Security theater. You gotta love it. ‘Cause I don’t. Then again, I’m still smarting from the time Heathrow security discovered a live – LIVE! – .22 cartridge at the bottom of my carry-on. “You are aware that we consider this part of gun?” the H&K MP5-wielding police demanded. “Is that a trick question?” I replied. They were not amused. And here’s the thing: the cartridge made it through security in Boston onto the plane. What are the odds? Pretty high I’d say, as I wasn’t even trying. Anyone who thinks current airport security protocols prevent terrorist attacks (on disarmed passengers) is dangerously deluded. But don’t take my word for it . . .

A TSA agent blamed for letting one man carrying a loaded handgun and another with a flip knife board Phoenix-to-London flights on the same day last month is out of a job, FoxNews.com has learned.

Both passengers flew the more than 10 hour flights to London with the weapons in their carry-on bags, sources told FoxNews.com. Neither passenger tried to use the weapons while aboard the flights, though the shocking security lapse raises obvious questions about whether passengers with bad intentions might slip through security. Both weapons were found by security officials at London’s Heathrow Airport as they attempted to transfer onto connecting flights.

In the more serious of the two June 22 incidents, William Joseph Richardson was going through transfer screening at Heathrow Airport to board a British Airways flight to Paris when airport security discovered his loaded Glock handgun, according to a document reviewed by FoxNews.com.

London Special Police responded, confiscated the firearm and ammunition and detained Richardson, 34, for further investigation. Checks with two law enforcement databases revealed that Richardson has a criminal record, according to the document.

Seven hours later, British airport security discovered the knife on another passenger going through transfer screening to board a British Airways flight. That passenger had arrived on a different flight from Phoenix and had traveled with a 3.9-inch flip knife, which London Aviation Police confiscated, the document said . . .

A TSA official with knowledge of the incident said the agent responsible for the breach is no longer employed by the agency.

Again; one TSA official was responsible for both breaches. And we have to assume it wasn’t an Islamic plot of some kind (otherwise he would have been jailed not dismissed). With the TSA screening 1.8m passengers a day, I’ve got to think that the screener “responsible” for the lapse isn’t the only one asleep at the switch. How could he be?

Oh wait; click here for another story of a GLOCK that made it aboard a commercial flight. “To be fair to screeners, it’s very difficult work,” Department of Homeland Security Inspector General Clark Kent Ervin told ABC News. “After so many hours of seeing things that are innocuous, there’s really a limit for the human brain to process something anomalous.”

The 9/11 attacks proved that terrorists are pretty capable, clever people. By relying on a set-in-stone predictable process to screen passengers, by prohibiting profiling, airplane security is not as secure as Uncle Sam would have you believe (in order to agree to the invasion of your personal space). Like I said, it’s security theater.

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105 COMMENTS

  1. At the risk of getting destroyed in the comments, I personally don’t believe that a dozen random guys with box cutters managed to destroy 5 of the most valuable buildings in America and kill 3000people all by themselves.

    Back to the larger issue: even if the TSA is 99% effective, 1% of 1.8 Million is still 18 thousand potential breaches every day.

    • Not going to get bashed from me, I agree. I refuse to fly anymore, not worth the hassle.

    • Anything is possible, apparently. I have my own theories on that, but that’s neither here nor there.

      Now, the real issue here is that the TSA isn’t effective. Like, at all. And some of them steal.

      • A few years ago when I was doing my taxes, I shredded a bunch of unneeded papers, then put them in a 55 gal drum and burned them. When I got back to my door and turned to look, the barrel was red hot. The barrel warped. The WTC was crammed full of paper. Add aviaton fuel to the mix.

        • You don’t have to convince me. I knew several people that lost their lives that day. I get really tired of hearing random conspiracy theories without evidence… especially the ones about how everyone involved in the recovery (ya know, the ones that lost their friends, their sons, their fathers, etc) are somehow part of an insidious conspiracy. Sure, we got a lot of our freedoms trampled upon, but politicians have had bills like the “Patriot Act” written in some incarnation for decades. They just wait for the opportune moment to shred the Constitution a bit more… al la DiFi and her AWB legislation that she has waiting in the wings for yet another tragedy to exploit.

        • I’ve been a volunteer firefighter for about a year and a half in a very rural county. We don’t have any skyscrapers or terrorists (probably). But we do have fires. A simple car, if on fire, generates enough heat to melt all the aluminum from the engine block. It then creates a shiny puddle (or pile, depending on the general heat of the fire). A car that has been completely stripped and that is on the way to the junk yard STILL manages to generate that kind of heat.

          I’ve seen I beams warp and bend, and that’s just in small structure fires. Contain all that heat, add full tanks of aviation fuel, etc. Yeah, and can see rebar failing. Oh, and rebar doesn’t fail gracefully – it’s not a “oops, it’s kinda starting to get weak now” no, it’s a “huh – everything seem to be ok SNAP”.

