I wouldn’t call you a useless idiot. But I gotta question exactly how sharp a tack you are if you think these random searches are protecting you in any way.
And I, in turn, gotta question exactly how sharp a tack you are if you don’t think these random searches are protecting you in any way.
[By the way, Biggirl, what’s happened to you? All you ever seem to do on the Boards lately is yell and insult people and generally pitch fits—I remember when you used to be pleasant, easygoing, companionable!]
Just for fun…
Key to bike lock
Homestar runner key fob with two keys labeled S.I.U. and one housekey.
Southern Illinois University ID card
Cross pen
Homemade duct tape wallet
$40 cash (1 $20, 1 $10, 1 $5, 5 $1)
Valid state of Illinois driver’s license (and if you were to run a background, no violations or paid or unpaid tickets)
Nationally-recognized credit card (well under the limit)
Nationally-recognized debit card
2 Wal-Mart gift cards.
Blue-jean shorts
Orange “PEZ” T-shirt
white ankle-length socks
white briefs
black Converse All-Star “Chuck Taylor” shoes.
Two rings on right hand, one on thumb, one on middle finger, size 9.5.
So, tell me, what law was it that I broke? That it’s just so impossible to keep track of that I failed and will now be hauled away for?
Go on, “this will only take a few minutes.”
So, then who is right and who is wrong in this debate comes down to who is more intelligent? Cause I can prove I’m pretty smart. I guess that means I’m right.
Maybe intelligence isn’t so much an issue, and people can genuinely see things a different way than you.
Gee whiz, these bombers must REALLY be morons since so easy to just bomb something without the suicide part, and 8 suicide bombers have attacked London recently. Shit, it’s apparently the easiest thing in the world to sneak into the NYC subway and leave a timed bomb to kill people. Yet, for some unimaginable reason, they carry bombs onto London subways and die in the attack.
I wonder why? I mean, so many dopers are expounding on how easy it would be to sneak in and leave packages on trains in the train yard, or in the tunnels. TV stations keep telling us how simple it is to sneak into secure parts of airports and train yards, yet terrorists don’t do this. Dopers tell us how simple it is to attack in this way or that way, yet terrorists don’t do this either. The terrorists insist on killing themselves by detonating the bombs personally.
Ask yourself why. I believe it is because carrying out a terrorist bombing is significantly more difficult than we would think based on our experiences. They don’t just sneak in like cat burglers and leave expertly designed bombs waiting for the next passing train. They don’t go about this business like James Bond, they go about it like a caveman, simple and brutal. Even when they take the simplest route, carrying a bomb through the front door personally and detonating it manually, it doesn’t always work.
There has not been a terrorist attack on US soil since 9/11, why is that? We are the drivers of the Iraq war, we are leading the charge against Al Qaeda, we are the guys running Guantanamo, yet they don’t attack here. All I hear is how it is SO simple to attack us, how our efforts at security are laughable and nothing more than feel-good window dressing, yet we are not being attacked.
Personally, I think it’s because security measures we’ve taken have made it very difficult for terrorists to put together a plan of attack. You may think they’re silly and worthless, I don’t.
You obviously haven’t been paying much attention to the heat index over the past couple weeks.
And no, that wasn’t a reference to menopause 
I still am pleasant and easygoing but this kind of idiocy can drive anyone around the bend. Since you’ve already admitted you agree with random searches because you like the false sense of security it gives you, I’d knock you off the “not so sharp” list and on the “thumbsucking scardy-cat” list.
You, on the other hand, have called me a whiny crybaby. I didn’t take it personally.
I’ve given a great many reasons why these random searches are not protecting anyone in any way and you have only repeated how much better they make you feel. But I’ll repeat:
Even if these searches are done under the most optimum of conditions, the chance of catching any bombers is vanishingly small. As someone already pointed out, you have a slightly smaller chance of dying because the train you are on crashed.
But these searches are not being done under the most optimum of conditions. In fact, you can refuse to be searched if you do not get on the train or bus. Which means that ONLY law abiding citizens will be searched. Bombers will just refuse and walk to another station where they will not be searched.
So, yeah, this shit makes me mad. It should make you mad. But then, like I said, it is our freedoms that the terrorists hate-- might as well surrender them so that you can feel better and the terrorists will leave us alone.
how many foreign-based terrorist attacks have there ever been on US soil?
you believe it’s due to these measures, I’m not convinced
You really don’t understand the difference between “small” and “none,” do you?
Was this meant for me? Because if it is, then you don’t understand the difference between meaningful and cosmetic. Since anybody can refuse the search if they do not enter the train or bus, this makes the chances of finding a bomber with these searches just about ‘none’.
And this seems to be the only disagreement. I don’t think that it is vanishingly small. I think that suspicious persons with bad intentions might be uncovered this way.
Some of us are fully aware that there is some ever so slight chance that a really lucky cop might find a really stupid bomber on a given day, and that the bomber might be so inept that he is unable to activate his bomb upon apprehension, but we’re not willing to allow our rights to be stomped on to accomplish that.
Once again, we’d reduce crime drastically if we allowed government agencies to search anyone’s home at their whim, without a search warrant. Since that is much more likely to stop crime and terrorism than some spot checks in a subway station, are you okay with it?
That was a “joke.” In the old days—a year or two ago, when you were still a pleasant and reasonable person, and not shrieking, insult-spewing and perenially angry—you were able to get “jokes.”
What you’re failing to grasp is that if a bomber decides not to enter the train or bus because of the search…HE’S NOT GOING TO BE BLOWING UP THAT PARTICULAR TRAIN OR BUS. Now is he?
Yes, he might go somewhere else, and he might not be searched there, but you’ve just turned a CERTAIN terrorist attack into one that may or may not happen. I prefer the latter.
Yes of course, the bomber is going to go home and give up terrorism.
Or maybe the train he was going to get on was empty and now he’s YOUR train. Or maybe he’ll get hit by lightning on the way to the next train. Yeah, I’ll give my rights for that chance!
suuuuuuuure. oh gosh, there’s a cop searching - I guess I’ll go home and dismantle my bomb and take up Scabble as my new hobby. I certainly wouldn’t merely blow up a secondary target instead.
Yes, the heat index is a good point - just another factor as to why this is a tragedy waiting to happen in a place like NYC.
So far, I am in agreement with Biggirl, Holmes, and World Eater (I may have missed some others). And FTR, I live in NYC, and ride the subway regularly.
Personally, I don’t mind the idea of a “random” search, but the reality is that these searches will most likely not be random, and I am in a category of people who will most likely not be searched, i.e., middle-aged white chick.
As for the “better idea” people: Of course there are better ideas, but they involve national foreign policy changes - something not quite within the purview of Mayor Mike or the NYPD.
So of course I understand why they need to be seen to be “doing something”.
But that doesn’t mean we should allow ourselves to be fooled by it into thinking we are more secure as a result.
I mean really - I can accept a certain level of bullshit from politicians and bureaucrats as business as usual, but I hold my fellow citizens (i.e., regular people) to a higher standard. Cut the crap and get real.
The most likely worst-case-scenario is some unarmed minority male getting “accidently shot” by the NYPD. Because he was acting “suspiciously”. Much like Amadou Diallo.
Like I said, I didn’t take it personally. So yeah, I still get jokes. And if there is one thing everyone should get shreikingly, insult-spewing mad at is when other people are willing to throw away your constitutional rights for no good reason.
Yes, this makes me very angry.
I deny channeling BigGirl
“Well, it’s going to happen anyway and there’s nothing we can do about it. Boo hoo.”
Why don’t you all paint big fucking targets on your backs?