Yet another reason to take the train

I know there have been a lot of posts on this forum & articles linked here about the TSA, but this is my favorite story yet. In order to get on an airplane nowadays, you must submit to either A) Scanning by a machine that may be detrimental to your health & produces nude pictures of you, or B) a personal examination more thorough than your doctor will probably ever give you. I think my choice will be C) take the train!

"I looked him straight in the eye and said 'If you touch my junk I'll have you arrested.'"

D.P. Roberts said:

I know there have been a lot of posts on this forum & articles linked here about the TSA, but this is my favorite story yet. In order to get on an airplane nowadays, you must submit to either A) Scanning by a machine that may be detrimental to your health & produces nude pictures of you, or B) a personal examination more thorough than your doctor will probably ever give you. I think my choice will be C) take the train!

"I looked him straight in the eye and said 'If you touch my junk I'll have you arrested.'"

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What has that got to do with taking trains? When they start a train service fro New York to say London that goes there in 7 hours or one to San Fran that goes in six, let us know and we will consider. Until then.....

Where it makes practical sense to take a train, many of us already do so anyway, TSA or not.

And BTW, I am one of the ones that has been posting a lot of the material critical of the TSA. I don't think there really is a need to start yet another thread on the subject in the inappropriate "Amtrak Rail Discussion" forum. This has very little to do with Amtrak.

I find it disturbing that as a nation we have come to this. The terrorists have won an overwhelming victory and most people don't even recognize it.

The problem is that we have become a nation of sheep willing to accept any and all loss of liberty that our government wants to impose on us. When we stop being cowards and stand for what is just and for what is right only then will we see positive change. I refuse to lick the boots of the TSA thugs and if security on a train comes to having to undergo the same dehumanizing, degrading, personal intrusion to my liberty, I will refuse to take any public transportation. Now watch this post as another SHEEP will come on and say that the TSA procedures are for your own good. Funny thing is that the Communists and the ***** used the same argument.

ALC_Rail_Writer said:

Was escorted out of the airport. What did you expect?

Nov. 15) -- A California man got thrown out of San Diego's airport when he refused a revealing full-body scan and then an alternative pat-down, telling a Transportation Security Agent, "If you touch my junk, I'll have you arrested."

John Tyner, 31, said he was told he could face a civil lawsuit and a $10,000 fine for leaving the screening area before the security check was complete, according to news reports and his blog

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Rest of the article

Link to his blog

Well what did he expect would happen, if he put up enough of a fuss that they'd just let him board? I wouldn't be surprised if it has happened-- still.

Too bad it never crossed his mind to take a train, bus, or drive.

Whatever you think of the man I find the TSA's comments quite-- upsettingly honest. They admitted that buying an airplane ticket is a form of contract that surrenders your rights. If this is true it should be subject to contract law, which would exempt those under 18 (who cannot enter a legally binding contract) and many other groups, including those who don't speak English (if a contract in their native tongue isn't provided). Of course this won't happen, "if this wasn't the government..."

Incidentally I'd figure it's molestation, not assault.

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IMHO, this man is simply enacting his right to protest. If he was arrested, instead of simply shown the door, he would have been able to have his day-in-court.

As with any Democracy, we as citizens have the duty to put limits on what our government can do, and not do, to ourselves and to our fellow citizens. Feeling up my "junk" is a reasonable limit to question and debate. If feeling up a male's "junk" is OK, then is feeling into a female also OK too (body cavity search)? :help:

I am not as sure as you are, that one's ticket with a privately owned airline has any direct binding obligations to, and with, the TSA.

If the "Shoe Bomber"or "Underwear Bomber" had been sucessful, we would not be having this discussion. As has been said before, terrorists only nceed to be successful once, on the other hand security can never fail. Let someone set off a bomb in any New York rail or subway tunnel, then "The Public" will demand severe security measures.

Yes we would. The success or failure of an act of terrorism is not whether they blow up a plane, but whether they make us fearful and paranoid.

The underwear bomber was successful, and that is WHY we are having this discussion.

ALC_Rail_Writer said:

Yes we would. The success or failure of an act of terrorism is not whether they blow up a plane, but whether they make us fearful and paranoid.

The underwear bomber was successful, and that is WHY we are having this discussion.

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And the irony of it all is that none of this will stop the body orifice bomber. None of these fancy devices can detect those, and it is debatable whether they can reliably detect a well engineered underwear bomb either. And then what?

I remember an episode of Star Trek: Voyager where a Kazon terrorist was, himself, a bomb who blew his entire body up at a critical moment during a battle.

ALC_Rail_Writer said:

I remember an episode of Star Trek: Voyager where a Kazon terrorist was, himself, a bomb who blew his entire body up at a critical moment during a battle.

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Not science fiction, body bombs are surgically implanted.

al-Qaeda body bombs.

I think this is one of the reasons we need to have a comprehensive rail-passenger system connecting all major cities and points in-between, even if it loses a few bucks. We need to have some way to get around in the LIKELY event we experience another 9/11-type terrorist attack.

I was going to fly from Cleveland to Tucson this spring but after the new TSA assaults on passengers was put into effect I canceled those plans. I am more than happy to take the extra travel time and pay allot more to do our traveling by Amtrak in order not to submit to the TSA radiation or physical assault policy. I, like others I'm sure, suffer from certain mental issues in which we have issues with being touched. For those with such mental issues either from military service, childhood trauma or adult trauma these policies become a big issue. Let alone the combination of being touched by a stranger against their will would more than likely run a high probability of either a psychotic break very violent freak out which could lead to the death of others and/or themselves.

The TSA policies do nothing to stop terrorist that want to cause terror by killing people and disrupt travel. The terrorist doesn’t have to get on a plane at an airport to compete his sick and twisted mission.

I am glad Amtrak is there to allow me to keep my plans. But if Amtrak also adopts the TSA policies then I’ll abandon them as well and just drive or stop traveling all together.