Don't Touch My Junk
The right of the people to be secure in their persons, houses, papers, and effects, against unreasonable searches and seizures, shall not be violated, and no Warrants shall issue, but upon probable cause, supported by Oath or affirmation, and particularly describing the place to be searched, and the persons or things to be seized.
— United States Constitution, 4th Amendment
UPDATE 2: If you read nothing else, read TERMINAL MADNESS: An Essay On Security by veteran airline pilot, air travel columnist and author Patrick Smith.
UPDATE: I’m going to continue to amend this list until the TSA either rescinds this awful policy or a revolution occurs…whichever comes first. Bookmark this post if you want a handy reference sheet for passing along to friends and family thinking of flying for any reason.
I’m skipping my Sunday tradition of watching America’s Funniest Home videos with my kids to produce this list of links about TSA abuses of your rights as an American citizen. Somehow it just seems more serious to me than watching idiots fall down stairs on skateboards. But maybe that’s just me.
I do this searching as a public service so you don’t have to. Take it or leave it, but don’t let it pass right by you without at least a little bit of examination. Some of it is predictable, other parts are ridiculously shocking. You would not believe the “related links” that came up when I was searching for this stuff. It truly is link bait for the porn sites. Nasty buggers.
The bottom line: DON’T FLY!!!
12/1/2010
- Rooster Teeth Molests The TSA With Satire (escapistmagazine.com) [NSFW: Video Language]
- TSA denies underwear clad passenger in wheelchair permission to board flight at Will Rogers Airport (pumabydesign001.wordpress.com)
- How the Indignity of “Junk Touching” TSA Pat Downs Strikes a Shared Nerve (huffingtonpost.com)
- Editorial: TSA pat-downs are a violation (dailycampus.com)
- Report: Homeland Security Compiling TSA Enemies List (thenewamerican.com)
- “Gate Rape” of America (homelandsecurityus.com)
- DHS & TSA: Making a list, checking it twice (canadafreepress.com)
- TSA takes full control of passenger watch list checks (atwonline.com)
- All US-Bound Planes Will Supply Passenger Information to TSA (news.travel.aol.com)
- Getting Molested at the Airport (care2.com)
- The TSA’s “Ministry of Truth” (blog.tsa.gov) [They even named him “Blogger Bob”. Really? What, like “Baghdad Bob“? That was dumb. That was really dumb. For real.]
11/30/2010
- The 6 Stages of Backlash Against the TSA’s Ridiculous Security Theater (alternet.org)
- “TSA Official Exposes Truth About Pat Downs” and related posts (strata-sphere.com)
- Pornography and Molestation is Happening in Public View Every Day in an Airport Near You (socyberty.com)
- Protest TSA with 4th Amendment underwear (news.cnet.com)
- “How The TSA Legally Circumvents The Fourth Amendment” and related posts (boardingarea.com)
see more Failbook
11/29/2010
- OUTRAGEOUS! Breast-feeding passenger claims she was harassed by TSA for not wanting her pumped milk passed through X-ray machine (dailymail.co.uk)
- Readers tell ‘Hot Button’: Has the TSA gone too far? (commercialappeal.com)
- Why American Airport Security Is Really So Horrendous (rubinreports.blogspot.com)
- American Muslim: “Profile Me” (thedailybeast.com)
- Why The TSA’s Searches Are Unconstitutional (techdirt.com)
- The TSA is invasive, annoying – and unconstitutional (washingtonpost.com)
- An Intrusive, Ineffective, Unionized TSA? (openmarket.org)
- The Unions Have Won! (canadafreepress.com)
