link Arming TSA officers hits resistance on the Hill – Kevin Robillard – POLITICO.com.
In case anyone has missed it, the never ending clamor to reign in the ability of law abiding citizens to possess and carry firearms continues unabated and in fact rises in volume anytime someone gets shot. Strange then that in the wake of the shooting of a TSA officer in Los Angeles recently, there is a push by the union representing the TSA for arming their rank and file.
Through the years of the existence of the TSA, this is the first such incidence of such violence occuring against an employee among the thousands of them staffing the nation’s airports. While it is of course sad that the unfortunate employee was killed at work, the job is not really a dangerous one. Despite the official uniforms, badges and surly demeanor, the TSA staff are essentially a layer of ticket checkers for passengers in advance of them boarding a bus. While their jobs capture the scorn and contempt of many travellers, they are only performing a job that someone higher up in the command chain thinks is useful.
If we’re going to consider arming people because of violent attacks, there are many other constituencies in society that should also be eligible. Statistically, operators of 7-Elevens, liquor store employees and pizza delivery people are far more likely to encounter gun violence while simply peforming their jobs than a TSA employee. In fact, a quick check of recent news incidents tells you that if you were sitting in a movie theater, a student at school or just shopping at a mall, you were just as likely to encounter gun violence as a TSA employee.
In the wake of all of those other newsworthy incidents, the immediate knee jerk response was to re-ignite the gun control rhetoric. As far as I can tell, the only difference seems to be that all of the other victims of crime weren’t wearing uniforms. It’s not clear why they wouldn’t be better off being armed as well. The point here is not to ascertain who should or should not be armed. It is to point out that mental cases will strike without predictability in a free society. If one segment of the law abiding population is entitled to be armed, then everyone should be.
If they decide to arm TSA staff, the experience of travelling will be even more fun than it is today. Being told to remove shoes, belts and articles of clothing by an armed person so that they can grope you… isn’t that the quintessential bad date?
link Taliban Mocks Shutdown: Lawmakers ‘Sucking The Blood Of Their Own People’ « CBS DC.
You know it’s not good when the widely acknowledged scourge and enemy of the western world makes fun of you…and it’s accurate. Somewhere in the middle eastern moonscape, Taliban leaders must be huddling together after suddenly reaching an epiphany. They conclude that if they do nothing, the U.S. will destroy themselves from within! No need to send suicide bombers and mount expensive terror campaigns, unless of course it’s for amusement.
As the U.S. government ‘shuts down’ because of congressional impasse, stories of hysteria and woe, many absurd, are making the media rounds. By now we know that the furloughing of government employees has ‘forced’ the shutdown of heretofore public facilities. Even the war memorial in DC was closed to the public, which is amusing because it’s essentially a plaza. It’s unclear why a large public standing area needs to be closed. It’s unclear why national parks like the Grand Canyon need to be closed. Is the government operating the views? Does someone have to turn on Old Faithful at Yellowstone? Trying to rope off the Atlantic ocean in Florida is the best one.
If you think about it, the fact that the government shutdown even matters at all is scary; after all, why should the government be involved in so many aspects of people’s daily lives anyways? This is the issue that no one is playing up. If you can’t operate through a day without having to navigate some kind of government bureaucracy, THAT is the problem. Over successive generations, much of what should be private sector stuff has been ceded to government oversight. The notion that the government makes a citizen a law breaker just for trying to access something that the public owns is outrageous. Instead, all media coverage is spent finger pointing at (mostly) one side or the other.
The flashpoint for all of this recent kefuffle is The Affordable Care Act, affectionately dubbed Obamacare. If the government is prepared to deny people access to things they already own such as parks and monuments, what makes anyone think that government control of healthcare is a good thing? What if you needed a mole removed and someone at the clinic turned you away under threat of tazering? As usual, low information voters think they are getting something for nothing. They need Obamacare like they need a third nipple, but since they’re giving them away, may as well get one.
The Taliban may as well sit back and smoke hookah pipes until the U.S. just collapses from their citizens’ own collective stupidity.