Debacle: de·ba·cle/diˈbakəl/ Noun: A sudden and ignominious failure; a fiasco see TSA

“I believe the TSA has suckered Americans into a false sense of

security with these scanners of dubious value.”

Quote from Wired Article

Well, here we are again, the TSA has decided that they should implement a new technology that will solve all of the terrorism vulnerabilities dealing with air travel.

Was it perhaps screening all of the baggage that goes into planes? No..

Was it profiling passengers from when they pull into the airport parking lot? No..

Perhaps it was more bomb detecting sniffers that blow air on you and sample it for residue? No…

Nope, it instead they are relying on unproven technology to scan you through your clothes to insure you are not carrying a weapon as well as “enhanced” pat down procedures.

Yes, it’s unfortunately true, and the fur is already flying as well as the legal paperwork for injunctions against these measures.

What’s worse? these measures will not make us any safer flying.

The TSA has a long history of #FAIL. From the times when people like me were scanned/sniffed and asked if we were handling dynamite recently, and then allowed to fly to all of the times that the rent-a-cops that they hired failed to detect simulated explosives in their screening machines when the US Marshall’s tested the systems.  Of course, one could make the argument that nothing is perfect, but, with this bunch of bozo’s there are too many instances of incompetence to allow for that argument to make any difference.

So, here’s my thing… These scanners do not do anything more than a magnetometer. Unless the perp has a “platstic or ceramic” gun with plastic bullets and casings, or perhaps a ceramic knife, the magnetometer will catch it. Additionally, a standard pat-down should also take care of any type of weapons that are not hidden perhaps inside the person. The same goes for the X-ray and color X-ray, they pick these things up when you have trained people to look at the images and they actually are paying attention!

So, why this new technique of pat-down and this new backscatter/milli wave toy? I think it’s the “illusion” of security and nothing more… Oh and maybe some pork barrel spending on technology in the security sector. The net net is that the new machines and the pat-down will not make us any more safe but instead give the TSA more ways to not do their job efficiently and appropriately. What would it take to get them to that place of doing things right? Well, for a starter I would say pay them more and train them well… But, gee, that would be too hard huh?

So here we are post the “don’t touch my junk” incident and we have the TSA now making the case that the guy who refused the extra attention and caught it all on tape may in fact be sued because once you start the process, you have to finish it.. “or else” THAT is a load of shit and we all know it. Add to this that they are now “investigating” this guy for not acceding to some personal rights, and you have an agency that has all of its brains in its collective ass and has been shamed by the press coverage on their misdeed.

And still.. We are no more safe than we were before these measures took effect.

Look, the Jihadists have changed their M.O. Remember those package bombs in the form of toner cartridges just last month? Yeah, you remember, that had NOTHING to do with smuggling weapons onto the cabin of the plane. Wanna know why? Because we have not been screening all of the baggage that goes into the belly of the plane! That’s why you idiots! So, once again, why are we making naked images of passengers? Images that you claimed could not be saved or exported off of the machines, oh, what? Oh yeah, THEY CAN You guys are so up on things! Was it just an ends justify the means thing lying to us all? Or was it you guys are just incompetent?

So, back to the Jihadi M.O. So what are they doing now that caused this inappropriate reaction? Oh yeah, they were hiding bombs in their underwear and their anal cavities. Oh ok, the underwear thing I can see.. But, once again, I point at the blower/sampler machines. TATP would have a chemical sig would it not? Even if the machines did not have that stock, they could easily make a pattern and implement that right? So why go all the way to plaid and start this malarkey with the naked machines and priest grope special?

Oh yeah.. “illusion of security”

So, what’s next TSA? Maybe a mass hiring of proctologists for anal cavity searches to insure there are no TATP bombs in there? Cuz, well, you can’t see in people’s anus with your new toys.

I can see the ads now… ARE YOU A PROCTOLOGIST? WANNA SEE MORE BROWN EYE STARES? COME JOIN THE TSA!

Look, lets just face it. We never will be 100% safe. We can be efficient or we can be inefficient and stupid…

I see we have chosen the latter…

CoB