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Man Arrested At Oakland Airport For Ornate Watch
First time accepted submitter mbeckman writes "A man was arrested at Oakland airport for having bomb-making materials. The materials? An ornate watch and extra insoles in his boots. Despite the bomb squad determining that there was no bomb, The Alameda county sheriffs department claimed that he was carrying 'potentially dangerous materials and appeared to have made alterations to his boots, which were Unusually large and stuffed with layers of insoles.' The man told Transportation Security Administration officers that he's an artist and the watch is art."
Take that Freedom and creativity!
Well done Timothy. I submitted this story earlier and the submission by mbeckman appears to be copied from my submission.
The real "Libtards" are the Libertarians!
This is a non-story. I'm not being a contrarian or trolling, it really just is.
Yes, well, obviously he was trying to make some sort of statement of some kind, maybe having to do with "art", and maybe not.
But seriously, I think he planned this for exactly what happened.
Moron.
Dear Moron, no need to sign your posts.
01-31-2007 Never Forget
Remember kids, just don't say, look, or do anything weird and nothing will happen to you.
McGann was taken to Santa Rita Jail in Dublin where he was charged with possessing materials to make an explosive device, sheriff's officials said.
I'll bet they can say this about anybody who has a spool of wire, some cutters, and a soldering iron. Rather convenient for police.
Oh brother. They managed to find a journalist who characterized it as something other than a fake bomb. It was *not* an ornate watch AFAIK. This is the only journalist I've seen characterizing it as such. Pictures or we cant' judge either way. If it was just a busted clock with wires hanging out, no biggy. I think it's more likely the TSA was doing its job this time. At best, this guy is in the same category as people who sell fake crack, which is illegal too. What did the guy think would happen from acting like a bomber? This isn't prottected speech. It's like... well... bringing a fake bomb into an airport. It'll come down to a jury: would a reasonable person think this is a bomb? I bet they would.
I'll reserve judgement until I see the boots and the watch.
Given that TFA says he was also carrying other "potentially dangerous" stuff and was not really arrested simply for wearing a watch, this could be outrageous or not.
I just don't know what to feel.
You know what time it is.
http://www.eonline.com/eol_images/Entire_Site/2012219/300.ceelo.cat.mh.031912.jpg
- "Scientia non habet inimicum nisp ignorantem"
From the article, it seems as if the TSA did the safe thing and called the bomb squad, which I guess is the right thing to do. I don't expect the guy at the checkpoint to be able to decide if the "modified" watch is dangerous or not, and so they called in the experts (who decided that there were no explosives).
What bothers me is that he was then arrested: "McGann was taken to Santa Rita Jail in Dublin where he was charged with possessing materials to make an explosive device" (emphasis mine). Isn't that too broad a charge? I'm sure every household has material that could conceivably be used to make an explosive device. Is everyone a threat now (in an actual enforceable sense, not in a we-assume-everyone-is-guilty sense)?
It's not particularly shocking that the guy got stopped. What's particularly interesting is that they then proceeded to actually charge the guy, because the watch could be used as a timing device for a bomb. While I don't know about his insoles, and how they factored in, I'm pretty sure that almost every single person on every flight I've been on in the last two years has carried with them the materials necessary to make a timing device for a bomb, right?
It feels like there's something missing from the story, and I'd really like a better description of the watch and why it was so interesting to security, and then the police.
With all the bullshit pictures on the linked site, one would think there would be an image of the fucking watch... so I watched the video where bubbly mc blonde flaps along for a min and nothing.
can someone show the god damned watch already? how ornate is a watch before the bullshit squad get your face on the news?
http://goo.gl/LDMgp
Look! Wires and things!
Has anyone ever found a watch, clock, or cellphone that couldn't be used as a trigger device?
Can You Say Linux? I Knew That You Could.
Initially, it's seemed bizarre to get stopped for a "large watch", but can we at least have a picture? I mean, was his watch as big as the clock "flava flav" wore around his neck? The video also says the watched looked suspicious with wires coming out of it, so it was obviously improvised.
I find your willingness to speculate about the motivations of a complete stranger based on no information adorable.
To go to an airport filled with even smarter security officers while wearing all that metal stuff.
Really, really smart! Both sides.
Sent as ripples into the electromagnetic field. No single photon has been harmed in the process.
I was traveling from LAX to New Orleans to shoot Bit Momma's House 2 (you remember that, don't you?) After some bad experiences checking baggage, I carried on my supplies, including my tracking kit.
Now, my tracking kit was a small Pelican case filled with watch batteries, short wires, and LEDs. After it went through the X-Ray machine, the TSA agent looked at the screen, looked at me, looked at the screen, then picked up the box. He carefully unlatched it, and held it out *as far as he could* as he opened it, turning his head away and looking through the corners of his eyes.
Needless to say, I was insulted.
I love Mondays. On a Monday, anything is possible.
Genius is more like it. The next step is to auction the watch off while the publicity is still hot.
Post may contain irony: discontinue use if experiencing mood swings, nausea or elevated blood pressure.
