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Subscribe to RSSAviation expert Peter Goelz shares his thoughts on the TSA's decision to pat-down a 95-year-old cancer stricken woman.
According to the Northwest Florida Daily News, a woman filed a complaint with the Department of Homeland Security alleging that her 95-year-old mother was asked by Transportation Security Administration officials to remove her adult diaper in order to comply with a pat-down search.
The incident reportedly took place June 18 when Jean Weber's mother, who is in the final stages of leukemia, was attempting to fly from Northwest Florida Regional Airport to Michigan to visit family members. Weber's mother required the assistance of a wheelchair to pass through the security.
Sari Koshetz, a spokeswoman for the Transportation Security Administration in Miami who would not comment specifically on the case, told the Daily News that it is policy to pat-down passengers in wheelchairs.
“TSA cannot exempt any group from screening because we know from intelligence that there are terrorists out there that would then exploit that vulnerability,” Koshetz told the paper.
Weber said that her mother was detained for 45 minutes. She was first taken into a glass-partitioned area for a pat-down and then to another private room for additional screening. Weber said that security personnel emerged from the room and asked that her mother remove the diaper, which was soiled, in order to complete the search. Weber took her mother to the bathroom and removed the diaper; Weber's mother did not have another clean diaper with her.
A Homeland Security representative told Weber on Wednesday that procedures had been correctly followed during the search.
“It’s something I couldn’t imagine happening on American soil,” Weber told the Daily News. “Here is my mother, 95 years old, 105 pounds, barely able to stand, and then this.”
UPDATE: TSA denies forcing flier to remove diaper; daughter stands by her story
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Rebecca Ruiz is a senior editor at msnbc.com. Follow her on Twitter.
Leave a Comment:
That's about what you can expect from TSA these days. I've frequently observed how rude, insensitive and rough they are with elderly passengers, whom they feel free to bully because they know older folks don't usually fight back or argue. I've heard TSA agents shouting at old people who didn't react or answer questions fast enough to please these power-mad morons. Forcing an elderly, incontinent person to have their diaper removed is really beyond any standard of decency, though.
It's high time Congress stepped in and put a stop to this nasty, police-state "security theater". TSA's only business seems to be humiliating, harrassing and assaulting ordinary, innocent Americans, without doing one REAL thing to increase security. TSA needs to be abolished, and the sooner the better.
My mother is blind, and has a pacemaker. When attempting to board a flight from LV Nevada to PDX she was sent (apart from me), because of her pacemaker, down a plexiglass isle, to a room where she was made (without me being present, but right outside the door) to take off her shoes and was subjected to a pat down. When it was over the agent told her to put her shoes back on, but did not instruct (the blind woman) as to where her shoes were. I yelled from the exit to the idiot that she could not "see" where her shoes were. The entire time I was outside the glass partition crying, as well, some of the other passengers were crying. This is a shame on our nation!
While TSA harasses 95 year old grandmas, they are extremely reluctant to pull anyone in Muslim dress out for extra screening. It seems that the political correctness of not being accused of racial profiling takes precedence over safety. The TSA harasses American grandparents and little children just so they can say they are not using racial profiling in the few instances that they do search a person of Arab/Muslim descent. The searches of grandparents and children have nothing to do with any perceived security risk presented by that person, it is done to keep the statistics looking right to avoid charges of racism. This is just one more example of political correctness running amok through our government. Other nations use profiling to help maintain safety and do not give a crap about accusations of racism that may result. They use profiling for one very basic reason - it works. Just ask the Israelis how well profiling works. When was the last time you heard of a bomb on a flight originating in Israel?!?!? We should be using the best methods available to ensure safety, not worrying about how things might look to some individual or group that likes to whine about how poorly they are treated.
Wish you two where on the plane that was taken over and ran into the towers... You would have a totally different view on security. Grow up and deal with the fact there are people out there wanting to take down our planes and will stop at nothing to find a way past the TSA's. So quit crying and grow a pair. Ask yourself why this elderly lady would fly without a change of diaper? Why her daughter was not prepaired knowing the pat down proceedures at the airport? Js in SD, are you handicapped in the brain? Of course they screen Arab/Muslim. Why dont you read a little before you post.
