This ain't Hell, but you can see it from here

Category: TSA sucks

  • TSA antics; gay groping

    TSA antics; gay groping

    CBS4 tells us the story of some TSA Security folks who conspired to allow one of the officers to grope the genitals of male passengers who he thought were attractive at the Denver Airport;

    On Feb. 9 TSA security supervisor Chris Higgins watched the screening area, observing the employees. “At about 0925 he observed (the male TSA screener) appear to give a signal to another screener … (the second female screener) was responsible for the touchscreen system that controls whether or not the scanning machine alerts to gender- specific anomalies, according to a law enforcement report obtained by CBS4.

    According to the report, the TSA investigator then watched a male passenger enter the scanner at DIA “and observed (the female TSA agent) press the screening button for a female. The scanner alerted to an anomaly, and Higgins observed (the male TSA screener) conduct a pat down of the passenger’s front groin and buttocks area with the palm of his hands, which is contradictory to TSA searching policy.”

    Higgins later interviewed the female TSA agent who was an accomplice in the groping conspiracy. She “admitted that she has done this for (the male TSA officer) at least 10 other times. She knew that doing so would allow (the male TSA officer) to perform a pat down on a male passenger that (the male TSA screener) found attractive,” reported Higgins.

    Now, I have a few questions, not the least of which is; How did the female TSA agent not think that it was wrong, what made her think that her participation in the scheme was, even in the least bit, legal?

    Here’s another question; why wasn’t this pervert arrested for sexually assaulting a passenger. Yeah, I know that they don’t know who the passenger was, but if it had been a male groping a female passenger, she would have known immediately – the supervisor would have alerted her, if she hadn’t already been screaming about it.

    And since it was all a conspiracy to get this particular fellow a free grope of other people’s goodies, should I expect that sort of behavior from all gays?

    A spokesperson for TSA released a brief written statement to CBS4 saying, “These alleged acts are egregious and intolerable. TSA has removed the two officers from the agency. All allegations of misconduct are thoroughly investigated by the agency. And when substantiated, employees are held accountable.”

    The agency has not released the names of the two fired employees and refused a CBS4 request for an interview.

    Yeah, well, since it was an administrative action, I see no reason that the names of the two fired employees can’t be released to the media so the rest of us can be on the lookout for these unconvicted sexual predators who are on the prowl.

    Earlier this month a prosecutor from the Denver District Attorney’s Office was asked to review the case but she declined to press charges because there was no reasonable likelihood of conviction and no victim had been identified.

    Careful, don’t hurt yourself, Ms. Prosecutor. But, then it’s probably perfectly acceptable behavior in Colorado, given the politics there. I’m pretty sure that if the victim had been a female, the Denver prosecutor would have found her wherever she went.

  • Suspicious package in Detroit

    Ex-PH2 sends a link to an article about TSA evacuating Detroit Metropolitan Airport because an item “blew a tube in an X-ray machine at a security checkpoint”. Apparently someone has been arrested and bomb squads removed the device according to Fox Detroit.

    Fox 2 News Headlines

    I’m not seeing updates since this morning, so who knows what it was all about. I keep hoping that TSA is able to stop a terrorist attack…just one. For their sake.

  • TSA buffoonery

    Andy sends us a link to the New York Post about some idiot TSA screens at JFK airport. A screener found a canister on the floor and didn’t know what it was, so he…well, here’s what the Post says;

    The agent, Chris Yves Dabel, discovered the device at the Terminal 2 security checkpoint and tried to determine if it was real, a source told The Post.

    He told Port Authority cops that he “found the canister on the floor and thought it was a laser pointer.”

    “They were playing around with it,” said one Kennedy Airport official.

    The screener sprayed five other TSA agents around him, sending all six to Jamaica Hospital and halting security checks at Kennedy for at least 15 minutes, police said.

    It’s a good thing he hadn’t found a gun and pointed it at himself to see if it was loaded. Or something.

  • TSA’s Wounded Warrior Accomodations

    ROS sends us this link to the TSA’s website in which they seem to want to take into account that wounded troops will be flying, and therefore passing through screening;

    TSA wants to facilitate the screening of injured and wounded service members. To address these specific situations, TSA has established the Wounded Warrior/Military Severely Injured Joint Support Operations Center Program to support and facilitate the movement of severely injured service members and veterans through the security screening process at our nation’s airports.

