Do You Look Like a Terrorist?

Liz Klimas reports on activities that, though not usually associated with terrorism, have been identified as things terrorists might be likely to do. People who don't want to pay credit companies don't use credit cards...but so do terrorists who don't want even their fake identities traced. People who just want to get physical when they relax play paintball...but terrorists might set up paintball games that simulate a target area, and even recruit law-abiding game players to participate to help them craft their strategies. People who enjoy model planes build remote-controlled model aircraft...but terrorists just might, in theory, find their own uses for model aircraft. And so on.

http://www.theblaze.com/stories/are-you-making-the-fbi-suspicious-see-the-fliers-that-reveal-what-theyre-looking-for/

Oh, and we can add knitting to the list; so far as I know it's only happened in spy movies, but there are evil uses for modified knitting needles. And bottled water; there are things that look like water and aren't. Also trench coats, because things can be concealed under them. Dang, y'know this morning I put on a sweater that goes with the shirt and skirt I was wearing, then thought "It's cold and rainy outside--trench coat weather." It wasn't cold enough to wear the coat over the sweater. I thought that wearing a coat and carrying a sweater was enough to certify me as a fussy, overprepared, middle-aged auntie. (Hey, I like the nephews.) So now in the e-mail is this notification that, if I happen to run into any U.S.-based fellow sufferers from Mullah Omar's type of mental illness, this combination may also suggest that I'm a terrorist. Yikes. And all those Eurasian genetic mixes in Afghanistan look just like the British-Cherokee mixed breeds here, too. Should I be afraid to go home?

This web site officially supports the FBI's efforts to identify terrorists, but please, Gentle Readers, don't go completely paranoid about it, and don't waste the FBI's time. If you know people who change their hairstyle every week, play paintball, wear trench coats, and don't forget (the FBI apparently don't mention this, but you know it's in their minds) do all these things while having dark complexions, it might be worthwhile to find out what they really feel about our country, but don't bother the FBI without some real evidence of un-American activities. Need I remind you that "weaselling," pestering anyone in charge of enforcing the rules with bogus accusations of other people to distract them from what you're up to, is a trick every grown-up law enforcement person knows? And if you know people who are law-abiding Americans, but pay cash and keep their identities off the Internet, you might thank us for trying to protect other law-abiding Americans, as well as ourselves, from the terrorists.

Need I remind you where I learned about the importance of not letting my face be photographed, not answering to my name on the street, never making non-cash payments in stores where others are waiting in line, and similar security precautions? In Washington, from people who worked in law enforcement, including the FBI. They take these precautions themselves, and so should you. Snoopy people who want to know the name of a customer are, in my experience, usually just the kind of small-town gossips who drive the potential customers in their neighborhood to shop in the city, but if they're careless with identity information, they are part of the problem.