Travel by air, get felt up

[oldr_n_wsr]

to allow people to be certified in some way as OK, so that they wouldn't have to go through the whole rigamarole?

I pretty sure they have some sort of "speed pass" at Kennedy and LaGuardia airports here in NY. Don't know what it takes to get one.

[Andrew D]

Perhaps Lord Jim is, while we still wallow in our infancy, right.

It is good ... nor to do anything whereby the brother stumbleth, or is offended, or is made weak.

(Romans 14:21.)

Now we exhort you, brethren ... comfort the feeble-minded, support the weak ....

(I Thessalonians 5:14.)

Perhaps I should support the weak and feeble-minded who cannot get past the silly idea that public nudity is a bad thing. But if so, we should never forget where the weakness lies.

[BoSoxGal]

What's that just there, under that bridge?!? Look, just there!

See it??

[loCAtek]

... behaviour that degrades them as well as the passengers.

Which gets right to it. If we passengers would grow up and stop indulging in the puerile delusion that our being seen naked somehow "degrades" us, that would be the end of that.

'Cha, my [short] vacation from San Jose, down to San Diego in June, resulted in my being chosen for the scanner. BFD I did it, while the security obviously took no pleasure in it; it was just their job.

Standing security myself back in '01, I know that pissing off the guards, doesn't accomplish anything, except exacerbate the bad attitude of said guards ... and they'll still execute their orders, just now with a pissier attitude towards you than before.

At worst, that'll get them fired, but it won't change security policy.

TSA will just hire someone who can handle the job.

[Andrew D]

What's that just there, under that bridge?!? Look, just there!

See it??

Look, and learn.

See how being dismissive serves as a cover for the inability to be substantive.

You will see it many times, my dear one, in what I hope is your long and happy life.

They come crawling out of the woodwork whenever they feel their precious little prejudices -- personal as well as ideological -- threatened.

They will do all sorts of things. They will insult you for no reason -- especially if you insult them with reason to do so. They love that: It enables them to cast a veneer of equality over their own vacuity.

They will bring into the discussion -- or gleefully participate in others' bringing into the discussion (they are especially fond of that; it enables them to say "I didn't do it" while eagerly milking every drop of what they "didn't do") -- members of your family who have never participated in the discussion.

They will lie about what you put before the world. They will devote much bandwidth -- or whatever the medium is when you come into your age -- to disputing what you did not put before the world, because they are quiveringly afraid of what you did put before the world.

They are afraid.

Keep that always in mind, my precious beloved who will inherit the Earth after I am (and those who calumniate me because they cannot answer me are) moldering in the ground: They are afraid.

They will mock you, they will insult you, they will try to dismiss you, because you confront them with their own fears. Some of them may prove to be educable. And in those instances, little darling, do not yield to the temptation to deride them for their previous utterances: There will be times in your life, as there have been times in mine, when you reach a conclusion without the benefit of all of the pertinent information and say things which you wish you had not said. Extend to them the same charity which you would hope for yourself.

In such circumstances, do not be afraid to change your conclusion, and do not be afraid to say why you have changed your conclusion. That will trouble your antagonists far more than will your conclusions, whether prematurely or more maturely formed and stated.

If there is some error in your conclusion about something -- and there surely will be; none of us is blessed enough to live an error-free life -- they will harp on it incessantly. And when you change your conclusion as a result of recognizing and freely admitting the error that you made, they will pounce.

See them for what they are: Ravenous beasts who care nothing for the truth but everything for being considered correct.

Please, shining jewel of my little universe, do not let your care for what is considered to be overwhelm your care for what actually is. That is what they want. Those who laugh and spit and screech -- that is what they want. Because they are afraid.

That is what drives their antagonism, their besmirchings, their attempts at haughty scorn, and all the rest of it: They are afraid.

They will try to lump you together with the most obviously deranged people they can find. When you put before the world a carefully reasoned argument which they cannot refute, they will try to equate you with people who put before the world drivel which no thinking person could take seriously for even half a minute.

Why?

Because they are afraid.

Always remember that, infant treasure of my heart: They do what they do because they are afraid.

Be not afraid.

If I can pass to you, despite the lack of consanguinity, anything that is worth anything, it is this:

Be not afraid.

And I behold you, far-from-infant treasure of my heart, and I see that my words might be wasted on the wind. You have never been afraid. You have always met the world which has confronted you with a fearless steadfastness well beyond your tender years. (Tender to me when I look back over those now-seeming-so-short decades; hardly tender now that you are full-grown and building your own life; still tender to me.)

