Lock him up, and throw away the key, please.

… a 23-year-old Yemeni man named Basel Saleh Salem Kassem got into an argument with another man on the train and then yelled that he had a bomb.“Allegedly he was causing a disturbance on the train and the conductor attempted to move him to another part of the train, that’s when he said he had a bomb and the bomb was in his bag” says Emporia Police Chief Bernard Richardson.

Around 2am the bomb squad determined the threat was a hoax. The Yemeni man was taken into custody by the FBI and is facing a felony charge of making a threat on a public conveyance.

Approximately 300 passenger on the train were evacuated to an elementary school in Emporia, Virginia.

I went to Walmart today and finished replacing all of the food items that the Mrs. and I donated to the food bank last month. Got to watch those expiration dates on the food items.

I also got a couple of solar-powered lanterns for $15 ea. I haven’t seen those before. I’ve been looking for a battery charger with a hand-crank to put in my emergency kit, and one that will charge a cell phone, but I haven’t found one yet. Might check e-bay.

The DHS recommends that every household maintain food and water for a week’s worth of self-sufficiency. I really can’t figure why anyone would have any less than that. Katrina’s aftermath kind of changed my thinking on doing more than just thinking about self-sufficiency, and actually doing the necessary things to fend for ourselves.

Interestingly enough, DHS has recommended that hospitals maintain sufficient supplies of food, water and meds to fend for themselves for up to 90 days. Ninety days! I dare say very few hospitals have enough storage space to keep that much food, water, and generator fuel on hand. In this day of “just in time” inventory management, it is asking a lot for our community hospitals to allocate resources to purchase that quantity of supplies. By the same token, I can’t imagine why the government would ask them to do so if there weren’t a real probability of the day coming when this type of preparation would be necessary. I told Mrs. Nuke that if 90 days was good enough for the hospital, it was good enough for us too.

My bro-in-law gave me a food dehydrator that he had in storage. I’m going to try my hand at making jerky next week. Maybe some banana chips, too. Any of y’all ever used one of these thingamajigs before?

While authorities have remained very low key about the ricin discovery in Las Vegas, AP is reporting that in addition to “several vials” of the deadly toxin, guns and an “anarchist type” book were found in the same motel room.

Capt. Joseph Lombardo said at a press conference late Friday that the book was tabbed at a spot with information about ricin. Lombardo did not give more information about the book or specify what kinds of weapons were found.

Adam Housley asks … First, why didn’t the victim tell the hospital that he was exposed to the white powder (Ricin), wouldn’t you do that if you touched something you didn’t know about and then started to feel ill? Second, when found yesterday inside a plastic bag, was the bag sealed? That might explain why everyone else who came in contact yesterday thankfully didn’t get sick. Also, while on the record detectives say the victim is not a suspect, off camera they have not ruled out some sort of foul play.

Although authorities initially ruled out terrorism, they now say, “there is no evidence of terrorism,” a subtle difference.

Several deadly vials of poison, a book on anarchy, and firearms in a Vegas motel room…..there may indeed be no evidence of terrorism. There is certainly evidence of foul play. Whether the perp intended to murder one, or many is unknown.

But, a pinprick of ricin is fatal. It isn’t much of a stretch to see that the perp had the means and opportunity to create mayhem. Only the motive remains undetermined.

From the Associated Press:

A teenage passenger from California was arrested in Nashville for plotting to hijack a plane from Los Angeles to Nashville, the FBI said Friday.

FBI spokesman George Bolds told The Associated Press the 16-year-old boy was removed from Southwest Airlines Flight 284 Tuesday night by authorities at Nashville International Airport and found with “suspicious” items.

Bolds said the teen had handcuffs, rope and duct tape in his bag and was believed to be traveling alone. The juvenile’s name has not been released.

“His plan had a low probability of success,” Bolds said. …

Bolds dismissed earlier broadcast reports that the teen was planning to crash the plane into a “Hannah Montana” concert in Lafayette, La.

Bolds said it has not been determined if the boy was trying to crash the plane. He said authorities searched the teen’s home in California and found a mock cockpit.

The teen is believed to be suicidal, Bolds said. Bolds said he could not comment further on the teen’s mental condition because he is a minor.

This is just bizarre.

After getting caught in a moment of doublespeak in last night’s Democrat debate, HRC today made a political calculation to fully endorse New York’s controversial proposal to issue Driver’s Licenses to illegal immigrants, handing the GOP a front-burner general election issue.

“Senator Clinton supports governors like Governor Spitzer who believe they need such a measure to deal with the crisis caused by this administration’s failure to pass comprehensive immigration reform,’” her campaign said.

Mrs. Clinton’s aides said her statement was intended to signal that she broadly supported Mr. Spitzer’s goal of awarding driver’s licenses to illegal immigrants. source

The issue of border security has galvanized conservatives, and is a hot-button issue in the Republican campaign. Just ask John McCain. For HRC to attach herself to amnesty for illegal immigrants, an issue that is favored by just 22% of voters, seems to me to be political suicide. Perhaps she figures she would rather take away the “double-speak” accusations from her Primary opponents, calculating that she can move back to the center in time for November 2008. If so, it is a risky strategy, and one that may prove to be more costly than she reckons.