TSA and Mr Jones
 

I thought the TSA couldn't detain anyone? Maybe a poor choice of words by the article's author but it does seem like the TSA doesn't like Radio Host Alex Jones. I have never heard of Mr Jones but apparently he doesn't like the TSA either. He was on his way to appear on the Piers Morgan show on CNN when this incident happened.

Article: http://www.infowars.com/alex-jones-detained-by-tsa/

It will be interesting if he gets added to a no-fly list or is successful with his lawsuit.

Looks like any detention was done by Austin PD, not TSA.

If the story is correct as it reads in Infowars, that cop is a real scumbag.

He didn't want to take off his shoes though he wasn't exempt? There are times for civil rights lawsuits and times not. This doesn't appear to be a time for one.

On the other hand, I was traveling with my 75+ year old mother on New Years Day and unbeknownst to me, the BOS TSO required her to remove her shoes, which she eventually complied with. Afterwards, she discussed this in my presence with a three-striper, who stated that it was a subjective test by the TSO and if the TSO felt the passenger looked under 75, then shoes come off. Since in his mind, she didn't look over 65, he felt the TSO was correct. Well that's a very interesting reading of the SOP and a loophole big enough to run a truck through it, which we let him know about.

Apparently he didn't use the magic word "medical" - which results in shoes getting a swab and staying on.

Why not? Why is it acceptable to discriminate between a 12 and 14 year old or 74 and 76 year old regarding security?

I realize that government age discrimination is a good thing at times. Eight year olds should not drive cars. Setting a floor for maturity (in addition to demonstrated skill) makes sense for all of society. People should provide for themselves while able, so not allowing an able bodied 42 year old to draw social secuity benefits is also good.

This rule benefits nobody but the TSA. It reduces the pressure on them with fewer pictures/videos of babies/kids/elderly being groped and speeds up the lines for their benefit. It does nothing to improve security and possibly makes us less secure - we know the terrorists are constantly grooming those 11 year old shoe bomb mules.

I think it would be a great thing for someone with the resources to take this on.

Security is based on perceived risks. To be risk free, we would probably have to fly naked after a full body cavity and x-ray search. So the TSA weighs those perceived risks and balances them against how invasive a search procedure (including id checks) should be. Many of us on this forum don't believe that the TSA does a very good job in this manner with prohibitions against penknives, the war on the inconceivable liquid bomb threat and WBI that is not as perfect as what the TSA potrays it to be.

Nevertheless, the TSA has determined that age discrimination is appropriate for shoe removal and I am sure that they can proffer a rational reason therefor to a court. As such, I would see such a lawsuit being readily dismissed and the TSA being able to tout its success in court. This is not the case to pick a battle with. Alex Jones should keep his powder dry unless there is much more to this story.

For better or worse, I tend to be skeptical of a lot of the things Jones says and does and puts up on infowars -- it seems a bit too theatrical. A shallow arrogance perhaps, for my part at least.

The idea for a sealed plastic bag in conjunction with restrictions on LAGs was from some puffhead who claimed vapors would be concentrated making detection/interdiction of contraband liquid WEI easier for the TSA. Probably not the same person who claimed that the shoes of U12s and O75s are less capable of concealing as much home-made explosives as that of a 12-74 year old passenger. :rolleyes:

There is no indication that anything the TSA has introduced and does in discriminating against general passengers is actually risk-based in any decent scientific/mathematic sense.

The TSA has been doing a lot of cosmetic nonsense to try to manage the public's perception of things that have gotten it negative press before. That is what all this "exemption" and "trusted traveler" nonsense really is -- a play at divide and conquer.

Alex Jones and his associated web content sites have been having a PR war with the TSA for a while now. One thing to consider, however, is that as a "culture jammer" (sometimes labelled a "disinformation agent") by trade, creating conflict and doing publicity stunts to get his fans all riled up is part and parcel of his modus operandi. I'm sure he purposely tweaked the TSA expecting the procedure-bound TSO's to not demonstrate a lick of common sense and play right into his hands. He'll be juicing his radio show with TSA outrage laden content for weeks.

If the TSA were really doing this though, the age bracket would look very different. A quick google tells me:
- 9/11 hijackers: 20 to 38 years old
- underwear bomber: 23
- shoe bomber: 29

Where are all of the 13-19 and 40+ terrorists? A mid-30s terrorist is just around that age to have an 10 year old kid - perfect to fill their shoes with exposives.

The two features that fit all of these terrorists: Male and brown skin. Of course that would cause outrage if they tried to profile (and rightly so).

The only risk this age policy is mitigating is to the careers of the TSA bureaurcrats that take heat every time a pat down of a baby or grandmother hits CNN.

Nobody should have to take off their shoes or get a pat down without probable cause of hiding a weapon.

Also note, I do believe this incident has PR stunt written all over it.

I love infowars... it's good entertainment.

BTW, Clearly a LEO, not TSA.

Yes, but he completely lost me when he claimed that the U.S. had Osama bin Laden in cryogenic storage and that the SEAL team operation was just a PR stunt, and the subsequent accident that killed some of the team was the Obama administration trying to keep it quiet. I mean, winsome conspiracy theories and tweaking hapless TSO's is one thing. Making unfounded, treasonous accusations is a whole other thing.

Oh good, Blogger Bob has weighed in. He doesn't seem to like Alex Jones either, at least from the tone of the post.

http://blog.tsa.gov/2013/01/shoe-rem...eckpoints.html

The shoe bomber schmuck was often considered just "white" despite his more recent mixed heritage.

The underwear bomber schmuck would more often be considered "black".

That noted, I agree with the rest of the above post.

A post in which he copied an image from InfoWars, cropped it and touched it up a bit.

I am not a copyright attorney, but this seems to be blurring the line between fair use and outright copyright infringement.