pictures.shtm
That's a link from TSA's website saying they do not prohibit photography or video UNLESS it involves the screens. I actually have a print-out of this from the TSA's website, and I bring it with me whenever I fly. I've never been stopped for videotaping TSA people, so I've luckily never had to pull it out and show them. Not that they'd care anyway.
However, notice that it does say that some airports and localities have rules against videotaping and photographing security personnel.
And, according to the New Orleans airport's website, the airport DOES NOT allow photography or video of security areas. I'll post proof in a new post, so your spam filter doesn't eat this one for having too many links.
I still think it's idiotic. But I'm guessing the TSA officer was just using the airport's rule as justification. I personally think that everyone SHOULD videotape their screening and that they should be allowed to do so in every airport. I'm thinking a complaint to the New Orleans airport, in addition to the complaint you filed with the TSA is warranted.
sofar at July 26, 2011 7:37 AM
OK here's that link (see my post above) about the New Orleans airport rule stating that no photography of the screening area or security personnel is allowed.
http://www.flymsy.com/faqs#Q96
Still a stupid rule, but I'm guessing that's why the TSA agent felt like she could tell Greg to stop.
sofar at July 26, 2011 7:40 AM
I went to the link at the N.O. airport to post a complaint, and naturally, they make it near impossible. This came up when I tried to post my complaint:
I searched my entry (on Word, where I pasted it) for all those things and cleaned it of them, and still it wouldn't post. Convenient. If you make it impossible to submit complaints, it's like there are none.
Amy Alkon at July 26, 2011 7:52 AM
Oh, and that's missing all the little characters they said were unacceptable, like
>
..
Amy Alkon at July 26, 2011 7:54 AM
First off, Amy, I am sorry you had to go through that.
And good for you for filing this complaint.
Feebie at July 26, 2011 7:56 AM
Amy Alkon
http://www.advicegoddess.com/archives/2011/07/26/what_freedom_of.html#comment-2382224">comment from FeebieThanks - and I'll mail a complaint to New Orleans after I'm off deadline.
"Security purposes"?
The word "drop" causes a security problem? "Union"?
If you think government will protect you, reflect on this crap, and think again. Hard.
Amy Alkon at July 26, 2011 8:01 AM
I went to the link at the N.O. airport to post a complaint, and naturally, they make it near impossible. This came up when I tried to post my complaint
!!! Seriously? Wow. Not sure whether to laugh or cry about that.
My favorite part is their complaints page:
In New Orleans we use a term called Lagniappe. It means "a little something extra." Every time you visit Your Airport we want you to feel as though we went above and beyond what is expected and you left our facility with a little bit of Lagniappe.
Well, it looks like you did get some "Lagniappe" at the New Orleans airport. Geeze.
sofar at July 26, 2011 8:02 AM
Recalling the Reign of Terror, and how much fun the French had watching the nobles nobly climb the scaffolding and stoically accepting their fate beneath the blade of the guillotine, that is until Madame Du Barry...
An account from a contemporary, the painter Louise Élisabeth Vigée Le Brun:
""Madame Du Barry ... is the only woman, among all the women who perished in the dreadful days, who could not stand the sight of the scaffold. She screamed, she begged mercy of the horrible crowd that stood around the scaffold, she aroused them to such a point that the executioner grew anxious and hastened to complete his task. This convinced me that if the victims of these terrible times had not been so proud, had not met death with such courage, the Terror would have ended much earlier. Men of limited intelligence lack the imagination to be touched by inner suffering, and the populace is more easily stirred by pity than by admiration."
XWL at July 26, 2011 8:08 AM
Caswy, I did, in my first post to this thread, post a link to an article by the ever-repulsive Glenn Beck, in which he likened the murdered teens in Norway to Hitler Youth.
And Amy is not a stickler for topic integrity. You're free to wander off on any tangent you care to.
Patrick at July 26, 2011 8:09 AM
I am so sorry you were subjected to this, Amy. I keep saying that this is what happens when you give any authority to minimum wage, minimum thinking individuals. It's like revolutionary forces in Africa. Those armies aren't made of PhDs. They're made of ordinary people who got given a gun and a taste of control.
Perhaps we should all start traveling with counsel?
