Guns, Knives, Liquids, Gels, and Flash Cards

Jacob Sullum | September 11, 2009

Philadelphia Daily News columnist Dave Davies marks the 9/11 anniversary with the story of Nick George, a Pomona College student from Wyncote, Pennsylvania, who recently was handcuffed and jailed for several hours at the Philadelphia airport because he made the mistake of trying to carry Arabic-to-English flash cards onto a plane. A TSA spokeswoman says George was flagged for a bag search by agents trained to notice "involuntary physical and physiological reactions that people exhibit in response to a fear of being discovered." The flash cards in his backpack, which included the Arabic words for terrorist and explosion (because George was learning to translate Al Jazeera broadcasts), prompted interrogation by TSA and FBI agents who wanted to know George's feelings about 9/11, his religion, his political sympathies, and his reasons for traveling to Jordan (where he studied for a semester) and to Egypt and Sudan (where he went backpacking). Although George had plausible and innocuous answers to all these questions, he was jailed for four hours, half of that time in handcuffs, before being cleared and released, without explanation or apology. The TSA spokeswoman claims George's "behavior escalated to a point where our officers deemed it necessary to contact the Philadelphia Police Department." But she could not be more specific, and George says he remained calm throughout the incident, while Davies reports that Philadelphia police "said nothing about 'escalating behavior.'"

Several of the comments after Davies' column are notably unsympathetic. "Boo-hoo," says iwantthecupinphilly, "subjected to a little extra scrutiny...grow up and grow a set. You dabble with that culture, you get what you deserve." Shabba Rommel asks, "Who carries flash cards with 'terrorist' & 'explosion' on them?" Probably not terrorists, except the ones in editorial cartoons.

[Thanks to Nicolas Martin for the tip.]

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|9.11.09 @ 1:28PM|#

Big fucking deal.

Joe M|9.11.09 @ 1:30PM|#

The joys of thoughtcrime.

TSA spokeswoman Ann Davis tracked down a report on George's encounter, and said that it wasn't the flash cards that got him flagged.

Davis said that George had been selected for screening before he even reached the metal detector by TSA behavioral-detection officers, personnel trained to screen passengers for "involuntary physical and physiological reactions that people exhibit in response to a fear of being discovered."

Clearly, that quoted phrase is the "anonymous tip" of the TSA. It gives them carte blanche to do anything for no good reason.

$|9.11.09 @ 1:32PM|#

"STUFF WHITE PEOPLE LIKE" CARICATURE LATE FOR FLIGHT

|9.11.09 @ 1:33PM|#

If he told them he was an investigative journalist, would they have let him go?

Here's a flash (card): TSA can be dumb and inflexible.
Cue the hate comments.

billy!|9.11.09 @ 1:36PM|#

I'd imagine "terrorist" and "explosion" are right up there with "bathroom" and "water" in need-to-know arabic words.

ZING!

|9.11.09 @ 1:37PM|#

OWOSSO, Michigan -- State police at the Corunna post have confirmed a well-known anti-abortion activist was shot multiple times and killed this morning in front of Owosso High School.

The victim's identity has not yet been released but the shooting occurred around 7:30 a.m., after most students were off the buses and safely inside the building, said Owosso schools transportation supervisor Jayne Campbell

http://www.mlive.com/news/flint/index.ssf/2009/09/antiabortion_activist_shot_in.html

Tippy|9.11.09 @ 1:38PM|#

Crazy left-wing zealots.

Hugh Akston|9.11.09 @ 1:38PM|#

Big fucking deal.

Actually, it is a big fucking deal. This kid wouldn't have been given a second glance if he was carrying Spanish or German flash cards. Waht led him to be detained on suspicion of criminal activity was trying to learn about the "wrong" culture, as defined by the people with police power.

PimpleDick|9.11.09 @ 1:41PM|#

"Crazy left-wing zealots."

