The TSA has groped again.
Conservative radio host and Breitbart Editor, Dana Loesch, was treated to an ‘enhanced screening’ where the TSA agents repeatedly pressed down on her — around her vagina. No, this isn’t a joke and with all the things going on in this country at the moment and an election on our doorstep, the TSA with its mind boggling breaches of our liberties had taken a backseat. Not anymore.
I have kept my readers informed of TSA activities via this blog and my Morning Links. Those stories were horrifying, yet even I admit to compartmentalizing them. These events had happened to people I did not know and so I set them aside after being angry for a bit about it.
Hearing the escalating stories Dana has posted about her encounters with the TSA made me pretty angry; this last event really made me angry. I’ve had the honor of meeting Dana Loesch and her husband, Chris. They are two of the coolest people ever and handled my ‘Boo Radley’ moment meeting them better than I did. The two of them are good people, folks just like you and me. What happened to Dana with the TSA this time, and in the past, should not have happened to her… or to any of us.
Loesch took to Twitter and relayed this latest TSA attack in pretty frank detail for the 140 character limit and yes, I consider these ‘pat downs’ to be attacks. Here is just one of her tweets:
TSA said I was covered in explosives, took me to a private room and touched my vagina. So how was your day?
— Dana Loesch (@DLoesch)
I often wondered when I traveled with my child, when they were just barely 4 years old, what I would do if one of the agents pulled us out of line and required a screening like this for me… or worse, for my kid. It’s the kind of nightmare that makes it just fine and dandy to me to drive over 10 hours to a destination rather than flying in 2 hours.
Dana got some video of the this latest violation, up until a TSA agent closed the door:
Video Detail:
On the afternoon of October 14th, 2012, TSA agents in terminal four at the Phoenix Airport forced me into a private room where their “enhanced screening” included pressing down repeatedly upon the front of my vaginal area.
It began after I was “randomly selected” for an additional screening which consisted of swabbing my hands with paper strips. The strips were then taken to a machine for analysis and an alarm sounded. TSA agents determined that I had a suspicious, possibly explosive, residue on my hands and required another, “enhanced screening.”
Read here why these tests are unreliable:
http://danaloeschradio.com/guess-who-gets-to-go-through-airport-security-agai…I was, of course, aggravated, as we arrived two hours early and already 15 minutes had gone by due to the amount of time I had to wait on agents and the swab. During this time an elderly gentleman behind me and in front of my husband was forced to stand (despite having to use a cane and being unable to do so well alone) and not permitted to lean on anything or given a wheelchair, despite my husband requesting one.
The agents finally gathered my belongings and led me away from the populated security lines to a more secluded area near the private rooms. I asked twice for a public screening and was denied.
They performed the regular pat-down and then the agent informed me that she would be using the front of her hands to “sweep” my groin. She pressed and swept across my crotch three times horizontally and three times vertically. In any other circumstance this would be sexual assault.
The agents themselves were friendly and smiled, yet I was still denied a public screening and no witness of my own present for the screening itself (a second agent was in the room at the time). I had no reason to be angry with the agents themselves, yet I was angry, and still am, at the regulations which require them to routinely violate men, women, and children in the name of a false sense of security.
Read about my similar experience with Providence, RI’s TSA here:
http://danaloeschradio.com/a-date-with-the-tsa/After concluding that I wasn’t a terrorist hiding weapons in my vagina, the TSA agents allowed me to go. They also gave me information about pre-check, which they said would help me avoid such procedures.
Unfortunately, pre-check isn’t available in all airports and innocent Americans shouldn’t be subjected to a full FBI check simply to board a plane. Also, I doubt we would pass the test considering Janet Napolitano put conservatives like me (and many others) on the DHS domestic terror watch list back in April 2009:
http://www.thelibertypapers.org/2009/04/12/homeland-security-document-targets…They also did it to our vets:
http://americaswatchtower.com/2009/04/14/homeland-security-classifies-returni…The above is video of what happened this afternoon, filmed by my husband. He filmed it vertically so as to avoid detection. They forced me to stop filming, against their own rules (I wasn’t impeding the procedure and was not near monitors) last time.
Vote liberty.
http://www.DanaRadio.com
We have a lot to get done as we roll up on November 6th. When you hit the voting booth, remember this article and remind yourself that the TSA might just be getting warmed up.
UPDATE: Mr. Liberty calls the TSA “a government approved SWATTING agency”.
UPDATE II: Linked by Right Wing News for Monday Oct. 15 in Blog Posts. Thanks!
