Disabled teen sues TSA, Memphis airport after bloody scuffle | Hacker News Reader

Disabled teen sues TSA, Memphis airport after bloody scuffle

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45 pointsjackgavigan44 comments

Since the U.S. really doesn't have a terrorism problem the TSA, for the most part, has absolutely nothing to do except get themselves into conflicts with people. They're like paid bullies.

The problem with terrorism in the U.S. isn't that there are actual terrorists[0], but that there is a crapton of money to be made making the American people feel unsafe.

[0] Sure, there's an attack on occasion. But you're more likely to die choking on a soda watching GoT.

This. One one hand the gun makers will go to extreme lengths to lobby selling more guns. On the other hand TSA and friends will go to extreme lengths to make people feel unsafe.

The system is broken.

It's like throwing sand in the air to cover the sun.

Well stated.

As long as there is money to be made and jobs to be had, our elected officials will continue to look the other way when it comes to incidents like this.

Security theatre was job one behind the creation of the TSA; job two was a huge employment drive for the people under the auspice of a benevolent organization.

Since these two drivers are so deeply embedded in the duties that government understands as its primary mandates, there is no way they can see any faults in the system.

Also, consider what would happen if we eliminated the TSA

TSA has 62,000 employees and an annual budget in 2013 of $7.9 billion [http://www.downsizinggovernment.org/homeland-security/tsa]

Laying off 62,000 people from the government payroll and eliminating $8 billion in funding would constitute a significant hit on the economy, and practically guarantees you won't be re-elected.

The economic impacts plus the cover-your-ass excuse in the event of a terrorist attack makes eliminating the TSA political suicide. Which drives me crazy because it's the right move. The TSA does not protect the U.S. and the government is not a jobs program.

You could give everyone at the TSA a $50k severance package and still recoup $4B. But the moment something happens, all the fingers are pointed your way. Wrongfully, of course, but human beings are bad at weighing risk and hindsight is 20/20.

An excellent point I failed to include.

We can use that same $8 billion to create jobs building things that would benefit citizens, like transportation infrastructure, municipal internet, low-income housing, etc. Instead of jobs for airport greeters.

We need to be thinking of the sources of unemployment, such as the shift in our energy demand, and instead of impotently promising to bring coal jobs back, redirect that manpower to something that will matter going forward.

The U.S. really doesn't have a terrorism problem

Friends and family of the victims in San Bernardino and Orlando might disagree with you on that.

And basic math would disagree with you.

2.6 million people in the US will die every year.[0] How many of those die as a result of an act of terrorism? Of the 325 million people in the US, how many personally know someone who died in an act of terrorism?

The likelihood of dying from an act of terrorism in the US is 1 in 3.5 million.[1] The likelihood of dying from cancer is 1 in 540.

    [0] ~325 million, annual death rate of 8 per 1k
    [1] http://www.globalresearch.ca/the-terrorism-statistics-every-american-needs-to-hear/5382818

As if they're not trying for much larger numbers, as we speak.

Even if they are, there is no guarantee all this money is going to prevent it. You bring up Orlando, well the FBI talked to that perp how many times?

True, but that's a different topic.

Saying the U.S. has "no terrorism problem" is just hyperbole, and useless rhetoric.

4800 people died from chocking in the U.S. in 2013. Less than 10 died from terrorists.

Not sure what you consider a problem, but I personally NEVER hear anyone say we have a choking problem in this country.

What we need is a government agency in charge of making sure everyone takes small enough bites and is properly hydrated.

Ok, the U.S. has lots of problems and terrorism is extremely low on the list (to the point where many wouldn't even call it a problem at least relative to the others). Does that work for you?

Read the note that I wrote, please.

I add it again here:

[0] Sure, there's an attack on occasion. But you're more likely to die choking on a soda watching GoT.

From the article: "our bags had gone to Chattanooga" After all that, they dropped the ball on the sensible security measure of never allowing bags to fly without their owners.

That's not actually a security measure any more. Bags fly without owners all the time, for example when you check in late and the bag misses your flight and gets on the next one.

The prevalence of suicide attacks made the idea of bag matching as a way to prevent bombings somewhat obsolete. They still do remove bags from the flight if you miss it, ostensibly for this reason, but at least in theory they solve the problem of explosives in bags by scanning and searching checked luggage as well, which they didn't used to do in the old days.

