Family Misses Flight After TSA Gives Pat-Down To Girl With Cerebral Palsy

Pat downs make one feel raped.. if you get a hard on about my fat ass fine.. But Israel tends to just laugh at us at these dumb things


UBL is probably getting awards in hell

Nor do I trust TSA officials to understand radiation health physics or know how to calibrate the machinery.

I worked in a hospital x-ray department for a few years. The techs were always warning us to avoid this kind of radiation: radiation absorbed by the tissues of the body. When you hear someone talk about "no more radiation than a routine chest x-ray" as the amount supposedly used during a procedure, remember that for chest x-rays, as well as for broken bones, the radiation passes through the body to expose the film. The kind of x-rays used by the TSA is absorbed by the body and the tissues.

TSA radiation is much more damaging to the human body.

Google "TSA" and "cancer" and see the many reports...

I'm actually waiting for a flight to Stockholm right now. Twice today I've opted out of the Rapiscan machines, in favor of a patdown.

Then, because of her leg braces, the scan will identify the anomaly. And she would still have to be patted down.

Do we do away with all airport screening? It has been stated that if this is not done randomly, we run the risk of profiling. Of course, if we do it randomly, we end up with children, elderly, handicapped, etc. having just as much of a chance of being screened as anyone else.

a tad bit more than that I'm afraid.

They start at $11 per hour or a little over $22 thousand a year.

Would Harry Truman have put up with this bullshit?

Not a chance.

No one, not a single person in the chain of authority, is accountable.

These stories only enforce the general attitude average law abiding citizens have that the TSA are a bunch of foolish thugs. But indeed they aren't; the higher ups have to get smart and put someone on the line who can be the one who says to let this person go, check another. or maybe go lightly obviously a child isn't a threat.
But no, they double down when issues like this surface in the media.

What we are doing now would not have prevented those attacks.

She was selected for extra screening specifically because of her leg braces. My husband and I always get extra screening because we used to wear leg braces (we've had corrective surgery since), which is the largest part of why we don't fly any more.

They go to town inspecting canes, examining the chair, looking at orthotics, etc.

Real pain in the ass, trying to round up my shoes and help others with theirs as well. Very discombobulating.

I always leave extra time at the airport!

a metal detector AND be wanded even if I don't set anything off. That's for any reason that is court controlled, for example paying child support or paying a traffic ticket.

I guess we're lucky we don't have to do that to pay our property taxes. . . yet.

Eric Holder needs to get his priorities straight and watch his TSA agents instead of all those medical marijuana users. Old people wearing diapers, people with handicaps aren't the big threat here. If the TSA let drugs through, what else would they let through for cash.

snip:

Four current and former Transportation Security Administration screeners have been arrested and face charges of taking bribes and looking the other way while suitcases filled with cocaine, methamphetamine or marijuana passed through X-ray machines at Los Angeles International Airport, federal authorities announced Wednesday.

http://latimesblogs.latimes.com/lanow/2012/04/tsa-screeners-drug-arrest.html

The more power we give to minimum wage thugs and the less we give to the citizenry the less safe we become.

Has anyone ever seen a Muslim TSA agent? I sure haven't.

I figure, just like everyone else.

Or is there a profile?

Seriously?!

The TSA tries to convince us that's it's doing some great job of keeping us safe with this "wide net" bs by assuming everyone's guilty and not doing any profiling. In the meantime, I've flow a lot and have never seen someone that "looks" Muslim. And come on, don't be obtuse, if you don't know what I'm talking about then let me spell it out for you. Women in headscarves, middle eastern looking men with beards.

This tells me that on the back end, the TSA is doing plenty of profiling. The fact that one of my co-workers, a supervisor at a major oil company, who's muslim and from Yemen, gets an extra screening every time he flies, tells me that as well.

I knew that comment would get the standard knee-jerk opposition, maybe you can actually consider the question first. Just a thought. Or you could just throw out the "profiling" comment and shut down the question without having to think about it.

but with this: "Women in headscarves, middle eastern looking men with beards." you will miss, based on my travels around the world, something on the order of 80-90% of followers of Islam. Ummm, blatent stereotyping, much? Or is this more satire?

It also completely ignores the fact that any terrorist would be well-advised to actually try to NOT stick out as you have described.

to me I have seen officers in head scarves at JFK. It's been a matter of a little pride to me to see Customs officers who appear to be immigrants, as well.