- TSA and security: The naked truth – Profiling passengers is more effective than government groping (washingtontimes.com)
- Trust TSA? (sltrib.com)
- How to make air travel slower and less safe: Unionize the TSA (kansascity.com)
- Passengers, the last air defense (guampdn.com)
- TSA security: ineffective and unconstitutional (baltimoresun.com)
- The TSA, Interposition and the Spirit of 1809 (tenthamendmentcenter.com)
- Scrutinizing screening (dailyfreepress.com)
- Speak up to stop airport searches (patriotledger.com)
- Frequent travelers oppose new TSA security screenings (usatoday.com)
4th Amendment Underwear
11/27/2010
- Surprise! The Media Lied About the Airports (tsatube.net)
- “TSA turns off naked body scanners to avoid opt-out day protests” and related posts (vigilantcitizen.com)
- TSA Blinks In Face Of WeWon’t Fly and Opt out Day Campaigns but its A Secret(pumabydesign001.wordpress.com)
- TSA trouble: It’s not over yet: Chris Elliot (jeffpruett.wordpress.com)
- Idiot of the Week: The TSA (atheistrev.com)
- Unionizing the TSA (pumabydesign001.wordpress.com)
- The Failure That is the TSA (gantdaily.com)
- TSA officials accused of searching woman because of her breasts (comparecarhire.co.uk)
- Live Ammo Found in Seat Back Pocket of Southwest Flight (aolnews.com)
- Doctors warn TSA gloves can spread viruses from infected passengers (digitaljournal.com)
- ‘Humiliated’: Female passenger subjected to patdown ‘because her sanitary towel showed up on body scanner’ (dailymail.co.uk)
- Did Opt Out Work? Absolutely (watchingthewatchers.org)
- Beck: TSA Controversy a Union Ploy? (foxnews.com)
- Georgia TSA Worker Accused of Kidnapping Woman From Airport, Sexual Assault (foxnews.com)
- Obama’s war on Americans (wnd.com)
- Arkansas man sues over new TSA full-body scans (washingtonpost.com)
- Mythbusters’ Savage: I got past TSA with razor blades (news.cnet.com) [NSFW: LANGUAGE]
- Good Touch, Bad Touch, T.S.A. Touch (parenting.blogs.nytimes.com) [Be sure to read the comments on this piece of TSA apologism…]
- Profile airline passengers based on behavior (bakersfield.com)
- Boycott Gropes: The government treats Americans like terrorists–and terrorists like Americans (wsj.com)
- The latest casualty of political correctness (wnd.com)
- The naked truth about the TSA: Kevin O’Brien (cleveland.com)
- For sexual crime victims, TSA pat-downs can be ‘re-traumatizing’ (csmonitor.com)
- TSA Screening Procedures Traumatize Sex Victims, Says Group (theepochtimes.com)
- The TSA’s False Tradeoff (lewrockwell.com)
- More Lawmakers Demand TSA Probe (thenewamerican.com)
- Letters blog: Ms. Napolitano are you listening? (ocregister.com)
- Freedom peeled away (spokesman.com)
- Janet Napolitano Considers Advanced Screenings for Mass Transit (thenewamerican.com)
- Airport Full Body Scanners Should Be Abandoned in Favor of Profiling (philly2philly.com) [“Case in point– there’s been growing speculation about terrorists trying to smuggle explosives by inserting them in their rectum. A Saudi suicide bomber already smuggled a bomb in his anal cavity. A terrorist, in theory could smuggle a bomb onto a plane in their anal cavity and then remove it and detonate it. Current generation scanners are likely not capable of detecting low-density explosives inside the anal cavity. So, based on the reactive nature of the TSA, is it safe to assume that EVERYBODY boarding a plane should agree to an anal cavity search in the near future?”]
- Whoopi Goldberg: TSA ‘Opt-Out Day’ Protest Was An ‘Act Of Terrorism’ (mediaite.com) [Alternate Headline: “Whoopi Says Something Stupid, Fawning Crowd Cheers”, but that wouldn’t be as “newsy” would it?]
