There are many thankless professions across this nation but perhaps none so under appreciated as the good old TSA.
Just like how no one ever wants the police around until they need them, no one ever wants the TSA around until grandma has gone to long without a public molesting.
And what do they get for their tireless service? They get sued that’s what!
The Richmond Times Dispatch dispatches this in a timely manner:
Authorities involved in the arrest of a protester who removed his shirt and pants at a security checkpoint at Richmond International Airport were doing their jobs and acted appropriately, a government attorney argued Wednesday in Richmond federal court.
Carlotta P. Wells, an attorney for the U.S. Department of Justice, argued in favor of a motion to dismiss Aaron B. Tobey’s lawsuit, which claims his constitutional rights were violated. Wells said Tobey had made his point by removing his shirt to display words from the Fourth Amendment written on his torso but went too far when he disobeyed a command to pass through a security scanner.
But Anand Agneshwar, an attorney representing Tobey in his lawsuit against airport and federal officials, said the 21-year-old Charlottesville man obeyed the commands of authorities. Agneshwar said it was the authorities who went too far by detaining Tobey for 90 minutes or longer with his hands cuffed behind his back.
Well, if the vast majority of the public won’t say it we certainly will. Thank you, TSA! Thank you for protecting us from our right to be secure from unreasonable searches and seizures! Thank you so very much.
– Written by Kip Hooker at TheVitaminPress.com
Source: Times Dispatch
This post was last modified on January 26, 2021
View Comments (26)
I've already told my husband if I have to fly I will wear my bikini under a wrap dress. Undo the tie and spin for them. They are not going to touch me; therefore, I won't be flying anytime soon.
At the risk of seeming to defend the TSA, it bears repeating that airlines and aircraft are -for the most part- private property. Entering an aircraft is like entering any other place of business -- the Constitution does not apply. The 4th Amendment is irrelevant. That's why stores can be loaded with security cameras in a way that we would not tolerate on our streets. As a legal matter, a lot of issues are unsettled regarding the TSA, admittedly, inasmuch as it is a government agency, and federal rules dictate some standard of security -- *should* the 4th Am. apply to a government agency doing work for a private company? Would it make you feel better if it was Wackenhut?
Personally, I think airlines should have the option to establish their own security procedures. The procedures are transparent, of course, that is, you know what it is because you go through it. If you don't think it's adequate -- well, you go back to the ticket counter for a refund. Yes, someone will eventually get blown up -- but I think we're facing that anyway.
I wonder how ticket prices will float to reflect security? Oh yes, the free market must be allowed to operate. I'm guessing you would get very cheap prices from the extremes - the ones doing TSA style full-contact searches, and the ones doing no more than asking you the traditional "3 Questions." El Al style security would command a premium, and British Airways (30 years of the IRA) would be close behind. In between -- everyone else who pulls aside young men named Mohammed and lets Granny stay in her wheelchair.
You hit the nail on the head. It is a government agency doing service for a private enterprise. There is an error there. Let the airlines defend themselves. They will probably enact some form of Israeli style enforcement of security, and will we all be safer.
I can't go much into this, but there are agencies in the US forces who's job is to create inert explosive devices and attempt to get them through TSA. To this day, TSA has found one of hundreds.
If you want to stop TSA crap
then don't fly.
Airline profits decrease= no more groping
Commandant: "Rule number one: Anyone disobeying an order - any order - will be shot. Rule number two: No, there is no rule two. Rule number one seems to cover everything..."
-- The Secret War of Harry Frigg
"...when he disobeyed a command ..."
That says it all doesn't it?
I'm the first in line to jam the TSA. Buuut, I have to say F*** this punk. He went to the airport with an agenda. That agenda had little or nothing to do with the Constitution IMO. He did everything in his power to get detained. I'm making this assumption based on the fact that he managed to get down to his underwear, at the checkpoint, so his picture would get taken with some 'stuff' written on his chest.
This is more about him getting Facebook hits and some free cash at the American taxpayers expense. Bet this little d-nozzle has dropped out of school already in anticipation of his big payday.
