Gyroscopic Investing

MediumTex wrote: What kind of airport security arrangement would you like to see?

The only threat that is specific to airliners that doesn't already exist in any public area is hijacking.  I place rogue pilots in this category.

The best way to address that is with cockpit security.

TSA isn't about security.  They're mainly looking for criminal activity of any type, like drug trafficking, money laundering, violations of currency reporting requirements, etc.  But not because these things are bad.  No, the government enjoys monopolizing these activities.  It seeks to pick the winners and losers.  It seeks power.  It is in the business of violating Constitutional rights.

I know this sounds like paranoid conspiracy to many here.  But even for those who think its a good idea to trade privacy for security, the evidence is mounting against there being any security provided at all.

If the TSA security bugs you, there's a solution:  get TSA Precheck.  You get to go on a shorter, faster moving line and not take half your clothes off, and it's just an old style X ray machine instead of one of those creepy millimeter wave scanners.  I don't check a bag, so I check in with a smartphone app the day before, and then I could get to the airport less than an hour before departure, maybe even 30 minutes, and I'd be fine.

I personally think it's a great idea.  Eventually, security efforts will be concentrated on a smaller group of people.  This assumes that pre-screening effectively rules out malicious intent, but that's probably at least as good a safeguard as the current airport security measures.

WiseOne wrote: If the TSA security bugs you, there's a solution:  get TSA Precheck.  You get to go on a shorter, faster moving line and not take half your clothes off, and it's just an old style X ray machine instead of one of those creepy millimeter wave scanners.  I don't check a bag, so I check in with a smartphone app the day before, and then I could get to the airport less than an hour before departure, maybe even 30 minutes, and I'd be fine.

I personally think it's a great idea.  Eventually, security efforts will be concentrated on a smaller group of people.  This assumes that pre-screening effectively rules out malicious intent, but that's probably at least as good a safeguard as the current airport security measures.

You may get to do that, and you may not. Remember, security theater requires "random" "checks" of "everyone", even if they have been pre-registered.

MediumTex wrote: What kind of airport security arrangement would you like to see?  The TSA's approach is not terribly out of step with what the rest of the world is doing.  It's sort of annoying and stupid, but it takes up like 15 minutes of my day when I travel.  It doesn't seem like it's worth getting too upset about--it's just a bunch of low level bureaucrats taking a Barney Fife approach to trying to keep air travel safe.  It's not any more wasteful or dumb than living politicians voting to build expensive monuments to dead politicians.

It isn't?  Is that because everyone else copied the USA?  Because if anyone knows airport security, its the Israelis.  And we don't do a damn thing that they do.

Mark Leavy wrote: I've finally gotten over the delusion that it would be any different in the USA.

In fairness, TSA agents are recruited from the bottom of the barrel.  They're not intelligent deep thinkers.  They're the proverbial obese, drunk and stupid.  I have a friend who has a friend who is literally (not proverbially) exactly like that and he works for the TSA.

Anyway, TSA is just full employment for these people.  Give them a uniform, a badge and a mission...

MediumTex wrote: Do you have a higher level of outrage toward the TSA than you would toward the racoon?  If so, why?  Why give the TSA such power to influence your moods?  Why not just interact with them the same way you might a hungry racoon (which is no real threat if you take basic precautions)?

Because we hold human beings to a higher standard?  That's what makes civilization work.  Trivializing buffoonery is not how you solve a  problem otherwise the Soviet Union wouldn't have lasted 70 years.

There are really two discussions happening here.

On a personal level, it's totally true that if you want to minimize the hassle and inconvenience you experience, you adjust your actions and expectations to the world as it is.

On a societal level, it's not inappropriate to expect courtesy, respect, and adherence to the rules, and when those with power violate these expectations, that's vexing and should be addressed.

http://www.fastcoexist.com/3022106/the- ... ign=buffer

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QKEdKdgi2hg

Really good. Shows how to make a Shot-gun with stuff you can buy after you're "cleared" by security. Also an Adam Ruins Everything about the TSA. Most of the stuff that Adam reviews is quite interesting.