- Over 900 TSA complaints in Nov., ACLU says (rawstory.com)
- TSA Not Screening Screeners (youtube.com)
- Fun With TSA: Travel Safe Activities (funwithtsa.com)
- Americans to TSA: Scan my junk, just don’t touch it (rt.com)
- TSA officers feel backlash over pat-downs (sfgate.com)
- News Report: TSA “Molestations” Set Up By Right Wing Activists (nowpublic.com)
- TSA Blinks In Face Of WeWon’t Fly and Opt out Day Campaigns but its A Secret(pumabydesign001.wordpress.com)
- Obama says, “Don’t touch my junk” (boingboing.net)
- “TSA turns off naked body scanners to avoid opt-out day protests” and related posts (vigilantcitizen.com)
Visit Zazzle.com for TSA - I Refuse to Fly and other T-Shirts (disclaimer, no affiliation with zazzle.com)
11/24/2010
- Record 92% of Travelers Choose to NOT Fly (wewontfly.com) [Predictably, left-wing media spins this as “TSA Opt Out Day: Thanksgiving Travelers Quiet So Far“. Yeah, the sound of silence from NOBODY SHOWING UP AT THE AIRPORT! Let this be a lesson to TSA-compliant airlines.]
- The TSA Circus Soundtrack Kit (stevepeters.org)
- People Power At Nation’s Airports Makes TSA Nervous (criminaljustice.change.org)
- TSA chief’s plea as protesters plan boycott of body scans in holiday rush (dailymail.co.uk)
- Don’t Touch My Junk: TSA Officers Hear Complaints (abcnews.go.com)
- TSA Opt Out Day: Travelers Quiet So Far (abcnews.go.com)
- TSA agents face brunt of travelers’ anger (capitolhillblue.com)
see more Funny Graphs
11/23/2010
- “On November 21, 2010, I was allowed to enter the U.S. through an airport security checkpoint without being x-rayed or touched by a TSA officer.” (noblasters.com)
- Elsewhere, profiling is preferred method of airport security (msnbc.com)
- How One Man Stood Up To the TSA (gizmodo.com)
- TSA coulda been a social media contender (translucid.ca)
- Huckabee: It’s time for Obama to send the first family through TSA’s new screening (hotair.com)
- Foursquare Offers Badge For TSA Junk Touch Check In (blogs.forbes.com)
- Majority of Americans Now Oppose Body Scanners and TSA Pat Downs (bespacific.com)
- Time to Junk TSA Administrator Pistole (biggovernment.com)
- Don’t touch my junk: TSA workers face a tough job (sfgate.com)
- TSA Gate Grope Demonstration Backfires on Capitol Hill (fdlaction.firedoglake.com)
- MAN ARRESTED FOR TRYING TO RECORD UNDERWEAR STRIP-DOWN AT TSA CHECKPOINT (pumabydesign001.wordpress.com)
- CBS Polls Show Public Opinion Turning Against TSA Measures (pumabydesign001.wordpress.com)
- Life in the T.S. of A. (patriotpost.us)
- The government’s secret plan to feel you up at airports (slate.com)
- TSA Screening Protests Take To Social Media (informationweek.com)
- TSA Chief: Resistance Is Futile (seattletimes.nwsource.com)
- Air Travel: One Step Behind Terrorists (patriotpost.us)
- Search for Terrorists Not Weapons (patriotpost.us)
- TSA chief John Pistole to put priority on rail, subways (USAToday.com)
- Administration Is Setting Us Up For An “Event” So Obama Can Say “I Was Trying To Protect You” (youtube.com)
- Scientist: X-ray scanners deliver “20 times the average dose that is typically quoted by TSA.” (boingboing.net)
- Sikhs disturbed by TSA turban screenings (news.bostonherald.com)
- Christie joins critics of TSA’s airport screening procedures, calls them ‘too invasive’ (nj.com)
- Auditors: TSA training procedures disorganized, inadequate (blog.seattlepi.com)
- TSA Gestapo Empire (foreignpolicyjournal.com) [“Last September agents from Homeland Security, TSA, and the US Department of Transportation, assisted by the Douglas County Sheriff’s Office, conducted a counter-terrorism operation on busy Interstate 20 just west of Atlanta, Georgia. Designated VIPER (Visible Inter-mobile Prevention and Response), the operation required all trucks to stop to be screened for bombs. Federal agents used dogs, screening devices, and a large drive-through bomb detection machine. Imagine what the delays did to delivery schedules and truckers’ bottom lines.”]
