Rand Paul Smacks Down TSA Administrator John Pistole

The Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee put Transportation Security Administrator John Pistole through his paces today, with Senator Rand Paul (R-Ky.) getting in some good questions and digs. Here's the video: 

And transcript: 

SENATOR RAND PAUL: Currently the invasive pat-down searches are random and not based on risk assessment?

JOHN S. PISTOLE, Administrator of the Transportation Security Administration at the U.S. Department of Homeland Security: No, actually they are based on intelligence that we know specifically from Christmas Day, Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab, the way he concealed that device. There are some random pat-downs if that's what you're referring to, but it is based on intelligence.

 PAUL: I guess this little girl would be part of the random pat-downs, this little girl from Bowling Green Kentucky, one of my constituents. They're still quite unhappy with you guys as well myself and a lot of other Americans who think you've gone overboard, you're missing the boat on terrorism because you're doing these invasive searches on six-year old girls. Same week that this happened I got a call from another neighbor of mine in Bowling Green, a little boy had a broken foot and crutches. They didn't want to go through all the screenings, so they took the crutches off and the cast and he wanted to hobble through on his broken foot. His dad was helping him. TSA said "back away, back away." Then he had to go through the special search because he previously had a cast on, even though the cast went through the belt. When the dad comes close they say "back away, back away." "If you don't back away you won't fly."

This kind of gets back to this whole idea of what are willing to do, what are we willing to give up as a country. In your interview with ABC News, you said "I see flying as a privilege." There are those of us who see otherwise. The Supreme Court concluded in Saenz vs. Roe in 1999 says that although the word travel is not found in the text in the constitution, yet the constitutional right to travel from one state to another is firmly embedded in our jurisprudence. Justice Stewart went on to say in Shapiro vs. Thompson that the right to travel is so important that it is assertable against private interference as well as governmental action. A virtually unconditional constitutional right guaranteed by the Constitution to us all. This isn't to say we don't believe in safety procedures. But I think I feel less safe when you're doing these invasive exams on a six-year old.

It makes me think you're clueless, if you think she's going to attack our country and you're not doing your research on the people who want to attack our country.

Emphasis mine. Transcript and video courtesy of Paul's office. More Reason on TSA here. 

Comments

[Joe M]

Rand Paul may not be perfect, but god damn I love seeing this stuff. He's finally getting to say all the things we'd like to say to these assholes.

[Jim]

+1

[GroundTruth]

+10 ^ google!

[Clich? Bandit]

the correct spelling for the number is googol. And your reference is also refered to as googolplex.

slash pedant

[OO]

if i was a terrorist & knew TSA didnt search little kids, guess where id hide the explosive? >in other news, 3 more guesses as to whether TSA actually wants to touch ur fat rolls.

[Libertymike]

So, how many times have "terrorists" used little kids to hide explosives between the dawn of commercial air travel through 9/11?

For each such incident, please identify the following:

(i) date of incident
(ii) airline
(iii) flight number
(iv) name of terrorist organization
(v) name of child
(vi) number of casualties

[J.Rebel]

Mike,
Rather than 9-11, how about through today? For air travel there has never been one incident in any country on this planet. Period.

[jasno]

Well they don't search assholes, even though a Saudi suicide-bomber packed his asshole with explosives back in 2009.

They also don't stop liquid explosives, since banning more than 3 oz. of liquid is ineffective when multiple people can carry those liquids through security and combine them in the bathroom.

[Bryan]

Exactly! Children NEED to be screened, just like everyone else. Safety is so important and yet all these people bitch and moan whenever they get inconvenienced. Well guess what! You're not any more special and you could just as well be a terrorist as a Muslim!

[J.Rebel]

Bryan, answer Libertymike's questions above. Then answer the question about rights vs privilege. Every American has the right to travel and it has never been a privilege. The only time in recent history where travel was not a privilege was when Nazis demanded to see your papers prior to boarding a bus or train. We have become what our fathers gave their lives to defend against.

[Ray]

Then what happens when they hit a bus, or a train, or a subway, or a school, or a grocery store? Fuck this lunacy, man, I' know the risks of flying, I take on that responsibility when I choose, freely to fly.

[Sting]

I hope the Muslims love their children too.

[octothorpe]

Any terrorist worth their salt would be observing how the TSA acts and reacts.
They wouldn't have to use children to smuggle in explosives. They could observe the
TSA in action to figure out their weak spots.
When the airlines were on heightened alert during the first gulf war (pre-tsa)
I witnessed airline security fumbling over a mother, grandmother and toddler in a stroller.
They were trying to figure out how to fold the stroller to get it thru xray and a real Alfonse/Gaston act with the old lady and her purse.

I, late for my plane, sailed through the checkpoint unseen and unstopped.

[Tim]

You'll be sorry when the first exploding toddler takes down an airline.

[Um]

Well, if it takes down an airliner, yes.

[Bill]

All it takes is one and then ALL children will be searched.

Would follow the same pattern as every other TSA over-reaction to each new threat that has come along.

[WarrenT]

Boom baby!

[GroundTruth]

This is what happens when you feed your toddler too much cabbage and beans.

[Tim]

And the grandma who Ninja backflips down the aisle and plants a knitting need in each of the Captain's ears.

[Meiczyslaw]

Apparently the bad guys in Pakistan did kidnap a nine-year-old girl and strap a suicide vest to her. Luckily for her (and the police she ran to), the bad guys panicked when she ran off.

But you'd think TSA agents could spot a twenty-pound vest without a grope-check.

[Invisible finger]

Hard to call it a suicide vest if someone else put it on her.

[Meiczyslaw]

Yeah, but you knew what I was talking about. "Homicide vest" makes you think of a vest carrying a bunch of knives that the wearer would use on someone else, not a bomb-filled vest with a remote detonator.

[cynical]

assisted suicide vest

[Hugh Akston]

It's getting really hard not to like Rand Paul.

[Kristen]

I feel the same way. On the one hand, he's a fucking politician - a Senator, ferchrissakes! On the other hand, he doesn't bullshit around like his colleagues.

And he's even somewhat handsome by DC standards.

[Tim]

Careful, you'll upset Wiener.

[Vake]

Handsome in "Hollywood for ugly people" doesn't count for much.

[Kristen]

When you're a woman who has lived here for 21 years and has had to look at trolls like Anthony Weiner all day, every day, it counts for a lot, actually.

[Tman]

I like him too but I don't think this qualifies as a "smack down". He made his point that all Americans agree that the current TSA procedures are a giant hassle that isn't efficient nor a good use of government resources since we are patting down the wrong people and yet we are still letting terrorists board airplanes. As much as I like hearing that, the end result will be Pistole getting a big pat on the back for what a great job he's doing and absolutely nothing will change.

Grandstanding in front of a committee is great and all, but wake me when something actually happens because of it other than a nice press release.

[Bar Student]

Its not like he gets 66 votes to himself.

[Tman]

I understand that he can't single-handedly reverse these stupid policies, but a "smack down" to me would require something other than what I watched in this video. Pistole simple weaseled out of the 6 year old example by saying "uh, terrorists use 6 year olds elsewhere so we have to pat them down". End result, everyone is ok with 6 year olds getting molested by TSA agents.

I would like to hear Liebermans follow up though, which was cut off in the video.

[Fist of Etiquette]

The best part about that video is that Lieberman is cut off mid-sentence.

[SugarFree]

Then he had to go through the special search because he previously had a cast on, even though the cast went through the belt.

