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TSA Says Screening Drinks Purchased Inside Airport Terminal Is Nothing New
First time accepted submitter lcam writes in with a story about a video that has started a new round of condemnation against the TSA over the testing of drinks. "The video, posted on YouTube on Monday and featured on NBC Nightly News with Brian Williams Tuesday night, has already garnered almost 125,000 hits and nearly 900 comments from angry travelers. It shows two TSA officers swabbing bottles of water, a carton of coconut water and a cup of coffee, among other liquids. 'Now remember that this is inside the terminal, well beyond the security check and purchased inside the terminal ... just people waiting to get on the plane,' YouTube user danno02 says in the video's description. 'My wife and son came back from a coffee shop just around the corner, then we were approached. I asked them what they were doing. One of the TSA ladies said that they were checking for explosive chemicals (as we are drinking them).' The TSA insisted Tuesday that its policy of checking liquids beyond the security gate has been in place for five years now. TSA agents will randomly patrol the gates using a test strip and dropper containing a non-toxic solution, it said."
Why not use this "technology" to resume allowing people to carry liquids >3oz in carry-ons?
Perhaps limit the number of such bottles to save time but if they can swab drinks bought in the security zone, they can swab our drinks while we wait to be nakey-scanned...
Fuck the TSA
I was an American teenager in the 1970s. Back then, people made fun of the Soviet Union. One of the most popular jokes referred to a Soviet citizen's internal passport, which apparently they were supposed to carry even when going from city to city. And of course there were all the stories about the KGB.
Fast forward to now. The TSA is becoming more and more intrusive into all aspects of our lives. They are even trying to worm their way into searching you on city buses and trains. Also Congress has, on more than one occasion, entertained proposals that would require US citizens to carry what amounts to an internal passport.
Reagan told Mr. Gorbachev to tear down that wall... and we thought we won the Cold War. But I guess Breshnev and company are having the last laugh.
#DeleteChrome
If you are going to check something at a checkpoint then it makes sense to stochastically sample with secondary checks to test your error rate. Apparently the TSA believe that there is a reason to limit the liquids through airport checkpoints and screen those liquids that they do allow through. Irrespective of if this is itself a rational position, if you believe that it is then it is also rational to check randomly sample liquids after the checkpoint.
If intelligent life is too complex to evolve on its own, who designed God?
How do you know it's a TSA agent dripping a strange liquid into your drink and not a crazy guy dripping a slow acting poison or virus that won't be noticed until hours later after hundreds of people come down with a strange affliction all across the country?
Even if you demand to see ID first (is the TSA agent obligated to show ID upon request?), how many people know what a TSA badge is really supposed to look like?
Always bring some Vaseline to the Airports bathroom. I was told that some TSA agents do a very rough fingerjob.
Lisias@Earth.SolarSystem.OrionArm.MilkyWay.Local.Virgo.Universe.org
Does the TSA know?
To the tune of Lee Greenwood's "God Bless the U.S.A.":
I was born in America,
Where I'm often told I'm free.
And I voted for the pice of shit,
Who told that lie to me.
And I'll prick my finger,
Next to you,
At the all-you-can-eat buffet.
I can't afford to move abroad;
Trapped in the U.S.A.
Actually, I've been wondering if the whole "no drinks through security" rule was made at the request of the airport merchants who charge three dollars for a $0.30 bottle of water....
Check out my sci-fi/humor trilogy at PatriotsBooks.
I've had a sneaking suspicion that the TSA is a stealth jobs program for the otherwise unemployable.
You assume incorrectly. The marginally employable in this country are those who are any/all of the following: under the age of 25, over the age of 65, overweight, physically disabled, have a criminal record (this one overshadows all the rest combined except age), lack a degree/diploma of any kind, or do not speak english fluently. The TSA's hiring criterion specifically disqualify most of the people in the former categories; You can't have a criminal record, you need to be physically fit enough to stand on your feet for an 8 hour shift, and you need to speak english fluently. I believe they also required a high school diploma or GED -- and unlike most other employers, they will check.
It's not so much the intrusive searches and so on as the STUPIDITY of their measures (how are four small bottles of liquid different from one large bottle?).
You assume that the reason for the intrusive searches and 'stupid' measures are to improve security. They aren't. They're there to make the passengers feel safe. All of these searches and measures are highly visible (there are no privacy shields for most of their activities -- they prefer it be in public view), obvious, and very visually-orientated. It is quite literally theatre. The phrase "security theatre" describes what they're doing perfectly; they are actors on a stage, and you are the audience. The polls have consistently shown people support these procedures; It has broad public support. Articles like this are a tempest in a teapot; the general public simply doesn't care about those things. They may agree with everything the article states, but they'll quite happily keep right on doing it because it makes them feel safer.
