US Homeland Security chief John Kelly says terrorists are ‘obsessed’ with planes. As a result, Kelly says a Laptop Ban May Expand to All International Flights.
Homeland Security Secretary John Kelly said he may ban laptop computers in the cabins of all international flights into and out of the U.S. amid continuing terrorist threats to bring down airplanes, but that a final decision hadn’t been made.
“That’s really the thing that they’re obsessed with, the terrorists: the idea of knocking down an airplane in flight, particularly if it’s a U.S. carrier, particularly if it’s full of mostly U.S. folks,” Kelly said on “Fox News Sunday.”
Kelly said the department’s Transportation Security Administration “might and likely will” intensify scrutiny of carry-on luggage as well, because travelers are packing more into them to avoid airlines’ bag-checking fees.
“The more you stuff in there, the less the TSA professionals that are looking at what’s in those bags through the monitors” are able to discern about bags’ contents, he said. “What we’re doing now is working out the tactics, techniques and procedures, if you will, in a few airports to find out exactly how to do that with the least amount of inconvenience to the traveler.”
At the same time, Kelly alluded to the possibility that improved bag-screening devices could soon alleviate the need for such strict procedures.
“There’s new technologies down the road, not too far down the road, that we’ll rely on,” he said.
At least four of the largest companies making such devices have said recently they are developing scanners so much better at detecting explosives than existing X-ray machines that passengers could leave laptops, other electronics and even liquids in their bags.
Why Stop With Laptops?
Is it any harder to hide a bomb in a laptop than a camera, camera lens, electronic toy, flashlight, battery charger, or any number of other items that people might carry on planes?
I remember a time long ago when agents randomly took off a lens cap and looked through the camera. That is no longer done. But even that might not work.
Why not make a bomb that looks like a battery and fits in the battery compartment of a camera? One could even look through the camera and see it works. How about a few extra “batteries” to boot? How about extra camera bodies with no lens attached, all hiding bombs?
Surefire Way to Stop Bombs on Planes
Meanwhile, I offer a surefire method to prevent bombs from getting onto planes. Ban air flights.
Mike “Mish” Shedlock
No Mish…
A surefire method to prevent bombs on airplanes is to profile those who are planting the bombs.
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Yep…That’s what the Israelis do…
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To little effect.
But then, to back up that particular flight of pop-psych fantasy; they do an insanely thorough job of physical inspection of all things allowed anywhere near airplanes. Attempting the same in the US, would require a massive rejigging of all airports and support systems, as well as much greater tolerance for what the Homeland guy refer to as traveler “inconveniences.”
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And it would cost money. The sheeple may bleat “Keeeeeep meee saaaafe” but they aren’t willing to pay for it in either time or ticket price.
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Israel does not have super hero cops with mind reading ability. But, yeah — it makes no sense to strip search the old white lady, while letting the angry looking arab male walk on by.
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’cause if I “profile” you, your bombs don’t go bang anymore…..
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I wouldn’t have any better answer than you do, not knowing much about explosives. However, you have to think that the people being most impacted by this ban travel internationally with a laptop. The lowest income level of this group is just about where the government start caring. They usually don’t like upsetting them.
Just a thought..
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If this is actually implemented make no doubt about it…..the terrorists are winning.
What a blow it would be to business travelers and commerce in general.
And, as Mish pointed out, it would not stop evil people intent upon smuggling destructive devices aboard an aircraft in our high-tech age.
I could visualize the day come when government will decide whether your airliner travel is warranted as a necessary means of transport and you’ll be required to obtain government approval prior to a ticket purchase.
I might not see that day. But I sense it’s coming somewhere down the road.
Big Brother already has his entire head under the tent. Why would an arm or a leg more be of any surprise to you?
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the bad guys have learned all they need to do is chatter about some sophomoric scheme and a few months later – they succeed in getting the good guys to spin their wheels uselessly
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How about banning stadiums, shopping malls, movie theaters and concert halls as well? With cousin Kim fooling with fireworks in the basement perhaps we should consider banning cities too.
