So Sullivan did not come back from vacation because of Mehlman coming out or the news that circumcisions have dropped, but I’m betting that Levi’s retraction of his apology might just do it.
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This post is in: Open Threads, Blogospheric Navel-Gazing
So Sullivan did not come back from vacation because of Mehlman coming out or the news that circumcisions have dropped, but I’m betting that Levi’s retraction of his apology might just do it.
Comments are closed.
Bnut
Bristol is doing “Dancing With the Stars”. I wish my dad had quit his job and started righting books. Oh wait, he did. Where’s my fame???
cleek
i can’t keep up with Palin’s circus of drama.
which is fine, because i don’t care.
WereBear
You know, I coulda screwed up my life in high school and made lots of money as a professional hypocrite.
Who knew?
Violet
Levi’s not believable anymore. At least he’s keeping himself in the news. Can’t blame him for riding this gravy-train as long as he can. It’s not his fault he got stuck in the spotlight.
If the Dancing With The Stars producers had any sense they’d cast both Bristol and Levi on the same season and let them compete against each other. Watching Sarah in the audience having to pretend to clap after Levi performed would be good fun. Plus if he was a better dancer than Bristol, even better.
Isn’t Sully on vacation until after Labor Day?
J.A.F. Rusty Shackleford
I’m still cracking up. That is one of the funniest posts I’ve read in awhile.
Rosalita
@Bnut:
Just goes to show DWTS has jumped an epic number of sharks… just go off the air and die
Crashman
Hey, whatever it takes to keep that family’s Springer-style sideshow on display…
Alwhite
the whole family is well past their allotted 15 minutes. If only they would just go away.
Shalimar
@Violet: No kidding. I’m pretty sure that if you say you lied and then claim you never lied, one of those statements has to be a lie. Maybe he’s just placing himself up against Sarah Palin’s nebulous connection with reality and figuring any non-narcissist would look honest by comparison?
NobodySpecial
I’m personally hoping that Sullivan goes on a three hour tour while on vacation. I don’t especially miss the little racist.
slag
@Alwhite:
Could you imagine? What would we do if politics ever stopped being just another reality teevee show? Two thirds of the Village would be out of a job! And, as we know, our economy just couldn’t take the hit. Why are you trying to destroy America?
Prof. K&G
Since this is an open thread…
I went through security at Boston Logan last night. They had the full-body-naked-picture taking scanners going, which I absolutely refused to go through. They gave me the alternative screening, which is a pat-down. This was by far the most invasive pat-down I’ve ever had. To be blunt, it involved the TSA drone first sticking his hand down my pants, and then grabbing my genitals.
I was told by multiple employees that yes, this is how they do it now.
So, is this the choice we’re faced with? Either get your naked picture taken by the TSA (we promise we don’t store them!), or be punished with sexual assault?
Death Panel Truck
I think Warhol got it wrong. He should have said, “In the future, some highly annoying people will be world-famous for 15 months.”
Sarah Palin and her dysfunctional, freak-show brood have gone about nine months past their allotment.
stuckinred
@Prof. K&G: Or don’t fly.
General Stuck
Nope, this will be the last straw, and bendable ones to boot.
Is this a great country, or what?
MikeJ
@Violet:
All of which would make fine television of the sort I never watch, and we could all be happy, if not for the fact that nearly 60,000,000 people wanted Palin to be one 74 year old heartbeat away from the presidency.
WereBear
@MikeJ: All the world’s a -stage- reality show!
And we are only watchers of it.
Amanda in the South Bay
@General Stuck:
Yes, CSU Stanislaus needs to have its ass kicked for this stunt.
Zandar
SULLY BEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEAM!
Crashman
@General Stuck: Bendable straws?! I love it. I immediately nominate this term as a new category/tag for any post having to do with the Palin’s.
Prof. K&G
@stuckinred Just don’t fly.
Well, I need to weigh my dislike of having my junk handled by strangers in public vs. my enjoyment of having a job and seeing my family.
Punchy
Strasburg’s undergoing the knife and you lead a post about Sully and denim jeans? Where’s the fuckin disconnect coming from?