I blame Olbermann.

|9.11.09 @ 1:43PM|#

"Waht (sic)led him to be detained on suspicion of criminal activity was trying to learn about the "wrong" culture, as defined by the people with police power."

No, whatled him to be detained was "involuntary physical and physiological reactions that people exhibit in response to a fear of being discovered."

Learn to read.

|9.11.09 @ 1:44PM|#

And while you're learning, I'll work on my typing skills.

Self Aware|9.11.09 @ 1:44PM|#

Commenters are stupid

Hugh Akston|9.11.09 @ 1:47PM|#

No, whatled him to be detained was "involuntary physical and physiological reactions that people exhibit in response to a fear of being discovered."

So the fact that he was worried that the TSA would wrongfully detain him if they found his flash cards justifies detaining him wrongfully. Good to know.

No thoughtcrime here folks. Move along.

|9.11.09 @ 1:52PM|#

""""involuntary physical and physiological reactions that people exhibit in response to a fear of being discovered.""""

Uh, yeah, and the type reactions are probably classified.

I would bet that the behavorial profiling produces more false hits, waste of time, and wrongful treatment of innocent people, than anything else.

Those who say Boohoo for this guy are stupid hypocrites that would be screaming their assess off if it happened to them.

Mister DNA|9.11.09 @ 1:53PM|#

+1 for $. That shit was funny.

engineer|9.11.09 @ 1:54PM|#

The best way to get through security is to wear a polo shirt, a niece pair or khakis, and a pair of loafers.

It helps to have the dazed look of the overwrought business traveler whose biorythms are totally fuck up from jet lag.

|9.11.09 @ 1:55PM|#

I'm curious how many TSA workers yell at people in traffic that are wrongfully keeping them from getting to work on time.

Lionel Itchy|9.11.09 @ 1:57PM|#

Ugh, Philly.com comments are a wasteland. That Shabba Rommel guy must do nothing all day but post his ill-informed opinions. I swear he's posting on every sports article.

creech|9.11.09 @ 1:57PM|#

We can choose liberty or safety. Let's just let everyone who presents themselves get on a plane. No screening, no metal detectors, no passports, no nuthin. My crystal ball isn't working, so I'll be the guy driving on I-95 instead.

polio robot|9.11.09 @ 2:02PM|#

Maybe a little preflight Xanax so you're a little more relaxed in the TSA line?

Citizen Nothing|9.11.09 @ 2:03PM|#

And statistically, creech will still be roadkill long before anything untoward happens in the skies.

|9.11.09 @ 2:06PM|#

""We can choose liberty or safety."""

Well, with respects to this thread, the detainment of this individual didn't make anything safer. He temporarily lost liberty and we didn't gain any extra safety.

Hugh Akston|9.11.09 @ 2:06PM|#

And now that I have learned to read, I stand by my original statement. It's accurate to say that he was scrutinized for being twitchy, but he was detained because of the content of his cards. Would not have happened if he was learning Nipponese.

matt2|9.11.09 @ 2:12PM|#

creech, that is an awfully scary false dichotomy that you've come up with.

|9.11.09 @ 2:13PM|#

|9.11.09 @ 2:15PM|#

"And statistically, creech will still be roadkill long before anything untoward happens in the skies"

You can't know that given the conditions he laid out.

Jennifer|9.11.09 @ 2:16PM|#

TSA spokeswoman Ann Davis tracked down a report on George's encounter, and said that it wasn't the flash cards that got him flagged.

Her job is a sinecure. I had the joy of speaking with her for a story about TSA behavioral profiling a couple of years ago, and she said NOTHING -- not a single thing -- I hadn't already found on the TSA website.

That was two years ago, and the number of actual terrorists caught by behavioral profiling then was the same as it is now: nothing. Though she did mention TSA guys who found drugs. Big surprise.

kilroy|9.11.09 @ 2:16PM|#

"We can choose liberty or safety." -creech

"They who can give up essential liberty to obtain a little temporary safety, deserve neither liberty nor safety." -Benjamin Franklin

I'm with Ben on this one. Fuck you creech.

