Free Republic

CALWATCHDOG - Retribution in politics isn’t unusual. Every year we witness members of the Legislature receiving punishment from party leadership, often followed by banishment to a tiny office and committee assignments taken away. That’s the prerogative of party leadership. However, Assemblywoman Norma Torres, D-Chino, has taken aim at a fellow member of the Assembly in a very public way. Torres authored AB 2182, which would require a police officer to arrest anyone for carrying a concealed handgun into an airport without a concealed weapons permit. In the Assembly Monday, Torres said that last year there were 64 such gun incidents...

The underwear bomb that surfaced in Yemen this month has reignited concern that al-Qaeda's bomb-makers are finding innovative ways to hide explosive devices - even placing them within the body. How worried should we be? A body cavity device would be just the latest chapter in the deadly cat and mouse game played between al-Qaeda and Western security officials when it comes to aviation. The terror group has consistently sought out new means of evading airport security regimes.

The Palestinian Airlines, which had been suspended for seven years, has resumed operations with flights between Egypt’s El-Arish and Amman, its director general told AFP on Thursday. The renewal of operations was facilitated by an agreement reached between the Palestinian Transportation Ministry and the authorities in Egypt and Jordan. The airline was forced to shut down after an onslaught of Arab terrorism during second Intifada caused Israel to retaliate, damaging the roadways. “We started yesterday from Amman to El-Arish and from El-Arish to Amman,” Palestinian Airlines director general Zeyad Albad said. “We are going to have flights from El-Arish to...

Eighteen-month-old Riyanna has been called a lot of things: cute, adorable and now ... a suspected terrorist. Related She was called that on Tuesday night at the Ft Lauderdale Airport. She and her parents had just boarded a JetBlue flight when an airline employee approached them and asked them to get off the plane, saying representatives from the Transportation Security Agency wanted to speak to them. ..more at link

WASHINGTON — A Sikh advocacy group launched a free mobile application Monday that allows travelers to complain immediately to the government if they feel they've been treated unfairly by airport screeners. Launched at midnight by The Sikh Coalition, the FlyRights app had fielded two complaints by 10 a.m. EDT Monday. The first complaint came from a woman who said she felt mistreated after she disclosed to a screener that she was carrying breast milk. A man who is Sikh filed the second complaint, saying he was subjected to extra security even though he had not set off any alarms. The...

The Transportation Security Administration said the number of guns its agents have found on travelers at airports across Texas is up, with the biggest spike at Dallas Love Field. This month alone, TSA agents seized six guns at Love Field -- 15 so far this year. Compare that to just 1 gun during the same time frame, last year. Despite checking in more than three times the number of passengers, the agency seized 16 guns so far this year at Dallas/Fort Worth International Airport -- just one more than at Love Field. All of the travelers had concealed handgun licenses...

Mother Of Child With Cerebral Palsy Says TSA Treated Daughter "Like Osama Bin Laden" A TSA agent at JFK "started screaming at me and cursing me and threatening me," says a Long Island man who used his cell phone to videotape what he describes as an unnecessarily "aggressive" security screening of his developmentally disabled daughter. Dr. Joshua Frank, a Long Island pediatrician, is the father of Dina Frank, a girl with cerebral palsy who walks with crutches and leg braces. She can't pass through metal detectors for this reason, and is usually patted down by security agents, a procedure that...

As head of the Transportation Security Administration (TSA) from 2005 to 2009, Kip Hawley was the public face of an agency despised by millions of Americans. Today, he says that hatred is understandable because the agency’s approach to airport security is “broken,” arguing that it should forgo standardized procedures and a focus on prohibited items in favor of increased flexibility and mitigating risk.

Port of Portland police say a 49-year-old man stripped naked at Portland International Airport as a protest against airport security screeners. The incident report said John E. Brennan's actions Tuesday evening caused some passengers to cover their eyes and their children's eyes while others looked, laughed and took photos. Two screening lanes were temporarily closed.

AI member Tyler relays a tale of wanton death and destruction that was only narrowly averted by the vigilance of our friends who work for the Transportation Safety Administration. We’re not sure what Tyler was thinking – trying to carry such a dangerous item on board a commercial aircraft – but here’s his story . . . I had the friendly people at TSA notify me when I tried to get on a flight to Alaska (where I work around bears) this morning that a disassembled bolt for a Ruger m77 is not, in fact, a nicely machined paper weight...

