No Audio, just silent trauma experienced by mother over stored breast milk.
!Men With Foil Hats Update! TSA says “Glass Box Mother” Experience Out of the Ordinary
By Stacey Armato | American Citizen
I am the brunette in black getting my items ready for screening (you will see me about 45 seconds into the video). I travel every week and bring home breast milk with me through Phoenix Sky Harbor.
TSA rules allow for alternate screening (no x-ray) for breast milk and I almost never had a problem…until the week before this screening. I was held for 30 minutes that week while the TSA manager called to find out the rules. I was told to “pump and dump,” and asked why the milk wasn’t clear, also asked where my baby was and if it was really milk (uh traveling, working mom pumping doesn’t usually have the baby with her).
After begging him to figure it out, they finally let me through. I called and complained to TSA and was instructed to travel with the TSA breast milk rules printed out and present them whenever there is a problem.
As my items come through security this time, I notice immediately that I was dealing with the same people from the week before. The woman tells me right away that my milk might have to go through the x-ray, and then I tell her I printed the rules. I go to grab the rules on top of my bag and she freaks out and pushes my arm away. Another guy comes over and calls for “back up” and they put in me back in the glass cage. Standing 50 ft away are the same manager and supervisor I had dealt with the previous week.
They will stall for 20 minutes before coming over to me.
Meanwhile, one of the guys comes over to me and tells me “to be quiet if I know what’s good for me.” At the end of this portion I have been locked up for just under 10 minutes. The whole ordeal takes just under 1 hour.
My brother in law did me a favor by helping me put the videos together, speed them up, and narrate. He didn’t know all the details so there were a few errors but he tried to get it up as soon as possible knowing that the issue really needed to get out there. My son was 7 months old at the time and I was not pregnant during the video. I got pregnant 6 weeks later and am due any week now with our next little one. Travel and pumping will start again for me in February 2011…
In this segment, I have already been in the glass cage for about 8 minutes.
My patience wears thin and I start crying. It is hard to see on this video, but real tears wouldn’t stop streaming down my face. About 10 minutes into all this, a Phoenix PD comes to calm me down. I explain to him that there is no reason I should be treated this way and I have every right to be upset.
He then says “they” (aka TSA) saw me coming, have it out for me (from my complaint against TSA the week before when they didn’t know the breast milk rules then either), and I should travel out of a different gate in future weeks.
He said TSA wants me to play along with their horse and pony show and if I don’t then TSA can have the Phoenix PD arrest me! Well, I wanted to get home to my baby and my flight was 30 minutes from departure so I ‘played along.’ Three Phoenix PD watched in the background…I could tell they all knew this was a waste of their time but I was happy to have them standing by in case TSA continued to act out of line.
One police officer actually came up to me later during my second screening asking if I was okay and if he could let anyone in my party know I was going to be late. A class act compared to the TSA actions.
During this portion of the screening, my items were looked through by some TSA agents, I was patted down, and then I had a talk with the TSA manager. He told me I had to have the milk go through the x-ray since the containers were too full (not a TSA rule) and the liquid was not clear (hello, it is milk?, and also not a TSA rule).
I then begged him to read the TSA rules I had printed out. He read the first form which stated that medical liquids can have alternate screening (no x-ray). He was quick to say “well this isn’t a medical liquid!” So I had him read the second form which says breast milk is to be treated like a medical liquid. He then says, “well, not today.” I started balling all over again once he said that.
In this segment, the TSA manager tells me I can leave security, redistribute the milk into half full containers (his completely made-up rule) and go through security all over again if I want to avoid x-rays on the milk.
With tears continuing to stream down my face, I did that.
I also missed my flight playing along with his ridiculous game. Curiously, my second screening video (another 20 minutes) has been erased.
During that portion, I was scolded for not watching the woman test my milk (I would turn my head away to hide the tears), the manager wrote down my personal information on a scratch piece of paper and tucked it in his pocket (who knows where that ended up- TSA could only say their “policy” was to destroy information like that…we all know how “policy” went that day, though), and took pictures of my breast milk for some unknown reason.
Southwest put me on the next flight home and, as luck would have it, I was standing in line right behind my Constitutional Law professor from my law school days. At that point I knew I needed to stand up for my rights and help myself and other mothers against the uninformed, retaliatory, and harassing TSA employees that help “keep us safe.”
Editors Note: If you haven’t clicked on the link “TSA rules” above, please do so, as it very detailed. What we found most interesting was the flashing banner which states ” Myth Buster: Myth vs Fact on TSA Work Force. Poll: Most OK with TSA full-body scanners. (USAToday)” If USAToday says it than it must be so…although keep in mind that propaganda is the tool for tyranny.
Oh Yeah…. and Thanks for Flying South West Airlines!

I was at the Tucson airport in October 2012 and when I asked for an alternate screening of my breast milk, a male agent said that would mean I had to get a full pat down and a full screen. I told him no, that’s not how it works. I think what saved me is my husband and 16 month old were with me. He sent me to another (female) agent who knew exactly what to do. I’m not sure if they just don’t know their own rules or if they are power hungry bullies with issues against women.
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Oh you feel safer that they test the milk? It’s you “scared” people who are ok with the searches. How about when President Bush had Bin Laudins visiting him when the towers went down and he got them out of the country fast. Bin Laudin was a one time attack and the dummy’s in the U.S. thought we were under attack. He was a wealty brat kid who had too much time & money and his parents were friends with the President of the U.S. Bin Laudin knew his way around and was very privlidged. Now though, many hate us and it’s gotten much worse. They have gotten better with all the practice of wars over there. And all the civilians we have killed has made them hate the U.S. even more. There were not that many like Bin Laudin who could have pulled it off like he did. Freedom, it’s a thing of the past, the young will never know true freedom.
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I would sue the crap out of them and then some more. This is complete bull and peeves me off to no end. I am calling them to complain and it wasn’t even me. I am irate after reading this. I feel so bad for you. I am so sorry that these ignorant people have the “authority” to do this to you.
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This same thing happened to me this Tuesday at the New Orleans airport. I was forced to put my breastmilk through the x-ray machine and denied the alternate screening for medical liquids: http://www.anktangle.com/2011/01/tsa-x-rayed-my-breastmilk.html
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Try suing them for emotional distress.
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You’re all the same. Protest, protest, protest. Like how?
What exactly did you do you “The wall-Einstein”?
How many times do you and “FLH-Sheepie” travel and exactly how do you two brave souls get through security?
Lie there? Tell us all how you get through and recount your brave exploits for us all to share and admire.
Like hell. You’ve never done anything and never will. You’ll shout and maybe even change your vote to the other side but that’s it. And in the meantime, the rest of us have to live with the consequences of American policy.
Until recently, I couldn’t even get to check in without two photo IDs. Why? Because the brilliant security agents can’t understand that with an airport that straddles a border, you might just check in on the side where you can get a flight to where you want to go to and not necessarily on the side where you live. Protest. Of course. Result? “Get another Photo ID or please stand aside”.
And to get back from the USA? The stupid system doesn’t understand that I fly into one country and take a short car ride home which happens to cross a border. Why is that any different to flying into Charlotte and driving down to Miami?
You try spending an hour with your wife and kids and a check-in agent that keeps telling you that it’s your fault the system doesn’t work. Did I get upset? Did I protest? Of course and my shouting finally got me a supervisor who had more than one cell. I’m not sure I’d have got the same results with the TSA but if you want to try it, go ahead. It’s not a question of courage, it’s simply stupid cause it wont get you anywhere except in a room waiting for hours until they decide your fate.
