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Lisa Simeone's blog
Frequent flyers rate the TSA: epic fail
Remember that TSA Gallup poll from a few weeks ago?
A few of our writers took it apart here at TSA News, most notably Bill Fisher and Phil Weber. They pointed out that of the people polled who claimed that the TSA is doing a good job, half of them hadn’t flown at all.
John Pistole’s victims are legion – and all are “one-offs”
TSA Administrator John Pistole is frequently heard to minimize the importance of devastating passenger experiences at the checkpoint by referring to them as “one-offs,” as in the quote below:
Read the rest at TSA News.
A review of recent TSA sex crimes by Bill Fisher
As reported here on September 13th, yet another TSA screener has been arrested for child pornography. While not a crime unique to TSA workers, it does raise the question of why the TSA is attracting a disproportionate number of criminals and pedophiles.
Yet another TSA agent charged with child porn
This is getting so routine I should keep a template so I can just fill in the blanks.
Patdown Assault Trauma Syndrome: fear, shaking, sleeplessness, nightmares, and flashbacks by Sommer Gentry
As one reads the letters from victims of TSA patdowns released last week, strong patterns emerge. Nearly every letter uses one of these turns of phrase: demeaning, degrading, dehumanizing, humiliating, violated, traumatized, sexually assaulted.
Even Congress can’t stop the TSA from assaulting passengers by Sommer Gentry
A FOIA request by governmentattic.org, which the TSA only answered after more than a year’s delay, has shaken loose some 200 pages of complaints about patdown procedures that TSA received between November and December 2010. Among these letters were several from members of Congress and congressional committees. The following excerpts give us a feel for Congressional sentiment towards the TSA.
It’s all your fault, you miserable, lying travelers by Philip Weber
Meet David Castelveter. David Castelveter works for the TSA, and he knows exactly what’s wrong with airport security. You.
Read the rest at TSA News.
TSA retaliation
Anyone who’s been paying the slightest bit of attention already knows the TSA retaliates against passengers who don’t toe the line.
TSA wants your drink redux
Several people have sent me a link to what they think is a new TSA story. In fact, it’s an old story, but it bears repeating (as so many do).
Read the rest at TSA News.
TSA: eliminating backscatter scanners? by Bill Fisher
While the press has been reporting TSA stories such as the multi-million-dollar shoe scanner debacle and the TSA’s denial of stonewalling a court order to take public comment on the scanners, one story has gone vi
Politics aside, what should we do about the TSA? by Christopher Elliott
American voters, who have felt powerless against the allegedly invasive screening methods used by an expanding TSA, got an unexpected gift from avery unexpected place last week.
Read the rest at TSA NEWS.
Austin Police to Start Enforcing 50-Foot Rule to Record Them in Public
Austin police are trying their best to deter Antonio Buehler from recording them in public, doing everything from arresting him, accusing him of “inciting violence” against them, and attempting to create a rule in his honor that would require citizens with cameras to stand at least 50 feet away from police officers.
Tom Vellner, Boston Magazine: my cousin’s experience with the TSA
Tom Vellner writes in Boston Magazine about the experience of his cousin at the hands of the TSA.
Read the rest at TSA News.
Your pants may be cleared, but baggage still goes unscreened
As so many Americans love to say, "Meh, facts schmacts."
De profundis clamavi
De profundis clamavi, or why we can talk till we’re blue in the face but until we put our money where our mouth is we won’t get rid of the TSA
What my father would have said about the TSA by Philip Weber
My father fathered the way they did on black-and-white TV, though not so much Ward Cleaver as Ralph Kramden (if he and Alice had had kids). He went to work, Mom stayed home. Every night we ate dinner together, but I don’t remember Dad ever saying much. When he did, it was so unusual that it stuck with you.
Hey, neighbor! Can I borrow your Stowaway Detector? by Philip Weber
It’s a fact: guys love gadgets, and TSA Administrator John Pistole is no exception. If it beeps or buzzes, John wants one.
Dumb enough to work for the TSA, too dumb to understand satire by Amy Alkon
Wearing the above shirt, designed by BoingBoing’s Cory Doctorow, caused a “brown” man to be abused (even more than the rest of us usually are) by TSA thugs and then yanked off a plane.
“Behavior detection”: still a bad idea by Deborah Pierce
John Pistole, who heads the Transportation Security Administration (TSA), posted an op-ed in USA Today on August 17, 2012 in an attempt to shore up support for and justify the existence of his “behavior detection” program.
A tale of two agencies by Philip Weber
It was the best of times, it was the worst of times.
What was old is new again: Amtrak continues to break records by Wendy Thomson
Could the TSA be the elephant in the room??
JFK security guards to TSA: this isn’t working
Security guards at JFK airport in New York have filed a formal complaint with the TSA claiming that they’re undertrained, understaffed, and supplied with faulty equipment.
READ THE REST AT TSA NEWS.
TSA: Meh, security schmecurity!
Not only do we already know that while the TSA is busy sticking its hands down your pants, people are wandering up to the airport on jet skies, breaching airport security by climbing over fences, and
TSA hassles pilot, calls cops
A Southwest Airlines pilot had a run-in with the TSA in Manchester, New Hampshire the other day.
TSA: Why get your bits groped when you can just row up with a warhead? by Amy Alkon
The 58,401 Stooges (aka TSA employees) are so busy pretending to administer security that they fail to actually do it. In New York, a jet-skier, stranded in Jamaica Bay, swam to shore and easily breached all the supposed security they have between the Bay and the terminal.
Racial profiling by TSA
After repeated reports about racial and ethnic profiling by the TSA, from the “Mexicutioners” of Honolulu to the “Mexican hunters” of Newark, not to mention countless personal reports by passengers, finally we have a front-page story in the New York Times about this practice. And finally we have TSA employees themselves blowing the whistle.
White House yanks TSA petition
EPIC reports that the White House suddenly cut off the time period allotted for signatures to an anti-TSA petition that has been gaining steam and pulled the petition off its website.
More thoughts on the TSA Gallup poll by Philip Weber
In the course of my lifetime I’ve had more than a passing acquaintance with ham sandwiches. To my knowledge, not a single one has ever committed a crime.
Gallup TSA poll biased?
You want statistics? I've got statistics. Even though most people's eyes glaze over, empirical evidence is still important and always will be. Here's another of Bill Fisher's typically solid, evidence-based, statistics-laden posts on the TSA and its never-ending propaganda machine.
TSA’s x-ray scanners: tests, lies, & radiation risks by Deborah Newell Tornello
The New York Times has an important post in its Well section entitled X-Ray Scans at Airports Leave Lingering Worries. I strongly recommend reading the whole thing. However, reporter Roni Caryn Rabin touches on certain issues that call for more detailed analysis and discussion, which happen to be among the main purposes of this blog and its comment sections.
