I’m with him – I don’t get it either…
I assume a small explosive in the cargo hold will be partially contained by all the bags around it. Stick the device on a window in the passenger section and you’ll blow out the side of the plane (not good at 30k feet). You could also stick it on the cockpit door to blow it open and hijack the plane.
I’m glad terrorists continue to go after hard targets like airliners. They could create widespread terror here in the States if they went after soft targets with unsophisticated attacks.
In other news…
The African Global Economic and Development Summit hosted at USC had no Africans this year, because all (approximately 100) were denied visas (in past years, a more typical visa denial percentage was around 40%).
http://www.voanews.com/a/african-trade-conference-canceled-after-visas-denied-african-delegates/3770907.html
https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2017/mar/20/no-african-citizens-visas-california-annual-trade-summit
That’s patently ridiculous – how can you have a meaningful African Summit with no Africans? Are African nations now under some sort of ban?
Perhaps you misunderstand. That wasn’t a complaint–I wear slip-on shoes when I travel to the States and taking them off is a minor–if stupid–inconvenience. It was an example of the ridiculous futility and waste of American security theater. The worst thing that could happen to me is I get detained and miss other flights, and/or have my phone/laptop/tablet taken away (and returned possibly months later–completely legal).
No, that’s not right. The worst thing that could happen is that the United States continues its trajectory as a warning sign and laughingstock to the rest of the world, its economy continues to be a high water mark of inequality wherein even economic recoveries really only affect the ultra-rich, my loved ones back in the US grow old and infirm and find themselves without healthcare and a rapidly eroding social safety net, and I lose any incentive to return (and bring back the formidable wealth I’ve accrued overseas) despite my desire to be close to my family, leaving them to fend for themselves in the bellum omnium contra omnes that is the end goal of many on the political right and their libertarian bedfellows.
@Wien2NC - Omar Mateen shouted those things, but he was neither a traveler to the US nor connected to ISIS or radical Muslims in any way:
https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2016/jun/16/cia-orlando-shooter-omar-mateen-isis-pulse-nightclub-attack
https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/worldviews/wp/2016/06/13/omar-mateen-may-not-have-understood-the-difference-between-isis-al-qaeda-and-hezbollah/?utm_term=.c6197ee07aee
http://www.cnbc.com/2016/06/13/fbi-says-orlando-shooter-was-likely-a-homegrown-extremist-with-no-direct-isis-links.html
yes, @Marvin100, I too share your concerns regarding poor health care, growing income inequality, the crumbling infrastructure and inadequate education in the US. If you want to discuss those serious issues, and possible solutions to them, let’s do so. But don’t dilute those serious concerns with trivial complaints about shoes and airport security. Really, they aren’t comparable. You whine about your shoes; tens of thousands of school children need to be searched daily because of the proliferation of weapons that makes their schools unsafe. The two really aren’t morally comparable. And I’m glad for you that you’ve accumulated formidable wealth you can use to purchase new laptops or support your elderly relatives, if need be-not all of us have that luxury.
@marvin100 – we’ll do just fine without your “formidable wealth”. LOL
"we’ll do just fine without your “formidable wealth”
Well, marvin times hundreds and thousands more marvins, and we won’t be “just fine”. You think he is the only younger professional thinking this way? Or even older professionals? Human talent and an intellectual wealth is a resource every country needs and it is easily transferred across national boundaries. Why do you think, up until now, we’ve attracted so much foreign talent here? Because we readily give out visas because it benefits our country to have them here. Our policies could change that and result in a brain and capital drain. Even if we continue to give out visas, policies and politics can make this country less interesting to a lot of folks.
Criticizing security theater has no effect on those larger problems, and the notion that doing so might somehow “dilute” those larger issues is false and unsupportable. I thought I made myself clear: My mention of the shoes policy was not a complaint but an illustrative example of security theater (and it categorically wasn’t anything remotely resembling a claim of moral equivalence! Come on, now!), and I certainly wasn’t whining. Your persistent mischaracterizations of my post is both false and uncharitable, and it reinforces my suspicion that you’re not engaged in good faith discourse.
I’m all for a good debate on immigration policy, talent attraction, H1B visas-all good issues. But that’s not really related to the OP or his concern with TSA and its paltry 7.5 B budget, and his infamous shoes. Yes, it’s a lot of money, but compared to the other government agencies, it’s small change. So while some of it might be “wasteful” there is likely far more waste in other areas. This effort doesn’t make my top 10 list of wasteful government enterprises-at least it employees some people, and probably does some threat prevention.
An interesting take on the “muslim laptop ban”. The countries affected by the US are different than the UK and the author proposes that it may be directed at the popular airlines such as Emirates, Eithad and Qatar.
I wonder what will happen to that popular route from JFK to Milan to Dubai? If you get on at Milan to return to JFK can you have your laptop or iPad? I know my inlaws take that flight every time they go to Italy.
People are also worried that this is just the beginning. A trial balloon of sorts before all routes are covered by this new ban. And what about lithium batteries? They are NOT supposed to go in a checked bag (or so I thought…)
ETA - this will only affect DIRECT flights from certain cities so the Dubai - Milan- JFK and others like it are safe. Or not so safe if people with bad intentions take it because they need their laptop to carry out their bad intention! Sigh…
Catching terrorists isn’t the most useful success metric. How many terrorist were either caught or deterred is a better metric. It’s not theater. No one who understands science believes that.
I’m sure your top-ten list is fascinating, but again, attention and critical faculties aren’t fungible: It’s quite easy to be attentive to and critical of many things. This border matter (in my initial post) matters to me (doesn’t have to matter to you!) because it’s wasteful and leaves the door open for all kinds of abuses like the lying and false detention of US citizens, not to mention far worse abuses.
More info here:
http://unitedwedream.org/blog/4-things-you-should-know-about-border-patrol-abuses/
http://america.aljazeera.com/opinions/2015/4/us-border-patrol-is-out-of-control.html
Of course, terrorists deterred (or incited, for that matter) is not something that is easy to measure. Certainly they exist, but it is hard to know what the net change is for any given policy change.
Bruce Schneier ( https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bruce_Schneier ) definitely understands science.
https://www.schneier.com/blog/archives/2009/11/beyond_security.html
@doschicos – we have 300+ million people in this country. Only a tiny fraction of the “human talent and intellectual wealth” here has been developed. Millions of people in our inner cities and countryside haven’t been able to contribute significantly, not to mention the millions of middle-class people who opt for nontechnical jobs. They have all the “human talent and intellectual wealth” that we need.
Bruce is a smart, even brilliant guy when it comes to computer security, although I don’t agree with him on everything. However, that doesn’t make him a expert on explosives or x-rays or various other TSA screening technologies.
This is about the CPB, not TSA (as I’ve been reminded a few times haha), @roethlisburger , and the CPB is essentially unchecked and beyond restraint (see the articles in my last set of links–or at least the quotes–grim stuff).
(And wait–are you really arguing that the bar one must clear in order to credibly criticize security theater is x-ray technician’s training?)