There’s an editorial at Toronto’s Globe and Mail . And see the Los Angeles Times , ” Recording in cruise ship disaster casts captain in bad light .” Also, at London’s Daily Mail , ” Forget women and children first. Burly crew men led the race for the lifeboats .” And at National Review , ” In the Italian cruise-ship disaster, another death knell for the age of chivalry .” UPDATE : At New York Times , ” Captain of Stricken Vessel Says He Fell Overboard in Passenger Panic .”
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The Cowardice of Captain Francesco Schettino
(The Blaze/AP) An 85-year-old woman said Saturday that she was injured and humiliated when she was strip searched at an airport after she asked to be patted down instead of going through a body scanner, allegations that transportation security officials denied. Walker-bound Lenore Zimmerman said she was taken to a private room and made to take off her pants and other clothes after she asked to forgo the screening because she worried it would interfere with her defibrillator. She missed her flight and had to take one 2 1/2 hours later, she said. “I’m hunched over. I’m in a wheelchair. I weigh under 110 pounds (50 kilograms),” she said from her winter home at a seniors community in Coconut Creek, Florida. “Do I look like a terrorist?” But the Transportation Security Administration said in a statement Saturday that no strip search was conducted. “While we regret that the passenger feels she had an unpleasant screening experience, TSA does not include strip searches as part of our security protocols and one was not conducted in this case,” the statement read. Zimmerman was dropped off by her son at Kennedy Airport for a 1 p.m. flight Tuesday to Fort Lauderdale, Florida, on JetBlue, she said. She arrived at the ticket counter around 12:20 p.m. and headed for security in a wheelchair, her small, metal walker in her lap. She’s been traveling to Florida for at least a decade and has never had a problem being patted down until now, she said. “I worry about my heart, so I don’t want to go through those things,” she said, referring to the advanced image technology screening machines now in place at the airport. As a result, she said, she was taken into the private screening room by a female agent and made to strip. “Private screening was requested by the passenger, it was granted and lasted approximately 11 minutes,” the TSA statement read. “TSA screening procedures are conducted in a manner designed to treat all passengers with dignity, respect and courtesy and that occurred in this instance.” The private screening was not recorded. A review of closed-circuit television at the airport showed that proper procedures before and after the screening were followed, Jonathan Allen, a TSA spokesman, said in a statement. Zimmerman, who is 4’11″, said she banged her shin during the process and it bled “like a pig,” partly because she is on blood-thinning medication. She said an emergency medical technician patched her up, but she was told to see a doctor when she arrived in Florida to make sure the wound didn’t get infected. There are no records indicating medical attention was called on her behalf. “I don’t know what triggered this. I don’t know why they singled me out,” she said. Her son Bruce Zimmerman said he’d like to see someone fired and screeners re-trained after his mother’s ordeal. “My mother is a little old woman. She’s not disruptive or uncooperative,” he said Saturday. “I don’t understand how this happened.” The 85-year-old Long Island grandmother told the New York Daily News that she plans to sue the TSA after th humiliating strip search.
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85-Year-Old Grandmother Says TSA Strip Searched Her
Thomas Sawyer said a TSA agent mishandled his urostomy bag during a recent screening, after a similar incident last year when a pat-down left him soaked in urine.
