Here is an example of the hysteria the TSA molestations is causing

[liberal N proud]

People believe there is credible information about a threat against the US involving airplanes, hype that the M$M has help cause.

Flier hauled off plane over too many bathroom breaks
Those aboard U.S. Airways flight to Denver said passenger was acting 'weird'

A passenger on a flight from Fort Lauderdale to Denver was pulled off a plane Tuesday after other passengers said he was taking too many potty breaks, reports 9News.com.

It's unclear if this is was classified as a terror alert yellow or brown, but authorities took it seriously enough to evacuate the plane.

The U.S. Airways flight was checked by K-9 units when it landed in Denver and the unnamed passenger was detained momentarily and questioned.

<snip>

Nothing suspicious was found on board or in the bathroom. Officials also didn't say how many times the passenger went to the bathroom.

"Per standard procedures, law enforcement and TSA personnel met the flight. The passenger was questioned and released and the plane was swept, both with negative findings," TSA spokesperson Carrie Harmon said in a statement.

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/40343938/ns/travel-news/


If there is truly a threat, the public would be better equipped if they knew what the threat was. You can be damned sure the terrorist know it. So why all the secrecy about this credible threat crap. Either tell us what it is or let us go about our days.



Edit to correct spelling

[Brickbat]

1. I find this whole charade embarrassing.

It's amazing to me that "officials" can stand up and talk about these "security measures" with a straight face.

[mzteris]

2. Because people are stupid.

They scare easily.

They don't comprehend basic facts.

If you tell them anything - they'll distort it a million-fold and you'd have even worse - MUCH WORSE - problems with the idiot masses.

The Monsters on Maple Street ring a bell?

[villager]

4. My favorite Twilight Zone episode has become "modern" America...

n/t

[MadMaddie]

49. Great episode of the Twilight Zone!

[notesdev]

3. the cause of the hysteria is the security state

the pat-downs are just a symptom.

The best example I can point to is the color-coded terror alert levels that we were given. Blue, Green, Yellow, Orange, Red. Think about the levels and you'll understand why they have never been at anything other than yellow or orange (and never will be).

Under what conceivable circumstances do you think the level would be reduced even as far as green? There are none as long as the "War on Terror" is going on... and after the WoT is over (if ever) we have no need of such a scale anymore.

Condition red is stupid, by the time it would be declared everyone would know it already, rendering any alert useless.

So we are eternally stuck on yellow, with orange used for periodically jacking up the fear levels when the security state's funding needs to be renewed.

Which reduces us to a two-state system: Off (yellow) and On (orange). The amount of information transmitted by this? Nothing useful in any way at all.

After all, what is anyone supposed to do about a changed terror alert level? There's nobody outside the security state whose day changes in the slightest, regardless of what the terror alert level is - excepting only the interference of said security state in their business.

All other purposes not being something such a system can serve, that leaves us with only one purpose - to scare you and me into compliance with the ever-spreading, ever-more-invasive security state.

[pnwmom]

5. Apparently the passengers profiled him and didn't like what they saw.

"Passengers told authorities the passenger was 'acting weird.'"

[drm604]

6. I have a relative

who wears a colostomy bag and also suffers from chronic diarrhea which some days make it necessary for him to go to the bathroom every 15 or 20 minutes.

He is truly fucked if he ever has to fly. First he'll have to be humiliated by TSA, then the plane will be forced to land and he'll be questioned about his bathroom habits. This shit (no pun intended) has to stop.

[Ruby the Liberal]

7. Prolly just puffing on an electronic cigarette.

[Warren DeMontague]

8. Know what's weirdest about that story?

When's the last time you saw an airplane bathroom that looked half this good? This thing is a fucking palace compared to every airplane john I've been in for the past 10 years.

If it really looked like this, no wonder the guy kept going back. It was probably way better than his seat.

[LisaL]

11. I am going to take a guess this is some model bathroom and

not an actual one.

[Warren DeMontague]

12. I know.

But it would go against my core belief system to let the knowledge of that get in the way of a good snark.

[liberal N proud]

13. I was thinking what the looking at that picture too

[jancantor]

16. Wide angle lens

The curved lines are a dead giveaway. I suggest the bathroom probably is a lot more cramped than it looks in that photo.

[LisaL]

18. It looks so clean.

[jancantor]

22. Yea. I know what you mean

Not sure if they gussied it up before the photo was taken.

