Bob Woodward is an idiot.

[alarimer]

12. I do too.

In fact we are in more danger from people we know, statistically speaking.

Thousands of people, maybe tens of thousands are shot yearly in this country. Many of them die and yet we shrug it off. Not that we should shrug off either thing. But we wet our pants every time anything else happens and that has allowed the erosion of civil rights.

It's how the Patriot Act abomination passed.

Part of it is that we do not know how to estimate risk. We overestimate risk from some things (terrorism) and underestimate risk from others (smoking, driving) for whatever reason.