VIDEO: OUTRAGEOUS! GENIUS MIT STUDENT ARRESTED AT GUNPOINT IN AIRPORT, JAILED BECAUSE OF CLOTHING

[redacted]

BOSTON - Troopers arrested an MIT student at gunpoint Friday after she walked into Logan International Airport wearing a computer circuit board and wiring on her sweatshirt. Authorities call it a fake bomb; she called it art.

Star Simpson’s attorney said the charges against her were an overreaction, but authorities expressed amazement that someone would wear such a device eight months after a similar scare in Boston, and six years after two of the jets hijacked in the Sept. 11 attacks took off from Logan.

“I’m shocked and appalled that somebody would wear this type of device to an airport,” said State Police Maj. Scott Pare, the airport’s commanding officer.

The terminal was not evacuated and flights were not affected, airport officials said.

Woman praised for robotics work

Simpson, 19, of Hawaii, has expertise in electronics and even received a Congressional citation for her work in robotics, according to her lawyer.

MORE
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/15012105/

Note: Non-PC users may not be able to play this video clip.

[gratuitous]

1. First the little cartoon men, now this

Is it true that you can make a Boston police officer wet his pants just by walking up to him and saying "Boo!"?

[Jeffersons Ghost]

179. No... I've heard that they reply "Boo Who?"

[daninthemoon]

2. If she didn't fully expect to be arrested for wearing that to an airport...

[pnwmom]

32. She clearly didn't realize how dumb the other 98% of the population is.

Because no MIT student or any working engineer would ever think that her little circuit board with the battery that lit up the shape of a Star was anything dangerous.

Her name is Star, by the way, and she had worn the thing for several days around campus, including to a Career Day the day before -- with not one person in the hundreds (or thousands) she saw being disturbed by it.

[TheFriendlyAnarchist]

78. Pretty much, yea.

Stupid, stupid, people. Seriously. . .

[LanternWaste]

173. I wouldn't know what a bomb looks like....

I wouldn't know what a bomb looks like.... much less a detonator. :shrug:

[LisaL]

112. Well, all of us can't be as smart as those MIT geniuses, can we?

:eyes:

[baby_mouse]

61. ... then ... ?

[ashling]

3. This just prooves that just because you'ere smart enough

to get into MIT doesn't mean that you're smart enough to go to the airport.

I'm sorry, but she should have had better sense than to wear something like that at the airport. This was dumb.

[emilyg]

23. Very dumb.

[pnwmom]

33. Lots of MIT students have their heads in the clouds.

But she shouldn't be facing 5 years in prison for not realizing that any of US are stupid enough to think that that thing could be a bomb.

[JackRiddler]

92. Can you believe all these stupid people carrying electronics to airports?

Cell phones, laptops, ipods, radios - they all have circuit boards inside.

Alert, alert!

[terisan]

122. Ah they are ok because they have covers hiding the circuit boards. See no evil ..Fear no evil..Can't

fool me again or something like that.

Boston, you have a serious education problem. Time to outsource MIT to India.

[JackRiddler]

146. What really frightens me is clear liquids! n/t

[-..__...]

144. Blissful ignorance.

I really can't understand the rational by some that "brilliance", "genius", education/acceptance at an esteemed university or college equals intelligence, common sense or enlightenment (hint... it doesn't).

I've lived in the Boston Metro area all of my life and I'm no stranger
to the college community here (Harvard, MIT, Boston University, Boston College, etc).

How some of these people even manage to tie their own shoes without killing themselves is still a mystery to me.

[Nailzberg]

4. Ted Kazinski was a genius, too.

Just saying. Being smart isn't a defense.

[file83]

12. Being stupid (like how the police reacted) isn't an excuse either.

And by the way, Kazinski wasn't "smart" when he lost his fucking mind. When he was younger he was "smart". But when he was doing that manifesto/bombing shit, he was bat-shit crazy.

So don't try to pass of this "just saying" crap by attempting to associate this innocent, and brilliant young lady with the UnaBomber.

Very poor form.

[LisaL]

16. You can be smart and bat-shit crazy at the same time.

[pnwmom]

39. There is no evidence she is crazy at all.

Perhaps lacking some degree of common sense. Or maybe just unable to conceive how ANYONE could ever think the harmless looking thing on her chest could possibly be dangerous.

Her name is Star. The 9 volt battery attached to the small circuit board lit up lights in the shape of a star.

And for that, she almost got killed and is facing 5 years in prison. What a world we're living in today.

[LisaL]

117. I haven't suggested that she is crazy.

Speaking in general, you can be smart and bat-shit crazy at the same time. Obviously you can also be smart and not crazy. She could very well be smart and totally sane-I have no idea what her mental state is.

[AdHocSolver]

163. Every so often the authorities have to make an example of someone seen as "dangerous" so that...

the public gets the idea that they are really protecting us. I remember seeing articles the past few years where the FBI or some security company successfully smuggled weapons or "fake" bombs into airports past the security folks, without even arousing suspicion. There was the case of the woman who had her kid's juice cup confiscated as a potentially dangerous device.

So, to ensure the public that it is safe to fly (fewer passengers mean less profit), the powers that be have to promote a public display of being on top of things. Evidently, MIT doesn't have a course in political reality for its students.

[Nailzberg]

21. I wasn't associating the two,

I'm saying there are plenty of smart people out there that engage in unlawful activity. I'm not denying her brilliance, I'm saying it's not a defense. And likely, a jury is going to wonder why a genius didn't know better.

As far as the police reaction, they detained her without harming her, allowing investigators to determine that the suspicous looking device was in fact harmless. This is exactly how we want law enforcement to handle the situation. You want to call someone stupid, it's the city attorney for bringing charges.

[pnwmom]

40. I don't blame the police for being cautious. I blame the DA for bringing

charges. And I blame them for the ridiculous media presentation -- holding out that sweatshirt as the evidence. On the back, those ominous words "Socket to me. Course 6."

Uh-huh. Course 6 is the name for Electrical engineering at MIT.

[Nailzberg]

47. Great. Cause I've been saying that all day, so we agree.

[pnwmom]

35. I can't believe you're putting this student alongside Kazinski.

Her worst and only crime was overestimating the ability of the rest of us simpletons in being able to decide what could possibly be a bomb -- or not.

Oh, and in underestimating our collective paranoia.

[Nailzberg]

43. That he was a bomber is coincidental.

I chose him for my point because he was a genius.

All I hear from her defenders are she's a genius and she's brilliant.
Which I claim is not a valid defense, as intelligence is not related to innocence, and Ted Kaczynski validates that point.

[pnwmom]

93. I'm her defender, but not because she may be a genius.

I think it's clear that she wasn't intending to frighten anyone, or to design a "fake bomb."

Immersed in the techie culture at MIT, she had no idea that a little circuit board with a 9 volt battery could frighten anyone. She designed the thing to light up lights in the shape of a star because her name is Star, and she wanted to get noticed at Career Day, the day before. Not by the police at Logan!

She may have lacked "common sense" -- or the post 9/11 version that is closer to "common paranoia." But she shouldn't be facing 5 years in prison for that mistake.