God (if there is a God) only knows what the rest of your life holds for you. And much of it will be while my ashes are resting in a plot.

But please, shining diamond among the few but wondrous jewels in what passes for my life, please, let this be a small reminder -- given the depth of your experience already, it can hardly be more than small -- partly (because I am not immune to vanity) that I played some small part in your becoming the amazing person that you are, but mostly of the single thing that reigns above all others in living a life that is worth living (not that I have done a great job of that either, but I have seen what I have been unable to do):

Be not afraid.

[Lord Jim]

I'd like to request that "Maja's" post (at least one copy of it) not be deleted from this thread on the grounds that it is nowhere near the silliest or least coherent thing that has been posted in this thread.

[Scooter]

And even if it was written under the influence of drugs or some sort of complete mental breakdown, it is certainly not unique in that respect in this thread.

[Andrew D]

I'd like to request that "Maja's" post (at least one copy of it) not be deleted from this thread on the grounds that it is nowhere near the silliest or least coherent thing that has been posted in this thread.

Not by a long shot.

[Gob]

A traveller's sobs were left ignored this weekend, as she was subjected to an invasive pat-down despite her cries - in another blow to the TSA. A video posted to YouTube captures the weeping woman’s ordeal during the security checkpoint at an airport in Madison, Wisconsin. Jim Hoft, who runs the political blog Gateway Pundit, posted the video on the site, as well as YouTube yesterday.

Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article ... z1sF1q4Txk

THE TSA'S GREATEST HITS: A HISTORY OF BIZARRE BEHAVIOUR

Last month, a YouTube clip showed a terrified eight-year-old boy confined to a wheelchair, trembling with fear as he was subjected to an invasive TSA pat-down as he cries to his dad.
Also last month, new mom Amy Strand was forced to show security her freshly pumped breast milk before she could board a plane with a breast pump.
In February, Ellen Terrell claimed she was subjected to repeated body scans after being told by agency employees that she 'had a cute figure'.
In January, two TSA agents were out of the the job and jailed after they admitted to stealing $40,000 from a checked bag at JFK Airport in New York.
That same month, the agency was forced to apologise after two grandmothers in their 80s were subjected to mortifying strip searches.
Joe Maltese told MailOnline in December that cake in his luggage on a recent flight had a slice missing, allegedly taken by hungry bag-checkers.
Also in December, Indiana rapper Freddie Gibbs got away with smuggling some pot on a flight, but not without a handwritten TSA message: 'C'mon son'.
Jenni 'J-Woww' Farley is known for brawls with her Jersey Shore castmates, but she took on the TSA in November when she complained on her Twitter account that she was 'treated like a criminal' when patted down during a trip to South Dakota.
In October, a TSA agent was dismissed from the job after leaving writer Jill Filipovic a similar handwritten note saying 'Get your freak on girl' in a bag that also contained a vibrator.
In August 2011, the agency was accused of racism after targeting the hair of two black women at airports in Seattle and San Antonio.
In May 2011, a photo made the rounds on the internet that showed - of all people - an infant being frisked by a thorough TSA agent.


Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article ... z1sF1x4Gtj

[Econoline]

That was an "Obama TSA patdown"??? Where was Obama? It was a pretty lousy video, but I couldn't see Obama in it at all.

[BoSoxGal]

Didn't Dubya create the TSA?

[BoSoxGal]

Just watched the video; I didn't see anything unduly 'invasive' about that pat-down. Maybe the woman has mental health issues?

Are we arguing that we should return to pre-9/11 days of minimal airport security?

TSA who write inappropriate notes or steal money or cake should be disciplined, fired and/or prosecuted as appropriate. Those conducting their jobs respectfully (TSA agent called crying woman ma'am) should not be criticized.

Would terrorists stop short of using babies or women as agents of death? They haven't elsewhere in the world.

Bring on the legitimate criticisms.

[Lord Jim]

Neither Bush nor Obama is responsible for the anecdotal excesses of airport security personnel...

And thievery by baggage handlers and airport rent-a-cops long predates the creation of the TSA....

[dgs49]

Much of the pain of this process can be traced directly to the idiocies of branding "profiling" as some sort of assault on humanity, and enforced, specious presumptions about blades and liquids.

Were the TSA free to use reasonable human discretion in deciding whom to pass and whom to inspect more closely, the process could be accelerated dramatically. When the first white haired geezers hijack or blow up a plane then we can start frisking them; until then, do a random search of 1/1000 of them, and let the others through.

