Who did the TSA terrorize today? A 4-year-old girl. Why? She hugged her grandma.

PHOTO: Snapshot by Lori Croft of her 4-year-old granddaughter Isabella Brademeyer, in Wichita, Kan., where she was a flower girl at her uncle’s wedding. The child was harassed by TSA goons on the way back from that family event, for the crime of hugging her granny.

---

Earlier this week on Boing Boing, Cory blogged about a 95-year-old Air Force veteran who was robbed of $300 at a TSA checkpoint. After picking on the elderly, today the TSA is bullying children. A 4-year-old girl who was upset during a TSA screening at the Wichita, KS airport was forced to undergo a manual pat-down after hugging her grandmother. Agents yelled at the child, and called her an uncooperative suspect.

Nope, we're not making this up.

The child's mom, Michelle Brademeyer of Montana, shared the incident in a public Facebook post last week, and the story has since spread widely.

“They didn’t explain anything and she did not know what was going on,” the grandmother told the Associated Press. “She saw people grabbing at her and raising their voices. To her, someone was trying to kidnap her or harm her in some way.”

Think the TSA has apologized? Nah. The agency is defending its agents, despite promised changes in operational standards to "reduce pat-downs of children."

Snip from AP report:

The child’s grandmother, Lori Croft, told The Associated Press that Brademeyer and her daughter, Isabella, initially passed through security at the Wichita airport without incident. The girl then ran over to briefly hug Croft, who was awaiting a pat-down after tripping the alarm, and that’s when TSA agents insisted the girl undergo a physical pat-down. Isabella had just learned about “stranger danger” at school, her grandmother said, adding that the girl was afraid and unsure about what was going on.

“She started to cry, saying ‘No I don’t want to,’ and when we tried talking to her she ran,” Croft said. “They yelled, ‘We are going to shut down the airport if you don’t grab her.’”

But she said the family’s main concern was the lack of understanding from TSA agents that they were dealing with a 4-year-old child, not a terror suspect.

Right! "Lack of understanding." Because at first glance, a crying 4-year-old girl could absolutely be confused with a hardened terrorist.

Read the full article here.

• [Sagodjur]

  True patriots would allow themselves to be molested by the TSA, thus proving that this little girl is indeed a freedom-hating terrorist.

  I’m surprised they didn’t tase her and her grandmother for participating in a terrorist embrace. Only terrorists express affection for their relatives!

  • [D Wyatt]

    I remember when airports were a VERY beautiful thing.  Hugs and kisses, tears of joy and reuniting, or sorrow of heartbreak as you watch the plane and your sweetheart depart.   Adults and child alike on their tippy toes, peeking past the heads in the tunnel hoping to catch an early glimpse of their loved one…
     
    Now its no place for children or anyone who enjoys privacy or rights, but then again neither is America.

    I suppose we all must have done something very wrong for all the punishment we have, and will, endure.  Lets recap, “terrorists” attack America, we suffer that tragedy, then the American Gov’mint uses it as an opportunity to launch operation “Fuck the Constitution,” and project “Where’d the Money Go?”

• [tré]

  #abolishthetsa

• [McDonough]

  These people haven’t accomplished a single thing. In ten years. No terrorist attacks stopped. No. Effin. Nothing. Please Congress, end this stain. 

• [Xof]

  I feel much safer.

• [Bob Dunkin]

  “Think the TSA has apologized? Nah. The agency is defending its agents, despite promised changes in operational standards to “reduce pat-downs of children.” ”

  How about just outright STOP groping children.  That should be in the manual…somewhere near or on page one.

  • [princessalex]

     I haven’t been on a plane since sometime before 9/11.  I will not again, not while I have children who would be abused by the TSA.  I drive to where I want to go. 

    Edit:  I correct that statement to say that I will not fly, except for the possibility of moving out of the country. 

  • [Antinous / Moderator]

    Some day, they’re going to mess with the wrong little girl.

    • [Xof]

      Well, they’ve got the “Everyone Will Suffer” thing down; it could be the TSA’s motto.

    • [HubrisSonic]

      [sound of remington 870 shotgun cocking]

• [SoItBegins]

  This has already probably been said too many times, but I’ll say it again.

  WHAT THE HELL.

• [Blaise Pascal]

  I dunno’ folks. The old “zoom and enhance” shows evil intent behind her sketchy black shades. Some little girls just wanna’ see the world burn, you know?

