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Comment by _cbsz | Hacker News Reader

You forgot the implied "...and then cross an international border while carrying said journal entry."

And you forgot to mention that the vast majority of international borders don't include philosophical loyalty tests or religious screening. It's not a club I think America should belong to. Do you?

It's not entirely clear to me that I don't want a person who crosses our borders in the circumstances that the author of the article did and carrying the things that the author of the article carried grilled to see if he cracks. Can you imagine what would happen if someone carried those things across a border, did NOT get grilled based on the "would be really inept" arguments, and then committed a terrorist act? We'd be calling for the screeners' heads, and quite probably would be right to do so.

Do you think white Christians who have been to Idaho should be prevented from buying fertilizer or renting trucks? Just in case they're going to repeat Oklahoma City? If not, I suspect you need to examine your priorities.

Your attitude will be the downfall of this nation. I'm not kidding. It is killing us. Please stop. Read something. Learn about the world. Get outside and realize the sun is still shining and we still have Ferris wheels and there are no freaking terrorists trying to kill you in your bed. Really. I am up to here with this crap.

Do you really understand the meaning of freedom so poorly? Sometimes you have to man up and accept a truly vanishing amount of danger in order to have a world you can live in like a real human being. Read up on road statistics, or infant mortality, or malaria, or actual wars in other places, then come back to me and tell me we have to toss out the entire freaking point of America in order to combat something none of us is ever actually going to see, but whose political fallout certainly does benefit a few powerful people.

Benjamin Franklin would probably have been mildly surprised that America lasted so long - but he saw clear as day how it was going to end. I just wish it hadn't been in my lifetime.

Your analogy does not hold, as the guy was not prevented from doing anything. He was questioned, searched, and spied on by the FBI. As far as we know, no direct, material harm came to him.

Do you think white Christians who have visited Idaho should be confronted verbally at length by policemen whenever attempting to rent trucks? Especially if they're carrying a Bible? Should the rental truck police demand to know whether they accept Jesus Christ as their Lord and Savior, implying that if they do, they should definitely not be allowed to enter Oklahoma?

Should the mothers of white Christians renting trucks have their phones tapped by the FBI?

You could already have constructed this analogy. Instead you choose to be disingenuous about it. Don't you think America should be capable of doing better than this?

Still doesn't hold. Idaho is neither a separate country, nor, more importantly, is it home to established organizations with ties to the government of said separate country, overtly dedicated to terrorist activity founded on extremist beliefs. Renting trucks isn't particularly analogous with flying to such a place. Policemen are not customs agents at a border crossing.

Apparently you don't think America is capable of doing better than this. I don't know why I bother.

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