http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/local/344868_airportprofiler26.html

Quote :

" Transportation Security Administration (TSA) screeners are learning to recognize a special set of forbidden facial expressions. If your face slips into one of these during a TSA inspection, you will be taken aside and given a more detailed screening: Travelers at Sea-Tac and dozens of other major airports across America are being scrutinized by teams of TSA behavior-detection officers specially trained to discern the subtlest suspicious behaviors. Let me quote from George Orwell's, Nineteen Eighty-Four (Part 1, Chapter 5): "He did not know how long she had been looking at him, but perhaps for as much as five minutes, and it was possible that his features had not been perfectly under control. It was terribly dangerous to let your thoughts wander when you were in any public place or within range of a telescreen. The smallest thing could give you away. A nervous tic, an unconscious look of anxiety, a habit of muttering to yourself—anything that carried with it the suggestion of abnormality, of having something to hide. In any case, to wear an improper expression on your face (to look incredulous when a victory was announced, for example) was itself a punishable offence. There was even a word for it in Newspeak: facecrime, it was called." "

1/3/2008 10:21:48 PM

it's people?

oh, come on

that's silly

they're aRab detectors

duh

[Edited on January 3, 2008 at 10:27 PM. Reason : .]

1/3/2008 10:24:11 PM

Quote :

"Since January 2006, behavior-detection officers have referred about 70,000 people for secondary screening, Maccario said. Of those, about 600 to 700 were arrested on a variety of charges, including possession of drugs, weapons violations and outstanding warrants."

700 / 70,000 * 100 = 1.0%

Once again, TSA proves that it is absolutely fucking worthless.

1/3/2008 10:52:35 PM

i hope my "i'd love to rail that hot flight attendant in the ass" facial expression is not one of the "forbidden" facial expressions that will earn me 30 min with TSA security giving me the anal probe

1/3/2008 10:52:55 PM

Quote :

"700 / 70,000 * 100 = 1.0% Once again, TSA proves that it is absolutely fucking worthless. "

wow, you could probably just pick people out at random and get a better percentile

1/3/2008 10:53:47 PM

Quote :

"were arrested on a variety of charges, including possession of drugs, weapons violations and outstanding warrants"

not to mention, most of those arrests were probably incidental to the reason they were screened

1/3/2008 10:54:22 PM

this year for christmas

I got a nice card from the TSA

that I found in my suitcase



they didn't look too hard, though

1/4/2008 4:39:34 AM

I got "randomly selected" for a pat down one time.

While they were questioning me, i started picking my nose, then when they were patting me down, I farted, but unfortunately it was a silent one.

It was like live trolling, but they didn't acknowledge any of it.

1/4/2008 8:32:28 AM

A woman I work with who has a Turkish surname (her ex-husband's, mind you--she's a white American grandmother from Minnesota) is flagged by TSA basically every time and has been subjected to an interrogation lasting for hours at least once.

GO TEAM!!

1/4/2008 8:51:51 AM

this is just stupid / facial expressions???? get off my system with that mess

1/4/2008 9:08:35 AM

^^^ Ahahaha I'll have to try that if I ever get pulled aside for screening.

1/4/2008 9:25:32 AM

but these ill conceived, totally illogical methods keep us safe guise!!!

1/4/2008 9:30:25 AM

I get flagged everytime i go to the goddamned airport.

because of my name.

im an average looking white guy, typical american, yadda yadda yadda, and i have one of *the most common* names in the world.

i'm serious... my name is so common, it might as well be "John Smith"

but because there is, somewhere, a "John Smith" who is on a watch-list... I get flagged at the ticket counter every single time, and a supervisor has to come check me out, and im given a boarding pass that is differentiated in such a way it that it flags the TSA screeners to give me extra scrutiny.

1/4/2008 10:56:37 AM

they tuk our freedoms!11

would you prefer somebody sweat-drenched with fleeting paranoid eyes to just stroll right on through security so they werent inconvenienced? you want to say TSA doesnt work, but clearly it seems you dont want them to make any necessary precautions so that they can work

like every little inconvenience is the worst thing in the world

get real

1/4/2008 11:09:02 AM

Quote :

"would you prefer somebody sweat-drenched with fleeting paranoid eyes to just stroll right on through security so they werent inconvenienced? you want to say TSA doesnt work, but clearly it seems you dont want them to make any necessary precautions so that they can work "

way to oversimplify....Why not just require everyone to go through strip searching....it's the only way to be totally sure the turrists don't get us!!!!

