THANKS, TSA! Ramped up US airport security deepens holiday travel misery.

UPDATE: “Complete and total beclownment.”

ANOTHER UPDATE: Jerry Pournelle: “I have always said that if an intelligent person wants to bring down an airplane and doesn’t mind being killed doing it, there are many ways to accomplish it, and many of my readers know of multiple ways to accomplish it with little chance of detection. This incident is a good illustration of that. We aren’t really going to make all airline passengers strip to their underwear, and even if we did, that wouldn’t do it. What we can do is be more discriminating on who gets to fly on US aircraft to US airports, particularly on international flights. Of course that would mean paying more attention to foreign nationals. . . . This one was particularly easy to spot given his association with Yemen in general and Yemen extremists in particular. Once again US authorities had enough information; and once again political correctness prevented any action. Unlike the Fort Hood murders, this politically correct failure didn’t cost any lives. Next time we’re unlikely to be so blessed.”