I had one experience when my whole family was marked SSSS, when I wore my Video Coat into the Detroit airport. That didn’t stop me from being able to carry eight unprotected and rather powerful LiPo battery packs onto the plane, though. It was truly amazing how much they are bothered by wires and how little by real incendiary devices.
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Why am I on The List?
Years ago I was convicted of an activist-related property crime. The government deemed it “terrorism.” My “weapon of mass destruction” was a small tool purchased at a hardware store for under $30. My crime resulted in a loss of profits to several businesses. No one was injured. And it wasn’t even a felony.
Ah, the old “What I did wasn’t a felony! My weapon was a common household item! No one was hurt! The only loss was money!” excuse for vandalism disguised as activism. This jackass won’t disclose the details of the “activist-related property crime” misdemeanor of which he was convicted or the reasons why he committed it, but let’s all shed a tear for a misunderstood martyr who now must suffer being unfairly labeled as the terrorist he was undoubtedly once so proud to be as he vandalized businesses he deemed objectionable. Now, of course, as this activist warrior has himself become a victim of harassment and aggravation, I guess The Jetsetting Terrorist’s reason for blogging is to publicly complain about the embarrassment, inconvenience, time and money the TSA is costing him, all of which were undoubtedly the same goals he sought to achieve with whatever vandalism or occupation he wreaked and was justifiably convicted. Boohoo. Enjoy your lifetime SSSSStatus–you’ve earned it!
yeah, seriously, why not give him the electric chair?
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i was “randomly selected” (lol) about nine times in a row following 9/11, and then it mysteriously stopped.
by odd coincidence, every single time i’ve traveled since their installation, the rapiscan machines have been disabled/broken/etc. and i’ve yet to go through them or have to opt-out for a fondling.
weird.
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You should read the blog. The TSA confirmed to him that they have to call the FBI every time he flies. He is definitely on the list.
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I, personally, am comfortable with the term ‘terrorism’ being used as a catch all; so broadly under-defined that it can be applied to any type of crime whatsoever by the unflinching and un-ironic over reach of the foaming and mad police state that is quickly encompassing the world.
But then, I ascribe to the ‘let it wither and die’ school of thought when considering the ills of modern culture.
And you…?
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It’s because you’re the replicant, not the real retchdog, and if you went through the security scan, you’d figure it out. Sorry to break it to you, man.
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Until one day, a knock at the door and an eerily familiar man with a German-sounding name hands over a strange metal that gleams with an unearthly iridescence that… wait, damn! Wrong doppelgänger type.
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So people who can’t get a job anywhere else should starve or be treated with contempt? Have you any experience of long term unemployment, zero job opportunities, low skill levels? Maybe not, lucky you!
In any case these people are turning up each day because the government that was elected (yeah … even I think that is difficult to swallow) has decided this is how they are going to try and stop you getting blown up.
If you think that their skills, attitude, ability or policies are to be criticised direct it to the top earners grinding the organ - not the dancing monkeys.
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Under other circumstances I might agree with you. I don’t run down clerks at Bank of America, or greeters at Walmart, notwithstanding my disagreement with those companies’ policies and practices.
But the TSA is a federal agency. Its employees are government actors. Our country’s laws may require compliance in order to fly, but they do not and cannot require respect for the government or its agents. Thank God.
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My guess would be something like “spiking” old growth trees.
Edit: nope spiking has been a felony since 1987
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Secondary Security Screening Selection, Smartass
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I specifically carry a black ink SSSS stamp whenever I travel just to get the free patdown and make all the buffoons dance.
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I hate corporations and so when my friends go out to eat at a restaurant for their birthdays I order nothing and treat the servers with contempt, because its’ employees are corporate actors. A restaurants policy does not and cannot require respect for the brand or its agents. Thank god! You see what I did there? It may not require respect for them, but they are people whether or not you see them as such and should be given a modicum of respect.
The important distinction being that if I don’t like a corporation I don’t have to give them my business or have anything to do with their employees. While if I fly commercially in the US, I don’t have a choice about dealing with TSA agents.
Those agents enforce government restrictions on my ability to travel freely while searching my person and belongings. Under such circumstances their feelings simply are not my primary concern; a citizen’s right to freely criticize the government to its face is more important.
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People who have been put on this list should have a conference… all meet in one city and fly to another city, and back, a few times, say New York to DC… can you imagine 100 people going through security and all having SSSS on their ticket… it would make a great article in the New York Times…
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True they are enforcing the governments restrictions but you are not criticizing the government to its face. Write your senators or the people who actually make the restrictions to do that or hell protest outside of the capitol. That’s the equivalent of me saying I don’t approve of the military so I’m going to curse out every soldier I run into and tell them how does it feel to be part of an insert your favorite insult/criticism of the military here. They’re doing their jobs would you like it if someone went to your place of employment and decided to harass you, because they didn’t like what your employer did? I’m not saying to be cheerful and take what they give to you, but basically treat them how you want to be treated: with a modicum of respect they are not faceless drones, they are people and when they travel they have to deal with the same crap.
The TSA is hardly an employer of last resort. The starting pay is higher than minimum wage, includes Federal government benefits (pension, gold-standard of health insurance, vacation time, sick time, etc.), and have a defined career advancement path. The quality of character of TSA employees, not the quality of the employer, is what people frequently criticize.
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Well, if my employer was as egregiously awful to people as the TSA are, it would certainly give me pause as to whether I wanted to work for them, but then again, I’m hardly TSA staff material.
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