Travel, protests, hassles everywhere. I’m sick of it all but I have to travel. So, until the two brilliant people who decided insults were the solution actually understand and maybe contribute to finding the solution, I suggest we stop the discussion. And as far as milk is concerned, it’s a problem and I do feel very sorry for the lady concerned. But I don’t see a solution as long as we breed such intelligent security people.
As you say, “Land of the free”, Not really is it but then it’s your country, not mine.
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TSA are JERKS.
They do NOT have a tough job.
After working at the airport (for an airline) for FOUR YEARS, you have
no idea how they sleep and nap on the job.
Their job is to harass innocent people and to allow suspicious ones
on the plane unchecked. Oh yeah, and they record all your personal information
to be fed into a data base….. let us not forget, but OH.. wait a minute….
they don’t actually do to much of that, the airlines do it directly into the computer
system FOR THEM.
Please. If you want REAL security, fire the whole damn organization and give
our returning soldiers the job.
They would do the profiling of CRIMINALS and leave the rest of the INNOCENT CITIZENS alone.
That IS the oath they took, to PROTECT the citizens.
Strip searching innocent people and promoting pedifelia is NOT protection.
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HOW did she get a copy of the video ?? !!!
They WILL NOT release a copy of my disaster to me.
Everything THEY do is a secret.
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TSA have a tough job. They are given a set of rules and guidelines with the expectation that they follow, or they lose their job. Question. I would never want to be a TSA agent. Forced to do stuff you don’t want to do, at incredibly low pay, and open to criticism from travelers who hold TSA agents accountable for stuff that’s out of their control. So TSA agents will continue to be seen as idiots, and travelers will continue to be nits.
Don Montalvo
Dallas, TX
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Anonymous Reply:
December 8th, 2010 at 2:46 pm
what an irellevant comment. this has nothing to do with how awful it is to work for the tsa. This is really about people given a little of power and taking it to th extreme. The TSA has specific rules dealign with things such as breast milk, and as tsa agents the people in this video should have known the rules. When they found out that they had been in the wrong they took it out on this poor woman. its as simple as that
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Billy Reply:
December 11th, 2010 at 12:52 pm
TSA Is worse than Nazi Gestapo.
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Whatever the case, the girl was following TSA guidelines (that she actively saught out) and the local TSA bozos were refusing to follow their own guidelines out of sheer stupidity seeking revenge. She should now seek justice.
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I am so sorry you experienced this. thank you for passing on your experience. You are a brave woman and I pray your future flight will be uneventful.
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These TSA searches are a violation of our constitutional rights and they’re not making us safer. They’re making us victims of a police state. Mothers being harassed for breast milk. A man being arrested for ejaculating after his sex organs were lengthily fondled. A cancer recovery victim ending up with urine all over him because his “bag” was roughly handled. Another man being separated from his very young children. These are Nazi tactics. Essentially, these TSA employees treat us as if we were all terrorists. Who will protect us from them? And what next? Searches before we get on a bus? Enter a grocery store? Random searches as we walk down the street? This is how fascism starts and if we allow it it won’t stop until freedom is a fading memory. As if flying wasn’t already a horrific enough experience without being molested and humiliated before getting on a plane. Not to mention, these x-ray machines are not proven safe. Who says they are? The TSA. NOT doctors.
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S.M. Reply:
December 13th, 2010 at 10:42 am
It should be noted that the “arrested for ejaculating” story was a satirical article on “Dead Serious News”, but what’s sad is that it was fairly believable. All the rest of those incidents happened, and it is truly criminal the way people are being treated. I won’t be giving up my Constitutional rights by flying any time soon.
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Can we organize a protest some how? We need to make the media pay attention. Breast feeding moms always come together when this type of stuff happens. Can we flood them with full bottles of breast milk makeing the screen all of the the alternet way. Make those fuckers remember the rule!
This mom has a lot of grace to not go crazy on these ppl! I would have. And I know it wouldn’t solve anything other than getting myself in a lot of trouble and the satifaction that one of those fat lazy fucks would be walking around with a blackeye or fat lip.
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They waste hours on a crying mother instead of looking for terrorists. What a bunch of losers.
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Anonymous Reply:
December 9th, 2010 at 8:34 am
my thoughts exactly
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@ Ben Dover
America lost it’s way a long time ago – arguably the Republicans sold it down the toilet.
Judging by how you live your lives over there now, the terrorists have won.
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scdaddyo Reply:
December 8th, 2010 at 4:45 pm
You have Obama working dilligently to take away our freedoms with every stroke of a pen and somehow the Tin Badge syndrome exercised here is the republicans fault. Get a life. Stupidity is the problem and it exists in every party.
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X-Raying (irradiating) milk does not make the milk dangerous or inconsolable. Lots of food is exposed to radiation to kill bacteria, a process developed in part to preserve food for astronauts.
So I don’t think it’s necessary to skip the x-ray except that it may kill a small amount of the helpful bacteria in the milk.
That being said and really having nothing to do with this story, it’s pretty infuriating to hear what they did. I despise “authority” that choose to use their position to bully people who are not intentionally causing problems.
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Rachel Reply:
January 2nd, 2011 at 11:48 am
The issue of irradiating food is controversial at best. There are many who believe that this is harmful to our food and to our health.
However, you’re right, that is not the issue here. The issue here is one of very basic freedoms, civil rights in a free society, and the ability of some Gestapo-acting TSA agents to deliberately harass a nursing mother for having the audacity to ask them to follow their own rules.
At some point, we’re going to have to decide as a society that enough is enough. Just watching those videos makes it clear what the TSA is putting all the traveling public through. Even the people they’re not singling out – everyone scurrying to put their shoes on, and get their bags put back together, as the conveyor belt continues to shove them along…. it really looks crazy, and this is what all of us who travel by air have to go through.
What this woman went through is not an isolated incident, sadly. I’ve seen people treated in similar ways at airports, just for asking simple questions about the procedure. It’s not just the Phoenix airport where the TSA agents act like Gestapo. Maybe it’s time to start taking the train across country again.
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Why make that statement about southwest at the end? The tsa were the gigantic Nazi turds, and I’m sure most if the airlines agree with that sentiment. The tsa makes it hell for both airline customer relations and their own employees.
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Joe Reply:
December 6th, 2010 at 3:07 pm
Before TSA, the airlines themselves handled the screening. Their ultra-lax, “who cares, anything goes” standards allowed all 19 of the 9/11 hijackers to board the aircraft without incident, even after 4 of them set off the metal detectors. TSA clearly needs a massive overhaul/improvement, but the airlines have no one but their own laziness and greed to blame for its existence.
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Jackie Reply:
December 7th, 2010 at 3:33 am
ha so you are saying that 9/11 was because airlines were lazy and greedy.
that’s such a load of bs.
btw, do you honestly think the TSA’s methods will prevent an attack? By my count, all the failed attempts were either thwarted by passengers or other countries. No we have a bloated, bureaucratic arm of government that is so cowardly and politically correct that we dare not EVER imply that there are PATTERNS in these events.
typical liberal (regardless of what you are, that’s exactly what they do) to place most or all of the blame on the EVIL BIG BUSINESSES and say it happened bc they were LAZY AND GREEDY.
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RESPECT Reply:
December 7th, 2010 at 4:22 pm
So who would you say would be to blame for the 9/11 attacks then? If the airlines were in charge of the screening process before (and on) 9/11, and the CEO’s of the “evil big businesses” were not making sure their employees were following security protocol, then they would be to blame. They were most definitely lazy in screening, and I’m sure it will be hard to find people who disagree on that.