[Nailzberg]

116. I don't think she should be charged either. DA is trying to make an example out of her

Which is wrong.

[pnwmom]

130. And there's also the possibility that if she were a white MIT student,

the police would have let her go as soon as she explained and produced her student ID.

[Nailzberg]

157. You had me and you lost me

I see no reason to cloud the debate with unsubstantiated claims that there was a racial motivation to her treatment.

[pepperbear]

5. I am not so sure it wasn't meant to provoke a reaction. Wearing something

with a battery attached to an airport is not such a good idea, even pre-9/11.

[pnwmom]

37. It wasn't. She'd been wearing it around campus for several days,

without any disturbance. She designed it for Career Day, the day before. Her name is Star -- the battery lit up lights in the shape of a star. Get it?

[cali]

50. The M.I.T. campus is not a terminal at

Logan airport. Get it?

[pnwmom]

63. No, it isn't. It wouldn't have prepared her to understand

how the police would react at Logan. But she clearly did not have the INTENT to scare anyone, or to build a "fake bomb." Should she be sent to prison for five years because she didn't realize how dumb the rest of us are?

[cali]

65. She shouldn't be prosecuted

and hopefully she won't be, but I find it perplexing that she went to the airport wearing a circuit board, wires and a battery.

[pnwmom]

95. If you had lived at MIT for more than a year, you also might not

realize how the rest of the world might react to the sight of a circuit board and a battery.

To her, and the hundreds or thousands of people who had observed her in the previous several days (including all the corporate types at Career Day), it looked perfectly normal and not threatening at all.

[lateo]

6. Come on.

WTF was this genius doing walking around with something that remotely resembled a bomb on her shirt?

[pnwmom]

41. The battery lit up lights in the shape of a star. Her name was Star, and

she'd been wearing the little circuit board on her jacket around campus for a few days, including to Career Day the day before. Not one person of the hundreds or thousands she'd crossed path with had thought it looked remotely like a bomb.

Her only mistake was in not realizing how stupid the rest of us are.

[SacredCow]

86. Perhaps she didn't intend to scare anyone...

I'm certainly not going to attempt to guess her motivations, not knowing this girl from Adam...

But why are you placing the the burden of stupidity on "the rest of us?" Regardless of what her intentions (or lack thereof) were, the ONLY reasons someone would wear such a device into an airport terminal are:

1. They are wanting to cause a melee.
2. They are irretrievably stupid.

I'm not saying that all airport regulations are perfect- I've certainly had my bitches about having to take my shoes off time and again. But this is the world in which we now live, and blinking lights on an exposed circuit board in an airport is just one small thing that we aren't allowed to do anymore.

[pnwmom]

96. She lacked common sense, in this instance, at least.

I wouldn't call her "irretrievably stupid," however. I'm sure she's learned something from this incident. Something sad.

[lateo]

110. That is maybe...but...

walking around campus is one thing...walking around the post 9/11 airports is another. I think it was just poor judgement on her part.

[pnwmom]

140. It was poor judgment, or maybe not thinking at all, which is the same thing.

But I don't think she should be facing 5 years in prison for not realizing how paranoid we all are now.

When 9/11 happened, she was 13 and living in Hawaii. I'm sure it all seemed very remote. And having lived in the MIT culture for a year, she probably couldn't have conceived that a 9 volt battery hooked up to lights on a circuit board would look like anything dangerous.

[TheFriendlyAnarchist]

80. Still, it doesn't even remotely resemble a bomb.

[LanternWaste]

174. I wouldn't know what either abomb or a trigering device looks

I wouldn't know what either abomb or a trigering device looks like (outside of bad spy movies, and I doubt they look like that...).

But I am aware that explosive devices and their triggers don't have one identifiable look. I guess I should read up on the subject of bomb-making so I have a better fashion sense :shrug:

[2rth2pwr]

7. Is she related to Andrew Meyer?

just asking.

[Canuckistanian]

8. "authorities expressed amazement"

Yeah, when you're a dumbass, you're pretty much amazed all the time.

[file83]

10. LOL

:thumbsup: right on.

[TheFriendlyAnarchist]

81. HAH!

Best post of the day. . .:thumbsup:

[file83]

9. The way MSNBC framed that story is absurd. First of all...

They say she had "what appeared to be a fake bomb".

If it appeared to be "fake", then why did they freak out? If it appeared to be a real bomb, then I could understand all the hoopla.

But it didn't look anything like a bomb. I've seen it, and while it looks interesting, it doesn't look like a bomb.

This is what happened: She appears to be a woman of color, wearing a black sweatshirt, at an airport. So right there she gets profiled and becomes a "person of interest". To top it off, oh my god, her sweatshirt has some cryptic message written on it!? It must be a code for something!? And oh my god...what's that on her shirt, some sort of home made blinking lights powered by...what is that...a fucking 9-VOLT battery!!

The cryptic message must be some manifesto of some sort! She's gonna do a suicide bomb!!!!1!!1
CODE FUCKING RED!! CALL IN THE MARINES!!!

Second of all, both reporters seem baffled that when the girl left the police station after posting bail she was smiling. They go on and on about how she had a smile. Huh? Was she supposed to be crying or giving a frown? WTF? Maybe she was smiling because this whole fucking situation is completely insane.

Third, the police said she couldn't "explain" why she had play-do in her hand. Huh? Play-do is a toy you squish in your hands - since when do people have to have a logical explanation as to why they have a toy in their FUCKING HANDS?!?

Umm...maybe the same reason she has a blinking light name tag on her shirt: she enjoys playing with shit.

Has this country lost its collective fucking mind or what? :silly:

[HCE SuiGeneris]

11. In answer to your last question...

Yes it has. :freak:

[Canuckistanian]

13. Stop it.

You're making sense.

[Quixote1818]

14. The country has gone insane and that is exactly why you wouldn't wear such a shirt

I mean come on! If I put a shirt with electronics and batteries attached to it I would know for a FACT I would get in big trouble at the airport. This girl is supposedly brilliant but she clearly lacks common sense.

[PA Democrat]

25. I can't help but wonder if she has some mental health issues.

I saw a video of her and found her affect to be odd. The fingering of silly putty may be a self-calming technique. I hope she has people in her life who are concerned enough to look into what triggered such her actions. I think she may need some help.

[pnwmom]

51. Are you kidding? Her name is Star. What "triggered her action" was the

desire to have a little sign on her jacket that lit up lights in the shape of -- a STAR. Get it? She had made it to wear at Career Day, to get people to remember her name. And she had been getting compliments on her sign for several days from the other geeks at MIT.

We're the ones who need help -- in getting over our collective paranoia.

[pnwmom]

44. She may lack common sense, but she clearly had no intent to create

any disturbance and she shouldn't be facing 5 years in prison for not realizing how stupid and paranoid the rest of us are.

[LisaL]

55. How do you know what her intent was?

I am frankly not clear on what her intent was.

[pnwmom]

I believe her and the students who know her, who say she made it for Career Day.

