Since it’s Conspiracy Saturday, how about this one: TSA agents are supposed to steal stuff to help with the security theatrics to make you feel unsafe.
It defies public-trust expectations, but there are rogue officers at the Transportation Security Administration who think nothing of stealing your stuff.
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The TSA also estimates that for every TSA employee who touches a bag, some six to 10 airline or airport employees and contractors also have — mostly out of view of the passenger.
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There are steps you can take to keep your things out of thieves’ hands:
- As much as possible, keep a watchful eye on your belongings. “You are responsible for your property as it proceeds through the screening process,” according to the TSA.
- Do not pack jewelry, cash, laptops, electronics or any fragile items in your baggage. Leave anything that you can’t live without at home.
- Skip the trays that the airport provides for jewelry, watches and wallets, and belts — using them invites theft. Take off those items before you get to the security line and put them in the pocket of a carry-on.
If you have a lost or missing item from a security checkpoint, check the airport’s lost and found first. The TSA has a list of all the phone numbers at every airport.
If you think your property was stolen, or damaged, during the screening process you can file a claim online.
I had to laugh when I bought a special set of “theft proof” hard case luggage. Broken into on both overseas legs of my trip. Special hardened lock broken as if a cold chisel and sledge hammer taken to it.
Reported incident to both airlines and both said there was no proof of theft, just harsh harsh handling. Ha, ha. Okkkkk……
So–I’ll know we are “safer to fly” when who knows who (as in who else but the baggage handlers) stops breaking into my luggage.
Insane times we live in, security theater/homeland security/being bled dry in foreign military adventures===just the icing on the cake.
Anyone traveling by air through Asia should be more concerned about what they might place IN your luggage.
What I hate is when I put my carry on through the xray. It has my laptop, and other items.
I refuse to go through the backscatter Xray and opt for patdown. Then the TSA freaks out and starts screaming “Opt Out! Opt Out!” in their radios. They won’t let me get my stuff. Instead, they demand I leave my laptop there on the belt for anyone to steal.
When I protest and tell them that I don’t want my laptop to leave my sight, they start getting all crazy on me and start panicking. I’m a big ugly guy, 6-3, 240lbs, and dark. I can see the fear in their eyes as they jump on the radio and I am then surrounded by snarling agents who start screaming at me to follow orders.
Really, the terrorist have won.
“If you think your property was stolen, or damaged, during the screening process, you can file a claim online.”
…The claim will be ignored, and your name will be added to the do-not-fly list.
@ #1.. having that providing made the daily thief even more interested in your bag, unfortunately.
Here in St. Louis we had a number of baggage handlers caught stealing from suitcases. It was in the local news a few times. All were suspended. Only one lost his job, because it was his second offense. The rest of the thieve had their job saved by the union and are back handling luggage every day. The union rep had “no comment” for the lawyer.
P.S. I drive everywhere. An Amtrak train derailed near my house two years ago, airport security is a sad joke, but I can rent a 74 corvette convertible from the local body shop/hot rod car dealer for 600 buck a week and enjoy my trip.
Travel with a firearm in your checked luggage. You are required to have it locked up, and only you can have a key. I use a hard trunk with my own hardened padlock. All my other valuables go in the trunk too. TSA is required to have you present when they inspect it, it is then to be locked with YOUR lock. If you aren’t a gun owner a flare gun qualifies for this treatment too, and they’re legal in all states. Read TSA’s firearms policy, as well as your airline’s, for the fine details.
Wow, that is pretty informative cliffyp. Had no idea you could even fly with a firearm at all.
I remember getting a pretty strong reaction once from security at the local courthouse. I forgot that I had a rather large pocket knife on me. They sort of gave me the stank eye when I dropped it in the bin. And that was pre 9/11. Bet all Hades would have broken out over it now days. They held on to it for my later retrieval upon my leaving though.
It’s security theater and we all know it, and yet we all still put up with it. My question is “why?”
We just want to get where we are going of course. Sometimes though the price of freedom demands a little inconvenience. Why don’t we put the inconvenience we are already experiencing to good use. Why don’t we turn the tables and demand a little more freedom from our “overlords.” Forget the tea-party movement. That was a charade and a drop in the bucket. I say we open the scene for a new party: “the freedom party.”
The “Freedom Party” will stage sit-in’s at air-ports across the country. It will demand more input from a more diverse field of constituents. Senators will be required to answer more to the citizens, rather than merely from the highest paying political lobbyist’s. Things are broke, and it’s high-time that we the citizens of the United States of America fix things once-again. Let us first and foremost abolish the Federal Reserve. It is the scourge upon the wealth of this nation. Why should our great nation be bound in debt to private bankers? We are screwed unless we first get rid of these vipers.
Anyone who remarks in any sort of a partisan viewpoint is acting as a mere stooge. Partisan politics is merely a ruse. It serves only to confuse us. We are led to believe that there actually exists a choice about political matters. Any astute individual may comprehend however the fallacy contained within such innate trust. Do not trust your government, for it is infested with human fallacy. Government does not innately possess divine righteousness just by the mere fact that it is responsible for everyone’s freedom. It does not care one whit about such grandiose fabrications. Freedom is a personal responsibility.