Tim|9.11.09 @ 2:16PM|#

I would bet that the behavorial profiling produces more false hits, waste of time, and wrongful treatment of innocent people, than anything else.

It is not as if fear of flying is all that rare and being a little nervous before a flight can't be all that unusual.

|9.11.09 @ 2:18PM|#

Big fucking deal.

No way he made his flight, so aside from the baseless intrusion on his liberty, I would say this is a big fucking deal.

Nice to see that they gave him a ticket for the flight the next day. Did they pick up his meals and lodging, too?

Also, I note article says the reason he was pulled out of line was because they saw stereo speakers in his backpack on the x-ray. Then they saw the flashcards and detained him.

All the hoo-hah about behavioral screening sounds like a load of post-facto BS to me, especially since nobody told the Philly cops about any behavioral problems.

|9.11.09 @ 2:19PM|#

"I would bet that the behavorial profiling produces more false hits, waste of time, and wrongful treatment of innocent people, than anything else."

I would bet the Israeli airport security people would disagree with you.

I would bet that the behavioral profiling done by the Israelis is orders of magnitude better done than anything the TSA dropouts manage.

|9.11.09 @ 2:21PM|#

We cannot simply suspend or restrict civil liberties until the War on Terror is over, because the War on Terror is unlikely ever to be truly over. September 11, 2001, already a day of immeasurable tragedy, cannot be the day liberty perished in this country.

Bourgeois v. Peters, 387 F.3d 1303 (11th Cir. 2004)

Not one thing the TSA has done would've prevented 9/11 from happening. 9/11 was not, as you should well know, a failure of airport security. After all, boxcutters were perfectly allowable on board at the time, and SOP for a hijacking was to open the cockpit and give in to the hijackers' demands.

The ban on boxcutters came before the TSA came into being (and it's utterly pointless and symbolic, since blades under 4 inches long are allowed). The airlines themselves reinforced the cockpit doors, and SOP for a hijacking has gone from "give in" to "fight".

The BDO program has a failure rate of about 99.9%. It's "caught" a few people -- almost all of whom had drugs. If you want to put it into the context of finding people who could otherwise harm a plane, the failure rate is 100% -- they've never found anyone like that.

I don't think anyone's saying no security on planes (just look at all the planes that were hijacked to Cuba before security came into place -- it happened about once every other week). But there would be absolutely zero harm done if we were to go back to the same exact security which we would have encountered at the airport on September 10th, 2001.

You can mock the TSA all you want, but those flash cards are a potentially lethal weapon. I saw a guy throwing playing cards on TV, and he could embed them in the skull of a mannequin.

The whole problem with security is the TSA. If it were managed by the airports and airlines, the tension between safety, convenience, and the perceptions of the consumers would be considered. Since the TSA is answerable to neither the market nor to the consumer, it's far more intrusive and arbitrary than necessary.

|9.11.09 @ 2:23PM|#

If my experience is any indication, when this is all over with, he'll have a sternly-worded warning letter from the TSA show up in the mail.

I hung mine on the fridge, and it's been quite the conversation piece.

rhofulster|9.11.09 @ 2:26PM|#

I always develop tics while waiting in the security line, as I stew about the ridiculously expensive fear mongering/ vote buying security theater I'm forced to endure. Knowing this will make them that much worse.

Jennifer|9.11.09 @ 2:29PM|#

If my experience is any indication, when this is all over with, he'll have a sternly-worded warning letter from the TSA show up in the mail.
I hung mine on the fridge, and it's been quite the conversation piece.

Really? What did you do to incur the wrath of the TSA?

|9.11.09 @ 2:29PM|#

You know, looking at that picture. . .I think that guy is packing something.

Citizen Nothing|9.11.09 @ 2:30PM|#

You can't know that given the conditions he laid out.

Yes, I can.

