Security check

For the past few mornings the red line has stopped at the Chicago station for a security check in which a couple of cops either look in or board each car and a dog sniffs around a bit. The canine is probably sniffing in disgust, "Hey, dudes, any perpetrator of suspicious activity now knows to wreak havoc at Clark & Division or Grand."

The amazing thing is not that terrorist attacks occur in the Western world, but that they occur so infrequently. Or that only after one occurs elsewhere, big American cities temporarily beef up security when an attack is least likely to happen. Or that people in Middle America, which is not a target, are the ones who are so vitriolic about retribution for an attack on sacrosanct "American soil" whereas we urbanites who are actually at risk are typically a lot less fearful and vengeful.