The Daily Patdown: Making light of the absurdity of the TSA

I’m no fan of the Transportation Security Administration, the agency of the U.S. Department of Homeland Security that handles passenger screening at the nation’s airports. TSA rules have made air travel a royal pain in the ass. The agency’s rules seem more designed to irritate everyday citizens than to catch potential terrorists. Plus, quite a few TSA screeners I’ve seen use their position of authority to bully, embarrass and demean passengers.
The TSA has become the butt of a lot of jokes in recent months. (See videos from “The Late Show with David Letterman” and Reason TV.) It doesn’t help the agency’s reputation when employees are accused of stealing $160,000 from luggage. Add to that reports of degrading searches (like this one or this one). The Wikipedia entry on the TSA documents a host of criticisms of the agency.
The website The Daily Patdown posts pictures of TSA agents frisking passengers.
After looking at the photos on the site, you have to wonder if the agents reasonably thought these passengers were security threats. The pictures show a lot of senior citizens, children and young women getting patdowns.
Let’s give up the political correctness and do profiling.