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[Büge]

Boy that Indian ambassador sure looks like she could be a threat.

Their clothes are different from my clothes!  Look at what they're wearing!

Whatever happened to Diplomatic Immunity?

[Misha]

I love how so much of this giant debate is fueled by people being too prudish to have a stranger who doesn't care see their naked body for 5 seconds.

[TA]

And keep those pictures around forever.  And the fact that it's involuntary.  And you'd think that being around these boards as long as people have, the problems this presents for pre-op transgenders should be pretty apparent.

Really has nothing to do with prudishness.

[Thad]

Oh wow, a single-sentence strawman post by Drethelin in Real World.  Sure didn't see THAT coming.

Hey Dreth, if you want to contribute something to this discussion, see if you can produce a single positive thing about the new TSA procedures.  Or, hell, any of the new TSA procedures implemented in the past decade.

Just kidding.  I know you don't want to contribute anything to the discussion.

[Misha]

hey thad go fuck yourself with the business end of a rake.


I actually think if Americans become less hung up on nudity and the human body it will be a positive thing, but that's not going to happen and certainly wouldn't be intentional.


Transgender folks are a special case, but apart from special cases like that and that of pilots that have to get radiated multiple times a day every day, I don't feel any worse about backscatter than I do about the entire largely pointless security rigmarole. The groping is ridiculous but it's also optional. I guess I'd be happy if this was the last straw in dismantling something that is wasteful of everyone's money and especially time on a national scale, but I don't view it as a bigger deal than say, the fact that you can't take liquids onto an airplane.

[Thad]

hey thad go fuck yourself with the business end of a rake.

Why, you want the government to take pictures?

I actually think if Americans become less hung up on nudity and the human body it will be a positive thing

I do too; the only problem is that it has fuck-all to do with whether it's okay for the government to take and permanently store nude pictures of people who it has no reason to suspect of illegal behavior.

The groping is ridiculous but it's also optional.

In theory.  This thread's got multiple examples of occasions when people weren't given the option.

I guess I'd be happy if this was the last straw in dismantling something that is wasteful of everyone's money and especially time on a national scale, but I don't view it as a bigger deal than say, the fact that you can't take liquids onto an airplane.

As far as convenience, it's less of an impairment than making me buy mini-bottles of everything before I get on a plane.  As far as Fourth Amendment violations, on the other hand, a full-body scan that is then held on-file for God knows how long and distributed to God knows who is (in most cases) a bigger invasion of privacy than looking through a suitcase.

[Rico]

And that's not even counting the technical problems, like the part where the backscatter machines wouldn't have caught the underwear bomber, can't detect anything in body cavities, and the odds of getting cancer from a backscatter machine, while small, is double the odds of actually being killed by a terrorist.

[JDigital]

Yes, but if the machines worked, they'd further decrease your chances of being killed by a terrorist, and then the relative chance of getting cancer would be even higher.

[Classic]

So... I've always kind of likened these airport security measures to the Duck and Cover program. Did I get that idea from here? Is it ubiquitous to the point where no one person can really claim the idea?

[Büge]

I thought you were making the comparison to show just how ineffectual each are.

[Thad]

The groping is ridiculous but it's also optional.

In theory.  This thread's got multiple examples of occasions when people weren't given the option.

To add: it's only optional if the terminal HAS one of the scanners.  Terminal 2 at Sky Harbor doesn't; my grandmother got groped there last week.

Meanwhile, there've been multiple reports about how easy it is to fool the scanners.

Oh, and according to ABC, a Persian guy got through security with a loaded Glock the other month.  So, you know, that's cool.

[Rico]

Meanwhile, none of the organizations the TSA claims are maintaining the scanners have anything to do with them!

[Mongrel]

Reposted without immediate comment:

from:  http://www.news10.net/news/article.aspx?storyid=113529&provider=top&catid=188

SACRAMENTO, CA - An airline pilot is being disciplined by the Transportation Security Administration (TSA) for posting video on YouTube pointing out what he believes are serious flaws in airport security.

...

Three days after he posted a series of six video clips recorded with a cell phone camera at San Francisco International Airport, four federal air marshals and two sheriff's deputies arrived at his house to confiscate his federally-issued firearm. The pilot recorded that event as well and provided all the video to News10.

At the same time as the federal marshals took the pilot's gun, a deputy sheriff asked him to surrender his state-issued permit to carry a concealed weapon.

[McDohl]

Whistleblowers getting shat on?

[Thad]

Man arrested for being brown and having diarrhea; woman, other man arrested for being brown and sitting next to man who was brown and had diarrhea.

Happy 9/11 Day!

[Büge]

Man arrested for being brown and having diarrhea; woman, other man arrested for being brown and sitting next to man who was brown and had diarrhea.

Happy 9/11 Day!

Let's read the story from one of the passengers' perspective.

[Thad]

this is also a pretty strong issue for the Republicans to take on once they realize, oh yeah, the public's never going to think we're softer on terrorists than Democrats no matter WHAT we do.

Took 'em long enough.

[Cthulhu-chan]

Broun concurred. "We must focus on identifying terrorists and stopping them instead of patting down grandma and children. And we must stop worrying about political correctness,"

welp, sounds like an excuse to arrest more brown people.

[Rico]

Which is, honestly, several steps up from current practice as far as potential effectiveness.

[Thad]

Aviation security expert: airport security doesn't fucking work.  Sure is expensive, though!

Hey, Congress!  You're looking for ways to cut tens of billions in wasteful spending, right?