Skip to comments.
TSA Agent Confession
Politico ^
| 1/31/2014
| Jason Edward Harrington
Posted on 01/31/2014 7:47:52 PM PST by 12th_Monkey
My pained relationship with government security had started three years earlier. I had just returned to Chicago to finish my bachelors degree after a two-year stint in Florida. I needed a job to help pay my way through school, and the TSAs call-back was the first one I received. It was just a temporary thing, I told myselfside income for a year or two as I worked toward a degree in creative writing. It wasnt like a recession would come along and lock me into the job or anything.
It was May 2007. I was living with a bohemian set on Chicagos north side, a crowd ranging from Foucault-fixated college kids to middle-aged Bukowski-bred alcoholics. We drank and talked politics on the balcony in the evenings, pausing only to sneer at hipsters strumming back-porch Beatles sing-a-longs. By night, I took part in barbed criticism of U.S foreign policy; by day, I spent eight hours at OHare in a federal uniform, solemnly carrying out orders passed down from headquarters.
I hated it from the beginning. It was a job that had me patting down the crotches of children, the elderly and even infants as part of the post-9/11 airport security show. I confiscated jars of homemade apple butter on the pretense that they could pose threats to national security. I was even required to confiscate nail clippers from airline pilotsthe implied logic being that pilots could use the nail clippers to hijack the very planes they were flying.
(please see article at the link)
(Excerpt) Read more at politico.com ...
TOPICS: Government; Miscellaneous
KEYWORDS: tsa; tsapervs
Navigation: use the links below to view more comments.
first 1-20, 21-23 next last
Long read. I know this subject has been flogged to death, but I thought it was pretty good. Let me know what you think
To: 12th_Monkey
” We drank and talked politics on the balcony in the evenings, pausing only to sneer at hipsters strumming back-porch Beatles sing-a-longs”
Beatles beat Pete Seger (RIP)
2
posted on
01/31/2014 7:52:43 PM PST
by
equaviator
(There's nothing like the universe to bring you down to earth.)
To: 12th_Monkey; All
3
posted on
01/31/2014 7:57:49 PM PST
by
musicman
(Until I see the REAL Long Form Vault BC, he's just "PRES__ENT" Obama = Without "ID")
To: 12th_Monkey
I thnk John Pistole should be horsewhipped for openers.
4
posted on
01/31/2014 8:27:27 PM PST
by
relictele
(Principiis obsta & Finem respice - Resist The Beginnings & Consider The End)
To: 12th_Monkey
5
posted on
01/31/2014 8:36:33 PM PST
by
lightman
(O Lord, save Thy people and bless Thine inheritance, giving to Thy Church vict'ry o'er Her enemies.)
To: 12th_Monkey
If I were a manager I’d toss any resume with “TSA” on it in the circular file. Why would I want someone who would participate in that to work for or with me?
6
posted on
01/31/2014 8:53:39 PM PST
by
zeugma
(Is it evil of me to teach my bird to say "here kitty, kitty"?)
To: 12th_Monkey
Pretty much confirms what we suspected. Moreover, it shows how government works at most every level — for example the Wisconsin teacher who was fired for watching hardcore porn at school, then reinstated by a liberal judge. The facts now coming forth show support from fellow teachers, male AND female,attempts to minimize and excuse his horrific behavior, all because he’s a union brother. Tell me that public employee unions have one single purpose in today’s world...
7
posted on
01/31/2014 8:58:50 PM PST
by
bigbob
(The best way to get a bad law repealed is to enforce it strictly. Abraham Lincoln)
To: 12th_Monkey
Each day I had to look into the eyes of passengers in niqabs and thawbs undergoing full-body pat-downs, having been guilty of nothing besides holding passports from the wrong nations. As the son of a German-American mother and an African-American father who was born in the Jim Crow South, I can pass for Middle Eastern, so the glares directed at me felt particularly accusatory. The thought nagged at me that I was enabling the same government-sanctioned bigotry my father had fought so hard to escape. The fellow writing the article apparently didn't learn anything from 9/11. No wonder he worked for TSA
8
posted on
01/31/2014 9:00:00 PM PST
by
zeugma
(Is it evil of me to teach my bird to say "here kitty, kitty"?)
To: musicman
9
posted on
01/31/2014 9:38:03 PM PST
by
12th_Monkey
(One man one vote is a big fail, when the "one" man is an idiot.)
To: lightman
I hated flying before, now I hate it twice as much
10
posted on
01/31/2014 9:39:09 PM PST
by
12th_Monkey
(One man one vote is a big fail, when the "one" man is an idiot.)
To: zeugma
Hmmmm, interesting... I would have to think twice about an ex-TSA people
11
posted on
01/31/2014 9:40:43 PM PST
by
12th_Monkey
(One man one vote is a big fail, when the "one" man is an idiot.)
To: bigbob
I heard about case, pathetic indeed. Judge was probably sympathetic to public employee unions.
12
posted on
01/31/2014 9:44:05 PM PST
by
12th_Monkey
(One man one vote is a big fail, when the "one" man is an idiot.)
To: zeugma
His statement gave me pause because I thought Muslims in their garb we given a pass...
So maybe that happened early on, not so sure if it’s true now
13
posted on
01/31/2014 9:48:06 PM PST
by
12th_Monkey
(One man one vote is a big fail, when the "one" man is an idiot.)
To: 12th_Monkey
Hmmmm, interesting... I would have to think twice about an ex-TSA peopleThere's always a reason NOT to hire someone...and it doesn't have to be the one you say it is.
14
posted on
01/31/2014 9:59:26 PM PST
by
Slings and Arrows
(You can't have Ingsoc without an Emmanuel Goldstein.)
To: 12th_Monkey
15
posted on
01/31/2014 10:04:20 PM PST
by
Slings and Arrows
(You can't have Ingsoc without an Emmanuel Goldstein.)
To: Slings and Arrows
16
posted on
01/31/2014 10:10:30 PM PST
by
12th_Monkey
(One man one vote is a big fail, when the "one" man is an idiot.)
To: Slings and Arrows
to grope or not to grope, that is the question....NOT, grope,poke,cup and stroke
17
posted on
01/31/2014 10:13:05 PM PST
by
12th_Monkey
(One man one vote is a big fail, when the "one" man is an idiot.)
To: 12th_Monkey
18
posted on
01/31/2014 10:16:37 PM PST
by
musicman
(Until I see the REAL Long Form Vault BC, he's just "PRES__ENT" Obama = Without "ID")
To: verga
19
posted on
02/01/2014 3:44:52 AM PST
by
verga
(Poor spiritual health often leads to poor physical and mental health)
To: 12th_Monkey
Ex-Agent Confirms Worst Suspicions About TSA: We Laugh At Naked Bodies And Take Apple Butter From Old Ladies
http://weaselzippers.us/
20
posted on
02/01/2014 6:54:04 AM PST
by
KeyLargo
Navigation: use the links below to view more comments.
first 1-20, 21-23 next last
Disclaimer:
Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual
posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its
management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the
exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.
FreeRepublic.com is powered by software copyright 2000-2008 John Robinson