Her name is Star and she made up a sign with lights in the shape of a STAR. It was sewn to her jacket, she had been wearing it around campus for a few days, and she just didn't think to rip it off before going to the airport.

Her story is entirely believable, at least to me.

[Warren DeMontague]

59. It was a mistake, so they should drop the charges. But SHE was the one who was stupid.

It was a circuit board with wires and a battery, and it was attached to her chest. At the AIRPORT.

Frankly, I want security people to err on the side of caution when it comes to high explosives. That's just me. I had a cop at SFO flip the fuck out on me once because I got out of my car to run into the baggage claim and wave down my mother-in-law. When I came back 15 seconds later he was all set to call a swat team in on my little Japanese car with lefty bumper stickers. He yelled at me for a while, and my thought was, "yeah, dude. I'm a terrorist. That's my terrorist toyota".

But I understood why he did it. You can't fuck around with certain things.

She made a mistake, but it was a dumb mistake. It was HER dumb mistake. She shouldn't be charged, but she shouldn't be made into some kind of hero, either.

[pnwmom]

68. But the problem is, she HAS been charged -- for a "dumb mistake."

And she's facing 5 years in prison.

I agree with you insofar as not blaming the cautious security people. But I am not happy with the prosecutor and his media grandstanding.

[Warren DeMontague]

141. They should drop the charges. Period.

We agree 100% on that.

[baby_mouse]

101. Uhhhh...what was your cop flipping off at you ... ABOUT?

*If*... you don't mind my asking.

[Warren DeMontague]

139. Uhhhhh, I don't mind telling you, but I'm really not sure what's with your attitude.

Uhhhhhhh... Actually, if you read the post, it should be pretty obvious. But I'll explain it.

You can't leave a vehicle unattended at most airports- not even for a second- in certain places. Like I said, my mother in law, who has a tendency to take little mental trips to Saturn when no one is looking- wasn't where she was supposed to be for me to pick her up. So I got out of my car to duck inside to yell to her and tell her where I was. Overall, took about 10 seconds. But long enough for a cop to flip out on me for leaving my car. Again, unattended.

Same logic which says you can't leave a car unattended in certain spots says you shouldn't walk into the airport with a circuit board, wires, and a battery stuck to your chest. Seems pretty straightforward, to me.

[terisan]

171. You apparently have been conditioned to a high degree of self-censorship. She thinks she is free.

[LanternWaste]

175. hmmm...

I can see the one man's self censorship is another man's common sense...

[terisan]

177. Do yo watch media "news" ? I am thinking that is what is conditioning people to be more afraid.

[LanternWaste]

184. In addition to a host of other news sources, I do.

In addition to a host of other news sources, I do.

I happen to think people aren't quite as afraid as they may be made out to be, that people are in fact, simply taking the path of least residence in their quest for the American dream. Which is something I think all people do at one time or another.

I can only speak for myself and those I know very well. The actions of other Americans are and will be mysteries to me (as they have always been-- and I wouldn't want it any other way...)

[LisaL]

15. So, does this genius normally go around with play-do

in her hands? The genius is lucky police hasn't overreacted and shot her like that guy in England who got killed in a subway cause police believed him to be a terrorist.

[pnwmom]

45. I wouldn't be surprised at all.

MIT students are playful. And lots of people use squeezing balls for tension relief.

[terisan]

178. I agree and think that the pro-arrest posters have become irrational due to tv addiction.

[BlooInBloo]

17. Idiots call it a "fake bomb".

[aquart]

19. Yes, many bomb scares are hoaxes with fake bombs.

It's still illegal.

I've met geniuses. Some are fine. Some need a keeper.

[BlooInBloo]

20. Too bad there was no fake bomb in this situation.

[pnwmom]

46. To be a fake bomb there has to be some intent to model a bomb.

This wasn't a fake bomb -- it was a little circuit board with a 9 volt battery that lit up lights in the shape of a star. Her name is Star. She was simply advertising her name, not trying to scare people half to death.

If she wanted to design a "fake bomb" or even a real one, I'm sure she or any MIT student could do an infinitely better job.

[TheFriendlyAnarchist]

85. Shit, a middle schooler could do a better job. . .

[LisaL]

108. I must say that devise does not look impressive to me either.

[LisaL]

18. I am not clear as on what exactly this genius was trying to accomplish.

Did she truly not realize it wasn't a brilliant idea to wear something like that at the airport?

[pnwmom]

54. What she was trying to accomplish

at the airport -- she was trying to pick up her boyfriend.

Why she made the little circuit board thing. She made it for Career Day. It was a little circuit board, with a 9 volt battery that lit up lights in the shape of a star. Her name is STAR. She obviously wanted the techies at Career Day to notice it and notice her -- and remember her name. STAR. Get it?

She'd been wearing the jacket around campus for several days, and had gotten only compliments. She probably had no idea that, in the larger world, so many of us are so dumb and so paranoid that we could mistake that little thing for a bomb.

[Guaranteed]

126. It sounds as if she was trying to make some kind of point with her "art."

And they took her point a little too seriously.

[pnwmom]

145. She was just advertising her name, which is Star.

The 9 volt battery on the circuit board lit up lights in the shape of a star.

[Guaranteed]

156. Yeah, but what about the Play-Doh she was holding?

That's a little bit too much.

[pnwmom]

159. Media reports differ about whether she was holding it, or whether there

was some ON her hand. But let's assume the worst, that she was holding playdough.

Lots of people squeeze squishy balls in their hands for tension relief. They sell stuff in stores for that purpose. Or maybe she was just being like a kid, messing with a toy.

Are we going to ban play dough from airports now? Or maybe it's already happened? I missed the memo on that.

[Warren DeMontague]

22. A circuit board with wires and a battery hanging off it isn't "clothing". The cops may have

overreacted, but I'm not sure she's a "genius" for wearing that thing to the airport.

The bottom line here is, there was plenty of stupidity in this story to go around. I predicted people would be coming out of the the woodwork to spin this girl as some kind of put-upon misunderstood hero, and it doesn't look like I will be disappointed.

Two things;

one, it wasn't a terribly bright thing to wear to the airport. I understand if it was a mistake, but it would also be a mistake for people to take this as the call to STAND UP FOR OUR CONSTITUTIONAL RIGHT TO WEAR BLINKY PLASTIC WIRE-COVERED CIRCUIT BOARD SHIT TO THE AIRPORT, DAMMIT! POWER TO THE PEOPLE! :eyes:

two, the cops overreacted. I understand why they did, but it's over now. It was a misunderstanding. They should drop the charges against her. Let it go.

[RoyGBiv]

29. I mostly agree ...

My only modification would be to suggest the cops didn't overreact initially in detaining her or even in arresting her. The so-called artwork is suspicious looking, especially in an environment like an airport, and under those circumstances a cop would have been a fool to take her initial explanation at face value.

But having said that, based on what I've read, I think it is rather clear this was a misunderstanding based largely on the actions of someone without a great deal of common sense, and further prosecution isn't necessary. (The other possibility is she was trying to evoke a reaction, in which case the arrest might be more justified. One hasn't been able even to joke about a bomb in an airport for a good long time.) As it stands, they should, imo, let her go and drop the charges.

