TSA Harming U.S. Economy Like The Terrorists Would

Long TSA lines at Denver's airport recentlh.  

One of the goals of terrorists who want to attack the Good Ole USA is to disrupt our economy.

After all, spectacular attacks, cyber attacks or just the fear generated by terrorists deflate our economy.

The cost of attacks, the problems with travel, the problems with security are all a drag on commerce.

If I didn't know better, I'd now think the terrorists have hired out the TSA to harm the U.S. economy.

I know, I know, the TSA is meant to enhance our security, not mess it up.

But the huge lines at airports generated by various Congressional and TSA bureaucratic failures mean the economy is going to be harmed, at least a bit.

I'll admit the TSA doesn't mean to harm the United States, at least I don't think so, I worry they are causing harm.

As the New York Times reported earlier this month:

"A combination of fewer Transportation Security Administration screeners, tighter budgets, new checkpoint procedures and growing numbers of passengers is already creating a mess at airports around the country.

While federal security officials say they are hiring and training hundreds of additional screening officers, matters are not expected to improve anytime soon.

Airline and airport officials have said they fear that the current slowdown will last through the year and could cause a summer travel meltdown when more than 220 million passengers are expected tto fly during the peak travel months of July and August."

Already, we've gotten numerous reports of three-hour waits at TSA lines.

These lines are already disrupting business. The Tiimes article quoted Ben Cheever, a support engineer for a cybersecurity firm, who missed a flight despite showing up more than two hours ahead of his scheduled departure from Seattle recently.

"It was the most miserable business trip I ever had," he said.

American Airlines says slower security lines are causing flight delays and forcing them to rebook passengers. I'm seldom sympathetic toward airlines, but these delays and rebookings are certainly costing airlines money.

Airport managers are fuming, too. One example was on March 25 when 600 people missed flights at the airport in Charlotte, North Carolina because an inadequate number of TSA screeners caused waits of three hours or more.

It keeps getting worse. USA Today reported at least 450 people stranded overnight at Chicago's O'Hare airport because of hours long security  lines.

There's plenty of blame to go around. Working for the TSA is a thankless job, what with the lack of training, poor morale, low pay while the muckymucks get big bonuses, nasty passengers and such. People are quitting the TSA in droves.

Congress won't appropriate enough money for the TSA to do its job. Airlines are saddling us with fees, so more people are carrying bags aboard planes to avoid paying checked luggage fees, which slows everything down.

Perhaps the airlines could perhaps ease checked baggage fees? That's too much to ask for.

We, the public screw it up, too, by either accidentally or on purpose trying to bring stuff on board planes that we're not supposed to. Everytime they find something we have that's wrong, it slows the works down.

Airports like the one in San Francisco and Phoenix have kicked out or are considering, kicking out the TSA in favor of private contractors.

As BoingBoing points out, that's maybe even worse, because private contractors are not held accountable for incidents like when their agents damage or steal passengers' possessions.

It amazes me that the TSA, Congress, airlines and everyone else can't -  or more likely won't -- get their acts together.

There are worse things that can happen to a person than get stuck in a long security line. I get that.

But in claiming to prevent the problems associated with terrorism by causing things that terrorists want -- disruption -- is a little weird.

I'm not optimistic the TSA, Congress or whoever is in charge will fix this problem.

It's just another of a million examples of our dysfunctional government.

No matter so many voters are so angry and frustrated. And there's nothing we can do about it, which makes me sad.

Tamir Rice Ambulance Billing FIasco: City Won't Seek Money From Family After All

The city of Cleveland is suing the family of
Tamir Rice, trying to claw back  $500
ambulance bill for the kid after the city's police
 fatally shot him. 

UPDATE: 

The Mayor of Cleveland finally responded to this mess and says this whole thing was a mixup.

And more importantly, Tamir Rice's family won't be billed for the ambulance after all.

Cleveland Mayor Frank Jackson said the bill had been previously canceled, but the executor of the Tamir Rice estate had they needed a copy of the billing statement to deal with Medicaid paperwork.

This made it look like the Rice family was being billed, but that wasn't the intention,  Jackson said.

He added that the city would look at its procedures so this doesn't happen again.