Police detained two leftist activists Sunday at Ben Gurion International Airport Sunday afternoon after they held up signs that said "Welcome to Palestine." Forty anti-Israeli activists were refused entry into Israel in the hours between Saturday night and 3:00 p.m. Sunday. They were all taken to questioning in the Interior Ministry office at the airport, pending their repatriation. The two leftists unfurled the signs immediately after Police Central District Commander Maj. Gen. Bentzi Sau gave reporters a briefing on the situation. As they were led away, nationalist Israeli activists shouted at them: "Go see what is going on in Syria!"...

The TSA’s Freudian Craigslist Slip Either someone just attempted the subtlest of jabs at our nation's force of uncomfortably invasive rent-a-cops or the recruiters at the Transportation Security Administration need to invest in a better thesaurus. A job posting on the Ann Arbor, Michigan Craigslist invites would-be screeners to "[b]e part of a imperious security team protecting airports and skies as you proudly establish your future." Imperious, indeed. The Dictionary.com definition of imperious is "domineering in a haughty manner; dictatorial; overbearing." The definition from Google is even better, describing it as "assuming authority without justification." If it was a joke...

ATLANTA — The new $1.4 billion international terminal at the world's busiest airport will be a sleek launching pad for millions of passengers that's designed to help Atlanta grab a growing share of the lucrative market for global travelers. Its wavy lines, expansive windows and eye-catching artwork offer a stark contrast to the boxy design of the rest of Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport. Airport managers are already expecting an increase in international travelers over the next decade, and they hope the terminal set to open May 16 will convince airlines to route even more of their overseas flights through the...

Authorities in Oklahoma City are investigating a Feb. 20 incident in which a handcuffed man, accused of trying to sneak past a security checkpoint at Will Rogers World Airport, was reportedly dragged, face-down, by his feet after being tased several times by Oklahoma City Police officers, according to News9.com in Oklahoma.The incident was captured by surveillance cameras. (Video at link)

Airport to possibly become Bill and Hillary Clinton National Airport Posted: Mar 16, 2012 3:12 PM PDT Updated: Mar 16, 2012 3:29 PM PDT Little Rock Municipal Airport Commission members will be discussing and voting on a possible name change at Tuesday's meeting. The proposal suggests that the Little Rock National Airport be renamed the Bill and Hillary Clinton National Airport in honor of President Bill Clinton and Secretary of State Hillary Clinton. According to the drafted resolution, the name change will celebrate the Clinton Family because they have "dedicated their lives to the service of not only the City...

Most airline passengers pack a toothbrush and fresh underwear in their luggage, while others carry land mines, grenade launchers, swords and mortar shells. Not only does the U.S. Transportation Security Administration (TSA) confiscate four handguns a day among the contraband it takes from airline customers, its agents once seized a stun gun concealed as lipstick and found a dagger hidden inside a hairbrush, according to weekly updates on The TSA blog. "If I'm going with the weirdest, it would have to be the guy who had all the snakes in his pants," recalled Bob Burns, 41, who writes online for...

A toddler in a wheelchair is stopped by the TSA at ORD (O'Hare Airport in Chicago) and forced to into a sequestered area. On his way to a family vacation in Disney, this 3 year old boy is in a body cast for a broken leg. Despite assurances from his father that "everything is ok", he is physically trembling with fear while he watches his two siblings, mother, father, grandfather and grandmother pass through along with everyone else...only to be singled out.

An idea long overdue in my opinion. The Wall Street Journal reports that a pilot program is already in place for two airlines at nine airports where you can skip the TSA nudie scans and gropings, zipping through the airport almost as fast as you did before 9/11. You can leave on your shoes, your belt, your coat and your hat. All you’ll have to do is go through a “pre-screening� background check process and sit down for an interview with an official. Oh, and there’s one other catch… it will cost you $100. The Transportation Security Administration is rolling...

Suspected Iranian Blew Off His Own Leg In A Botched Terror Attack In Bangkok Robert JohnsonFeburary 14, 2012 One day after bombs targeting Israeli embassy staff went off in India and Georgia, another botched attack played out this morning in Bangkok. Through several reports, the incident appears to have played out something like this: Saeib Morabi, a suspected Iranian, was fleeing an explosion that rocked through his rented home in central Bangkok. While he was on the road looking for transportation, another explosion went off "on a nearby road." When Morabi finally managed to flag down a cab, the driver...