It's interesting to draw a comparison between this guy making his own watch as an "art project" and Woz's Nixie tube watch which he says he has worn on flights. Did the TSA just let Woz through because he was Woz?
Correct me if I'm wrong, but wouldn't this be true of *any* watch?
So not only did he get hassled for wearing a watch that was unusual enough that the TSA noticed it, but he was arrested and charged...
Next time I travel I'll have to make sure my watch is boring enough it doesn't get noticed so I'm not charged with "possessing materials to make an explosive device."
obXKCD: https://xkcd.com/651/
faced with a budget surplus and a terrorism deficit, the Oakland Airport TSA spring into action and arrest the most suspicious thing they can come up with after 3 red bulls and a half dozen cruellers: a 50 year old white man with a nice watch and a pair of comfy shoes.
freedom has been preserved once more thanks to the watchful eye of a handful of overweight highschool drop-outs in cheap polyester slacks and clip-on ties....but for how long?
tune in for an exciting conclusion to next weeks "Security theatre." Will the man in the comfy shoes buy a new, even more dastardly ornate watch with his lawsuit payout? What devious new orthopaedics will our nemesis equip himself with next? All this and more will be revealed in, "episode 25: I elected obama twice, this shits not funny anymore"
Good people go to bed earlier.
Gee let me wear this contraption that will garner all sorts of attention.
I can understand someones desire to express his art but to do it in an airport with TSA screeners who are basically highschool push outs is just fucking stupid.
I guess he can express his creativity in a public holding cell, see if they give a fuck about your expressionism.
I imagine this https://www.adafruit.com/products/950 would give TSA agents pause, especially if its modified even further (blinky lights, toggles etc).
Good-bye
So electronics components are illegal now? What would happen if you tried to pack a kids toy that teaches electronic circuits in your carry on luggage? Gitmo?
Those aren't bomb materials. Those are, at best, timer-making materials and a place to conceal something.
Yeah, sure, if the guy's got ammonium nitrate and kerosene in his carry-on, those would be bomb-making materials. Go ahead and arrest him for that.
But if you're going to start arresting people for stuff that can be part of a bomb without actually being dangerous, you should start by taking away everyone's cell phone. Not only do they all have timer functions now, but they can, and have, been used as remote triggers.
Every time I read something like this, it reduces my interest in travelling to the US. Generally, I only visit the US by car, which is very limiting.
As the product description says:
"This new version is even more hackable than ever. The on board microcontroller in this model is the very popular ATmega328P used in many of the current versions of Arduino. In fact, you can reprogram your watch using the same Arduino IDE software that you use for a regular Arduino."
Just don't reprogram it to go into "countdown" mode at the touch of a button !
Blue WIre?
Red Wire?
(You KNOW you'd have to include correctly coloured wires!)
Capatcha "lynched" - says it all, really.....
and in retaliation they charge the guy with a real crime. He should set up a donation site so we can donate to his legal fund so he can stir up moire shit. Now for those will will spout the If you got nothing to hide... Well he had nothing to hide yet the authorities still railroaded him.
by TheSpoom (715771) Uncaring Linux user here. I have nothing to add to this but please continue. *munches popcorn*
Anybody who's read or watched 1960s spy stories knows how to make a detonation timer with an ordinary watch or analog clock. You scrape the paint of one of the hands and position a bare wire on the face so it completes the circuit at the desired time. So the argument the cops are making that the watch was capable of triggering a bomb means exactly nothing. Anything capable of marking the passage of time can be adapted to trigger a bomb. You could rig a trigger with an hour glass if you wanted to.
Post may contain irony: discontinue use if experiencing mood swings, nausea or elevated blood pressure.
Since no one mentioned it yet, Casio F91W.
Remember, choosing the wrong brand of watch could land you in Gitmo.
Casio, not even once.
I was playing this fun, odd video game called "Real Lives 2010" (Google it, think Oregon Trailish)
Depending on your country of residence you get random factoids. One for the US was "The US claims that human rights violations are 'An aberration', But in truth occur frequently"
Too true game, too true : (
Sorry, trolling is far too common to be considered performance art. Perhaps you should try watchmaking.
Hi Moron.
And this is security "theatre!" It's all very very creative these days isn't it? Good thing nudity as a form of protest is allowable in airports. Unfortunately, nothing on my body looks dangerous... *sigh*
... we can't have safe things. Morons.
"I believe in Karma. That means I can do bad things to people all day long and I assume they deserve it." : Dogbert
Apparently not. He was modded +5 Funny as an anonymous coward. I usually don't hand out Mod points to AC's but I would have in this case as that was pretty good. You did ask for it.
I'd head straight to Ebay with it.
What was Flavor Flav doing in Oakland?
This just proves to me that people with badges and guns are stupid, moronic and easily manipulated.
Terrorists are smart, cunning and great at manipulating.
So, do you feel safe, you asshole sheeple?
Take that Mitt!
"The average reporter we talk to is 27 years old......They literally know nothing." - Ben Rhodes
It was probably this watch:
https://www.sparkfun.com/products/11488
From TFA: "While no actual explosives were found, McGann was carrying potentially dangerous materials and appeared to have made alterations to his boots, which were unusually large and stuffed with layers of insoles, Nelson said."