I hope TSA strip searches all you....and then xrays, gamma rays.....searches your luggage.....then hop on your plane, eat your stale soda crackers and OBEY! You are not human anymore...you are SHEEPLE. Enjoy your new slavery.....meanwhile, the rest of us who were smart enough to escape the U.S. Police State and not drinking the bogus 911 and OSL myth are enjoying true freedom elsewhere.....and let me tell you it sure feels gooooood. But, ignorance is bliss...so look under your bed tonight.....shoot first, ask questions later......some muslim may be planning your demise right now!!! BOOOOOOOOO
When will the American people wake up and put a stop to this crap? Go back to profiling and if someone doesn't like it..let them get on a plane back to the country they came from. It's about time we stood up for OUR rights instead of OTHER rights. A revolution is on its way people. WAKE UP!
All i have to say is if you dont like what the TSA is doing....ummmmm DONT FLY!!!!!!!!!! I am so sick of people Fn crying about what the TSA is doing...and BTW this just in...... A suicide bomber in a wheelchair blew himself up at the entrance to a police station north of the capital Baghdad on Sunday, killing three people and wounding 18, officials said. But hey....he was in a wheelchair so i guess if he were here....the TSA should not have patted him down.....
gildar...
All I have to say is that all of you apologists are a-holes who have sold your freedoms to a LIE...
I would rather go down with a plane, than go down the road our country is going..........................
We've turned into spineless zombies!
Barry-Moore - You are the one with the metal handicap, since you obviously can not read, or at last comprehend what you are reading. I did not say that they are not screened, everyone is screened. What I said is that there is a reluctance to pull them out for secondary screening. There have been many articles written about the reluctance of TSA agents to pull Muslims, particularly Muslim women out for extra screening. This is largely driven by fears of being called racists and accused of racial profiling. It is also driven by fears of being accused of violating the Muslims religious beliefs. My feeling is that anyone wearing a burqa or similar garment should receive extra screening since it would be so easy to hide something underneath the garment. However, TSA has shown an extreme reluctance to do thorough searches or pat downs of these women. If you take the time to read something other than the headlines and administration talking points you would know this is true. There have even been TSA agents that have admitted to this pressure to be careful not to offend Muslims in the procedures used in searching them.
Barry-Moore: Wishing death on people who disagree with you? Stay classy.
Obviously TSA has no more common sense than they have intelligence. Just boycott the airlines and put them out of business. They are not worth that type of service anyways. The Government has gone way overboard with this and needs to re-evaluate the necessity of these extreme inhumane techniques.
Barry Moore what a good Nazi you would make. Hitler would have loved to have a brown shirt ass like you on board. If you are that fricken parinoid do us all a favor and quit flying. Remember idiot it was security that let the bums on the plane with box cutters in the first place. And now you think it is ok to feel up a 95 year old lady? Do the rest of free society a favor and move to Cuba or China you would fit in well there.
Very few seem to understand what all of this is really about. Terrorist attacks on US soil have always been extremely rare. It's also obvious that, no matter how tight you make airline security, it won't prevent a determined terrorist attack because there are too many other ways to attack us.
We have the ultra-tight airline security mainly because A) the companies that make the scanners lobbied congress HARD for their use so they could get rich and B) airlines wanted tight security so that people could FEEL safe. In their eternal quest for corporate campaign money, congress agreed. This has never been about saving lives -- it's always been about money.
Imagine if you just took that position for every other misuse of power. For every other rediculous waste of government resources. Hey, don't like police harrasement....don't leave the house!!!
EXCEPT....that was in BAGDAD! It has NOTHING to do with Americans in America going to visit their families. NOTHING. You might as well have said that because there are Somalia pirates off the coast of Africa then all boats everywhere in the world, on every lake and river, should be suspected of piracy and be boarded and held against their will at any time with no evidence that they are a threat. Nice logic.
Truth Patrol
It doesn't matter where the "wheelchair" bomber was, the point gildar was making is it happened, don't assume that a terrorist is always going to be a certain age, sex or race. What a great way to throw off suspicion, be an apparently handicapped man in a wheelchair, who would suspect?
We are finding more and more "homegrown" tearorists, american born people who have turned.
A man hid explosives in his underwear, how much more could be hidden in a diaper?
And for those who are saying facial recognition software should be used, well yes, that will work for the few who are known terrorists or suspected, but what about all the ones we haven't figured out yet? If someone has kept a low profile and not raised any flags yet how does the government know they are dangerous? Talk about a false sense of security.
I vote that we follow the Israelis lead and PROFILE WHO WE QUESTION AT THE AIRPORTS.
We either have to take off adult diapers or we get smart about it and profile.
It is either one or the other. While I find this whole situation very distasteful, I realize that EVERYONE IS TREATED EQUALLY BY THE TSA.
DON'T FORGET - SOME TERRORIST HAD A BOMB IN HIS ADULT DIAPER. My sister was in that Detroit airport. It was near Christmas.
