I shakes my head, I does...

I just got word today that someone I've known for years has been put on the No Fly/Selectee list. When did this person (no name or gender to be disclosed) find out? When they handed over their boarding pass to get on a flight.

I've known this person for years, someone who is not politically active (I'm a much bigger loudmouth when it comes to my political opinions) and, while not a jingoistic asshole, is certainly a good patriotic American. The sort of person who flies the Stars and Stripes on the Fourth of July and gets choked up when they sing the National Anthem. There is no discernable reason for them to have ended up on TSI's McCarthy-esque No Fly list. Of course, babies have ended up on the No Fly list, as has Senator Ted Kennedy. Kennedy managed to get off the list, after three weeks of concerted effort. Those babies are probably still blacklisted, the little terrorist toddlers...

Evidently it's nearly impossible to get off the list once you've been placed on it. Doesn't matter if it's a mistake, or if you happen to have a name like John Smith that some potential terrorist has used as an alias. Or, as some speculate, you’re on the list because of certain political affiliations or activism. The ACLU is suing on behalf of some 200 plus people trying to get off the list, people who've had their livelihoods threatened because of the inability to travel quickly, who can no longer easily visit friends and family that live in a different part of the country.

Yikes...

It’s time for www.cuteoverload.com, where baby pandas, kittens, puppies and assorted other adorable animals can be ooh’d and aaah’d over until the woes of the big, bad world are obscured by cute animal therapy.

No fly list. I mean, fuck me gently with a chainsaw…

Um…sorry, Mom.