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posted by mrpg on Saturday January 20 2018, @03:23PM   Printer-friendly
from the play-stupid-games dept.

A film crew linked to cable business news channel CNBC was arrested at Newark Liberty International Airport in New Jersey on Thursday after attempting to sneak a fake bomb through airport security.

Seven members of a cable TV crew working for the Endemol Shine Group, which contracts with CNBC, were arrested for the attempt, which the Transportation Security Administration determined was not a threat. According to CBS's New York City local affiliate, the seven suspects told investigators they were part of the "Staten Island Hustle" show.

The prop "had all the markings of an improvised explosive device," according to a TSA spokeswoman.

"At the same time, others in the group covertly filmed the encounter," she added.

Port Authority police said it has charged the seven crew members with conspiracy to create a public alarm, among other charges.

Source: TheHill


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  • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Saturday January 20 2018, @03:45PM (4 children)

    by Anonymous Coward on Saturday January 20 2018, @03:45PM (#625174)

    Want proof? You're reading this article right now. Fuck lowbrow nazis.

    • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Saturday January 20 2018, @04:04PM (2 children)

      by Anonymous Coward on Saturday January 20 2018, @04:04PM (#625181)

      I dont mind at all a movie like this being produced when the producers end up in jail for a few years. That is where idiots and system abusers need to be, behind bars, restrained from polluting the gene and meme pool with their stupidity.

      • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Saturday January 20 2018, @04:26PM

        by Anonymous Coward on Saturday January 20 2018, @04:26PM (#625185)

        Off to a camp! Das ist die Endlösung!

      • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Saturday January 20 2018, @09:21PM

        by Anonymous Coward on Saturday January 20 2018, @09:21PM (#625311)

        Gotta preserve that genetic purity! MASTER RACE!@!

    • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Saturday January 20 2018, @10:41PM

      by Anonymous Coward on Saturday January 20 2018, @10:41PM (#625367)

      Nazis???

      Are they National Socialists? I don't think so. Which party are you talking about anyway? The film crew or the TLA thugs?

      Exactly.

  • (Score: 3, Interesting) by looorg on Saturday January 20 2018, @04:33PM (2 children)

    by looorg (578) on Saturday January 20 2018, @04:33PM (#625186)

    "Staten Island Hustle" follows a group of animated, life-long friends and businessmen from Staten Island who've yet to come up with an idea or product too far-fetched for them to invest in. Without MBAs (or even college degrees) these men prove that grit, ingenuity, and street smarts may be the real key to success. Of course, it helps that somebody's always "got a guy" with the right connection or a good hook-up.

    I had never even heard of this show but apparently it's supposed to be about the above mentioned. So how exactly does a fake bomb at an airport fit into that? I can't really seem to make the connection.

    • (Score: 4, Insightful) by idiot_king on Saturday January 20 2018, @04:57PM (1 child)

      by idiot_king (6587) on Saturday January 20 2018, @04:57PM (#625195)

      Sneaking a fake bomb into an airport hardly seems to be that "ingenuity" they're attempting to expound upon

      • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Sunday January 21 2018, @01:48AM

        by Anonymous Coward on Sunday January 21 2018, @01:48AM (#625467)

        Well, yeah. But they knew a guy and the rest is ... news.

  • (Score: 1, Funny) by Anonymous Coward on Saturday January 20 2018, @05:08PM (1 child)

    by Anonymous Coward on Saturday January 20 2018, @05:08PM (#625204)

    Come on... Maybe they need lessons from Clockboy,

    • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Sunday January 21 2018, @05:01AM

      by Anonymous Coward on Sunday January 21 2018, @05:01AM (#625518)

      You forget that doing math or using linux at an airport is enough to make you suspect. No wires or portions of vacuum cleaners required.

  • (Score: 3, Insightful) by BK on Saturday January 20 2018, @05:35PM (1 child)

    by BK (4868) on Saturday January 20 2018, @05:35PM (#625215)

    Good. It's still theater, but if ever there was a case begging to be used to set an example, this is it.

    --
    ...but you HAVE heard of me.
  • (Score: 5, Insightful) by requerdanos on Saturday January 20 2018, @05:58PM (8 children)

    by requerdanos (5997) Subscriber Badge on Saturday January 20 2018, @05:58PM (#625218) Journal

    We have all the elements of incompetents at work here in places of undeserved power and screwing up bigly.

    "Seven members of a cable TV crew... were arrested for" something that "was not a threat", even in the judgment of "the Transportation Security Administration."

    Fail.

    "Port Authority police... charged the... crew... with conspiracy to create a public alarm" despite the fact that, from the story, you can tell that they were engaged in a conspiracy for no one to notice--the opposite of 'public alarm.'

    Fail.

    I have not been accosted by terrorists, armed or otherwise, even 1% as often as I have been accosted by armed incompetents in positions of authority and power, especially transport police (such as MARTA cops in Atlanta) and TSA (every time I fly). And I've spent time in Southwest Asia and Northern Africa, including Egypt and Saudi Arabia (Seeing the Sphinx and Giza Pyramids, visiting Saudi Aramco, shopping in random middle eastern markets, visiting the nice shopping malls in Dammam), supposedly areas brimming with hostile anti-American terror.

