British tourists detained by US Homeland Security

http://www.npr.org/b...u-s?ft=1&f=1001

    Quote

Talk about lost in translation: Today's British press is buzzing with a story in the British tabloid The Daily Mail, which reports that two British travelers were denied entry into the U.S., after authorities uncovered two tweets.

In one Leigh Van Bryan quipped, "Free this week, for quick gossip/prep before I go and destroy America." And in another Van Bryan said that he was going to "dig up Marilyn Monroe."

Van Bryan told the Daily Mailthat in British English, "destroy America" was meant as in we're going party hard in America. And the Marilyn Monroe tweet was a reference to the TV showFamily Guy.

Still, the Department of Homeland Security took the "threats" seriously. The Daily Mail reports what happened next:

"After making their way through passport control at Los Angeles International Airport (LAX) last Monday afternoon the pair were detained by armed guards.

"Federal agents even searched his suitcase looking for spades and shovels, claiming Emily was planning to act as Leigh's 'look out' while he raided Marilyn's tomb.

"Bar manager Leigh, from Coventry, and Emily [banting], 24, from Birmingham, were then quizzed for five hours at LAX before they were handcuffed and put into a van with illegal immigrants and locked up overnight.

"They spent 12 hours in separate holding cells before being driven back to the airport where they were put on a plane home via Paris."

In a document that was handed to Van Bryan, it states that he admitted to posting the the two statements on twitter and that he had been flagged on the government's "One Day Lookout" list, which is created after a government analysis on a passenger list.

"I kept saying to them they had got the wrong meaning from my tweet but they just told me 'you've really [messed] up with that tweet boy,'" Van Bryan said. "When I was in the van I was handcuffed and put in a cage. I had a panic attack."

Earlier this month, the Department of Justice put out a call for more information on an application that could scrape social media sites to collect "actionable intelligence."

i dont

eevn

what

what?

what?

Sooooooo, what if I tweet that Imma destroy obamas ass....? I don't want to hurt him, just sex him up...

I guess freedom of speech means something different now.

    Quote

In a document that was handed to Van Bryan, it states that he admitted to posting the the two statements on twitter and that he had been flagged on the government's "One Day Lookout" list, which is created after a government analysis on a passenger list.

I guess that means the Government now uses software that hunts down and crawls through the social media of passenger lists on the fly? That is wild. Its like that saying "you are what you eat" but now it's "you are all the little passing statements that you write on the internet". This is definitely food for thought.

  On 1/31/2012 at 5:45 AM, chenGOD said:

I guess freedom of speech means something different now.

That only applies to US citizens when we're talking about US law. I think.

Also, I'd wager that "threats" aren't protected under Freedom of Speech.

lol

america

i would leave for a better country, but then if I ever wanted to come back, they'd probably detain me too.

How many terrorists have these ridiculous measures even caught?

I remember seeing a graph on the Patriot Act and it's intended use was only applicable in 0.1% of all cases.

At this point its almost like Osama won.

  On 1/31/2012 at 6:21 AM, Entorwellian said:

How many terrorists have these ridiculous measures even caught?

Seriously. There is never going to be a legitimate terrorist with real intent to destroy/kill, that is going to announce it or give ANY hint of it on Twitter. Ever. Fucking ridiculous.

  On 1/31/2012 at 6:27 AM, ganus said:

  On 1/31/2012 at 6:21 AM, Entorwellian said:

How many terrorists have these ridiculous measures even caught?

Seriously. There is never going to be a legitimate terrorist with real intent to destroy/kill, that is going to announce it or give ANY hint of it on Twitter. Ever. Fucking ridiculous.

But its a dam good excuse to keep those Brits out!

The Government is finding new sources of power and they are going to use as much of it as they can, when they can.

I hate it when people say "The Government"

it's not like the whole government is working together to do this shit, all the departments secretly conspiring and making evil plans. It's specific departments of the government that are abusive and horrid, and just need to be flat out abolished.

edit: don't get me wrong though, the whole system is corrupt, just some branches were never good in the first place.

  On 1/31/2012 at 5:55 AM, Hoodie said:

  On 1/31/2012 at 5:45 AM, chenGOD said:

I guess freedom of speech means something different now.

 

That only applies to US citizens when we're talking about US law. I think.

 

Also, I'd wager that "threats" aren't protected under Freedom of Speech.

