Posted on 01/05/2019 11:46:26 AM PST by Kaslin
Saturday's media dump suggested that scores of TSA workers failed to show up to work as the government shutdown hits the two-week mark. According to CNN, "hundreds of TSA screeners" have called in sick, including at four major airports. At New York's John F. Kennedy International Airport, for instance, reportedly as many as 170 TSA employees failed to show up to work. The report, which quotes "two senior agency officials and three TSA employee union officials," suggests this is all very bad news for travelers.
"This will definitely affect the flying public who we (are) sworn to protect," Hydrick Thomas, president of the national TSA employee union, says in the report.
"Security effectiveness" will not be affected, but travelers may experience longer wait times, TSA spokesman Michael Bilello explained.
The call outs are believed to be "protests of the paycheck delay" that has resulted from the government shutdown, CNN writes, quoting a local union president in North Carolina, Mac Johnson, to hammer the point home.
The call outs are "creating a vulnerability" and screeners are "doing more with less," Johnson said.
Two of the sources, who are federal officials, described the sick outs as protests of the paycheck delay. One called it the "blue flu," a reference to the blue shirts worn by transportation security officers who screen passengers and baggage at airport security checkpoints.
A union official, however, said that while some employees are upset about the pay, officers have said they are calling in sick for more practical reasons. Single parents can no longer afford child care or they are finding cash-paying jobs outside of government work to pay their rent and other bills, for example.
CNN then suggests a few "theories" that could take place as a result of the drop in manpower, such as looser standards for checked baggage." The report ends with the admittance that there have been "no indications that any of these measures have been necessary or implemented."
The Department of Homeland Security press secretary said this is all a bunch of bologna.
More #FakeNews from @CNN. Security operations at airports have not been impacted by a non-existent sick out. CNN has the cell numbers of multiple @TSA public affairs professionals, but rather than validate statistics, they grossly misrepresented them. https://t.co/PzVeoIBt5R— Tyler Q. Houlton (@SpoxDHS) January 4, 2019
President Trump praised his DHS spokesperson for the bold retort, adding his own take.
Great Tweet today by Tyler Q. Houlton @SpoxDHS on the #FakeNews being put out by @CNN, a proud member of the Opposition Party. @TSA is doing a great job!— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) January 5, 2019
The government is shuttered because of an impasse between President Trump and leading Democrats over border security. Trump says he won't budge without the $5.6 billion he's asked for, some of which would go toward a border wall. Democrats say they're not giving him one cent for the structure and are stopping at $1.3 billion for border upgrades. The president is meeting with a group this weekend he assembled to tackle the issue and hopefully find a solution.
TSA (Thousands Standing Around) Their Motto: You don’t get on, unless we get off!
Given their level of failure at finding threats, we are getting a bonus by not having to pay them.
Great Tweet today by Tyler Q. Houlton @SpoxDHS on the #FakeNews being put out by @CNN, a proud member of the Opposition Party. @TSA is doing a great job!— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) January 5, 2019
...
I think Steve Bannon was the first to call the media the opposition party.
CNN’s trying their best to drum up hysteria over the shutdown. They’re asking viewers to send in their tales of woe:
https://www.cnn.com/us/live-news/government-shutdown-personal-stories/index.html
And then there’s this headline:
What? Even the panda cams? Government shutdown would hit National Zoo
https://www.cnn.com/2018/01/18/politics/panda-cameras-zoo-government-shutdown/index.html
And yes, the article is dated January 18, 2018 for some reason.
We will see. We leave for Jamaica in two weeks.
TSA wouldn’t pass up an opportunity.
The NYT was successfully demolished this week by two things. This story about that blazing liberal Webb as Secretary of Defense was exposed as an absolute intentional lie. Secondly, Jill Abrahamson, a former chief editor of that rag said herself that the New York Times was out of control “biased” against The President. All credibility is now gone at the NYT and it is now caught naked in the spotlight as a propaganda organ for the democrat party.( socialist , globalist , global warners , deep state and anti sovereightist)
My guess is the story was “true” in the sense that 170 TSA screeners really did call in sick. The TSA employs around 47,000 Transportation Security Officers, so 170 (one third of one percent) calling in sick during a holiday week is probably normal.
Oops: That was 170 in New York, but it's still probably normal.
I would say security at both locations are equal jokes. TSA is nothing more than bad security theater.
Actually, border security is better at catching contraband than the TSA...
TSA Pre? Best $85 I ever spent.
The lines are definitely getting longer. Anybody flying through Milwaukee or St. Louis can bear witness.
Yeah. Pure Kabuki. Very stylized and you aren’t supposed to see the stagehands.
Simply stated.
A very well paid fed job and they're starving and homeless after, maybe, one check is delayed.
They need to start listening to Dave Ramsey.
Better to get Global Entry if you have the opportunity.
I went thru TSA last week. I counted at least 5-6 standing around doing nothing. Then when the body scanner failed, no one in the check lane area knew how to fix it and they just sent everyone in that line thru the metal detector. No planes fell out of the sky. Weird.
It sure will!
Miilions of trasvelers will enjoy a resurgence of FREEDOM from being un-shoed; dis-robed and feltup by surly government workers.
Gramma's will be escorted to their seats and little kids will not have their stuffed animals molested!
Countless hours of line standing and waiting will be eliminated.
This will not; however, stop a terrorist drone from being sucked into the engine of a jet on takeoff.
If the MAfia ran it, it would be extortion money.
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