Slashdot Mirror
Bomb Threats Via Twitter Partly Shut Down Atlanta's Hartsfield Airport
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution reports that "Credible" bomb threats were made Saturday against two flights bound for Atlanta, an airport spokesman said. The flights landed safely after being escorted into Atlanta by military fighter jets. Hartsfield-Jackson International Airport spokesman Reese McCrainie told The Atlanta Journal-Constitution at 3 p.m. that both flights — Delta 1156 and Southwest 2492 — had landed and were sitting on a taxiway waiting to be swept by the Atlanta police Bomb Squad. ... Witnesses reported seeing multiple emergency vehicles on the tarmac, and the Federal Aviation Administration said just before 3 p.m. that departing flights were experiencing gate holds and delays of up to 30 minutes due to a bomb threat.
USA Today says that the flights were on their way to Atlanta from, respectively, Portland, Oregon and Milwaukee, and adds that "NORAD Media Relations Specialist Preston Schlachter confirmed that two F-16 jets launched from McIntire Air Force Base in South Carolina as a precautionary measure."
Someone saying something on the Internet is now somehow "credible?" Seriously, how many times are there actually real bombs behind these "credible" bomb threats?
#TravelGate
But this kind of thing could have us chasing our tails.
we are /.
... just what would the fighter escort hope to accomplish? Are we really ready to order fighter pilots to shoot down airliners over a phoned-in threat? I guess all it'll take now to spook passengers and completely disrupt air travel in the U.S. is a few bozos with bunch of pre-paid or stolen cellphones.
CUR ALLOC 20195.....5804M
Terrorism in its general form is designed to undermine the state through fear. Its designed to paralyze, and restrict an otherwise free society through random small, infrequent acts of highly publicized violence and mayhem. It works because it exploits guerrilla tactics, something which no government can ever formally protect anyone against.
the solution to the US terror problem seems simple. stop treating third world countries like they're children. quit overthrowing elected leaders and installing dictators, stop propping up nation states with a history of violence, and start treating the people who live in these regions as more than "hearts and minds" that you have to "win." Understand and respect cultural differences, drop the 'world-police' shit and start realizing that just because you've moved on from $x war does not in fact mean the people living in that nation have forgiven or forgotten what you did. And if theyre living under one of your dismissive regimes, theyre likely to form their own regional extremist government predicated on the polar opposite of what they endured. For bonus points, knock off the axis of evil shit.
Good people go to bed earlier.
causing the problem. That is such a Republican-ruled shithole. You'd just expect them to threaten to shoot down commercial aircraft.
and restrict an otherwise free society through random small, infrequent acts of highly publicized violence and mayhem.
The terrorists aren't the main ones infringing upon our freedoms; the government is. The government's response to terrorism is often to take away our fundamental liberties and ignore the constitution.
They spelt "bomb" correctly?
and restrict an otherwise free society through random small, infrequent acts of highly publicized violence and mayhem.
The terrorists aren't the main ones infringing upon our freedoms; the government is. The government's response to terrorism is often to take away our fundamental liberties and ignore the constitution.
The truth is that the government doesn't even NEED terrorism to engage in war against its own citizens.
If you study the past history of the United States you will come to realize that the time since September 11, 2001 is far from the only era in US history when the US government engaged in "police state" behavior. What we have been getting in the US for the past 14 years is only the latest in a long series of nasty behavior by those who want to hold power in the US.
And frankly, I don't be too sad if/when the FBI actually kicks down their door and he "resists arrest" repeatedly.
When?
I'm from another country, and have little idea of American history, beyond major events. I wouldn't even know where to start looking (google comes up with all sorts of nutjob bullshit), and I don't know much of the culture so I wouldn't be able to draw accurate conclusions from anything I read, anyway.
Nice sentiments but the facts don't hold up too well in recent history. When was the last time the US helped overthrow an elected government? Maybe 30 years ago, in the 80's. When did a terrorist threatening the US come from a country in which the US had overthrown an elected government? -- Never, that I can think of.
That is a losing strategy for the US administration. A population in fear is a great thing from an incompetent government (as they all are): People in fear are not rational anymore and look to somebody "strong" to "protect" them. If they actually where effective against terrorism (impossible), drugs (impossible), etc. they might be facing uncomfortable questions about real problems. This way, they can pretend there is some kind of state of war and everybody needs to support them.
This strategy if "governing" is really old and was perfected in the 3rd Reich. Of course it makes a country far more vulnerable to internal and external threats and hence is completely and utterly morally corrupt.
