That's what you wrote. Many misguided people would agree with your statement.


You can call it screening if you want, but what it is is a search of you and of your belongings. It may be necessary, but it's pretty intrusive.


TSA refuse to publish the rules we are required to follow. From your perspective, what should be there are those things you wish to carry with you onto your flight. From TSA's perspective, what should be there is anything that any TSA bag inspector decides to allow you to carry. They are specifically authorized to bar you from carrying anything they wish past their checkpoint.


A severed head is rather difficult to misidentify by sight. Substances that our federal government presently prohibits us from possessing require more than viewing to identify. Ditto for unlawfully-sexually-explicit images. Guns aren't allowed in carry-ons, legal or illegal.


Yes. This is not a police state. For very good reasons related to our freedom, government agents are not allowed to do "whatever it takes" to detect criminal behavior. They must work within the boundaries established for them, regardless of whether stepping outside those boundaries is likely to lead to a desirable outcome.

Upon finding which objects do you think should TSA staff stop looking for dangerous items and investigate further? A bag of powdered sugar? A bag of oregano? A bag of cannabis held by someone who has a doctor's recommendation to use it for medicinal purposes in a state where it is legal for him to do so? A poppy? A stack of 9,800 $1 bills sandwiched between two $100s and a boarding pass for an international flight? Any amount of cash with a tag on it that reads, "$10,001" without a boarding pass nearby? Pictures of petite naked people on their 18th birthdays? A pet that is not presently wearing its license tag? One that does not have a vaccination certificate stapled to its collar? A person with brown skin who does not have a U.S. passport or visa hanging from his neck?

How about multiple passports, with the same picture, but with different names (each of which happens to be a name someone used before he had his name legally changed)?

Any of those things could indicate wrongdoing, but none clearly does. When TSA staff are pawing through our things looking for dangerous items and they find non-dangerous item that might indicate other wrongdoing, they should give us the benefit of the doubt in every single case.