Policia de Catalunya

Yes, I'm still fixated on the TSA and Tyner's story. But for a different reason than you might expect. Let me give you my lawyerly take on things.
In the last audio of Tyner's tape trilogy, the TSA agent tells Tyner he cannot leave the airport, and that if he does, he'll be sued and subject to a $10,000.00 fine.
Holding a man against his will, threatening him with a government lawsuit and an exorbitant fine -- well, that really perked up my ears.
Lawyers are trained to dream up plausible hypotheticals and ask what could go wrong. I started doing just that.
First I imagined Mr. M going through a pat-down at the airport. I remembered his hernia adventure. Dear God. No, we'd just have to cancel our trip and leave the airport if it came to that.
Then I thought of a lawyer friend who's recovering from prostate cancer surgery and needed adult diapers for a time. If he opted for a pat-down and the TSA couldn't feel his crotch, what then?
Heck, millions of elderly people rely on Depends. The ones in wheelchairs would have to get full-body grope downs. But that won't work because their "torsos" are padded.
And then of course, we have the problem of maxi-pads. Oh dear.
Remember, the TSA has already said its agents won't stop going up your inner thighs until they feel your crotch torso. So what happens when they can't?
This is going to end badly. Because we all know what's coming next.
TSA will demand a body cavity search. And I don't know about you, but I ain't gonna'.
So what are our options? Can we say "never mind" and leave if they demand to inspect our cavities?
In a word, no.
According to the brilliant 9th Circuit (which, ironically, quoted Orwell in its opinion) the search must go on. By entering the security check point, you consent to being searched and you cannot revoke your consent to the search. (Read the Aukai case synopsis here.)
Put another way, you can't change your mind and leave. Unless, of course, you're willing to fork over $11,000.00 bucks, get sued, and risk arrest by a police officer.
The big man at TSA's San Diego office called a press conference today to announce a "probe" of Tyner. Chief Michael Aguilar said the investigation could lead to prosecuting Tyner and hitting him up for a "civil penalty" of up to $11,000.00. When it was pointed out that TSA agents told Tyner on Saturday that the fine was $10,000.00, Aguilar said "That�s the old fine. It has been increased."
Clearly the TSA is not backing down. To the contrary, it plans on making an example out of Tyner because he left the airport. It's a damn shame Tyner is in the 9th Circuit.
So you see, this isn't just about humiliation, or radiation and full frontal nudity, or being legally assaulted. The TSA's power trip has only just begun.
Body cavity and strip searches are coming, make no mistake.
But hey. Whatever it takes to keep us safe, right?
UPDATE: Before you call me crazy, wait. It gets worse. A legal TSA "search" of your "junk" includes reading your emails and whatever else is saved on your laptop computer . . . all without a warrant.

Labels: 9Th Circuit, Abuses, Adult Diapers, Aukai, Body Cavity Search, Civil Penalties, Consent To Search, John Tyner, Lawsuits, Michael Aguilar, Padded Torsos, Strip Search, Tsa, You CanT Leave The Airport

The federal government, through the TSA, believes safety is more important than . . . well, anything. Hence, the "groin checks" we are now forced to endure in order to fly. That, or get virtually naked and subject ourselves to an intimate visual inspection, and radiation.
My new-found hero, John Tyner, stood up to them. "You touch my junk and I'll have you arrested," he told the would-be genital groper. And he got most of it on tape.

The TSA groper, who sounds eerily like Dexter (or, for us older folk, Carlton the doorman), took it all in stride for the most part. (Click here for new CNN video and you can hear Dexter yourself).
Some of the other agents, though, were not amused. It's not a molestation, one female agent can be heard arguing. "It's an administrative search."
In the end, American Airlines refunded his ticket. And the TSA threatened him with a $10,000.00 fine and a civil lawsuit if he left the airport. He took the gamble and got the hell out of Dodge. Note to John: I'll contribute to your legal fees.
You can read his blog post about it here.
Ah, safety. It is of such paramount importance that we must give up our rights and essential liberty.
But why stop in the air! What about Greyhound buses? Shopping malls? Football games? Street festivals? Block parties?
Speaking of safety, child abuse is a major problem in our country today. Now we have the ability to keep children safer: by installing a government-monitored camera in every kitchen in the country. That would curb a lot of abuse.

Then there's the issue of domestic violence. It's epidemic. Why not install cameras in the bedroom, too? Think how much safer women will be.
We could keep college women safer by stopping bulimia with cameras in every college bathroom.
What's that, you say? That allowing the government to watch us while we're naked, having sex, or putting on our clothes is just . . . wrong?
Oh, calm yourselves. We're already letting the government see us naked and feel our genitals and breasts. Might as well give them a few more jollies with a little sex.

After all, if we're willing to undergo searches of our bodies in the name of "safety" so quickly -- and the sheep-like masses clearly are -- what aren't we willing to do?
James Madison said, "The means of defence against foreign danger, have been always the instruments of tyranny at home."
He also said, "If Tyranny and Oppression come to this land it will be in the guise of fighting a foreign enemy."
A more modern-day statement, no less profound, comes from an unnamed teenager in Juarez, Mexico. Although he was speaking of drug lords rather than tyrannical government, he makes my point just the same.
"We prefer to die in one year standing up than living all our lives on our knees."

Labels: Breasts, Fines, Fondling, Genitals, Groping, John Tyner, Liberty, Naked People Machines, Privacy, Radiation, San Diego Man Ejected From Airport, Tsa, Whole Body Scanners