Takes a special sort of government idiot to think this up. Bravo, moron. Bra-fucking-vo.

[TSA Goon]

IT'S FOR YOUR SAFETY.

God, why do I always have Butterfinger crumbs in my goatee?

[FlyoverCountry]

It was this particular individual who had a cast on and this particular individual send the cast through the masheen... We must now search this particular individual.

[Dylboz]

Sir, are you the unfit mother?

[P Brooks]

"I see flying as a privilege."

Fuck you, you useless moron.

[West Texas]

Of course he would say that because to say otherwise would open him up to all kinds of openings for criticism. TSA can only get away with what they do specifically because Congress has given them the magic words of "the Constitution doesn't apply in an airport." If El Pisstoe were to admit that people have a right to travel via airplane the whole act would break down.

[SugarFree]

It's the same broken logic as anti-Citizen's United whining. You are free to travel, as long as it is not mechanically aided. Driving is a privilege too, remember?

[Pro Libertate]

I see being in political office as a privilege. One that should be revoked for the slightest hint of unethical, immoral, unconstitutional, or illegal behavior. Or even for matters of bad taste" "Plaid with stripes? You are henceforth removed and are declared anathema to this body. Go!"

[KPres]

I see breathing as a privilege. One that needs to be revoked for that asshole.

[mad libertarian guy]

This.

[35N4P2BYY]

Man, I can't watch the video, something about expecting me to be productive and blocking streaming video.

Judging by the brief transcript I bet that was very satisfying to watch. Now if I can get back all of the pocket knives and nail clippers I have surrendered to these ass clowns I'd be good.

[TSA Humorist]

all of the pocket knives and nail clippers I have surrendered

Do you have a learning disability?

[35N4P2BYY]

Probably, but that is besides the point.

[David Emami]

Trying to stop nail clippers and such is especially pointless. The only reason the 9/11 hijackers were able to succeed is that they played to previous patterns and assumptions about what happens in a hijacking -- at worst, it'll be a TWA 847. It'll be a very unpleasant ordeal, and they might shoot a couple of Jewish or military passengers, but basically you're just going to be flown from airport to airport until the hijacker's demands are met. "Just cooperate and it'll be OK" was the implicit expectation and explicit policy. Getting the passengers and crew to cooperate and then doublecrossing them, as happend on 9/11, isn't going to work anymore. It only half-succeeded in the case of United 93 once the people there found out what the hijackers really had planned. Forget boxcutters; you could let would-be hijackers take bowie knives or swords on board with them, and they wouldn't succeed in taking over the plane. Probably not even with handguns. Yes, someone could run amok and kill people before being subdued, but the same thing could happen in a movie theater, and there's no mandatory anal-probing to get inside *there*.

[Brett L]

"Yes, someone could run amok and kill people before being subdued, but the same thing could happen in a movie theater"

Anyone else see Epi trying to assassinate Michael Bay at his next premiere?

[Episiarch]

I would never be so crude. I would merely let STEVE SMITH know that there was a hiker named Michael Bay at the premiere. Plausible deniability and all that.

[Richard Head]

the changed attitudes toward hijackers (as in 'lez git em') and the locked cabin doors are the only things done since 9/11 that have improved security. All else is theater, TSA has to look busy ya know.

[Bill]

And tiny sharpeners for eye-brow pencils. The blade is like 1/4 inch long and attached to the pencil sharpener with a screw. So you'd need a screwdriver to take off the 1/4 blade. My wife had several of those taken away until they changed their policies. I guess I will give them credit for that.

[BoscoH]

This risk assessment is horseshit. 300+ million Americans pose zero risk to airplanes and things that airplanes might target on the ground. A handful of people with access to our airports pose a non-zero risk. If any one of them gets crazy on an airplane, the other passengers know the drill. There is your risk mitigation.

[AlmightyJB]

I'd be more than happy to go on any airplane with no security at all. You can put as many Muslims on my flight as you want as well. Why does everyone have to be such pussies.

[free2booze]

What is all of this security really supposed to prevent? If duh turrrists really wanted to blow shit up, even if they couldn't get past the crack security of the TSA, couldn't they just detonate a bomb while standing in the security line?

I imagine that a carry on bag packed with explosives would pack a pretty big punch.

[Barry D]

Good point. In busy airports, you can take out more innocent civilians by blowing up the security line than an airplane.

[OO]

flaming airplanes crashing to the ground is much more newsworthy & spectacular

[mad libertarian guy]

Not if they detonate bombs all over the country in dozens of airports.

[sarcasmic]

"What is all of this security really supposed to prevent?"

It prevents people from saying that the government isn't proactively doing something to make air travel safe from terrorists.

It is an illusion and nothing more.

[jasno]

It is an illusion and nothing more.

And there you go. Not really much more to say besides this. You can talk about how innefective it is, how rights are violated, etc... no one but a few crazies like us cares, apparently. It has nothing to do with safety, and everything to do with emotions and appearances.

[Bill]

It protects our leaders from having planes flown into them!!

[AlmightyJB]

+2

[Drax the Destroyer]

I think it's supposed to prevent another 9-11 from happening or some urine-coated security blanket lie like that. Of course, the important lesson to take away from 9-11 is not the specifics about what happened, but that our government, with all its weapons, resources, and so-called intelligence was completely (and still is) too incompetent to prevent. Creating even more layers of bureaucracy emblazoned with entrenched lazy employees is only going to provide more targets and more convenient chokepoints full of fat-assed Americans for pissed off delusional folks to exploit. Its asymmetrical warfare bitches. Even if you made it illegal for Muslims(or whatever catch-all scapegoat we've fingered for the decade) to fly planes, the ones hell-bent on causing destruction will find a way. Hell, they'd probably just hoard explosives and use mortars to launch shit into cities from more suburban districts outside...oh shit...I can hear the helicopters coming for me...tell my wife...I thought she was a BIiiiiitttttccccchhhhhhhh....

(Flashbang goes off)

(Drax is lit on fire)

(SWAT team riddles him with bullets because they forgot their guns aren't super-soakers)

(SWAT Team laughs)

[Fartriloquist]

I hope your dog is OK.

[BoscoH]

At least they didn't kill your dog... first.

[Xenocles]

Why'd you have to resist like that?

[Oscar DeGrouch]

You said it perfectly. Unless we've become a nation of wimps, which I hope is not the case.

[GroundTruth]

"Unless we've become a nation of wimps..."

Too late on that one.

[.um]

Anyone else catch how he completely misuses the term "intelligence" while horribly evading Paul's question?

[John Pistole]

We're uh, you know, working with the CIA, the FBI, the DEA, ICE, and other federal agencies, to uh, you know, develop comprehensive intelligence on people who blow up airplanes and what to look for. We uh, have people monitoring intelligence from around the world, gathering intelligence, though no specific threats, that really uh, has helped us isolate certain travelers that we see as a possible threat, because of, uh, reasons that our intelligence has indicated that they are a threat.

[um]

To clarify, how he refers to the widely known location of the explosives on the underwear bomber - his UNDERWEAR - is somehow using "intelligence" to randomly pat people down.

[Fartriloquist]

Hey! Both the Underwear Clown and six year old girls stand upright on two legs!

[Hazel Meade]

There's a crtain point where you have to wonder whether its more important to avoid being molested when you get on a plane or avoid the remote possibility that Muslims will take over the US and force you to wear a head scarf.

