Posted on 05/11/2012 8:35:23 PM PDT by redreno
CHICAGO (CBS) — Some commuters will have to make alternate plans during the NATO Summit, as Metra today said it will close several stations on the Electric Line.
All Metra passengers–not just those on the Electric Line–will also face carry-on restrictions and security screenings from May 19-21. Riders will be allowed one briefcase-sized bag up to 15 by 15 inches and four inches deep. Riders will not be allowed to carry boxes, luggage, backpacks, pocket knives, bikes, food or liquid. This includes all beverages, such as coffee and soda.
(Excerpt) Read more at chicago.cbslocal.com ...
I thought we lived in America.
A standard briefcase is 18 inches, not 15. My laptop wouldn't even fit in a 15" carrier. Even my wife's pocketbook is bigger than the allowed size. They aren't allowing anything but fag bags. (And, before some prissy person hits the abuse button, fag is slang for a cigarette.)
Couldn’t wish this upon a better city. F Rahm Emmanuel and Obama too.
Did they say anything about canes, zimmer frames, or Oxygen bottles and all the other stuff protected by the Americans with Disabilities Acts?
It seems like an excellent opportunity to mess with the system. Smuggle a bottle on and leave it, leave a package, disrupt the system. Civil disobedience.
From The Day of the Jackal in Wikipedia's summary:
On the day of the assassination, the Jackal, disguised as a one-legged French war veteran, passes through the police checkpoints, carrying his custom rifle concealed in the sections of a crutch. He makes his way to an apartment building overlooking the Place du 18 Juin 1940 (in front of the soon-to-be-demolished facade of the Gare Montparnasse), where de Gaulle is presenting medals to a small group of Resistance veterans.
The interesting thing here is that the government always argues that people should be riding transit, not personal cars. And then one day, once personal cars become rare, restrictions on public transit begin. You cannot travel when you want; you can't travel to where you want; you can't carry what you want (that is already so, just by physical impossibility of carrying many things in buses.) In other words, you are not in control anymore, you become a subject.
There are many references to the old USSR today on FR. This thread also deserves one. Soviet citizens were totally denied the ability to carry things. Taxi was available only in cities, and it was expensive. Renting a truck was not possible (most citizens did not drive.) The only way you could do that was to go to some place where trucks are gathering, and talk to drivers, personally, to bribe them.
A typical Soviet citizen either walked, or he took a bus. Subway was only for large cities. This means that long trips or bulky items were out of question. If he bought something in the store he had to carry it home in his hands. This is the future that the advocates of public transit are advocating.
We saw an example of that in UK about a couple of years ago. A UK subject bought a can of paint in a store and decided to head home. The bus driver forbade him from entering the bus, citing "health and safety." What is the guy to do now, walk 10 miles? Throw the paint away? That's what you get when you are not in control. You become a toy in other people's hands.
#1- I stay the hell out of Chicago. Period. End of discussion.
#2- During NATO I will stay at home with my Mossburg loaded. With the Mag plug removed it holds 8 + 1 . . .
Metra...Making Every Train Ride Awful.
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