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Laptop Ban on Planes Came After Plot To Put Explosives in iPad (theguardian.com)
Last week, United States and United Kingdom officials announced new restrictions for airline passengers from eight Middle Eastern countries, forbidding passengers to carry electronics larger than a smartphone into an airplane cabin. Now The Guardian reports, citing a security source, the ban was prompted in part by a plot involving explosives hidden in a fake iPad. From the report: The security source said both bans were not the result of a single specific incident but a combination of factors. One of those, according to the source, was the discovery of a plot to bring down a plane with explosives hidden in a fake iPad that appeared as good as the real thing. Other details of the plot, such as the date, the country involved and the group behind it, remain secret. Discovery of the plot confirmed the fears of the intelligence agencies that Islamist groups had found a novel way to smuggle explosives into the cabin area in carry-on luggage after failed attempts with shoe bombs and explosives hidden in underwear. An explosion in a cabin (where a terrorist can position the explosive against a door or window) can have much more impact than one in the hold (where the terrorist has no control over the position of the explosive, which could be in the middle of luggage, away from the skin of the aircraft), given passengers and crew could be sucked out of any subsequent hole.
Yes, actually, that's correct. Were you trying to be ironic or funny? When somebody is intent on harming you, and actively trying to harm you, it's very unlikely that saying "Come on, hey, come on, stop that, won't you?" is going to do much to stop them from punching you in the face.
On the other hand, being clearly capable & unafraid of beating the shit out of them is often an effective deterrent, and if deterrence fails, employing your capability for violence WILL end the violence being directed at you.
There are all kinds of reasons why somebody would view violence as a legitimate path, and BEFORE somebody engages in violence, you may be able to redirect that intention using talk and persuasion... but once violence is employed, it's not likely you're going to be able to talk someone out of continuing the violence without being willing and able to defend yourself, violently.
What if this somebody is harming you because you keep stealing his lunch? Your idea is to keep beating the shit out of him until he can't attack you anymore?
America, fuck yeah!