U.S. Mass Transit on Alert

I KNOW EVIL IS GETTING WORSE EVERYDAY,BUT I SOMETIME THINK THE NEWS IS A LOT OF DISINFORMATION,ITS GETTING TO THE POINT I DONT EVEN WATCH THE EVENING NEWS ANYMORE,ITS ALL A BUNCH OF LIES,BY AND FROM A BUNCH OF LYING WONDERS.!!!!
JOHANN DOHMANN

Why get upset and why bother to even put up alerts!!!!
Jorge has open borders, represents
Mexico and allows illegals, including OTM’s to “visit” us every day.
After awhile, one must get used to the idea that we will be blown to h— under the mismanagement of Jorge Bush.
Eleven Iraqis have been cought at the Texas/Mexican border. How many more are here and have put in place wmd’s or other shoe bombs, etc.
Are we really safe—-what a joke. Jorge and his unethical crew have no credibility left!
I say this, as a woman, who voted for incompetant Jorge twice. Just think about what I could say as a Democrat!
Shirley Beckman

If they discovered this in November 2005, why are they just now releasing the information?

Seems pretty irresponsible . . .

NO, Duh!
I was on a bus in Manhattan almost two years ago and I saw a middle aged middle eastern man video taping the bus while it was stuck in traffic. This went on for ten minutes. I told the bus driver and the lazy bum was like “so what”. I gave him my business card and begged him to tell his superiors, and that they should call me if there were questions. I’m still waiting for a call.

Why does this article not mention which European city mass transportation system was on the video? I am in Italy and would really like to know!

BUt I’m sure that Brian Ross, citizen of the world with allegiance to no country, will see nothing of note here……

elections are in the offing, i.e. bird flu and terrorist threats.

Don’t worry, the Feds continue to protect us and our highly vulnerable mass transit ifrastructure by installing cameras…. we’ll have pictures of the evildoers after the next attack, while we are counting up those killed and injured.
Perhaps one day… some day, we’ll get serious about profiling those who fit the bill as likely terrorist enemies and, simulatenously, take the fight to them outside the continental United States (CONUS).
Nah, instead we’ll do what is easy and politically correct… damn the consequences. Come to think of it, just like we were pre- 9/11.

Here is a good place to research US Railroad Data:
http://safetydata.fra.dot.gov/OfficeofSafety/Default.asp
I worked (as a systems vendor)with Emergency Management Officials (State and Local)for many years, and I have gained an appreciation for what I believe is a greatly overlooked exposure we have regarding terrorism: Hazardous Materials traveling via our railways.
If you go to the url I have suggested, section 1.05 offers the ability to query accident data by railroad,state or region (or all) by date range.
In 2005 there were 3,136 Total Train accidents.
The “Number of train accidents that resulted in a release of hazardous materials” was stated at 36 or 1.15% of the total.
The “Number of persons evacuated” stated at 7,636.
The “Number of rail cars releasing hazmat” was stated at 49.
So, it’s fine to look at mass transit, what is being done to mitigate threats to trains carrying hazmat? Have you ever heard of the “Dow Death Train” that runs from Louisiana to Michigan? That is a term offered up by Emergency Management Officials along that route!
Food for thought.
David Hale

Take this seriously. Change your route, keep
your eyes open for suspicious characters doing things out of the ordinary. A tourist will take videos, but not standing there for ten minutes with the same subject.
Rather than attempt local yokals who don’t care about anything other than their paycheck, call in to FBI all suspicious activity. That is what they are there for.
Look for subway systems stations with longer platforms or different lines with less crowding, hard in NYC or Atlanta or San Fran, but try. Just think safety and think where would a terrorist get most effect and avoid those places at all possible.
When you think about it, we really are soldiers also and the first line of defence for our nation as we can be watchfull and report to DHS, TSA or FBI activity that is suspicious. Be alert!

My parents will appreciate the do-nothing philosophy and cynism when my body is splattered about the inside of the train cars here in the Twin Cities. They’ll be really glad we didn’t overreact.

WHERE did this take place? Its quite irritating when the media fails to name the city.

REMEBER THE ALAMO! Send the Mexicans back where they belong!!!

If we are on alert, why is there no check or suitcases or luggage when boarding AMTRAK and METRO?

DAMN Political correctness and DAMN the ACLU… Congress should dare them to sue and go ahead with profiling – either that or we will pay with another 9-11. Wake up America !!

