Mom Arrested For Yelling At TSA Over Daughter's Patdown

[abelenkpe]

http://news.travel.aol.com/2011/07/13/mom-arrested-for-yelling-at-tsa-over-daughters-patdown/


Mom Arrested For Yelling At TSA Over Daughter's Patdown

A distraught mother, en route to Baltimore, caused quite a ruckus at the Nashville airport on Saturday as she tried to protect her daughter from the TSA's much-criticized screening procedures.

Andrea Fornella Abbott, 41 of Clarksville, Tennessee, was arrested at the airport after she lost it at a TSA agent for trying to pat down her daughter, according to the Daily News.

Local police claim that Abbott shouted at agents, yelling that she didn't want her daughter to "be touched inappropriately or have her crotch grabbed," The Tennessean reports.

[tekisui]

1. And so it continues.

[woo me with science]

16. +1

[TBF]

65. We flew from Chicago to Houston (and return) this past month -

In both airports I was able to walk through metal detectors with my young children (in one airport they had my husband walk through the scanner, in the other airport he was able to simply walk through the metal detectors with us.

Are they being selective in how they apply these procedures? We are sort of "all-american" looking - so I wondered if that is a factor. It took us very little time to get through security.

[leveymg]

2. Here's a solution that will make everyone happy: special no screening flights

The hysterical members of the public who don't want to go through scanners or patdowns can sign a waiver and board special flights that have had no TSA screening.

Meanwhile, people who have special sorts of carry-on baggage and unconventional belief systems can also board these unscreened flights.




Takes care of both sets of special needs passengers. ;-) :evilgrin: :think: :hide: :yoiks:

[atreides1]

3. You must like being touched by strangers?

Just kidding...not all parents are like Casey Anthony, most are concerned about their children...and how do you teach a child what is and isn't appropriate when the government does it?

[leveymg]

6. Tell that to the parents of these kiddies

http://1.bp.blogspot.com/__ym43upajDU/SOpzYtc6BnI/AAAAAAAAAE0/BqocwXcvEiI/s400/Nazi+Kids.jpg
Blonde-haired, blue-eyed, so it's just impossible? Right?

[seabeyond]

12. must be hard to be so afraid. nt

[leveymg]

13. I'm not afraid when I fly, because I know the person next to me isn't armed and fused.

No matter how they salute the flag or praise their deity. The cabin of an airliner is one of the safest places you can be, now.

[Xithras]

19. Airlines are no safer now than they've ever been.

If you really believe that the TSA has made airlines safer, you haven't been paying much attention. The TSA body scanners have failed to locate firearms in every federal test, and according to some of their own numbers they have detection failure rates of up to 70% for everything from knives to explosive residue.

It's theater, designed to make you feel good. American airlines are no safer than the airlines flown anywhere else in the western world.

[Cid_B]

22. Last report I saw from the GAO had it at 90% failure rate...

It's all theatre....

[nadinbrzezinski]

37. They might be a little safer

yes they are a harder target (as far as passengers are concerned) than they used to, but it is purely accidental. Security is NOT the goal after all.

There are OTHER lovely holes in the system, cough preferred shipper program cough... that are just like huge.

[hobbit709]

21. If you're that afraid, why do you ever leave your house.

I can easily think of several ways to cause problems on a plane or physical harm to you without anything special that can get through airport security.
Anyone with any security training and experience knows that TSA is kabuki theater and nothing more.

[Bonobo]

29. The mall or shopping center must be frightening with all those strangers around.

You just never know when you might get blown up!

[Boudica the Lyoness]

31. Pay attention!

Cabins of airliners are not the safest place to be. And I would gladly fly on the 'No TSA' plane.

[nadinbrzezinski]

34. Except if they fly first class

where they are provided with a METAL knife, glass ware and china for their dining pleasure.

I don't think I have to engage my imagination much, do I?

There is more... AMERICAN airports ain't that safe. Assuming the person besides you is not armed or fused, the package on the belly of the plan might very well be, and it was never checked.

Talk about theater.

We call that, and it works, a mommy device.