So in other words, this guy isn't actually causing any problems at all, he's just wearing some funky shoes. And the SA consider this good reason to harass and arrest him. This is why I wear Birkenstocks + socks when I fly - afaik, no one is yet living in irrational terror of hippie sandals.
How free is your free country now amerifags?
Remember electronics are dangerous mmkay.
'nuf said
The crime is that he cant sue the Cops that arrested them directly. If cops had to pay for their crimes they would be less like assholes and more like civilized people.
Do not look at laser with remaining good eye.
I'll have you know that I hand painted this "'F' the TSA!" t-shirt. Please handle it with all due respect.
I hear that there's a vast conspiracy to load up every airplane that flies with a highly flammable and explosive material, that sometimes this material even makes up the bulk of the weight of the aircraft in flight. It's everywhere on the plane and people doesn't even realize it, even stored in vast quantities inside the wings of most commercial airliners. The rumor I heard, and I know this sounds a bit outlandish, is that it's even pumped into the engines, where it's actually very common for it to cause small explosions that most people don't even realize or think about.
The thought of it scared me so much that I decided that I would only drive places in my car instead.
Well, as someone who designs timepieces and clocks that would charitably be described as "Holy shit, is that a bomb?" I find this more than a little troubling... Oh well, at least the shoes I usually wear are an ancient and well-worn pair of Nike low-tops...no problems there...unless they decide my shoes look too old and I must be hiding a bomb in them.
What the fuck is going on with this country? Also, it makes me wonder if Woz has any trouble like this with his Nixie watch...
Friend: "The NIC is misconfigured..." Me: "No prob, I'll just telnet in and fix it." *Silence*
1. Hide watch in unlikely place.
2. Get caught sneaking through TSA.
3. Head to Ebay.
4. Profit!!!
21st Century Renaissance Man
But if this is his website, he deserves to get arrested.
This is the responsibility of the executive branch. Obama had four years to fix this, and it would have been easy for him to do this. Yet it's gotten worse rather than better.
*golf clap*
I drank what? -- Socrates
It's time for a coordinated attack on the nation's airport's security's lack of common sense.
Get 100 performance artists and their lawyers and PR teams and possibly even undercover news media to go to 100 different airports dressed wearing completely legal, non-dangerous clothes that are designed to separate those security people who can tell a threat from those who can't.
As the artists go through, the lawyer is in line behind them.
In airports with well-trained security nothing happens and the artist and his entourage board their plains.
In airports with poorly-trained security, the incident makes front page of the local news. If this happens in more than a few locations, it makes national news.
Unfortunately, such an exercise is restricted to well-to-do artists with no previous legal trouble who are willing to be arrested and, for the several months it will take to fight it in court, be stuck with "pending charges" and possible yellow- or red-flagging on the "no fly list."
Still, if any artists are daring enough AND their lawyers clear them first, it would be fun to read about.
DO NOT TRY THIS KIND OF THING without clearing it with a lawyer first AND being willing and able to have your live made very uncomfortable for months or even years.
Bonus points if you tell your US Congress-person or US Senator first and they are willing to back you up.
Knowledge is how to play a game, intelligence is how to win, wisdom is knowing what game to play.
He was probably wearing some "steampunk" watch and boots, the poor idiot.
I'd bet there was no statement planned.
No sig for the moment.
How many actual criminals has the TSA actually caught? People who would actually have done any harm if the TSA hadn't caught them?
How many of them would have been caught with methods that don't violate everyone going through an airport?
The answer is probably that the benefit is very small. Other than the benefit of $BILLIONS to security corps and a authority/fear culture that makes it easier to waste more $BILLIONS on abusing us.
--
make install -not war
In a time of actual invasion or insurrection, the President can do a lot of things he can't otherwise do. Our founding founders knew this.
The closest we've come in the last 30 years on a national scale were the events involving the 9/11 hijackers before 9/11 and the unknown but thought to be very real and very high threat in the days after.
On a local scale, there have been some domestic "attacks on the United States" that would warrant Lincoln-esque restrictions on civil liberties in a very small geographic area - city blocks perhaps - for maybe a few hours at most. Had I been in downtown Oklahoma City in the hours before the Federal Building was bombed AND had the feds had specific, credible intelligence, I would forgive them if they denied me my right to be in that part of downtown during that time frame. But I'd demand they explain themselves later or I'd sue them for violating their oath of office, namely, to uphold and defend the Constitution of the United States.
Knowledge is how to play a game, intelligence is how to win, wisdom is knowing what game to play.
In a free country, you are allowed to troll the police and waste their time if you don't otherwise break the law.
You ARE allowed to walk down the street in a suspicious manner.
You are NOT allowed to actually do anything that a reasonable person would reasonably consider a threat.
You ARE allowed to have a watch full of gears on a plane.
You are NOT allowed to have a bomb on a plane.
Besides, we all carry the most important thing needed to build or use a bomb known to man around with us every time we fly.
