Blackmoor Vituperative

Aviation security officials eased the ban on carry-on liquids for airline passengers on Monday, after weeks of testing to determine how much of a liquid explosive would be needed to cause catastrophic damage to an airplane.

“…we now know enough to say that a total ban is no longer needed from a security point of view,” Kip Hawley, the assistant secretary for the Transportation Security Administration, said at a news conference at Reagan National Airport.

(New York Times, U.S. Eases Rules on Gels and Liquids in Carry-Ons)

This is true, as far as it goes. They do know it now. Of course, they knew it when they created the ban, as well. The ridiculous ban has nothing to do with reality. It has to do witrh perception. There was a perception that planes were in danger from liquids. Ergo, the bureaucrats passed rules to mollify that perception. At no time did either the perception of danger or the rules passed against liquids have anything to do with real danger. It’s all theatre, and it works because the audience is gullible.