[sally cat]

9. Gosh, who could have put the notion of increased threat into their heads?

[NoPasaran]

10. Unrecced and hidden

[monktonman]

14. Since when do you have a right to fly?

you pay for that service..
dont want to be pat down?
then DONT FLY

[LisaL]

15. What do you have a right to do?

[liberal N proud]

17. Some people are required to fly as part of their job

No fly - no job!

What do you do then? Don't want to be molested at the airport but you have to fly.

Hmmm!

[monktonman]

20. too frickin bad

what can I say
flying is still a private enterprise
when airlines become "owned" by the us government
then maybe some of you might have an argument

[liberal N proud]

21. It is an agent of the government that is doing illegal searches

It is a Constitutional issue and you will thank us for stopping this now before they are allowed to just pull you off the street and search your being.

[monktonman]

24. "they" already are allowed to pull me off the street

you PAY to fly
you dont have to do it... you could walk
sorry, but thats just how it is

[nadinbrzezinski]

32. You know they need to have PROBABLE cause

to pull you over but I am sure you knew that.

[Dr.Phool]

43. Must always obey.

Much easier than thinking or standing up for your rights, aka, 4th amendment.

Or should it be R.I.P. Fourth Amendment.

[drm604]

19. Did you read the article?

You seem to be in the wrong thread. This wasn't about someone being patted down. It's about some poor guy being harassed for apparently having stomach issues. Do people not have the right to go to the damned bathroom?

[SoCalDem]

35. My daughter-in-law was airsick on their recent trip to Singapore/Bali

and the flight attendants were super-accommodating to her.. They even took her to the galley & made her a stomach-settling concoction.. and allowed her & my son to move to seats nearer the bathroom..

She was still queasy for the first 4 days of their 10 day trip..

It's not morning sickness.. just a bug with horrible timing..

They still had a lot of fun .

[drm604]

37. She's fortunate that she wasn't treated like a criminal.

It seems like the sick, disabled, and elderly are suddenly criminal suspects.

I myself, as well as some relatives, could run into this very issue. I'm concerned that I wouldn't keep my cool and would mouth off at the wrong person. I guess I won't be flying until if and when things change. I shouldn't have to feel that way in my own country.

[LibDemAlways]

40. Everyone who flies is treated like a criminal suspect - except the

politicians who gave us this shit in the first place. They have exempted themselves. Wonder why.

[TheWatcher]

50. He doesn't read. He just spams the same Police State Public Service Announcement Over And Over.

And Over, And Over, And Over, And Over, And Over, And Over, And Over, And Over, And Over, And Over, And Over, And Over, And Over, And Over, And Over, And Over, And Over, And Over, And Over, And Over, And Over, And Over, And Over, And Over, And Over, And Over, And Over, And Over, And Over, And Over, And Over, And Over, And Over, And Over, And Over, And Over, And Over, And Over, And Over, And Over, And Over, And Over, And Over, And Over.....

[frylock]

26. *sqwauk*

[customerserviceguy]

27. Ok, we've heard from the anti-freedom side

Now we resume our regular programing, which consists of people who believe in the unfettered right to do LEGAL things...

In other words, fuck off, fascist.

[14thColony]

33. Right on! nt

[krabigirl]

52. +1

[markpkessinger]

34. Sometimes it isn't an option

There are many cases where traveling by other means is simply not an option. Besides that, the Constitution doesn't give you the right to drive a car either, but that doesn't mean there aren't limits to what police can do during a traffic stop.

[WinkyDink]

38. THIS IS NOT THE ISSUE.

[Name removed]

41. Deleted message

Message removed by moderator. Click here to review the message board rules.

[Fleshdancer]

42. Did you mean to respond in this thread?

Because the OP isn't about pat downs.

[krabigirl]

51. I don't. K thanks.

[nadinbrzezinski]

23. Today I had to take a transfer to SDSU since they

found a suspicious package at the campus trolley station.

I hate to point this out, but this exactly how the system is supposed to work.

It was annoying as hell, but that is how the system is supposed to work.

That is not hysteria... by the way if you ever travel to a security conscious country, see Israel... what you just posted, people would laugh at you, not with you.

That is actual security, not the theater at the checkpoint.

I'd rather they bring in the bomb squad and the K-9 and do all that... and yes I DO take a few too many potty breaks while flying, so I might be the one accused of acting weird.

