Last Thursday, a 9-year-old boy from Minneapolis did his very best Home Alone impression and managed to sneak on to a flight to Las Vegas without a ticket. Flight crews became suspicious when they noticed he was not on their "unattended minors" list, and he was promptly placed into custody upon landing and returned home to Minnesota.
Barring the obvious questions of "How does a 9-year-old get to an airport by himself?" and "Why would a 9-year-old go to Las Vegas?", the first thought on everyone's mind was "how did a person without a boarding pass get through security?"
Answer: According to the TSA, it was not their fault, as it is not their job to stop people, but merely to "stop dangerous items."
Ohhhhhh-kay.
Riddle me this, TSA: If you are not there to "stop people" why do you select people, including children, for random pat-downs? Furthermore, why does every passenger (normally) have to show a TSA agent some form of ID and a boarding pass to enter the terminal if the TSA is not there to stop people?
I guess we have just been suckers for buying airplane tickets all this time--just don't bring any blunt objects or liquids with you through security.
Just admit you made a mistake, TSA. It's not that hard.