What does it take to get the attention of the cops if you plan to go Jihad and kill people?

A hell of a lot!

Mark Steyn explains ...

One senses, too, that in the western world's new security state subtle, darker calibrations are being made. According to Andy Burnham, the Mayor of Greater Manchester, "This man [the perpetrator] was a terrorist, not a Muslim." For the British security state, it's about keeping the problem manageable: There are too many Muslims, but there are fewer terrorists. Even then, there are too many to keep an eye on. Shortly before the bombing, Salman Abedi returned from the jihad-riddled failed state of Libya to his "home" town of Manchester via the immigration officers of three Nato members - Turkey, Germany, and finally the United Kingdom. He sailed through all of them, unimpeded. In January, the FBI fingered him to MI5. The spooks did nothing. France's Interior Minister said that, according to his intelligence services, Mr Abedi had been in Syria. But a lot of Brits fall into that category, don't they? The Didsbury Mosque reported him to the Government's "Prevent" program for tackling "extremism". The chaps at "Prevent" declined to prevent him. Four acquaintances of Mr Abedi alerted the authorities. It could have been 40, or 400.

The haystack is full of needles, and the state has to prioritize. Despite the FBI tip, and the concerns of his mosque, and the frequent trips to Club Jihad paid for by British taxpayers out of his government student loans, Salman Abedi could not catch the authorities' eye. One suspects there will be rather more of this in the years ahead. The preferred euphemism of British politicians for the likes of Mr Abedi is "extremist". But there are an awful lot of moderate extremists out there, so you'll have to be a really extreme extremist to jostle your way through the pack to the point where anybody notices you.