Oh, and Casey...just because it hasn't happened to you doesn't mean it doesn't happen. That's akin to me saying rape doesn't happen because I personally haven't been a vict of rape. And saying that what TSA does is OK because we "don't have a constitutional right to fly"? I don't have a Constitutional right to drive, either. So by your logic, that would make it ok for some Highway Patrol Officer to pull me over for no reason and grope my boobs, simply because I needed to drive that day?
UW Girl at July 26, 2011 8:11 AM
Whoa, whoa, pause. I've said it before and I'll say it again -- this has nothing to do with class. Let's not play Divide-and-Conquer. Our overlords would love us to do that.
Being abused by a Ph.D. is no better than being abused by a GED. A thug is still a thug. Education has nothing to do with it. There are plenty of stupid "educated" people and plenty of smart "uneducated" people.
This is about civil liberties, human rights. Please, we need all the allies we can get. Let's not cloud the discussion.
Lisa Simeone at July 26, 2011 8:25 AM
"Due to security reasons the following words are not accepted: Select Insert Update Delete Drop Union .. "
BWHAHAHAHA! Those are all SQL keywords. And there's lots more. What that tells me is that the programmer who built the form didn't know what the hell he was doing -- properly quoting the text so that none of it is interpreted as SQL instructions is Web 101.
Cousin Dave at July 26, 2011 8:38 AM
Amy Alkon
http://www.advicegoddess.com/archives/2011/07/26/what_freedom_of.html#comment-2382298">comment from XWLXWL, thank you for this Mme. Du Barry quote...it's right on with what I know of human nature, and probably the only way to possibly revoke this:
"Men of limited intelligence lack the imagination to be touched by inner suffering, and the populace is more easily stirred by pity than by admiration."
Amy Alkon at July 26, 2011 8:54 AM
"Whoa, whoa, pause. I've said it before and I'll say it again -- this has nothing to do with class. Let's not play Divide-and-Conquer. Our overlords would love us to do that. "
I see your point, Lisa, but... UW Girl's point is not necessarily the class of the people doing it, but the fact that the TSA considers the pat-down job to be an unskilled labor job. They're paying the patter-downers minimum wage and giving them little or no training. Do those people actually know what they're looking for? If I went through security wearing a shirt made out of nitrated cellulose, would they recognize it as an explosive? Probably not. Because it isn't a lump in my pants. How secure does that make you feel?
If the TSA was serious about the pat-down job, the people doing it would be highly trained (and paid accordingly). They would receive daily briefings before going on shift as to the latest threats, and they would have a post-shift debriefing to discuss any incidents or unusual occurrences during their shift. They would be trained to recognize common medical devices, urine and colostomy bags, and common skin conditions. And they would have at least some training in psychological profiling. The fact that the TSA does none of this indicates that they aren't really serious about security, or at least this aspect of it.
Cousin Dave at July 26, 2011 8:54 AM
Amy Alkon
http://www.advicegoddess.com/archives/2011/07/26/what_freedom_of.html#comment-2382311">comment from sofarIn New Orleans we use a term called Lagniappe. It means "a little something extra."
Is that how they put it when you get groped as a condition of remaining in your job, and do they get to just go on their merry way without a trial in the wake of that?
Amy Alkon at July 26, 2011 8:58 AM
Cousin Dave, all true, but my contention is still that no matter how much training, no matter how much education, no matter how much intelligence, Lord Acton's observation still holds: "Power corrupts, and absolute power corrupts absolutely." The TSA has absolute power.
Which brings me, in a roundabout way, to the Madame duBarry discussion. Philip Zimbardo's participants weren't moved by pity. And they were highly "educated." Don't know off the top of my head how many of Stanley Milgram's participants were college-educated, though I don't think it matters. Ditto those in Solomon Asch's experiment.
To add another ingredient to the stew, what the Norwegians have to do with all this is their reaction to what just happened to them, versus the on-going 9/11 victimology in the U.S. Completely different reactions. I see all these issues as related.
Lisa Simeone at July 26, 2011 9:06 AM
While I just cannot get up a boner for this TSA issue, in fact I think Alkon's boyfriend, should be able to film freely.
Side question: After you got home, did Greg dress up in a TSA outfit and pat you down, as a prelude to further amorous adventures? That's what I heard.