By the “patterns” that you are saying we dare not imply I am guessing you mean people from the Middle East and of the Muslim religion. Yes, some people who fit this description really do not like America and would like to hurt us, but there are people of other descriptions that do not like us either, and might try to blow us up. And there are PLENTY of people who DO fit this description who are not trying to blow us up.
I’m not saying that the TSA is perfect, but they are trying. They have all of these rules for a reason, and personally I would rather they x-ray some breast milk or go through my bags if it means that they will catch another attack before it happens. So if they’re going to make it “hell” for me to fly somewhere, that means they’re making it “hell” for terrorists to fly too. To me, that’s a good thing.
BTW, there’s no need to insult someone because of their political affiliation. I am a Republican, but I RESPECT other people’s differences of opinion.
Jackie Reply:
December 8th, 2010 at 1:04 am
Who is responsible? Well my first bet would be the terrorists…
Number 1:is that your breast milk there you want them to x-ray? Bc it makes you feel safer you want to make that choice for this lady, who printed out the tsa’s own rules, and still was screwed? We both know that this wasn’t for safety, it was intimidation and power hungry agents that she had dealt with last week giving her trouble bc she dare “step out of line” last time, even though she knew the tsa rules better than they did.
“And there are PLENTY of people who DO fit this description who are not trying to blow us up”. So what? So harassing women with breast milk, the elderly, women with prosthetic breasts, men that survived cancer and have to have a urine bag, paraplegic children, 12 year old autistic boys that didn’t even set off the metal detector, scary 3 year old boys with Thomas the train backpacks, 3 year old girls, is the better alternative to not wanting to offend the people who “do fit this description and don’t blow us up”? The idea that you are going to stop a terrorist by scanning BREAST milk is ridiculous, and the idea you are making it hell for terrorists is a joke. The only people we are doing that to are the above mentioned.
It’s also beneficial, intelligent, and mandatory to discuss what truly works and what is actually security theater that attempts to make all us sheep feel safe.
That’s great that you respect other people’s opinions.
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Jackie Reply:
December 8th, 2010 at 2:21 am
Indeed, many are “just doing their job” (which doesn’t excuse bad behavior) but many are taking advantage of the authority awarded to non-authority agents and they are never held accountable, never answer to the people, and don’t want to acknowledge there are smarter and better security methods out there and not their security theater.
The “reasons for their “rules” are “solutions” they felt they needed to implement after each terrorist that was thwarted by passengers or other nations.
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Jackie Reply:
December 8th, 2010 at 2:24 am
I’m sorry, I’ve just never respected any argument that went straight to blaming “big, evil, lazy, greedy” companies
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Jackie Reply:
December 8th, 2010 at 2:29 am
One other thing, being republican doesn’t mean you aren’t necessarily liberal
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Stacey,
I hope you file suit, and instruct your lawyer to register it as a class action. I’m sure you’re not the only person who’s been subjected to this kind of treatment.
-jcr
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Simple factual question: Where in the linked TSA rules does it state that breast milk may go through an “alternate screening”?
The word “alternate” does not even appear on the linked page. The only mention of “X-ray” is in the sentence: “Present these items for additional inspection once reaching the X-ray.” I don’t understand how these printing out the linked rules would be helpful to achieving Stacey’s goal even if the TSA screeners followed them to the letter.
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Karan Reply:
December 6th, 2010 at 12:33 pm
It’s a little ambiguous. Breast mlk is treated as medical liquid. In the page for medicine you will find the text below that allows for X-ray’s to be skipped ‘as a customer service’. The last paragraph states that they do have the right to X-Ray anything they can’t clear visually. I think that goes to the whole bottles can’t be ‘too full’ that the manager was forcing her to split to avoid the X-ray. Either way, I don’t think she was treated very well and it goes to show that more training and equal application of the rules needs to happen at TSA checkpoints.
Text from http://www.tsa.gov/travelers/airtravel/specialneeds/editorial_1059.shtm:
Medication and related supplies are normally X-rayed. However, as a customer service, TSA now allows you the option of requesting a visual inspection of your medication and associated supplies.
You must request a visual inspection before the screening process begins; otherwise your medications and supplies will undergo X-ray inspection.
If you would like to take advantage of this option, please have your medication and associated supplies separated from your other property in a separate pouch/bag when you approach the Security Officer at the walk-through metal detector.
Request the visual inspection and hand your medication pouch/bag to the Security Officer.
In order to prevent contamination or damage to medication and associated supplies and/or fragile medical materials, you will be asked at the security checkpoint to display, handle, and repack your own medication and associated supplies during the visual inspection process.
Any medication and/or associated supplies that cannot be cleared visually must be submitted for X-ray screening. If you refuse, you will not be permitted to carry your medications and related supplies into the sterile area.
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Carla Reply:
December 6th, 2010 at 12:58 pm
Good point-it doesn’t actually say that. I am traveling through PHX in a few weeks with my baby and we will be bringing 6oz with us. I would be interested to know if there is “alternate” screening available. And, by alternate screening I am assuming that means that the milk does not go through the x-ray. We traveled over the Thanksgiving holiday and didn’t have an issue…but then again we put it through the x-ray.
I have been hearing that this video was actually taken in February of last year and that TSA has changed their rules (as it looks in the link) to accommodate mothers traveling without babies. That certainly does not excuse TSA’s treatment of Stacey-I too would be infuriated, but hopefully her actions have helped pave the way for other traveling moms.
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I’ver sent emails to Jon Kyl and John McCain not that they will do anything about it.
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We’ve given the TSA this power. They serve at the behest of our federal government.
What can we do to stop this? With the protest against the back scatter machines, I think the TSA is only being more aggressive. (What else does a bully do when they feel their power being threatened?)
I opt for the pat downs, but I am a single adult male. I will also email my congresspeople. Not that soon-to-be-former Madam Speaker ever does anything…
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I am in tears right now! I can’t believe they treated you this way. I have a 7 month old and plan to be flying soon. I am really nervous about it right nowafter seeing how disrespectful they treated you. I don’t blame you for standing your ground. I really want to express my appreciation for you doing that because it gives this problem some attention. I just hope it gets others upset and causes a change in the system. I also hope you are compensated because I can imagine this was very traumatic for you. What jerks!
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I am a former TSO from Des Moines, and I couldn’t believe what I was reading! Of course breast milk is medically exempt! Sheeesh!
What is worse, I have the perspective of an officer, and feel this passenger was targetted by supervisors. Officers are reluctant to disagree with leads and supervisors, because they outrank us. That is a risky proposition – are you going to be written up for it? You work with the same leads and supervisors each day, because you’re all on the same shift. You will have to deal with them tomorrow. And if your co-workers take the supervisor’s side, they will be waiting for any opportunity to make life difficult for you. Spiteful snitches come with the whole TSA workforce package. Some good officers I have worked with have been railroaded by these types and bad supervisors.
On another shift, this may well not have happened. At my airport, I had no difficulty until I was switched to a different shift with a supervisor who harassed me. On the previous shift, I had sane supervisors and leads. Not so much on the AM shift.
I did disagree with a lead one morning, defending an elderly woman on a liquid diet. She was permitted to take her liquids through – they were also considered medically exempt – but I was left with the impression by my co-workers that I was wrong to question the lead.
The whole culture in TSA has to change. Firstly, when there is a serious situation like this, it needs to be put out to all TSOs everywhere. They have to be told – “This was handled badly, and here is what should have been done instead.” But they don’t. All that is shown to TSOs is how the passengers are difficult. The “us and them” mentality needs to change too.