          I have no problem believing that Muslim terrorist would do this. I have no problem believing that American passengers would be docile while all this went down (after all, this was new. In the ’80s terrorists usually wanted hostages to negotiate with).
          I have a problem believing in a GINOURMOUS plot to destroy buildings owned by Jews so they can get an insurance payment from their Jewish owned insurance broker, or whatever.

        • What most people don’t realize is that steel can lose some or even most of its strength long before it gets yellow-hot – which is still less than melting by at least 400F.

          Once you get steel above about, oh, 1200F, most any heat treatment on most lower-carbon steels is gone. It won’t be regained until you re-heat and quench the steel again.

          The WTC fires burned at over 1100F.

      • I never said that it was ginormous jewish plot by the buildings’ owners or that the people didn’t actually die OR that the recovery people had anything to do with it. I also know about thermal creep (mechanical engineer) and I understand that metal can fail well below it’s melting point. When you have severe structural damage in one relatively small part of a very tall building, it would NOT cause the entire building to fall straight down onto itself. The building would, at worst, fall sideways towards the damage, not unlike chopping a wedge out of a tree. Most likely, the entire building would not collapse, only the part at and above the damage. The fact that WTC 5, a building that was not even hit, somehow fell straight down should be a huge red flag to everyone involved, as is the fact that there is no clear footage of the hit at the pentagon, one of the most surveilled buildings on earth.

        • I never said that it was ginormous jewish plot by the buildings’ owners or that the people didn’t actually die OR that the recovery people had anything to do with it.

          No, you didn’t. As is typical among “truthers,” you threw out a vague suggestion without taking a position other than “conspiracy.” Much like throwing crap at the wall to see what sticks.

          I also know about thermal creep (mechanical engineer) and I understand that metal can fail well below it’s melting point. When you have severe structural damage in one relatively small part of a very tall building, it would NOT cause the entire building to fall straight down onto itself. The building would, at worst, fall sideways towards the damage, not unlike chopping a wedge out of a tree.

          WTC 1 & 2 were built poorly compared to previously build skyscrapers in NYC at the time. They did not meet the requirements to be constructed under NYC or NYS building codes. It was built under federal building codes that were/are the most lenient. The buildings were essentially interiorly hollow, apart from the core and the load-bearing walls. One of those parts can be critically weakened, but not both. Also, tree = solid mass. The south tower buckled exactly where it was struck (and burned), which is why you can see the top section of the building coming down at a slight angle on top of the floors it was crushing below. The north tower was hit higher and more centered, taking out one wall and the core and leaving 3 load-bearing walls holding up about 15 floors (instead of holding up 50+ floors above the impact zone for the south tower). It lasted longer because it was hit higher.

          Most likely, the entire building would not collapse, only the part at and above the damage.

          So now it’s “most likely”… gotcha. Also, as far as the “partial collapse” idea; gravity, acceleration, mass, force, etc…

          The fact that WTC 5, a building that was not even hit, somehow fell straight down should be a huge red flag to everyone involved,

          When WTC 7 fell, you can see the top of the building is sagging from the video taken on the “non-damaged” side. The bottom of the building had been severely damaged (as was captured by several ground and aerial photographs). I personally know a FDNY Captian (now retired) and his son who were fighting the fires that were burning in WTC 7. They knew the building was critically weakened and they gave a general evacuation order when they started hearing the building supports buckle. They, along with several other companies of firefighters ran and got clear just as the building finished collapsing. Believe me (him and his son) or not, I really don’t give a shyt what truthers spout anymore because the mountains of written and physical evidence that are used is just thrown out as “fake” and “shill” and other cliches that are akin to not having solid refuting evidence.

          as is the fact that there is no clear footage of the hit at the pentagon, one of the most surveilled buildings on earth.

          Yes, there is no clear footage that has been released and all the people that saw the 757 fly over their heads, taking out light poles on the highway and hitting the Pentagon, are shills and part of the conspiracy. Derp.

          I’m so tired of arguing with truthers. Even more than anti-gunners, “facts” are just part of the conspiracy. Independent reports and studies are dismissed as “they were threatened by the government” or “the government is behind it.” Then truthers point back to a couple of news reports filmed as the attacks were being carried out where some newscaster says “I heard an explosion” or “it was like a bomb going off” (because we all know how reliable news reporters are during “breaking news” segments) as concrete proof of a position. It’s worse than hearing the “90% of Americans want UBC” line… times a million. Extraordinary claims require extraordinary evidence and so far all I’ve seen (and yes, i’ve watched all the Loose Change, Alex Jones, Steven Jones, Richard Gage verbal diarrhea), is a bunch of self important, uneducated fools that spread half-truths to make themselves feel special for “figuring it out.”