SAN ANTONIO (Reuters) - Federal prosecutors dismissed all charges on Friday against an Army Special Forces sergeant who was arrested at a Texas airport on New Year's Eve with 2.5 pounds of the military explosive C-4 in his carry-on luggage.

Long gone may be the days when flying was a luxury though the handling of the airport's terminal is believed by one travel site to still make all the difference to its passengers. Travel website Frommer's has released their list of the top 10 best and worst airport terminals in the world.

A public school teacher was arrested today at John F. Kennedy International Airport as he attempted to board a flight while in possession of a ruler, a protractor, a compass, a slide-rule and a calculator. At a morning press conference, the Attorney General said he believes the man is a member of the notorious Al-Gebra movement. He did not identify the man, who has been charged by the FBI with carrying weapons of math instruction. “Al-Gebra is a problem for us,” the Attorney General said. “They derive solutions by means and extremes, and sometimes go off on tangents in search...

A Tea Party activist busted at La Guardia Airport trying to place his California-licensed handgun into checked baggage got off with a disorderly-conduct charge yesterday. Mark Meckler’s no-jail deal comes as city district attorneys are grappling with a growing number of otherwise law-abiding gun owners who accidentally run afoul of New York’s strict gun-control regulations. “Apparently, this happens to hundreds of people per year in New York City,” Meckler, co-founder of the influential Tea Party Patriots, fumed on his Web site after court today. Similar recent high-profile arrests have sparked calls in the Legislature and by The Post to re-examine...

French aviation authorities said Tuesday they were ready to replace striking airport security personnel with police to minimise travel delays. The strike, which started Friday, has been causing delays at Charles de Gaulle airport and in Lyon. Aviation authorities say they are ready to send in police to replace striking airport security personnel to limit the strike’s impact on travelers leaving for the Christmas holiday weekend. Civil aviation authority DGAC said that the strike - in its 5th day - was causing delays at Paris’ Charles de Gaulle airport and in Lyon. Speaking on France Info radio, Interior Ministry spokesman...

A 6-year-old boy struck by a car at Minneapolis-St. Paul International Airport was listed in fair condition Sunday at Gillette Children's Hospital. Zachary Drew, his mother and three siblings had been on his way to greet his father who was returning from an 11-month tour in Iraq with the Oklahoma National Guard, the boy's mother said Saturday. They were crossing the ramp to the terminal around 8 p.m. Friday when the accident happened. The little boy suffered a broken leg and nose, lost most of his teeth, and he may need reconstructive surgery on his jaw. "This guy turns the...

Mark Meckler, who co-founded the Tea Party Patriots group, was arrested early yesterday morning at New York's LaGuardia airport for illegal possession of a weapon. The Huffington Post quotes his attorney: "While in temporary transit through the state of New York in possession of an unloaded, lawful firearm that was locked in a [Transportation Security Administration]-approved safe, he legally declared his possession of the firearm in his checked baggage at the ticket counter as required by law and in a manner approved by TSA and the airline, yet was arrested by port authority for said possession," Stapleton said. Unloaded, in...

Mark Meckler, co-founder of Tea Party Patriots, one of the largest and most prominent tea-party groups, was arrested today at New York City's LaGuardia Airport on a gun charge – despite showing police his pistol permit and explaining that the weapon is registered in California. "Mark Meckler, an attorney and national coordinator for Tea Party Patriots, who holds a concealed-carry permit from the state of California, today was charged with a firearms violation at LaGuardia Airport in New York City," said Brian Stapleton, Meckler's lawyer, in a statement. "While in temporary transit through the state of New York in possession...

NEW YORK – A leader of a tea party group was arrested after he took a gun to LaGuardia Airport. Tea Party Patriots co-founder Mark Meckler was taken into custody Thursday morning after he tried to check in for a Delta flight to Detroit with a locked gun box containing a Glock pistol and 19 cartridges of ammunition, Queens prosecutors said.

A scare at the busiest airport in the world, as a gun goes off at a security checkpoint at Hartsfield-Jackson airport in Atlanta. The Atlanta Journal-Constitution reports that TSA agents spotted a .22-caliber Magnum in a bag that was going through the x-ray machine on Sunday. It turns out the gun was loaded with small game pellet ammunition known as "snake" bullets. An Atlanta police officer who responded to the scene was trying to unload the gun when it went off. No one was injured, but the officer wrote in his report: “I was grazed by a pellet fragment on...

