Police, TSA and other "Authorities"

[Backstop]

Sure they will...

When enough people get fed up with this BS, less and less people will fly and the airlines will lose money. Just a matter of time before they'll need bailed out again. So yes, they will get your money. And mine too.

Damn, I hadn't thought it all the way through to include bail outs.

Is there no way out of this insanity...

[Backstop]

The TSA is out of control.

http://amarillo.com/news/local-news/2010-10-11/lawsuit-airport-search-indecent

Lawsuit: Airport search indecent
Posted: October 10, 2010 - 11:57pm
By Jim McBride

An Amarillo woman is suing the federal government for intentional infliction of emotional distress after Transportation Security Administration agents allegedly humiliated the woman when her breasts were publicly exposed during an "extended search" two years ago at a Corpus Christi airport.

The suit, filed earlier this year in Amarillo's U.S. District Court, alleges the woman was singled out for "extended search procedures" while preparing to board an aircraft destined for Amarillo on May 29, 2008.

The Amarillo Globe-News has declined to identify the woman for privacy reasons.

"As the TSA agent was frisking plaintiff, the agent pulled the plaintiff's blouse completely down, exposing plaintiffs' breasts to everyone in the area," the lawsuit said. "As would be expected, plaintiff was extremely embarrassed and humiliated."

The suit said the woman filed an administrative claim against the TSA, but the agency never responded, sparking the lawsuit.

The suit also claims that other TSA employees continued to joke and laugh about the incident for an extended period of time. The woman was distraught over the incident and left the screening area so an acquaintance could console her, the suit said.

When the woman re-entered the boarding area, employees once again began joking about the matter, the suit said.

"One male TSA employee expressed to the plaintiff that he wished he would have been there when she came through the first time and that 'he would just have to watch the video,'" the suit said.

The lawsuit claims, among other allegations, that federal employees were negligent and that employees intentionally caused the woman severe emotional distress by joking about the incident after the woman re-entered the airport screening area.

In court documents, government attorneys acknowledged that the woman went through secondary screening at a TSA checkpoint, but denied the suit's claims.

The woman's attorney, Jerry McLaughlin, said the woman, now a 23-year-old college student, believes TSA employees acted improperly after a female TSA agent pulled off the woman's top during the screening.

"It was kind of a bad situation. They didn't handle it correctly," he said. "One of our major complaints is that even after it occurred, they started making jokes about it."

Allison Sands, a spokeswoman for the U.S. Attorney's Office, said the office does not comment on pending litigation.

[Malsua]

Feel free to imbed - I can't figure out how.

click on the embed button below the video.

It comes up with a bunch of html code. Copy it. Just click it once, it turns blue, right click copy.

In your reply here, right click paste. When the page renders it will show the video instead of the html.

[Malsua]

Or that. lol.

[Backstop]

1. Clicked Imbed.
2. Rt clicked copy.
3. Rt clicked paste.

And I get this:




Think there was some conversation a while back, and it had something to do with my browser.

[Backstop]

Wednesday, November 24, 2010 is NATIONAL OPT-OUT DAY!

OK Rep. Pica.

This situation is an absolute outrage.

We the people are under no obligation to work with you when our rights are being violated in such a manner.

I’m sick and tired of the lines: you need to work with us, you need to understand, we’ll get it right, etc.

And I’m sick and tired of politicians encouraging folks go along with the things they know aren’t right rather than take steps to make their voices heard.

Personally, I’d like to see this OPT-OUT take place all across the nation, and airline travel come to a standstill.

Then - maybe then - things will change.

And I eagerly await to see how you "get it right."

http://thehill.com/blogs/blog-briefing-r....i n-tsa-protest

Incoming House Transportation chief against ‘Opt-Out’ Day in TSA protest
By Kevin Bogardus - 11/21/10 10:25 AM ET 

Rep. John Mica (R-Fla.) urged airline passengers Sunday to not purposefully slow down airport security lines by refusing to go through body scanners.

Likely the next House Transportation Committee chairman, Mica said he could not support what has become known as National “Opt-Out” Day. During the busy Thanksgiving travel period, passengers may opt-out of the body scanners, which take naked body images, and instead choose to go under invasive pat-downs as an act of protest. That will then likely slow down security lines.

