TSA adventures

Yeah, the stupidity of the voters who ever let such a thing happen in the first place.

Thanks, Rich

Odd that Jim hasn't faded away then,

Jim-out-of-touch-with-reality-Thompson copies his boiler-plate text into the user-group archive again. You'd think he could have afforded to buy a new paragraph by now, but maybe the buyers of ham-fisted application-specific integrated circuit design aren't paying as well as they used to.

-- Bill Sloman, Nijmegen

The TSA, or more accurately Customs and Border Protection is all about ensuring that the USA remains an isolated economic market.

The TSA security agents (the ones who make sure you aren't going to blow up the airplane) are still overweight, unarmed, minimum wage quasi rent-a-cops. The customs people (the ones who make sure you aren't sneaking in untaxed booze, DVDs, or Swiss watches) have the latest in technology, are armed and professional and no-nonsense. But that's after you've landed. If you'd have had a bomb, it would be too late.

Customs does do a pretty good job of intercepting laptops and whatnot coming in. But, for a terrorist intent on collecting intelligence, the inbound laptop or camera would be empty. They do end up snagging a lot of proprietary industrial data from overseas suppliers. But CBP doesn't have the expertise to analyze this kind of data. So you can be sure that the information from the EADS employees' laptops making sales calls on the Pentagon would have to be forwarded through a consultant. Like Boeing.

The EU does it the other way around. The security folks are armed (sub machine guns in Germany, before 9/11 even) and know what to look for. Customs is more laid back. At Schiphol (Amsterdam), the customs line is voluntary. There's a sign: This way if you have items to declare. This way otherwise. Its up to you. If you walk through the 'no declaration' door, you are outside. No questions asked. They just don't seem to get their panties in a bunch if someone sneaks in some unapproved lunch meat.

I don't recall there ever having been a referendum on the Patriot Act.

Isn't Methy Hydrate CH3OH (methanol)?

I bet those children they felt up were too, huh?

Why would *anyone* have that?

You have to stop posting your pathetic stupidity in this group. It is meant for mature men.

Confirmational? That I have had security clearances? OK, I'll confirm that.

What annoyed me is that the TSA, unionized security guards, have access to stuff that is supposed to be secret, and told somebody who wasn't supposed to know. So, why did they do that?

Goodness knows what all is online for tens of thousands of them to peep at and blab. Probably everything. Some security.

John

No, John. What you said was "super secret". You made yourself a target. If the NSA OR DSS knew, you would get a stern talking to, because you did exactly what you accused the officers of doing. You keep your clearance at THEIR behest.

No, asshole. They are unionized Law Enforcement Officers, appointed by our federal government to protect us civil folks from folks that are only one notch lower than you..

So are any cops you know, idiot (unionized). You seem OK with them and their Nazi dork antics.

Whay are you perpetuating it? Will you not get it until they actually do have a talk with you? How can you not see that this was the WRONG place to spout off about it at? (as if any place would be appropriate).

You failed to circumnavigate your blatant disregard for the same policies. Nor will you... ever.

Yes, you, idiot.

The damage was limited to a couple of TSA goons with guns who don't know you from Adam and your daughter until you made this post.

You specifically declared in a public forum that you had "burn before reading" security clearance and that you knew full well that telling people about it was a treasonable offence. That is not very smart.

To go with "Larkin bug free" we now have "Larkin secure". There is significant irony involved in both these assertions.

If you are so easily provoked into disclosing seriously confidential stuff in a searchable global public forum by what was at best minor irritation it doesn't say much about your judgement. The only saving grace is that US security services are probably too dim to notice.

Ultimate patriot for once makes a valid and substantial point.

Because they are dumber than rocks, poorly trained thugs and paid a pittance. But you are not so you don't have that excuse.

I don't see that they are unionised has anything to do with it. A fair number of the GCHQ staff are in a union again today it doesn't make them any less patriotic or diligent in their work.

