Walking through a metal detector is fine. Taking off my shoes? No water bottles?

I can bring a screwdriver 7 inches or less onto an airplane, but I can't bring a bottle of water.

Suppose you are traveling with a group, of say 20 people and they all have a VERY large water bottle. Well for all we know they could get on the plane and all decide to attempt a mass drowning and dump the water on the floor all at once. Passengers would be stuck it would be chaos and it all could have been avoided if the TSA agents had done their job and taken the waters

Sad

Especially in spit drenched water bottle water by unknown fellow pasengers.

Aieeya! It's all about instilling fear to create docile passengers.

...they could take the plane apart mid-flight and all of the water (and people) would be sucked out...

I'm just following their rules...

This is a total illusion. If someone wants to do something bad they will and the TSA can do squat about it and they know it. The inconveniences we have at airports are contrived, bureaucratic bullcrap. If I was going to do something bad I would shove a condom full of explosives up my ass and pull them out in the bathroom and ka-boom. Trust me that is what the bad guys will do next. No test that exists can detect that. We have to move to behavior-based surveillance and let the little old grandmothers and toddlers go.

The whole TSA regime is bogus and has nothing to do with safety. We need to learn to be smarter than our enemies. They are out there and want to hurt us. But groping people with colostomy bags and checking my nosespray bottle does not make us safer. The bad guys are laughing at us because we are so stupid.

We should follow the Israelis with the behavior-driven security. Sure they search people and baggage but not to the level of stupidity the TSA does.

TSA has decided that harrassing us as we go through the security line isn't enough.

Now, when we've made it past the goons and into the terminal, they can randomly stop anyone who has bought a bottle of water or a soda in one of the terminal shops and "check" it by putting a testing strip in it.

My tin-foil-hat theory--TSA decided that we had too much freedom once we had passed through security, and started looking for ways to make sure we were at their arbitrary mercy the entire time we were at the airport.

Slate has a good article on that:

What's So Great About Israeli Security?

junk and get paid for it

My two sons grew up with a kid who is now a 32 year old working for the TSA. What was once a nice kid is now an arrogant, birther, who thinks he is above the law. I know this from seeing his constant FaceBook posts, one which reads, "You know it's a good party when 30 federal officers get the cops called on them". I'm just waiting for him to cross the line and make a threat against Obama, when he does I will be reporting him to the appropriate authorities.

Having authority goes to people's heads.

We need airport security, just like we need cops.

But we also need some measures in place to ensure they treat people with respect.

Clearly that piece of the equation seems to be missing.

Me neither.

I just took a flight out of Las Vegas in July and the TSA guy was telling people that if they had a bottle of water they could either drink it, or if it was unopened, they could donate it (supposedly collected bottles were taken to a homeless shelter), or throw it away.

Give some people a little authority and they get power crazy.

This was after the security line--after they've already taken everyone's bottles and gels away.

The passenger then bought a bottle of water in the terminal, and was told to submit it for testing by TSA agents roaming around the terminal looking for anyone with liquids.

She drank it instead, and was punished for her attitude.

Overhead a TSA agent instructing a newbie, she seriously said to target people specifically if they weren't all bright and shiny(Paraphrased).

How about looking too attractive? This video exposes the TSA for selecting shapely women for full body scans.

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He knew we'd overreact and stop being who we are. Stupidity and ignorance are expensive.

Better fucking get used to it.

Into the ladies room in Oakland (for being menopausal and needing to pee before screening) and then she was pulled aside for extra screening ... she got the agent fired ... they fucked with the wrong woman who happened to be a long time employer in the Bay Area and recognized employee abuses for what they were ...

Remember, everything that happens in an airport is filmed ... always look them straight in the eye and let TSA know THEY are being monitored too ...

By the way, that same friend was kicked off the DU for posting about it here ... fwiw ...