Uh oh, don’t look now, but a TSA agent is threatening a $500,000 suit against blogger Amy Alkon. Yikes, what could possibly bring about such an occurrence? The TSA agents I have encountered all seemed like such gentle lads and ladettes:
(Whoah, TSA bruiser, be gentle. I hardly know you. Nevermind, we know each other now. Could you at least do a Mr. Miyagi and warm up those frozen hands of yours? Wax on, wax off, yikes. Sir, please don’t go there. I’m shy. Whoops, I meant ma’am, so sorry.)
As for Ms. Alkon, she blogged about the particularly awful incident she had with the agent. From the Forbes Magazine account of the affair:
After a particularly aggressive patdown in March that might be better described as a feel-up, advice blogger Amy Alkon graphically described how she sobbed loudly while a TSA agent put her hands “into” her — four times. She screamed “You raped me” after the LAX patdown and took the agent’s name with plans to file charges of sexual assault. Those plans fell through after consulting an attorney, but she did blog about it and included the agent’s name, thereby inflicting her own assault — on the agent’s Google search results.
And of course, this ignited a storm. The TSA agent retained a lawyer on her own behalf. Thus fanning the flames:
The TSA agent then hired a lawyer who contacted Alkon asking her to remove the post, threatening her with a defamation lawsuit, and asking for a settlement of $500,000. “Rape is a very serious charge,” writes lawyer Vicki Roberts on Thedala Magee’s behalf. She also says that Alkon, on a return trip to the airport in May called her client “a bad person” who had “sexually molested” her.
Matt Drudge even got into the act, by linking the story (in one of his Big Sis-type pieces.) And Secretary of the Department of Homeland Security head, Janet Napolitano, has taken umbrage to such accusations in the past. ‘Tis never a dull moment. First: don’t touch my junk and now this. . .
I guess if you are a government employee (and I only ascribe this to those of the civilian persuasion), anything & everything is both permissible and acceptable…the individual who committed this atrocious act appears to be vindictive and spiteful…allowing it to play out…who knows where it will end??…we need someone in charge who behaves like an adult and that’s what I see totally lacking in this entire embarrassing episode…whatever happened to common decency and fair play?? Those qualities do not come from who has allowed and enabled it…it permeates the entire system coming from the top down…sadly..k
Knowing a bit on the subject of safety/ security, I have seen some OK TSA employees and others that are less than useless! When our unit (about 50 troops) had to go through SFO for training before Bosnia, we had TSA folks treat us like terrorist. We we were the friggen National Guard going off to fight for world freedom. Since I had been a combat engineer and had actually had real honest to God C4 and stuff in my gear at one time, it all tested positive for explosives….so they dumbed my bags out and went nuts.
Traveling with weapons through SFO later (legally checked in etc) had the TSA person act like a retard and point the weapons at everybody while looking to see if there was a knife or something hidden in them. Nope, just guns.
Dan, if by SFO you mean “San Francisco Airport,” you have to appreciate the Bay Area mindset. Anyone wearing an American uniform is, by definition, a terrorist. Now, if you’d all attired yourself classily in bustiers, thongs, garter belts and high heels, you would have walked through SFO security with nary a second glance.
(Hey, big boy, is that a gun in your bustier or are you just glad to see me?)
Dan, you just proved my point…right now, in order to go anywhere within the US, sometimes we prefer driving and taking the extra time necessary to avoid such an excursion into self-torture and head explosions..unfortunately, you didn’t have that option..I was going through Canada a few years ago to get back to the Maine border on s shopping trip with my mother and I almost personally had a knock-down drag out..with an American border guard…a woman who claimed that I my military retiree ID could (?) be fraudulent and a fake..I almost went for her throat through the car door..but instead had that verbal explosion..not to be undone,.it was partly my fault…it was that interim period before it became necessary to carry either a passport or passport ID (similar to a drivers license) and because we had always gone through for years (my mother for forty) and were known as most people who go back & forth daily driving through the border crossings…I just didn’t bother…and wasn’t the fact that it was a requirement that concerned me; it was that my retirement ID was questioned…that was cause for a fight…I’d still do it and still argue and possibly saying it from a cell if I became too obnoxious…just me, I guess…k
The more I read about these violations of civil and personal rights, the more afeared am I at the thought of traveling to your country.
If you, as law-abiding residents of your country get this kind of treatment, then I, as a Foreign National (Australian) with an unusual accent even for here, is certainly going to be in for it.
muses…. maybe a holiday in Europe would be less traumatic
Pax
Poor Amy. I read her account of the search and the TSA agent didn’t need to go THERE. It was overkill and I don’t blame her for blogging about the agent.
I’ve been singled-out, searched, wanded, and patted all because of a certain type of undergarment I was wearing. It’s completely humiliating.
Kris: You said “whatever happened to common decency and fair play?” Good question.
Dan: That makes my blood boil. SFO is not the most troop-friendly place.
Book: Heh, heh.
Pax: Aww, you will waltz right through there, Matilda.
Lauren: Yet another story that keeps my blood at boil. . .