That appears to be the American way. Sharing secret data over networks in such a dumb and uncontrolled way that the most lowly drudge can download TB of top secret classified data and hand it to Wikileaks.

Regards, Martin Brown

That is why when transported in bulk it carries the toxic skull & cross bones as well as a highly flammable designation.

Far too many people have been killed by methanol poisoning.

Yes. Methanol is poisonous enough by skin contact that they were right to at least check what he was doing with it. Ken S. for Stupid Tucker is a street sweeper and window cleaner with delusions of grandeur.

Have a real good laugh at his "products". One of them is a bird box with a baby alarm bodged into it for about $200 or was it $300?

TSA's Goons with Guns used to be there to shoot any foreigners that stepped over the red line at immigration. These days they extend that discourtesy and others to American citizens as well.

They are about the most unpleasant bunch of thugs masquerading as security people that I have ever run into.

Regards, Martin Brown

At it's simplest it consists of owning at least two credit cards and keeping one on your person somewhere other than in your wallet. It is incredibly dumb not to do this when travelling overseas.

In the UK the better bank accounts offer it as part of a package deal including mobile phone theft and breakdown service for a nominal sum. One phone call is all it takes to prove you are able to pay from anywhere in the world and they cancel and reissue the cards faster. Dunno what they do if you have forgotten your secure password.

Regards, Martin Brown

Funny. I get the same feeling every time an 'everyday cop' harasses me because 99.9999$ of the retarded bastards are socially stigmatized.

They are one of the last gangs we have to worry about, and they are also the exact same crew type that has destroyed democracies of our historical past.

You (euphemistic) know the feeling. You just never put it into words and may not like to admit that you felt that way.

That feeling of "Wow, I had better do exactly as these guys say, or they will cause me personal grief, starting with not allowing me to get to work/my flight on time."

Cops in the US were put in place in NYC because of gangs. Then, NYC (and Chicago) put them in place to slow (not stop?) the mafia organizations.

THEN, they put them into place to stop Hispanics in the southern states from 'proliferating' the 'hemp problem', even though La Guardia reported that there was no problem.

Now, they are in place to write traffic tickets (which the retards don't do right either) and rape citizens of their money, but magically never revoke the licenses of these bad drivers such that we have drivers that have SEVERAL DUIs on their record. And they and the courts do nothing. They are what is damaging our nation's economy.

Them, and the utility asswipes. The gov boys don't do anything about them raping us, because it allows them to rape us further each year with taxes.

There there, no need to cry. You've just been dissed by someone much smarter than you again. If you want to associate with people at your level, why not try the patients at the severe head injury unit at your local hospital?

If they aren't going to respect their own rules, they can have their dumb clearance. I don't need it.

John

They should not have mentioned it to her. She told people about the grilling. Now everybody at work knows, and my wife knows, and no doubt others. Hell of a way to keep secrets.

The TSA made this public. So I probably won't/can't work on any of the stuff I did. Their loss, not mine.

We can agree on that one.

He's AlwaysWrong!

Yup. That was my point. TSA should keep planes safe, not play at being the KGB.

John

Ever fly El Al? They have their safety record because of their security policies, which include ruthless racial, ethnic, and religious profiling of everyone who sets foot on board their aircraft. Their methods are how to _really_ keep planes safe, all other considerations aside. As onerous as the TSA's actions are, the worst part about it is that in the end it's really only theater - El Al's security would find how egalitarian the qualifications for the interrogation procedure are completely laughable.

On a sunny day (Fri, 20 May 2011 07:20:57 -0700) it happened John Larkin wrote in :

But John, not so long ago you boasted about having special security clearance in this newsgroup.

I do not see the problem here. Those guys have checked me out too for clearance, several times IIRC, once for NATO and then when I worked on designs for a large airport. And of course the times I do NOT know they checked :-) Probably last week too. Hell they were even paranoid way before 9/11. Of course with me they should be :-) hehe