WTF is wrong with this country?!?!

[marko12]

Made the hair on the back of my neck bristle and gave me the chills, yep that pissed me off.

 

[RAF]

Makes me sick hearing about stuff like that.

 

[jaybee]

dept of homeland security

created 1n 2002
240,000 employees
$56 Billion dollar budget

How's that for growth in 11 years

 

[JAY1234]

TSA has a fast lane for people who can afford to pay the price for the privilege. Why can't they have an express line for military members in uniform? If they need to do an extensive search of the member, have a private area to conduct the search and TSA should be extra careful while performing the search. I can understand them doing a pat down (anyone can get a uniform) but consideration should be extended to the service member(s). TSA needs to hire professionals and not people with less than the required education and mental capacity necessary to RESPECTFULLY interact with people.

 

[drthv8r]

We have a worldwide jet setting muslim President in the White House, nothing surprises me anymore. But this really is a new low. To retired Marine Cpl. Nathan Kemnitz, thank you for your service.

 

[matt]

Quite frankly - so long as explosive device(s) and/or firearm(s) are properly screened for and not permitted on aircraft - let the terrorists can try what they want on a plane. Now a days- passengers will not sit back and watch. If x number of shitbags try something there will be x number less shitbags landing with their lives intact.

Let the "no fly" list do its job and the shitbags won't outnumber the good.

TSA is theater.

 

[sfchoffman]

This is the result of "One size fits all" mentality because of lawyers. We are so worried about treating everyone the same as to not offend or be called racists, we offend everyone ! Thats why they extra screen a 70 yr old grandmother wearing depends....If any common sense or statistical data is used to narrow the search, it's racism !

 

[Benanov]

Before I jump on the anti-TSA bandwagon, I just want to point out one thing: If we want to live in a country that has these types of searches before boarding a plane, then the TSA's actions in this instance would be justified. What the TSA did here is no different than what some FFLs are doing in not releasing guns early. Once you provide an avenue to get around the policy, anyone can take full advantage of it. If all the terrorists have to do to get around security is dress up in a fake uniform with fake documentation, they will certainly do that, and the screening becomes pointless. So if you favor stricter screening to prevent terrorists from getting on planes, you shouldn't have a problem with this.

That being said, what occurred is a disgrace, and the only real solution to the problem is to fundamentally revamp TSA policy so none of us are subjected to these intrusive screenings.

No, the solution to the problem is for the rest of us to refuse to be terrorized. If you actually weighed the real risks between being hijacked on an airplane (not even counting the mental shift that this country experienced starting with the passengers on the '4th' plane on 2001-09-11...flight 93?) and dying in a car crash on the highway, you'd be dreading the morning commute and finding flying a pleasant experience.

The human mind does very poorly at weighing risks for things that happen every day and adds extra weight to things that happen rarely. Effectively, we're wired for theoretical wankery and carelessness for routine tasks.

 

[DaemonAssassin]

Back in 2006 I actually applied to be a TSA screener at Dulles. The recruiter said that I would start at $35,500 a year plus a 17% locality bonus. I wen through the testing, fingerprinting and random crap before being giving the offer letter. When I was given the offer letter, it said $21,432.16 a year. My jaw hit the floor. I asked what happened to the $35.500 a year plus the 17% locality bonus. The lady told me that the $21k a year included the 17% locality bonus. I stopped her right there, thanked her for her time and left.

That right there is the reason why the TSA is the way it is. The salary bait and switch. They don't get the good workers, they get the ones that are in desperate need of a job that they don't care how much it pays as long as they can pay off the baby mamas, cell phone bills, and put those phat rims on a minivan. The airports have gone to hell in a handbasket because of the TSA hiring process and the TSA theater/lunacy.

If they really wanted to prevent terrorism in the airports, they should profile everybody, not just the average white guy. Go after the chick in a burka (sp?), the dude in the robes/mu-mu (sp?), the people with turbans, the gangsta thug wannabes, the chicks that look like hoochie mamas, and the people in business attire. It is all equal that way isn't it? If they did that, they would have a higher statistical rate of preventing any issues they they have in the past 12 years!!!!