Rosalita
@stuckinred:
That’s my choice. Drive or stay home.
Face
@Prof. K&G: What’s wrong with the scanner/picture? From what I’ve seen, its not in color, it doesnt reveal your facial features (so no one can ID you), and mostly….so what if they want to see my junk? Def beats them grabbing my junk, unless she’s cute (heh).
Betty Cracker
Heh! I had the same thought. He’ll be sneaking off to the library to post on this breaking news.
Prof. K&G
@Face: A), I don’t believe them when they say they obscure your facial features. B) I don’t necessarily have a problem with people taking naked pictures of me, but you really don’t see a problem with the government forcing you to choose one of those two options?
slag
@Crashman: I’m pretty sure the bendable straw has been used as a parodic device for a crazy number of fictional divas. I see a Devil Wears Prada-style montage in Sarah Palin’s future. If there isn’t one already.
Prof. K&G
Ah, this is what happened to me:
http://bostonherald.com/business/general/view.bg?articleid=1276131
Bnut
@Punchy:
That didn’t take long. At least TJ surgery has a good recovery rate.
winguts to iraq
hooray for drops in circumcision!
JenJen
@Punchy:
It’s Baseball Karma, really… that’s what you get for screwing over the Expos, MLB. :-)
(I don’t really mean that.)
Speaking of Baseball Karma that I do mean… here’s another reason to dislike the Cardinals: La Russa and Pujols are going to the Beckapalooza tomorrow.
GO REDS!!
Stillwater
@Prof. K&G: Well, I need to weigh my dislike of having my junk handled by strangers in public vs. my enjoyment of having a job and seeing my family.
Seems like they’ve got you by the balls on this one
Face
@Prof. K&G: My outrage meter broke a long, long time ago. In the grand scheme of government intrustions, I put this near the end of the list. Now if they instituted this in a grammar or junior high school, then a whole diff ballgame.
Dork
@Stillwater: I think the whole thing is nuts.
peach flavored shampoo
@Dork: They need to sack the TSA guy responsible.
cleek
@Dork:
sounds like bollocks, a total cock-up
Crashman
@JenJen:
Rats. You beat me to it. Here’s Deadspin’s take:
I love Tommy Craggs.
Corner Stone
@Prof. K&G:
Sadly, most people have already given up caring.
I’d like to know if TSA pat downs or full body scanners have ever identified one single malicious individual?
Phritz
@Face: Ooh, apathy. You’re so COOL!
Southern Beale
Oh for crying out loud. This family feud would be tiresome were it not for the political ramifications. Wish the Palins would crawl back in their crack van and trundle off to whatever hill or holler that spawned them.
JenJen
@Crashman: That’s the best thing I’ve read on the internet this week. :-)
La Russa is an “all-around paste-eating dumbass” FTW!
Thank you!!
Allison W.
Levi is just as lame as bristol.
Catsy
@Prof. K&G:
And it is not okay.
Seriously. If they do this to you, file a complaint with the ACLU and consider consulting an attorney. We need to put a stop to this. That is not a pat-down, that is sexual assault.
Mumphrey
Since this is an open thread…
So I read Charles Krauthammer today. Did anybody else? I shouldn’t read his rants, I know, but I read him just to piss myself off. It’s kind of amazing to see just how loathesome he can be, and today he topped (or maybe that’s “bottomed”) himself. I really don’t understand why he seems to take Obama so personally, but he does. He just really seems to loathe Obama and I don’t know why. Most of the Post conservatives don’t like Obama’s policies and politics, but they don’t seem so angry about him. It’s weird…
Omnes Omnibus
@Allison W.: Contact info for senator here. Call ’em. I called mine.
ETA: Not sure why I replied that particular post, but oh well.
Linda Featheringill
@Prof. K&G:
I am sorry for the indignity you suffered. I hope you feel better today.
Perhaps Life has given you a new task: Personal integrity versus the Great God Transportation. Or something along that line.
You are educated and write well, which may have been why the Universe chose you to be embarrassed this way, to introduce to the issue.
And while you are working on it, you can listen to “Now you are messing with a son of a bitch!”
