gmax58

I'm glad that someone in Congress/aviation security might be taking note of the Kabuki theatre that is TSA...

From the Denver Post on the suspension of the puffer machines:

exerda

What you say is largely true. It would indeed be "cheaper" to knuckle under, tell the TSA screener, "Sorry, I didn't realize that was prohibited," and let them confiscate the bag to be on one's way.

However, it would be wrong to do so on several levels. Yeah, it would have saved the OP 25 minutes of his life. That is all it would have done, from a positive standpoint.

Meanwhile, it would have also allowed the screeners involved to continue their abuses of fundamental rights, and not brought this to the public's attention. TSA officials should not be allowed to trample willy-nilly over our rights and continue getting away with it; we have laws for reasons, and unlike the customs officials in other countries who may be secure in their actions, the TSA is not (or at least not supposed to be) immune to criticism.

At some point, a line in the sand must be drawn.

exerda

Indeed--and note that spokeshole Yolanda isn't even willing to admit the OP's complaint exists. It has obviously vanished into the TSA complaint black hole.

I still have two outstanding complaints on record from almost two months ago that have received nothing but the automated "thank you" notes from the TSA--not even form letters back yet.

GUWonder

Which rules were broken by the passenger going through Milwaukee airport in the OP? By measure of the law, none.

Do you believe that constitutionally-protected freedom of political expression should be done away, along with the rest of the Constitution, so that the government can more freely hassle people if they are critical of current public officials?

The pompous statements came from the government employees acting like little Napoleons. Do we really need more bullies to beat up on fellow Americans?

H2O

I wonder if the airlines would tell these attention seeking frequent flyers to not fly if they don't like the rules?

Thank you OP for standing up for your rights, and ours!

doober

A couple of other posters have asked..what rule did the OP break? Please cite it for us. By "cite", I mean give us a reference to where we can find the exact wording that says one cannot write a non-threatening statement on their TSA baggie.

You can't do that 'cause it doesn't exist. So why don't you just stop trying to make trouble and go away?

exerda

We seem to be getting a lot of people who seem to think they know the rules, when in fact by their very statements this is not the case.

I'll third the other posters who have asked: what rules did the OP break? The only rule I saw broken was that of the Constitutional protection of freedom of speech, and that not by the OP but by the TSA.

GUWonder

Maybe this thread will prompt a few more people to open up their eyes and to learn about the rules of the land -- those which are found in the Constitution -- and the history behind why the Founding Fathers gave us the Bill of Rights, enshrining the right to criticize public officials and their actions.

hoyateach

Hmm. FT as an educational tool. What a concept.

trvlr64

^ ^ ^ To MKE

It's about time someone in this country starts taking a stand against the injustice and incompetence that is occuring on a daily basis. "We the People" are letting this administration and it's cronnies take away or hinder our rights. When will we stop this? Do we need to have a Million Traveler March on Washington, DC?

There is a poster in another thread who said she's moving to another country where she feels she'll have a better life. This is truely sad IMO that this country will start to drive it's citizens out.

rparmfamily

Wow how many more first time posters are going to come to the rescue of the TSA. Thank you very much MKE for standing up for yourself and for other Frequent Flyers. Hopefully something happens to these idiots and yes your boss, Skosti, is an IDIOT.

GUWonder

People who oppose this nonsense should not leave the country. They should stand up and assert their legal rights. And they should try to get more people who are like-minded to vote, organize and/or otherwise act. We can't all be surrender monkeys like the DHS/TSA apologists want critics to be.

andymo99

Kudos to the OP.

I only caught wind of this story as it was highlighted on AOL this afternoon.

pdhenry

I'm jumping ahed a bit (haven't read all the pages yet) but someone did this last night already:

http://www.cafepress.com/cp/customiz...umber=78034330

EDITThis is not my T-Shirt design and I do not stand to gain anything if it is bought by anyone. My understanding from last night was that someone else had created the custom design and had then linked to it. It's not obvious to me that the earlier poster would be getting any cut, either (there doesn't seem to be any affiliate link within the URL encoding).

Mods, please censor if this violates TOS in some way.

JHattery

Received about 1.5 column inches in the CLE PD today, buried in the middle of the front section.

Don't make me put my "numbers geek" hat back on. We went through that with this thread.
THis one will likely take laurels for views-per-hour during its active period, but I doubt it has the legs of other mega-threads. Roughly 1,768 views/hour on averaqge since thread started. Pretty impressive.

I haven't check in a while, but the top 3 seem to be:
Fare Gone thread 447,055 views
Dov-BEY thread 355,231 views
Who will be thread 314,223 views

Most tersely eloquent quote on this thread thus far.

Based on my recollections of anatomy, there are 9 for a male, 10 for a female, assuming you count both eyes and both nostrils.

FWIW, I wouldn't be surprised if a new rule comes out requiring "transparent, unmarked baggies." Problem solved.