Clipmarks | Tsa Clips

At The Airport, You Better Smile...

Mon, 20 Aug 2007 21:15:09 GMT

clipped by: BartendingBear
clipper's remarks: We now know the sound of George Orwell rolling in his grave.

"Here's where it gets really absurd. Apparently, these Behavior Detection Officers work in pairs. One scenario is that an officer might move in to "help" a passenger retrieve their belongings after they've been screened. And then the officer will ask where the passenger is headed. If the passenger's reaction sets off alarm bells in the officer's well-trained mind, another officer will move in and detain them."

"So while TSA employees are confiscating our scissors and water bottles, they're going to secretly be staring at us, looking for some telltale sign of terrorist intent in a grimace, a sigh, a crinkled nose? Who knows what? In the end, the Behavior Detection Officers are the ones who are really acting suspicious. Which is the truth of the matter anyway."

Clip Source: www.globalresearch.ca

It's a new level of absurdity for America.

"Specially trained security personnel" will be watching passengers for "micro-expressions" that will reveal treacherous agendas and insidious intentions at airports around the country. These agents, who may literally hold your fate in their hands have been given a lofty, Orwellian name: "Behavior Detection Officers."

In the study of "micro-expressions"-yes, it is actually a field of study and there are some who are arrogant enough to call it a science- it has been decided that when people wish to conceal emotions, the truth of their feelings is revealed in facial flashes.

The face police, in place at more than a dozen U.S. airports already, aren't identified as such. But the watcher could be at curbside baggage, the ticket counter or near the metal detectors and X-ray machines. The Transportation Security Administration hopes to have as many as 500 Behavior Detection Officers on the job by the end of 2008.

Tags: 1984, homeland security, airplane, airport, tsa

Get Him The Hell Off This List

Wed, 07 Nov 2007 23:04:44 GMT

clipped by: debbyski

Clip Source: www.usatoday.com

John Anderson of Minneapolis, who turned 6 on July 4, is among those who have been inconvenienced.

He was first stopped at Minneapolis-St. Paul International Airport in 2004, when his family took him for his first airplane ride to Disney World. "We checked in at the ticket counter, and the woman said in a stern voice, 'Who is John Anderson?' " says his mother, Christine Anderson. "I pointed to my stroller."

Christine Anderson says she has tried repeatedly to get her child's name cleared, but she can't find the right forms on the TSA website and none have come in the mail after officials promised to send them. "No one can give any answers to why my son is on the list or really how to get him off," she says.

Tags: please, big, daddy

8-Yr-Old Boy Held From Plane for Appearing on No-Fly List

Sun, 15 Jul 2007 13:42:41 GMT

clipped by: dorine
clipper's remarks: Poor kid. It's scary enough for a kid to fly alone, then this happens!

Clip Source: www.foxnews.com

An 8-year-old boy expecting to catch a plane home is denied entry for appearing on a terrorist no-fly list

Bryan Moore was set to catch his first plane trip when he arrived at an airport in Cortez, Colorado to fly home after visiting his sister,

"They almost got me scheduled in and then the lady just bowed her head and said, 'We can't get you on this plane, you're a terrorist,'" Moore said.

The soon-to-be third grader was red flagged as a threat to national security because his name popped up on the national watch list.

According to the Transportation Security Administration, no children are on the terrorist watch list. The TSA said if a child's name matches up, it's up the airline to make the necessary changes and let them board the plane.

"It's not really fair that I couldn't get home because another man in the world was a terrorist," Moore said.

Great Lake Airlines eventually cleared up the situation, but the plane had already left, making him wait another day to come home.

Tags: no-fly list, child

Report illegal aliens

Fri, 19 Jan 2007 06:46:21 GMT

clipped by: samwooly
clipper's remarks: excellent site that both the left and right can utilize

Clip Source: www.reportillegals.com

ReportIllegals.com provides a simple, fast, and anonymous way to report illegal aliens ('undocumented immigrants') and illegal employers to the appropriate U.S. government agencies. It takes only a few minutes to file a report with our service, whereas it would typically take you several hours on your own to find the proper agency and complete and submit a report. Let us file the report and save you time. Anyone not desiring to pay the $10 fee for this convenience is encouraged to use publicly available channels.

