Dying woman humiliated in TSA pat-down - Page 4

On October 11 2012 03:51 white_horse wrote:
the TSA officers didn't have the intelligence to take her to a private room, so its their fault. That said, the screenings are better than having an explosion and 300 dead people. What if the patient was really not a patient but a guy with a bomb and the TSA people just let her through since shes just a patient and "obviously" not a threat. And then you have 300 dead people. What are you guys going to whine about if that happened? That TSA isn't doing their job and that the government fails at protecting its citizens? You guys are never going to be satisfied.

Let me remind you that 99.999% of people that walk through airport screenings go through it without any problems. Its just the few percent of idiots at TSA that do stupid things (like not giving the patient private screening) and then it gets on the news and everyone starts crying invasion of privacy and loss of freedom.

On October 11 2012 04:54 Rimstalker wrote:
have you guys actually been to an airport lately and seen the long lines? If every silly-bugger gets his private room, no one would catch his/her plane anymore

On October 10 2012 17:30 opisska wrote:
So far there are not too many americans in the thread, but as you guys come, you should really appreciate how this is your collective fault. Nothing exists on its own, even the mighty TSA has been created and appointed by your government, that you elected and you did not pressure it enough to put things straight (also because you keep buying the "we must protect you from terrorists" stories). So if you are an American and you are outraged, don't even think about bitching on the internet if you haven't already written to your congresman!

After a couple of visists, I still think that the US is quite a cool (even though very sifficult to grasp) country. But this TSA crap, which every visitor must come in contact with, is really ruining the image.

On October 11 2012 05:13 Trusty wrote:
They should equip TSA staff with tablets (ipad etc).

Whenever someone has a cry, or whenever people in this thread have a cry, bust out the tablet show them the 9/11 footage. Hopefully that would shut up alot of people very quickly.

How would you feel, if she got on the plane, and it blew up because of her? As in, the 0.001% chance that the story given to the TSA agents was fake, and they didn't check her out. Would you want that on your conscience?

You ask the families of those who lost loved ones in 9/11, or other terrorist activity. They prey on your 'it'll be ok' mentality. They prey on your 'won't happen to me... couldn't be happening' mentality.

It does look like the situation was not handled correctly (privacy etc), but those saying that it's silly to check her out......... please.... have some respect for the people who have lost loved ones to terrorists.

Those Who Sacrifice Liberty For Security Deserve Neither.

On October 11 2012 05:16 rd wrote:


Yeah pretty much anyone who isn't at the capital building picketing five days a week both agrees with and endorses the actions of the TSA.

On October 11 2012 02:50 VashtaNerada wrote:
Let's muddy the waters a bit.

It's probably safe to assume that the TSA catches few, if any, crimes. I have a combination lock on the gate from my front yard to my back yard. I'm well aware that it only takes a few seconds and a good pair of bolt cutters to bypass that "security" measure. However... it takes a few seconds and a good pair of bolt cutters. A determined thief can still break in, but it's not as easy to do so. The TSA works off of the same principle. It might be possible to get a bomb onto a plane but it's a lot more difficult to do so. It's not a guaranteed preventative measure, but it drives up the resources, time, and planning that it takes. There's some synergy there with law enforcement - the longer it takes to develop an attack, the greater the likelihood something goes wrong and you get caught. Chances are, that's happened before but it doesn't make a big media splash.

Next, let's put ourselves in the shoes of some hapless TSA agent. In comes a patient in a wheelchair, complete with saline bags and bandaging with something obviously under it. Yes, it's far more likely that this is a sick person going to visit their dying relatives than a drug smuggler or terrorist... so you've got a choice, and they both suck. You either do your security check and risk looking like a jerk, or you wave them through and risk missing something important. There's definitely a caveat here: you should still treat people with dignity and respect. If you've got to do a thorough pat-down, take it somewhere private.

I don't particularly enjoy going through TSA security. I don't know if its existence is justified or not; if in the last decade it has prevented even one single incident that could kill 300 people on a plane, does that balance out the inconvenience and occasional abuse of authority? Is this just another slice of freedom that we've lost, another step towards some dystopian authoritarian bureaucracy? I haven't got any answers for those questions, but I think the issues with TSA are a lot more complex than "the lines suck and getting patted down is undignified and I've never seen anyone get caught with a bomb."

On October 11 2012 05:19 forestry wrote:
tel aviv has a better method and significantly faster than tsa...