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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!
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.
I'll reserve judgement until I see the boots and the watch.
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)?
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.
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.
I bet everyone has bomb making materials in their garage and under their sink.
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.
You don't need a spool of wire.
Any wire will do, including your phone charger, or the spare cat 5 wire you always carry in your computer bag,
earbuds for your phone, the phone itself, etc.
ANY wire constitutes bomb making equipment.
The fact that he was a short dude and wanted to be taller and used multiple insoles to achieve that is also
somehow a crime.
We still have to entertain the possibility that he got exactly what he was looking for, notoriety and fame.
Who builds a watch with wires and "fuses" hanging out of it and then walks thru airport security?
Really, who does that?
Fools and idiot attention seekers. Any terrorist would be much more clever. The charges leveled are
probably simply to hold him on till they dig through his life. When released, he will probably try to sell
his watches to other fools based on his new found fame.
Sig Battery depleted. Reverting to safe mode.
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.
Ssshhh! Don't tell anyone!
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.
A few household chemicals in the proper proportions.
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.
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*
Your car has a tank full of explosives.
... 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.
The only fools are the people who support the TSA and their actions. When the free thinkers are all on lockdown, there will be nobody to stand up for your right to express your opinion on issues like this.
"You're right," Fisheye says. "I should have set it on 'whip' or 'chop.'"
Probably more "fool" then attention seeker, but it should be a wake-up call that anyone who wants to travel should know better than to wear a piece of art around lest you tick off security check points. Certainly says something about the state of our nation's paranoia and the lack of oversight, transparency, and accountability in some of these organizations.
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?
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.
Sort of like Congressmen.
The world's burning. Moped Jesus spotted on I50. Details at 11.
Who builds a watch with wires and "fuses" hanging out of it and then walks thru airport security? Really, who does that? Fools and idiot attention seekers.
How far have we fallen that slashdot readers are asking that?
Who does that? Nerds. Nerds do that. Incredible nerds like Steve Wozniak for example.
People wear things I find to be ridiculous all the time that everyone has no problem labeling as fashion statements. But if it's wires and fuses, it can't be a statement of the types of things you enjoy, it has to be an idiot attention seeker?
Personally, I find it much more easy to label people idiots when they think every exposed wire and fuse is a bomb.
Warning: Opinions known to be heavily biased.
I bet everyone has bomb making materials in their garage and under their sink.
So? Having it in your garage is not the same as carrying it into an airport.
Babies' diapers can be used to build bombs. Babies should be banned from planes.
Especially if they are crying.
Why can't the TSA do something about that? Litte bald-headed Machiavellis, all of them, I tell you . . .
Schroedinger's Brexit: The UK is both in and out of the EU at the same time!
"Who builds a watch with wires and "fuses" hanging out of it and then walks thru airport security?
Really, who does that?"
steampunk?
mabey he is, but the TSA and local PD does itself no favors giving every dolt looking for free publicity, all the free publicity they want.
The "filfthy speech movement", made a career out of taunting the government into enforcing useless legislation to get the populace behind them, as did howard stern, and the legacy of the shock jock. The irony is, that, authorities, like a monkey with its hand on a grape nut in a trap, could let go and free itself anytime they want, but they never learn.
The FBI campaign against so called "radicals" on california university campuses made heros and legends out of the mundane, and wasted FBI resources, destroyed the credbility of the federal governement, and ultimately let the real communists get the bomb, and let the mafia grow uncontrolled, by diverting resources towards harmless protestors who didn't not result in putting away serious threats to the nation.
Mabey a few more idiots need to make fortunes before they catch on. All they are doing is degrading the reputation of the TSA, not catching any real terrorists(who take the efforts), and just repeating historical failures.
True, but this man didn't do that: he merely wore a watch of his own design, and was arrested anyway. Even after the bomb squad said, "No danger."
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.
What's gonna happen when someone wears something based on this: http://www.adafruit.com/products/659
I suppose the real fools are those paying for the security, incarceration, investigation, and overtime being accrued here.
