US No-Fly list doubles - Who's on it? Who knows

From Citizens for Legitimate Government:

 

Oh, and of course we have one of our starring players:

And:

This could mean almost anyone. Anyone who is protesting, who is dissenting, who isn't toeing the party line, who is urging resistance.

 

Oh, great! So they have to spend money on a ticket, only to be further humiliated and abused at the airport, AND still not be able to fly. Great system!

 

Joseph McCarthy would be so proud.

 

And I posted it at TSA News.

 

From the AP article:

And yet, the NFL is ridiculously easy to circumvent. They apparently learned nothing from their mistake in having the actual underwear bomber on their actual list and actually letting him board an aircraft. If one wants to read between the lines here, it's pretty obvious that having a huge list like this only punishes the innocent and naive. Go for it. Real terrorists are going to continue to be able to thwart these efforts.

Idiots. Hey Caryn Wagner, just FOAD you stupid moron. You aren't making aircraft any safer. Not even by a long shot with this draconian, Spanish Inquisition, McCarthyesque secret list nonsense. Not even a little.

 

barbell, it gets worse. Some real horror stories. Go over to TSA News and see what I posted.

 

That might be the world's smallest harness judging from the "intelligence community" looking for the spades and shovels in the bags of the UK travellers.

 

And Kafka would be ecstatic. I can already picture it as a takeoff from Vor dem Getsetz: Joe Passenger standing at the counter asking whether he's on or off no-fly list, because he really needs to buy a $20,000 last minute non-refundable ticket (Delta's been taking advantage of all the capacity reductions to really gouge people) to visit his dying mother in Newark, but the moat dragon that they've summoned over from the new checkpoint check point next door won't answer the question, even though he's looked it up. Some months pass, with Joe P. alternately standing & sitting at the ticket counter, asking every chance he gets if he's on the no-fly list. Finally, some more months later, a messenger arrives with a note that his mother has passed away. At that point the moat dragon draws the ribbon across the aisle & closes the check point. "You could have flown", he says with a big oop:eating grin of authoritah. "This checkpoint was set up just for you."

 

Oh, I know the horror stories.

I used to have to take the phone calls.

In fact, a senior-level executive at my airline was on the list at one point. When she got married and started using her married name, magically her problems disappeared. Isn't it odd that a simple name change neuters a terrorist "threat"?

 

I heard a segment on the news today that DHS is considering adding known/suspected child molesters to the list. Next will be parking ticket scofflaws.

 

No, these stories are worse. When I say "horror" I mean horror.

 

Watch out, Lisa, we both might now be on it!

 

FYI, barbell:

 

Unless, of course, they're TSA employees. Then they get a pass.

 

>After a week in detention, often blindfolded, handcuffed, and beaten, Gulet Mohamed was told by American officials that he had been placed on the no-fly list and wouldn’t be able to return home.

This is exactly what we all predicted would happen if Secure Flight went into effect. DHS scoffed at us and trotted out the old 'privacy advocates worry' line -- anything to make us look like we're making mountains out of molehills.

And here we are.

 

For some values of "we all," anyway. The sheeple bought it - including the subhuman "employees" of the TSA and DHS.

 

Well, by 'we all' I meant EPIC, EFF, my org, Privacy Rights Clearinghouse, etc. We all kept Secure Flight (and its previous incarnations) at bay for a number of years, but in the end we lost. The best I can say about it is that it isn't as bad as it could have been - and it's still pretty terrible.

 

Nuns, for example.