By now, I would expect anyone inclined to spend any time in the blawgosphere to be fully familiar with the video of the TSA enhanced pat down of a six year old girl. A few thoughts on what happened.
1. No reasonable person can watch this without thinking it’s absurd.
2. The touching of this six year old girl by any person not in uniform would have resulted in prosecution.
3. The message to children that strangers and adults are not to touch their “private parts” is dead.
4. The TSA is not only untroubled by this video, but asserts that this was a proper exercise of authority and standard operating procedure.
5. In response to this video going viral, Blogger Bob at the TSA Blog posted about puppies.
6. Had I been the parent of this child, chances are exceptionally good that I would be in custody.
Kevin Underhill, whose posts are about the humor to be found in the law, is no longer laughing. He writes:
In any other context, if you saw a stranger doing that to a six-year-old girl, wouldn’t you kick that person’s ass? Wouldn’t you at least try? Even at some risk to yourself? I bet you would. So why do we walk by when the government does it? Have we really become such cowards that we are willing to put up with six-year-old girls being groped because we think otherwise we can’t be 99.999% safe?
We are cowards to allow anyone to touch a six year old girl this way. We are a nation of cowards. Our government has authorized people to inappropriately touch little girls and we stand there and allow it. It’s acceptable because our government tells us it’s “standard operating procedure.” Our government has made molesting little girls its official policy, and we are docile and watch as it happens, afraid to scream “enough.”
We are the home of neither the free nor the brave. We are cowards.
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Yes this is a circus of absurdity. The MOST any official should be allowed to do with a child under 12 is a metal detector pass. UNLESS that child is REALLY overdressed in excessive bulky clothing, then the PARENT should reduce the clothing to a point where it is obvious the child isn’t packing a Glock. In NO CASE should a security guard be doing intensive pat-downs of children. It seems that we as parents no longer have parental rights of protection.
Just a suggestion, but the use of all cap words for emphasis tends to make readers assume you wear a tin foil hat at home while spewing beer at Nancy Grace on the telly. Not that spewing beer at Nancy Grace on the telly is a bad thing.
and this is a constructive criticism? You are criticizing my use of capital letters, but not the content of my comment, let me guess, you feel a need to publicly dress-down everyone who doesn’t follow your rules? I could care less about your tin-hat fantasies OR Nancy Grace.
We are cowards.
This is nothing new. First we were afraid of the Indians, then we were afraid of different groups of European immigrants. Then it was the Yellow Peril, then the Communists and so on.
It is only a matter of time until we are afraid of our own government. For some people that time has already arrived.
Or you can get angry, write something idiotic in response and leave no doubt in people’s mind. Bye, Jeffrey.
I’m still laughing – or trying to – although I guess I did lose it for a few minutes after watching that video. Then I read that, at least according to the parents, the girl started to cry later and ask what she had done wrong. That started me fuming all over again.
I watched the video and am now concerned that I’ll be charged with having improper images on my hard drive.
I hadn’t heard that. That’s heartbreaking.
If Tyranny and Oppression come to this land, it will be in the guise of fighting a foreign enemy.
— James Madison
The terrorists have won; they have our government violating our Constitution in the name of “protecting” us.
That quote comes to mind quite often these days.
Kevin underhill made a math error. Its not 99.999% safe – take 500 million travelers per year in the US, 10 years since 9-11 and 3000 casualties and its 99.99994% safe. That does not include however the informed actions of Flight 93 who got the memo that when men storm cabin yelling Allah Akbar, fight like hell. How many of those being searched are from the US? How many mad men attacked us from the US? How many from Saudi Arabia?
Between 5 and 30 people will indeed get cancer from the X-Ray machines if fully implemented. They are only 99.99999667% safe so its “justifiable” to irradiate us and rub our nose in the TSA’s power trip over the Constitution. Of course, that is assuming the machines and tactics actually prevent a mass casualty attack. If they create conditions for domestic terrorism from lunatic wing nuts – then they aren’t safe at all.
Play taps for the 4th Amendment.
This changes everything. Underhill is now officially math challenged.
Don’t put up with this unconstitutional garbage! Aside from being sick, twisted and INSANE, it’s all worthless security theater that does absolutely nothing to keep you “safe”. Boycott Flying ENTIRELY until sanity returns! Please join us on Facebook: [Ed. Note: Link deleted as against rules.]
Again, you ignored the content of his post and focused on meaningless details. What are you, like 12?
Anyone who has watched that video and isn’t outraged by it is not fit to be a parent, yet, if you read the comments under the numerous blog postings of that video, people are defending TSA’s actions.
“Children have been used as mules before, you know!”
“She was just doing her job!”
“It’s all okay, as long as it keeps my ass from being blown up in a plane!”
The responses that I’ve read tell me that MSM and the government have done one hell of a job with their fear-mongering propaganda. They have the majority of North Americans living in constant fear of a mostly non-existent terrorist threat.
Recent stats that we looked at put the risk of being blown out of the sky by a terrorist at something like one in 50 million, but the risk of dying in your own vehicle on the way to or from the airport is as high as one in five hundred. Personally, I’ll accept the minuscule risk of a terrorist on board over the guaranteed risk of being molested by some salivating government goon in a uniform and wearing a tin badge.
