It's all in the interests of our safety

Just in case you needed more evidence that this nation has lost its collective mind:

A 22-year-old University of Michigan student going through a security checkpoint at Philadelphia Airport was stopped by a TSA employee, who reached into her computer case and pulled out a small plastic bag of powder -- the sort of bag used to carry earrings, or drugs. He demanded to know where she had got it. And told her she'd better tell the truth.

As tears began rolling down her cheeks, the TSA employee said he was kidding, and “you should have seen the look on your face.”

http://tinyurl.com/yl9wc8b

Isn't this hilarious? Read on.

A US Airways Express flight en route from New York LaGuardia to Louisville, Ky., was diverted to Philadelphia because a flight attendant told the pilot that a passenger was behaving suspiciously and had something that might be a bomb. The TSA released a statement saying the diversion was due to a “disruptive passenger.”

The perp turned out to be a Jewish teenager who decided to use his time on the plane by praying. As is the custom of Orthodox Jewish men and boys, he strapped on tefillin – small leather boxes containing verses from scripture – to his arms and head. When he was taken off the plane, he and his 13-year-old sister were placed in handcuffs.

http://tinyurl.com/ylpn9kr

The TSA employee who terrorized the student apparently either resigned or was fired – “as of today, the employee is no longer with TSA,” Blogger Bob said on the TSA’s blog (which, by the way, offers hours of family entertainment) – but his identity cannot be released because his privacy must be respected.

OK, I have a few questions.

1. If a passenger makes a joke about terrorism, or just about anything, he or she is arrested. The passenger’s name would be splashed across the media. Why does a government employee get both a get-out-of-jail-free card and privacy protection?
2. The TSA guy apparently was involved in training screeners to look for “contraband.” Hello? I thought they were supposed to look for bombs and such. Yes, powder can be used in explosives, but what the TSA guy had was more in keeping with a package of drugs. Is the TSA once again engaging in mission creep?
3. Despite the fact that the terrorized passenger reported the incident on the spot, it took about two weeks for the TSA guy to become disemployed. And only after it became a news story. In fact, he wasn’t even taken off the floor after his “joke” was reported. What do you have to do to get fired from the TSA (besides ending up in the news)?
4. OK, maybe I should cut the ignorant US Airways flight attendant some slack, even though her job takes her to New York, which is probably home to more tefillin than any other place on earth. We can’t all know everything about every religion. But why was the praying teenager described as “disruptive”?
5. And why was his 13-year-old sister placed in handcuffs?