Israel Matzav

'There's an anomaly in the crotch area'

Pity Jeffrey Goldberg's mother-in-law (no, that's not her in the picture) (Hat Tip: Memeorandum).

My mother-in-law, though youthful in outlook and an all-around very attractive person, is also 79-years-old, 4'11" if she's lucky, and weighs about 110 pounds. She was in Washington to visit her grandchildren, and to lobby the Rhode Island congressional delegation as part of the American Library Association's National Library Legislative Day. She is not a threatening person, in appearance or demeanor. I don't know this for sure, but I think she was probably carrying a library tote bag of some sort -- or perhaps it was an NPR tote bag -- as she approached the security checkpoint. A general rule: terrorists don't carry tote bags.

She entered the machine and struck the humiliating pose one is forced to strike -- hands up, as in an armed robbery -- and then walked out, when she was asked by a TSA agent, in a voice loud enough for several people to hear, "Are you wearing a sanitary napkin?"

Remember, she's 79.

My mother-in-law answered, "No. Why do you ask?"

The TSA agent responded: "Well, are you wearing anything else down there?"

Yes, "down there."

She said no, at which point, the friend with whom she was traveling, also a not-young volunteer library advocate, came over and asked if there was a problem.

The TSA agent said, again, in full voice, "There's an anomaly in the crotch area."

Read the whole thing. I can envision Jeffrey's mother-in-law going through this, and I can only feel sorry for her indignity, but I have to ask one question from Jeffrey, who is identified with the center-left of the political map, and who has been known to glance at this blog from time to time: Would you be willing to have passengers profiled, Israeli style, to spare your mother-in-law indignities like this in the future? I would, and I bet she would too. Think about it.

Labels: airport security, strip or grope, TSA

posted by Carl in Jerusalem @ 9:41 PM