Boggie Dog

TSA Blog post up. Complete denial of the CBS accounting.

FliesWay2Much

I'm in no way justifying these sexual assaults that we continue to allow to happen. However, given that they are groping our bodies hoping to pick up some sort of residue on their gloves that will set off the ETD machines, I wonder if this would be happening if the infamous puffer machines had worked?

mauve

Is there any data that shows the current ETD machines work better, or that they have ever detected a legitimate threat?

For that matter, why would TSA think the enhanced patdown works better with the ETD process than the old patdown procedure?

petaluma1

Holy cow! I presume you've read some of the responses by now. How many of the Kool-Aid drinkers are TSA employees? The comments on the blog are in no way representative of Twitter comments or comments elsewhere on line.

petaluma1

Screeners apparently missed "threats" attached to bodies during the testing in 2015. (IIRC, a pat down missed something taped to a passenger's back that had been initially identified by either MMW or WTMD, as one example.) Therefore, because TSA apparently can't train its people to do a proper pat down (cognitive burdens, you know) they had to turn to teaching them to sexually assault passengers in order to attempt to find non-existent items.

GUWonder

I'm curious if someone has hired an internet army to respond to the criticism of the TSA. These kind of things are done by some within and beyond government.

petaluma1

I am sure that is so in some respects. If you've followed the blog at all you would have noticed that very often comments supportive of the current thread are time-stamped within a few minutes of posting of the thread in question.

GUWonder

I don't usually read that government propaganda, but this time the government propaganda is trying to paint this whole incident as being a myth. Now I see why Baghdad Bob is such a fan of TSA Blogdad Bob.

petaluma1

Burns uses that "myth" graphic every time there's a damage-control thread put up.

T-the-B

I'm not sure that your assumption, "they are groping our bodies hoping to pick up some sort of residue on their gloves that will set off the ETD machines" is sound. If they are really hoping to find ETD residue it would be much better to directly brush our clothing with the swabs rather than hoping for an indirect transfer from clothing to gloves and then from gloves to swab. If TSA truly thinks that the pat-down is the best way to test for ETD residue then I question their judgement.

More likely the pat-down is:

WillCAD

I tend to doubt conspiracy theories as being mostly paranoid delusion. Groupthink is a much more plausible explanation for most things of that nature.

In this case, there is no shortage of people who suffer from aerophbia, terrorphobia (a real word, phobic fear of terrorist attack, though it does seem weird), and islamaphobia, who will accept any and all draconian measures purported to keep them "safe". SO I have no doubt that most, if not all, of the comments in all venues supporting this type of pat-down are a legitimate outpouring of support.

I've reached my limit. I'm not flying until this practice is reversed and the targeted area pat-downs for resolving MMW alarms are restored. I don't alarm the MMW every time, but it's happened enough - usually due to sweat - that I now have a fairly high chance of being on the receiving end of one of these sexual assaults, and I don't want to risk ruining a trip by refusing and being escorted from airport property.

I'll drive instead.

petaluma1

I believe it's a combination of desperation on the part of the TSA to find a real explosive and your list above.

Always remember that sexual assault is not about sex, but about power and control.

GUWonder

Yes and yes.

As someone who makes money doing business with governments, I'll just say that it's not a conspiracy theory that created a market for selling services to engage in online PR operations on behalf of interested parties.

I'm sure there are lots of TSA employees and others who casually cheer for the TSA in everything or just about everything the TSA does and go online without being paid to do so. How much of it is a sort of coordinated response and not, who knows.

petaluma1

<redacted>

<redacted>.

A couple of complaints to the DHS IG could put pressure on him to allow them since not doing so is a violation of your First Amendment rights. Then again, when did TSA ever care about any rights?

Boggie Dog

The Puffers worked fine. TSA employees didn't have the skills set to use the tools provided.