beofotch

chollie

I didn't see anyhone suggest the TSO or the videographer were national heroes on this site. I have seen the TSO praised as a 'true patriot' and a hero on another site.

I'm not familiar with that checkpoint or its staff rotations, but I do know that Sen. Claire 'love pats' McCaskill mentioned one particular TSO who regularly worked at her home checkpoint. She said she always tensed up because things were ugly when that TSO did her grope.

flyerhog

Actually, I change my mind. TSA and its entire organization deserve nothing less than the ninth circle of Dante's Inferno. They are committing worse atrocities than concentration camp guards.

chollie

I disagree. Totally over the top, IMHO, and I've seen some really inexcusable abuse of handicapped and disabled folks at the hands of jerk TSOs.

flyerhog

Well I think I'm just echoing the sentiment of other posters in this thread

chollie

I don't think so, although we do get the occasional troll.

And did it ever occur to you that TSOs are perfectly capable of coming here and posting inflammatory remarks, including anti-TSA statements, just to provoke a reaction? It has happened in the past.

Carl Johnson

No, you're misrepresenting the sentiment of other posters in this thread, which isn't helpful. People have complained about what they see as the unconstitutionality of the TSA's actions and others have complained about the failure of TSA clerks to know and follow the rules of their jobs. Whether or not one thinks there are more "pressing issues" in the country, one should allow others to focus on what concerns them.

Clerk McFadden didn't know, or didn't follow, the rules of his job. In the first encounter, he falsely told the passenger that the passenger wasn't entitled to video. In the second encounter, he told the passenger the same thing and was backed up by an (equally incompetent or dishonest) clerk supervisor. The passenger pursued the issue and was able to get a higher official to explain the rules to the clerk. This action on the part of the passenger was immensely helpful to every passenger going through the airport because it inhibited (at least somewhat) the tendency of clerks to make their own rules. He helped make the screening process more efficient.

It takes a lot of persistence to get a screening clerk to follow the rules - I know, I've tried. I have nothing but praise for the passenger.

During the third encounter, all the passenger did was film and the clerk hid behind a flag. Clerk McFadden had behaved wrongly and had his error corrected without being fired. Yet openly showed resentment to the passenger rather than going on with his job.

All of Clerk McFadden's problems were of his own making. He should have paid attention when he was instructed during training that videography and photography are allowed at the checkpoint, and he should have responded professionally to the correction of his error. No one is saying that Clerk McFadden is worse than a concentration camp guard, but he should have been fired. He is taking money for doing a job, but he shows no interest in following the requirements of the job. There are other issues affecting the country, certainly, but the failure of a government employee to do his job correctly is certainly an issue about which people are entitled to be concerned.

My extensive and laborious search process consisted of clicking a link on the video page that said "12 videos". One way to approach the issue, one that could have saved you even more time than you saved by neglecting to find out the true state of affairs, would have been to refrain from casting aspersions on the passenger.

I see three encounters with Clerk McFadden. A first encounter in which Clerk McFadden falsely told him video was prohibited, a second encounter spanning four videos, and a third encounter in which Clerk McFadden, after having previously been corrected, behaved in a way that I believe was a surprise to the passenger.

I don't know why you were only able to see videos of the passenger with Clerk McFadden. Through the magic of link-clicking, I was able to see encounters with several other clerks as well.

As to why the videographer was so interested in seeing that this one specific clerk learns to do his job properly, he did not confide in me so I do not know. I do know that the only people in the videos with Clerk McFadden were Clerk McFadden himself and his supervisory clerk. Why are you so interested in ascribing wrongdoing to the passenger and excusing Clerk McFadden's wrongdoing?

Carl Johnson

.....

WillCAD

This is a somewhat related case here in Baltimore, where a lawsuit by a citizen, backed by the ACLU, has resulted in both a legal judgement and a new, official policy for the Baltimore City POlice Dept. regarding recording police action in public places.
http://baltimore.cbslocal.com/2014/0...s-arrest-case/

Though this judgement relates to law enforcement, which TSA is NOT, I believe that it does set a nice precedent, and in Maryland airports, at least, the police will not dare to back up any TSO who falsely claims that filming is prohibited at the c/p. MDTA police, who patrol BWI, have had such a policy in place for several years.

jkhuggins

Nothing on that page indicated that the "12 videos" (which appears in tiny, non-bolded type that I quite easily overlooked) had anything to do with the video posted. Nothing in the video itself indicated that it was one in a series of videos of the same subject.

I wasn't willing to ascribe wrongdoing to either the passenger or the TSO based on a 17-second video without context. All I was calling for was more information before drawing conclusions.

Since then, lots of links have been posted providing that added information. Fine. I'll concede every point that's been made.