Posted on 02/20/2017 3:05:56 PM PST by WXRGina
It was an excellent week-long trip my husband Keith and I took to Arizona to take the 250 Pistol Class from Gunsite Academy. The week ended, and it was time for us to fly back home this past Saturday, February 18th. While I have gone through Transportation Security Administration (TSA) regional airport checkpoints since its spawning after 9-11, I had not yet gone through a TSA checkpoint at a major airport. Phoenix Sky Harbor International Airport is a major airport, and on Saturday, I was immersed there in one of those TSA "horror stories" about which I had previously only read.
My very dim view of the TSA has been shaped by all the reports of corruption, misconduct, molestation and sexual assault, theft, abuse of power and ineptitude by the TSA. To find these stories, you need only do an Internet search with any of those terms along with "TSA." In addition to all that, air travelers in the United States are now stupidly forced to remove their shoes because of one Muslim maniac.
Needless to say, as we stood in the moderately long line of the Sky Harbor TSA security checkpoint, I was not happy and only wanted it to be over. We finally arrived at the x-ray conveyor belt with all the gray plastic bins into which we had to put our shoes, belts, purses, bags, watches, cell phones, laptops and anything in our pockets. When flying, I always try to wear nothing that would cause the x-ray imaging machines to raise an alert. So, I wore no belt or any jewelry. I had nothing in my pockets. I only carried my small purse, and I wore blue jeans, a long-sleeved cotton t-shirt and simple leather boots. I removed my boots and placed them and my purse into two of the bins and pushed them on toward the x-ray screener.
I was directed into the – what I call a "rape scan" – body imaging machine. As you may know, we are forced to stand inside it for several seconds with our arms held up as if we're common criminals, and the machine does a circular spin around our bodies. When the scan was done, a black woman told me to step out of the machine. I'm guessing this woman was probably in her early thirties. She directed my attention to the human body outline image on a screen outside the machine, which displayed the supposed results of my scan. There were "warning" boxes superimposed directly on the crotch, one knee and one ankle area, which I instantly knew were bogus.
Because of those flags, she informed me I would be subjected to an enhanced pat-down. I numbly looked at the entirely phony warning box images on the screen, knowing that with the advanced imaging capabilities of that machine, it would not possibly have "seen" any kind of threat anywhere on my body, much less between my legs. Nevertheless, I stood there silently with a smoldering outrage welling inside me as this girl described the sexual assault she was about to undertake on my body.
I hardly heard what she was saying she was about to do, because I was so angry knowing that this was a fake result, either from the machine or from someone's arbitrary decision to subject me to this despicable, Fourth Amendment-crushing, far-beyond-unreasonable search. She finished her little speech by asking me if I preferred [my sexual assault] to be done in a "private room" or right where we stood in front of hundreds of onlookers. I was barely able to mumble a "here" with an indication of my hand gesturing down to the yellow footprint stickers on the floor where I was to place my feet.
She required me to assist her in my sexual assault. I had to lift my shirt to give her clear access to my waistband, into which she thrust her blue-latex-gloved fingers and ran them all around the front and back of it. She made me hold my pants in place from the top as she crouched down and firmly ran her hands from the top of my legs to the bottom, both front, back and sides. She firmly pushed and rubbed her hands between my legs, the entire area – THE ENTIRE AREA – from the front and back.
She finally directed me to hold out my hands, palms up, as she swabbed them with damp squares of white tissue, which she inserted into a machine that I assume "sniffed" for explosive residue. When it gave my hands the all-clear, she indicated that I was free to go.
At that point, I was fairly blind with rage. Shakily, gritting my teeth hard enough to beat the band, I went and retrieved my boots and purse from the end of the screener belt several yards away, where they had remained while I got the enhanced grope-down. I was glad no one had taken my purse. Keith had been moved along after going through security, and from his viewpoint was unable to see my belongings or what was happening to me.
Still seeing red, I slowly walked to a chair near the TSA checkpoint to put on my boots. I was shaking with rage, and my husband had to quickly talk me down from reacting to the powerful anger that was exploding in my mind. The sickening feelings of rage, helplessness and violation continued to roil in me for the rest of the day.
What can I do? File a complaint with the TSA? Yeah, right. Call my congressman? And get a nice form letter reply in the mail in a month or so? Yeah, no. I'm powerless here, as are the many other people who have been sexually assaulted by the TSA. Maybe you'd like me to tone it down a notch and call it "molestation" or merely "groping," but I know what happened to me, and in any other situation, it would be legally regarded as sexual assault. If an ordinary person did to me what that woman – by authority of bad law – did to me, he would go to jail.
The TSA should be dismantled. Airport security needs to be returned to the airlines and local airports. The federal government's takeover of airport security screening after 9-11 has only created yet another unaccountable, monstrous bureaucracy that continues to grow in corruption, especially under Obama's recent lawless reign. Free-born American citizens should not have to abide such degenerate despotism in the name of "security." The TSA has seized illegitimate power in its random imposition of unreasonable searches on innocent airline passengers. If the Fourth Amendment to the United States Constitution means anything, then the TSA must go.
