What Terrorism and the Terrified Hath Wrought

[elder999]

In the meantime, I recently flew and the guy right in front of me was a soldier in uniform. The TSA made him take off his boots, belt, and all other pieces of metal. Then they scanned him and archived naked pictures of his body. I was so astounded by the absurdity of it all that I forgot to take pictures.

So, now our so called protectors of freedom are terrorists? I wish I would have taken out my phone, that kind of irony needs to be put on film.

In all fairness to the TSA, Major. Abdul Nidal Hassan?

 

[Makalakumu]

In all fairness to the TSA, Major. Abdul Nidal Hassan?

Really? I don't buy it and I don't think you do either.

The obvious question to me is why should anyone fight for this silly place when they consider you to be a terrorist when you get home.

btw - check out the additional link I added above. It's actually official. Returning veterans might be terrorists.

 

[granfire]

Illegal immigration is tied to unsecure borders, which are a security issue.
If the borders were secure, we wouldn't need BP checkpoints 100 miles inside the country or the "Constitution Free Zone".

Well. yes and no. Because security and borders, well, they only marginally coincide.

As we all remember, the attacks were not launched from foreign soil, and heck, you can be here legally and up to no good.

Or born here.

I think (ouch, I know) the immigration issue is the smoke screen to distract us from yet another quagmire in the making.

Our real security problems are not the people getting on planes (you know those 7 yo are dangerous!!!), it's going off half cocked into areas we do not understand and don't care to learn about. So we end up stepping on plentiful toes and wonder why nobody likes us. The proverbial bull in the china shop.

Naturally that we pick and choose our causes rather self serving does not help either.

But that has nothing to do with INS or BP.

Then of course there is that 'logic' factor:
Logically we should not have been in Iraq, but ONLY in Afghanistan, if indeed catching Bin Laden was the prime objective.
Or (sorry for you dark skinned folk with middle Eastern heritage) profile <gaspeth> I know - the attackers and conduct investigations - and security screenings - accordingly.
But considering all the junk that's shipped in an airplane that is not scanned... :lfao: fingering passengers is a joke.

 

[Empty Hands]

I think (ouch, I know) the immigration issue is the smoke screen to distract us from yet another quagmire in the making.

Bingo.

 

[granfire]

Really? I don't buy it and I don't think you do either.

The obvious question to me is why should anyone fight for this silly place when they consider you to be a terrorist when you get home.

btw - check out the additional link I added above. It's actually official. Returning veterans might be terrorists.

Who put that stuff together?


(ah, yes, fear mongers...I am glad they keep overlooking women in their reproductive years...hormone fluctuation can turn you into a beast, screw political baggage...)

 

[Bob Hubbard]

In all fairness to the TSA, Major. Abdul Nidal Hassan?

A number of people dropped the ball in regards to Hassan, including his superiors.

OK, now what about the airport security, the erosion of the Bill of Rights in terrorism cases, the approved use of torture, and the TSA at trains and buses? Elaborate methods to catch illegal immigrants?

No. Elaborate methods to condition us to roll over and give up our rights without a fight.
To make it acceptable by common default that anyone in a uniform who asks you for ID can get it, who demands you stop taking photos gets a sheep reply, or that you don't even try to do so. To encourage 'blind obedience' as a 'patriotic necessity'. Freedom rarely dies in a sudden motion, but by a slow steady slide. We're seeing that erosion. It's up to us to stop it.

This is why I hate the TSA so. They don't even have to pretend there's a Constitution, and so many people go along with the BS, believe the puppets of the DHS who say it's necessary. It's not. There are better ways, better systems. Hell, just hiring competent and honest people would be an improvement. Maybe paying attention when would be terrorists fathers call and say "my son's nuts, you better stop him" before he gets on a plane, might be an idea?

 

[elder999]

Indeed. Ever notice how your Droid needs a 3G connection to get the speech-to-text engine to work properly? All the heavy work is offloaded to a server somewhere.

Eever notice as scientists how speech-to-text isn't fundamentally different than bomb detection? Algorithms and a SQL database, just one detector is is wave to diaphragm and the other is ray to crystal. All the heavy work is offloaded to a server somewhere. Face recognition. Ray to crystal. All the heavy work is belong to us.


To the cloud, gentlemen...

.

There will come a time when it isn't 'They're spying on me through my phone' anymore. Eventually, it will be 'My phone is spying on me."
&#8212; Philip K. Dick

 

[Bill Mattocks]

But those checkpoints have been SOP for the Border Patrol since long before the 1st year of our fear. The BP has pretty much always been able to stop people and question them anywhere within U.S. borders.

Aye. Checkpoint Charlie, on I-5 within the borders of Camp Pendleton, was there when I was an MP at Pendleton, back in 1981. That's well over 50 miles from the border. It was there then, it is there now. Nothing new in that.