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Compiled by Steve Jalsevac
NOTABLE TSA SCREENING ABUSE INCIDENTS
Note: These are incidents that have received wide publicity. It takes uncommon courage for those involved to have gone public with these personal trials encountered by themselves or their family members. Undoubtedly there have been far more similar incidents of abuse that have not been publicized because of the timidity, personal embarassment or trauma that the victims have undergone.
Airport staff ‘exposed woman’s breasts, laughed’ – The Australian
A WOMAN is suing over an incident where airport staff allegedly pulled down her top and joked about her breasts in public view. The 23-year-old traveller, from Amarillo, US, is suing the US Government for the emotional distressed she says the Transportation Security Administration (TSA) agents caused.
NH Grandma groped by TSA blasts ‘invasive’ body search – Boston Herald
Woman says her Lambert security screening was sexual assault – Channel 4, Kmov.com, St. Louis
Moroney explains “Her gloved hands touched my breasts…went between them. Then she went into the top of my slacks, inserted her hands between my underwear and my skin… then put her hands up on outside of slacks, and patted my genitals.” “I was shaking and crying when I left that room” Moroney says. “Under any other circumstance, if a person touched me like that without my permission, it would be considered criminal sexual assault.”
Enhanced pat down leaves Grand Rapids airline passenger in tears – wzzm13, ABC, West Michigan
Before boarding a flight in Grand Rapids, a woman says the search at the security checkpoint was violent, unnecessary and extremely upsetting. “When I got on the plane all I wanted to do was sob,” says traveler Ella Swift. Swift says they told her she was singled out because she was wearing a skirt. She says the search earlier this month was very rough and left her in tears.
“The female officer ran her hand up the inside of my leg to my groin and she did it so hard and so rough she lifted me off my heels,” she says. “I think I yelped. I was in pain for about an hour afterwards. It just felt excessive and unnecessary.” After reviewing the incident, a TSA spokesman says officers involved in the Grand Rapids search acted “appropriately and respectfully.”
Cancer surviving flight attendant told to remove prosthetic breast during pat-down – WBTV, North Charlotte
“She put her full hand on my breast and said, ‘What is this?’. And I said, ‘It’s my prosthesis because I’ve had breast cancer.’ And she said, ‘Well, you’ll need to show me that’.” Cathy was asked to show her prosthetic breast, removing it from her bra. “I did not take the name of the person at the time because it was just so horrific of an experience, I couldn’t believe someone had done that to me. I’m a flight attendant. I was just trying to get to work.”
TSA pat-down leaves traveler covered in urine – MSNBC
‘I was absolutely humiliated,’ said bladder cancer survivor
Young Boy strip searched by TSA – YouTube
Woman on TSA patdowns: ‘I feel molested’ – abc actions news
Woman says granddaughter mortified seeing pat down
Ron Paul: Crotch Groped by TSA, Calls for Boycott of Airlines – Info wars
Now you can breathe easy, Infidels: Wheelchair-bound nun searched by TSA – Jihadwatch
Mother harassed over breast milk screening – TSA Abuse blog
Khloe Kardashian: Going through airport security is like being raped in public – NY Daily News
REACTIONS TO NEW INVASIVE SCREENINGS
TSA’s enhanced security spurs US ‘airport rage’ – YouTube
TSA boss: New pat-downs are more invasive – Yahoo News
The head of the Transportation Security Administration is acknowledging that the new pat-downs are more invasive than what travelers were used to in the past.
Napolitano: The Ball’s in My Court Now – Ann Coulter – Townhall
After Muslim terrorist Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab of Nigeria tried to detonate explosive material in his underwear over Detroit last Christmas, the government began requiring nude body scans at airports. The machines, which cannot detect chemicals or plastic, would not have caught the diaper bomber. So, again, no hijackers were stopped, but being able to see passengers in the nude boosted the morale of airport security personnel by 22 percent.
Critics say TSA comment ‘opens door to pedophiles’
“Of course this opens the door to future pedophiles, teachers, little friends and others ‘playing’ the ‘pat down game’ with children, and taking it further as the traumatized child tries to understand what is happening,” Dr. Judith Reisman told WND. “What a fantasy! Here they can molest whom they wish freely and with the imprimatur of the state, to ‘protect’ the population. If roughly one in four girls and one in six boys are identified as early molest victims, how many are to be additionally traumatized by these invasive molestations, which indeed they are.
If the Israelis can fully protect their travelers with the simple procedure of profiling, it is unconscionable for our government not to do the same,” she said.
