While I don’t agree with a lot of Sen. Rand Paul’s politics, I do admire the stance he’s taken against the TSA when it comes to the security facade at airports and, in particular, random invasive patdowns of passengers.
Here he is addressing TSA chief John Pistole at a hearing of the Senate Homeland Security and Government Affairs Committee on Wednesday. The 6-year-old girl he refers to was patted down at the New Orleans airport on April 5th because she moved while being scanned in the body imaging machine (shocking video here). She and her parents complained about the search, but the TSA agents continued to touch her in ways that should bother any non-pedophile.
I have some experience with this. In November, 2011 (just weeks after the 9/11 attacks), I had to stand by helplessly while a security guard at LaGuardia Airport felt up my then-seven-year-old daughter over my objections (a story I told here).