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Man with strange watch arrested at Calif. airport, charged with having bomb-making materials
Foxnews ^

Posted on 11/17/2012 7:00:43 AM PST by ConservativeMan55

A Southern California man was arrested at Oakland International Airport after security officers found him wearing an unusual watch they said could be used to make a timing device for a bomb, authorities said Friday.

(Excerpt) Read more at foxnews.com ...


TOPICS: Front Page News; Government; News/Current Events
KEYWORDS: 20121116; 20121117; bomb; mcgann; timer; tsa; watch
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To: ConservativeMan55
Pretty crazy. It was probably just a kit like the SolderTime from adafruit.com. Any cell phone works as a trigger and a tracfone can be purchased at WalMart for 20 bucks. This is certainly a case of the ignorant having authority they don't deserve.
101 posted on 11/18/2012 3:45:03 PM PST by FreeTexanDude
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To: ConservativeMan55

http://www.steampunklab.com/watches/11


102 posted on 11/18/2012 3:52:59 PM PST by Fresh Wind (Cut the cable today!)
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To: Jubal Harshaw

You seem to be missing MY point...

When you go to the airport, you have to get in line to go through a security checkpoint- you know this going in.

Lets ASSUME it is doing the job it is supposed to be doing, searching for terrorists.

With me so far?

Does anyone here think it is wise to get into that line with an extravagently designed watch with unusual switches and wires sticking out of it? And footware that has additional compartments?

My only point here is THIS GUY WAS ASKING FOR IT!! It appears to me he did it delibrately and wanted the attenditoin he got, and he inconvenienced a lot of people with this stunt AND could have distracted security long enough for something really dangerous to go through.

Not smart at all.

This was not some innocent guy who ran afoul of some govt gestapo- he did something clearly on-purpose to get attention, and now he is complaining that he got attention.


103 posted on 11/19/2012 5:55:46 AM PST by Mr. K (some days even my lucky rocketship underpants don't help...)
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To: Jubal Harshaw

AND!!! let me add: This little stunt will only ENFORCE the governments position that they need to grow their gestapo agencies even more.

Thanks to this dumba$$.


104 posted on 11/19/2012 5:57:19 AM PST by Mr. K (some days even my lucky rocketship underpants don't help...)
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To: ConservativeMan55

No doubt TSA did not even bother to stop and check at least 100 people that day wearing Islamic attire .

McGann makes commercials http://www.geoffmcgann.com/
The guy is an artist , I do not know one artist that dresses in normal off the rack stuff.
He was probably wearing a designer steam punk watch
similar to something like these
http://www.steampunklab.com/inventor/Haruo-Suekichi/5

Are they going to start arresting little kids carrying a classic toy like the Etch A Sketch too?
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Etch_A_Sketch
What makes this classic toy work is aluminum powder and anyone that took any kind of chemistry class could take it apart and make thermite with it .

This whole thing just proves that TSA agents are nothing but thugs


105 posted on 11/19/2012 6:18:22 AM PST by Lera (Proverbs 29:2)
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To: Mr. K

Exactly none of your statements are supported by the evidence available. While I do believe that the TSA is doing the job they are supposed to be doing — according to someone anyway — there is no evidence whatsoever that that job includes searching for terrorists.

As for knowing in advance that wearing a fancy watch and large shoes with extra insoles is likely to set off the TSA — that’s only true if you are willing to justify that ANYTHING might set off the TSA. We haven’t seen a picture of the watch yet, so some speculation on this point may be premature, but we do know what a watch designed to be a bomb timer looks like: it looks like a watch. To be more specific: the watches to be used as timers in the famous “Bojinka” plot were dime-store Casio digital watches, with no wires poking out during transit through “security.” Real bomb timers are hidden. Almost by definition, something big and garish and flashy is NOT a bomb timer.

As for the shoes with extra insoles: you really think that was part of some plan to alert the TSA and wind up in jail? There’s lots of reasons to wear large shoes with lots of insoles. For example, there’s foot pain.

I’m going to cut you some slack here, and assume you are a healthy young kid — the kind of kid who has never yet had to deal with chronic foot pain. May you be young and healthy forever. For the rest of us, foot pain occurs, and wearing lots of insoles sometimes helps. You may wish to go to your local mall and observe what old men wear on their feet. You think they (all right, we) wear those big clunky thick-soled shoes because they think thick soles are fashionable?

So which is more likely: that 49 year old McGann wore big shoes with lots of insoles because he was part of some plot to blow up an airplane with a big stack of Dr. Sholl’s, or that he was deliberately planning to go to jail by wearing extra padding in his shoes ... or maybe he had bunions, or plantar fasciitis, or foot strain, or pedal tendonitis, or some other issue? Seriously, think about the alternatives here.

The watch, and the big shoes, were likely just excuses for the TSA to harass Mr. McGann. From the TSA’s point of view, they were excellent excuses, because they MADE NO SENSE. Governments throughout history have used the idea of random punishments (like jail) of the populace to instill fear and foreboding and a sense that punishment can come at any time. That kind of random, senseless punishment works partly because so many people, sometimes including the victims themselves, try to make sense of the punishment, and somehow convince themselves that the victims of this punishment did something to deserve it. I don’t pretend to understand this, but it’s a pretty well documented phenomenon.

