Compare this cartoon (from a modern newspaper) to these cartoons (from Nazi-era Germany).

And the difference is?

It has been a fun and largely computer-free weekend.

(more…)

This morning on “Fox News Sunday,” host Chris Wallace asked Michael Chertoff about whether the government might consider doing a limited form of profiling. Chertoff said:

[T]he terrorists themselves focus on using people who do not look like our ordinary conception of terrorists precisely in order to get around our security. So if we become too focused on a particular profile, we’re likely to be dropping our guard precisely where the terrorists are going to be acting next.

This is, of course, always possible. However, let me remind you of some of the names of the folks arrested in connection with the most recent terror plot. See if any of them sound like “our ordinary conception of terrorists”:

Umir Hussain, 24, London E14

Muhammed Usman Saddique, 24, London E17

Waheed Zaman, 22, London E17

Assan Abdullah Khan, 22, London E17

Waseem Kayani, 28, High Wycombe

Waheed Arafat Khan, 24, London E17

Cossor Ali, 24, London E17

Tayib Rauf, 21, Birmingham

Ibrahim Savant, 26, London E17

Osman Adam Khatib, 20, London E17

Shamin Mohammed Uddin, 36, Stoke Newington

Amin Asmin Tariq, 23, London E17

Shazad Khuram Ali, 27, High Wycombe

Tanvir Hussain, 24, London E10

Umar Islam, 28, (born Brian Young) High Wycombe

Assad Sarwar, 25, High Wycombe

Abdullah Ali, 26, London E17

Abdul Muneem Patel, 17, London E5

Nabeel Hussain, 21, Waltham Forest

Mr. Chertoff, these are the names of actual terrorists.

My advice to Michael Chertoff: let’s not become too fixated on this theory that terrorists don’t look like terrorists. Maybe they do, and maybe they don’t. I want you to be aware of the possibility they don’t — but I want you to remain aware of the very real possibility that they do.

Please do not sacrifice effective approaches for fighting terror in the name of political correctness.

End of advice. Thanks for listening.