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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
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.