Comments on: TSA: Dumb as Ever

By: Mills

Mills — Mon, 22 Nov 2010 14:32:24 +0000

The TSA are stupid thugs, nothing more. They must be beaten down as they deserve. Wake up America! Of course their new child molesting policies are just part of their huge power trip, nothing more. The government wants to show you sheep who is boss. That is exactly why we have the 2nd amendment. Perhaps soon we will use it! We need to copy the Israelis and do airport security with discrimination. Leave the innocent children alone, stop fondling the genitals and breasts of innocent American women, or face the wrath of true Americans. F**k the TSA and all who support them.

By: … and don’t make any sudden moves

… and don’t make any sudden moves — Wed, 06 Jan 2010 07:46:54 +0000

[...] fly has increased steadily with each new regulation requiring the violation of personal space, but this one really takes the biscuit. “…during the final hour of flight passengers must remain [...]

By: Gordon

Gordon — Thu, 31 Dec 2009 06:04:16 +0000

Actually, if you are REALLY cynical, you might think that they don’t have a plan at all, other than knee-jerk reacting. Oh, wait, they’re civil servants, doesn’t that go without saying?

By: Kat

Kat — Thu, 31 Dec 2009 04:51:40 +0000

“If you’re really cynical, you could make a good argument that they’re really only interested in the appearance of safety. They’ve simply concluded that the more difficult they make your flight, the safer you’ll feel. Never mind if any of the theatrics actually work.”

It’s hardly cynical to think this. Given the reactionary and counter-intuitive nature of pretty much all of the TSA’s restrictions, it strikes me as the only logical conclusion!

By: Dave Krueger

Dave Krueger — Thu, 31 Dec 2009 04:49:00 +0000

TSA Going After Bloggers Who Wrote About Directive to Increase Security After Terror Incident The government says the directive was not supposed to be disclosed to the public. Typical government strategy. It's always easier to target the innocent. They'll get back to chasing the terrorists as soon as they're done harassing ordinary citizens. Of course, had they been doing their jobs to begin with, there would never have been a need for the new directive...

By: sebastian

sebastian — Wed, 30 Dec 2009 23:52:55 +0000

I just got back from the airport. It was awful. I flew CVG-ORD-LGA yesterday and JFK-SFO today and I was searched and searched. I was treated like a criminal. I am latin american but I have a beard when I’m on vacation so it makes me look middle eastern. A passenger this morning said I looked suspicious so I got doubly searched and interviewed and they didn’t care that I was an airline pilot. I am not kidding. It was demeaning.

By: If the terrorists don’t kill off the airlines, the TSA will « Quotulatiousness

Wed, 30 Dec 2009 12:54:46 +0000

[...] Radley Balko joins the chorus of protests about the latest set of how-stupid-can-you-get “security” rules from the TSA: [...]

By: Whim

Whim — Wed, 30 Dec 2009 03:22:05 +0000

Radley is exactly correct. The TSA wants travelers to FEEL safer.

Not BE safer.

The passengers are the key, of course. Due to the extremely close quarters on a passenger airliner, a terrorist sitting next to even a semi-alert fellow passenger isn’t going to get away with ANYTHING.

And, the terrorists are severely outnumbered, and in a several passengers vs. ONE terrorist fight, the terrorist is severely outmatched.

By: Tut

Tut — Wed, 30 Dec 2009 02:32:17 +0000

The only way for the TSA’s to do there job is to profile. It is not that difficult. There is a need to check and recheck all people of middle eastern decent and people that look like it. I have had it with political correctness.

By: Brent

Brent — Wed, 30 Dec 2009 01:14:16 +0000

What we need to do is improve the system to reduce the likelyhood that someone like the shoe/underwear bomber doesn’t even show up to the airport, much less the airplane. This guy was on a terrorist watch list but yet still had a visa to enter the country. How hard is it to create a filter to automatically reject people who are on the terrorist watch list?

