Interesting People mailing list archives
Re: study Arabic; get locked-up!
From: David Farber <dave () farber net>
Date: Fri, 18 Sep 2009 10:20:50 -0400
Begin forwarded message: From: "Mike O'Dell" <mo () ccr org> Date: September 18, 2009 9:36:12 AM EDT To: dave () farber net Subject: Re: [IP] study Arabic; get locked-up!the great thing about "using behavior profiling" is that it gives instant,
irrefutable air cover to anything the TSA does or wants to do.obviously they can't explain what triggered their interest, valid or otherwise.
this ability to legally prevent disbelief comes dangerously close to absolute power, so one might think they would be very careful to demonstrate it was being used with great care so as to not endanger whatever trust they currently enjoy. if there was compelling evidence the TSA people were competent and haddeveloped the considerable skill required to do behavior profiling well, like the
crack El Al teams, i would relax my cynicism. but given the willingnessof the TSA to justify other mindless and mind-boggling abuses of power by
their agents, the grounds for such confidence are thin indeed. when the TSA story doesn't agree with the police on the scene, the possibility of wilfull prevarication is hard to ignore, especiallywhen they start trying to blame the victim and possibly misrepresent fact.
so is there any video surveillance of that holding cell that could resolve the question of whether he was left handcuffed in the cell? if not, why not? it's used wall-to-wall everywhere else these days in any kind of "sensitive" area.nowhere else in society does the blanket excuse "but we had noble motives"
work as justification for illegal acts and abuse of power. why is it given a pass here? (the English clarified that a full 500 years before the birth of the United States when King John was "convinced" that even his will could be bound by law.) If the rules of the game are allowed to be secret, how can the judicial stance that "ignorance of the rules is no excuse" be allowed to stand? Or did Joseph Heller get appointed to the Supreme Court as the Tenth Justice when I wan't paying attention? harumph -mo David Farber wrote:
Begin forwarded message: From: Jim Warren <jwarren () well com> Date: September 16, 2009 10:19:54 PM EDT To: Dave Farber <dave () farber net> Subject: study Arabic; get locked-up!http://www.philly.com/philly/news/homepage/58864467.html? cmpid=15585797... should a college student flying back to school be handcuffed and held for five hours because he has Arabic flash cards in his backpack?... <big snip> ... ------------------------------------------- Archives: https://www.listbox.com/member/archive/247/=now RSS Feed: https://www.listbox.com/member/archive/rss/247/ Powered by Listbox: http://www.listbox.com
------------------------------------------- Archives: https://www.listbox.com/member/archive/247/=now RSS Feed: https://www.listbox.com/member/archive/rss/247/ Powered by Listbox: http://www.listbox.com
Current thread:
- study Arabic; get locked-up! David Farber (Sep 17)
- <Possible follow-ups>
- Re: study Arabic; get locked-up! David Farber (Sep 18)