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1. Have everybody fly naked,
2. Luggage and clothes go on a different airplane.
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Nekkid people still have secret compartments.
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Just ban them then man.
Make ’em wear bomb proof chastity belts with p holes.
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All jokes aside, it isn’t just secret compartments (rear on men, front and rear on women) that can be used (drug mules do it everyday). There was an assassination in the ME a few years back were the suicide bomber had the explosives surgically inserted inside (his buttocks IIRC). I personally had a large piece of metal surgically attached to join a shattered arm bone a few years ago and found out that it doesn’t set off metal detectors at the airport. Nothing to stop a female suicide bomber having 50+ pounds of explosive inside her if she fakes being pregnant, a big belly and swollen boobs full of explosives makes it easy particularly if the bomber is obese to start with. BAN PREGNANT WOMEN from flying.
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Last time I flew, apparently the luggage DID go on a separate airplane – at least it did not arrive with me!
I agree with Mish – this week BA had the solution – leave the people in the airports and just fly the baggage that has already been checked to wherever the plane it is on will be needed, assuming the computer service for that airport has not been outsourced too.
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Mish had it right the first and last time. Note how the airlines do anything they want and the police and the rest of us must adjust.
Lets ban all flights or make everyone fly overseeas on the gulf carriers. this is beyond silly to really stupid.
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HELLO?? Flying on an airplane is NOT a right. It’s a privilege that the airline company allows you to purchase – as long as you abide by THEIR rules…..and of course, whatever else the govmint adds….(which is considerable, I know…)
There are probably ways to confirm the REAL laptop is a REAL laptop….may take an extra 5 minutes….and would cut back on those just taking it to watch some free inane movie….but THAT’s the price you pay.
GreyHound is generally available for most domestic locations…..pack anything you want on there…..
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Wow! The only stock phrase you forgot was “If you have nothing to hide, you shouldn’t object to a few more measures that will make you safe.”
Flying on an airliner is a service for which you have paid. The airlines don’t hesitate to take your money, and, in fact, if they default on their contract of carriage, they have written into the terms and conditions that you will not get your money back, rather you will be “compensated” with adequate carriage at a later time and maybe some little fiat kicker, like bonus bucks that can only be spent with them.
Should you feel safer knowing that a bunch of laptops that might be bombs can be brought together in a luggage hold where they will collectively have much more force than if dispersed in the cabin? And even if they are just plain old laptops, these things do occasionally burst into flames, which could be dealt with in the cabin, but not in the luggage hold. Any way you look at it, the government solution to a problem they think they have is more likely to lead to creating more problems than it solves.
Then again, I’m starting to get the impression they actually don’t want us to travel any more, and they are trying to dissuade us by colluding with the airlines to make travel as miserable as possible.
As for Greyhound, your friendly TSA types have been shaking down passengers at bus-rest-stops. Same with Amtrak.
As I said, I’m beginning to think they don’t want us to travel.
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Mike, I carry concealed ALL the time. When I go up to a store here in Texas that has the prerequisite sign disallowing my weapon…I don’t go in. I go somewhere else. In fact, I literally just bought a new car. The Audi dealer had such a sign. I disarmed, went inside, and told them I was going to purchase a car today – and AUDI would NOT be on my list as I was ‘dissed’ at the front door.
So if you ‘purchase’ something, it will ALWAYS be at the rules of the seller. Time, price, location, return policy, warranty, etc. Don’t like any of those ? – don’t buy their product.
I realize the govmint overrides all those other rules…so my example is not so easy to do with airlines. But just because you bot a ticket does not mean you can disregard their rules.
Let’s not worry about a ‘bunch of laptops being brought together in the cargo hold’ until an explosives expert can tell us how they would do that….’all come together’. Not feasible. Unless they all explode at the same nano-second, in different suitcases in diffferent cargo compartments, etc, then one will most likely destroy the others. You don’t get to add them all up, I don’t think.
