News and notes from around the interweb:
- Collection of websites with dumb password rules includes all the largest U.S. airlines, the major credit card issuers, plus IHG hotels. (HT: Dennis)
- Striking photos show inside vacant Millennium Hotel St. Louis
- Woman joked that TSA “missed a whole bomb” in her bag when searching it, was arrested
Authorities said while being patted down by a TSA agent, Davis was heard saying: “Whole time they missed a whole bomb in my bag!”
…She is facing a charge of making a false report or bomb threat against the government or publicly owned property.
- Funny to recognize that people do this, but also funny that they’re promoting it. Southwest is missing the ‘crumpled up tissues on the seat next to you’ to make it look like you’re sick:
@southwestair Don’t think we don’t notice y’all out there trying.
- Disney can’t just ‘pick up and leave’ Florida because of Ron DeSantis.
There have now been decades of improvements in Orlando, including an airport optimized for tourists, and the co-location of Universal Resorts.
— Megan McArdle (@asymmetricinfo) March 2, 2023
- Through March 31 Citibank is running a 20% transfer bonus to Avianca LifeMiles
- Japanese hotel boss apologizes for only changing water in spa bath twice a year Ewww.
Widely known you don’t make jokes about bombs. Likely will be reduced to a fine but disrupted her travel and hopefully she learned a lesson. IMHO not an overreach by TSA at all the have her arrested (for stupidity if nothing else).
Complete overreach by the TSA. Most are dumber than a box of rocks. Now they will brag to their families that they took a dangerous terrorist off the streets. They should have just given her a warning.
@Alan: This way, Karen certainly won’t do it again.
Without repercussions, people don’t learn.
She learned and others who read the story did as well.
IMO it’s both stupid to arrest her and mess up her record for this, but also stupid on her for saying it. As someone who’s said some dumb things to security (oh no the water is inside of me not in my bottle now!!), these days I just remind myself to not be triggered by TSA and keep my mouth shut for those 3 minutes. Partially after seeing a fully armored guard with an AR threaten 2 younger TSA workers for bickering over who takes lunch break first. Totally unnecessary but also a headache I don’t need in my life from saying something ignorant.
Plus I’ve learned that killing them with kindness (for the government scanner I don’t mean killing literally) usually goes further and sometimes even gets the rare mystical TSA smile in return!
I never understood who that hotel closed and has been empty for almost two decades. Great location, unique architecture, but St. Louis (I can complain I grew up there) continued to invest poorly in their downtown and overbuilt hotels verses using what they had. I celebrated many a birthday at the Top of the Riverfront revolving restaurant there (food was actually good too). St. Louis just never gets it right. Thank goodness for the Cardinals!
She should have used my rule: Treat TSA/Custom officials as if they have no sense of humor and as if they will take everything you say literally.
If anyone doesn’t know that they can’t joke about that stuff at airports, they’re just hopeless.
There is no excuse for abusing arbitrary and unreviewable powers to detain people. The fact that they knew she had no bomb in her bag renders this nothing but a violation of the TSA’s unwritten speech codes and a violation of the 1st, 4th, and 14th Amendments. This has nothing to do with safety, but with punishing her for being stupid. People should be outraged, and the fact that they instead rationalize it – “Karen certainly won’t do it again” – is just a shameful capitulation to authoritarianism.
@Mak: It was not arbitrary and not all speech is protected. They did not know for certain that she did not have a bomb in her bag. Security screening is imperfect and is multilayered. She said she had a bomb and they must take her seriously.
That is not authoritarianism. That is keeping flyers safe.
BTW, I have zero problems with punishing the stupid.
@sunviking82 Downtown St. Louis has become a completely surreal place, and not in a good way. St. Louis has a homicide rate that’s higher than most cities in Central and South America that Americans consider to be too “dangerous” to travel to, and at night it’s absolutely desolate. I don’t scare easily, but I’ll admit that I’ve been pretty scared to walk around there at night. All of these failed projects are a result of endemic corruption in St. Louis politics, and its STL politicians make Chicago politicians look absolutely honest. A tragic story but unfortunately the present for St. Louis is the future for most midwestern cities.
‘Then invite @RonDeSantisFL to Disney’s Orlando facility and burn the place down while he watches’.. The ‘tolerant left’ never disappoints!, not unhinged at all.
Well, the lady IS a bit on the younger side (inexperienced with flying?), but, that being said, WHO in this day and age does NOT know how to behave in a TSA line to get through without incident? I don’t feel too sorry for her…
I think Disney absolutely should open another theme park or two in the USA. They could look at either Texas or the Carolinas as options, each with strategic benefits. All other reasons aside, the current parks are bursting at the seams. Remember when Disney had a low season? I do but it’s been so many years that the memory is getting kinda fuzzy. Something is needed to ease things. Spending vast amounts of money to wait in line for hours is just becoming viable for less of the population. New parks would ease that problem substantially.