Explode The Homeless!
If the TSA really believed there were explosives in the lotion and other items they take away from passengers, would they be donating them to the homeless? Xeni Jardin posts a reader e-mail to BoingBoing:
A couple weeks ago my family came to New York, where I live, from my hometown near Salt Lake City. Before leaving, my mother had purchased a small tube of lotion and put it in her purse. When she got to the security checkpoint at the airport, she realized she still had the lotion. She handed it over to the TSA worker who told her that it would be donated to a local homeless shelter.
So, is the furor over the liquids utter bullshit, or do the people running the TSA really, really hate the homeless?
Hey, it's a step up from the dented can store. And I believe the Schneierism is "Security Theater".
Paul Hrissikopoulos at May 15, 2007 7:52 AM
What does this mean?
“Any person can invent a security system so clever that she or he can't think of how to break it.”
http://tinyurl.com/23k2u3
Crid at May 15, 2007 8:42 AM
1) The furor over liquids is utter bullshit. It was debunked by chemists almost as soon as the UK "plot" was uncovered. But if a few homeless get blown up, it's less of a burden on the system, anyway.
2) Crid, focus on the "he or she" in that statement (vs. some other person or persons who might very well figure out how to break it).
justin case at May 15, 2007 9:01 AM
Ah. OK. Next stop coffeepot.
Crid at May 15, 2007 9:39 AM
Excuses, excuses.
justin case at May 15, 2007 9:41 AM
Also, I want credit for calling bullshit on your #1) on this very blog hours after the story broke
http://tinyurl.com/2o2wr5
Crid at May 15, 2007 9:46 AM
Also, here's the update to Cosh's original, pre-archive sub-reference to the British source link as originally post to Alkon's....
Fuckit, just follow this:
http://tinyurl.com/2wmzqo
Crid at May 15, 2007 10:01 AM
I was homeless for most of 2002, and I can tell you that the TSA may really, really, hate the homeless, as a lot of them would spend many of their empty hours hanging around the local airport. So I don't think Amy's theory can be discounted.
That Julia at May 15, 2007 12:27 PM
Thanks, Crid -- you're the one who turned me on to Colby Cosh...now a regular read, and I just linked to him on my blog (although it isn't coming through yet on the individual entries...just on the main blog page).
Amy Alkon at May 15, 2007 5:50 PM
Airport security is a joke,
obsidian glass is a volcanic rock that when made into edged weapons is sharper than surgical steel,
there are ceramic knives now,
if you were to put explosive in your shoes all you would have to do is make it of a uniform thickness within the soles and the x-rays would be able to tell
enough 3 once containes in a one quart bag could give you enough to make an acid to eat thru the window - and what if a dozen people combine there various bags together?
and if the TSA cant tell the difference between water and explosives how are they going to know if your 3 once tube of lotion has some nasty biological compond in it?
lujlp at May 17, 2007 1:19 PM
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