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I am so angry right now I can hardly contain myself.

I dropped my wife and daughter off this morning at Hobby Airport for their trip to California. My wife sent me a text that when she went through the metal detector with the stroller, a TSA agent pulled her aside and informed her that she had triggered "an alarm". They escorted my wife and daughter to a private room where they proceeded to strip search my wife down to her underwear and toss all of her baggage. Thankfully, they did not touch my 8 month old daughter. After they found nothing, they let my wife get dressed and she threw some colorful language at them and told them exactly where they could go. They, of course, could not understand why people were getting so upset over them "just doing their jobs."

She did not press for any more of an explanation because this made her late for her flight, which she thankfully caught. And her being wise enough to know how mad she was, probably would have not gotten very far anyways.

I am sick and tired of these jack boots with Federal protection and now it really hits home! I'm already sitting down tonight to write my representatives, both senators and the governor. What else should I be doing? Is there any thing else I can do? I've never felt so angry and yet helpless at the same time. I wasn't the one that was severely violated but it sure feels like it.

The stroller should have gone on the belt and carry baby. Sorry to say I bet she set off the alarm, now the TSA should have fore warned her. I had an incident a long time ago were I knew my shoes would not beep so I wore them through and I was pulled aside and had my shoes blotted for explosives and yes they warned me before to remove my shoes.

The odd part about it is she's gone through with the stroller several times. Regardless I thought the measures were pretty draconian and humiliating.

SQLGeek wrote:The odd part about it is she's gone through with the stroller several times. Regardless I thought the measures were pretty draconian and humiliating.

Regardless of protests to the contrary, that is the whole idea - draconian and humiliating. These are lessons in subservience, not security protocols.

...a great majority of the complaints are because the TSA personnel are NOT sensitive and polite...but are overbearing, rude, and heavy-handed...you can do the same thing two different ways and trigger two different responses...little people with a lot of authority seldom handle it well...

speedsix wrote:...little people with a lot of authority seldom handle it well...

...and that goes all the way to the top of that department.

chasfm11 wrote:

speedsix wrote:...little people with a lot of authority seldom handle it well...

...and that goes all the way to the top of that department.

Why can't dwarfs handle having a position of authority?

CrimsonSoul wrote:

chasfm11 wrote:

speedsix wrote:...little people with a lot of authority seldom handle it well...

...and that goes all the way to the top of that department.

Why can't dwarfs handle having a position of authority?

Because it's over their head?

Got a chance to talk to her some. Turns out they had taken the stroller off to the side and swabbed it. My guess is there was some false positive for explosives. For the life of me, I can't imagine what might've been on the stroller to set off their stupid machine. I've calmed down some but I'm still angry.

Personally, I choose to drive a lot of the times I could fly, partially because of the TSA hassles and partially because of the hassle of flying, nowadays, period.

That said, imagine how you would feel if your wife and child were on a plane and because the TSA did not investigate a positive alarm, some skell hijacked the flight, or, blew it up.

No one likes TSA and their methods, but no one wants to return to the days when folks could hijack an airliner without much effort.

I find the course of action the T.S.A. took to be completely out of the bounds of "reasonable" in accordance with the 4th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution.

IMO, there needs to be a lot more citizens filing suit against the T.S.A. for the violation of constitutionally protected rights, as these stories are just.....infuriating.

Barring legal action, only a massive boycott of T.S.A. served transportation services could initiate change for the better.

I drove to California in May precisely because of TSA. We were just talking about it last night, and my wife has decided, like I have, that there just isn't any place in the country that I have to be there fast enough to need to fly. If I can't get there by car, I'm not interested in going.

SQLGeek wrote:Got a chance to talk to her some. Turns out they had taken the stroller off to the side and swabbed it. My guess is there was some false positive for explosives. For the life of me, I can't imagine what might've been on the stroller to set off their stupid machine. I've calmed down some but I'm still angry.

Do you reload?

Is the stroller kept in the garage with reloading components?

Just a thought.

gigag04 wrote:

SQLGeek wrote:Got a chance to talk to her some. Turns out they had taken the stroller off to the side and swabbed it. My guess is there was some false positive for explosives. For the life of me, I can't imagine what might've been on the stroller to set off their stupid machine. I've calmed down some but I'm still angry.

Do you reload?

Is the stroller kept in the garage with reloading components?

Just a thought.

Exactly what I was thinking...