BOTU at July 26, 2011 9:35 AM
"Cousin Dave, all true, but my contention is still that no matter how much training, no matter how much education, no matter how much intelligence, Lord Acton's observation still holds: "Power corrupts, and absolute power corrupts absolutely." The TSA has absolute power."
No doubt. I was just pointing out that if the TSA intended for the screenings to actually be an effective security measure, they'd be doing them differently.
Cousin Dave at July 26, 2011 9:49 AM
Cousin Dave, you mean the TSA might do what airport security in other countries do? Talk to you before you go through security? I know I've been profiled and observed and it didn't bother me at all. Not like the theater we go through in the US.
Even more to illustrate the uselessness of our 'security'...stuff in my carryon on an international flight that needed to be moved to my checked bags for my connecting domestic flight.
DrCos at July 26, 2011 10:07 AM
Thanks, Cousin Dave, for clarifying. With all due respect to your point of view, Lisa Simeone, levels of education and training do have something to do with this process. I'd feel much more secure if the TSA folks giving the pat downs had extensive training in terrorism, or had military experience in similar areas. But they do not. They aren't given months of training on current terrorism technology, or law regarding what can and cannot be done. They are trained more or less on the job and set loose to trample our rights.
I apologize for not articulating the idea in a better manner, but I do contend that the severe lack of training these people get does cause a lot of the problems like searching an old woman in a wheelchair.
UW Girl at July 26, 2011 10:42 AM
You wept during a pat down? Was this an out of the ordinary pat down?
I agree that the pat downs suck and that TSA is overstepping its bounds. I agree that the US is rather insane with fear mongering at present, and just 1 year away has made it noticeable, but weeping?
NicoleK at July 26, 2011 11:09 AM
I outright refuse to fly while TSA groping and nude-scan policies remain in effect. (This has not done my career any favors, but sometimes liberty requires sacrifice, and if I "only" need sacrifice a certain level of professional success and personal prosperity, rather than my liberty or my very life, that's still better than the sacrifices past Americans have made for freedom. Being broke and underemployed still beats facing down a Southern lynch mob.)
Here's something odd, though: back in the day, I paid for college by working as what was then called a "go-go dancer." The clubs where I worked operated under extremely strict regulations, of course, and if I'd let *anybody* in those clubs -- customer or colleague -- touch me the way TSA would touch me in what they call a "patdown," I and the other person would have been arrested for prostitution. I know the laws are pretty much the same today.
Think about the implication there: the TSA makes mandatory the same behavior that would get consenting adults arrested and imprisoned, in other contexts. I can't legally consent to it, yet I can be legally obligated?
Yet for all the reading and writing I've done about the TSA and its abuses -- including many comments directed here against Ms. Alkon, or against me on the comment threads of the anti-TSA things I've written -- what astonishes (and offends) me most of all isn't even TSA's initial treatment of travelers, but how consistently TSA and its apologists deny the most basic human emotional responses.
In other words, it's not just that some nameless stranger gets to feel the exact outlines of Ms. Alkon's labia through her underwear, if Ms. Alkon wants to fly; it's that she and every other traveler in American airspace are not supposed to care, not supposed to have any reaction at all; indeed, the fact that she does react is somehow considered proof that she's lying or exaggerating!
Think about that: "Amy says she was assaulted, but she's upset. So we can't believe her because, y'know, people who really ARE assaulted presumably wouldn't get upset."
I wonder if the same logic applies to all unhappy events? "Amy said she just had a bad car accident, but she's upset. So we can't believe her because, y'know, people who really ARE in bad car accidents presumably wouldn't get upset."
Jennifer Abel at July 26, 2011 11:18 AM
Amy, I agree with NicoleK. How can you continue to fly if you truly find the pat-downs THIS distressing? Last time you said you were raped. No business need would press me to fly if I truly believed I was going to be raped at the airport.
Insufficient Poison at July 26, 2011 11:22 AM
Ander Breivik might be...no...check that, IS a nut job, but even a blind squirrel finds an acorn now and then. Meaning he is right when he says political correctness is a detriment to our Western (North American & European) societies. And the TSA is a prime example of this, by ignoring who the enemy really is and what the vast majority of them look like. In other words, profiling.
