so, the terrorists win...

[The_Pac_Mule]

The thing with the kid taking off his shirt was overblown. His father had him do that to make things easier. At no point did they ask him to remove his clothing.


Also, an interesting article I read.

Airport odyssey reveals how awful and annoying we are

Across America (CNN) -- A family tried to sneak a dead man, propped up in a wheelchair, through airport security in New York. A couple had to be stopped while having sex in the corner of a Phoenix, Arizona, airport terminal. A man flying out of Chicago, Illinois, set a rat free, insisting he had to do this for religious purposes.

These are just some of the tales gathered last week as I traveled 5,900 miles through six American airports just days before millions of travelers started the annual Thanksgiving pilgrimage, making this the busiest air travel week of the year.

What I saw wasn't very pretty. For all our bellyaching about airline and airport employees, watching us through their eyes was, well, eye-opening. And kind of embarrassing.

But before we go there, know this: I'm not here to defend the industry of air travel. I can gripe with the best of you.

Travel tips for airline passengers

On this several-day assignment alone, I experienced delays, collapsed in a seat that wouldn't recline when I needed sleep most and got elbowed in the head during a complimentary drink service.



6 airports in 64 hours I arrived from Miami, Florida, to a ripped bag in Atlanta, Georgia, and my luggage got to Chicago from New York one hour after I did. A flight attendant snapped at me en route to Los Angeles, California. I was forced to climb over cleaning equipment to get out of a Phoenix airport bathroom, and I paid too much to choke down that falsely advertised "fresh" muffin in a New York terminal.

I know flying is far from perfect, but the truth is so are we.

Most striking and amusing were the stories from Transportation Security Administration agents. They are the personnel whose government-ordered procedures, including pat-downs and X-ray scanning machines, are the subject of ongoing controversy and protests.

These agents, most all refused to be named, have seen everything, including sights they would have preferred to miss. One in Chicago's O'Hare bemoaned those travelers who have spontaneously stripped, even though no one asked them to. Another Chicago agent spoke of the babies she's snatched as parents nearly sent their offspring on conveyor belts through X-ray machines. They've chased cats through terminals, watched an escaped bird fly overhead and come face-to-face with pet monkeys and other exotic creatures. One agent, while previously working at Washington's Dulles, opened a cooler to find a live penguin.

A Miami agent counted the Elvis impersonators as the weirdest passengers he's dealt with, but a supervisor in New York's JFK airport scoffed at this one.

"That's nothing," he said. "We once had a dead guy."

About five or six years ago, he said, a family trying to avoid the cost of shipping a relative's body to the Dominican Republic, plopped him in a wheelchair and headed to security. They said he was really sick, and when this supervisor touched the ice-cold corpse and told them the guy was dead, they feigned surprise.

Earlier this year, JFK agents found 14 pounds of marijuana taped to a woman's body.

"The weird part: Guess where she was going?" the supervisor said. "Jamaica. Who the hell smuggles marijuana into Jamaica?"

It seems we are not the smartest bunch.

He pointed to a locked metal bin, one he said fills up weekly and holds the "hard stuff," not the liquids that are simply tossed in the trash. Bludgeons, bullets, brass knuckles -- all items the travelers usually say they simply "forgot" they had. But once a woman admitted the carving knife removed from her carry-on had purpose. She needed it to stab her husband in the eye.

Waiting to pass through security, we grumble about the rules, sigh when we see slow bin loaders and bark at those who seem to cut in front of us. Running late, we might yell from the back of the line that we have a flight to catch.

"And everyone else is just waiting to use the bathroom?" an agent muttered.

The ones who complain the most, TSA agents said, are those who leave their cell phones in their pockets, fail to remove their laptops or shoes, or otherwise ignore the rules everyone else is following. While I had previously smiled at the small victory of sneaking a 7.8 ounce rolled-up tube of toothpaste through unnoticed, now I felt a tinge of guilt.

During my first pat-down, the one I got intentionally by refusing the backscatter X-ray (and because my editor told me not to come home without one), the agent -- who had no clue what I was doing and that I was mentally taking notes -- talked me through her every move.

"I'll be using the back of my hands on your buttocks," she said. "And here's the part everyone's talking about," she continued, moving the back of her hands up my inner thighs to the "point of resistance. See that wasn't so bad now, was it?"

Indeed it wasn't. And the passengers I met along the way didn't seem to mind either.

