Travelers rejoice: The TSA is finally nixing its stupid shoe rule.
After forcing us all to remove roughly 100 million pieces of footwear these past 19 years.
To no real point, except security theater.
Period.
The TSA will no longer require passengers to remove their shoes while going through security at airports. AP Photo/Ann Johansson, FileThe Transportation Security Administration geniuses only imposed the rule years after the “shoe bomber” failed, maybe simply to distract us all from the also-maddening restrictions on liquids.
Enforcement has long been inconsistent, with some lines at some airports mysteriously exempted.
(No one dares ask why the rules are looser that day, and so risk TSA agent revenge, whether a pat-down or enough delay that you miss your flight.)
Travelers under age 12 and over 75 apparently can’t hide explosives in their shoes, as they’ve long been completely exempt.
And of course forking over $78 to join TSA Pre-check also lets you stay shod.
Even if TSA higher-ups pretend that tech advances allow the end of this idiocy, we have to suspect it actually reflects the nation’s new political leadership.
Maybe someday soon someone will pay some attention to the matter of the ban on toothpaste over 3.5 ounces …
