Baby pat-down stirs public anger in US

[The Northerner]

Run time: 02:46 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gLX8IXEDAVo   Posted on YouTube: May 12, 2011 By YouTube Member: PressTVGlobalNews Views on YouTube: 83   Posted on DU: May 12, 2011 By DU Member: The Northerner Views on DU: 1238

 
This photo, taken in a Kansas City airport, has grabbed national attention with over 300,000 views on Twitter since its release this past weekend. In it Transportation Security Administration agents are patting down a baby while his mother holds him. This is the latest of a series of TSA screening procedures that has sparked a public outcry.

Press TV's Marjan Asi reports from Washington

[Name removed]

1. Deleted message

Message removed by moderator. Click here to review the message board rules.

[frylock]

7. no shortage of authoritarian poltroons around here

[AnneD]

2. I don't know....

when my daughter was still in diapers-that cutie patootie occasional created some lethal stink bombs.

Honestly, TSA is grooming us to be obedient little Nazis. The screening intensity keeps ratcheting upward. I can't wait for the cavity searches to begin. :eyes:

[FormerDittoHead]

3. (Checking to see the party of the current President...) - WHAT BULLSHIT. TSA just doing their job!

As opposed to when it's a Republican president - ..."Fucking Nazis! We must stop this NOW!"

For people who put their citizenship above political affiliation,
join us on http://www.reddit.com/r/OperationGrabAss/

[Blue Owl]

4. Really? I thought it was the cutest invasive search ever

:sarcasm:

[struggle4progress]

5. *yawn* Iran's Press TV, stirring the pot around a still photo

[otohara]

6. Anger Overkill

outrage de jour

[Butch350]

8. Coming soon to Bus and Train Stations near you.

[jwirr]

9. In my bad old days I was with a group that was

going to cross into Canada for something or other. The driver had pot with him so just before crossing he stashed the bag in a snowbank along the highway. We got into Canada but on our way back into the USA the border guards vacuumed the car and found seeds. The men were strip searched, us women were threatened with strip searches but the children (2 of them under 4) were searched (not stripped) and one of the idiots had slipped a pipe into the hood of the little girls coat. The guards were furious. I did not blame them even at the time. The pipe should have been left in the snowbank.

So you see if one wanted to bomb a plane it would not be beyond the realm of possibility to hide a bomb in the blankets or clothes of an innocent child.

[spooked911]

11. I don't buy that

First, the probability of a mother of an infant being a suicide is almost zero. Second, any proper profiling should show a potential suicide mom. Third, a pot pipe is vastly different from a pipe bomb. Bottom line-- this is bullshit insanity.

[Generic Other]

14. I think you are right...no mother sacrifices her baby to the cause

intending to blow it up on a plane. Any terrorist who would do that would draw criticism from every side. It is ridiculous conditioning of Americans mostly meant to keep us scared, docile and grateful to our government for protecting us while enriching the individual bureaucrats in the military-industrial complex.

[tclambert]

10. It is well known that many babies in Kansas City pack heat.

Most of them carry two guns and a Bowie knife. That doesn't count the biological weapons in their nappies.

By the way, how is that baby traveling with no more than 3 ounces of formula?

Can't you just picture the brave TSA agent patting down that terrorist baby? "Oh, dear God, there's something in his diapers. THERE'S SOMETHING IN HIS DIAPERS!"

[demwing]

12. I think all male travelers should take Viagra before boarding

And demand pat downs.

[HelenWheels]

13. I'm torn on this one

I really hate to see kids patted down but when I worked in the prison system it was fairly common to have visitors try to sneak illegal things into the prison by hiding them in the babies' diapers or clothing. That being said I don't think the TSA pat downs accomplish anything and do not make me feel safer.