    Here is how the process works:

    Once flight arrangements are made with the airline, the severely injured service member, or family member, or other representative can contact the Operations Centers with details of the itinerary. Contact points:
    E-mail MSIJSOC@dhs.gov (preferred, to protect accuracy of flight information and other details)
    Toll-free telephone number (888) 262-2396
    The Operations Center will acknowledge the request by reply e-mail, or over the telephone
    The Operations Center will then notify the Federal Security Directors or their designated representatives at the involved airports. Federal Security Directors are responsible for ensuring that necessary security screening is conducted with empathy and respect, in order to make the overall experience for the Wounded Warrior as simple and trouble-free as possible.

    Yeah, well, that’s nice, but we shouldn’t have to call ahead and warn them of our departures and arrivals. Showing an ID card and riding a wheelchair should be enough. I mean, I appreciate the effort, and you folks should take advantage of it, but still.

    All of my respect for TSA dissipated when I was flying to Panama on election day 2004 with my “Vets For Bush” shirt and was subjected to every kind of search short of a fisting.

  • Wounded Marine humiliated by TSA

    The Washington Times reports that Representative Duncan Hunter is inquiring into an incident at the Phoenix Sky Harbor airport last week when a Marine with prosthetic legs was the focus of Transportation Security agents’ overly ambitious search;

    Rep. Duncan Hunter said in his letter Monday that the Marine, who is still on active duty and showed TSA agents his military identification, was still forced to undergo that scrutiny.

    “A TSA office asked the Marine to stand and walk to an alternate area, despite the fact that he physically could not stand or walk on his own. With numerous TSA officers sitting and unwilling to assist, an officer then made him remove his legs, then put them back on, only to advance to a secondary screening location where he was asked again to stand, with extraordinary difficult, while his wheelchair was examined for explosives,” Mr. Hunter said.

    Yeah, because those Marines are more likely than anyone to smuggle explosives onto planes.

    The congressman asked TSA to detail its procedures to inspecting wounded U.S. troops at airports, and to consider whether agents should show “situational awareness.”

    Well, they’re complying with their main directive which is to give the impression that they’re doing their jobs, not that they’re necessarily having any impact on actual security.

  • Rand Paul accosted by TSA at airport

    Old Trooper sends a link from ABC News that Rand Paul set off alarms at the airport in nashville. When he refused the pat down, he was escorted out of the secure area;

    “When an irregularity is found during the TSA screening process, it must be resolved prior to allowing a passenger to proceed to the secure area of the airport,” according to an official statement released by TSA. “Passengers who refuse to complete the screening process cannot be granted access to the secure area in order to ensure the safety of others traveling.”

    Paul’s office confirmed he set off an airport security full-body scanner “on a glitch,” according to a spokesman.

    The Paul staffer said TSA agents would not let Paul walk back through the body scanner and were demanding a full body pat-down.

    The Paul spokesman said his office called TSA administrator John Pistole about the incident this morning.

    Like TSO said, it’s like watching A-Rod wrestling with the devil…who do you cheer for? I think the story would have been better if they’d stop Paul because he was on a no-fly list for being a suspected crank or for his apparent connections to Adam Kokesh.

  • Homeland Security Priorities

    Yeah, if you’re wondering what the department of Homeland Security is focusing on this holiday season, here’s a glimpse;

    UpNorth sends us this video. Thay’re not waiting for the troops to become dangerous right-wing veterans…we’re going to nip their terrorist potential in the bud;
    (more…)

  • TSA misses loaded gun in luggage

    Nothing, and I mean NOTHING, pisses me off more than to arrive at my destination and opening my luggage to find all of my cremes and lotions in a baggie and a note from the Federal government telling me that they bagged my lotions and cremes for me and that I should do it myself next time. It pisses me off because because it’s a waste of time and serves no useful purpose to put my creams and lotions in a plastic baggie than to protect my clothes in the case that a container ruptures.

    And it means that TSA is spending too much time bagging creames and lotions and not enough time on the things they should be doing;

    The .38-caliber handgun fell out of a duffel bag as a luggage ramp crew was loading it onto an Alaska Airlines flight to Portland, Ore., the Times reports.

    Now, I’ll admit that a loaded handgun in checked luggage is about as dangerous as unbagged creams and lotions, but, not finding a loaded handgun was probably the result of TSA looking for unbagged creams and lotions. Regular readers know I have a problem with security personnel, but it’s only when they are something besides providing security and working harder at Looking like they’re doing their jobs instead actually doing something productive.

    I wonder how many people on that Alaska Airlines flight got home and found their creams and lotions bagged along with a note from the federal government.