Knowledge is how to play a game, intelligence is how to win, wisdom is knowing what game to play.
America used to be the greatest nation of tinkerers and inventors in the world. Now we're a nation of consumers. The ability and inclination to create things is now considered prima facia evidence of anti-social tendencies.
There's recently been an Internet-driven renaissance of inventing things -- the maker movement. But there's something sinister about the movement. It's *international*. Consider the Arduino. It was developed in the *commune* of Ivrea Italy, and the design is the property of *nobody*. The Trilateral Commission is probably behind it, assisted by the socialist Obama administration.
People who know more than you are scary. People who know more than you *cooperating* with each other is scarier still.
Post may contain irony: discontinue use if experiencing mood swings, nausea or elevated blood pressure.
Deep announcer voice:
When he writes letters to his mother, the post office encrypts the messages for him.
When he plans a bombing, the building blows itself up out of respect.
When he is finally arrested, his guards treat him to the hospitality you can find only in the tropics.
He is, the most interesting terrorist in the world.
Different voice:
"I don't always wear a watch, but when I do, I prefer Casio."
Knowledge is how to play a game, intelligence is how to win, wisdom is knowing what game to play.
He was WEARING the watch, it was NOT in his boots. The boots were oversized and had added insoles in them. Doesn't sound too bad right? The watch was modified and had fuses, wires, and switches added to it....
Sounds like they erred on the side of caution and while the summary sounds pretty outrageous I think a watch with all of that added to it sounds a bit odd too. Need more details, the dude definitely sounds a bit off...
Build it, Drive it, Improve it! Hybridz.org
I have as much disdain for the TSA as anyone else on here, but after watching the video, I tend to agree with TSA's action. They stated that the watch had "wires, switches, and fuses" on it, and somewhere mentioned that they were toggle switches.
Now, I have no idea what it actually looked like, but there's only so many ways to attach toggle switches and fuses to a watch. It's going to look highly suspicious. Couple that with some odd shoewear, and I actually think the TSA is justified in taking precautions on this one.
However, continuing to detain him after the bomb squad cleared him is blatantly wrong..
Walking through with a watch on your wrist is neither sneaking nor "hiding in an unusual place"
Genius is more like it. The next step is to auction the watch off while the publicity is still hot.
That is his TSA period, and of course it will go up in value when he has his next period.
It did reach its "out of the closet" phase with the Bush II regime - and has been normalized into permanence under the Obama intelligence-state.
FYI, there is a HUGE GAP between "out of the closet" phase and the "normalized phase".
What Bush II did was bad enough, but if Obama didn't give TSA a big boost things wouldn't be as bad as it is, right now.
I am neither pro Bush nor pro Obama. For me, TSA is anti-people thing and no matter which president is for TSA, that president is anti-America.
Muchas Gracias, Señor Edward Snowden !
Yeah, it's ridiculous to arrest the man because he had a watch in his boots. But why in the hell did he have a watch in his boots? That doesn't make any sense to me. Was he coming from out of the country? Was he coming into the country? Did he forget what pockets were for? Things don't seem to add up to me.
It is possible that he was testing security at the airport so that he could sneak a bomb in later. Nobody would take the time to change their boots unless they had more than one use for them.
I didn't read TFA so excuse me if that was posted in there.
He had an ornate (fancy word for ...fancy) watch AND boots with extra insoles (the poor man's version of lifts?)
"You want to know how to help your kids? Leave them the fuck alone." -George Carlin
By they time they release it from evidence (assuming they ever do) no one will remember it or him.
I definitely sympathize, but I from my experience, it is likely an honest error.
Maybe in your case they were "". I've seen many of your submissions and you never did publicly criticizing any of the Slashdot editor.
In my case it's very different.
I've done submissions only to be rejected, but almost always right after my submissions were rejected - and someone somehow picked up a similar story and did the submit - walla ! theirs got in.
But I'm not sour grapes over it.
The way I look at it is that no matter who did the submission, as long as a good story is accepted, Slashdot's readers get to reap the benefits.
As for the editors, I've been on Slashdot for too long to give any damn on how they feel. If they fcuked up, I'll say they fcuked up, that's all, no point of pussy footing around them just because they are the editors.
Muchas Gracias, Señor Edward Snowden !
I am not sure about Oakland, but in San Francisco you can often see hundreds of people dressed in footwear of unusual size and various impractically looking decorations on their clothes and accessories. My Casio watch is a much more practical "bomb component" -- I wear it on all flights and never was harassed about that.
Contrary to the popular belief, there indeed is no God.
unfortunately most americans are undereducated idiots.
what else is new ?
Three words. Reading Comprehension Fail. I'm an idiot.
21st Century Renaissance Man
My taxes already pay for tons of shit I not only don't want, but which I think is fucking evil.
But hey, that's what living in a democracy is all about. One person, one vote, and the group does what the majority decides.
As it happens, health insurance is one of the things I DO want my taxes to cover. After putting up with all that other bullshit, it's about fucking time they did something which benefits me.