"Whatever keeps us safe," I heard more than once. Granted, one man -- a veteran to pat-downs, given his replaced hip and knees -- said a Las Vegas, Nevada, agent recently took matters a little too far. But "what happens in Vegas, stays in Vegas," we joked.

Two women conspired in a check-in line to fool agents into believing they had only two carry-on bags.

Passengers cornered clerks manning the "baggage drop only" lines, seeking seat and flight changes, and leaving a long line of eye-rolling travelers waiting.

We might show up without photo identification or, in the case of international travel, expired passports -- assuming we remember to bring them.

We grow indignant when we arrive late and are told our bags can't be checked.

We cast blame on customer service agents for weather delays and unleash obscenities when they refuse to open the locked doors of airplanes that are seconds away from departure.

"I've been doing this long enough to know if someone's screaming and yelling, it's not my blood pressure that's going up, it's his," said a US Airways representative who's dealt with the likes of us for 24 years.

When you travel this holiday season, she begged, "Bring your brain. And make sure it's functioning properly."

The stress of travel can bring out the worst in all of us.

New parents board flights without extra diapers, forcing flight attendants to scramble for alternatives.

We stare airline professionals in the eye and insist that a 30-pound second bag is only a purse.

In Atlanta, after completing paperwork for Delta to fix my ripped bag, I watched a grown man slump to the floor and weep because he'd left his wallet on a plane now halfway to Louisville, Kentucky.

Many of those working in airports love what they do because they're touched and entertained by us.

A 24-year-old woman who works at a jewelry stand in Miami has been prayed for by missionaries, played therapist to the heartbroken and ogled hairy men teetering by in stilettos. She once watched a lady, sitting on a nearby barstool, flash passersby until security took her away.

"You wake up in the morning," she said, her smile wide, "and you never know what you're going to see."

At times, they are reminded of our inherent goodness. A restaurant employee in Phoenix Sky Harbor was nearly brought to tears recounting how whenever a uniformed member of the armed services comes in, other travelers invariably pick up the bill.

About six hours later, I joined others in boarding a red-eye from Los Angeles to Atlanta.

We fumbled with our numerous bulky bags and groaned when we were forced to shove them in overhead compartments further back than our seats or, worse yet, check them because there's not enough room for all that we insist on bringing. Flight attendants said our bags cause delays, and yet they absorb our insults when planes don't leave on time.

Drama unfolded almost immediately after we took flight. A passenger, incensed that the woman in front of her dared to recline into her space, began slamming her hands into the back of that seat, setting off call buttons and forcing an off-duty pilot to intervene.

"Fifteen minutes into the flight, and they're already arguing," a flight attendant said after the passengers had deplaned.

Asked whether they had tips for us travelers as we head into the holiday season, the flight crew's eyes lit up.

"Stay home," a pilot quipped from the cockpit.

"Just check the damn bags," said a tired flight attendant, as she wrapped up a 10-hour work day.

Then this, from another pilot: "Did you say check the small children, too?"

[MrsSpringsteen]

TSA Shirtless Boy | TSA Stril Searches Boy | Video | Mediaite

The parade of TSA horror stories continued this weekend, as a YouTube video featuring a young boy being patted down has gone viral, hitting the top spot on mega-aggregator The Drudge Report. In the cellphone clip, posted by college student Luke Tait, a shirtless young boy is being patted down by TSA agents, prompting Drudge to dub the video “Hands on Boy.”

The TSA has responded to the clip on their blog, and offered some facts that differed from the account posted on Tait’s YouTube account.

According to Tait, here’s what happened before the camera rolled:

Before the video started the boy went through a metal detector and didn’t set it off but was selected for a pat down. The boy was shy so the TSA couldn’t complete the full pat on the young boy. The father tried several times to just hold the boys arms out for the TSA agent but i guess it didn’t end up being enough for the guy. I was about 30 ft away so i couldn’t hear their conversation if there was any. The enraged father pulled his son shirt off and gave it to the TSA agent to search, thats when this video begins.


This morning, the TSA responded to the uproar on its blog:

On November 19, a family was traveling through a TSA checkpoint at the Salt Lake City International Airport (SLC). Their son alarmed the walk through metal detector and needed to undergo secondary screening. The boy’s father removed his son’s shirt in an effort to expedite the screening. After our TSO completed the screening, he helped the boy put his shirt back on. That’s it. No complaints were filed and the father was standing by his son for the entire procedure.