Here is an article from Good Morning American nonetheless.
A terrorists had a bomb in his underwear and tried to blow up a plane headed to Detroit on Christmas day. I particularly remember this because my sister was flying into that airport.
Like I said - either profile or EVERYONE IS SEARCHED.
http://abcnews.go.com/GMA/accused-bomber-umar-farouk-abdulmutallab-due-federal-court/story?id=9510524
Don't share this, Barry-Moore. If you really think someone deserves to die because they disagree with you about airport security, keep it to yourself. Ignore the Viners in question. Don't deathwish them. It's really unproductive.
You're suspended for a week for violating #1 of the Code of Honor.
Somebody should file a complaint against the woman's daughter for not bringing extra Depends for her ailing mother.
@Stop The Hypocrisy:
You wrote this:
And you are absolutely right!
Of course, if the TSA was a bit more forward-thinking, they would have a few sanitary supplies on hand for such situations, but it is not the responsibility of the TSA to supply personal hygiene products to passengers . . .
The only unacceptable TSA actions and behaviors would be showing favoritism, and so long as the people of our great nation continue to tolerate the existence of the cult of death, destruction, and hate called "Islam", these are the rules, and it is not unreasonable for the TSA screeners not to want to mess with poopy pants . . .
So, if you or someone with whom you are traveling has poopy pants, then expect to be asked to change the poopy pants or to find another mode of transportation, really . . .
Really! :-o
Or the airlines or the airport. (They have restrooms and water fountains, so why not something as basic as this? Keeping a box of Depends or Pampers around couldn't cut into their bottom line that much.)
@Stop The Hypocrisy:
I agree about it making sense to have personal hygiene supplies available for these types of situations, and this is something the airport can provide, which might include a fair and reasonable cost for the personal hygiene supplies, which basically should be in line with what these types of supplies cost at the grocery store or pharmacy, or there can be vending machines in the restrooms . . .
On a related note, this is the reason that the TSA must search everyone, including people in wheelchairs:
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/43540896/ns/world_news-mideast_n_africa/
Specifically, a suicide bomber in a wheelchair attacked a police station in Iraq, killing three people and injuring 18 people, and if it happens over there, it just as easily can happen here . . .
Over the past few years, terrorists have attempted terrorist attacks in-flight by exploding tennis shoes and more recently by exploding underpants, so one might reasonably suggest that everything is on the table including terrorist attacks in wheelchairs and exploding diapers, adult and otherwise, really . . .
Really! :-o
The last time I checked, the terrorists that attacked the United States on 9/11 over ten years ago were foreign ISLAMIC men, not 95 year old American women!! This is not a cookie cutter situation and therefore it does not require a cookie cutter solution; these matters should be handled on a case-by-case basis and there was NO REASON to ask this woman to remove her diaper...a quick swipe with the metal detecting wand would have sufficed. The TSA does go too far and the reason being is because they're uneducated morons who are now on a power trip. Everything our forefathers fought for has been desecrated and we no longer live in free country; we're in police state and big brother runs ALL OF YOUR LIVES. So, go back to facebook where all of your data is being mined to be used against you later, keep checking in with your iPhones so they know where you're at all of the time, watch reality television to keep yourself dumb and don't ask questions. This is what you wanted, and this is what you got... Hello "1984," "THX1138," and "Soylent Green."
While I have no proof I have read of many people in obvious arabic dress, especialy women, being passed thru security without any screening while others in line close to thm were pulled aside for extra close checks.
mac, and???
Baldenario...I was just checking that story out; it sure seems coincidental that 8 days after the TSA humiliated these women, that all of a sudden there's "proof" to justify the action... smells like bulls**t to me. I refuse to fly, strictly because I refuse to give up my freedom for 'convenience'. And to avoid prison: not about to stand by and let someone - anyone - brutalize a woman or elder that way. If I had witnessed it, I'd have made the TSA agent(s) famous.
someone should file a complaint against your stupidity at people who feel the TSA is doing there job, no they are not they are nothing but glorified THUGS
I see the Collapse Cowards are out in force, little meathooks over their ears going NANANAAAAA I CAN'T HEAR YEW! Yes I mean YOU, you craven coward.
Hey S-T-H: No response? Besides the wee bit of "collapse" rambling you just did? Do you really believe it nothing but a coincidence that this rumored 'wheelchair bombe' showed up just as the TSA is called to task on this old lady?
