Ariel’s Story Picks: Shoes in Airports, Jimmy Hoffa, and “Cool” Americans

With Chad on vacation, I’ll be taking over the “steaming pile” for a few days (and changing the name temporarily…) Here are my story picks for the day:

1.) Homeland Security to end shoe removal policy at airport screenings [link]

On Tuesday, the Department of Homeland Security announced that airport travelers will soon be able to keep their shoes on when they go through airport security. There hasn't been an official date as to when the policy will be removed, but officials say it will "in the near future," as Homeland Security moves towards a more "risk-based approach," to airport screenings. Hopefully, "risk-based" means they'll be focusing their attentions on people that actually appear to be a threat and stop picking on the rest of us.

2.) Jimmy Hoffa stands by his attack on the Tea Party [link]

On yesterday's show, we talked about Teamsters President Jimmy Hoffa's comments about the Tea Party. And it looks like he's still at it:

Hoffa on Tuesday stood by his comments in the rally, saying in his press release that “we didn’t start this war - the right wing did. My comments on Labor Day in Detroit echo the anger and frustration of American workers who are under attack by corporate-funded politicians who want to destroy the middle class.”

The Tea Party wasted no time firing back at Hoffa, calling the comments a "lying attack," and "uncivil rhetoric." Wait...rhetoric? Isn't that what Obama was trying to prevent?

3.) Americans are still the "coolest" [link]

We may be going through some rough times right now, but the rest of the world still thinks we're cool. According to a poll from social networking site Badoo.com, Americans ranks as the number one coolest nationality. Brazillians were ranked as the coolest Latin Americans, and the Spanish were named the coolest Europeans. And at the bottom of the list, Canadians ranked as one of the most "un-cool" nationalities. Canada just can't catch a break, can they?