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@georgetakei@universeodon.com On the one hand, I'm in favor of either abolishing or overhauling the shitshow that is the TSA.

But
privatizing it...? That can't end well.

@zakalwe @georgetakei Indeed. At least as a government agency we have SOME rights under the Constitution (much as it is an expensive pain to be able to assert them). As a private entity, we have no recourse at all to whatever abuses they choose.

@zakalwe @georgetakei

In this case, the private agents have financial incentives to be polite and not give their airline a bad name.

Government workers, on the other hand, could care less how they treat passengers.

Airlines have powerful incentives to make sure their planes don't blow up.

So, yeah, get rid of the TSA.

@number6@fosstodon.org @georgetakei@universeodon.com

In this case, the private agents have financial incentives to be polite and not give their airline a bad name.
Hmmm....... You have a point, if the airlines themselves are doing screening. (Which sounds like a logistical nightmare.) I was assuming it would end up in the hands of non-answerable private corporations like Blackwater. (Or XO, or XOXOX❤️❤️❤️:blobfoxfacepalm:​, or whatever they're calling themselves these days.)

@georgetakei soooo now we are forgetting the one day we were never supposed to forget. #9/11

@gambit_1 @georgetakei

The TSA was the wrong answer.

Security before 9/11 was too lax. Security after 9/11 was ... pointless.

@georgetakei

Security researchers know that the TSA is security theater. They consistently fail the catch legitimate threats and fail the pen testing done to see if they're worth the invasion of privacy they force all travelers to go through. Mike Lee is useless, but he's actually right this time.

@lockelyfox @georgetakei Unfortunately I have to agree on all counts. I'm guessing a lot of people don't remember how much extra time TSA is adding, and people have stopped reporting all the times they accidentally forgot to check their guns and other weapons but were never flagged by TSA. The agency may be better now, but don't be fooled into believing that 9/11 couldn't still happen today.

@Shdwdrgn @georgetakei

I think it's far less likely, but that has nothing to do with the TSA. The security improvements made to planes and cockpits have provided actual resistance to that kind of thing from occuring again.

@georgetakei

How are these dopes going to get back to their districts, on pogo sticks? Or are they brave enough to travel the unfriendly skies of their own making? Or maybe they're hoping a plane will crash into Hogsbreath's Pentagon office, letting them off the hook for confirming an unqualified drunken misogynist a-hole?

@georgetakei It works over here with security being directly employed by the airports rather than a 3rd-party.

@georgetakei The TSA is ineffective and costly. It should be abolished.

I remember a few years ago when an outgoing TSA director said the airlines should allow everyone to carry broadswords, because it was stupid to ban a weapon that would be very useful if terrorists got on board. That their rules were counter productive and arbitrary.

@Jon_Kramer @georgetakei

The funny thing about weapons is that you're safest if no one has them or if *everyone* has them.

The 9/11 terrorists were only armed with box cutters, but that was enough since no one else had anything more dangerous to defend with.

@number6 @georgetakei Exactly. And since no one can stop all weapons, or even most weapons, it is better to just allow them.

@georgetakei Senator Mike Lee is a fool in this respect. He doesn't have a plan, other than, "let someone else deal with it" 🙄

@georgetakei

Maybe celebrities like George get treated better than the rest of us.

The TSA in Houston was all but using cattle prods. The TSA on the West Coast was chatting up his friend rather than inspecting the luggage, while a long line was building up.

The reason people don't like government workers is because government workers are often rude, careless, and arrogant.

So, yeah, go for it Mike!

@georgetakei They need the funds to round up and ship out "illegal" immigrants. Everything is a farce under this clown show.

@georgetakei There aren't many places where I agree with the GOPlins, but this is one of them. The TSA has always been a purely reactive agency, trying always to cover off the risk of the last threat while consistently being surprised by the next one. And all of that at massive cost to and privacy invasion of the public. If he wants to get rid of the airport mall security with delusions of grandeur, I say knock yourself out- and by *all* means, spend the GOP's time focusing on that over the rest of this benighted agenda.

@georgetakei I would have guessed the security people, the TSA people, would be predominantly MAGA types. But what do I know?

There's certainly room to criticize the TSA. Is this just the way they're going to express every criticism now? "It's not perfect, abolish it?" Inflammatory, divisive, extremist, an opportunity to create chaos and anxiety?

That's not any kind of leadership.

@georgetakei Do you want a second 9-11? Because this is how you get a second 9-11.

@georgetakei

"calls for the TSA to be abolished in place of airlines doing their own security screenings"

Because letting the airplane manufacturers do their own inspections worked out SO well...

@georgetakei If that happens I'll avoid layovers in the US. Too scary.

@faeempress universeodon.com/users/georget They fail their own audits. It's theatre to make you feel better.

@georgetakei we should get rid of the entire department of Homeland Security. TSA has always been security theater plus excuses to limit our personal privacy

@georgetakei having worked for private companies with government contracts, I can assure you all that companies will cut corners on safety and security if allowed to do their own security screenings.

Why? Profit motive. Companies look at short term gains, ignoring longer term ones, and will act accordingly

@georgetakei As I recall, the airlines doing their own security screening was exactly what we had before 9/11 that led to the vulnerability that enabled 9/11.