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Ms. Armato,
I’m sorry you had to go through this troubling ordeal. How outrageous. What surprises me, though, is that you’re a lawyer. Didn’t you know your constitutional rights during this experience? Why did you let them walk all over you, instead of asserting your status as an attorney and your knowledge of your rights? I’m an attorney as well, and if any TSA knuckleheads ever had a power trip like this, I’d make it very clear to them the consequences they would face for illegally detaining me (because that’s what they did here to you).
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Scott Reply:
December 6th, 2010 at 12:16 pm
As they’ve shown previously, they DO NOT CARE about the consequences. They believe they are not under the same rules as other parts of the government. They believe that you have given up many, if not all, rights by purchasing a ticket. Such a response from Ms. Armato, would likely have had little positive effect – in fact, it may have caused her to be escorted out of the airport or something else that would have caused her to take much longer to get home to her child. That’s what they count on.
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Anonymous Reply:
December 6th, 2010 at 4:36 pm
Constitutional rights don’t exist in the airport anymore. “Unreasonable search and seizure” is the status quo.
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Im just wondering id anything happened to the TSA involved with this story. I hope she sues them!
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I guess I am just curious why she didn’t just let them run it through the X-ray. I traveled with my baby girl back in October and they had me run the milk and food through the X-ray. Never occurred to me to say no. Went in the same as it came out, to my knowledge. I just don’t understand why she’s upset, if it didn’t harm the breastmilk. Yeah, it’s arguably annoying, but does no harm.
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Shannon Reply:
December 3rd, 2010 at 11:06 am
Because, per TSA policy, it’s within her right to get an alternate (non x-ray) screening of breast milk. She asked for that, and the TSA harassed her for making that request, then invented their own non-standard “alternate screening” policy.
Additionally, there is scientific evidence that suggests it is harmful for breast milk to go through an x-ray, so why take the chance?
X-rays do nothing to identify the makeup or potentially explosive properties of any liquid. It’s a useless “screening” anyway.
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Dan Reply:
December 6th, 2010 at 10:38 am
X-rays cause cancer and other abnormal cellular modifications. Ingesting irradiated materials is harmful for your health, especially for infants
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My super short rant…
I hear all these stories of people getting abused by TSA, and where do they go first? The police? Their congressman? A lawyer? No… they go to the newspaper or youtube.
FIGHT!
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John C. Randolph Reply:
December 6th, 2010 at 11:28 am
Damn right they go to the press and web. It’s not like there’s anything resembling a justice system left in this country.
-jcr
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Laura Reply:
December 6th, 2010 at 4:39 pm
The police were on the scene. What did they do? The government will only act to fix this if the public rises up and gives them no other choice.
this IS the fight.
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Stacey Armato;
Please go all the way.
Get the lawyers.
For the sake of your fellow citizens who are too stupid to care or too scared or don’t even fly, fight for us/them.
We need someone to be bold enough to take some people down.
I can hardly find this story in the news, Drudgereport.com had it but thats about it. Your story needs to get out there.
Do you have a website? People will come to your side and help you financially for a lawsuit, me included.
contact me:
jaystemple AT gmail DOT com
…. and for you nuts, that is not my real name, and not even a real email address… its a forwarding service 🙂
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Fake Name Reply:
December 6th, 2010 at 12:00 pm
I agree. This will keep happening until people start pushing back. More people need to step up and become the rallying point.
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Is the TSA the beginning of the the National Security Force, “better funded than the military” that BHO said he wanted while campaigning for president? Looks like a pretty good start.
Expand the TSA to trains, buses, subways, then schools, then entering any building with a gov’t office, then public buildings that hold over x number of people or are over x stories tall. Keeping Us Safe. Most everything else can be covered by the portable xray/scanner things in vans, also run by TSA. Force all the “first responders” cops, firemen, ambulance etc into the same union nationally (bill was being voted on earlier this year) and viola ! Won’t take much from there to have a Gestapo-like National Security Force. Keeping Us Safe. Have to have some kinds of rules about only checking Caucasians though. Will that be considered profiling?
This “screening” stuff either has to go away or it will expand. It won’t remain just in our airports. It will either die or grow.
How was it again that we’ve avoided and thwarted terrorist attacks for the past nine years? Silly Brits will try to tell you it was good intelligence. Such deluded, but charming, folks. The wise ones are Keeping Us Safe now. We were just lucky for nine years.
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A-Worried-Momma Reply:
December 3rd, 2010 at 5:37 am
I totally agree. We were scheduled to fly this month & have canceled. We weren’t scheduled to go through any scanners – but I am boycotting just the same & have sent letters to EVERYONE I can think of about it, even the airlines. I want them to know the loss of revenue. No one has a right to treat myself & my family like prison inmates & that is what this behavior amounts to. I will not subject myself or my kids to it & I won’t stand by while it turns my “free” country into a police state.
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Current TSO Reply:
December 10th, 2010 at 2:16 pm
You’re absolutely ridiculous! LOL
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A-Worried-Momma Reply:
December 17th, 2010 at 11:31 am
Intelligent & well thought out response. That really changes my mind & makes me rethink…. (insert rolled eyes here).
MiketheLibrarian Reply:
December 13th, 2010 at 9:48 am
I have a trip coming up next year, and have already been investigating going by train — hoping that the TSA will not push themselves into train and bus stations, too, by then. All those I have talked to are extending their personal drive limit to 15 hours of driving. All have stated they are not going to fly if the drive time is within that limit. I have been appalled at having to undress before every flight for years, and they continue to pile on the humiliations. If I wanted to pay for that, I’d go see a dominatrix.
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Rachel Reply:
January 2nd, 2011 at 1:52 pm
“… they continue to pile on the humiliations. If I wanted to pay for that, I’d go see a dominatrix.”
I just have to say… ROFL! Great way to put it.
It’s a shame that the train isn’t a good alternative for longer distances. But what the heck, maybe it is. Maybe I should look into taking slightly longer vacations and seeing more of the country.
In any case, enough is enough. I’m grateful to this woman for going as public as she could with this. I commented on the follow-up post to this, and I’ll repeat the comment here: I hope everyone who personally knows those TSOs sees the videos, and asks them to explain. I’m sure they’ll invent some sort of story for it, but they really should be ashamed of themselves. Sadly, this isn’t an isolated incident, but happens system-wide.
What we need is accountability. When TSOs abuse their power, there should be a system of instant redress. One way would be to make airport security tapes public domain, and add in sound. If TSOs were truly on “candid camera” at all times, and for all to see, you can bet they’d be a whole lot more courteous. It may sound old-fashioned to say this, but how would they act if their mothers were watching them?
EVERYONE…Keep this in mind. The more resistance all flyers put up and the more noise they make by any means they can employ, the better. “Especially to the friendly media..and having a friend video tape this thugs without them knowing it so they can’t get their grubby hands on the tapes to edit out their incrimination behavior. The underwear bomber was a test and the harbinger for these backscanners and the Arrogant, sexually assaulting TSA’s. MEANWHILE>>>KEEP UP RESISTING THEM..and EXPOSING THEM. Go to airport authorities and advice them how much better and less expensive it would be for business and good customer relations if they kicked out the TSA and hired Sniffer Dogs. Other countries (OUTSIDE THE USA USE THEM) and are more effective and non invasive and definately not insulting and humiliating.
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Pat in Texas Reply:
December 2nd, 2010 at 9:14 am
Dogs offend Muslims, silly. What we’re doing must be working. Washington DC says so.
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DieHardPAtriot Reply:
December 2nd, 2010 at 9:48 am
SO who cares what offends Muslims. I care what offends Americans and what this is leading down the road to.. If you fly into this country or out put up with sniffer dogs or stay home…unless they wrap their legs around you and pull a TSA with their nose.:-)
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Hugo Reply:
December 7th, 2010 at 7:11 am
Muslims can be Americans too so I disagree with that thought.
