The latest from the Sochi olympics:

It looks like the Russians haven't listened to the nonsense warnings from the Americans. Maybe they're concentrating their efforts where they'll do some good.

Too late. TSA now is now banning carryon of all liquids, gels, aerosols, pastes for paxs going to Russia. "Way to go TSA" -- said no one ever.

What a sad day for all of us American teowowrists. Now we will have to obtain our binary liquid and plastic explosive in Russia. :mad: Curses!! Foiled again by the TSA!
:rolleyes:

Stupid Morons
 

TSA: No Carry-On Liquids on Russia-Bound Flights After Sochi Toothpaste Bomb Threat (abcnews.com)

The Transportation Security Administration is temporarily banning travelers from bringing any amount of liquid, gel or aerosol in their carry-on luggage aboard flights between the U.S. and Russia, following a warning from the Department of Homeland Security that terrorists could target the Olympic Games with explosive components hidden in toothpaste tubes.

"As always our security posture, which at all times includes a number of measures both seen and unseen, will continue to respond and appropriately adapt to protect the American people from an ever evolving threat picture," said a DHS official who confirmed the new liquid ban. "These measures include intelligence gathering and analysis, deployment of cutting edge technology, random canine team searches at airports, federal air marshals, federal flight deck officers, temporarily restricting certain items and more security measures both visible and invisible to the public."

Posturing. That's the perfect word to describe the no-talent assclowns "in charge" of TSA.

John Pistole: you are an ignorant little jackass.

So if the TSA bans the carryon of all liquids, aerosols, gels, & pastes for anyone going to/from Russia, what about people that are flying to Europe before continuing on to Russia? How would the TSA know you are going to Russia if you only show a boarding pass for JFK-FRA and not the FRA-AER pass?

It would be the concern for the EU's equivalent of the TSA since you would not be flying on a US-based carrier.

Well, they would only be banning liquids on direct flights to Russia, of course.

But even if they confiscate your toothpaste at the c/p, how will they prevent you from buying a bottle of water at Hudson News and carrying it aboard with you?

Only one way I can think of: Complete re-screening at the gate of every passenger on every direct flight to Russia at every US airport.

JACKPOT! TSA just found a way to increase their budget by like 20% in one fell swoop! "With the added burden of additional rescreenings for the duration of the Crisis in Russia, TSA has determined that the total number of Officers must be increased by 20%, with a corresponding increase in operating budget, for the foreseeable future."

From the article linked by Spiff:
Think about it. :rolleyes:

Oh, and we can add "widespread halitosis" to the growing list of disasters at Sochi.

How many flights are there from the US to Russia? N:rolleyes:t that many. Aeroflot has a couple. Singapore has one (from IAH). It really is pretty absurd to promote this nonsense so much.

It's just another chance to flex their power and see what hoops they can make the sheeple jump through.

If they can get away with "temporary" measures for a "high profile" event like the Olympics, pretty soon it's "temporary" measures for the Super Bowl, the Inauguration, the Fourth of July, the anniversary of "9!!! 11!!!", Father's Day, Groundhog Day, the Gaffney Peach Festival, Tiffany's 3rd grade class play...

Every time there is a silly story like these measures from TSA, I can't help but think about the SNL skit about them.

Edit: BTW, if I were a toothpaste terrorist, I would buy a cheap domestic ticket separate from my ticket to Russia, then show my domestic ticket to TSA. Apparently, TSA thinks terrorists are dumber than they.

Are you aware that the TSA got what it wanted and approved for some transfers in Europe? No required transit security screening on some US-Germany-onward international trips. Not sure if that is not currently (or at least until rather recently) practiced on some US-Germay-Russia trips, but it wouldn't surprise me if it is.

Actually, DL flew JFK-SVO, Transaero has flies MIA/JFK-DME, and SU has also flies LAX/JFK/IAD/MIA-SVO.

For SVO/DME, it's less than a dozen flights a day on commercially scheduled carriers. 7-11 additional daily gate area checks by the TSA would be rather typical TSA response.

It seems like this is the USG trying to show "support" for the "security" of the Russian Olympics. More dog and pony show from the TSA.

There were several terrorist bombings in Southern Russia in the past few months (Volgograd, etc) and Doku Umarov* & co are a clear danger.

BUT! I just wonder how much of the explosives used in those attacks had been smuggled into Russia from the US in toothpaste tubes??

The bad guys from the Caucasus seem to have ample supply of explosives from domestic (Russian) sources.

* http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dokka_Umarov