- FOLLOW THE MONEY! Body Scanner Makers Doubled Lobbying Cash Over 5 Years (huffingtonpost.com)
- ABC News employee subjected to “demeaning” search (abcnews.go.com)
- Thanksgiving Airline Travelers Deal With Invasive Screening By TSA [Video] (realestateradiousa.com)
- Oh my: 64% support new TSA scanners but public split on patdowns; Update: Why the decline? (hotair.com)
- TSA Searches: Are Trains and Subways Next? (musicians4freedom.com)
- Watch Out! False Flag Ahead… (ephraiyim.wordpress.com)
- Hillary Clinton’s endorsement of the TSA downright ringing (shortformblog.com)
- Hillary Clinton: I Would Not Submit To A TSA Pat Down [Video] (realestateradiousa.com)
- New TSA Security Measures May Cause Travel Woes (legallyeasy.rocketlawyer.com)
- TSA Promise: No Cavity Searches (politics.usnews.com)
- Full throttle – Bush-era officials salute TSA moves (politico.com)
see more Funny Graphs
11/22/2010
- Mother sexually assaulted even when body scanner wasn’t available for her to opt out of! (ourlittlechatterboxes.com) [“It is acceptable and encouraged that a TSA government official can do something to an American citizen that US military personnel cannot do to a member of the Taliban.”]
- 3 Women Say TSA Screeners Groped Vaginas During Pat-Down (gothamist.com)
- House staffer on TSA pat-down demo: “They shot themselves in the foot” (politico.com)
- Lawmakers Seek Probe of TSA’s Pat-Down Training After Reported Misbehavior (foxnews.com)
- TSA chief warns against boycott of airport scans (wave3.com)
- Scientist Says Simple Technical Fix Could Resolve TSA Scanner Controversy (politics.blogs.foxnews.com)
- Airport body scanners ‘could give you cancer’ (telegraph.co.uk)
- Send the TSA a Breast Message (thestir.cafemom.com)
- He’s selling TSA-proof underwear (latimes.com)
- TSA pat-down leaves traveler covered in urine (MSNBC.com)
- TSA Agents Respond To Pat-Down Anger (PHOTOS, POLL) (huffingtonpost.com)
- TSA or T&A? (capitolhillblue.com)
11/21/2010
- Grandmother Searched by TSA In Front of 7 Year Old Granddaughter
- TSA Forces Cancer Survivor Flight Attendant to Pull Out Prosthetic Breast During Patdown [Tsa] (gizmodo.com)
- TSA makes little boy remove shirt during pat down (hotair.com)
- TSA Agents Strip Search A Little Boy! [Video] (realestateradiousa.com)
- Airport worker caught photographing screen as female worker passed through naked scanner
- Surprise! Feds stored thousands of checkpoint body scan images after all
- TSA Has Not Budged on Passengers (abcnews.go.com)
- Mr. Gunn: If you’re a breast cancer survivor, expect to be groped in the airport from now on. (msnbc.msn.com)
- TSA Gropings Unite Women, Angry White Dudes [Don’t Touch My Junk] (jezebel.com)
- Fliers liken pat-downs to sexual assault – Travel – News – msnbc.com (jeffpruett.wordpress.com)
- Stop Groping Me TSA shirt (boingboing.net)
- Business Travel Coalition Slams TSA (abcnews.go.com)
- Creepy “naked scanners” violate child porn laws in UK
- The Anti-Groping Lobby’s Pantsless Plot
- Here’s something about the TSA Patdown that really makes me angry… (underthelobsterscope.wordpress.com)
- It would help if TSA’s “fact vs myth” didn’t include a myth of its own (americablog.com)
- How TSA screeners feel about junk-touching (boingboing.net)
- Did You Know Your Airport Can Opt Out of TSA Molestations? (redstate.com)
- “Bruce Schneier vs. the TSA (slashdot)” and related posts (freshnews.org)
- TSA Terrifies, Too (online.wsj.com)
- TSA Agents Absolutely Hate New Pat Downs, Find Them Disgusting And Morale Breaking (techdirt.com)
- What The TSA Screenings Mean For Sexual Assault Survivors [Flying While Female] (jezebel.com)
- Standing Up to the TSA (lewrockwell.com)
- Shocker: TSA Has Been Molesting Children For Years (gunnyg.wordpress.com)
- Peter LaBarbera Worries He Won’t Be Sexually Molested During TSA Screening (queerty.com)
- It would help if TSA’s “fact vs myth” didn’t include a myth of its own (americablog.com)
- How TSA screeners feel about junk-touching (boingboing.net) [Boo-freaking-hoo!!! Quit, then, dangit, or form a #$@#%@# union if you don’t agree with the things you’re being asked to do to Americans just like you. The Nazi SS got started by small abuses that were slowly ratcheted up to larger ones, all in the name of “doing their duty” and “professionalism”. What’s wrong is wrong, whether it’s “your job” or not. Grow a freaking spine.]
