TSA to the Rescue

For John, BLUF:  I think we need to keep TSA at bay for a while longer.  Nothing to see here; just move along.

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I celebrate the action by three Americans, and a Brit "Cousin", to tackle and hogtie a terrorist on a high-speed rail train traveling in Europe.  What we should know we need to do in this new age of terrorism.  It isn't like the airplane hijackings of old, when it was a free trip to Cuba and then a safe return home.  Now it is mass murder.

The good fallout from the incident is the idea that we can resist, fight back, and win.  Not always, but if you are going to die you might as well fight back and try to prevent it.

The bad news is that people are thinking that TSA should step in and make us safe on trains.  Here is an article from The International New York Times.  The headline is "Train Attack in Europe Puts Focus on Vulnerability of U.S. Rail".

I like the Acela.  Let us be very clear about this.  The Acela is NOT high speed rail.&nbssp; All that said, I can leave my home, drive to the local "128 Station", park, walk to the elevator, ride down to ticket area, pick up my ticket, walk out to the platform five minutes before the train is due, and call my wife on my cell phone, talking to her as I board and while the train is pulling away from the station for the ride to New York, Philly or DC.  Once in a while I see a policeman and his dog.

The article catches this:

Amtrak, particularly on its high-speed train, the Acela, has cut into the airlines’ share of passengers in the busy Northeast corridor because of frustrations with airport screenings.  Between New York and Washington, Amtrak said, 75 percent of travelers go by train, a share that has grown steadily since the Acela began service in 2000 and airport security tightened after 2001.

The intervention of TSA to "make us safer" will ruin this situation.  I will again consider driving.

How much safety do we want and at what price?

Regards  —  Cliff