(Changed Now to not - can't type worth a darn sometimes!)

as it would indicate that perhaps they actually know what they're doing. Which I have grave doubts about.

Racial profiling is not.

One of the biggest mistakes of the Bush/Cheney reign was the creation of the Department of Homeland Security.

When is this TSA insanity and tyranny going to end?
When is the questionable management evidenced in the Secret Service Scandal going to be understood and corrected?
Are we really going to get Homeland Security drones spying on all of us from above?

Here is one cabinet department that Pres. Obama could promise to eliminate. We'd be better off going back to the organization for "homeland" security before Bush and Lieberman came up with this terrible idea.

Of course, the Dept. of Homeland Security is part of the military-industrial complex and there are too many corporations and lobbyist making money now for it ever to be eliminated.

Still, I'm quite disappointed that Napolitano and Pres. Obama have not made any effort to rein-in the abuses and stupidity of TSA.

Whoopee. Nobody wants to spend any politcal capital on this; they'd rather just have us all suffer.

I'd say that's because they don't have to deal with it but a congressman here in Texas just got felt up by the TSE so I guess everyone gets to feel the pain.

"In a phone interview from her home in Fountain Valley, Calif., Croft said Brademeyer tried to no avail to get TSA agents to use a wand on the frightened girl or allow her to walk through the metal detector again. She also said TSA agents wanted to screen her granddaughter alone in a separate room.

“She was kicking and screaming and fighting and in hysterics,” Croft said. “At that point my daughter ran up to her against TSA’s orders because she said ‘my daughter is terrified, I can’t leave her.’”

The incident went on for maybe 10 minutes, until a manager came in and allowed agents to pat the girl down while she was screaming but being held by her mother. The family was then allowed to go to their next gate with a TSA agent following them."

http://washington.cbslocal.com/2012/04/25/tsa-defends-pat-down-of-4-year-old-girl-at-kansas-airport/

The whole thing is unpleasant for everyone, but I'm not sure a lowly TSA agent has discretion to do what they want. In this day people may not feel like exposing themselves to the risk of deviating from procedures.

The total lack of judgement and presumption of guilt of every American by the TSA makes my blood boil.

I really can't imagine having that thankless job, particlarly since the number of terrorist plots uncovered by the TSE stands, as of this morning at....let me check my numbers...carry the zero....ZERO. Total waste of resources.

Every one of these guys probably wakes up hoping they're going to find a pocket knife they can confiscate, since they know they won't be finding a terrorist. That doesn't stop some of them from treating us like one though.

Most TSA agents have been pretty cool, but since I'll be travelling this summer with two toddlers and an infant, I'm already getting nervous. One bad seed can ruin your trip.

The TSA is long overdue for an overhaul to inject some common sense into the procedures. I'd personally shut the whole damn thing down as it benefits nobody, but that is wishful thinking.

But that aside I wonder if they were late showing up and that is part of the reason why they ended up missing the flight?
After all dont alot of airlines ask passengers to show up a few hours before the flight and I also wonder if they contacted the airline ahead of time to let them know that their daughter was handicapped, if so you would think it would have saved them some time.

People shouldn't have to show up three hours ahead of time, submit a written explanation of their disabilities etc, just to get on ain airplane. Of course the issue was the braces, but since braces are not sentient beings, you have to assume, which they did, that either the people have been recruited by terrorists to smuggle explosives in their daughters crutches, and prepare to blow themselves up, or that they came up with the same idea all on their own.

Or, there is the remote possibility that it's just an average American family on vacation who pose no threat to anyone. Nah, that's impossible.

on another forum I was visiting they explain its recommended because airlines will sell the seat to someone else if you dont check in before a certain time for your flight.
As for the braces, if your flying with braces a wheelchair or any other special device then you really should try to be there early to avoid delays and its not just because they need to check out the items but also to make boarding easier because if you have such things they may very well board you earlier so as not to delay the flight.

'Dept. of Homeland Security', a Grandmother, forced to remove a diaper, by the same Orwellian thugs, Blue Shirts I think they are referred to, working for the same Orwellian 'Homeland Security' Org.