To me, this looks like it could be classic backpedaling by the city, but of course I can't prove that. The most important thing is the Rice family won't be hounded to pay this bill

PREVIOUS DISCUSSION

Pretty much everybody hates what happened with Tamir Rice, the 12 year old kids in Cleveland who was gunned down by police in 2014.

Cleveland Police shot Tamir after he was seen playing with what looked liked a gun, but was a replica in a Cleveland Park.

A grand jury did not indict the officers who shot the kid, but Tamir's family is suing the city, in part because officers did not give him any emergency aid after he was shot.

An FBI agent, then an ambulance crew eventually showed up and tried to save him, but were not able to.

Now, his family was just slapped with a $500 past-due notice for the ambulance ride Tamir got after he was shot.

Says Cleveland Scene:

"'That the city would submit a bill and call itself a creditor after having had its own police officers slay 12-year-old Tamir displays a new pinnacle of callousness and insensitivity,' of of Rice's family attorneys, Subodh Chandra, told Scene this afternooon. 'This kind of poor judgement that it takes to do such a thing is nothing short of breathtaking. Who on earth would think this is a good idea and file this on behalf of the city? This adds insult to homicide.'"

I'll tell you who would do this:  Somebody in the city wanted to send a message to anybody who would object to police shooting any young black teen or man. Anywhere.

So they try to make it as horrible for Rice's family as possible. To tell the rest of the black community nationwide: If we white officers shoot your black teenager, shut up about it. Don't make a stink. And for God's sake don't do the Black Lives Matter thing.

Cleveland.com reported that no city officials would comment so far on the ambulance bill. The city told other media outlets it doesn't comment on pending litigation, which is of course a weasly way out.

That's typical too. The Mafia doesn't exactly fall all over itself responding to media requests.

I'm obviously not saying most cities or police agencies act like the Mob. The overwhelming majority do not. I shouldn't even have to say it, it's so obvious, but to a few, the attitude is if you criticize one aspect of police work in one community, you hate all police.

In this case, it's not the Cleveland Police union that's instigating this latest outrage. The union president, Steve Loomis, sharply criticized the city for billing Rice's family for the ambulance, and found rare agreement with Chandra.

Note that Loomis called Rice an adult in a kids body who caused his own death. That he would blast the city for sending the ambulance bill definitely says something

Television station Fox 8 in Cleveland, quoted Loomis saying this:

"'Subodh Chandra and I have never agreed on anything until now. It is unconscionable that the City of Cleveland would send that bill to the Rice familu. Truly disappointing but unfortunately not surprising."

Still, it's extremely disturbing that when somebody rightfully objects to moments when white police officers kill black people when it's apparent said black person is not an immediate threat, somebody retaliates against those who complain. Like the Mafia.

It's happened before, just recently.

Chicago Police officer Robert Rialmo sued the family of Quintonio LaGrier for $10 million last week.  LaGrier was a mentally ill teen who police shot after LaGrier's father called police during the disturbance. During that incident, police also shot and killed a downstairs neighbor.

Rialmo says the shooting, and a wrongful death lawsuit the LaGrier family filed, has caused him "emotional trauma."

Poor thing.

Rialmo's suit says LaGrier swung a baseball bat at him several times, just missing him. So, according to the suit, it was LaGrier's fault that he died.

Rialmo's attorney, Joel Brodsky said the fact that LaGrier's family filed a lawsuit so quickly makes Rialto want to point out that "having a relative killed in an officer-involved shoting is not the same thing as winning the lottery."

Yeah, I'm sure that's whaty LaGrier's father called the cops. He saw an opportunity to win the lottery.

Maybe LaGrier's family should sue again, for the emotional distress of having Rialto act like the thug he apparently is.

Your Day Will Be Horrible If You Didn't Buy All That Stuff In Late Night Infomercials

This woman has a disaster with a toilet plunger
as she incompetently gets through her day
in infomercials. 

I don't stay up late to watch infomercials.

But I love the actors in them and how terribly they struggle until they get the perfect product in the ad. But wait! There's more!!

I love these people because they seem so incompetent at life.

They can't handle the most simple tasks without creating a disaster and a mess. These people are fun to watch, but aren't you glad you don't have to live with them?

Here's a great compilation to show how difficult the entire daily routine is for the people in these ads. I'm SO glad life really isn't this hard.

Here's the video. It's hilarious!!