We know where leadership by an anti-intellectual "strongman" who scapegoats minorities and likes boisterous rallies goes
Who builds a watch with wires and "fuses" hanging out of it and then walks thru airport security?
Really, who does that?
You're right, but only in this very refined case. About 10 years ago I built a noise cancelling system out of a microphone, some electronics and I was young so it all looked very home made. It worked well, almost as well as the Bose QuietComfort series headphones. Flying was a real treat with my custom contraption on. Yet now I suddenly can't take it through airport security for fear of me not actually getting to my destination.
There are documented cases of artists, students, professionals, teachers, vendors with tech equipment, and likely more all having major problems with airport security for the same reason, they dared to build something.
This guy may be a fool and an attention seeker, but many others aren't.
But to arrest him after the bomb squad said, "No danger"? What's the point? If the bomb squad had been worried about it, Ok, there's justification. This is just the cops being assholes because they can. Cops are not there to teach us lessons, or punish bad fashion sense. Either the guy was dangerous, had illegal materials, or indicated that he had intent to cause harm, or the cops were wrong to arrest him. I can find quite a few things wrong with just about every person I meet: if I were a cop, should I be able to arrest them for that?
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*
The charges leveled are probably simply to hold him on till they dig through his life.
Personally, I think that the charges leveled have little to do with this guy; they are to teach everyone else a lesson: Don't do this, or we'll make your life mighty inconvenient. They don't want people with wires and fuses hanging off of them constantly trying to get through airports because they think it's clever or funny, causing massive logjams in security so that the people who just want to get from point A to point B can go their merry way.
It's the same reason why if you joke about, "It's not like I have a BOMB in my briefcase!", they'll haul your ass off to jail. Not because they actually believe that you have a bomb in your briefcase, but because if someone actually does think that someone has a bomb, they want that person treated with the utmost of seriousness.
I don't like the situation the way it is, and I'm sure that there could be more sanity around the whole issue, but I also think that what they do is not completely without merit and I do kinda understand where they're coming from. People shouldn't engage in assholery with people who are responsible for protecting the security and lives of others. Most sane people wouldn't pull out a realistic-looking toy gun, point it at a police officer, and laugh and say, "Ha ha! I'm just kidding! No need to get all upset about a simple joke..." But then we have people who think it's perfectly fine to engage in such tomfoolery with TSA agents.
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.
If he was standing in line would it be a queuecumber?
Confucius say, "Find worm in apple - bad. Find half a worm - worse."
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.
Dude, he's probably one of the maker set and built a watch from an arduino. The only crime is against efficient system design.
People shouldn't engage in assholery with people who are responsible for protecting the security and lives of others. Most sane people wouldn't pull out a realistic-looking toy gun, point it at a police officer, and laugh and say, "Ha ha! I'm just kidding! No need to get all upset about a simple joke..." But then we have people who think it's perfectly fine to engage in such tomfoolery with TSA agents.
Agreed/
Its called suicide by cop. And it happens more than you think.
Knowing that TSA doesn't have guns makes this a semi-safe bit of attention getting, with charges that seldom stick, but a notoriety that does. The guy HAD TO HAVE KNOWN that would be the result.
Allegedly (and I do mean that in the legal sense, as there is not a single photo of evidence) he had hollowed out compartments in the multiple insoles in his boots. Supposedly the watch contained fuses. What kind? Electrical, or det-cord?
It screams Dry Run if you are a TSA agent even in the absence of any explosive. That is what they are trained to look for.
Intelligent people who just want to get to their destination would pack it in luggage, or explain to TSA BEFORE they get to the gate what it is and why he is carrying it so that he could avoid arrest.
Was it Steampunk, as some have alleged? Perhaps. But something that elaborate and expensive would make more sense in packed luggage. I still think he was seeking attention. He got it.
Sig Battery depleted. Reverting to safe mode.
But to arrest him after the bomb squad said, "No danger"? What's the point? If the bomb squad had been worried about it, Ok, there's justification. This is just the cops being assholes because they can. Cops are not there to teach us lessons, or punish bad fashion sense. Either the guy was dangerous, had illegal materials, or indicated that he had intent to cause harm, or the cops were wrong to arrest him. I can find quite a few things wrong with just about every person I meet: if I were a cop, should I be able to arrest them for that?
