Serfdom under the TSA

[mountaineer]

Serfdom under the TSA
by Jacob G. Hornberger
March 26, 2024

By now, I’m sure that most Americans have their own personal stories about TSA abuse. The U.S. government’s takeover of airport security after the 9/11 attacks has made flying an unpleasant experience.

This past weekend, I was flying back to Virginia. A TSA agent took my carry-on suitcase aside and opened it up. She then pulled out a container of talcum powder. She spent around 5 minutes intensely examining it and then testing it. Up to that point, it was simply a matter relating to the talcum powder. No agent was hassling me ,and I was just waiting for the testing of the talcum powder to be completed.

I nonchalantly and innocently said to her, “So, I’m curious as to whether it’s bad to bring talcum powder with me.” Well, that was obviously a wrong thing to say. I think you’re expected to keep your mouth shut and not question anything they do.

In what appeared to me to be an effort to teach me a lesson, another TSA agent approached me and informed me that I was now going to be subjected to a complete pat-down search. Even worse, he advised me that it was going to be conducted by a trainee, who was about 70 years old. The trainee was obviously nervous, given that his boss was right there watching him. The trainee patted down almost every square inch of my body. For example, I was wearing a button-down dress shirt. He had me turn around and he curled my shirt collar backwards, presumably to see if I had a gun hidden there. (I didn’t.) ...

I got the distinct impression that they might be hoping that I would express some sort of objection or protest. I’m not stupid. I didn’t say anything else. That’s because the TSA has a catchall offense that is comparable to “disorderly conduct.” It enables the TSA to levy a fine of up to $14,000 for anyone who “interferes” with inspectors. Like with “disorderly conduct,” it’s an entirely subjective offense, meaning that they can pretty much fine anyone who objects or protests with “interference.” ...

Read more at Future of Freedom Foundation

[Timber Rattler]

Yep.  I've got so many bad TSA stories from my business traveling days that I refuse to fly anymore.  Congress really screwed us over with the Patriot Act and the TSA and its administrative tyranny.

Flashback:

Patriot Act author: ‘There has been a failure of oversight.’

https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/the-switch/wp/2013/10/11/patriot-act-author-there-has-been-a-failure-of-oversight/

Question: Since you were the author of the Patriot Act, you were at least at one point supportive of greater powers going to the intelligence community. Were the programs it has now been revealed the Patriot Act was used to justify particularly surprising to you? How else did you expect it to be implemented?

Rep. Jim Sensenbrenner (R-Wis.) : Clearly, they were very surprising to me. I can say that if Congress knew what the NSA had in mind in the future immediately after 9/11, the Patriot Act never would have passed, and I never would have supported it. We have to have a balance of security and civil liberties. What the NSA has done, with the concurrence of both the Bush and Obama administrations, is completely forgotten about the guarantees of civil liberties that those of us who helped write the Patriot Act in 2001 and the reauthorization in 2005 and 2006 had written the law to prevent from happening.

What I can say is during my six years as chair of the Judiciary Committee, both Mr. Conyers and I were very vigorous in sending pointed letters to the attorney general, who under the FISA law is the official that sends petitions to the court for approval, to find out exactly what they were doing, and a couple times we had to act like crabby professors when students send incomplete answers and tell them to redo it. I think that things were relatively under control and along the spirit of the Patriot Act until I left in January of 2007 as chair of the Judiciary Committee. And looking at the timeline of when I think they rapidly expanded their powers was when they knew I would not be sending oversight letters.

US spying prompts reversal by anti-terror lawmaker

https://apnews.com/article/edward-snowden-national-security-congress-patriot-act-james-sensenbrenner-06c5169ebc6e436a8339aa79b8a8db81

A senior Republican lawmaker who was the chief congressional architect of the anti-terror 2001 USA Patriot Act now wants to scale back some f the counterterror laws he once championed, citing an overreach by the National Security Agency that has proven him wrong.

Rep. James Sensenbrenner says he was “appalled and angry” to learn this year that the NSA was sweeping up millions of Americans’ phone records each day. He says that goes far beyond the intent of the 2001 USA Patriot Act, which was enacted weeks after the Sept. 11, 2001, terror attacks.

Both at home and abroad, anger over the surveillance programs that NSA leaker Edward Snowden revealed in June has given rise to a new round of plans to limit U.S. snooping. But the government is sharply divided over how to assure Americans and the world at large that their private lives are not being invaded while still protecting against terrorist attacks. It’s likely that lawmakers who oversee competing interests of justice and intelligence issues will end up with a compromise that limits some domestic surveillance.

[mountaineer]

TSA is just one of the many reasons not to travel by air anymore. 

[Smokin Joe]

Well, I did more flying in the last 112 months than I have in a long time. My sister recommended getting the TSA pre-check number, which I did. It saved a bunch of nonsense except the one time I was told to go into the wrong line and had to take my shoes off.

[roamer_1]

Well, I did more flying in the last 112 months than I have in a long time. My sister recommended getting the TSA pre-check number, which I did. It saved a bunch of nonsense except the one time I was told to go into the wrong line and had to take my shoes off.

Huh. I take my shoes off and fart a little bit, and I walk right on through...  They'll all come back once it airs out I guess. 

[Smokin Joe]

Huh. I take my shoes off and fart a little bit, and I walk right on through...  They'll all come back once it airs out I guess. 