[frylock]

14. don't know what to say if you're afraid of the kid on the left..

looks like a halloween costume. maybe you should just hide under your bed for the rest of your life if you're really that scared.

[leveymg]

17. For illustration purposes. But, what about the others?

If they don't scare you enough to take precautions in screening air passengers for explosives, you are mad.

[JoeyT]

25. The others? Well the picture in the center was kids

who were doing it as part of a program for a totalitarian government. One that promised to keep the people "safe" from the scary others that wanted to harm them.

Sounds awesome, huh?

[sabrina 1]

39. The best way to screen for explosives is to use dogs.

It's already been proven that the naked scanners cannot detect explosives embedded in the body.

There were hearings in Congress today where testimony was given that dogs can do everything those machines can do. The Naked Scanners (Rapiscans) are nothing but a money-maker for Chertoff's clients which is why he was all over TV, without revealing his conflict of interest, after the underwear bomber incident, selling them through fear.

Regarding the choice of planes, there is no need to go to 'no security' which is not what anyone is saying, but if there was a choice of Dogs V Machines, I would choose the dogs and feel a lot safer, both for Terrorists AND from TSA molestors.

I believe Rep. Chaffetz who introduced the bill to curtail the abuses by the TSA to Congress today made a challenge to set up a test with Dogs V Machines to see which would detect bomb-making materials. We'll see if the TSA takes the challenge.

[Thegonagle]

43. Is Rapiscan the real name of those body scanners? A rather ironic product name.

[sabrina 1]

48. Yes, it is.

Rapiscan Systems Receives Contract for Approximately $10 Million from Abu Dhabi Customs

It's almost as if they enjoy the deviant work they do while raking in huge profits based on people's government induced fears.

It's up to the people though, in the end. We get what we are willing to tolerate. Considering that the threat of 'death by terror' is among the lowest possibilities of dying in the US you have to wonder about the logic behind the fears.

Not to mention that these machines cannot detect PETN, while dogs can. It's all about profit and control. However, the pressure from the public over the past eight months has prompted action in several states and in Congress to force them to scale back these abuses. And I think that pressure will only increase the more people encounter them.

[seabeyond]

11. it has never been all or nothing. why must yours and others argument reduce it to all or nothing

such an immature and illogical manner of debating.

btw... your underwear dude would have made it thru your security. he wouldnt need a security free flight

[A Simple Game]

18. I have news for you. They aren't doing all of this for your safety.

Get that idea right out of your head, they don't care about you. They care about where and especially how the plane lands. They care about themselves and their property.

The people they are protecting will never be on any plane you would be on.

They are the ones that might be hit by the plane you are on.

You are not being inconvenienced for your safety, you are being inconvenienced for their safety, and you are paying for it.

[Ignis]

23. "unconventional belief systems" --- nice dog whistle

:puke:

[nadinbrzezinski]

35. Alas we already have those... we call them corporate jets

[rhett o rick]

44. Did you hear that on Foxed-Up News? nm

[pscot]

4. Damned terrorist

[Bandit]

5. The terrorists certainly terrorized America

No longer "The Home of the Brave"....Not even close.

[Uncle Joe]

15. The home of the brave and the land of the free are intricately tied to together,

when one gets trashed, you can be assured the other will follow.

[FiveGoodMen]

7. Who's country are we living in, again?

[Name removed]

8. Deleted message

Sub-thread removed by moderator. Click here to review the message board rules.

[villager]

9. That fuckin' Nashville airport! Was just through there...

...and my carry-on bag was searched because of a "suspicious object," which was an empty canning jar I was given as a gift.

"What's this?," the TSA agent asked me, holding up the empty jar.

"A jar," I said, resisting other answers that popped in my head.

I had to eventually rewrap the alarming Mason jar, though made it home without further incident.

I notice they have a lot of those full-body "radiation deluxe" machines there, and like to direct people -- old ladies, paunchy middle aged guys, etc. -- through them. You wouldn't want such spiffy technology to be, you know, wasted.

[ohheckyeah]

40. I don't mean to be hateful...

really, I don't, but you carried an empty Mason jar in your suitcase because it was a gift? Why? It's an empty mason jar. LOL Sorry, I just find that odd and funny. However, I don't find it alarming and threatening.

