24 March 2012 - Mohammed Merah

Jay Scott : Daily Whale : archive : 2012 : 24 March 2012

If You Can See the Haystack, You Can See the Needle

Well, of course Mohammed Merah should have been caught ahead of time. Back in the last century we had to wait for criminals to act, but today the only acceptable crime rate is zero. And it gets worse, the malady runs much deeper. Even astronomers, who know exactly what stars go supernova and when in their lifetimes they do it, are always surprised when it happens.

clue:

In reponse to the usual criticism of intelligence services. He came to the attention of authorities, and if a close check had been made he would have been caught early. But you can’t check every suspicious person closely.

take oh take this clue away