US News

Despite the ease with which an alleged terrorist got an explosive aboard a Detroit-bound flight, the Obama administration says the incident shows the U.S. aviation security system worked.

Billions of dollars have been spent on aviation security since the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks, when commercial airliners were hijacked and used as weapons.

Much of that money has gone toward training and equipment that some security experts say could have detected the explosive device the 23-year-old Nigerian man is believed to have hidden on his body on a flight from Amsterdam to Detroit.

"One thing I'd like to point out is that the system worked," Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano said Sunday morning on CNN.

"This was one individual, literally, of thousands that fly and thousands of flights every year," Napolitano said. "And he was stopped before any damage could be done."

I guess Obama chose to surround himself with inept, useless fools like himself on purpose so that he and they will not be responsible for anything.

The Rasmussen Reports daily Presidential Tracking Poll, released Thursday, shows that 27% of the nation's voters Strongly Approve of the way that Barack Obama is performing his role as President. Forty-three percent (43%) Strongly Disapprove giving Obama a Presidential Approval Index rating of -16.

Overall, 44% of voters say they at least somewhat approve of the President's performance. The President’s overall approval has stayed between 44% and 46% every day for thirteen days. Prior to that, it had stayed between 46% and 50% every day for more than two months. Fifty-six percent (56%) now disapprove of the President’s performance.

It was eerie, but essentially a non-issue. Northwest Airlines Flight 253, from Amsterdam to Detroit, was again subject to a scare, but in this case, it appears to be a man who may have simply been sick, rather than a true incident.

A second emergency situation has occurred on a Northwest Airlines flight to Detroit. As in the incident that occurred on Christmas Day, involving Nigerian national Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab, 23, the flight was on its way to Detroit, and was near landing.

As the world continues to reel in the aftermath of the flight 253 incident, in which Nigerian national Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab, 23, attempted to set off PETN explosive on a Northwest Airlines flight (Delta Airlines is NWA's parent company), a security expert says there is an answer. The backscatter machine, which provides a full body scan, could have prevented the incident, but at the cost of privacy for many.

A Colorado ski resort is already being dubbed the "the Amsterdam of the Rockies" after legalizing marijuana in the mountain town of Breckenridge, Colorado. The law goes into effect on January 1, 2010.

Since 9/11, traveling by plane is a nightmare. It is amazing how Americans have allowed themselves to be humiliated, strip searched, wanded, puffed, etc. so the politically correct Homeland Security can show they’re not racist by profiling the very people who should be profiled…Muslims!

What has happened to common sense? Have we become so docile we have lost all of our spirit? Have we lost our sanity? We have all witnessed the TSA goons at airports searching and wanding American grandmothers in wheel chairs. It’s ridiculous! We’ve all had fingernail clippers forcefully taken from us! What, are we going to give the pilot a manicure? We’re allowed to carry on miniature amounts of shampoo and other toiletries yet a Nigerian Muslim on a FBI no-fly list can board a plane with liquid strapped to his leg! Americans are not the ones who need to be screened! We need to stringently screen Muslims! The level of political correctness is beyond ridiculous! I prefer non-American Muslims were not allowed to enter the United States under any condition. The fact that a Nigerian with ties to Al Qaeda can get a visa to enter the US shows our government is not willing to protect us!

The Israelis do it right. At their airport, they don’t worry about Americans or white people who don’t act suspicious. They DO vigorously screen and check EVERY Muslim before they are allowed to board the plane. Why? Because while not every Muslim is a terrorist, every terrorist is a Muslim! The Israelis created a system of behavior recognition. It works in keeping bad guys off of planes. Why don’t we use it? Because it overtly puts Muslims under the highest levels of suspicion.

A Nigerian man with possible ties to terrorism attempted to ignite an incendiary device on a transatlantic flight Friday as the plane circled Detroit for a landing, law enforcement officials said.

The device malfunctioned, setting fire to the suspect’s legs instead of exploding. Officials report little damage to the plane. Despite the somewhat happy ending, the White House is calling the incident a terrorist attack.

Senate passage of landmark health-care legislation yesterday took the Democrats' long drive to enact the biggest social-policy change in decades into its final lap - a high-stakes effort to reconcile differences between House and Senate versions of the bill.

The body of Sarah Haley Foxwell was found in the Rum Ridge area of northern Wicomico County about three-quarters of a mile south of the Maryland-Delaware state line, an area that had been a focus of the search.

Pastor accused of killing his own son

A 21-year-old man has been killed after his father, a pastor, allegedly shot him on Christmas Day.

According to police, Pastor Kirk Caldwell and his family were gathered at the family's home on Ridge Ave. in Darby Borough when a dispute broke out between Caldwell's son, Jordan, and a woman who was a guest at the home.

An Opelika native considered to be one of the most decorated soldiers in the United States died on Wednesday at a hospice in Texas.

municipalities can use religious elements in Christmas displays if they don’t appear to advocate any one religion

It’s become as much of a holiday tradition as eggnog and tree-trimming. Controversies over religious displays during the Christmas season have been stirring emotions for years, and 2009 is no different. The latest dispute cropped up in California's Sonoma County, when an atheist complained that the stars and angels on Christmas trees amounted to a government endorsement of Christianity. Earlier this week, the ornaments in question were banned.

economic recovery picking up steam

longest winning streak since October

Stock markets in the United States rallied in a brief pre-holiday session Thursday after data showing a drop in initial jobless claims and growth in durable goods orders suggested an economic recovery was picking up steam.

Citigroup Inc. and Wells Fargo & Co. said Wednesday that they repaid $45 billion the giant banks got from the Troubled Asset Relief Program in the midst of the financial crisis last year, freeing them from government restrictions on compensation...

As 2009 draws to a close, it's clear that the year was a watershed for social networks and the firms that own them.

The year saw major changes at sites like Facebook and Twitter as millions of non-technical users became regular users of social networks...

We already knew the name of the attempted Northwest Airlines Flight 253 bomber, Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab, 23, a Nigerian national. The citizen hero, however, we only now know to be Jasper Schuringa.

A Northwest Airlines passenger from Nigeria, who said he was acting on al-Qaida’s instructions, tried to blow up the plane today as it was landing in Detroit, law enforcement and national security officials said.

A senior U.S. counterterror official says a passenger aboard a Delta Air Lines flight in Detroit was planning to blow up the plane but the explosive device failed, the Associated Press reported today.

Passengers subdued the man and may have prevented him from detonating the explosives, the officials said.

A White House official said the incident was an attempted act of terrorism.

I guess the policy of appeasement is not working so well, just like the poll numbers, for President Obama, huh?

Soon we will be told by the administration to not jump to conclusions about this terrorist's religion as well as that it is premature to assume he actually was trying to destroy the aircraft, the reports do not contain all the information, and that we should wait until the investigation is complete before we make any obvious connections/conclusions.

On the same day that Disney theme parks celebrated Christmas with the Disney Christmas Parade 2009, it turns out the family-friendly parks are going a bit adult in some of their jokes. Disneyland's California Adventure Park in Anaheim has written a Woods joke into its Aladdin show.

'Tis the season for the Salvation Army to try to get as many donations as possible, in those old familiar red kettles. Sadly, on Christmas Eve, no less, a Salvation Army worker was shot and killed in front of his three young children by a man who was attempting to rob him. The incident took place outside the charity's community center in North Little Rock, Arkansas, a Salvation Army official said Friday.