Mayor Bloomberg had a message Tuesday for air travellers outraged by full-body scanners and intrusive airport pat-downs: Get over it.
“We have to stop all this shilly-shallying and understand if you want to be safe on airplanes we have to make sure that we keep you safe,” Bloomberg said.
Bloomberg said he underwent a pat-down just last week at Reagan National Airport, even though he flew to Washington on a private plane. He said it’s a reminder “that we live in a dangerous world.”
“If you have a better idea, call Janet Napolitano,” Bloomberg said of the beleaguered Homeland Security Secretary. “I’m 100 % in sympathy. She wants to make sure we’re safe. That’s the job she’s been charged with.”
Bloomberg spoke out as the Transportation Security Administration braced for possible chaos Wednesday, the eve of Thanksgiving and the biggest travelling day of the year.
The feds have implored passengers not to participate in National Opt-Out Day protests, which were spawned by a Virginia man upset about the body scans.
The campaign urges passengers to give TSA workers fits – and gum-up holiday travel – by shunning the scans and insisting on the more time-consuming pat-downs.
The extremely intrusive pat-downs have sparked outrage and were lampooned by in a “Saturday Night Live” skit. Videos of a man telling the TSA agent, “If you touch my junk, I’ll have you arrested” have gone viral.
But a new Washington Post/ABC News survey found that Americans view the intrusive measures as a necessary evil.
A solid 64% majority said they supported the use of full-body scanners. And while 50% opposed the pat-downs, 48% said they could live with them.
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(Source: NY Daily News)
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10 Responses
They are only pushing these scans so strongly because they don’t want to admit they’ve WASTED so many millions on machines that don’t work!!!
Security experts say a terrorist can hide enough C-4 explosive in a body cavity to take down a 747 jet!!!
If they weren’t so afraid of the “P” word (profiling) because of political correctness, they could save millions by hiring more skilled agents and returning those dumb machines!
I’m sure many, if not most of you have gone through an El-Al questioning. It lasts just a minute or two and is far more effective than the scan or the invasive fondling.
Bloomberg is a big dope when he says to call Napolitano. She is queen of the libs and is against wire-tapping terrorists but ironically is perfect fine with the TSA putting their hands on your private parts!
I just had a full body scan AND a pat-down at the Louis Armstrong International Airport. No groping, and I still made it to the gate two full hours before the flight.
I have been through the El Al questioning and in my case it was not just a minute or two — more like a half hour on my first trip to Israel. There is nothing wrong with smart profiling but it will kill the short haul air travel market and cost billions. Remember that Ben Gurion Airport has less than half the passenger traffic of La Guardia which is the smallest of the three major NY metro airports. We’d have to expand the terminals, and higher tens of thousands of better educated security officers at much higher salaries. How large a tax increase are you willing to pay?
charlie, I guess there security guys know something about you that we don’t:)
Hall for some reason everything by you is the opposite of everyone else. I wonder why you have such bad luck
to mr bloomberg who suggests “get over it” my response is – when you set an example of one who tolerates the baloney you expect the rest of us to put up with, then i will think about “getting over it”
I refuse to be screened by a machine that gives off radiation, and I don’t want to be touched all over by a stranger
I would also question CharlieHall but for way longer than the short time they kept him!
lol mark, i agree!
along the same lines as takingabreak,
I wanna see bloomberg taking a pat-down, without going on his private jet and no-one knowing who he is
To #6 Basmelech: you said: “I refuse to be screened by a machine that gives off radiation, and I don’t want to be touched all over by a stranger.”
So stay home!
i think the mayor is correct.i don’t know, yet, if there is a better way ,however, at least these two methods offer 99% of a solution .i am positive that if better or more efficient methods of securing your passengers are found , the current methods will become eliminated.i haven’t flown yet with these methods , but shall if it is important for me to get to my destination.we live in troubled times and we are learning the hard way to cope.