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Bladder Cancer Patient Says TSA Screener Mishandled His Urostomy Bag — Again
After months of debate and controversy, The Transportation Security Administration (TSA), is making major changes to its privacy policies. The federal agency says it’s installing new technology in some U.S. airports so when a traveler goes through checkpoint security, a generic outline of a person will be shown instead of the image of a naked body. The agency says the change is intended to protect travelers’ privacy rights while securing commercial air travel — a balancing act that has been tough thus far. Across the nation, TSA has received scrutiny over the use of advanced image technology (AIT), which has exposed travelers to “nude scanners.” Wired has more about the controversy that has been brewing for some time now: First tested in 2007, the AIT scanners became the object of intense media and public scrutiny around Thanksgiving. In addition to privacy concerns , some experts maintained the scanners’ safety was unproven , and that the technology was ineffective in detecting smuggled weapons and explosives . Travelers are permitted to opt-out of the scan, but are then subjected to an aggressive pat-down procedure. The new, less intrusive technology will be used in 40 airports, including in Chicago, Dallas, Detroit, Miami and Newark. Similar to the AIT, but much less intrusive, the new software is designed to recognize items on the passenger that could pose a security threat. The TSA explains the benefits and changes that will come as a result of utilizing this new technology: As with the current version of AIT, the areas identified as containing potential threats will require additional screening. The generic outline will be identical for all passengers. If no potential threat items are detected, an “OK” will appear on the monitor with no outline. By eliminating the passenger-specific image associated with the current version of AIT, a separate TSA officer will no longer be required to view the image in a remotely-located viewing room. Later this year, the TSA will also roll out an expedited security program for frequent fliers. This upcoming initiative is intended to individualize security rather than relying on only uniform, blanket policies to secure American airports. Interestingly, this change in body scanner technology has been announced at the same time that the TSA has been victorious in a U.S. appeals court case surrounding the use of its controversial scanners. The agency plans to eventually use this technology for more machines at more airports. Due to the lack of nudity inherent in these scanners, it is likely that people will be more comfortable and less opposed to their use. The Associated Press contributed to this report. (h/t Wired )
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TSA Announces Major Privacy Changes to Controversial ‘Nude’ Body Scanners
Reuters – Republicans in the House of Representatives on Thursday spurned the Obama administration’s request for funds to buy 275 additional airport full-body scanners and to hire personnel to run them.
Original post:
House Republicans oppose more airport scanners
(Reuters)
The media have lent a sympathetic ear to the tribulations of air passengers facing invasive screenings at the nation’s airports, but how do TSA employees feel about their new job responsibilities? According to the Daily Mail , “furious” security staff “hate” dealing with “obese passengers and people with personal hygiene issues.” One travel blog reached out to TSA employees and received 17 testimonials from disgruntled employees upset over the policy put in place last month. Not surprisingly, one of the most detested parts of their job is carrying out individual body searches, one even claiming the experience was worse for him than for the passenger. “It is not comfortable to come to work knowing full well that my hands will be feeling another man’s private parts, their butt, their inner thigh,” one told the BoardingArea blog. “Even worse is having to try and feel inside the flab rolls of obese passengers and we seem to get a lot of obese passengers!” Another said he had a huge problem dealing with a “large number of passengers… daily that have a problem understanding what personal hygiene is.” In addition, the TSA staffers said they were uncomfortable with passengers’ negative responses to the policy. Many complained that air travelers are unloading their angry backlashes on the screeners who say they’re just following orders and do their jobs. “Being a TSO [Transportation Security Officer] means often being verbally abused, you let the comments roll off and check the next person,” one said. “However, when a woman refuses the scanner then comes to me and tells me that she feels like I am molesting her, that is beyond verbal abuse. I asked the woman if she thought I like touching other women all day and she told me that I probably did or I wouldn’t be with the TSA. I just want to tell these people that s, but I cannot because I am a professional.” The American Federation of Government Employees, the union representing the officers, says the agency must take action before the Thanksgiving rush “to ensure that TSOs are not being left to fend for themselves.” The new screenings are creating bottlenecks at many security checkpoints and holiday travelers should expect delays as up to an estimated two million people per day are expected to fly this week for Thanksgiving.
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‘Furious’ TSA Screeners Complain About Smelly Passengers
My buddy and colleague Greg Joseph recently won the Charles A. Chayne Trophy at the Pebble Beach Concours d’Elegance 2010. Here’s a few pics of his car, an American Underslung Traveler, Type 56A 7 Passenger Touring, 1913. My youngest son and I visited Greg Saturday afternoon. He showed us his car, estimated at about $1.3 million, out in his garage in temporary storage. The American Underslung is here at Wikipedia. And there’s a beautiful set of photos of Greg’s car at Pebble Beach here . Greg’s a Democrat, but he was flattered when Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger walked up during the competition to congratulate him on the vehicle:
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My Buddy’s 1913 American Underslung Traveler Type 56A 7 Passenger Touring
