Is America a Police state?

[Revoltingest]

There's a significant difference between hubris and experience you wish you didn't have.
About as much as a detached, professional patdown and a sexual assault.

You were not there, yet you presume to know.
You claim greater authority, yet I cannot verify.
We will have to agree to disagree.

 

[painted wolf]

There's a significant difference between hubris and experience you wish you didn't have.

About as much as a detached, professional patdown and a sexual assault.

Without knowing the details you can't judge... a sexual predator could easily abuse such a position of authority.

Just as doctors and dentists have when giving "exams".

wa:do

 

[Storm]

You were not there, yet you presume to know.

If you were treated with anything but professionalism, you should file a complaint. If you were assaulted, you should press charges.Have you done either?

You claim greater authority, yet I cannot verify.

No, I claim greater experience. There's a difference. If you want my credentials as a survivor, I'm happy to supply them. Be warned that it might be a good deal more than you want to hear, though.

We will have to agree to disagree.

No, I think not.

Have you ever had a prostate exam? Do you think that gives you the right to call yourself a survivor of rape? Your hyperbole is both offensive and ludicrous, and you have the gall to call ME insensitive?

 

[Storm]

Without knowing the details you can't judge... a sexual predator could easily abuse such a position of authority.

Just as doctors and dentists have when giving "exams".

wa:do

Granted. However, he's not claiming an isolated experience - he's damning the entire agency and practice. It's disgusting.

 

[painted wolf]

Granted. However, he's not claiming an isolated experience - he's damning the entire agency and practice. It's disgusting.

And that is a statement that is worthy of questioning.... but never who has been more victimized or if someone is justified in claiming to be raped. Rape is rape and the feeling of violation is there no matter what.

If several people have claimed to have been violated, then it seems to be something that justifiably needs to be investigated. Just like with the Catholic Church, power can breed denials and cover-ups.

wa:do

 

[Storm]

And that is a statement that is worthy of questioning.... but never who has been more victimized or if someone is justified in claiming to be raped. Rape is rape and the feeling of violation is there no matter what.

You're absolutely right: rape IS rape, and far too sensitive a topic to be trivialized in this way.

Perhaps Rev did encounter an unprofessional agent. However, I simply cannot believe that he was sexually assaulted in full view of his fellow passengers and a supervising agent. It would have been all over the news, at least.

 

[Penumbra]

I believe that based on the risks of flying a large metal vessel through the air, sufficient security is needed.

It's a small sample size, but I've traveled on flights for business through several airports, and I haven't encountered or witnessed anything I'd consider unethical by authorities at security gates. I haven't found the lines to be too long, either. I have traveled during holiday times as well.

I try to make it as efficient as possible by wearing simple clothes, flip flops or other easy footwear, and to not utilize a ton of baggage.

I don't have anything to hide, so I don't mind pat downs, metal detectors, baggage scanners, or those full body scanners that basically show what I look like naked. I do think the possible health effects on frequent travelers could be a problem, and an infringement on rights, though.

If a person gets touched the wrong way by an agent, I think they should report it. Though, any sort of touch would have to be rather severe for me to compare it to any sort of sexual assault or abuse.

 

[painted wolf]

You're absolutely right: rape IS rape, and far too sensitive a topic to be trivialized in this way.

Perhaps Rev did encounter an unprofessional agent. However, I simply cannot believe that he was sexually assaulted in full view of his fellow passengers and a supervising agent. It would have been all over the news, at least.

Not all screenings are done in full view of everyone.... and TSA is being sued by several people for overly "aggressive" pat downs.


Woman wins lawsuit against TSA for exposing her breasts in airport patdown | Mail Online
Advice Goddess Blog
TSA pat-down leaves traveler covered in urine - Travel - News - msnbc.com
Third lawsuit filed over TSA airport screening | Homeland Security News Wire

wa:do

 

[Road Warrior]

That you sail thru their gauntlet without a care, & have endured other personal assaults does not confer greater authority on the matter.
As someone who was sexually assaulted by a TSA goon, I find your disdain for & dismissal of our plight deeply insensitive.
I'm sorry that I offend you, but I post what I believe.
This will not change.

I, too, frequently travel by air and pass through TSA security. Not once have I been sexually assaulted nor have I met any "goons". I have met a few idiots, btw.

How do you define sexual assault?

 

[Revoltingest]

I, too, frequently travel by air and pass through TSA security. Not once have I been sexually assaulted nor have I met any "goons". I have met a few idiots, btw.