Anyone who is opposed to the tyrannical tactics currently is use by TSA is invited to join us at Boycott Flying on Facebook.
[Ed. Note: Link deleted as against rules.]
I take no issue with his content, and in fact the content of his coment is fairly good. But this is a blog for lawyers, not a soapbox for outraged chest thumpers. There are plenty of other blogs more appropriate for people who want to hop on their soapbox and express their outrage in whatever fashion they think appropriate. Just not here.
Could the local DA be persuaded to charge this lady? Even if the charges end up getting quashed like those against Lon Horiuchi did, the risk of being perp-walked and indicted might cause some of her cohorts to rethink their behavior.
I recall a move afoot in New Hampshire to ciminalize TSA patdowns, but it’s more for show than anything else due to pre-emption. As for some local prosecutor deciding to put on a show, know anybody you want to call?
Oh please. Who are you, SHG, the leading expert on how to write comments effectively? I appreciate it when someone uses CAPS to emphasize their point.
There, I said it.
But back to the commentary, I’m Your Wicked Uncle Sam: That is one great peice of work, and I mean that literally. When I watched that video of the six-year old little girl being groped, I felt this intense surge of anger well up within me, and I believe that if I had been there that day and saw it happen right before my very eyes, I would have expressed my shock and anger. I know that’s probably hard to believe, but I am so disgusted with Americans for submitting to government officials because they believe it’s better to be “safe” and “secure” than FREE, that I would be ashamed of myself if I watched something like that and continued on my way as if it was natural and normal. WE ARE COWARDS!
Who am I? What a great question. This is my blawg. I wrote the post that you think is “one great piece of work.” I pay the freight that allows this blawg to exist. I allow you (and any other blithering idiot who thinks that they, like you, get a vote on how I handle comments here) to post a comment. This is my home. You are a guest in my home, as long as I chose to allow you to be here.
If you like it when someone uses CAPS to emphasize their point, then start a blog, write something that others read and wish to comment about, and let them know how much you enjoy their comments when they use CAPS to emphasize their point.
But this is a lawyer blog, and I expect comments here to demonstrate a far greater depth of comprehension and use of language. That’s what I expect from comments. And I get to do that because this is my blawg.
Does that answer your question?
Yes, it does, and I apologize for offending you.
I wasn’t aware that the same person who wrote the post was also the one who made the comment about the caps. Since now I know that, it makes sense that you would suggest they not be used.
I don’t like caps so much that it would be the reason I started my own blog, but I will be respectful when visiting this blog and not use them.
Apology accepted, and I’m glad you found the post worthwhile. Feel free to look around, and hopefully you’ll find others worthwhile as well.
As outraged as I am at the content of the video, and as angry as I am that this is considered standard operating procedure for the TSA, it looks like the TSA and Congress are reviewing the pat down procedures. Which is not to say that anything substantive will come of the review, but it’s at least a start to ending this ridiculous security theater.
Reveiwing, or preparing for the next stage of the plan? From your WaPo article:
Given the outrage generated by the former, the latter seems far less of a bad choice. And we’re less inclined to think too hard about whether either is necessary or proper.
I find it a bit disturbing that it takes the TSA fondling a child to stir this sort of outrage. What kind of example are we setting for our children, when we allow these actions to take place on ourselves? Then, this outrage, when it happens to a little girl.
Think about how she felt the next time you allow them to lay their hands on you, and what you’re willing to do about it. I quit flying.
Let’s not get too worked up about it. It hasn’t caused nearly the stir of Rebecca Black’s “Friday” song. Seriously, it’s rare that people care about anything that doesn’t directly affect them, and even then, most will actively seek some way to rationalize it to avoid having to deal with the consequences. That’s why we’re cowards.
To second that, imagine what George Washington or George Patton would have done had that been a daughter or grand daugher of theirs. That poor TSA woman. A miniball would have ended her in the former, a tank division would have crushed her in the latter example. America is a land of steers and queers now – we’ve sold our manhood cheap and with manhood so went the Consitution and Liberty. We’re all boys now. It started when the Supreme Court began making up laws from the bench, and its ended with them rubber stamping blatent violations of the Constitution. Its time we stand up or shut up. I am thankful that last time flying I did not go through the nude scopes or enhanced pat downs. I am resolved to gently but firmly demand a warrant for an invasive search of my person – as a Citizen of the United States – and as a man.
If I see this happen at the airport I for one will be deffending the little girl. If TSA tries to do it to me or my family I will be probably on trial for murder. TSA isn’t touching me or my family period.
This is Security Theater and the only real purpose is to make us /feel\ safer. Or, if you listen to my more cynical of my friends, a plan to transform citizens into serfs.
Me? I’m sure of No. 1 and not too sure of No. 2. I sometimes hope that Napoleon Bonaparte was correct when he opined that one should not ascribe to malice what which can be adequately explained by incompetence.
I’m your wicked Uncle Ernie I’m glad you won’t hear or see me as I fiddle about, fiddle about, fiddle about!