SubscribeI had an emergency Xanax in my jeans pocket. I always carry an emergency Xanax in my pocket. The result of severe anxiety.I mean come on, how are we not supposed to think you're prone to overreaction if you need an 'emergency pill' on you all the time just because you freak out so much. They only took the kid for a few minutes to check him. The freak out doesn't seem accompanied by any rational fear at all.
I took the pill, but it did very little. I was so traumatized that it would’ve taken probably 4 Xanax to get my blood pressure back down to a normal level.
What's the straw man? Let me switch from rhetorical question to honest question: under what circumstances would the TSA separating an infant from its mom be justified? Whatever the answer, it seems pretty obvious there was nothing about this particular case that demanded mom and infant being separated.Not only is there no reason, it's also against the rules.
Following oral administration, alprazolam is readily absorbed. Peak concentrations in the plasma occur in 1 to 2 hours following administration.Also, I note that nowhere in the extensive documentation does it for a moment suggest that Xanax should be taken in the manner the blogger suggests. I suspect her use of the drug is incorrect and ineffective except as a placebo.
"If that happened to me I would be in jail for ripping the head off the male TSA agent… period."HOLY SHIT, THAT THERE IS THE WORLD'S GREATEST FATHER.
"The TSA took my baby!" (Please read this with a "cockney" accent.)Nonsense. This should clearly be read with a Queens accent. Yeah.
Every time I've dealt with the TSA, I've always come away feeling like I've just encountered a mall security guard granted his heart's desire: license to fuck with whomever they please with the slightest justification. For a certain personality type, even the smallest dose of authority is dangerously intoxicating and, just as in the case of the racist Louisiana Justice of the Peace, you can always expect obnoxious behavior from small people who are granted just a little bit of power. -- EatTheWeakSo true. I wish they would give psychological examinations to weed these people out, or something.
Obviously there's a way to search a mother and child and there's a way not to search a mother and child. On the face of it, it looks like this is a textbook case of the latter. Unless people want to suggest infants should be separated from their parents and strip searched because of a pacifier, they should stop arguing inanities. -- HP Laser JetI didn't say it was right, in fact I said it was wrong in another comment. It would obviously be wrong if it were true because it violates their stated policy (we now know it was a lie). I was commenting on the whole "Are there al Qaeda baby-bombs now?" snark, which is ridiculous. Like I said, if kids weren't searched, then people with kids could smuggle whatever they wanted onboard.
But the fact remains... if you aren't careful and trigger their sensors, you can -- and should -- expect to be searched thoroughly. -- markkraftSince when? I don't fly very often, only a couple times since 9/11 but didn't they let you remove whatever and try again if you forgot something in the past? That seems like it would save a lot of time, not to mention not be insane.
That's right, folks. If you have problems with anxiety, so much so that you need prescription medication, make sure to never, ever fly again. Because when someone steals your baby even for ten measly minutes, people on the internet will rightly find you lacking. -- sugarfishBut like FFF said, that's not how you're supposed to use it. Xanax is a drug with a pretty high abuse potential, by the way.
It actually bugs me a little bit that the TSA posts the video on these incidents. It's not the first time they've done it and it kind of strikes me as an abuse of power, but I can't quite put my finger on why. -- empathI think it's good. People are primed to believe anything about the TSA, and I think it's good we get to see what actually happened.
A few days ago, a 14-year-old kid talked his way past the TSA and onto a flight from Portland, Oregon to Chicago, with a boarding pass with his mother's name on it and NO I.D., exposing a TSA loophole you can pass a high school marching band through. -- wendellThat's not a security loophole, because it doesn't actually matter who you are. The security should work the same for everyone (unless you're on the "no-fly" list or something). The reason they make people match up their names to their boarding passes is so that you can't resell your tickets.
"in the video, it looks as though my son is playing happily in his stroller while i am being searched with a wand. obviously this is the big discrepancy with my story, since he was not in my sight at that time, and one that i too am thoroughly looking into."Hear that? She is thoroughly looking into these nefarious discrepancies!
"In the months following Sept. 11, Logan International Airport here was widely assailed for its string of security lapses, for its inept management and, most important, for its status as the origin of the two hijacked jets that crashed into the World Trade Center.