No, no, no. The point is not whether Muslims are inherently evil nor whether anyone ever tried to use a wheelchair to do harm on an airplane. The point is that this 95 year old women WAS "required" to remove her diaper and the head of TSA says it didn't happen. If TSA / the airline / whatever is expected to supply extra diapers / aspirin / razors / whatever, then there will be whining when those groups run out. But I digress; the point is TSA says no and lady and daughter say yes. Whom do you believe? Why do you tolerate prevarication by heads of government agencies? Roll heads not for silliness, but for lying.
so long as the people of our great nation continue to tolerate the existence of the cult of death, destruction, and hate called "Islam",...sorry i thought you were going to say Christianity there at first..you know the religion that caused more deaths "in the name of jebus" then any other.....
Chernobog124. I do agree with that.....I have an isue IF TSA lied then some people need to be canned...
Well there is blame here on both sides. 1. The daughter should have had a clean diaper for her Mom. Imagine sitting in poop for a flight. That is neglect. Number 2. Who in their right mind would think a 95 year old American woman is a security risk???? I have raised 4 babies- they can't tell me they couldn't pat down a diaper and tell the difference between poop and bombs. The smell alone would have given it away..
"Who in their right mind would think a 95 year old American woman is a security risk?"
Guess you missed the story today about the guy in a wheelchair who suicide-bombed a police station.
What's so hard for people to understand: ANYTHING and ANYBODY that gets on a plane is a potential problem. Maybe the old lady has no idea she's a walking time bomb, old age can limit mental faculties you know. Maybe it was her daughter with the insane ideology, and was perfectly willing to let her mom be a rolling bomb.
Again, I'm all in favor of letting people who don't want the hassle of dealing with security fly by themselves. I don't mind getting to the airport 4 hours early and dealing with stupid @!$%# if I have to; I do mind listening to idiots bitching about such things when everybody knows the rules.
I don't for one minute think that a determined terrorist wouldn't use his/her own child as a decoy, with a bomb loaded in a diaper, if he/she thought that would pass. I can understand discomfort at being patted down, and I am in sympathy with those who are treated in a way that disturbs them. I'm far more disturbed at the idea of someone getting on board a plane anywhere and getting away with carrying explosives on board because they didn't "appear" to be a terrorist. It's a product of the times we live in and I hate it as much as the next guy, but I want to get to my destination without being blown to kingdom come. Knowing what one can be faced with going through security, anytime I don't like it I can choose to drive or stay home.
Of course, as everyone knows, the best way to determine the difference between a bomb and a soiled diaper, breast implant, colostomy bag and well any other personal item, is to go ahead and pat it down and give it a good old squeeze.
I’m sure that the TSA employees have received some highly specialized training, and super powers, such that they can identify a bomb or chemical/biological weapon, simply by squeezing and/or poking it.
It will certainly be a tragedy when some terrorist actually does try to use a wheelchair, diaper, breast implant or colostomy bag in a suicide bomb attack, and our marvelously gifted TSA employees set about poking and squeezing it whilst surrounded by hundreds of travelers waiting to get through security.
It seems far too few people are questioning the efficacy of the squeeze/poke/sniff technique for detecting bombs. Are we actually safer because of pat downs? Do we really expect the pat down as a bomb discovering technique to either make us safer, or even be successful in identifying bombs?
Do we really, truly, have an expectation that “highly skilled” and “gifted” TSA employees are going to pat/squeeze/sniff out some device that bomb sniffing dogs, metal detectors, chemical analysis swabs, or even a body scan failed to reveal or detect?
I find very notion ridiculous that our TSA employees can somehow determine the difference between human waste or medically implanted device and some kind of bomb or chemical agent designed for use by terrorists.
“I squeezed the strange and mysterious bag attached to the terrorist/traveler’s intestine, and after clumsily breaking the bag and covering the terrorist/traveler in some mysterious substance, my keen senses kicked in and I was able to tell by the touch of my gloved hand, and the use of my superb sense of smell, that the liquid in question was not of the sort that could be used in an incendiary device. Rest easy my fellow Americans; TSA is here to save the day.”
I agree, other than the order. The daughter not having a backup should be Number 2
Why are you assuming it was a poop diaper? Perhaps it was urine-filled. And if you know anything about incontinent elderly or children, you know that you can put a clean diaper on someone and have it be unexpectedly used within a very short period of time. That's kind of the whole point of someone being incontinent... they don't know when they're "going". I would imagine, with all the crap (pardon the expression) this daughter probably had to deal with to get her mother on that plane and set to transfer into a nursing home, the last thing on her mind was jamming an extra pair of Depends into her purse. Not to mention that changing a 95 year old woman's Depends enroute... in a cramped airport stall toilet, or airplane toilet... would be something the daughter (herself a senior citizen) wouldn't plan to do anyway, I'm sure. TSA has gone beyond any tolerable level of invasive and insensitive screening. We have surrendered Freedom in the name of Security. That's one of the most unpatriotic things I could ever imagine happening to us. Wouldn't we all be safer if we were locked in our homes and only allowed out for supervised work times and pre-approved "entertainment" furloughs? I think so!
