The Land of the free and the home of the brave
The United States government is now requiring people who wish to travel via airplane to submit to radioactive photography that exposes their nude body, or alternatively submit to a full body pat down.
The constitutional experts at the Asbury Park Press think that’s a good idea.
Here for their first reading, I offer the fourth amendment to the U.S. Constitution to the editorial board of the Neptune Nudniks:
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.
What is the probable cause that justifies every airline traveler to be compelled to submit to these searches?
The Council for American-Islamic Relations issued this travel advisory for airline passengers. For women wearing hijab they advise the following:
- If you are selected for secondary screening after you go through the metal detector and it does not go off, and “sss” is not written on your boarding pass, ask the TSA officer if the reason you are being selected is because of your head scarf.
- In this situation, you may be asked to submit to a pat-down or to go through a full body scanner. If you are selected for the scanner, you may ask to go through a pat-down instead.
- Before you are patted down, you should remind the TSA officer that they are only supposed to pat down the area in question, in this scenario, your head and neck. They SHOULD NOT subject you to a full-body or partial-body pat-down.
- You may ask to be taken to a private room for the pat-down procedure.
- Instead of the pat-down, you can always request to pat down your own scarf, including head and neck area, and have the officers perform a chemical swipe of your hands.
- If you encounter any issues, ask to speak to a supervisor immediately. They are there to assist you.
I don’t have a daughter, but I will be adding hijab to my Christmas shopping list for my wife, mother, sister and nieces. You can buy them online here.
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Ok Unless the TSA officer is really hot looking (a rare occurence) I would prefer not to let them cop a feel but I don’t see the problem with the xray machine.
I will happily go through that if it will stop some Jihadist nut job from trying to get to his 40 blue eyed Virgins and taking me with him.
First the guy viewing the xray does not see the person who entered the machine.
Second I have seen the pictures that get generated and I have seen people wearing speedos at the beach that show more junk then those pictures.
I think people just need to take a chill pill.
Art I am suprised at you. Why should a nudist be upset about strutting their stuff at the Airport?
TR….if I could go through nude I would avoid the radiation.
Voluntary nudist lines at the airports would save the taxpayers millions of dollars.
I’m curious, had the “shoe bomber” or “underwear bomber” walked through the full body scanner, would they have been found out BEFORE they got on their respective flights? I have less of a problem IF the scans prevent something; I’m skeptical of human pat downs, and stories like this make me want to laugh and be mad at the same time.
Also curious, and it may raise some eyebrows but I’m asking quite seriously — has the Council for American-Islamic Relations ever issued a travel advisory reminding Islamic air passengers to avoid putting bombs, or parts of, in their shoes, underwear, hijab, scarfs, etc? Go ahead, call me a racist and offense suburbanite, I just might be, but I am asking a serious question and hopefully someone can provide an answer, my research seems to indicate such a memo was never sent.
And also while I’m asking questions, are there any other industries where your personal safety, while being a patron of a private enterprise, is the responsibility of the US Government and not the private enterprise? I mean, I’ve sat on a bus with 60 other strangers, and my personal safety was in the hands of a single bus driver — I’m supposed to believe that driving is more dangerous than flying, so why no US Gov’t checkup here? I’ve been on a ferry with a few hundred people or so, again, no Gov’t TSA security checks to get on the ferry, but that SI ferry seems to crash every once in a while. I’ve been to sporting events and a circus act or two with thousands of other spectators, my security was ensured by private employees/contractors of the arena outside the doors. Before I get in my car in the morning, I give my car a quick once over to check the tires/lights, give the brakes a check before I get to full highway speeds, put a seat belt on when I’m in the car, and do my best to ensure my own personal safety while driving, or being a passenger; Aside from the friendly neighbor policeman checking for an out light on my behalf and writing me a ticket for such, the Gov’t is not responsible for my safety, I am. So what makes airlines so much more important, or different, that security has become a Gov’t job instead of the job of the airline industry, or it’s passengers? If there were Zero TSA agents and security checks, would the terrorists be boarding and hijacking every flight and crashing the plane into a building? There are new locks and such on cockpit doors rights? And the Gov’t has already ensured that everyone carrying a weapon is doing so legally with a CCW permit so there are no criminals with weapons roaming the streets anyhow, if there were ,then surely the legal CCW holders would be able to react accordingly and provide their own safety, right?
