[jorblumesea]

You mean, what's been happening to the USA? this isn't a new trend. Militarization of police, open attacks on democracy, unilateral foreign policy moves.

the country jumped the shark post 9/11 and has been on a slow rot since then.

[rjbwork]

Indeed. Bin Laden succeeded beyond his wildest dreams. He kickstarted our self-destruction.

[blitzar]

I think the shoe lace bomber did more than bin laden - decades of ritual humiliation at airports was normalised.

[randallsquared]

The TSA wouldn't exist with bin Laden. The TSA still exists, but the effects of the shoe bomber are now done, in the sense that shoes aren't required to come off as of last year.