Most people feel annoyed and a little exposed when they find a TSA inspection note in their luggage. But when blogger Jill Filipovic opened her suitcase after a recent flight, she got a personalized (read: invasive) message along with her notice. Filipovic, a lawyer who writes for the site Feministe, saw that one ever-so-discreet TSA inspector had written some encouraging words on the note he or she slipped into her bag. "Get your freak on girl" read the scribbled remark. And to what did Filipovic owe this bit of unexpected support? The TSA screener had apparently found Filipovic's vibrator in...

The cat fell from a ceiling tile in the customs room.A Bay Area cat lost for two months since it went missing from a baggage center at John F. Kennedy Airport has been found safe. American Airlines reports that the feline, known as Jack the Cat, was found in a customs room and was taken to a veterinarian. A family friend of the owner told NBC that the cat was discovered after it fell from a ceiling tile. Karen Pascoe was flying with Jack and her other cat, Barry, to San Francisco that week to start a new job in...

News of the shootings at Ramón Villeda Morales international airport in San Pedro Sula on Friday evening has now begun to be splattered across the pages of newspapers around the world and broadcast via television and radio. The story has been picked up by the AFP, AP, EFE and UPI news wire services and reported by CNN International. Consequently, it has already been written up in newspapers such as The Washington Post, the Dubuque Telegraph Herald, The Kansas City Star, and Newsday. The headlines read... "6 Killed, 3 Wounded in Honduras Airport Shooting" and "Gunmen Kill 6, Wound 3 in...

Which one is best, La Guargia, JFK or Newark ?

A Southwest flight carrying 115 passengers from Albuquerque, New Mexico, to BWI Airport was diverted to Nashville International Airport due to a passenger's "suspicious behavior," an airline spokesman said.

When Beijing Daxing International airport opens in 2015, the Chinese capital will become the world's busiest aviation hub, handling around 370,000 passengers a day. It is only three years since the opening of Terminal 3 at Beijing Capital Airport, a sweeping structure designed by Sir Norman Foster that is far bigger than all of Heathrow's five terminals combined. But an enormous boom in China's aviation industry has already left the capital's existing facilities stretched to breaking point. "It is impossible to add even one more flight to the tight daily schedule of the Capital airport," said Li Jiaxing, the minister...

Airport Authority chief dismisses Turkish claims of mistreatment by Israeli security officers Turkish officials are twisting reality by claiming that the detention of Israeli passengers at Istanbul airport is related to the mistreatment of Turkish passengers at Ben Gurion Airport, Israel's Airport Authority director general said Monday evening. "The attempt to tie security at Ben-Gurion Airport to the Israel-Turkey relationship does not reflect reality," Kobi Mor said. "The Airport Authority strongly rejects the attempts to tie security procedures undergone by the passengers at Ben Gurion Airport to the relationship between the two states," he said. "Security forces are doing their...

About 40 Israeli passengers on board a Turkish Airlines flight from Tel Aviv to Istanbul were held for several hours by local police on Monday after their passports had been taken away from them. The passengers said that the Turkish police officers were disrespectful, claiming that such an incident was unprecedented. [Snip] Everyone was in shock; we didn't know what they were going to do to us. Obviously this was done intentionally in order to create an unpleasant feeling."

Just headlines so far. "Officials said the employees were working in the mail sorting area when they came across some kind of substance with a strong smell. The substance touched one of the workers' gloves."

The aircraft began arriving Thursday afternoon, and more will be flown to shelter today, according to Capt. Joseph Keith, executive officer for the 134th Air Refueling Wing of the Tennessee Air National Guard.

Orly, France - An airport in France is experimenting with "virtual" boarding agents in a bid to jazz up its terminals with 21st century avatars who always smile, don't need breaks and never go on strike. The pilot project at Paris' Orly airport began last month, and has so far been met with a mix of amusement and surprise by travelers, who frequently try to touch and speak with the strikingly life-like video images that greet them and direct them to their boarding gate. The images materialize seemingly out of thin air when a boarding agent -- a real live

As FAA Shutdown Continues, Obama Pleads With Congress to End Stalemate Published August 03, 2011 | FoxNews.com President Obama ratcheted up the pressure on Congress Wednesday to return from a monthlong vacation and end an impasse over funding the Federal Aviation Administration, which is in the 12th day of a partial shutdown that has left more than 70,000 airport construction workers and 4,000 FAA employees out of work. "This is a lose-lose-lose situation that can be easily solved if Congress gets back into town and does its job," the president said at the start of a Cabinet meeting.

