One of U.S. Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy’s daughters said she experienced an “absurdly invasive” pat-down Thursday at an airport security checkpoint and suggested her father would limit or eliminate the Transportation Security Administration if it was under his authority.

Evita Duffy-Alfonso said on the social platform X that she nearly missed her flight after opting out of a body scan because she said she is pregnant and concerned about radiation exposure. She said she waited 15 minutes for a pat-down and that TSA agents were “rude” and “tried to pressure” her into walking through the scanner.

  • partial_accumen@lemmy.world
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    19 hours ago

    Evita Duffy-Alfonso said on the social platform X that she nearly missed her flight after opting out of a body scan because she said she is pregnant and concerned about radiation exposure. She said she waited 15 minutes for a pat-down

    If taking an extra 15 minutes to go through security is causing you to almost miss your flight, then you’re already not arriving at the airport early enough. Shit happens. Gate changes occur. Overbooked flights are a thing. Long lines at bag check or security happen without any apparent notice or reason. Even something like unexpected traffic getting to the air port is common.

    and that TSA agents were “rude” and “tried to pressure” her into walking through the scanner.

    Welcome to the world the rest of us live in where the average citizen has to be the calm and collected one in the confrontation when dealing with law enforcement lest you earn their ire (or be shot because they’re nervous or angry).

  • EtAl@lemmy.dbzer0.com
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    23 hours ago

    Dan Savage calls this the Empathy Gap. Other people’s problems become your problems only after they affect you.

    • eletes@sh.itjust.works
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      22 hours ago

      I’ve seen a screen of it recently, it animates the picture and makes things more ambiguous. That’s probably how they weaseled out of discontinuation.

      Though I dont doubt an agent could see the source pic if they wanted

    • corsicanguppy@lemmy.ca
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      23 hours ago

      Conversely, if we can’t get rid of those cancer boxes, I’ll take a pat down every time. Bit of a grope and fondle is nothing for the generational stubbornness here.

  • orclev@lemmy.world
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    2 days ago

    Well, I guess on the bright side we might finally see the utter waste of resources that the TSA is eliminated. Guess this is one of those “a broken clock is right twice a day” situations. Not many wins to be had under this administration, but if this happened it would be one of the only positive things.

  • Jesus@lemmy.world
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    2 days ago

    If you’re worried about radiation exposure from a stupid lower energy millimeter wave body scanner, you should throwaway the phone you just used to shit post to X, and you sure as fuck shouldn’t be flying on a plane that blasts you with higher energy cosmic radiation.

    • Zorcron@piefed.zip
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      2 days ago

      Many people are unaware of the technology that goes into millimeter wave scanners, and although harmless physically, they are quite invasive in a privacy sense (by definition), and I don’t criticize her for refusing to use one, even if by faulty reasoning.

      • partial_accumen@lemmy.world
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        19 hours ago

        I’m thinking its also confusion about the backscatter X-ray machines that were used before the millimeter wave scanners replaced them in most places. I had heard some small airports still use the backscatter machines.

        I still take the patdown instead of the millimeter wave scanners when I’m randomly selected for more scrutiny than the bog standard metal detector.

  • MimicJar@lemmy.world
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    2 days ago

    Alternative headline,

    Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy’s daughter flys for the first time in 25 years

    • mic_check_one_two@lemmy.dbzer0.com
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      2 days ago

      Nah, this is just the first time she hasn’t been treated with privilege. POC deal with the pay-downs all the time. This is just the first time they dared to pick her for the pat down.

      • RidgeDweller@sh.itjust.works
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        2 days ago

        It’s even stupider than that. She opted out of the body scan for a pat down and then got upset that it took longer. Another layer of stupidity is that she says she opted out because she’s pregnant and was worried about radiation exposure from the scan, yet she’s apparently ignorant that its radiation dose would be significantly less than exposure to cosmic radiation from the flight itself.

        Now, I don’t expect people to know exposure levels from different radiation hazards offhand. I actually looked it up out of curiosity after reading the article. But, I think it’s reasonable for a pregnant person that’s worried specifically about radiation to know stuff like this. Feels like fake outrage and grift on her part, tbh.

        That said, I won’t be bummed if this brings down the TSA somehow.