[villager]

50. What seems odd about it? The jar-as-gift? (There's a context to it), or my carrying it on?

I figured if it was in the checked bag, it'd be tossed around a lot, and might arrive pieces.... ;-)

[ohheckyeah]

54. The jar as a gift AND carrying it on.

I'm sorry, it just struck me funny but the reason being is my family makes apple butter once a year and we all have more mason jars than we can find places to put them. They are kind of like wire hangers around here. ;-)

[villager]

55. it was sort of a tongue-in-cheek gift, actually, specific to the context

...of where I'd been visiting, "down South."

As for carrying it on, that was to keep it from being broken. I didn't know I'd raise such alarums!

Meanwhile, I bet that apple butter is delicious! ;-)

[ohheckyeah]

56. The apple butter is

superb. If you lived close I would give you some.

I hope you had a good visit 'down south'.....we have our good points to go along with the terrible points. ;-)

Thanks for not being offended. I was punchy and quite frankly in desperate need of something to find amusing.

[villager]

57. And if I were closer, I would take some!

Though I guess I wouldn't bring it home in my carry-on bags! ;-)

[ohheckyeah]

60. LOL

Touche!

[damntexdem]

10. My solution: I try to not fly at all.

It greatly restricts what I can do; but I try to find ways around flying: driving to places close enough to do so, even though I would have formerly flown.

[coalition_unwilling]

27. Hear, hear! I've flown exactly once since 9-11 and that was for a

business function. Got a thorough search by the goons on my way back to LA from Chicago and figure it must have been my anti-war\anti-imperialist activities that got me onto some sort of watch list.

When it was just I, I thought of myself as a one-man boycott. Now that I know there are two of us, I'm starting to think of it as a 'movement' :)

[Bonobo]

30. The airlines have killed their own golden goose.

The will never know how much has been lost dollar-wise from people that no longer fly, but I bet it is big.

and the US has lost lots and lots of tourists -fewer people want to come to the US because of its abhorrent security practices and rude service people at airports.

[pitohui]

51. actually the flights are full, going out at capacity, the airlines can't handle anymore pax

but don't let facts get in your way

the US has lost nada in the way of tourists, there are no open seats on flights, it's ridiculous, people are packed elbow to elbow

if you don't want to be screened and you don't want to follow the rules, fine, don't fly, but don't kid yourself that the airline has lost money, there are more passengers than planes these days and it has been this way for a long time

airlines don't make money selling tickets and if they could park ALL the planes and just make money from their side businesses, they would, but flying a certain number of planes is necessary to keep the real profit centers going, for example, southwest airlines famously made most of its profits over the years from gambling on fuel price and various hedges on fuel cost contracts, major airlines usually DON'T make a profit but operated on cash flow and gov't subsidies, however, since 2005 and the near bankruptcy of the industry they have FINALLY found a way to make money from side fees such as charging your bag to come along...there is no way to make $ just from selling seats because the flying public is too dam cheap

airlines don't make money selling seats and every ass that stays home is MORE money in their pockets not less, as delta said shortly before filing bankruptcy in 2005, "we are losing $27 for every person who flies"

this is pretty much well known information this time of century but people who don't know how the airline industry works apparently still think they make a profit selling air tickets, hello, air tickets are the loss leader, look at what they're charging you (less than they charged you in 1985 and apply some logic and common sense if you're unwilling to actually learn about how the industry operates)

if you don't fly, that's nice, you're staying out of their way, but your idiotic fantasies about how the industry works are just amusement to them, you are not harming them when you stay home you're helping them sideline airplanes...i think most of them would be delighted if they could sideline them all and no longer have to deal w. pesky pilots who might have a union not to mention screaming bad tempered pax

[Bonobo]

52. Perhaps because they have cut back on flights?

But even if that is not the case, the fact they are full is NO indication of how much they have lost.

Many here on DU have said they no longer fly. Unless you are calling them liars, this is in and of itself proof that some have stopped flying as a result of the TSA's practices.

So..are you calling them liars?