[Warren DeMontague]

49. When they're dealing with potential explosives, I want 'em to err on the side of caution.

So yeah, I agree with you. I have to look at the story, again, but I think part of the problem is that when one of the security people first asked her to stop or come back and she ignored him and kept walking. Which seems to be an undercurrent in a lot of these stories, like the circuit city thing: We're supposed to believe that people are being "conditioned" to obey authority, but if anything it seems like a lot of people are deliberately tuning it out.

Like, when someone goes "um, excuse me, miss" the default response is "Hmmm Hmmm Hmmm I don't hear yoooooooouu la la la la la" and to keep walking.

Well, to a security person, that's gonna look like suspicious behavior.

[pnwmom]

56. I will be fine with this if they just drop the charges, now that they

know that the device was harmless and she meant no harm.

I don't blame the police for being cautious. But I blame the DA for media grandstanding and for making the charges.

[Warren DeMontague]

60. And to call it a "fake bomb" is ludicrous. I agree there, too.

Fake bomb implies that's what it was designed to be. Clearly untrue.

Like when they found the "IED device" in the Bathroom at a Starbucks in SF that turned out to be a homeless guy's flashlight. I think sometimes these guys want to make sure no one asks where all that "fightin' terra" homeland security money is REALLY going.

But at the same time, it's silly to make her into some kind of oppressed hero. She did a dumb thing.

[pnwmom]

69. She will be oppressed if they don't drop the charges. n/t

[Warren DeMontague]

75. Rest easy. We need that prison space to lock up non-violent drug offenders, pot smoking

cancer grannies, and the like. I think it's quite unlikely those charges will stick.

[baby_mouse]

64. What?

Are you serious? Random electronic equipment = "bomb" now?

[Warren DeMontague]

67. Yes, I'm serious. I'm completely serious. I think if you want to strap "random electronic equipment"

to your FUCKING CHEST and expect to waltz into an airport and then go "la, la laaaaa!" walking away from security personnel when they ask you to stop so they can see what that fucking thing is with the wires that is, again, stuck on the FRONT OF YOUR SHIRT, yeah, you're not the brightest bulb in the LED array.

[pnwmom]

70. She didn't "strap" anything to her chest. The small flat circuit board was

sewn to her jacket, there were no "dangling wires" (as many media reports mis-report), and all it held was a 9 volt battery that lit up lights in the shape of a star.

Also, many of the media reports state incorrectly that she didn't answer. She did -- she said that it was art. (As in "wearable art".) But the person she answered obviously didn't believe her.

I wouldn't think it looked much like art either, but I'm not a techie at MIT.

[Warren DeMontague]

Here's a picture. Again, I understand why security errs on the side of caution.

It doesn't take much high explosive to make a very big boom, I know that much.



That said, they should drop the charges. She did a dumb thing, but it looks to me like it wasn't on purpose.

[baby_mouse]

98. ........

dude... how big is that?

[LisaL]

106. Oh for crying out loud. We all have to take our shoes off at the

airport cause some guy was trying to blow up a plane using a shoe bomb. How big do you think the shoe bomb was?
Why exactly do you think a real bomb should be some giant devise?

[Warren DeMontague]

151. But. But. But... those shoes were HUGE!

I don't know why no one suspected anything until that guy got on the plane.

[Warren DeMontague]

133. Dude. She had a thing with wires and a circuit board and a battery stuck on her chest.

If you can't, for the life of you, grasp why that might raise suspicions among security at an airport, I can't help you.

[Oeditpus Rex]

162. It's a bit of a jump from 'raising suspicions'

to having automatic weapons trained on you.

[pnwmom]

147. Right, it wasn't on purpose. She was only 13 years old and living in Hawaii

when 9/11 happened. She probably had no idea how it affected Boston, and had been so immersed in techie culture at MIT that she didn't realize how the rest of us react to things like circuit boards and batteries.

Though why a REAL terrorist would DISPLAY such a thing on the outside of her jacket, rather than hide it, I don't know.

[midlife_mo_Jo]

91. I don't care if the circuitry lit up to say "Welcome home, Soldier!"

It's stupid to wear any kind of circuitry to the airport.

Seriously, some people have NO common sense.

(But I don't think stupidity is a crime, even if it might have been a cause for investigation in this instance.)

[Warren DeMontague]

143. And that's the bottom line here: Common sense. Of course, common sense dictates that they should

drop the ridiculous charges against her for a bomb hoax or whatever. I can't imagine the public is served by her being sent to jail over this.

[pnwmom]

149. I agree, she lacked common sense. But I hope they never make that a crime.

[aikoaiko]

24. I think it was reasonable to treat her as a potential threat given the apparatus ,,,

...but if there is no evidence beyond the gizmo that she had planned a hoax then the charges need to be dropped.

[pnwmom]

150. I agree to both your points. n/t

[RC]

26. Is everyone so paranoid we dare not say, wear or do anything to attract the attention of

people who are hired because they really are paranoid? The problem is not the 19 year old student. She just went there to pick up her boy friend. The real problem are the fake terrorist around every corner and under every bench, foisted on us by our criminal administration. Blame them for this situation. It is the security at the airport that is stupid. THAT is why this situation was so dangerous.

[LisaL]

27. Well, dah. Airport is the place where you have to take your shoes

off, and they inspect your hand lotions. Yea, you don't want to attract attention of these people, unless you like a full body search.

[terisan]

176. Was she going through the checkpoint when stopped or just at the airport ? nt

[matcom]

28. edited because I wasn't nice but the outrage is fucking stupid

almost at the same level as this girl is.

you walk into an airport, in BOSTON, with a circuit board and wires and a battery strapped to your chest.

what the FUCK do you THINK is going to happen?

she is lucky to be alive and frankly, as liberal as I am, I wouldn't have taken a second look if the end result were different.

this wasn't "clothing" dude, this is fucking ridiculous! :eyes:

[Nailzberg]

31. Totally agree. Now hide!

:hide: You've stirred up the GD hornets nest.

[WilliamPitt]

42. See post 38

[pnwmom]

72. She had nothing "strapped" to her chest. It's interesting how people

choose to use that loaded word -- that deliberately associates her with real bombers.

[Akoto]

30. Sorry, but she simply made a very stupid decision.

In the current environment we live in, I can't imagine what would possess someone to enter an airport wearing something resembling a bomb. With an electronic piece, wires, and what looks like shaped putty ... Yeah, the police are going to react, and I don't blame them.

It would've been more outrageous if they'd turned a blind eye to her and did nothing. It's not a matter of terrorist paranoia. We had crazed bombers well before we had terrorism propaganda.

[Canuckistanian]

34. How? How did this "resemble a bomb"?

Just because it looked like something resembling a bomb in a movie or TV show??

We shouldn't accept basic ignorance just because it is interpreted by a low-level official as some kind of threat.

Maybe we need more well-educated police.

Is that too much to ask for?

[Warren DeMontague]

52. Did it resemble anything that anyone NORMALLY fucking wears on their chest?

?