There is no such thing as homeland “security”. There is nothing secure about our homeland

These reports are worrisome, to say the least. Note, however, that taking picture or videotaping government buildings and mass transit is not illegal (contrary to claims often made by uniformed officers in D.C.–noted and determined false by the Washington Post). As private citizens, we must simply remain vigilant in reporting these activities for further investigation to the proper authorities. We’ll learn more by following these suspicious types than by going beyond the law to arrest them on the spot.

We haven’t had an attack in almost 5 yrs. We can protect and apply all the prevention methods we have available, but it is impossible for one not to slip through. Terror attacks are now part of our lives.

As an art student, I used to take pictures of mundane places like the stairwell of a subway platform, or the converging tracks of a line. I found the images visually arresting. Now I realize that I would probably be the one to get arrested for even drawing a picture of these scenes!

I got locked on a subway platform in Philly a couple months ago after mid-night and the last train had left. Called SEPTA police twice and nobody came to see what two people could be up to at 1 in the morning. It was very discouraging. If we had been terrorists, we could have done a lot of damage since nobody seemed interested in letting us out for hours.

Amazing! I agreed WHOLEHEARTEDLY with every single one of these posts. Now if all 9 of us average American Citizens can see the obvious, when will the government start doing something about it? Close the Borders, Enforce our existing laws, and as far as profiling- if it’s a Middle Eastern man(suicide bomber) between the age of 25-45 we are looking for why would we look for anyone else ???

I’m always amazed when people think the government has a way of protecting us from evil doers without instituting some type of martial law which, of course, none of us want. The government is reactionary, and only proactive in the lip service it can pay to an issue in an attempt to provide the appearance of “homeland defense” so that we do not panic and begin killing each other over the last supply of water, duct tape and plastic sheeting. If you want to survive the next strike, which has likely been planned and set in motion by sleeper cells planted in this country long ago, learn to be self sufficient and provide your family with the survival tools needed to outlast a sustained threat. If you’re waiting for the government to rescue you, you may have to do so from the inside of a body bag.

I definitely agree with xebtron that 9-11 has already been forgotten, sad as it is.
Also, I wish they wouldn’t simply say a “major european city” mass-transit system and actually say which country. I would appreciate it since I am in Rome for the semester and use their system every day!

why do i keep reading articles such as this one without reading a single one about stopping this sort of thing. i’m all for tourism but why would you be taping trash cans unless you have an ‘interest’ in them.

I can’t even begin to describe how disappointed I am with the citizens of this country when I read these comments. If any of you bothered to read the statistics about the complete and utter failures profiling has produced in the past you would know that it is a waste of money, efforts and resources. Moreover, it detracts from our ability to actually find credible intelligence. For example, the madatory registration of all Arab men in New York post 9/11 resulted in … ZERO arrests and ZERO people of interest.
I wasnt aware that having civil liberties and constitutional guarantees only applied if you were white. Maybe we should intern all the Arabs like we did the Japanese during World War II. The attitude here disgusts me.

I think that criminalizing the hobby of watching trains does in no way protect us from terrorists.

Sounds like the East European and Soviet intelligence agents that used to “fish” with weighted and marked lines, minus fish hooks, off bridges and river banks all over West Europe during the Cold War. I’m sure they were just innocent tourists who found the depths and widths of river along potential invasion routes endlessly fascinating as well.
Remember, the price of freedom, liberty, and security is eternal vigilance!

Hmm, I always have my camera out and like to film train stations, and I am of Arab descent. Boogidy boo!

C’mon, get wise! The Cabal is just trying to keep the fear factor going so they will have an excuse to take away our freedoms bit by bit. They do the same thing with the flug bug scare every year. It’s also big money for their pocketbooks when we buy into those fears with our money for security and flu shots.

Look, it’s not about the GOP or the DNC or any of the political pundits. They all have a single agenda-get votes. Our political system has been that way for years and it’s only getting worse. Pandering is the norm for both parties. Many of these posts hit the mark. It is up to average joe (like it or not) to take the responsiblity to protect his homeland and family by being vigilant and aware of what’s going on around him. Too many of us go through our everyday lives totally blind to the world around them. We all see evidence of that in our daily commutes. I’m not saying to be suspicious of everyone or even of just Muslims. Just be aware of what is going on around you, even if you don’t catch a terrorist, a possible result could be that we start to recognize each other as countymen again and stand united for the sake of being united. And who could bring us to our knees then?

