Then, on Dec. 22, Austinite Claire HIrschkind was arrested at ABIA, as reported in The New American.
When she showed up for a flight and simply asked a question about the presence of scanners, her inquiry prompted the TSA to require her submission to a pat down. Her objection caused the TSA to become hostile and resulted in a public treatment of Mrs. Hirschkind that horrified Austinites. The incident ended in her arrest and banishment from the airport for six months. She has retained counsel and is currently seeking legal redress. Her story gained national attention and rallied the support of others who had already had enough of TSA assaults.
http://www.thenewamerican.com/index....osition-to-tsa
I had planned to fly out of the US from an airport without the scanners with a refundable ticket, and then just reschedule after refusing a rubdown, but this 6 month ban thing puts a new wrinkle in that strategy. It is like they have foreseen such plans and have attempted to thwart them. Notice how there is no talk of any kind of a 6 month ban until it actually happens. This kind of story should sicken anyone who cares about freedom to even the smallest extent. Read the story the article links to. The DHS/TSA is out of control and obviously answerable to no one. I'd like to imagine a mexican standoff between Austin Police and a cadre of Air Marshalls, but that is fantasy. In the US cops are *always* pro-government. They will do exactly what the DHS/TSA tells them to.