The list is growing, and the question is, when will the American people rise up against the theft of their rights and freedoms? Or, as in other societies before them, as seems to be happening already, will they just 'submit' to the Government and how far can the Government go before enough is enough? In other historical examples of these kinds of phony policies, based on fear as the selling point, and money as the main goal, they waited too long.

There are no excuses for this. None. Zero. But of course there will always be the 'pragmatic' types, trying to appear 'reasonable' who are the main reason why Governments get away this kind of thing.


The Virtual Rape Machines are banned in Europe, for two reasons. They don't work and they violate people's rights. But here in the 'Land of the Free' there are NO rights left that cannot be violated in the name of 'feedom'.

Name me a 'right' that it would be so egregious to violate that they would not dare? I can't think of any. And I know that each time they do it, there will be so many apologists minimizing the real threat to this country, the destruction of rights which no terrorist could accomplish, in exchange for 'feeling safe'.

That is the threat, the loss of rights, not a terror attack, which may kill a few people, but could never destroy our rights, unless we allow it.

And if protecting those rights is no longer a priority, then let's stop pretending to be the great Democracy we keep claiming to be. It's not true. We have become a nation of cowards, afraid of everything, will to give up all rights in order to get a false sense of 'safety'. And as Ben Franklin said, such a nation doesn't deserve rights. Just stop pretending we do, it's laughable at this point.

"That is the threat, the loss of rights, not a terror attack, which may kill a few people, but could never destroy our rights, unless we allow it".

TSA is the one who delayed them. Nothing the airlines can do about that. The gate check person would have seen that they checked in (as you have to be IDd and ticketed before going through security) and probably made overhead calls to the passengers asking them to get to the gate. Not much more they can do.

of the situtation before hand as well the airline probably would have advised the family to check in earlier than usual so as to board them before most of the other passengers since it takes extra time to assist someone who is disabled and yes I am speaking from experience here because my mother is confined to a wheelchair now so going anywhere including to the store takes extra time and effort.

but there is nothing the airlines can do about TSA. Leg braces, wheelchairs, pins (like from knee reconstruction) are all flags to them. My sister has a card she carries in her wallet to identify her as someone with surgical metal.

I almost missed a connecting flight decades ago because a jerk from the Agriculture Dept decided to make a really big deal out of unpacking the luggage of a woman ahead of me. The airline told me there was nothing that they could do. If the airlines were helpless in the face of Ag Dept obstinance in the 1980s I am certain that they have zero clout with TSA.

And sometimes it's not possible to arrive two hours before your flight, if your connecting flight doesn't happen to land conveniently two hours before your connecting flight.

so as to be ready and prepared for it so that the process can be smoother for everyone.

The woman ahead of me was Indian. Her bags were full of herbs and spices for cooking. The guy from the Ag Dept opened every one and finally found some that he triumphantly announced were seeds.

we did these things. There are more sensible things to do to look for terrorists or bombs. What happened here is senseless, and harmful.

Which is the gravest of all sins. Remember the Flying Imams?

the replacements will get the idea to instruct their underlings to use common sense and not harass crippled seven year olds.

Travel via cruise ship if possible or use the family car and take a nice drive or travel by bus not to mention train travel is nice I hear though all of those of course are no where near as fast of course as the convenience of an airplane but they are all viable alternatives in their own way.

more of them. I don't believe it has much to do with airport security, just more bankroll for the 1%. They are ineffective and would be useless to prevent a real terrorist attack.

Politicians Who Own Stakes in Airport Scanner Companies
snip:
The Center for Responsive Politics says it’s done the legwork and after reviewing the most recent personal financial disclosure filings, found eight members of Congress -- three Democrats and five Republicans – who owned at least $2,000 worth of stock in L-3 Communications, which is a government contractor purportedly involved in the full-body scanning machines.

Read more: http://www.foxbusiness.com/markets/2010/11/24/politicians-stakes-airport-scanner-companies/#ixzz1t8MXsLvl

great video to explain just how ineffective and what a scam these machines are.

...which is why marijuana and other drugs remain illegal. Can you imagine the drop in profits for both prison industry and big pharma if Congressional profiteers changed the laws?

I mean, really, this should be straight-forward stuff.

Someone needs to get fired for this. In fact, alot of someones need to get fired for this, and the fondling of that 4 yr-old in Kansas, and any of the other myriad cases of TSA-Gone-Wild cases.

