encounter with TSA

[2minkey]

i was at the airport.

i had not flown for perhaps six weeks.

as far as i recall, perhaps a month ago i was at my storage garage and noticed a knife sitting out. likely i had been using it for cutting tape and getting into boxes. i decided it should not just be sitting out. so i put it in an open-at-the-top box that was in my trunk, and promptly forgot about it. later i noticed the knife in the box, and thought it shouldn't be sitting so quite openly in my truck. so i dropped it into the small carry-on/travel bag that was (also) in my trunk, as i was headed to visit a friend who lives a couple hours away. you know where this is going...

knife in question:

http://www.crkt.com/M1603Z

not exactly a boy scout knife.

at the airport, x-ray showed something in the bag. so they hand inspected it. found a spray bottle of sunscreen that was a little too big to be carried-on. okay. no big deal.

"wait... we got something else."

fished out the knife.

me, with genuine surprise: "oh... shit..."

the guy walked me and the knife back to the pre-security area, showed me the "mail it home station," and made sure i skipped the security line when i came back through. was very courteous and friendly the whole time.

while this is only one example - the only serious 'encounter' i've ever had with TSA after flying at least half a million miles since they've been around - i thought i would offer it as counterpoint to those of you who rarely fly yet began frequently crying wolf about TSA "overstepping" and "intimidation" as soon as obama landed in the white house.

in short, blow me, whiners.

 

[Gotholic]

I have been meaning to ask you, have you ever been selected to go through a body scanner? If so, have you said you want to opt out for a pat down instead?

 

[2minkey]

1. selected? wow, you really don't fly much, do you? in a lot of airports pretty much everybody goes through the scanner. but yes, i was 'selected' about three days ago flying out of a small piss-pot airport.
2. no. but my colleague always opts out and she tells me that there has never been a raised eyebrow upon her request.

seems that the vast majority of those that report trouble with TSA are petty chapter-and-verse citing dipshits looking for a pissing match and their 15 minutes of fame among similarly minded social rejects.

 

[Winky]

Jesus crimeny I'm shocked you didn't end up in Gitmo!
That is a wary scary knife!
They killed 3,000 Americans with box cutters
you could wipe out the mid-west with that thing!

 

[jimpeel]

You ran into someone who has a brain and common sense. Hopefully, he will rub some of that off on others he works with.

 

[Winky]

clearly you should have been detained as a threat to national security
and been given an anal probe

 

[Gotholic]

1. selected? wow, you really don't fly much, do you? in a lot of airports pretty much everybody goes through the scanner. but yes, i was 'selected' about three days ago flying out of a small piss-pot airport.
2. no. but my colleague always opts out and she tells me that there has never been a raised eyebrow upon her request.

seems that the vast majority of those that report trouble with TSA are petty chapter-and-verse citing dipshits looking for a pissing match and their 15 minutes of fame among similarly minded social rejects.

Yes, being selected is usually "random" unless it is now regular procedure to have everyone go through them. When you are selected and opt out for a pat down it has been reported that they yell out quite loudly "OPT OUT!!!" to needlessly draw attention. It would be interesting for you to one day opt out and choose a pat down to let us know what you think of that.

 

[2minkey]

You ran into someone who has a brain and common sense. Hopefully, he will rub some of that off on others he works with.

the experience was consistent with, um, my broader experience with TSA, assuming regional differences that are not job-specific e.g. people in new jersey are typically uncivilized, impatient sub-mongoloids regardless...

 

[2minkey]

Yes, being selected is usually "random" unless it is now regular procedure to have everyone go through them. When you are selected and opt out for a pat down it has been reported that they yell out quite loudly "OPT OUT!!!" to needlessly draw attention. It would be interesting for you to one day opt out and choose a pat down to let us know what you think of that.

so it is random unless... it isn't?

i've never heard "OPT OUT" as you describe it. or even a conversational "hey bob, we got an opt out."

i suspect what you report reflects a single occurrence involving a cop-wannabe (george zimmermann-type) who got excited his first day on the job, and got some authoritarian squirt-squirt on his trousers.

i suppose all i know is what i've seen. but, then, at this point what i've seen over hundreds or perhaps thousands of data points is statistically valid. it's just like how gonz knows that "managers" are typically pencil dicks, and i give him a hard time about being such a commie in questioning the moral order of capitalism, but he's essentially correct.

maybe time to take a break from thinking prison planet 24-7. there is help available.

