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21 Nov 2010 14:21

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Politics: Max Headroom: TSA’s John Pistole says they can touch your junk

  • We’re trying out a new format for Max Headroom this week. The old format was nice, but we think this mix, with larger videos, might be easier on your squinty eyes. Check it out, and let us know what you think. And also, let us know how much the video below pisses you off:

  • Twelve minutes of evasion: Could TSA Chief John Pistole be more useless? He spends the entirety of this interview trying to explain in the vaguest terms possible how his bureaucracy isn’t going to budge despite a huge public outcry. Have to say that this jerk is really ticking us off.
  • Meet the guy in question Airport security target John Tyner was recently on Lawrence O’Donnell’s MSNBC show with noted libertarian free-liberty magician dude Penn Jillette. Personally, we’re amused by the fact that MSNBC’s tile cards refer to Tyner as the “Don’t touch my junk guy,” which is freaking hilarious. We gained more from watching this than we did the Pistole video.
  • … and they say TV news is useless Perhaps the biggest fail of the entire week was that of the WGN newscasters who waited to see a bridge collapse for ages, only to pan away just as it was happening. While claiming it’s a metaphor for their effervescent morning show, it’s really a metaphor for the Sam Zellified Tribune Company, which was asleep at the wheel for their recent bankruptcy.

15 Nov 2010 23:33

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U.S.: TSA to people they feel up: We need to do this, guys

  • Obviously, everybody has their own perspective about their personal screening. The question is, how do we best address those issues … while providing the best possible security?
  • TSA administrator John Pistole • Offering an explanation why the organization is being so hardcore about John “not my nuts, please” Tyner. We have an answer to your rhetorical question, John! It’s pretty straightforward: Focus your energy on improving intelligence and behavioral cues (which almost always catch the bad guys, anyway) and stop focusing so much on trying to cover every possible leak that goes through your scanners once. Security theater is just an act; John Tyner’s crotch is not a threat to national security. And pretending it is is a threat to national privacy, which is just as important.  source