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by trust-me 4827 days ago
"Apparently, the TSA's official policy is (or at least was) that, if asked my me if I am allowed to remove my leg and place it on the x-ray conveyor belt, they are to tell me doing so is forbidden. However, if I simply do so, they are not to stop me. I presume the theory to be that travelers might somehow mis-understand and create a PR disaster by claiming that an amputee was forced to remove his leg."

Wow, I was reading a few books on USSR lately and this is exactly how the soviet low enforcement functioned. It's very hard for servicemen to find balance between common sense and social traditions on one side and the madness of totalitarian authority.