COVID / TSA twin peaks of stupidity


Posted On: Friday - June 5th 2020 8:09PM MST
In Topics: 
  General Stupidity  US Police State  Kung Flu Stupidity



(I ran upon this one in a mess of TSA photos. Couldn't help myself, gotta have those eyeballs!


It's a real squeeze... uh, for Americans right now between the LOCKDOWN stupidity and the normal everyday stupidity, or at least that's what I saw at the airport today. The long-term reader will know that Peak Stupidity has a real problem with the TSA and other Police State functionaries of the US Feral Gov't. Really, if you don't fly much, these thoughts can be left behind, but for those who do, it's just more sickening each time.

To illustrate the scene to be described in this post, picture a checkpoint situation like shown below, for a small-sized American airport*.



First, there was the one guy with just a minor indignity. "You can't take these in carry-on luggage", I overheard. Looking at the "output" conveyor there was a can of deodorant and a tube of toothpaste. I guess they were both over 3 ounces, the lower bound, apparently, of the amount of gel and aerosol that terrorists can make good use of. "Just keep it", the guy said. He really wasn't angry but just disgusted with the stupidity of the whole process. I had a quick conversation with him, not caring who overheard, about the fact that this organization is not associated with the airlines (a lot of people don't know that).

Next, I overheard a younger guy, back before all the x-ray/metal-detectors/what-have-you, asking the TSA people when he could get through. I heard the guy tell them (not for the first time, I gathered) that no, he didn't have a newer driver's license for an ID. See, he was not able to renew it because the Motor Vehicle Department had been closed for months. If he tried to get whatever other form of ID he might have from home, he'd miss his flight, as he lived an hour and a half away. He had even called the airline** ahead, who'd told him he should be OK with the old ID.

In the meantime, masks may or may not have been required (I didn't wear one), and people were told to stay 6 ft. apart, and there were those damn stickers on the floor again. ("I have one word about your future, Ben." "Yes, Sir?" "Stickers.")

Social Distancing at the TSA checkpoint - bigger airport w/o stickers:



It was just one frustration after another for the guy, who was paying good money to simply go from point A to point B. He got through eventually, as I saw him get on the flight. His destination, after 2 legs, would have been a 2 day drive, but I wonder if he was considering that for next time.

These were two decent guys, trying to live with the BS piled upon more BS of 2020 daily life. Yet, somehow, they weren't about to riot. There's a lot of tolerance in Americans, perhaps too much.



* I wanted to add more about this, the scene at different sized TSA "venues", but I'll leave that for later.

** Again, the TSA doesn't work for the airlines, but that guy would have never gotten a hold of someone from the TSA in some Washington, FS office to get his concerns answered.

Comments:
Adam Smith
Sunday - June 7th 2020 11:28AM MST
PS: Afternoon Mr. Moderator...

Just tell them you lost your wallet. People lose their wallet all the time when traveling.

I tell them I don't have any ID. (because I don't)

Then they take me aside and they make a phone call to somewhere. They ask me a few questions about where I was born and who my neighbors were in different places I've lived and if I have an email address. I guess the people on the other end of the phone do the authorization as they apparently know the answers to the questions. And then I'm good to go. That's about it.They even authorize my return trip at the same time because when I fly I already have a return ticket, and TSA knows it.

On the return trip it's the same thing with less questions. They take me aside, they call HQ who must say something like, "oh him, yeah, he passed the quiz last week. He's good to go."

Or... Tell them you lost your wallet. Bring a couple pieces of mail, your birth certificate and a couple credit or debit cards. You'll breeze right through. No questions asked.

When you fly without ID you get the pat down which is fine with me. I avoid the full body scanner because I have an inoperable cataract in my left eye from radiation poisoning and I do not want it to get worse.

Have a nice afternoon.
Ganderson
Saturday - June 6th 2020 2:43PM MST
PS. All yours, Mr. Moderator. I probably stole it from someone. The incident in question was at MSP.

Re: the Twin Cities’ future: I hold out hope that what’s left of the White population, not to mention the not inconsiderable number of decent Blacks, can band together to save the place. I’ll be sad if they can’t.
Moderator
Saturday - June 6th 2020 2:27PM MST
PS: Mr. Smith, let me know what you do without the ID.

Just a a reminiscence for some of us, especially Mr. Blanc (see comments under today's post), it was not that long ago that you could use someone else's ticket. This worked great for driving a guy's car across the country one time. (He was moving out there and went by plane. I took the flight to get back.) All the airlines needed to care about was, did someone pay?

You had problems when you had girl's name though or vice versa. Of course, they'd better respect your "gender identity" now, so "My name is Karen and WTF do you got to say about it?!"
Moderator
Saturday - June 6th 2020 2:23PM MST
PS: Mr. Ganderson, I like that "Security Thespians". Seeing that you entered it on MY site, and TWICE, I own the term now. ;-}

This whole time I didn't know the text area would have the text still there. Perhaps it's the newer browsers. I have a way to find out if that's the case, but it'll be later. Thanks for pointing this out - I can put that in BOLD too up above.

i am surprised that you had only the good-old Minnesota-Nice guys. Maybe you don't want to divulge if this was MSP or not. There are plenty of regular Americans there, but not on the outside and on some of the cleaning crews, and usually not at the food joints either.
Adam Smith
Saturday - June 6th 2020 10:33AM MST
PS:Good afternoon Mr. Moderator, Mr. Ganderson...

Nice magic trick Mr. Ganderson... I like it... Thank you.

Many Americans are surprised to learn you can fly without ID. I do it out of principal. They just make it slightly inconvenient. It's all security theater.

Security theater is obedience training for humans and a make work jobs program for a subspecies of the bureaucratic class.

ganderson
Saturday - June 6th 2020 10:05AM MST
PS. I actually bought the Kalle's (more properly Swedish "Kalles," without the apostrophe, because as you know "the crux of the biscuit is the apostrophe" ) at the IKEA at Mall of America. - Most of the TSA guys were "Minnesota Nice", the one from Hibbing wanted to let me through, but there was a supervisor who was a prick. (am I allowed to say that? if not, apologies) Surprisingly all the "Security Thespians" I dealt with were apparently old stock Minnesotans!

PS I just discovered a little trick: if you forget to put in the PS, (as I did!) and your post disappears, just hit the back button and it will reappear, as if by magic!
Moderator
Saturday - June 6th 2020 8:13AM MST
PS: Oh, yeah, on your Sweden trip. If it's anything like Vegemite, it's too bad the TSA didn't confiscate it and eat it during break time. ;-}

Yes, I've tried Vegemite. Never again. Kalles Kaviar, huh? The TSA and its parent, Motherland Security were sold to the public as bulwarks against further bad Moslems and such. Really, it was just a way to implement Police State America a lot faster than just via DUI traffic stops, etc. Yes, it's Security Theater, and the Corona Chan Panic-Fest was (is?) Public Health theater - it seems to have the same underlying goal.
Ganderson
Saturday - June 6th 2020 8:01AM MST
PS. Last December, before Corona-Cult, I had bought a tube of Kalles Kaviar, a Swedish (urrp) delicacy. I called TSA to see if I could get it through “Security Theater” TM; they said yes.
Luggage got searched, wound up having to check our bags. Irritating.
I am coming around to the opinion that these various indignities, most of them small; connected to security theater, and all the various and stupid Corona Chan restrictions, are not done to enhance security or public health , but merely to stick it to the deplorables .
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