Via daughter Xenia.
TSA is really A Security Theater so its just common sense that a four year old on his way to Disney World would get treated like this:
SECURITY officers at a US airport have come under fire for forcing a disabled boy to remove his leg braces and walk through a checkpoint.
Four-year-old Ryan Thomas was flying from Philadelphia to Disney World in Orlando with his parents Bob and Leona when the incident occurred.
At the time Ryan, born 16 weeks prematurely with malformed ankles and low muscle tone in his legs, had only just begun to walk.
His parents wheeled his stroller to the security checkpoint then broke it down and put it on the conveyor belt.
They then walked Ryan through the metal detector. The alarm went off and the screener told them to take off the boy’s braces.
“I told them he can’t walk without them on his own,” Bob Thomas told the Philadelphia News.
“I said this is overkill. He’s 4 years old. I don’t think he’s a terrorist.”
Security also demanded Ryan walk through on his own.
I guess this shows the terrorists how determined we are… or something.
Chet sent me an email to this article about swabbing peoples hands for explosives. They decline to say what sort of explosives they are looking for but I’d be willing to bet they don’t pick up on wheat flour or powdered sugar (which could make great dust explosions on an airplane) so the benefit from this is asymptotically close to zero.
Chet also notes that even the ID requirement is false security since you don’t really need ID to get on the plane.
I don’t know if it’s more accurate to place blame on the TSA as a whole or to look at this as the second major inappropriate action on the part of Philadelphia’s TSA staff in a month. This is the same TSA staff team who planted fake drugs on a passenger and then brushed it off as a joke to scare her. There’s little that people would find redeeming about Philadelphia – and its people are definitely not one of the redeeming attributes. Clearly, the TSA staff at the Philadelphia airport have no respect for the passengers and the rules they are supposed to follow.
Maybe the TSA is trying to find a way to get gun owners onto their secret no-fly list.
Security is a top down built architecture. Look at what type of people are running the ‘security’ institutions in the country currently. Zero, Janet and the so-called Attorney General, another bozo.
Where is the MSDS for the chemical they are swabbing travelers with? I haven’t heard it identified yet?
In the old days, they would have used carbon tetrachloride for this…
Sorry, but my child under those circumstances would not get to see Disney World, but then the TSA agents wouldn’t get to see their next breakfast, either. Enough is fucking enough.
I cheat, I admit it, I do my best to avoid these sonsofbitches, but were I to find myself unable to avoid them or dragooned into dealing with them as in wanting to take my physically disabled child to Disney World and they abused him in this manner, I would do my very best to see that they never saw another sunrise. Why? Because there would be no other correction for them. In other words, they have left us no choice as to redress of grievance, therefore the only option we have is to harm them. Now, since any resistance to their depredations on us is punished severely, one might as well get enough of their asses to make it worth it. Gonna ruin my life because you can’t behave, I’m gonna end yours.
My name is Charles H. Sawders, nothing I have said here is attributable to Joe Huffman. He probably wouldn’t even approve of such open declaration. I am a peaceable man, but I will not tolerate trespass against me or mine. Wanna stay on peaceful terms with me? It is really easy, just don’t fuck with me or mine,and I won’t fuck with you.
It took two other chemists and I less than 30 seconds to come up with a way to explode a 1lb. bag of flour on a plane using undetectable materialks during our lunch conversation a few days ago. If you get a good detonation (need to experiment a bit first) I bet you could rip a plane almost in half depending on location of the explosion and such.
Oh, and Joe, what do you think about smuggling in a collastamy bag (insofar as workability, not do you think it’s a good idea to try! LOL)? We figure the TSA goons aren’t paid enough to open up one of those.
M Gallo,
Yeah. I’ve had the colostomy bag discussion with others before. We reached the same conclusion you did.
Here’s another idea – sanitizer wipes for your primary charge packaging. Remove the wipes and let the IPA dry out, then put the two parts of your binary explosive into two separate pouches and reseal. With good lab technique you could get past the scanners easily, though the foil will show up on the metal detectors (has for me before). TSA doesn’t think twice about hand wipes, though, especially in the days of ZOMG!!!11! Swine Flu!!!
You could even package your fuse in a third one, and then you can just ditch the packages easily if you think you’ve been made.