TSA news is back, please hold your applause until the end.
### Body Scanning
The TSA’s mother, DHS, has admitted now that their porno-scanners are only good for peep shows, and [have asked DARPA to step in and make more bad-ass scanners for them](http://www.wired.com/dangerroom/2012/08/dhs-darpa-body-scanners/). So TSA got all hot and bothered installing these scanners in 2010, now have more than 700 of them in operation, and just two years later they need new ones?
That’s what I call effective fiscal spending.
### Mom, The Courts are Being Meany-heads
Back on July 15th, 2011 (that’s last year) the TSA was ordered by the courts to hold a public hearing and comment period on the use of porno-scanners. To date, they still have not done so and say that they expect to do so in February of 2013 (that’s next year) — which would be 19 months after the court order. [As David Kravets reports](http://www.wired.com/threatlevel/2012/08/tsa-no-scanner-stonewalling/):
>The agency said in a court filing Thursday that there was “no basis whatsoever for its assertion that TSA has delayed implementing this court’s mandate.”
No basis, none at all. 19 months is *totally* speedy compared to airport security lines.
### Angry Birds for Angry Screeners
The TSA is going to fire 6 screeners for, [well here’s what Katie Johnston reports](http://www.bostonglobe.com/business/2012/08/27/tsa-moves-fire-bag-screeners-suspend-logan/XpOcnodDyWaqYK3ZgPUltN/story.html):
>The action was triggered by a routine audit that showed some officers were not paying close attention to computer monitors that display the contents of each bag as they are screened by an explosives detection machine, according to the TSA. The screeners were distracted by their cellphones and other electronic devices.
I bet that’s no big deal though:
>No dangerous materials got through the detection system as a result of these lapses, the TSA said, noting that bags pass through several more layers of checks after they are screened.
See, not a big deal… wait. Two thoughts:
1. Once through the x-ray screener there are no more checks on my bag before I take it to the plane. So this is a load of bullshit.
2. If the TSA truly knows that nothing bad got through, then doesn’t this kind of prove the point that the TSA really is pointless. I mean if the TSA not doing their job results in the same thing as them doing their job would… that’s probably too rational though, never mind.