For the second time this year, the Paul family has been harassed by the Transportation Security Administration. Rep. Ron Paul, his wife, and granddaughter were stopped by eight TSA workers at a small airport in Clearwater, Florida, and told they must be screened. According to the agents, the screening was necessary because Mitt Romney “might be nearby.”
Observers say the implication was that the Paul family poses a threat to the Republican presidential nominee, Mitt Romney.
The agents inspected Paul’s credentials and demanded to check the airplane for explosives.
The entire incident came to an end once Ron Paul’s wife, Carol, refused to be screened by TSA personnel, asserting that she wore a pacemaker, and a Paul aide began taking video of the ordeal on his cell phone.
Analysts contend that the TSA interaction is yet another example of the establishment’s efforts to sabotage Paul.
Earlier this year, Ron Paul’s son, Rand, was detained by the TSA in Nashville, causing him to miss his appearance at the March for Life rally in Washington, D.C.
According to Senator Rand Paul (R-Ky.), an “anomaly” on his knee was detected by the full body scanner, though he does not have any metal in his knees. When Paul asked for a second scan, the TSA insisted that he must be subjected to a pat-down by airport security. Paul refused the pat-down on the grounds that it was a violation of his rights and his “private property.” In response to his stand, Paul was detained in a tiny cubicle, causing him to miss his flight to Washington, where he was to attend a Senate session and speak at the March for Life.
Paul also said that the incident highlights how the TSA should not be “spending so much time with people who wouldn’t attack us.”
Rand Paul stated that although he did not expect to be treated differently because he is a senator, the TSA should be treating everyone “with dignity.”
Following that incident, Senator Paul issued a press release in which he swore to “end the TSA.”
“The American people shouldn’t be subjected to harassment, groping, and other public humiliation simply to board an airplane. As you may have heard, I have some personal experience with this, and I’ve vowed to lead the charge to fight back,” he stated. “It’s time to end the TSA and get the government’s hands back to only stealing our wallets instead of groping toddlers and grandmothers,” said Paul in the statement.
Senator Paul’s father, Ron, issued a harsh response to the TSA’s detainment of his son.
“The police state in this country is growing out of control,” Rep. Paul wrote in a statement provided to the Daily Caller. “One of the ultimate embodiments of this is the TSA that gropes and grabs our kids and our seniors and does nothing to keep us safe.”
In 2010, Ron Paul endured a similar incident with the TSA, ironically prompted by actual metal in his knees that was detected by the scanners.
The elder Dr. Paul recalled his encounter with the TSA on the Alex Jones show. He explained that he has had to endure TSA abuse a number of times throughout his tenure as Texas congressman, including the latest “enhanced pat-down” that verges on sexual molestation. “I have to go through that all the time because I have metal in my knees,” he explained. “I get prodded all the time and it is disgusting and I tell them so.”
Like Rand, Ron Paul’s constant encounters with the TSA have encouraged his endeavors to eliminate the Transportation Security Administration.
“I am going to be doing everything conceivable to try to change these rules because they are not making us safer, they aren’t better for us — it’s just to enhance the power of the state.”
Both Senator Paul and Representative Paul have been vocal opponents of the Transportation Security Administration, and have proposed several bills targeting the agency.
Representative Paul sponsored the American Traveler Dignity Act, which would remove TSA agents’ immunity from prosecution for conducting invasive pat-downs.
Likewise, Senator Rand Paul recently submitted a set of bills that would ultimately eliminate the Transportation Security Administration, establish a passenger bill of rights, and require that the program be turned over to private screeners.
S. 3302 establishes a formal “Bill of Rights” for passengers by providing guidelines for screening procedures and protections for travelers. Politico explains that the bill would “permit travelers to opt out of pat-downs and be re-screened, allow them to call a lawyer when detained, increase the role of dogs in explosive detection, let passengers ‘appropriately object to mistreatment,’ allow children 12 years old and younger to avoid ‘unnecessary pat-downs’ and require the distribution of the new rights at airports.”
S. 3303 ends the TSA screening program completely and requires passengers to be screened by private screeners only. It reads, “Screening of passengers shall be conducted by employees of a private screening company under a contract entered into.” The bill sets standards for how airports may select the private security screening companies, and permits the airports to have the final say in employment and termination of private screening security companies. It even includes provisions for Right to Work.
Both bills have not yet moved out of the Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation.
A money bomb for Ron Paul’s presidential campaign themed at ending the TSA helped raise over a million dollars, indicating that many of the American people oppose the intrusive behavior of the agency.
Photo: Dr. and Mrs. Ron Paul at an earlier appearance.
