As noted in my two recent blog posts on this topic - Enough is Enough and Pilots Union to Pilots - the Federal Transportation Security Agency (TSA) adopted new personal search rules that included groping the private parts of men, women, and children in an effort to try to detect would-be underwear bombers from getting on board planes. 

Millions of people have been searched, and some number - I'll guess tens of thousands and counting - have either been sexually molested or electronically strip searched by the Federal Government since the adoption of these new procedures.  All because two Muslim men, flying into the US from a foreign land, packed concealed high explosives on their person with the intent of blowing up a plane.  Both failed.

Reuters had an article out today discussing the various organizations and people objecting to the institutionalized sexual assault that has become part of the security screening process for Americans trying board a commercial aircraft.  There was an interesting passage in this article which mentions that the Pilots Union and the TSA are in "urgent" talks.  The suggested reason for these talks:  Pilots are being told to call in sick if they feel "unfit for duty" after being groped by a TSA agent.  Something that has the sounds of a threatened sick-out, which would throw air travel into chaos.  As I said before, there IS power in numbers, and in this case, the TSA was forced to the table.  The Reuters article goes on to say the dispute between pilots and the TSA is expected to be resolved in a few weeks.  

As I have noted before, while the sexual assault aspect of these searches is utterly unacceptable to me without a 4th Amendment reasonable suspicion an individual is concealing explosives, it is particularly stupid to be searching pilots for weapons when they can kill all passengers on board simply by flying the plane into the ground from the comfort of a reinforced cockpit.   It's actually spectacularly asinine.

In addition to pilots, flight attendants are also objecting to getting groped.

But what about the rest of us?  A young radio broadcaster was recently treated harshly and intentionally publicly humiliated by the TSA and local police when she refused "enhanced" screening.  After being detained, which included being handcuffed to a chair, she was kicked out of the airport.  But get this:  to illustrate just what a sham these random searches are - the woman returned to the airport the next day, was not selected for the enhanced groping search, and allowed to board a plane!  Now you would think this woman who stood up for her 4th Amendment rights, would have wound up on the infamous do-not-fly list.  Nah, another day, another passenger.  The TSA knows, just as we know, this young woman was no threat to anybody.  The security screening is a complete joke.  An awful horrid disgustingly bad joke, on us.

Now some powerful travel lobbies are starting to get into the act, voicing their concern that a growing number of people just like me are declaring their refusal to fly under these outrageous conditions, which is detrimental to the entire travel/hospitality industry.  Congress apparently is set to start holding hearings on these searches when it resumes session soon, and at least one lawsuit is winding it's way through the legal process.  Also, a group is now calling for a National Opt-Out Day .  This really should be National Do Not Fly day instead.  Often it's only when you hit people in the pocket book to they sit up and take notice. 

Think about this:  for all the hundreds of millions spent on these passenger screening tools and procedures, there is one ultimate way to smuggle explosives on board that the TSA is currently powerless to stop.  Metal detectors are fine, they stop anyone from taking knives and guns on board a plane, but these "enhanced" measures - pointless, because a young Muslim male or female can hide a high explosive device in a body cavity, go completely undetected through these absurd screening measures, then get on the plane, go to the bathroom, extract the hidden explosives, reassemble their crude (and rude) bomb, and then blow themselves up; trying to take everyone else with them.

Now let's think about one more element of stupidity for The Stupid Nation.  Apparently, the rationale for these outrageous searches is, at least in part, that extraordinary measures are required to thwart the would be bombers out there who desire to go out in a blaze of glory with as much company as possible.  Yet, while it's perfectly ok to sexually molest passengers at random in the pursuit of stopping bombers, it is unthinkably verboten to single out primarily young Muslim males, and perhaps females, for special screening.  It is far more shocking to the conscience of some to profile for the demographic responsible for mass murder, than it is to sexually molest people - including kids - who want to get on a plane.  Folks, that is just plain stupid.

Because.....I know, and YOU know, and the TSA knows, that the only people trying to blow up aircraft these days are:  young Muslims.  No Baptists in the ranks, no Jews, no Methodists, no Catholics, no Moonies, not even Scientologists.....just young radicalized mostly male Muslims.  But for some unbelievably stupid reason, there are morons out there who think it's better to sexually molest millions of people who are in no-risk groups, than to target the demographic responsible for all these attacks. 

This isn't the Stupid Nation for nothing.