[LisaL]

57. I don't think so. And if one wants to have a star on their jacket

then there are all kinds of ways to accomplish it without freaking out airport security, such as fake diamonds, beads, etc.

[pnwmom]

74. She didn't design it for the airport. She designed it for a techie Career Day.

Where a circuit board makes a lot more sense than diamonds or beads.

Her mistake was in wearing the jacket that was entirely appropriate for a techie Career Day to an airport.

[pnwmom]

73. At MIT? Sure. n/t

[terisan]

120. Do we all have to abide by a narrow definition of normal.

It looked to me like a pin that lights up to say "Star."

Are computers ok because the circuit boards are hdden from view?

This was not a hoax or by any stretch of the imagination nor was it a bomb strapped to a body. She was asked what it was; she told them. They could have asked her to surrender it.

Boston seems to be in the grip of hysteria. I would not travel to Logan-I'm intend to avoid sites of mass hysteria.

Planes were successfully hijacked on 9/11/01 because airport and airline security was poor and because government did not share their knowledge of a planned attack with the rest of us.

Unfortunately security is probably still poor. It has nothing to do with a person wearing a creative pin.

I m beginning to think that we are already doomed by fear and ignorance, and that we are living in a police state because people-even those who think they are intelligent and progressive-have caved in to fear.

[Warren DeMontague]

164. No, we don't. Hell, for years EVERY time I flew out of the East Coast, I got "special", "random" bag

searches. This was before 9-11, even. Know why? I can tell you. Because I'm a man, with... get this- long hair! Weird, huh? Yeah. Whoever heard of such a thing. Certainly not these security dudes at the airport, who saw the hair and apparently said to themselves "Hippie! I bet his bag is stuffed to the zipper with mar-eeeee-wanna!".

Too bad for them, I've been clean & sober for a long time. Maybe if they'd tried back when I was in college.

So, no. I don't think "everyone has to abide by a narrow definition of normal". Absolutely not. But for you to say "not by any stretch of the imagination was it a bomb strapped to a body"- are you suggesting that the security people involved KNEW it couldn't possibly be something dangerous, yet pulled automatic weapons on this kid anyway? Why? Because they wanted to play fashion police? Because they didn't like that she put a blinky flashy deal on her shirt in violation of a "narrow definition of normal"?

I don't. I think they genuinely didn't know what it was, thought there was a chance it could be dangerous, and they made an honest mistake. Just like I think she genuinely didn't know the reaction this thing would provoke, so she made an honest mistake. Which is why I think they should drop the charges.

To argue, however, that what this is REALLY about is "The Man" trying to stop "the People" from their god-given right to wear blinky, flashy, wire-encased circuit boards on the outside of their shirts into the airport.. is just, well, silly.

[northzax]

88. More educated police?

Try that in London, Berlin, Rome or Tel Aviv, and see what the response is. You will get much the same thing.

[midlife_mo_Jo]

100. Agreed.

I saw law enforcement carrying weapons in European airports long before 9/ll. Years before. Scared the frick out of me the first time I saw what looked like machine guns to me. (I'm not really in the know on weaponry. )

[northzax]

134. I remember tanks on the runway

At Heathrow back in the day. Americans are so new to terrorism at home, we freak out.

[baby_mouse]

66. Nothing in the current environment we live in

...requires any of us to try and anticipate levels of stupidity that exceed the imagination of the most crazed, crack-addled satirist.

[terisan]

181. Yes we had crazed bombers before terrorists; and we did not react to pins like this. nt

[HuffleClaw]

36. sad and horrifying how easily people are falling for this media myth

of a 'fake bomb'. i guess it proves how effective BushCo.'s fear factor tactics have been working.

[WilliamPitt]

38. Dear God.

1. Circuitboard.

2. Wires.

3. I don't care if it looked like the Stay-Puft Marshmallow Man...circuitboard + wires...

4. STRAPPED TO YOUR BODY AND WORN INTO A TERMINAL OF THE AIRPORT WHERE THE TWO PLANES THAT HIT THE TOWERS TOOK OFF ON 9/11!1!1!1!1

...is perhaps the purest, cleanest, undistilled example of uncut Dumb ever seen east of the Miss'ippi.

Frankly, being one who lives in Boston, genius is proving to be wildly over-rated.

I DON'T CARE HOW AWESOME YOUR BAND IS, HOW PHATTT YOUR DREDS ARE, HOW SWEET YOUR BONG IS, OR HOW SURE YOUR 19-YEAR-OLD ASS IS THAT YOU'VE PICKED THE HYPOCRISY-RIDDLED-WORLD LOCK AND DISCOVERED THE DESCARTES/WADSWORTH/PLANCK TRUTH OF THE MATTER...AND I REALLY DON'T CARE IF YOUR BARELY-SENTIENT REALIZATIONS HAVE CONVINCED YOU THAT AMERICA NEEDS TO BE SHOCKED AND SHAKEN AND FUCKED WITH, BECAUSE WE'RE ALL IN THE SAME DALI PAINTING, OR SOMETHING.

DON'T STRAP WIRE-AND-BATTERY SHIT TO CRITICAL INFRASTRUCTURE LIKE BRIDGES, HIGHWAYS, RAIL OVERPASSES AND HOSPITALS, AS WAS DONE TO THE HOSPITAL TWO BLOCKS FROM MY HOUSE.

A 45-YEAR-OLD COP FROM SOUTHIE WHO HAS NEVER BEEN MORE THAN 150 MILES FROM THE HOSPITAL HE WAS BORN IN IS NOT GOING TO KNOW ARTSY-HAIR-FARM CARTOON SHIT FROM A HOLE IN THE GROUND. HE IS GOING TO SEE THE BATTERY PACK ON A WEIRD THING STRAPPED TO A BRIDGE. HE IS GOING TO KNOW FOR DEAD-FLAT CERTAIN: IF THAT BEIDGE IS DESTROYED, THE CITY WOULD BE PARALYZED, TRAPPED WITHIN IT'S OWN CORE, WITH NO ABILITY TO EVACUATE AND/OR GET HELP TO ANYONE INJURED OR TRAPPED.

THAT IS EXACTLY HOW A COP FROM SOUTHIE IS SUPPOSED TO THINK. HE IS GOING TO CALL DOWN THE THUNDER, AND RIGHTLY SO, AND IF YOU FIND THAT DISTURBING, YOU MISSED A MEMO...OR YOU'RE NOT FROM HERE.

Also, since we're on the topic...

I DON'T CARE WHAT YOUR GPA IS, OR HOW MANY FIELDS MEDALS YOUR PROFESSOR HAS WON, OR WHAT PASSES FOR ART ACCORDING TO YOUR BARELY-ABLE-TO-VOTE BRAIN, OR HOW BORING AND SHEEP-LIKE YOU THINK MOST PEOPLE ARE THESE DAYS. I DON'T CARE ABOUT YOUR POI DOG PONDERING FETISH, OR YOUR TWINKLING EYES.

