TSA Watchdog | Tell Your TSA Story Here

http://watchdog.org/14013/hawaii-senate-passes-travelers-bill-of-rights-resolution-aimed-at-curbing-tsa-abuses/

From the good folks at watchdog.org (can you tell why I like them?)…

HONOLULU – After a series of abuses by TSA officials across the county, Hawaii Senators on the Transportation and Public Safety/Military Affairs committees, unanimously passed a “Travelers Bill of Rights” on Monday, March 19.

Based on Congressman Ron Paul’s federal proposal, Senate Concurrent Resolution 15, authored by Minority Leader Sam Slom, R-Hawaii, urges the congress to rein in the TSA abuses and make the agency more accountable for privacy rights and personal civil rights.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/compost/post/tsa-pats-down-toddler-in-wheelchair/2012/03/19/gIQAko44NS_blog.html

I listen to the father, desperately trying to comfort his child by telling him, “It’s OK… he’s just checking you out.”  No judgement on the dad, for sure, but how does this condition the child for future violations of his 4th Amendment rights?

–TSA Watchdog

http://dfw.cbslocal.com/2012/02/13/cbs-11-investigation-leads-to-new-tsa-legislation/

DALLAS (CBSDFW.COM) - One of the most powerful senators in the country is taking action after watching a CBS 11 investigation.  Democratic Senator Charles Schumer from New York saw our story uncovering a pattern of women complaining about  the Transportation Security Administration (TSA) agents. Now, Senator Schumer wants to give passengers a way to complain if they feel mistreated.

Senator Schumer kicked off his news conference in New York on Sunday by referencing Ellen Terrell, the female passenger who spoke out to CBS 11 earlier this month.

“At one point the passenger was asked if she plays tennis because she of her ‘cute’ figure, “ said Schumer, who held his both hands up making quotations signs with his fingers as he said “cute.”

He described what happened to Terrell at DFW airport as it was reported word for word in our CBS 11 investigation.

“A passenger at Dallas Fort Worth claims she was asked to walk through a body scanner three times for the simple purpose of letting screeners in another room get multiple views of her image.”

Female Passengers Say They’re Targeted By TSA « CBS Dallas / Fort Worth.

From the Dallas-Ft. Worth local CBS affiliate…..

http://dfw.cbslocal.com/2012/02/03/female-passengers-say-theyre-targeted-by-tsa

CBS 11 News dug through more than 500 records of TSA complaints and found a pattern of women who believe that there was nothing random about the way they were selected for extra screening. TSA redacted the names of the passengers who complained, but here are quotations from several complaints.

• “I feel I was targeted by the TSA employee to go through the see-you-naked machine because I am a semi-attractive female.”
• “The screener appeared to enjoy the process of picking someone rather than doing true random screening. I felt this was inappropriate. A woman behind me was also “randomly selected.”
• “TSA staff ‘trolling’ the lines looking for people to pull out was unprofessional.”

Etc….

From the “InfoWars” blog….

http://www.infowars.com/tsa-forces-woman-to-use-naked-body-scanner-three-times-because-of-cute-figure/

Paul Joseph Watson
Infowars.com
Tuesday, February 14, 2012

Female passengers say they are being targeted by TSA screeners for sexual harassment, with one Texas woman being forced to pass through a naked body scanner three times so chuckling male TSA workers in a back room could get a good look at her “cute” figure.

The incident occurred at DFW International Airport earlier this month. Wife and mother Ellen Terrell was asked by a female TSA screener “Do you play tennis?” When Terrell asked why, the screener responded, “You just have such a cute figure.”

Terrell was then told to go through the naked body scanner not once but a second time. She then heard the TSA screener talking into her microphone saying, “Come on guys, alright, alright, one more time.”

http://www.politico.com/news/stories/0112/71818.html

Kentucky Sen. Rand Paul was blocked from boarding a flight Monday by the Transportation Security Administration in Nashville, Tenn., after refusing a full body pat-down, POLITICO has confirmed.

“I spoke with him five minutes ago and he was being detained indefinitely,” Paul spokesperson Moira Bagley said. “The image scan went off; he refused patdown.”

Ron Paul’s presidential campaign released a strongly worded statement Monday afternoon, blistering the TSA for its practices.

“The police state in this country is growing out of control. One of the ultimate embodiments of this is the TSA that gropes and grabs our children, our seniors and our loved ones and neighbors with disabilities. The TSA does all of this while doing nothing to keep us safe,” it said.

http://www.myfoxny.com/dpp/news/schumer-calls-for-tsa-advocate-at-airports-20120212

MYFOXNY.COM – Senator Chuck Schumer (D-NY) is calling for a new position at all airports.

Schumer is introducing legislation that would require the Transportation Security Administration (TSA) to add a passenger advocate. Schumer said the individual would act as a mediator to help passenger concerns over security screenings.

The introduction of the legislation comes after a new set of complaints about screeners becoming overly invasive and using embarrassing screening procedures.

Schumer had previously asked the TSA to add the passenger advocate in December.

The current legislation is in response to the TSA’s failure to act voluntarily.

http://denver.cbslocal.com/2012/02/09/woman-claims-she-missed-flight-because-of-gender/

From a local CBS affiliate in Denver….

Jennifer Winning was trying to fly home from Rock Springs, Wyo. when she was denied attempts to board because she couldn’t go through proper pre-flight security.

Winning said the Transportation Security Administration told her that because there was no female agent to screen her that she couldn’t get on her flight.

“I said if I was a man and I wanted to board would I be able to go through security they said, ‘Yes’ but because there were no female TSA agents I couldn’t,” said Winning.

http://www.unionleader.com/article/20120106/NEWS06/701069981

From New Hampshire’s newspaper, The Union Leader:

CONCORD —A state database will be created to track and review abuses by federal airport security agents under a bill the House approved Thursday.

Rep. Andrew Manuse, R-Derry, said one of his constituents had an agent put his fingers inside the woman during a search. “To me that seems indecent and illegal,” he said.

If you read the entire article, you will see yet another example of a partisan divide emerging over whether or not to address TSA privacy and Constitutional rights violations.  While TSA Watchdog moderators and editors take pains to avoid partisan politics on this blog, it would be a lie to say that they don’t have personal political leanings.  In fact, my own political leanings are to the “far left” by modern US standards.  And yet, I am very disappointed to read in this article that the Dem is trying to block this legislation, while the Reps are left to defend it alone.

Certainly, on an issue this basic–our rights as American citizens–we can all agree that the TSA needs to be reigned in and our 4th Amendment rights restored!  This should not be a partisan issue at all!

A TSAWatchdog.com contributor