“I think the public needs to work with us. We will get it right,” Mica said on CNN’s "State of the Union." “I’m not going to support that but we need to get it right and we will.”

Mica criticized John Pistole, administrator of the Transportation Security Administration (TSA), for signing off the new invasive pat-down procedures. He said Pistole needs to change course because of the public outcry against the pat-downs.

“I don’t think the rollout has been good and the application is even worse. This needs to be refined,” Mica said. “He says this is the only tool and I believe he’s wrong.”

Earlier on the program, Pistole, however, said there are no plans to change the pat-down procedures. The TSA administrator said the tough screening protocols are necessary in order to protect Americans from terrorist threats, which he did not want to advertise to those wishing the United States harm.

“I did not want to provide a blueprint or roadmap for the terrorists, saying ‘Here are our new security procedures,’” Pistole said. The administrator called TSA “the last line of defense” for the U.S. government to stop terrorist attacks.

Nevertheless, Mica is not a fan of the agency. The incoming House Transportation Committee chairman believes TSA has become a bloated bureaucracy that is “headed in the wrong direction.”

“I have got a heck of a big overhead and I’m not getting the results that I should have,” Mica said.

[Backstop]

Just copy and paste the blue field;dont click anything else.

I did.

Not sure what is going on...oh well.

[vector7]

TSA airport screeners gone wild in San Diego- again

November 20th, 2010 6:19 pm PT

In what can only be described as TSA handlers gone wild, the San Diego Harbor Police arrested an area resident for refusal to complete the screening/security process yesterday. This is the same airport that created the TSA security catch phrase “don’t touch my junk.” John Tyner of San Diego started the airport screening firestorm last week as Americans head into the busiest travel week of the year in the United States.

This time the defendant, Sam Wolanyk says he was asked to pass through the 3-D x-ray machine. When Wolanyk refused, Transportation Security Administration (TSA) personnel told him he would have to be patted down before he could pass through and board his airplane.

Wolanyk said he knew what was coming and took off his pants and shirt, leaving him in Calvin Klein bike undergarments.

“It was obvious that my underwear left nothing to the imagination,” he explained. “But that wasn’t enough for the TSA supervisor who was called to the scene and asked me to put my clothes on so I could be properly patted down.”

It was clear to Wolanyk that TSA only wanted him to submit to a pat-down and if they were interested in ensuring the safety of all passengers they would have rifled through his clothes, carryon baggage and acknowledged that he was not carrying any illegal paraphernalia on his person.

Once Harbor Police arrested Wolanyk, he was handcuffed and paraded through two separate airport terminals in his underwear to the Harbor Police office located inside a different terminal at the airport than Wolanyk had originally gone through during his TSA security process.

The incident was confirmed by Harbor Police Sergeant Rakos who said Wolanyk was arrested on two misdemeanors, “failing to complete the security process; violation code 7.01 and illegally recording the San Diego Airport Authority (they confiscated his iPhone); violation number 7.14 (a).”

Another confirmation came from Ronald Powell, director of communications, who said Wolanyk wasn’t charged with any federal crimes, just the two misdemeanors. “The bottom line is that all our police officers did was enforce the law.”

Powell also stated that there was another arrest of a woman who was allegedly illegally filming the x-ray, and TSA screening process with a video camera. The young woman’s camera was confiscated and she was given a citation and released from Harbor Police custody.

TSA headquarters has told would-be airline travelers who enter an airport checkpoint process and refuse to undergo the method of inspection designated by TSA they will not be allowed to fly and can face possible charges for disrupting the airport security process.

Wolanyk will appear in court on January 7, 2011 to dispute the charges with Jason Davis of Davis and Associates of Orange County by his side.

[vector7]

TSA Groping Leaves Bladder Cancer Survivor Covered in Urine



A retired special education teacher on his way to a wedding in Orlando, Fla., said he was left humiliated, crying and covered with his own urine after an enhanced pat-down by TSA officers recently at Detroit Metropolitan Airport.

“I was absolutely humiliated, I couldn’t even speak,” said Thomas D. “Tom” Sawyer, 61, of Lansing, Mich.

