Mutiny on Flight 613

[skiandsurf]

the "White Express" line at the TSA checkpoint.

I am not really implying an "express line". But more expedited. See the 95% regular white guy will still get searched, as will the 80 year old lady. But the 5% "other line" will get the same search, just looked at more closely without delaying the regular line.

Everyone wins. The old lady in a wheelchair will have a shorter line, this not tying up the regular line while the 80 year old lady in the chair explains why she is setting off the alarms with her artificial knee. The "other" (blacks, mexicans, arabs) will have a smaller line too. Remember they only make up about 5% of the traveling public. Wouldnt you like if they had a line for "put in your home address". You would have a line to yourself.

 

[wmuflyguy]

We are never going to be 100% safe, a determined terrorist, and these guys are, will find a way. It is sad but true.

How secure are the roads that go around the airport property? It doesn't take much for someone to get a hold of a rocket of some kind and blast at us while we take-off or land. This seems like a more likely threat now than sneaking an explosive on a plane.

Hell in 2003 some fisherman fishing in the water next to JFK, washed ashore and wandered onto the taxiway's. They couldn't find their way out and had to flag down the polic themselves after 70 minutes wandering around.

 

[414Flyer]

Profiling is a terrible idea, not only because its blatant racism, but because it simply tells potential terrorists what exactly screeners are looking for. What stops a terrorist organization from using a white guy, a black guy, an Asian, hispanic etc etc? Evil cares not about the color of skin, but the person underneath that skin. Eric Harris and Dylan Klebold of Columbine were both white kids with problems, what happens when another pair of white kids with problems finds comfort in extremist Islam? Judging soley by the color of their skin fails at that point when they are sent through the "White Express" line at the TSA checkpoint. This incident on the Monarch flight shows that in this case, profiling didn't work because obviously these gentlemen were not a threat because they were not detained and were flown back on Wednesday without trouble.

Would you be happy if you could be kicked off an airplane because of your skin color? And not by someone with law enforcement authority, but by a bunch of panicing passengers that "thought" the language they couldn't even understand sounded threatening. From the looks of these posts, a lot of you sound like you'd be glad to go back to times of segregation. Heck, why don't we start finding some witches to burn while we're at it?

It looks like you are more concerned with feelings and emotions and "happy", more than anything else. Profiling is not racism, it is allocating limited resources, to the more statistically likely people to commit terrorist. Its not about segregation and witch burnings, although nice try at a red herring.

To me, it folly to suggest that everyone deserves the same level of scrutiny. Some people just should be looked at a bit more, in addition to the standard level of security everyone should go through. Yes, maybe some feelings may get hurt, oh well they should get over it. A young male from countries Saudi Arabia, Pakistan, deserve some extra attention than most others will.

 

[skiandsurf]

If a bank is robbed at gun point and the witness describe the thief as a "white male, bald head, and mid 40s"....does it make since to stop an 80 year old lady or an 18 year old muslim? No. They will only look at those that fit the description.

 

[AirBadger]

If a bank is robbed at gun point and the witness describe the thief as a "white male, bald head, and mid 40s"....does it make since to stop an 80 year old lady or an 18 year old muslim? No. They will only look at those that fit the description.

Thats because the guy commited a crime. What we're talking about here is just assuming that a certain person is going to commit a crime based on their skin color or religion. The two guys on this Monarch flight didn't commit a crime, but they got "prosecuted" anyway by a group of vigilantes who in a state of fear and panic made a dumb decision.

 

[AirBadger]

It looks like you are more concerned with feelings and emotions and "happy", more than anything else. Profiling is not racism, it is allocating limited resources, to the more statistically likely people to commit terrorist. Its not about segregation and witch burnings, although nice try at a red herring.

To me, it folly to suggest that everyone deserves the same level of scrutiny. Some people just should be looked at a bit more, in addition to the standard level of security everyone should go through. Yes, maybe some feelings may get hurt, oh well they should get over it. A young male from countries Saudi Arabia, Pakistan, deserve some extra attention than most others will.

Your idea of profiling may not be segregation, but some of these folks want different lines for different types of people based on skin color and religion. That, my friend, is segregation. I do agree that certain people need extra scrutiny, but based on their actions and behavior, not skin color or religion. And some of you guys really are willing to give the TSA even more power. Do you really want that? Being the airline pilots you are, you clearly understand how much of a mess that organization is, do you think they are ready to handle even more power? I certainly don't. I'm going to leave the "extra scrutiny" to the state department, CIA, NSA, FBI, and all of the fine young men and women in the military fighting for us over seas.

 

[414Flyer]

Thats because the guy commited a crime. What we're talking about here is just assuming that a certain person is going to commit a crime based on their skin color or religion. The two guys on this Monarch flight didn't commit a crime, but they got "prosecuted" anyway by a group of vigilantes who in a state of fear and panic made a dumb decision.

Well with that logic, it would have been unfair to have singled out the 9/11 hijackers during the ticketing, security or boarding process, because a crime had not been committed yet.

 

[AirBadger]

Well with that logic, it would have been unfair to have singled out the 9/11 hijackers during the ticketing, security or boarding process, because a crime had not been committed yet.

The system failed to protect us on 9/11 because warnings were ignored, people were ignored, and we had gotten complacent. We could have stopped the OKC bombing if there was a ban on Ryder moving trucks near the federal building, but at the time it just didn't make any sense. Hindsight is always 20/20.

 

[pkober]

Were you one the types that complained about NSA "wire tapping"? Did you cheer when the media reported how we are tracking terrorist money?

Just wondering where you stand on those issues.

CLAMBAKE

 

[AirBadger]

Were you one the types that complained about NSA "wire tapping"? Did you cheer when the media reported how we are tracking terrorist money?

Just wondering where you stand on those issues.

CLAMBAKE

While the NSA was found to have broken the FISA laws, our country still needs an organization dedicated to electronic surveillance of potential threats. However, I do believe that these operations should be conducted within the confines of the law. If the government wants to survey citizens without warrants, the citizens should be the ones who get to decide whether to allow that sort of thing or not. And the tracking money thing, everyone knew we were tracking the financial details of terrorists, it's nothing new. Back before 9/11 an article was written about how SWIFT worked with the CIA tracking finances of Bin Laden. Even the administration talked about how they track terrorist finances. If someone doesn't want information leaked, they need to tighten the leash on their employees, because the government knows by now that the media loves to get the big scoop first.