[even if you are not a fan, that song is great to listen to when you are angry]
Hang in there. :-)
brendancalling
@Prof. K&G:
my feeling about this is that when they go down the pants, take a dump right then. squeeze out the nastiest turd you can muster.
Crashman
@JenJen: I knew someone would enjoy it! My favorite, though was from the comments:
JenJen
@Mumphrey: Oh dear gawd, I just went and read that spew and, like you, wish I hadn’t. He even takes a shot at the First Lady toward the end.
“The corruption of liberal thought,” Krauthammer? We’re the race-baiters? What a pathetic column by a truly pathetic creature.
Stillwater
@Mumphrey: today he topped (or maybe that’s “bottomed”) himself.
Krauthammer bottoming himself in public is becoming a regular feature at WaPo.
Catsy
Yet another atrocity perpetrated by history’s greatest monster.
Poopyman
@Mumphrey: YES!
I wandered over there to see what was up with Strasburg, as per @Punchy: and I saw the “Last Refuge of a Liberal” linky.
Should. not. have. gone. there.
I think I got some of it in my eyes.
Trinity
@Mumphrey: It’s bigotry.
Violet
@Prof. K&G:
I had a similar thing happen to me in the UK. After getting through all the screening, I was pulled out of line on the jetway and given a final, random screening. It was the most invasive screening I’ve ever had. My travel companion was also pulled out of line and given a similar screening at the same time, but was done a good ten minutes before me.
In addition to going through all my carry on items with a fine tooth comb (again, my travel companion’s carry on items were only lightly searched), the actual pat down was incredibly invasive. The agent didn’t stick a hand down my jeans, but did pat all over the genital area and stuck her hand up my pants legs from the bottom. I had to take off both my shoes and socks and every layer I was wearing. I was stripped down to what was essentially an undershirt. On the jetway. In the UK. In winter. I was standing there feeling almost naked, with all the boarding passengers filing by, staring at me. It bordered on humiliating.
That was over six months ago and I still shudder thinking of it. It felt like I was being molested. It was awful.
comrade scott's agenda of rage
@NobodySpecial:
This. I still don’t see why anybody cares what that asshat has to say about anything.
@Alwhite:
The only way the odds will ever become favorable of that happening is if they do a lot of small plane flying in the wilds of Alaska and the probabilities of an accident catch up with them.
They saw what happened to ex-Senator Tubes and probably thought “no more leetle plane rides to shoot wolves from the air for us”
Bruce (formerly Steve S.)
@JenJen:
I’m old enough to remember David Clyde. Here’s a list of a few more. Ain’t no such thing as a can’t-miss pitching prospect.
Hal
I’m so fucking sick of Sarah Palin. A vapid, clueless demagogue who has no original ideas or thoughts.
She’s the political equivalent of a drive by shooting. Random shots fired with no care for bystanders. As long as at least one shot hits it’s mark, she’s happy.
comrade scott's agenda of rage
@Mumphrey:
It’s racism.
comrade scott's agenda of rage
@Allison W.:
They both come from the same trailer park. Remember, Appalachia Is A State Of Mind.
mikefromArlington
haha nice
Mark S.
Well, at least Krauthummer is doing away with the pretense that we aren’t at war with all one billion Muslims (here’s the link so everybody can enjoy):
People who say differently are the real bigots.
NobodySpecial
@comrade scott’s agenda of rage: In his old age, Krautsie thinks Obama is the one who talked about ‘Hymietown’.
burnspbesq
@Prof. K&G:
Or you can choose to not fly.
Welcome to Security Theater World.
WereBear
@Violet: Criminy! You were molested.
Comrade Dread
@Prof. K&G:
Well, Professor, get ready for more opportunities for exposure.
http://digbysblog.blogspot.com/2010/08/where-at-least-we-know-were-free-part.html
The rest of the post talks about how they’re mounted in mobile vans which are used to scan cars (and anyone nearby) and these particular models DO have a database they keep.