Beside 90 year old grandmas being forced to remove their diapers and pat downs/grabs of 6 year old blond little girls, there was the story of Al Gore.
A few years ago he was flying commercial when he was picked out of a TSA line for a random "enhanced" screening. As was every other 8th person or some such.
When the TSA agent realized it was Al Gore he was just going to pass him on through.
But Gore insisted on being enhanced screened...just like EVERYone else.
Now I'm pretty sure that a former VP of the United States is not going to hijack an airliner. Even if he is a Democrat. But there you have yet ANOTHER example of PC silliness.
While the real enemy just laughs at, not the Great American Satan, but at the great American patsy.
MichaelRS at July 26, 2011 11:39 AM
I seem to recall a progression in Amy's thoughts about how she was choosing to react during a pat down. At one time, she mentioned that her natural inclination is to be stoic in her response while politely and logically asserting her unwillingness, disagreement and displeasure at being groped.
At some point, I believe she decided that making life easier for TSA agents in such a way is not conducive to expressing the level of discomfort she feels at having her rights violated and does no favours for the cause.
Crying, in my opinion, is an appropriate response to being violated and is therefore an appropriate response when going through the pat down. Grin and bear it is part of what allows this violation to continue.
Niki at July 26, 2011 11:45 AM
Amy Alkon
http://www.advicegoddess.com/archives/2011/07/26/what_freedom_of.html#comment-2382628">comment from NikiNiki is correct. I will not hold my feelings in as I am violated, and the fact that people grin and bear it, in vast numbers, is why this continues.
Amy Alkon at July 26, 2011 12:13 PM
So, I managed to get a message through to the New Orleans airport (which does not allow photography at checkpoints, even though TSA does).
My question: "TSA rules specify that photographing and videotaping security checkpoints IS allowed. But I noticed on your website that your airport does not allow photography or video taping security checkpoints or personnel. Why is that? And whose rule takes precedence?"
I got this back.
Thank you for your e-mail. At Armstrong International Airport, we do not allow areas of security or security personnel to be photographed or videotaped for obvious reasons. That is the policy of the airport. If that is an inconvenience, we apologize.
I'd LOVE to know what these "obvious reasons" are. Also, I love how my question was essentially, "Why is this airport policy?" And their answer was "Because it's airport policy." These people are making the TSA seem sane.
sofar at July 26, 2011 12:33 PM
Casey, you might want to check out Brevik's "manifesto", he's not what I would call a Christian fundamentalist. Pro-European culture, anti-muslim, and anti-marxist yes.
On the TSA deal, I think its only a matter of time before it gets nasty, someone gets pushed too far to fight it in the courts (legal and public opinion) and they seek redress in other ways. At that point, its just gonna get worse as the gov tightens the screws.
Sio at July 26, 2011 12:48 PM
Well, why don't you anti-TSA snivelers do something about it? Like mix up some sulfuric powder with chunky peanut butter, a large jar, and then put gobs of it into you nether regions.
When the TSA makes you pull down your panties, they are going to get a sight and smell that will teach them a lesson!
Ura T. Urd at July 26, 2011 1:17 PM
Gonna need an IP check on that last one, Amester... Usual suspects.
Crid at July 26, 2011 1:51 PM
Amy Alkon
http://www.advicegoddess.com/archives/2011/07/26/what_freedom_of.html#comment-2382764">comment from CridYep, IP = BOTU.
I almost didn't need to check, but thought I should be absolutely sure.
Amy Alkon at July 26, 2011 2:07 PM
Bunghole cannot be order than 14 and is probably banging his pets or his mother
ronc at July 26, 2011 2:46 PM
Niki is correct. I will not hold my feelings in as I am violated, and the fact that people grin and bear it, in vast numbers, is why this continues.
There is a much shorter explanation for Amy's response. She has courage. Amy actually speaks the facts of what is happening. She IS being violated - as are we all when we fly - and she has the courage to call it what it is.
Those of you who question Amy's response: do you NOT feel violated when being felt up by strangers? Really? THAT is what I consider an inappropriate response.
Amy's is the correct response - though the more difficult one - when one finds anyone - government employees or anyone else - using the Constitution of the United States as toilet paper.
gharkness at July 26, 2011 3:02 PM
As an activist friend of mine likes to say, "Courage is contagious."