Just a few things to consider.


106 posted on 11/19/2012 11:11:24 AM PST by Jubal Harshaw
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To: Jubal Harshaw

Ok it looks like you deliebrately want to be obtuse, so I can’t help you

The article (which you obviously didnt read) described the watch as having wires and circuit boards with switches on it.

The boots were also described, and it sound more like a void in the boot that could be used to hold explosives.

In short, the dumbass deliberate went through airport security with materials that not only LOOK like bomb making materials (art or not) but could actually BE bomb making materials.

1) I am glad they noticed

2) he could not be so stupid as to not think they would be noticed

So... wiseass got hisself arrested and for THIS instance I say GOOD WORK, TSA

Imagine if he got through security- then he could have taken photos and then said “look what I snuck through security” and that might have been all over the news that night.

IO have been freeping here since before Clinton was molesting interns, so as a (mere) 10 year veteran I am surprised you could have been here this long and NOT spotted an attention-whore pulling a stupid stunt when you see one.


107 posted on 11/19/2012 4:38:02 PM PST by Mr. K (some days even my lucky rocketship underpants don't help...)
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To: dinodino

We are the f*cking retards while they train us to obey stupid commands in the alleged “land of the free and home of the brave”.

Every airport has become an embarassment to America.


108 posted on 11/21/2012 12:45:01 PM PST by cgbg (HLM--"Democracy is the theory that people know what they want, and deserve to get it good and hard.")
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To: FreeTexanDude; Fresh Wind; ConservativeMan55

http://blog.tsa.gov/2012/11/odd-watch-discovered-at-oakland-oak.html

Here’s a pic of the watch


109 posted on 12/06/2012 5:07:58 PM PST by HollyB
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To: smokingfrog; Mr. K; dinodino

http://blog.tsa.gov/2012/11/odd-watch-discovered-at-oakland-oak.html


110 posted on 12/06/2012 5:10:16 PM PST by HollyB
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To: The Working Man

More watches by this guy. Above post has pics of the watch discussed here.

http://palosverdes.patch.com/articles/mcgann-tells-his-story-of-unusual-watch-arrest-at-oakland-airport#photo-12269363


111 posted on 12/06/2012 5:15:54 PM PST by HollyB
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To: HollyB

I can see how it ‘might’ have looked “nefarious” going through the x-ray machine, but it’s obviously not some timing device for a bomb. I imagine there are all kinds of everyday items that could be used to set off a bomb without arousing any suspicion at all.


112 posted on 12/06/2012 6:07:32 PM PST by smokingfrog ( sleep with one eye open (<o> ---)
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To: smokingfrog; HollyB

Thanks for the pics, HollyB. And, smokingfrog, I also can see how the device could look ... well, I’m not sure I would use the word “nefarious,” but certainly “odd” and perhaps deserving of greater attention.

Thing is that the most obvious “odd” things about the watch are not only not parts of a bomb, nor wired in such a way as to make a bomb, but they are actually antithetical to the entire function of a bomb.

Those cylindrical objects with the word “FUSETRON” printed on them? Those are electrical fuses. Electrical fuses break a circuit in the event of a power surge, thus blocking whatever that circuit is doing at the time, so that the remaining components of the circuit survive to operate another day.

Breaking a trigger circuit in order to preserve circuit components for future use is the OPPOSITE of what a real bomb designer would plan. To make this more clear (I hope): Once a real bomb is triggered, the triggering mechanism is SUPPOSED to survive whatever power surges occur, in order to detonate the bomb. Fuses would interfere with that. Once the bomb is detonated, the circuit components will not be preserved for future use anyway, so electrical fuses would not have been useful to allow future use of the circuit components. In other words, electrical fuses interfere with the function of a bomb timer, and provide no increase in the re-usability of the bomb components after detonation. Therefore, electrical fuses are not part of the design of a real bomb.

The presence of the electrical fuses on that watch thus indicates that the watch is LESS, not MORE likely to be a bomb timer.

Sure, maybe the general public would not have realized this. Thing is, it’s obvious that the TSA didn’t realize it either. If the TSA can’t tell the difference between items that are obviously not dangerous from items that are dangerous ... well then, what was the purpose of the TSA again?


113 posted on 12/23/2012 10:13:33 AM PST by Jubal Harshaw
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To: Jubal Harshaw
well then, what was the purpose of the TSA again?

There are twopurposes of the TSA:1.Th make the sheep feel "secure". 2. To condition the sheep to live as slaves.

114 posted on 12/23/2012 10:24:34 AM PST by sport
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To: Mr. K

Amen! Spoken like a true slave.


115 posted on 12/23/2012 10:28:12 AM PST by sport
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To: rockvillem

So does your home. So does your automobile.


116 posted on 12/23/2012 10:30:18 AM PST by sport
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