To DHS, 'Tweeter' is no joke.
Anyone with a Twitter account knows that it's easy to say things without first putting them through that all-important filter: Will people care? Am I doing something illegal? Will this make my life more difficult? We all know the story of Paul Chambers, the man arrested and eventually charged after joking about blowing up a UK airport on Twitter. Though the Paul Chambers' ruling was widely considered unfair, he's not the only person to get in trouble for tongue in cheek comments made on Twitter. Chambers was this week joined by bar manager Leigh Van Bryan and friend Emily Bunting, who were both recently refused entry to the United States after comments they had made on Twitter caught the attention of the Department of Homeland Security.
According to the Sun newspaper, Leigh tweeted at a friend, "Free this week, for quick gossip/prep before I go and destroy America?" He later tweeted a reference to Family Guy: "3 weeks today, we're totally in LA p*ssing people off on Hollywood Blvd and diggin' Marilyn Monroe up!"
DHS saw his messages and detained him and his friend upon their arrival at LAX. They were held and questioned for five hours before being handcuffed and transferred to prison cells guarded by armed officials.
Leigh says he tried to explain that 'destroy' is slang for partying hard in Britain but the DHS officials held the two on suspicion of planning to "commit crimes." The story goes that they thought Leigh's friend Emily was there to act as a look-out while Leigh raided the crypt of Marilyn Monroe. They even checked their luggage for shovels. The two were sent home on a plane the next morning, but Leigh was also issued with papers detailing the reason he was refused entry to the U.S.
"He had posted on his Tweeter [sic] website account that he was coming to the United States to dig up the grave of Marilyn Monroe. … Also on his tweeter [sic] account Mr. Bryan posted that he was coming to destroy America."
Think before you Tweet, guys.
I'm kinda speechless. What do I say about this?
Wouldn't a potential terrorist use methods of contact other then normal chat channels?
I'm kinda speechless. What do I say about this?
Wouldn't a potential terrorist use methods of contact other then normal chat channels?
Of course... That's why we hear about stories like this while real terrorists fly planes through buildings... Just sayin'.
American passengers should all be harassed and publicly humiliated with no reason, in airports all over the world until their goverment gets its sh*t together.
Think before you post.... talk about ignorant.
guess I WILL BOMB the forums with comments about AIRPORTS OR AIRPLANE.
or ignore this post, because I AM not a TERRORIST.
Understanding "he was coming to the United States to dig up the grave of Marilyn Monroe" from "diggin' Marilyn Monroe up!" is one of the most ridiculous thing I've ever seen.
I think you mean at our worst. You seem to forget all the things the U.S. has actually done for the world. Nobody even compares when it comes to giving away foreign aid, and remember WWII? Yeah, we gave blood there too. Hey, come to think of it...the U.S. has a history of being pretty decent. People are way too cynical. One stupid instance and now we're all stupid in the USA. What about all the tourists that come here without any problems? Should I hate everyone who isn't American just because you're an anti-American jerk?
That does not extend to non-citizens. Furthermore, they were detained - not beaten.
Most criminals are dumb. You would be surprised at just how dumb most criminals are. The educated prefer to work with the existing societal infrastructure, not make chaos out of everything.
I bet they also check what you searched for on google, what videos you watched on youtube, your emails, etc.
This is not far off from what happened in Soviet Russia and in the other soviet-style regimes of eastern Europe.
This sort of gets thrown out the window when there are laws featuring the words "on suspicion of".
The arrest would have been enough of a shocker to likely stop them doing it again, as a form of intimidation. Actually furthering it to deportation... well, common sense took a holiday I suppose.
Unfortunately, "the educated" are responsible for almost all of the most bloody conflicts in history and lots of notable terrorist attacks...