This is what the Terrorists want, and they have won, we are losing are freedoms for what....NOTHING....little children get groped, women's breast squezeed...for what to cop a feeel by TSA and its thugs
Henry Eckstein If the case you presented was true, searching an elderly woman's diaper wouldn't find the "body bomb" anyway so again, it is just an excuse to terrorize old people. Plus no such thing has been found here in the United States on babies or elderly people. Fortunately for us, we live in a country that still tends to value human life as a whole (with the exception of a few whackos.) No matter WHAT you do, there is always someone who can find a way around safety measures if they are persistent enough, we will never be able to totally eliminate threats. In the meantime, the way we are treating our own people by the TSA is disgusting.
In case any there is still any doubt, the terrorists won.
Of course Bin Laden has won. We are terrorized and are bankrupting ourselves into oblivion because of the new boogie man.
The whole situation is ridiculous, and we've let too much liberty be taken by these agents. About how much terrorism have they stopped? Oh, that's right. The data is classified. We don't want to give aid and comfort to the
citizensenemies of the governmentenemies of the people. Right?Remind me to forward this outrage to my Congressmen. We've got a budget deficit? Here's a cut we CAN make!
@Monica-3639389
Hoping fellow Americans and their families are killed in a terrorist attack because they don't agree with you? What a patriot... This kind of pointless and severe division in our country is exactly what makes us weak. Maybe YOU need to wake up.
Monica fits the profile of a TSA agent.
Monica, I have difficulty in believing you really mean your post. It's alright, expected even to disagree in forums like this. What is not alright is to make pointless pronouncements and adopt what is very close to the mindset the Islamists carry so closely to their shriveled hearts. We are, or were, the greatest nation in the world; surely we can come up with a way to protect ourselves that doesn't involve a complete lapse of human decency? We will never be completely safe from Islamic terror; it's simply not possible. What we can do is to try not to be at each others throats which is exactly what the radical Muslims want.
You are 5 TIME more likely to get struck by lightning than killed in a terrorist attack.
With the odds of getting hit by lighting 5 times higher, I hope you never walk outside in a thunder storm... I mean if you don't mind some stranger touching your wife or mother in places police officers are not allowed to do without probable cause for something 5 times less likely to happen...
By the way, we would catch all kinds of criminal behavior if we placed a video camera in EVERY SINGLE HOME... I mean if it's all about safety right?
This is half our problem.. too many idiots in this country without logic.
Monica (and all those who agree with her): You're a coward. What's worse, you are not only willing to give up your freedoms and dignity in the hope of some sense of safety, but are vehemently insistent that everyone else do the same. As it's been said: A coward dies a thousand deaths, a brave person dies but one. I refuse to alter my life or give away any of my freedoms because of fanatics...whether they are a terrorist, or a coward in search of security. I don't cower, I don't hide, and I damn sure don't fear someone so weak as to send their pet fanatics to die while they hide; I am an American.
I love you too, Monica, but I'm not willing to give up my essential liberties for temporary security of a dubious quality. What I AM willing to do is report your missive to the Newsvine staff - you have blatantly violated the Code of Honor on this board, rule #1:
Have a nice day.
Monica-3639389 banned, one of the worst first runs on the site that wasn't pure agenda-trolling I can remember. Death-wishing, grenade-trolling, all-around terrible.
...
PirateFarmer, you're suspended for a day for violating #1 of the Code of Honor.
Thanks, Tyler!
Think that we have just found an agency that can be CUT!! The love to intimidate citizens -- including kids, and now 95 year olds. Janet A Napolitano SHOULD BE FIRED!! They are only getting worse, and when they become unionized, they will really be untouchable. (AND OBAMA WONDERS WHY SO MANY FUNCTiONS ARE OUTSOURCED!)
I'm having some difficulty understanding what the other option was...automatically not searching elderly travelers? That does not seem likely or reasonable. Wouldn't the elderly person prefer to fly in a clean adult diaper anyway. I'm sure anyone sitting next to her would have preferred a change prior to the flight. Perhaps the traveler's family should pack some additional clean diapers or consider driving on their next trip.