And hey, don't you worry your knickers into a bunch. If you want extra health-care, I'm sure you can find somebody to sell you some.
people still wear watches? where can I find one of these stylish devises ?
The 'shoe bomber' didn't have a BOMB in his shoe, the whole story was made up by our Jewish 'masters' to give them even more excuses to take naked photographs of us using their TSA scanners.
Strange. I just checked my copies of IJC Monthly (part of what I get for my dues in the International Jewish Conspiracy) for the time around when that guys was arrested and there's no mention of us making that up. I'll bring it up at the next meeting as we're plotting our next "Drinking Christian baby blood" party.
Bigoted Scumbag!
No, no, you're not thinking; you're just being logical. --Niels Bohr
Because now TSA won't LEGO of him.
Yeah, it's ridiculous to arrest the man because he had a watch in his boots. But why in the hell did he have a watch in his boots? .
Who cares? That's his business, and nobody else's.
HA! I just wasted some of your bandwidth with a frivolous sig!
Moderators should be REQUIRED to read up on the article. Having read several articles about the circumstances of this case I can only conclude that THIS TIME they where most definitely justified to take in that guy. Yes, even if it turns out he was innocent. READ ABOUT THIS PARTICULAR CASE before posting, please. My first knee-jerk reaction to the headline, when I first saw it (somewhere else), was the same as here, but the full facts changed MY mind.
The 'shoe bomber' didn't have a BOMB in his shoe, the whole story was made up by our Jewish 'masters' to give them even more excuses to take naked photographs of us using their TSA scanners. The public are so fucking stupid it's unbelievable. I can't even have a conversation with ANYBODY I know about stuff that matters. Take the JEWS' disgusting mass murder in Gaza over the past few days - the idiots I work with don't even know what they 'should' think about it, seeing as they subconsciously know that Jews are their 'masters' and mustn't be criticised, no matter what atrocities they commit. Hell, they already get away with torturing their own baby boys, 'because God told us to do it', what can't they get away with?
Just to clarify, I don't support the Israelis' heavy-handedness in Gaza, nor do I support the subjugation of the Palestinians over the past sixty-odd years. I also don't support the indiscriminate bombing of civilians, including women and children by Palestinian thugs.
Sadly, you're part of the problem. Just as the vast majority of muslims are not terrroristic stone killers, the vast majority of Jews are horrified by the evil perpetrated on the Palestinians by the Israeli government.
No, no, you're not thinking; you're just being logical. --Niels Bohr
He could be in hot water if the US attorney decides to prosecute him for hoaxing under the Intelligence Reform and Terrorism Prevention Act of 2004. You know the security theater that makes travel so miserable is not benign. Poke the Homeland Security rattlesnake wrong and feel the fangs. Make a bad joke, or deliberately carry crap to stimulate negative attention, and you may get a lot more than you bargained for.. We see stories all the time about people going through hell even when they made some innocent mistake.
The people doing this work are under trained and under qualified. They have a lot of power in a limited space. There is stress. And a statistically small, but measurable, threat. Personally I think airport security should be handled much differently. But until they put me in charge of the world the airport gauntlet is pathetic a fact of life. Frankly, with Mr Insole I sense a little mental illness. Hopefully somebody will make the right call. Hopefully the bureaucracy will cut this guy a break. But if the authorities detect that he is a wise ass they might throw the book at him.
My formula for passing through the looking glass? I keep my wise mouth shut. I wear good quality sweats. No belt. In a quiet corner before I get in the security line I empty all my pockets. Including top pockets. Everything goes in my backpack.( Even receipts trigger backscatter.) I feel for coins. Everything. Usually the scan goes smoothly and I avoid being frisked or wanded so I can quickly snag my backpack off the belt. Then I take another quiet moment to reassemble my belongings. As I do so I often ponder the irony that 30,000 people a year die in cars in the US alone. So that if this was really about saving lives we would have declared 'war' on Toyota and Ford long ago. It is a Franz Kafka world and that's a fact. Maybe one day I'll be offered a political choice in this matter. But to date no major party offers to ratchet this crap back. Not even a little. Sigh.
"No fear. No envy. No meanness." Liam Clancy
The watch was covered in wires, fuses, switches, etc, and his boots were quite large as if to convey there is something inside them. Come on now. Do you really believe he was just innocently passing through security, completely oblivious to the suspicion that was going to be levied against him when anyone in the airport looked at him? Really?
It's a publicity stunt. Whether or not I think that should be enough to arrest a man (I don't), it should have been obvious to him from the start that it was going to be extremely suspect the moment he was seen by security. He might as well have just walked into the airport with fake sticks of TNT strapped to his chest given the fear that currently rules over airports.
Now he can profit from his new-found fame once he gets out of custody.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/American_Civil_War 625,000 total casualties
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Casualties_of_the_Iraq_War 110,000 or 150,000 or 600,000+ depending on the source
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Afghanistan_war ~13,500
The lowest estimates still place Iraq + Afghanistan casualties at 125,000. Not a "day in the park." ..Or are we only counting Americans?
Upper estimates exceed Civil War casualties.
