As you may have heard, it was a hell of a week for airplanes traveling from Amsterdam to Detroit. First, Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab, the 23-year-old son of a rich Nigerian banker, tried to blow up a plane with a condom and a syringe. He failed. The nearly-horrific Christmas Day story had at least one positive development: we met the brave and opportunistic hero who subdued Abdulmutallab — Jasper Schuringa. And then it seemed to be all over. Another terror attempt thwarted. Time to move on.
Until today, when another Nigerian man scared the bejesus out of a plane full of passengers on their way from Amsterdam to Detroit. It turns out this guy was just having stomach issues, a fact that wasn’t discovered until after he was interviewed by the F.B.I. Now it’s all really over. And it’s really time to move on. And one important lesson has been learned: if you fly after eating too much fruitcake you might be mistaken for a terrorist.
