I was subwaying into Washington last night when I learned of a grave new terrorist peril.<\/p>\n
The train\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s driver kept repeating, \u00e2\u20ac\u0153For safety and security reasons, please do not take pictures or video recordings of Metro trains and buses.\u00e2\u20ac\u009d\u00c2\u00a0 He recited this core message with often\u00c2\u00a0 mystifying enunciation after each subway station.<\/p>\n
To jazz up the rendition, he occasionally added ominously at the end of the announcement: \u00e2\u20ac\u0153POLICE WILL BE NOTIFIED.\u00e2\u20ac\u009d<\/p>\n
If that actually happened, it could wake up Metro police, putting them in a more surly mood than usual. The subway police are renown for their heroics in\u00c2\u00a0 arresting 12 year old girls criminally consuming French Fries within Metro confines.\u00c2\u00a0 But in recent years, they have broadened their hassle-outreach.<\/p>\n
I took some photos of a subway train entering the Tenleytown\u00c2\u00a0 station a few weeks ago.\u00c2\u00a0 To my untrained eye, the photos all looked like crap, thanks to my camera savvy and the dim lighting in the station.\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0 But to experts at Homeland Security, the blurs might contain a secret message for Al Qaeda.<\/p>\n
I was not surprised to learn of my terrorist tendencies, since people have been emailing me such accusations IN ALL CAPS for the last 4 years.\u00c2\u00a0 But I did a quick Google search and found\u00c2\u00a0heaps of clear photos<\/a><\/strong> of the Washington subway.<\/p>\n Even worse, the subway system itself has created and released photographs of trains.\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0 Terrorist infiltration of the subway system might but probably doesn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t explain all the recent train breakdowns and delays.<\/p>\n Unfortunately, I was the only person on the train who snorted loudly when the\u00c2\u00a0driver announced the photo ban and the police warning.\u00c2\u00a0 Perhaps people in Washington are more docile than elsewhere\u00c2\u00a0– perhaps some people are comforted by the endless halfwit bans.<\/p>\n At least in Washington, antiterrorism BS still sells.<\/p>\n