Tag Archives: national security

Acting Tough

By Bryan Packman | Published: January 14, 2010
In high school (and all of this is still the case), I never put on a tough guy facade (although I was, and still am, a metalhead), I never talked shit to anyone, and I never threatened anyone. I was always nice to people, I was easy to get along with, and in general, I [...]
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Racial Profiling is a Terrible Strategy

By Bryan Packman | Published: January 10, 2010
In a commendable act of patriotism, “Muslims, Arab-Americans and Nigerian-Americans stood together Friday outside the federal courthouse [in Detroit] to speak out against terrorism and Islamic extremists…. The rally was held during the U.S. District Court arraignment of terror suspect Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab, who is accused of trying to blow up a Northwest Airlines jet [...]
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Let’s Not Overreact This Time

By Bryan Packman | Published: December 30, 2009
Matt Yglesias explains why increasing security at airports is counterproductive: Benjamin Friedman points to Nate Silver’s calculation that in the last decade of US flights, there was one terrorist incident per 11,569,297,667 miles flown. Under the circumstances, investing additional resources in defending airplanes is unlikely to be a cost effective investment. It’s also worth underscoring [...]
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No, It's Not about Political Correctness

By Bryan Packman | Published: December 30, 2009
The right seems to want to blame “political correctness” as the cause of the Christmas Underpants Bomber. All I had to do was look at my sister’s Facebook status following the news of Northwest Airlines flight 253: Let’s ignore the fact that she’s gloating, and seems somewhat happy about the terrorist attack. Now, listen to [...]
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