studentff

Linked from drudge.

http://www.tennessean.com/article/20...rt-altercation

Maybe this one will get some national press. Since when is defending your daughter disorderly conduct? I don't care if she was belligerent; if she did not resort to physical violence it was free speech. It looks like TSA and the cops way overreached here.

Is there any way someone can get in contact with this woman and make sure she understands that she has a lot of legal options here and that help is available?

Got to wonder about both the training and educational background of Sabrina Birge. "Same type of radio waves as a sonogram" ???? There's not a single correct word in that sentence. I think BNA has MMW, and I'm not personally very fearful of microwaves, but attempting to call them sound waves is bogus and extremely deceptive.


And more camera shenanigans.

Can't wait to read Bloghdad Bob's spin on this one.

tev9999

0 of 46 reader comments so far supporting the TSA or of the "if you don't like it take the bus" variety. ^

LHR/MEL/Europe FF

This logic is flawed.

The same way in that if you shout and argue with the crew on board an aircraft, without resorting to physical violence - that is not acceptable behaviour and does not count as free speech.

TheGolfWidow

Awfully nice of the screener involved in this incident to chat up the press about it....

FliesWay2Much

The TSA is pitting citizen against citizen with the tacit approval of five congresses and two administrations. I'd be willing to bet that this woman had never even thought that she would ever be arrested in her entire life or that she would even come close to committing a crime against the state.

I'm not even suggesting civil war other than to point out that the micro-skirmish that has been happening on an increasingly regular basis around transportation hubs pitting citizens against their government is an example of the self-destruction that can ultimately lead to civil war. The government is recklessly driving ordinary people to the brink and over the edge. Who knows how or if it will end?

BearX220

Two causes for optimism:

1) Reader comments on the Tennessean article overwhelmingly anti-TSA. You wouldn't have seen that majority six months ago. A worm is turning.

2) Idiot TSO claims out loud that scanner technology is identical to a sonogram, setting herself up for universal ridicule. The louder and more confidently TSOs make crazy stuff up, the happier TSA opponents ought to be.

mre5765

The airport security screener in AMS in 2010 told me the same thing.

LHR/MEL/Europe FF

Have been in a dozen or more queues at TSA checkpoints over the last 6 weeks... all up hundreds of people in line, maybe even a thousand.

At checkpoints with the scanners everyone went through just fine, no opt outs, no complaints, people took all the stuff out they needed too and there were no secondary pat downs.

Whatever ID was asked for people just gave and while many of the TSA staff didn't particularly appear welcoming or interested to be there, none of them were rude.

I didn't see any citizens acting up. Everyone seemed a-ok where I was.

These reported incidents seem isolated.

Granted - better procedures need to be in place for the elderly, wheelchairs and people with medical conditions so that they can be screened with dignity... but I just didn't see any of the dire conditions I had been told were out there by some on this board.

VelvetJones

The logic is not really flawed, but not in line with current legal precedents in the US. Disorderly Conduct has basically become whatever the officer says it is. I've seen people be charged with DC for standing in their front yard and watching a traffic stop. It should really be referred to a "refusing to obey a LEO or p*ssing them off". LEOs have been given far too much leeway in this respect, as this type of selective enforcement does have a chilling effect on speech. People who are simply standing up for their rights or defending themselves verbally are arrested and charged simply to shut them up. Often these charges are dropped because the DA knows they will not stand up in court.

flyinbob

Actually your logic is flawed. On board an aircraft you are in an enclosed environment, where the captain is recognized as the final authority until the door is opened and you are allowed to leave. Yes, until then your conduct is up to the crew. But in an airport, you are in a public area, and your rights to free speech SHOULD be intact. I say should because TSA will do anything to prevent basic freedoms and rights from applying.

If they taught their agents a bit about customer relations instead of filling their heads with the technical nonsense about the scanners, things might be different.

tkey75

In layman's terms, x-ray is a general reference to something that looks through stuff with some sort of wave. Mom was probably not interested in a scientific explanation of exactly what the machine does, never mind an ignorant, horribly misinformed one. She just didn't want her kid going in the thing. It's her choice.

I don't say Sabrina lied because she's just parroting the same misinformation her superiors give her.

If there was attitude given, get over it, Sabrina. You're paid to be the bigger person in that situation. Learn to defuse it. Stern voice doesn't mean confrontational.

LHR/MEL/Europe FF

no.

Just because you are on an aircraft does not mean your constitutional right to freedom of speech is suspended.

studentff said that because there was no physical violence, it was freedom of speech and that statement IS flawed.

Disorderly conduct is not ok.

And as for customer service - see my post above - I saw nothing other than acceptable customer service during my time in the US.

nachtnebel

The media has turned on this issue. The class that is getting groped and peeped on are making themselves heard. You did not get political unanimity in legislatures in Alaska, Texas, and now other states taking up this issue, against the TSA's behavior because things are just fine, as you imply. things are not fine. what is out there are "curses not loud, but deep".

The TSA is obviously getting backed up over this. If you don't think all of this noise is having effect, you're tone deaf.

Affection

This, my friends, is the turning point for the TSA. I am excited. I'm also happy to contribute to any defense fund set up for this woman.

To our (apparently) European poster who claims that the woman's conduct was not free speech, in America, you are mistaken. Shouting at a law enforcement officer is protected speech, and shouting at the TSA is at least as protected as that. The comparison to in-flight outbursts fails because there is no threat to safety at the checkpoint.

--Jon

FliesWay2Much

Because of mission creep, the TSA's tactics are now being exposed to the non-flying public at train stations, subway stations, bus terminals, interstate highway rest areas, suspicionless internal border checkpoints, sporting events, high school proms, etc. These people are much less likely to be caught up in the imperative and ego involved with flying on an airplane, especially for business. Someone else pointed out that this issue has strange bedfellows: the right and left political opposites tend to agree on the issue of the government becoming more & more intrusive.