Earthtone_Coalition

I can't wait until the TSA expands to buses, trains, and every other public venue they can weasel into.

Ehem.

Introducing the Visible Intermodal Prevention and Response team, or VIPR squad, brought to you by your friends at the TSA!

It is specifically authorized by 6 U.S.C. § 1112 which says that the program is to "augment the security of any mode of transportation at any location within the United States"

If you haven't seen them yet, don't worry--they're (quietly) making every effort to meet you! From the New York Times:

With little fanfare, the agency best known for airport screenings has vastly expanded its reach to sporting events, music festivals, rodeos, highway weigh stations and train terminals. ...

In 2011, the VIPR teams were criticized for screening and patting down people after they got off an Amtrak train in Savannah, Ga. As a result, the Amtrak police chief briefly banned the teams from the railroad’s property, saying the searches were illegal.

In April 2012, during a joint operation with the Houston police and the local transit police, people boarding and leaving city buses complained that T.S.A. officers were stopping them and searching their bags. (Local law enforcement denied that the bags were searched.)

The operation resulted in several arrests by the local transit police, mostly for passengers with warrants for prostitution and minor drug possession.

The thing you're thinking of is called an "orrery," though they're not usually domed.

To be fair, you’re talking about a very small demographic.

Not to bust your balls, but one might point out that despite these hard-learned lessons from the buildup to the Iraq war, the NYT still serves the interests of the administration at the expense of their readers by doing things like violating the NYT's own policies to needlessly grant anonymity to public officials who seek only to discredit reports that might damage their war efforts; in their failure to provide a caveat to government claims about "militants" when the editors know full well that the administration's definition of the term is flawed; and in their backward and undermining erstwhile practice of giving politicians a "veto" on quotes.

You cannot know how frustrating it is to see members of the MSM offer a sober apology in stone-faced acknowledgement of past errors, and then merrily turn around and do it all over again (I'm lookin' at you, AP!).

I have this, too! For me, the sound is often a loud banging on the door, a shout, or someone screaming my name.

This is a type of hypnogogic hallucination called "exploding head syndrome."

Hypnagogia is the transitional state from wakefulness to sleep, also defined as the waning state of consciousness during the onset of sleep. Its opposite state is described as hypnopompia – the transitional state from sleep into wakefulness. Mental phenomena that may occur during this "threshold consciousness" phase include hypnagogic hallucinations, lucid dreaming, and sleep paralysis.

... Sounds

Hypnagogic hallucinations are often auditory or have an auditory component. Like the visuals, hypnagogic sounds vary in intensity from faint impressions to loud noises, like knocking and crashes and bangs (exploding head syndrome). People may imagine their own name called, crumpling bags, white noise, or a doorbell ringing.

Exploding head syndrome (EHS) is an abnormal sensory perception during sleep in which a person experiences auditory hallucinations that are loud and of short duration when falling asleep or waking up.[2][4] The noise may be frightening, typically occurs only occasionally, and is not a serious health concern.[2]