1/4/2008 11:21:27 AM

i'd rather oversimplify than over-react

why not just let everyone go through no questions asked, that way we wont be inconvenienced and the evil government wont take our freedums!

1/4/2008 11:36:35 AM

Quote :

"i'd rather oversimplify than over-react"

or you can just do it right

1/4/2008 11:40:51 AM

do what right?

1/4/2008 11:41:26 AM

Sometimes I wonder if you are "playing" stupid, do you really not understand that simple post?

1/4/2008 11:42:57 AM

^^^^you're pretty good at this making stuff up thing...show me where anyone says they want no airport security....stuff like this is just ridiculous....how many times has this procedure stopped someone who was going to do any real harm....i'd venture a guess of never.

[Edited on January 4, 2008 at 11:46 AM. Reason : .]

1/4/2008 11:46:08 AM

^^sometimes i wonder what the fuck problem anybody has with a policy like this...what does TSA need to do to "do it right"?

^they said they caught 600-700 people for various things, including weapons

is that not enough for you? what the hell is wrong with this policy? seriously wtf is so unconstitutional about this? why is there any outrage at all? hell the article has an arab saying this is a good thing because it changes the policy away from racial profiling

Quote :

"Naseem Tuffaha, political chairman of the American Arab Anti-Discrimination Committee's Seattle chapter, looks at the program as a potential step away from racial profiling. Our message in working with federal and local authorities has been to make behavioral-based decisions rather than ethnic-profiling decisions. Our message is to really focus on suspicious behavior rather than suspicious-looking people," he said."

so whats so bad about this? or would you guys rather speak in riddles

1/4/2008 11:46:38 AM

I never get screened, but my luggage has had plenty of shampoo and juice spilled inside of it from lazy TSA workers. Government employees...

1/4/2008 11:47:02 AM

Quote :

"you're pretty good at this making stuff up thing...show me where anyone says they want no airport security everyone should be stripsearched"

1/4/2008 11:51:27 AM

Quote :

"they said they caught 600-700 people for various things, including weapons"

hell, if they'd strip search everybody they'd find vastly more than that, but it doesn't mean any of those people were planning to hijack a plane....silly me, I thought that was the whole point.

busting that kid carrying some weed on a plane, or a 1" pocket knife really saved the us from the next big attack.

1/4/2008 11:53:16 AM

i guess when the DC area snipers were around we shouldnt have had checkpoints on highways cause busting somebody for DWI or expired registration isnt gonna stop the next sniper attack...i mean i dont have time to deal with that unconstitutional bullshit

how dare these airport screeners try and do something for the safety of the general public, who do they think they are

seems you guys love dogging on the TSA and saying they dont do anything worthwhile or they dont catch any terrorists...or you say how they are so ineffective because cops/military/whoever has gotten stuff past them in trial runs...so they try to do more, but no thats not good enough for you...they try to profile behavior instead of Arabs, but no thats not good enough for you

maybe you just need SOMETHING to get mad about, i dont know

1/4/2008 11:57:33 AM

Hopefully it does target Terrorists instead of Arabs. If George W Bush ever walked through commercial airport security, that motherfucker would be in trouble!

1/4/2008 12:01:57 PM

you got anything to add thats worthwhile? i only ask cause you're the one who started calling me out and now you're content with not answering any of my questions

you wanna tell me how TSA can "do it right"?

1/4/2008 12:02:57 PM

Quote :

"you wanna tell me how TSA can "do it right"?"

They can't. If some terrorist wants to blow up an airplane, they're going to find a way.

The fact that air travel has become ridiculously painful for everyone is proof that the terrorists have already won. People like you constantly worry about it.

The reality is that the chance of being on a plane that gets hijacked or blown up is so small that it's not worth the inconveniences that we are subject to. However, Americans are such pussies and so obsessed with safety, that even the most minute possibility of something bad happening is enough to make this country overreact.

1/4/2008 12:39:30 PM

Quote :

"you wanna tell me how TSA can "do it right"? "

No, I can't do that. Good thing it isn't my job to figure shit like this out.

But if you ever have any legal issues (civil only please) in any jurisdiction in the USA, and you need someone to generate deadlines based on both your, and the opposition's pleadings... I'm your man.

