By Debbie Schlussel

**** UPDATE, 3: 30 p.m.: Yeah, I’m sure his ethnicity, religion and what he did in the bathroom meant nothing. How ’bout you?:

A flight attendant reported that a panel inside the plane’s bathroom had been “tampered with,” Traverse City Police Capt. Steve Morgan said.

Passenger Bob Crosby, 74, of Traverse City, said a man seated next to him entered the plane’s bathroom “halfway through the flight,” and spent about 15 minutes inside.

The passenger, 28, of California, allegedly entered the plane’s bathroom with an “article,” but returned to his seat without it. Police would not describe that item.

Local police, along with Transportation Security Administration officials and FBI investigators, continue to interview the man.

The Associated Press quoted an anonymous source as saying a suspect made a bomb threat, but TSA officials this afternoon released a statement that read:

“TSA was notified of a passenger entering the lavatory during approach of SkyWest Airlines Flight 6036 from Chicago O’Hare International Airport to Cherry Capital Airport in Traverse City … . The flight landed without incident … all passengers were deplaned and the plane was swept with negative results. Per standard procedures, law enforcement and TSA personnel met the flight, and the passenger in question is currently being interviewed. (Cherry Capital) temporarily suspended operations at approximately 10:30 AM EST. Operations resumed at 10:56 AM EST.

Morgan would not comment on the man’s ethnicity, but some passengers said he was of Middle-Eastern descent.

David Boyer believes that’s why he was apprehended.

“He did nothing more than flying while Arabic,” said Boyer, 47, a Chicago resident who has a home in Acme. “It was a completely normal flight.”

Yeah, completely normal . . . if “flying while Arabic” means making a bomb threat, spending 15 minutes in the bathroom while the flight is on approach to its destination, tampering with the bathroom panel, and leaving an “article” in the bathroom that raised suspicion.

Uh, if that’s “flying while Arabic,” perhaps the “Arabics” shouldn’t be flying.

**** END UPDATE ****

So this is like, what, airplane bomb threat and/or disruption on a plane #5,378 in the last two months?  They should have beaten this guy senseless.  When they don’t–as in pretty much all cases–this country is a joke. (Here’s video.)

A government official says a man was arrested at a northern Michigan airport after making a bomb threat on a commercial flight.

No bomb was found. The official says the man was taken off the plane at the Traverse City, Mich., airport on Friday after making the threat. The official wasn’t authorized to speak publicly and spoke on condition of anonymity.

The Transportation Security Administration says the passenger entered the bathroom as the Skywest Airlines flight from Chicago as it was approaching the Cherry Capital Airport. The TSA says the passenger is currently being questioned and the airport temporarily suspended operations.

Charlotte Crosby of Traverse City says her husband was on the plane. He called her on his cell phone to say he and other passengers were being questioned.

More:

Security crews are on scene at Cherry Capital Airport in Traverse City, after a man from California claims to have a bomb on the United Express flight from Chicago.

Officials tell 7 & 4 News the passenger was locked in the bathroom saying he had an explosive device.

The suspect was arrested when the plane landed and all other passengers are safe. The passengers were taken away in vans to another location once the plane landed. A bomb sniffing dog is being brought in to check the plane.

Officials are interviewing the flight crew and passengers at this time. When the interviews are complete the suspect will be taken to the Traverse City Police Department.