This article (and mainstream discussions, generally) doesn't question the existence of the TSA. The TSA is expensive, ineffective, and anticonstitutional. Yet most people are ¯\_(ツ)_/¯ about it.
Catching a Flight? Budget Hours, Not Minutes, for Security
281–290 of 512 posts
Re: Catching a Flight? Budget Hours, Not Minutes, for Security
#282> At the same time, he said, the number of T.S.A. screeners has declined by about 5,800 because of tighter budgets. The agency currently has 42,350 agents assigned for security checks. Such a monumentally wasteful jobs program.
This is why we need a guaranteed minimum income. Hopefully, TSA screeners would stop showing up to work.
Re: Catching a Flight? Budget Hours, Not Minutes, for Security
#283Earlier quoted context omitted.
You don't actually have to take your belt off for the full body scan. I left it on once by accident and wasn't questioned, nor was I the next dozen or so times I've flown.
The scanner will flag it up. I left headphones in my pocket; they were flagged. I got rained on before entering the airport; my damp clothes were flagged. This will make you subject to a mandatory groping at the very least.
Yeah, the scanners are very sensitive and will highlight any abnormality. When I flew earlier this month, the TSA agents were walking up and down the line announcing "Empty your pockets completely, including all tissues, papers, and lint; they will show up on the scan". This is true and has happened to me multiple times.
Re: Catching a Flight? Budget Hours, Not Minutes, for Security
#284Earlier quoted context omitted.
Just go get pre check?
A lot of travelers can barely afford to fly as it is. The only way this fast lane can function is if it's exclusive to a small segment of flyers. Do we really need to keep widening the gap between the haves and have-nots?
> Do we really need to keep widening the gap between the haves and have-nots?
That is what the U.S. is all about.
Re: Catching a Flight? Budget Hours, Not Minutes, for Security
#285Earlier quoted context omitted.
They're just as bad at identifying actual "weapons": I flew to South America with a layover in Miami a few years back. Got past TSA without any trouble on the domestic leg, then I had to go through again for the international leg. The second time through security, they said they saw a blade on the x-ray.. turns out they were right. I forgot I had left a multi-tool in my bag. Thankfully, they just trashed it and let m…
I routinely bring contraband through airport security, not weapons, mind you, just silly contraband (unallowed arosols). I am almost never "caught."
This is so true. I was traveling with my partner and she decided to buy a bunch of haircare products. Like the 4 or 5 big 1L containers of shampoo and conditioner.
I told her "we need to check those bags, otherwise they'll make you throw them out". She said it would be fine. And guess what? It was. Almost 4L of liquids in her carry-on and no one said a thing.
Re: Catching a Flight? Budget Hours, Not Minutes, for Security
#286Earlier quoted context omitted.
Correct. You are also free to travel without body searches, just not on a subway, at least in NYC where they often setup mandatory checkpoints before you enter the platform. Also more and more COBRA teams are swooping through Amtrack and yes they do search your property. You are also free to travel without body searches, by a car; unless you are in a border zone of 150 miles, which currently covers the entire state o…
How can the US not have something like this? https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Freedom_to_roam
Perhaps the people who wrote the constitution didn't foresee an attempt to utilize control of movement as a means to bypass inalienable rights.
Re: Catching a Flight? Budget Hours, Not Minutes, for Security
#287Earlier quoted context omitted.
Yep, the whole point for why pre-check exists is to allow frequent travelers who will always pass screening to get through the security clusterfuck faster. pre-check is for people that know how to travel and are willing to observe the rules. A grown man carrying a "throwing-star" toy through pre-check SHOULD BE banned from this privilege and feel the scorn of other pre-check folks who just want to go through smoothly…
I hope you never find yourself on the other side of someone with the badge, even though these people don't even have the power to arrest me it was very scary feeling like they thought I was a criminal and nothing I could say could convince them otherwise. "Did you know what you did was a felony? Did you know it's illegal to possess one of these?" - that's what I had to endure until the police arrived. For the crime o…
Reading how CA defines a shuriken, it doesn't sound like the toy qualifies (not intended to be thrown, assuming the edges aren't sharp):
> As used in this part, a "shuriken" means any instrument, without handles, consisting of a metal plate having three or more radiating points with one or more sharp edges and designed in the shape of a polygon, trefoil, cross, star, diamond, or other geometric shape, for use as a weapon for throwing.
Could maybe qualify as a replica weapon regardless?
Re: Catching a Flight? Budget Hours, Not Minutes, for Security
#288Earlier quoted context omitted.
A lot of travelers can barely afford to fly as it is. The only way this fast lane can function is if it's exclusive to a small segment of flyers. Do we really need to keep widening the gap between the haves and have-nots?
> Do we really need to keep widening the gap between the haves and have-nots? The cynical and nihilistic me says 'yes'. Let's push it to see at what point it crumbles.
It's not going to crumble, pushing it just pushes us ever close to a full blown police state; a direction we're already headed. The people aren't going to get fed up and stop anything, they're going to cower to the power like sheep as we slowly become a full blown fascist state.
Re: Catching a Flight? Budget Hours, Not Minutes, for Security
#289I think Trump would abolish the TSA. Cruz has said he would, too. I'd like to see either one get in, though I wonder if the President should be able to just decide on his own to shut down an agency that Congress has approved. Why has Congress not shut it down? I don't think anybody really likes the TSA, so I can't imagine there'd be too much opposition to a bill abolishing them. It affects so many people you could pr…
Why has Congress not shut it down? I don't think anybody really likes the TSA, so I can't imagine there'd be too much opposition to a bill abolishing them Good luck finding someone who wants to be the anti-airport-security candidate.
I don't know. Is there anyone who isn't a politician or employed by the TSA who thinks the TSA is doing a job worthy of their funding?
Even though you have to take it as a fact that the status quo is a powerful force in politics, it seems like there is room for someone who wants to get elected on a populist platform to make this a banner issue.
Re: Catching a Flight? Budget Hours, Not Minutes, for Security
#290Earlier quoted context omitted.
The TSA has nothing to do with Heathrow where it was found, though. (I don't think in the UK anyone can be fined: if there's any belief of malice, you're likely to be dealt with under normal criminal law such as conspiracy to murder, or potentially terrorism related offences; if there's not, you can either surrender your property or return landside).
A criminal conviction could lead to a fine.
Well yes, but you couldn't immediately receive a notice with a significant fine.