Posted on 09/22/2007 6:37:50 AM PDT by Turret Gunner A20
http://home.peoplepc.com/psp/newsstory.asp?cat=TopStories&referrer=welcome&id=20070922/46f49340_3ca6_1552620070922-1497302150
Lawyer: Fake Bomb Charge an Overreaction
BOSTON - The MIT student who walked into Logan International Airport wearing a computer circuit board and wiring on her sweat shirt claimed it was harmless artwork. But to troopers who arrested her at gunpoint, it was a fake bomb.
Nineteen-year-old Star Simpson was charged Friday with possessing a hoax device. Her attorney described the charge as offbase and "almost paranoid," arguing at a court hearing that she did not act in a suspicious manner and had told an airport worker that the device was art.
(Excerpt) Read more at home.peoplepc.com ...
The circuit board is obviously a prototyping board. The play dough in the hands is more problematic.
She also founded the school's chess club as a freshman and was inducted into Hawai'i Prep's Cum Laude academic society in her junior year, Kanekuni said.
At this point, I'm voting for "brilliant but clueless" rather than "rabid leftist making a stupid political statement." It may not have occurred to her that this circuit board artwork might look like a bomb to an airport guard.
It's disturbing how many posters on this board are completely certain what to make of every new event, regardless of whether any actual facts are available.
This is precisely the sort of knee-jerk response we rightly criticize on the other side.
She’s very lucky that someone like say, Maverick68, who enjoys coming home to his family every night, didn’t see her walking around with what was an OBVIOUS attempt at making something that resembles a bomb on her back.
But aren’t you making a judgement based on the same info available to us all? Giving someone the benefit of the doubt in this situation simply gets innocent people killed.
“These troopers need to stop watching movies.”
You must be kidding. The troopers didn’t shoot the crazy idiot. They only arrested her. This doesn’t seem like an over-reaction, it seems like a prudent and thoughtful tactic.
Failing to react would have been the foolish move. Or maybe you think the muzzies should just add blinking lights to their bombs?
I waited a day until I could see a photo of the device and read a detailed account. I'm talking about all the posters who immediately assumed, based on the initial two-or-three sentence bulletin, that this was a leftist political stunt.
I agree. She’s brilliant.
Ok, even if I WERE and idiot (some may argue I am regardless, but that’s a whole other topic), I would have the common sense to know exactly what would happen to me if I carried my “artwork” into an airport.
The truth: another leftist trying to make a point, whatever the hell that may be. She did it for the attention, i’d bet my last dollar on it. Lock her arse up and make an example out of her, it’s the only way.
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“In General..and in an IQ range of say 100-180
Common sense is inversely proportional to intelligence.”
IIRC, Jimmuh Carter’s IQ tested out at 177.
Case closed.
(And for anyone who’s surprised at how clueless someone associated with MIT can be, I have two words: Noam Chomsky.)
Wow, she’s lucky she didn’t get a bullet to the head right at the airport with no questions asked. Throw the book at her; her foolish attempt to make a statement.
The cheesy ones with digital clocks ticking down....5 4 3 2 1. I don't know who trains these guys - just how far does their security perimeter extend?
This a repeat of the Great Mooninite Hysteria.
I suspect that somewhere in the Boston/Logan LEO mindset there is some kind of collective guilt for having that extra donut instead of doing their job on 09/11 which compells them to act out like this.
And dumber than dirt.
I wonder if I made a beautiful paper mache gun with a really beatiful handle with rhinestones and walked into her lawyers office...Would he feel it was just an over reaction when he soiled himself and then I told him it was just ....ART!
“...Boston/Logan LEO mindset there is some kind of collective guilt for having that extra donut instead of doing their job on 09/11...”
I am almost speechless at the sheer meanness in this post. It almost matches the wholesale ignorance.
http://www-tech.mit.edu/V127/N40/simpson.html
MIT releases statement, says student’s actions were ‘reckless’
MIT is cooperating with the state police in the investigation, according to a statement released by the MIT News Office this afternoon. “As reported to us by authorities, Ms. Simpson’s actions were reckless and understandably created alarm at the airport,” the statement continues.
“The statement was drafted in a consultation among colleagues who gathered to review the information we had on the incident,” MIT Chancellor Phillip L. Clay PhD ’75 said in an e-mail to The Tech. “We prepared a statement after we discussed what our responsibilities are to the public regarding the incident.”
Clay said that MIT had not spoken with Simpson before issuing the statement.
Clay said that MIT considers Simpson’s actions to be “reckless,” because taking the reported items to an airport could reasonably be foreseen to cause alarm. “We all have a responsibility not to cause alarm and to be mindful of security requirements.”
MIT Police Chief John DiFava likewise said that “reckless” was “not a word that’s inappropriate.” DiFava was the interim public safety director of Logan International Airport for two months immediately following Sept. 11, 2001.
The possibility of a suicide bomber “requires a significant and serious response,” DiFava said. Machine guns are “standard equipment down at Logan,” said DiFava, adding that machine guns are commonly seen at airports overseas. “There was a female party with a device wired on her body and a glob … a substance that looks like C-4, C-5, or Semtex [plastic explosives]. … To have guns drawn, I don’t have a problem with that.”
DiFava said that as he was not at the scene and did not want to second-guess the officers that were there. However, “we don’t know what the witness saw … what kind of a description she gave the police,” DiFava said. “Eyewitnesses are notoriously inaccurate. … We don’t know the details.”
“Still,” DiFava continued, “of all places, an airport; of all airports, Logan. … Logan even confiscates water bottles.” The two planes that struck the World Trade Center on Sept. 11 departed from Logan, and American Airlines Flight 63 was diverted to the airport on Dec. 21, 2001 after Richard Reid attempted to blow up the plane using explosives concealed in his shoe.
Students who are arrested in Boston are instructed in the student-produced How to Get Around MIT guide to call the MIT Police. DiFava said that the police would help any students arrested by contacting deans and family members.
Clay said that MIT provides referrals to lawyers but MIT’s General Counsel Office does not provide legal counsel to members of the community in private or criminal matters. “In general, we advise students to consult with their families and seek legal counsel,” Clay said.
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