Also, what Andrew W. said.

Hugh Akston|9.11.09 @ 2:30PM|#

ProLib, don't forget the voters. The TSA isn't accountable to voters either.

Sorry -- Andrew S.

Mike Laursen|9.11.09 @ 2:32PM|#

... a Pomona College student from Wyncote, Pennsylvania, who recently was handcuffed and jailed for several hours at the Philadelphia airport because he made the mistake of trying to carry Arabic-to-English flash cards ...

They should have handed him a CIA job application.

|9.11.09 @ 2:32PM|#

I was wondering what it would take for voter disfavor to really hurt the TSA. It would have to be so great as to overwhelm Congress' aversion to do anything that threatens one of its job programs, and it would have to be so great as to overwhelm their fear that "something might happen!"

|9.11.09 @ 2:37PM|#

I'm waiting to see what the "response" to this will be over on the TSA's blog (aka Propaganda Village). I'm sure it will involve the fact that they followed procedure, they did nothing wrong, and blame any issues they do see on the local law enforcement, like they generally have done in the past.

Pro Liberate -- The TSA will not go away for the reasons you already stated. "Something might happen!" is a powerful fear for politicians, and it gets in the way of common sense. Mind you, it's not like most politicians have any common sense in the first place. But still.

Invisible Finger|9.11.09 @ 2:42PM|#

grow a set

Use of this phrase is limited to people with empty skulls.

|9.11.09 @ 2:46PM|#

Davis said that George had been selected for screening before he even reached the metal detector by TSA behavioral-detection officers, personnel trained to screen passengers for "involuntary physical and physiological reactions that people exhibit in response to a fear of being discovered."

Wait, hold up. So the occasions when I've been singled out for screening at the airport weren't necessarily just random? I may in fact have been getting flagged because I "exhibited" some "involuntary" whatever?

kinnath|9.11.09 @ 2:47PM|#

ChrisO|9.11.09 @ 2:47PM|#

And to think that this level of customer service could eventually be coming to a health-care provider near you.

Invisible Finger|9.11.09 @ 2:49PM|#

TSA spokeswoman

Does anyone even bother continuing to read a newspaper paragraph with the word "spokesman" or "sspokewoman" in it? Everything that comes out of their mouths is scripted nonsense. Why do newspapers even bother writing such paragraphs unless the writer/editor is purposely trying to put the paper out of business?

Dammit.

Invisible Finger|9.11.09 @ 2:51PM|#

"We can choose liberty or safety." -creech

The decision was made in 1776. Just figuring it out now, creech?

Scarcity|9.11.09 @ 2:51PM|#

"If it were managed by the airports and airlines, the tension between safety, convenience, and the perceptions of the consumers would be considered."

"You can't professionalize unless you federalize." Tom Daschle, 2001.

REAL AMERICANS LOVE THE TSA|9.11.09 @ 2:52PM|#

ALL YOU FAKE-FREEDOM-LOVING-TARIANS UNDERMINE AMERICA WITH YOUR PERPETUAL MOCKERY OF OUR NATIONS FINEST AIRPORT SECURITY PERSONNEL WITHOUT WHOM WE WOULD LIKELY ALL HAVE BEEN BLOWN UP BY EXPLODING FLIP-FLOPS AND LIPSTICK OR STABBED TO DEATH BY TOENAIL CLIPPERS BY NOW ANY REAL AMERICANS SHOULD VOLUNTARILY SUBMIT TO EXTRA SCREENING ESPECIALLY IF THEY HAVE POSSESSION OF ISLAMIST MATERIALS LIKE FALAFEL OR SALMON RUSHDIE NOVELS I REQUEST A FULL BODY CAVITY SEARCH EACH TIME I FLY AND HAVE THEM FILL THE CAVITY BACK UP WITH AN AMERICAN FLAG WHICH I KEEP FOR THE RETURN FLIGHT SO EVERYONE KNOWS I DO MY PART TO END TERRORISM AND SHAME THE DEFEATISTS AND BLAME AMERICA FIRSTERS LIKE YOU COWARDS

|9.11.09 @ 2:53PM|#

I had someone in with airport security experience explain that everyone is nervous coming up to the check point. They watch for the people that become visibly relaxed after passing through the screening.