 

[jimpeel]

If, when they opt out and the TSA guys state it loudly, people would start clapping and jumping up and down shouting "I got an opt out!" like it was a game show maybe they would stop this shit. Moaning and gasping loudly in ecstatic ardor while they are going over your body would likely take them back a bit especially if asked "Was it good for you too?" at the end. Invite them outside to enjoy a cigarette as well.

 

[2minkey]

when they opt out and the TSA guys state it loudly.

hold your breath and fight that windmill dude.

 

[Winky]

 

[2minkey]

that shit gets you pretty hot, huh winkus?

 

[Gonz]

Minx, the people at TSA could be the nicest, kindest people you'd ever want to meet. The simple fact is,
the federal government has gone too far, in many ways. Simply violating the 4th on a routine basis is sufficient
to start a revolt, if We the People wouldn't roll over & expose our belly whenever "someone in authority" says
so.

You got off easy? lucky? My wife had to go through the grope method due to her artificial knee. I had my hands
locked over my head while they inspected "something" that the whole body scan couldn't pick up ( absolutely nothing)
I love to fly. I find the entire TSA process a burden, troublesome, illegal & unnecessay.

However, we don't have enough people wanting their liberty back at the sake of a loss of a little security, so they'll have neither.

 

[Winky]

damn straight boi I can't wait for it to rise again!

 

[2minkey]

Minx, the people at TSA could be the nicest, kindest people you'd ever want to meet. The simple fact is,
the federal government has gone too far, in many ways. Simply violating the 4th on a routine basis is sufficient
to start a revolt, if We the People wouldn't roll over & expose our belly whenever "someone in authority" says
so.

You got off easy? lucky? My wife had to go through the grope method due to her artificial knee. I had my hands
locked over my head while they inspected "something" that the whole body scan couldn't pick up ( absolutely nothing)
I love to fly. I find the entire TSA process a burden, troublesome, illegal & unnecessay.

However, we don't have enough people wanting their liberty back at the sake of a loss of a little security, so they'll have neither.

so your minor hassle is a violation of the 4th amendment huh? somehow i suspect almost everything is a hassle for you.

you went to the airport. you bought a ticket. so this is voluntary unreasonable search... or has your right to fly been violated?

we have airplanes. we have airports. they are essential to the function of a modern economy.

i'd love to hear your suggestions for reasonable and viable alternatives, but i'm afraid all you got to offer is poor 'ole picked-on you.

 

[Winky]

nice argument minx but http://i49.tinypic.com/35kscu9.jpg

 

[Winky]

wait lemme get this straight
none of us are surprised when the government fails to accomplish tasks
that it was never meant to be involved with in the first place?

Is jerking around the entire flying public the right way to stop terrorists
or would it be more efficient to simply kill the .0000000001% of the world's
population that are actual terrorists?

Feeling up white grandma's in Des Moines is the reason there hasn't been another 9-11?

 

[2minkey]

oddly enough, they have been killing terrorists. better than bush baby + co. figure that one out. (oh, right, of course, "they didn't build that.")

 

[Gonz]

Insanity: doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results.

If only I'd paid more attention to the physicist & less to the poll taker.

However, in the sense that I have lost my mind, I'll continue conversing with the haughty Seattle resident
just a little longer, no matter that it has been proven, repeatedly, to be a waste of time...

I am curious as to your response - who, or what, gave the federal government the authority to regulate
air travel? Think deeply here...it wasn't an "essential to the function of a modern economy" just a few
decades ago. In fact, it barely existed.

To answer your query - I have no right to air travel since I do not own an aircraft. However, no matter
how hard it is for you to grasp the concept, yes, the federal government trolling through my goods, feeling
my wife up & having me pretend to be a criminal is, in fact, a violation of the fourth amendment. Since I have
done nothing illegal, and the government has no warrant, my presumption of innocence, in a legal manner,
is a matter of course.

If you disagree, please elaborate.

a reminder

Amendment IV

The right of the people to be secure in their persons, houses, papers, and effects, against unreasonable searches and seizures, shall not be violated, and no Warrants shall issue, but upon probable cause, supported by Oath or affirmation, and particularly describing the place to be searched, and the persons or things to be seized.