If you’re not depressed about cops being able to look into your car randomly and exposing people to xrays without consent or warrant, then the Ninth Circuit has just the decision for you.
http://www.cnn.com/2010/CRIME/08/27/oregon.gps.surveillance/index.html?hpt=T1
So, it’s legal for law enforcement to track your driving movements and stops and build a database of that, and (at least thus far) it’s acceptable for them to scan the car (and you) with x-rays randomly.
But at least we’re not dealing with the intrusive security apparatus of China and Russia, right? Right?
Comrade Dread leaves to go open a new bottle of vodka.
Bnut
I swear, the airport was really cold!
Violet
@burnspbesq:
The consequences of choosing not to fly are steep for many. You might lose your job because you can’t perform the work expected. You might not be able to visit family if they’re in a place that is only reached in a timely manner by plane. Like me, I’ve got family in the UK. I could choose not to fly but then I have to take a week or two to get there by ship. How do I work during that time? The cost is also prohibitive.
Yes you can choose not to fly. But why should we have to make a choice between that, and it’s unfortunate consequences, and being sexually molested? What kind of choice is that?
Bella Q
Did anyone else notice where so many of the recalled-for-salmonella eggs originated? They came from Wright County Eggs of Galt, Iowa. Figures.
Violet
@Bnut:
Ha. It’s easy to laugh at it until it happens to you. When you’re stripped down to your underwear standing on a freezing cold jetway and the TSA agent is sticking their hand in your ass crack and groping around while all the other passengers stare…well, it’s not quite as funny.
I swear I was traumatized by it. I was practically in tears by the time I was released to get on the plane. The only thing that kept me from losing it completely was thinking they wouldn’t let me get on the flight if I did and I really wanted to get home.
Bruce (formerly Steve S.)
@Mark S.:
Krauthammer: “the Obama administration’s pretense that we are at war with nothing more than ‘violent extremists'”
He’s lost me. Isn’t that exactly what the Bush Administration said?
jibeaux
I don’t care much about the body scanners. I assume that, given that the majority of people they’re scanning are American, they want to delete those pictures from their computers and brains as fast as they can. It bothers me more in the sense that it feels again like fighting the last war — if and when there’s another major attack, I don’t think it’s going to come from planes.
Calvin Jones and the 13th Apostle
@NobodySpecial: But he makes for interesting reading. I would love to hear what he had to say about Mehlman. Especially since Mehlman didn’t apologize at all.
Jager
@Face:
I fly all the time and I have never seen a “cute” TSA employee, male or female. I’m sure the male passengers will get the guy who looks a little like a psychotic ex-con to handle the “pat down”! Mrs J will get the TSAer who looks like a bull dyke with a really bad attitude.
Mark S.
@Bruce (formerly Steve S.):
We joke a lot here how Ike or Reagan would be considered RINO’s if they came back today. It won’t be long before W. is joining them.
Bnut
@Violet:
I’m sorry, maybe that was insensitive.
Calvin Jones and the 13th Apostle
@Crashman: LaRussa is a right-wing crank. He hangs out with Beck and BillO. He also has publicly supported Arizona’s hateful SB 1070.
Calvin Jones and the 13th Apostle
@General Stuck: The reason why it was probably released is that someone signed the contract both as a school employee and as a employee of the school’s foundation(which is technically supposed to be separate.
Jager
@Calvin Jones and the 13th Apostle:
So why is Albert hanging with him? Pujols would be in deep shit in Arizona without his wallet. After 400 homers in 10 years Pujols can pretty much tell LaRussa to screw his hat without any worries.
Brachiator
@Mark S.:
Thanks for posting the Krauthammer link. Taken in context, I don’t see how anyone could disagree with the wisdom that drips like honey from the mouth of this wise pundit. Here is the key quote.
Krauthammer clearly understands, as liberals do not, that the Constitution and the Bill of Rights is a provisional document, that rights, especially those of non-whites, gays, and Muslim Americans, are subject to the the whim of Real Americans. As an aside, the majorities in the Congress that voted for the stimulus and health care reform are not real majority majorities, because representative government means majorities as determined by conservatives.
I look forward to an opinion written by Justice Scalia, joined by Justices Thomas and Roberts that, offers a strict constructionist reading of the Constitution that clearly explains to the all American people how fundamental rights are really subject to the court of public opinion.
