Catching Terrorists Not DHS’ Job?

Chris Battle is surprised how often he hears the question "How many terrorists has the Department of Homeland Security caught?" He argues that DHS' job is prevention, not apprehension; that's what the FBI does. The implication of the question – usually the questioner already knows the answer – is that the failure to catch members of al Qaeda during the ...

Clear Card Ceases

The Clear Card program whereby pre-screened passengers are expedited through airport security is no more.  I received this email overnight: Ensuring that this wasn't some sort of odd email fraud scheme, I did a quick news search and, sure enough, it's true: Clear began in 2005 with the potential to make airport security quicker and easier for frequent travelers. For an annual ...

Airport Security Lines

Seth Godin has a number of "random travel thoughts," several of which relate to airport security: When I go through security, why do I need to remove a cardigan sweater but the woman standing next to me can keep her cashmere blouse on? Are certain kinds of wool inherently risky? What would happen if Imagineers from Disney designed the security line? Why ...

Clear Card Security Breached

The company that's contracted to provide Clear Card, the TSA's handy-dandy system for screening out terrorists (or, at least, providing people willing to shell out 150 bucks slightly shorter lines) has managed to lose its customers' sensitive data and compromise the entire system. The company that runs the Clear system, which speeds customers through airport screenings, has been prevented from enrolling new ...

Authoritarian Schmauthoritarian

Alex Tabarrok muses, There's nothing like visiting a foreign country like China to get an appreciation of what it's like to live under an authoritarian regime. I was reminded of this when I arrived home and found that the TSA had rifled through my baggage. That's the entirety of his post. I presume he means to shed perspective (we complain about ...

Google Shuts Down Anti-Obama Blogs

Some Obama supporters are apparently taking advantage of Google's terms of service to silence anti-Obama blogs, Simon Owens of Bloggasm reports. The company automatically shuts down sites upon receipt of TOS violation claims until they're able to do a human audit, a rather slow process with given little priority on the free BlogSpot service. After some digging it became apparent ...

FISA Reform Moves Forward, Netroots Angry at Obama

The Senate easily invoked cloture yesterday, ending a threatened filibuster of a major overhaul of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act of 1978. The revised bill is expected to pass today. This may be the most important bill we pass this year," said Senate Intelligence Committee Chairman John D. Rockefeller IV (D-W.Va.), an architect of the bill crafted over four months ...

AP Announces Excerpt Fees

Just when it appeared that the Associated Press had come to its senses, they've now announced an exorbitant up-front fee for even short quotations of their works, Tim Conneally reports for BetaNews. They've created a handy-dandy online form to calculate what we owe them. Hmm. Well, surely, an organization as large as the AP, which goes around ...

TSA ID Requirements

Those who wish to fly without ID cards have but a few more days. Beginning Saturday, June 21, 2008 passengers that willfully refuse to provide identification at security checkpoint will be denied access to the secure area of airports. This change will apply exclusively to individuals that simply refuse to provide any identification or assist transportation security officers in ascertaining ...

Hillary’s Florida-Michigan Gambit

Domenico Montanaro notes that, while everyone is focusing on the Democratic National Committee's likely "compromise" solution of awarding Florida and Michigan half their original allocation of delegates, it's actually much more complicated than that. [A] 50% cut and a halving of the delegates is not the same thing. For instance, if Florida delegates are seated in their entirety, ...

Is Democratic Race ‘Close’?

Mathew Shugart examines often-heard claims that the race between Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama is "close." He looks at the pledge delegate counts and sees Obama leading Clinton 52.4 percent to 47.6 percent and concludes, "I will grant that this lead is not a ‘landslide’ by any means. But, quite independent of any realism (or lack thereof) of catch-up ...

Fly the Unfriendly Skies

Responding to reports that American Airlines will enact numerous cost-cutting measures that will make flying even less pleasant, including charging $15 for the privilege of checking a suitcase, Kevin Drum wonders where it will all end. Airlines have spent years trying to bully passengers into reducing their carry-on luggage — with TSA pitching in to help in recent years. Now that ...

Caption Contest Winners

The Star Pupils Edition OTB Caption ContestTM is now over. (AP Photo/Xinhua, Ren Yong) ✰ THE WINNERS ✰ First: floyd - Unfortunately; the third brother got sad one day and drowned! Second: Steven Taylor - Them TSA guys are sharp dressers! Third: Elmo - Mmmm .... carrots. HONORABLE MENTION Cowboy Blob - Ocular Jocularity yetanotherjohn - The Sauron party rally was sparsely attended. FormerHostage - At ...

U.S. Embassy Helps Americans in Burma Cyclone – The Bastards!

Steven Royster, Spokesman for the U.S. Department of State's Bureau of Consular Affairs, had this to say of the tragic cyclone which has killed tens of thousands of people in Burma: When a crisis like this strikes around the world, the Department of State’s first thought is for the safety of American citizens. As the storm brewed offshore, colleagues at the ...

Proud to Be an American While Hating the Song with that Lyric

Abu Muqawama's Charlie unleashes a diatribe against Lee Greenwood and, especially, the "miserable, treacly song" for which he is most known. Noting that the old warriors at a weekend Special Forces gathering "stood for it like it was the National Anthem," she asks, "Is this some sort of Army thing? Does graduating from the Q course leave you ...