Rand Paul’s Pat-Down Standoff With TSA in Nashville Ends

ABC News ^ | Jan 23, 2012 10:33am | Sunlen Miller

[Texas Fossil]

By Sunlen Miller @sunlenmiller

Rand Paul’s Pat-Down Standoff With TSA in Nashville Ends

Sen. Rand Paul told his communications director this morning he was being detained by TSA at the Nashville airport.

The Twitter account associated with Paul staffer Moira Bagley, @moirabagley, tweeted around 10 a.m., ET, “Just got a call from @senrandpaul. He’s currently being detained by TSA in Nashville.”

A TSA spokesman disputed that Paul was ever “detained.” But he was not granted access to the secure area of the airport when he tried to board a flight Monday morning.

[plain talk]

Your perspective on this is what is turning our country into a totalitarian fascist state.

People that exaggerate to try and make a point out of desperation usually have no point.

[aldabra]

"Those who would give up essential liberty to purchase a little temporary safety deserve neither liberty nor safety."
Benjamin Franklin, Historical Review of Pennsylvania, 1759

Bears repeating. You beat me to the quote.

A basic question is why was 9-11 used as an excuse to install ever encroaching surveillance and abrogations of freedom in place of securing our borders and halting the flood of entrants, illegal and legal, from countries that hate us?

Why have the political elite foisted 'Free Trade' agreements that contain provisions the over ride immigration law upon us?

Why haven't those responsible for immigration been given the tools needed for timely accurate evaluation of visa applications?

Why since 9-11 has our country been flooded with potential terrorists.

[takenoprisoner]

My desire to abolish the TSA doesn't mean we should abolish airport security. If you are all warm and cozy with these TSA buffoons, as well as the looney policies, then you are a part of the problem.

You want real flight security? Then dump this PC BS, and profile. eeewwww We can't profile, that's a violation of civil rights... Well, when is the last time some lil ole lady from Pasedena hijacked an aircraft? Yet, she is subjected to the same scrutiny as the would be terrorist. And while she is getting a full body search, the actual terrorist has breezed right through the gates, and is busy boarding.

Had passenger profiling already been a critical part of airport security, 911 would have been prevented. Moreover, we wouldn't be having this conversation right now, and the twin towers would still be standing tall.

Privatize airport security. Cease the groping of our children It's effing perverted. Abolish the monstrous bureaucracy TSA. The TSA is now some 63k strong, with some 4k administrators. Really? Reeaallllyy?

[mo]

“Why....?”

“The first great American Civil War was about ending slavery. Civil War II is about the same thing, except the slave owners in this case are the bureaucrat and entitlement classes who have yoked productive citizens and future generations to a grindstone of $100 trillion of unfunded social liabilities, environmental Gaia worship and bureaucratic strangulation.”

http://www.futurnamics.com/civilwar.php

[Chickensoup]

People that exaggerate to try and make a point out of desperation usually have no point.

___________________

People who ostrich their way through life end up a slave to the state.

[Sloth]

He could have left the airport any time he wished.

That directly contradicts Paul's description of the event.

[aldabra]

Yup ... profiling an individual's behavior is what Israel does quite successfully! No bowing to Marxist Political Correctness.

[aldabra]

Thanks for the interesting link.

[darrellmaurina]

78 posted on Tuesday, January 24, 2012 7:17:07 AM by combat_boots: “Rand, as Ron’s son, was detained on the day of a Republican debate. How about that.”

Seriously bad political mistake by TSA.

On the broader issue, I'd like to learn more about Israeli airport security. It certainly seems to work, but I also realize that key elements may not be discussable in public because of operational security considerations.

Also, I realize they don't have our Constitution and they may be doing things which would be unconstitutional here apart from a formal declaration of war, which we aren't realistically going to get.

But if we win the elections in 2012 I hope some Israeli airport security leaders are among the first people interviewed by the new Republican president, whoever he may be. Something has got to be done about TSA.

[Girlene]

TSA says he was not "detained", but he did miss his flight.

I'll believe Rand Paul. Rand Paul Describes His TSA 'Detention'

...."Sen. Rand Paul spoke to The Daily Caller after his very public claim that he was detained by the Transportation Security Authority in Nashville after refusing a pat down, saying "If you’re told you can’t leave, does that count as detention?""..........