Hopefully, Scalia will be writing for the minority.
chopper
@Mark S.:
funny, i don’t remember cabbagehammer going nuts on george bush for his insistance of the same exact thing.
NobodySpecial
@Calvin Jones and the 13th Apostle: Sorry, I look at Sullivan and see him defending and promoting The Bell Curve and he comes at the immediate end of any usefulness beyond paperweight.
Mark S.
I’m glad to see Fire Joe Morgan didn’t delete their archives. Here they are dissing on La Russa:
Persia
@Corner Stone: They may have created a malicious individual or two.
Molly
@Prof. K&G:
I’d have issues with this on religious grounds, and many people I counsel would as well. A devout Muslim woman, a Hasidic Jew; these are faiths that practice extreme modesty. As do some Christian faiths. Even if it is a person of the same sex performing the pat-down, or if it’s a machine taking a nude x-ray, it is still walking a fine line for those people.
We can say “to hell with their faith, I want to be safe, or they just don’t fly, then,” but then we’re going against the tolerance we’ve been talking about here over Park51.
Where do we draw the line on the privacy of our bodies?
Violet
@Bnut:
No, it was funny. Made me laugh. But it’s also easier to laugh unless you’ve had something like that happen to you. Then it brings back bad memories.
The terrorists really piss me off. They’re like people that write computer viruses. Total fucking scum wastes of space. If you’re so smart, go do something to help people. Don’t make things suck for everyone. Fuckers.
When the security agent was done molesting me, I started ranting about terrorists and how much I hate the motherfuckers. Okay, I did it very quietly because again, I didn’t want to get yanked off the plane, but I was pissed off. It’s their fault the rest of us have to suffer indignities just because we want to go from Point A to Point B in an airplane. Scum sucking motherfuckers.
Violet
@Molly:
We draw it where the government fucking tells we will draw it. That’s where. If we’ve got a problem with that, too fucking bad. Don’t fly. Don’t walk in your city. Don’t drive your car. Whatever. Personal autonomy and religious beliefs? Too bad. Suck on this.
Sorry…see my above comment, I’m still pissed off about what happened to me and thinking of it today has brought back the feelings.
burnspbesq
@Violet:
I was snarking. Perhaps you missed the reference to Security Theater.
I’ve flown over 60K miles for work so far this year. This shit hits me where I live. This is why I give $ to the ACLU whenever they ask.
Corner Stone
I sometimes agree with Bruce Schneier that it’s a lot of Security Theater, but more often lately I feel it’s a systemic programming.
On some levels the over reaction was always about control, and pushing people to accept boundaries they would never allow previously but it also had a “Hey! Look what we’re doing just for your peace of mind!” aspect to it.
Now I think we’ve moved to a BOHICA, “there’s nothing you can do to stop it” era.
gnomedad
New airport security protocol: “Turn your head and cough.”
Stop the ACLU!, also, too.
Sly
@chopper:
Krauthammer wasn’t trying to push back against a very appealing criticism that conservatives are miserable fucking bigots when George Bush was President. His conflation of terrorist organizations with all of Islam is only uttered because it is needed. Ask him if he thinks all Jews should be held responsible for the murders perpetrated by Gush Emunim or the Kach Movement, and he’ll sing a different tune.
Blood libel for thee, not for me.
burnspbesq
@Comrade Dread:
Bring enough for everybody, por favor.
duck-billed placelot
@Violet: Terrorists do indeed suck scum, but it’s the authoritarian American freak-out-show that keeps coming up with new and innovative way to make flying hell. And, of course, tap everyone’s phones and emails. See Greenwald for why these tactics make us less safe.
My sympathies for your assault. People fucking blow.
Shalimar
@Bruce (formerly Steve S.):
Bush is white, and he comes from a wealthy family. So, totally different when he says it than when the Kenyan Muslim says it.
Violet
@burnspbesq:
Sorry if I misinterpreted. We probably completely agree on the issue. So if you are feeling generous you can think of what I wrote as expanding on your frustration with the whole system.