/rant

 

[IMBLITZVT]

Guys I hate to say it but I don't think he should get any special treatment just because he is a wounded Marine. This to me is not as bad as kids being fondled by the TSA or Old Women getting groped by the TSA. At least in this case its the Federal Government oppressing a Federal Government worker. To me thats not as bad as when the Federal Government worker abuses a Citizen who is more directly protected by Constitutional rights! He gave up certain rights to become a Federal Government Worker, ie a Marine. He was not drafted. An Average Citizen has done none of that and is put to the same loss of rights.

All this does it serve to as yet one more example of why the TSA needs to go... not an example of why certain people deserve special treatment.

 

[Second Amendment]

Guys I hate to say it but I don't think he should get any special treatment just because he is a wounded Marine. This to me is not as bad as kids being fondled by the TSA or Old Women getting groped by the TSA. At least in this case its the Federal Government oppressing a Federal Government worker. To me thats not as bad as when the Federal Government worker abuses a Citizen who is more directly protected by Constitutional rights! He gave up certain rights to become a Federal Government Worker, ie a Marine. He was not drafted. An Average Citizen has done none of that and is put to the same loss of rights.

All this does it serve to as yet one more example of why the TSA needs to go... not an example of why certain people deserve special treatment.

I don't think it's a case of special treatment, but a lack of respect toward an individual that defends this country.

 

[pbharvey]

I'm no fan of the TSA but in fairness the capitol security people followed the same screening protocol as the airport.
I respect the uniform but sometimes bad people wear it, like Major Hasan and Timothy McVeigh.

 

[Zaicran]

If one group is to be exempted from these overly intrusive searches then everyone should be exempt. A passenger is just a passenger.

So a passenger gets a pat down screening at the airport...cry me a river...happens thousands of times a day.


Sent from my Samsung Galaxy S3 with Tapatalk 2

 

[jessebogan]

Well, fact is this crap will continue until "We The People" refuse to put up with it any longer. It is nothing more than A, Conditioning all Americans to searches that are clearly unconstitutional, and B Security theater, so that the unthinking masses see that they are "safe" in the hands of the Gestapo when ever they choose to fly. Frankly, I would trust my personal safety to the wounded combat vet Marine before I would trust some low level government employee with no actual training. In reality, I trust no one with MY personal security, so I will continue to refuse to fly until the time when my security is returned to MY hands.

 

[Bob A]

From what I understand, TSA wasn't too harsh on this guy; the big problem was the security screener at his destination.

There were some interesting comments regarding he situation appended to the article, including information on some mechanisms designed to minimise the hassles to the wounded.

However, I carry no brief for the TSA, an organisation that we can probably all live without.

 

[Markp]

TSA has a fast lane for people who can afford to pay the price for the privilege. Why can't they have an express line for military members in uniform? If they need to do an extensive search of the member, have a private area to conduct the search and TSA should be extra careful while performing the search. I can understand them doing a pat down (anyone can get a uniform) but consideration should be extended to the service member(s). TSA needs to hire professionals and not people with less than the required education and mental capacity necessary to RESPECTFULLY interact with people.

Actually, in Guam, they do exactly that, they fast track military through a different line at times.

 

[MJD438]

Actually, in Guam, they do exactly that, they fast track military through a different line at times.

They do it here, too, in any airport that has the TSA Precheck line (CAC holders are allowed access to Precheck, in or out of uniform).

 

[Blaster229]

He didn't do what he needed to comply

sent from somewhere in the world.

 

[BlackBart]

Yet this bastard is not only allowed to breathe he's being paid about 3X as much as the jarhead. Those battlefields are a bitch and the bastard allows it to happen.

 

[sfchoffman]

11 years of a well funded solution looking for a problem.
Too bad they often pass by the real visible problems, looking for highly unlikely theoretical ones.

Government is not the solution, but the problem !