And consider: No one will ever again hijack a plane with a small blade (or even a large one). The perpetrator would be ripped to shreds by passengers as soon as he announced himself. The only reason it was successful on 9/11 was that the passengers initially assumed that they were witnessing a "typical" hijacking, where they would be delayed and inconvenienced, but not physically harmed.

The limitations on liquids are preposterous and pointless.

As with every Government initiative, the TSA feeds on itself and its irrational presumptions. Once created, it could only increase in size and become more intrusive.

I have seen the enemy and it is us.

[Gob]

A naked man was arrested at an Oregon airport for stripping naked in protest at security searches - only a week after a woman shed her clothes at another airport.

John Brennan told police he felt 'harassed' while attempting to check-in.

Stunned passengers at Portland International Airport covered children's eyes; while others looked on, laughed and captured footage of the brazen stunt on their phones.



Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article ... z1sQkHgS6m

[Econoline]

Good for him! I've been tempted to do that myself!

(Considering the fact that the TSA and their wondrous machines can see all that, uh...information anyway, I wonder what he was arrested for? Unauthorized disclosure of top-secret government information?)

[Gob]

Good for him! I've been tempted to do that myself!

We want pictures if you do it!!

[Gob]

The grandmother of a four-year-old girl who became hysterical during a security screening at a Kansas airport says that the child was forced to undergo a pat-down after hugging her, with security agents yelling and calling the crying girl an uncooperative suspect.



The incident has been garnering increasing media and online attention since the child's mother, Michelle Brademeyer of Montana, detailed the ordeal in a public Facebook post last week.

The Transportation Security Administration is defending its agents, despite new procedures aimed at reducing pat-downs of children.


The child's grandmother, Lori Croft, told The Associated Press that Brademeyer and her daughter, Isabella, initially passed through security at the Wichita airport without incident. The girl then ran over to briefly hug Croft, who was awaiting a pat-down after tripping the alarm, and that's when TSA agents insisted the girl undergo a physical pat-down.

Isabella had just learned about "stranger danger" at school, her grandmother said, adding that the girl was afraid and unsure about what was going on.

"She started to cry, saying 'No I don't want to,' and when we tried talking to her she ran," Croft said. "They yelled, 'We are going to shut down the airport if you don't grab her.'"

But she said the family's main concern was the lack of understanding from TSA agents that they were dealing with a 4-year-old child, not a terror suspect.

"There was no common sense and there was no compassion," Croft said. "That was our biggest fault with the whole thing — not that they are following security procedures, because I understand that they have to do that."

Read more: http://www.smh.com.au/travel/travel-inc ... z1tCREyemL

[BoSoxGal]

Four year old children are capable of understanding rules, if explained by a trusted authority figure - like a parent.

If you want to fly with your four year old, prepare him/her for the realities of the experience. If s/he can't comprehend the process sufficient to get through it successfully, perhaps s/he is too immature to fly.

I won't say too young, because I've seen plenty of children that age or younger able to get through it.

I smell indulgent parenting meets 15 minutes of fame seeking.

By the way, I spend a good deal of time around LE types and I'd bet $20 they referred to her as an 'uncooperative subject', not suspect.

Cry me a river.

eta: Some kids should NOT be flying; I'd say of all the hassles associated with air travel, being stuck in a metal tube with a shrieker whose selfish ignorant parent doesn't give a shit for the concept of consideration of other passengers is hands down the WORST. I cringe when I see brats boarding my flight, and make a point of thanking the real parents (not breeders) who put in the effort to engage, distract and discipline their children (not brats) during the entire course of the flight.

I started falling out of endearment with my exBF last Christmas season when we travelled with his brats and he refused to say a single word while his little girl screeched and his little boy kicked the seat of the passenger in front of him the entire duration of a three hour flight. AND fought with each other! I actually made a point of apologizing to the passengers around them as we deplaned, even though I'd been sitting several seats away and could not really intervene.

I loathe breeders.

[Scooter]

There have been far too many of these incidents involving small children not to conclude that TSA could do a far better job in the way they deal with kids. One thing I see all the time is that airport security staff maintain exactly the same stern, emotionless affect with children that they use with adults. It's unnecessary* and does not help to put children at ease when contronted by a stranger who wants to put his/her hands on him/her. Nor does screeching at the parents when the child gets upset do anything but escalate the situation.



*it's unnecessary for adults too, but for some reason they feel the need to pretend they are intimidating, but that's another conversation