          • Brah?!?!? I feel you, problem is you are wasting your valuable time. Trufers will believe anything BUT the truth. Let it go.

        • NY2AZ, Thank you! that is truly some good information. I’m actually adding this post in particular to my list of favorites for the next time I get into argument with one of these “truthers”. Sadly, like with gun control, I have actually lost many friends over this nonsense. Well, actually not sadly, they’re not worth my time if they cannot handle reality.

          • @Brotherhood of Steel: No problem. I have been arguing with ‘truthers’ since one showed up at a 9/11 memorial service in Scottsdale and started heckling my father (a retired FDNY Captian) and his fellow retirees. It ticked me off so much that I spent about 3 weeks reading everything the other side had to say and just how stupid and shallow their claims are. It’s pretty low to accuse guys that searched for the bodies of their missing sons for months on end that “they have no honor because they won’t tell the truth.” That’s the closest I’ve come in my adult life to almost sucker punching someone in the face.

    • Vhyrus, that’s why the bad guys can win — because the good guys don’t think they can do it.

      • The bad guys really win when the “good guys” (U.S. govt) overreact to attacks by blowing trillions of dollars in foreign conflicts, trillions of dollars in homeland security theater increases, and pecking away at the rights of their own citizens. Queue music: America, F*ck Yeah (Bummer Remix)

        • The bad guys were losing badly until we put a surrendermonkey in the White House. Bush the 2nd had a lot of problems but at least he had a pair, and accepted/respected islam rather than loving it.

    • You are going to get bashed from me, you are an uninformed fool and I am embarrassed that you read this blog. Are we going to see post about how fire can’t melt steel (I guess I Beams just come out of the earth formed)

      They were not “random” they were well funded and made many practice runs to test security.

      Please, go back into your Mom’s basement and congratulate yourself some more on “figuring out” the grand conspiracy. Then ask yourself this question; if the GOV had no problem killing 3K people why do they let you live?

      • You have your opinion and you are entitled to it, just like you are free to call me names and insult me because you believe my thinking is incorrect. You are also allowed to make yourself look like a giant blowhard douchebag, like you just did.

        • So the US GOV flew 3 planes into buildings, 1 into the ground so they could bring WTC 7. I see that as a demolitions expert you have serious concerns in the way the building fell. Please enlighten us with years and years of demolition experience.

          Please go somewhere else and pedal these disgusting, insulting conspiracies. The Gov blows up the WTC and the Pentagon because it needed an excuse to steal oil? The USS Cole, Khobar towers, US Embassies in Kenya and Tanzania and the Beruit Marine Corp barracks were not enough? The war could only be started if the US blew up the WTC! And took down WTC 7 with a controlled demolition. Because no one would be fooled by the Towers 1 and 2 coming down, needed WTC 7 to really sell it……..

        • It’s the damndest thing, but I never said the government did or did not do anything. I am simply stating that the official story has some pretty serious flaws. I have no idea what exactly happened other than several planes crashed and several buildings fell. You seem to know exactly what happened and who did it so I would love to see your crystal ball. If you wish to take the government’s story at face value, you are free to do so. I believe there is something big missing from the official story. I don’t know for sure what. I do know that buildings don’t fall down easily. A building coming down because a plane hit it is one thing. A building coming down because the building next to it was hit by a plane is quite another. If you remember the oklahoma city bombing, that building was still standing after having half of the building from the basement to the roof completely removed. There is no way WTC 7 sustained the damage that the OKC federal building sustained, yet it fell down in hours and the OKC building had to be demolished. It remained standing for almost 2 months after the initial bombing.

        • That is the problem…you aren’t saying anything. Arguing with you is like trying to nail jello to a wall. You are just trying to flame and when you get called out for your idiotic statements, you claim sarcasm or deny that was the point you were making. Go away and stop bogging down this forum. Your kind belongs on infowars or Youtube. This is The TRUTH About Guns, not The Bullshit About Unrelated Topics.

    • Hey guys don’t bash him, I have personally seen SEVERAL YOUTUBE videos that reveal the REAL TRUTH behind the 9/11 ILLUMINATI coverup!!!1!!1!! 9/11 was just the first part of their overall ULTIMATE PLAN to CONQUER the WORLD with help form the ALIEN GRAYS!!!!! They need to conquer the world and eradicate 90% of ALL PEOPLE on the EARTH so they can control them better, and keep all the worlds supply of oxygen, water, and GOLD for THEMSELVES! THEY WHO ARE THE ILLUMINATI!!!1!!!1! Those who aren’t killed will be sold into SLAVERY FOR THE ALIENS!!!11!!! Remember, if its posted on youtube with the word “REAL” IN ALL CAPS FRONT LIKE THIS than it cant be fake! somehow some fat nerd in his moms basement knows the REAL secrets of this vast ALIEN ILLUMINATI UN AGENDA!!!!!