Aside from some subjective descriptors, the only difference between the two accounts is the fact that the child set off the metal detector. TSA’s account points out that “no complaints were filed,” but that obviously doesn’t mean no one complained. Whether the father was “enraged” or not, though, TSA is correct in pointing out that they did not ask for the boy’s shirt to be removed, and no TSA agent should.

[deep]

and here we go

Al Qaeda magazine: Printer bombs designed to bleed U.S. economy

The thwarted Yemeni printer bombs that have caused havoc in American airports were designed to bleed the U.S. economy, according to an Al Qaeda propaganda magazine.

The printer bombs discovered in cargo holds of several airplanes departing from Yemen were built on a mere $4,200 investment and were designed specifically to disrupt and bleed out the U.S. economy.

These are the detailed claims put forth by English-language Inspire magazine, a publication produced and distributed by Al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula - or AQAP.
According to the propaganda publication, the printer bomb plot was known as "Operation Hemorrhage."
"Two Nokia mobiles, $150 each, two HP printers, $300 each, plus shipping, transportation and other miscellaneous expenses add up to a total bill of $4,200," the magazine states. "That is all that Operation Hemorrhage cost us. In terms of time, it took us three months to plan and execute the operation from beginning to end."

The yield on the $4,200 investment appears to be paying off multi-fold - as the U.S. Transportation Security Administration has implemented strict security measures at airport gates, with the implementation of more x-ray scanning stations and one-on-one intimate pat-downs. The new TSA measures have lead to widespread criticism and epic security lines at the nation's airports, just in time for the Thanksgiving travel rush.


Read more: Al Qaeda magazine: Printer bombs designed to bleed U.S. economy

interesting claim, I don't buy

but these lowlifes will hand off the football to gullible parties,
that will take it and run straight into the terrorists' end zone.

[coolian2]

it isn't designed to make the economy or people bleed. it was designed to do exactly what it achieved - scare the fuck out of people and ruin their everyday lives.

[deep]

that pretty much is the description of terrorism, if you add for a political objective

[MrsSpringsteen]

The full body scanners they're using now fare poorly against low density materials like liquids, gels, and thin plastics. The GAO admitted in March that it "isn't clear" that the scanner would have even detected the underwear bomber's device. For bombs and such I think isn't clear most likely means no.

[coolian2]

Originally Posted by deep

that pretty much is the description of terrorism, if you add for a political objective

doesn't need to be a political objective, for that matter.



i stand by my near year old thread title.

[Canadiens1131]

The CEO of this company joined Obams on his big business-rustlin' trip:

OSI Systems, Inc. - OSI Systems Chief Executive Officer Joins US Presidential Visit to India

That company owns this company:

Metal Detectors, Baggage and Parcel Inspection, Cargo and Vehicle Inspection, Hold Baggage Screening, People Screening, X-ray Security, Gamma-ray Security, Backscatter, Security Solutions



This is why I am amazed when idiots on the right try and paint Obama as some kind of nuts left-wing wackjob. He's quite the opposite - much too far entrenched in the establishment for his own good.

I wonder if Mr. Obama would have a problem with his daughters' genitals being touched by a TSA agent?

[corianderstem]

All this talk has me now convinced that I'd much rather go through the scanner.

I'd rather risk the radiation or a faceless picture getting into someone's hands than risk a humiliating, shocking experience.

Seriously.

[Butterscotch]

The whole thing is pointless because anyone who had a bomb would not just stand in line and wait to get scanned, he'd run, hide. So if anyone is standing there waiting to go through they do not have a bomb so why humiliate them?

I know they don't want to profile anyone but it really seems ridiculous to waste so much time and money and put so many people through such trouble when they know damn well from looking at a lot of people they are not a terrorist- take an old person or a family with little kids. So what happens is that everone is inconvenienced because they do not want to offend a very small portion of the flying public.

[BVS]

Originally Posted by Butterscotch

The whole thing is pointless because anyone who had a bomb would not just stand in line and wait to get scanned, he'd run, hide. So if anyone is standing there waiting to go through they do not have a bomb so why humiliate them?

I know they don't want to profile anyone but it really seems ridiculous to waste so much time and money and put so many people through such trouble when they know damn well from looking at a lot of people they are not a terrorist- take an old person or a family with little kids. So what happens is that everone is inconvenienced because they do not want to offend a very small portion of the flying public.