Has anyone been to the Statue of Liberty recently? I was there a couple years ago and they had a sniffer machine that to me is much more secure than the full body scanners.
Rachel Reply:
January 2nd, 2011 at 2:01 pm
Ok DieHard, then go live in a police state, since that’s obviously what you want. I’ll live in America, instead. As in, land of the free. As in, I don’t have to stay in my home. As in, I’m allowed to travel freely, with all of my rights as a citizen intact.
The issue here is not about any particular religion, it’s about an agency that is abusing power right and left, and stepping all over the rights of free citizens. If you really are a DieHard Patriot, then check out American History, right around 1776 or so. Go ahead. Google it. Look up what we did then, and why. And you want to sell all of that out to the politics of fear? Then you’re selling out to the terrorists, and telling them loud and clear that they won, they beat us down, and turned us into a police state.
I’m sincerely not trying to be obnoxious as I’ve been a breast feeding mother. However, how is TSA to know that an explosive liquid is not in those baby bottles? They aren’t certified as breast milk! TSA cannot know a terrorist from a regular joe. Is TSA simply to take a person’s word that the liquid IS breast milk?
At least with medication, generally a prescription bottle is labeled so by a pharmacist.
I also don’t get the big deal about x-raying breast milk. Just because some quack pediatrician says it is, bad doesn’t make it so. I’d venture to guess our kids are exposed to much worse through out the course of growing up.
Frankly, I’m more worried about terrorists than I am about TSA. If they want to grope people and examine each article to make sure it is safe, the better for my flight experience. The alternative is ending up as toast in the side of a building.
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matte Reply:
December 2nd, 2010 at 8:13 am
Give me a break Skitzoid, are you trying to make a joke or something? The paranoia and fear around security is going to far. This poor woman was treated inhumanely and this stuff goes on too often in the name of security.
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Skitzoid Lady Reply:
December 2nd, 2010 at 1:14 pm
Paranoia and fear going too far? Tell that to me the next time you find a guy lighting his shoe next you at 20,000 feet.
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autocrat Reply:
December 2nd, 2010 at 2:58 pm
Stupidity and ignorance going too far? Tell that to me the next time you find a guy lighting his shoe next to you IN LINE AT THE CHECKPOINT before passing “security”.
Yeah getting blown up in an airplane along with several hundred other passengers is definitely ALOT worse and WAY different than getting blown up in the airport along with several hundred other people in line.
SO what’s TSA going to do when a terrorist blows themselves up in line before passing the scanners?
Still feeling “safe”?
Absorbine Jr Reply:
December 2nd, 2010 at 5:13 pm
Heh. And how is all this security theater supposed to stop even the most addle-brained nutball — let alone a real terrorist — from using that shoe bomb or explosive liquid right the hell there in the crotch-grabbing/naked scanner area where there are dozens of people all clustered together?
None of us will ever have a guarantee of safety but they’ll sure as heck promise you the moon and give you a police state instead.
And that’s how the real terrorists — who are laughing at everyone running around like scared mice or nazi-wannabes — will win: by letting Americans destroy their own freedoms out of paranoia and over-reaction.
Skitzoid Lady Reply:
December 3rd, 2010 at 12:47 pm
Autocrat… I don’t feel safe at McDonalds.
Shannon Reply:
December 2nd, 2010 at 8:16 am
You’ve missed the point. This isn’t about breast milk.
The TSA has a stated policy about how certain items (and you can insert any item of your choice into the argument here) should be screened. Instead of following TSA’s own policy, some folks in Phoenix decided to make up a new set rules as a way to harass someone.
That’s the issue. The fact that it’s arguably not good for the antibodies in breast milk to x-rayed or that my pediatrician isn’t actually a quack may add color to the story, but it’s not the point.
How do they know it’s not an explosive liquid in the baby bottle? They don’t. They also couldn’t tell if there was an explosive liquid in a bottle purposely mislabled “insulin” either. And in neither instance would an x-ray machine help.
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Skitzoid Lady Reply:
December 2nd, 2010 at 1:42 pm
Are we just picking on TSA here? Shoot! The Division of Motor Vehicles where I live is just as nasty (minus the x-ray). They make up the rules as they go, as do the police, and the IRS, and just about any government agency. For goodness sake, my husband had a run in at work with a postal delivery man, because the guy was going all Barney Fife on him.
I also think that people shouldn’t be carrying around liquid medication in a carry on unless the medication is needed for an absolutely life threatening situation and they have to take the medication on board, in which case what are they doing flying anyway?
As for x-rays destroying anti-bodies in breast milk, I doubt the small amount expressed is going to make that much of a difference in the course of this kid’s life. I’d of told them to go ahead and x-ray the derned bottles, then been on my merry way… unless the point was to make a point, while having someone video the entire thing.
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Where is common sense Reply:
December 2nd, 2010 at 2:55 pm
Maybe we should pick on the TSA. As far as I can recall, all of these procedures go into effect after a terrorist tries them out and, so far, have been stopped by their own mistakes or by other passengers. I can’t find a single instance where the TSA has stopped anyone and I really think we would have heard all about it, over and over, if the TSA had stopped someone and prevented a disaster.
Shannon Reply:
December 2nd, 2010 at 3:55 pm
Perhaps you’re right, but when the Division of Motor Vehicles or the post office are being unreasonable you can walk away (in my experience, usually without having given up any of your civil rights).
When the TSA pulls out their arbitrary rules you have very little choice but to take it, even if it means being jailed in a glass box for an hour. In this instance, for example, even a sympathetic policeman could do nothing to help this woman from TSA harassment, advising her that her best options was to “play along.”
It’s far from a fair comparison. Though if you do ever get put in “DMV Jail” I hope you get the video and share it with us.
(Also, to you comment that people shouldn’t be allowed to carry on “liquid medication unless absolutely life threatening”… Who defines that? The TSA already has a definition of permissible liquid and policy around screening it. If you don’t agree with the TSA on this one send them a note.)
Tiff Reply:
December 5th, 2010 at 11:01 pm
Once again…missing the point which is that she had the right to get an alternate screening per their own policy.
As far as her choice to carry it on vs. put it in her check in luggage, well I wouldn’t want my baby’s milk tossed around either. Have you seen how they throw around those suitcases? When serving breastmilk to a child, it should be stirred not shaken. That is a fact because shaking it breaks it down thus causing it to lose potency.
Steve Reply:
December 6th, 2010 at 11:44 am
There’s a perfectly good reason — I suggest asking your health care provider for confirmation — for carrying medical equipment and/or medication in your carry-ons. Airplanes lose or delay luggage on a semi-regular basis. _You’re_ less likely to leave it behind in the overhead storage bin.
Curtis E. Mayle Reply:
December 6th, 2010 at 1:56 pm
Ahhhhh, education at work!
“I also think that … unless the medication is needed for an absolutely life threatening situation … in which case what are they doing flying anyway?”
“As for x-rays destroying anti-bodies in breast milk, I doubt the small amount expressed is …”
Isn’t the certitude being displayed invigorating!? To heck with factual information, it has been adequately replaced by merely thinking and having doubt.
