Wait for it

Spencer Ackerman:

Umar Farouk “When There’s Nothing Left To Burn, You Must Set Your Crotch On Fire” Abdulmutallab is currently detained in a federal prison in Michigan. For now! In a few days he’ll use his Muslim heat vision to escape and run amok in Ann Arbor, shortly after America is brought to its knees by the force of his oratory in open federal court.

Instaputz points out "it's funny because it's true." See this would be hilarious an almost Daily Show type of joke, except it is almost certain to be true. And it isn't funny it is frightening. We have already heard wonders from Jim DeMint blaming unions or mysterious something or others for this latest attempt. So let's be honest, it won't take long for some right wing patriot to declare something to this effect on teevee with Gregory or Wallace salivating over the "story." And all of it is of course proof that Barack Obama is the black Jimmy Carter. *sigh

I think it would be too much to ask for people to realize we can only do so much.

I am Frank Chow and I approved this message

Update: Wow, I am good. Via Crooks and Liars



David N

Memo to Gallagher: Nigeria is not in "the Middle East," and the suspect in this case was not "Middle Eastern" -- he was African.

If you want to profile every "known Muslim," you're going to have a hell of a time in countries like Indonesia and the Philippines, considering that their populations are a mix of the world's religions, and any Muslim who wanted to pose as a member of, say, a Christian church in order to fool authorities could do so with ease.

This just underscores how foolish the whole notion of racial profiling actually is, because when you embark on such policies, they actually make you more vulnerable, not less.

That's because terrorists are not that stupid. If you begin profiling for Middle Eastern men, they will find Indonesian or African or European operatives to perform the same task. If you begin profiling for Muslims, they will find ways to conceal their religious preferences.

We know two things about profiling, especially ethnic, religious, or racial profiling: 1) These policies expose the profilers to being gamed by terrorists; and 2) They are always a tremendous waste of resources and inevitably are counter-productive.