Originally Posted by
TSORon
It does, and the people have spoken, and better security at airports is what they have demanded. I realize that there are always going to be those out there that either don’t believe that, or that don’t want what the majority of the citizens want, but that is just the way things are. It’s a part of life in this country that we just have to live with. I know, but you can complain and stamp your feet all week long but its not going to change the fact that the majority of this nations citizens have decided to support the government’s actions. (sigh)
So we are governed by "what the people have spoken?" Really. Well, Ron, it wasn't too long ago that "the people" rounded up certain American citizens and put them in concentration camps. It wasn't too long ago that "the people" actively permitted discrimination against certain American citizens because of the color of their skin. "The people" are still discriminating against certain American citizens because of their sexual preference. Maybe you can justify what you do and what you believe based on the results of a public opinion poll, but this country isn't supposed to be run as if it was a gigantic popularity contest.
Originally Posted by
fendertweed
Ron,
You're so full of sh#t I don't know where to begin ... I've been a manager in a federal LEO organization (a real LEO org., not like TSA's "square badges") for nearly 20 years. Thus I start w/ a presumption of goodwill and competence towards LEGITIMATE and COMPETENT steps to safeguard flying.
TSA has long since left behind either of those benchmarks and has become an out of control, unprofessional, arrogant, heavyhanded fascistic tool that does more to prove that the terrorists have won than any actual attack ...
We've handed over our freedoms in an absurdly ineffective and hole-laden kabuki security theatre, and your positing that those who are offended by TSA's lack of professionalism and its propagandistic bombast somehow give aid and comfort to the enemy only underscores the failure of you and your employer.
My colleagues and I would think TSA is a joke, only there is nothing funny about (a) its failure to effectively protect us; and (b) its absurdly incompetent and arrogant power grabs combining ignorance of scientific and technical peer-reviewed data with wholesale disregard for personal dignity and constitutional rights.
^^ As I've stated before, inside the Beltway TSA and DHS are widely considered to be a complete and utter joke. We'd laugh at them more often, but it's hard to laugh when their actions make you want to hang your head in sorrow.
Originally Posted by
BearX220
Fendertweed, thank you for this. Virtually all the professional military personnel I know have an acute, clear understanding of the American system and where the military fits in. They know precisely what they're defending. They're privately infuriated and sickened by TSA tactics. (For that matter even ground-level LEOs in airports often let us know they find TSA ridiculous.) They know the difference between brutalism and patriotism. For this reason I have no worries about a "Seven Days in May" military coup d'etat scenario in this country, but significant worry about the expansionist agenda of a repressive, brutalist, punitive TSA at war with its own citizens.
It is no accident that the military ranks among our country's most respected institutions, in or out of government, while TSA comes in just about last. The main move TSA has made to promote respect for its forces was to... switch to a different colored shirt. Almost funny. Almost.
The only government employees who appreciate DHS and TSA are the employees of IRS, because TSA has displaced them as the most disliked agency in all of government.