TSA lacks tools, training to keep us safe

TSA system needs radical changes

A Buzz writer asked airplane passengers: “quick or safe?”

The reality is neither.

The TSA is understaffed and lacking the tools or training to be efficient or effective.

Recent testing resulted in 95 percent of contraband items not being detected by TSA screening, while wait times have grown to multiple hours.

The current system does not work and needs a radical new paradigm.

I see a pattern in Bald Head treatment

I had a similar experience 14 years ago on Bald Head Island.

I allowed my then-15 1/2-year-old son, who had taken drivers ed and had a learner’s permit, to drive our golf cart. He was stopped about 20 yards from the driveway of our rented house.

I attempted to talk to the officer, and the back-up officer, about not giving my son a ticket.

The more we talked, the worse it got.

Later, I talked to the town manager to no avail.

Back in Charlotte, a lawyer advised me to pay the somewhat expensive ticket given it would be cheaper than fighting it.

I’ve never been back to Bald Head and have discouraged anyone who would listen from going.

Bald Head mom gets no sympathy from me

A speeder can’t expect to berate a cop for stopping them and drive away with a warning.

Similarly, ordinance-violator Julie Mall can’t put her finger in an officer’s face and expect to be given a pass for her crime.

It’s no surprise the officer on Bald Head Island charged her for her dangerous violation and added more when she challenged his authority and failed to cooperate.

If you don’t like an officer’s reaction to your lawlessness, shut up and complain to his supervisor the day after.

OK to let kids strive for valedictorian

Wake County’s timorous school board asserts that recognizing the valedictorian title in its schools is ostensibly causing “unhealthy competition” so they are working toward abolishing it.

CMS, do not follow this misstep.

The real world does recognize and reward the CEO. Let’s tell these kids striving for the top is healthy.

Chamber needs to stand with the City

While the Charlotte Chamber has the city’s economic interests at heart, it is talking to the wrong governmental body.

Charlotte did nothing wrong in passing this ordinance.

The City Council merely brought Charlotte into the 21st century and up to speed with 200 other cities nationwide.

We all know the legislature tried to punish Charlotte and use it as an example for other cities that might try progressive legislation. But the backlash they’ve gotten, literally from around the world, has them backed into a corner.

The Chamber needs to stand with the City and urge the legislature to rescind HB2. Then possibly, honest conversations can begin between Charlotte and Raleigh about those issues that cause discomfort.

A conservative seeking compromise

I am a conservative who voted for our governor, but I think he should have vetoed HB2 – although I don’t think he was being anti-LGBT.

I suppose somewhere at sometime a transgender person was harassed or humiliated when they made their bathroom choice. For that, I am sorry.

That said, I do not think my ninth-grade granddaughter is ready to shower with her biological male classmate who is going through the transgender dilemma.

So my liberal friends, how do we come together on this problem created by Charlotte’s mayor?

This story was originally published May 26, 2016 at 5:40 PM with the headline "TSA lacks tools, training to keep us safe."