Passenger could be asked to give drink samples to TSA

No wonder there are hundreds of comments at that little newspaper, TV/radio station, at the original article.

 

It's so odd that letting a smurf tamper with your latte seems to be more volatile than them sticking hands in pants. Whatever it takes, though, I guess. Maybe the curtain finally pulled back on the wizard with this one.

 

Exactly what I was thinking. People are fine with having themselves and their children molested, but don't mess with their precious soft drinks! Or their laptops. Make them spend money, hit them in the pocketbook, it's the only thing that'll get through to them.

(Reminds me of all the bitching about no peanuts or pretzels or junk food or blankets on planes anymore for free. Good god, people, get a grip.)

 

To an extent, though, I get it. It's a certain kind of bizarre intimacy, them doing something unknown to something you're going to consume, and without washing their hands. Plus, the illogic of this one is pretty easy to see -- if the drinks at Starbucks are insecure to begin with, it would be far more efficient and secure to take that up with Starbucks. (And, if the drinks at Starbucks are insecure, what else about Starbucks is insecure? Hmmm.) At least, perhaps, if people open their eyes on this one, maybe they'll be more ready to hear the problems with some of the other asinine TSA policies.

 

I'll say it again, TSA has claimed that all vendor items brought into the secure area have been screened. So what is the security issue that TSA is trying to cover? Could it be that TSA has lied about screening vendor supplies? Or could it be that TSA doesn't have confidence in the people doing the screening? Could it perhaps be that untold amounts of unscreened materials are brought in daily by TSA employees and other airport employees?

TSA needs to do some basic security steps. Screen all people and things but only do it once!

Pistole's Perverts are clearly incompetent.

 

Could it be this, could it be that?

None of the above.

You know as well as I do that none of this is about security.

 

I think they've gone beyond incompetent into malcompetent.

It's not that they're simply stupid, it's that they're deliberately stupid.

 

If you want to condition a dog to accept any abuse whatsoever, you get him accustomed to having his food messed with. You put his food down when he's hungry, then take it away or run your fingers through it. Many people who have kids and large dogs do this, because it conditions the dog not to snap at the kids or take food from them. You show the dog he's the absolute lowest member of the pecking order, with absolutely no rights or entitlements whatsoever.

Is the TSA (and therefore the U.S. Federal Govt.) deliberately conditioning citizens to accept the very lowest rung on the "pecking order" by toying with our food? I think it highly unlikely.

Still, we must push back. It's wrong. It's as wrong as the pawing at our crotches and breasts. They're equally wrong.

PS: It has been reported that people who throw the beverage away when TSA goons attempt to "test" it get a gratuitous grope. If they really imagined there was something wrong with the drink, they'd dig through the trash and test it. The TSA thugs aren't self aware enough to know this, but through this bizarre ritual humiliation they demonstrate that on a subconscious level they know the game is about dominance - not safety. "I can paw at your genitals whenever I get the urge." is a strong message of dominance which no one could interpret as a "safety" measure, not under the circumstances described.

 

Thus the next step (hey big brah-tha! you catching this?!) the smurfs should file onto airplanes once the passengers have gotten their peanuts snack bags and demand to swab each peanut. Randomly, of course.

 

Like the woman who didn't want her kid's arthritis medication x-rayed and was told she would have to submit to a full monty grope. Sexual fondling as punishment for stepping out of line. No connection between the perceived threat and the performed search.

 

Booby has posted on the TSA Blog making like nothing has changed.

 

From Blogdad Bob:

A nontoxic solution? Clerks at the other site swear that it is just water that goes on the test strip. Nice spin on water. People should be demanding the MSDS sheets on this "solution" and the "test strip".

I do hope some people with scientific chops go to the media about this to debunk the whole procedure.

 

We see the effects such tactics have had with AIT.

Why do you expect any more with this nonsense?

 

but they do place the dropper in it, no? stupid cretins.

 

The strip is waved over the liquid and then the magic potion in the dropper is applied to the strip.

 

Non Toxic only means it wont kill more then 50% of the population (LD50).

 

As big a problem as the mystery test strip, though, is these clerks going about handling numerous cups, without washing their hands or changing gloves (and they should be doing both). If they're getting involved in food and beverage handling, they should be following health code guidelines. Otherwise, they're making us demonstrably less safe by spreading everybody's cold and flu germs around.

 

This practice has been going on in airports for a year or two hasn't it? I recall several threads about this stupid practice. Is it more systematic now, or are more people objecting to it now?

 

I'm wondering if they're trying to make these a part of the gate searches. They've been wandering around the waiting area doing it for a while, but people have been able to say no. But I think at the gate you can't really say no and still fly.

Or, maybe this was the first media outlet beyond LewRockell.com to notice it.

 

Where's our resident DHS/TSA agent to explain to us poor benighted souls why this is necessary To Keep Us Safe?