DON'T HAVE WIRES AND CIRCUITS STRAPPED TO ***YOUR FUCKING BODY*** WHEN ENTERING LOGAN INTERNATIONAL AIRPORT...BECAUSE THE SECURITY GOMERS THERE FUCKED UP BIG-TIME ONCE, TO THE TUNE OF 3000+ DEAD, AND BY FATHER GOD AND SONNY JESUS, THEY DON'T HAVE ANY INTEREST IN DOING IT AGAIN.

IF YOU'RE LOOKING TO PULL A SUICIDE-BY-COP ROUTINE, THIS IS THE WAY TO GO. OTHERWISE, FOR THE LUVVA CRUMBCAKE, STEP LIGHTLY IN THE AIRPORT WHOSE SECURITY CREW (thinks it) WAS RESPONSIBLE FOR ALLOWING THE WORST DAY EVER IN AMERICA.

In other words.

DON'T FUCKING DIE.

THIS IS AMERICA. THE PLACE HAS GONE CRAZY.

GO AHEAD AND HATE IT, GO AHEAD AND TRY TO MAKE IT BETTER, PLEASE DO, PRETTY PLEASE WITH THE CONSTITUTION ON TOP.

BUT DON'T FORGET WHERE YOU ARE, BECAUSE YOU AIN'T IN THE DORM OR THE COFFEE SHOP OR THE BAR WHEN YOU SAUNTER INTO LOGAN AIRPORT'S TERMINAL C. YOU'RE IN AN ARMED, PARANOID, CRAZY-ASS COP PARTY...AND YOU CAN HATE IT, BUT BE FULLY AWARE OF IT.

*gasp gasp gasp*

I'm very sorry to yell.

I don't buy into the fear shit.

I don't believe in the illusion of safety offered by an authoritarian state.

I believe in shaking people up, making them think, making them see with different eyes. I may do it poorly, but that is what I have been trying to do since 12/12/2000.

I get it.

But for fuck's own fucking sake.

Can we be artsy, and clever, and anti-fascist...while maintaining a miniscule shard of common sense? Can we hate it and fight it, but have the basic horse-sense to understand the battlefield we fight upon?

That wonderful student was one rogue eye-twitch away from getting cut in half by submachine guns in the middle of Terminal C, a place I've been a thousand times...and the cops who would have erased her wouldn't have been so much as scolded.

Wrong? Sure.

Insane? Oh yeah.

FUCKING PLANET EARTH??? Sadly, yes.

Yeah, and, um...in Boston? With the civil service phenomenon we have here? You may not agree with me, but if you're from here and somehow still don't at least factor in the reality of the deal, well...ah...I just don't know. There's a bad day somewhere ahead of you, for sure and certain.

I'm troubled most by what humanity would have lost if this woman had gotten herself shot. She is obviously someone special, and we as a species need as many people like her as we can hold on to. Had she been killed saving children, or protecting endangered wildlife, or defying the boundaries of a Free Speech Zone, or trying to find the truth of something, or in her sleep, or by some awful accidental happenstance...

...I mean, if a chunk of Big Dig tunnel roofing fell on her (which happened here), or if one rusted support beam in a spiderweb of scaffolding outside a dormitory hall fell on her just as she pushed through the door(that happened too), it would be far more tolerable.

I said it, yes. If she had been riddled and shattered by submachine gun bullets because she didn't realize that fucking around with anything a Boston cop might even suspect was a bomb, and never mind having it strapped to her person, is catastrophically and insanely idiotic to three thousand million decimals times pi cubed, squared, and multiplied by orders and orders of magnitude...THAT would be entirely unacceptable and spherically horrific.

I don't know. maybe it's me. This is Boston, and so every September we watch 900,000 college students arrive and settle and drink and be young and oh so smart...and it's great, it makes the city what it is.

But Jesus, kids.

Please.

Use your friggin' heads.

(/rant)

Again, sorry for the yelling.

[cali]

48. Don't apologize for that rant

it was actually not only entertaining, but quite good.

[pnwmom]

79. Factually, it was lacking.

Nothing was "strapped" to her chest, and she wasn't trying to make any kind of statement -- other than that her name is Star (the lights lit up a star.)

[cali]

84. nitpicking. It was attached to her sweatshirt

and you don't know anymore than I do whether she was making any kind of statement.

[pnwmom]

89. What she said makes perfect sense, is confirmed by other students, and I believe them.

Her name is Star. She made the thing to light up lights in the shape of a STAR, in order to advertise herself at CAREER DAY, the day before.

So, if she was making a statement, this was it: My name is Star.

And it's not nitpicking to call people (he's not the only one) on using the word "strapped." Strapped is a loaded word in this context. You use straps to strap bombs onto your body. She had a few strands of thread that affixed this small circuit board with 9 volt battery (and nothing else) to her jacket.

[daninthemoon]

111. Fine and well, it was simply an absent minded mistake, or an

immature lack of judgement that she wore this thing to the airport. She absolutely should have been detained, and even charged. Given
only a slightly different set of circumstances, she could easily have been shot. Those security folks were not dumb or paranoid in this occurence. The rest of us are not dumb or paranoid for clearly understanding that. This wasn't bottled water or shampoo, it was wires and batteries and a circuit board and some kind of putty subtance. Wht would you have the security folks do? If the prosecutor takes this to court, she will be aquitted, or just maybe we'll find out there was something more to this, like a prank or even some mental health problem. I wasn't there, I don't know any of the people involved, but in this one instance, I'm supporting the authorities, and believe me, that doesn't happen too often. Now, please stop insulting the rest of us and calling us dumb and paranoid.

[pnwmom]

132. Why should she be charged? Just so the prosecutor can grandstand?

His "evidence" has already been explained (in the case of the star light circuit board) or discredited (the ominous words on the back of the shirt -- Course 6 -- refers to her engineering major at MIT.)

I have no problem with what the security people did. I do have a problem with the prosecutor taking this case to court -- as I did with the prosecutor taking the Duke students' case to court. When it becomes clear that there was no crime -- and the crime of making a hoax device requires INTENT, which she clearly didn't have -- then the prosecutor has a duty not to press charges.

[AZBlue]

62. Makes perfect sense to me.

I think she was looking for attention - things just add up that way to me. Stupid stunt for attention!

(btw, I came to this post via your OP in GD, so I guess I'm kind of answering your question there too)

[pnwmom]

82. You are right -- she wanted attention at Career Day, the day before.

She has stated that she made the thing for Career Day -- her name is Star, and the circuit board had lights that lit up the shape of a star. She had been wearing it around campus for several days, without disturbing anyone.

[baby_mouse]

71. Exactly how much crack are we going to have to take so that we can anticipate this weirdness?

In what crazed alternative universe does it become the responsibility of a victim to anticipate levels of mind-boggling stupidity that Ren and Stimpy would balk at displaying?

A small piece of circuit board = "bomb"?

If the police officers in your country are THAT STUPID, you need NEW POLICE OFFICERS, not a new attitude to them.

You've got to stop giving it away. YOU'VE GOT TO STOP GIVING IT AWAY.

If you guys don't draw a fat fucking line somewhere between your responsibility for your actions and their responsibility for theirs you're all going to end up shot for.... fuck knows, anything, anything at all, looking like a bomb yourself, having green eyes, walking in a ziggy zaggy line in the street.

