Marti Oakley
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I find it more than strange that the government knows exactly who I am if I owe taxes, if I get a ticket, when I apply for a drivers license, or in a myriad of other settings….but suddenly has amnesia when I attempt to board a plane. Now, by October 1, 2018, thanks to the failure of the Minnesota legislature, who, in pursuit of Federal largesse, failed to act to protect Minnesota residents from federal encroachment and over-reach, I must have a biometric marked ID or passport to board a plane. And TSA is now installed in many train stations and bus stations.
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You need to biometrically brand me? I need a passport to travel in my own country? You’ve been tracking me since the day I was born and suddenly you can’t be sure who I am? This after admitting that allegedly 20 million or more people have entered the US illegally, many working under assumed names, fake ID’s and millions who have simply disappeared into the country?
A recent trip that included destinations in five states, resulted in me and thousands of other individuals, being subjected to invasive assaults from TSA officers under the guise of “keeping us all safe”. The question that comes to mind immediately after these assaults is: Who is going to keep us safe from the TSA?
By far, the worst experience was at the Lindbergh terminal in Minneapolis, Minnesota. This airport is a study in chaos, mismanagement and particularly venomous TSA agents. Of course, if you are one of those individuals convinced that even after passing through the scanners that for some reason you must now be groped, patted, grabbed, mashed, and verbally assaulted by these otherwise unemployable individuals who are now sporting a uniform and a badge, I assume this physical assault is just fine.
After all, almost 20 years ago they blew up buildings with planes in New York. I was reminded of this at the Lindbergh terminal after having my hands swabbed with a strip used to detect dangerous chemicals. Having had this done numerous times on numerous trips, when the agent swabbed my hands and told me to move on….I did. I did not realize that a new step in this process had been added and that included yet another agent located to my right about 12 feet away, in a small cubicle with a scanner for analysis of the strip. (In other airports this scanner is right there by the agent who swabs you) As I moved to the left to retrieve my purse from the bin, I heard a woman screaming: “Don’t you dare! You get yourself over here! Don’t even think about it! You get yourself over here right now!”
I, of course, looked around to see not only who was screaming, but whom was she screaming at? You guessed it! It was me! As I walked towards her I asked her why she was screaming. She went on a diatribe about how I had to stand there until the analysis was finished, and I better not move until it was complete. Being me, I of course expressed my disgust with this type of behavior, knowing it to be an intimidation tactic and also totally unnecessary. Then comes MR.TSA!! He ran over to where I was and immediately went into a soliloquy about how buildings were blown up in this country and it could happen again and their job was to make sure it didn’t. He ended with saying he thought about this every day. Doubtful Mr. TSA, very doubtful. (PS: I didn’t blow up any buildings in New York or anywhere else for that matter, but you already knew that) More
The Rutherford Institute
