Bob Schacht @ 265

Minority Report

Heh, yeah that’s the movie I was thinking of. Can you imagine this as the basis for Padilla’s case? “We’re going to arrest you and throw you in jail forever because you were thinking BAD THOUGHTS!!!”

Bob in HI

Dehydration.

It was a not-very-subtle way of signaling that the paucity of the government’s case against Padilla isn’t even worthy of a rejoinder

,

Your kidding, right? This sounds more like his lawyer rolled over on him.

Also me @ 272–very small numbers make terrorists incredibly difficult to find before the fact.

Hugh @ 255

I think that is what bothers me most is that the paradigm has shifted under both the NSA and FISA. The NSA wants more massive but less effective monitoring. What is needed I suspect is the reverse, more specific and clearer targeting of individuals.

So how do they do it in Europe? Have they ever disrupted a plot? Successfully prosecuted the perps?

I suspect that because terrorists are so few, that breaking up a plot is next to impossible & you have to be satified with catching them & prosecuting them (the non-suicides) after the fact, like any other criminal.

Along with harding the targets. But with bridges like we have, terrorists could just huff & puff & blow them down.

In the UK they are good after the fact using a lot of surveillance cameras. But in essence it is still straightforward police work. In other countries, take France for example, it is good police work and infiltration of radical groups.

Pardon the writing gaffes at 233. I promise to slow down, take a deep breath, and proof myself in the futuro.

Don’t worry ’bout no stinkin’ typos! What you say is what counts. :}

N=1 @ 260

Both of your statements describe the Republicans. No?

I was kind of transcribing the scare quotes I was hearing in the president’s little speech. But yes, really both of them describe the GOP.

Another classic case of projection, brought to you courtesy of Sigmund Freud.

Hugh @ 255

I think that is what bothers me most is that the paradigm has shifted under both the NSA and FISA. The NSA wants more massive but less effective monitoring. What is needed I suspect is the reverse, more specific and clearer targeting of individuals.

So how do they do it in Europe? Have they ever disrupted a plot? Successfully prosecuted the perps?

I suspect that because terrorists are so few, that breaking up a plot is next to impossible & you have to be satified with catching them & prosecuting them (the non-suicides) after the fact, like any other criminal.

Along with harding the targets. But with bridges like we have, terrorists could just huff & puff & blow them down.

Of course they could. There are tons of things they could do, but they haven’t. Who is “they”? That is the question.

Pardon the writing gaffes at 233. I promise to slow down, take a deep breath, and proof myself in the futuro.