=== How the TSA stole Christmas ===
Every person in America Liked Christmas a lot...
But the TSA, Who lived and worked in DC, Did NOT!
The TSA hated freedom and the whole Christmas season! Now, please don't ask why. No one quite knows the reason.
It could be that their heads weren't screwed on quite right. It could be, perhaps, their neckties were too tight.
But I think that the most likely reason of all May have been that their brains were two sizes too small.
But, whatever the reason, their brains or their ties, They set about inventing rules worth despise.
Staring down their noses on us with big frowns. All freedom-lovers from big cities to small towns.
For folks nation-wide from that end to the other, Planned to spend holidays with one another.
"And they're buying their tickets!" TSA snarled with a sneer. "Heavy travelling for Christmas! It's practically here!"
Then they strained, with their tiny brains trying. "We MUST find a way to keep people from flying!"
"For very soon, we know all the people near and far," "Would wake up bright and early and rush to their car!"
"With Christmas cheer! And the joy! Oh, the Joy! Joy! Joy! Joy!" "Holiday excitement! And JOY!
JOY! JOY! JOY!"
"And on Christmas day, they'll sit down to a feast." "And they'll feast! And they'll feast!"
"And they'll FEAST! FEAST! FEAST! FEAST!"
"With hot apple cider, they'll eat rare Who-roast-beast." "And mint christmas pies, 'til their waists have increased!"
"And THEN" "They'd do something we hate most of all!" "Each of those people, the tall and the small,"
"Will go caroling after eating their fill." "They'll go house to house, spreading goodwill."
"And they'll sing! And they'll sing!" "And they'll SING! SING! SING! SING!"
"Peace on Earth and other nonsense sublime." "Pursuit of happiness, hmmph! It's all thought-crime!"
"Over 200 years we've put up with it now!" "We MUST stop freedom-to-travel!" "...But HOW?"
Then they got an idea! An awful idea!
THE TSA GOT A TYPICAL AWFUL IDEA!
"How about this for a start!" they laughed in their throats. "We'll make them take off their shoes and their coats!"
And they chuckled, and clucked, "How 'bout more Grinchy tricks! "Let's add pat-downs just to be complete dicks!"
"All we need is a scanner..." The brass looked around. But since they aren't safe, there were none to be found.
Did that stop the old bastards...? "Ha!" TSA simply said, "If we can't find cancer-machines, we'll make them instead!"
So they called up Chertoff, and offered piles of cash. And blitzed the media with fear-mongering trash.
THEN to screw people further, and add more commotion They decreed 3 ounces max for toothpaste and lotion.
"And bag each toiletry!", one bureaucrat wailed. "Hassle-free travel will be completely curtailed!"
It was dark at the airport. Quiet snow filled the air. Travellers came early to allow time to spare.
For the process was slow now beyond compare. "This will be fun," the dictators hissed. And they took to their stations, clenching their fists.
All the lines in the airport advancing by inches, But no one spoke up to challenge these Grinches.
For the illusion of safety free from attack, Security theater begins in the back.
"Let's first cut off these baggage locks." "We promise no stealing," said those dishonest cocks.
Then they slunk through the luggage, with a smiles most unpleasant, Getting grubby fingerprints upon every present!
Pop guns! Pan-pollers! Pan-tukas! And drums! Checkerboards! Thistle-winks! Popcorn! And plums!
Then on down the line they sent the whole bunch, Haphazardly smashing the bags with a crunch!
Bag inspectors aside, there's a type even meaner: The *CAUSE* of long lines, the TSA screener!
Performing nude scans and pat-downs and more, These domestic enemies of amendment four.
One bitter agent bent on screwing with lives, Gave extra "security" to daughters and wives.
For the approaching mom, he raised scanning power. Her naked
To test the TSA with any non-standard personal item. They're not too bright to begin with.
In ObamaWorld, you can be charged with "possessing materials to make an explosive device" if you are carrying anything that can be used as a component of a bomb...
So... do not carry/wear anything that can burn rapidly, can contain anything that burns rapidly, can be used to start something burning, can be used to keep time, can sense altitude or position, etc...
Solution: Welcome to NudeAirways, please check EVERYTHING, and line-up for your cavity searches... oh and CAT scans to look for surgically-implanted devices and blood tests and tox screens to check for weaponized contagious diseases...