[Hugh Akston]

So the Muslim hoards are going to invade through the airports?

[Hazel Meade]

I think the operative question is whether it's worse to be molested or to wear a head scarf.

[Hugh Akston]

I guess it depends on what color the scarf is.

[JD]

And who is doing the molesting. If TSA started hiring models to do the groping, complaints would stop immediately.

[SFC B]

No. The complaint would change to the groping not being done long enough.

You know... for... security...

[Brandon]

Guns > Head scarves.

[PermaLurker]

Oh TEH HORROR! I've been wearing hijab for years and I'm not a Muslim. I am allergic to sunscreen and photosensitive and it just so happens that Islamic modesty garments are excellent protection against sun burns...strange that.

[John Pistole]

Look, we had intelligence that, you know, from around the world, terrorists had used six year old children as suicide bombers, and so there was, you know, an anomaly with this one little girl, so our agents acted in the best interest of, you know, this country, and patted her down because she fit the intelligence profile of someone who could possibly, conceivably, ever, you know, be a suicide bomber, just like, you know, everyone who has ever flown, hence why she needed a pat down.

[AlmightyJB]

*clapping* TSA needs to go and so do the porno scanners. Old woman claim the procedures make them feel safer but they really want them because nobody felt them up for years.

[TrickyVic]

""TSA needs to go and so do the porno scanners.""

Not going to happen. Expecially the scanners.

http://www.news.com.au/travel/.....6071440881

[TrickyVic]

Expecially?

Spelling, how does it work?

[Bar Student]

extra specially

[Etymologist]

Skipping the hyphenated period is absolutely brilliant!

[rather]

Is spelling important?

[Nigga]

Wat you axing about bitch?

[JD]

Yeah, that doesn't look expensive at all.

[sarcasmic]

Guilty until proven innocent.

[HERCULE TRIATHLON SAVINIEN]

MOBILE HOME PARK UNIT WARS

[spencer]

Threadjack FAIL.

[HERCULE TRIATHLON SAVINIEN]

MOBILE HOME PARK UNIT WARS

POOR TO VERY POOR

Now, in the present economic conditions, POOR TO VERY POOR, nothing is moving, and this is especially true in the Mobile Home Park Industry, no mobile home park owner in his right mind should even consider the idea of purchasing a modular mobile home and placing it in their parks for sale at a cost of [?70k-78k/$90k-$100k] Seventy to Seventy Eight Thousand Euros /Ninety to One Hundred thousand Dollars just to have them sit not for short periods of time but for years, yes, years, we have seen just such [2] two units sit just that long before the owner gave up and simply rented them out, and the best individuals to rent such units out to in this non-economy is in fact Section 8, renters as the government is picking up most of the tab, and that means the taxpayer is picking up the tab on the rental of such units, which is not in itself a bad thing at all, but just goes to show just how bad things have really gotten, the government is getting into renting properties.

THE OLD MEETS THE NEW

The Mobile Home Park Owners are really in a serious bind, and that bind in fact is tightening up with each passing day, older units, which were hot items in the [70's-80-s] Seventies and the Eighties, which a serviceable are increasing hard to find in this economy and the purchase of newer units for sale and even rent beyond government assisted renting is out of the realm of reality in the non-economy that is in play. The fact is that the older Mobile Home Owners are dying off, and units are available but that does not mean that the owners of parks are really interested in their purchase, as these owners grew older they were both physically and economically unable to maintain themselves let along a Mobile Home Unit. May such units are in fact becoming increasing available to the Mobile Home Park Owners for purchase from the family estates. But that does not mean that a Mobile Home Park Owner will be interested beyond offering a rock bottom offer, and why should that be so, the modern renter is spoiled the idea of not having a dish washer in the kitchen, central heating and air conditioning, a washer and dryer in the unit is below modern day standards, and the majority of units of the past decades do not in fact have such items, and the owners have to make sure that the unit can in fact support such modern day items with their old wiring systems, having to install such modern items is up and beyond the replacement of carpets, painting, replacing grass around such units with rock in areas were water conservation is becoming a great and great issue in many areas where Mobile Home Parks still exist. Just as a side note the past era sported French Doors and they were nice looking and all but are heat sinks, allowing cold in during the winter months and heat in during the summer, and using aluminum tin foil over them not only looks bad but really serves little or no purpose, even if they had been made with polarized glass, it would only have served to keep out a small percentage of [U/V] Ultra Violet Rays, the over all fact is past era is past era, and they aren't passing muster with the present era generation, they are not going to wash dishes by hand, walk to the nearest launder mat, they expect the temperature to be what they want when they want for the rent they are paying, and for what it cost to rent such a unit, well its nice to have the tax payer picking up the cost. In the end the Old Ways are Meeting the New Ways.

BACKDOOR GOVERNMENT SUPPORT

So, basically the Mobile Home Park Owners are becoming strapped and are in a cut throat war to obtain units that are both serviceable and have the possibility to bring up to modern era renter requirements, and in the Southwestern part of the Israeli American Empire the War Is On, we watched as one owner out bid another owner of a unit in the unit owners park. The park owner was to angry he gave the purchasing owner [24hrs] twenty-four hours to get it off his property, the winning park owner had to pay some over-time to his staff that weekend. The point is Mobile Home Parks are a Microcosm of just what is going on in the economy, nothing is moving except down to Old Mexico, units that cost to much to bring up to modern day standards in the Empire, you talk large cast outputs and no one has that kind of liquid cash flow available and with the value of assets in steep decline, what a Mobile Home Park or its owners value for tax purpose may not be in fact his or its true value in this failing economy. It's a matter of rentals yes, but don't expect that modern day era standards will apply any where, will you have a dish washer and dryer or are you going to do it the old fashion way by hand, are you going to have a washer and dryer hook up and units within your unit or apartment, or are you going to chug on down to the nearest launder mat, are you going to have central heating and air-conditioning, or will it be electric fans sitting in your [BVD's/Undies] in the heat or layering up with heating elements, in the winter? In Mobile Home Parks renters are now the norm, owners are dying off, and are no longer the fall back in hard time's they once were, in fact they are become and increasing cost item forming Mobile Home Park Renter/Owners Associations [Communist Style Movements] spying upon your neighbors, and threats to little old ladies, taking Mobile Home Park Owners to court costing the loss of Insurance Coverage, and thousands of dollars in additional costs, and the Mobile Park Owners are being forced to seek a new way, of NO OWNERS, short leases, month to month, and look to the government for increasing allowances for Section 8, rental, guaranteed government support thru the back door.

HERCULE TRIATHLON SAVINIEN

[Tim]

+1

[rts]

That was crazy, even for you. And why so few []s?

[Brett L]

Got kicked out of your trailer today, huh? That's a bitch.

[um]

this guy's blog is great.

[Kant feel Pietzsche]

I have to say, I actually had to squint at times to locate the crazy. I award 3.7 internet points.

[Clich? Bandit]

HERC 2012!!!

I am his Colorado State Coordinator. Call me for yard signs and bumper stickers.

[Libertymike]

You doubt that he lives in the Southwestern part of the Israeli american Empire?

[35N4P2BYY]

You know I do remember reading some old, document that is reportedly alive, something about searches and seizures. It was, like, really old or something so it probably doesn't apply to modern times.

[R C Dean]

Well, if its alive, it probably fled the jurisdiction.

[Fartriloquist]

Shot while trying to escape.