  • [CH]

    Oh, I hadn’t noticed that!!! See, I’m obviously not a trained TSA agent.

    The mother already admitted that the child has participated in a terrorist training camp where they had learned about how to blow up strangers. Operation “Stranger Danger” could have succeeded if not for these brave TSA agents at this screening point.

• [Boomer]

  Meteorologist Mike Smith keeps track of the TSA. Here’s his latest blog post which tells of another little girl — a 7-year-old with cerebral palsy — who was manhandled by our airport agents of freedom. http://meteorologicalmusings.blogspot.com/2012/04/from-wichita-to-nyc-tsa-harasses.html

  • [Xeni Jardin]

    jesus christ. blogging.

    • [awjt]

      What is with these people?

      • [thecleaninglady]

        Nothing. They are “just doing their jobs.”

        Their jobs, however, are defined in a way that creates such terrible situations and apparently no significant benefit.

  • [Lisa Simeone]

    Yep.
    http://tsanewsblog.com/2612/news/tsa-targets-disabled-7-year-old-causes-family-to-miss-flight/

• [princessalex]

  www dot whodidthetsaterrorizetoday dot com

  This needs to be a real website.  Make public the atrocities committed in the name of “safety” in America.  

  • [enterthestory]

    The TSA needs to stop using the word terrorist. It is problematic. From dictionary.com:
    ter·ror·ism
       [ter-uh-riz-uhm]  Show IPA
    noun
    1. The use of violence and threats to intimidate or coerce, especially for political purposes. [the TSA carry guns and exist in order to maintain government control, that is, for a political purpose]
    2. The state of fear and submission produced by terrorism or terrorization.
    3. A terroristic method of governing or of resisting a government.

  • [Lisa Simeone]

    princessalex, that list of atrocities already exists:

    http://www.travelunderground.org/index.php?threads/master-lists-of-tsa-abuses-crimes.317/

• [gwailo_joe]

  Terrorism. Startswith. Affection.

• [thermoplasticity]

  How is anyone except the bible belt still living here? I contemplate daily about moving (again) overseas. There are some great things here, but really? Is it that great overall? Sooner or later we gotta be getting tired of all of this. 

  • [PinkWithIndignation]

    Expatriating is fatiguing just to think about with the costs and learning how a whole new place works. And a tired, oversimplified argument threatened by someone who likely romances places they don’t know enough about. Every country has it’s weak spots. And there is something to the whole better to deal with the devil you know than the devil you don’t idea.

    • [thermoplasticity]

      Wow, you nailed me exactly! Your insight into what is obviously my persona is unnerving. Maybe you can give me tips on what else I might be jumping into without knowing anything about. 
      How am I even alive right now? Thank you for showing me the way!

      • [tré]

         If there’s one thing the internet has taught me, it’s that everyone on the internet is the authority on everyone else on the internet’s lives.

    • [floraldeoderant]

      I’m an American, from Kansas, who’s expatriated to Korea.

      It’s not so difficult to do, not at all.  

      Yes, Korea’s got problems, like every country has, but the mechanism to address these problems isn’t so completely broken like it is in the US. Korea still has a more-or-less functional democracy (which is really hilarious when you compare the country’s history).

      Besides: comforting yourself with laziness and other excuses only numbs you to so many problems…

      • [twianto]

        Are you by any chance an English teacher?

        (Great if you are — really! — but it sure isn’t practical advice for everybody.)

  • [Hanglyman]

     No jobs. No money. No escape.

  • [twianto]

    Well, y’know, being American isn’t an automatic qualification for a work visa elsewhere. Your typical monolingual liberal arts graduate would have a really hard time finding work in most places. Or be stuck teaching English without any career prospects.

    • [davidasposted]

      Look forward to refugee status ten years or so from now?

      • [twianto]

        Yeah, Americans have tried that before in Europe; there’s a really famous case in the Netherlands. No dice.

        • [davidasposted]

          Alternatively, pursue an education in your desired country.

        • [twianto]

          Yeah, that’s the best advice ever if you’re young; you can get a top-notch education virtually for free and you’ll have international experience and an additional language should you decide to go back to the US.

  • [Drabula]

    Unfortunately,  no developed countries want Americans. I managed to make it into the UK  four years ago but they keep raising the bar higher. If you are a medical doctor or a PhD researcher you MAY have a chance. Or, if a company is able to provide you a visa – good luck with that.

