Ever since the initial discovery in the mid 1800s by the great doctor from the Austro-Hungarian Empire, Ignaz Semmelweis, health professionals have known that it is essential that the hands be washed between patients and after handling unsanitary items in order to minimize the transmission of disease. With this in mind, all fliers should demand that the TSA agent change into fresh gloves prior to any contact. The possibility for the transmis
A WOMAN is suing over an incident where airport staff allegedly pulled down her top and joked about her breasts in public view.
The 23-year-old traveller, from Amarillo, US, is suing the US Government for the emotional distressed she says the Transportation Security Administration (TSA) agents caused. [...]
“As the TSA agent was frisking plaintiff, the agent pulled the plaintiff’s blouse completely down, exposing plaintiffs’ breasts to everyone in ... (more)
Listen to this: "My freely chosen bedmates and doctors are the only ones allowed to see my naked body or touch my genitalia." For a sane person in a sane country that's the ultimate in "no shit, Sherlock" statement. But not where I live.
Not the United States of America. Not since 11 September 2001, when the government reacted to an attack on its citizens by lashing out against the very citizenry ... (more)
DURHAM — After months of unemployment, 57-year-old Steve Pruner decided to create his own job selling hot dogs in downtown Durham. Problem is, state laws and regulations called “onerous” by a Durham County health official have sidelined Pruner’s hot dog cart.
Pruner, a former executive recruiter for a company conducting clinical research trials, had to find another line of work when the economy went bad. Self-employed, with a mentally handicapped 26-year-ol... (more)
(CNN) -- Body scanners that peer through clothes are deployed in airports across the country. Travelers who object are subject to "enhanced" pat-downs. Parents watch as their children are groped before boarding a plane.
The elderly are asked to raise their arms high above their heads so that the body scanners can capture a naked image of a 78-year-old man or an 81-year-old woman.
No other country in the world subjects its air travelers to the combination of screenin... (more)
The TSA has been hit with a number of lawsuits as the revolt against Big Sis, naked body scanners, and invasive groping measures explodes, with one case involving a woman who had her blouse pulled down in full public view by TSA goons who then proceeded to laugh and joke about her exposed breasts.
Nationwide outrage against the TSA is not only bringing to light new cases of airport abuse, it’s throwing fresh attention on previous incidents that have been going on for years.<... (more)
The district attorney’s office in San Mateo County, California has promised to follow up any complaints of over the top TSA pat-downs with prosecutions on the charge of sexual battery, reports ABC 7 News.
“The case would be reviewed and if we could prove the elements of it, that it was inappropriately done with a sexual or lewd intent, that person would be prosecuted,” DA Steve Wagstaffe told reporters.
Airline passengers who object to any type of physical screening are not going to fly anywhere, the head of the Transportation Security Administration told a congressional committee Tuesday.
Quizzed by lawmakers about a controversial new airport procedure that uses revealing full-body scan machines and intimate "pat-downs" of those who object or set off alarms, TSA Administrator John S. Pistole appealed to the flying public to become "partners" in the effort to combat terrorism.... (more)
A Connecticut man has been arrested after exchanging words and punching a TSA screener at a security checkpoint at Indianapolis International Airport. [...]
The report does not indicate that Christina refused to be screened before entering the concourse and boarding an airplane. He had already stood and been scanned in a full-body advanced imaging machine before the incident. [...]
... (more)
(CBS) Transportation Safety Administration chief John Pistole and several senators from both parties defended the new, enhanced airport security screening procedures as necessary in the face of a persistent and evolving terrorist threat in a hearing Wednesday on Capitol Hill.
Pistole, calm and confident in the face of an increasing public outcry against the procedures, talked extensively about the repercussions of last year's attempted Christmas Day bombing being the impetus for... (more)
Their message is simple. Submit to our will or the terrorists will get you.
The Transportation Security Administration (TSA) now admits that airport scanners that can see through clothes to create images of the naked body can also detect sanitary napkins.
New York Times reporter Joe Sharkey wrote that he was getting a lot of question from women who travel in a little noticed article Monday.
"Do the imagers, for example, detect sanitary napkins?" women wanted to know. ... (more)
The Transportation Security Administration (TSA) has crossed the line. As if subjecting millions of Americans to X-rated x-ray scans and public groping sessions weren't bad enough, the agency now threatens $11,000 in fines against anyone refusing to submit to humiliation at the airport.
Oceanside, Calif., resident John Tyner found this out after he posted on YouTube a video of his degrading encounter with TSA screeners. Mr. Tyner's catchy phrase, "If you touch my junk, I'll have y... (more)
Did you know that the nation’s airports are not required to have Transportation Security Administration screeners checking passengers at security checkpoints?The 2001 law creating the TSA gave airports the right to opt out of the TSA program in favor of private screeners after a two-year period. Now, with the TSA engulfed in controversy and hated by millions of weary and sometimes humiliated travelers, Rep. John Mica, the Republican who will soon be chairman of the House C... (more)
Colbert interviewed Jeffrey Goldberg (read about his 2008 tests of the TSA), and has a great introductory monologue.
Interestingly John Stewart has been completely silent on the TSA raping. He had one mention of it with a short monologue by Lewis Black in which he basically joked they were great and he would tip them for the groping.
The TSA’s invasive new screening measures include officers literally putting their hands down people’s pants if they are wearing baggy clothing in a shocking new elevation of groping procedures that have stoked a nationwide revolt against privacy-busting airport security measures.
... (more)
A few weeks ago, I wrote about a SWAT raid on New Haven nightclub. The raid was for suspected underage drinking. In addition to the obvious overkill show of force, police also threatened and allegedly arrested a Quinnipiac University student for attempting to record the raid with their cell phones (the police say the student was arrested for assaulting officers and disrupting the raid). This was a big story in New Haven,... (more)
At the heart of the controversy over "body scanners" is a promise: The images of our naked bodies will never be public. U.S. Marshals in a Florida Federal courthouse saved 35,000 images on their scanner. These are those images.
A Gizmodo investigation has revealed 100 of the photographs saved by the Gen 2 millimeter wave scanner from Brijot Imaging Systems... (more)
While a bureaucratic turf war rages between the CIA and U.S. Cyber Command (CYBERCOM) over which secret state agency will be authorized to launch network attacks outside a "war zone," the big losers, as always, will be those unfortunate enough to find themselves on the receiving end of a military-grade "logic bomb."
Last week, The Washington Post reported that CYBERCOM "is seeking authority to carry out computer network attacks around the globe to protect U.S. interests." Leav... (more)
During a talk with the Wall Street Journal CEO Council, New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg told a group of chief executives that government needs to impose a carbon tax in order to reduce U.S. dependence on foreign oil and fight terrorism at the same time.
"If this country ever wants to be energy independent, if we ever want to stop sending our monies to the terrorists who wa... (more)
