Want to study language on an airplane? That's a handcuffin'.

[Firebird]

http://www.philly.com/philly/news/20...the_world.html

You have something written in the language the terrorists speak!

He was asked if he knew who "did 9/11."

He answered, Osama bin Laden.

Then he was asked, "Do you know what language he spoke?"

George answered, Arabic."

The supervisor then held up his flash cards. "Do you see why these cards are suspicious?"
To George, they weren't suspicious at all. He was using them to translate Al Jazeera, whose coverage in Arabic he considers critical to understanding America's place in the world. The 200 cards included words for "terrorist" and "explosion," George said. His interest in the Middle East came not from 9/11 but from watching Lawrence of Arabia with his father, Paul George, a Philadelphia attorney and former public defender.

And don't you dare alter your apperance from the photo in the state-issued ID you carry, either. Leviathan does not like it when you do this.

Neither the TSA nor the Philadelphia Police would comment yesterday, given that legal action was pending. But in a September Daily News column, TSA spokeswoman Ann Davis said behavioral-detection officers had selected the student for screening even before the flash cards were discovered. Those officers are trained to look for "involuntary physical and physiological reactions that people exhibit in response to a fear of being discovered," she said.

George says he cannot imagine what they mean - he was calm.

A police official, meanwhile, was quoted as saying it was George's ID in Arabic that caught their attention - from his Jordanian studies - and police were suspicious that the student's hair was shorter that day than it was in his Pennsylvania driver's license photo. "That," Lt. Louis Liberati said, is "an indication sometimes that somebody may have gone through a radicalization."

[TulsaHale74]

After looking at his photograph, I can see the TSA wasn't racial profiling. Good for them.

I wonder how many people see his photograph and assume that's it's obvious he's not a terrorist based upon his appearance - which IS racial profiling - and then berating the TSA for not doing the same.

[Firebird]

After looking at his photograph, I can see the TSA wasn't racial profiling. Good for them.

I wonder how many people see his photograph and assume that's it's obvious he's not a terrorist based upon his appearance - which IS racial profiling - and then berating the TSA for not doing the same.

Fewer than think people use flash cards and a DL photo as justification for detaining someone at the airport are freaking idiots.

Brave TSA public servants doing their job, keeping you safe from people with Arabic language flash cards. They might have been terrorist motivational slogans!

[TulsaHale74]

"Just think of how stupid the average person is, and then realize half of them are even stupider!"

George Carlin.

[TulsaHale74]

Did you hear about the Camden cop whose disabled son wasn't allowed to pass through airport security unless he took off his leg braces?

Another story by Daniel Rubin.

http://www.philly.com/inquirer/home_..._overkill.html

[mad_fan]

Did you hear about the Camden cop whose disabled son wasn't allowed to pass through airport security unless he took off his leg braces?

Another story by Daniel Rubin.

http://www.philly.com/inquirer/home_..._overkill.html

TSA workers are f*****...
They operate with fluid rules...in an environment of irritated passengers...and son't get to make a mistake...
Lucky for us...the bad guys get to hear about all the irrational s*** the TSA workers envision...

[ktCarl]

Fewer than think people use flash cards and a DL photo as justification for detaining someone at the airport are freaking idiots.

Brave TSA public servants doing their job, keeping you safe from people with Arabic language flash cards. They might have been terrorist motivational slogans!

In the right hands those cards could be used to slit someone's throat. Think about it.

[Point Made...]

The poor sap should be glad he wasn't flying Southwest...He might have been over the weight limit (and forced to buy 2 seats)...talk about getting screwed.

[BDB]

body scan 'em.

[Pinion]

body scan 'em.

exactly! That would have proved he had no weapons and was no threat. And we would be talking about other stuff.

[Point Made...]

body scan 'em.

exactly! That would have proved he had no weapons and was no threat. And we would be talking about other stuff.

Nah...with his luck, the TSA misfits would have posed the obvious question...

"Sir, is that a weapon in your pants or are you just happy to be flying Southwest?"...

[cougmantx]

Is it just me or does it appear to any others that you can get arrested for anything now a days. I mean really, sneeze in the wrong place, give a cop a look that they don't like, study a foriegn language on a plane, crap in the woods or just about anything else.

[Firebird]

Is it just me or does it appear to any others that you can get arrested for anything now a days. I mean really, sneeze in the wrong place, give a cop a look that they don't like, study a foriegn language on a plane, crap in the woods or just about anything else.

That's what "fluid" rules means.

[mad_fan]

Is it just me or does it appear to any others that you can get arrested for anything now a days.

It's not just you...I said the same thing 25 years ago...

[mad_fan]

exactly! That would have proved he had no weapons and was no threat. And we would be talking about other stuff.

Like how we can't scan them...in that other thread...

[Pinion]

Like how we can't scan them...in that other thread...

yeah.
if we were scanning everyone and saying "f-u" to those that it offends, then this would have never happened.

Or at least in theory it wouldnt have. you do have to take an innocent member of society out once in a while and make an example of them. that keeps everyone else on their toes.

It's always been that way, but lack of media prevented us from hearing so much about it and being able to talk about it as much.

[the_phoenix612]

yeah.
if we were scanning everyone and saying "f-u" to those that it offends, then this would have never happened.

Or at least in theory it wouldnt have. you do have to take an innocent member of society out once in a while and make an example of them. that keeps everyone else on their toes.

It's always been that way, but lack of media prevented us from hearing so much about it and being able to talk about it as much.

body scanners wouldn't have caught the underwear bomber.

your point=failed.

[Firebird]

body scanners wouldn't have caught the underwear bomber.

your point=failed.

Yeah,but they would have caught concealed razor edge flash cards with Arabic terror slogans written on them.

[Pinion]

body scanners wouldn't have caught the underwear bomber.

your point=failed.

No method of protection is 100% effective, that's why you're here.

let go of the underwear bomber thing already. No, there is no way to catch each and every single sociopath out there. That's just not possible, and you know this. So you pick one bloody incident and use it to try and forward your agenda.

I'll help you out here. Had Germany won WWII we wouldn't have to worry about any of this. I mean, had the underwear bomber been a "nature boy" he wouldn't have even thought to try. Had his daddy hugged him more, he might would have took a different turn in life.

[the_phoenix612]

No method of protection is 100% effective, that's why you're here.

let go of the underwear bomber thing already. No, there is no way to catch each and every single sociopath out there. That's just not possible, and you know this. So you pick one bloody incident and use it to try and forward your agenda.

I'll help you out here. Had Germany won WWII we wouldn't have to worry about any of this. I mean, had the underwear bomber been a "nature boy" he wouldn't have even thought to try. Had his daddy hugged him more, he might would have took a different turn in life.

sigh.

stop holding up body scanning as if it is a catch-all panacea for airport security. It's misleading and incorrect.