[ProdigalJunkMail]

58. they HAVE cut back on flights...in some cases dramatically

and it has had the exact effect they wanted. all the flights ARE full. and they are charging massive fees for baggage and other little tidbits. oh, and all those fees (which now can be 30%-40% of the overall cost) are NOT TAXED like airfares. so, they have reduced costs, improved fill rate and are making over a billion dollars in fees...and much of it because business travelers no longer have a choice. the globalization and distribution of so many companies has made it difficult NOT to fly...

sP

[Bonobo]

63. So you mean the poster above's "facts" are not quite so umm, "factual"? nt

[ProdigalJunkMail]

64. not at all...the airlines HAVE damaged themselves

and probably could be making more money. i know many people who have greatly reduced flying if not stopped all together and while that is purely anecdotal it does speak to what has happened. however, the TSA is not the only reason people have stopped flying, though it is a big one. the others include but are in no way limited to :

1) MORE oversold flights causing frequent seat cancellation
2) reduced or terminated service to smaller-market airports
3) reduced seating space (leg room mainly)
4) hideous baggage fees
5) hideous baggage fees
6) lack of service in flight and lack of customer service on the ground
7) little to no recourse against airlines for disputes
8) hideous baggage fees

The reason this model works for the airlines is many now have no choice but to fly...

sP

[FiveGoodMen]

47. And friends they may thinks it's a movement...

And that's what it is, the Alice's Restaurant Anti-Massacre Movement, and
all you got to do to join is sing it the next time it come's around on the
guitar.







(With feeling)



(And harmony)

[Danger Mouse]

20. So this is all it takes for Americans to lose their freedom...

...telling them that if they don't get pat-downs at the airport, the big bad terrorists will blow up their planes...

...what nonsense.

[rhett o rick]

45. Next, pat-downs for subways and supermarkets. nm

[Bluebear]

24. "hysterical" - nice.

[Matariki]

26. Oh christ. I'd scream too.

I really am dreading my upcoming trip. Fuck. I hate these assholes like nobody's business. Not too fond of the resident apologists for the molesters either.

[Boudica the Lyoness]

32. +1000

[Ilsa]

49. Scope out which lines at which entrances

allow you to skip the nude-o-scope and pat-down. I had to choose between the two on our return flight because I got into the wrong line.

[Matariki]

28. I didn't realize yelling when you or your child is being violated was against the law.

Accept your groping like a good docile drone.

[Boudica the Lyoness]

33. +1,000,000

[Violet_Crumble]

41. I guess that makes the mother a child abuser then, seeing she delivered her daughter for the 'grope'

What's worse, she willingly delivered that child to be 'violated' and then started screeching like a drama queen when *shock* she got patted down by security. The woman's a twit and a drama queen, and clearly has no problems with using her child as a tool in her dramas...

[nadinbrzezinski]

36. This is NOT about security

but about control... fuck I hate these people!

And yes I know a couple TSOs, like for real.

[LetTimmySmoke]

38. This is how the totalitarian police state takes hold.

Gradually pushing the lines of acceptability, bit by bit - until you have a population too cowed to resist.

[slay]

42. Osama Bin Laden would be so proud that he has reduced us to this

and i'm sure the republican companies that make the x-ray screener devices are pretty good with it too. sickening. :puke:

[IcyPeas]

61. ^ what slay said -- Osama has won hands down

[Odin2005]

46. TSA = bunch of psychopaths and perverts.

[7wo7rees]

53. I always fly with a small bomb

...because I figure the chances of TWO BOMBS being on the same plane have got to be astronomical.

Ba-DUM-bum.

Just joking, Agent Mike. Actually, I stole that from some brilliant comedian in the 80's, before terrorism.

Got it, Mike? It's called "sarcasm". It was born in New York, took awhile to move out West. (Hicks)

Seriously folks, rape is a terrible crime. And the shame of it is, you can't bitch to the police. They're the rapists.

There is no punch line. Just a fondle line.

[Stinky The Clown]

59. I support her actions

That was a brave thing to do.

Now for the jury trial.

[AsahinaKimi]

62. This is so messed up...

Who would have thought this would become something of a "normal" event in everyone's lives. The land of brave, home of the free? Not so much.. I guess, anymore.