Sawyer is a bladder cancer survivor who now wears a urostomy bag, which collects his urine from a stoma, or opening in his stomach. “I have to wear special clothes and in order to mount the bag I have to seal a wafer to my stomach and then attach the bag. If the seal is broken, urine can leak all over my body and clothes.”

On Nov. 7, Sawyer said he went through the security scanner at Detroit Metropolitan Airport. “Evidently the scanner picked up on my urostomy bag, because I was chosen for a pat-down procedure.”

Due to his medical condition, Sawyer asked to be screened in private. “One officer looked at another, rolled his eyes and said that they really didn’t have any place to take me,” said Sawyer. “After I said again that I’d like privacy, they took me to an office.”

Sawyer wears pants two sizes too large in order to accommodate the medical equipment he wears. He’d taken off his belt to go through the scanner and once in the office with security personnel, his pants fell down around his ankles. “I had to ask twice if it was OK to pull up my shorts,” said Sawyer, “And every time I tried to tell them about my medical condition, they said they didn’t need to know about that.”

[Malsua]

It was clear to Wolanyk that TSA only wanted him to submit to a pat-down and if they were interested in ensuring the safety of all passengers they would have rifled through his clothes, carryon baggage and acknowledged that he was not carrying any illegal paraphernalia on his person.

Obey my Authoritah!

It's not about safety it's about showing who's the boss. Did you know TSA doesn't have arrest powers? They have to turn you over to police for that.

This whole thing is going to go down in a hurry because they more they try to demonstrate they are the boss, the more the public will tell them to shove it up their ass.

[vector7]

Napolitano considering allowing Muslims to pat themselves down at Airports

Posted by Jack Minor • November 17, 2010

By Jack Minor



With the holidays fast approaching, the Transportation Safety Agency Security Administration has announced new security procedures requiring passengers selected for secondary screening to go through a machine that produces a full body scan producing a nude but grainy, black and white image. Passengers choosing to opt out of the scan will face a full body pat.

The head of Homeland Security has indicated the government is considering the request of an Islamic organization that has suggested Muslim women be allowed to pat themselves down during a full body search that is part of new enhanced procedures at airports.

Since implementing the procedures, numerous complaints have arisen that the search is not a “pat-down” but rather feeling and grabbing along a person’s genitalia and other areas until they meet resistance. Critics have said the pat-downs would be considered sexual assault if performed elsewhere.

The TSA defends the procedures as necessary in light of last years “underwear bomber” and the recent issues involving printer cartridges being used in an attempt to blow up cargo planes.

The Council on American-Islamic Relations, CAIR, has expressed concern with the TSA over the regulations and recommended special procedures for dealing with Muslim women. The organization issued a travel advisory for Muslims over the procedure.

In the advisory CAIR advises all Muslims to contact them and file a complaint with the TSA if they experience any “disturbing incidents” with the new procedures and they feel they have been unfairly singled out for screening.

It goes on to make special recommendations for Muslim women wearing a hijab covering their face. The advisory says women are to inform the officer they are only to pat down the head and neck and says “They should not subject you to a full-body or partial body pat-down.” They also recommend that women should be permitted to pat themselves down and “have the officers perform a chemical swipe of your hands.”

Barack Obama’s Homeland Security Czar, Janet Napolitano, is considering changes to the procedures to address the issues raised by CAIR.

Since announcing the rules, several organizations have expressed concern over the procedures. Pilots and flight crews have expressed concern about constant exposure to the low level radiation generated by the machine, but the government denies any danger from having the scan done. The U.S. Airline Pilots Association has issued instructions to members to call in sick and not board a flight if they are too upset to fly after a pat-down. The Allied Pilots Association has urged members to boycott the body imaging machines.

At least one website has recommended Americans boycott the body scans by recommending everyone chosen for additional screening on Nov. 24 to opt out of the body scans and choose the pat down. Some have expressed alarm over the recommendation saying it could slow down or halt the security process on the day before Thanksgiving.

New Jersey lawmakers have pending resolutions demanding Congress tell the TSA that people must not be forced to give up their fourth amendment rights when they choose to travel by airline.

