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It seems that a common theme is that the TSA is a bunch of goose-stepping Nazis bent on taking away our freedom. So...what should the alternative look like? Should we can the whole thing and just let anyone with a ticket get on the plane, no questions asked? Or should we go back to the same security setup that let those guys with box cutters onto planes? What's the better setup?
Well I don't think we need the groping or naked scanner machines.
So far what they have found was from the xray machines and would have found that before 9/11.
It seems that a common theme is that the TSA is a bunch of goose-stepping Nazis bent on taking away our freedom. So...what should the alternative look like? Should we can the whole thing and just let anyone with a ticket get on the plane, no questions asked? Or should we go back to the same security setup that let those guys with box cutters onto planes? What's the better setup?
I don't think these perceptions are correct. I think most people are just fine with having security checks. In this day and age, they are obviously necessary. I do not know how effective they are but when push comes to shove, I can live with security just being an illusion of safety. It's worked for me so far - I have survived hundreds of flights since 9/11 without incident.
What gets most people angry are dubious searches of the elderly and of small children. Fine, so our policies prevent us from profiling and it is obvious that even if we were to profile, success would certainly not be guaranteed. Obviously, nobody likes to be in the profiled group.
One of my good friends is a middle-eastern-looking US Jew - if he doesn't shave, you better believe he gets "the look." And he hates it.
Nonetheless, how many gray-haired grandmothers from rural Idaho have been involved in terror plots? How likely is it that they secretly converted to some ultra-extremist Jihadist group and are planning to take out a plane?
Do we really think that the family from Finland returning from a vacation in Florida have stuffed bombs into the diapers of their two toddlers?
To me, such checks are only done to appease those who would be the target of profiling and they simply serve no other purpose.
I hate the idea of profiling, but perhaps there is a place for it if it is used to eliminate those groups that are highly unlikely to be involved in any stupidity.
Like the poster above, I don't like the naked scanners. However, technological advances are always met with skepticism. I remember reading about an outcry when passports suddenly required photos.
I think what we had pre-backscatter machines and pre-sexual assault pat downs was fine.
TSA is pretty much theater. Yeah they'll catch the jackasses who try to sneak a gun in (and even then they're pretty bad at that) but otherwise it seems all of the counter-terrorism stuff is either done by the FBI or by people on airplanes tackling shoe bombers and underwear bombers.
It seems that a common theme is that the TSA is a bunch of goose-stepping Nazis bent on taking away our freedom. So...what should the alternative look like? Should we can the whole thing and just let anyone with a ticket get on the plane, no questions asked? Or should we go back to the same security setup that let those guys with box cutters onto planes? What's the better setup?
Honestly, now that we've moved across the country from our families, we fly quite a bit. I do not mind the TSA/security crap we have to go through. I only flew a couple of times before 9/11 when I was a young kid, so I don't remember how lax it used to be. So maybe b/c I have nothing to compare it to, I don't really mind going through security as it is now. I feel safe when I fly, that's how it should be. The new body scanners are not the "naked scanners" like they used to be, either. The pat-downs are a little "friendly" but it's not like they're doing cavity searches.
a bit short sighted no? they serve a purpose, like keeping u alive.
do u know how many people a day crazy angry people that try to get on an airplane with weapons?
alot more than u think. please check and see how many assaults there are daily on airplanes from drunk or crazy passengers ask a stewardess about this since they are the target of most of them.
do u want those passengers armed?
It's overboard right now. We can return to a less onerous system. Eliminate the backscatter machines. Bring back the magnetometers. Bring in full time explosives detection dogs position at each checkpoint. They've been proven to be supremely reliable. Eliminate much of the TSA staffing. The cost savings of magnetometers compared to backscatter, as well as elimination of unnecessary positions, would allow for funding of full time checkpoint dog teams. Dog fatigue would be an issue, but I think the cost savings would allow for more than enough funds to allow for reserve pools to be rotated in intervals as needed.
Please read my comment (pg 5 post 42) on the gun control thread. I describe an alternate to the TSA external and ineffective security. As Americans it is our responsibility to protect ourselves, our families, our friends and complete strangers from assault. This includes assaults by terrorists. We do not need an armed thugocracy to do this we just need armed and alert Americans.
It seems that a common theme is that the TSA is a bunch of goose-stepping Nazis bent on taking away our freedom. So...what should the alternative look like? Should we can the whole thing and just let anyone with a ticket get on the plane, no questions asked? Or should we go back to the same security setup that let those guys with box cutters onto planes? What's the better setup?
What freedom are they taking away? Is there a "freedom to hijack planes" in the constitution? The constitution mandates the government to defent the citizens. You are free to not use the airports, if it bothers you.
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