1/4/2008 12:52:10 PM

Quote :

"People like you constantly worry about it."

you been paying attention to this thread? i seem to be the only person who ISN'T worrying about this

people UNLIKE me worry about themselves and being inconvenienced in an airport instead of worrying if these procedures and policies are for the greater good...selfish people expect to be able to get to the airport at 4:55 and make a 5:00 flight apparently...hey maybe we should get rid of metal detectors, they are quite the inconvenience...after all, "If some terrorist wants to blow up an airplane, they're going to find a way." I mean the chances of anything bad happening in an airport are pretty slim, so why should I be inconvenienced?

^you tell me instead of doing this, they should do security the right way, yet you don't know what the right way is...well the TSA thinks this is the right way and they know more about it than all of us combined

I just really don't see why anybody has a problem with this...is it inconvenience? is it unconstitutional? is it just ineffective enough to not justify it? i don't know how many people go through an average DWI checkpoint versus the number of people caught driving while impaired, but if they dont get enough drunk drivers are those checkpoints not justified? i'm really trying to see why this TSA procedure is a problem for anyone, especially when they make it sound like race doesn't factor in at all (for the people who thought racial profiling was a big problem at airports)

1/4/2008 12:56:37 PM

I don't have a problem with it as long as they don't use it as another easy way to discriminate against Arabs.

But I mean... come on.... it's US!

1/4/2008 1:04:38 PM

yeah but they addressed that in the article

Quote :

"Naseem Tuffaha, political chairman of the American Arab Anti-Discrimination Committee's Seattle chapter, looks at the program as a potential step away from racial profiling. Our message in working with federal and local authorities has been to make behavioral-based decisions rather than ethnic-profiling decisions. Our message is to really focus on suspicious behavior rather than suspicious-looking people," he said."

i dunno...i didnt see anybody getting too riled up over this, i just dont know why anybody would get riled up at all

1/4/2008 1:07:14 PM

Quote :

"They can't. If some terrorist wants to blow up an airplane, they're going to find a way. The fact that air travel has become ridiculously painful for everyone is proof that the terrorists have already won. People like you constantly worry about it. The reality is that the chance of being on a plane that gets hijacked or blown up is so small that it's not worth the inconveniences that we are subject to. However, Americans are such pussies and so obsessed with safety, that even the most minute possibility of something bad happening is enough to make this country overreact."

this is what i tell people when i justify that the terrorists have already won and they just give me a blank stare

1/4/2008 1:09:59 PM

^^

clearly you've never been to an airport larger then RDU.

Go to LAX more then once in your lifetime and then sit there talking to me about how getting searched five times between entrance and flight remotely makes sense.

[Edited on January 4, 2008 at 1:10 PM. Reason : bring a laptop too. That only adds to the fun.]

1/4/2008 1:10:03 PM

Quote :

"or you can just do it right"

I was just saying they could do it right, if this is the best way to do it, I'm for it. If they are just pulling our leg, and end up searching people based on race and SAY it's because of their face... that's obviously wrong.

1/4/2008 1:10:26 PM

Quote :

"clearly you've never been to an airport larger then RDU."

i've been on 4 continents...clearly you just think you're more important than everyone else in the airport and therefore can't be inconvenienced by minor things like public safety

matter of fact I believe the airport in Hong Kong is the largest in the world...but please, assume some more stuff

1/4/2008 1:14:59 PM

Quote :

"you tell me instead of doing this, they should do security the right way, yet you don't know what the right way is...well the TSA thinks this is the right way and they know more about it than all of us combined "

seemed OK to me they way they were doing it before....it's not like the 9/11 hijackers had any high tech bombs or anything, and there have been plenty of cases of knives being missed since.

personally I think it would be much better and more effective to just throw all that money into having agents aboard all large/high risk aircraft and having pre 9/11 procedures on the ground.

i'm not even saying they shouldn't have beefed up security measures, but arbitrary methods like this are asinine....there's no standard to hold the screeners to...."he had the wrong facial expression"? give me a break.

Quote :

"matter of fact I believe the airport in Hong Kong is the largest in the world"

in terms of traffic, i think its Frankfurt and going through there is a breeze the few times I've been

1/4/2008 1:40:25 PM

Quote :

".clearly you just think you're more important than everyone else in the airport and therefore can't be inconvenienced by minor things like public safety"

No, I think NO ONE should be unreasonably inconvenienced for minor things like public safety. metal detectors and x-rays are plenty. Making people remove shoes, put toiletries in plastic bags, and limiting how much toothpaste you can travel with, etc. its fucking ridiculous.

I realize that you're a party hardliner, so as long as the GOP thinks this way, you will too.

