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In a little-noticed filing before an Oregon federal judge, the US Justice Department and the FBI conceded that stopping US and other citizens from traveling on airplanes is a matter of "predictive assessments about potential threats."
It is believed to be the government's most direct acknowledgement to date that people are not allowed to fly because of what the government believes they might do and not what they have already done.
Last Friday, the ACLU told the court that the administration's predictive assessments pose an "extremely high risk of error".
Marc Sageman, a former CIA counterterrorism analyst and current academic researcher of terrorism, submitted a brief for the ACLU arguing that the government's predictive model underpinning the blacklist inclusion was not responsibly rigorous. Without a "scientifically validated process", Sageman asserted, the government's judgements about who does and does not pose a terrorist threat to aviation "amount to little more than the 'guesses' or 'hunches' that do not meet the standard for reasonable suspicion.
These official revelations confirm Bruce Schneier's criticism of more than a decade past where he called the no-fly list "a list of suspected terrorists so dangerous that we can't ever let them fly, yet so innocent that we can't arrest them - even under the draconian provisions of the Patriot Act."
(Score: 1, Interesting) by Anonymous Coward on Monday August 17 2015, @06:16AM
There's a simple solution to this problem. Everyone boycott air travel until the Patriot Act is repealed and the Department Of Homeland Security is abolished. Everyone. You won't do it, will you? And you know why you won't do it? Because the no-fly list is not the problem, is it? You are the problem. That's right. You. You reading this comment right now. YOU ARE THE PROBLEM.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Monday August 17 2015, @06:25AM
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Visible_Intermodal_Prevention_and_Response_team [wikipedia.org]
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Monday August 17 2015, @06:34AM
Yes, let us do nothing at all, because doing stuff is just so inconvenient. Protests never work, not because protesting is ineffective, but because stupid scum like you will not ever do anything ever.
(Score: 2) by Runaway1956 on Monday August 17 2015, @06:36AM
Commonly abbreviated as "VIPER".
vi·per
ˈvīpər/
noun
noun: viper; plural noun: vipers
a venomous snake with large hinged fangs, typically having a broad head and stout body, with dark patterns on a lighter background.
a spiteful or treacherous person.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Monday August 17 2015, @06:45AM
Of course its not a problem, only mooslums and niggers and other non-christian scum get put on the no fly list. The government is doing us a favor by making sure minorities stay oppressed so they can't threaten our supremacy.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Monday August 17 2015, @07:00AM
(Score: 3, Funny) by Kromagv0 on Monday August 17 2015, @02:42PM
Now if only all the sitting members of congress would be put on it.
T-Shirts and bumper stickers [zazzle.com] to offend someone
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Monday August 17 2015, @11:26PM
If they're on the no-fly list, they're criminals, otherwise they wouldn't be on the no-fly list. (Yes, the majority of people honestly believe this)
(Score: 1, Insightful) by Anonymous Coward on Monday August 17 2015, @07:24AM
There's a simple solution to this problem. Everyone boycott air travel until the Patriot Act is repealed and the Department Of Homeland Security is abolished.
You and I have very different definitions of the word "simple."
(Score: 5, Insightful) by Jiro on Monday August 17 2015, @08:08AM
Boycotting doesn't work when there's government involvement. If you boycott a business for purely private reasons, a competing business might decide to do what you want (to compete) or the original business might decide to do what you want (to gain more customers). The government isn't going to allow a competing airline to avoid the no-fly list, nor does it lose any money if the airlines get fewer customers.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Monday August 17 2015, @09:02PM
is called 'emigration'.
Maybe more people should boycott with their feet.
(Score: 1) by Valkor on Monday August 17 2015, @08:43AM
I've never flown on a commercial airline, sooooo, fuck off?
(Score: 2) by darkfeline on Monday August 17 2015, @11:20PM
Yes, that sounds very nice and romantic, but why don't you start first? I'll start boycotting once everyone else has done so; I don't fancy being the first one on the chopping block due to losing opportunities by sacrificing travel.
Same thing with all of the US's mediocrity. Yes, storm Congress and drive those sniveling, corrupt politicians out, but I'm not going to be at the front once the bullets start flying. Multiply this by the entire population and of course no one is going to do anything.
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