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Prelimary screening of all baggage prior to entering the airport has been implemented in China to prevent someone from blowing up large crowds of people…… No plane required!!! Train stations are also flowing this protocol. Why not verywhere else?? If the idea of bombs in laptops is enough to outright ban them, then how about banning some people who could also be considered as a potential threat?? After all, there appears to no price to our safety.
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Ban groups of more than 10 people to congregate in any given place.
Everyone must register for overnight stays in any town outside their hometown.
Travel outside your local region (divide the nation into 8 regions) must gain government approval.
All must purchase an autonomous vehicle with government controlled GPS to be inspected annually by a government approved testing site.
That would be a good start to keeping us all safe.
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More stringent than China!!
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Or we could stop importing folks who think it is their religious duty to kill other folks that have a different religion…
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Profiling doesn’t work. This is not about fishing here.
With fishing, you use profiling. You aren’t trying to catch every fish in the lake, you just want to catch some fish so you profile where they are most likely to bite. Most law enforcement is about fishing. The cop isn’t trying to catch all speeders, he just is trying to catch some during his shift. A store would like to stop all shoplifters but since that will be very costly it settles for catching easy shoplifters hoping that will raise the perception of the odds of getting caught enough to deter even more shoplifting. A true 100% policy, though, would put most retailers out of business unless you’re talking about Rolls Royce dealerships and other like enterprises.
Profiling here is a good way to ensure a plane gets blown up.
1. 40-50% of terrorism is non-Islamic related. Profiling means you open a clear path for non-Islamic terrorists to walk though and make a high profile target soft for them.
2. Profiling opens up a tool for terrorists to use leverage against us. All the terrorist group needs to do is recruit outside the profile. Profiling people coming from Iraq? Then have the terrorist come from Saudi Arabia (not on Trump’s ban). Profiling people based on Islamic stuff on their Facebook profile? Recruit someone with just kitten pics on their Facebook. It’s cheap for a terrorist to find someone outside the profile, it’s hugely expensive to have the TSA waste thousands of more manhours checking people against a larger and larger profile.
Think 80-20 rule here and marketing as an analogy. 20% of your customers make up maybe 80%+ of your sales. It is probably easy to construct a simple and effective profile of those 20% of key customers. If, however, you need every sale covered then no profile will work for you.
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How many El Al planes have been hijacked or bombed in the last 40 years?
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I don’t think you would find enough staff dedicated or trustworthy enough to follow El Al procedures at airports globally, including groundstaff, maintenance etc.
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/travel/727526/Security-special-The-price-of-vigilance.html
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I can pretty much guarantee El Al’s methods are NOT to rely upon ‘profiling’. Are you telling me you can board an El Al flight without any hassle of baggage check and searches if you are ‘just’ a white guy who claims to be a Protestant tourist just passing through the area?
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Boonton< excuse me…..where do you get some numbers…? " 40-50% of terrorism is non-Islamic related."
I'd bet a LOT of $$$ that you aren't even close! Name me 10 terror attacks in the last year that were not Islamic related – and I will name you 100 that were….
Don't throw bullshit numbers like that around. Apologists for this "Religion of Peace" are absolutely full of shit! Read the news much….?
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You’re doing a bang up job of lampooning a redneck moron. Keep up the good work, chuckles all around.
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About a week or two ago a guy in NYC drove down Times Square then suddenly spun around, drove up on the sidewalk and started plowing into crowds of people before a vehicle barrier put stopped his car. Dozens hurt, one girl killed but as we know from France someone driving into a crowd of people at pedal to the metal could just as easily kill dozens of people.
If that was done by someone spouting Jihadi rhetoric you would have no problem calling it terrorism. Instead it was done by someone allegedly high on drugs with a history of mental conditions. I’m not sure why you insist on restricting the search to just a year, though. I think attacks like 9/11 should be considered even though it is nearly two decades old. Off the top of my head:
The attack on black Church goers by a racist kid in SC.
