Today in Kooky Airport Kabuki: Phyllis Chesler Triggers TSA Scrutiny By Reading a Jewish Newspaper

In the days following the underpants jihadi's unsuccessful attempt to ignite his tighty-whiteys, my family had to endure added airport security scrutiny prior to boarding a flight to the U.S. After the usual measures we have become accustomed to--take off your coat, shoes, etc. and walk through the metal detector--we found ourselves in a very long line. We were then divided into two lines--men and women--and were each given a pat-down. At one point, I guess I wasn't moving quickly enough, and a security worker, a chick in a heavy duty hijab (it wasn't one of those pretty floral numbers but looked to be made of heavy, starched linen) barked at me to speed it up. In that instant, the lunacy of airport security became crystallized.

I was reminded of the incident when I read this, FrontPage Magazine's Daniel Greenfield recounting Phyllis Chesler's recent airport screening experience. It seems Chesler was reading The Jewish Press, an English-language newspaper with a right-wing bent, while lined up for her security check. A TSA official saw what she was reading and confiscated it. She was then ordered to open her suitcase and the entire contents was given a thorough going over. While Chesler was undergoing this examination, a chick wearing a niqab sailed through security.

Re the absurdity of the situation, Greenfield concludes:

In the TSA’s mixed up world, reading a conservative Jewish newspaper is a search trigger, but walking around in a mask associated with the terrorist ideology responsible for the TSA’s own existence isn’t.

Yes, because in that crazy, mixed up world, an innocuous Jewish newspaper raises alarm bells, and "profiling" is a sin.