[BoscoH]

I think they called it The Constipation. Well, the government isn't constipated anymore. That's why they shit all over us.

[Phlogistan]

Since its a Mobile home, will they have to install scanners and deploy TSA agents at every entrance?

[P Brooks]

John Pistole should study the methods of the BATF. He should recruit, train and outfit a terrorist with an explosive device, and then have TSA supervisors escort him past the screeners to his flight.

Later, he can give (against a picturesque background of smoldering wreckage) an interview to CNN and say, "SEE! You NEED us to protect you!!! This is why our budget should be doubled."

[cynical]

Dude, there's no way the FBI counter-terrorism unit is letting him horn in on their turf.

[Libertymike]

This has already been done-its called 9/11.

[Somalian Road Corporation]

"And nothing is sacred in a search! During the arrest of the locomotive engineer Inoshin, a tiny coffin stood in his room containing the body of his newly dead child. The 'jurists' dumped the child's body out of the coffin and searched it. They shake sick people out of their sickbeds, and they unwind bandages to search beneath them." --Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn, The Gulag Archipelago

[HERCULE TRIATHLON SAVINIEN]

MOBILE HOME PARK UNIT WARS

POOR TO VERY POOR

Now, in the present economic conditions, POOR TO VERY POOR, nothing is moving, and this is especially true in the Mobile Home Park Industry, no mobile home park owner in his right mind should even consider the idea of purchasing a modular mobile home and placing it in their parks for sale at a cost of [?70k-78k/$90k-$100k] Seventy to Seventy Eight Thousand Euros /Ninety to One Hundred thousand Dollars just to have them sit not for short periods of time but for years, yes, years, we have seen just such [2] two units sit just that long before the owner gave up and simply rented them out, and the best individuals to rent such units out to in this non-economy is in fact Section 8, renters as the government is picking up most of the tab, and that means the taxpayer is picking up the tab on the rental of such units, which is not in itself a bad thing at all, but just goes to show just how bad things have really gotten, the government is getting into renting properties.

THE OLD MEETS THE NEW

The Mobile Home Park Owners are really in a serious bind, and that bind in fact is tightening up with each passing day, older units, which were hot items in the [70's-80-s] Seventies and the Eighties, which a serviceable are increasing hard to find in this economy and the purchase of newer units for sale and even rent beyond government assisted renting is out of the realm of reality in the non-economy that is in play. The fact is that the older Mobile Home Owners are dying off, and units are available but that does not mean that the owners of parks are really interested in their purchase, as these owners grew older they were both physically and economically unable to maintain themselves let along a Mobile Home Unit. May such units are in fact becoming increasing available to the Mobile Home Park Owners for purchase from the family estates. But that does not mean that a Mobile Home Park Owner will be interested beyond offering a rock bottom offer, and why should that be so, the modern renter is spoiled the idea of not having a dish washer in the kitchen, central heating and air conditioning, a washer and dryer in the unit is below modern day standards, and the majority of units of the past decades do not in fact have such items, and the owners have to make sure that the unit can in fact support such modern day items with their old wiring systems, having to install such modern items is up and beyond the replacement of carpets, painting, replacing grass around such units with rock in areas were water conservation is becoming a great and great issue in many areas where Mobile Home Parks still exist. Just as a side note the past era sported French Doors and they were nice looking and all but are heat sinks, allowing cold in during the winter months and heat in during the summer, and using aluminum tin foil over them not only looks bad but really serves little or no purpose, even if they had been made with polarized glass, it would only have served to keep out a small percentage of [U/V] Ultra Violet Rays, the over all fact is past era is past era, and they aren't passing muster with the present era generation, they are not going to wash dishes by hand, walk to the nearest launder mat, they expect the temperature to be what they want when they want for the rent they are paying, and for what it cost to rent such a unit, well its nice to have the tax payer picking up the cost. In the end the Old Ways are Meeting the New Ways.

BACKDOOR GOVERNMENT SUPPORT

So, basically the Mobile Home Park Owners are becoming strapped and are in a cut throat war to obtain units that are both serviceable and have the possibility to bring up to modern era renter requirements, and in the Southwestern part of the Israeli American Empire the War Is On, we watched as one owner out bid another owner of a unit in the unit owners park. The park owner was to angry he gave the purchasing owner [24hrs] twenty-four hours to get it off his property, the winning park owner had to pay some over-time to his staff that weekend. The point is Mobile Home Parks are a Microcosm of just what is going on in the economy, nothing is moving except down to Old Mexico, units that cost to much to bring up to modern day standards in the Empire, you talk large cast outputs and no one has that kind of liquid cash flow available and with the value of assets in steep decline, what a Mobile Home Park or its owners value for tax purpose may not be in fact his or its true value in this failing economy. It's a matter of rentals yes, but don't expect that modern day era standards will apply any where, will you have a dish washer and dryer or are you going to do it the old fashion way by hand, are you going to have a washer and dryer hook up and units within your unit or apartment, or are you going to chug on down to the nearest launder mat, are you going to have central heating and air-conditioning, or will it be electric fans sitting in your [BVD's/Undies] in the heat or layering up with heating elements, in the winter? In Mobile Home Parks renters are now the norm, owners are dying off, and are no longer the fall back in hard time's they once were, in fact they are become and increasing cost item forming Mobile Home Park Renter/Owners Associations [Communist Style Movements] spying upon your neighbors, and threats to little old ladies, taking Mobile Home Park Owners to court costing the loss of Insurance Coverage, and thousands of dollars in additional costs, and the Mobile Park Owners are being forced to seek a new way, of NO OWNERS, short leases, month to month, and look to the government for increasing allowances for Section 8, rental, guaranteed government support thru the back door.

HERCULE TRIATHLON SAVINIEN

[Richard Head]

Oh, now I get it

[NoVAHockey]

Are the scanners still in use? Didn't see any at DCA last week. Not even off to the side.

[Hugh Akston]

They are at LAX and DEN.

[nicole]

I got stuck with one last week at ORD. First time, and I've always vowed to opt out, but I was too late for my flight to risk it. And honestly, just standing there in the position required is completely degrading and humiliating, and I had to have some kind of patdown, though relatively minor, afterward, and was pretty close to tears on my way out of there even without getting actually molested. It fucking sucks.

[Wowadict]

omg picsplz!!!1!!

[Hugh Akston]

I will never be scanned by one of those machines. If I have to have my rights violated, I'm going to be damn sure that a TSA agent has to suffer the indignity of cupping my balls in front of the whole airport.

[Thom]

I'm with you. They tried to force me through one of those things in Vegas and after going through all of the "Opt Out!" theater some poor schmuck in a TSA uniform had to kneel in front of me and feel me up. He tried to convince me that I might want a private screening room, but I declined. If I'm going to get the full grope I want it done with plenty of witnesses.

[Kristen]

Oh yeah, I was asked if I wanted a private room, too. Puhleeze. Citizen + agents of the state + "privte room" = not a recipe for ethical and honest behavior.

[kwais]

Um, it is called the "champagne" room. Don't knock it.
Actually there is a new procedure where to be less invasive the agent just sits in a chair, and you have to dance all up on the agent, in a way that would enable the agent to feel any weapon or contraband that you might have.

[OO]

oh, u mean she was fugly. got it

[nicole]

That's exactly how I feel. Believe me, I was not happy that I really didn't have that option this time--of course, because they had shut down virtually all security lines and it took me longer than ever before to get through at all. This is all part of the design...

