‘Kip Hawley Is an Idiot’

Posted on Sep 27, 2006

An air traveler wrote the above phrase—a reference to the head of the Transportation Security Administration—on his carry-on bag, and the traveler ended up being detained by TSA personnel who told him that his free speech ends at the security gate.

FlyerTalk:

... He grabbed the baggie as it came out of the X-ray and asked if it was mine. After responding yes, he pointed at my comment and demanded to know “What is this supposed to mean?” “It could me a lot of things, it happens to be an opinion on mine.” “You can’t write things like this” he said, “You mean my First Amendment right to freedom of speech doesn’t apply here?” “Out there (pointing pass the id checkers) not while in here (pointing down) was his response.”

At this point I chuckled, just looking at him wondering if he just realized how foolish that comment was, but I think my laugh pushed him over the edge as he got really angry at this point. A Milwaukee County Sheriffs deputy was summoned - I would have left at this point, but he had my quart bag with my toothpaste and hair gel.

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