      (If you haven’t figured out the sarcasm by now….)

      In all seriousness people, don’t get sucked into wildly thrown conspiracy theories. Seriously, they can destroy your life just like drugs.

  2. TSA exists for one reason and one reason only. To condition people for the government to be in your face. To learn to submit to government. The porno scanners were a perfect example. You WILL submit type theater. The secondary benefit is to condition people that only government can protect us. All of it is disgusting and an affront to humanity. Anyone who works for the TSA, or who supports that jackassery, should be ashamed of themselves. Not to put too fine of a point on it.

    • The actual reason TSA was created was to further engorge the Government and to enrich and/or provide employment for out of work security managers and executives and their golf buddies. Oh, and to ensnare an innocent passenger once in a while. And they couldn’t profile Conan the Destroyer if he was standing in the middle of St. Patrick’s Cathedral. [Side note: The whole “professional profiling” thing is a scam anyway. Cite: another GAO Report. Just hire retired beat cops to patrol the line.]

      Most line TSA gents mean well, but they couldn’t recognize an “Acme BOMB” with the smoking fuse and “BOMB” stenciled on the side and carried by Wyle Coyote about six times out of 10, according to TSA and GAO. So far they have intercepted a grand total of ZERO terrorists, while terrorizing children, the aged and the infirm. They are a waste of money and time.

    • Folding knife? In the end it doesn’t matter, just like the brand of handgun found on the flight is irrelevant.
      Next they’ll be off banning glocks and folding knives because they appear on a higher percentage of flights 😛

  4. The IRA summed it up just about right when they claimed responsibility for the Brighton hotel bombing; “we only have to be lucky once. You will have to be lucky always”

  5. As a resident of the greater Phoenix area, I’ve gotta say: Too soon, Mr. Anonymous TSA Agent–the rest of the world is not yet ready for the level of freedoms we enjoy here in Sonoran Desert country.

  6. those damn plastic Glocks!!!! Maybe Babs Boxer will try to ban them now . . . . For The Children(TM)

  7. There are so many ways to get into airport, if they try it again it will not be through the front door. We are no safer now than pre-9/11. If they are willing and determined, they will do something a bit more creative.

    I have personally forgotten about a flip knife and have gone Hartford-Chicago-San Fran and back and not been caught until I came home to do laundry and realized myself. If my knife went through, so is a lot of other stuff as well. If anyone here is in manufacturing, they can tell you even 100% inspection does not work.

    On another business trip, I went NY-San-Fran but returned via Ontario, CA and the nice people at TSA simply pointed me to a USPS drop box where I mailed back to myself. To be fair the second time it was a Swiss Army Knife and came in handy on my trip fix some equipment. Solved the problem by no longer mixing bags, I have dedicated travel bags now.

    Having spent a lot of time in airports, IMHO, if there is a next time, it will be through one of the service entrances or via some plant they have working at the airport.

    The TSA is just the illusion of security simply put together to expand the Federal employee unions.

    • Agree on all counts. I always take my survival knife when I fly (as in smaller business-class planes). I delivered an aircraft to Spokane in 2005 and I was going to commercial home. I had booked a flight from Spokane to Phoenix with my CQD Mark 1 in a clearly visible outer mesh pocket (that I forgot I had because it’s always with my flight bag) of my carry-on. I didn’t even think about it until I pulled my bag from the overhead bin in Phoenix and spotted it through the mesh. I’ve been careful ever since, but seriously… what security?

    • It is mostly “fighting the last war”. Organizations tend to create solutions to the last problems that they faced. TSA does make taking over airplanes harder. It is hard to believe that the Islamicists will use those same tactics again.

      I have thought of numerous tactics that they could use, that do not involve airplanes. I have come to believe that they have not used them because they cannot. They do not have the ability to recruit the necessary small numbers of people required in the United States. Our intelligence services have been effective.

      It would take such a small number to create enormous chaos and disruption…. but then the Islamicists would get the worst of it, because the public would push for payback.

      I believe that President Bush did what he did in an attempt to limit the damage and save millions of Islamic lives.

      The current administration seems to be intent on undoing all that was accomplished and making large scale confrontation more likely. It is hard to see if it is by malice, stupidity, ignorance, delusion, or most likely, some combination.

      • It would take such a small number to create enormous chaos and disruption…. sort of like the Boston Bomber duo.

      • I have thought of numerous tactics that they could use, that do not involve airplanes. I have come to believe that they have not used them because they cannot. I can imagine a few terrorist scenarios that would not involve airplanes and I think they have not used them because lack of imagination. I think the terrorists are fixated on aircraft for now, but I can see something like the Oklahoma bombing occurring easily. I can see the mall of America getting wasted.