My fuse is a little short on this issue because of what happened to me last winter, as I’ve described in other comments here. Discussing it has brought up the feelings and I’m still angry. Because it happened in another country I have zero recourse. And if I were to complain I could easily have trouble visiting family in that country again. It stinks. Anyway, I consider it molestation or assault and I feel helpless and I’m still angry.
I know where you’re coming from and as a road warrior it’s particularly awful.
Stillwater
@Brachiator: a strict constructionist reading of the Constitution that clearly explains to the all American people how fundamental rights are really subject to the court of public opinion.
I’ll play!
‘Well, that’s easy: a constructionist reading denies fundamental rights to everyone except …. (damn, where is that pocket constitution when you need it)…. (not in the flannel shirt)… (just gotta move this shoulder-holster a bit) … ahh! white males, with an emphasis on property owners. Others have only been included due to excessive activism from liberal judges, uppity women, and vengeful negroes. Homos are out of the question.’
Are there prizes!!
Molly
@Violet:
No apology necessary at all. And another point. What about people who have been sexually assaulted/molested in the past? This is something that would be very difficult for some of them to go through. “Traumatic” would be a good word. Age as well, where do we draw the line on “Yes, he’s 15, but his mother is here, so it’s fine.”
I don’t think the risk justifies the means. It crosses the line from “It’s needed to keep us safe,” to taking away someone’s right to the privacy of their body. I’m with the ACLU on this one.
Roger Moore
@Violet:
No. It’s not the terrorists who are instituting ridiculous, ineffective security theater. It’s our government that’s doing it. Most of the steps being taken in the name of security are things that authoritarians have been trying to institute for a long, long time. Terrorism provides a convenient excuse, but it’s just an excuse.
Stillwater
@Corner Stone: Now I think we’ve moved to a BOHICA, “there’s nothing you can do to stop it” era.
I agree. Airport screening, SWAT team raids, the codification of police abuse, challenges to Miranda, changing ‘pribable cause’ into ‘reasonable suspicion’, etc. are all incremental changes that only a few people get really pissed off about. It’s about tempering public outrage against a fully realized police state until it’s too late to object. (From my pov, we’re already there, but it could still get lots worse.)
ETA: Not really proud of this fact, but my high school softball team was called BOHICA. Heh-indeedy.
Violet
@Roger Moore:
Yeah, I probably agree with you. I think I end up blaming terrorists because I don’t want to blame the actual agents who are generally just doing what they have been told to do. And blaming the government is easy to do but leaves you feeling helpless.
@Molly:
I thought about this at the time. If someone had been through some kind of abuse or sexual assault they would have been very traumatized by what I experienced. It was extremely invasive and I felt humiliated and assaulted.
I think I need to donate to the ACLU.
bago
Bah. I think that if you publically enjoyed your patdown just a little TOO much, things might change.
A little bit like this:
http://www.metacafe.com/watch/3068666/seth_macfarlanes_cavalcade_of_cartoon_comedy_sheep_shearing/
Mike G
@Comrade Dread:
The “big-government” hating teatards will be all over this any second.
Any second now.
Jump in any time, guys.
“Don’t give a shit, it’s not happening to me”.
Stop sniffing fucking birth certificates and do something useful for your country, you self-centered assholes.
Phoebe
@Prof. K&G: All aboard! All aboard! All aboard Amtraaaak!
Comrade Dread
@Mike G:
I’m becoming more convinced that if the Democrats really wanted to get a more progressive agenda passed, they just need to present it as an argument for fighting terrorism.
For instance, Health Care: “We need a single payer system of health care that so that all citizens and injuries are logged into a government database which we can use to follow up on suspicious injuries and stop terror cells before they can kill millions of Americans.”
