There was a shoe bomber who almost took down an airplane. [1]
Shoes, when they are not inspected, are rational places for people to hide explosives.
While it may or may not be a 'valid' tool, it's not rational to say it's 'pointless' when it's literally a known - and used - vector of attack.
It's not 'pointless' - the question is, 'is it a good policy given the likelihood of attack, the effectiveness of 'shoes through the scanner as a means of thwarting, other tradeoffs' etc..
It is pointless. It's stupidly pointless. Shove the bomb up your ass, they can't check in there. "But the scanner..." Ok, so opt out and do the pat down. I opt out every time.
The TSA is completely hairbrained. They don't proactively think of anything, they only react to stuff that has already happened. Always one step behind. So useful.
If it's pointless, then so is putting your bags through security, and by extension of some of your comments 'all airline security pointless'. You must have some amazing deep insights that the rest of the world does not.
Shoes, when they are not inspected, are rational places for people to hide explosives.
While it may or may not be a 'valid' tool, it's not rational to say it's 'pointless' when it's literally a known - and used - vector of attack.
It's not 'pointless' - the question is, 'is it a good policy given the likelihood of attack, the effectiveness of 'shoes through the scanner as a means of thwarting, other tradeoffs' etc..
[1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Richard_Reid