Posted on 01/23/2012 9:33:20 AM PST by for-q-clinton
Kentucky Republican Sen. Rand Paul’s press secretary Moira Bagley tweeted on Monday that Transportation Security Administration officials were detaining her boss in Nashville, Tenn.
“Just got a call from @senrandpaul,” Bagley tweeted at about 10 a.m. on Monday. “He’s currently being detained by TSA in Nashville.”
Texas Congressman and current Republican presidential candidate Ron Paul – Sen. Rand Paul’s father – placed a post on Facebook about the news as well. “My son Rand is currently being detained by the TSA at the Nashville Airport,” Ron Paul posted. “I’ll share more details as the situation unfolds.”
Ron Paul adds, via Twitter, that the TSA detained his son “for refusing full body pat-down after anomaly in body scanner.”
Sen. Rand Paul’s Facebook page has a post about the incident too. “Senator Paul is being detained at the Nashville Airport by the TSA,” Sen. Rand Paul’s Facebook post reads. “We will update you as the situation develops.”
Sen. Rand Paul’s chief of staff Doug Stafford told The Daily Caller the Senator “was detained by the TSA after their scanner had an ‘anomaly’ on the first scan.”
“He offered to go through again,” Stafford said in an email. “The TSA said he could only have a full body pat down. He would not consent to it. He offered to go through the scanner again. The situation is ongoing.”
Sen. Rand Paul has previously referred to the TSA’s use of full body pat downs as the “universality of insult,” and he called on the agency to end the tactic.
“I think you ought to get rid of the random pat-downs,” Sen. Rand Paul said in June 2011. “The American public is unhappy with them, they’re unhappy with the invasiveness of them.”
Spokespeople for the Department of Homeland Security, which oversees the TSA, have not returned requests for comment.
UPDATE 11:35 a.m.:
The TSA says Sen. Rand Paul “was not detained at any point” but “triggered an alarm during routine airport screening and refused to complete the screening process in order to resolve the issue.”
“Passengers, as in this case, who refuse to comply with security procedures are denied access to the secure gate area,” the TSA adds. “He was escorted out of the screening area by local law enforcement.”
“The passenger was screened by millimeter wave imaging technology using automated target recognition,” the TSA continues. “This technology uses the same generic image for all passengers to further protect passengers privacy. When an alarm occurs a yellow box indicates where an anomaly is. A targeted pat down is used to resolve the alarm.”
TSA spokesman Michael McCarthy told The Daily Caller that “when an irregularity is found during the TSA screening process, it must be resolved prior to allowing a passenger to proceed to the secure area of the airport. Passengers who refuse to complete the screening process cannot be granted access to the secure area in order to ensure the safety of others traveling.”
UPDATE 12:10 p.m.
Sen. Rand Paul’s chief of staff Doug Stafford responded to the TSA’s claim that the senator was “not detained at any point. “Well, I don’t know what bureaucrat manuals call it, but: an innocent American citizen who was offering to cooperate while also attempting to stop an invasive search was not allowed to proceed without complying,” Stafford said in an email to TheDC.
“ps. I bet Senator Rand had cupcakes hidden on him.”
My money’s on “special” brownies.
..Paul was scheduled to speak to the March for Life today in Washington D.C., an annual rally by anti-abortion rights activists held on the anniversary of the Supreme Court ruling Roe w. Wade. It looks like that won't happen.
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Go Rand!
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Yo, TSA, that sounds very much like you did indeed detain him.
Hubby called this morning saying he'd heard this on the radio and laughed saying he doesn't know why he's ever surprised FR got it first.
“TSA operators are the product of our government educational system, and not from the better end of the IQ curve.”
****
After reading the qualification requirements for TSA applicants, it looks like a high school dropout with a GED diploma and a year of mall security work would qualify. I suspect that’s more than what the majority of TSA agents have for credentials and experience.
In most metro areas, the common requirement seems to be a “minority” who dislikes white people. The “random” screening means you’re the random Caucasian they decide to pick on.
I always “opt out”.
Last time I did, they didn’t even have me walk through the conventional magnetometer, and I got a rather perfunctory pat-down.
I could have had metal weapons secreted on/in my person.
““He was escorted out of the screening area by local law enforcement.”
That is detained. That is not held, but it is detained.”
True but its also a clue as to how we can attack it from the outside. Notice Local Law enforcement. We can get our local leaders to refuses to cooperate.
Then I recommend you lead the charge to change the constitution. But the constitution is clear on this...I guess we could just go on ignoring it like we already do.
Notice Local Law enforcement. We can get our local leaders to refuses to cooperate.
Representative Patrick J. Kennedy crashed his car into a traffic barrier on Capitol Hill in the early morning hours on Thursday. He said he was apparently disoriented because he had been taking Ambien, the sleeping pill, and another medication.
Mr. Kennedy, a Rhode Island Democrat, said he drove to the Capitol at about 2:45 a.m. in the mistaken belief that he needed to vote. The House was not in session, having adjourned at 11:59 p.m. on Wednesday.
Roll Call, a Capitol Hill newspaper, said a police union official had written a letter to the Capitol police chief asserting that Mr. Kennedy appeared to be staggering when he left his car. But, it said, police officers at the scene were not allowed by their supervisors to perform a sobriety test. Roll Call quoted the letter as saying Capitol police officials gave Mr. Kennedy a ride home.
Unless this happens to a prominent Democrat (or minority), nothing will change.
It's all politically motivated, the fact not withstanding that the TSA goons themselves may be oblivious to that fact. I'm not saying Rand was singled out for who he is, but rather that the motivations for running every flying American traveler through this circus has more to do with politics, political theater and political power than it has to do with legitimate security.
Keep in mind that the average human has one lactating breast, one testicle, one ovary, etc. I reckon they could pull over just about anyone, and the better...> ahem < their assets, the more they might not fit the 'profile', and thus require a 'pat down' grope.
TSA did not detain the US Senator like they did not pull those old ladies’ pants down! I beleive the TSA sexual perverts! Everyone’s lying; trying to make Jan the Man and Obammy look bad!
And the DOJ did not run guns to Mexico and President O baaaa ma does not pay off his donars with billions in energy contracts! All the economic stimulous money was spent in the US! Obamacare has no death panels! Everyone will get to keep their health insurance and costs will go down! Democracy will be great for the Middle East and the Muslim Brotherhood are moderate Muslims! /s/
If they are gloating, he should tie them in knots. This is waaaaar!
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