(Of course, the cynic in me always thinks, "yeah, so is cowardice," but we do what we can.)
Oh, and am busting a gut laughing at ronc's response to BOTU (under his various aliases), and have only this to offer our dear never-departed, ever-deliberately-dunderheaded brother of the underworld:
http://www.liquidmatrix.org/blog/wp-content/uploads/2009/06/stfu.jpg
Lisa Simeone at July 26, 2011 3:16 PM
I think there is some sort of Pavlovian training that can help our poor Ms. Alkon, and her Niagara of tears at every airport.
It goes like this: Amy gets her boyfriend Greg and another girlfriend dress up in TSA uniforms in her apartment. They play "airport."
First, the girl pats Alkon down, a little too suggestively, and remarks that she has a pretty good body--but something seems wrong, suspicions are raised.
Then Greg announces that those suspicions requires a strip-search to take place. The girl forces a whimpering Alkon to strip.
Together the inventive TSA agents "search" and explore Ms. Alkon into several orgasms. Repeat this procedure over several weeks. Make sure she really comes hard.
Then, the next time Ms. Alkon travels, she will probably have a different, and better, reaction to her airport escapades.
My understanding of Pavlovian training, and my training of several girlfriends, suggests this will work well for Ms. Alkon.
BOTU at July 26, 2011 3:51 PM
And some folks wonder why they are targets of death threats. I wish an immediate cancer on buttfuck, between yet, I hope a well endowed fellow rams it home on home long and hard while he is expiring
ronc at July 26, 2011 4:16 PM
> thought I should be absolutely sure.
Thought so... Ass is a big theme for this guy, in various self-identifications. And "Panties"; "sights"; "smells". It means a lot to him.
Crid at July 26, 2011 4:17 PM
Amy Alkon
http://www.advicegoddess.com/archives/2011/07/26/what_freedom_of.html#comment-2383171">comment from BOTUBOTU, government workers essentially ripping up the Constitution and so many of the public just going along with it is funny to you?
Amy Alkon at July 26, 2011 6:10 PM
Obviously, this was an upsetting experience for you, and I'm sorry. However, why all the emphasis on the hair? You mention it almost everytime. I am not offended if people touch my hair. It's just something that I don't get. The rest of it makes sense, but I'm stuck on that one...
Renee at July 26, 2011 7:00 PM
Amy Alkon
http://www.advicegoddess.com/archives/2011/07/26/what_freedom_of.html#comment-2383274">comment from ReneeWhy the emphasis on my hair? Touching hair is personal. You don't get to touch my hair if you don't know me very well, and if we aren't physically affectionate. The government doesn't get to mandate that some strange woman run latex gloved hands through my hair as a condition of travel without probable cause and a search warrant. Because they do tell us they can mandate this doesn't mean they are legally entitled to do so.
Read the Fourth Amendment. It's a beautiful thing -- a beautiful thing that is being torn up, crushed, ignored, trampled on.
Don't be one of the sheeple.
Amy Alkon at July 26, 2011 7:29 PM
I'm late to this piece, but Amy I'm truly sorry for what you went through. You are absolutely correct when you say that you have a right to fly for business travel. We also have the right to fly for just the fun of it although getting patted down is hardly fun. While I have not experienced the new TSA system yet, I cannot imagine a stranger thinking its ok to put their hands all over me. And how dare anyone call you hysterical or question you being upset that a stranger would feel this is ok in the name of security. Its thanks to people like you who raise awareness to these issues. Does anyone care what is happening to our rights and freedoms anymore?
Kristen at July 26, 2011 7:36 PM
Amy Alkon
http://www.advicegoddess.com/archives/2011/07/26/what_freedom_of.html#comment-2383289">comment from KristenAbsolutely right, Kristin -- you have a right to travel on vacation, too.
"Does anyone care what is happening to our rights and freedoms anymore?"
Not so much.
I have to say, as somebody who writes on manners, sometimes, the right thing to do, the considerate thing to do, is to squawk like a stuck pig.
And when I say "considerate," I'm talking about prevention of hurt in the longterm -- in terms of protecting the Constitution and all of us it has protected and does protect, except when it's allowed to be crumpled up and we're allowed to be abused.
