@dlowan,
dlowan wrote:Hmm...the lines created by security measures for all kinds of things, not just airplanes, do, indeed, present an obvious target.
There are many such obvious, and unsecured targets. Again, preventative security is largely theater. It is trivial to kill hundreds of people, we are kept safe by our ability to catch people after-the-fact and deny them life or liberty, not by our ability to prevent them from carrying out the attack.
Quote:I was thinking that in the line-up for the Louvre. Though I guess the security hopes to protect the art, not the patrons.
There are schools, malls, buses, movie theaters all sorts of places to murder scores of people without any security at all. The reality is that there is an extremely small number of able-minded people willing to throw their lives away to do it (
Peter Rez recently estimated this as being one in a few billion people in the case of airplane terrorism, but I have no idea how he reached those conclusions).
Quote:I agree with you about the ordinary life risks, but, I'd rather not add greatly to them by flying.
My point is that you are NOT adding to them significantly in any way by flying and that the security theater isn't even making a measurable difference.
Quote:(I am already doing that now, though, by flying a LOT in very small planes...and I gather I was lucky not to have engines explode and such in all the A380's I was in.)
Being scared isn't the same thing as being at risk.
Quote: If the x-ray thingy is frying me I am not happy, but the odd pat down doesn't seem much of a drama.
Consider that the dramatic content of the procedure itself may not be the point (many encroachments of authoritarianism can be done with a lack of drama in the procedure itself).
Quote:And terrorists DO seem kind of prone to get their rocks off by pulling off stuff like downing planes.
Sure but this is a negligible threat even without any security, making the additional theater just insulting to one's intelligence.
Quote:Maybe our general slight anxiety about being a long way up and being totally without control makes us both more hysterical about risks when flying, and more drawn to aircraft than security queues when planning terror attacks?
Sure, but just maybe the likelihood of either is not worth the insipid security theater. I would object to it just as much on the ground as in the air.
@Robert Gentel,
cost/risk analysis, plain and simple. 9/11 seems to have killed reason.
@dyslexia,
obscured would be a better word...
@dlowan,
dlowan wrote:However, I don't know why so many are especially picking on the US for inconvenience caused by security....Heathrow, for instance, is the worst for making you wait I have ever encountered, followed by Adelaide, of all places!
Much of the security practices you experience even in other airports outside of the US are dictated by the US. If my flight's eventual destination is the US I will be subjected to additional measures that flights that are not to the US are subject to and many airports around the world simply do what the US airports do without question.
Quote:The nonsense in the US when some poor person had a toe over the red line you have to wait behind for the Immigration folk to call you over was like bullying in primary school, or Monty Python. But that's attitude more than anything.
The funny thing is that you are seeing them after years of reform with the aim of trying to present a more "professional" "face of America" at the airports. They used to be
much worse.
Man arrested after ejaculating during TSA pat-down
November 21, 2010 by Dead Serious News ·
A 47 year old gay man was arrested at San Francisco International Airport after ejaculating while being patted down by a male TSA agent. Percy Cummings, an interior designer from San Francisco, is being held without bail after the alleged incident, charged with sexually assaulting a Federal agent.
According to Cummings’ partner, Sergio Armani, Cummings has “multiple piercings on his manhood” which were detected during a full body scan. As a result, Cummings was pulled aside for a pat-down. Armani stated that the unidentified TSA agent spent “an inordinate amount of time groping” Cummings, who had apparently become sexually aroused. Cummings, who has a history of sexual dysfunction, ejaculated while the TSA agent’s hand was feeling the piercings. The TSA agent, according to several witnesses, promptly called for back up. Cummings was thrown to the ground and handcuffed.
A TSA spokesperson declined to comment on this specific case, but said that anyone ejaculating during a pat-down would be subject to arrest
@Sglass,
Is this something controllable? I mean if someone is groping you and you enjoy it - how the heck are you suppose to stop...I guess it is just a hazard of the job of a TSA agent.
