So there was nothing really to push back against.
how could that be? i saw it on the internet!
Because TSA is trying their damnedest to quiet things down and play up those upset over police-state "security" measures as kooks.
But they're still searching for drugs, for money, for shampoo and sodas and nail clippers - and missing knives and firearms and incendiaries. They're still sexually assaulting people, whether or not said people go through the Nude-O-Scopes. They're still violating the right of paying passengers to travel via common carrier, as a result of their powertripping and unwillingness to follow their OWN FRAKKING RULES. I've repeatedly posted links here to Flyertalk.com's Travel Safety And Security board, where tales of TSA abuse run rampant, coming from those most affected by it - those who fly frequently, either for business or pleasure. Feel free to check it out, C&SD - and there are people there who are indeed putting their money where their mouths are.
Let me make it personal for you, for a second - do you want some perv in a windowless closet somewhere looking at a Nude-O-Scope picture detailed enough to clearly image your daughters' genitalia? Do you want his (yes, HIS) buddies putting their hands in your daughters' pants? How do you tell them that MOST strangers' bad touches are wrong and must be met with screams and hitting and running, but THESE strangers' bad touches must be met with silence and stillness and are "okay"? Will it still be okay when they start graduating to actual, physical cavity searches?
Since the ID checker doesn't check your ID against *ANYTHING*, what valid security purpose is served by him making you show him your identity papers in order to travel about your own country, as though you were an East German prole? "Papiere, bitte, kameraden!" Show them anything but what they want to see - a passport, a NEXUS or SENTRI card, a passport card (all of which are on TSA's approved-ID list, and which Every. Single. Screener. is supposed to have been trained and retrained on recognizing) - and you'll more than likely get, "Show me a driver's license, or you're not flying today." This is security?
The same screener who just ran his gloved hands inside the underpants of the sick guy in front of you will now be running those same gloves over your *FACE*. And the face of the person behind you, and behind THAT person, and behind THAT person, etc., etc., etc. Unless challenged, many will wear a single pair of gloves for their entire freaking shift - including for bathroom breaks.
Their VIPR teams
are testing the waters, pushing their search areas into other areas of our lives - witness the recent incident where a TSA VIPR crew forcibly searched passengers getting OFF of a *FREAKING TRAIN* in Savannah GA. Although at least the train station manager told TSA in no uncertain terms that they wouldn't be pulling that nonsense again in HIS station - good for him! VIPR sets up at train stations, bus stations, Metro and other light rail systems around the country. I have to wonder, given that they DO set up at least occasionally here in VA on Metro, how they deal with the fact that Metro follows VA state law regarding open and concealed carry on board their vehicles, when operating within the Commonwealth...
They, as an agency, have no issue with rampant powertripping, abuse of authority, and outright theft from those they're supposed to be protecting - until they get caught at it, of course, which happens on a disturbingly-regular basis. At which point we're told that, like the other hundreds and hundreds of incidents reported over the past decade, this latest problem was just "an isolated incident" that their background-checked workforce does not tolerate in their midst. Except that they *DO* - hell, TSA forced RIC (Richmond VA) to issue a SIDA badge for unrestricted secure-area access to someone the agency knew was a CONVICTED FELON a couple of years ago, and I've not seen a single report of one screener telling another to knock off his abusive behavior towards a paying passenger!
And after all that, they *STILL* have >70% failure rates - ON ANNOUNCED TESTS - for detecting simulated bombs or weapons, and let ACTUAL weapons through.
There's your "security", C&SD. That's what you're paying for.
