Christmas Day Terrorist Attack In The Air - Detroit

Story Here


Thank goodness nobody was hurt.

Will be interesting to see how this plays out. If you are flying anytime soon, expect more delays.

Further evidence as to why I prefer to drive and not fly.

I'm still home because driving isn't just delayed, it's not possible. (But then, I'm taking a bus, since I don't have my own car.)

Oh, I hear you man. I was lucky and got home a day before the storm hit. I usually live in Fargo, and they literally just canceled the Watch about 15 minutes ago or so; it looks like they'll have gotten about 16 inches when all is said and done.
Sorry to hear the storm messed up your plans.

Wow. This is the best Al Qaida can do, after 9 years? It's a good thing we dismantled our Constitution and bankrupted ourselves on foreign wars to protect ourselves from this terrifying menace.

I seriously doubt it was Al Qaeda. More like a nutball with a martyr complex.

May all attempts to cause devastation and mayhem on airplanes end with the guy next to the person trying to help them put out their flaming pants.

The TV News fist reported it as firecrackers on a flight from Amsterdam. I thought "those wacky stoners".

As always, the government has come up with an airtight plan to stop this from ever happening again:

Really? Because a potential terrorist won't try to blow the plane up, say, 1 hour and 27 minutes before landing? Really? And good luck to anyone who gets up to stop or restrain a terrorist--sorry, chum. You're in violation of federal law. :|

Weather and terrorism: working together to make my trip back to South Carolina even worse than it already is. Thanks a lot, assholes.

the suspect is apparently the son of a former Nigerian banking executive. rumor has it he was attempting to shift his fortune to the US, and that if you can provide him with your bank account and social security number, he can store his money in your bank account for safe keeping and gift you 1% of that fortune once he is able to set up a banking account of his own.

Is anyone else here bothered by the concept that after all the security rules and all the money spent, an asshole like this can still get on the plane? I refuse to fly, not because I'm worried about being blown up, but because I refuse to put up with the bullshit.

it does show how precarious security really can be.

Very true. None of the new rules would have prevented the Underpants Bomber, who had things sewn into his underwear. Obviously, we should all be required to change into TSA-issued underpants-free disposable garments before boarding a flight.

No, it doesn't. It shows how strict enforcement of absolutely useless rules does absolutely fucking nothing to protect anyone if people like the Underpants Bomber (the man's father complained about his intents which resulted in the kid's visa being taken away by the State Dept, yet he wasn't on any sort of watchlist?!?) can still get on a goddamned plane with no problems whatsoever while I have a TSA agent threaten to pull me aside for further screening because I didn't realize Chapstick counted as a liquid or gel that needed to be in my otherwise-dutifully-packed ziploc bag of under-3oz liquids.

The whole goddamned world is fucking ridiculous.

potato, po-tah-to. the basic problem, in terms of security, is that we've come to rely on a high-throughput transportation architecture that was constructed without concern for permeability by small units of malicious actors. we have bad rules that we follow religiously not because we're too stupid to make good rules and use common sense; rather, it's because it is simply not possible to create a set of good rules, and "common sense" can lead to litigation (and more rules).

BINGO!!!!
Paranoia + Stupidity = Homeland Security

Potato, po-tah-to, precarious.

gosh, i had no idea what that word meant before now. thanks ever so much.

The people that thwarted it I cheer for!!! The main hero burned up his hand and all.. hooah.. I'm not sure we can ever stop terrorist fucks from attempting this at their own peril to test our resolve and perhaps send our governments to an oh shit state of alert... taking away basic freedoms as it happens.. so we all need to be as vigilant as possible while on planes and other forms of public transpertation to take these terrorist fucks out.. I'm serious, I would fucking murder a motherfucker who attempts to hijack something I'm riding in, especially with loved one's on board..

Nonsense. It's quite possible to put together a set of sensible security protocols. But the people writing the protocols are more interested in security theater* and movie plot threats* that provide the appearance of security more than actual security.

Terms shamelessly stolen from Bruce Schneier.

Bruce Schneier writes good stuff. i should qualify my use of "impossible": it's impossible to create a set of good rules and maintain our current volume of traffic (both people and freight) and keep security spending down to only mildy insane levels and provide an expectation of privacy and respect that modern westerners would find acceptable. right now, we're sacrificing the first and third in order to satisfy the second and hopelessly fail at the fourth.

You're absolutely right, for Israel it's necessary. But part of what makes that level of security possible is the small size of the country, and the single national airline. Americans wouldn't put up with the stay in your seat rule, especially on domestic flights.

As Wendy and adl pointed out, the biggest difference between Israel and the US seems to have more to do with security philosophy and strategy than size, number of airlines, etc...

Blanket or random technological screening measures may discourage some mischief, but my understanding is that there is not one known case of it actually thwarting any bomb or plane attack of any kind. Using intelligence, profiling, airport surveillance, and smart interrogators, on the other hand, is extremely effective. Probably the biggest obstacles to doing it here are the political unpopularity of such realistic measures and the expense/availability of workers smart and skilled enough to do the interviewing.

I think it's funny that this story is actually sending people into another tizzy of fear-mongering. On the contrary, I think it suggests that terrorist attacks are infrequent and usually lame, especially if this turns out to be the result of an Al Qaida plan. An underwear bomber could have gotten through at any time, but it's the most serious attempt in 8 years, and it was botched. 9/11 was like AQ winning the lottery three times in one day - one extremely lucky day for them. They simply aren't that bad-ass and barely even rank as a mortality risk for the average American.