TSA Detains Rand Paul

MSimon · Post by **MSimon** » Tue Jan 24, 2012 9:02 am

A Ron Paul guy I am not. But I certainly agree with what he said today after the TSA detained his son Rand who had refused a patdown search:

Republican presidential candidate and Texas Rep. Ron Paul issued a sharply-worded statement in reaction to the detention of his son, Kentucky Sen. Rand Paul, by Transportation Security Administration agents in Nashville on Monday.

“The police state in this country is growing out of control,” Paul wrote in a statement provided to The Daily Caller. “One of the ultimate embodiments of this is the TSA that gropes and grabs our kids and our seniors and does nothing to keep us safe.”
So far, the other candidates are not talking about the burgeoning police state in this country, with the deadly SWAT team raids, warrantless searches, and the rest of it.

One of them, Newt Gingrich, wants to make the police state bigger. He wants to expand the Patriot Act and dramatically expand the war on drugs.

http://classicalvalues.com/2012/01/well ... -of-views/

Skipjack · Post by **Skipjack** » Tue Jan 24, 2012 1:53 pm

Now, I think that this was a publicity stunt.
Why didnt he just take a charter plane, like all politicians of his rank do and avoid the security checks all together?
That said, I still agree with the statement. The patriot act needs to go and so does the TSA.

KitemanSA · Post by **KitemanSA** » Tue Jan 24, 2012 3:24 pm

One of my favorite books suggests the proper "security procedure" at an airport is to have the airline check to make sure your ammo is aircraft tolerance frangible.

Seems about right to me.

krenshala · Post by **krenshala** » Tue Jan 24, 2012 7:22 pm

KitemanSA wrote:One of my favorite books suggests the proper "security procedure" at an airport is to have the airline check to make sure your ammo is aircraft tolerance frangible.

Seems about right to me.

Seems right to me as well. You won't experience any trouble on your flight (outside mechanical/weather) if everyone knows that anyone could be armed. Makes for a right peaceful day, with respect shown for everyone ... just in case.

GIThruster · Post by **GIThruster** » Tue Jan 24, 2012 8:08 pm

IMHO, Rand deserved to be strip searched for trying to tell TSA how to do their jobs. He set off the detector and the officers did what they're trained to do. The guy wanted special treatment and didn't get it. Doesn't reflect well on Ron Paul at all, that his son acted like a prima dona.

I've been patted down several times these last few years and have no sympathy for such whiners.

djolds1 · Post by **djolds1** » Tue Jan 24, 2012 10:29 pm

Skipjack wrote:Now, I think that this was a publicity stunt.
Why didnt he just take a charter plane, like all politicians of his rank do and avoid the security checks all together?
That said, I still agree with the statement. The patriot act needs to go and so does the TSA.

I doubt the "anomaly" on the body scanner was contrived. OTOH, once the opportunity presented itself, Senator Paul probably recognized the opening immediately, and let the TSA self-destruct in its usual mindlessly officious manner.

Skipjack · Post by **Skipjack** » Tue Jan 24, 2012 11:47 pm

I think they are desperately trying to get some attention after the recent polls...
That does not mean that I dont think they wrong about the TSA. I dont like it either and it should go away, but I think that it is always a good idea to question why something happened the way it did.
And again, why did Rand Paul not go on a charter flight like every other politician does, if he is so against getting screened? It does not add up.

kcdodd · Post by **kcdodd** » Wed Jan 25, 2012 1:37 am

Didn't they used to just ask you to make sure to empty your pockets if the thing went off? Instead of demanding to put their hands all over you.

Roger · Post by **Roger** » Wed Jan 25, 2012 2:18 am

It appears Mr Paul refused the pat down.

Tom Ligon · Post by **Tom Ligon** » Wed Jan 25, 2012 3:52 am

As I understand it, he rolled up his pants leg and showed them his bare leg. He asked for a re-scan and was refused, but managed to pass a scan in another gate later. He knew there was nothing there for the scanner to detect.

I don't blame the poor TSA agents ... they're typically pretty marginal pin-heads doing as trained (at least the ones at DC airports are ... one small midwestern airport I frequent actually has pretty good TSA employees). I do blame the pin-head system setting policy and training them.

Rand Paul was absolutely within his rights to refuse a pat-down, as long as he did not then try to bolt thru the line, but instead accepted being denied clearance. Was he making a statement against TSA policy? Abso-freaking-loutely. Paid a modest price for it, got the attention, and hey, he got you folks talking about it.

My approach is not so confrontational. I just fly as little as possible. And I was nearly in tears recently when I discovered my favorite Swiss Army Knife, my beloved Tinker, in my pocket as I approached the checkpoint. I surrendered it "voluntarily". It is hard to imagine, over the course of time, how much that loss will affect the future of this country. That knife was pretty handy during my work at EMC2.

ladajo · Post by **ladajo** » Wed Jan 25, 2012 2:20 pm

A closet industry waiting to be born!

I want to set up a mailing service at security entry points where you can mail your beloved Tinker back to yourself at home!

There should be sufficient volume of knicknacks to sustain an modest business.

Hmmm.

GIThruster · Post by **GIThruster** » Wed Jan 25, 2012 4:15 pm

ladajo wrote:A closet industry waiting to be born!

I want to set up a mailing service at security entry points where you can mail your beloved Tinker back to yourself at home!

There should be sufficient volume of knicknacks to sustain an modest business.

Hmmm.

There's an enormous business possible. Last I flew I lost a really nice lighter I'd left in my pocket, and as they threw it into the bin of other purloined items I wondered how long since they'd emptied it. "This is just from today" was their answer and there were already hundreds of items in the container. Even if most items would not be reclaimed, that certainly leaves thousands of items/week.

KitemanSA · Post by **KitemanSA** » Wed Jan 25, 2012 7:14 pm

ladajo wrote:I want to set up a mailing service at security entry points where you can mail your beloved Tinker back to yourself at home!

Last time I was in this situation, the screeners at Baltimore/Washington airport offered this service themselves. But the price was so high it turned out cheaper to just buy a new knife when I got home.

This may have been before TSA.