- OR -
We can stop embracing the stupidest ideology on Earth, Political correctness, and behave like intelligent adults... we need to just focus on the only ideology that is a risk to anybody: Islam. No non-muslim has ever hijacked an airliner full of people to use as a guided missile. In the 1970's and 80's people could board any airliner quickly and easily without naked-body scanners or grope-fests, the taxpayers were not funding a new billions-of-dollars-per-year fascist-dream called the TSA, government was not reading everybody's mail, tracking their movements, etc. and no airliners were at any significant risk. Islam is NOT a race, NOT an ethnicity, it is a set of beliefs people CHOOSE to believe. IF there truly are any "moderate" muslims (the politically-correct people keep telling us these moderates are the vast majority) then they should have wrapped-up and solved the whole "extremist" thing long ago... but they don't seem to be working the problem with any real fervor... they seem to be just "laying low" waiting to see which "side" wins so they can then say "we were always with you" to the victor in the struggle. As long as it refuses to clean-up its own, this ideology needs to be treated like leprosy, and anybody who chooses to "belong" to it or "follow it" needs to be eyed with extreme suspicion as we eye with suspicion anybody who chooses to belong to the KKK or the NAZI party
You know what a number of professional pyrotechnitians use to detonate explosives?, nails. Yes, as it turns out, a board with nails in it, a few wires, and an electrical source actually makes for an quick but effective setup to manually detonate individual groups of explosives. Also, pretty much any watch could be rigged to set off explosives. Bulky boxers could easily be used to hide a reasonable amount of explosives.
Hell, the only thing that wouldn't matter in an explosion are padded boots, which seems more like something an electrician would do.
Long story short, WTF?
If the jews have so much power, why do they keep getting blamed and killed? Wouldn't they have hired a fall guy, or is it that we never find out when Boothe and Oswald are hired by the jewish masters?
Learn to love Alaska
Oooh, how do I join? Do drink dead Christian, I have to go to communion. The blood is great, but the raw Jesus flesh is usually dry, and a bit salty.
Learn to love Alaska
Someone needs to put an end to these hipsters, with their fake glasses, homemade shoes and ornate watches. More power to the TSA or any organization that wants to take them on!
Couldn't you make a bomb out of an iPhone using the lithium-ion battery as an explosive? I suppose you would actually need a second battery to use to power the electronics and ignite the first bomb. It would be interesting for someone to convert an iPhone into a bomb as a demonstration project because that would help establish case law to limit the use of this particular law to real cases where there is a real risk, not trumped up charges.
I don't know why you guys expect a constitutional lawyer to do anything other than maintain the status quo apart from a few minor changes or large changes over a very long time (a lot more than four years). He's not really a socialist you know. People just call him that as a meaningless insult when they really want to yell "nigger" instead.
None of that was in the description. Were you there? If so is there more you could tell us?
Quite an experience to live in fear, isn't it? That's what it is to be a slave.
The police near me would have recently filled all available cells with people travelling by train to a Science Fiction convention if it was standard procedure to arrest anyone that was wearing weird stuff. I'm sure he wanted to attract some attention by his costume but I doubt he wanted it from the TSA.
It was worth reading this article just to get that link to the FLORA - Wearable electronic platform.
Oooh, how do I join? Do drink dead Christian, I have to go to communion. The blood is great, but the raw Jesus flesh is usually dry, and a bit salty.
Sorry. The IJC (and world domination) is just for the chosen people. However, aside from the monthly magazine, I don't get much for the dues I pay. You'd think I'd get a fat check every month or at least wholesale pricing since we're running the world, eh?
Not just dead Christian. It's Christian babies. We have our own dry stuff (see the link), but it's not salty.
It is pretty amazing that people actually believe that stuff. I mean, what with the Lubavitchers mostly on welfare and the other Hasidim in the US and the Haredi in Israel also not working for a living, you'd think the complaint would be about those lazy Jews sitting around reading the Torah all day.
But I guess it's easier to hate the Jews if you delude yourself into thinking they're running the world. Damn, bigots are dumb!
No, no, you're not thinking; you're just being logical. --Niels Bohr
Looking at photos of the aftermath of an oxy-acetylene explosions from flashbacks shows a couple of interesting things. The acetylene bottles alone fail by burning out a plug or or splitting the seams, so you end up with an enormous jet of flame for some time but no explosion. The oxygen however is in cast bottles with no seams so if a flashback makes the oxygen in the bottle burn it builds up pressure until the bottle bursts, scattering shrapnel everywhere and in one photo there was a ten metre diameter hole in a concrete floor where the oxygen bottle had been. That was from a normal gas welding kit.
It is pretty amazing that people actually believe that stuff. I mean, what with the Lubavitchers [wikipedia.org] mostly on welfare and the other Hasidim [wikipedia.org] in the US [tabletmag.com] and the Haredi in Israel [haaretz.com] also not working for a living, you'd think the complaint would be about those lazy Jews sitting around reading the Torah all day.
Bah, they are the jewelry mob of NY, and own De Beers and sit and do nothing, collecting welfare wile being billionaires making millions from blood diamonds (they suck the blood off first before selling).
Learn to love Alaska
It was in TFA.
To be honest, I'm not really sure what to tell you if you can't see the difference between the two scenarios.
There's been dictionaries on that internet you are connected to since before there was a world wide web.
The point is people wearing weird shit shouldn't be enough of an excuse to lock them up after the bomb squad has been and gone. One person's normal can be another person's weird shit, and an odd watch plus big boots is probably a lot less weird than some of the stuff I've seen teenage girls wearing in airports.
Al Gore talked WMDs and Iraq invasion in the 2000s. He was looking for war with Iraq through much of the 1990s.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Chn1qAn1f3w
Had things worked differently in Florida in late 2000, Al Gore would have would have done pretty much the same things.