    Instead I suggest sane people  get busy splitting America in two (irreconcilable differences). Once you set about building the new and improved non-crazy America I may, MAY even consider coming back. Until then, the Atlantic can’t be big enough as far as I’m concerned. 

  • [Ito Kagehisa]

     I’d rather fix it than give up on it.

    Unfortunately my countrymen are mostly glued to the couch.

• [Gekko_Gecko]

  I have a question for Americans…

  Do you feel safer now?

  • [Andrew Glines]

     I have an answer for you:  If you think any of us *chose* to create the TSA as it is – low-level employees who probably couldn’t get jobs elsewhere, instead of Israel’s model of hiring and training professionals who are very good at their jobs – then you don’t realize how much under corporate control our nation is.

    • [Lisa Simeone]

      Bombs still go off in Israel, just not on planes.  And the intense ethnic/racial profiling that goes on in Israeli security — up to and including cavity searches — aren’t the answer.  (Though the way the TSA is going, they may be soon.)

• [Joe Wallace]

  Just ONE of the reasons I;ve been on flight strike for the last four years. I urge my fellow travelers to do the same. I drive now. Screw the airlines, screw TSA, they can all get stuffed forever. None of my dollars go to support these morons now.

  • [paulj]

    WebEx
    GoToMeeting
    join.me
    Skype

    I still have to do face-to-face meetings for work sometimes, but about 75% of my air travel has gone away thanks to these tools.

    • [Roose_Bolton]

      which tools, the ones you posted above, or the TSA?

      • [Felton / Moderator]

        Zing!

        • [Roose_Bolton]

          it actually wasn’t originally intended as a joke question, that was my immediate reaction to paulj’s statement.

• [jandrese]

  You’ll all be singing a different tune when a group of radical 4 year old terrorists take over a plane and fly it into the newly rebuilt World Trade Center or something. 

  • [SomeGuyNamedMark]

    I’ve seen Children of the Corn.  It is only a matter of time.

  • [CLamb]

     That is why elementary school children must get to and from school by bus instead of airplane.  It is just too dangerous to have more than a few one a single aircraft.

    • [Lisa Simeone]

      Except that the TSA’s VIPR teams have already invaded buses (and trains, and ferries).

• [HubrisSonic]

  End the TSA.

• [Mister44]

  Fuck the TSA.

  • [HubrisSonic]

    Fucking End the TSA!

• [SedanChair]

  OK, in the past I’ve given people a hard time for suddenly caring about the TSA and not being educated on other rights abuses. 

  And I don’t think there’s any point in getting upset over them applying the rules to a 4-year old; after all, if you believe in the precepts of Security Theater, then you must plug every hole or the ones you leave will be where the leaks come through. (How do we know the hug wasn’t Grandma planting the Semtex?)

  But I will admit that nothing quite matches the Orwellian character of the TSA. No other agency so exemplifies that exquisite mix of menace and blindness.

  • [awjt]

    Nicely put, Sedan Chair.

• [steveboyett]

  Vent your anger in a constructive manner by contacting your state representative and demanding that the TSA be removed from airports. The Orlando International Airport threw the bastards out, and last time I checked, nobody commandeered any passenger jets out of there.

  I posted this on another TSA-related item here — because they’re starting to metastasize, really — so pardon the repetition:

  California residents: Find out who your representative is by going to http://www.legislature.ca.gov/. Enter your zip code in the “Find my district” box on the lower right. You’ll be taken to a page with links and phone numbers for your representatives.

  You can call or email them. I sent the following. Feel free to mine from it:

  Today four TSA screeners were indicted on charges of accepting payments to help drug cartels pass Schedule 1 substances through LAX security reports. Two days ago, Detroit TSA screeners detained two seniors — one of them a veteran — and searched, humiliated, and relieved them of $300 in cash that they then would not account for.

  These are only the latest in a long line of unacceptable behaviors by the TSA. I am both outraged and mortified at the degree of freedom we have given up, and the disregard of our Constitutional rights, in the name of a demonstrably ineffective, incompetent, and overpriced security system that does not remotely justify its existence.

  The Orlando International Airport threw out its TSA screeners and has
  suffered absolutely no detrimental effects. It’s time we did the same.

  This is the year that Americans have realized they can be effective
  activists online. It will certainly show come November. Is there nothing you and your peers can do to end this charade?

  Many thanks for your attention.

