In the news:
Nov. 26, 2024 The Philadelphia Inquirer
‘Busiest Thanksgiving ever’: How the TSA plans to handle record air travel
“This will be the busiest Thanksgiving ever in terms of air travel,” TSA Administrator David Pekoske said. “Fortunately, our staffing is also at the highest levels that they have ever been. We are ready.”
“Airport security officials are pleading with passengers to arrive early, not to put lithium-ion batteries in checked bags in case they overheat, and to keep guns out of carry-on bags. TSA has discovered more than 6,000 guns at checkpoints this year, and most of them were loaded.”
A Real War On Terror?
A real War On Terror would prompt newspeople to ask:
What keeps the terrorists of the GWOT from creating a disruption at the back end of the screening line?
Guaranteed: No TV newsperson anywhere will ever ask this question. Americans do not live in a free and honest society.
Imagine the TV newsperson, on camera, escorting the TSA official all the way to the back of the “be sure to arrive early line” and asking what keeps the bad guys from creating a disruption at that point.
“If You See Something, Say Something®” – Just a slogan?
Americans were told that they faced a life and death situation after 911. If certain actions were not taken, terrorists could come to America to disrupt our way of life and attempt another 911.
If all this was a life and death situation that required sending the troops to Iraq and Afghanistan, wouldn’t it be important to ask a few public policy questions about what was going on?
Airport Security Screening – Zero questions from newspeople:
Oct 5, 2024 KIRO 7 News
TSA upgrades identity verification process with facial recognition at Spokane Airport
Would any newsperson ever ask:
What keeps the bad guys from creating a disruption at the back end of the screening line?
The mainstream media functions like paid actors reading a script.
Over and again- Newspeople play the role of federal public affairs staff instead of asking questions.
Every year is the same. Similar cheerful video, no mater where you are in the USA.
No voices of dissent. No passengers with questions about security theater will ever make it on air.
TV newspeople interviewing each other:
Travelers who ask no questions make it on air:
Fred Reed
December 4, 2015
Security Theater: Customary Federal Pointlessness
“…the intelligence agencies have proved useless. NSA did not prevent the first attack on the Twin Towers in 1993, nor the successful one.”
“What goes on at airports is not security. It is Security Theater. When the government’s own agents try to smuggle “weapons” aboard airliners to test the system, they succeed ninety-five percent of the time.”
“Further, a terrorist doesn’t need to get aboard an airliner to blow up spectacularly. At many airports, hundreds of people line up at ticket counters during peak hours. A carry-on bag of explosive would easily create enough slaughter to shut down air travel and to make international headlines for weeks.”
“Warnings at airports that unattended vehicles will be ticketed, towed, and perhaps destroyed are also Security Theater. By the time the vehicle was noticed, and somebody sent to check it out, an easy five minutes would have passed and the driver would be somewhere else. Boom.”
Related:
A real life and death situation requiring decades of US presence in places like Iraq would come with newspeople asking questions. This has not been the case.
Would any newsperson ever ask:
Photo-
Cool Character – several years ago at Port Townsend
Happy Hours – Out and about with dogs in the PNW.
The collection is here.