1/4/2008 1:43:12 PM

Quote :

"I realize that you're a party hardliner"

wouldnt a party hardliner probably vote for at least one person in that party in his entire life? i know your only retorts to me are some type of blanket republican attacks, which might hold some weight if i gave a shit about either party...but i was told in maybe 94 or whenever i first flew international to arrive 2-3 hours early in case of delays...its nothing new...and nothing unreasonable...course i dont know how airport security would have anything to do with any partisan affiliation in the first place...

Quote :

"minor things like public safety"

no public safety is a MAJOR thing...one of the most major things there is in fact...a helluva lot more major than you complaining about being inconvenienced...MINOR things would be like caring if you had to take your shoes off or make toiletry arrangements...hey i was downtown filing some paperwork at the courthouse here in charlotte a couple weeks ago and i had to take off my shoes before entering the metal detector...oh noes!!1111

1/4/2008 2:08:17 PM

yeah, i saw you. you had those ratty-ass socks with the holes in the toes




[Edited on January 4, 2008 at 2:13 PM. Reason : ]

1/4/2008 2:12:40 PM

^^ not major enough to turn America into a police state, which is where we're headed.

1/4/2008 2:24:11 PM

Quote :

"course i dont know how airport security would have anything to do with any partisan affiliation in the first place."

it shouldn't, but the way the repubs in power have been handling things, I'm pretty convinced that they are actively trying to perpetuate an air of fear in the US...people are more inclined to give up their freedom and let the gov do what it wishes when they're scared....

I for one feel no more, or less safe than I did pre 9/11 in terms of turrism, but i do have a higher level of distrust for our gov...they think they can do whatever they want, drop the turrist line a few times and they're justified for, and absolved of any wrongdoing.

1/4/2008 2:28:32 PM

yeah, the only real fear i have is of our government. All it takes is a simple case of mistaken identity or a power tripping TSA agent for an innocent American Citizen to be detained, interrogated for hours, and god knows what else.

1/4/2008 2:33:44 PM

Quote :

"a police state, which is where we're headed"

oh man, i give up

1/4/2008 2:47:59 PM

if only that were true.

1/4/2008 2:48:40 PM

say hello to salisburyboy for me at the next (Whatever) meeting

1/4/2008 2:51:28 PM

^damn you're a master a twisting things around to appear to make a point.

now let me get this clear:

me and others (thinking that some of the tsa rules are asanine, and don't really contribute anything to overall saftey)

=

salisburyboy (who thinks the gov masterminded the attacks in the first place).

1/4/2008 2:55:03 PM

I ADDRESSED THIS:

Quote :

"a police state, which is where we're headed"

WHICH IS NOWHERE NEAR THE SAME AS THIS:

Quote :

"thinking that some of the tsa rules are asanine, and don't really contribute anything to overall saftey"

these are not the same things

you are the one twisting shit around

1/4/2008 2:56:23 PM

Quote :

"^damn you're a master a twisting things around to appear to make a point. "

I've been saying this for months, but it gets easier and easier to see right through that BS the more he posts it.

1/4/2008 3:15:09 PM

yes, concerns about toothpaste are minor. concerns about taking your shoes off are minor. concerns about metal detectors are minor. But, how many "minor" things does it take to equal a "major" thing? At what point have you taken so many minor liberties that you have effectively taken away a right?

Is there not an amendment that says something about the right of Americans to be secure in their papers and that they shouldn't be suspect to unreasonable searches and seizures? And forgive me, but searching someone based on a "facial expression" seems to border on the unreasonable.

Moreover, as far as the topic of the "TSA getting it right..." Mark my words: the next terrorist attack on an airplane will not be done by people who walk through metal detectors. It will be done by the people who get to walk past those detectors every single day. If the TSA wants to "get it right," then they need to address actual threats and quit giving people who happen to look the wrong way the third degree. Why the hell doesn't the TSA actually do something useful, instead of making up these archane and ridiculous restrictions that have absolutely no effect at accomplishing their goal? Hell, why don't the fucking put more air marshals on the god damned planes? A terrorist with a fucking pocket knife is no match against an air marshal with a pistol. No, it makes more sense to make me take my fucking shoes off every time I get on a plane and to make sure that I don't carry too much toothpaste. You know, so the vendors inside the "safe area" can make a killing selling toothpaste and shaving cream to people who happened to bring 1mL too much. I wonder if the products of those vendors are checked prior to entry... I wonder if the vendors are checked prior to entry (that's right, THEY AREN'T!!!)...

oh, and set em up --------->

[Edited on January 4, 2008 at 3:21 PM. Reason : ]

1/4/2008 3:18:09 PM