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9-year old kid foils TSA, SWA

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  • 9-year old kid foils TSA, SWA

    A 9-year old boy who was living in a suburb of Tacoma, WA made national news the other day by hopping onto 2 Southwest Air flights without tickets or identification.

    Prior to this little escapade, Semaj Booker stole and destroyed 4 cars, including the last one on which he led officers on a 90 mph chase.

    His mother and others sympathetic to his cause say he's not a juvenile delinquent; all of his acting up is a cry for help: all he needs is a strong father figure. HA! If he had that strong father figure, would he get his hide tanned behind the woodpile or what?

    The fact that he was able to get on board an airplane without being stopped until he made it to San Antonio (he was trying to get to Dallas, where his grandfather lives) is very troubling because it shows that there are still holes in the airport security system. His grandfather doesn't want him to be sent to Dallas, so the kid sits in a shelter for runaways because authorities in Texas believe he is too young to be sent to juvenile detention.

    Miulang
    "Americans believe in three freedoms. Freedom of speech; freedom of religion; and the freedom to deny the other two to folks they don`t like.” --Mark Twain

  • #2
    Re: 9-year old kid foils TSA, SWA

    And this article from The Seattle Times is related to Hawai`i... how?
    Wouldn't your post be more relevant and appropriate on a Washington or Texas message board?
    Miulang, you really need to start a blog, cuz your flood of off-Hawai`i-topics here is kinda close to spamming us, in my humble opinion.
    You're not the only one (by far) who gets the Breaking News items e-mailed to them from the Advertiser and other local sources. Do they pay you to repeat them all here, or do you just think none of us are capable of/interested in reading the news on our own? Just asking.
    You're obviously a terrific internet researcher, but you're not the only one here who is, k?
    .
    .

    That's my story, and I'm sticking to it.

    Comment


    • #3
      Re: 9-year old kid foils TSA, SWA

      Originally posted by LikaNui View Post
      And this is related to Hawai`i... how?
      Wouldn't your post be more relevant and appropriate on a Washington or Texas message board?
      Miulang, you really need to start a blog, cuz your flood of off-Hawai`i-topics here is kinda close to spamming us, in my humble opinion.
      You're not the only one (by far) who gets the Breaking News items e-mailed to them from the Advertiser and other local sources. Do they pay you to repeat them all here, or do you just think none of us are capable of/interested in reading the news on our own? Just asking.
      You're obviously a terrific internet researcher, but you're not the only one here who is, k?
      I'll tell you why it's relevant; it's because if this kind of thing happens on SWA, it could just as easily happen on HA, AQ, NWA, United...any of the mainland carriers that fly out of Hawai'i because their policies are exactly the same as SWA. So if some runaway in Hawai'i reads about this and learns how this kid was able to get past TSA, what makes you think there aren't kids in Hawai'i who wouldn't want to do the same thing?

      Miulang

      P.S. Lika, you know you could put me on ignore if I irritate you so much.
      "Americans believe in three freedoms. Freedom of speech; freedom of religion; and the freedom to deny the other two to folks they don`t like.” --Mark Twain

      Comment


      • #4
        Re: 9-year old kid foils TSA, SWA

        I've moved this thread to The American Asylum.

        If you have concerns about how another user conducts himself or herself on this board, PM me, or PM them if you can't resist direct contact. There is only one administrator at HawaiiThreads. Mahalo.

        Comment


        • #5
          Originally posted by Miulang View Post
          I'll tell you why it's relevant; it's because if this kind of thing happens on SWA, it could just as easily happen on HA, AQ, NWA, United...any of the mainland carriers that fly out of Hawai'i because their policies are exactly the same as SWA.
          So you've posted that same message on a ton of other message boards, like for the other 49 states?

          So if some runaway in Hawai'i reads about this and learns how this kid was able to get past TSA, what makes you think there aren't kids in Hawai'i who wouldn't want to do the same thing?
          I see your point. Or I would, if anyone really thought that even one single runaway kid in Hawai`i snuck onto a computer somewhere to get their daily Hawaii Threads fix, which of course is a must-do for young runaways.
          And if that was really your concern, why did you post the link to the story so those kids could read it, get the idea to follow the other kid's example, and learn how to do it? Wouldn't it have been wise to just not post it?

          Originally posted by admin View Post
          If you have concerns about how another user conducts himself or herself on this board, PM me, or PM them
          Sorry. Already posted my reply. 'Nuff said.
          .
          .

          That's my story, and I'm sticking to it.

          Comment


          • #6
            Re: 9-year old kid foils TSA, SWA

            Just last month a man climbed a fence and got onto a plane, even though people saw and talked to him.

            One of my favorite writers and security experts is Bruce Schneier. One of his primary missions is pointing out the absurdities in what he's dubbed "security theater." That is, the vast majority of effort and money thrown at airport and airline security is a waste, except insofar as it creates the illusion of safety... except that things aren't any safer, and the actual risks remain the same.

            His blog is very good reading, and covers lots of other topics, but he touches on the ridiculousness of the TSA and government security programs quite often. Highly recommended.

            Comment


            • #7
              Re: 9-year old kid foils TSA, SWA

              Yep... "security theater" -- good term. It's just to make people feel better (and of course, putting on my tin-foil hat, another control point for the authoritaaahs).

              The routine changes so often and so randomly now (sometimes even airport to airport) and the screeners have gotten so pissy about it, it's almost impossible to get through a checkpoint now without troubles unless you just carry basically nothing. A week or two ago we came back from Dallas, and an airport screener was very mean to my wife about the fact that she put her boarding pass on the x-ray belt instead of bringing it through the metal detector to show the guy. I mean really, the other person up front already checked it with an ID, what difference does it make if they have to wait for it to come out of the x-ray? She said she didn't hear him say to hold on to it, so he starts calling out to his buddies on the other side of the checkpoint, "Can you guys hear me out there? I think she did hear me and ignored me" (or something like that, this is all second hand since I was already out). They sat there harrassing her for 2-3 minutes about this, during which time she got quite upset and apparently the word "crazy" was thrown around, which didn't help matters. I had to spend the rest of the evening calming her down. Best part of the situation? If I'd walked up there and complained to them they'd probably just add us both to some kind of "body search at every checkpoint" list. Still considering sending an anonymous letter of complaint, but who will it go to and who will care? They've shown that they sure don't care about following the laws and rules about gathering passenger information for their screening programs.

              Makes you wonder what happened to our derision of the Soviets. Papers citizen!

              Comment


              • #8
                Re: 9-year old kid foils TSA, SWA

                Originally posted by pzarquon View Post
                One of my favorite writers and security experts is Bruce Schneier.
                ryan! he's one of my clients. i've been "hunting" for a good SE for his security company for a while. the good ones aren't so easy to find. know anyone that wants to travel a bunch and pretty much have the best job ever? (in the bay)

                woah. look how off-topic i am. forget it! ignore me!
                life is ok sometimes

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