Deranged man on a train who attacked two girls for looking Muslim and ended up killing two bystanders who attempted to stop him.
OK City Bombing
Olympic bombings
Unabomber
Sarin gas bombing of subways in Japan by doomsday cult
Anthrax mail attacks post 911
A cult in the Midwest wanted to sway a local election so they spread botchalism at the salad bars of local food places (thinking it would depress turnout).
You’re playing the 80-20 rule here noting that if tomorrow Islamic jihadism just vanished a lot of terrorist attacks would cease happening. Your problem is you are failing to see the long tail here. Because Islamic attacks are a plurality (or even a slim majority) of attacks you can just pretend that is the only problem to solve. Reality is if you’re on a plane that gets blown up, you’re not going to be any less pissed if you learn the guy who blew it up thought he was getting messages from a UFO cult rather than Islam’s Holy Book.
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Hey boon….google up Islamist terror attacks. They have a detailed list going back into the 1970 of dates, times, place, people. So either you are a Apologist for that “Peaceful Religion” or you have your head in the liberal la-la sand. I know you just listed a dozen going back 20 years……..hell there’s been 20 or more Islamist THIS YEAR SO FAR . Here is just a compilation of dead and wounded…
Date Deaths Injuries
1970s 244 180
1980s 657 303
1990s 1,049 7,757+
2000 38 44
2001 4,687 13,500+
2002 821 2,897+
2003 418 2,321+
2004 1,066 4,016+
2005 348 1,857+
2006 319 981
2007 621 1,730
2008 350+ 362+
2009 58 87+
2010 673+ >1,794
2011 717+ 1,757+
2012 799+ 2423+
2013 768+ 1,839+
2014 2,120+ 1,046+
2015 3,097+ 3,383+
2016 1,326+ 2,620+
Totals: 20,176+ 50,897+
Badmouth Google, badmouth Wikipedia, badmouth everyone BUT the Islamist Terrorists….but if you do, then you are truly, a liar and full of shit.
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So you are telling me in the 1990’s Islamic terrorist attacks killed over 1M people and in the early 2000’s the figures were in the hundreds of thousands but since then we’ve barely been able to clear 2000 deaths?
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If you can’t read the numbers on the chart correctly, then why should I EVER expect you to understand simple history? Yes, schoolhouse shootings are awful – especially if your kids were there. But for every ONE school shooting, the cowardly, barbaric Islamists kill thousands! More Coptic Christians killed a few days ago on one bus in Egypt than in any school in the US, EVER.
One school is too many. But for the Islamists – it is a daily occurrence….and you bring up Tim McVay and the Unabomber from 20 + yrs ago…..sad.
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Jeez…..Sarin gas – 1995. Unabomber – 1995. OK City bomb – 1995. Stabbing on subway…probably EVERY day. Got any more to compare with the 5,000 that have occurred since 1995? I told you if you came up with 10, I could show you 100. Actually, you come up with 10 and I can show you THOUSANDS!
I am urinating into the wind dealing with such a short-sighted and closed-minded person as you. Why don’t you talk a walk on the wild side and go on a tourist trip thru Lebanon, Syria, Egypt, Yemen, Somalia, even parts of Iraq and Iran.
IF you get back – let us know how it went for a white Christian guy in those places of that so-called Peaceful Religion….
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And yet the guy in NJ who set off multiple bombs in NY and NJ didn’t kill a single person. The guy who went nuts in Times Square killed a girl. Are you going to tell me the first guy wasn’t a terrorist even though he was setting off bombs for ISIS trying to kill people?
As I pointed out if you’re in a school and someone starts shooting up people, why would it matter to you if the guy was doing it because he was listening to ISIS propaganda or to delusional voices in his head?
