For current political commentary, see the daily political notes.
This is a selection of notes that cover the main issues. For the complete collection, see this page.
Why almost everything the TSA does is just security theater, not relevant for stopping terrorists attacks. The TSA's measures might stop poorly planned attacks, but it could achieve that just as well while harassing us far less. There is no need to confiscate cupcakes, for instance, while gaping security holes remain elsewhere.
Was security theater a plan to reassure Americans that later went awry? Maybe some had that intention, but I think there was a more subtle and fiendish plan.
There is one purpose for which security theater is supremely effective: making Americans afraid, so they will surrender freedom without resisting. For those in the state who hate our freedoms, this is the goal.
The messages repeated in our subway trains and buses, telling us to be very afraid of bombs, are further evidence of this. Americans did not need reassurance to continue taking buses and subway trains. We did not demand that the government do something to protect us from terrorists there. Thus, "reassurance" as a motive doesn't fit.
Conclusive proof that most airline security is just for show. It would block stupid terrorists, but not smart ones — if the smart ones are still interested in airplanes.
Blocking stupid terrorists is worth something, but it could be done with a lot less hassle without the show.
When the TSA (Theater of Security Authority) says that people will need TSA-approved ID cards in order to fly, this is simply false.
I've verified this page with an expert.
Now that they have verified there is no real danger, how about ceasing this dangerous injustice?
Here are EPIC's comments on TSA's "Secure Flight" program, which aims to make airlines report all air travel to a central site which will check the list of a million terrorist suspects, rather than checking it themselves.
Bruce Schneier points out that the system will be error-prone and ineffective, as well as nasty and unjust.
Even though identifying all travellers has limited value for preventing non-state-sponsored terrorism, it is really handy for general control of the populace and suppression of dissent.
The TSA often fails to notice knives and guns that passengers bring on board.
So scanning or feeling up a fraction of the passengers can't do much good.
Supposed TSA "behavioral detection" turns out to be just plain old racial profiling.
Even worse, it focuses on issues that have nothing to do with the safety of flights. In effect, this article admits that the TSA's main activity is an unwarranted fishing expedition, with safety of flights as a mere excuse.
Airline pilot James Robinson has trouble getting to his flights because he's on the terrorist watch list.
Another pilot has sued for being listed, since it cut him off from his livelihood.
Another clever TSA trick: ordering all the travelers in the security check area to freeze instantly, and menacing them if they don't.
Reports from more victims: http://www.infowars.com/confirmed-the-tsa-is-ordering-travelers-to-freeze-on-command/
The reason is, there's no telling what they might have to do to stop the imaginary would-be terrorist, so they must drill us into unthinking instant obedience as a precaution.
Now that we know that would-be terrorist does not exist, let's make the Theater-of-Security Agency not exist.
About 500 Americans die per year due to the unpleasantness of TSA airport security.
Air travellers now face strip searches in public.
Remember the Shoe Bomber? Wait till they catch the Bra Bomber and start requiring all women passengers to remove their bras.
Theater of Security Agency staff insisted on swabbing the top of a passenger's prosthetic leg to see if it had been in contact with explosives. They threatened to arrest her if she did not let them.
The article ends by giving the TSA undeserved legitimacy by asserting that it has actually made flying safer. This is unlikely — the TSA acknowledges that terrorists are not targeting airplanes any more.
The Theater of Security Agency and all its staff knew in advance that X-ray scanners were useless and dangerous. The TSA delayed and endangered passengers with those machines solely to give the impression it was Doing Something.
The article also says that power-tripping TSA agents impose extra searches and delays as a form of harassment, while dishonestly claiming it is a "random search".
A secret TSA document admits what its critics have said: its airport security activities are mostly security theater. They would be ineffective against the supposed threat, which fortunately does not exist anyway.
This implies that the TSA recognizes that the supposed reason for the no-fly list is invalid. Meanwhile, Senator Feinstein called for putting people on the no-fly list based on a secret tip from relatives.
That the TSA concealed this from the court is even more outrageous than the way it treats us.
Let's roll down the curtains on the TSA!
The TSA's harass-list for travelers that have protested or complained violates civil liberties, especially given that the agency tends to cover up and demand immunity for when it attacks people.
Ralph Nader: The TSA delivers naked insecurity.
A former FBI agent who worked in counterterrorism says the TSA is
useless, wasteful, offensive, and unjust.
[Reference updated on 2017-12-02 because the old link was broken.]
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