Remember when one used to be able to see their friends and family off to the airport, up to and including the departure gate? I do. Countless times we’d drive up as a family to see dad off on TDY. We used to hang around to verify the flight actually left because on at least one occasion we dropped dad off, hopped back in the car and headed home only to find out later that something happened and his flight didn’t take off. That was back before cell phones, and when adults were treated as such I might add.
Fast forward to present day and you are liable to get hassled if you idle too long at the passenger drop off helping your family, friends, and co-workers off to catch their flight. Then once you are in the airport you are bombarded with big voice announcers telling you not to let your bags out of your sight, not to carry strangers packages, no joking around, all under threat of detainment, search and arrest.
One is inundated with material telling you what is not permissible. Somehow 3 oz. of liquid is safe, 3.5 oz is treachery. You have to pull your laptop out of your bag because they super x-ray machine isn’t sufficient to see if it has been weaponized. You have to take your shoes off to prove whether or not you darn your socks properly. Yet you must succumb to the penis/vagina/breast scanner because TSA agents cannot surf for pornography at work. Oh, and lets not leave out the criminals that permeate their ranks. Consider the honor bestowed upon you by your government with the privilege of having your valuables stolen from you with little recourse save for purchasing new when you get to your destination.
Oh I know, my tone turned a tad facetious there. Its not without merit mind you. Its not like I am “bullying” anyone. That is our governments job. At best I am calling a spade a spade. And for what purpose one might ask? And please do not try and “educate” me about the dangerous people who are laying in wait to cause us harm.
How about instead, we think for a moment about how many commercial flights there are per day? According to congressional testimony provided by the President Paul Rinaldi of the National Air Traffic Controllers Association there are “70,000 flights each day, safely moving nearly two million passengers
throughout the country. Air traffic controllers handle these flights in
complex air space with roughly 5,000 planes in the sky at any given
moment.”
Two million daily passengers .
Two million passengers who went through TSA screening today.
Two million passengers who took their shoes off, lost any liquid greater than 3.0 ounces, wiggled their penis’s jiggled their boobs and incidentally did not try to kill you or any other passenger.
With that thought, why are we reading today that the TSA is expanding its screening of passengers before we arrive at the airport by searching a wide array of government and
private databases, including records such as car registrations and
employment information? [Link], [Link], and more [Link].
More importantly, why does the American public so dutifully and blindly follow? Allow? Agree that this is acceptable behavior by our government?
9/11, TSA’s beloved battle cry was 12 years and 1 month ago. Taking out the week of the air travel being grounded, since 9/11/2001 there have been:
4,420 Days (rounded down-ish)
309,400,000 flights (70k/day)
8,840,000,000 people (2M/day)
who were screened and flew and didn’t try to kill you.
Think about this the next time you fly. I know I will as I get the honor and privilege of having my penis scanned and archived into the government porn hub knowing it could be used to save a life one day.
[youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=i1ME9U6YWQM?feature=oembed&wmode=opaque&enablejsapi=1]