    • The most likely method would be to get weapons into the “sterile” area of an airport — any airport in the US — and then courier them to other airports for use.

      All it would take is a single sympathizer on the inside at one airport. Are they checking every box of snacks and every bag of chips being delivered to the shops in the “sterile” part of the airport? Of course not! Once in, the sympathizer merely needs to hand off the weapons to couriers who have already been checked by the TSA, knowing that they will not be checked again before boarding their flight.

  8. I’m surprised I’m the first to mention it but profile, profile, profile. RF is right. And so is Israel. I have no personal TSA experience as I haven’t been on a jet in over 20 years. I hope I don’t have to either. Oh yeah Dean W.-people willing to blow themselves up & start a world war just to usher in their Mahdi don’t care if you kill 100 million. They believe they are assured of heaven & a bunch of virgins if they blow us up. And lots of us don’t know what side Barry Soetero is on…

    • Having had a close association with El Al and the Israeli Consulate in Toronto, for some 16 years, ending in 2003, yes profiling works!
      These professional Security Officers are dedicated, and trained, and use a tried and true system, basically, observation, confrontation!

      And no sir, you are not boarding our plane today.

  9. Was in Australia last month and the Damn TSA equivalent threw a hissy fit about my cigar cutter!! Had to have my check bag recalled to put it in there

  10. My own real question to airport and air plane security is that while the passengers are checked at the TSA security choke point, people jumping the fence are not, the mechanics and maintenance crews and supplies may not be screened that particular day, the airport terminal workers and vendor supplies may not be screened that particular day. Are all liquid bottles which are sold at the terminal screened? Are all supplies screened? What about aircraft parts? What about maintenance techs?

    • People who work in the secured area of any certified 14 CFR Part 139 airport (essentially all your big commercial airports) have to have a SIDA (Security Identification Display Area) badge. In order to get that badge, an employee is supposed to go through security training, fingerprinting, and a magical “background check.” Some airports have everything within the airport gate as a SIDA area and some only have a small terminal area (usually denoted by markings on the ramp). It is not full proof by any means.

      • Generally speaking it’s completely porous, as it’s all automated and run on the honor system. In small airports it would not qualify as a joke.

  11. Put small camera bag by itself in the gray bin that went through carry on Xray, arrived at destination, walked off plane and broke out camera, two mosin 54R rounds sitting in the the bottom.

    Note to self….don’t put unused rounds in camera bag at firing range.

  12. My ounces of shampoo, restricted. Old lady with 10″ crochet needles, “Welcome aboard ma’am”. It makes literally no sense.

  13. Melting aluminum is different from vaporizing titanium (pentagon collision), SERIOUSLY all they found were a few bits and peices.

    And why the HELL would we trust the governments report on events, thry lie about EVERY EVENT. “Youtube video caused my harddrive to crash so NOBODY got ANY of the emails I sent them, so an ENTIRE AIRPLANE went missing (Turning off a transponder doen not render radar inert).”

    I dont pretend to know what really happened but FOR SURE the government is LIEING THROUGH THEIR TEETH.

    I still cannot wrap my head around why the very people who complain about the government killing them with taxes and trying to deny them all of the constitutional rights, are still so hell-bent on believing the government over so-called ‘conspiracy theorists.’ The only conspiracy is a overbloated central goverment sprinting toward complete totalitarian rule.

    Sorry if that exceeded your doctors daily recommended dose of caps.

    • I still cannot wrap my head around why the very people who complain about the government killing them with taxes and trying to deny them all of the constitutional rights, are still so hell-bent on believing the government over so-called ‘conspiracy theorists.’

      Because the ‘conspiracy theorists’ [sic] are full of sh1t? I know what happened at the Pentagon because I was there on that day. And the weeks following. Now sit down and take your meds.

  14. If you’ve got an extra $20, buy a copy of Christopher Bollyn’s book on 9/11. See if his investigations don’t make sense to you. I’ve noted that the skyscraper fires in Madrid, Singapore, Moscow, Hong Kong and one other Chinese city certainly didn’t result in the building collapsing in record time. No one wants to acknowledge the existence of thermite in all 9/11/01 dust samples, nor does anyone want to discuss WTC7, which apparently collapsed because it just felt like it. The official story is nonsense. And look at how many evils hinge on the 9/11 official story. A Glock on an airliner? Oh Help me Jebus.

    • Did the skyscraper fires in Madrid, Singapore, Moscow, Hong Kong and one other Chinese city have 20,000 + gallons of Jet-A fuel sloshed into them before their fires broke out?

      Truthers, Cripes.

    • Brilliant comparison as all the building had jetliners with thousands of pounds of jet fuel onboard slam into them…..

      Please, go to infowars and stay there, leave us alone you insane truthers…..

      • You call him insane, but what is your sane explanation for building 7 collapsing?

