On a trip to L.A. last fall, I saw some folks stumbling through the TSA gauntlet in what I thought were foolish ways -- the type of annoying stuff unseasoned travelers do to hold up the line for everyone else. On the plane, I wrote a post about how sometimes, it's not always the TSA's fault. I took lots of heat for that, as I knew I would. Some accused me of supporting a fascist regime.

I still feel the same way about a few things, particularly that some people make the TSA experience harder on themselves and everyone else than is necessary. But when the facts continue to add up, I'm increasingly left with a bad taste in my mouth.

(...)

I can't ignore what's in front of me. I have to admit it: I was wrong.

Much has been said and written about the TSA as nothing more than security theater -- something that's there for show, to make people feel safer, even though in reality we're not all that safer than we were on 9-11-01. But it's becoming clear that we're dealing with something far more unacceptable than security theater.