    It's not just me--run the numbers. How many affected directly by terror threats and attacks? Sure, many thousands. But how many directly affected by armed pseudocops who don't know about the protections against unreasonable search and seizure formerly offered by the fourth amendment? Millions daily and counting.

    I know it's kind of a 'captain obvious' observation, but this is a loss for me--and my fellow citizens--and a win for opposing forces such as terrorists and anarchists of all stripes. Plus, any idiot who wants to attack a crowd, can still do it easily, no matter these jerks harass me or anyone else, so there is no net benefit to safety at all--perhaps a negative benefit, even, in that some less than clever people might actually falsely believe that they are safer when harassed.

    Honest question for the community: Is my position extreme or odd, or is it pretty mainstream? Thanks.

    • (Score: 2, TouchĂ©) by Crash on Saturday January 20 2018, @06:35PM

      by Crash (1335) on Saturday January 20 2018, @06:35PM (#625237)

      Honest question for the community: Is my position extreme or odd, or is it pretty mainstream?

      Yes.

    • (Score: 5, Insightful) by AthanasiusKircher on Saturday January 20 2018, @08:07PM (1 child)

      by AthanasiusKircher (5291) on Saturday January 20 2018, @08:07PM (#625270) Journal

      Honest question for the community: Is my position extreme or odd, or is it pretty mainstream? Thanks.

      Within this "community"? Your position is likely pretty mainstream. Within the U.S. public at large? You are an extreme outlier.

      Most of the public is driven by fear. And their objection to the TSA (if it exists at all) mostly has to do with complaining about taking their shoes off or delays in lines. Concerns about warrants and abstract arguments about privacy are basically meaningless blabber to them. Sure, they'll be a story every few months about some outrageous thing -- some kid or old person with a hip replacement asked to do something ridiculous and embarrassing for the TSA, or somebody's phone will be searched in a ridiculous way. And there will be outrage for a few hours on social media... until everyone goes back to their regularly scheduled cat videos. And even if they were vaguely motivated to take 2 minutes while sitting on the couch and sign an online petition they don't understand, all of that motivation will be instantly dissipated when some random mentally ill dude attacks a few people somewhere and is branded a "terrorist." At which point, "We gotta protected ourselves from the evil dudes" takes over again, no matter how irrational the fears may be or the disparity between the extreme unlikelihood of being a victim of a legit terrorist attack vs. the much, much greater likelihood of having their rights violated regularly by government officials.

      • (Score: 4, Funny) by requerdanos on Saturday January 20 2018, @08:13PM

        by requerdanos (5997) Subscriber Badge on Saturday January 20 2018, @08:13PM (#625272) Journal

        That's so plausible that it's scary.

        There's a fine line between +1 Insightful and +1 Inducing Crippling Depression. You, sir, are obliterating it.

    • (Score: 2) by frojack on Saturday January 20 2018, @09:36PM (2 children)

      by frojack (1554) on Saturday January 20 2018, @09:36PM (#625322) Journal

      We have all the elements of incompetents at work here in places of undeserved power and screwing up bigly.
      "Seven members of a cable TV crew... were arrested for" something that "was not a threat", even in the judgment of "the Transportation Security Administration."
      Fail.

      How often should the general public suffer delayed flights, missed connections, while the TSA does a detailed forensic analysis of yet another "maybe fake bomb" attempt would it take to satisfy you?

      Would it be ok if each passenger so delayed got one free swing with their carry-on at your head for every such attempt you so glibly justify?

      --
      No, you are mistaken. I've always had this sig.
      • (Score: 5, Insightful) by requerdanos on Saturday January 20 2018, @10:17PM (1 child)

        by requerdanos (5997) Subscriber Badge on Saturday January 20 2018, @10:17PM (#625350) Journal

        delayed flights, missed connections, while the TSA does a detailed forensic analysis of yet another "maybe fake bomb" attempt... Would it be ok if each passenger so delayed got one free swing with their carry-on at your head for every such attempt you so glibly justify?

        You speak as if delayed flights, missed connections, detailed forensic analyses are good, normal, and right. They aren't.

        In the old days, pre-2001, you went through "Airport Security."

        They x-rayed your stuff, maybe you walked through a metal detector and maybe not, and they used their judgment.

        Air travel was 99 and 44/100% safe then, as now.

        You might want to sit down if you're standing before reading this: If you had nothing appearing threatening, you passed through without hassle, without antagonism. The "hassle" is not a given. Everyone was on the same team. You were not then, as you are now, automatically assumed to be an airborne suicide bomber just by virtue of purchasing an air ticket, until proven otherwise.

        If you had something sharp, explosive, ominous-looking, odd, etc., the airport security folks made a judgment call as to whether you were a threat. Mostly and correctly, their judgment was "no threat." == no hassle. Pass. If you were judged to be a threat, maybe they would take your dangerous stuff and send you through. Only if there was some actual danger to people because of you--these situations existed (but, note, clearly didn't in the case of the TV crew in TFS/TFA)*--would you be arrested and possibly charged. And everyone else would make their flight in any case.