Further evidence (if any were needed) that the official TSA explanation that he was targeted by behavioral profiling before going through the line is BS.

T|9.11.09 @ 2:55PM|#

The best way to get through security is to wear a polo shirt, a niece pair or khakis, and a pair of loafers.

I've traveled like that to go to remote rig sites. It doesn't help. Half the time I still got pulled aside and had to play 20 questions with the retards.

engineer|9.11.09 @ 2:59PM|#

It doesn't help.

It also helps to be white and exceedingly dull.

kinnath|9.11.09 @ 2:59PM|#

Further evidence (if any were needed) that the official TSA explanation that he was targeted by behavioral profiling before going through the line is BS.

Lept right out at me.

|9.11.09 @ 3:01PM|#

"REAL AMERICANS LOVE THE TSA"... you get a 3/10. You have the all-caps thing going, and you have the lack of punctuation. That's good. But you just went too over the top with that last part there. Plus you need to sprinkle in a few misspellings to add to the effect.

A good effort, though. Will be looking forward to the next one.

creech|9.11.09 @ 3:04PM|#

Certainly not, IF. But then even the patriots in Washington's army took safety precautions in order to further their future liberty. ty My point is that I'm with Andrew - some level of security is required. Some libertarians posting here seem to think it is all intrusive and inappropriate just because hindsight proved a particular instance was. I think most of us would be riding I-95 instead of flying if anyone could just stroll on board, circa 1965. Each airline could, of course, set its own level of security, and potential passengers and terrorists could decide how much liberty to risk.

Joe M|9.11.09 @ 3:06PM|#

...SALMON RUSHDIE NOVELS...

Come on, that was GOLD.

Invisible Finger|9.11.09 @ 3:06PM|#

"involuntary physical and physiological reactions that people exhibit in response to a fear of being discovered."

Since he was discovered with... nothing, then why would he have been fearful of being discovered with nothing?

Who believes this shit?

kinnath|9.11.09 @ 3:08PM|#

I've been through real security in Europe {interviewed by people in uniforms with other people carrying submachine guns nearby} when security was heightened.

The TSA is merely a bad parody of security. It's a jobs programs for the barely literate {and a recruting tool for prospective public union members}.

As someone that has flown about half a million miles around the world, I'll take creech's challenge any day over the TSA.

|9.11.09 @ 3:09PM|#

I think most of us would be riding I-95 instead of flying if anyone could just stroll on board, circa 1965.

I'm driving to places I would have flown to before 9/11, because of the security theater.

I think most of us would be riding I-95 instead of flying if anyone could just stroll on board, circa 1965. Each airline could, of course, set its own level of security, and potential passengers and terrorists could decide how much liberty to risk.

I would have no problem with an airline that didn't screen, as long as they allowed passengers to carry knives and didn't open the cockpit under any circumstances.

kinnath|9.11.09 @ 3:10PM|#

I think most of us would be riding I-95 instead of flying if anyone could just stroll on board, circa 1965.

I think you're either stupid or ignorant.

|9.11.09 @ 3:11PM|#

""I would bet that the behavioral profiling done by the Israelis is orders of magnitude better done than anything the TSA dropouts manage.""

Probably, but it's a lot easier when you can say yes we profile Arabs, and don't have to worry about discrimination laws.

kinnath|9.11.09 @ 3:12PM|#

I've ridden the trams and the underground in Moscow when the Chenchens were actually blowing things up. It was still a million times safer than trying to get anywhere in a taxi.

guy in the back row|9.11.09 @ 3:14PM|#

My fear is that a government healthcare monopoly would make going to the doctor very similar to getting into an airport.