Well obviously your first premise is wrong since terrorist have made it through previous screening tests.

And what makes you think you know what a terrorist looks like? What makes you think a terrorist can't blackmail someone in to bringing something on, or sneak something on to them?

[deep]

Terrorists Have Discussed Use of Prosthetics to Conceal Explosives

[KhanadaRhodes]

Originally Posted by BVS

Well obviously your first premise is wrong since terrorist have made it through previous screening tests.

And what makes you think you know what a terrorist looks like? What makes you think a terrorist can't blackmail someone in to bringing something on, or sneak something on to them?

exactly. plus if said terrorist really did get nervous/worried about his bomb being discovered, he'd probably be more likely to detonate there in security rather than just hide or leave.

[Butterscotch]

Originally Posted by BVS

And what makes you think you know what a terrorist looks like?

Well uuuuh let's just say an old couple from Elmira, NY in Hawaiian shirts or a nurse traveling with little kids from Savannah isn't going to be a terrorist, sorry. Even if you can't target people due to political correctness you can rule out those who are really a waste of time.

What makes you think a terrorist can't blackmail someone in to bringing something on, or sneak something on to them?

Blackmail somebody to carry a suicide bomb?! For real? Come on, what good would the money do them? Okay, whatever, I'm done here too.

[BVS]

Originally Posted by Butterscotch

Well uuuuh let's just say an old couple from Elmira, NY in Hawaiian shirts or a nurse traveling with little kids from Savannah isn't going to be a terrorist, sorry. Even if you can't target people due to political correctness you can rule out those who are really a waste of time.

So age and clothing is the way you can tell if someone is a terrorist or have had something snuck on their body? This short sightedness will surely get you killed.

Originally Posted by Butterscotch

Blackmail somebody to carry a suicide bomb?! For real? Come on, what good would the money do them? Okay, whatever, I'm done here too.

Who said anything about a suicide bomb? It could be a weapon for another flight. And it doesn't have to be about money, someone's family could be held until the task is done. You have to be capable of thinking outside the box, they surely are.

[KhanadaRhodes]

Originally Posted by BVS

Who said anything about a suicide bomb? It could be a weapon for another flight. And it doesn't have to be about money, someone's family could be held until the task is done. You have to be capable of thinking outside the box, they surely are.

exactly. you tell a father travelling for business that his wife and children are being held captive, or have a gunman outside their house or something waiting for the call to kill them. they never have to know any of this if he just delivers the package, so to speak. even if it isn't true, would someone really take that risk?

[MrsSpringsteen]

Originally Posted by deep

Terrorists Have Discussed Use of Prosthetics to Conceal Explosives

True-but that still does not excuse the fact that some TSA agents do not seem to be displaying the proper sensitivity to people who have those devices.

Eight hours of training-that's what they allegedly receive for doing the pat downs and for dealing with medical conditions, prosthetics, children, and any and all possible unique scenarios and for just basic human decency and sensitivity. McDonalds probably gives more than eight hours of training for working there.

[kramwest1]

I asked to be patted-down last week before my flight from MSP to ORD.
It was fine, the guy was gentle enough, and nobody gawked as I stood there out in the open.
Now mind you, I am a person who doesn't care a lick about modesty. I don't have any medical issues that I am concerned about or that would set off any alarms or call for more screening. I am very sympathetic to the cancer survivor that had to show her prosthetic breast and such.
But, this is the new normal. I often was patted-down just after 9/11 when they were doing the random screenings at the gate. There isn't much different between the old "backs of hands" body searching and the new full-hand method. Sure, some TSA people are going to far, but this is a great story for the media to run with.

We have to get used to this type of screening. I am comfortable with that as long as I know that they are screening the cargo thoroughly, too--which I'm not certain they are.

[deep]

I requested the pat down with the happy ending.

[Butterscotch]

Originally Posted by kramwest1

I am comfortable with that as long as I know that they are screening the cargo thoroughly, too--which I'm not certain they are.

I was thinking that would be next, once they know they can't hide it on their bodies they'll get more adept at hiding it in stuff. Once it comes out explosives have been cleverly concealed in ordinary clothing items in a few suitcases you'll have to sit and wait while every single item you packed for your trip is searched. When that happens, you might as well drive because any time you save from flying across country will be lost. This has to end somewhere.