        If you had a gun, bazooka, fake bomb, etc, you might or might not miss your flight (everyone else would go right ahead, and the flight would not wait for you). And in the case of that "not a bomb," you would would likely just get a pass and possibly even an apology.

        This isn't glib justification, as you claim. It's that I've seen it done both ways, and the current privacy-raping jackbooted-thug way is the wrong one, and the respectful, security-focused old way was much, much better.

        ----------
        * It boggles my mind that so many, including authorities, miss this salient fact.

        • (Score: 3, Interesting) by bradley13 on Sunday January 21 2018, @08:04AM

          by bradley13 (3053) on Sunday January 21 2018, @08:04AM (#625559) Homepage Journal

          This. I used to fly a lot for my job. I would park my car, walk to the terminal, hand in my suitcase at the ticket counter, walk through security without having to wait, and walk onto the plane. One time, when I was running late and basically jogged the whole way, I went from sitting in my car to sitting in the airplane in 20 minutes.

          Now you're supposed to show up at the airport at least 90 minutes before your flight, meaning you'd better be parking your car a solid 2 hours before the flight time. If you add up all the hours wasted, you come up with - literally - thousands of lifetimes per year. Really, it's nuts. On top of that, it is entirely clear that the terrorist threat is negligible: just look at those soft targets of thousands of people waiting in security lines.

          --
          Everyone is somebody else's weirdo.
    • (Score: 1, Insightful) by Anonymous Coward on Saturday January 20 2018, @09:50PM (1 child)

      by Anonymous Coward on Saturday January 20 2018, @09:50PM (#625337)

      you can tell that they were engaged in a conspiracy for no one to notice--the opposite of 'public alarm.'

      "Hey lets try and sneak some random shit through that's bomb-looking and then broadcast to the world how these guys can't catch something truly threatening!"

      Conspiracy to create public alarm is actually highly accurate, in my opinion, but given they knowingly weren't transporting an actual device, that should not be a crime but a misunderstanding.

      • (Score: 2) by requerdanos on Saturday January 20 2018, @10:20PM

        by requerdanos (5997) Subscriber Badge on Saturday January 20 2018, @10:20PM (#625354) Journal

        lets...broadcast to the world how these guys can't catch something truly threatening!

        A problem with that, of course, is that a "not-a-bomb" is not truly threatening.

        If someone with a not-a-bomb is passed right through, that means the system works.

        It doesn't; it's broken.

  • (Score: 2) by krishnoid on Saturday January 20 2018, @08:40PM (1 child)

    by krishnoid (1156) on Saturday January 20 2018, @08:40PM (#625285)

    Anyone know how/where to search for the full list of charges? I was curious if it was just a couple major charges, some major and some minor, or a whole list of random ones.

    • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Sunday January 21 2018, @12:00AM

      by Anonymous Coward on Sunday January 21 2018, @12:00AM (#625408)

      Court dockets are often on the web. Put "docket" somewhere in your search string to improve your chances.

  • (Score: 1, Interesting) by Anonymous Coward on Saturday January 20 2018, @08:46PM (2 children)

    by Anonymous Coward on Saturday January 20 2018, @08:46PM (#625287)

    I'd buy a birthday cake from the supermarket, carefully save the box, and then refill it with my own cake.

    The cake would be 100% standard except for one minor substitution. I think that powdered sugar is not as nice as sodium perchlorate. I like lots of frosting.

    Note: no unexplained density, no excess nitrogen

    A more difficult one to do: tin-plated potassium leg braces, plus a cardboard/sandpaper nail file.

    Another: an apparent medical oxygen tank filled with MAPP gas (for explosion) or nickle carbonyl (for poison)

    • (Score: 2) by frojack on Saturday January 20 2018, @09:38PM

      by frojack (1554) on Saturday January 20 2018, @09:38PM (#625324) Journal

      Please step over here and breath out of your tank for 3 minute sir.

      --
      No, you are mistaken. I've always had this sig.
    • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Sunday January 21 2018, @11:12PM

      by Anonymous Coward on Sunday January 21 2018, @11:12PM (#625864)

      You'd fail the chemical swaps and dog tests. Most people don't take cakes onto planes. That alone will get you noticed.

      Shooting everyone at the security line would be more effective.

  • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Sunday January 21 2018, @04:07PM (1 child)

    by Anonymous Coward on Sunday January 21 2018, @04:07PM (#625679)

    As I was scouting to see if I could get one through? What about trying to get c4 through but with no detonation device.

    And , to all of you who are inconvenienced. Ask yourself, if your loved ones got blown up, will you still take that stance ? If you are that principled, you're better than I ....

    • (Score: 1) by Sabriel on Monday January 22 2018, @09:41AM

      by Sabriel (6522) on Monday January 22 2018, @09:41AM (#626012)

      That works both ways, AC. Ask yourself, what stance will you take if your loved ones get blown up, while they stood waiting in that very long, very large, very unnecessary bullseye queue?

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