End This Farce
I knew, I just knew that when the Bush Administration created the monsterously huge Department of Homeland Security it would be a place where control freaks got their jollies and sought more power. Bureaucracies always go that way. Create a huge one, and you create a monster in the making. Now comes this bit of sickening news.
A senior government official with the U.S. Department of Homeland Security (DHS) has expressed great interest in a so-called safety bracelet that would serve as a stun device, similar to that of a police Taser®. According to this promotional video found at the Lamperd Less Lethal website, the bracelet would be worn by all airline passengers.
This bracelet would:
• take the place of an airline boarding pass
• contain personal information about the traveler
• be able to monitor the whereabouts of each passenger and his/her luggage
• shock the wearer on command, completely immobilizing him/her for several minutes
The Electronic ID Bracelet, as it’s referred to as, would be worn by every traveler “until they disembark the flight at their destination.” Yes, you read that correctly. Every airline passenger would be tracked by a government-funded GPS, containing personal, private and confidential information, and that it would shock the customer worse than an electronic dog collar if he/she got out of line?
Security is already absurd when you fly. Now They want to make it this much worse?
This is beyond the pale. This “senior official” needs to go. Now. And the government needs to scale down the DHS. If they really want to fix the deficit, they can start by trimming away these absurd agencies, starting with dead weight like this clown.
The nightmare our Founding Fathers feared is coming to past.
Posted by Brock Townsend on 07/08 at 09:22 AMThe power given to airport personnel and flight crew already would get an approving nod from Beria. A snarky comment to a incompetent TSA drone and you’re going to miss your flight, at the very least. I personally witnessed a women get threatened with being removed from the plane and arrested because she had pushed her call button three times (and been ignored each time) trying to get an air sickness bag for her daughter. It’s depressing to see how inside almost everyone is a Nazi waiting to get out.
While flying to the Caribbean to dive, I bring along the absorbent for my rebreather (it’s very expensive on site). I leave each container factory-sealed and tape the MHSA and DOT transport data to each box. The response of one TSA dude? “I don’t care what those documents say, you’re not taking this stuff on MY airplane.” I finally got a manager to sign off on it, but I missed my flight and had to overnight in Houston. I’ve had the same experience with the 19L gas cylinders I need for the rebreather. They are pretty much impossible to rent on site, so I have to carry them. The TSA has an explanation on their own site of how this can be legally done (drain pressure, remove valve, leave open for inspection). Even with a printout of these instructions taped to the cylinders, I have twice been called to the TSA “rubber hose room” to argue with morons.
And all for nothing. FBI tests show 80% of their fake bombs make it through all screening, and 40% of fake guns and knives.
As the head of El Al security said years ago, “America does not have an airline security system. They have a system for bothering people.”Posted by on 07/08 at 01:25 PMThe TSA is a joke. It’s all a huge expense in pursuit of the illusion of doing something, which is kind of what government is.
It’s funny, when I went to Belarus last year, Europe’s “last dictatorships”, a totalitarian state where it’s still like the old Soviet Union, it was much easier and more hospitable getting through airport security than in the US. The guards there were actually reasonably friendly. When I went through Austria, they laughed at me when I asked them if I need to take my shoes off going through security screening. They said “Why would you need to do that?”
Exactly, I thought. It really annoys me being forced to take off my shoes and belt.
Posted by on 07/08 at 03:40 PM
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