[tarheelpundit]

Private screening room? Like a private room? Like a whore house?

[jasno]

I happen to be blessed with magical balls that form large, uncomfortable hydroceles when handled improperly. The remedy is a trip to the urologist for manual draining with a syringe(while awake, so I can enjoy the show - all for a measly $25 co-pay).

There's no fucking way I'm flying. If one of those assholes touches my junk roughly I'd kick his fucking head in and spend the next few years in guantanamo.

Fortunately I can still take the train(only slightly less painful) or drive(while I do live in the constitution-free zone, BP checkpoints don't currently include a free reach-around).

[Scruffy Nerfherder]

OK so I cringed while reading that. I had a spermatocele one time and thought I was going to levitate all the way to the doctor.

[Kristen]

Dayum...when I opted for the groping, I owned that shit. I wanted to yell "Lookit me! I'm going for the patdown! Come see the violence inherent in the system! Help! Help! I'm being repressed!". But I just smiled when the agent yelled "Supervisor! Opt out!".

[West Texas]

Good point about "the position". It's 100% demeaning and disrespectful. People don't point that out enough, focusing instead on the radiation.

And what makes it worse is the TSA retard stationed in front of the machine barking at you. Among the Khmer Rouge TSA underclass, that's the most coveted job - getting to supervise the degradation of the bourgeois New People people who think they're better than you. It's a job perk.

[nicole]

It's one of those things that you know is horrible, but don't even realize how horrible until you actually have to do it. I couldn't believe what it felt like standing there like that.

It also really makes me wonder if non-freedom-loving types literally don't even feel that way. It was visceral for me. I don't get it.

[Red Rocks Rockin]

Among the Khmer Rouge TSA underclass, that's the most coveted job - getting to supervise the degradation of the bourgeois New People people who think they're better than you. It's a job perk.

The few times I've flown recently, I've found that the boarding pass verifiers to be the nicest of the bunch. Probably because they're relieved they don't have to feel up a bunch of strangers.

[Kristen]

I was escorted to a backscatter at DCA last winter (December IIRC)...I opted for the TSA grope.

[JD]

They were using them when I flew from HOU last week.

[cynical]

I went through one a couple of weeks ago at Port Columbus.

[kwais]

I was in DC last week, I was body scanned. And I was groped.
I personally prefer the groping to the scanning. I was thinking "yeah, this is the freedom we are defending in Iraq and Afghanistan"

[TrickyVic]

""I was in DC last week, I was body scanned. And I was groped."""

I wonder if that has anything to do with the JFK incident?

[HERCULE TRIATHLON SAVINIEN]

MOBILE HOME PARK GRANNY DUMPS

GRANNY DUMP SIGHTS

Senior Citizen Mobile Home Parks [SCMHP] are used as Granny Dump sites across the nation, this is not to say that it is done out of some malice to Granny by the offspring it is just that Granny like so many women was younger that her husband who pasted away and Granny loved her children and grand-children and on and on, but Granny has no intention of moving in with the kids, Granny has got her stuff and she has had her independence for a long time and is not ready to give it up, she pretty much figures that when she is ready to go into assisted living that will be a different thing, then she can divide her stuff up among the kids if they really want old stuff to add to their stuff. It is a sad but true fact that sometimes Granny goes to sleep one night and never again wakes up.

GRANNYS STUFF

So what can happen to Granny's Stuff and the answer to that is make someone a quick buck. Some child who has had a bad relationship with Granny has been estranged for decades, may show up get the car, clean out the bank account, and any other valuables they can find, let the landlord how that the unit is his, for whatever price he is willing to pay, just sent the check to them, and anything in the unit is his to do with as he pleases. Other times individuals claiming to be representatives or connected to some charitable organization, but charity begins with them, they generally pick thru Granny's Stuff, looking for what can be sold on line or elsewhere, that's free cold hard cash in their pockets, then what's left over either may or may not end up going to a charitable organization, but the lions share will end up in the local landfill.

SENIOR CITIZEN MOBILE HOME PARK LIVING

Now, we know that it sounds terrible that [SCMHP'S] are Granny Dumps, but it is what it is, the up side is Granny is around individuals of her generation and era, and that counts for a whole lot along with no kids under her feet or wild parties going on in the unit next to hers, the owners and others in the Park know and understand the process of both aging and death that are a daily fact of life living in a [SCMHP], tours can be arranged for residents, special reductions in utility bill, etc. are arranged by many [SCMHP] owners for their residents. It is that those who are going to place/dump Granny in an [SCMHP], understand that it is best NOT TO OWN A UNIT, renters in [SCMHP'S] are generally not unable to purchase their own units it is that it is recommended that Senior Citizens seek only to be on month to month rental agreements or leases as you wish to call them. The main reason for this is that a long term lease could come to be a problem in estate settlement if the Senior Citizen was to pass away with a long period remaining on their lease agreement, and then there is the question of if they do in fact owners of their own unit, which must by some local laws be upon a mobile home site and can not be upon privately owned land, unless it is in a Mobile Home Park that is owned by the residents, a total Association Park. In today's economy there is a glut of foreclosed homes let alone Mobile Homes in Mobile Home Parks, and nothing is moving, so Granny pass's away leaving a long term lease agreement and her Mobile Home, the grieving relatives are now stuck with a unit that will not sell, and the month up keep, yard, water, gas, etc. too continue to have to fork out the cash plus the lease payment on unit sight. At this point the relatives make the decision that it would be best in this economy to sell the unit to the park owner or the landlord.

HERCULE TRIATHLON SAVINIEN

[Etymologist]

"her husband who pasted away"

RACIST!!!!!!11!

[Phlogistan]

TSA is rumaging through dead granny undies to secure training aids

[Somalian Road Corporation]

never read a herc post, never will

[Phlogistan]

Mein Kampf also falls into that category

[Gerholdt]

TSA is useless. Zero out their budget!

[Warty]

From LRC:

TSA Foot Fetishists
Posted by Thomas DiLorenzo on June 22, 2011 09:17 AM
I just passed through Fort Lauderdale Airport "security" where a TSA goon forced the 80-something woman in a wheelchair in front of me to get up out of the wheel chair for a public groping session. The old woman struggled to stand up while a bloated female bureaucrat felt her up, concluding with forcing her to take her shoes off so she could fondle her feet. I guess she was looking for bombs between the old woman's toes.

Bookmark/Share |

[sage]

Thanks for the visual.

[Hugh Akston]

Warty's newsreader is set up to find any mention of elderly women being felt up. Adding wheelchairs and feet to the story will keep him busy all day.

[Michael Pack]

Look,babies and injured children make great mules for drugs,illegal dairy products and possibly gambling winnings.To be SAFE you must submit,for the children

[P Brooks]

Meanwhile, in Honolulu:

Elbridge Smith, an attorney who specializes in representing federal employees said, "It appears that the agency has kind of thrown out the baby with the bath water." He said two of the five supervisors and managers fired by the TSA have hired him to represent them in appeals with the agency. Smith declined to name which former TSA bosses he's representing, but he said a third supervisory employee could also retain him.

"They have found a few bad apples, I would say. But they've now decided that we're gonna throw all the apples, and the keg in which they were kept, out," Smith said. "So we're talking about throwing out managers who may very clearly have had no idea what was going on."

When in doubt, go with the Sergeant Schultz Defense.

[Joe M]

God what a waste of resources. Those worthless fucks could be out getting real jobs and contributing to the economy instead of filing appeals.