How do you define sexual assault?

Fondling of genitals....& worse.
That many escape it, does not mean that others do too.

 

[Revoltingest]

If a person gets touched the wrong way by an agent, I think they should report it.

Oh yeah....the TSA will get right on the investigation of that report.

We should recognize that different people have different tolerance levels for invasive touching.
Moreover, actual treatment will vary.

 

[averageJOE]

Do you truley beleive that TSA officers enjoy giving these pat downs?

Just know, that they go through great lengths to avoid touching people. (Though there are plenty of officers that should NOT be working there due to lack of related work experience and lack of people skill) I think you'd be suprised on how many people a day choose to be patted down and are 100% freindly and cooperative.

 

[Revoltingest]

Do you truley beleive that TSA officers enjoy giving these pat downs?

I expect that some do & even more don't.

Just know, that they go through great lengths to avoid touching people. (Though there are plenty of officers that should NOT be working there due to lack of related work experience and lack of people skill) I think you'd be suprised on how many people a day choose to be patted down and are 100% freindly and cooperative.

I'm well aware that many have no problem.
That don't gotta mean that some of us gotta like what happens.
Experiences & tolerance levels will vary.

 

[Road Warrior]

Fondling of genitals....& worse.
That many escape it, does not mean that others do too.

Do you see a difference between patting down the genitals and "fondling"?

Do you elect to go through the scanner instead?

 

[Revoltingest]

Do you see a difference between patting down the genitals and "fondling"?

The distinction there blurs.

Do you elect to go through the scanner instead?

I prefer the scanner.

 

[Revoltingest]

OK....not really a police state issue.....more of a stupid state problem....
Honor Student Supporting Siblings Arrested For Being Too Exhausted For School « CBS Houston

A 17-year-old high school honor student who works two jobs and financially supports her two siblings is heading into summer on a sour note after spending a night in jail for being too tired to attend school. Diane Tran was arrested in open court and sentenced to 24 hours in jail Wednesday after being repeatedly truant due to exhaustion. KHOU reports that Tran, a junior at Willis High School, was warned by Judge Lanny Moriarty last month to stop missing school. When she missed classes again this month, Moriarty wanted to make an example of Tran. “If you let one (truant student) run loose, what are you gonna’ do with the rest of ‘em? Let them go too?” Moriarty asked, according to KHOU.
Tran told KHOU that in addition to taking advanced and honors classes, she works full-time and part-time jobs in an effort to try to support her older brother at Texas A&M and a younger sister in the Houston area. After Tran’s parents divorced, they both moved away from the honor student and her two siblings.
Tran was also fined $100.

 

[painted wolf]

OK....not really a police state issue.....more of a stupid state problem....
Honor Student Supporting Siblings Arrested For Being Too Exhausted For School « CBS Houston

Just

wa:do

 

[Revoltingest]

Just
wa:do

It seemed the perfect occasion to make an exception to the law.
That kid will go far.

 

[painted wolf]

It seemed the perfect occasion to make an exception to the law.
That kid will go far.

No kidding... 24 hours in jail and a $100 fine? Seriously?!

I really hate these "all or nothing" punitive systems, they are full of perfect examples of insanity. The legal system is supposed to be about justice not blind reactionary punishment.

wa:do

 

[painted wolf]

Exactly what we need.... unmaned drones keeping an eye us. "for our own good"

Gov.: Drones over Va. 'great'; cites battlefield success - WTOP.com

Police drones flying over Virginia would be "great" and "the right thing to do" for the same reasons they are so effective in a battlefield environment, the state's chief executive said Tuesday. Virginia Gov. Bob McDonnell, a retired U.S. Army lieutenant colonel, says he is open to any technology that makes law enforcement more productive. The use of drones, which was recently endorsed by the police chiefs of Fairfax County and D.C., would make better use of valuable police resources.

"The potential for invasive surveillance of daily activities with drone technology is high," wrote Rep. Edward J. Markey, D-Mass., in an April 19 letter to FAA. "We must ensure that as drones take flight in domestic airspace, they don't take off without privacy protections for those along their flight path."
Rep. Joe Barton, R-Texas, said in the same letter he "proudly supported" the FAA Modernization and Reform Act that allowed for the domestic use of drones. There are many institutions in his home state that FAA has cleared for drone use, including Texas A&M University, and the police forces in the city of Arlington outside Dallas-Fort Worth and in Montgomery County near Houston.

wa:do