Bureaucratic incompetence. I am a very pale white male with a full beard. I don’t look anything like someone from the middle east. Long before 9-11, I had to quit taking plane trips, because every time I went to the airport, they would pull me aside for brief questioning and a search. Morons. Incompetent buffoons. I doubt you could ever get them to follow a screening profile intelligently. I have yet to hear of a hijacking in which the weapons used were nail clippers and knitting needles. Am I the only one who sees how utterly stupid these policies are? Is this supposed to make me feel safe? If anything, this has the opposite effect. I’m convinced that they don’t know what they are doing. I will continue to boycott the airline industry until evidence of ‘intelligent design’ appears in their policies.

Should we duct-tape ourselves into our safe rooms during this election-inspired (yellow/orange/red) alert?

If/When they finally release some ricin gas in a subway station in NYC, I guarenty it will be at a popular station where they have those stupid huge turnstiles that only one person can exit at a time… and it takes forever (as a previous poster mentioned).
That alone will kill some number of extra people.
Yes, an invetigative reporter could make quite a story and potentially save lives if they pushed on this a little bit.

Wow, in all these posting all I see is a society overloaded with fear. What did our former president say, “The only thing we have to fear is fear itself.”

Land of the free and home of the brave.
Not if you read this thread. Terrorists do not frighten me. I am going to die someday whether or not it is at the hand of a terrorist or government spook is of no concern to me. I will live my life as a free man. If you want to give up your liberty for some illusion of security then so be it but don’t tread on me. Live free or die!

After years of searching for Bin Ladin, it is still a priority to catch or kill this very determined individual… and his friends and associates…. This group of terrorists is a many-headed serpent. If Bin Ladin is killed, another head will pop up. We need to concentrate more on getting to the root of the problem; Places like Iran and North Korea. Face it; the democratic leadership (if you can call it that) has badmouthed the war with Iraq and our President from the very start. Their behavior has emboldened our enemies. Our enemies enjoy the “Divided States of America” and feed upon it.
Yes, we have slipped back into pre 911 mentalities.
Bush went after the terrorists and terrorist nations as advertised. Is it a total coincidence, that we have not suffered further attacks at home?
We are the folks that stopped our President in his tracks, not Bin Ladin. Our own politicians and their radical beliefs (from the far left or far right) are just as dangerous as other threats to a free “United States of America”. We as American’s have a responsibility to get radical nuts-jobs out of government, here and abroad. Until such time, there will be no peace.
Remember the folks that lost their lives on 911. It was an attack on you and your loved ones. Remember and honor them and our military people that sacrificed their lives while protecting our rights and lives. Remember the politicians that badmouthed our country and President during a time of war. Remember the politicians in majority and minority that refuse to protect our country and boarders.

Now you know how people in Israel feel every day…

This warning is stupid. Why doesn’t Homeland security declare wearing shoes a potential threat, afterall, there could be a fuse connected to something sinister in the sole!
Have you ever seen pics of the Moscow subways? What would be a crime would be if pictures taken of those were never shared with the rest of the world!
Trains, light-rail systems, and subways… fascinate many many people. They are called train buffs! Train buffs film stuff and they take pictures of everything having to do with systems… from the subway station details of the benches and trash cans, to the floor and ceiling tiles. Yes, they also take pictures of maps plastered to the inside of subway trains.
And it doesn’t just include subway buffs… it includes everyone in the industry. They take pictures to document things… their trip, ideas they can take home and maybe replicate, or maybe just to show to friends.
Just because they have middle eastern descent in them doesn’t mean they are taking pictures for preparations to blow it up! How ignorant to forward a warning to mass transit systems!!! Ignornant ignorant ignorant!
If these videos were soooooo threatening, why don’t they make them available for the public to view and make a decision for ourselves!

The Gov. wants something to happen….more pork belly spending and more citizen control. That is the only way to explain their behavior.

I feel so safe with “the decider” who “decides things” protecting us in the white house. This is a man who doesn’t understand the difference between running the modern Western world into decline and playing a game of Risk on his Super Nintendo, but you gotta love him regardless.

You’re all missing the point.
Every day you get into your big SUV which is responsible for funding the following:
a) our wonderful giant corporations which control the media & government.
b) the oil shiekhs which are in cahoots with them and support the “terrorists.”
c) higher gas prices by buying more gas & thus creating higher demand for the already very scarce good.
d) pollution, anyone?
Our War on Terror isn’t about fighting anyone in particular, it’s about creating fear in our country — which used to be democratic, now is controlled by small number — large corporations, corrupt bureaucracies, and bribed politicians. (campaign contributions???)
Meanwhile the economy is on the decline and Russia and China is on the rise. Good job, you scared scared sheep :)

Just more Booga-Booga. Designed to help justify the “WAR ON TERROR”.
Notice the timing of this message, SEVEN months later. Do you read the papers? Zarqawi psyop ring a bell?
If we start profiling now we have profile black and white people, because there are MANY people of BOTH colors who are muslim.

