American Media's Glaring Omission: What Do ICTS Int'l, the X-mas Day & Shoe Bombers & Israel Have In Common?

I'm presently recovering from a mild case of shock.

Well, actually, it's a significant case of shock.

The cause:  A Bombshell of a News Story that I only stumbled across tonight. And, I do mean "stumbled". Stumbling is the only way anyone in the U.S. is going to find it. I'd have never found it in any of the usual places one depends for news. I only found  it after following leads left when it was cited by third-parties.

*The Original Article: Israeli firm blasted for letting would-be plane bomber slip through is at Haaretz.com.

Hello? America's News Outlets? "Stop The Presses!"

For some reason - albeit, an inconceivable one - virtually all of America's Network TV and Print News Media Outlets have been blatantly ignoring what might be the Biggest News Story in Years.

Exemplary journalists do still exist - somewhere. Several actually did some serious digging into some recently-foiled airline bomber incidents.  And, what these individuals uncovered is shocking, to say the least.

They confirmed that there are several definitive, strange and repeated connections between:
A.) Each of the aforementioned failed bombers (ie - The "X-mas"/"Underwear" bomber; Richard "Shoe-Bomber" Reid, etc.).
B.) ICTS International (an airport security firm and the developer of APS ("Advanced Passenger Screening"), which is the logarithm-based process used in airports across the U.S.A. (APS was rejected by the Israeli authorities)
ICTS International is also the airport security firm that - on multiple occasions and despite multiple red-flags - inexplicably allowed the would-be-bombers (incompetent as they were, too... thankfully.) pass through their own multi-layered security measures - unhindered - and onward to board airplanes.
And, C.) Israel.

Breaking nearly a year ago, this bombshell news story has actually been widely-reported across the globe - including Israel & Europe.  But, there was just one incredibly Glaring Exception/Geographical News Blackout: The U.S.A.
Which happens to be exactly where those very same airport security/screening firms (the ones who've repeatedly displayed an inexcusable level of incompetence) are raking in enormous profits.

Huge profits being made - one could say - as a direct result of not only the evil intentions of the incompetent bombers - but, also as a result of the repeated failures of those very same airport security firms to provide adequate and effective airport security and prevent the men from ever setting foot on the planes.

Oh, and we must'nt forget the TSA's early gift to airline travelers.  Those new TSA regulations requiring that all airline passengers either submit to being intimately-groped by latex-gloved strangers OR to being publicly-humiliated whilst being irradiated.

At least you have a Choice, right?
Door Number 1: Enduring a pervy pat-down. ~ Or ~ Door Number 2: A Fancy full-frontal/rear body x-ray/scan.

Psst ~ Did I mention that those same airport security firms also build and sell us their expensive x-ray scanners?

Hmmm... I smell a rat.  And, this rat doesn't have anything explosive anywhere on his person.

*Please see The Haaretz.com Story & Share It. (It's a genuine news outlet. Not a tabloid.)
This story is important on its own merit. And also because - despite dropping a bomb and despite being beyond news-worthy -  it's un-reported... not by the whole World... just by all of the national/local/TV/internet/cable News sources and journalists that Americans rely upon for important information.

Personally, I think that - basically - they can't All be this incompetent - at least not simultaneously.
So, what the heck is going on?

Thanks.
L.

TSA Pat-Downs & Full-Body Scans Don't Make Us Safer. If They Did, Israel Would Be Using Them.

The Ha-Ha-Holidays are quickly approaching...

And, as in previous years - for generations - a mass human migration will be taking place.  Well... perhaps it's more of a massive number of mini-migrations... as hundreds of thousands of people hit the road on a journey that will take them quite a distance from their Home-Sweet-Home.

For many, if not most, of these travelers this yearly sojourn has become something of a ritual... a "Family Tradition".

"Look on the bright side...", I say to myself. "Remember, you're one of the Lucky Ones. You don't have to do the unthinkable... Namely Flying what can only be described as the Way Too Friendly Skies."

For now, thanks to Frankenfear, abject paranoia and the complete absence of taking a deep breath and thinking the situation through logically and rationally, thousands of people who must take to the air to reach their holiday destinations are facing one particular facet of their upcoming trip with greater apprehension, discomfort and dread than those of us who only cringe as we read about what they must go through to do it.

I don't fly. Not during the holidays. Not ever. I haven't flown in ten years. And, boy, am I glad. As in doing The Snoopy Dance-kind of glad.

The TSA, in all of it's... well, it's not Wisdom... whatever it is. But, it's gotta be super uber-expensive.

Question: Am I the only one who thinks that somebody's gotta be getting a huge Christmas Kickback for unloading all of those Full-Body X-Ray Scanners?

