TSA Increasing Alert Status After Blasts In Boston

Here come more gropings, for your safety of course.

http://miami.cbslocal.com/2013/04/15/no-local-increase-in-security-due-to-boston-explosions/

 

Whatever this turns out to be, we will pay for it at America's airports.

 

And yet, what will they do if they ever find somebody wired to explode? The most recent Taking Sense Away post suggests that there is no plan for what to do in that situation:

The anonymous blogger goes on to respond in detail how the only real course of action in that situation is to run away screaming and yelling.

 

Comments, please, at this article, which argues law enforcement prevented the shoe and underwear bombings :
http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/nation/la-na-boston-terror-20130416,0,3750657.story
Be afraid! Cue the call for more oppression. Seriously, this jerk needs to read Bruce Schneier in The Atlantic (or maybe this shill piece is the retort...)

 

You mean someone went & fetched the air marshals out of their pilfered business class seats after other passengers in coach had subdued the perps?

 

David Lauter doesn't let facts get in the way of message.

Wouldn't want that TSA budget to shrink, not now!!!

 

I was a marathon volunteer, as I am every year, handing out food two blocks past the finish line. I heard the blasts, saw the smoke, but did not see any of the bloodshed since I was far enough away. It was only later, after seeing the news, that it sunk in.

And one of my first reactions was one of dread for the overreaction this country will take. On NPR last night a woman called in asking why there was not enough security: where were the dogs? why was everyone not searched? how could police let this happen?

Too bad no politician will ever come out and say that it is simply not possible to prevent an attack like this by searching people at the site of the intended crime. Police set up a bag search checkpoint? The attacker can just bomb the checkpoint. And if he's a suicide bomber, does he really care where his bomb goes off?

 

Really, genius? How about the 1920 bomb on Wall Street that killed 30?​

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But that was pre-9/11™ and pre-War on Terror™ and was not carried out by someone with a scary Muslim name. So it doesn't really count.​

 

Have not read the article but what about OKC?

Or when when a group of Puerto Rican Nationalists bombed the US Senate?

 

Increasing the security posture after a terrorist attack is not unreasonable. It takes time to know if it was a one off or one of many attacks.

 

Except that it is simply not possible to prevent a bomb attack by searching the people at the site of the planned attack.

Set up a checkpoint? Well, blow up the checkpoint and mission accomplished.

 

Or when Puerto Ricans from the same group attacked the Blair House with Truman watching from the 2nd floor. One secret service agent dead and one Puerto Rican assailant dead. Things continued on as before with Truman taking his daily walks with press (and secret service) trying to keep up.

 

First of all I've run about 40 marathons since I started in 1986. We runners appreciate all of you volunteers more than you imagine and certainly more than we express when we have our game faces on.

Commenting on your last point, I remember the cops setting up portable metal detectors at the Marine Corps Marathon about two months after 9/11. All runners, wearing as little as we wear on race day, had to pass through metal detectors to get to the starting line. Think about how utterly absurd that was!

 

And all the spectators and trash cans were ... not screened?

 

You're welcome. I just texted the number that a runner texted on my phone to reach her husband, during the craziness after the blasts, and they said they're okay.

The thanks that we receive from runners after they have finished is what makes the day special.

Now I have a bright yellow jacket as a "souvenir" of yesterday.

 

I'd forgot about that one!

 

Here's what one leader of our country came up with: "we need more cameras". Yep. Congressman Peter King

Why?

IQ < 60.
Yes, I live in constant fear of terrorists wanting to kill me. People are dying all around us from that.

 

Done.

 

King is a first rate piece of garbage. A corrupt NYC politician with no regard for the Constitution or his constituents, except the security contractors who fund his campaign.

 

I flew yesterday out of DCA late yesterday. I anticipated the worst -- armed guards, BDOs reading my body language, random gate checks, etc, etc. But it was pretty mellow. Most of the talk by TSA folks was about the AA system outage. When I got up to the body scanner I explained that I can't hold the pose because of shoulder surgery. I fully expected to be challenged (show me how far you can raise your arms!) or subjected to a full patdown, but I was simply escorted through the WTMD.