Told security worker to “stop using the n-word” in the terminal
A TSA screener working at JFK Airport in New York was arrested after launching a cup of hot coffee into the face of an airline pilot who asked her to stop swearing in the terminal.
Off duty pilot Steven Trivett was leaving terminal 8 at JFK early in the morning last week when he encountered a group of TSA workers engaged in what was described as a “profanity- laced conversation”.
Concerned that passengers, including young children could hear the screeners, Mr Trivett asked them to tone down the exchange.
Mr Trivett advised the screeners that they should “conduct themselves more professionally in uniform and not use profanity or the n-word,” Port Authority police sources said.
The sources then described how one of the screeners reacted to Trivett, telling him to “mind his own business” and cursing him out.
Mr Trivett then attempted to get a closer look at the screener’s ID tags, presumably in order to report the incident. The screener, 30 year old Lateisha El, then reportedly shoved the pilot and hurled a full cup of hot coffee at his face.
Danny Schechter (Al Jazeera) | RS_News | February 10 2012
TSA's body scanners allow security personnel to view people naked 'for security reasons.' (photo: Gallo/Getty Images)
OPINION | I had been debating with myself, and a few friends, about whether or not to accept an invitation to attend a film conference in Iran. The argument against going is that by travelling there, you validate a dictatorial police state.
But with so few American journalists going to Tehran these days, I felt a higher duty to attend.
The first step in the long trip from New York was getting in line for an inspection by that uniformed Army called the Transportation Safety Administration (TSA), a $5bn agency that insists it is only there to keep us safe.
Talk about a police state.
There is no question that one consequence of its rigorous procedures is to teach the public how to be compliant and follow orders. It’s a manifestation of a certain “friendly fascism” ushered in by 9/11, what the Right denounces in other areas as a nanny state.
Never mind that on that day of infamy in 2001, Boston’s airport was run by an Israeli expert known for the highest security standards, or that security detectors at Newark found knives on hijackers, but they gave them back because they were legal at the time.
George W Bush’s decision to establish the TSA was about visibly reassuring the public to keep them flying. It was also a way to create lots of jobs without his own party objecting. It was justified as “at least we are doing something!”
This Big Government hiring programme was driven by fear – but rarely criticised.
Back in the line at JFK airport, I noticed that in this class society of ours, the TSA permits shorter lines for First Class and Business Class passengers, ensuring that the 99 per cent/1 per cent divide is alive and well in our airports.
A very sweet black woman helped me schlep my plastic containers overflowing with a bulky winter coat, a sweatshirt with a zipper, belt, coins, pens, sneakers, iPad and computer.
I surprised the officer by telling her that in England they don’t take computers out of bags anymore, and that Germany doesn’t require belts and shoes to be taken off.
Her response: “I hope someday soon that we can end all this. It is a big drag for everyone.”
Amen, sister.
I am sure she wouldn’t want to be quoted by name because, as I soon found out, the TSA does not like people who are “negative”.
Yet there have been many “negative” incidents – like old women being strip-searched, TSA agents asleep on the job and even reports of luggage being stolen.
Humiliation or Retaliation?
While all my stuff was going through one machine, I was steered to another, one of those supposedly safe body scanners where I was supposed to stand, hands up, as if I were being busted or guilty of something.
A group that makes Pinocchio look honest. TSA officials are seemingly unable to the tell the truth. The lies against Rand Paul following his most recent encounter with TSA goons only serves as yet another example of blatant lies and rampant corruption from the Homeland Security-branch agency dedicated to disavowing the Bill of Rights and dismantling the economy and spirit of America– all under the pretext of fighting a foreign enemy.
From lies about the harmful radiation of the body scanners, to the dishonesty about groping children and the elderly, to lies about the false flags that dictate future policy, to the disregard for employee and passenger safety and much more, TSA has used deception at every turn to undermine travel, tourism and the American way.
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TSA Hassling Drivers On America’s Highways: Mission Leap, Not Mission Creep (shiftfrequency.com)
Today Rand Paul, speaking to the Daily Caller, described his detention by TSA agents yesterday in what many believe amounted to a clear cut violation of the Constitution.
Paul described his detention as a big ordeal that highlights the growing problems with the Transportation Security Agency and their police state actions.
For their part, the White House came out in defense of the TSA thugs who detained a sitting Senator as a possible terrorist, with Whit House spokesman James Carney attempting to change the narrative and reality of the story by claiming Rand wasn’t actually detained.
“Let’s be clear,” Carney said. “The passenger was not detained. He was escorted out of the area by local law-enforcement.”
This statement is such a blatant lie that its actually hard to believe it was said.