This case, Cohen v. California, 1971, inspires me:
http://supreme.justia.com/us/403/15/case.html
Amy Alkon at July 26, 2011 7:43 PM
Amy Alkon
http://www.advicegoddess.com/archives/2011/07/26/what_freedom_of.html#comment-2383298">comment from Amy AlkonA quote from Cohen v. California, by Justice Harlan, writing for the majority:
That last bit, which I italicized, is one of my favorite quotes from Harlan's writeup.
Amy Alkon at July 26, 2011 7:59 PM
Think of all the intimate and identity issues wrapped around hair. Parents who stroke the hair of their children. Pornos with the guy pulling on the hair of his partner. The military shearing off the hair of new recruits to help strip them of their civilian identity. The angst of a chemo patient who loses her hair to treatment.
It's one of the more intimate things about a human being that isn't inherently sexual.
Elle at July 26, 2011 8:05 PM
Amy Alkon
http://www.advicegoddess.com/archives/2011/07/26/what_freedom_of.html#comment-2383379">comment from ElleElle is absolutely right on hair.
Amy Alkon at July 26, 2011 9:22 PM
I can't stand random people touching my hair. I can't stand ANYONE-DH and kids included-touching my face. I am not-in fact-a toucher at all. I can't fathom letting someone randomly grab me all over. I fly infrequently and haven't faced a scanner or groping yet, but I'll go to jail rather than submit. Being a SAHM has it's advantages, and the freedom to go to jail is one of them. I've been to jail. I now it sucks ass, but I'll go before allowing this to my person.
momof4 at July 26, 2011 9:32 PM
Good for you you, Amy.
Parabarbarian at July 26, 2011 10:06 PM
Here's a simple question in the name of security -- why isn't the TSA searching you on charter, private, or any other flight on the civilian side of the airport?
If there were a true threat -- they would have that locked down to a fare thee well.
If there have been 25,000 security lapses, why hasn't there been another 9/11?
The biggest question that I want answered by any TSA apologists: Why did United Airlines Flight 93, who's scheduled morning transcontinental flight across the United States from Newark International Airport in Newark, New Jersey, to San Francisco International Airport in California make a tragic and unscheduled impact in a field near Shanksville, Pennsylvania?
Was it mechanical failure? No
Was it pilot error? No
Was it the diabolical target of the terrorists to crash land there? No
Was it that the occupants of the aircraft, with less than 45 minutes notice, knew they had to take back control of the aircraft? That would be an unequivocal YES.
Every piece of work by all agencies still has not stopped the shoe-bomber or the panty-bomber.
So protesting the TSA in any and all ways is appropriate.
I'm not even going into the the Patriot Act and the DHS. That is another bigger fish to fry.
Jim P. at July 26, 2011 10:07 PM
For all the people grasping at straws -- "why are you always writing about hair??" -- it sure sounds like you're looking for a distraction from the central thesis: the TSA is a criminal, out-of-control agency that abuses people with impunity.
It doesn't matter if you don't care about people pawing through your hair; Amy does. It's her body. It's her hair. It's her choice who gets to touch it. You don't mind your hair being touched by strangers? Fine. But quit trying to make your choices her choices.
In this Life in the USA Photo Album I did last February, my one regret was that I didn't include a particularly disturbing picture that was at the time widely available: that of a smurf pawing through a woman's hair. Many of you would no doubt find it innocuous. In fact, the passenger was sorta smiling, and the smurf was smiling. Both knew it was ridiculous. But I found it creepy. The photos I did post still speak of degradation:
http://www.cogitamusblog.com/2011/02/life-in-the-usa-a-photo-album.html
I have since looked for the photo and can't find it. It's been superseded by too many other photos of the TSA groping people. If any of you find it, I hope you'll post it.
Lisa Simeone at July 27, 2011 6:35 AM
Let's see...a few weeks ago, a man was identified as a weakling by Amy Alkon if he let his wife or children get molested by TSA agents.
So, I hate to mention this, but evidently Greg was not manly enough to defend the fair Ms. Alkon in her latest escapades at an American airport.
Was Greg "punked" by darkie TSA agents?
Will Greg have to wear panties with a glory hole cut out of them? And shave his legs?
Stay tuned....Alkon will deliver us the answers.
