U.S. bans toner cartridges over 16 ounces on domestic and international flights

[The Straight Story]

U.S. bans toner cartridges over 16 ounces on domestic and international flights; bans all cargo from Yemen and Somalia - NBC
39 minutes ago via breakingnews.com


http://twitter.com/breakingnews

[DainBramaged]

1. Shit I guess I better get me some toner cartridges before they all run out

Duct tape and plastic sheeting here we go again.

[pnwmom]

3. They can be shipped on cargo planes, so you won't run out. n/t

[DainBramaged]

9. Well I guess we should all duck and cover when Brown people carry toner cartridges on planes

:eyes:

[pnwmom]

11. These were packages that were shipped. No racism involved.

[dixiegrrrrl]

17. How many people carry toner cartridges on flights?

And if they can still be shipped on CARGO planes, which admittedly are not being inspected, does that mean
cargo plane pilots should get higher pay?
Insurance?
Another job?

Flying naked with no luggage is the next logical step, ya know.

[Kurt_and_Hunter]

2. Jesus... that's really stupid

[pnwmom]

5. Until they develop a way to screen them they have little choice. n/t

[provis99]

4. the next step: Banning passengers from passenger flights.

this is getting more stupid and pointless every day.

[derby378]

6. Change we can believe in - NOT!

Yeah, sometimes it's so ridiculous that you have to laugh...

[pnwmom]

10. Oh yeah, this must all be Obama's fault. He should have just ended this terrorism stuff.

Why couldn't he?

The fact is that -- even knowing they were looking for a bomb in the printer -- the authorities in England couldn't tell that there was an explosive in the ink cartridge, and so they cleared the bomb for a passenger flight. We were very lucky that the word got out in time, and the printer was removed from the plane and inspected again.

[derby378]

16. You should check the reply chain

And yes, Obama could work to rein in the TSA's Bush-era policies of intimidation and fear.

[jpgray]

7. Intermediate step will be a crackdown on an epidemic of toner mules.

:patriot:

[pnwmom]

8. The terrorists are continuing to devise new plans, and the FAA

has little choice but to respond to them. At this point in time, the ink cartridges can't be screened. The airport in England had checked the printer and -- even knowing they were looking for a bomb -- couldn't identify the explosive in the printer cartridge, and let the printer through.

[JCMach1]

12. And we still don't screen air cargo...

[pnwmom]

13. I read something recently saying that they do x-ray cargo.

But that wouldn't pick up everything.

[JCMach1]

19. From a Time article from last week

...The U.S. Transportation Security Administration (TSA) relies on the word of the foreign governments about the extent of screening undertaken in their countries. A Government Accountability Office (GAO) report released in June found that the TSA had little idea how much actual screening is performed by foreign governments. "If a country requires that 100% of its cargo be screened," the report found, "TSA counts all the cargo coming from that country as screened."

The TSA in August missed a congressionally mandated deadline, set three years earlier, to begin screening all inbound cargo on passenger planes. In late June, one month before the deadline, TSA's John Sammon testified that the TSA would miss it because international enforcement of the screening mandate "ultimately relies on foreign government cargo programs and inspectors." At the same hearing, a GAO watchdog reported the TSA had only begun collecting information on foreign screening techniques earlier that month.

The GAO report did find some areas of progress by the TSA: domestic cargo is now 100% screened, and the TSA claims that at least 65% of inbound cargo from abroad is also screened. Further, TSA administrator John S. Pistole said late Sunday, "Even before this incident, 100% of identified high-risk cargo on inbound passenger planes was being screened." TSA officials declined to say whether the bombs, which were in printers addressed to the Chicago synagogues from putative Yemeni educational institutions, qualified as "high-risk cargo" by TSA definitions. (Comment on this story.)

And it is not clear just how safe so-called screened cargo really is...


Read more: http://www.time.com/time/nation/article/0,8599,2028872,00.html#ixzz14lp5cper

[sally cat]

14. Knee jerk reaction. It's like we're back in the BushCo. years.

[Javaman]

15. Well damn, so much for me wanting to print out the Encyclopedia Britannica

on my next flight to NYC.

[Initech]

18. Who travels with a laser printer?