And that, my friend, is all the TSA offers: A feeling of security.
#fuckbeta #iamslashdot #dicemustdie
As long as we are in the business of putting down people we dont agree with, can we start with you? A human being is not a liability, except to those that wish to have more then they need. You are suggesting we KILL HUMANS, sentient lights in the dark universe, because its 'expensive' to not let them rot in the gutter.
Good-bye
Ya know, most of the time, the TSOs really aren't to blame....
Yes, some of them (less than 50%, although probably close to 50%) do steal shit from your checked baggage and carry on.
But really, it isn't the TSO's fault that they work for an organization as dumb as a pile of dogshit. It's a well paying job for people unwilling or unable (usually unwilling) to get an education of any kind, even if EVERYONE FUCKING HATES THEM.
What are you gonna do? You have a girlfriend and two kids, and you're just too dumb to get a technical degree, are you gonna let them starve? No, you're going to go and get a menial, unskilled labor job with the TSA and get paid well to piss everyone off, cuz that's really all you're good for.
I'm not saying the TSA is good. And I'd rather have no jobs for the genetically lobotomized, but it's just not their fault that most of them got the job of TSO, they're so useless they have no other choice. And in the "land of opportunity" (yeah right, opportunity my ass), everyone is entitled to try working at something. And it turns out that unskilled mouthbreathers are really great at fondling the unwilling, and stealing shit from people's bags.
Hectice, baby, Mercator says hello to you
AFAICT the only thing all of these "security measures" do is get people used to the idea that they're subjects, not citizens and that the security forces can do whatever they want whenever they want to anybody they feel like. By the time most people realize we're turning into a police state it will be too late.
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Nothing other than the fourth amendment, which prohibits unreasonable search and seizure. I'd count backscatter x-ray of everyone's naked bodies as unreasonable. Especially since it exposes everyone to a scientifically undetermined amount of ionizing radiation. Seizing ANY liquid of a volume greater than 3 ounces is also unreasonable.
Also, the US Constitution grants citizens the right to unrestricted interstate travel. The TSA is pretty restrictive. So The TSA is breaking the FUCKING CONSTITUTION on at least two counts. I'll bet they'll be granted more and more ability to trample on citizen's rights until we have FUCKING NO RIGHTS AT ALL
Dammit, I'm about to puke thinking of the FUCKING LEMMINGS IN CONGRESS, who said "oh, well we need to catch 'bad guys' at any cost. Terrorism seems like a good excuse. Let's just take everyone's rights away at bottle necks in movement and work out from there." Eventually we won't be allowed to walk on the sidewalk or drive on a road without a FUCKING PERMISSION SLIP from homeland security letting their agents know that "this person's a good guy, unless he's brown or black and seems suspicious (aka being brown or black)"
Hectice, baby, Mercator says hello to you
They are just doing a job, if you don't like the job they do, then get your government to get rid of the job, there's no need for personal attacks against the agents
That's reductionism, and it's bullshit. It was bullshit at the Nuremburg trials and it's bullshit here. You are responsible for your actions, you don't get to absolve yourself of moral responsibility by claiming "It's just my job." If you don't agree with the policies, then you'll stop showing up for work and find a different job. By continuing to show up, you are giving it your support and are morally responsible as well.
"just doing their job" is NEVER a valid defense. Especially ones that have signed up to be TSA goons after it has been established that people don't like them.
Many people don't like meter maids, but without them, parking in cities would be chaos (and cities would earn less revenue).
Many people don't like policemen on the highways since they write tickets for no reason "But officer, my car was *made* to drive 120mph, there's hardly anyone on the road, what's the danger?"
Many people don't like street sweepers because they make noise early in the morning, and cause annoying parking restrictions.
Should we just get rid of *all* jobs that people don't like?
... and then they test the next guy's coffee with the same test strip...
You could have at least tried to find jobs that were not useful. The TSA serves no functional or useful purpose except to drain tax payer money, create waits and radiation, and to make us think we are safer.
Without the TSA, airplanes would be just as safe, lines would be faster, and I wouldn't have to pay out the ass for a bottle of water.
in which case: well played sir.
Is it just me who gets annoyed with the wrong use of "well played" so common lately? Unless there's a preceding set-up, it's not well played. If you mean it's funny, say so. Don't use trite phrases that don't even fit.
@hawguy, another well thought-out comment... you never disappoint.
Try looking at the situation with a finer grain: When a cop pulls me over for doing 120 gives me a ticket, he is doing society (and me) a service, even if I don't like it- When cops stop people on the street and search them without probable cause (other than their racial heritage), that is abuse, for which the statement "I was just following orders" holds no validity.
Mods, why was this guy's comment modded "Insightful"?