I guess the cops can join the travelers in feeling insignificant, huh?

To be fair, the HRC has a boatload of countries on the council who are monstrous.

Folks, Saudi Arabia is on the UN Human Rights Council.

SAUDI FREAKING ARABIA.

Do you honestly think anything human rights are coming out of a council with Saudi Arabia on it?

It's just a council that's supposed to look like it's doing something, when in fact it's not going to be.

Does anyone find it mind-bogglingly ironic that the government agency responsible for the complete obliteration of privacy in travel is citing "privacy concerns" about this employee?

This is a great, because it's just one more reason not to travel a railroad that's slow, bankrupt, perpetually late and has abysmal customer service.

Seriously, do they even WANT passengers any more?

If you like Tales of Times Square, you should also check out Samuel R. Delany's Times Square Red, Times Square Blue (Amazon link), which is the venerable science fiction author's stories of the pre-Disney-ified Times Square porn theaters. He had both erotic and purely conversational relationships with people who went there. A very eye-opening read.

This sounds like an opportunity for Xeni to do an on-site investigation.

NASA. Onward. Upward.