Another TSA Screw-Up

[dales]

http://www.theatlanticwire.com/national ... ly/52319/#





OH SHIT!

Eric Randall 4,718 Views4:00 PM ET


A wheelchair bound 89-year-old Henry Kissinger was submitted to a "full Monty" pat down (per The Washington Post's In the Loop) from the TSA at New York's LaGuardia Airport Monday. It may not be the most egregious violation of privacy on the Agency's part but certainly another high profile example of their less-than-stellar record for singling out comically unlikely suspects.

Freelance reporter Matthew Cole recognized the former Secretary of State and told the Washington Post Kissinger got "The full Monty" even after saying his name and passing through the scanner. "None of the agents seemed to know who he was," Cole said. Kissinger didn't seem too bothered, Cole reports, and maybe you could read this as an eloquent statement that no one is above the law ... of random screening. Still, we'll add Kissinger to a growing list of unlikely targets: like the infant put on the no fly list, or Jeffrey Goldberg's mother-in-law, or Sen. Rand Paul. It would seem like a Nobel Peace Prize winner wouldn't cause much suspicion boarding a plane, but somewhere out there, Christopher Hitchens is having a chuckle.

[rubato]

We went thought security check #1 and handed over our passports. They switched them when they gave them back but we didn't notice. We get to check #2 and my wife hands over my passport and gets waved through (we both have long hair). I hand over hers and the officer looks at me and says "Helen?"* and he's letting me through as well ... I saw he was holding hers and said "That's Helen she has my passport". Waved through. So much for thorough checks.

yrs,
rubato

*not her real name.

[rubato]

KIssinger should be deported to the Hague and tried as a war criminal.

yrs,
rubato

[Lord Jim]

LOL....

I'm sure those ignoramuses had absolutely no idea who Henry Kissinger is (BTW, he may be 89 years old but his mind is agile as ever; I saw him interviewed on Farid Zakaria's show a few weeks ago and he still gives really thoughtful insights on current international issues)

I remember a few years ago, Teddy Kennedy got held up at an airport because his name showed up on the "no-fly" list...

I recall remarking at the time, "Okay, I can understand putting him on a 'no driving over bridges' list, but I really don't think he's much of a threat as an airline passenger"

[Sue U]

Another TSA Screw-Up

I'll say. Should have shipped him straight to Gitmo.

[Lord Jim]

That's a terrible thing to say about a great American....

[Econoline]

...war criminal.

(Finished that sentence for you, Jim!)

[Lord Jim]

...war criminal. patriot.

Fixed it for you...

[Jarlaxle]

Rube has been hitting the bottle again...

[BoSoxGal]

Another TSA Screw-Up

I'll say. Should have shipped him straight to Gitmo.

[Econoline]

Sorry, I just couldn't resist that, especially considering the sentence in question ended with an ellipsis...

I guess I really ought to cut ol' Henry some slack, seeing as how he inspired one of the all-time-great--iconic, even--movie character roles. (In a great Stanley Kubrick film, no less.)

(And no, I don't mean the character of HAL 9000.)

[Gob]

[Gob]

A man suffered humiliation and distress at the hands of an airport security agent when she insisted on opening a jar containing his grandfather’s remains and then dropped them on the floor.



John Gross, of Indianapolis, was trying to bring Mario Mark Marcaletti’s ashes home from Florida and had them in his bag in a tightly sealed jar clearly marked ‘Human Remains’.

The 91-year-old’s remains had been divided up among family members after he died in 2002 and Gross had been given a share by his uncle during his trip.

He was confronted by the TSA officer and explained what was in the container.

'They opened up my bag, and I told them, "Please, be careful. These are my grandpa's ashes,"' he told theindychannel.com.

‘She picked up the jar. She opened it up.

‘She used her finger and was sifting through it. And then she accidentally spilled it.’

As a third of the jar’s contents fell out onto the floor Gross frantically tried to gather it back up, a line of passengers waiting behind him.

‘She didn't apologize. She started laughing. I was on my hands and knees picking up bone fragments.

'I couldn't pick up all, everything that was lost. I mean, there was a long line behind me.’

Gross later found out that TSA rules state that staff should not tamper with human remain containers under any circumstance.

Instead they are supposed to put them through an X-ray machine.

Nothing can be done to regain the ashes. But Gross said he wants an apology from the TSA and from the individual agent 'who opened the jar and laughed at me'.

'I want them to help me understand where they get off treating people like this,' he said.

On the TSA website it states: 'Passengers are allowed to carry a crematory container as part of their carry-on luggage, but the container must pass through the X-ray machine.

'Out of respect to the deceased and their family and friends, under no circumstances will an officer open the container even if the passenger requests this be done.'
Read more:

[BoSoxGal]

If this story is true, that TSA Agent should face summary execution.

Or at least immediate termination.

[dales]

I LOATHE THE TSA

I hope in addition to an apology from the tsa dunce (with her immediate dismissal), the aggrieved receives a huge payout