Senator Tweets About 'Very Uncomfortable' TSA Pat Down: 'OMG'

from the love-pats dept

A few years ago, we wrote about how many elected officials in Congress get to skip through airport security when they fly -- which might explain why they're not so concerned with the intrusive nature (and lack of effectiveness) of today's security theater at airports. It turns out that this only applies when they travel with law enforcement. At other times, if they're traveling alone, they do, in fact, have to go through the standard TSA process, and it appears that Senator Claire McCaskill was not too happy about her latest experience:

Today in my airport screening, test on my hands was positive. Got private, more aggressive pat down. OMG. #veryuncomfortable

— Claire McCaskill (@clairecmc) March 11, 2013

She later said that this sort of #veryuncomfortable and "OMG" experience is something she's gone through frequently due to the fact that she has a metal knee.

Of course, the real question is whether or not this will actually change anything at all. As some have pointed out, Senator McCaskill has been criticizing such pat downs for years (while also arguing in favor of "full body scanners") and it hasn't changed much. In some ways, it just feels like another piece of the theater act.

Filed Under: claire mccaskill, pat down, security theater, tsa

TSA Force Breast Cancer Patient To Submit To Patdown, Refuse To Let Her Show ID Card About Implants

from the feeling-safer? dept

Another day, another ridiculous story about the TSA "making us safer." This one was submitted by plenty of folks, but Guy Thomas gets credit for being first. It involves a breast cancer patient, Lori Dorn, who recently had a bilateral mastectomy, and has tissue expanders installed. She has a card that explains the details of this, and why it can set off airport security. Of course, she did set off an alarm at JFK... and then the TSA both refused to let her show the card explaining the details, but also required her to be physically groped by the TSA -- with them loudly threatening her that she wouldn't fly otherwise. They also kept her out of sight from her luggage:

I told her that I was not comfortable with having my breasts touched and that I had a card in my wallet that explains the type of expanders, serial numbers and my doctor’s information (pictured) and asked to retrieve it. This request was denied. Instead, she called over a female supervisor who told me the exam had to take place. I was again told that I could not retrieve the card and needed to submit to a physical exam in order to be cleared. She then said, “And if we don’t clear you, you don’t fly” loud enough for other passengers to hear. And they did. And they stared at the bald woman being yelled at by a TSA Supervisor.

To my further dismay, my belongings, including my computer, were completely out of sight. I had no choice but to allow an agent to touch my breasts in front of other passengers.

As Dorn explains, "I have been through emotional and physical hell this past year due to breast cancer. The way I was treated by these TSA agents added a shitload of insult to injury and caused me a great deal of humiliation." In a separate interview with the NY Times, she notes that her breasts still hurt, and she was worried about the pain of the patdown, and that she was never offered the option of a patdown in a private area (as the TSA insists they grant). That article also contains a typical PR-laden response from the TSA:

We strive to treat every passenger with dignity and respect. In this case, that may not have happened. During the screening process, if advanced imaging technology detects an anomaly that cannot be cleared, secondary screening is required to ensure the passenger does not have threat items, such as explosives concealed under clothing.

All passengers may request private secondary screening. While an initial review indicates that proper screening procedures were followed, we regret that this passenger did not have a positive experience.

Which, of course, brings to mind a simple question: does anyone actually have a positive experience dealing with the TSA patdowns?

Filed Under: breast cancer, lori dorn, pat down, tsa

TSA Agent Threatens Woman With Defamation, Demands $500k For Calling Intrusive Search 'Rape'

from the don't-be-a-victim dept

Amy Alkon is an advice columnist and blogger who is just one of many people who has had a horrifying and traumatizing experience going through airport security lately. After being pulled aside for an "enhanced" search, she found the process to be so invasive and so in violation of her own rights that she was left sobbing. She wrote about the experience on her blog, noting that she didn't think the search was just "invasive" in the emotional sense, but flat out physically invasive:

Nearing the end of this violation, I sobbed even louder as the woman, FOUR TIMES, stuck the side of her gloved hand INTO my vagina, through my pants. Between my labia. She really got up there. Four times. Back right and left, and front right and left. In my vagina. Between my labia. I was shocked -- utterly unprepared for how she got the side of her hand up there. It was government-sanctioned sexual assault.

Upon leaving, still sobbing, I yelled to the woman, "YOU RAPED ME." And I took her name to see if I could file sexual assault charges on my return. This woman, and all of those who support this system deserve no less than this sort of unpleasant experience, and from all of us.

After investigating whether or not she could file sexual assault charges, and being told that this was probably a non-starter, she instead wrote about the experience, and named the TSA agent who she dealt with: Thedala Magee. Alkon felt that if people can't stop these kinds of searches, they should at least be able to name the TSA agents who are doing them.

Magee responded by lawyering up and threatening Alkon with defamation and asking for $500,000 and the removal of the blog post.

Alkon, with the help of lawyer Marc Randazza, has now responded, refusing to back down. Both letters are embedded below, but here are a few key quotes:

Your client aggressively pushed her fingers into my client’s vulva. I am certain that she did not expect to find a bomb there. She did this to humiliate my client, to punish her for exercising her rights, and to send a message to others who might do the same. It was absolutely a sexual assault, perpetrated in order to exercise power over the victim. We agree with Ms. Alkon’s characterization of this crime as “rape,” and so would any reasonable juror.

Furthermore, even if your client did not actually sexually assault my client, Ms. Alkon’s statements to and about Ms. Magee would still be protected by the First Amendment. The word “rape” itself has been the subject of defamation cases by far more sympathetic Plaintiffs than your client. In Gold v. Harrison, 962 P.2d 353 (Haw. 1998), cert denied, 526 U.S. 1018 (1999), the Hawai’i Supreme Court held that a defendant’s characterization of his neighbors’ seeking an easement in his backyard as “raping [the defendant]” was not defamatory. This speech was protected as rhetorical hyperbole. Of course, we need not seek out Hawai’i case law in order to debunk your unsupportable claims. Rhetorical hyperbole has a strong history of favorable treatment in defamation actions. See Greenbelt Cooperative Pub. Ass'n v. Bresler, 398 U.S. 6, 14 (1970). This doctrine acknowledges our First Amendment right to express ourselves, even when employing literary license. Accordingly, even if your client’s actions were not “rape,” Ms. Alkon had every right to characterize them as such.

No free woman should endure what your client did to Ms. Alkon. Fortunately, Ms. Alkon is capable of recognizing injustice, and for the good of us all, she had the courage to speak out on this matter of public concern of the highest order. After Magee’s assault on Ms. Alkon’s vagina and dignity, Ms. Alkon exercised her First Amendment right to recount this incident to others in person and through her blog. This was not only her right -- it was her responsibility.

I honestly don't know if this reaches the "technical" definition of rape, but I am massively troubled, if not horrified, by the idea that a woman who feels sexually assaulted based on what happened above ends up being threatened for saying she felt violated. Talk about adding insult to injury.

Filed Under: amy alkon, defamation, enhanced search, pat down, rape, thedala magee, tsa