Wilbert you moron, this has nothing to do with a spare diaper, this has to do with blatant abuse by the TSA due to being bereft of any sort of common sense or decency and your failure to recognize that is complicity with TSA terrorism
While I agree with your sentiment about the blantant abuse, remember the Code of Conduct #1, sorry to report you. Keep the namecalling out please. Secondly, There are still in this day and age very few places someone who is incontinent can chage/be changed at comfortably.
Skookum Jim, you are suspended for a day for violating rule # 1 of the Code of Honor.
I would like to know of a case anywhere in the world where a suicide bomber was shown to be a 95 year old incontinent female leukemia patient, or a six year old little girl or a middle aged urostomy patient or an 18 month old child with a device in her diaper. My guess is the $14 an hour lackies who bully little old ladies. scare the bejeezus out of infants and toddlers and humiliate our men and women in uniform were, when they were in grade school, either the class bully or the booger eater who got beat up for hs lunch money. My guess is these miscreants were the booger eaters who are still living with mommy and daddy.
are you willing to go work for $14 and hour, or how about $8???
Would you settle for the 8 year old girl that the Taliban just used as a suicide bomber? Or the wheelchair-bound bomber?
I've worked for $1.60 an hour, and I was respectful of my customers too.
But then I'm not a fascist pig.
I worked for $1.60 an hour....back in 1968. Get real.
It really is absurd that there is no common sense appplied to these situations...really....you have hard evidence that terrorists use the elderly as mules for explosives??? Come on, that is weak at best, and false at worst. Part of being in the police state mentality...look at how Israel handles this, and it doesn't involve searching the entire population, it involves targeting those most likely to commit a terrorist act, and guess what, no one fly's a plane into their buildings. I have personally seen the TSA pull a veteran from a wheel chair, one who obviously can't walk, and has serious trouble standing, but will put them through the mill so that they can say they followed the stupidest rules on the planet...the terrorists managed to change our entire way of life, and as we let that continue, they continue to win. Sad really.
Darrell..........you summarized this so well I will not add anything only my total agreement with your description.
Darrell: The problem is that in the U.S., we can't target those who we think are most likely to destroy us based upon age, sex, nationality, etc., even though targeting makes perfect sense. We can't do that because it is considered profiling, and our judicial system prohibits that. Therefore, we are stuck with the system we have, which is (fill in the blank).
shawman, hello. . . that is what makes us the 'land of the free'. . . or is it only free for some?
Tell that to the 95 year old woman.
"The problem is that in the U.S., we can't target those who we think are most likely to destroy us based upon age, sex, nationality, etc., even though targeting makes perfect sense."
Actually we can target them, they are called Politicians.
Pathetic. Shows to the level the mighty empire has fallen down. Shows how chicken and fearful the superpower has become that it does not even respect its own elderlies. What can you expect from it in 3rd world countries. Huh human rights and moral values
Maybe we should create a national diaper day for the TSA. Everyone that flys that day will need to wear a diaper. Leaving a "steamer" in there is optional, but recommended. Then when the TSA wants to inspect it, you take it off and toss it at them.
TSA, Torture Services of America
when has the tsa actually caught anyone - they change there policies after someone gets through there screenings.... such as the the shoe bomber - now we all have to take off our shoes and be exposed to all kinds of fungus at the screening gate - how gross and unsanitary. They have no common sense - I too agree that her daugter should be frowned apon for not bringing changes with them, however it does not give TSA a right to violate someone in such a humiliating manner. I can't wait for a member of congress to be searched in such a manner - especially a woman who has had a mastectomy - seems like we have had a rash of extended searches of breast surgery patients here on the west coast. tsa tells us that it is because of the scar tissue being picked up on their new scanners. If that is the case how come they dont do increased searches of males who are post surgery, how come they have been "feeling up" females whoe have already been humiliated enough by having their breast removed now they have to be touched in that particular area that they are most sensitive about. I am ready for our tax money to be better spent... how about the rest of you???
I think members of the US congress get a free pass at airport security.
Do we need any more information than this incident to remove TSA.... You have to be kidding me.
Totally sad our government empire has come to this. Tsa just isn't needed, they don't make anybody safer. Get rid of this government empire.
I want to see the president's family members and congress subjected to this bs. Some how they always have some excuse not to be subjected to procedures we all have to tolerate.
Time to stop this. I watched three little girls get patted down on a flight to Detroit. Every time I, a 58 year old woman, flies and goes through the security check, I get the xray and the pat down both. Not the business class passenger though? Hmmmmm. We are not stopping the terrorists. They have already won.
