Posted on 06/26/2010 9:45:45 AM PDT by JoeProBono
WESTLAKE, Ohio, - The name of a 6-year-old Ohio girl wound up on the U.S. Homeland Security Department's "no fly" list, her parents say.
Alyssa Thomas of Westlake found herself in that unwanted company when the family took a trip from Cleveland to Minneapolis recently, Cleveland's WJW-TV reported Friday.
"We were, like, puzzled," said her father, Dr. Santhosh Thomas. "I'm like, well, she's kinda 6 years old and this is not something that should be typical.
"She may have threatened her sister, but I don't think that constitutes Homeland Security triggers."
Despite the snafu, the family was allowed to complete its trip and the Thomases later contacted Homeland Security to clear up the matter.
The TV station says Alyssa got a letter from the government, notifying her there really was no problem because the watch list only started applying to domestic flights this month. A Transportation Security Administration representative wouldn't comment on the specifics of her case but noted "the watch lists are an important layer of security to prevent individuals with known or suspected ties to terrorism from flying."
“an important layer of security to prevent individuals with known or suspected ties to terrorism from flying.”
Like this 6 year old.
He's lucky there isn't a "no-fly" list for "like" butchering the English language.
Hey, the system worked. What’s the problem?
The ‘watch lists’ are the equivalent of liberal revenge mechanisms haphazardly used and to no useful purpose.
She probably told a school administrator “I like babees” or “my cuzin is fiting bad peeple in Erak” and he contacted homeland security.
which makes her a right wing domestic terrorist...
Someone needs to remind the Dems about things like this whenever they bring up the stupid idea of using the no fly list to prevent the purchasing of firearms.
/johnny
Was on a flight and the woman in the row in front of us had a screaming (about) 4 year old. She would hold him over her shoulder so he was screaming right in our face. The guy in the seat next to them had the most fun when the kid turned his head and vomited all over him.
Shoot, all she could terrorize is milk and cookies.
No fly lists should contain only names that start or end with “Muhammad”.
It could be worse, they culd have had one of those turtle bombs.
lol
Just goes to show you can be a Doctor and also be an idot.
Santhosh Thomas, D.O., M.B.A.
Department: Orthopaedic Surgery
But L yeah, the border is WIDE open, come on in, nobody will do a thing!
We even have safe zones for the terrorist, illegals, and drug cartel—places American citizens and Border patrol aren’t allowed to go!
Keeping America safe for criminals, that’s our new Homeland Security motto—we must protect your right to be criminal at all costs!
Please be aware we harass small children (they’re easier to handle than adults and prob’ly don’t know they have rights) in order to keep your suspicions of profiling to a minimal, we don’t want to offend any of our dear terrorist and criminals!
If you desire free visiting accommodations, please visit ICE, we will provide you with fruit baskets, fresh flowers, a gym, movie nights and accommodate your visitors—at the end of your stay, we will fly you home for free.
I cannot imagine contacting a TV station if this happened to my family. Obviously this family knew it was a mistake.
Why do people have to make such a big deal about some things and contact the media?
like, buy a clue, dude.
Just OY. He's a PhD. I can't get a job because this moron has a PhD in the geometry of the 15th electron on the Hydrogen Molecule from some dump in India, makes 300 grand a year, and talks like valley girl. probably doesn't wear socks, either.
Oh, how the mighty (that's us) have fallen.
There’s a twisted sort of logic here:
when no-one is allowed to fly, there will be no more terrorist threats from passengers on planes.
“Little Jeffrey. I remember his name, not because he said, “I’m four years old,” but because Jeffrey’s mother said his name all 2500 miles of the trip.” - Bill Cosby
Wait... doesn’t Hydrogen only have one electron...
I can and I have never contacted a TV station before. That would probably do more good than contacting the government.
Obviously this family knew it was a mistake.
An incredibly stupid mistake which says something about flaws in the current no-fly list system.
Why do people have to make such a big deal about some things and contact the media?
This passes the test for a relevant news item, albeit a minor one.
Thanks for the laugh!!!!!!!
my MIL called the media for everything. Her cousins in town! Call the paper!
Really she was shameless.
I’m sure there are plenty of 6 year olds who SHOULD be on the no-fly list, but only if their parents or a close relative is also on it. These sickos wouldn’t hesitate to stuff their young children with explosives so they can sneak through security and blow up a plane full of innocent people.
To my knowledge, I’ve heard of no 6yr old strapped with bombs trying to board a plane or blowing up a plane (certainly a child wouldn’t pilot or overtake the plane).