Well, actually that is all cops can do. Then it's up to the DA to decide if they want to prosecute. Now if their DA is really stupid, they'll press charges, but hopefully he/she'll bitch slap the police for being stupid. Guess we will find out monday.
Be seeing you...
*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
Babies' diapers can be used to build bombs. Babies should be banned from planes.
Especially if they are crying.
Why can't the TSA do something about that? Litte bald-headed Machiavellis, all of them, I tell you . . .
Stewie Griffin is going to blow up your house for that one, Kid.
No, no, you're not thinking; you're just being logical. --Niels Bohr
I don't like the situation the way it is, and I'm sure that there could be more sanity around the whole issue, but I also think that what they do is not completely without merit and I do kinda understand where they're coming from. The TSA shouldn't engage in assholery with people who they are responsible for protecting. Most sane people wouldn't arrest someone because they're wearing the jewelry of their choice. But then TSA agents on a power jag think it's perfectly fine to engage in such stupidity in support of security theater.
There. FTFY.
No, no, you're not thinking; you're just being logical. --Niels Bohr
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
I got the tenth degree just for carrying a Fluke 77 multimeter with me. I was an electronic technician at the time on my way to a job. Sure it happens to have a battery, some switches, and and LCD display, but I have no idea what kind of hijinks they thought I could do with one.
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.
The word you were desperately searching for when you found "walla" was "voila'....
"I do not agree with what you say, but I will defend to the death your right to say it"
Three words. Reading Comprehension Fail. I'm an idiot.
21st Century Renaissance Man
Who builds a watch with wires and "fuses" hanging out of it and then walks thru airport security?
Really, who does that?
Who builds a bomb with wires and "fuses" hanging out of it and then walks thru airport security?
Really, who does that?
If the TSAsshats go chasing Hollywood bombs instead of what actually could be dangerous, they deserve to be fired. Same with the Sheriff - I don't expect them to be familiar with bombs (although it wouldn't hurt if they called in an "expert", i.e. someone not completely unfamiliar, before making decisions), but I do expect them to have common sense. I guess I aim too high.
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
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!
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
Because now TSA won't LEGO of him.
He should have just let the TSA have his Eggo
No, no, you're not thinking; you're just being logical. --Niels Bohr
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.
Did you ever see a place with a picture of the watch in question? I saw a quote that it looked like a detonator, and he's still in custody for possessing "bomb making materials" but I haven't seen the device itself.
Learn to love Alaska
Please follow along.
He wasn't charged with carrying a bomb.
Sig Battery depleted. Reverting to safe mode.
A well-trained real threat who keeps his cool and follows every precaution to not get noticed won't behave like a prankster.
An actual real threat may very well behave like a prankster. Not everyone is perfect; besides, people certainly act in dumb ways when under stress, and bombing a plane is a high stress occupation.
Remember the first World Trade Center truck bomber? "A real threat wouldn't return to get back the deposit on the truck he used for bombing." Of course, he did.
The irony is, that, authorities, like a monkey with its hand on a grape nut in a trap, could let go and free itself anytime they want, but they never learn.
What do they have to 'learn'? Authority is stronger than ever, and it appears that it will grow even stronger for the foreseeable future. I will believe that "degrading the reputation of the TSA" actually means something when the TSA no longer exists. If anybody is caught in the monkey trap, it is us who continue to support their authority. The historical failure is ours.
“He’s not deformed, he’s just drunk!”
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
In the article it mentioned that the watch included a "fuse". That's a whole new level of ornateness right there.
You seem to regard science as some kind of dodge... or hustle.
Do you have a link to the story you read, because the one I read was nothing like what you describe.The guy obviously just had an unusual watch and was wearing boots with insoles in them. Big deal.
Quite an experience to live in fear, isn't it? That's what it is to be a slave.
Well we are still more free than North Korea. I think. At least we can still be proud of that.