ReportIllegals.com will file a report with one or more of the following U. S. agencies: ICE, CIS, CBP, IRS, SSA, DEA, FBI, TSA, HUD or occasionally to other federal, state, county and local governmental agencies, depending on the data you provide. You will receive a copy of the report(s) submitted.

ReportIllegals.com provides concerned individuals with a fast and efficient method to report illegal aliens and illegal employers to an agency capable of investigating and prosecuting 'undocumented immigrants' and their illegal employers. Our reporting service facilitates the transfer of information from a concerned individual to the proper government agency. We do not offer legal advice and nothing on this website should be construed as legal advice.

Tags: mexico, illegal, illegal immigration, deport, immigration, border, unemployed, thieves

New Scanners That See Through Clothing Installed In US Airports

Wed, 11 Jun 2008 05:58:49 GMT

clipped by: jmjoness

Clip Source: news.yahoo.com

Scanners that see through clothing installed in US airports

A random selection of travellers getting ready to board airplanes in Washington, New York's Kennedy, Los Angeles and other key hubs will be shut in the glass booths while a three-dimensional image is made of their body beneath their clothes.

While it allows the security screeners -- looking at the images in a separate room -- to clearly see the passenger's sexual organs as well as other details of their bodies, the passenger's face is blurred, TSA said in a statement on its website.

But the new machines have provoked worries among passengers and rights activists.

The ACLU said in a statement that passengers expecting privacy underneath their clothing "should not be required to display highly personal details of their bodies such as evidence of mastectomies, colostomy appliances, penile implants, catheter tubes and the size of their breasts or genitals as a pre-requisite to boarding a plane."

Tags: airport, security, privacy, scanners, tsa

Rock sample confiscated from Geologist by TSA

Thu, 12 Oct 2006 03:50:35 GMT

clipped by: tpq62

Clip Source: www.courant.com

When is a rock not a rock? When you pass through airport security. Then it becomes a potential weapon, one capable of bringing an airplane down.

I'm mad. I can think of a better way to combat terrorism than taking mineral specimens away from geologists traveling to their conferences. I suggest we get U.S. forces out of Iraq, where our blundering entry and lingering occupation are inflaming anti-American sentiment throughout the world.

I was traveling to Hood River, Ore., to attend the annual meeting of the Stone Foundation, an international organization of architects, sculptors, stonemasons, geologists, engravers and engineers united by their love of stone.

I capitulated, surrendering it to that great unmarked graveyard where confiscated items will spend eternity. If rocks had feelings, my beautiful specimen would have been crying as it was hauled away.

Who knows? Perhaps your tax dollars will be used by an internal think tank of agency hire-ups to ponder why on earth a geologist would travel with a rock. Who knows? Perhaps the government will wiretap my phone or check my library records to see whether I have checked out a Koran or a book about stone-age warfare.

Tags: science, geology, gwot

Evil Terrorist tries to Board Airplane

Mon, 09 Apr 2007 22:59:18 GMT

clipped by: oscarrob
clipper's remarks: If this isn't outrageous, I don't know what is. In my experience, the people on the ground don't lie. They have no incentive.

Clip Source: balkin.blogspot.com

On 1 March 07, I was scheduled to fly on American Airlines

"When I tried to use the curb-side check in at the Sunport, I was denied a boarding pass because I was on the Terrorist Watch list. I was instructed to go inside and talk to a clerk. At this point, I should note that I am not only the McCormick Professor of Jurisprudence (emeritus) but also a retired Marine colonel. I fought in the Korean War as a young lieutenant, was wounded, and decorated for heroism. I remained a professional soldier for more than five years and then accepted a commission as a reserve office, serving for an additional 19 years."

"Have you been in any peace marches? We ban a lot of people from flying because of that." I explained that I had not so marched but had, in September, 2006, given a lecture at Princeton, televised and put on the Web, highly critical of George Bush for his many violations of the Constitution. "That'll do it," the man said. "

Tags: politics, corruption, power, terrorism, tsa, homeland security

Airports will now search Sikh turbans

Mon, 27 Aug 2007 15:26:34 GMT

clipped by: princessrachel19
clipper's remarks: SOME berets!?

Clip Source: english.aljazeera.net

New US airport security measures have angered a Sikh civil rights group which says they will allow arbitrary searches of turbans, their religious headdress.