        • It’s called science. Just because you think you know what a “controlled implosion” is doesn’t make it so. It boggles the mind that after all these years you insane truthers still have not given up with the utter nonsense. Clear as day 2 planes fly into the World Trade Center but like toddlers who can’t stop arguing you keep sputtering “what about WTC 7” as you have all become demolition experts.

          Just because you are to ignorant to understand something doesn’t mean it didn’t happen.

          Please, just setup your web browser so you never leave
          infowars.

          http://www.popularmechanics.com/technology/engineering/architecture/4278874

        • Office furniture fire brought down building that size to ashes…?

          Well, it’s in a magazine, it just be true.

        • No, a piss poor constructed building, filled with flammable objects (furniture, paper), then slammed into by a massive airliner yielding the explosive power of a cruise missile, caused the buildings to come down. Its science.

  15. If they have a problem after so many hours……THEN FREAKING ROTATE THEM!!!!! It ain’t fricking rocket science.

  16. Back in the day…prior to 9/11, I was stationed overseas and bringing the family stateside for a couple of weeks with the grandparents. The Brit security guys at Heathrow pulled me out of line to ask some questions about an object in my 9 year old’s back pack. Clear as day on the x-ray was a solid grenade sized round object. They asked me what it was and I honestly had know idea. Which led to the “how do you not know what’s in the bag” and “has the bag been out out of your possession?” questions. I was then invited off to a side room. They asked me to open the bag…and there, much to everyone’s relief, was his baseball glove and baseball.

  17. I apologize for threadjacking. This is important.

    Please, everybody here who cares about the US, please, watch a video of WTC building 7 collapsing. Youtube it, please. I’m begging you. No plane hit that building. No steel building has ever caught fire and then collapsed, nevermind perfectly into its own footprint. Viewing the collapse of building 7 is prima facie evidence.

    Disregard what the crazies on both sides are saying. Look for yourself. The obvious fact is this, no matter what really happened on 9/11, the official story is an ABSOLUTE LIE. Many possibilities present themselves from that point. Use discernment.

    It’s a hard idea to entertain, harder to accept. I’m sorry for even bringing it up, but I feel obligated to because the armed intelligentsia here pride themselves on honest fact trumping propaganda.

    It has become obvious to me, given what has happened since 9/11, that the “war on terror”, like the “war on drugs” is a war on us.

    • From the link recommended above:

      http://www.popularmechanics.com/technology/engineering/architecture/4278874

      After 7 hours of uncontrolled fires, a steel girder on Floor 13 lost its connection to one of the 81 columns supporting the building. Floor 13 collapsed, beginning a cascade of floor failures to Floor 5. Column 79, no longer supported by a girder, buckled, triggering a rapid succession of structural failures that moved from east to west. All 23 central columns, followed by the exterior columns, failed in what’s known as a “progressive collapse”–that is, local damage that spreads from one structural element to another, eventually resulting in the collapse of the entire structure.

      The report clarifies a number of widely debated issues concerning the collapse, particularly the role of the building’s many diesel fuel tanks and the importance of structural damage from falling WTC 1 debris. Both of those factors have been cited by investigators as possibly contributing to the collapse; the 2006 Popular Mechanics book Debunking 9/11 Myths: Why Conspiracy Theories Can’t Stand Up to the Facts mentions both hypotheses. However, the final NIST report downplays both scenarios, concluding that the diesel fuel stored in tanks (and intended to power backup generators) did not burn long enough or hot enough to account for structural failures. And, while debris damage to WTC 7’s southern exterior was considerable (and initiated the destructive fires), the collapse originated in the northeast portion of the building. In fact, the report concludes: “Even without the structural damage, WTC 7 would have collapsed from fires.”

      The report determines that the actual culprit in the collapse was the combustion of ordinary building furnishings: “These uncontrolled fires had characteristics similar to those that have occurred previously in tall buildings.” If the sprinkler system in WTC 7 had been working, it is likely that “the fires in WTC 7 would have been controlled and the collapse prevented.” The report also suggests that current engineering standards for coping with fire-induced thermal expansion need to be re-examined, particularly for buildings like WTC 7 that have long, unsupported floor spans. A key factor in the collapse, NIST concluded, was the failure of structural “connections that were designed to resist gravity loads, but not thermally induced lateral loads.” According to Sunder: “For the first time we have shown that fire can induce a progressive collapse.”

      Spurred by conspiracy theorists’ questions, investigators did look specifically at the possibility that explosives were involved. “Hypothetical blast events did not play a role in the collapse of WTC 7,” the report states, adding that investigators “found no evidence whose explanation required invocation of a blast event.” Moreover, the smallest charge capable of initiating column failure “would have resulted in a sound level of 130 dB [decibels] to 140 dB at a distance of at least half a mile.” Witnesses did not report hearing such a loud noise, nor is one audible on recordings of the collapse.