Skitzoid Lady Reply:
December 7th, 2010 at 8:41 am
What it comes down to is this. We are so focused on fighting the evil TSA via protests such as this woman made, that we aren’t willing to see the bigger picture. Maybe TSA was wrong and they don’t know their own policy. One the other hand, it seems to me that they were looking out for the greater good of the many, rather than the one. The kid will NOT die if a certain amount of the breast milk he/she receives is x-rayed. Everyone wins. Mom gets through with the milk and on the plane on time, and TSA is happy. Not only that, but no one is throwing a crying fit, the police aren’t called away from way more important matters, and no other passengers are held up because some dip wad was trying to make a point about how mean the TSA can be. Stop with the histrionics. It serves no purpose, and hinders the rest of the population.
Jim Reply:
December 2nd, 2010 at 4:20 pm
Actually, Shannon, they could just as easily run a vapor trace analysis on the bottle, your hands after transferring the liquid and so on. No fuss, no muss, no x-ray and easy as pie. One quick swab on the outside of the container and voila, done!
Of course, that would have required that TSA actually KNOW what they are doing rather than making sh*t up.
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skitzoidlady Reply:
December 3rd, 2010 at 5:10 am
Now there I will agree. When I took my dad’s ashes on a plane in 2008, they didn’t put him through an x-ray. In fact they really didn’t question me about it other than to run some funky pad over the box containing his cremains.
Maybe the folks over at Tampa International have a freakin’ clue what they are doing, or maybe things have changed since 2008. In either case, I was prepared to leave Dad behind if I had to.
Shannon Reply:
December 3rd, 2010 at 10:49 am
I’m glad we all agree that x-raying liquids to determine their composure is useless.
Jay Stemple Reply:
December 2nd, 2010 at 11:33 am
You dont have children, you can’t, otherwise, the thought of a stranger groping and examining your 3 year old son, the SAME SON you have told over and over “No one is to touch you on your privates” would send you into a violent rage. Heck, try and touch ANY animal’s off spring and they will attack you… if you have kids and the thought of a minimum wage worker touching him doesn’t anger you, then you are less than an animal…
Call me crazy, but I would rather a terrorist cut my head off than let anyone touch my son without my permission. And yes, I am serious. Children trust adult by nature. For me to stand there and watch a stranger touch my child in a way I told him no adult should touch him will mess him up.
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Rachel Reply:
January 2nd, 2011 at 2:10 pm
Good point, Jay. I don’t have children, and I had not thought of that issue. The thought of kids getting groped as part of the new TSA policy… OMG. It’s so wrong, on so many levels.
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Fred Reply:
December 2nd, 2010 at 2:17 pm
“At least with medication, generally a prescription bottle is labeled so by a pharmacist.”
Yeah, because that can’t be faked…..
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AMA Reply:
December 6th, 2010 at 10:36 am
“However, how is TSA to know that an explosive liquid is not in those baby bottles?”
The best way to know who can be expected to bring explosives onto a flight is to do a background check. There is no rational reason to believe a woman who is an obvious American citizen with no discernable association with terrorist organizations would do this. She has a drivers’ license from a US state, an American name and background, a long-term job with an American company.
There is a better chance of being in a catastropic accident on the way to the airport than there is of being a victim of terrorism on a flight. In fact, you have better chances of being struck by lightning twice than you do of being the victim of terrorism. Yet American citizens are ALL being treated like they might possibly have ties to terror organizations, despite the fact that the United States has an intelligence agency that keeps a list of known terrorists that could be cross-checked.
The TSA is ridiculous, useless, and completely out of hand.
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TheWall Reply:
December 13th, 2010 at 2:35 pm
“However, how is TSA to know that an explosive liquid is not in those baby bottles? They aren’t certified as breast milk! TSA cannot know a terrorist from a regular joe. Is TSA simply to take a person’s word that the liquid IS breast milk?”
That is an excellent question. However, since TSA made the rule, it’s kind of a moot point, isn’t it? And therein lies the whole problem: there are so many gaping holes in TSA’s “security” procedures, that they really are nothing more than a charade. A weapon *could* be concealed in breast milk. Contrarily, nail clippers are really unlikely to be used as weapons and many security experts claim that plastic explosives could still be smuggled aboard an airplane despite the x-ray body scanners. So, if I have to live with TSA’s illogical and nonsensical rules, so do they.
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I just don’t understand how uninformed the public are for blaming the current President for this TSA thing. Here is something that might completely throw you off:
This TSA screening was approved during Bush’s presidency and guess what, it was lobbied by no other than Michael Chertoff. That’s right, the former Director of Homeland Security, who also happens to be the advisor of the company that makes the scanners. So before you spew you hatred toward President Obama, just look at your party first. They are not as angelic as they claim to be.
It is always good to be informed 🙂
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Anonymous Reply:
December 1st, 2010 at 11:57 pm
You have to stop looking at the two party’s. Youre stuck in the left-right paradigm. Your party is no different than the republicans. Wake up people!!
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DieHardPAtriot Reply:
December 2nd, 2010 at 8:06 am
Being informed is fine but Obama and the same DHS are condoning this feeling up and their own other humiliations…and violatimd their own guidelines. This makes those whom I mentioned just as complicent….and another road to tyranny. Get informed read about Hitler’s road to the Holocaust and the murdering of German citizens and the slow steps he took to finally almost completely destroy Germany…the same path we are on today with Obama and his agendas. History repeating itself-becasue it is apparent no one is learning from the past…including most Americans. That includes Democrats who got themselves kicked out for turning their backs on their constituents. So whom did you vote for…sounds like a Obama supporter. Lets’s keep this in perspective..we are mostly talking about the overstepping of the TSA TODAY. You carefully avoided addressing that issue and the mother whom was put TSA’s hell….like Obama supportes and teh democrats who got the boot and those whom managed to escape the noose …THIS TIME.
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Pat in Texas Reply:
December 2nd, 2010 at 9:22 am
I didn’t do it, you did! No, you did it! Stop touching me !! Mommmmmmmmmmm !!! Make her stop it!
And as long as it’s Bush vs Obama, Dems vs Republicans, liberal vs conservative, the govt will continue on this course of expansion and we the people will have played right into their game plan. Real smart.
Then, The Wise Ones will have to take further steps to protects us from ourselves and each other.
But not from them. Better make that The Benevolent Wise Ones.
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Jay Stemple Reply:
December 2nd, 2010 at 11:37 am
I hate the TSA thing, and have never once mentioned Obama… I dont think this is his fault. He cant be in charge of EVERY aspect of the federal government, our government is too big (which is one of its problems).
The only person approving one party over the other is you.
You were likely spitting mad when Bush started the Patriot act… you were so angry that the government could listen to you talk on the phone if they suspected you to be a terrorist… or see what books you checked out from the library… I assume this angers you just as much, yes?
Also, you should be spitting mad that most, if not all, republicans in the senate and house are totally against these new scanners and pat downs… but your precious democrats (with the exception of a few, Hillary Clinton, Sec of State included) are all for it and dont see what the big deal is… kind of sick.
Oh, and didnt Obama appoint Big Sis? And didn’t all this hardcore TSA scanning start with her?
Not saying this is a left-right thing. I just think it is wrong… but YOU brought it up.
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I just don’t understand how uninformed the public are for blaming the current President for this TSA thing. Here is something that might completely throw you off balance.
This TSA screening was approved during Bush’s presidency and guess what, it was lobbied by no other than Michael Chertoff. That’s right, the former Director of Homeland Security, who also happens to be the advisor of the company that makes the scanners. So before you spew you hatred toward President Obama, just look at your party first. They are not as angelic as they claim to be.
It is always good to be informed 🙂
[Reply]
I just don’t understand how uninformed the public are for blaming the current President for this TSA thing. Here is something that might completely throw you off balance.
