Sometimes, I see something on the news that makes me howl with laughter. This is one such current headline. It is about one of the stupidest things I have ever read. After all, the very nature of terrorism is surprise. I swear to God if you so much as go into a public place in Nebraska and say, “falafel,” you will be arrested on the spot. Throw “mulligatawny” into the mix while strolling with someone vaguely Middle Eastern in appearance and boy, you are really in trouble. And I make a mean mulligatawny by the way. Love Moroccan food. I digress.
There has been a critical meltdown in “freedom” since the internet became public. That is no mystery and nobody should express surprise at the concept. When cell phones came into the picture the potential to commit heinous acts increased exponentially. But the bottom line is this: terrorist acts will happen. It really is that simple. They will happen and we will not always be able to put the brakes on it.
Yes, the government can store five years worth of your phone calls. but think about that. What will they hear? You fighting with your parents; making sexy calls to whoever wherever; gossiping; violating probably every commandment ever written and then some that haven’t been discovered yet. The list of silly things we talk about on the phone is ever increasing. Forget about text messages. I am a texting queen. No doubt about that. I love text messages. Who really wants to read all that blather? I pity the person who has the unenviable task of slogging through all of that drivel. Pay them well because they will at least get material for a book or two at our expense. Just change the names to prevent Facebook trauma.
We always think of terrorists as someone from somewhere else who comes here to do us harm. Not so. We have plenty of haters from our own who do insane things to hurt people. Witness Timothy McVeigh, need I say more?
Hindsight is always 20/20. But here’s the thing: the assumption is that the cell phones tracked will be contract phones. Now that is a seriously delinquent terrorist who uses a contract phone to conduct illegal activities. Drug dealers figured out you use a burner over a decade ago to avoid being caught (a “burner ” is a disposable phone). I may be speaking out of turn, but to try to find a needle by inspecting every piece of hay in the pile is not a very useful way to find needles. Instead, figure out what the magnet is and run it through the haystack.
Now the key is: what is the magnet? Cell phones? Maybe…sometimes. But all of our cell phones? Nah, never.
I put the frog in here because he’s cool – and I like frogs. This is an Alabama tree frog. If you click on the photo you can see how pretty he is.
Author Lisa Adams 