@Sglass,
we all realize this is a hoax don't we
it has been suggested however, that a really good way to protest this would be to re-enact the orgasm scene from "when harry met sally" every time the pat down was used
Charles Barkley Discusses Getting Felt Up by a TSA Agent (VIDEO)
Back when he was a basketball player, Charles Barkley was known as "The Round Mound of Rebound." This nickname alludes to the fact that he was great at grabbing rebounds -- and to the fact that he was a little, well, pudgy. And that was when he was a professional athlete. Once Barkley retired from the game, he really started to pack on the pounds.
On the new 'Lopez Tonight' (weeknights, 12AM ET on TBS), Charles discussed gaining weight, losing it, and how going through airport security is a real problem when you're fat. After leaving basketball, Barkley put on 100 pounds, leading to difficulties with a TSA agent. "You know how they ... reach up under there?" he said, gesturing to his chest. "The [agent's] hand disappeared."
Sadly, Barkley was so overweight that the agent's hand got lost in his "round mounds." "I had man-boobs," Barkley admitted. George Lopez did his best to console Charles, bringing out an anatomical doll -- though for some inexplicable reason, it was a "Harry Potter" doll. "Show me on this doll where the TSA agent touched you," the host said.
Charles complied, demonstrating the various places where he was "patted down." Via the Harry Potter doll, he was able to show that the agent grabbed a "mound" of an entirely different kind. We won't get into details, but instead will just say this: Barkley definitely didn't follow the example of the "Don't Touch My Junk" guy.
Pilot in Hot Water for Exposing Security Flaws
An anonymous 50-year-old airline pilot is in hot water with the Transportation Security Administration (TSA) after posting on YouTube a behind-the-scenes tour of what he says are security flaws at San Francisco International Airport.
While airplane passengers go through security screening -- such as with metal detectors, full body scanners and pat downs -- the pilot shows in one of several video clips, recorded with his cell phone, that airport employees at SFO simply swipe a card to go through an unmanned door.
"Well, folks, I just wanted to give you an idea of what type of security for the ground personnel there is. This is their screening. As you can see, there's only a card slide and one door," the pilot says in the video. "And right here's a sign, 'Think security.' Well, I don't think there's much security here."
The pilot, who has been flying for an airline for more than a decade, alerted Sacramento's KXTV when he posted the videos saying he wanted the information to be made public.
According to sister station ABC7 in San Francisco, the disclosure resulted in federal air marshals and sheriff's deputies showing up at the pilot's home -- an event the pilot, a deputized federal air marshal, also recorded -- to confiscate his federally issued handgun.
Attorney Don Werno, who represents the pilot, says he believes the TSA was sending a message that "you've angered us by telling the truth and by showing America that there are major security problems despite the fact that we've spent billions of dollars allegedly to improve airline safety."
A TSA spokesman tells ABC7 he's unaware of the incident, but if the pilot had concerns he should have brought them to the TSA.
Meanwhile, ABC7's aviation consultant, Ron Wilson, who worked at SFO for 47 years, says what the pilot says is true, and that the hole in security has bothered him ever since the 9/11 attacks.
Ventura Strikes Back with Lawsuit Against TSA
The Inside Story from Alex Jones About the Former Governor’s Humiliating Pat-Down Experiences that Included ‘Touching, Gripping & Rubbing of the Genitals’ at the Hands of TSA
Aaron Dykes & Alex Jones
Infowars.com
January 25, 2011
Former Governor Jesse Ventura has taken steps to sue the TSA and the Department of Homeland Security in a lawsuit that will take on invasive airport pat-downs. [READ LAWSUIT]
Former Governor Jesse Ventura has taken steps to sue the TSA and the Department of Homeland Security, naming their chiefs John Pistole and ‘Big Sis’ Janet Napolitano in a lawsuit that will take on invasive airport pat-downs [READ LAWSUIT]. Ventura first told Alex Jones of his intent to sue the TSA privately back in November while traveling for the making of TruTV’s “Conspiracy Theory,” expressing grave concern about what he viewed as his country’s transformation into East Germany.