This TSA screening was approved during Bush’s presidency and guess what, it was lobbied by no other than Michael Chertoff. That’s right, the former Director of Homeland Security, who also happens to be the advisor of the company that makes the scanners. So before you spew you hatred toward President Obama, just look at your party first. They are not as angelic as they claim to be.
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DieHardPAtriot Reply:
December 2nd, 2010 at 9:27 am
HEY CRAIG…QUIT WASTING SPACE AND TIME REPEATING YOURSELF. DEAL WITH WHAT IS GOING ON TODAY. IT DOENS’T AMOUNT TO A HILL OF BEANS WHOM AUTHORIZED WHAT AND WHEN. OBAMA AND THIS PHONEY GOVERNEMNT AND OBAMA’S AGENDAS ARE ALLOWING THIS TSA ABUSE TO CONTINUE NOW. PASSENGER SECURITY CAN BE BETTER ASSURED BY THE USE OF SNIFFER DOGS INSTEAD OF DANGEROUS BACKSCANNERS AND HAVE PROVEN MORE EFFECTIVE IN AIRPORTS OUTSIDE THE USA WHERE THIS GOVERNMENT OR TSA HAVE NO AUTHORITY INSTEAD OF ARROGANT TSA’S. 15,000 SNIFFER DOGS COULD BE TRAINED AND DEPLOYED FOR WHAT ONE BACKSCANNER AND THE WAGES OF THOSE TSA PERVERTS COST ONE AIRPORT AUTHORITY.
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Matthew Reply:
January 3rd, 2011 at 8:19 pm
If you underlined, italicized, and used a bold type face on your all-caps rant, it would’ve been even better!
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This has apparently happened to the same woman under the same circumstances, twice in a short period of time. She was travelling without the baby and presumably with no way to refrigerate the milk. She’s an attorney carrying a printed copy of the TSA regulations and apparently has a strong working knowledge of them. Why won’t she allow the milk to be x-rayed? I could not find any scientific evidence that x-rays pose a risk to breast milk. The whole thing seems quite fishy. Is she trying to get herself on the news? Testing the TSA’s controls and procedures for future, less benign purposes? Who knows. As a frequent business traveler, she is obviously quite familiar with TSA checkpoint procedures and should be able navigate the process without making national headlines. Give it a rest lady!
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Shannon Reply:
December 2nd, 2010 at 6:41 am
Anon- Your comments are ridiculous.
First, of course she was traveling without the baby. If she were traveling with the baby there’d be no reason to express and store milk!
I’m not an attorney (or media seeker) and I always carried printed copies of TSA policy too. I (sadly) found it an effective tool in educating screeners on things you’d assume they’d know (and don’t).
Being a frequent business traveler puts you at an advantage in knowing what the TSA checkpoint procedures are supposed to be. Unfortunately it doesn’t give you an advantage in having the TSA enforce those procedures. (As a side note, the random enforcement of “rules” from TSA gate to TSA gate across the country is astounding.)
I wouldn’t let my breast milk be x-rayed (on the advice of my kids’ pediatrician), but more to the point: TSA’s policy doesn’t require breastmilk to be x-rayed! So why should this woman be forced into a screening procedure completely made up by the PHX TSA? The obvious answer is simply to harass her.
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DieHardPAtriot Reply:
December 2nd, 2010 at 8:44 am
To that person whom claimed they couldn’t find anything that showed breast milk radiation expose posed no danger….GET A LIFE and dig deeper for crying out loud. Even MIcrowave radiation poses a danger to breast milk and did you know the use of microwave ovens to heat the food you eat depletes tou blood stream of red cells shortly after the food is eaten? Did you know that even the EU had banned microwave ovens? Microwave is a threat as it is and the type of radiation (courtesy of the TSA) that breast milk would have been sujected to would have changed the nutritionional values breast milk possesses. Radiation takes years to even dissipate a little ..so every time one is exposed to any radiation it is cumulative in the body and can increase to the point that it causes bodily harm.
GET OFFF THE BUSH-CHERTOFF RANT..Obama and the DHS are still permitting it and makes them just as complicent.
There are other, MORE EFFECTIVE and PROVEN WAYS TO MAKE AIR TRAVEL SAFER..SNIFFER DOGS.Israel uses them, Russia uses them, plus other airports outside the USA and haven’t had a terrorist incident since the deployment of these specuilly trained dogs. What one backscanner costs 15,000 sniffer digs could be trined and deployed and puts the end to arrogant TSAs and their arrogance and creats a better air of feeling safe not only from terrorists who might sneak on planes but from the tyranny of the Arrogant TSA and this Administration. If this Rouge Government was so concerned abot terrorists why have they kept the borders wide open for years. We wouldn’t have these gangs, terrorist training camps, and God only knows how many sleeper cells we now have n the US thanks to many Administrations and congress failing to enforce their own laws they passed. OUT WITH TSA AND IN WITH THE SNIFFER DOGS whom cost less than the TSA charges the airport authorities for security??? IT’S ALL A SET UP BY this phoney government.
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ACMESalesRep Reply:
December 6th, 2010 at 11:48 pm
The EU hasn’t banned microwave ovens, and red blood cells do not mysteriously decrease after eating food that’s been microwaved—there isn’t even any mechanism by which that would be possible, unless you’re suggesting that the food somehow remembers how it was heated. Furthermore, your statement that “radiation takes years to dissipate” shows a complete misunderstanding of radiation safety. Radiation is like light: it doesn’t build up and hang around. The radioactivity that can produce ionizing radiation, on the other hand, can build up, but we’re not talking about long-lived radioactive sources; we’re talking about x-rays generated by stopping electrons. That’s a prompt process that stops as soon as the machine is turned off.
mbs Reply:
December 2nd, 2010 at 8:26 pm
To Anon – It destroys the nutrients, moron. I suspect you are not a parent. At least I hope not.
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TheWall Reply:
December 13th, 2010 at 2:42 pm
I really couldn’t care less if this woman went to the airport spoiling for a fight, or if she really was trying to play by the rules and prepared so as to prevent a problem. The *REAL* problem is that TSA does not play by the rules. If this woman went to the airport trying to prove that point, then she is a hero. If she had no hidden agenda and was simply harassed by a TSO with Barney Fife syndrome, then she is an innocent victim. In either case, TSA needs a reality check, and this woman has my sympathy.
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Stacey- I, too, have experienced a lot of issues with the TSA trying to carry on expressed breast milk. I, too, always kept a print out of the web site with me in an attempt to educate the ignorant people I encountered during screening. Sometimes it helped, but mostly it was shocking how little the TSA knew of their own rules and how random the enforcement of those rules could be.
What happened to you is worse than anything I experienced, but I can still feel the anger of trying to get home from a 4 day business trip I took to Las Vegas in 1997. After reading my print out of TSA policy the agent randomly decided he needed to “test” (with some kind of dip stick) each of the dozen+ 6oz bags of milk. I freaked out and told him the bags were sterile and he couldn’t open them. (I also complained loudly that continuing to open my small, hard-sided cooler wasn’t helping keep anything cool.) I made my flight, but it was ugly, embarrassing, and upsetting.
Then there was the time at Dulles. And Boston. And Atlanta. And…
I emailed the TSA repeatedly, but never got a response. So thanks for making your experience so public, and for doing way more than I ever did.
This is just one area where the TSA is completely baffling, incompetent, and mean, but it’s an important issue… It’s hard enough to be a breastfeeding working mother. Dealing with the TSA shouldn’t be the unreasonable strain that it is.
