Security at the Golden Globes, which was held Sunday night in Beverly Hills, was at its highest level ever. There were more checkpoints, more searches, and extra police and federal law enforcement on site. Why? Because of fear caused by the New Orleans terrorist attack. If its goal was to inspire fear, then I guess it was successful.
The U.S. has also increased security at military bases. Full ID checks and random vehicle searches have been implemented at all bases. This is also in response to the recent terrorist attack.
In Washington, where there will be multiple public events, parties, and balls as President Trump is inaugurated, security is expected to be especially tight.
Yet Homeland Security’s national Terrorism Advisory System has no current advisories. In other words, your government doesn’t want you to worry about terrorism. The swamp would prefer you to worry about bird flu so they can use those fears to seize more control.
They also don’t want you to worry about drones. Nothing to see here! Deny, deny, and look how quickly it dropped off the front pages and out of your newsfeed.
Is it All Because of Trump?
I can’t help but wonder if the terrorist acts and the resulting crackdown are just another volley in the Deep State’s war against Donald Trump. Some will tell you they want to prevent him from being president; I think it is more likely they want his presidency to fail and are taking measures to prevent his agenda even before he is in office. Doing things like:
- Sending more money and weapons to Ukraine despite knowing Trump will push for peace
- Banning off-shore drilling to make it harder to “Drill, baby, drill”
- Announcing the U.S. had developed plans to bomb Iran
- Trying to auction off pieces of the border wall at the last minute to frustrate Trump’s plans to close the border
- Rushing the appointment of liberals as federal judges
- Vetoing bipartisan legislation creating 66 new federal judicial seats
- Giving the country’s highest civilian award to people like Hillary Clinton and George Soros
Likewise, the sudden attention on bird flu and various new viruses in China and Africa could be ways to distract the incoming administration or to panic people.
At the very least, these terrorist attacks could be away to undermine the feelings of hope and happiness that many Americans experienced after Trump was elected. People were looking forward to the future. Nothing like a few terrorist attacks to remind them it isn’t all rosy.
Action and Reaction
Terrorist attacks come and go. Fifty years ago, terrorists hijacked airplanes, so the airlines installed metal detectors. Hijacking decreased, so terrorists turned to truck bombs, targeting Americans on military bases overseas. When we took options to stop those attacks, they sent suicide bombers into bars and nightclubs frequented by Americans. For every action, there is a reaction, which leads to a change in tactics.
After 9/11, the TSA was formed and now we all get to take our shoes off and be felt up by poorly trained government employees. Still, no one has flown jet liners into buildings since.
Today, there are counter snipers at big events, including big bowl games, but there were also counter snipers in Pennsylvania when Trump was almost assassinated. It remains to be seen if the Secret Service will improve after the reports and hearings. I predict their budget grows more than their capabilities.
So what reaction will we see this time? More metal detectors? More drone surveillance? Demands that all vehicles have kill switches, or smart technology that prohibits them from hitting pedestrians? We’ll have to wait and see. But whatever happens, people intent on doing harm will adjust and find new ways to attack the innocent. Meanwhile, the rest of us will have fewer rights, lose another chunk of our privacy, and/or face increased restrictions on what we can do and where we can do it. All in the name of “safety.”
Don’t Worry, Be Happy
When you get right down to it, your odds of being killed in a terrorist attack are tiny. If you live in the United States, they are much smaller than if you live in Israel, Somalia, Pakistan, Russia, or Afghanistan, which were terrorism hot spots in 2024. While we may be a great big target, we have been either lucky or good and minimized the attacks.
You can lower your odds of being a victim or terrorism even further by avoiding places where terrorists might strike, which include big public events such as the Golden Globes.
Your odds of being a crime victim are much higher than being a victim of terrorism because there are far more criminals in the country than terrorists. Not only do we have home-grown criminals, ICE reports there are up to 425,000 convicted criminal aliens living in the U.S. illegally. That’s the legacy Biden leaves us.
Many of the common-sense steps you might take to reduce your chance of being victimized by criminals will also protect you from being the victim of terrorism. Refer to Friday’s post for some of the physical steps I take to protect myself.
A Small Price to Pay
The world is a dangerous place and it always has been, but the Homo sapiens survived and prospered. Our challenges today differ from those of our ancestors, but so do our tools and opportunities.
You may not feel like it, but we have it much easier than they did. If you feel sorry for yourself or your situation, remember that you didn’t catch smallpox, aren’t locked in an iron lung because of polio, have clean running water, are unlikely to be in an arranged or forced marriage, didn’t start to work on an assembly line at age nine, have more than one set of shoes, don’t have to poop in a stinky outhouse or empty a chamber pot every morning, and don’t have to grow and harvest your own food. You also have a phone that is more powerful than the CRAY-2 supercomputer built in 1985 and a world of information at your fingertips.
Yeah. We have it pretty good. From my perspective, a random, small-scale terrorist attack is a small price to pay for the way we live. I say that not to disrespect people killed by terrorists, but to remind you how many of us have not been.
Those who would give up essential Liberty to purchase a little temporary Safety, deserve neither Liberty nor Safety.
–Benjamin Franklin