Most ACs are not even worth the keystrokes to insult them. Be generically insulted by this and ignored otherwise.
my money is on a disgrunted passenger. Their employees are so angry and hateful that by the end of the flight, you want to bomb them. I just love six hours flights without even a snack. I've gotten free upgrades to first class a few times with my miles, and I think if I had just stomped someone's puppy to death in front of them they would have been less hostle than the last flight attendant I had in first class. Two flights before that there was vomit on the seat and the seat back in front of me that wasn't cleaned-up. I couldn't change seats because the flight was full, and I had to argue to get napkins. Fortunately a new mother near me had some wetwipes she let me have.
the solution to the US terror problem seems simple. stop treating third world countries like they're children. quit overthrowing elected leaders and installing dictators, stop propping up nation states with a history of violence, and start treating the people who live in these regions as more than "hearts and minds" that you have to "win."
But then the terrorists win! Instead we need to be at war with them, and to win* that war we need to get that pesky constitution thingy the hell out of the way!
*winning the war on terror == giving large sums of money to defense contractors, and getting reelected by convincing the populous that they will get blown up if they vote for the other guy.
What is there on a fighter jet that could possibly help? It's a bomb threat. Fighters have... bombs, guns and missiles. Well, since we already don't want an explosion at the airport, bombs don't help. Missiles, pretty much the same deal except there's a nice WhhoooooOOOSH before it hits something. Seems bombs and missiles would only make matters worse. That leaves guns, typically used air-to-air or for strafing. Since they aren't under threat of air attack, strafing seems to be the most likely course of action, should the fighters actually engage.
That doesn't make a lot of sense though. A device, if found, will typically be removed and detonated or detonated in place after the area has been cleared.
Maybe, just maybe... the logic is something like, "Hey, can we strafe the bomb this time?". CO: "No, EOD is going to follow procedure". Pilot: "Damned EOD. Maybe we'll strafe the bomb next time".
For all intensive purposes, "whom" is no longer a word. That begs the question, "who cares"?
Bringing a fighter jet to a bomb threat. That makes sense!
TFA states that the guy posted to a twitter account stating that he put a bomb on a plane in Portland, and then posted again saying he placed one on a plane in Milwaukee. How the hell is that credible? He can be in two places at once? That didn't raise any flags about it being bogus? Airport spokesman Reese McCranie said "We believe the threats to be credible". Wow, just wow.
The FBI under J Edgar Hoover did some nasty things, there was quite a bit of witch hunting over "communists" and their sympathizers. I wasn't alive during that time period and I don't know if I'd explain it as "police state" behavior based on what I've read, but that is the best I could come up with.
This might have been harassment targeting one of the passengers.
That Finnish kid in lizardsquad grounded a plan with a Sony executive by making a false bomb threat.
When?
I'm from another country, and have little idea of American history, beyond major events. I wouldn't even know where to start looking (google comes up with all sorts of nutjob bullshit), and I don't know much of the culture so I wouldn't be able to draw accurate conclusions from anything I read, anyway.
Not entirely sure what parts the person is talking about either. Usually such measures are things like opening international mail during war time, then resealing it or things done to minority groups, but nothing to all the citizens as a whole. They got warrants for wiretaps (unlike now). I will concede that the CIA has done some crazy things to foreign embassies and the like, but those aren't citizens, so they don't count in this context. I mean, there are conspiracy theorist talking about chem-trails and the fluoride in the water, and I don't think that is what the person wants to refer to.
War on Drugs, maybe? There are too many citizens in prison for non-violent / minor crimes. Also those three-strikes laws are completely foolish. I can't think of a specific instance thou.
The threats were originally posted to Twitter by @kingZortic. At about 3:51 p.m. the account, which had earlier challenged the FBI, CIA and NSA, posted an address on the 4500 block of West Schubert Avenue in Chicago and issued another challenge to "come get me I got guns, COME AT ME."
Chicago Police went to the address listed on social media and determined that the person behind the threats did not actually reside at that address, said News Affairs Officer Bari Lemmon. Police did not find any weapons and did not arrest or detain anyone, Lemmon said.
The threats targeted Southwest Airlines Flight 2492, which arrived at Atlanta from Milwaukee, and Delta Air Lines Flight 1156, which arrived from Portland, Oregon, said Reese McCranie, a spokesman for Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport. Both planes landed safely.
http://www.chicagotribune.com/...
