Outside the Beltway

An example of security theater with proven negative social impacts

Pundits like Thomas Friedman struggle with premature prognostication.

Reflections on the events of 6 January two months later.

The ‘permanent record’ of yesteryear is now real. Should there be limitations?

Finally, the FAA acts to end a pretty dumb rule.

We shouldn’t overreact. But we shouldn’t fool ourselves either: We’re not safe.

Security at the Republican Convention in Tampa looks more like a war zone than a political convention in a democratic republic.

Chuck Shumer wants to force airlines to let families sit together for free.

Security theater and the bureaucratic mentality.

The TSA is deploying VIPR units to weigh stations and bus stations in TN.

When the FBI essentially creates a terrorist in order to arrest him, have we really accomplished anything?

Measuring our progress a decade after the 9/11 attacks

I’ve begun to wonder about the future of U. S. security policy. This isn’t a serious analytical post; it’s just what I call “musing”—committing disorganized thoughts to writing.

One U.S. Senator wants to bring elements of the TSA’s security theater to America’s rail system.

Osama bin Laden is dead, but he’s succeeded in changing America for the worse.

Another case of TSA groping has hit the media.

Washington D.C.’s 34 year-old Metro system is about to become the latest stage for Security Theater.

Those of us who think we’re overreacting to terrorism should remember that we’re in a tiny minority.

Despite the recent media outrage over TSA search procedures, public attitudes on the subject remain largely supportive.

It’s not hypocritical or racist to support an aggressive pursuit of terrorists while getting outraged over abuses of Americans’ liberties.

“It is not comfortable to come to work knowing full well that my hands will be feeling another man’s private parts, their butt, their inner thigh. Even worse is having to try and feel inside the flab rolls of obese passengers and we seem to get a lot of obese passengers!”

Are the American people finally waking up to the absurdity of TSA security theater? One can only hope they are.

It appears that full body scanners, operated by leering yahoos under the cover of government authority, may finally be rousing the sheep who have meekly submitted to the absurd delays and indignities that have been piled on since 9/11 and sundry botched attempts.