Runway Radicals
My wife and I recently flew to Florida for a week-long visit with our youngest daughter. Flying out of Idaho Falls, the agents at the Transportation Security Administration (TSA) can be somewhat of an irritation, especially for my wife who must undergo manual inspection because of various diabetic devices – the agents assuredly muse that a 5’2”, 105-pound female, cannot possibly be inflicted with a metabolic disorder characterized by high blood sugar levels.
In any case, the lines at the TSA, ticket agency, gates, and even the Tailwinds Bar are relatively short and comparatively painless. The return trip however included a 4:00 AM wakeup, a 45-minute drive, and every aggravation and annoyance conceivable at the endlessly busy Orlando International Airport. The flight was delayed sufficiently enough, due to a shortage of one flight attendant, to have us run a half marathon, later in the morning, for our connecting flight in Salt Lake City.
I have a sneaking suspicion it was the flight attendant who wore eyeglasses quite similar to those sported and later retired by Elton John during his early run for singing stardom as well as an original designer of jester-style clothing. I am speculating she slept without her spectacles and couldn’t find them the following morning.
Despite the flying frustrations, we made it home. This was a much better-concluding result than for some Germans whose flights were significantly delayed or canceled because climate change activists glued their hands to runways in the German cities of Hamburg and Düsseldorf. The protestors entered restricted airport property by cutting through fences. These demonstrators who cause damage, destruction, and devastation also create disruptions and turmoil all in the name of climate awareness. The reality is that if one is not aware of their cause, irrespective of falseness and deceit, one must be living endlessly in an isolated cave.
In the linked story from Deutsche Welle (German Wave) News, “German Interior Minister Nancy Faeser pledged new security measures in light of the delays, saying that "there will soon be actual standards for operators of critical infrastructure." This seems rather late in the game. The USA significantly elevated all airport security measures after the coordinated terrorist attacks carried out by an Islamist extremist group on the morning of September 11, 2001.
In this next story, activists have spray painted a superyacht, and a luxury private jet, essentially saying that the luxurious lifestyles of the wealthy are the existential demise of others. The story quotes, "They are condemning us to a future of pain, misery, and desolation.” These acts of destruction occurred in Ibiza a Spanish island in the Mediterranean Sea off the eastern coast of the Iberian Peninsula.
How does a typical German feel about the acts of damage and delay? As I wrote in a “Saturday Short” article relative to Germany, “As the government sees climate change as its preeminent priority, a survey showed that 88% of the German public sees the transition to renewable energies as unfeasible - only 10% of the public views renewable energies as a viable alternative”.