I can’t think of a reason so important that we let the fact that someone is a suspected terrorist slide and let him come into the country. If they really do need to enter the country then I have no problem with them needing to jump through a few bureaucratic hoops to get a visa and agreeing to extra, extra security checks (the type where the nice lady puts on the latex gloves). 99.9999% of travelers are not on a terrorist watch list so why do we need to go through all this extra security when the governments of the world could be doing so much more to ensure that a terrorist doesn’t even make it to the airport?

By: Good thing they were keeping a close eye on the libertarians « Blunt Object

Good thing they were keeping a close eye on the libertarians « Blunt Object — Wed, 30 Dec 2009 00:56:01 +0000

[...] Radley Balko echoes the theme that smart, determined passengers are a more effective counterterrorism method than body-imaging scanners or carry-on liquid restrictions (weren’t those supposed to have prevented devices like this one?): Seems to me that what this, Flight 93, and the Richard Reid incident have shown us is that the best line of defense against airplane-based terrorism is us. Alert, aware, informed passengers. [...]

By: Andrew Williams

Andrew Williams — Wed, 30 Dec 2009 00:43:33 +0000

#55: Good to know someone else here has read Robert A Heinlein’s THE PUPPET MASTERS.

By: Andrew Williams

Andrew Williams — Wed, 30 Dec 2009 00:40:16 +0000

Re #32: Sorry. Guess I should have marked that comment as follows:

“Please, Officer, may I register my legal and legally-obtained firearm with you?”

/SARCASM

By: Stump Lane — Conservative Approaches to Terrorism

Stump Lane — Conservative Approaches to Terrorism — Tue, 29 Dec 2009 21:32:44 +0000

[...] instead. No walking about the plane, or covering up with a blanket for the last hour of a flight. Really? No watching live television news on board? Come on, you authorities aren’t even trying [...]

By: Guido

Guido — Tue, 29 Dec 2009 18:42:57 +0000

Due to the lack of written responses to my previous post left with 15 thumbs down I ask this:
Explain, in detail, how a cabin full of glock wielding passengers is somehow safer.

By: Inside Our OODA Loop | Financial and Economic news

Inside Our OODA Loop | Financial and Economic news — Tue, 29 Dec 2009 14:40:33 +0000

[...] happening. Yet the only people whom seem to be at all hampered by these government restrictions are those who have no intention of blowing up airplanes. So in response to the attempted terror attack over Christmas, TSA will apparently adopt a new [...]

By: Inside Our OODA Loop | Financial and Economic news

Inside Our OODA Loop | Financial and Economic news — Tue, 29 Dec 2009 14:40:30 +0000

By: Dave Krueger

Dave Krueger — Tue, 29 Dec 2009 14:07:03 +0000

Not that I think much of it as a paper, but the New York Post has some great headlines on this story: Homeland chief an airhead Flipping Janet forced to concede security flopped It's the incompetence, stupid Napolitano immediately took back her praise of "the system," in a tacit acknowledgment that its only success was in demonstrating its own industrial-scale irrationality. At a cost of $30 billion since 2004, we've implemented security procedures ideally suited to harassing innocent passengers who only want to travel from Point A to Point B with minimal inconvenience. It's only the terrorists we have trouble handling.

By: MassHole

MassHole — Tue, 29 Dec 2009 00:50:02 +0000

Just flew domestically today with my wife and small child. No new protocols in the air or on the ground that I could sense. I was actually impressed today by the courtesy of the TSA screeners. Maybe it was because it we had the chicklet with us or because it was an early flight and they had just started their shift. Either way, a pleasant surprise when I was expecting an anal probe. Aside from the planes being filthy as usual, it was not a bad experience.

By: Ken Hagler

Ken Hagler — Mon, 28 Dec 2009 23:30:05 +0000

“For all you who are so negative towards TSA, go fly “Unsecured Airlines”. Have a nice flight!”

I’d love to, but such things aren’t allowed to exist in the Land of the Fee and the Home of the Slave.