Fun Size Bytes (from @Tj)

To date, I think those questions were answered best in an interview with Ars Technica’s Jon Stokes.

Blogger Bob on the TSA blog, in part of his response to a recent XKCD cartoon.

There are many valid reasons to complain about TSA but would you ever have expected them to link to a cartoon poking fun at them or conduct an interview with a wonky nerd blog? You gotta admit, that’s pretty sporting of them.

(via jimray)

Yes. It is very sporting of them.

It is also a complete waste of time & energy… amounting to no more than the security theater that the TSA has been a part of since September 12, 2001. They are the very definition of closing the barn door after the horse is already gone.

I have said before and I’ll say again: I can’t wait until someone gets on a plane and tells them that he has a bomb in his underwear so we all have to go commando… which is how the TSA would respond to this.

“There’s no feasible way that you could make a bomb out of underwear!” you say. But the TSA has your safety in mind.

It’s the same as that stupid Homeland Security Color Coded Chart of Fear… it will never go to “green” or whatever “all clear” is, because if anything happened, the political party not in power at the time would be on every talk show talking about how we aren’t safe under President [X] and what we really need is a [other party].

Actually that’s not true. Only Republicans would do that. Most Democrats I know are too polite to even point out that we’ve been much safer from terrorism under Obama than we were under Bush. I guess the terrorists knew which party to target.

I would have more sympathy for the TSA if 90% of their gate agents didn’t carry themselves with an air of “I don’t give a fuck about you people or your problems, I have a uniform so you will do what I say and fuck you” about them at all times. 9% just don’t seem to give a damn at all. 1% seem like actual human beings.