Earlier this week was the first time I'd been in an airport since the new screening procedures and nekkid machines went into effect. I had to bring my Poppop to PHL to send him off on his winter escape to Chile.
Prominently displayed on flatscreens above the screening area were videos touting the effectiveness and efficacy of TSA, with obvious emphasis on how they are "professionals" keeping us safe. This prompted my mother to rant about how utterly useless and incompetent the TSA is and I mentioned that they're treating Americans like children, engaging in group punishment like we are all preschoolers. She immediately made the connection to gun control and how it is similarly ineffective. You have no idea how proud that makes me.
There's nothing like watching your 87 year old grandpa go through that BS. It really puts you in a bad mood. We were worried he might miss his flight, so mom inquired about getting a gate pass so we could go through security and go to the gate with him. I leaned over to her and said "I can't do that. I won't make it through security." She looked at me blankly for a second, then nonchalantly asked "you're carrying?" Ah, she has come so far.
Prominently displayed on flatscreens above the screening area were videos touting the effectiveness and efficacy of TSA, with obvious emphasis on how they are "professionals" keeping us safe. This prompted my mother to rant about how utterly useless and incompetent the TSA is and I mentioned that they're treating Americans like children, engaging in group punishment like we are all preschoolers. She immediately made the connection to gun control and how it is similarly ineffective. You have no idea how proud that makes me.
There's nothing like watching your 87 year old grandpa go through that BS. It really puts you in a bad mood. We were worried he might miss his flight, so mom inquired about getting a gate pass so we could go through security and go to the gate with him. I leaned over to her and said "I can't do that. I won't make it through security." She looked at me blankly for a second, then nonchalantly asked "you're carrying?" Ah, she has come so far.
4 comments:
Familiarity breeds content, eh?
...Content, as in contentment, not as in, contents.
One thing that should always be kept in mind when dealing with and thinking about the TSA: they have not stopped a single terrorist. Not one. In those cases where the terrorists were stopped, it was accomplished by concerned citizens or their own incompetence.
The Thousands of Sexual Assaulters are the very embodiment of "fighting the last war", and have been about as successful as you might expect with that strategy - not at all.
What Linoge said.
And for real nausea, go to Wally World. Janet Napolitano's visage is currently playing on the in-store TVs, including the ones at each checkout, blathering on about Walmart and Homeland Security's commitment to security and so forth and so on.
Standing in line, listening to her drivel after I've been surrounded by Walcreatures for the previous hour or more, is the icing on my hate cake.
I recently traveled, have to say I saw nothing different in what TSA did than what they have been doing for years except that they had me walk through a metal detector. I usually fly armed but did n ot this time because i was going on a cruise out of country. Taking off our shoes was a pain in the ass but the people at TSA were repectful (they are not always so), professional, and got almost everyone through quickly. I did ot see any of the xray machines evident at either airport going or coming. I suppose that was a good thing.
For Linoge, do you have proof of that? Do you instead mean they have never apprehended one terrorist instead of stopping one? (Preventing one from boarding because they were doing their job wo? Who knows, other than a terrorist who may have walked away, if any have ever gotten there then turned around and left instead of flying because they saw TSA officers doing their jobs.) I wonder, do you know how many terrorists the TSA has allowed onto planes? You seem to imply that because there have been no reports of them apprehending a terrorist then they must be doing a poor job. I imagine a good indicator of a poor job would be the number of terrorists they have allowed to board aircraft. Mind you, I am not supporting them or saying they are doing a good job. I would just tend to judge their performance by other means than what you mentioned.
All the best,
GB
Post a Comment