Quite an experience to live in fear, isn't it? That's what it is to be a slave.
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.
Which is really quite juvenile behaviour of the people that make the arrest. Accepting no challenge at all to authority, not even jokes, is really a sign that the person is not fit to be in a position of authority.
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
The sign of the true utter stupidity of the situation is that he sent it through the scanner and did everything a well behaved ideal citizen is supposed to do.
I could have ended up the same way myself a few years ago over a netbook when the security guy had never seen one before (he must have been new). Fortunately the two policemen he called over recognised it.
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...
Are you really that brainwashed or are you just a bigoted asshole?
Muslims are not a monolithic group. There are many sects and subgroups. Just like Christians, Jews, Buddhists, Taoists, Hindus, Sikhs, etc. there are Muslims of all stripes. Including those that are just as bigoted as you. Why don't you go and make all the various sects of whatever bullshit religion (and they all are) you subscribe to play nice? Here in the US we probably have them all beat, as some have observed:
No, no, you're not thinking; you're just being logical. --Niels Bohr
Probably more "fool" then attention seeker, but it should be a wake-up call that anyone who wants to travel should know better than to wear a piece of art around lest you tick off security check points.
You suggest 300+ million Americans should self-censor in order to placate the TSA.
I suggest that XY,000 TSA agents learn how to do their jobs better.
One of these suggestions chills free speech, the other does not.
[Fuck Beta]
o0t!
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
Well that only makes sense if you assume he was simply a duffas, unaware of any thing that has been going on for the last ten years.
I still think he was baiting the TSA.
No luggage.
One way ticket.
Single Male.
Bought ticket at last minute.
Carrying weird device thru security
Hidden compartment in shoes
It just screams Arrest Me! He had a plan to be arrested and got his wish.
Guy walks into a bank.
Wearing a ski mask
Hand in bulging coat pocket.
Hands a note to teller asking for a donation...
Tell me if you seriously believe he's just as innocent as a new born babe.
Sig Battery depleted. Reverting to safe mode.
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.
Extra inner soles are not a "compartment" so please refrain from such bullshitting.
The rest (apart from a device that scared a TSA guy) only indicates a fairly normal and not suspicious situation before 2001, and not abnormal now for somebody travelling at short notice for work, family matters etc etc.
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.
Go read the full articles.
They specifically stated there were hollow compartments in the insoles.
It may come as a surprise to you, but it's not 2001 any more.
Sig Battery depleted. Reverting to safe mode.
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.
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.
You mean stuff like this?
This is both lies and a total misdirection.
Misdirection? Yes. Everybody who carries a laptop or a mobile phone with them has "every component to make a trigger mechanism" (a timer, wires and a battery).
Lies? The crucial part of a "trigger mechanism", unless we are playing silly word games, is the detonator. This is the difficult bit to obtain or make, actually much more difficult than normal explosives. This is the bit that takes an electrical signal and converts it to an explosion. As such it contains (admittedly a small amount of) pretty unstable and dangerous explosives, would be illegal and we would have heard of it if he had it.
His watch would have justified an extra search. They might even have been justified in asking him to leave it behind because they were too stupid to understand it. His arrest is false imprisonment and was in no way justified.
=~ s,(.*),<sarcasm>$1</sarcasm>,g if any_point_you_wish();
As I was reading, I couln't help but think of other countries ... at another time: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pm8K1q0N-F4
So what was hidden in them?
Sorry, it's just not enough and the entire point is that it should not matter that it's not 2001 anymore.
I'm interested, why did you choose to ignore my "CORRECTION: WHY MODDED INSIGHTFUL???" post? Because you like a controversy?
Ahh, some perspective.
My kingdom for a mod point.
Il n'y a pas de Planet B.
The FBI campaign against so called "radicals" on california university campuses made heros and legends out of the mundane, and wasted FBI resources, destroyed the credbility of the federal governement, and ultimately let the real communists get the bomb...
...the fuck? The USSR tested its first nuke in 1949.
Il n'y a pas de Planet B.