But with more rubber gloves.

|9.11.09 @ 3:18PM|#

"""My point is that I'm with Andrew - some level of security is required."""

Most of us do not disagree that some level of security is required. Even RC wanting to bring his knife is a level of security.

We object to senseless levels of security that have little to no real benefit and subject innocent people to crap like this.

ihavethecupinpittsburgh|9.11.09 @ 3:23PM|#

iwantthecupinphilly sounds like typical Fithadelphia trash. I hope he gets his house raided by the police for no reason, so we can make fun of him.

kinnath|9.11.09 @ 3:24PM|#

The only valuable change that occurred after 9/11/01 was making cockpit does unbreakable.

Every other measure that has been imposed has not only been of no real value, they have consumed resources that could have been used to provide real improvements in real security.

Tony|9.11.09 @ 3:26PM|#

Dubious crap like trying to read people's facial twitches and banning shampoo doesn't make me feel safe. It makes me feel that they don't know what the hell they're doing and are just putting on a show. At any rate we're probably fairly safe from hijacking these days. Bulletproof cockpit doors and no more "give into their demands" policy and passengers with a healthy paranoia. Nah it'll prolly be a suitcase nuke next time.

Fist of Etiquette|9.11.09 @ 3:27PM|#

"Boo-hoo," says iwantthecupinphilly, "subjected to a little extra scrutiny...grow up and grow a set. You dabble with that culture, you get what you deserve."

I would really have to counter that commenter with the indeniable fact that the Flyers lack the discipline to make it to the Stanley Cup Finals, much less win them.

Cryers suck! Go Pens!!!

Invisible Finger|9.11.09 @ 3:29PM|#

My point is that I'm with Andrew - some level of security is required.

I agree. Securing the cockpit doors.

Putting people in a queue is a threat to their safety. An actual terrorist will blow himself up standing in line waiting to be screened for explosives, taking out 50 or so people with him including a couple of TSA personnel.

Supposed you just have really big hands. You could easily strangle a few flight attendants and a couple passengers before you were overwhelmed. Why do they let people with really big hands on an airplane???!!!

|9.11.09 @ 3:30PM|#

There are several alternatives to the TSA:

(1) Render all passengers unconscious for the duration of the flight;

(2) Require all passengers to travel nude; or

(3) Make all passengers wear a device that can shock them into unconsciousness, operated from the cockpit.

Jennifer|9.11.09 @ 3:31PM|#

Too bad we can't post photos here; I'd love to show y'all the barrette a TSA agent once made me remove from my hair. I don't know if it's because he thought a quarter-sized butterfly with little colored glass jewels embedded in its delicate metal-filigree wings was a potential weapon, or because he thought I might've been smuggling an actual weapon in the 1/64th of an inch of space between said barrette and my scalp.

Invisible Finger|9.11.09 @ 3:33PM|#

interviewed by people in uniforms with other people carrying submachine guns nearby

That's still not real security, just an extreme form of security theater.

kinnath|9.11.09 @ 3:33PM|#

Bulletproof cockpit doors and no more "give into their demands" policy and passengers with a healthy paranoia.

Sidney Crosby|9.11.09 @ 3:34PM|#

I hope iwantthecupinphilly enjoyed watching me celebrate on his home ice. Who sucks now? Other than him on the government's rod of course.

|9.11.09 @ 3:35PM|#

making cockpit does unbreakable.

For some reason having invincible deer on board an aircraft makes me slightly uncomfortable.

|9.11.09 @ 3:37PM|#

I've been through real security in Europe {interviewed by people in uniforms with other people carrying submachine guns nearby} when security was heightened.

That's what it was like at Schipol in 1997.

And Frankfurt and Rome in '92.

Invisible Finger|9.11.09 @ 3:37PM|#

I'd love to show y'all the barrette a TSA agent once made me remove from my hair.

They made you remove it but they still let you keep it?

