<story><title>DHS Watchdog OKs ‘Suspicionless’ Seizure of Electronic Devices Along Border</title><url>http://www.wired.com/threatlevel/2013/02/electronics-border-seizures/?cid=co5746764</url></story><parent_chain><item><author>betterunix</author><text>So, remember a few months ago, when people like me were saying that the third parties are the only hope in America&apos;s democracy?  Then a bunch of people said that Obama was worlds different from Romney, and that comparing Obama to Bush was lunacy.&lt;p&gt;I have to wonder what happens when those Obama supporters with left-wing sentiments read an article like this.</text></item></parent_chain><comment><author>tptacek</author><text>An article like what?&lt;p&gt;I voted or and contibuted to Obama because I felt he would fight for public schools and against nationwide voucher programs, and because he supported meaningful health care reform.&lt;p&gt;I had absolutely zero expectation that Obama would waste political capital revamping CBP.&lt;p&gt;The TSA is a far bigger problem for ordinary Americans than CBP is, and a more constitutionally offensive one. I think we can all quickly agree that electronic strip searches of all American citizens are an affront to the word &quot;reasonable&quot;.&lt;p&gt;And yet it never crossed my mind not to vote for Obama because his DHS supported the TSA. Why? Because something like 70% of Americans support the TSA, and, simultaneously, game theory more or less demands that any administration support all counterterrorism measures. There was no possibility that &lt;i&gt;any&lt;/i&gt; winning candidate was going to eliminate the TSA. The problem wasn&apos;t Obama or Romney; it&apos;s the American people.</text></comment>
<story><title>DHS Watchdog OKs ‘Suspicionless’ Seizure of Electronic Devices Along Border</title><url>http://www.wired.com/threatlevel/2013/02/electronics-border-seizures/?cid=co5746764</url></story><parent_chain><item><author>betterunix</author><text>So, remember a few months ago, when people like me were saying that the third parties are the only hope in America&apos;s democracy?  Then a bunch of people said that Obama was worlds different from Romney, and that comparing Obama to Bush was lunacy.&lt;p&gt;I have to wonder what happens when those Obama supporters with left-wing sentiments read an article like this.</text></item></parent_chain><comment><author>Terretta</author><text>The executive&apos;s party or position on civil rights has very little to do with the stance of a bureaucracy the size of DHS.&lt;p&gt;Such entities likely cannot change course even in the length of a full presidential term.  They configure and operate themselves for self preservation and growth of scope and power, with deep defense mechanisms against political whims.&lt;p&gt;They are often incompetent at their charter, while obscenely effective at self aggrandizement.</text></comment>