The conspiracy people point out a lot of things.. like how the flight 93 wreckage was spread over 8 miles..meaning it was shot down and we were lied to about it crashing. They speak of how cell phones don’t work at 30,000 feet, etc..
Now, I’m not a conspiracy person but lets face facts..money and power are THE most addicting things on this planet and those that wield them will behave as any addict would..do whatever it takes…to keep it and get more. Addicts lie. Addicts conspire. Addicts kill.
You do the math.
Why no secure borders? Why no civil defense training? Why no research and funding into alternative energy while gas prices soar and private companies are selling us something we must have (gas and oil) ..remember “Total Recall”?

If they wanted to attack our subways or trains, why haven’t they done it? One man with explosives is not that hard to smuggle into our country. I can only conclude that the terrorists do not wish to do so.

why do i keep reading articles such as this one without reading a single one about stopping this sort of thing. i’m all for tourism but why would you be taping trash cans unless you have an ‘interest’ in them.
Posted by: jeff | May 3, 2006 5:16:24 PM
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Because as an artist, I need them for texture maps for 3d animations. Gollum doesn’t texture himself you know.

It’s a great feeling living in New Orleans watching the free and easy access to our port.Best move is to sleep with our water wings under our pillows!

God, people.. Is it going to take a major city getting nuked for us to wake up? Islamic terrorists (“America, the worst is coming!”)have vowed our distruction and have proven they can be pretty crafty in their ability to get our attention. The only reason we were not nuked five years ago is because they didn’t have one.
You really think it’s going to make a difference who is in the WH or how quickly we leave Iraq whether or not the terrorists (“America, the worst is coming!”) decide to level a US city? Our politicians have done a great disservice in using Iraq for political gains, and of course plays very well in the terrorist (“America, the worst is coming!”) world. I supect that the next “attention getter” will be measured in hundreds of thousands – if not millions – of casualties. If that finally wakes us up to the real threat facing the world, perhaps it will not have been done in vain…

so what do you suggest? we dig up Teddy Roosevelt and get tough?

The Transit and Security people at subways etc…are afraid to act on suspects and complaints, in fear of loosing their jobs by making a wrong decision. The political correctness disease is at its peak and exploited by the media. The attitude is “Don’t make trouble”. We circle the wagons waiting for the next person make a move. It ain’t goin to happen. Not good.

In view of the fact that the terrorists already have between 20 and 70 suitcase nukes INSIDE THE USA (via the Mexican border and the MS-13 Mexican gang), and are nearing zero hour when they will detonate them; then the above comments are not really meaninful. Check out Paul Williams and “American Hiroshima”. He was a consultant to the FBI on terrorism. Mass transit is the least of our worries!!

Common sence eludes people when fear sets in. Profiling is important, but so are our personal freedoms. I would hope security would follow up on suspicious activity, but even more important is respecting the innocent. I know of a case where a college aged man videotaped mass transit in Chicago for extended times for use as a background to an animated character as part of a project he was involved in at college. Security was after him big time at one point apparently. If I understand correctly, he had to do the Amercian thing and use a credit card to buy a replacement video camera as the rental he was using was confiscated, and then retake the video always looking over his shoulder. Upon showing the completed project weeks later he got the video camera back to the store who fortunatly understood the situation and only charged him rent for the original two days.
I wonder if people who are arrested in such situations will get a fair chance at employemnt if they answer “yes” to “have you ever been arrested for a misdemeanor or felony” to that common question on application forms. Note they only ask if you’ve been arrested, not if you have ever been convicted. Having to explain such incidents, I would think, could lower the changes for equal employment, even if the event was honest, productive, and innocent.
If they say “no” on the application and the background check shows an arrest record, all bets for employment or continued employement are off. If fired for a false application then try to get another job at the same pay.

I see we have a real problem here and it is only going to get bigger. We can take some steps to counter this, and I present them here for your consideration:
1. Ban any one who looks slighlty foreign from purchasing any form of photographic equipment.
2. Arm citizens with big flashing pointers so they can identify any foreginer who is acting supicously around any public building or open space.
3. Ban all foreigners from public transport, air transport or any type of vehicle. Well lets just make em walk everywhere.
4. Have special lanes on the streets where the large groups of foriegners can walk.
5.Make all foreginers stay in after sun down.
6. Make all foreginers live in one place behind a great big wall.
7.Nuke all foregin countries so there are no more foreigners.
8. Make baseball a religion and force all the foreginers who survive the nuclear winter to play it all day, this will stop them wanting to be terrorists.
These simple measures will be enough – to begin with – but all citizens must be on their guard against anyone foreign, or even anyone who looks different to them.