  18. I have no tolerance for morons and others that follow the likes of Alex Jones in saying the attacks by Muslim terrorists on 9/11 in Virginia and New York were anything other than what we saw with our own eyes.

    • I hear that. Alex Jones is a disgusting human being. He doesn’t even believe his own BS he spews out, he does it just to make money, knowing the uneducated will follow his every word.

      • He is a classic huckster. There may or may not be a grain of truth in his screeching here and there, but they’re obscured by all the white noise.

  20. Structural engineer here.
    Plane hits building, knocking out some columns and the beams and shear walls that hold them together. The columns that are left are now effectively much longer after the beams stiffening them are taken out. Think of it like a plastic straw: the longer the length of the straw, the less pressure is needed to make it buckle (try it)
    Now throw burning jet fuel into the mix. Doesn’t burn hot enough to melt the steel, but it’s hot enough to change the metallic crystal structure of the steel, significantly reducing it’s strength.

    Tldr; So we have fewer columns, they have longer effective lengths which makes them easier to buckle, and they are made much weaker by the fire.

  21. Canadian version of TSA here.

    The security does make it more difficult to just grab a weapon of some sort and bring it on the plane but as others have said there are entrances for employees which are still vulnerable. They are screened to some extent as well but it’s easy enough to avoid.

    Missing guns and ammo and knives on the xray machine is very difficult. Bullets are made of lead, lead blocks xrays, therefore bullets stand out like a sore thumb. The only way to miss these kinds of things is to not be looking.

    All that said, it is theater. This is all very expensive and there are plenty of other targets to attack. Trains, buses, boats, subways, crowds of any size, buildings, etc…You can’t secure everything.

  22. I once had a CRKT ak folder in my carry on from Kuwait. For those that may not know, these are huge, heavy folders. This particular one had killed many an MRE. I got through Kuwaiti security, and witness a fellow marine get harrassed because there was a live round in his carry on. But I made it through scot free. After several lay overs all throughout Europe. A Belgium security official asked me if I had a knife in my suitcase. I didn’t know I did at the time, and proceeded to take it out re premade me and sadly confiscate my hand to hand anti MRE tool. That was all. No big deal. I was in civvies, and aside from my ID in my wallet no indication I was active duty flying from Iraq. But it took at least a dozen check points to find a sizable weapon that could easily of filleted a few innocents had it the mind too. Just saying no one is perfect. So why not ease some of this security theater and let people take care of themselves. At least I would be out a 100$ knife

  23. The types of people that tend to believe extreme conspiracy theories are of the same type that are extremely religious. They believe these vast conspiracies because they don’t like the idea of a random chaotic world. A vast conspiracy, though malicious, gives thier world more of a sense of order. The fact is, the US government, like all governments, is big, leaky, wasteful, and incompotent. Subconsciously, even people that are “anti government” don’t like this. Thier world feels more secure if there’s an all powerful “illuminati” pulling the strings of the world.

  24. Be careful though, conspiracies aren’t always wrong. The IRS scandal and Watergate among many other things prove to us that they can happen.

    That said, there very well could be some Illuminati group and maybe 9/11 was an inside job but I just don’t see any good evidence that these are true.

    Having all the power centralized in one place and lacking proper oversight and accountability is a recipe for disaster. That’s one of many reasons I’m a libertarian.

  25. Seeing as TSA got caught allowing illegal aliens onto airliners with NO ID of any kind just 2 days ago I would say they are a total failure. Add to that the fact TSA has killed exactly zero(0) terrorists since its creation and it is confirmed. Failure. Incompetence. Willful stupidity.

    Do I really have to go on.

    As for trufers? My gawd, the stupidity that pours out of some people’s children.

  26. I was told by an airport manager up here in Maine, which is a right to work state, that the TSA is NOT required to airport security. And that (at least at that airport: Portland International) they were far from happy about the TSA’s performance. Of course I asked why not just dump them. Her answer: they would immediatly stop reciveing federal subsidies and grants. Taken with the fact they had just broken ground on a complete facelift of the facility I could now see why those federal dollars mattered. But it seems like a form of extortion to me. Maybe we should bring the FAA and the like, up on RICO charges?

  27. IMO, TSA is a joke. As a family we travel by plane 2-3 times a year. I have a handicapped daughter who walks with braces and crutches, but uses a wheelchair for longer distances (airport). She gets the third degree pat down each and every time. She is used to it now, but used to scream bloody murder when younger (parents not allowed near her).

    The last time we flew (2 months ago) the morons put her crutches on the conveyor belt to be x rayed and jammed the machine. It took them 10 minutes to figure out how to open the thing and unjam it. We then get to the gate and just prior to boarding the plane, 4 TSA lackeys present themselves and announce that they will be performing random bag searches, AT THE GATE. What a freaking farce. Nothing but theater for the sheeple.