Our Townhall colleague Katie Pavlich first spotted this story a couple of days ago, and now the Boston Herald has a fresh report on a new experiment for the Transportation Safety Administration. Instead of conducting random patdowns or irradiating all passengers, the TSA will try the Israeli screening approach to see whether they can more effectively spot potential threats. But will it work in the US, and does the TSA have the requisite skills and resources? CLICK ABOVE LINK FOR THE VIDEO Boston’s TSA screeners — part of a security force whose competency has come under fire nationwide — soon...

Part of NY's JFK Airport evacuated after bag foundAP – 27 mins ago NEW YORK (AP) — Part of New York City's John F. Kennedy Airport has been evacuated due to a suspicious bag. Steve Coleman of the Port Authority, which runs the airport, says the bag was left in the business class lounge at the American Airlines Terminal 8 around 7:40 a.m. Monday. Terminal 8 was shut down as a precaution. The rest of the airport is still open.

NASHVILLE INT’L AIRPORT — A Wyoming man walked through a TSA checkpoint with a raging erection on Tuesday, daring TSA officers and even fellow passengers to give him an invasive pat down. “I’m next,” Warren Kelvin, 34, screamed as he pushed to the front of the security line. According to TSA officials, Kelvin had ingested two Viagra and wore sweatpants without boxers for his Southwest flight from Nashville to Phoenix.

The new airport screening measures involving millimeter wave technology and backscatter technology — together with the opt-out of a pat-down — have received a great deal of public attention. Back when the new measures were first widely introduced, I blogged about why a Fourth Amendment challenge to the new practices was an uphill battle. Today, the DC Circuit handed down an opinion in EPIC v. Department of Homeland Security holding that the new practices comply with the Fourth Amendment. I believe this is the first clear court ruling on the question, and it’s certainly the first from a federal court...

Old airfield could host 600 sites, says National Park Service Roasting marshmallows, telling ghost stories and sleeping under the stars - in New York City? The National Park Service is planning a 600-site campground in Brooklyn's Floyd Bennett Field, a onetime airport used by Amelia Earhart. The campground would be the largest urban tent-pitching site in the nation, according to Interior Secretary Ken Salazar. "We want to make New York the leading example of what we can do around the country with urban parks," Salazar said.

JUNE 1--The U.S. government paid a paltry $2350 to settle a lawsuit brought by a Texas woman who sued the Transportation Security Administration after her breasts were exposed during a vigorous frisking at a Texas airport, records show. In response to a Freedom of Information Act request, the Department of Justice released a copy of the settlement agreement reached earlier this year with Lynsie Murley, the 24-year-old Amarillo woman who sued the TSA for negligence and intentional infliction of emotional distress in connection with the May 2008 incident at the Corpus Christi airport. [snip]

Dubai: Don't be surprised if your every movement is being tracked at airports two years from now. SITA, specialists in air transport communications and IT solutions, is experimenting with a new technology that can track passengers. "It simply means the moment a passenger comes to the airport, the airport systems would know," said Jihad Boueri, SITA's VP of Solution Line, Middle East and North Africa. He said that it can be done by tracking travellers' smart phones or detecting them through the airport's Wi-Fi or Bluetooth systems. "It would help the airport in knowing the passenger flow," Boueri said. While...

My 17 year old will be flying by herself on Friday but she has to change planes in Cleveland and has less than one hour in which to do so. She will be on the same airline but she will have to get off at Terminal C and catch the connecting flight at Terminal D. When looking at the map, it does not indicate if it is a matter of just walking right over to the "D" section: http://www.clevelandairport.com/Images/Airmall_ClevelandMap_HR.aspx If you are familiar with this airport, please let me know so I can give her some peace of mind. She...

WASHINGTON (Reuters) – New tests of full-body scanners deployed at airports found that the radiation they emit was within acceptable levels, the Transportation Security Administration said on Tuesday after previous checks found some anomalies in results. The machines, which have provoked health concerns about excessive radiation exposure, have been deployed at dozens of airports to thwart attacks on the U.S. aviation system which has continued to be a prime target of al Qaeda militants. "The latest reports confirm previous testing and show that every backscatter unit currently used for passenger screening in U.S. airports is operating well within applicable national...