Author: Otto

I was surfing around and ran across a blog written by people at the TSA.

Now, I think that the existence of open communication is a good idea. My problem is that the people actually doing the writing seem to either be really, really good at evasion, or they are complete and total idiots.

Take this post where somebody named “Kip” tries to explain the ban on liquids in aircraft. He goes on about the “3-1-1” rule, which I had to look up since I no longer fly at all (primarily because of the amazingly obvious and self-evident stupidity of the TSA and its employees), but the gist of the 3-1-1 nonsense is that everybody is allowed 3 containers of 3 ounces each, in 1 clear plastic baggy, 1 per person. He goes on about this quite a bit, but he also completely fails to understand the fundamental problem, which is this: You’re trying to find threats, you’re not trying to set limitations.

If I bring shampoo onto a plane, and it really is shampoo, then how much of it I bring is really irrelevant. The idea is to find those people with actual explosives or other threatening devices, no? So making somebody put 3 oz. of fluid into a clear container is really rather pointless when you don’t actually verify WTF the fluid is in the first place. Confiscating some liquid that is not actually an explosive does not increase security in the slightest possible way. Removing things that are actually non-threats is not helpful. He misses that fundamental point throughout his “answer” to the question.

He goes on to say that the idea is to have a 10 oz. limit because real liquid bombs need about 20 oz. to do any damage. He even attempts (and fails) to address the obvious question here: What about two guys carrying the same stuff on and then mixing them on the plane? His answer is that mixing liquid explosives is difficult and tricky to do properly. Which, again, misses the fundamental point. If it’s tricky to do properly, then it would be tricky even if it was all carried on by one person. The difference between 1 guy carrying 20 oz of liquid and two guys carrying 10 oz. each is actually non-existent. And if they can premix the stuff, then they can pre-mix it, separate it into 3 ounce bottles, and bring one big empty bottle in their carry on. “Mixing” liquids on a plane might be tricky, but simply pouring already mixed liquids from one container to another is not.

He also ignores the fact that the plot which started this whole mess was not actually feasible to begin with. Notice his wording in the first question, he says there was a “serious plot”, not that they could have actually, you know, done anything.

It’s like Bruce says, the whole damn thing is nothing but security theater. The TSA’s blog is a good idea, if it was, you know, real and not staffed by the same shills who are attempting to force us to accept something which is fundamentally stupid. We’re not idiots. We know that the policies are stupid, because it’s really really obvious that they are. Trying to tell us that these rules are, in fact, not stupid simply isn’t going to work. I mean, I don’t expect them to admit their real agendas or anything, but all he attempts to do is to say that their policies make sense (they don’t), that they actually do protect anybody from anything (they don’t), and that a whole lot of other countries implemented them too (irrelevant to the actual question in the first place).

You can’t sell me nonsense by saying that you’re fresh out of sense.

Kip also tries to hide behind the “classified” label at one point, which is such complete bullshit. If actual terrorists know how to do this, then telling me how it could be done doesn’t make any difference. If terrorists don’t know how to do this, then what the fuck are you protecting us from?

Anyway, it’s worth a read to see how ignorant the TSA really is. Reading that blog only increases my determination to not fly at all until the paranoid idiots in charge get replaced by somebody with more sense. From the look of things, I may be waiting a while.