Maybe the cops felt that he was "testing" security by attempting to sneak a fake disassembled bomb in (trigger on wrist, explosive in the shoes), either as a rehearsal for the real thing, or for a disparaging article "security don't spot a thing"...
Look at the timing of my post. It's two minutes after yours. I certainly took more than two minutes to start replying; realise I had to check all the articles again to be sure I hadn't missed something; find the best quote I could that might explain your viewpoint and then reply. In other words, your post wasn't already up when I wrote mine.
Anyway; thanks very much for admitting to being wrong. Realising we are wrong is one of the greatest things and is exactly how knowledge advances. Sorry if my post upset you but I really feel that the TSA had managed to mislead you with their usual insinuation against innocent people and that that was bad. Remember innocent until proven guilty. The TSA has the right to put out facts but not the right to put out accusations. They did the opposite.
=~ s,(.*),<sarcasm>$1</sarcasm>,g if any_point_you_wish();
It screams Dry Run if you are a TSA agent even in the absence of any explosive.
Possible; and the aim of a "Dry Run" is to identify the strong and weak points of the security network. If this was the case a) the TSA agent believed he had a terrorist in front of him b) the TSA agent believed the Terrorist wanted to know if he would be detected or not c) the TSA agent did what the terrorist wanted and told him that he had been detected. What he should have done is silently verified there were no explosives; arranged for the man to be watched and escorted through the airport and then, later, investigated his contacts.
The TSA agent should, at the very least be up on a disciplinary charge for incompetence. In fact, however he should be investigated for giving away state secrets and high treason. This entire arrest and news story becomes an even more serious cover up.
=~ s,(.*),<sarcasm>$1</sarcasm>,g if any_point_you_wish();
And commentators should be required to back up their opinions with links, instead of vague notions that others should "read up". So what are these full facts that changed your mind?
How inappropriate to call this planet Earth, when clearly it is Ocean.
They specifically stated there were hollow compartments in the insoles.
Sure, because nobody has hollow compartments in their shoes.
http://www.nisbets.co.uk/Air-Cushioned-Sole-Shoe/A821-42/ProductDetail.raction is just the first of around 27 million results on Google.
That artist got himself very good and free publicity from the TSA. I'd say he's actually pretty smart indeed.
What did you read that changed your mind?
Did you read how the watch had a circuit board (most digital watches do, just like my iPad, just like.. well you get the idea)
Did you read how the watch had... get this, a TOGGLE switch? Oh NO! Toggle switches are no cause for being arrested?
Perhaps you read how his shoes had cavities that could hide something. My pants have pocket that can hide things. Isn't that the whole reason we have to take our shoes off?
Maybe you read how he was wearing a military style shirt? That can be purchased at a outlet stores (but aren't common... Lo and behold if you wear an uncommon shirt!)
Or perhaps you caught the part on how we was on a day trip and had no luggage or extra clothes. Like anyone can afford to bring luggage on planes anymore
If you read more damning evidence please provide the links. Otherwise I don't see anything about the guy, other than he has the same things almost everyone else has.
...the fuck? The USSR tested its first nuke in 1949.
I'm not sure what the fuck he's talking about either, but I'm not sure what the USSR has to do with real communists. I know I'm dangerously close to a "No True Scotsman" fallacy, but was the USSR really ever communist?
"You're right," Fisheye says. "I should have set it on 'whip' or 'chop.'"
His watch would have justified an extra search. They might even have been justified in asking him to leave it behind because they were too stupid to understand it. His arrest is false imprisonment and was in no way justified.
I completely disagree. His watch should have justified ANYTHING. Not an extra search, NOR asking him to leave it. Or do you think anyone with a digital watch, smart phone, or computer should require extra searches?
I think you are talking "moral" justification. I was talking legal. Unfortunately the TSA does have wide powers to stop and search and "I'm stupid and don't understand electronics" is a sufficient legal justification for an extra search (know as "suspicious"). What matters is that, once the guy is shown to be innocent then he should be left alone.
Morally, of course, the guy should be allowed to travel freely in the way that he wants without harassment. That's a different argument and I'm with you on that one. It needs to be tempered with measures that make it difficult to use a plane as a weapon, however locked cockpit doors are the correct measure here, where x-ray machines and TSA guards have almost nothing to say.