One: Never trust a fart after 50.

Two: I can't do that on command, anyway.

[berdie]

At one time flying used to be a luxury and quite elegant. I don't know what happened. Cheaper fares and more availability perhaps?

I haven't flown since before 9/11. It wasn't even a pleasant experience then.

So now, between being groped by the TSA, rude crazy fellow passengers, rude airline employees and parts falling of planes it's doubtful I will ever fly again. Unless I win the lottery and can afford to fly private.

[Bigun]

TSA is just one of the many reasons not to travel by air anymore. 

It is THE reason I refuse to fly these days.

[Smokin Joe]

https://tsaenrollmentbyidemia.tsa.dhs.gov/programs/precheck?utm_campaign=WT-TSA+%7C+Enrollment+-+TIERS+1+%26+2+(NEW)&utm_source=google_ads_search_direct&utm_medium=Precheck+-+T1&utm_term=tsa%20precheck&gad_source=1&gclid=Cj0KCQjwk6SwBhDPARIsAJ59GwfqXyr5uyguB_Tm8O6gZbj4OGYXZUDYNGEEZzRhXdNDHnjm7fb_VrsaAo3mEALw_wcB&gclsrc=aw.ds

This cuts down on the inconvenience. Your luggage gets scanned, as does your stuff, and you walk through the metal detector. A lot less hassle.

[mountaineer]

So "PreCheck" is the opportunity to pay extra to the gubmint for the privilege of not being groped?

[Hoodat]

So "PreCheck" is the opportunity to pay extra to the gubmint for the privilege of not being groped?

Now they have a third option called 'Clear'.  It costs more, but it gets you through quicker.   Basically, they took the fees that they collected from Pre-check users and used that money to create the Clear system.  So basically, they stripped resources away from Pre-check making that line slower so that the new Elite class could breeze through.

I call it the Sneetch effect.  If you remember that book, the Sneetches.  Some entrepreneur racked up a ton of money putting stars on Sneetches and then taking them right back off.  Same with TSA Precheck.  They charge you for 'elite' status, and then come up with something better right after you paid.

Anyway, I went ahead and paid for Pre-check when I got my TWIC card.  It was priceless when I did a lot of travel.  But now not so much, especially when traveling with my non-Precheck family.  The best part of it is not having to take my shoes off, and not having to take my CPAP machine out of my carryon.  Oh, and not getting radiated by that people x-ray machine.

[Smokin Joe]

So "PreCheck" is the opportunity to pay extra to the gubmint for the privilege of not being groped?

Essentially,but it also means less time in line, etc.

$70 over however many boardings you do in 5 years. For me, that amounted to a 3% surcharge on fares so far, or about $17.50 per flight (so far, it will be less if I have to fly again).

[Timber Rattler]

So "PreCheck" is the opportunity to pay extra to the gubmint for the privilege of not being groped?

Yep, pretty much.  It was $85 over a period of 5 years before renewal.

[Timber Rattler]

Now they have a third option called 'Clear'.  It costs more, but it gets you through quicker.   Basically, they took the fees that they collected from Pre-check users and used that money to create the Clear system.  So basically, they stripped resources away from Pre-check making that line slower so that the new Elite class could breeze through.

I believe that Clear is a third party company that contracted with the government.  I remember when it started up, with only 6 or 8 airports being served.  It did the same thing as TSA Pre-Check and cost more, so I didn't see the need for it.

https://www.clearme.com/

TSA Pre-Check only made the screening process slightly less onerous.  The last time I flew several years ago (before the COVID hysteria), we were all still subject to those ridiculous additional screenings at the gate, when the TSA goons showed up with their little carts, bomb-sniffing scanners, and latex gloves, and gave random select passengers waiting there in line the full-body prisoner shake-down treatment, in front of God and everybody.

[mountaineer]

We haven't flown much in the past 4 years or so, but before that I recall occasionally getting pre-check status on our boarding passes  without asking or paying for it. I don't know how we lucked out in those instances. Once, Mr. M got to go through the pre-check line, but I didn't. Grrr.

[goatprairie]

Already had the completely "random" (ha, ha ,ha) pat-down i.e. frisking every part of your body in London's Heathrow a decade or so ago.
Also has a fiasco in Toronto when the airline in Athens, Greece issuing the wife's and my tickets put my name on both our tickets. It took the idiot Canadian airport people about an hour to figure things out. They were actually loudly arguing among themselves about the right procedure.  Meanwhile, the wife and i were "randomly" selected to have our belongings searched intensively by those idiots. That included taking out our tablets and having them examined. We barely made our connecting flight to O'Hare.
I guess we must resemble likely terrorists.
We chose never again to fly in or out of Canada if we could possibly do so.

[Hoodat]

Already had the completely "random" (ha, ha ,ha) pat-down i.e. frisking every part of your body in London's Heathrow a decade or so ago.

I got groped in Omaha airport once.  I swore the next time someone got a little too friendly, that I would simply drop my drawers in front of everyone.

As for 'completely random', I don't believe that for a second.  I got smart with a TSA agent in New Orleans once.  The next 7 times I flew there, I didn't get Pre-check stamped on my ticket even though I had paid for it.  (And yes, paying the money for a KTN (known traveler number) does not guarantee you Pre-check).