June 24th is D-Day: last day to submit public comments about TSA

I've been dealing with Federal Register comment periods for years. Over a decade, as a matter of fact. (and yes, I'm a little prickly about it). I don't view them as polls, never have, never will. One of our best campaigns generated over 200,000 comments. So yeah, I'm comparing turnout. 5,600 comments is not a huge number.

 

We can't change the numbers now so I think we need to focus on TSA's next move to discredit what comments there were. Is there anyway to make a full download of all submitted comments? TSA will likely try making them disappear.

 

"Our" and "campaigns" is all there is to know. This isn't GOTV, "turnout."
5,600 non ginned-up, non-professionally organized, comments by individuals is HUGE.

Postcards and form-letters are nearly meaningless legally. It's just a sorry excuse for goose-stepping blue organizations not to involve themselves.

 

You are clearly missing my point so I'm not going to respond further.

 

I'm not advocating one view over another and certainly don't want to get into an emotional argument with folks I consider to be like-minded Internet friends. So, 'here goes a more detailed discussion:

If the TSA had rolled out the public comment period as the law requires, this would have been after the Underwear Bomber hype and before the strip search machines hit the street in large numbers. This would have been before opposition got organized enough to have organized National Opt-Out Day. Without a lot of experience with these machines and without a lot of time for some very smart people to formulate educated opinions, the bulk of comments back in 2010 would have been either in favor of these things or be purely emotional in nature (and thusly blown off).

By waiting as long as they did, a couple of key events occurred that removed a lot of public opposition:

1. People who would have commented negatively in 2010 (like me) have simply stopped flying and have been removed from the debate. I still travel for my USG job, decline to be electronically strip searched, and make the genital fondling as difficult as possible for the TSA clerk. No, I haven't signed up for PreCheck and never will give in to government extortion.

2. The "PreCheck" extortion has removed thousands from the debate because they are no longer subject on a routine basis to the travesties of AIT. The TSA has simply removed the most frequent flyers from the Strip Search debate because they are no longer subject to it.

 

The outrage grew and grew since 2010 as people saw children, elderly, infirm etc pointlessly hassled on video.

Arrogant as always by blowing-off rulemaking altogether, TSA didn't "wait"other than to stall the 2011 open comment court order (thank you, EPIC). And hope that removal of cancer-boxes would help their cause.

Only the pre-check, and some and adjustments to lessen videos of rubdowns on certain populations, like children, has flattened out that escalating anger.

TSA is more of a joke to the public than they have ever been.
Do not doubt that TSA has other than been handed a huge ball of crap by the American public, with so many substantive comments they have to address.

 

TSA is certainly not a joke to the public.

TSA IS A CLEAR AND PRESENT DANGER TO OUR COUNTRY AND OUR FREEDOMS.

 

Poor choice of words. A bad joke. Having earned the public's disrespect.