A senator has called for a “no-ride list” for Amtrak trains after intelligence gleaned from the raid on Osama bin Laden’s compound pointed to potential attacks on the nation’s train system.
Sen. Charles Schumer said he would push as well for added funding for rail security and commuter and passenger train track inspections and more monitoring of stations nationwide…
Schumer, citing U.S. intelligence analysts, said attacks were also considered on Christmas and New Year’s Day and following the president’s State of the Union address.
Obviously, we should stop having holidays.
He called on the U.S. Department of Homeland Security to expand the Secure Flight monitoring program, which cross-checks air travelers with the terror watch list in an attempt to prevent anyone on the “no-fly list” from boarding, for use on Amtrak.
Such a procedure would create an Amtrak “no-ride list” to keep suspected terrorists off the U.S. rail system, he said.
Let’s spend every possible penny on fear and trembling unto death.
Blah blah progressives blah blah statist blah blah regulations blah blah non Christians are evil blah blah lame insults blah blah progressives blah blah birth certificate blah blah McCain/Palin/Trump/Cain/Paul will save us blah blah torture is good blah blah
You guys are too serious about Chuck Schumer. This is the Senator who once said the three branches of government are House, Senate, and President. He’s as confused as Nancy Pelosi.
The majority of Amtrak riders are the indigenous populous and I’ll bet we’ll see some caps popped in TSA’s ass.
/although the majority of TSA is the indigenous populous.
When does this crap end? When the phrase “papers please” becomes the norm. The way I see it it’s not far off the track we’re going down.
Securing airports, the terminus points for air travel, is actually much easier than securing railroads, where the entire track must be secured at all times as well as the trains themselves.
One things for sure, at no point during your flight do you have to worry about the air not being there. (The perceived need for the “Grand Guignol of the TSA is because of the potential damage to the countryside caused by your falling several thousand feet, or several hundred feet in town, but into buildings.)
If they are seriously thinking of implementing an airport type security theatre for rail transit, they are seriously delusional because of the same track vulnerability pointed out in my first paragraph.
No self-respecting terrorist (or Resistance fighter during WWII,) wants to go out in a blaze of glory when he can plant some IEDs under a track potentially anywhere and stay alive instead. If he drives in some Bangalore torpedos and sets up a tremblor detonator, he can be well away and planting the next bomb while the first one goes off unattended.
I suspect that Schumer is an idiot or has a line in to a full body scanning outfit.
#43. It’s about money and control, as some have stated. But, if you wanna play.
Planes: You have already said it in the past. Air Marshalls, armed pilots and hardened cockpit. Passengers can take care of the rest. Just keep the metal detectors in place.
Trains, suck it up. There is nothing a passenger can do that can’t be done from the outside, with almost zero risk to the “evil doer”.
If we are going to be in war forever, maybe we need to take a few casualties. That’s what happens in War. We give collateral damage, gotta be willing to except some blowback. After we lose some people, maybe the warmonger-in-charge will stop trying to police the world.
We are our own worst enemy.
McCullough==you should be embarassed: we agree.
Now, let’s see if Nightstare will join making a happy band of three?
Just to keep things fair and balanced, here is an idiot Republican saying parents who have fat kiddies should not get a tax deduction for them.
Ha, ha. Power breeds fascism–regardless of party.
“It’s the parents’ responsibility that have obese kids,” said state Sen. Shane Cultra, R-Onarga. “Take the tax deduction away for parents that have obese kids.” /// In a followup, douche uses the “out of context” defense. Ha, ha–yah sure.
http://stltoday.com/news/local/illinois/article_ce1a393c-7b4e-11e0-b418-0019bb30f31a.html
#53 bobbo
Don’t be silly, that wasn’t intended as a factual statement. =)
By the way, is you want to know what a Bangalore torpedo is, is a bunch of pipes which can extend the reach of a demolition expect to subtly place an explosive charge under or next to the object he is trying to blow the fuck up.
#54
Damn browser cache. I need to save that name for riling up TeaDud
BTW, all the grandstanding after the OBL hit isn’t helping anyone except Obama’s numbers. If he had been smart, they would’ve been better off to say NOTHING about this hit, and when (if) Al Queda or the Pakistanis screamed about it….a wry smile and a shrug of the shoulders would have been more effective.
Better yet, since he was unarmed and there was no firefight, a capture (clandestine) might have also yielded much better results. But then Obamas poll numbers would still be in single digits, and we can’t have that.
Bobbo, you suggest taking other modes, but you see here it is the other modes being stamped out. Next people will take more buses, and the buses will be restricted. And of course automobiles will be restricted as well, through other means because checking IDs is too impractical for now.
“We have alcoholics and drug addicts in
our society, don’t we? And what do we say about them? Well, they can’t
help it. Why, it’s genetic. Why, they have a disease. Why, put one
thimbleful of scotch in front of them and they can die.’ We totally
exempt them from any control over their lives, do we not? Some athlete
will spend two years snorting lines of coke. ‘He can’t help it.’ You
know, it’s — it’s just — it’s not — it’s — it’s genetic. These
people — they’re predisposed to having this addictive syndrome. They —
they can’t help — yeah, like that line of cocaine just happened to
march into the hotel, go up to the athlete’s room and put itself right
there in front of him on his blotter.”