Agreed. I never bought the propaganda that questioning was a more intrusive invasion of privacy than either the machines or the pat downs.
Believe it or not, I’m a male and do not feel “safe in my person” as the amendment says, due to their dehumanizing treatment and have not flown since those scanners came out.
Opting out of the scanner for the wonderful patdown is an absurd option on the face of it.
I was patted down by the cops once (long story) and it was nothing like what you get at the airport.
If I were alive in Germany in the 30s, I would not have stuck around when they handed the armbands out.
Based on many of the dismissive posts on this thread, I can see people throughout history truly never change.
Nor do governments, by the way...
Your comment is an example of how easily so many free-born American citizens "justify" surrendering their freedoms for the illusion of "security."
Ok, then you weighed the risk of sexual assault against inconvenience. I have never, and will never, put myself in that situation.
If enough people refused to submit, if only by complete avoidance of air travel, the TSA would vanish. Hurt them in THEIR pockets.
It’s not a sexual violation. If one had ever been sexually violated, then you’d know this is not what’s happening.
No one put their hands down her pants and she knows this. What a crock of bs.
Many learned jurists and many jurors themselves have pondered as to just what "rape" and "sexual assault" is.
That is the beauty of system...and while we may or may not agree when a felon or miscreant is found "not guilty" or is released for whatever reason, at least the whole thing did progress to a point of question within our duly recognized system.
I am of the opinion (no big deal, it's just MY opinion) that anytime I am groped between my legs by any one under the guise of security enhancement, AFTER I have been x-rayed, and said groper is smirking at his fellow gropers the whole while...yes, I have been sexually assaulted.
It has happened to me and I have observed it happen to many others.
I have also observed screeners call other TSA dummies over to view the scanner screen and make gestures and smirks and comments of nature not justified by the appearance or presentation of the person being scanned.
The system is BROKE.
One other poster remarked that one-half of TSA is comprised of retired military, LEO's and corrections person.
From my observation, that was the worst half they could find.
Go through Hartfield Atlanta or O'hare, even LAX, and tell me you enjoy some big fat buffoon that barely speaks the King's English, with sweat beads popping out and running down his/her face, with huge sweat circles under his/her arms, smelling like they ran out of toilet paper before the job was done, popping a set of blue gloves on, all while literally LEERING at their "subject".
Or watch your possessions being handled by same person, with your expensive Movado or Rolex being ogled with greedy lust apparent, your wallet thumbed through, your belt held against their sweaty thighs while they flex it...'cause, you know, it might be one them there one's that blow up, and then later find smears of hair goo or whatever the hell it is all over the screen of your laptop, or even find the screen cracked, because the dumb ass tried to close it with your pen inside it..
I have yet to meet a TSA agent that was not arrogant, condescending and absolutely and totally stupid, as well as being drunk from the "power" they think they have been given.
What would happen if some guy in a movie ticket line reached for his hip pocket wallet and she was standing a little close so the inside front of her leg was touched?
Well, if it was accompanied with a smirk and a wink, that would be one thing.
If accompanied with an apology and attempt to put more distance between them...well, you've heard of that grain of salt thingy, right?
Here's the bottom line...we have allowed these TSA cretins to move themselves into a position wherein our liberties are violated and stolen on a daily basis...by a bunch of idiots, the vast majority of which couldn't find their own ass after years of instruction and practical exercises.
They have NOT been effective...the only thing they have found is the erstwhile condemnation of the nation, through their bumbling idiocy, perverse actions and "who cares if you like it, you gotta fly" attitude...and show me ONE damn jihadi they have caught!
And if a woman or man is felt up to the point that they feel violated, they have been violated, and most especially when it occurs under color of law.
I carry a card that shows my spare parts in x-ray form but it makes no difference at all. I always set off all the bells and whistles. I get grouped squeezed and have my gonads about half crushed every damn time I try to fly commercial.
I've been warned that if I make too much of a fuss over it I will be placed on a no fly list and not allowed to fly anymore.
Hey Mr government, your F-ing welcome for my service and the pieces and parts of me I sacrificed for my country. Thanks for molesting me every time I try and exercise one of the freedoms I fought for.
Gina. I’m so pissed off after reading your story!
I’m sorry that ASSAULT, yes Strac6, it was an ASSAULT, happened to you!
TSA in nothing more than a “make work” program started by the “brilliant” GWB administration.
I stopped flying in 2008 and will NEVER fly again!
Unless this useless agency is disbanded. ...
FAKE NEWS: I fly 1 to 2 times a month, and travel through all the big airports, including Sky Harbor in Phoenix, on a regular basis. I have two artificial hips and several pins, screws, and staples in my shoulders, and as a result I always ask for the the so-called “rape scan” so as not to set off the alarm on the traditional x-ray system. In 50% of the airports through which I travel, the “rape scan” is unavailable, and as a result, I am the frequent subject of a manual search.
