This one is for Harry...

...who said recently "I think a good thing for me ... to do right now is keep an eye out for verifiable stories of people being difficult when faced with unreasonable control freak demands." It's from AP for Tuesday:

A woman who was upset over being searched bodily at an airport was convicted Tuesday of assaulting a security screener by grabbing the federal officer's breasts. ...

[Phyllis] Dintenfass, 62, faces up to a year in federal prison and $100,000 in fines. The judge set sentencing for Nov. 1.

Apparently, Dintenfass activated metal detectors at a checkpoint at an airport in Appleton, Wisconsin, last September. Screener Anita Gostisha testified that

she took the woman to another screening area, where she used a handheld wand. Gostisha said she was following protocol when she also performed a "limited pat-down search."

Gostisha said she was using the back of her hands to search the area underneath Dintenfass' breasts when the woman lashed out at her.

"She said 'How would you like it if I did that to you?' and slammed me against the wall," Gostisha testified. "She came at me and grabbed my breasts and squeezed them."

Dintenfass claimed she acted in self-defense.

"I said, 'What are you doing? No one's done that to me before,'" she said. "And she kept going ... for what felt like an interminably long time."

Dintenfass, who said she was "reacting to what felt like an absolute invasion of my body," admitted touching the screener's breasts but denied pushing her.

Now here are my questions. Leaving aside the image of this 62-year old retired teacher "slamming [Gostisha] against the wall" and coming at her, no doubt with eyes ablaze and hands like claws, ready to pounce, did Gostisha tell Dintenfass what she was going to do before she did it? When Dintenfass protested did she stop even long enough to explain? Or did she just put her hands on Dintenfass and ignore her when she spoke up? And how long did this "limited pat-down" go on?

Obviously I don't know for a fact, but I will tell you my own belief as to the answers to the first three of those questions: No, she didn't tell her. No, she didn't stop. Yes, she ignored her. Because screener (i.e., person with the power) Gostisha expected passenger (i.e., person without the power) Dintenfass to passively submit to whatever was demanded of her without explanation. Because that's what power expects. It always does.