Nuff said
If they think the threat is designed to secure passenger/crew compliance for another 9/11 style attack, yeah, I think they would shoot down a civilian aircraft if it didn't respond to their orders. Of course, passengers and crew these days expect any such threat to result in another 9/11 style attack and have proven repeatedly that they will beat the shit out of and quite possibly kill anyone trying to pull shit on their airplane. So the fighter jet is still just multi-million-dollar dick waving. It's probably more to let terrorist organizations know that we will shoot a plane down if we have to, rather than because we expect that we'd actually have to.
I'm trying to teach myself to set people on fire with my mind... Is it hot in here?
Nice paid-for moderation...
Most ACs are not even worth the keystrokes to insult them. Be generically insulted by this and ignored otherwise.
So this "credible" threat is some random post on fucking TWITTER?
Whoever thought this was a credible threat should be fired and forced to pay for all the expenses involved.
Ah, right, but we let this become an insane world. Where the above person will get a huge promotion and the 5-year old idiot posting to twatter will wind up locked away as some evil terrorist.
Slavery, the oppression of women, Jim Crow laws, Japanese internment camps, a huge proportion of presidents ignoring the constitution and even the Supreme Court (especially during wartime, which is a pathetic excuse), protest permits, communist witchhunts resulting in the violation of people's rights, unconstitutional privacy violations and censorship during WW2, the drug war, unconstitutional government censorship of certain language on TV and radio, ECHELON, unconstitutional obscenity laws, prohibition, etc. There are many 'smaller' violations. It would be impossible to list all the evils of the US government.
They got warrants for wiretaps (unlike now).
They often didn't.
I agree with what you say except for 3 points:
- "hearts and minds" is frequently handed out by a military losing the counter-intelligence advantage: It doesn't exist. A person accepts that someone is different and respects a person anyway, or more common, doesn't. For example, Islam is a problem because their religion is the law; Islam demands a theocracy. The result is war with infidels and intolerance for different sects of Islam. Another example, the Palestinians have been attacking their neighbours for 1800 years. The cure will never be peaceful co-existence and mutually-agreed boundaries.
- People do not invent the opposite of theocracy or monarchy because they realize the flaws in those governments. They invent democracy because they realize that co-operation at political and social levels provides liberty, equality and fraternity. A society without those values will build a monarchy or theocracy just like the one they endured. Islamic countries like Afghanistan, Iran, Egypt and Libya went backwards when they formed a new government. Some of those governments were replaced by feudal towns warring over religious and ethnic differences.
- Sometimes, people just want to see the world burn.
That's why I changed my sig. It's also the name of a rock and roll song.
Get up!
You mean New York Yankees, the baseball team? I don't get the joke.
The threat was credible enough to get fighters launched to escort the plane. How much more credible does it need to be to get the plane shot down. Do the pilots of commercial airlines use encrypted radio to talk to the fighter pilots ? Or could that have been compromised ? Seems the perps got reasonably close to bringing the plane down without having to bring any explosives on board.
Nullius in verba
you heard the man... LOL!!!
I'm really curious what the F16s were supposed to do... It's not like the pilots could have just hopped aboard to help defuse the bombs. Were they supposed to blow the planes up if the bombs had been real? Uh... what good would that have done?
Hey, stop giving away the Republican political strategy! No one read this! Terrorists! Immigrant Terrorists, carrying Ebola!
Wait a minute. How was APD already there to search for bombs? Their standard crime response time is at least two weeks.
do not ask why someone might hate america so much they want to kill themselves and lots of other people....
be impressed by the ludicrously expensive fighter planes you paid for and pretend its a video game.....
never question the us government's appalling human rights record that serves as recruitment campaign for terrrorists.....
allways judge other countries by the corrupt puppet reigmes put in place by the WTO at the behest of the american government ....
allways believe fox news.....
[site]
Is this an area where Twitter leads Instagram?
"I believe in Karma. That means I can do bad things to people all day long and I assume they deserve it." : Dogbert
Gee, when you say it that way it almost sounds like a threat...
"[Regarding the 'cloud,'] ownership was what made America different than Russia." -- Woz
Republican? Both right-wing US parties are doing this in collusion against the population. Yes, there are some differences between the two parties, but that is misdirection using secondary issues. On keeping the population in fear, general surveillance, establishing and maintaining a police-state, etc. they are perfectly in agreement.
Most ACs are not even worth the keystrokes to insult them. Be generically insulted by this and ignored otherwise.