This time the last line of defense worked. Next time, the paradise-seeking jihadist might get lucky and find himself sitting next to, say, Charlie Sheen, too immersed in a lengthy treatise on how 9/11 was an inside job to notice the smoldering socks in the next seat; or to the same kind of nothing-to-see-here crowd who thought Major Hasan’s e-mails were “consistent with his research interests”.

— Mark Steyn, from The Corner

The right wing’s predictable policy prescription in the aftermath of any terror incident is to impose greater ethnic profiling of Muslims. … Broad-based ethnic profiling is counterproductive for a host of reasons. It creates a false sense of security and causes law enforcement resources to be wasted in chasing the wrong targets. Terrorists come in all shapes, sizes, and colors.

— Faiz Shakir, from Think Progress

Another botched terrorist attack on a plane, another silly TSA rule. Apparently airline passengers are being told to stay in their seats for the final hour of flights and not to have anything in their laps. … Uh, are we to believe that terrorists will cease and desist if they don’t think they can down a plane in its final hour of flight• … Yet again, the TSA seems to think it is more important to appear to be doing something than to be doing something useful.

— Doug Bandow, from AmSpecBlog

After pushing for health care, it seems that Democrats aren’t able to stomach more jobs-killing legislation, as evidenced … by moderate Democrats’ push to drop the cap-and-trade issue until further notice.

— Jillian Bandes, from Townhall

A late end-of-year entry for the 2009 Claude Rains Award goes to a study just released by two economists at the University of Michigan finding that banks with political connections were more likely to get TARP funds than those without them. … Who would have guessed•

— James Gattuso, from The Foundry

When a UK electric rail was disabled by the snow and cold, 100 passengers were left stranded. Until a Tornado came and whisked them home. That is, the steam engine named Tornado, built with 1940s tech. Speed isn’t everything.

— Brian Lam, from Gizmodo

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