[JD]

Would you hire someone whose resume says their last job was TSA screener?

[35N4P2BYY]

I don't know I always got the impression that the TSA drew from the same career-minion civil servant labor pool that fills DMV and Toll Booth operators. I think that if the TSA were disbanded they would find new places to be usless self aggrandizing tool-bags.

[MJ]

Please remember that "contributing to the economy" requires posessing things known as "useful skills".

[Phlogistan]

c4 packed under the toenails, percussion caps disguised as mole's. Those WWII OSS agents can be sneaky

[Mississippi Redneck]

The best way to stop a suicide bomber on a plane is to have a half dozen law abiding passengers with carry permits stand up, draw handguns from their jackets/carry-ons, and shoot the guy. Why can't we allow that?

[Phlogistan]

No such animal as a Law Abiding Citizen. Havent you heard of 3 felonies a day?

[Mississippi Redneck]

Fine, replace "law abiding citizens" with "people who don't intend physical harm against other passengers".

[Phlogistan]

If they have no intention of causing physical harm, why are they carrying? I know that when I discharge my weapon I fully intend to cause physical harm. I need to see the the lil paper targets flex and buckle a bit.

[Mississippi Redneck]

Replace "other passengers" with "passengers who don't intend to destroy the plane".

[Phlogistan]

Fair enough. If I see a TSA agent molesting a 6 year old mid flight, I'll keep it holstered.

Or not.

[sarcasmic]

Because only people trained by government who have undergone extensive background checks can be trusted with guns.

Mere citizens are not to be trusted with anything.

You see, citizens are like sheep. Mindless, stupid and helpless creatures, those there citizens.

They need to be led, fed and protected by government shepherds.

Arming citizens would be like arming sheep. They'll only hurt themselves and each other.

[Blacksheep Squadron]

We are poor little lambs,
Who have lost our way,

Baa Baa Baa

[Fat Crack Ho]

Explosive decompression is a product of TV. Even at altitude (and especially when the cabin is pressurized to the de rigeur 8000' or so), the pressure differential is only a few pounds per square inch. Not nearly enough to suck anything out through a small-caliber bullet hole.

You're probably looking at an unleasant whistling noise for the rest of the flight, nothing more.

[MJ]

That, and sufficient oxygen to keep you conscious.

[Thom]

Cabin pressure?

Firing a gun on an airplane is something I would be incredibly wary of, regardless of the situation.

[Mississippi Redneck]

That's what the yellow masks are for.

[Thom]

I guess. Although if people can go into sudden shock and die on Everest at 26,000 feet, it seems like the same problem would apply to the much more feeble people in an airplane 10,000 feet higher?

[Karl]

A bullet hole in the fuselage simply would not lead to decompression, explosive or otherwise. When there is a decompression problem, the hole responsible is much larger, as in foot size. Quoting from here:

"Reality simply does not work that way," explains Lombardo. "A bullet hole in a cabin wall would have no perceived effect on cabin pressure?. A bullet hole is far smaller than the opening of the outflow valve [through which cabin air escapes during routine depressurization]. In fact, such a hole would account for less air leakage than what is normally lost around door and window seals."

[Paul]

Bullshit. I've seen explosive decompression first hand in an action movie.

Do your research before you post.

[Karl]

I know this is tongue in cheek, but in the interest of completeness and backing up claims, a back of the envelope calculation.

The flow velocity at altitude is going to be proportional to the pressure differential. Pressure at sea level is ~100000 PA. Airplanes are pressurized to 10000ft ~ 70000PA. Assuming the plane is traveling at 35000ft, the outside pressure is ~25000 PA. So the pressure differential is ~45000 PA - call it 50000 PA. Bernoulli's equation tells us that the flow velocity is going to be:

V = sqrt(2*dP/rho)

where rho is the air density, for simplicity assuming 1.3 kg/m^3, we
get

V ~ 280 m/sec

Now a 9mm bullet is, strangely enough, ~9mm in diameter. Assume it makes a 10mm hole. The area of the hole is then

A = pi*r^2 ~ pi*(0.005)^2 ~ 8e-5 m^2

The total flow rate through that hole
is going to be

Q = V*A ~ 0.0224 m^3/sec.

In CFM (cubic ft / min), that's roughly
50 cfm. ie. something like 2-3 computer case fans.

Assuming a 130ft airplane with a 12 ft wide cabin (~737), you get a total volume of

pi*r^2*l ~ 14700 cf in the cabin.

Ignoring that fact that a aircraft continuously leaks pressurized air so there are mechanisms to replenish the pressurized air in the cabin, it would take

t = 14700 cf/50 cfm ~ 300 min

to bleed off the cabin air. Hardly explosive.

I'd be more worried about hitting electronic or hydraulic components. But even there, redundancy makes it less of an issue.

[Meiczyslaw]

And now every Aerospace undergrad will end up at this comment, as it's a regular problem in Fluid Dynamics classes.

[Paul]

Yeah, pi r squared and all that. I'm talking about Bruce Fucking Willis here.

[Ska]

Mythbusters handled this one I believe.

[Mississippi Redneck]

You'd still need to use the masks until the plane gets low enough.

[Fat Crack Ho]

No you wouldn't.

[Res Publica Americana]

I agree -- losing cabin pressure is infinitely worse than crashing into a skyscraper and disintegrating as the jet fuel utterly annihilates all organic matter and collapses the building

[Mississippi Redneck]

+10

[Thom]

I'm with you, but it seems like it should be a last resort. I'd prefer to be able to subdue the guy with my cabin-mates without having to dodge bullets. (And I think that people should be allowed to carry guns on planes, so it seems like a bit of a conundrum)

[Res Publica Americana]

Unless half the plane's passenger population are terrorists, you probably wouldn't even need to shoot, unless they're dedicated jihad-waging types, in which case, I'm afraid, losing cabin pressure may be the only hope you and everybody else on the plane have for survival. But even this worst-case scenario beats the current, disarmed-passenger alternative by galaxies. Fuck the government for legislating helplessness.

[Thom]

Exactly. Shooting would not be optimal, but some jerk-off is going to pull out a gun and end up shooting the thing off. As I said, I'm all for letting people carry weapons on to planes, so this is just one of those things I'm going to have to reconcile in my head.

[Karl]

A bullet hole will NOT cause loss of cabin pressure...

[Res Publica Americana]

Karl, I mean worst-case scenario, like every passenger on the plane shoots at once at the same time at the same area of the plane's body and create a large hole. As in really, REALLY worst-case scenario, which is so unlikely, it probably doesn't even merit consideration. I know, and agree with you completely.

Again, just for the hell of it, FUCK YOU, federales, for legislating us into helplessness.

[jasno]

Seriously - the whole 'plane as a missile' thing stopped working as soon as the planes began flying after 9/11.

[Capt. Marko Ramius]

Be careful what you shoot at, hmm? Most things in here don't react too well to bullets

[Restoras]

Do hollow points have enough kinetic energy to penetrate the plane upon exit of the target?

[Res Publica Americana]

Depends on what the plane's made of -- material, thickness, density, etc.

[Mississippi Redneck]

Aluminum. Not sure how thick on most airliners, but most everything bigger than a .22 would probably penetrate. Just make sure you hit the fool and it won't be a problem.

[Mississippi Redneck]

Not on exit of the target, no. At least I hope no one plans on firing a .30 cal rifle on an airlier.

