Slashdot Mirror
Mother Found Guilty After Protesting TSA Pat-down of Daughter
Penurious Penguin writes "In 2011, en route to Baltimore, Tennessee mother Andrea Abbott was arrested after squabbling with the TSA over their pat-down and "naked" body-scan process. Initially Abbott had protested a pat-down of her 14 year-old daughter, though eventually backed off. When her own turn came, she refused both a pat-down and body-scan. This week, despite having no criminal record, Abbott was found guilty of disorderly conduct and sentenced to one year of probation. A surveillance video of the affair shows what appears an agitated Abbott surrounded by various TSA agents, but seemingly contradicts the premise by which she was convicted. In the case against Abbott it was claimed that her behavior impeded the flow security-lines and lawful activity. Beyond Abbott's confession of issuing some verbal abuse, the video does not appear to display a significant blockage of traffic nor anything noticeably criminal."
Remember, next time it's room 101 for you Ma'am.
Science advances one funeral at a time- Max Planck
...one of them would jump right up to fund fighting her case all the way to the Supreme Court. What the hell, lunch money.
But they won't of course, because you can't be a decent person and be a billionaire.
This space available.
Where do you think rice comes from?
Bruce Schneier will point out that there have been several attempts since, all of them stopped effectively - and all stopped by security that was already there BEFORE 9/11.
In fact the TSA has made no difference to security and the attempts since then would not have been caught by them.
Only two changes since 9/11 has actually IMPACTED on security.
1) Passengers changed their mindset from "do as we're told" to "fight back" - because the terrorists were no longer going to let you live if you obeyed.
2) They reinforced the cockpit doors (one could argue THAT should have been done in the FIRST place).
Unicode killed the ASCII-art *
we were just killing innocent civilians and calling them terrorists to justify out mass murder
Relevent to this: The US military defines "militant" as any male person in any country of the Middle East except Israel between the ages 13-50. Consider that the next time you hear a news report that says that "4 militants and 6 civilians" were killed: That could well be a random extended family meeting up for Eid, not a terrorist cell.
I am officially gone from
No fuckhead, this is not a police state. Having worked wtih US LE, the US is not a police state, even int he worst of cases. The reason not to go to the US is the buggered up customs process, which takes 4 hours.
Yes it is a police state. And you want to know why ? Because organizations like the TSA have no, zero, zip, nada accountability. They can damn well do whatever they want, and the courts have approved them.
Take away your freedom to fly, to travel by train, by car etc... and sooner or later you'll find yourself in a prison. You're free to walk to your 60 mile distant workplace. You're free to walk to your mother's anniversary 1000 miles away on the other side of the country etc... The Soviets would have been proud of such a poiicy to restrict freedom without giving the illusion of taking freedom away.
Police can do whatever the fuck they want and they have zero accoutability. The goverment through its "national security letters" can do whatever it wants and it has zero accountability. The government can incarcerate you for indefinite times (and fuck the whole due process thing) and torture you and you have no recourse.
The government can accuse of anything preseting "secret" evidence (my my how the Soviets would have been proud) without disclosing it during the court proceedings.
Do you see a pattern emerging here dear citizen ? Arbitrariness, you are at the mercy of a machine that acts arbitrarily and has no accountability. All that talk about checks and balances in the government is shit. And the proof is right before your eyes.
So yes, the reason to never go to the US is because it has become in all but name a police state.
I thought I read that the extra radiation from being at airplane altitudes for an entire flight dwarfs the radiation from the scanner.
Assuming they are working correctly, which nobody will let anyone check.
They also make passive scanners that only use your body's natural radiation.
"They" didn't pay Chertoff, so "their" scanners aren't the ones used in airports.
Why would he? He's in favor of them.
And you didn't even mention the most egregious police state set up: constitution-free zones manned by ICE and various other border agencies. California, for example, has nearly 100% of its population living there. Other states have 100% of the entire state covered by it. Fun times: http://www.aclu.org/constitution-free-zone-map
Those who can, do. Those who can't, sue.