A Reuters poll asking if individuals were less likely to fly as a result of the new procedures revealed 96 percent of respondents affirming they would make alternate travel plans to avoid intrusive security and pat-downs.

John Whitehead, president of the Rutherford Institute, said the regulations came straight from the President himself.

In a recent commentary Whitehead said “legislation has been proposed to mandate full-body scanners and make them the primary screening method in all U.S. airports by 2013, but Congress has yet to act on it. So we can thank Barack Obama for this frontal assault on our Fourth Amendment rights.” He went on to say “Yet in the wake of the bumbling underwear bomber’s botched Christmas Day attempt to blow up a Detroit-bound plane, Obama directed the Homeland Security Department to acquire $1 billion in advanced-technology equipment, including body scanners, for screening passengers at airports.”

The machines have been purchased from California based Rapiscan Systems. The company is a client of the Chertoff Group, a security consulting agency headed by former Homeland Security Secretary Michael Chertoff who has lobbied for the need for installing the machines in airports.

[American Patriot]

Fuck.

That.

Noise.

Until those rules are changed and pat downs are stopped, the airlines will never see any of my money.

We were planning a trip to Michigan.

It was supposed to be a four day thing, Friday through Monday.

I'm going to chat with my wife and tell her I'm not going now

[vector7]

Ah, here we go...real time biometrics system headed for the population.

HOMELAND SECURITY
TSA, Weigh Biometric System for Screening

Pilots unions have entered into what are described as "high-level" and "sensitive" talks with Obama administration officials in recent days in response to a public backlash against the use of the whole-body imaging machines and physical pat-downs that are seen as being too invasive...

The focus of the discussions with the unions centers on rolling out a "crew-pass" system under which pilots would use a card containing biometric information, such as a digital photograph or fingerprint, to move quickly through security checkpoints...

"They are going to expedite implementing the program on a larger scale now," he said....

TSA would neither confirm nor deny that talks have focused on expanding the program...

The group has been asking TSA for almost 10 years...

But a major outstanding issue is how to pay for such a biometric system.

The pilot unions believe that the government must foot the bill.

Mayer described the costs involved in a special screening system in two parts: the cost of installing the physical hardware... and the cost of maintaining a “real-time database” of who is legal to pass through a special system.

The conversations are “certainly at a sensitive phase,” Clearly said. “We’re trying very hard to find common ground.” He agreed there should be a biometric screening system...

Sunday, November 21, 2010
Expanding the TSA - Coming to every city in the USA



A larger, more powerful, and more intrusive bureaucracy. Because you deserve it Amerikans:

TSA chief John Pistole to put priority on all rail, subways: (Public Transportation)

Pistole, 54, took over the TSA on July 1 after 26 years at the FBI. He said he wants to make the agency a full partner in U.S. counterterrorism efforts.

Members of Congress, including House Homeland Security Committee Chairman Bennie Thompson, D-Miss., have pressed the TSA to put more money into mass-transit security. Thompson met with Pistole on Thursday and said the two agreed.

Pistole said he wants TSA workers, including 47,000 screeners at 450 airports, to operate as a "national-security, counterterrorism organization, fully integrated into U.S. government efforts."

"I want to take TSA to the next level," Pistole said.

Are you seeing a picture here? Maybe Obamassiah is getting his National Security Force after all.

[vector7]

On Christmas day 2009 the Underwear Bomber Umar Farouk Abdul Mutallab got aboard Northwest Airlines Flight 253 with help and Obama officials knew he was on plane heading for Detroit and did nothing.

When he was caught he was served Miranda Rights.

After this incident the Administration started rolling out Airport X-Ray Scanners and the TSA became the Gestapo:

• Military Blogger Michael Yon: “TSA people are out of control”

• Airport body scanners can cause DNA damage?

• Papers, Please!

All of these terrorist attacks have a common link of cover up within the Obama Administration and are connected to Yemen cleric's Farouk Abdulmutallab and Anwar Ak-Awlaki.

Obama Administration has sought to dismiss al-Awlaki lawsuit

Then these statements recently emerged out of the Administration:

• Clinton Official: Only A Terror Attack Can Save Obama's credibility
• Obama: "We Can Absorb a Terrorist Attack"

The Administration Is Setting Us Up For An “Event” So Obama Can Say “I Was Trying To Protect You”

[Ryan Ruck]

We were planning a trip to Michigan.

