It's possible they dressed in the goth look and went around proclaiming themselves goths because they wanted to be oh-so-spooky and scary... without knowing what goth truly is. That's especially common among teenagers. It's possible they were, in general, nice people who got tired of being picked on and finally had to fight back to protect themselves. It's also possible that they were indeed violent people; if so, they would definitely be an anomaly, not the goth norm at all. I find it frustrating that the association with violence and goths persists. There's no basis for it.

Is that supposed to be funny? Goths aren't violent. They're teased and tortured by ignorant bullies, but they rarely retaliate physically. They suck it up as more proof that the world is filled with callous jerks, and then go home and write bad poetry about it.

The RFID system instituted by DHS checks a traveler into the country when he arrives at a land border, then checks him out when he leaves. There is no tracking in between. RFID does not equal GPS.

Let me repeat the important point: There is no tracking in between. Do you think U.S. officials are going to sit in a computer room somewhere tracking all foreigners on a screen like air traffic controllers? Give me a break. The U.S. simply wants to know when you arrived and when you left. They don't really care where you went in between.

People who travel via airlines check in and check out of the country. But right now, there is no way for travelers who come across land borders to check out of the country. That means once they get in, they stay here forever with little chance of being caught. The U.S. needs a way to know if a visitor has left the country or not. Using RFID allows the U.S. to keep track of exits without making the visitor stop to check out in person.

As for biometrics, I'm happy to supply my digital fingerprint and photo. It takes about five seconds. And it keeps anyone from stealing my documents and pretending to be me. Anyone who is afraid of giving a fingerprint is either paranoid or trying to hide something.

And no, I'm not a government employee. In fact, I disagree with a huge part of what the current administration is doing. I'm just sick of people whining about the immigration system (or lack thereof) and then complaining about everything the government does to try to fix it. Do you have better ideas? I didn't think so.