Related Reading:
- The TSA’s War on Innocent Travelers
- Sleeping w/ the Enemy: Obama Hires Muslim Extremist to TSA Senior Policy Advisor
- TSA Hires Accused Child Molester without Background Check
- 4-Year-Old Gets TSA Pat-Down Following Hug From Grandma
- TSA flags 18-month-old a suspected terrorist
- Family Misses Flight After Obama TSA Targets Disabled Girl
- Afghan War vet, maybe 20yrs old, in wheelchair,no legs, shrapnel scars on arms…you see where this is going.
- TSA Violates Cancer Patient — TSA Needs An Overhaul
- War on Women… Sobbing Female Suffers Through Obama’s TSA Groping (Video)
- Elderly Disabled Man on Oxygen Detained & Abused by Obama TSA Agents – Misses Flight (Video)
- Transparency: TSA takes 4 years to respond to one simple FOIA request
Pingback: The Morning Links (10/16/12) | Lady Liberty 1885
Though I am new to your blog, tI want to say thanks for continuing to share these TSA encounters. My name is Heather, I am disabled, I wear leg braces called AFO’s (Ankle-Foot Orthosis) that come up to the base of the knee and walk with a cane. Any time I read about things like this I am immediately reminded of June 2006, the VERY FIRST time I ever flew commercially.
A bit of background first so my situation can be fully understood my:
In late July 1998, at 13 I walked into Duke Medical Center in Durham, NC to have my first scoliosis surgery. A few days afterwords when I was less sedated and becoming aware of my situation, I was told by my then surgeon while they (he and the other Dr’s in Orthopaedic’s and Radiology) didn’t know what went wrong – something did, that I was paralyzed from the waist down, and would be for the rest of my life. My Mom and I believing God is still in the healing business, refused their diagnosis, and told them I walked in and I was walking out. I was in the hospital for 3 months doing in-patient physical therapy. When I was discharged in late November, I was wheeled to the front door of the hospital in a wheel chair. Borrowing a pair of the hospitals KAFO’s (Knee-Ankle-Foot Orthosis braces that go up to the top of your thigh) and given a walker and I walked the 10-15 feet to the car. I was in a wheel chair from July 1998 to January 2001 (8th, 9th, and half of 10th grade) during those 2 1/2 years I continued Physical Therapy at least 1-2 a week. In January 2001, I put the wheel chair away and started using canes.
Fast Forward 8 years:
I arrived at the airport early (minimum of 2 hours for the check-in) because I walk much slower than everyone else. I was at RDU Airport in Raleigh, NC for the VERY FIRST of the three flights I would go on before arriving at my destination in Edinburgh, Scotland for a 1 1/2 week long Church Planting Mission’s Trip. {My entire flight plan was RDU (Raleigh, NC) –> LGA (Queens, NYC, NY); Transfer to JFK; JFK (Queens, NYC, NY) –> LHR (London, England); LHR –> EDI (Edinburgh, Scotland)}.
At this point I cannot remember whether my leg braces (which contain some metal screws) set the metal detector off or not (some metals don’t or usually don’t for example titanium doesn’t). My cane went through the X-Ray machine along with my carry-on baggage. The TSA Agent gave me their hand to help me walk through the metal detector. My cane was returned and I was directed to a cubicle made out of clear plastic 10-15 feet off to my right with a chair. I couldn’t believe I was targeted for an extended evaluation.
I had to remove my braces and shoes so they could be swabbed, as were my hands, cane, and other “random” places of my clothing. The samples were placed in the machine to run, I spent part of the time waiting being scanned by a hand-held metal detector as well as a little pat down. As I sat and waited other agents continued screening other passengers, many of whom didn’t try to hide the fact that they were staring in my direction. I felt completely humiliated, and couldn’t for the life of me figure out what about me said potential terrorist.
If I hadn’t arrived as early as I had I very well may have missed my flight after the TSA’s ~20 minute long screening. I don’t even recall being offered a wheel-chair to ensure that I got to my gate on time (without having to rush which is a major fall risk for me).
I suppose the good news is that for the rest of my trip I didn’t have any additional trouble with regarding the TSA. Well that is until I got home and I told my Mom and family what had happened, needless to say, they were less than thrilled. In our post 9/11 world we understand the need for additional security – we don’t understand let alone appreciate profiling a disabled person as a potential terrorist. Who knows what “tipped” them off – maybe it was my red hair…
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Thank you for sharing your story here. I’ve been patted down but never had the enhanced version myself. Stories like yours make my blood boil and knowing that the TSA has the power to remove you from view and isolate you indefinitely should make everyone’s boil.
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That’s news, that she has a vagina.
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That’s news, you’re a troll.
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