The people who are ARMED have the responsibility to deal with their weapons sensibly, not the people without the guns. THEY serve US, not the other way round.

Don't change yourself to fit them. DEMAND that THEY change themselves to fit YOU.

You are NOT on this planet FOR THEM.

[pnwmom]

76. She had NOTHING strapped to her person. Why did you use that word,

and repeatedly? It associates her with real bombers, which she obviously was not.

She is immersed in a world (MIT) where no one would ever think that a little circuit board sewn on her jacket, with a 9 volt battery lighting up a few LED's, was anything dangerous. And by the way, her name is STAR. She made the little sign and put it on her jacket to wear at Career Day, the day before. The lights formed the shape of a star. She was just trying to get people at Career Day to remember her name -- not to get herself killed at Logan.

She wasn't trying to shock or "fuck with" anybody, and she wasn't making a political statement. She had worn the jacket around campus for several days and had gotten nothing but compliments.

I agree that she didn't have the common sense that most of us would have. Post 9/11, the world is a scary place. You can get shot to death at Logan for wearing blinking lights on your clothing.

[TheFriendlyAnarchist]

94. . . .Still didn't look anything like a bomb

:P

You're right though. With insanity and stupidity as rampant as it is, most cops couldn't tell a bomb from my 7th grade science project. . .

[Hekate]

97. Great Gods Almighty, Will. How far up her ass was this kid's head?!?!?!?!?!

:wow:

Righteous rant, btw.

Hekate

[pnwmom]

102. You don't mind that it was a rant that was incorrect in its details?

She wore nothing "strapped" to her chest. (That is a loaded word that the media keeps repeating, since it associates her with real bombers.)

And she wasn't making any kind of a political statement. She had made the little sign to wear the day before at Career Day. The 9 volt battery lit up lights in the shape of a star. Her name is Star. So her only statement was: "My name is Star."

She wanted people to remember her name. Unfortunately, now they will.

[Hekate]

167. Are you saying that WIll let his emotions carry him away?

How can that be possible? (gentle LOL here)

Well, pnwmom, the problem I see goes back over 45 years to airplanes being hijacked to Cuba. Calling out "Hi Jack!" in a crowded airport and pretending it was because you saw your friend Jack across the way was not seen as a joke then.

This girl Star thoughtlessly put herself at risk, just as if she had run into the traffic on a busy street or tried to beat a train at a RR crossing. Her intentions may have been as pure as the spotless snow, her mind as blank as a tabula rasa, but she nearly got run over by that freight train all the same.

TSA staff at airports may be earnest and willing, but they don't appear to be the brightest or most discerning. As for the ones in Boston -- well, I'll just have to take Will Pitt's word that they're on hairtrigger alert status.

I live 3,000 miles away, but my sister in Bedford MA is only a few degrees of separation from two grandmothers who lost their lives on separate flights on 9-11 (they were her children's friends' grandmas). That close. That close.

I have profound issues both with TSA and with "Homeland" Security, but I do not try to mess with their minds for a joke or for artistic purposes nor out of sheer carelessness. They are a lot bigger and meaner than I ever will be.

That's pretty much the resonance Will's rant has for me.

Hekate

[midlife_mo_Jo]

103. That is the funniest post I've ever read here!

And so, so true!

And don't apologize for the yelling. It just made it funnier. My husband and I are in stiches over here!

[pnwmom]

135. So true -- except where it was false.

The student had no intent of making a political statement. She was merely wearing the same jacket with the little sign that she had made to wear to Career Day, the day before. The lights on the circuit board lit up the shape of a star -- her name is Star. She had worn the jacket all over campus for several days without attracting any undue attention.

And she didn't wear anything "strapped" to her chest -- as the poster, and many in the media, have reported. That's a loaded word, because it's associated with people who strap dynamite to their chests. She sewed the corners of the little circuit board onto her jacket. But "sewed" doesn't sound nearly as ominous and scary as "strapped," does it. Which is why the fearmongers in the media aren't using that word.

[terisan]

114. I think you have lost it. You seem to be identifying with authoritarianism. nt

[terisan]

115. Remember the Santa Claus pins that used to light up if you pulled a string ?

Boston, please educate your residents; don't just educate the people you consider the elite.

[BlackVelvet04]

119. .....................

"I don't buy into the fear shit."

Well, sure you do, darlin', you said....

"If she had been riddled and shattered by submachine gun bullets"
"That wonderful student was one rogue eye-twitch away from getting cut in half by submachine guns"


You're just fearful of the cops instead of the terrorists.

Plus, you keep saying she had this stuff strapped to her body. She didn't. It was sewn on her jacket. Bombs get strapped to a body not sewn onto a jacket.

[WilliamPitt]

121. I can't even begin to imagine anyone expecting a security guard to parse that difference.

[BlackVelvet04]

169. But you understand the difference and yet you continue

to use that terminology. It affects how people visualize what she did. She DIDN'T strap something to her body. She put on a jacket that had something sewn to it.

[DS1]

154. perfect

but now of course you're another fascist police-state enabler

whats a matter? don't you have x-ray vision like everyone else around here?

[Buns_of_Fire]

172. No need to apologize. You got it right. (n/t)

[AZBlue]

53. Why was she carrying play-doh?

Why wouldn't she answer their questions? Why would you wear something like this to the airport?

As she says, "she wanted to be noticed..."

[pnwmom]

87. She did answer the question about the circuit board. She said it was art.

Why not carry play dough? Lots of people carry squishy things to squeeze in their hands, for tension relief.

But you're right -- she wanted to be noticed -- but not at the airport, at Career Day, the day before. So she made the little sign of a star -- her name is STAR -- and sewed it to her jacket.

Unfortunately, she didn't think to cut it off before she went to the airport.

[AZBlue]

131. Why wouldn't she answer their questions? Why was she smiling when she left court?

Plus, that explanation doesn't wash - why did she have the course name on her shirt and her own name on the back? How does that tie to career day? If she was promoting herself at career day, why not put her own name on the front?

It's either a play for attention or one of the stupidest things anyone's done lately - or both. Doubt this will really help her get a job at career day either.

[pnwmom]

137. Your facts are incorrect. She did answer their questions.

She said the thing was "art." The police confirmed that they didn't shoot at her BECAUSE she was cooperative.

She DID have her own name on the front. The STAR on the circuit board was on the FRONT of her jacket.
The name of her engineering major, Course 6, was on the BACK of her jacket.

Why was she smiling when she left court? Are you kidding? Wouldn't you have been relieved to be finally out of there?

[rolleitreks]

58. I think she is very lucky she wasn't shot, and I hope no one else

pulls such a damn fool stunt.

[JeanGrey]

77. I'm sorry but I'm amazed too.

This was a really dumb thing to do.

[redacted]

83. This thread contains some of the strangest and most bizarre writing I've ever seen

in nearly 4 years here at DU. Those posts attacking this kid seem especially uncharacteristic of what I think one would tend to expect here.