    What a waste of taxpayer dollars.

  28. Brits are so draconian about this but don’t even intervene when a young Muslim woman is trying to flee her deranged family of psychopaths, who openly declare they are going to kill her for kissing a boy, because they don’t want to offend cultural sensibilities of maniacal desert idiots lest they be called Islamophic! Just more low hanging fruit. And a munition is a “part of a gun”. I guess a lead ball could be too by their measure. Or a metal pipe. What the hell is wrong with these idiots, they aren’t making the world or people safer, the fact they ignore the biggest threat in their scope of examination because they don’t want to be “offensive” speaks volumes of their inefficacy. In the case of the shoe bomber and underwear bomber it was vigilance and action of those boarding the plane that saved the day, not the concerted efforts of law enforcement. Rather pathetic but then easily extrapolated to the idea of arming and defending yourself against day to day criminal threats.

  30. And then Lesley Neilson walks in and says…

    “I just want to tell you both, good luck. We’re all counting on you.”

  31. Good job guys for pointing out my misspelling due to big thumbs and a tiny smartphone (autocorrect always results in more errors). I guess I have to do a thorough copy edit every time I want to make a quick post. I like how almost all people are just like “You are wrong because conspiracy theories.” Although I do not trust it, at least Popular Mechanics made a coherent argument based on their interpretation of evidence. Just so everybody knows if you do not believe the official word from your government or the mainstream media you are automatically a crazy, uneducated, wacko truther, conspiracy theorist (who automatically visits infowars every day all the time, and who actually knows who the hell Alex Jones is). Glad we made that clear. Hard drives and emails do actually magically disappear, and YouTube causes attacks on American embassies. I do not believe in the Illuminati, I do believe in a strong centralized government made of people corrupt enough to use any means necessary to further extend their overbearing control over we the people. I’m so glad that people of the gun spew ad hominem attacks against soldiers in their own fight. Intelligent and educated people can be naive, ignorant, or just plain wrong about any and all kinds of things (they even misspell words every now and then!) I disagree with people who believe in every official record of events given to us by our government, but I in no way think that they are automatically stupid and illiterate. Apparently some of those same people think that giving credence to any one ‘conspiracy theory’ automatically warrants childlike name calling.

    I am a Christian, but hate the word “religion”, and resent the notion that I automatically am prone to believe in every major or two-bit conspiracy theory (In fact I think most of them are absolute hogwash) I hate the word “religion” because people who do not consider themselves to be part of an official organized assembly automatically think they are at some ‘default’ reasoning plane. Atheism and Darwinism for example are not the absence of bias, just an opposing bias. EVERYBODY is biased, everyone has a world view with which they interpret evidence. Darwinism is just as much a ‘religion’ as Christianity. All data is interpreted based on assumption of our origins, therefore specific conclusions are automatically ruled out and others are given consideration. All things said to be ‘true’ are held by faith; the denial of any or all absolutes is in and of itself an absolute.

    I welcome discussion, but if you do not have any counter argument feel free to critique my spelling and admittedly sub-par grammar.

    • See my response to you above. Believe what you want; I’ll believe my eyes, nose, and ears. And I really hope you never get to smell burning flesh and JP4 in your lifetime.

      • Now, here I got to diverge. I love the smell of JP. Instantly takes me back to 04:30, standing on the edge of the acid pad, rucked up and ready to load on the insert bird to go do that thang. And yet, I refuse to wear a seatbelt because I have not only smelled men burning to death, I have heard and watched it and I will take my chances not being strapped into a highly combustible death box, thank you very much.

  33. What kind of idiot does not know where his weapons are at all times. Also is he unfamiliar with British gun laws? If so he should check his brain along with his weapon.

  34. A few years ago extraditing a kid lover I was allowed on board w/.45 cuffs, leg irons. My kubaton key chain had to be checked. 6″ long piece of plastic a deadly weapon but TSA allowed the .45. Go figure, shows federal government & common sense different things.

    • Now see, you were clearly not going to do anything untoward with that gawd awful big handgun, but those kubatons, they is just plain evil. Got to keep a tight leash on them or they will just hop out there and start whacking people all on their own, don’t ya know!

  35. My wife and I flew from Dulles International – Security Theater Central – to Honolulu last Christmas. A couple of days later, we took one of our bags on an inter-island hop. Lo and behold! there was a magazine of 9mm in the bag. We missed it after a trip to Michigan (driving), and clearly, the TSA missed it as well. Luckily, it was for an M&P Shield, which meant 7 rounds. A standard capacity magazine would have landed one of us in jail.

    Also luckily for us, the cops that showed up were gun guys. They started asking how we liked the Shield. Phew.

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