Amardeep Singh, executive director of the coalition, said that the policy allowed people to be singled out "on the basis of their religion".

"TSA does not conduct ethnic or religious profiling, and employs multiple checks and balances to ensure profiling does not happen," Uselding said.

The old policy allowed airport screeners to search turbans only if their owners had triggered alarms when passing through a metal detector, the coalition said.

Screeners were also required to do as much as possible to avoid physically touching the sacred turbans.

It is obligatory for men and optional for women. Sikhism is the fifth largest religion in the world with an estimated 23 million followers, the majority in India.

About 500,000 Sikhs live in the United States.

the group acknowledged the policy would also apply to cowboy hats and some berets.

Tags: homeland security, profiling, religion

Terrorism: Watch Your Face

Thu, 20 Sep 2007 13:03:12 GMT

clipped by: debbyski

Clip Source: www.comebackalive.com

Searching Passengers' Faces For Subtle Cues to Terror

Looking for signs of "stress, fear and deception" among the hundreds of passengers shuffling past him at Orlando International Airport one day last month, security screener Edgar Medina immediately focused on four casually dressed men trying to catch a flight to Minneapolis.

The TSA also plans to train screeners in the art of observing slight facial movements that indicate a person is lying.

The teams have referred more than 40,000 people for extra screening since January 2006. Of those passengers, nearly 300 were arrested on charges including carrying concealed weapons and drug trafficking. TSA officials will not say whether the screeners have helped nab potential terrorists, but they say terrorists and other lawbreakers exhibit the same behavioral clues.

Tags: what, about, people, who, are, scared, to, fly

Your Papers Please! DHS "Secure Flight" Will Govern Travel in US

Mon, 01 Oct 2007 19:01:46 GMT

clipped by: BartendingBear
clipper's remarks: May I please fly to... New York JFK? PLEASE?

Clip Source: www.dailykos.com

Buried in the September 5 issue of the Federal Register, was a notice that this Thursday, September 20, the Transportation Safety Administration (TSA) will hold public hearings on their ¨Secure Flight Plan.¨

Beginning in February 2008, U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) will implement their ¨Advance Passenger Information System (APIS),¨ the gist of which is that you will need permission from the United States Government to travel on any air or sea vessel that goes to, from or through the U.S. The travel companies will not be able to issue a boarding pass until you are cleared by DHS. This applies to ALL passengers, US citizens and visitors alike. And how do you get said permission to travel? That´s for your government to know and you to never find out.

Now TSA proposes to do for domestic travel what APIS will do for international routes. That´s what I said: the new TSA rule would require that you obtain PERMISSION to travel within the U.S.

Tags: dhs, airplane

Professor put on watch list? Not likely.

Tue, 10 Apr 2007 22:08:08 GMT

clipped by: n2sooners

Clip Source: blog.wired.com

Respected law professor Walter F. Murphy got flagged when flying and was told by an airport counter official that he was likely put on the watchlist because he was critical of the Administration's Iraq war.

In this case, I would guess that Murphy was singled out randomly. He himself says he wasn't flagged on the way back, which he almost certainly would have been if he were on the 'selectee' list.

Clip Source: blog.wired.com

Individuals who receive a boarding pass are not on a no-fly list.

TSA doesn't have an interface at ticket counters. This would have been an airline employee who didn’t speak on behalf of the TSA.

American Airlines does not maintain the TSA security watch lists. We don't ban people - period.

Our employees don't know the criteria which TSA uses to add people to the watch lists. I can't envision one of our employees making a statement like this.

Tags: airlines, security, politics

WW2 Medal of Honor Winner detained at Airport

Mon, 22 Jan 2007 21:21:32 GMT

clipped by: rmowery
clipper's remarks: Ok, this is old, But the point is that if these people at the TSA and screening as so stupid in not knowing what the Congressional Medal of Honor is, then how the frack are the going to catch something that is a threat.

Clip Source: www.snopes.com

Claim: The Medal of Honor carried by a World War II hero aroused suspicion among airport security forces.

True.

Status:

"They just kept passing it around there were eight or nine or ten of them who handled it before it was over," he said.

"They had found it in my pocket at the airport, and they thought it was suspicious. It's shaped like a star, and they were looking at the metal edges of it, like it was a weapon. I asked for it back, but they kept handing it to each other and inspecting it. I was told to move to a separate area.