This kid did nothing wrong and did not deserve the sort of treatment accorded her by the police. I believe this incident may have actually been racially motivated. Had this been a white kid, I hardly think he would have been arrested or jailed. One look at his MIT student ID and the cops probably would have let that white student go with a warning--which is exactly what they should have done with her.

That this "genius" has no common sense is really beside the point. In this nation, people have the right to wear any stupid metallic junk they want attached to clothing as long as it is harmless, which her "accessories" obviously were. People have the right to wear sweatshirts with whatever stupid messages they want on them. People have the right to squeeze a little silly putty, or Koosh balls, or chew gum in public places. They have the right to go into airport terminals with affectations or mannerisms that might seem strange to some.

This airport terminal was not a highly secure area and was not behind metal detectors. Her "accessories" were worn in full view of everybody, not items she tried to conceal in the least. Her lack of common sense is obvious, but she in no way fit the profile of any sort of troublemaker. I have spent a lot of time in airports and I have seen stranger clothing and behavior than this in terminal areas, and those people were all left alone.

Despite all the victim-blaming here, which to me seems oddly like the reaction from a great many of the Florida students to the taser incident, I repeat: This kid did nothing wrong and did not deserve the sort of treatment accorded her by the police.

[pnwmom]

90. Great post. And I agree: it's likely her race had something to do with this. n/t

[cali]

99. Utter bullshit.

I find your post and others of the same ilk some of the more bizzare I've seen here.

All areas of any American airport are considered secure areas. Not as secure as some parts of the airport, but security is hardly lax in a terminal. Why do you think there were so many cops at hand? And please, so you've seen people with circuit boards, wires and batteries attached to their clothing at an airport? If not, do describe what some of the attire that's stranger than what she wore, was.

If you think that people have the right to wear clothing with batteries and wires and circuit boards on them, to an airport, think again.

And I disagree that if it had been a white person, they wouldn't have elicited the same reaction.

Should she be prosecuted? No. Should she be in jail? No. But the initial detention was reasonable.

[LisaL]

104. I think the question if she should be prosecuted or not depends

on what her actual intent was.

[pnwmom]

152. I agree with that. Intent is key here. n/t

[pnwmom]

138. I think the police were correct to check her out.

But I think if she were a cute white girl, they wouldn't have pressed charges after they realized she was harmless.

[midlife_mo_Jo]

107. What she wore was akin to making a joke about terrorism

You can't do it, without expecting to get scrutinized.

Do I think she should be charged? Absolutely not. Too fascist.

Do I think they were wrong to detain her? No.

[terisan]

123. It's a pin, not a statement making fun of terrorism. Get a grip. nt

[terisan]

125. It's a long way from the Boston Tea Party, isn't it--poor scared Americans.

[pnwmom]

153. No, it was just an ad for her name, which is STAR. Lights in the shape of a star.

I agree with both your other points though. They were correct to check her out. But they shouldn't be charging her, now that they realize that the device was totally harmless, and that she had no ill intent.

[RC]

109. Absolutely! The problem is with the paranoia this criminal administration

has sown in the general public. This young woman did not do anything wrong. The problem was the knee jerk over reacting of the security at the air port. At worst she should have been checked out and let go.
She was there to pick up a friend, that was all.

Too many posters to this thread sound more like they are posting on that board that is not to be mentioned. Jeez people, stop and let reality intrude into your minds, ok? Thinking like yours is how Germany went under.

Don't give in to the way the criminals in our government want you to think.

[Warren DeMontague]

155. "Her lack of common sense is obvious". You got that right.

And you can point that out, as I have, and still think they should drop the charges against her.

I don't see why someone with such a "lack of common sense" is supposed to be a hero or even a "victim" :eyes:, while the security personnel and cops are supposed to have superhuman common sense and automatically know that this particular odd thing stuck on this kid's chest with wires and a circuit board isn't dangerous.

They handled it as best they could. It doesn't sound like she was abused. She didn't get shot, fortunately. Now that it's clear that it was a misunderstanding and not deliberate, despite this kid's obvious and glaring lack of common sense, they should drop the charges. And I'm willing to bet, they will.

[Canuckistanian]

168. Thank you

Good post.

It's time for good common sense on everybody's part.

[HughMoran]

105. Pansy ass cowards at the airport falling for the fake terra bullshit

I am amazed that there are people here falling for this pure crap - stunned how people havbe bought into the terra BS.

[Rosa Luxemburg]

113. didn't SW airlines throw someone off for wearing a mini skirt?

[Retired AF Dem]

118. Maybe one of these days all the cops will get fed up with all the

armchair quarterbacks and take a week off. I sure wouldn't blame them. It would make for an interesting week.

[Danger Mouse]

124. While she showed an incredible lack of common sense by wearing this into an AIRPORT...

...the fact that she is being CHARGED and could see PRISON TIME over this is purely comical.
Only in Bush's America, folks.

[pnwmom]

160. No, it's not purely comical. It's tragic, too.

It's the sad world we're living in now.

[Generic Brad]

127. We're being attacked by Moonites again

I am scared. Very scared.:scared: :sarcasm:

[kurth]

128. We all know Al-Qaeda bombs have bright blinking lights and 9-volt batteries

[Danger Mouse]

129. And that wasn't play doh in her hands...IT'S PLASTIQUE!!

get her off to gitmo for some waterbo...uh, aggressive interrogation!

[IDemo]

136. Wait a minute...that's an IRANIAN 9 volt battery!

[terisan]

142. I guess she thought she was living in the land of the free and the home of the brave ! nt

[Warren DeMontague]

148. Two Salient Points: One, they should drop the charges, and two, SHE'S AN IDIOT for wearing that

thing into an airport. She's not a "genius", she's not a "hero", she's not Rosa Fucking Parks. Okay?

You don't wear random shit with wires and batteries and circuit boards on your chest into an airport. That's a fucking no-brainer.

[LeahD]

158. Exactly. n/t

[pnwmom]

161. She will be a martyr if she continues to face prison time because of

a grandstanding prosecutor.

And I'm wondering whether the police would have let her go -- after determining the circuit board was harmless -- if she had been a cute white MIT coed, rather than a bleached blonde of indeterminate race?

[LisaL]

166. She is lucky they didn't shoot her.

If they thought she was reaching for her device when they were trying to apprehend her, she could very well have been shot some 20 times. Like that poor guy in England, and he wasn't even wearing any sort of device.
I hope she thinks about it next time if she decides to stick some sort of battery operated device onto her jacket. As for her prosecution, I imagine unless there is evidence she intended for this to be a hoax, the charges probably will be dropped.

[terisan]

170. I guess we need a new law outlawing pinned-on battery-operated devices. nt

[terisan]

182. Is that how black people in America used to get killed--seeming to reach for something that wasn't

there. Do you automatically think that would be justified killing?

[Swamp Rat]

165. BOO!

:scared:

[terisan]

180. Point 'n Sing Lesson:This is a pin,that is a bomb, This is for fun,that is to harm.

I am sorry so many good DU minds have been ruined due to addiction to tv fake news-watching.

[w4rma]

183. She now knows that most people are stupid. (nt)