Red Nect Grammarian|9.11.09 @ 3:37PM|#

No shit.

Thinking people say "Grow a pair".

EscapedWestOfTheBigMuddy|9.11.09 @ 3:41PM|#

I have hippie hair, and used to get pulled out of line about a third of the time.

Then I started wearing a bow tie.

Never been bothered since. Not even when I wear the one with jolly rogers on it.

Take that for what you will.

|9.11.09 @ 3:45PM|#

Penn & Teller wanted to do a show on this stuff, but they have basically said it was impossible to do because of all the restrictions. Which is rather unfortunate really.

|9.11.09 @ 3:46PM|#

When I was in the Navy I was pulled aside about half the time. Haven't been pulled out at all since, and I fly about as often.

kinnath|9.11.09 @ 3:49PM|#

That's still not real security, just an extreme form of security theater.

Not when people use to shoot up airports in Europe.

kinnath|9.11.09 @ 3:50PM|#

That's what it was like at Schipol in 1997.

Schipol, Berlin, Singapore, and others

Elemenope|9.11.09 @ 3:55PM|#

Bourgeois v. Peters, 387 F.3d 1303 (11th Cir. 2004)

Funniest thing about that case: it means that there's some poor guy somewhere whose last name is actually Bourgeois.

|9.11.09 @ 3:57PM|#

kinnath,

So did any of those measures prevent attacks on airports? Or did they simply make people feel safer?

I am of the opinion that it is not worth protecting "soft targets" because of all the losses associated with that so-called protection.

|9.11.09 @ 4:02PM|#

That's still not real security, just an extreme form of security theater.

They called me old-fashioned for teaching the duck-and-cover method, but who's laughing now?

T|9.11.09 @ 4:07PM|#

I am of the opinion that it is not worth protecting "soft targets" because of all the losses associated with that so-called protection.

So basically let facilities that are not critical infrastructure fend for themselves and rely on local emergency services if anything goes wrong?

Hmm. Let me think on this for a few minutes.

kinnath|9.11.09 @ 4:08PM|#

Or did they simply make people feel safer?

Didn't make me feel safer. You go through Schipol have a dozen times without seeing armed security, then the next trip through there are a dozen or more people with Uzis standing around your gate. That doesn't actually inspire more confidence.

|9.11.09 @ 4:18PM|#

I don't know if the German shepherds and guys with sub-machineguns make Euro airports safer or not (though the incidence of airport shootings has gone down a LOT since the bad old days), but I will say that US airports in the months after Sept 11 felt a lot more home-like... it may be security theatre, but the firepower work for me.

Also, my experience with Israeli security is that they don't rely on profiling - they question everyone.

Israeli Security|9.11.09 @ 4:22PM|#

You Americans are so stupid. You look for weapons. We look for terrorists.

|9.11.09 @ 4:34PM|#

For some reason having invincible deer on board an aircraft makes me slightly uncomfortable.

Depends on whose side the deer is on. Me? I'm always on the side of the invincible deer.

Just be careful during the dusk feedings. You will not be able to get through the aisle until it is done, I promise.

On a more serious note, reading comment boards on most newspaper sites is an exercise in futility. It really makes me wonder if I'm the insane one, as Episiarch (accurately) points out.

(side note for fans of The Karate Kid, pretty funny video starring Billy "Johnny Bodybags" Zabka himself: sweeptheleg.com)

Rich|9.11.09 @ 4:58PM|#

Then I started wearing a bow tie.
Never been bothered since.

From my experience, wearing cargo pants attracts attention. But, to be fair, I have not yet tried adding a bow tie to the outfit.

Pepe|9.11.09 @ 5:27PM|#

"Then I started wearing a bow tie.
Never been bothered since."

I'm guessing you are not bald, black or Muslim.

Neu Mejican|9.11.09 @ 5:30PM|#

For some reason having invincible deer on board an aircraft makes me slightly uncomfortable.

