So You Are About To Board A Plane...

...here in a commercial airport within the United States of America. It is in the post 9/11 era. In fact, the events on 9/11 were not all that long ago, so it is likely that virtually everyone with a fairly functioning brain knows about what happened that day. Those same people should also know about certain regulations and restrictions that went into effect after 9/11 to prevent hijacking of commercial aircraft. I mean this is the 21st century, we do have television, radio, email, cell phones with text messaging, the Internet, lots of news media broadcasts and so on.

Yet somehow, maybe just by some quirk of a possibly forgetful memory, or maybe by way of heinous intent, a young man reportedly attempts to pass through airport security with a pipe bomb in his carry on luggage. A man identified as Steven Nobles - as reported by Newsday.com - just yesterday reportedly forgot that he had a pipe bomb inside of his carry on luggage at MacArthur Airport in Islip, NY. A bomb he reportedly admitted having full knowledge of and which he reportedly said he made himself. One which he reportedly said he expected would: "cause a giant smoke cloud, a flash of light and hopefully a loud noise,". Wow, can you imagine a bomb doing that! He reportedly also carried, within his carry on-luggage: "... "explosive fireworks, electrical circuit boards, a battery with electrical tape and 14 ... .22-caliber rounds used in a nail gun to drive nails into concrete," ..."

So what does his lawyer say about all of this. Well what would you expect the scum of the earth to say about something like this, because I think what his lawyer said is about the same thing. As reported the lawyer said something to the effect: "Nobles, 20, had not intended to harm anyone and inadvertently placed the device in his luggage as he was returning to visit his mother after a year of working on Long Island." (that is a quote from the paper about what the lawyer said, not a quote from the lawyer.)

According to the FBI, as reported by Newsday.com, Nobles "denied" meaning to set this off on the aircraft, and said he had "inadvertently carried it to the airport".

Now come on folks, tell me and be truthful: Is it just that I am one cynical son of a gun, or does this sound like this guy boarded the plane with the quite possible intent of trying to hijack the plane, and maybe even to blow it up. I mean let's not forget that this reportedly was a pipe BOMB that was found IN HIS CARRY ON LUGGAGE. Also, let's not forget that before the bomb was found, the screeners reportedly also found a 7 inch long knife in his luggage. Okay, maybe I could forget I had a 7 inch long knife in my luggage. Heck I hunt, I fish, I carry knives on a fairly regular basis for work too. I keep knives in grab and go bags and sometimes even grab that bag for use as a carry on, but I check them before I pack em. Of course, maybe I could forget to check to see what was in there before I added more stuff. Thereby I could miss a knife that otherwise would be quite legal to own, and to use when hunting or fishing, or carving the Thanksgiving bird; you know it would be forgetting something that was otherwise legal. Yet to forget the whereabouts a homemade pipe bomb is far fetched. To forget something that is as far as I know absolutely illegal, and is potentially an extremely dangerous device, that could maybe blow up a plane and cause death and destruction of many people, and then inadvertently attempt to carry it in my carry-on luggage while getting ready to board a commercial aircraft full of other people in this post 9/11 world - well I have got to say that even with my muddled middle aged memory it would be pretty darned near impossible for me to forget something like that was in my bag. So how was it forgotten by a young man of 20?

A bomb is made to do one thing - to blow up. He reportedly brought it to a place where it had the potential to do an awful lot of damage, and he brought a knife too - both illegal items to bring onto a commercial aircraft in carry on luggage. Understandably I suppose, his family probably wants to believe him very much. His sister has already reportedly come out with a statement that her brother is a nice guy, who would not harm anyone, and that all of the stuff must have been from his job doing electrical work and she does not think it had anything to do with a bomb. Of course she apparently said that even after her brother admitted it was in fact a bomb, so she would have a very difficult time indeed of convincing me that this guy's intent was not to commit foul play aboard the plane he was about to have boarded before being stopped by authorities.

The truly sad thing is though, without further evidence being uncovered, evidence such as a written plot, a suicide note, nefarious emails, someone coming forward to say yes this man told them he wanted to go out in a blaze of glory, proof of bad blood between him and the airlines, a prior criminal record for violence or other stuff like that, well then my bet is he will get off the hook with only a conviction for carrying these illegal items if in fact he is convicted at all. Yet the fact of the mater as reported so far is that it appears he attempted to board a commercial passenger aircraft carrying a knife and a pipe bomb, and other items that could possibly have been used to dangerous and possibly deadly effect. I think they should put him away for as long as possible if he is convicted.

In closing let me just say this: Thank goodness.

Oh are you wondering why I said thank goodness. Well thank goodness he did not make it to the plane. Thank goodness the headlines on my local newspaper this morning, the ones that caught my eye were what they were instead of reading: Passenger Aircraft en route to Las Vegas Blows Up in Mid Flight. Thank goodness that he did not make it through to the plane and then hijack it and fly it into a building full of office workers. Thank goodness no one was injured. Thank goodness your busy day at the airport, or your already late flight, was not interrupted by all the airports in the USA being closed down because of a terrorist attack.

Most of all folks, thank goodness (and even thank George W. Bush) for the TSA, and for the TSA screeners who discovered this stuff in this guys carry-on luggage. Thank goodness they were being pains in the ass, morons, jerk offs, scumbags, dickheads, jerks, assholes, fuck offs, nosy bastards, storm troopers, useless government employees and whatever other name by which they have been called by hundreds of thousands of irate passengers waiting to board planes. Thank goodness because if they had not been all of those things, all those things that made them vigilant hard working employees who work a truly thankless job, who delay you, who examine your luggage, who randomly search your person, who try to prevent catastrophes, well then you and I would quite possibly have awakened to have 10/16 forever branded into our little gray cells and into our hearts and souls just as we did with 9/11. Maybe the next time you fly, and one of the TSA guys or gals stop you and searches you more than another person, maybe, yep just maybe you ought to look that TSA screener right in the eyes, give him or her a big smile and say: 'Officer, thanks for doing your job and keeping us safe, I appreciate it'. And while you are at it, why not mean it when you say it.

All the best,
Glenn B

reference: http://www.newsday.com/services/newspaper/printedition/friday/news/ny-limac175886742oct17,0,2381010.story