In my second sentence above I meant to write: “partisan politics ARE merely a ruse,” and not what I actually typed: “partisan politics IS merely a ruse.” I apologize for my ignorance of grammatical rules.
#8, I entered this thread to suggest just that. A starting pistol is just as good and it is less inflammable.
Its unbelievable that no word from the ACLU and media is heard at all about all these massive encroachments on American’s civil liberties
Yet then again knowing their mentality its not surprising
America wake up
yep…I agree with #15: Why has the ACLU not formulated an opinion thus far? I have my sneaking suspicions (call me conspiracy theorist if you must) that a large percentage of their “voice” is being paid a high wage to STFU. I am just being a tin-fiol hat type of guy at this juncture…but the average, informed citizen has to know that you really can’t trust just any organization.
“”Power tends to corrupt, and absolute power corrupts absolutely. Great men are almost always bad men.” — John Emerich Edward Dalberg Acton
or more colloquially: “”Unlimited power is apt to corrupt the minds of those who possess it” –William Pitt, the Elder
** word to the wise: if you assign a fancy name to a quote then it MUST be true.
BoffotheClown, Earl to the throne of the “Individual-Rights Activist Movement” says as much:
“Individual freedom is for naught unless it is expressed and demanded by the right-holders.”
“Individual freedom is a responsibility, not a right.
*Thomas Jefferson and John Locke are my own true heroes.
We all have a responsibility to uphold and demand of others our own god-given rights. Our constitution shall not be tread-upon as a mere kitchen-mat. It is not something that stands in the way of our own self-interested manifestations. Every act one does must stand the consternation of one’s peers. If ye are a senator, then one’s peers involve the entirety of a multitude of thine peers. Our elected officials need a kick in the teeth, and a history lesson. Aye de mi, que suerte!
It is high-time we as a nation once-again take responsibility for upholding the sanctity of individual rights. If not us, then who? We all are responsible.
We are all responsible for the misgivings we feel that our own government instigates. It is too easy to blame government when we fail to realize that our own government is in our own hands. All we have to do is 1)become educated and aware, 2) realize the truth, and 3) take action to tip the balance back in favour of individual freedom
Your own personal freedom is unknown unless you voice it in a calm, and collective manner. The voice of millions can move mountains. The problem is that it’s hard to collect a million brain-washed individuals towards a singular cause in this day and age; unless you count the “Kardashians” as a cough, cough “cause. Nevermind, we are doomed as a collective society. It was nice knowing ya. Peace out.
Piss and moan all you want people. Until the masses even fractionally wake up, these antics will still go on. Whether your hero’s are: Jefferson, Locke or the Kardashian’s your consent is still given to them every April 15th when that check is made out to the mob to continue on. They’ll be more than glad to accept your government prepared complaint forms and run it through their system, which is rigged in favor of the house.
#21: I truly wish that I could ague the fallacy of your viewpoint, but alas; it is more truth than fiction. It’s time to act fair citizens.
#21: BTW, how dare you conglomerate such poignant individuals as John Locke, and Thomas Jefferson into the same category as the ridiculous TV show: “The Kardashians.” I spit green puke in you general direction. Pick any Kadashian, and I bet you 10-to-1 said individual wouldn’t know Thomas Jeffeson or Thomas Locke from Micheal Jackson. Our society is doomed. Our cause is on the losing-side, and we are losing against “DUMB.” It’s time to face the music, freedom is a lost cause. May “dumb” prevail as humankind’s lasting legacy. Kill me now before I know how true my words actually may become. AUUGH!
BTW, my netbook’s keyboard apparently doesn’t like the letter “R.” AUUGH. rrrrrrrrrrrrrr
And of course instead of opening the luggage in your presence for inspection and locking it, they now have all locks provided with 7 easy master locks to be opened easily by anyone.
I’m never flying again…
I’m trying to get a TSA job! Can’t wait to join the screws!
Well, T. Jefferson and J. Adams did try to warn us about the dangers of having political parties.
Just like D. Eisenhower tried to warn us about the dangers of the military industrial complex.
All I can say is that “you can lead a horse to water…”
Meanwhile some REAL Threat is traveling from coast to coast on stolen/expired boarding passes, and gets away with it.
So much for a pleasant summer vacation travel
I guess I should drive my truck rather than fly – yet on No Agenda this week John discussed the funding for more swat team to pull over and intimidate drivers ( and ordinary people) on the highways
What a life
I thought we were attacked on Sept 11 not the other way around
# 29 Grouinded said, “REAL Threat is traveling from coast to coast on stolen/expired boarding passes, and gets away with it.”
And, when caught, they LET HIM GO! It wasn’t until he tried to fly back to NYC they decided to detain him.
BTW – he was a foreign national (Nigeria) and had no legitimate ID.
But, that’s ok. I’m sure someone jiggled his nuts before they let him board.