- Did You Know Your Airport Can Opt Out of TSA Molestations? (redstate.com)
- TSA head: We know nothing of Chertoff’s pornoscanner conflict of interest. Also, who wants ice cream! [“Ignitiation?”]
- “Bruce Schneier vs. the TSA (slashdot)” and related posts (freshnews.org)
- TSA Terrifies, Too (online.wsj.com)
- TSA Agents Absolutely Hate New Pat Downs, Find Them Disgusting And Morale Breaking (techdirt.com)
- What The TSA Screenings Mean For Sexual Assault Survivors [Flying While Female] (jezebel.com)
- TSA airport pat-downs, full-body scans an invasion of privacy? (seattletimes.nwsource.com)
- Jonathan Mann’s TSA Song Parody (VIDEO) (huffingtonpost.com)
- Big Sister’s police state: TSA’s tyrannical tactics threaten American freedoms (gunnyg.wordpress.com)
- TSA fresh from the Press (koolnews.wordpress.com)
- The Sins of the TSA (politicalpistachio.blogspot.com)
- Sexually Abused and Assaulted (lewrockwell.com)
- Female traveler claims TSA sexually assaulted her (americablog.com)
- Reddit Revolts Against TSA’s New Enhanced Pat-Down Search (techie-buzz.com)
- Airport Security Pat Downs: Too Much for Too Little (dailyfinance.com)
- Passenger Strips Down to Underwear to Avoid TSA Pat Down (theroot.com)
- Make the Obamas go through a TSA Pat-Down (professorbainbridge.com)
- TSA: Boy was not strip-searched (thehill.com)
- Hillary Clinton Doesn’t Want Another Lady Molesting Her Inner Thighs (queerty.com)
- 10 of the Most Outrageous TSA Horror Stories (rawjustice.com)
- TSA Responds to “Strip Search” Video of Boy (cbsnews.com)
- TSA Pats Down Little, Half-Naked Boy In Airport (VIDEO) (huffingtonpost.com)
- Madame Secretary, Would You Let the TSA Touch Your Junk? (michellemalkin.com)
- Drudge’s Populism Moves the TSA (politicalwire.com)
- Is the TSA groping for a compromise? (salon.com)
- TSA roundup: pilots get exception, Obama response, Clinton “wouldn’t submit,” Al Qaeda moves on (boingboing.net)
- Robert L. Cavnar: TSA Protects America by Groping My…Poodle (huffingtonpost.com)
- TSA Screening Protests Take To Social Media (informationweek.com)
- TSA chief: Airport screening will be refined (seattletimes.nwsource.com)
- The government’s secret plan to feel you up at airports. (slate.com)
- CBS Polls Show Public Opinion Turning Against TSA Measures (pumabydesign001.wordpress.com)
- Foursquare Offers Badge For TSA Junk Touch Check In (blogs.forbes.com)
- Majority of Americans Now Oppose Body Scanners and TSA Pat Downs (bespacific.com)
- Time to Junk TSA Administrator Pistole (biggovernment.com)
- Don’t touch my junk: TSA workers face a tough job (sfgate.com)
- TSA Gate Grope Demonstration Backfires on Capitol Hill (fdlaction.firedoglake.com)
The Right of the People 