Now that's a Friday funny.

|9.11.09 @ 5:36PM|#

I fly with all of my WASPy, clean-cut American boy powers activated. They never bother me.

For legal department retreats in a past life, one of the female attorneys I worked with got stopped regularly. She was gifted in the blouse, which I think was 100% of the reason she was consistently stopped and searched.

EscapedWestOfTheBigMuddy|9.11.09 @ 5:39PM|#

Nah.

Your basic honky.

Neither very tall not notably short. Medium build. I've been told that with the tie I look like a professor.

In short, if I cut my hair I wouldn't stand out in a crowd. At least, unless I wore a bow tie. The funny part is that with the hair and the tie I get left alone.

|9.11.09 @ 5:54PM|#

Just for the record, if I were a TSA employee, and some guy came up wearing a bow tie, I'd kick him in the nuts. Unless it were George Will, then I'd smack him with a baseball glove.

EscapedWestOfTheBigMuddy|9.11.09 @ 6:21PM|#

Just you try it, sonny. Travel days make me grumpy.

Doug|9.11.09 @ 7:27PM|#

A couple of years ago I walked into a restroom in PHL, stepped into a stall, and found a huge pile of feces on the toilet seat. I hope the fucker that did that got nailed for exhibiting involuntary physical and physiological reactions in response to a fear of being discovered. Asshole.

|9.11.09 @ 8:51PM|#

iwantthecupinphilly, you can't have it. it's our turn next, and then it goes back to Pittsburg, and then us...

thew83 | September 11, 2009, 3:46pm | #
When I was in the Navy I was pulled aside about half the time. Haven't been pulled out at all since, and I fly about as often.

drat. and I was hoping traveling in uniform would HELP.

|9.12.09 @ 1:08AM|#

After being treated like a terrorist because I had an expired driver's license, I have learned to despise the fucking TSA.

Which subjects me to even more scrutiny, because I refuse to smile at the fuckers or talk to them.

|9.12.09 @ 1:22AM|#

Pro Liberate -- The TSA will not go away for the reasons you already stated. "Something might happen!" is a powerful fear for politicians, and it gets in the way of common sense. Mind you, it's not like most politicians have any common sense in the first place. But still.

The TSA goes away when congresscritters start losing their jobs to challengers who run on this issue and get the voters to back them.

i.e., prolly never.

|9.12.09 @ 1:38AM|#

I think most of us would be riding I-95 instead of flying if anyone could just stroll on board, circa 1965.

It would be interesting to let a free market where airlines controlled their security levels, and passengers got to choose how thorough and intrusive they wanted the screening to be.

Me, I'd go with the 1965 screening airline, so long as the cockpit doors were reinforced and never opened -- and especially if the passengers were allowed to arm themselves so they could fight back.

Louis Farrakhan|9.12.09 @ 4:16AM|#

Just for the record, if I were a TSA employee, and some guy came up wearing a bow tie, I'd kick him in the nuts.

Oh, my angry brotha, let The Fruit of The Nation RE-EDUCATE you on the folly of serving The Devil that is the United States...Let The Nation show you the True Way. Until Obama, the fox in the roost, chases away the Evil White Chickens.

Tourist Guy|9.13.09 @ 12:34AM|#

It would be interesting to let a free market where airlines controlled their security levels, and passengers got to choose how thorough and intrusive they wanted the screening to be.

If that were the case, I would probably be choosing to stay off the upper floors of any of lower Manhattan's remaining iconic skyscrapers.

Jennifer|9.13.09 @ 3:59PM|#

They made you remove it but they still let you keep it?

Yeah. Barrettes, like shoes, must be removed during airport security procedures because their destructive potential vanishes once they cease having direct contact with the human body.

|9.13.09 @ 8:07PM|#

but I will say that US airports in the months after Sept 11 felt a lot more home-like

Hey, my home was a Stasi training camp too!

|9.13.09 @ 8:08PM|#

italics off

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