  • [TSAisTerrorism]

    Just a slight correction, it was Sanford, FL, a suburb of Orlando, not Orlando International (MCO), that is trying to give TSA the boot. Regardless, TSA still sets policy, so regardless of the name on the paycheck, the hired goons are still to molest, grope, and finger 4 year-olds’ crotches. Whew! I know I feel safer.

    • [Navin_Johnson]

      Hey no TSA, but you might just get murdered on the street for wearing a hoody by the self-proclaimed “neighborhood watch”.

• [JonS]

  On the upside, though, Isabella wasn’t able to hijack the plane.

• [Stephan]

  Dear Americans. As an outsider I have to say the hope and change in your country is inspirational.

  • [Navin_Johnson]

     The best part is that everyone whining here will happily, enthusiastically vote for the ultimate boss of the TSA:  Barack Obama.

    • [TSAisTerrorism]

      I won’t be making that mistake again. However, Romney’s no better. His national security advisor is Chertoff, who heaped these infernal policies on us to begin with under Bush. 

      • [Navin_Johnson]

         I think you missed the point if you think I’m voting for the GOP instead.

• [DouglasLucchetti]

  Why does the president do nothing? Shut down Oaksterdam, but leave the TSA to bully the very people who likely voted for him…the world is nutz, sure, but now it’s insanely nutz.

  • [Navin_Johnson]

    Exactly, this is why it’s so intolerable to listen to all this self righteous outrage.  The TSA is an agency with a boss, and his boss is The President, they have a headquarters at The Pentagon, but still no protests or focus on the people in charge.

    These policies are not created by the workers, who are coincidentally poorly trained, poorly supervised, and poorly paid, in fact they are the lowest paid of all federal workers.  You get what you pay for Americans, and it’ll be just as bad/worse when it’s run by even more poorly paid private security.

    http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=122948752

• [RJ]

  Keep in mind that we live in a culture where it’s a felony to even suggest that the TSA goons receive a satisfyingly violent punishment for their behavior. Say the wrong thing and you might just disappear forever. Sounds a bit Soviet, don’t you think?

• [Roose_Bolton]

  As a Canadian who has always had a sort of reverance for the “American spirit” ideal, these (seemingly) daily updates on the slow erosion of your rights is, well, it’s a bummer. I still have hope, though.

  • [TSAisTerrorism]

    Try living it. It’s effing depressing.

  • [Lisa Simeone]

    Abandon hope all ye who enter here.

    That “American spirit” has become one big collective baaaaaaaaaaaaaa.

• [BombBlastLightingWaltz]

  No doubt the 1% avoid the TSA blob due to owning private jets. 

  My father and his partner (Canadians) use to attend electronic trade shows and conventions in Florida from the mid ’80′s too 2001. Spending money, supporting the local economy and buying US electronics and networking with distributors. That was until post 911 the screener asked him if he has a criminal records. Back in university days of the 60′s he was busted for .04 grams of hash, he pleaded guilty and forgot all about till asked about it. He felt very awkward about the whole thing. He decided to forget the trade shows and a few years later retired early, now spending more time writing music and playing in band for kicks. 

  Perhaps the loss of business is worth authoritarian tactics.  

  There must be other similar stories about foreigners who use to visit the US for business, leaving and not venturing back based on the security level that exists there today. After all, who really needs too be hassled by clowns…

  http://www.viddler.com/v/d4cac791 

• [Nell Anvoid]

  The  TSA must have noted  the baby blue flower-girl dress when screening the luggage.  Same thing as a plastic explosives belt.

  Looks like we all dodged a bullet there.  Well, done TSA! 

• [tré]

   #fuckingendandabolishtheTSA

• [benher]

  Missed my connecting flight yesterday so they could molest my wife and I… *sigh* remind me again why we came back here to visit?

• [zax]

  America, I wish I could come and visit. You have such inspiring countryside, people and history. You are a land rich in resources populated by some of the hardest working folks on the planet. You have a remarkable history of overcoming oppression and upholding freedom. Sure you’ve made a few mistakes along the way but who in life hasn’t? It makes me sad to think that I will probably never get to visit your green and pleasant land as currently all the problems seem to outweigh the benefits. I guess like many I’ll continue to happily read about you in books and hear about you in music and watch you in countless old films and TV shows and romanticise in my mind what it must be like to live in a nation with so much space and so much hope, where anything is possible for anyone. I can only hope myself that you can get past your fears and move forward into the future (the same could be hoped for the rest of the planet to be fair) and fight off this latest oppression hiding under the name of security. You are better than this. My thoughts are with you.