Nuts down south...

[Reece]

Originally Posted by DarkFish

Exactly! Apparently the TSA had cause to examine the girl more closely. IMO there's nothing wrong with that. Drugs and weapons are just as easy to hide on a kid as on an adult.

Don't want the risk of being frisked? Don't fly.

The 6 y.o. girl didn't have much say in the matter! the least they could have done is had a "female only" doing child frisks!

[Sledgehammer427]

Originally Posted by Rilder

I'm betting all the Extremists (Of Muslim and Non Muslim Varieties) are all sitting at home laughing their asses off at the passengers getting groped, after all they successfully made the public too scared to fly on a plane unless every person on board has been molested.

They have technically won.

[Falkirion]

This is why the TSA should be shut down. I agree airport security needs to be there to stop individuals from getting on to a plane but frisking a 6 year old at random for illegal goods steps over the common sense line somewhat. It's just plain wrong if you ask me.

I will concede that there are people in this world who'd exploit the loophole in TSA policy but those individuals would have to be few and far between.

[Wolfehunter]

Originally Posted by mookiemookie

"Doing their job" he says. More like security theatre. The TSA is a bloated bureaucracy whose only concern is its level of funding from one year to the next. It's a show to prove to the gullible that they're relevant and necessary.

Patting people down does nothing to make anyone any safer. Enough people buy the story that this sort of thing is necessary and effective and they believe the only alternative to being accosted on your way through airport security is to let terrorists roam free. It's a false choice. But the TSA doesn't want you to know that - their survival as an entity relies on people believing "oh well if you say it's for my own protection, why sure!" But the fact is they're giving up their rights and are no more secure.

Where does it end? When does it get to the point where people say "no more!" Because that's the only way it's going to stop. I see you've conveniently glossed over the fact that they're spreading out and assaulting train passengers too now. What's your answer when people have to pass through a TSA checkpoint and have your "freedom scan" a.k.a. colonoscopy at the end of your street before you can drive to work? Don't drive?

And then there are the sheep who buy into it and give up their rights because the man with the cereal box badge assures them it makes them safer. BAA! I don't know how they do it in the Netherlands, but here in the States there are still enough of us who get pissed off when we're treated like criminals instead of citizens.

Agreed.

[AVGWarhawk]

I think I would have started to cry if that same woman was giving me the search.

[tater]

The TSA is idiotic. It is designed (poorly) to detect explosives, weapons, etc. This is always a losing battle, and involves crap like this idiotic pat down.

What does El Al do? Do they screen for weapons? Nope. The Israelis screen for terrorists. Huge difference. They talk to people. They aks them questions. They screen people. This results in a little more time, but it's actually looking past stereotypes.

It was on This American Life, or maybe Freakanomics, but they told a story about a young Israeli girl (somehow related to the podcast) on her first trip away from her country. During screening the screener asks her if she has any lethal weapons. Smart aleck teenager that she was she said "other than my wit, nothing." Screener sent her to the boarding area immediately, he knew she was no terrorist. Other times, same woman was questioned for a while on topics totally unrelated to terrorism for a while.

Anyway, looking for terrorists makes more sense than patting people down, particularly with cockpits locked now.