[Phlogistan]

I dont recommend firing "UP". Even through the body mass of an assailant on board a plane.

Firing "Down" into an assailants body mass has my approval.

[Fat Crack Ho]

Explosive decompression is a product of TV. Even at altitude (and especially when the cabin is pressurized to the de rigeur 8000' or so), the pressure differential is only a few pounds per square inch. Not nearly enough to suck anything out through a small-caliber bullet hole.

You're probably looking at an unleasant whistling noise for the rest of the flight, nothing more.

[Scruffy Nerfherder]

Guns and pressurized planes really don't get along very well.

[Karl]

A bullet hole will NOT cause... A fuck it, never mind.

[Pro Libertate]

He said "gun." He means cannon.

[TrickyVic]

By "cannon" he means SAM.

[Snake]

My solution is to put one-bullet-guns in with the oxygen mask. 1. Hijack 2. everyone is armed. 3. dead hijackers (& guys who kick your seat)

[Mississippi Redneck]

That many bullets flying in a crowded fuselage attached to the engines and fuel tanks keeping the plane in the air sounds like a bad idea.

[G]

I'm a 275lbs guy with a Middle Eastern last name and Middle Eastern appearance. I have flown several times since all this TSA non-sense began. Due to common financial "issues" I have never paid with a credit card, I'm a cash buyer and/or others have paid via their credit card. Because I moved my drivers license does not mach my current address. (CA DMV won't update or re-issue DLs' due to its own crisis). That said, I have never been stopped or searched. I met two TSA agents explained the above and then asked them, "why the 6 year old and not me?" I was told this, "Dude look at you, you're huge, the real truth is we don't want any trouble." TSA says, "We don't discriminate and that is why the search is random." What the practical application of their rules means is that they discriminate by default; they readily identify potential threats by profile and avoid them.

[Phlogistan]

"What the practical application of their rules means is that they discriminate by default; they readily identify potential threats by profile and avoid them."

Government employee's have such a skill? They should run for elected office. Thats a skill set woefully missing there.

[Mississippi Redneck]

Wow, I don't support racial profiling, but I do support patting down (not molesting) people who pay cash for airline tickets. That's scary.

[Etymologist]

"I'm a 275lbs guy with a Middle Eastern last name"

Funny, but to my ear Gordon Agogo doesn't sound Middleeastern.

[Anonymous]

http://ffffunny.com/images/848.....a-touches-

[jasno]

No props for that yet? Wow, that image is fucking funny.

[FlyoverCountry]

Apparently, my work email filter assumes you are directing me to 'adult materials'. Frankly, I'm sad, because most of the links I click on H&R are blocked for 'Tastelessness', and this one might have been worth seeing.

I'd look at it when I get home, but that's when I do important work.

[The Truth]

Speaking of airports, Beijing is going to build a second airport (in addition to its award-winning, ultramodern one they *already* have) in under six years. Meanwhile we can't even rennovate JFK in less than 20.

I've also heard from various travelers that its much easier to get into and out of China by air than it is the US. Just a check of your visa and that's about it. Some "police state" eh?

[Michael Pack]

And related news,10,000 people were made homeless due to construction.It's great to have to have a government with money and a country with no property rights

[The Truth]

If 100s of millions (if not billions) of people benefit from the new airport, who gives a rip about 10,000 people? They're an obstacle to progress. BTW, I don't believe in property "rights"--the only reason you have property is because the State is willing to defend it. We only "own" what is permitted to us by the State, if it is needed for the public good, it may be taken away. The property "rights" of 10,000 people shouldn't stand in the way of badly needed modern infrastructure.

[Stalin]

Suck me now!

[Stalin]

Suck me now!

[The Truth]

Stalin found Russia with wooden plows and breech-loaded rifles, and left her with tractors and nuclear weapons. Sounds like a success to me.

[Hugh Akston]

I know 100 million or so people who might disagree.

[Stalin's penis w/The Truth]

Oh that feels good.Eggs. Gotta ohohohoh break some eggs. Yeah. Oh yeah. Eggs. Omelet. Om om ohyeah eggs. Can't make oh baby yeah. Eggs.

[Etymologist]

In Russsia, tractor pulls you!

[Lord Humungus]

so the breech-loaded rifles were replaced by nuclear weapons? Man, those must be a bear to carry.

[Rock Action]

Hey troll, I thought your thing was state capit--fascism and not command economy? Remember? Late that night. Me, "dipshit." You tacitly agreed that command economy was bound for inevitable collapse by making the distinction and hectoring me about each one's efficacy. I mean, I said they were essentially the same thing if you could exert control over wages and prices when you wanted...but what I do know? Did I convince you? Oh my God, I CHANGED A TROLL'S MIND!

[R C Dean]

Somebody flag this the next time the Truth poses as anything other than a bloody-handed totalitarian.

Nobody has rights! The collective rules all! People who are an obstacle may be liquidated!

[The Truth]

Where do property rights come from if not granted by the state, RC Dean? Without the State I have every right (if i am stronger than you) to gun you and your family down and steal your house, car, and all your posessions and there's jack shit you can do about it.

Who gives you your "rights"? Is it god? Do you believe in god, RC? Tell me all about your sky daddy "god".

[R C Dean]

Not helping yourself, Truth.

Rights, to you, are only that which the Total State, at this time and for its own reasons, elects to allow you.

No lake of blood, to you, is too deep to wade through to advance the collective.

If I may: Fuck off, slaver.

[The Truth]

Where do rights come from, RC?

[Etymologist]

The guns of your neighbors, asscunt.

[The Truth]

Exactly. Whoever has the most force decides what are "rights" and what are not. Period.

[The Truth]

"Rights" are just a smoke screen for the hypocritical west, silly illusions they use to delude people from the fact that their governments are based, at the end of the day, in brute force just like everyone else.

[Brett L]

You know he's a sockpuppet, right?

[Stalin's penis w/The Truth]

A sockpupupupuppet that gives omigod oh oh ohhhhhhh

[Fire Tiger]

If I can use make up a large enough population of people and claim illusionary benefits for them, I can justify any decision I want to make.

[La Verdad]

They can build stuff really fast, because all the men who can't find a mate need to work off that excess energy. Looks like in about 20 years, our China problem will solve itself.

http://www.economist.com/node/18651512

[The Truth]

That "sex imbalance" is partially truth, and partially fiction. In the truth department, many Asian cultures have always favored male offsprings. Selective abortions are just as in favor in India as they are in China. In China, they are against the law. Rich people can skirt the law by going to Hong Kong, poor people won't even get a visa to Hong Kong. The one child policy never applied to farmers anyway.

In the fiction department, here the latest stats from the Chinese census:

http://www.stats.gov.cn/englis.....722244.htm

"Of the population enumerated in the 31 provinces, autonomous regions and municipalities and servicemen of the mainland of China, 686852572 persons or 51.27 percent were males, while 652872280 persons or 48.73 percent were females. The sex ratio (female=100) declined from 106.74 to 105.20."

There actually are MORE women than 10 years ago (last census.) Nature tends to produce always a few men more, the current world wide sex ratio at birth is estimated at 107 boys to 100 girls. The value for the entire world population is said to be 101 males to 100 females.

Nobody seems to complain about selective abortions in India. For China, images of sex starved men that roam the streets are being whipped up by the Western media.

[Joe M]

It tends to balance out because men have a higher propensity for dying. And here in the U.S., there are more women than men, woohoo!