– Rush Limbaugh drug addict/hypocrite
Next then you know we’ll be hailing a cab in NYC and when they stop, all of a sudden TSA runs out for a pat down.
“It’s beyond me how anybody can look at these protesters and call them anything other than what they are: anti-American, anti-capitalist, pro Marxists and communists.” – Rush Limbaugh, critic of war when a Democrat is CIC.
“I’ve never had financially a down year. There’s supposedly a recession, but we’ve got – what is this May? Back in February we already had 102% of 2008 overbooked for 2009. [applause] So I always believed that if we’re going to have a recession, just don’t participate.” – Rush Limbaugh, there’s no recession unless I can blame Obama for it
You’re right Uncle Patso, I missed it. But in truth, if he were a republican, he would have been identified right away and repeatedly, not buried in the third paragraph. His no-ride list is still a stupid idea.
Sister Mary Hand Grenade, you want to legalize prostitution?
Excellent…
Sen. Charles Schumer should have a broom handle rammed up his bum until it occludes his mouth.
He is one of the terrorist I fear most. A totally terrified mouse brained lack whit having one brain fart after another and in a position to make it law and impose it on others.
I wish to apologize for my verbiage. It was crass if sincere.
Men like Schumer should be restricted to token collectors at tole booths. They completely lack the wisdom required for anyone in a position of leadership.
#68 TeaDud
That’s clearly too bad for you.
#69. No I disagree, your first description was far better.
It was actually crass whether or not it was sincere. I would have said: “It was sincere, but crass.” Of the two, sincerity far outweighs any crassness……but let’s take a second look?
No, doesn’t cut it. Bad meme we have calling anyone we disagree with a “terrorist.” Maybe you meant “terrorist’s best friend?” That wouldn’t be crass at all.
# 32 bobbo, “why don’t you accept the responsibility you have by traveling by other modes?”
Dvorak said: “It’s interesting to watch how much the public will put up with insofar as security theater is concerned.”
It’s not really how much we WILL put up with. In many cases, it’s a matter of what we HAVE to put up with.
I make my living working, indirectly, for the US Government overseas. When I go home to visit, I have no other choice. I’m not rich enough nor do I have the time to take a trans-Pacific cruise round trip.
And, I ALWAYS get to have the secondary screening because my passport has all the “danger” signs like entry stamps for Afghanistan, Pakistan, etc. Doesn’t matter that I have a US Passport, State Department issued employee ID and am about as white as the background to this webpage. True, I do have a beard but I keep it almost as short as my bald head!
I admit my shame that on my mother’s recent 80th birthday, I chose not to fly home. The thought of that 14 hour flight followed by police state tactics just put me off my feed.
How much WILL we put up with? You tell me. TSA is talking about verifying ID against train tickets and you know it’s only a short step from their to body scanners. Drive cross country? How long do you think it will be before crossing a state border requires a quick check for fresh fruits and vegetable, an ID confirmation and a quick pat down and search of your trunk and junk?
Personally, I’m just about to say I will give my presidential vote to the first Dem or Rep who promises to dismantle the TSA and scale back the DHS. Both are jokes. Expensive jokes.
The TSA is bragging they found a knife in someone’s shoe a few days ago. [ http://bit.ly/kpWpJv ] Whoopee! Billions of dollars later they finally stopped someone from sneaking a useless weapon onto a plane! Is a shoe-hideable knife going to breach a hardened cockpit door? I’m willing to take the chance.
And you know, this isn’t the movies. A man with a knife to someone’s throat being confronted by an air marshall or an armed pilot is not going to convince them to drop their pistols. What he will get is a bullet to his bin Laden.
So come on Congress. You wanna cut the deficit? Get rid of the TSA. That’s $8 billion a year. Not much, but a start
EOR.
(end of rant)
This stuff has gone too far. The culture of fear that has been propagating in this first quarter of the new century. Fact…this can and will only culminate into the eventual loss of our freedom. Time we wake up and apply the brakes before the constitution goes flying off the rails.
Mr Ed–yes, reasonable and practical people such as you and myself recognize we are “forced” to take aircraft for long distant travel. But my comment was crafted “for idiots.” Idiots are generalists and tend to be idiots in general about everything. So when I see an idiot do nothing but complain about security theater claiming that they are man enough to “risk” the unscreened terrorist threat I have to wonder why they don’t champion the idiot free market as their total solution to the problem. Typically, they don’t because their idiocy goes to a different kind of force: they want to force everyone else to live according to their own minority view. Odd they rail against the “tyranny of the majority” by wanting to substitute their own singular views?
Every day should begin and end with a good rant.
#75
Mr Ed to translate, you spotted bobbo’s error, and he wants to weasel out of it.
Lyin’ Mike===didn’t you read that post about nutbags projecting their values into ambiguous situations? Congrats on taking it a step further and disagreeing with what is clearly presented to the contrary.
Prove me wrong: state the exact error “I” made. then read it slowly two, three, times. Is it really “an error” or just as I have described?
You can do. Won’t. But could.
Soon you’ll be required to have identity papers, to cross state borders by train, bus, car, boat, or bike. And then, how will the US differ all that much from Nazi Germany?