Some air travelers may be wondering if it’s time for common sense to kick in at airports as the stories grow about increasingly invasive security searches of American citizens.
The insanity of searching every single person has reached frantic proportions as Transportation Security Agency (TSA) gatekeepers give each and every airport passenger two choices: scan with nude-invoking photo-imaging, or a hands-on pat-down with what some consider law-breaking groping and feeling.
The issue had been bubbling and simmering since the end of October when the new regulations went into affect but it all came to a boil and exploded this week in San Diego’s airport when 31-year-old John Tyner chose not to go through the nudity scan. When told what was involved in the body search, he replied, “You touch my junk and I’m going to have you arrested.” Has that phrase now become the new, “Don’t tase me, Bro!”?
His decision to not do either and walk away was met with threats of civil fines by the TSA, and now those threats have become reality:
The Transportation Security Administration has opened an investigation targeting John Tyner, the Oceanside man who left Lindbergh Field under duress on Saturday morning after refusing to undertake a full body scan.
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Michael J. Aguilar, chief of the TSA office in San Diego, called a news conference at the airport Monday afternoon to announce the probe. He said the investigation could lead to prosecution and civil penalties of up to $11,000.
TSA agents had told Tyner on Saturday that he could be fined up to $10,000.
“That’s the old fine,” Aguilar said. “It has been increased.”
Mr. Tyner went home from the airport and within hours had blogged about the ordeal, posting his recollection of the incident online along with video captured by his cell phone. He ended by writing, “Please spread this story as far and wide as possible. I will make no claims to copyright or otherwise.”
The blog has now gone viral and, by late Tuesday afternoon, over 5,000 comments had been left, most thanking him for his stand and offering encouraging words.
The ridiculous red tape of government has reached fever pitch as more and more in the public are saying, “I’m mad as hell and I’m not going to take it anymore.”
Washington Examiner commentary staff writer Mark Hemmingway shared his family’s humiliating experience:
Two weeks ago, my wife flew alone out to Colorado with our two young children. Unaware that the TSA had instituted new and incredibly invasive new security procedures, my wife called me distressed after getting frisked by the TSA. Or as my wife put it, “in some cultures I would be married to my screener by now.” She was joking, but make no mistake — my wife was incredibly disturbed by how intimate a security pat down she received.
He had a suggestion for TSA and the bureaucrats in Washington:
The President and his family — preferably with DHS Secretary Janet “The system worked” Napolitano — should show up at Dulles or Reagan airport on a weekday with a camera crew in tow, as airport pat downs are typically done in full view of hundreds of travelers. All of America will to see the TSA handling the President’s crown jewels. Then a rubber-gloved federal agent will run his hands all over his wife and daughter’s privates while he watches. Then I want him to turn to the camera and tell all of America that this is no big deal and we should all be good citizens and comply with the necessary security procedures.
Indignation has crossed political lines as Democrats and Republicans alike express their outrage. An “Opt Out” boycott has sprung up on Facebook and through emails urging travelers to join in a “no fly” day on November 24, the Wednesday before Thanksgiving. Airline pilots have joined in the chorus of protests.
Israel faces incredible terrorism odds on a daily basis but they do not subscribe to this type of security. From Pajamas Media:
There are different and far better ways to counter terrorist realities. Israel uses them with great success and Rafi Sela, an Israeli airport security expert, has characterized scanning devices as “worthless”:
“I don’t know why everybody is running to buy these expensive and useless machines. I can overcome the body scanners with enough explosives to bring down a Boeing 747,” Rafi Sela told parliamentarians probing the state of aviation safety in Canada.
“That’s why we haven’t put them in our airport,” Sela said, referring to Tel Aviv’s Ben Gurion International Airport, which has some of the toughest security in the world.
Some have found humor in it all. Others are alarmed that children are being patted down, too. Bottom line: we all want to be safe when we fly, and Americans have been incredibly patient in the 10 years since 9/11 as the government worked to get it right. Unfortunately, this isn’t it, and citizens’ patience is wearing thin.
Before an anti-scan tea party-type group has to rise up, it’s definitely time for the government to reevaluate its questionable security measures. It may be time for us to talk with Israel.