The only place I’ve ever read of bomb-strapped children, are in places that we have been at war with some country (on their turf) and the Palestinians using children to attack Israel.
I don’t see that as much of a threat compared to the illegals and all the other trash that is able to fly.
No fly for children, congressmen, nuns—that’s PC crap to make everybody comfortable that we are equal opportunity offenders of citizen rights.
We don’t profile, see this 6 year old...this 80 year old nun.
It’s all a shell game.
I don’t know about that, I think Muhammad in the middle probably should suffice, and I’m not sure about names that involve Hussein, Ali, Ishmael, or Ibrahim, with or without Muhammad.
Hey, cut him some slack: Santhosh is an Indian subcontinent name, he’s probably a native speaker of the Indian dialect of English and learned the American dialect from his kids.
As I understand it in the 25-and-under American dialect, “I’m like” if followed by a clause indicates that the clause is something the speaker thought, if followed by an adjective or adjectival phrase indicating an emotional state indicates that that indication of emotional state approximately describes the emotional state of the speaker. Odd construction that, hard to find a parallel in either standard American or standard British English, but there it is.
that’s like, so tripendicular
LOL!
OTOH. even I don't think a 6 year old should be permitted to purchase a handgun
Seems the no fly list is unconstitutional as it denies our right to travel by commercial conveyance without due process. By simple degree the federal government says you may not purchase a commerically available transport. What’s next, we cannot leave our homes without a government issued pass just like in the old Soviet Union?
I generally agree that children shouldn’t buy handguns, but that should be up to the parents and a business decision made by the person selling the firearm, not because of any governmental regulation.
Barack, Hussein and Obama are all names, singly or in any combination that should immediately qualify for the no-fly list.
They haven’t used children to blow up a plane YET, though they’ve attempted to use a couple of young adult males whose mental age was definitely in the “child” zone (the shoe-bomber and the crotch-bomber, both of whom did indeed have real explosives concealed on them). I’m fine with putting little kids on the no-fly list if they’re close relatives of real jihad promoters. But independent placement of a child this age on the list is obviously some bureaucratic drone’s screw-up.
LOL!
Maybe the mother and swapped names with her daughter.
Someone should start a comic strip about TSA.
I believe it would be a hit.
They should just go to Mexico and walk back across the border and claim to be illegals and all will be well.
No government agency will touch them from that point on and they’ll get all kinds of free handouts.
I was on a flight recently where a woman let her 2 year old do whatever she wanted because if she tried to belt the girl in for take off and landing, the girl screamed bloody murder.
So the mother let her crawl around the seat during landing and the flight attendants turned a blind eye.
I could see who is in charge in that family.
Spoken like a dyed in the wool socialist, nanny stater.
Do you also favor convicting people of crimes they MIGHT commit just because you are suspicious of them?
Why don't you go back to DU where that kind of support of big government interference and control is welcome?
And there is way too much of that going on, IMO. My children were taught discipline and respect. Just like I was.
"The system worked."
You need to read someone’s posting history.
And if that’s not enough, I can provide some real eye opening material.
Think it through.
Said close relatives of that child should be on the no fly list themselves already. There’s no need to put the child on a no-fly list if his close family already is because it’s highly unlikely that he’d be traveling like that without them.
Plus, considering the size of your average six year old, just how *full of explosives* can you pack one of them?
Now, theoretically, any six year old with terrorist relative connections that is being send on a flight all by himself that looks unusually bulky, lumpy or padded, ought to raise red flags with whatever security agency is screening passengers, but that is presuming that the security agency is capable of exercising common sense and admittedly, that is a bit of a stretch.
No, I wouldn’t want to fly on a plane with terrorists, but like I pointed out, THEY - the adults- should already be on the no fly list. There’s no need to put a six year old on in that case.
I appreciate the freedom related issues, but I just think the fact that a child is that age doesn’t preclude them from being a potential security threat. They might not fly with the parents, they might fly with someone else.
Probably “no fly” would be too much, unless the person was in the family of an actual suicide bomber. Is there an “additional layer of security” list, that doesn’t go as far as “no fly”?
I don’t have a problem that if the parents are on the no fly list, their children would be by default, but that’s primarily presuming that the children would be flying with the parents in the first place. If the child ISN’T flying with them at that age, it should send up red flags and be much more thoroughly screened.
I guess my point is that if the parents aren’t on the no fly list, the six year old child shouldn’t be either. This situation that the thread is about, shouldn’t come up.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.