(shakes head) I wonder how long before the 'exit' gropes start?

I wonder if the BDOs will get their own little podiums. I wonder how much the taxpayers are already paying for these fancy little podiums.

I thought someone said there was a budget crisis in this country?

I knew there was a reason I fly out of the B terminal. As much as I like Fuddruckers, my time in the A terminal is becoming less and less.

Rumor has it that Chertoff has an interest in a podium company.

Mike

Flew out of HOU yesterday and I was asked my name. I said I preferred not to say it out loud for safety reasons and would be happy to write it out for him. I was informed that if I didn't say it out loud I would not be allowed to proceed. I cupped my hands around my mouth and whispered my first name.

He said if I didn't tell him my full name I would not be allowed to pass. The real absurdity of this is that my first name is distinctive, much more so than my last name. I seriously doubt he would have said my name correctly if he read it out loud. Anyone with a pea-sized brain should be able to see that the name on the BP matched the ID, which matched the first name I gave him. That should have been more than enough.

Finally he asked my destination. By then I was getting really irritated. I said I was going to work. He said again - very rudely - if you don't cooperate you are not going anywhere today. I said I am going to Alabama. He said where in Alabama. I said my destination has multiple cities and I couldn't answer his question. I was getting so mad at that point I was ready to punch someone.

WHEN WILL THIS END???????

As a transplanted Bostonian, I take the lattah

So what would have happened had you not said your name, and you refused to move from the podium? Would the TDC have called over a cop? If the cop arrested you, what would have been the charge? Someone with the time and money for a legal fight seriously needs to test this "do you want to fly" nonsense.

(bolding mine): interfering with the screening process.

If you try to discuss with the LEO and it is an airport where the LEOs take direction from TSOs, then you'll probably be told to leave. If you continute to try to discuss the issue, you will be arrested for public disturbance or failing to follow an LEO's orders.

Read up on Phil Mocek.

Then the scary thing is, that if the LEO does take orders from the TSOs, then the the TSA's procedures are completely unaccountable to any standards of legality or constitutionality. The TSO could make up any criteria for satisfying the screening process, and if a passenger does not comply, he is charged with interfering with the process. It seems that no one in Congress is willing to take on the TSA, and therefore the only way to make any headway would be to get arrested and hope for a sympathetic jury, not one composed of the "anything for security" types.

Exactly. This is why it is particularly scary that Pistole wants to arm some TSOs and designate them LEOs (TEOs)? I think it is an attempt to take the matter completely out of the hands of civil authorities.

An armed 'TEO' force at the airport leaves TSA completely out-of-control. At least now, at some airports, the LEOs can provide a voice of reason and can de-escalate a situation (something completely lacking from TSA training). If Pistole has his way, TSA will be able to arrest and detain pax without the help of an LEO - and probably without being bound by the same restrictions that apply to LEOs (search, seizure of belongings, reading of rights, constitutional protections, etc.)

I have many friends that ask me if I hate the TSA so much, why do I continue to fly. My answer is always the same... I have to fly in order to do my job.

The day that *this happens is the day I will be on the company website hoping there is a land-based opening.

Technicality, but I think "interference with the screening process" is a civil (or maybe administrative) offense that can only be judged in a Coast-Guard kangaroo court, not a criminal court, and can carry no penalty worse than a fine. I don't think it is a crime that can result in arrest.

That explains why passengers who are arrested by LEOs at the direction of TSA (e.g., Phil Mocek, Andrea Abbott) are charged with disorderly conduct and/or other contempt-of-cop charges. In most of these cases, it seems the TSA and/or LEOs work together to egg on the passenger and elicit a response that can be used to justify an arrest. That's certainly what both the Mocek recordings and Abbott video indicate to me.

I hope this stupid questioning ends up in the courts very quickly with cases of people being denied access to the aircraft for refusal to answer or play along. If it gets struck down, great. If not, I need to start looking for a new country.

It could, however, create a situation in which the passenger is requested to leave the checkpoint ... and if they refuse to do so, then become liable to a charge of trespassing.

That works, too.

Start looking. Let us know which you choose, there don't seem to be many candidates left .

Not much doubt in my mind about your second paragraph. When the TSA workers realized there was a small but increasing number of passengers who decided not to take their 'administrative' crap, they turned to the oh-so-willing airport PDs to do their dirty work.

NO.

I won't compromise.

I think i'll move to Pishill (pronounced as if two words, first ending in ss).

I love it when the TSOs here start crowing so loudly about how great the TSA is. Every hen in the zip code gets horny.