They do but they are also separately inspected. The normal SOP even for the shoddy US airline security is when a passenger with checked in luggage doesn't board the flight the aircraft is to be deboarded and the luggage searched. This is twice true when the passenger has been taken out of the flight by airport security even tho in this case it was utter stupidity and abuse.

So what has the TSA actually found/done since its creation that would be considered beneficial? Anything?

Someone has made a lot of money. Some of the money that goes in funding it gets in someone pockets. And also helps to spread the sense of fear and urgency that helps pass laws.

Whatever good they've done, it does not outweigh the bad.

Create jobs?

Has to be proven, additional taxation for the TSA might of net loss for jobs.

Create massive distrust of the government. Note you didn't specify or limit who benefits.

Well there hasn't been a major attack on the US transportation systems since it was created. It's hard to say if this is a direct result of the TSA, but I'd also hesitate to say that they failed their mission.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xSVqLHghLpw

I bought tiger repellant from a door-to-door salesman. No tiger attacks to date.

To that I'd say it could be a good purchase if you had a tiger problem before buying it.

One anamolous attack does not a tiger problem make.

I think this is where some people may disagree

If the chance of a tiger attack is 0.1%, and I sell you tiger repellent that's 99% effective, how good is the tiger repellent?

If you are attacked by a tiger be sure to buy more repellent.

Not to beat a dead horse, but I think it's fairly certain that reinforced cockpit doors and accompanying procedures made using an airplane as a missile very unlikely to be feasible anymore.

The TSA's creation was ill-advised in the first place, and in my book it's only gotten worse from there. Wasting tax payer money to the detriment of everyone involved is obviously good business.

This is a pretty one-sided story. I dislike the TSA as much as anyone, but I doubt the employees are intentionally harming some disabled young lady. From what I can tell, she tried running away, they tried to stop her, and she fell to the ground hitting her head. It's unfortunate, and ultimately the TSA needs to be more accommodating of allowing guardians accompanying their dependents to help prevent these issues. But this is a non-story really.

From what I can tell, she tried running away, they tried to stop her, and she fell to the ground hitting her head.

No, she didn't just "fall", apparently. The article clearly implies that they forced her to the ground:

She's trying to get away from them but in the next instant, one of them had her down on the ground and hit her head on the floor. There was blood everywhere," Shirley Cohen told WREG-TV.

The language of the lawsuit concurs (in its use of the term "assault"). I assume you're not suspecting that they would use that term frivolously.

But this is a non-story really.

Very sadly, it isn't. The actions of the TSA employees most like weren't "intentional" in the sense that it wasn't like they specifically planned to take the course of action that they did. But the bigger fact remains that these people are (1) obviously inadequately trained in dealing with people with disabilities, (2) not only lacking in empathy, but -- again, by training -- apparently in "attack mode", or always on the verge of it.

I'm not pretending I have the facts of what happened, but your rebuttal to "From what I can tell, she tried running away, they tried to stop her, and she fell to the ground hitting her head." is a quote of the person suing the TSA. Not an unbiased source in the slightest.

Presumably there are multiple angles of security footage to show exactly what happened.

Your rebuttal... is a quote of the person suing the TSA.

It was offered as a counterpoint to "she fell to the ground". Which was pure speculation, suggested by someone who wasn't even there.

My only point was that the rebuttal is a quote from someone who will make a quick $100k if her account is taken at face value. And even with a less pessimistic view of human nature, she's very closely emotionally involved, so even if her daughter just fell she might believe she was tackled.

By Occam's razor, though, most likely things went down (as it were) pretty much the way her mother said they did.

(You can default to the belief that she's just out for quick buck, and/or too emotionally fragile to make heads or tails of what actually happened, if you want to; but -- again, knowing the TSA, and their widely documented proclivity for callous and indefensible stunts like these -- I don't find either of those scenarios especially likely).

It seems that the TSA escalated the situation.

Mum did say the girl was disabled. The machines affected the thinking capability. Also putting her in jail after bleeding. WTF!

TSA is one of my least favorite experiences.

She was attacked by a cop. Happens all the time. The only reason it was news is that she was a sympathetic victim. A healthy black man? Forget about it.

TSA agents are not police officers, despite what they may tell you. There is no reason to bring racial nonsense into this.

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