It's security theater designed to coerce and psychologically condition the populace to obey.

egregious assaults on or civil liberties, the more they will push on us. Anyone who has been subjected to TSA groping, embarrassing pat downs, and the safety issues regarding low level x-rays, knows what I mean. Acceptance and compliance is their goal.

...

No excuses. Just stop flying.

Obviously I don't work for TSA.

I don't know if you work for TSA or not and really don't care.

...I'll just drive, thank you. Then all I have to worry about is license-plate profiling if I drive east out of California on any major interstate highway. I've been pulled over repeatedly for shit like not having my turn signal on for two complete seconds before executing a lane change after passing a slow-moving undercover Highway Patrol car. Then they want to search my vehicle, and when I refuse, they want me to sit on the side of the road until their drug dog arrives. I'm not "arrested" or "detained;" I just can't leave until the drug dog gets there. Another time, it was for "weaving within the lane." Funny, they never give me a ticket; they just want to seach my vehicle.

I remember when you could talk about "the land of the free" without being ironic.

Congress should have investigated at that time.

It will never be done. Too many people making money off this.

Drove out to Cotati, and I agree, I could have flown but decided to drive. Sure, it took a couple of days both ways, but I enjoyed the drive and the scenery. And no TSA bullshit.

Rented a car with free miles at about the cost of a round-trip plane ticket.

(I'm hoping the next time I go, it'll be a "one-way" rental, if you catch my drift! )

Do you understand that it's impossible to drive every place in the world?

Yesterday I purchased airline tickets to London from Seattle. I have to get there. You expect me not to get home because you want me to teach the TSA a lesson.

Protesting the Obama government, for allowing this, would be a better idea.

I have no expectations as to what mode that you should use to return to London. And, I have no desire for you to teach the TSA a lesson. In fact, my post didn't refer to teaching the TSA a lesson at all. You created that out of your imagination.

If you want to go, then go.

It's security theater, and the whole point isn't to make passengers safe at all, but to make it safe for psychopathic politicians to impose authoritarian rule.

Their purpose is to send one message: "We can fuck with and ruin your life at any time we want, and don't need a reason to do it."

Every time you go through an airport, you're being psychologically conditioned to OBEY. Submit to the authority, or we'll delay you, subject you to ritual sexual humiliation, maybe criminally charge you and wreck your entire life, or maybe we'll just kill you for shits and giggles.

Yes. The TSA is fucking evil. Shit like this happens BY DESIGN.

I'll say it again. The TSA is un-American. People that work for the TSA are anti-liberty subhuman trash.

Totally Agree, It's like the Nazi's did to gain control of Germany before WWII, And it's not going to stop too many people are making money off this $hit, And too many people are blind to the truth of it all. They would rather be in the matrix then to be free.

Nah, mostly they're just citizens who need to work.

You're confusing the politicians/profiteers with the workers.

Fortunately, Canada is just a few hours north of me. When I cross the border, I know they won't let me stay, but lord, how I wish they would!

Tired Old Cynic

I only fly now when it is an emergency, and there is no alternative way to get to my destination.

The TSA is the shame of our nation.

Oh, wait, I'm sorry...these pat downs are "frustrating, but necessary." Even for those with disability issues.

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/40289750/ns/travel/t/obama-tsa-pat-downs-frustrating-necessary/

Traveling with my SIL and her 2 all American-looking boys.

I refuse to go through xray screening (those machines make my ears ring) so I get hand searched every time, and I travel a lot. So far I've never encountered anyone who wasn't completely professional - they even explain every move they're about to make. There is sometimes a bit of a wait for this kind of screening though - I've waited up to 15 min.

but to train us to be obediant mindless slaves. The agency sucks needed resources (money) out of the budget and puts it in the hands of Chertoff and others. TSA has never once prevented a ture act of terrorism. I trust my fellow passengers more than TSA.

The anger will build and build

against the government

the citizens of this great nation are totally capable of handling security on their own. the TSA didn't stop the shoe bomber, the passengers did. the TSA didn't stop the underwear bomber, the passengers did.

patting down crippled children is an insult to the child, parents, and our nation as a whole.

the TSA should step off and go back to rummaging through people's personal items in suitcases as they did after the lockerbee incident. other than that they have proven themselves to be ineffectual and worthless pains in the exhaust manifold.