To allow men and women to sexually molest children under the heading of ‘security’ while refusing to profile for terrorists is criminal, in my opinion,” Reisman said.
Pilots and passengers rail at new airport patdowns – Reuters
Flood of complaints leave TSA relatively unchanged – Townhall
TSA administrator John Pistole told reporters on a conference call Tuesday that the TSA hasn’t changed anything yet as a result of the public outcry against its latest enhanced pat-downs, but the agency is going back to the Government Accountability Office and other offices to assess whether the procedures can be modified without sacrificing safety.
TSA Administrator: ‘No Exceptions’ to Full Body Pat Downs—For Religious or Any Other Reasons – CNS
Transportation Security Administration Chief John S. Pistole told a Senate committee yesterday that air passengers selected by the TSA for enhanced screening who decline to undergo either a full-body scan or a full body pat down will not be allowed to board planes in the United States.
There will be no exceptions, Pistole said, even for people who cite religious reasons for refusing to undergo the scan or pat down.
TSA’s Bait and Switch Airport Security Trap – American Spectator
TSA’s tyrannical tactics threaten American freedoms – Washington Times
The Transportation Security Administration (TSA) has crossed the line. As if subjecting millions of Americans to X-rated x-ray scans and public groping sessions weren’t bad enough, the agency now threatens $11,000 in fines against anyone refusing to submit to humiliation at the airport.
In Ms. Napolitano’s view, Americans wishing to visit family and friends across the country exercise a privilege granted by the government. Air travel is no longer a free transaction between a member of the public and an airline.
Once freedom at airports is “locked down,” it’s inevitable that TSA will next target buses, trains and the Metro. After all, al Qaeda has attacked each of these modes of transportation in other parts of the world. Strict controls on internal travel is the hallmark of a police state.
TSA searches violating 4th Amendment? – One News Now
The Rutherford Institute has filed a new lawsuit against the Transportation Security Agency (TSA) in response to its virtual strip searches and full-body pat-downs at airports.
A lawsuit was initially filed on behalf of pilots who refused both versions of the “first line” security screens, but the government decided to relax its rule for them. The Rutherford Institute’s suit, however, is filed on behalf of three travelers
Amid airport anger, GOP takes aim at screening – Washington Examiner
Did you know that the nation’s airports are not required to have Transportation Security Administration screeners checking passengers at security checkpoints? The 2001 law creating the TSA gave airports the right to opt out of the TSA program in favor of private screeners after a two-year period.
Its specialty is what those critics call “security theater”—that is, a show of what appear to be stringent security measures designed to make passengers feel more secure without providing real security. Mica sees TSA’s new “naked scanner” machines and groping, grossly invasive passenger pat-downs as just part of a larger problem. TSA, he says, is relying more on passenger humiliation than on practices that are proven staples of airport security.
Parker: The Problem is Leadership, not Body Scanners By Star Parker
We’ve been sold, and we’re buying, the big lie that machines can replace human judgment and responsibility. How can we possibly use technology to identify and root out terrorists when the leaders of our country cannot, or refuse to identify with clarity who these individuals are and what they are about?
If Eric Holder cannot, or refuses to see a connection between Islam and terrorism, what, in his view, does define who these individuals are? We citizens are the ones paying the price, in the wasted money we’re shelling out and the humiliating invasions into our privacy So let’s be clear that body scanners are not the problem. They are the symptom. The problem is our leadership in Washington.
MUSLIMS AND TSA SCREENINGS
Muslim Brotherhood Front Group Trains Airport Screeners – Human Events
The Muslim Public Affairs Council (MPAC) has completed training for 2,200 Transportation Safety Officers (TSOs) at the Los Angeles International Airport according to a press release found on the MPAC website.
Napolitano May Exempt Muslims From Airport Pat-Downs – Judicial Watch
Airport Security: Let’s Profile Muslims by Asra Q. Nomani (a Muslim)
As an American Muslim, I’ve come to recognize, sadly, that there is one common denominator defining those who’ve got their eyes trained on U.S. targets: MANY of them are Muslim. We have to choose pragmatism over political correctness, and allow U.S. airports and airlines to do religious and racial profiling.
MORE ON SCREENINGS
It’s ‘Unclear’ If Airport Body Scanners Will Detect Underwear Bombs, Says Gov’t Auditor – CNS
Why they frisk. Why we should let them – Jonathan Kay, National Post ·
The people who are scanning, frisking and questioning you are trying to keep you safe, even at the expense of some of your time and dignity. If this is a trade off you refuse to make, perhaps you should take the train.