..............." here's Paul with a fuller account:

I tried to leave the cubicle to speak to one of the TSA people and I was barked at: ‘Do not leave the cubicle!’ So, that, to me sounds like I’m being asked not to leave the cubicle. It sounds a little bit like I’m being detained.

After about two hours of negotiations, the TSA let him enter the full-body scanner again and when it didn't beep, he proceeded on his way, dignity, apparently, intact. "..................

[Girlene]

Listen to Rand Paul describing his interaction with TSA agents. Sen. Rand Paul Describes Being Detained by the TSA After Refusing Pat Down Search

oh-la-la. Two TSA agents admitted that the screeners detecting something is part of random pat-downs. The machine is going off when nothing's there in order to trigger random pat-downs. They don't tell you this because they think you'll more likely submit if you think it's the machine.

[Excellence]

That is a most excellent question, especially since the the latest defense bill was passed.

[Girlene]

This is not going to go away. From Rand Paul Claims Rigged Machine May Have Led To Airport Ordeal

Sen. Rand Paul (R-KY) says his ordeal with the TSA Monday will result in him submitting a formal request into whether or not the scanners used at airports lie to trigger random pat downs."...............

.........."The difference between those two scans — one triggering an alarm and one not — will lead to a formal Senate inquiry, Paul (who has been a strong critic of the TSA’s pat down policy) told me in the airport.

Paul questioned why the machine would go off once and then not a second time. He said he suspects the equipment is rigged to set off false positives that then allow the TSA to conduct random pat downs without having to pull a passenger aside.

“I think was mine probably random, I doubt I was picked on,” he said. “But I would like to know: does the screener have the ability to push the button and randomly get someone to set off a screener?”".................

[Texas Fossil]

BUT, he did miss his flight and because of that his speech at a Pro Life meeting.

Accident??

You tell me.

[dragnet2]

W Bush’s creation of DHS-—the gift that keeps giving

Americans are now scanned, sniffed, forced to disrobe, searched, metal detectors etc....

Yet:

In 2005, more people from Muslim countries became legal permanent U.S. residents than in any year in the previous two decades.

http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/nationworld/2003252072_911muslims10.html

Not to mention the million who entered illegally during wartime under Bush's watch.

[dragnet2]

Not to mention the millions who entered illegally during wartime under Bush's watch.

[MayflowerMadam]

“He was held incommunicado for an hour and a half “

Sounds more like kidnapping than an arrest.

[theDentist]

Well, if that is so and I am incorrect, mea culpa.

[RetiredArmy]

Maybe the AF1 pilots should pat down the muzzie before he gets on.

[AlanGreenSpam]

-—>> “Those who would give up essential liberty to purchase a little temporary safety deserve neither liberty nor safety.”

Benjamin Franklin, Historical Review of Pennsylvania, 1759”

_____________________________________

Sure, it’s easy for you to post the great quotation by Ben Franklin and think you’ve won the debate, but how does that apply to cases like not being able to shout “FIRE” in a crowded theater. That’s “against the law” but you need to ask yourself the question: Is being able to shout “FIRE” in a crowded theater and “essential liberty?”

Under your logic, if you don’t mind that law, then you, too, “deserve neither liberty nor safety” per your own Ben Franklin quote.

The key question you need to ask when applying the famous Ben Franklin quote is: “Is the right to board a flight without being screened for security an ‘essential liberty’ as Franklin calls it?”

I say no, given the world we’re in with fuel-laden 747’s able to be used as bombs against us.

Again, I’m not trying to be controversial here, I’m just trying to figure out just what it is that the anti-TSA people desperately want to accomplish and why they choose that to be such a pivotal issue when there are so many other key “essential liberty” issues — such as Obamacare — to devote your energy to.

Furthermore, I’d like to see the anti-TSA people offer a better alternative.

One of the replies to my post here suggested doing racial/cultural profiling (of Muzzigers) and I agree that would be much more effective than screening little old ladies and children.

So that’s a start, but if you guys are suggesting NO AIRPORT SCREENING at all, that’s just too risky in today’s world. Unacceptable.

So, once again, guys, please tell me your proposed alternative to today’s TSA-based system. If you do answer NO AIRPORT SCREENING at all, then you fit squarely in the nutjob category in my book.