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CNN and a a lot of other outlets are reporting that JPL engineer Sidd Bikkannavar, an American-born citizen, was detained at the border when returning from racing solar powered cars overseas.
The border guards demanded he turn over his government-issued NASA phone and its PIN and held him in their detention area.
Bikkannavar also was interviewed by The Verge:
"It was not that they were concerned with me bringing something dangerous in, because they didn't even touch the bags. They had no way of knowing I could have had something in there," he says. "You can say, 'Okay well maybe it's about making sure I'm not a dangerous person,' but they have all the information to verify that."
Bikkannavar says he's still unsure why he was singled out for the electronic search. He says he understands that his name is foreign — its roots go back to southern India. He didn't think it would be a trigger for extra scrutiny, he says. "Sometimes I get stopped and searched, but never anything like this. Maybe you could say it was one huge coincidence that this thing happens right at the travel ban."
Land of the free? Home of the brave?
(Score: 5, Interesting) by AthanasiusKircher on Wednesday February 15 2017, @07:15AM
You know, I've been thinking a lot about the "Star-Spangled Banner" in recent weeks. Actually, I was thinking about it during Trump's inauguration, because there was a lot of debate/criticism of musicians who participated, including Jackie Evancho, who ended up singing the national anthem. Personally, whatever you may think of Trump, I think it was wrong the way people piled on to criticize performers. It's a peaceful transfer of power at a national ceremony. Somebody's gotta sing the anthem -- shouldn't it be somebody good, out of respect for the anthem and the country??
But the thing is -- our practice of singing the first verse of Francis Scott Key's poem is actually quite subversive. How many people realize that almost all of the first verse is actually a series of questions? The end of the first verse is: "Oh say, DOES that Star-Spangled Banner yet [i.e., still] wave o'er the Land of the Free and the Home of the Brave?" Every time I hear the national anthem, I think about this -- and it has nothing to do with recent politics. I realized this decades ago, and it's still striking to me.
Most countries have national anthems that praise the good parts of their country or ask for a deity to watch over it or whatever. Ours is a series of questions -- "Oh say, can you see...? Whose broad stripes and bright stars? Oh say, does it yet wave??"
Yet we forget about that in the way it is mostly sung, the questions too long for us to parse as we listen. And the conclusion is generally sung completely in opposition to the questioning intent of the line, with the long drawn-out ascent on "Land of the Free" (often topped with extra flourish)... long pause... "and the Home of the Brave!!" Play ball!!
Except that's NOT what the lyrics are saying -- they are Francis Scott Key imprisoned outside Fort McHenry worried about whether the flag has still survived the night. Is it still there? Does he (do we) still live in the Land of the Free and the Home of the Brave??
That's what I heard so strongly when Jackie Evancho sang last month, and it's a set of questions we should continuously keep asking ourselves.
--
P.S. If you ever have a chance to hear a performance of more than the first verse, with a decent singer you can really capture the drama of the poem. After the queries and questions of the first verse, with its uncertainty, the second verse begins in the "mists of the deep" before dawn... followed by more questions -- "WHAT IS that which the breeze... half conceals, half discloses?" But then the melody soars -- "Now it catches the gleam of the morning's first beam, [start crescendo] in full glory reflected now shines in the stream... 'TIS THE STAR-SPANGLED BANNER, O long may it wave, o'er the land..." I almost tear up just thinking of that reveal of the flag and that line. We have a truly awesome and dramatic poem as our anthem, but we never get to hear the cool bits. (Last verse is pretty awesome too.)
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday February 15 2017, @08:07AM
Have you ever had liked (most of) the people of a country but profoundly dislike the country (as a political entity)?
(Score: 2, Insightful) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday February 15 2017, @08:56AM
You Americans are obsessed with symbolism. That stuff isn't real.
It just a bunch of words penned by a pompous ass, as are all national anthems.
(Score: 1, Troll) by ewk on Wednesday February 15 2017, @12:39PM
Now... now... don't be too harsh on them US-ians.
After all, they don't have that much history to symbolize.
I don't always react, but when I do, I do it on SoylentNews
(Score: 3, Insightful) by Phoenix666 on Wednesday February 15 2017, @02:21PM
Well that is true. But does long history = advancement/better? Let's see. China brags often about its 5,000 year history. But they have yet to grasp the basics of public sanitation or invent any kind of breakfast beyond rice gruel (zhou). India? Kinda the same on the first score. Then we have the United States, which came from nowhere and in 250 years became the world's sole superpower. So, putter along for 5,000 years, get some things right, fail to master basic toddler skills (societally speaking), mewl about how nobody respects you enough, or shoot straight to the top in 250 years. Nah, you're right. Americans suck and are stupid.
I do understand that so many are revelling in America bashing now. There are so many things to criticize America for. I do a lot of it myself. But amid the tide of media-generated froth let's not overlook remarkable things America has done, and still does. Give credit where credit is due, otherwise your approbation and your praise ring hollow.
Washington DC delenda est.