The current version of the “rape scan” shows a very generic and unflattering schematic of the M/F human body that does not distinguish between body types (i.e., fat people look the same as thin people). (I flew through Sky Harbor two weeks ago.) But the “rape scan” is very sensitive and will pick up everything from lint balls to fingernail clippings. When the “rape scan” tests positive, TSA has no idea whether the person is a white Muslim terrorist from Kosovo or a dark-skinned Episcopalian from South-Africa. If there is a positive reading, then the TSA officer must take the exam to the next step, because terrorists (who are almost always Muslims) come in all shapes, sizes, colors, and genders.
The hand-check around the waistband intruded a mere .50 inches into my junk space. All of the TSA officers have been very professional about the procedure, and most have been apologetic. The TSA has ALWAYS offered me a private area for the pat-down.
And what does the TSA agent’s race have to do with anything? Is the “rape scan” more offensive because the TSA agent was a black woman instead of a white woman?
With that said, the TSA should adopt the Israeli security protocol. We recently traveled through Rome and was pleasantly surprised at that Italy has adopted the Israeli approach to Airport screening.
Quite frankly, I think this is total BS from an over-sensitive person looking to start a high-volume thread. Get over yourself. We have not suffered a successful airport terrorist attack within an airport secure zone in quite some time. While TSA has plenty of room to improve, I would say that the TSA has been effective.
Fire away.
Agnes,
It’s always good to check your facts before you post.
No one was “raped.” Either in that video you posted, which had nothing to do with TSA, nor in the big crybaby in the current post.
This poster is calling a low dose x-ray “rape” She needs to get a grip.
If this was rape, then you must approve colleges expelling men for “rape” if they were to even try to “pet” with a woman on campus.
I have been checked a number of times by TSA. It was always use fresh gloves. It has always been on the outside of my clothes. I have a pacemaker so I ring the bell every time. Twice they had to do a whole body search because their special machine was down. Big effing deal.
If a female police officer is searching a female being arrested for weapons or drugs before they are transported to jail, what is the problem? Are women the “weaker sex” and expect to not be searched?
And of course, if the plane this woman was was flying on was hijacked because a woman terrorist got a weapon past the TSA, she would probably be the first one to complain that TSA wasn’t doing their job.
There are, of course, different levels of sexual violation. This was hardly a rape, but I can guarantee you that a whole lot of people think a stranger grabbing your vagina or penis is a sexual violation, especially when there is a big power differential where many would not feel they can say no. You may be fine with airport workers touching and patting even children’s genitalia, but the outcry over this sort of thing is only growing (thank God). I’ve never seen any airport in Europe practicing these sort of invasive and abusive “security” tactics.
Holly, you're clearly trolling this thread on the side of tyranny. What happened to me has nothing to do with any comparison to a "sexual violation" of another. What happened to me is an example of how we've lost our freedoms to an overreaching, despotic State. That you don't appear concerned or even knowledgeable about this fact alerts me to your ill intentions on Free Republic. We see through your bunk, kiddo.
I didn’t say anyone was raped in that video.
The hands were inside the underwear and were using the SAME pair of gloves for multiple persons.
Do you think they were doing it for anyone’s safety?
You stated that hands were outside the underwear. Not true always. OP was lucky she only had hands outside underwear.
Not everyone is lucky. And cops seldom change gloves between multiple perps.
An x-ray type scan is rape?
Perhaps it is best you do not fly.
PS, don’t drive either. There are police speed traps everywhere, and those red light cameras really have extreme telephoto lenses that are actually designed to take pictures of your “tailpipe.”
I didn’t say anyone was raped in that video. She did
This poster claimed she was “raped” by the x-ray scan!
And do you really think the female Texas trooper was searching those women so she would get her jollies off?
You have got to be kidding.
“It’s not a sexual violation. “
Bill? Is that you?
Yeah, perhaps it’s best I don’t fly.
That way I won’t run into perverts like you.....
>>I have also seen hijab-wearers get a smooth pass through without being “handled” in any way.
******************************************************
Well here is the answer. Get a group together and produce for sale consumable paper hijabs that can be purchased through vending machines at the airport.
With 100% compliance, will all people then be waived through without being handled? LOL.
“And do you really think the female Texas trooper was searching those women so she would get her jollies off?”
She didn’t change gloves between them.
She should be sued into oblivion.
Your OB would be.
So would your dentist.
Why are ‘security’ personnel exempt from commonsense medical regulations?
Do you think this is a simple ‘oversight’ on the part of the authorities in charge, or perhaps they just don’t give a damn about you or your wellbeing?
That’s outrageous! I’m very sorry to hear how you, as a war hero, are being treated. President Trump needs to hear your plight & maybe somehow he can fix it. Thank you for your awesome service to our country! I salute you!
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