Updated

As you may know, some woman caused a commotion on a United flight from London to D.C. The plane was escorted by American fighter jets and landed in Boston. Then some incompetent announced to the press the woman had matches, fluid and had written a note about Al Qaeda. That turned out to be false, another hysterical reaction to the undeniable threat of airline terrorism.

Now it's long past time for the USA to stop the nonsense and institute profiling at airports. We're not at war with Granny Frickett. We're at war with Muslim fanatics.

So all young Muslims should be subjected to more scrutiny than Granny. And we should blend some Israeli screening procedures with our own.

For example, trained security people should receive the passenger list on every flight and interview those people most likely to be terrorists, folks who have traveled to Muslim countries, people who have criminal records. Passengers who are Muslims ages 16 to 45 all should be spoken with. And if the ACLU doesn't like it, tough. This isn't racial profiling. This is criminal profiling.

Israel looks for possible terrorists, not nail files. Yes, El Al now does ban liquids, but the emphasis is on people, not weapons. High tech swabs are very effective, but you can't use them on all the customers. There simply isn't time. So selective, not random searches should be in play in the USA.

But the major change America must make is switching from the hourly wage people at the security points, to trained security people at the check-in counter. That's where terrorism will be stopped.

Criminal profiling is used by just about every police officer in this country, whether they admit it or not. It's called common sense and using your head.

The wrong-headed notion that you can't scrutinize Muslims, even though the terror war is driven by them, is beyond dumb. It's self-defeating and acutely dangerous. Profiling must begin now.

And that's the Memo.

The Most Ridiculous Item of the Day

Magician David Copperfield says he has found what Ponce de Leon could not, the Fountain of Youth. Copperfield believes the Fountain is located on a small island in the Bahamas. He says he has seen dead leaves become vibrant and drowsy bugs become lively after falling into the magical waters.

I say good. Vibrant leaves and lively bugs are good. And so is publicity, which magically appears every time a story like this floats to the surface. Could be ridiculous.

—You can catch Bill O'Reilly's "Talking Points Memo" and "Most Ridiculous Item" weeknights at 8 and 11 p.m. ET on the FOX News Channel and any time on foxnews.com/oreilly. Send your comments to: oreilly@foxnews.com