(Score: 1) by ewk on Wednesday February 15 2017, @05:38PM
Glad you agree. (That takes care of the first four words)
Not sure where I possibly implied where a long history means advancement/better. So, I'll leave that for what it is.
I don't always react, but when I do, I do it on SoylentNews
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday February 16 2017, @02:30PM
Lets see, China is bringing hundreds of millions out of poverty and into a middle class. The young upstart Americans (who skipped the thousands of years of hard bits and just coasted along on their lucky geography of being far away from anyone else, and then the last power standing in a world ware they tried desperately to sit out.) Are going the other way, with the rich poor gap ever widening and sending untold millions into poverty.
(Score: 2) by Runaway1956 on Thursday February 16 2017, @03:27PM
That might be a fair point. But, we really ought to define what you mean by poverty.
The poorest American is a rich sumbitch compared to huge swaths of Africa's population. Very poor Americans are wealthy enough to grow obese subsisting off of welfare. Most poor Americans have a telephone in the home, and I don't mean just a landline. Very poor American families possess an automobile. The poorest of American children attend school.
We may be headed downhill (personally, I think we are) but we can coast a long, long, LONG way before we can be compared to the world's poor nations. Precious few Americans understand what real hunger is. The kind of hunger that just gnaws at you, day after day. I wonder if you have ever experienced such a thing? Oh, silly me - you're on the internet. You don't know what real hunger is. If you miss two meals in a row, you think you're suffering.
How about you just run along, Junior, and get back to us when you have some real life experience with poverty.
(Score: 2) by Phoenix666 on Thursday February 16 2017, @06:50PM
Got it. America got all it got through pure luck. They woke up one morning, and wow! What luck! A trans-continental railroad. They woke up a different morning, and wow! What luck! The Panama Canal. On another morning, wow! Some of our guys wound up on the Moon. Through pure luck! Yup, every single thing, every single time, no planning or effort involved, just dumb luck.
Sure.
China...goodness. Big subject with lots of ups and downs. Thousands of years as a hegemon, lots of tributary states, still didn't give a shit about doing anything meaningful for the regular guy on the street, just more, "Eat bitter, peasants!" Communists killed the opium trade and the practice of foot-binding, and instituted basic literacy and education for citizens, but god help you if you piss off your danwei or fail to give the local party boss his little somethin' somethin'. So, mixed record. But they still haven't mastered public sanitation, breakfast, the most important meal of the day, or how to wait in line until it's your turn, goddammit.
So I stand by my original assertion, that long history does not necessarily mean better, nor does what America has achieved come down to happenstance.
Washington DC delenda est.
(Score: 2) by Runaway1956 on Thursday February 16 2017, @03:20PM
Well, TBH, most of us do suck. It's just a question of what we suck, when, and where. Mostly, you don't want to be caught sucking - it's kinda like picking your nose.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday February 15 2017, @05:28PM
US-ians is a not so subtle attempt to rile up Americans. Try again without being so flaimbaity unless you want to disclose your national origin so we can return the favor.
(Score: 1) by ewk on Wednesday February 15 2017, @06:20PM
Posting as an Anonymous Coward is a not so subtle attempt to rile up people without accepting responsibility for ones post...
I.m.o. an 'American' can be anyone from both the northern or southern part of the American continent.
And since 'an inhabitant from the United States of America' seems a tad over the top, I opted for that other option.
TLDR: Bite me, I am Dutch :-)
PS: Without us the US-ians would probably still be waiting for the first nation to acknowledge them. :-D
http://www.americanheritage.com/content/first-official-salute-american-flag [americanheritage.com]
I don't always react, but when I do, I do it on SoylentNews
(Score: 2) by Runaway1956 on Thursday February 16 2017, @03:30PM
"Bite me, I am Dutch"
That "Kiss me, I'm Irish" thing has worked out nicely for me a couple times. Let me ponder this awhile - ASL? :-)
(Score: 1) by ewk on Thursday February 16 2017, @05:34PM
Trust me... you don't want to go there :-)
Besides... the L you already know.
I don't always react, but when I do, I do it on SoylentNews
(Score: 1) by ewk on Thursday February 16 2017, @07:25AM
YES! My first 'Troll'-rated post :-)
And that with only one line of compassion and another of factual information...
I don't always react, but when I do, I do it on SoylentNews
(Score: 3, Informative) by Phoenix666 on Wednesday February 15 2017, @02:10PM
Yes, right? The French totally aren't stirred by La Marseillaise, or the Cubans by Guantanamera or the English by "God Save the Queen." Oh, wait.
Crazy out-of-control obsession with symbolism is completely the province of Americans, and not like Turkey where insults to Turkishness are punishable by law, or in Thailand where insulting the king is a crime, or North Korea where not showering enough adulation on the God-king can get you fed to wild dogs.
Hmm, did you really think that thought through before writing it down?
Washington DC delenda est.
(Score: 3, Interesting) by AthanasiusKircher on Wednesday February 15 2017, @04:39PM
You Americans are obsessed with symbolism.
