When you really need to make air travel inconvenient, you need the clowns at TSA. When you need to ignore real threats, like young men from Muslim countries in favor of strip-searching 90-year-old women, you need the TSA.
But now, the TSA has gone from being the butt of jokes and the source of inconvenience to an organization of jackbooted thugs.
What has happened?
No, it is not the Viper Teams they are sending out to expand their reach and make America look ever more like a police state.
Over the holidays, the TSA decided to make a point and it destroyed luggage belonging to Todd Starnes of Fox News. Todd is an anchor on Fox News radio and a blogger. He is one of their best talents.
Todd posted photos and tweets about what happened on his twitter feed (@toddstarnes).
To make the story as short as possible, Todd was traveling with his luggage, which had a Fox News logo on it. The TSA ripped the logo off of his luggage, then sliced his luggage open, sealing it with tape that said, “Inspected. Transportation Security Administration.”
Gee, I wonder how many bombs slipped through security while the TSA goons were vandalizing Todd’s luggage?
Why did the TSA goon vandalize Todd’s luggage? Well, the obvious answer is because he does not like Fox News. The less obvious answer is because he thought he could.
The TSA thug thought he could send a message and his union and his employer would make certain he was protected.
Last night, Todd said, “TSA says it could take up to 6 months to investigate my bag they destroyed.”
Todd, let me give you some free legal advice. This was not a bureaucratic screw up. This was not a case of bad service or even an accident. You were the victim of a crime. At the very least you were the victim of a violation of your civil rights. There was also vandalism to your personal property.
Forget the TSA; file a criminal complaint with the FBI. I would also file a criminal complaint with the local authorities where your bag was inspected.
The news reports do not say where he flew out of and where the bag would have been inspected. In Tennessee, where I am licensed to practice law and where I spent 10 years as a prosecuting attorney, that vandalism would almost certainly be a felony. There are a couple of other felony charges that would be applicable too.
Even if Todd does not file criminal charges, the FBI and federal authorities should look into this as a criminal matter. I would hope they would but given the corrupt nature of the Obama regime, I doubt it.
One other thing that should happen is that our Congressmen and Senators should pull themselves away from having clueless celebrities come to Capitol Hill for hearings and instead schedule a hearing on what happened to Todd Starnes’ luggage and other TSA abuses.
In the meantime, we all need to very concerned about what is happening in this country. The TSA becomes more aggressive in attacking Americans, and yet does little to advance the goal for which it was created, namely making travel safe.
Republican candidates have named the agencies they would like to see dismantled if they become President. The TSA should rise to the top of that list.