Shouting fire in the Big Apple
Riding my exercise bike this morning I watched Jon Scott on Fox News report
”Fire under bridge halts Metro-North commuter trains in and out of Manhattan.”
How did they go about making this a big story? I guess they went back to If It Bleeds It Leads. Because what they were talking about was how taking a small bridge to the north of Manhattan of service would trap the hundred thousand commuters in the city. They went on to discuss how difficult it would be to leave Manhattan heading north if this bridge was out of service.
But Jon Scott, a private pilot[1] and the man who has commented on many news stories about terrorists should know better. By highlighting this important part of the Manhattan infrastructure as a bottleneck Jon was shouting fire in The Theater of Homeland Security.
In the years that I worked as a civil service I noticed that anytime the media highlighted an event which fell into the area of responsibility of one of my bosses, the boss felt the need to take action.
We hear every day that Islamic terrorists are looking for a way to strike at America. How much more information do they need beyond this newscast to find an easy vulnerable troublemaking target in New York City?
How much more of a shove do the bosses of Homeland security need in order to come up with some new regulation that invades the lives of commuters in New York City?
[1] https://amsrvs.registry.faa.gov/airmeninquiry/Detail.aspx?uniqid=A4463243&certNum=