“TSA” on The Daily Caller

“Who’s Bogdan Dzakovic?” you may ask. “And why should I care whether he flies?” (more)

Amidst the outcry over the TSA’s new screening procedures — an X-ray machine that depicts passengers’ genitals with precision, a full-body pat down that goes up every crevice and around every curve — one man has dared to go against the grain. Former DHS Assistant Secretary Stewart Baker appeared before the House subcommittee on National Security Wednesday, where he testified that critics of the TSA’s scanning equipment are “making a privacy mountain out of a mole hill.” (more)

This student really wanted to get something off his chest at airport security. (more)

The Transportation Security Administration announced on Tuesday that the x-ray body scan machines installed at airports nationwide emit 10 times more radiation than previously reported. (more)

Apparently, they are not screening the screeners. (more)

WASHINGTON (AP) — After nearly a decade of wrangling, the Transportation Security Administration on Friday gave more than 40,000 airport screeners the right to vote on limited collective bargaining rights, strengthening their voice in work conditions but barring them from striking or negotiating over pay or security procedures. (more)

Former independent Minnesota Gov. Jesse Ventura may be late to the brouhaha over the Transportation Security Administration’s intrusive security measures, but on Monday he re-ignited the discussion with a lawsuit filed in federal court. (more)

1.) Everybody wants something from Obama’s SOTU — For two weeks now, yammer-faces and pols have rattled off what they’d like from tonight’s State of the Union address. The only thing they haven’t asked for is the moon. In an interview with The Daily Caller, Democratic Sen. Mark Warner added his own demands to the growing list of things Obama must pay lip service to during his address. “What I hope he says – and I think this will make some folks on my side upset – even if he has an innovation and growth agenda … just growth alone isn’t going to get us out of this problem,” Warner said. “We’re going to have to take on the size and role of government” and “the stuff that’s popular” like entitlement and defense spending. “You’ve got to earn good faith by showing willingness to do spending cuts,” Warner said. “There is some value in short term cuts that will at least show that we’re serious about doing something.” Obama’s more likely to promise the moon. (more)

Thousands of airport security screeners could choose a union to represent them as early as March, marking the latest expansion of union influence in the public sector, which now has more labor union members than the private sector. (more)

Yet again, those in power have misread and underestimated the will of the American people. Last November’s election results shattered the grinning assurances of politicians who supposed voters were unserious in their objections to government over-reach in matters of economics, regulation and health. Now, in the face of mounting protest against the excesses of TSA officers at America’s airports, those responsible for the policy of continued sexual violation of travelers maintain that they are winning the argument. They are wrong, and they will lose. (more)

An Erlanger lawyer and blogger believes his new business has a solution for those wanting to protect their modesty without making a scene while going through full body scanners at airports. (more)

Hello all! I hope everyone had a very Merry Christmas, a Happy Hanukkah, a Kwanzaa-y Kwanzaa, a Spongeworthy Festivus and a Supercalifragilisticexpialidocious Solstice. And if I left anyone out, well, I don’t really give a shit. (more)

Early Wednesday morning, a computer glitch shut down a security checkpoint for a couple of hours at Austin-Bergstrom International Airport. The line snaked out the door as many travelers waited for more than an hour and some missed their flights. One of the first people in line after that shutdown never made it through. She was arrested and banned from the airport. (more)

SACRAMENTO, CA – An airline pilot is being disciplined by the Transportation Security Administration (TSA) for posting video on YouTube pointing out what he believes are serious flaws in airport security. (more)

HOUSTON (KTRK) — TSA checkpoints at airports are at the front lines of preventing terrorism. When you go through security, you expect to be scanned and searched. And you expect TSA to prevent contraband from getting on planes, but as we’ve learned, that doesn’t always happen. (more)

“If you see something, say something,” our national security officials are fond of telling us. Indeed, the idea that ordinary citizens should be vigilant in spotting suspicious behavior was broadly encouraged long before this handy slogan was popularized. In the days after 9/11, as the anthrax scare ramped up, President George W. Bush was pressed by reporters as to just what sort of things folks should be looking for. The exhausted commander-in-chief replied, in a wordier iteration of the current motto, “If you find a person that you’ve never seen before getting in a crop duster that doesn’t belong to you — report it.” (more)

When she ascended to her position as Secretary of Homeland Security, Janet Napolitano let it be known that the “War on Terror” was over. Instead, she decreed, America would conduct an “Overseas Contingency Operation,” in order to avert “man-caused disasters,” of the type we experienced on 9/11. (more)

Former “Baywatch” babe Donna D’Errico is barking mad about being body scanned. (more)

In 1971, researchers set up a prison in the basement of Stanford University’s Psychology Department. The idea was to observe how 24 undergraduate students would behave when divided into two groups — “prisoners” and “guards” — and allowed to play out their roles over two weeks. But within 6 days, the simulation had to be stopped. Students playing “guards” became sadistic, while “prisoners” evinced severe anxiety and distress. (more)

The young, male TSA officer walks slowly down the line of airline passengers waiting to clear security. He looks down at tickets, up at faces, then points to those whom he selects for additional screening. In a theoretically possible, albeit unlikely, random sample, when the officer reaches the end of the long queue, we find that every passenger he has chosen for further scrutiny is female. (more)