TSA acknowledges financial stress of shutdown is forcing officers to stay home • Hacker News Board

Re: TSA acknowledges financial stress of shutdown is forcing officers to stay home

#101

Post by Daishiman » Fri, Jan 18, 2019, 12:36 AM UTC

marcrosoft wrote: post #91

empath75 wrote: post #62

While I'm not a fan of the TSA as an institution, I'm certainly sympathetic to them being in a situation of essentially unpaid servitude. Nobody deserves that, no matter how shitty or unimportant you think their job is.

> essentially unpaid servitude According to Webster: "a condition in which one lacks liberty especially to determine one's course of action or way of life" This is false. They have an option (leave) and can execute on it.

Man the world you must live in where the option to be unemployed for months is a trivial thing for everyone involved.

Re: TSA acknowledges financial stress of shutdown is forcing officers to stay home

#102

Post by otterley » Fri, Jan 18, 2019, 2:16 AM UTC

This is a bit puzzling to me. Isn’t TSA paid for by user fees? If so, why are they being impacted by the Government’s failure to pass a budget?

https://www.tsa.gov/for-industry/security-fees

Re: TSA acknowledges financial stress of shutdown is forcing officers to stay home

#103

Post by DoofusOfDeath » Fri, Jan 18, 2019, 2:20 AM UTC

shawnz wrote: post #92

DoofusOfDeath wrote: post #63

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I don't think that statement, by itself, tells us much about the TSA's efficacy. Because their mere presence could be an effective deterrent.

But the parent comment wasn't regarding the efficacy of the TSA, it was regarding the dangers of being a TSA agent

All the parent wrote was:

> The TSA has never found a bomb.

Perhaps I'm missing something, but I don't understand how that supports your statement.

Re: TSA acknowledges financial stress of shutdown is forcing officers to stay home

#104

Post by beatgammit » Fri, Jan 18, 2019, 2:21 AM UTC

Rebelgecko wrote: post #59

HarryHirsch wrote: post #50

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It's worth pondering that the overwhelming majority of police deaths are injuries when an inattentive driver runs over an officer during a traffic stop. Only a suicidal maniac would stand for an extended time on the drivers side of a stopped car on the highway. It would be a boon to public health if the police could just photograph a traffic offender and send him the ticket in the mail! The police unions would be dis…

Maybe it's regional, but when I see police officers pulling someone over they almost always go to the passenger window.

That's the main difference between police officers and highway patrol in my area: police go to the driver side window, highway patrol go to the passenger side.

But yeah, it seems like an unnecessary risk for police to go to the driver's side. I always try to give them space, but quite a few drivers don't.

Re: TSA acknowledges financial stress of shutdown is forcing officers to stay home

#105

Post by beatgammit » Fri, Jan 18, 2019, 2:22 AM UTC

zik wrote: post #78

delecti wrote: post #30

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Only one TSA officer has ever been killed on-duty, and they have a total of 57,000 employees as of 2016 [1]. Not all of them are inspection agents (maybe 1/3? I'll use 20,000), but they've been an agency since 9/11 (I'll use 17 years). That makes 1 death per 340,000 agent-years. Admittedly I don't know how their total employee number has changed over time, and my 1/3 estimate could be wildly off. Meanwhile the statis…

That's a whole lot less dangerous than being a mechanic or a farmer.

Statistics?

Re: TSA acknowledges financial stress of shutdown is forcing officers to stay home

#106

Post by beatgammit » Fri, Jan 18, 2019, 2:30 AM UTC

Canada wrote: post #55

threeseed wrote: post #47

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Isn't TSA just Airport Security ?

No, it's also a power and money hungry agency. The airport security of yore just did their jobs and were a lot more pleasant to deal with. The traveling public was just as safe.

And perhaps more safe. Security theater is a real thing and gives people a false sense of security.

I've heard that the reason we haven't had a major terrorist attack in the US since 9/11 was because of vigilance of the public. If people get lazy and start trusting that the TSA will competently do their job, we're likely to have another. I think it's because the TSA is pretty bad at their jobs that we haven't had anything major attack.

Re: TSA acknowledges financial stress of shutdown is forcing officers to stay home

#107

Post by beatgammit » Fri, Jan 18, 2019, 2:34 AM UTC

Rebelgecko wrote: post #45

dgzl wrote: post #27

Earlier quoted context omitted.

An old project manager of mine flew with a gun once. It was entirely legal, because owning guns is legal, and flying is legal. It just had to be checked out and put away safely.

Flying with one in your carry-on is illegal for regular people. You can check one in your luggage but there's some special rules that sometimes the TSA and airline staff aren't familiar with (you must use a lock that is not TSA approved, you're not allowed to let TSA or airline staff borrow the key, stuff like that). The only time I traveled with a gun it was simpler (and cheaper!) to just mail it to myself.

Yeah, that's pretty stupid. It should never be cheaper to mail something small, like a gun, than to carry it with you.

Re: TSA acknowledges financial stress of shutdown is forcing officers to stay home

#108

Post by beatgammit » Fri, Jan 18, 2019, 2:37 AM UTC

dfischer wrote: post #66

TSA is one of the biggest jokes in government economic rigging. Anecdotally, they're even more grumpy than the DMV. Yeah I've heard the adage the DMV is supposed to be slow as a control theory. Bottom line is the TSA doesn't provide the value it costs.

DMV in my area is quite pleasant. Then again, the TSA is also quite pleasant (in demeanor, not the inconvenience), so maybe I'm just in a pleasant area.

I really wish we could just abolish the TSA and let the airlines and their insurance work it out with the airports. Things were way better before 9/11 when I didn't feel like a criminal when I need to ride on an airplane.

Re: TSA acknowledges financial stress of shutdown is forcing officers to stay home

#109

Post by beatgammit » Fri, Jan 18, 2019, 2:39 AM UTC

empath75 wrote: post #62

While I'm not a fan of the TSA as an institution, I'm certainly sympathetic to them being in a situation of essentially unpaid servitude. Nobody deserves that, no matter how shitty or unimportant you think their job is.

Well, I've heard that in many areas, banks are giving out zero interest loans to government employees in the amount of their regular paycheck. So, unless these people don't know about these programs, they are still getting paid, and the loans will be repaid when the shutdown ends.

Re: TSA acknowledges financial stress of shutdown is forcing officers to stay home

#110

Post by shawnz » Fri, Jan 18, 2019, 3:05 AM UTC

DoofusOfDeath wrote: post #103

shawnz wrote: post #92

Earlier quoted context omitted.

But the parent comment wasn't regarding the efficacy of the TSA, it was regarding the dangers of being a TSA agent

All the parent wrote was: > The TSA has never found a bomb. Perhaps I'm missing something, but I don't understand how that supports your statement.

They were replying to a comment which implied that the main risk of working for the TSA is dealing with bombs. But the TSA has never dealt with any bombs, so clearly that's not actually a risk of working there.