Your time based counter strikes me as utterly and totally stupid. The Unabomber was finally caught in the 90’s. The anthrax bomber was never really caught but probably killed himself right before the FBI arrested him. What this tells a person like you is “this was a while ago so don’t worry about it’. What this tells me is “using the mail to kill random people is a potential way people are going to try to kill people and if it happened before we can expect someone will try it again sooner or later.” The fact that decades ago we worried about IRA bombings or Red Brigade bombings but today we hardly ever think about these groups says to me that the person doing terrorism today could end up being a totally different person a decade from now.
Is your policy that every time a new group decides to go with terrorism they get to blow up a plane or two first as some sort of gimme?
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Since when has terrorism been only 40-50% muslim related? Perhaps back in the 1970s that might have applied but these days the Red Brigades are history, the IRA has reached an accord and nobody hijacks to Cuba anymore. Keep muslims out of a country and off planes and 95+ percent of terrorism is gone.
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So the only non-Muslim terrorism in your memory is the Red Brigades and IRA. Sad.
How about the Newtown school shooting or the Aura movie one? Columbine? Why wouldn’t you call those terrorist acts?
Motivation? Well if you’re somewhere and a guy in black trenchcoats start shooting everyone around you you’re not going to have time to know if his motivation is Islam, some other political cause, mental illness or simply random absurd nihilism.
Organization? Lot of Islamic terrorism in the west appears to be ‘lone wolf’ type attacks rather than organized and planned ones. Someone after reading lots of propaganda decides to just attack people somewhere without first getting orders or directions from any type of HQ. By this logic we should include student school shootings even though they too lack some type of larger organization directing them.
Body counts? The guy in NJ set off several bombs before he was caught yet he didn’t kill anyone. No one had any problem identifying him as a terrorist. If we consider attacks that could have killed lots of people but were stopped or botched in their execution (say school shootings that are stopped before the kid pulls it off) then you have even more terrorist attacks.
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Boon, again with your picking a literal handful of non-Islamist terrorists…..See the list I provided above……go ahead….try to pick out just a “handful” of the thousands of attacks by those people…….If you are not a liar, then you are a complete moron to actually believe what you are saying….and maybe not medically, but your mind is completely full of excretment….
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“How about the Newtown school shooting or the Aura movie one? Columbine? Why wouldn’t you call those terrorist acts?”
Those were mass murders. They were never referred to as terrorism.
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So if I’m in some public place and I see a bomb go off or a man start randomly shooting people how exactly do I know if I’m in the middle of a terrorist attack or a mass murder?
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No, you are right. Of course, we don’t care about the ‘reason’ for the mayhem.
But the odds are about 90% chance that the terrorism you are (trying) to live through is from an Islamist.
I’d like to get THAT number down to zero – and then all we need to worry about is a Tim McVay or a Unabomber once every 10 – 20 years…..instead of every day with the barbaric Islamists.
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The cynic: does a luggage scanning equipment manufacturer provide terrorists current technology equipment to accelerate an upgrade cycle? Did terrorists or friendly intelligence operatives buy stock options in said manufacturers stock?
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It isn’t pragmatic to simply never fly with any electronics.
Checking bags doesn’t seem helpful either. Why not put together multiple ‘laptop bombs’ and set them off in the checked baggage?
It seems to me since we’ve decided that we will have a 0% requirement for airline crashes and terrorism we simply have to deploy tech that will pick up explosives regardless of where they are. When that is done scan baggage and carryons and that’s it.
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“We simply have to deploy tech that will pick up explosives regardless of where they are.”
Yes, we need RATS. Formerly known as couriers, the retrieval autonomous tech system will detect explosives at great distance and deliver them for you at no extra cost.
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Checking an individual laptop for explosives in quantities large enough to matter, is not some insurmountable task. Doing so within the time and resource constraints currently allotted to screening a passenger/bag is. Giving those who wish to carry a laptop on board the option to pay, and wait in line, for their bag to be cleared, would work. But US airports don’t even have the space for this right now.
Over some time, the TSA could specify requirements for ease of disassembly and reassembly of laptops allowed to be carried on, max size/weight of monolithic components etc.