[liberal N proud]

25. An informed and alert public is good - IF they know what the threat is

I have been to security heavy countries and people don't act unless they are serious.

The point is that if the officials would tell us the truth, is there a credible threat and if there is what exactly is that threat? We can better deal with it and help protect ourselves and others from that threat IF we know what to look for.

But our law enforcement and security agencies like to play the game that if I told you I would have to kill you with everyone. That comes from knowing a few people who were in the intelligence sector.

[nadinbrzezinski]

29. Absolutely

i know this as well, and from the discussion here, i fear i need to agree with an FBI agent 'bout why they haven't either.

[liberal N proud]

30. The terrorist who are supposedly planning this attack know

Why are those who have to endure the unwarranted searches kept in the dark.

Inform us and maybe these false alarms are kept to a minimum or don't happen at all.

[nadinbrzezinski]

31. While I agree with you and WE NEED to have an adult

conversation about this... you got mail...

[ShamelessHussy]

28. BANKRUPT

our ideas, ideals, as well as our economy =(

[WinkyDink]

36. Meanwhile, they DID NOT WARN US about the first week of SEPTEMBER, 2001. $$$$$$$$$$$: Follow it.

Big Security is joining the incipient Big Education, which is making noises to be a partner with Big Finance, Big Pharma, Big Oil, and Big M-I C.

It's ALL about which corporations and CEO's/Board Memebers/Investors have the POWER to GRAB OUR MONEY.

[liberal N proud]

39. Yes - Greed does make the government go-round

[LibDemAlways]

44. If not for 9/11 the neocon plan to invade Iraq and make a

killing (literally and figuratively) over there, would have been a lot tougher to pull off. They needed their "new Pearl Harbor" and they got it.

Knowing how evil and diabolical those people are, the opportunity to ramp up the police state as an added dividend was a no-brainer.

[alarimer]

45. What is most disturbing about all this is how willing so many people are to submit to authority

In the name of illusory safety, millions of people (including many here who are very much in favor of civil rights in any other context) are willing to submit, just like good little sheep. Now I am not sure the answer is to protest at the airport. I think the answer is collective action. If the airlines started going (more) bankrupt because people were simply not flying, you can be sure the procedures would be changed. But to submit to these procedures (and maybe bitch about it afterwards) is not really going to change things.

I am more upset with my fellow citizens who have no problem with it than I am upset with the government for doing this. They are simply wrong. The government has NEVER been on the side of the people. Creeping fascism has occurred under Republicans and Democrats equally.
Cops and law enforcement types are authoritarian assholes for the most part and are always on the side of power, not the side of the people.

But by acting like sheep, we are signaling that we are willing to submit to any and all violations of our Constitutional rights. Where do we draw the line? First it's airports. Then what? Buses? Trains? Mall? Stadiums? Random checks on the streets or in your house?

The terrorists may be able to kill us (though I personally think the threat is way overblown) but only WE can take our freedom away.

[LibDemAlways]

47. The "go along to get along" mindset is instilled in

Americans from a very young age. School kids are herded into straight lines and told to be quiet. Compliance is rewarded. Rebelliousness is punished.

On the job people are forced to obey their masters - putting up with some very shitty circumstances - or lose their paycheck. At a big box store the other day my brother recognized an employee as an acquaintance from high school. He stopped to say hello. The guy hesitated for a second and then told my brother, "I can't be seen talking to anyone. There are cameras everywhere and I've got to keep moving."

People fear authority - whether it's the cop that pulls up beside them at the stop light, the school principal, the boss at work, or the TSA goon. They'll go along with anything because they're too scared not to. And, yes, our freedoms have disappeared as a result. Americans today in general just don't have it in them to say "I'm done with this shit" and make good on their word.

Look at my sig line - words I live by. They've gotten me into trouble on more than one occasion, but it's just not in me to meekly submit.

[katnapped]

48. Well that's why they're trying to make it easier

To report "suspicious activity"...not so much for actual terrorists, but to silence troublemakers (who won't submit to authority)

[krabigirl]

54. Huge 2nd. It is like they are brainwashed, literally.

[Xenotime]

46. Oooo terra in the skyz

[krabigirl]

53. The person who counted the times the guy used the bathroom needs to get a life!

So tired of this scared sheep mentality.