Ah, I love waking up to stories like this! It's like living in absurdist theater, only the people running the theater are too stupid to see it for what it is.
At San Francisco International Airport yesterday -- SFO -- you know, that airport where they have the magical will-fix-every-problem private security -- a drunken 53-year-old man made it past the TSA's sanctified behavior detection officers and other "security" clerks and posed as a TSA screener, actually succeeding in directing at least two women to a private booth where he could grope them.
No, I am not making this up.
The 53-year-old San Francisco man was arrested on suspicion of public drunkenness after creating a stir at the A-side security checkpoint of the International Terminal about 12:30 p.m. Tuesday, said Sgt. Wesley Matsuura of the San Mateo County Sheriff's Office.
Authorities are investigating whether the man should be booked on other counts, such as false imprisonment.
Oh, but wait -- it gets better. Apparently the TSA is trying to cover up this breach of security and display of witlessness:
Matsuura would not give the man's name, saying the case has gone hush-hush since the federal Transportation Security Administration, which oversees airport security, took over the investigation into how the breach happened.
Wonder what Blogger Bob will have to say about this?
Silly me:
TSA and Covenant reps could not be reached for comment.
But you know what stands out most from this little escapade? More than the breach, more than the incompetence of the TSA, which is already well known? The fact that female passengers had no problem obeying. They accepted the groping of their bodies -- or who knows what was done? -- simply because a figure of supposed authority ordered them to. We have been trying to hammer this into people's heads for years here -- that the TSA and its phony show are about obedience training, not about security.
Two other airport law enforcement sources tell us the incident started when the man entered the security area wearing khaki pants, a blue polo shirt, and blue rubber gloves - an outfit that might have been mistaken for those worn by screeners with the private Covenant security firm.
The man, apparently without saying much, steered a woman into one of the private screening booths used to pat down selected passengers, our sources say. What happened inside isn't known, because the woman soon disappeared to catch a flight.
And why not? Why should she think anything is amiss, when she -- and millions of you out there -- think it's perfectly fine that your bodies are groped before you get on a plane?
Congratulations. The National Security State is very pleased with you. You will do anything your overlords command. After all, the more we do to you, the less you seem to believe we are doing it.
(Cross-posted at TSA News, where you can leave comments)
UPDATE: "A man KTVU has learned is being identified as 53-year-old Eric Slighton is believed to have abused the trust of at least two female passengers when he led one of them into a private screening room for a pat down."
(Cross-posted at TSA News, where you can leave comments)
UPDATE: "A man KTVU has learned is being identified as 53-year-old Eric Slighton is believed to have abused the trust of at least two female passengers when he led one of them into a private screening room for a pat down."
