The TSA 'poop bomb' scandal
A photo of an 8-month-old getting a thorough patdown goes viral, and enrages America's frustrated air travelers
The image: A picture of an 8-month-old baby getting a patdown by TSA agents at the Kansas City International Airport has ignited yet another controversy about the tradeoff of airport security versus personal privacy. The image was snapped by Rev. Jacob Jester, a pastor who whipped out his cell phone when he saw a still-unidentified family getting thoroughly screened. (See the image below.) Jester shared the snapshot on Twitter, and it took off from there, garnering hundreds of thousands of views, and gaining the dubious title of the "poop bomb" photo, because the TSA agents appear to be searching within the baby's diaper. "Pretty sure that's extreme," Jester said in his tweet. (Watch a local news report about the uproar.)
The reaction: "Something really stinks about the attention this photo is getting," says Blogger Bob at The TSA Blog. TSA agents were simply following "proper current screening procedures" after the child's stroller set off an explosives alarm. It doesn't look so proper to me, says Sierra at Babble. They "were rummaging around the baby's diaper." TSA agents need to focus their "efforts where they'll count, which isn't on the unlikely infantile supervillians." See for yourself:
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