Phoebe
@comrade scott’s agenda of rage: No! Levi is much better. Don’t be classist. Yeah, he’s not a genius [“I’m gonna try.. that’s the goal”] and yeah, he picked an idiot to have unprotected sex with, but compared to the Palins he’s Bertrand Russell. And why did he lie? Because he wanted to see his kid and he said what she told him to say. Whichever she it was. The Palin sheborg. Now it’s off and he’s free to recant. It didn’t ring true anyway. And if he spilled the dirt he claims to have on her [and that might be a bluff, too] then Sullivan will come back early. He’d come back from the dead for that. At least he hates the right people.
schrodinger's cat
When are we going to understand that we cannot be hundred percent safe, no matter what we do. Other countries have faced terror threats, England and India come to mind, without indulging in excessive security theater.
burnspbesq
@schrodinger’s cat:
Of all the airports I’ve ever used, I think Bangalore had the highest ratio of serious looking guys with guns to passengers trying to get on planes. And England is the world leader in deployment of CCTV cameras in public spaces. So you may not have picked the best examples, but I do take your larger point.
schrodinger's cat
@burnspbesq: You are probably right, I haven’t traveled to both the places in a while.
JAHILL10
@Corner Stone: Since this is an open thread: The number of troops in Iraq is now below 50,000, not the 90,000 you predicted and it isn’t even the end of August yet. As per our wager last month, I believe you owe me an internet.
D-Chance.
I had to google “The Situation”. And I still don’ know what the Hell it is. And I think I’m caring less and less by the moment… kinda like my initial interest in what a “Lady Gaga” was.
I think that now makes me an official fuddy-duddy and old crank. Or something.
asiangrrlMN
@Violet: I’m really sorry this happened to you. I would not have handled that well at all. And, I do think they crossed a line.
@Prof. K&G: That ain’t right. I don’t think that’s standard protocol unless they implemented it in the last few months. I flew in April, and I did not have to go through that.
@Catsy: Thank you for the link. ACLU is doing good work on this one. You are right. This is sexual assault, and it’s not OK.
NobodySpecial, agree with you on Sully. He ain’t worth my time.
EthylEster
@schrodinger’s cat wrote:
When I flew out of Schipol in June, the scanner was at the gate, which makes much more sense to me. Costs more, of course.
I’m a pretty modest person about my body. I don’t choose to show much skin in public. But going through the scanner did not bother me at all. I don’t really get the “horror” of the scanner. But I can tell you one thing: having heard the alternative process described here, I’ll continue to elect to be scanned.
Corner Stone
@JAHILL10:
Ahhh, but we still have 4 days to ramp back up!!
Also, too, I can only afford about a 1/4 of an internet at the moment. Do they put those on layaway anywhere?
Alternatively, I have quite a few Lego I can box up and send you.
Pangloss
You know what makes airport security screenings so much fun? The 1970s porn music.
Mumphrey
@comrade scott’s agenda of rage:
Well, that’s the most obvious answer, but I don’t know if it’s the right one. He began writing for Mondale. Do people become racists later in life? I guess they could though it seems more likely that they’d become less racist. It’s easy to see he became astoundingly conservative, but I don’t know about racist.
It seems more likely that he’s become incredibly cynical and willing to lie, but that happens a lot. It’s the seething anger I don’t get.
Cain
@Prof. K&G:
You also have to pay for your hand luggage. What a country! I mean so this is what it means to travel anywhere? You have to have someone clench your genitals? Can we at least let it be someone we’re attracted to?
cain
zuzu
I continue to be gobsmacked at the TSA’s privacy abuses, and I can only wonder where the class-action section 1983 claim is.
I worked on strip-search litigation for the NYPD for over two years, and they would have lost a civil rights suit had they done that to someone who had not yet been convicted where there wasn’t some reason to suspect contraband or weapons.
But they probably wouldn’t do that, because they wouldn’t be touching your junk in a strip search with visual body cavity inspection; they’d make *you* move it out of the way.
I don’t like the scanners because I don’t trust the TSA to irradiate me.
Sandi
I would much rather go through the humiliation of a full body scan, or even a semi- invasive pat-down than allow terrorists a way to commit their crimes. If everyone has to go through it, it’s annoying, but it’s not personal. The problem that I have is why can’t you bring fingernail clippers? Really, they’re more dangerous than the knives in first class, the glass bottles (that could be broken), or even a pen?
YellowJournalism
Except, these things do little to stop terrorists from committing their crimes.
I agree with you entirely, though, on the fingernail clipper thing.