Hey all of you brain washed commuters, all of us fans of the rapid transit systems are NOT terrorists, we have hobbies like taking photos or videos of transit systems some have been doing this since the 1930′s it’s a hobby and unlike some people who don’t know what a hobby is should wise up a bit, there is no law against making it illegal to take photos of buses or trains, and just because someone is wearing a turban or resembles eastern people doesnt mean he’s a terrorist, maybe the focus should be on arresting illegal aliens during demonstrations instead of chasing photographers of transit systems,as for taking photos of me with your cell phone taking photos and sending them to the FBI…go ahead, and I’ll be videotaping you acting like a fool and put this on the web, another thing, there are so Manny photos from the news agencies on the web that terrorists only have to check there computer so they may never be in some subway station taking photos all they have to do is to turn on the computer, grow up people let us pursue OUR HOBBY. Karl

As an early commenter let me try to put some stuff in perspective (some folks just seem not to ‘get-it’):
1. The Federal Government has the responsibility to control our borders. It is one of the few governmental functions that can only be done by the Feds. We need to insist that they secure our borders (for those out there who don’t understand this, this does NOT mean keeping all foreigners out, it means what it says controlling our borders, controlling who comes in and who goes out: an orderly process so that those who wish to come here legally to visit or eventually become citizens can and those who would come here illegally are kept out!).
2. All levels of Government when faced with a ‘crises’ often try to do something… anything to respond. All too often those responses are stupid, ill considered, wasteful of limited $$ and manpower, of dubious value and needlessly violate civil liberties: e.g. Cameras everywhere. Our Gov’t should put every foreign person who fits the terrorist profile and who tries to enter the US under the best microscope we can. If you are from/often spend time in the areas that are ‘terror hotspots’ (a.k.a. state sponsors of terrorism) and you are between the ages of 16-60, and you are male, the Gov’t should give that person the most thorough review possible and collect all reasonable intelligence. (Profiling = focusing limited investigative and itelligence resources where they might do the most good… fish in the pond where the fish are.) Simultaneously we need to be taking the fight to terrorists, terrorist enabling groups, and even into terror supporting states/governments and fighting them soil outside the CONUS. I’d much rather have our Marines and Soldiers fighting in the great sandbox of the middle east — I’d much rather have that part of the world serve as the focal point… the place where would be terrorists are drawn out into their idea of a Holy-war battle, than have them in Vegas, Detroit, or Memphis (I can’t see how anyone could disagree with this concept!).
3. The people (as in us) need to be informed and encouraged to take on the responsibility to protect themselves, their families and their communities (thus America as a whole). The Gov’t can’t and should not try do it all. We do not need to, nor should we, nor am I advocating, that US Citizens give up any rights in the bogus exchange for a promise of a secure tomorrow. That said, we who ‘get it’ need to make our Government do all it can and should do … and they need to do it better (less wastefully, better targeted, etc.)
Our borders are wide open; our elected leaders are considering giving millions of folks in our nation illegally and without full documentation (two distinctly different and important issues) an Amnesty. Our law enforcement is overburdened and mis-directed. The public is being told that there is a threat and in the same breath that the Gov’t is going to do ‘something’ (again) more stupid and wasteful (putting up cameras) to ‘combat’ the threat.
There is little discussion about doing the hard work of making our nation as safe as we reasonably can. The clock is ticking and I fear that we will do little; I fear that the memory and lesson of 9/11 may well be lost.
(Knee jerk left leaning folks PLEASE NOTE: nothing in this document mentions picking on US Citizens just because they have dark skin, nothing in this suggests we cut our selves off from the outside world, nothing herein suggests that we give up any of our God given, constitutionally protected rights/freedoms in exchange for some kind of Gestapo/Police State/Nanny State.)

In the last 5 year’s I have come to believe we as people were the actor’s in the movie ” Beneath the Planet of the Ape’s,” were worshipping a missile with a warhead on top of it was their answer to survival, unfortunately though, it seemed to end those particular movie’s, but now we are faced with something very similar to them, I say, civilize the uncivilized where civilization began, and stop using the intelligence which was recorded some 5000+ year’s ago, to see a different Light, or Meaning, it is all written in the hand of man, write a different story for tomorrow, and make it happen.