You just told all REAL terrorists to fly business class..............hmmmmmmmmmmm
Frequent fliers can undergo a back ground check that exempts them from some of the security measures. I don't remember all of the details but I assume the pat down must be one of them.
You Watched???
I agree with those who have said the mother a/o daughter should have had a clean/replacement diaper to be used. This is not meant to be offensive, but don't mothers of young children/babies usually have a supply of diapers when traveling? Emergencies happen.
As a mother, I have flown with my young children and although I packed extra diapers, changes of clothes, etc., there have been several times when I have had our flights delayed or cancelled, sometimes for 24 hours. Finding diapers at an airport is difficult enough, but adult diapers is not so easy.
I do however think that whatever security feels the need to do, they should do. My children know the "drill" for going through screening: take off shoes - put in bin, take off backpacks - put in bin, wait for the TSA agent to tell you to walk through, when you do - smile and say "thank you", then go collect your items.
While I do not wish death on my worst enemies, I do hope that those who have bad intentions get caught first so they can be punished. I also wish people would remind the world that not all Americans are racist..
Citizen - I do hope that at some point you or someone reads your children the U.S. Constitution and bill of Rights so they can see for them selves just how much they are giving up by blindly following the orders of an inept-at-best government agency.
And when your kids have read the Constitution, read 1984 to them so they can see the result of saying "thank you" to the bully-agents of this same organization.
I have little problem with security doing what it needs to do - I have a tremendous problem with security doing what it wants to do with no demonstrable value other than the intimidation of the flying public.
If the TSA wanted to maximize its effectiveness, it would profile, plain and simple, but then it couldn't have gone from zero to 50,000 (employment) in just a few short years. It's time, and past time to put the brakes on this organization - travel was safer when law abiding citizens were allowed to fly carrying their own firearms.
I feel soooo much safer, now, knowing that the elderly, as well as infants are being checked for explosives, in their diapers.
I actually do. Do you really think that it is that far fetched that a terrorist would not think of this??? Even the woman probably would not know . . . it would just 'boom'
stspecialk = An airplane can easily be brought down with a 30.06...even a .22 rifle, if placed right (and some luck)...so how safe are you, really? Enough to warrant this action on an old woman? If you're that fearful, don't fly. Let the rest of us enjoy our freedom and dignity while we fly. End TSA now!
Hey, TSA ----- Someday, perhaps soon, one of your "first line of defense" cretins is going to pat down the wrong person (such as the 95 year old lady or a small child) in a wrong, uncalled for manor and is going to get clocked by a relative or bystander. When the affronted TSA agent hollers for help and airport authorities come in to manhandle and arrest the "perpetrators", there are going to be CROWDS OF PASSENGERS getting involved and no doubt many will film the entire episode. After those arrested are brought to trial for assaulting federal employees, the entire country will see firsthand just how rude, insensitive and high handed your enforcers are. NO JURY IN THE LAND WILL CONVICT THOSE ARRESTED. From then on, the TSA will be on the defensive and deservedly so. This IS NOT the Edmund Pettus Bridge nor the Pickrick Restaurant. The entire country has been watching your brutish actions and is appalled by what they see. Your bullying tactics will be challenged. You are going to be muzzled, neutered and hopefully, disbanded.
and if that happens, and you are anywhere near, you will be in Federal Prison.
If the TEA party really wants their country back, the first place to get it back from is the TSA idiots. Save some bugetary money and de-FUND them in Congress.
So don't pat her down and they use a elderly muslim to do the same thing. When it is you on the plane, YOU will piss your pants when the plane catches on fire or explodes. I fly all the time and they just try to do their job and yes it sometimes it seems extreme. Don't like it, just gas the car up and drive...............
Seriously, if you think this was okay, you're a sick as the agent who did this.
It is 100% ok. 1. Diapers can conceal quite a bit. 2. She should not have worn them to the airport to start with, you know your going to get searched. 3. There is no reason to put other passengers at risk because we don't want to check someones diaper. Could have been a 95 year old Suicide bomber, we don't know and THAT is why she gets checked like everyone else. You don't play games with the lives of all the other passengers by making judgement calls based on someones age. The only reason this was put in the news was because they want to get people all angered up at the TSA again.
Don't like it, Don't fly. It really is that simple.
Wolfe, your'e one of the pussies that will give away our freedoms!!! Grow a set of balls!!!!
I am so sick and tired of people who defend such measures as necessary. It is total Bull@!$%# the way young children and sick and lame old people are treated by the TSA.
