I think the problem is just that the TSA is run by unprofessional people who clearly have no idea what they're doing.
TSA Pressures Mainstream Media Not To Cover Story
91–100 of 156 posts
Re: TSA Pressures Mainstream Media Not To Cover Story
#92The government supporting the TSA, despite its People pushing against it, is a prime example of failure of democracy in the United States . The People elected a government who does not what they want! Some countries hold referendums to vote on controversial topics. It would be a great solution to hold one in the U.S. at the federal level asking a very simple question: "Should the TSA be shut down? Yes/No". Direct dem…
Be careful what you wish for. The capital-P people are just peachy with those machines. I traveled last week and saw nobody (other than myself) opting out. The people --- in the aggregate --- do not care about this issue. Left to "democracy in the United States", a referendum that requested the elimination of the "opt-out" process in favor of 0.5s of wait time at the security lines would probably pass in a landslide.…
I don't think your observations back up your conclusions with regard to public support for the machines.
The choice people have is between these scanners and a highly intrusive "pat down" which typically includes some TSA agent's hands on your junk. That's not much of a choice.
Re: TSA Pressures Mainstream Media Not To Cover Story
#93The TSA probably views its own mission as largely a propaganda mission. It's just creepy when we realize that it is trying to silence public debate. The biggest oddity to me is that it's been over 10 years and this debate hasn't actually happened in the mainstream media. I think one aspect of most orgs that have entrenched power is that they are always very deferent toward government. NPR is a great example... there…
I don't know if that's entirely true. NPR was really suspicious of the government before 2008. Then something changed.
Have some data to support your cognitive bias?
Re: TSA Pressures Mainstream Media Not To Cover Story
#94Earlier quoted context omitted.
People need to understand this: it's all about the lobbyists, period. The TSA is nothing but a cash cow for the defense and security industries. Actual security is an irrelevant side effect.
it's all about the lobbyists, period. Don't the politicians and bureaucrats -- the ones we're trusting to look out for our interests -- bear some responsibility?
You mean people like Michael Chertoff, who pushed for the body scanners when he was the Secretary of the Department of Homeland Security and then retired to found a consulting company which has been employed by the companies who manufacture those same scanners? That sort of thing?
Re: TSA Pressures Mainstream Media Not To Cover Story
#95Security through obscurity.
Doesn't work on the Internet. Doesn't work in real-life.
Re: TSA Pressures Mainstream Media Not To Cover Story
#96For someone who clearly values security, I am surprised to see him running Internet Explorer :-/
Re: TSA Pressures Mainstream Media Not To Cover Story
#97The government supporting the TSA, despite its People pushing against it, is a prime example of failure of democracy in the United States . The People elected a government who does not what they want! Some countries hold referendums to vote on controversial topics. It would be a great solution to hold one in the U.S. at the federal level asking a very simple question: "Should the TSA be shut down? Yes/No". Direct dem…
Be careful what you wish for. The capital-P people are just peachy with those machines. I traveled last week and saw nobody (other than myself) opting out. The people --- in the aggregate --- do not care about this issue. Left to "democracy in the United States", a referendum that requested the elimination of the "opt-out" process in favor of 0.5s of wait time at the security lines would probably pass in a landslide.…
Indeed. It's actually quite amazing how impressive our federal judiciary is (two notable examples in Chicago: Posner [1] and Easterbrook). Unfortunately, the judiciary has faced a fairly serious crisis in funding over the last two decades [2]. The Chief Justice spoke about this in his year end report in 2010 [3]. It's one of the largest unsung problem in the U.S. today and it makes me worry about the calibre of judges we will end up with a few decades down the road. The math is depressingly straightforward: judges get paid a lot less, law school costs a lot more, and an entire branch of government is at risk for decay.
[1] http://www.projectposner.org/
[2] http://www.uscourts.gov/JudgesAndJudgeships/JudicialCompensa...
[3] http://www.supremecourt.gov/publicinfo/year-end/2010year-end...
Re: TSA Pressures Mainstream Media Not To Cover Story
#98Though both the email and the blog response from TSA are incredibly unprofessional, the email is NOT intimidation or a "veiled threat", and exaggerating by claiming it is is not going to help a sane discussion about this issue. What do you think the TSA is "threatening" to do? They have no power over the media.
All the TSA are saying is "exercise caution with reporting on bloggers that make random statements because you can end up looking stupid". They're wrong in this case, of course, and most likely know they're wrong, but that doesn't make their statement be intimidation (nor should it be read as such). Let's stay reasoned and calm, people.
Re: TSA Pressures Mainstream Media Not To Cover Story
#99Earlier quoted context omitted.
Be careful what you wish for. The capital-P people are just peachy with those machines. I traveled last week and saw nobody (other than myself) opting out. The people --- in the aggregate --- do not care about this issue. Left to "democracy in the United States", a referendum that requested the elimination of the "opt-out" process in favor of 0.5s of wait time at the security lines would probably pass in a landslide.…
I don't think your observations back up your conclusions with regard to public support for the machines. The choice people have is between these scanners and a highly intrusive "pat down" which typically includes some TSA agent's hands on your junk. That's not much of a choice.
If you'd like to make that argument, you can, but it doesn't rebut the poll data that shows a clear majority of Americans favor the machines.
(I would prefer they did not, but you can't always get what you want.)
Re: TSA Pressures Mainstream Media Not To Cover Story
#100Security through obscurity. Doesn't work on the Internet. Doesn't work in real-life.
Passwords are Security through obscurity. That does not make them useless, just vulnerable.