Battered by criticism from the public and the press, the Massachusetts Port Authority, which operates the airport, decided to bring in the best: the former head of security at Israel's Ben-Gurion Airport, whose safety record is unrivaled."*
[The TSA is] not mindless. It's designed to convert the former Citizens of a Free Nation into subjects of The Government.vs
I'm not sure anyone really conspired to deprive Americans of Constitutional Liberty here in any explicit way. I think the GOAL was "We need to be seen to be doing something"Which is it? Designed, or not really designed?
Godwin has argued,[4] that overuse of Nazi and Hitler comparisons comparisons should be avoided, because it robs the valid comparisons of their impact.And
The term Godwin's law can also refer to the tradition that whoever makes such a comparison is said to "lose" the debate.
The right of the people to be secure in their persons, houses, papers, and effects, against unreasonable searches and seizures, shall not be violated, and no warrants shall issue, but upon probable cause, supported by oath or affirmation, and particularly describing the place to be searched, and the persons or things to be seized.First of all, the Supreme Court has repeatedly allowed for discretionless searches, even above and beyond "probably cause" which indicates that a search might be warranted at a certain point; discretionless searches like sobriety checkpoints (allowed by Michigan v. Sitz, 1990), immigration checkpoints (United States v. Martinez-Fuerte, 1976), and driver's license checkpoints (Delaware v. Prouse, 1979) where people are stopped and required to produce certain evidence even if they aren't 'behaving suspiciously' have all been allowed variously by the Supreme Court. You should know that the chief precedent in this was established in 1968 by Terry v. Ohio, 392 U.S. 1 (1968), which held that even if not inspired by probable cause, searches and seizures are not necessarily unreasonable, and that reasonable motivations for searches and seizures include officer and public safety.
"Traditionally, they've hired private security companies, who then hire the people who operate the equipment. The contracts usually go to the lowest bidder. It's those people who are often criticized as the weakest link in the system. Pay is low, and turnover high-- 500% at one airport-- and their training is often minimal. Federal inspectors have repeatedly been able to easily get weapons and potential bombs past them."Poor training, low wages, etc. contributed to a porous security system. Then -- 9/11 happened. As a response, the government got serious and decided that tighter oversight, better training, etc. was needed and shit-canned the security companies and formed the TSA in November 2001.
'''Two of the planes flew out of Logan, but I don't think Logan is weaker than any other airport. The problem is systemic,' [retired FAA special agent Brian] Sullivan said. 'Morale problems are horrendous' among FAA security staff whose job includes trying to prevent terrorists from boarding planes. 'All you need to do is look at turnover and employee satisfaction,' Sullivan added.
Sullivan, like many other security specialists, said the weak link in aviation security is the low-paid employees hired to work at security checkpoints by private security firms that are contracted by the airlines.
A former Massport official, speaking on condition of anonymity, said that for years airport officials have been concerned about 'the quality of the people hired, basically at the minimum wage, to check your bags. There were a lot of people at Massport who said this was the weak link.'''
"U.S. Transportation Secretary Norman Y. Mineta today announced further enhancements to the security and efficiency of the U.S. aviation system including the beginning of a new training program for passenger screeners the deployment of the nation's first fully federalized team of federal screening personnel at Baltimore-Washington International Airport (BWI) and the deployment of thousands of explosive detection systems to screen all passenger bags by the end of this year.
...Secretary Mineta announced that the DOT's Transportation Security Administration (TSA) has awarded a contract of $105 million to Lockheed Martin Services to begin the training of the airport security screening force. Under the contract each screener will receive a minimum of 40 hours of classroom training five times the amount they received under the previous system. Screeners also will receive 60 hours of on-the-job training and will have to pass a tough final examination as a requirement for graduation.
Secretary Mineta announced additional measures to enhance aviation safety including the full federalization of the security screener workforce at BWI. Under the Aviation and Transportation Security Act all airport security screeners must be federal employees by Nov. 19 and BWI will be the first U.S. airport at which this requirement is implemented. In addition the Secretary said that the TSA will deploy up to 1 100 explosive detection systems and up to 4 700 explosive trace detection machines at the nation's 429 airports to screen all bags for explosives by Dec. 31 2002 as mandated by Congress."
"i have no further insight to give you in terms of what took place in the airport. i’ve shared my experience. i own that. for some of you, i simply do not have answers to the questions you currently possess."Riiiight!
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posted by kittens for breakfast at 9:01 PM on October 16 [17 favorites]