Why are TSA rules so confusing?

And why are they always yelling?

After our little two-week break, we’re officially back. We just returned from a little weekend trip which got us thinking again about how confusing and terrible it is to deal with the TSA. I am notoriously the world’s best rule follower and despite all their yelling, the TSA rules are still very confusing.

A screenshot from “Carry On” the most unrealistic TSA movie I have ever seen.

So I spoke with Darryl Campell, an aviation safety writer for The Verge and author of “Fatal Abstraction,” who did a deep dive on The Humiliating History of the TSA.

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Here are some links if you want to dive deeper into some of the things we talk about in this episode.

• The Skies Belong to Us: Love and Terror in the Golden Age of Hijacking

• Cost-benefit analysis of airport security: Are airports too safe?

• Assessing the Risks, Costs and Benefits of United States Aviation Security Measures

• TSA Misses 70% Of Fake Weapons But That's An Improvement

• Republicans suggest eliminating TSA with idea already used at SFO

@officialreggiecouzCause y’all mean af 😭😂

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Want to avoid the TSA? Darryl has a recommendation:

And it turns out we in America aren’t the only ones to struggle with airport security. Javi wrote to us about a heartbreaking story of having to throw out very fancy canned sardines in Rennes, France:

They also didn't even let me eat it in the airport… I think they just wanted to keep them themselves, but maybe they were right, and I would've highjacked the plane with my fancy fish, who knows?

Let us know about your experiences with TSA or airport security in general: mannynoahdevan@gmail.com.

We also got some incredible responses to what constitutes as black coffee from our latest mailbag episode. Jennifer’s husband Miquel (team “black coffee can include sugar”) thinks the coffee with milk drinkers are trying to drag team black coffee (including sugar) down with them.

Lydia, a nurse anesthetist who gives people instructions on what they can eat before surgery, which includes black coffee, says their official vote is black coffee = coffee with no additives, just bean filtrate and water.

Emily, a barista from Australia says the "purity" argument is a cultural one because in America a lot of coffee is very "unpure": syrups, sugar and creamers being considered a normal offering with coffee. Whereas in Australia and other parts of the world, most shops don't even have syrups and things.

And Caiti sent in this photo from Orcas Island Ferry.

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