It is time to go to profiling of dangerous people instead of harassing and retsricting the innocentI don't know why nobody's thought of that before, it seems so obvious.
I'm certainly no fan of the TSA, or security theater, etc, but domestic US air travel is generally not that bad, and it's not actually that much worse than before 9/11 (except for very specific occasions, like when they introduced the liquid ban - I was in line for a flight that day, woohoo!). The only real difference overall, in my own experience as a frequent business traveler, is that (a) I have to take off my shoes, and (b) I have to take some electronics out of my bag. Annoying, yes; nightmare, no.Actually, the liquids thing is pretty darned inconvenient. It means that I have to either pay the extortion fee to check a bag, or I can't bring most of my toiletries along. Even beyond the incredible annoyance of having to buy little containers and transfer stuff into them, I have really long hair and use a lot of conditioner. Having to ration it is just one more pain. Not to mention that I'd like to bring my own beverage, especially now that the airlines often don't provide meals anymore. Is it the most horrible thing ever? No. Is the whole thing annoying enough that I'll often choose to drive 800 miles rather than deal with the TSA? Yes.
I'm pretty damn sure I could design a model for them where it would both filter out 99.9% of the trash and yet still making flying a somewhat of an enjoyable experience. It's not that flipping hard.So do it.
Current policies pretty much break every single word and intent of the Fourth. The Founding Fathers had exactly such security checkpoints in mind (though not exclusively) when they came up with that wording, and saw it as an absolutely intolerable abuse of government power.My own understanding of the motivation behind the Fourth Amendment is a bit different from this. But in any case, no one is compelled to submit to this search, because no one is compelled to fly. I have to go through a metal detector to go all sorts of places, but it's a ridiculous argument to state that this is a violation of my rights unless I'm compelled to go to those places.
Basically, the problem I'm having is that I've been having extreme loneliness...for many years. I don't really know what to do because I'm not the type who likes to go out much, and I'm just shy and quiet. Even on the internet, I don't feel comfortable posting much because it exposes myself. Sometimes people are so mean.Everybody needs a hug sometimes.
So I'm trying to figure out what to do. I just wish I had someone to give me attention and stuff. I wish I had someone who would be there to listen to me, and always be nice to me. It really hurts to have someone neglect me or be mean. Unfortunately, a weakness of mine is that I'm sensitive, but I think I became more sensitive after something bad happened some years ago.
I wish I had at least one nice person to talk to, maybe over e-mail or Messenger. Of course, if I could find someone to marry, then Insha'Allah I would have someone in real life to give me all the attention and affection I wanted. So far, the families we've met aren't interested in me, though.
Eight years ago, a terrorist bomber’s attempt to blow up a transatlantic airliner was thwarted by a group of passengers, an incident that revealed some gaping holes in airline security just a few months after the attacks of Sept. 11. But it was six days before President George W. Bush, then on vacation, made any public remarks about the so-called shoe bomber, Richard Reid, and there were virtually no complaints from the press or any opposition Democrats that his response was sluggish or inadequate.posted by ericb at 3:08 PM on December 30, 2009 [4 favorites]
That stands in sharp contrast to the withering criticism President Barack Obama has received from Republicans and some in the press for his reaction to Friday’s incident on a Northwest Airlines flight heading for Detroit.
Democrats have seized on the disparity and are making it a centerpiece of their efforts to counter GOP attacks on the White House. “This hypocrisy demonstrates Republicans are playing politics with issues of national security and terrorism,” DNC spokesman Hari Sevugan said. “That they would use this incident as an opportunity to fan partisan flames … tells you all you need to know about how far the Republican Party has fallen and how out of step with the American people they have become.”
"An East Boston District Court judge sentenced Simpson to one year of supervised pretrial probation on a charge of disorderly conduct and ordered her to perform 50 hours of community service, half of which much be completed with veterans, and to publicly announce that she had made a mistake.She graduates in 2010.
“I want to apologize for the results of my conduct on September 21, 2007. Although I never intended to act in a disorderly fashion, I now realize that the shirt I created caused alarm and concern at Logan Airport,” Simpson said in a statement released Monday by her attorney, Thomas E. Dwyer, Jr. “I am appreciative to the Massachusetts State Police for their diligence in protecting our citizens and apologize for the expense that was caused that day.”
...Simpson was originally charged with “possession of a hoax device,” a charge which would require prosecutors to show she meant to scare people with her circuit board, which contained light-emitting diodes in the shape of a star. But they “determined that they could not move forward on that count and dismissed it to the disorderly [conduct] charge,” according to a press release supplied by Wark.
Instead of going to trial, Simpson accepted the pretrial probation offer on Monday, June 2. If Simpson performs the community service and does not re-offend in the next year, the charge of disorderly conduct will be dropped. (Otherwise, the district attorney’s press release says, “the case will be returned to the court docket for trial.”) Simpson said she does not yet know what the community service will be.
"...I am not sure why she had the Play-Doh in her hands. She could not explain that," [State Police Maj. Scott] Pare said."posted by ericb at 7:28 AM on December 31, 2009
The FBI uses the raw information contained in the TIDE databank to determine whether to put the subject onto the government's terror watch list, known as the Terrorism Screening Data Base. That list contains the names and aliases of about 400,000 people, but AbdulMutallab didn't make the cut.posted by ericb at 11:30 AM on December 31, 2009
According to Chad Kolton, a spokesman for the FBI's Terror Screening Center, there wasn't enough hard evidence to back up AbdulMutallab's father's fears, and so he wasn't placed on the terror list.
The bureau's own Web site spells out the criteria for inclusion in the screening database, saying that "only individuals who are known or reasonably suspected to be or have been engaged in conduct constituting, in preparation for, in aid of, or related to terrorism are included."
The determination not to put AbdulMutallab on the screening list had far-reaching consequences.
In May, the U.S. Justice Department's inspector general issued a report on the watch-list process, including a flow chart describing how anyone suspected of terrorist ties passes through a series of lists, the most serious of which includes the Transportation Security Administration's no-fly list. Making it from the TIDE database to the FBI's screening list is the key.
Because AbdulMutallab didn't make the screening database, his name could not then be sent onto the watch lists maintained by the TSA: the "selectee list," which law enforcement sources say includes about 14,000 names, and the "no-fly" list, which those sources say bans some 4,000 people from boarding any commercial flight destined for the United States.
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posted by notyou at 6:31 PM on December 28, 2009 [1 favorite]