In all honesty, though: Risk when an airplane is bombed mid air, are so insanely skewed towards those who voluntarily boarded that specific plane, that there is very little reason to not simply let airlines figure out where their passengers’ risk versus convenience preferences fall, and schedule laptop vs non-laptop departures accordingly.
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Maybe there are laptop plans around, but otherwise I am very cynical over the motive of screening laptops – they are just the most obvious route . Other routes not posted.
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The explosive does not need to be large to cause significant problems if it is detonated against the interior wall of the aircraft at 35,000 ft. The explosive decompression following the rupture of the aircraft hull is what will do the damage.
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On argument for making people check laptops then would be that a terrorist would have no idea if his bag would end up close or far from the hull in the cargo bay. If its far the explosion might be contained by the rest of the luggage leaving no one hurt and he gets arrested. If he brings it on board he can, of course, position the laptop next to the hull.
If you take those options away the terrorist would have to respond by using a larger explosive….which then increases the odds of detection.
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FINALLY – something I agree with you …..As a matter of FACT, the airline procedures for a bomb-on-board is to actually pack as much carry-on luggage as they can around the suspected bomb. The idea is that the other luggage would attenuate as much of the explosive power and perhaps shrapnel as possible. Have one laptop go off in a cargo hold would most likely not destroy the entire airplane – altho it IS possible – PanAm Lockerbie example.
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The laptop bomb can still blow up in the cargo hold. Meanwhile, 1 in a million lithium batteries will catch fire, easily controlled in the cabin, undetected in the cargo hold.
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Engineering might work better with the cargo hold. You can make it so that a small explosion will blow out the cargo hold leaving the plane still able to fly. Cargo holds should already have fire detection systems since people do check electronics in their baggage and lithium batteries can go off on their own.
A bigger bomb would overcome a cargo hold designed to vent an explosion away from the critical structure of the plane, but the bigger the bomb the more skill you need from the bomb maker and the easier it becomes to detect in baggage screening.
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At best you will have the plane decompress. An explosion in a sealed space, such as an aircraft, is going to have a bad effect.
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If you reinforced the interior of the hold but made the outer door easy to blow out plus you sealed off the cargo hold from the interior of the plane you could prevent decompression. Will this work for a huge explosion? No but again a terrorist bomb in the passenger section can be positioned to blow a hole in the skin and the larger the explosive the easier it is to detect in screening.
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Then you have the floor made to withstand rapid decompression in the hold, and I don’t think this is very feasible without a lot of weight, as you are dealing with a flat surface over a great area. I am not a pilot, but I do know that the aircraft are very sensible at cruising altitude also . The term ‘coffin corner’ is used to describe the various metrics that have to stay well coordinated to keep the aircraft airborne
e.g. https://blogs.scientificamerican.com/guest-blog/flying-in-the-coffin-corner-air-france-flight-447/
It is just not a happy scenario.
I think that there will be ways to circumvent just about any security procedure, so the idea is obvious deterrence, and making it generally not worth trying.
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Have a luggage/cargo glider in tow behind the plane. See “The Longest Day” or “A Bridge Too Far” for details. A drone pilot could land it remotely.
United could sell tickets for fold-down seats (4th Class) in the glider section and bump luggage to an exterior rack.
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Meanwhile, Merkel wants to move away from relying on US support.
Basically saying US-EU relations weak and weakening and they need to rely on their own resources to forge their own destiny.
German hegemony in Europe will be cemented with new Military.
Hope UK, US have enough sense to keep out of the way.
EU want a 19th century empire, let them deal with the consequences.
If it’s anything like Merkels immigration it will be interesting to see.
If I was Putin I would look to move forward soon. Don’t wait.
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They don’t want to ban lap-tops, just stop you from bringing them into the passenger area. Supposedly they are safe if kept in the cargo area of the plane??
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Not if it can wake itself up and check the barometric pressure and/or GPS coordinates to decide whether to detonate itself or go back to sleep.