I'd hardly identify myself as some sort of jingoistic American. I just find it interesting and somewhat bizarre that we have a national anthem composed of a bunch of questions, and no one seems to notice. When I've pointed this out to other "patriotic" Americans occasionally, sometimes they're actually offended -- as if I've taken something away from the song by pointing out that the first verse ends in a question, not a declaration of greatness about "The Land of the Free and the Home of the Brave!"
That stuff isn't real.
Well, the U.S. anthem text is actually a narrative based on a real historical event, written by someone who was there. That's pretty rare among national anthems too, and the poem certainly wasn't written to become an anthem. Of course it's a poem, so it's written in an "elevated" style, but that doesn't mean there wasn't actually a guy imprisoned on a ship overlooking a fort and wondering whether the British attack had succeeded in the early morning hours when the guns stopped blaring. Had the fort been taken or not? Well, when the sun came up, the flag was still flying there.
Flags weren't "symbols" made important by Americans. Particularly in wartime, the carrying of the flag (or various battle banners) was something taken from European tradition as a critical element of morale, etc.
(Score: 2) by darnkitten on Thursday February 16 2017, @12:34AM
Speakin' of "Jingoism"
(Score: 2) by Runaway1956 on Thursday February 16 2017, @03:17PM
You've got a point. And, the same applies to all of the phiosophers, all of the prophets, all politicians, and that stupid fucking poem inscribed on a stupid fucking copper plate inside of the stupid fucking statue in New York harbor. Now, kindly fuck off and die. You may throw yourself on the point you have just made.
(Score: 2) by butthurt on Wednesday February 15 2017, @12:43PM
It has a few choice words about the British and Canadians:
Their blood has washed out their foul footsteps' pollution!
No refuge could save the hireling and slave
From the terror of flight or the gloom of the grave:
(Score: 5, Interesting) by AthanasiusKircher on Wednesday February 15 2017, @04:25PM
Yeah, but those words are almost NEVER sung. That's from the 3rd verse, which has basically been eliminated from almost all published versions of the song (not the poem itself, but the song as sheet music). The "Star-Spangled Banner" wasn't officially adopted as the national anthem until 1931, but it became popularized in the first couple decades of the 1900s, leading to standardized arrangements for public performance. Since the 3rd verse is mostly about degrading the British, it was dropped around the time of World War I (since the British were our allies), and it never really became standard in songbooks. The few that had it dropped it during WWII as well. (This verse gained attention in recent months for those who wanted to brand the anthem as "racist," though even if you read this passage to be racist -- and there's an argument for it -- the verse has basically never been part of the anthem as sung.)
Typically, songbooks that carry more than the 1st verse generally have the 1st and 4th, or sometimes 1st, 2nd, and 4th verses.
Isaac Asimov even has a short story entitled "No Refuge Could Save" about that 3rd verse, using it to root out a spy. When questioning a suspected spy during WWII, the interrogator said "terror of flight" in a word association, and the spy pretending to be American responded with "gloom of the grave." It is concluded the guy who responded with "gloom of the grave" MUST be a spy who studied up on Americanisms, because (1) few real Americans even know the words to the first verse of the anthem, let alone any additional ones, and (2) even if you might by chance encounter the other verses of the song, the 3rd verse was NEVER sung, and particularly it was eliminated during wartime.
(Score: 3, Funny) by linkdude64 on Wednesday February 15 2017, @03:45PM
This reminds me of an absolute must-watch Onion piece from years ago. "Restoration of the Original Manuscript Reveals New Verses"
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Va2g_2N0t9k [youtube.com]
(Score: 2) by tangomargarine on Wednesday February 15 2017, @04:19PM
Actually, I was thinking about it during Trump's inauguration, because there was a lot of debate/criticism of musicians who participated, including Jackie Evancho, who ended up singing the national anthem. Personally, whatever you may think of Trump, I think it was wrong the way people piled on to criticize performers.
To be fair, celebrities (including musicians) have a long tradition of spouting off about politics, too.
"Is that really true?" "I just spent the last hour telling you to think for yourself! Didn't you hear anything I said?"
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday February 15 2017, @10:10PM
Somebody's gotta sing the anthem -- shouldn't it be somebody good, out of respect for the anthem and the country??
Why the blind respect? What has it done for you that affected you in a positive fashion in the last couple of years...? Actually, make that decades. Does it really deserve that respect? Think carefully before you answer.
Additionally, your argument falls dangerously close to "just following orders". It's like saying "I applaud this thing, even though I know it will lead to badness, but it's what we do, so let's close our eyes and just keep marching on"
(Score: 2) by Runaway1956 on Thursday February 16 2017, @03:15PM
You have pondered Key's situation, and thought it through pretty thoroughly.
Have you ever considered that in every war, and even in many battles, people are still asking those questions in this day and age? Americans haven't seriously pondered those questions in recent memory, but a number of other countries have. Pretty much all of eastern Europe, Russia, several Asian countries, and maybe even China. (China is rather unique, they may never have questioned their continued existence, but surely, they questioned their future path, several times in the last century.)
And, there will be wars going forward.
Our poem will remain appropriate for all of the foreseeable future, and a lot more beyond.