When I got a CNN Breaking News email (which are getting ridiculous, but that's another post for another time) about an alleged shoe-bomber on a Washington to Denver flight I thought, "How the hell did somebody get explosives on a domestic flight?" Well, as usual, the media had jumped the gun and
reported on rumors that had little basis in fact. The reality was a Qatar diplomat flouted the well-established rule of no smoking on airline flights and tried to sneak a cigarette in the lavatory. When asked by an air marshal on the flight what he was doing, the diplomat allegedly responded sarcastically that he was lighting his shoes on fire. At that point he was restrained and taken into custody by the air marshal for the rest of the flight and questioned by G-Men once the United Airlines plane landed safely in Denver.
