Police state USA: Authorities ban water, books for air travelers

NewsTarget

A plot to bring down planes between England and the United States using liquid-based explosives was uncovered Thursday, and now many normal carry-on items have been completely banned from flights as a result of the terrorists’ intention to use liquid explosives.

Under the new counterterrorism measures, airline passengers cannot carry items like eye drops, makeup, lip balms or even lotions. On some flights — especially those originating in England where security is more stringent — nothing other than a pocket-sized wallet or bare necessities such as medications and baby formula were allowed on board. Passengers were denied even books and bottles of water.

Some passengers could not stand to throw away favorite cosmetics or products, and started giving them away instead. One passenger even convinced a Delta airlines employee to mail her tube of a hard-to-find lipstick shade to her destination.

“What’s next?” asks Mike Adams, a skeptic of the U.S. government’s fear mongering campaign. “Are they going to find terrorists hiding explosives in clothing fabrics and then make all airline passengers travel in the nude?”

In addition to costing travelers various items that may make long flights more bearable, the new measures have brought delays and missed flights, all under the watchful eye of police armed with fully automatic weapons, plain clothes officers, air marshals, and an increased presence of canine patrols. Some passengers reported being patted down multiple times before reaching their plane.

Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney activated the state’s National Guard on Thursday morning for the first time since the Sept. 11, 2001 attacks on New York.

A few passengers interviewed at U.S. airports had missed flights, and others still worried that the increased security would make them late for important business meetings or personal events. Most airline officials reported that the new system had been integrated fairly well. The issues were no worse than a typical day during Thanksgiving week, they said.

Meanwhile, Adams said it was ridiculous to restrict something as benign as water on flights — where passengers are likely to dehydrate quickly — and noted that fear mongering had gripped people so tightly that they were happy to agree to such police-state measures, whereas five years ago it would have been unthinkable to do so. “Now they’re even taking away books from travelers. These are classic signs of the expanding police state,” he explained.