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Jim Reply:
December 2nd, 2010 at 4:45 pm
Okay, it’s really not this hard folks. First, and foremost, there is an easy way to check the breast milk containers without requiring an x-ray. It’s called vapor trace technology and 99.99% of all US airports have it. Second, liquid explosives are generally multi-part reactive chemicals (with binary explosives being the most common form of liquid explosive.) X-ray detectors may or may not detect the component chemicals as a threat, depending on the presence of nitrates and other reactants in sufficient quantities so as to cause a “hit” (ammonium nitrate and sodium perchlorate are the most common). The more components needed to formulate the explosive, the more likely the x-ray will see it as an inert and harmless substance. Third, my impression of the video is that the TSOs clearly didn’t believe that the liquid posed an active threat. There’s no attempt to isolate the incident from the public, no local LE response until Phoenix PD stops by later (remember TSOs aren’t LE) and at one point the woman is allowed out of the penalty box to the other side of the screening station. She is not searched prior to being detained (other than passing through a magnetometer) and is without close monitoring or supervision for several minutes. If that’s REALLY what TSA views as appropriate screening then I’m absolutely stunned.
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This is a fine example of what comes from allowing ignorant, abusive, power-drunk thugs to run and staff a vitally needed service. We need to keep our country secure, but this is becoming too dear a cost to allow.
The president is an empty suit, so expect no relief or action from that office.
The Senators and Congress-persons are self-serving and not subjected to these rules, so expect no relief from them either.
Most government employees with credentials to slyly flash to the TSA will likely get a secret-handshake wink-n-nudge treatment, so there goes even more accountability.
We need to restore the voice of the populous and raise it so all who sit in office hear it and truly understand how outrageous these transgressions are. It is FAR more prevalent than anyone knows. This type of power-tripping by anyone is a betrayal of the trust placed in them, and SHOULD result in their termination, with cause. Followed by prosecution for criminal behavior and in the case of the manager, complicity and abetting in the unlawful detention f a person not charged with any crime.
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You guys on the east and west coasts voted for change.
When you were all hyped up about the hope and change, were y’all not listening to the words coming out of the man’s mouth?
The man pretty much spelled out what kind of change was coming, if you took the time ti listen carefully.
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Matthew Reply:
December 6th, 2010 at 5:15 pm
Oh, I didn’t know Obama created the TSA. Weird, I thought it was Bush.
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Rachel Reply:
January 2nd, 2011 at 1:36 pm
Exactly.
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Ben Dover Reply:
January 19th, 2011 at 9:12 am
The problem is not with the existance of TSA.
The problem is with the people chosen to be in charge of the TSA.
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Mothers produce fresh milk all the time. I’m confused. Why store it when there is fresh on tap, especially as it seems to be causing you a problem.
Agreed, TSA people are not nice or intelligent people and if you really think they are able to learn from mistakes, you haven’t much intelligence either. The TSA don’t make mistakes as any TSA agent will testify while being burnt at the stake.
So testing the same people who gave you a hard time once with the same trick is a bit stupid isn’t it?
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Oh Really? Reply:
December 6th, 2010 at 10:48 am
“Mothers produce fresh milk all the time. I’m confused. Why store it when there is fresh on tap, especially as it seems to be causing you a problem.”
1. You miss the point, entirey. Who cares if we’re talking about breast milk, toothpaste, mouthwash, sneakers, or jackets. The TSA Policy says one thing and these folks decided to make up their own policy. Not out of ignorance, but for vengeance.
2. As the father of 4 month old and husband to a breast feeding mother, I can ensure you there is not always “fresh milk on tap.” Pumped and stored breast milks is the most valuable liquid in my house. That stuff is like gold. Working women often have a very hard time maintaining an adequate milk supply.
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johnsmith Reply:
December 8th, 2010 at 6:28 am
Did you even read the article – she didn’t decide to “test them again” – as you put it. She called the TSA the first time it happened and was INSTRUCTED by the TSA to print out a copy of the rules to show the people at the gate the next time they asked to xray her milk. Which is what she did. At which point they went out of her way to make her life as miserable as possible.
If you are going to comment at least read the original post so that what you say is at least a little meaningful and not just stuff that you are making up.
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amh Reply:
December 8th, 2010 at 2:43 pm
Of course I read it. Did you? She did the same thing again with people who she had already discovered were neither intelligent enough to know their own rules or care about her in any way.
I realise what she did and the good faith she showed but the fact is that the TSA don’t give a damn.
So, having proved they don’t know their own rules, do you think that when you argue they don’t know their job that they will simply own up, shut up and let you through because you show them their own paper and rules they should know. No way. They just get bolshi and even more abusive as this lady found out.
I said that there is fresh milk on tap all the time. Apparently, despite my own experience with two children, I’m wrong as Oh Really pointed out.
Oh Really’s reply shows that it’s not always the case and his reply was informative.
I didn’t miss the point at all. The problem is there and it’s not a new one. Which, again, is why I would have tried to avoid it if possible.
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FLH Reply:
December 13th, 2010 at 9:47 am
If you have two children of your own, then you should be well aware that if you are lucky, your breasts continue to produce milk, and if you are traveling without your infant, you only have one choice which is to pump or you will be wearing breast milk. You can’t shut those things on and off at will.
And why dump the milk if you don’t have to? Like another poster mentioned, that stuff is like gold. No formula comes close to the nutrients it provides, and a mother has no control over when her milk will dry up. Many women lose their milk at three months, even though they wanted to keep bf until the child was six months old or longer… having the ability to pump and store this milk makes that possible.
Bottom line, these new “safety” features are nothing more than security theater. The new human microwaves (aka “backscanners”) CAN NOT detect the kind of bomb the underwear bomber used, which was the reason why these machines were put in to begin with. It also can’t detect anything put into the rectum. So, basically, these expensive machines do NOTHING to protect us AT ALL, but have all the potential in the world to harm us by causing cancer. All those machines do is make sheeple feel like Daddy gubberment is taking care of its little lambs, when in reality, its doing NOTHING.
I agree, the TSA agents are nothing but on power trips. Most of them have no security training or background, and likely have criminal records themselves. They get put in a uniform and given all this power and they LOVE pushing it around. I loved reading the story from a person who made the mistake of trying to ask to be searched so she wouldn’t miss her flight and having the TSA agent scream at her, “DON’T YOU DISRESPECT ME!” Or another traveler who asked if he could pull his pants up now (he was made to drop his pants, in front of everyone, no privacy) to show the TSA agent the scar in his knee because his fake knee set off the metal detector. He too was screamed at with the TSA agent pounding his chest shrieking “I AM POWER! I AM POWER!” That man and his wife had to miss their 50th wedding anniversary trip because the TSA thought he was being cheeky for asking to pull his own damn pants up.
Does that make you feel safer sheeple? Because it makes me feel sick.
TheWall Reply:
December 13th, 2010 at 2:52 pm
You’re not a woman, are you? Neither am I, but I remember enough from the birth of my daughter nine years ago to know that a lactating mother’s breasts will stop supplying milk if they are not periodically emptied, they get uncomfortable when they are full, and breast milk isn’t exactly like a tap water out of the faucet — it’s not an inexhaustible supply; it takes your body time to make more.
Regarding TSA aren’t nice…no @#^!!!, Einstein. That’s the problem. Rather than being professional and trying to minimize passenger discomfort at the security checkpoints, TSOs (not all, but enough) tend to act like juvenile delinquents given their first taste of authority. They are on a power trip. That’s a Problem, and if you think that the best response to that is lie there and take it, well, that’s your choice, but it’s not one many of us — myself including — are willing to accept. “Land of the Free”? Hah! Not if *your* attitude is any indication. This country is *supposed* to be built on the precept that we follow the law, but the TSA just seems to be making the law up as they go. That’s abuse, and I, for one, won’t stand for it.
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