[Jim]

Assuming one believes their census.

And the only reason nobody talks about India with you, is because India is not the topic of conversation. When you claim that India is going to rise up and take over the world, we'll talk about India. Until then, the subject is China.

[The Truth]

Ah yes, when shown to be wrong, create a conspiracy theory.

I was refering to the Western media with respect to never talking about India's sex imbalance.

[?]

Well Mara Hvistendahl seems to writing about it, but China's sex imbalance is still worse than India's.

[Libertymike]

Conspiracy theory?

You mean things like the government conspiracy theory that a bunch of brown skinnned people from Arabia did 9/11?

[Kristen]

FIFY

"easier for foreign nationalsto get into and out of China by air than it is the US"

Meanwhile, the Chinese need permission papers to go from one city to another by train*. Lovely country you admire so much.

*My ex, who was teaching English in China, was asked by a young Chinese lady to buy her a train ticket because he was a foreigner and could get one without papers.

[The Truth]

How is that any different from how the US treats Mexicans? Hypocricy much? Why is it any different? Because of an imaginary line?

[Kristen]

Strawman much? I was talking about a Chinese citizen, who wanted to travel in China.

It totally different than a Mexican citizen who wants to travel in the U.S.

Not to mention the fact that I totally disagree with "papers, please!" for Mexicans or anyone else who wants to travel in the U.S. Where you got that I would ever support such a thing is completely baffling and merely demonstrates your lack of brainpower.

But constructing strawmen is the pastime of feeble-minded people who have no arguement.

[Kristen]

Also, it's "hypocrisy".

[Spelling Nit]

Also, it's "argument". 😉

[Scruffy Nerfherder]

If you don't mind the various questions about your mental health and the sort, it's fairly easy.

"Are you now or have you ever been schizophrenic?"

Let me ask my friend over here.

[KPres]

Also, taxes in "Communist" China are lower than the US.

[Fire Tiger]

The sad part is John Pistole actually thinks his response makes him sound less clueless.

[West Texas]

Actually, the sad part is that Pisshole probably knows that its all a farce but that nothing is ever actually going to change and that all he has to do is play along and he can keep his job as the director of the Ministry of Peace as long as he wants.

[Thom]

That asshole never actually addresses the right/privilege thing like he was instructed to do by the Senator. Paul should have focused on that but, of course, gets taken way of course and ends up focusing on profiling. Why bother dealing with the real issue when you can pander to the troglodytes?

[R C Dean]

Mr. Pistolay [rhymes with Frito-Lay], says:

There are some random pat-downs if that's what you're referring to, but it is based on intelligence.

Which is it? Random, or based on intelligence?

[West Texas]

The only way would will ever be rid of TSA would be for some brave future president to fire all of the agents.

[Phlogistan]

I would love to see that. Obama and familiy waiting to go through screening. And its all happy photo shoot opportunity till the Girls go through...

[Tim]

Bernie Sanders releases short film attacking the Koch Brothers, Fox, Reason and Veronica De Rugby
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v.....r_embedded

[Bill]

The comments to the Sander's video are sad. I suppose if I was high they would be really funny.

Social Security is just fine. Works great, right Bernie?

[Fist of Etiquette]

And reading glasses? Physician, heal thyself.

[P Brooks]

I got yer explosive decompression right here.

[P Brooks]

The point being, the pilot flew the damn thing back to the airport.

[JoergeMon]

The TSA is a JOKE. Biggest waste of an agency there is. Period.

http://www.real-privacy.no.tc

[John]

Neither the pat downs nor the naked scanners would have caught the 12-25 bomber. Pistole is just lying his ass off.

Sadly, Napolotano was right. The 12-25 bomber is what good security looks like. The system did work. Unless you plan to cavity search everyone, sometimes they are going to get through. The best you can hope for is to make it really hard and rare. In the 12-25 bomber case, the guy had to smuggle a crude device in his underwear, spend 30 minutes in the bathroom assembling the thing. And even then couldn't get it ignited and just burned his balls off.

What happened after 12-25 is a bunch of politicals shit their pants at the prospect of being held accountable for something. So they went looking for something, anything that they could do so it wouldn't look like they were doing nothing. But rather than do something that made sense, like say limiting the time people could spend in the bathroom on flights to make it harder to assemble bombs. They came up with this. And got sold a bill of goods on the naked scanner by a contractor.

But they never bothered to see if the groping and the scanning would work. it doesn't. 12-25 could happen again today. But who cares. They all got to say they did something.

[John]

And for the record, you can't fucking hide a bomb on a todler that will get through an ordinary metal detector. You could at most hide chemicals that could be used in a bomb. But you still have to get some kind of ignition device through. And you still have to assemble the damn thing.

The "first time a toddler blows up an airplane" bullshit is stupid of the highest order.

[jasno]

It's been my understanding for a while now that the reason the underwear and shoe bombers failed was that they lacked detonators, since detonators have metal shells and would set-off a standard metal detector.

Therefore switching from metal detectors to naked scanners and patdowns makes us *less* safe, not more.

[alan]

You know, I've thought of another way that terrorist could bring a plane down. Four or so hours before going on a plane, have one guy eat a pound of baking soda, and another guy drink a bottle of vinegar. When they are on the plane one takes a dump without flushing, and the other follows suit, and flushes the mix down to overwhelm the pipes. What was merely a fun as a prank in high school, blowing out pipes, would be disastrous in a commercial airliner.

I guess the TSA will need to insist on every one cleansing out their bowels with an enema before preceding to the plane, right?

[?]

Did you fail biology class or joke class?

[alan]

Sorry, I can't help you. There is not a joke on the planet funny enough to remove that stick from your ass.

[Boss Hogg]

Pre 9/11, I watched an airport security agent send a 70 year old mentally handicapped woman through the metal detector three times before they managed to figure out that the leg braces and walker the woman was using were going to set it off every time.

The woman could barely walk, so it took about 5 minutes for each pass through the metal detector.

I guess they were worried that the old lady was going to pull a pistol from between her thighs and hijack the short range flight we were waiting to get on.

[MCab]

Grill em, Rand, grill em.

Pistole committed the biggest act of double-speak already in the first answer. Is it or is it not RANDOM??

[GroundTruth]

Finally able to listen to this, and Paul starts out well, but towards the end he starts talking about trusted traveller programs, and I just start hearing a different flavor of id card.

On the other hand, Pistole is a schmuk from start to end. Or some sort of puppet; his mouth moves, and noise comes out, but it doesn't mean anything.

[JB]

He's a government employee...of course he's clueless, and dickless, and spineless.

Bunch of cunts.

[mcab]

my cousin's wife works for the dhs and is the biggest bitch i've ever met

[Susan]

Pistole said his risk-assessed patdowns were from Christmas Day 2009 "intelligence." The government has yet to come clean with all the facts on how the underwear bomber was escorted on to a plane, without a legit passport and despite his father's warnings. Neither Rand Paul nor any other government official has shed light on those circumstances. Merely holding this conversation with Pistole serves to elevate his goon squad function to a level of legitimacy. Sorry, but it looks like Rand Paul completely fumbled the ball.

[ricbee]

The TSA should be disbanded & the airlines provide their own security.

[Ian]

"They who can give up essential liberty to obtain a little temporary deserve neither liberty or safety"-Benjamin Franklin

[Ian]

"Those that can give up essential liberty to obtain a little temporary safety deserve neither safety nor liberty."- Benjamin Franklin