=~ s,(.*),<sarcasm>$1</sarcasm>,g if any_point_you_wish();
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.
No. I don't suggest that at all. You're making the same point I am.
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
"The Communists" means the USSR and perhaps China, through a couple decades of American history. Few of the generation opposed to "the Commies" cared about economic systems, but the brutal totalitarianism of those states was somehting to guard against (especially soon after WWII, when we had seen how badly that could go).
In hindsight, it sure doesn't seem like we won the fight against totalitarianism, merely forced it to find better excuses for constant government intrusion into our daily lives.
Socialism: a lie told by totalitarians and believed by fools.
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).
I definitely know it happens, though I'm not yet certain why. Take for example, my most recent submission which was rejected over an anonymous submission that came in 24 hours later. Mine contained a typo and a link at the bottom of the post. The anonymous version was a little cleaner, but much later, and it was accepted pretty quickly. When it becomes routine, I will stop submitting and go elsewhere. Until then, I guess I'll keep at it. It's really just a little hobby, and possibly an unhealthy one anyway -- I aint no Pickens.
Forward! -- Emperor Norton, 2012
ATF Declares "Chore Boy" pot scrubber as supressor.
http://www.wnd.com/2011/11/368769/
Upon inspection, nothing was hidden in them.
Dry run?
Just an attention seeking idiot?
And apparently your point is not germane, because clearly it DOES matter that its not 2001 anymore.
Sig Battery depleted. Reverting to safe mode.
That's all find and dandy, but YOU don't get to define the TSA agent's job requirements. Its significantly above your pay grade.
They would get more info by grilling him and digging through every aspect of his life than by "watching him and escorting him through the airport".
Sig Battery depleted. Reverting to safe mode.
air bubbles cast into an insole is not the same as a compartment.
But thanks for trolling.
Sig Battery depleted. Reverting to safe mode.
Oh, I'm sorry. Hadn't realised you had first-hand knowledge of the exact "compartments" in his soles.
Do please share, in what way were they abnormal, suspicious and otherwise worthy of being detained and charged in a country renowned for the injustice of its court system?
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.
Do your own research son.
I did mine already, and quoted police reports up thread.
Sig Battery depleted. Reverting to safe mode.
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."
I'm not the one who went to the extreme. I was responding to:
No catastrophe, even of larger proportions, has ever advanced us so far towards police state.
W..w..W - Willy Waterloo washes Warren Wiggins who is washing Waldo Woo.
On the information given, I'd say there is a good chance it looks like this one.
I've been delayed because of having:
1) two laptops in the same bag
2) a 2-oz bottle of Cholula hot sauce (confiscated three times)
3) cowboy boots that have been re-heeled multiple times so they were full of broken off nails
4) drywall dust on my bag
5) a USB hub
That last I had all my loose USB cables plugged into it. The TSA grunt fished it out of my bag, looked suspiciously at it and asked, "Does this thing have a timer?" I wish I were kidding.
"Think about how stupid the average person is. Now, realise that half of them are dumber than that." - George Carlin
What kind of detonator? How much Wile E. Coyote did these people watch in bomb squad training?
Support my political activism on Patreon.
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
We still have to entertain the possibility that he got exactly what he was looking for, notoriety and fame.
Who builds a watch with wires and "fuses" hanging out of it and then walks thru airport security? Really, who does that?
Given the list of stuff attached to the watch, and despite the lack of pics, I think that the "fuses" in question are electrical fuses, not Wile E. Coyote-style TNT-detonator fuses. I also can't help but think that the "authorities" involved don't know the difference.
I am not a crackpot.
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
I happened to see this on local news, and it as usual with local media, they praised the TSA and only showed interviews of TSA agents and pro-TSA people who were "happy they caught the guy". No questions were raised about violations of rights, or whether or not the watch was actually an explosives trigger device or just looked strange to the TSA. Glad the mainstream media encourages everyone to bend over for the TSA...
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