It was supposed to be a four day thing, Friday through Monday.

I'm going to chat with my wife and tell her I'm not going now

Both of you should just wear burkas and tell the TSA such pat downs are against your religion. Seems that everyone who doesn't want to get groped before getting on a plane should do that. No law says only Muslim women can wear it and that you have to wear it once you are on the plane.

[American Patriot]

I'm done.

Fuck the airline industry.

[vector7]

To the hell airplanes!

Nothing is more "American" than travelling on the road!



On endless freeways.

If the TSA has their way they won't be free either.

"I want to take TSA to the next level," Pistole said.

[vector7]

Members of Congress Exempt From TSA AIT Full Body Scanners

Eric Calouro | Nov 20, 2010 | Comments (16)



We’ve tried really hard to stay away from the increasingly popular TSA AIT full body scanners topic, and for a good reason. Personally, I don’t mind the use of them on myself, but I can see why many folks feel like it’s a violation of their privacy. To a certain extent it is.

What’s motivating me to publish this post is the fact that you ought to know why this topic isn’t resonating as much as we would like it to with Congressional members. So, why isn’t it a big issue with our Congressmen and Congresswomen?

Could it be the fact that they’re, say, exempt from TSA screening? You betcha.

See, some members of Congress fly to and from Washington on military jets. The fact that they may not be checked for weapons here is understandable, given they’re not traveling with civilian passengers, but other members of Congress often travel commercially.

Case in point: newly-appointed Speaker of the House John Boehner.

The man often travels domestically with other passengers, but gets to bypass TSA security and go directly to the gate. Sure, the man likely isn’t planning to cause harm, but still, should he not be expected to endure the checks the rest of us must?

Head of the Republican party Michael Steel confirmed that Congress members are, in fact, exempt from security screening.

Just wonderful.

[American Patriot]

Yeah, Mrs. Clinton was droning on this morning about how we probably are going to have to suck it up and do this.

Then when she was asked, "Would you go through this?"

"Nope, not if I don't have to!"

[American Patriot]

Poor things..... I EXPANDED some text below. I want you people to read what it says, VERY CAREFULLY.

TSA workers face verbal abuse from travelers

Union that represents airport screeners urges agency to protect employees

1. Below:
   
2. 
   
   • x
     
     • 
     
     Jump to video Counterterrorism expert defends use of pat-downs
   • video
3. 
   
   • x Jump to data Where are the scanners?
   • data
4. 
   
   • x
     
     • 
     
     Jump to photos Airport Body Searches
   • photos
5. 
   
   • x Jump to discussion comments below
   • discussion
6. 
   
   • x Related story TSA chief apologizes to traveler with ostomy
   • related

Advertisement | ad info





By Harriet Baskas Travel writer
msnbc.com contributor msnbc.com contributor
updated 1 hour 36 minutes ago 2010-11-22T20:37:10

• Share
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Airline passengers aren’t the only ones complaining about the Transportation Security Administration’s new enhanced security procedures. Many TSA employees aren’t too happy, either.
The American Federation of Government Employees, the union that represents TSA workers, is urging the TSA to do more to protect its employees from abuse from airline passengers angry over the new security methods. The union reports that some members “have reported instances in which passengers have become angry, belligerent and even physical with TSOs (transportation security officers). In Indianapolis, for example, a TSO was punched by a passenger who didn’t like the new screening process,” the union said in a Nov. 17 statement posted on its website.