My... rage? (all caps) was because the one sentence of the post was NOT "insightful". I don't mind moderators voting it up if they like it - but please stick to correct labeling!
As for what I wrote, after re-reading the story and sleeping over it, I now think it's questionable. On the one hand it may indeed be a gross overreaction, on the other hand it very much looks like the guy may have done this deliberately as a publicity stunt for himself, knowing that in the end they would have to set him free after grabbing national headlines. I hate that too, so my FEELINGS tell me "jail him", the reasoning part of the brain has a different opinion.
As I was reading, I couln't help but think of other countries ... at another time: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pm8K1q0N-F4
Internally reroute/tie buzzer wires to usb port, sync cable ties phone to detonator, set alarm/timer - boom... If you're on a suicide mission you don't need a timer at all.
Not that I condone the TSA's overly heavy-handed approach in any way, but you have to ask yourself what was the guy actually thinking?
It seems to me he must have been one of either:
1) A total moron for not being able to guess the obvious trouble that would happen when attempting to go through airport security wearing a watch that looks like a bomb
2) actually trying to incite trouble (starving artist seeking publicity etc)
So in short he's either a moron or a trouble maker.
Now THAT was funny.
Hmmm.... and what relevance does that hold to anything?
If you believe in privacy, and believe you have "nothing to hide" at the same time, you're a goddammed idiot
True, but hardly comparable, since that arose from an actual war on American soil. Your comment's not quite Godwin standard, but getting close.
A timer can be made from a leaky bag of water. As we talk about airplanes, a barometric trigger can be made from a bag of chips, or that little single-dose cup of coffee cream (notice how they inflate when at altitude).
ATF Declares "Chore Boy" pot scrubber as supressor.
http://www.wnd.com/2011/11/368769/
The more ridiculous crap everyone puts up with, the further and further they will be pushed.
Sadly, a Libertarian cannot force his views on another, and freedom cannot spread as does the cancer known as religion.
That's no excuse, Citizen, for double-plus ungood badthoughts!
As regards globalization and the redistribution of American wealth, Obama is mostly a sucker, and a chump. Mittens, on the other hand, is an active player, pushing hard to enrich all the rest of the world at America's and Europe's expense.
You've got it wrong here -- Mitt is working hard to enrich himself. Any other beneficiaries of his actions, such as China's economy, are purely accidental. If Romney thought he could get as rich as quickly by creating jobs in the US, you can rest assured that he'd do just that. But for now, the US is still relatively close to (if not at) the top of the global economic pile, so any arbitrage to be made from outsourcing will negatively affect the US.
Cheers,
"What in the name of Fats Waller is that?"
"A four-foot prune."
You who sneer at such silly mistakes would never consider doing the job yourself.
In other words, leave such work to those who might not be best qualified to do it, then yuck it up when they make a mistake.
Think about it.
Dude, Christian baby blood? You're way behind the times.
CODED MESSAGE FOLLOWS: NNV(@#!JH!B!BJFQ__D(DHJ!L!::GL:KDGSXVA*AQU#JF
That's the new fashion, brother.
The security line is not the place to vent your antipathy to the airport system. My personal strategy is to get through it ASAP. Also I drive when I can these days. And I have supportted the AARP
Check out what happened to this guy. And reconsider your next transit through. Dubai. Strictly speaking not the same as a security line problem. But it sure is an arbitrary world out there.
"No fear. No envy. No meanness." Liam Clancy
I'll bring you some in jail. Boy, it sure is hell to be right. But the truth is I bet you are just as well behaved as I am in a TSA security line. (Or you are posting from behind bars. Or are too poor to fly.) I am simply being honest about getting through it as quickly and as painlessly as possible. And in a good mental state. Of course if you want to amuse and or irritate the agents by being disorganized and uncooperative you can do so. Your pointless bravado will get them a commendation and, perhaps, a promotion for wrapping you up if the situation escalates. What will it get you?...Well, since you have decided to put them in complete control by giving them cause to make you a target. It is up to them what you get. Me? I make my flight. This gives me a chance to support realistic efforts to curtail this wrongheaded nonsense. Oh, and I am not the one who posted as a coward.
"No fear. No envy. No meanness." Liam Clancy
Not really, but if it looked like this he would definately have an issue...
http://farm5.static.flickr.com/4043/4702368517_812af64a5a.jpg
Ninjas don't carry tic tacs
On this we are agreed. Personally I am infuriated by the TSA protocol. One reason I am so careful to make the experience smooth from the start is that I don't want to give rise to an awkward situation where I might get provoked and lose my temper. (I have nothing to hide, but I come to this situation on edge.) I recognize that a tantrum would not alter the state of affairs. And could result in harm to me, and would serve no good end.
This surveillance mission creep is extremely bad for the country. But it has been going on for some time. I was frisked by a US Marshall in 1973 because I had long hair and had forgotten my draft card. I was allowed to board after getting a lecture from Wyatt Earp. Now get off my lawn.
"No fear. No envy. No meanness." Liam Clancy
Here's the watch in question