Or maybe I’m just too much of an idealist.
Great points Jim!!
Also, TR, the best way to stop a Jihadist nut job from killing you is to look out for Jihadist nut jobs. While Israel is the main terrorist target in the world, there haven’t been any incidents on flights leaving Israel in over 30 years, however walking through their airports is a breeze compared to hear.
Why? Because while in US we screen for terrorists, in Israel they look for terrorists. Their wise scientists looked at tons of information regarding past acts of terrorism and were able to create a quite accurate profile of a potential terrorist. They discovered that 99% of past terrorists matched a certain profile, while 1% didn’t match that profile. That’s why, they’re 99 times more likely to check travelers matching that profile than other travelers.
With limited resources for airline security (you can’t check EVERY traveler), this is a very efficient way of allocating those resources.
I am all in favor of profiling I just don’t see what the big deal is about the scanners.
To me it seems a lot of hullabaloo about nothing.
Plus I traveled through a couple of domestic airlines last week and I did not have to even go through any scanners
Hey TR….got any naked pictures of Mrs. TR? Want some?
Better yet, do away with screening altogether.
Just give every passenger a small bat like the one you used to get a bat day at the stadium.
It would be 245 bat wielding passengers against 5 underwear bombers. An added plus would be that the guy behind you who kicks your seat for two hours would rethink his behavior, flight attendants would be more pleasant, and no one would shove into you at baggage claim. I thing we paid 1.5 million for the scanners, think how many bats we could get for that?
Now im not a big gun nut nor, am I a big gun control person but, having traveled to 49 out of the 50 states I can say this, states with easy concealed carry permits are just a lot more polite than states without. Think back to sister Mary Cathrine in 5th grade remember the yardstick/pointer ? Remember how quiet it was when she said “quiet”? Did she ever have to say it twice?
You see? we don’t need all this technology crap, times are too complicated when men wore guns they doffed they’re hats to ladies they held doors and children said ma’am and sir. seeing that bullets flying around in an airplane (I couldn’t resist) might be bad 345×6 is lets see….ahhh, a lot I submit the bat low tech easy to use in close quarters and best of all recyclable! Why we could even sell add space on them , something like “this terrorist defense tool brought to you courtesy of bla bla bla MRI associates” that way we know where to take our suspects for treatment after we have subdued them and on the reverse could be bla bla bla attorney at law in case we have a case of mistaken identity.
just a thought
It’s very simple. If you don’t like the screening process, don’t fly.
Jim, may I add that between buses, trains, ferries, cruise ships and stadiums (all with private security), they’ve never seen a terrorist act except maybe Acchile Lauro
Btw, this comment has been posted on my Facebook page:
“The US is not screening for terrorists, they’re screening for terrorist’s weapons. The Israelis are screening for terrorists. I’d rather be on a plane where there is a weapon and no terrorist, than on a plane with a terrorist who can find a weapon of opportunity. Remember, “Guns don’t kill people, people kill people.””
Chris, in some fairness there are/were plenty of train related incidents:
1975 Dutch Train Hijacking
1977 Dutch Train Hijacking
Sarin Gas Attack on Tokyo subway
Again, I feel like it’s worth pointing out that nothing has really changed, the EvilTerrorists could certainly pull off these same attacks again, today and everyday, but they don’t, and really it seems that they can’t for reasons beyond obnoxious and invasive security measures. I’m not saying we should make easy targets of ourselves and fellow Americans, but we as humans should have some sense of self-responsibility to look out for our own safety, keep out of the mouths of those Sabertoof Tigers if you will.
I disagree Art. Neither the 4th Amendment nor probable cause come into play.
One’s ability to travel through the air is a privilege, granted to you after meeting the conditions of the contract you enter into with the private carrier. For example, one condition is payment of a fee. Another is your agreement not to try to bring down the plane, and your agreement to abide by laws designed to ensure that you don’t try to bring down the plane.
those scanners do not produce a picture that would be at all titallating to any but the smallest percentage of deviants. The amount of radiation is similer to what you get while using your microwave or the computer screen while reading this.
Be careful where this hysteria comes from. Arguably, it could be used by the Administration to further restrict real “rights”.
Thanks art,
I am running low on wallet sixe.