My friend, and blog fodder provider, Josh Wood has started a website for his purported presidential campaign. He has two recent posts about the TSA, and his high priority on disbanding the TSA and privatizing security. Here are his takes:
Josh Wood for President Logo
Abolish the TSA
I reiterate my pledge that mty very first action as president will be to abolish the TSA.
http://www.infowars.com/tsa-agent-jokes-about-finding-sex-toy-during-luggage-inspection/
After arriving at her hotel, Filipovic was unpacking when she discovered her bag had been individually searched by a TSA screener who, having seen the “personal item,” saw fit to comment, writing “GET YOUR FREAK ON GIRL” on the reverse side of an inspection notice.
67,000 passenger loss claims have been filed against the TSA since 2003, a figure the federal agency finds completely acceptable.
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Abolish the TSA, again
Ditto.
http://www.prisonplanet.com/tsa-agents-harass-man-over-silver-coins.html
TSA agents had questioned him about why he was carrying silver coins and demanded to know their value. The screeners also asked if Jeff was collecting them for a hobby or an investment.
In 2009, Ron Paul campaign treasurer Steven Bierfeldt was detained and interrogated for nearly half an hour by TSA officials for the crime of passing a cash box through a metal detector which contained $4,700 in campaign funds.
During the interrogation, Bierfeldt was threatened with arrest and bombarded with questions about his personal life and political viewpoints.
Another example involved war reporter Michael Yon, who was handcuffed and detained after TSA officials demanded to know Yon’s personal income.
Yon said he stood firm and refused to allow his privacy to be violated by TSA thugs because his friend had told him of how she was forced to hand over her Internet passwords and watched in horror as TSA screeners read her private emails.
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My comments? The TSA seems to be full of itself and unable to understand the public outcry that their prying into our personal information does not make flying more secure. Until they “get it”, they should be controlled by someone, or put out of work and privatized. Sure, there will always be bad apples, but the continued string of bad apples seems to suggest some sort of lack of control. Why do these agents think this behavior is acceptable? I would think it must be that they are told that these kinds of interrogations are acceptable, at least in some settings. The fact is that no interrogation of this type is reasonable for anyone. I don’t care if the choice to fly is technically a submission to whatever searching the TSA deems appropriate, but this is ridiculous. I keep waiting for the airlines to publicly complain about the effect that the TSA behavior is having upon the number of travelers. We need leaders who are willing to reign in these types of abuses. Perhaps the TSA is too big and bloated for successful management, in which case smaller private firms competing might significantly improve air passenger safety and experience.
For my previous thoughts about the TSA, click the TSA tag above.
No Longer Normal 