1. Related coverage
   
   
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   3. Road work may slow your holiday road trip
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Union President John Gage called on TSA to provide an educational pamphlet to each passenger describing both their rights and the details of the new procedures, which include full-body scans and enhanced pat-downs.
Video: Counterterrorism expert defends use of pat-downs (on this page) “This absence of information has resulted in a backlash against the character and professionalism of TSOs,” said Gage in a statement. “TSA must act now — before the Thanksgiving rush — to ensure that TSOs are not being left to fend for themselves.”
“Our concern is that the public not confuse the people implementing the policies with the people who developed the policies,” said Sharon Pinnock, the union's director of membership and organization.
White House spokesman Robert Gibbs said Monday the government will take into account the public's concerns and complaints as it evaluates airport security measures. He says TSA procedures will continue to evolve.
Story: TSA chief apologizes to traveler with ostomy
Some travelers have vowed to disrupt airport security Wednesday in a protest timed for the busiest travel day of the year, as millions of Americans fly off for annual family feasts.
“TSOs are trained security professionals,” Pinnock said. “Despite this call for chaos and disruption, it’s our belief that our members and people we represent will respond as the security professionals that they are.”
Complaints of verbal abuse
Full-body scanners are now in place at close to 70 airports and send virtually naked images of passengers to a TSA screener at a remote location. Those who wish to avoid the scanners must instead undergo a new, open-palmed pat-down that many travelers, and even some security officers, feel is too personally invasive.
Aviation and security blogger Steven Frischling said he has received comments from TSA front-line screeners complaining of verbal abuse.
“Molester, pervert, disgusting, an embarrassment, creep. These are all words I have heard today at work describing me. ...These comments are painful and demoralizing,” one unnamed TSO posted on Frischling’s website.
Another said: “Being a TSO means often being verbally abused. You let the comments roll off and check the next person; however, when a woman refuses the scanner then comes to me and tells me that she feels like I am molesting her; that is beyond verbal abuse.”
“I have encountered a few TSA transportation security officers that have the ‘We're keeping people safe’ attitude,” said Frischling, “But when you ask them about specific aspects of the TSA's policy or procedure, they backpedal a bit and admit there are problems.”
Interactive: Airport Security (on this page) TSA chief John Pistole said Monday on NBC’s TODAY show that the agency is reviewing its passenger screening methods to ensure they are as minimally invasive as possible. "We're going to look at how can we do the most effective screening in the least invasive way knowing that there's always a trade-off between security and privacy," Pistole said.
Pistole noted that those getting body searches constitute "a very small percent" of the 34 million people who have flown since the new policy went into effect.
“Obviously our work force has received the brunt of the frustration from passengers but seem to be dealing with it quite well, as they have been reassured they are doing a critical job at a critical time,” said TSA spokesman Nico Melendez. He added that TSA employees are prohibited from talking to the media “without prior approval.”
“The thing to keep in mind is that stress affects screeners as much as it does travelers,” said Tom Murphy, director of the Human Resiliency Institute at Fordham University. Murphy has provided customer-service training to screeners at many U.S. airports. “While senior government officials explore how to achieve optimum security in less intrusive, and therefore less stressful, ways my recommendation to travelers is to try to see this from the screeners’ point of view.”
A stressful job
Guy Winch, an expert on the psychology of complaining and customer service and the author of a forthcoming book, “The Squeaky Wheel,” is concerned with the stress levels TSA employees may be experiencing this week on the job.
He explains that the “emotional labor” TSA workers must do — “processing people regardless of hostile exchanges … and looking for explosives and weapons” — makes the stakes for performing their duties correctly “as high as they get.” Winch says the best thing TSA administrators can do for employees doing enhanced pat-downs is to provide an extra layer of managerial and supervisory support. “They need to convey the message that superiors are aware of the stresses the employees are under and are there to support them.”



Winch says having a mental health professional on staff or available as a referral “can be crucial in helping the people who did not make these rules but are charged with enforcing and implementing them nonetheless.”



Stewart Baker, who worked at the Department of Homeland Security as its first secretary of policy under President George W. Bush, suspects the new security protocols and the aggressive reaction of some passengers is hurting TSA morale.



“TSA has made a lot of progress in training its officers to be professional even in the face of unhappy passengers, but the latest protocols — and press coverage of the most inflammatory stories — have led to a much higher level of hostility,” said Baker.



“Instead of making this Wednesday National Opt-Out Day in which a bunch of self-appointed guardians of liberty slow down the line for everyone by asking for pat-downs,” said Baker, “maybe what we need is a day when everyone who goes through the line says, ‘Thanks for what you do.’ ”



Information from the Associated Press was included in this report.

Harriet Baskas is a frequent contributor to msnbc.com, author of the “Stuck at the Airport” blog and a columnist for USATODAY.com. You can follow her on Twitter .