I have no problem going through a basic search...you want to scan my bag for weapons, sure....what I do have a problem with is the TSA obvious lack of common sense...I've seen retirement age parents wheeling their son up thru the line (and the fella was strapped in, obviously in a debilitated condition) and it becomes this painful, aggravating process for them....little children, folks with colostomy bags, the list gets too long....
yet we refuse to take tips from probably the most successful nation as securing their air travel: Israel....because *gasp* we might actually *gasp again* PROFILE travelers...OMG think of the pain and humiliation that would be inflicted
Finally, my biggest problem with all this TSA crap is that it does a great job hassling the ever-loving sh** out of me and making air-travel hell, but it has minimal impact on our true safety....WHO checks the workers at the airport? What organization scans commercial packages that routinely ride on passenger flights (see Awlaqi - printer bombs)? We're so busy buttressing up the FRONT DOOR (body scanners, shoes off, et al) that we fail to see the terrorists are now busy figuring out ways to sneak in the BACK DOOR, the SIDE door, the BASEMENT window etc...but don't be concerned, Grandma and Timmy are fully irradiated now and don't pose a threat.
Once again, it comes down to this, do we follow the decades long success record of Israel and profile passengers, or do we continue to harass senior citizens and infants?
My parents won't fly anymore because of this crap. My father needs a wheelchair to get through airports, because of his knees he can't stand or walk long distances without help. The minute you are in a wheelchair, even the ones provided by the airline, you become subject to more intense screening. A partially disabled person in their 70's, traveling only with their spouse, is the last one that would be hijacking a freaking plane!
TSA=Terrifically Stupid A-holes!
You're right Dogfather, it's all window dressing. I could get a company of armed men on the tarmac at the airport where I work...today! I'd have to ferry them in 8-10 at a time through the unmanned checkpoint. But, nobody would notice or even make an effort to stop me from making the 12+ round trips from the parking lot to the terminal.
It makes me very angry that the area where baggages cross over from bldg to plane and back do not have cameras. Not only for security but also to catch thieves. Union do not support that saying invasion but they are in company time it is not invasive to make sure they are doing honest work and to make sure that no one that is not supposed to be there is not there putting things in bags.
If a man gives up his freedom for safety, then he deserves neither. Bf.
In response to the person who says everone should be searched.
Who wrote this headline? "Shirtless TEEN?" Last time I checked, 21 years old is not a teen.
Well, he WAS detained for a LONG TIME ....
I love how you people complain about searches that are being conducted for your own safety and the protection of loved ones. Get over it. Small price to pay for peace of mind. I think everyone should be searched - EVERYONE.
Yes, he had an agenda. But the larger point that you're either ignorant of or are deliberately trying to obscure is that there wouldn't have been a story if the TSA hadn't acted, well, like the TSA has stereotyped themselves as acting.
I'm a little unclear if he just undressed because he wanted to or because he was ordered to. Either way, they felt slighted that someone DARED make a point of the complete abuse of power going on in a peaceful (albeit slightly strange) method. So, they tell him to go through the scanner. By ordering him to go into the scanner, they confirm everything we already knew about them.
They could have just ignored him. Then we either wouldn't have known anything had happened or we would have gotten a headline like this: "Shirtless Guy Stands Around in Airport".
"baaaaa...baaaaaaa.....baaaaaaaa"
So said the sheep as it was herded through the gates...
Sleep. Obey. Consume. Pay your taxes. Do not question your masters. Do not question their methods. Do not question their violation of the law. The law does not apply to them, only to you. It's for your own good.
Come round my place, hot stuff, I'll be glad to oblige. Ah-ha.
I bet Robert loves the story about the pedophiles. He seems to be heading that way. Going to the pedophile playground later Bobby? By the Way Bobby boy, Who is "You People"???? You seem to be lumping people in to groups which is a standard liberal thingy...Saying thingy didn't get you excited did it Bob? Perhaps Bob..you should move to the middle east where I am sure they would be happy to accommodate you with all the cavity searches your little heart desires. Bring Grandma so they can peek in her diaper too, and stand back and enjoy when they strip search your five year old daughter....
Yes, be a good German, and bend over for your cavity search.
That's what Hitler and the Gestapo said too!