Don't get me wrong, I'm all in favor of keeping air travel safe. Of keeping every kind of travel safe, in fact.

But, the new Status Quo of air travel in which: All airline passengers must either allow TSA personnel to get up close and ridiculously personal with their latex-gloved hands OR must undergo the humiliation of an allegedly "harmless" Full-Body X-Ray Scan. (According to the TSA. But I remember, quite vividly, the EPA declaring the air around Ground Zero "Safe to breathe. And, upon hearing that, thinking, "Wow! You EPA guys are Nuts!")

Question: If the Full-Body Scans are so "Harmless", then why is it that I've been taught to keep my Full-Mouth X-Rays (during which I'm covered with a Lead Vest and the hygienist leaves the room entirely) to a bare minimum?

Safety is - without question - of the utmost importance.

But, in forcing Americans to undergo these physical assaults and abject humiliations - when the practices don't and won't make us any safer - the TSA seems to have lost it's individual and collective mind.

And Americans should not be so quick to cave and allow the TSA or anyone else to cause us to lose our heads (and our personal privacy) in this manner. (The terrorists are probably laughing their heads off.)

How can we know for sure that these measures are utterly over-the-top and completely useless?

It's simple, really. All you do is look at countries whose people have been targets of terrorist attacks for decades.

Look at Israel, for example. Israel's under a constant threat of terrorist attack. It has been for generations. But, travelers through their airports don't get manhandled, poked, prodded, nor felt-up. Nor are they forced to undergo full-body x-ray scans.

And, guess what: No would-be bombers have infiltrated their planes.

What does Israel do to prevent airline attacks?
They Observe people. They Talk to people. And, sometimes, they Interview them.
That's pretty much it.

Israel's tried and true methods are Affordable, Simple, Non-Humiliating and (Best of All) They Are Effective.

Israel's methods do not require that airline passengers be groped... nor irradiated, for that matter.

Not only that, they start checking people out Before they enter the airport.

Gee, go figure...

TSA Electric Shock Bracelets... Fly the FRIENDLY Skies?

You gotta hear this...

It’s a recent proposal made to the TSA (Transportation Safety Agency) regarding a new air safety measure:
It involves "...situating a remotely activatable electric shock device on each of the passengers..."

That’s right, My Fellow Americans...

I don’t know if the cost is included in the price of your ticket...

I guess, when they ask you what kind of meal you want... they’ll also ask you what size ECT Bracelet you wear.

If you don’t know... I’m sure that they’ll have measuring tapes at hand at the Check-In...

All kidding aside...
Well, at least some of it...
It goes without saying that this isn’t just a Bad Idea... It’s a STUPID Idea...

"... Don’t Taze Me, Man!"

If anyone has been paying attention... In spite of the fact that the company that manufactures Tazer Guns heavily promoted their purchase and use to Police Departments and declared them a safe alternative to guns and "Non-Lethal" weapons...
I believe at least a few hundred people have suddenly died shortly after being "tazered" by the Police.

They must not be considering the fact that many people have diagnosed heart conditions and and many others likely have undiagnosed heart conditions... Among countless other potential health-related contraindications...

Then... there’s the hacker target potential
... and the fact that other devices... like a garage door opener might set one of these bracelets off... Or any number of things...

Luckily, for myself and those (if any) like me... I drain batteries... quickly.

But, for anyone else... Unless you’re into this sort of thing...

Like I said... It’s a STUPID Idea.

"Fly the FRIENDLY Skies"?... Yeah, Right.

(From: boingboing.net)

Air Safety Proposal: Electric Shock Bracelets - Controlled By Flight Attendants


Perhaps Cartier could come up with a First Class Model?

Posted by Cory Doctorow, March 20, 2008 5:14 PM | permalink
Lamperd, a "firearm training system" company, has patented a bracelet that delivers debilitating shocks when remotely triggered.
Their killer app for this is aviation safety: They’re proposing that the TSA could force everyone who flies to wear one of these and then flight-attendants could zap us into a stupor if we turn out to be Al Quaeda.

"A method of providing air travel security for passengers traveling via an aircraft comprises situating a remotely activatable electric shock device on each of the passengers in position to deliver a disabling electrical shock when activated; and arming the electric shock devices for subsequent selective activation by a selectively operable remote control disposed within the aircraft. The remotely activatable electric shock devices each have activation circuitry responsive to the activating signal transmitted from the selectively operable remote control means. The activated electric shock device is operable to deliver the disabling electrical shock to that passenger."

Best part? They’re Canadian! Oh, my countrymen, you have a wicked sense of humo(u)r.