Also requires a trip to the Canadian border for the interview and iris scans.
100% worthy it for me, as someone who travels a lot and goes to Canada regularly. But that flight/drive to Canada isn’t free and should be factored in to the cost
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Well, unless they ran for election on that basis.
And if the Nightmare Timeline has taught us anything, it’s that “politically unthinkable” positions can sometimes actually be remarkably electable (in large part because the existing political class can’t even talk about them, let alone mount a coherent defense).
I’ve been ranting since at least 2001 about the glaring contradiction between “our country is strong and powerful” and “we must all piss our pants like frightened schoolgirls every time a bag is left unattended at a bus station in rural Montana”. It can’t be that hard to come up with a political message, based on not giving a shit about terrorism, that would resonate with everyone from anti-war protestors to swivel-eyed flag worshippers.
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I get PreCheck, randomly, about 50% of the time I fly. No one else in my party ever does (maybe because I’m the only one with a mileage plan number and I’m the one who books all the flights?). So half the time I get swabbed and have to take my shoes off and get pornoscanned … and half the time I get to waltz through. I haven’t done anything to “earn” PreCheck status, they just give it to me sometimes.
Also, it occurs to me I’ve forgotten to take my liquids out the last two times I’ve flown and no one’s noticed or cared.
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But I’ve had to take off my flip-flops that are basically a string on a sole. Not sure where I’m hiding the bomb in those.
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The guy that shot hundreds of people in Las Vegas a few months ago had a net worth of $5 million. He would have passed any TSA Pre-Check screening you can dream up. But he was a mass murderer, not a terrorist.
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But he was a mass murderer, not a terrorist.
Both disqualify you from the programs Cory is talking about.
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Imagine what a group of pranksters terrorists could do by leaving a half dozen unattended, unidentifiable bags scattered around every major airport in the USA today, the day before Thanksgiving.
It would resonate with most everyone I know who cares about their personal freedoms. A lot of them are on the right, and a lot of them are on the left.
It would not resonate with the millions of the twitching terrified in the middle, who desire to see the USA become the first Nerf Civilization - “Everything is safety padded - for your protection!!!”
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Well, they would hire some poor schmucks to do it for them. They might even pay to get these schmucks pre-checked to avoid the hassle of security.
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And most of the successful terrorists and mass murderers are known to the cops, well in advance of when the killing starts.
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Such a planned and coordinated attack would still kill fewer people than guns that week. But we’re not allowed to talk about that.
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I have gotten random precheck on return trips several times, but never on the outbound part of the trip. It never made sense to me. Luckily, I live near and generally fly out of a smaller airport, so the security line is not usually more than a dozen or so people. It’s nice to be able to skip the long line at a big airport.
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I’m fine with your talking about that. Let’s find all the people who fired a gun at another person last week, and throw their sorry asses under the jail.
Edit - The TSA hassles every single law abiding air traveler, because .00001% might want to blow up the plane. This is actually a very good analogy to our gun laws.
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I’m being screened right now.
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I am pointing out the Vegas shooter was affluent and would not be detectable by TSA because he lacks the overt indications they imagine mark a person as dangerous. Indications like political affiliation, racist behavior or language, or extreme religious beliefs. And yet it turns out he’s one of the most dangerous individuals we’ve ever produced.
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Yep. I get mine through my employer, and it’s good for non-business also as long as you let the airline you’re flying on know when booking a flight. If I had to pony up the money, I would have had to cough up only ~ $80 bucks that would be good for a few years; only in my dreams am I a 1-percernter.
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Just relax… now cough.
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The Las Vegas shooter was most likely a millionaire.
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None of those things matter for TSA PreCheck provided they weren’t connected with actual criminal behavior. I’m not sure about other programs.
As has been pointed out, it’s not even really about money. We are being taught to be afraid, and to be boring.
We can measure the economic impact of this kind of nonsense, but how to calculate the cultural impact of keeping mathematicians, singers, and human rights activists from flying, based on some moron’s fear response?
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It’s only half of an anology. The first half, that our gun laws represent security theater, is spot on. The second half, that there is negligible risk in the first place, is way off. Guns kill tens of thousands of Americans each year, while terrorist attacks on airplanes have killed none in the last 16 years.
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