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If idiots decide policies this is what you get. Why blow up planes when you can blow up politicians. if a bereaucrats can also be blown along with them it would be great. World would be a better place without them.
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The issue is that batteries themselves can be blown up. They catch fire all the time and planes have been grounded from battery fire related incidents
https://xkcd.com/651/
http://blog.tsa.gov/2009/10/response-to-bag-check-cartoon.html
http://www.nbclosangeles.com/investigations/I-Team-Investigation-Battery-Lithium-Ion-Fire-Laptop-Computer-412459303.html
https://www.personalinjuryfirm.com/injuries-from-laptop-lithium-battery-fires-and-explosions.html
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Boeing_787_Dreamliner_battery_problems
As you can see this is not a new issue they even have laptop battery fire ambulance chasers.
However it doesnt matter, there will always be new and innovative ways to kill people and blow up a plane. Bruce Schneier explains well.
https://www.schneier.com/blog/archives/2007/06/second_movieplo.html
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Send it all ahead!
Or perhaps start up a rental center at each airport where folks could rent cameras to computers.
And Send all everyone through to be strip searched!!
Even if they are not carrying anything.
Especially if they are not carrying anthing.
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Yes, the NSA could run it because everyone trusts them with our data. Each device would key log everything, screenshot every image along with mouse moves and click, copy all the memory devices you insert and all your cloud connections….
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All of the idiotic responses are based on making airline travel absolutely safe. What do you want? Freedom or security? It is obvious that unlike our patriot ancestors who took huge risks in the name of freedom, most Americans today are pansy candy ass pussies who would trade away every liberty they have for some imagined security. They would rather live on their knees than die on their feet. They make me puke!
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Why not tell people to start using the water was the name ght seem far, but they eventually get home safely.
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Send the laptop and golf clubs ahead by FedEx to insure they arrive, provide good food and entertainment, and have an open bar with a two drink minimum to ensure all is enjoyed, which also discourages passengers forbidden to drink. Problem solved.
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That was Standard Operating Procedure at a company I worked for in the 80’s. Both the FedEx part and the drinks part.
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No one has yet mentioned the ban on bottles with water ! Has been in place 10 years without anybody who can tell you exactly what risk is being avoided.
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Mish, they don’t have to ban travel. Just ban carry on items and everyone must undress and wear robes for the entire flight. When they land their clothes will be given back to them. Of course there will be a $100 charge for the cost of the robe.
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“And you folks flying coach don’t get the robes…”
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Terrorists are usually young men in their 20s. Young men who don’t believe they have anything to live for. In the 1990s poor young black men in the US didn’t believe they had opportunity outside of drug-driven gangs so they did what they had to do. Now in the middle east, where international corporations won’t hire natives for good paying jobs and exploit the few that get hired for the grunt work, young men who have nothing to lose “lose it” and join up with their friends in the gangs. Except now they’re called terrorists because they want power instead of money.
Give 20 year old men something to do and they’ll change the world. Let them build wealth and families and they’ll keep it peaceful too. The alternative is TSA wack-a-mole and living in fear of the other tribe.
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About 15 years ago there was talk about changing the plane transportation model to ship the luggage on a separate cargo plane and delivered to your destination. Then no passengers are in danger from bombs in checked luggage. Sounded like a good idea to me. Yes there would be some logistical issues to be resolved to make sure your bag isn’t late or lost. But your luggage could even be delivered to your hotel or place of residence. I have to pay Delta $25 for my checked bag. I wonder if UPS or Fedex could deliver it to my hotel for that amount and save me the trouble of schlepping it around. There is more than one way to skin a cat.
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$$$$$$$$$$$. It’s the $$$$$$$$$$. If the airlines did not ship cargo – along with their passengers – the ticket prices would skyrocket. The great majority of the revenue for overseas flights comes from the cargo. The passengers are merely the small profits.
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How about banning stadiums, shopping malls, movie theaters and concert halls as well? With cousin Kim fooling with fireworks in the basement perhaps we should consider banning cities too
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