Claims non-prohibited items were never confiscated despite multiple accounts proving they were
The TSA has once again been caught blatantly lying to the public in an effort to cover the ridiculous actions of its own employees.
Last week stories once again began to circulate about the TSA agents on power trips confiscating erroneous items such as multi tools and nail clippers. Worse still, the passengers they took the items from were fully armed soldiers returning from Afghanistan.
On its official blog the TSA once again denied that any of the stories were true, and implied that they had all been made up to make the agency look bad.
The TSA blog also linked to a previous post “debunking” the stories and claiming that it was an “urban legend” that nail clippers had ever been confiscated from anybody because they are not prohibited items.
With evidence presented in just a few comments on the blog however, it becomes clear that the TSA is once again telling bald faced lies.
One commenter points to several different mainstream news articles in which accounts of TSA agents confiscating nail clippers are mentioned:
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/7670500/ns/msnbc_tv-countdown_with_keith_olbermann/
“Ever wonder what happened to those nail clippers confiscated before boarding a plane? Monica Novotny found that seized items may be up for for sale online.”
http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2006/02/09/eveningnews/main1302676.shtml
“In Harrisburg, Pa., there’s a warehouse chock-full of the knives, scissors, tools and other items confiscated at checkpoints at three major East Coast airports since 9/11….Fifteen pounds of used nail clippers “would usually go for $20 or $20,” says Mary Beth Enggren, who runs the salvage program for Pennsylvania.”
http://www.usatoday.com/travel/flights/2006-02-06-confiscate-usat_x.htm
“Some fliers, though, view it differently. April Miller, a Chicago-based regional manager for a publishing company, says TSA screeners at the city’s Midway Airport took a $25 eyelash curler and a nail clipper without giving her an option. “They just took the items and said I could not board with them,” she says.”
And so on, and so on. Try a simple Google search for ‘TSA Nail Clipper’
STOP LYING, BOB. Or at least make the lies a little harder to prove.
“It would be refreshing if instead of insisting that nail clippers were never banned there was an acknowledgement that there was confusion on this point by the screeners in the past. Better yet an apology.” another commenter states.
So I guess once again it’s a case of who do you believe. Is it those in multiple accounts cited by mainstream and alternative media reports or is it the government agency that has been caught consistently lying to cover its own back?