Jones recalls Ventura’s outrage at the TSA’s harassing old people in wheelchairs with the invasive new pat-down procedures. The former governor himself is routinely sent to secondary screening due to a hip replacement in 2008, and Jones witnessed him undergo repeated humiliating searches during pat-downs at the hands of TSA. Worse, at airports across the country, even those presenting medical cards describing special needs or equipment from a doctor are routinely ignored as TSA agents demand that medical patients remove urostomy bags, prosthetic breasts or that TSA be allowed to grope a pacemaker patients’ breasts.
“That’s why I want to leave the United States,” Ventura had told Jones at the time. “This is why I go down to Mexico– this is wrong.” Ventura indicated that he was most concerned about the destruction of the 4th Amendment and passing of the America he once knew.
Ventura filed his lawsuit Monday, January 24, 2011 in Minnesota and news reports have named David Olsen as his lawyer. The former governor has indicated that his suit will include violations of the Americans with Disabilities Act and the 4th Amendment, arguing that he and others with disabilities have been discriminated against and unduly singled out by TSA despite presenting no threat and warranting no reason for lawful search. Further, Ventura has argued that his ability to travel freely has been infringed, hampering his ability to work.
In November 2010, Ventura vowed on the Alex Jones Show that he would never again fly on commercial aircraft so long as current TSA policies remain in place. “It probably means an end to my career,” Ventura lamented on Jones’ program. As The Drudge Report exposed months ago, Ventura has been groped during TSA pat-downs and is uncomfortable with the invasion of privacy, as well as the abuse of government power.
Now, KSTP in Minnesota is reporting that:
“Ventura accuses the agencies of violating his ‘basic rights to privacy and dignity, and his right to be free from unreasonable searches and seizures’.” [...]
“Ventura.. alleges the pat-down included ‘warrantless, non-suspicion-based offensive touching, gripping and rubbing of the genital and other sensitive areas of his body,’ which, the lawsuit contends, met ‘the definition for an unlawful sexual assault’.”
In November, Jesse Ventura confirmed to Alex Jones that he would be suing the TSA in the new year and would explain more once the suit was filed. Ventura is in the Baha area of Mexico but Alex Jones was told yesterday by his management that Ventura would be giving Jones a written statement and should be appearing on the Alex Jones Show in the near future.
A d v e r t i s e m e n t
Homeland Security, in the ever-echoing siren song of “public safety,” is attempting to bar our right of free passage across the country. Those who refuse to cooperate with body scanners or pat-downs are told they will be arrested, detained or fined. Just as in Nazi Germany, we’re increasingly gearing towards internal passports, where we must satisfy on the spot inspection or be refused the ability to travel. Tourism is down by billions of dollars; angry travel and vacation industry representatives tried to get TSA to back down, citing some 41 million potential fliers who ‘avoided’ travel due to anxiety over airport security. But airports are only the leading phase. TSA, VIPR squads and mobile x-ray scanners are rolling out onto the streets of America at train and bus stations. Sports stadiums and shopping malls will be next. Homeland Security is unveiling 9,000 tele-screens at locations across America, including Wal-Mart, to encourage people to spy on their neighbors.
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If anyone can stop the police state, it is the people of the United States. The bigger picture is looking more and more like 1984. It is vital that we resist these police state measures and make our voices heard. We commend former Gov. Jesse Ventura for standing up to TSA and using his prominent name to fight back against clear bullying and intimidation by a government agency trying to expand its mandate for power. Others have fought the TSA, including a man in Seattle who recently won his suit over the right to use a camera. Moreover, the TSA had to settle with an Amarillo, Texas woman after their agents shockingly exposed her breasts and then laughed about it.
The Alex Jones Show – November 19, 2010:
JESSE VENTURA ABUSED BY TSA WILL NO LONGER FLY.