"I told them — just turn it over. The engraving on the back explains everything. But they thought they must have something potentially dangerous here.

"I told them exactly what it was — I said, 'That's my Congressional Medal of Honor.´"

The man relating that story was retired Gen. Joe Foss, 86. His experience last month in Arizona at the international airport in Phoenix — may be the ultimate symbol of the out-of-kilter times we are going through. We are so afraid of terrorists in our midst that what happened to Foss is not only believable, but perhaps even inevitable:

The Congressional Medal of Honor will be taken from its recipient because it looks vaguely ominous.

I spoke with Foss because I wanted to hear it from him directly. He told me that he holds no animosity about the incident — "I'm just as interested in defeating the terrorists as anyone is, I promise you that" and that he is mostly sad that no one knew what the Medal of Honor was.

Foss was awarded the medal by President Franklin D. Roosevelt during World War II after shooting down 26 enemy planes as a Marine fighter pilot in solo combat in the Pacific. He grew up in South Dakota — after the war he would become governor of that state — and took flying lessons as a young man, then went to war.

Tags: tsa, government, wasted money, government workers

TSA = They Suck Ass

Wed, 16 Jul 2008 03:42:02 GMT

clipped by: fudomyoo
clipper's remarks: if you fly at all, you have a story of abuse of power - how can it be so rampant and yet no one does anything?

Clip Source: www.salon.com

Still more from TSA's you-can't-make-this-up list of airport contraband: gel shoe inserts.

Now, do I really need to point out that an airline pilot at the controls would hardly need a butter knife if he or she desired to inflict damage?

the requirement that crew members be subject to the same screening as passengers is wasteful and pretty much pointless in the first place, especially when you consider that thousands of other workers with access to planes, including fuelers, caterers and cabin cleaners, receive only occasional random checks.

TSA has become a bureaucracy with too much power and little accountability.

the industry appears to have little concern while an out-of-control agency delays and aggravates its customers.

Travellers Face Virtual Strip Search

Sun, 04 Mar 2007 21:59:00 GMT

clipped by: thisnamecantbetaken
clipper's remarks: Superman, eat your heart out.

Clip Source: www.news.com.au

Travellers face virtual strip search

US authorities are testing a controversial X-ray machine to screen air passengers for weapons in Phoenix, Arizona, which critics say is a "virtual strip search".

The US Transportation Security Administration rolled out an X-ray machine that uses so-called "backscatter" technology at a checkpoint at Phoenix Sky Harbour international airport.

The machine peers beneath passengers' clothes to search for hidden explosives and weapons.

Privacy groups and the American Civil Liberties Union have labelled the new screening a "virtual strip search" that could be abused.

TSA officials said they had worked with industry specialists to blur any images of body parts generated by the scan, and likened the resulting picture to a "chalk outline" of a person.

The images come up on a computer screen in a room about 15m away.

Officials said the computer did not have the ability to save or store images, which had been a concern expressed by privacy-rights groups.

Tags: x-ray, security, travel, privacy

Are body piercings really worth it?

Fri, 28 Mar 2008 06:46:55 GMT

clipped by: kelvin273
clipper's remarks: Jokes aside, it's weird that nipple rings set off the alarm but belly-button piercings don't. It makes you wonder if male agents calibrate the machine.

Clip Source: www.cnn.com

Mandi Hamlin, at center with attorney Gloria Allred, demonstrates how she removed her nipple ring.

LOS ANGELES, California (AP) -- A Texas woman who said she was forced to remove a nipple ring with pliers in order to board an airplane called Thursday for an apology by federal security agents and a civil rights investigation.

"I wouldn't wish this experience upon anyone," Mandi Hamlin said at a news conference. "My experience with TSA was a nightmare I had to endure. No one deserves to be treated this way."

Hamlin said she told the woman she was wearing nipple piercings. The agent called over her male colleagues, one of whom said she would have to remove the jewelry, Hamlin said.

She was taken behind a curtain and managed to remove one bar-shaped piercing but had trouble with the second, a ring.

She said she heard male TSA agents snickering as she took out the ring. She was scanned again and was allowed to board even though she still was wearing a belly button ring.

Tags: airlines, security