Ummm Article 19 of the UN declaration of human rights (of which the US is a signatory) might beg to differ:

    Quote

Article 19

 

Everyone has the right to freedom of opinion and expression; this right includes freedom to hold opinions without interference and to seek, receive and impart information and ideas through any media and regardless of frontiers.

Yeah, it's fucking ironic isn't it, how if the US didn't have the CIA and Homeland Security, there wouldn't even be any of this shit to deal with in the first place. America brings it all upon itself by meddling in everyone else's business, following it's cock (corporations) and not it's brain (the people)

I want to touch America inappropriately.

  On 1/31/2012 at 6:50 AM, chenGOD said:

  On 1/31/2012 at 5:55 AM, Hoodie said:

  On 1/31/2012 at 5:45 AM, chenGOD said:

I guess freedom of speech means something different now.

 

That only applies to US citizens when we're talking about US law. I think.

 

Also, I'd wager that "threats" aren't protected under Freedom of Speech.

 

Ummm Article 19 of the UN declaration of human rights (of which the US is a signatory) might beg to differ:

 

    Quote

Article 19

 

Everyone has the right to freedom of opinion and expression; this right includes freedom to hold opinions without interference and to seek, receive and impart information and ideas through any media and regardless of frontiers.

as if the watmm administration cares about free speech. (BANNED)

  On 1/31/2012 at 10:33 AM, Jonas said:

If this story is true, us homeland security is the dumbest shit ever.

  On 1/31/2012 at 10:43 AM, Ranky Redlof said:

  On 1/31/2012 at 6:50 AM, chenGOD said:

  On 1/31/2012 at 5:55 AM, Hoodie said:

  On 1/31/2012 at 5:45 AM, chenGOD said:

I guess freedom of speech means something different now.

 

That only applies to US citizens when we're talking about US law. I think.

 

Also, I'd wager that "threats" aren't protected under Freedom of Speech.

 

Ummm Article 19 of the UN declaration of human rights (of which the US is a signatory) might beg to differ:

 

    Quote

Article 19

 

Everyone has the right to freedom of opinion and expression; this right includes freedom to hold opinions without interference and to seek, receive and impart information and ideas through any media and regardless of frontiers.

as if the watmm administration cares about free speech. (BANNED)

Umm not to put too fine a point on it - but if you can't see the difference between a privately run community and the government, well there's not much hope left for you.

I hate LAX.

  On 1/31/2012 at 6:50 AM, chenGOD said:

  On 1/31/2012 at 5:55 AM, Hoodie said:

  On 1/31/2012 at 5:45 AM, chenGOD said:

I guess freedom of speech means something different now.

 

That only applies to US citizens when we're talking about US law. I think.

 

Also, I'd wager that "threats" aren't protected under Freedom of Speech.

 

Ummm Article 19 of the UN declaration of human rights (of which the US is a signatory) might beg to differ:

 

    Quote

Article 19

 

Everyone has the right to freedom of opinion and expression; this right includes freedom to hold opinions without interference and to seek, receive and impart information and ideas through any media and regardless of frontiers.

That's cute, you think the United States actually cares about the UN's opinion.

  On 1/31/2012 at 6:05 AM, ganus said:

lol

america

this isn't news; we knew this shit was coming ten years ago.

whoever said Osama won is absolutely right

didn't he get shot and got dumped into the sea ?

yeah and William Wallace got fucked up and Scotland never gained any sense of national pride. Whats your point?

  On 1/31/2012 at 2:06 PM, Hoodie said:

  On 1/31/2012 at 6:50 AM, chenGOD said:

  On 1/31/2012 at 5:55 AM, Hoodie said:

  On 1/31/2012 at 5:45 AM, chenGOD said:

I guess freedom of speech means something different now.

 

That only applies to US citizens when we're talking about US law. I think.

 

Also, I'd wager that "threats" aren't protected under Freedom of Speech.

 

Ummm Article 19 of the UN declaration of human rights (of which the US is a signatory) might beg to differ:

 

    Quote

Article 19

 

Everyone has the right to freedom of opinion and expression; this right includes freedom to hold opinions without interference and to seek, receive and impart information and ideas through any media and regardless of frontiers.

 

That's cute, you think the United States actually cares about the UN's opinion.

That's not even remotely close to what I posted, but OK.

Oh so NOW you agree with me! 2 months ago I was a lunatic.