Posted on 02/24/2011 11:11:56 AM PST by seanmerc
After going down in a spiral of paranoid stupidity—called out for saving body scan images, ridiculed for patting down an almost-naked woman or nailed for harrassing a kid at airport security—the TSA has reached a new low. It's surreal.
Here's what a traveler recorded on February 13, after his train trip to Savannah:
The only bad thing on our trip was [the] TSA at the Savannah train station. There were about 14 agents pulling people inside the building and coralling everyone in a roped area after you got off the train. This made no sense! Poor family in front of us! 9-year old getting patted down and wanded. They groped our people too and were very unprofessional. I am all about security, but when have you ever been harassed and felt up getting off a plane? Shouldn't they be doing that getting on? And they wonder why so many people are mad at them.
(Excerpt) Read more at gizmodo.com ...
The public loves their Obama TV and TSA is his goon squad. Americans traded liberty for a TV click and HD TV. Fox Alwaleed is no better.
Apparently there have been reports of people stealing ash trays.
If the rules made sense, the fact that we were following the rules would not mean much. They would not have proof that we were docile and easily led.
But, if the rules are stupid and illogical -- then, if we followed them anyway -- then our masters would know for sure that we were mere sheep and they could do with us as they will.
And do what?
We've been "awake" since Christmas. We've stopped flying, if we absolutely HAVE to we route through airports that don't have scanners and we wear sweats on the plane to give them little reason to harass us.
We've written letters to the airlines, Congress, no one cares, no one responds.
What do you suggest?
The comments from some of the readers at the link seem to indicate assent and even surprise that the search after disembarking the train was thought a big deal by anyone at all. One must wonder nowadays whether those comments are from actual people or simply the interactive media products of managed accounts of a pro-government contracted firm.
The best way to travel unaccosted by the TSA is to put on Muslim garb.
Why is search upon deboarding a huge deal? Is it not possible that LE/HS agents had some specific information they were acting upon?
The hysteria is uncalled for.
I can think of many scenarios in which searching deboarding passengers would not only be appropriate but essential.
Anyone who thinks security is only about when the conveyance is underway hasn’t thought through the process very well.
You may not search someone without a warrant whose only motive is to enter into the public domain!
What a great way to put the last nail into Amtrak’s coffin!
What if the people refused to be searched and groped? Would they have been arrested?
Glad you stopped flying! Please keep it up and do your best to persuade others to do the same.
I have gone from 120+ flights per year for 26+ years to ZERO in the last 6.
The last six months I am retired but I went so far as to drive from Western New York to Dallas and back rather than fly for business.
I will not set foot on another airplane until my 4th Amendment rights are restored and the TSA is privatized and resorts to PROFILING! It is the logical thing to do.
So what if passengers were not able to see the man's face, but they heard him say he had a bomb he was taking to the next stop, would it be okay for LE/HS to search passengers upon deboarding?
What if a passenger called the police and said he was carrying a geiger counter for a research assignment and it went off while he was walking down the aisle of the train? Would it be okay to search the deboarding passengers then?
All I'm saying is get a clue that LE/HS probably didn't do this randomly. They had some information that led to a passenger search.
We’ll be going back to the days when everyone just stayed within their own community and rarely, if ever, ventured much beyond that. Too costly and too much of a hassle.
Maybe that’s what *they* want.
Homeland security has passed out grants to transit systems nationwide to introduce screening way beyond the airports. This is part and parcel of concern about European and MiddleEastern style bus and rail transit bombings.
Sounds good right? Better to be prepared right?
Except for one problem. Americans ain’t European or Middle Eastern. And they don’t bomb bus and train stations. Now Muslims,,,now they are not Americans because they don’t assimilate or accept the Constitution as the ultimate secular authority.
And Muslims do bomb trains and subways and recently one tried to bomb Time Square.
Homeland Secutity does not look for potentential bombers, they terroize innocent Americans.
So they are the terroists now right.
The TSA is not worth the money spent on it and should be disbanded and reformed based on proper principals of cause and effect.
You, having already drunk the kool-aid will never understand that. As a sheep you are already over the cliff and we Americans have no real use for you. Jump if you must but jump alone and jump quietly.
I think you get it now, well acutually there is no way you will...sad, brain dead at your age.
The Big Boo
Wrong. The legality of a search is not based on the motive of the person being searched.
If LE/HS agents had legally appropriate information that made a search of deboarding passengers appropriate, the search is legal. That is all.
You want to put a nail in Amtrak's coffin, let a terrorist attack go down, either on a train or by a passenger using the train to transport either himself or his weapons.
Homeland security has passed out grants to transit systems nationwide to introduce screening way beyond the airports. This is part and parcel of concern about European and MiddleEastern style bus and rail transit bombings.
Sounds good right? Better to be prepared right?
Except for one problem. Americans ain’t European or Middle Eastern. And they don’t bomb bus and train stations. Now Muslims,,,now they are not Americans because they don’t assimilate or accept the Constitution as the ultimate secular authority.
And Muslims do bomb trains and subways and recently one tried to bomb Time Square.
Homeland Secutity does not look for potentential bombers, they terroize innocent Americans.
So they are the terroists now right.
The TSA is not worth the money spent on it and should be disbanded and reformed based on proper principals of cause and effect.
You, having already drunk the kool-aid will never understand that. As a sheep you are already over the cliff and we Americans have no real use for you. Jump if you must but jump alone and jump quietly.
I think you get it now, well acutually there is no way you will...sad, brain dead at your age.
The Big Boo
I think you get it now, well acutually there is no way you will...sad, brain dead at your age.
You're funny!
Why don't you just move to a country, like Tunisia, where your ideas of proper police procedure are appreciated. Maybe you can get shoot at citizens then!
They believe they are removing threats too. You'd agree they should shoot, wouldn't you?
In any case, this AMERICAN, ain't putting up with such general searches. I've stood up to them before, I will again.
In AMERICA you have to show you have specific cause to search that specific person, unless martial law has been declared.
I know we think twice before traveling now. It’s just a hassle.
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