BOTU at July 27, 2011 9:49 AM
I find it absolutely UNBELIEVABLE that Ron Paul is the ONLY person in Washington who talks of abolishing this egregious, nazi-ish, fascist, criminal, out-of-control agency. It absolutely blows my mind that I still run across people who defend its existence, and the very fact that it DOES exist is horrifying testimonial to just how out of touch our so-called representatives in Washington are.
PDH at July 27, 2011 9:50 AM
Amy Alkon
http://www.advicegoddess.com/archives/2011/07/26/what_freedom_of.html#comment-2383921">comment from BOTUa man was identified as a weakling by Amy Alkon if he let his wife or children get molested by TSA agents. So, I hate to mention this, but evidently Greg was not manly enough to defend the fair Ms. Alkon in her latest escapades at an American airport.
He did speak out. He said, "You're making her cry!" Loudly. And he tried to videotape it so we would have evidence to use against them.
Gregg always, always has my back.
Do you think it would have helped if he'd tackled the officer? My tactic is to use the means of the law I have available to me and to speak out repeatedly, vociferously, as much as I can, without getting arrested or incurring other costs. I take risks in this, and push the envelope, because I benefit from the Constitution and Bill of rights, and don't see it as right that I would not defend them from abuse by the government itself.
This is a tough economy for me (as a writer). Believe me, if I had money, I'd be writing big checks to theFIRE.org (campus free speech defender) instead of just supporting them through blogging and doing events for them (I did one this past Fall, where I begged a favor from comedian Larry Miller to speak at a party to get the word out about them amongst young, cool people and journalists -- young and cool and old and otherwise). If I had money, I'd bring suit against the government for these TSA violations. I do not. So I squawk about them -- here on my blog and in the airport.
What have you done today to defend the freedoms you benefit from?
Amy Alkon at July 27, 2011 10:20 AM
"What have you done today to defend the freedoms you benefit from?"
Today I haven't done much. I have my "day job" today. Like you say, hard to make money.
Maybe when I get home, I will do something to defend my freedoms. I think my Superman cape is in my second drawer....
BOTU at July 27, 2011 10:52 AM
Ya, right next to your assless leather chaps an tutu
ronc at July 27, 2011 11:30 AM
I find it absolutely UNBELIEVABLE that Ron Paul is the ONLY person in Washington who talks of abolishing this egregious, nazi-ish, fascist, criminal, out-of-control agency. It absolutely blows my mind that I still run across people who defend its existence, and the very fact that it DOES exist is horrifying testimonial to just how out of touch our so-called representatives in Washington are.
Posted by: PDH at July 27, 2011 9:50 AM
PDH, it's not just our reps in Washington who are out of touch, it's most Americans. I've given up on my circle of family & friends. They're clueless. The overriding sentiment, never stated outright but tacitly expressed, is: "It's okay if it happens to somebody else, as long as it doesn't happen to me."
That's why this abuse will continue. It's going to have to get worse, a lot worse, before it gets better. And even then, people will deny it. The Mengele quote, the Mengele quote, the Mengele quote . . . .
Lisa Simeone at July 28, 2011 6:10 AM
Somehow a comment about flying and the TSA came up while we my manager, co-worker, and I were waiting for a conference call to start.
I was saying that the TSA was a joke, there have been 25K breaches and that 9/11 will never happen again as proven by Flight 93. I could tell they had never thought any of it through.
I don't really bring it up -- but anytime someone sings praises or thinks the TSA (or any fed program) is a good thing, I hit them with basic questions that they can't answer.
Jim P. at July 28, 2011 7:26 PM
This is not about being racist - I'm not and I really wish others weren't either. But there are a lot of instances where minorities are selectively and deliberately picking out white and especially well to do looking whites for "extra" security screening. Because they are the ones that are racist and this is their way to "get back at whitey" and go on a power trip. Not all of them do this of course but there are definitely those that do. Every single time my white friend gets pulled aside for extra screening it is always always by either a black female or a woman wearing a headscarf. I'd laugh if it wasn't so horribly sad.
Joe at September 3, 2011 3:08 PM
I am so sorry to hear that this still happens on a daily basis. It's weird how TSA officers act like they are top government force or something like that. They need a reality check, for sure.
Jacob
Land for sale
Darel at January 29, 2012 11:23 AM
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