Buttclowns? Hmmm, slightly offensive, meaning incredibly clear, and possibly even more humiliating because it does sound like a school yard taunt. Perfect.

I prefer to call the bad ones "feckless simpletons" or "feckless hacks" depending on the actions of the individual (i.e. spoken non-sense versus inane actions)

Ciao,
FH

For the ones that fancy themselves LEOs, Whacker is the generally accepted term.

Wish I had caught this thread earlier, and not trying to pick a fight with a FT mod, but comparing poorly managed federal security guards innappropiately confiscating items with the Holocaust is a bit much. Once they start confiscating gold dental work, then it sounds familiar.

The Nuremberg Defense, although having its etiology in the war crimes of Nazis, doesn't just apply to horrendous atrocities.

It evenly applies to anyone who expects to be exonerated for bad behavior because someone in a superior position told them to do something wrong.

But really, come on....we're talking about being inconvenienced here, right? The Nuremberg defence is a bit much....war crimes vs losing a family heirloom pen knife...

I'm too lazy to read the entire thread, but you are free to call any gov't employee who tells you that you can't call employees of their agency "idiots" idiots (with rare exceptions: e.g. judges in court). Not only are you free to do so, but any person who has to resort to that kind of "You can't call me an idiot because I get a paycheck from Y." is an idiot, has serious self-confidence problems, or is an elected official (implying that the electorate, as well as the official in question, is idiotic, something that is all-too-often true).

A "Kip"? :eek:

A Kip? Historically relevant, contextually accurate since it was under his reign of terror that made TSA what it is today and isn't the least bit offensive to folks who don't know either who or what Kip was. Good to use when talking to a TSO. "Hey, Kip, you think you could let me watch my belongings while you go through them?" Perfect.

That is your right! just dont stereotype. Some people are not idiots. Also you want to be real careful about when you say that. Too soon and you wont be going anywhere. That is not right i know

So some idiots at TSA may unilaterally decide the 1st amendment doesn't exist at airport checkpoints? :rolleyes: :td: Reminds me of a t-shirt I used to wear ...

It's not like making a terrorist threat.

Didn't we already go thru this with MKEBound a few years ago when it made national news?

If it's ok to call Kip Hawley an Idiot, surely it's ok to call a screener an idiot without fear of reprisal. Reprisal is an infringement on 1st amendment rights.

Super

Public figure difference?

The problem is that the TSAer can declare it to be a "random secondary" and management will back them up 110% on those grounds.

(Hence one of the reasons TSAers should be careful in frowning upon management).

War crimes usually get their start someplace. Beer halls, meetings in the jungles, "workers" meetings, and now at a US airport near you. :(

This disgusting, un-American agency should be destroyed now before it becomes even more of a cancer to US society than it already is.

No, it isn't.

You are trying to diminish the principle because it is attached to a horrible period in history. That principle, however, is just as important if we are talking about Nazi war criminals or the TSO.

Claiming that you are exonerated of responsibility because someone higher up told you to do something wrong is, was, and always will be unacceptable.