"If you don't like it don't fly" is no solution. It's Bull@!$%#.
Wolfe use your brain for something other than a pogo stick. Without the diaper she would have been riding around in urine or feces soaked clothes and I am sure none of the other passengers want to see or smell that. *eyeroll*. She was a 95 year old white American woman disabled in a wheelchair, hardly in a high risk category for concealing bombs. I would love to see the odds on an elderly grandma killing you with a diaper bomb compared to a car crash.
This is ridiculous...the TSA is completely out of control and needs to be reigned in. Were it me, I would've demanded to speak to the supervisor. As far as being mad at the TSA employees, so be it...apparently the only thing the TSA lacks is common sense. Think of the vetting process these idiots go through to get hired. Complete and total incompetence!!!
Actually your the reason terrorists can make it on the airplane unchecked.
I'm the reason terrorists can make it on the airplane unchecked...please explain your logic, if you can!
I suppose you like getting your codsack bumped by these morons!
The american sheep need to say enough is enough. But they won't, thier afraid they will lose thier tv's and cars. Guess they'll trade that for thier freedom!!!Pussies!!!!! Quit flying!!!! Texas had a law and the fed squeezed them. Time to start squeezing the airlines and the fed!!!!!!!!!!!!! TSA NEEDS TO GO!!!!!
The whole premise of the US Constitution and/government is that the power should be ultimately rest with the people. That government cannot be trusted. That is why we have the first amendment that gives us freedom of speech. (For example the government cannot suppress this forum.) It also states that Congress (the government) cannot impose religion on us. Somehow though the TSA has become exempt from the fourth amendment of unreasonable search and seizure. It is unreasonable to search a natural born 95 year old US citizen, traveling with her natural born US citizen children. The TSA must be forced to limit searches to those individuals who may reasonably be considered to be a threat. In addition to violating constitutional rights, searching/screening everyone is an incredible waste of resources.
Pathetic! Yes, there are risks to flying but we do risky things every day like driving on interstates. Adherents of political correctness refuse to screen likely security risks because that would be profiling. Isn't this what security is supposed to do? The FBI uses profilers but no............ that might be some idiot's idea of discrimination. How many 911 terrorists were 95 year old frail women? Of course there is a snowballs chance she is a mule but there is a better chance that I will die on my morning commute - should we take away everyone's driver's license. What happened to our country? Game over - they won!
Burgh Girl, Valid point. Some place in all this we will have to adopt a profiling system and toss the Political Correctness stance out the window. While it is true that not all Muslims are terrorists it is also true that all terrorists are Muslim. We are simply marking time here until an Islamic faction figures out that since the bomber is going to die anyway, why not put the bomb IN the bomber? What is TSA going to be able to do about that?
what about the profiling that doesn't allow anyone with an Israeli stamp in the Passport to enter Saudi Arabia? Is that ok too?
Putting the bomb inside woud possibly be thwarted by the scatter scanning devices that are 'so invasive'.
@Mike-1404114
"While it is true that not all Muslims are terrorists it is also true that all terrorists are Muslim."
Where on earth are you getting this information? According to FBI records, only 6% of terrorist attacks on US soil between 1980 and 2005 were carried out by Muslims. The Unabomber, the Oklahoma City bomber, the mailbox pipe bomber, the man responsible for the 2001 anthrax attacks, the man responsible for the Holocaust Museum shooting...all non-Muslim terrorists. Not to mention terrorist organizations such as the Earth Liberation Front and the KKK. Let's do some fact-checking before we make sweeping generalizations, especially ones that propagate an already widespread and incredibly destructive misconception.
Thanks susanna for not making all of us seem like racists who listen to media propaganda and some politicians' self interests..
susanaa, I just stumbled on your misinformed statement today, I have tried to educate people about this "lying by statistics" trick before, but here we go again.
While only 6% of terrorists attacks on US soil between 1980 and 2005 were carried out by Muslims, as your list shows, most of the other 94% were committed for non religious purposes; mostly environmental causes. In terms of religiously motivated terrorism, it's almost 100% carried out by Muslims. Stop believing and spreading a lie.
It's easier to pat down the elderly and young children, they don't complain or fight back. Then the workers can meet their quota and avoid those who will cause an uproar and actually have a greater likelihood of being a terrorist. But then the politicians support these invasions of privacy as it keeps people in terror and in line.
TSA needs to do better risk analysis if they think that a 90 year old woman with diapers is a significant security risk. They are just blindly assuming everyone is a possible terrorist.