Does anyone else feel sickened by the news about the 21 year old girl who was arrested recently for making a joke about having bombs in her aeroplane luggage?

In my opinion, if the Americans decide to throw the book at her she deserves everything she gets, carrying bombs is NOT something you joke about, especially in this day and age with the Americans constantly getting their knickers in a twist over every little security issue no matter how significant or otherwise it is.


Anyone else have thoughts on this?

Yeah my thoughts are that the Yanks are absolutely ****ing pathetic. It was a joke, everyone involved knows it was a joke - quite how the hell they can arrest her and keep her locked up for a few days is disgraceful. I've been with people who have said similar things while going through customs, usually you get a laugh and move on but no the Yanks have to lock you up and charge some ridiculous bail to get you back out. It's about time America got itself a sense of humour.

I agree with the americans. Make an example out of her.
If some person joked about having not just one bomb but 3 bombs like she did. Repeatedly. On a flight I was due to board and the staff laughed it off.... I'd go ape.

NO, I'm sorry even I know not to joke about that sort of stuff and I'm the kind of person who would do that.

She deserves to know what she did was totally unacceptable.
No - she shouldn't get 15 yrs (like it says she is looking at on the news) but I think what she's had so far is enough.

Originally posted by DaBouncer
I agree with the americans. Make an example out of her.
If some person joked about having not just one bomb but 3 bombs like she did.

I could not agree more - she is very wrong. Although yes I think 15 years is harsh.

Yeah Right! Bombs are really funny, especially on planes where there's no escape. I t would scare the life out of me. Our personal security and safety is no joke. We all have the right to feel safe and these silly attention seeking pranksters take that away from us. There's a time and place for jokes.

Being that they had her luggage and could quite easily see she had no bombs makes a rather large difference though. Maybe I'm just not as paranoid as you lot but it really doesn't bother me in the slightest.

Not having a bomb in her 'hand luggage' doesn't mean she didn't have a bomb in her under carriage luggage.

It's not paranoia, it's common sense.

According to the arrest report, Miss Marson placed her bag on the belt at a security check, telling a Transportation Security Administration screener: "Hey be careful, I have three bombs in here" - before allegedly repeating the joke twice more when confronted by officials - more (http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/england/shropshire/3417847.stm)

It's not like she casually said it once as a joke - according to the report she said it multiple times. Doesn't this strike you as slightly worrying about her personality? In the same story it says "Her father said she was childish and not very worldly".

Originally posted by Geoff
It's not like she casually said it once as a joke - according to the report she said it multiple times. Doesn't this strike you as slightly worrying about her personality? In the same story it says "Her father said she was childish and not very worldly".

Diabolical.... regardless of what, where or how she said it - it was WRONG !! Bombs are NOT a joke and I agree with Geoff it is very worrying.

From what we see & read bombs can be very easily concealed and also small - who knows where the hell she could have hidden then if she was serious. To be honest I'm not paranoid but I do take these things seriously - after events of the past few years I dont think our safety is something to be joked about.

Originally posted by Geoff
[i]It's not like she casually said it once as a joke - according to the report she said it multiple times. Doesn't this strike you as slightly worrying about her personality?

First rule of comedy - if people don't laugh at your joke first time then shut up. It isn't going to get any funnier repeating it a second or third time - in fact it will become significantly less funny so let it go and stop digging. She kept digging and will now have to pay a price to get out of the idiotic hole she dug.

Originally posted by Zamo
First rule of comedy - if people don't laugh at your joke first time then shut up.
:lol: Yeah, it's always sad to see a comedian burn out at such a young age.

Originally posted by Zamo
First rule of comedy - if people don't laugh at your joke first time then shut up. It isn't going to get any funnier repeating it a second or third time - in fact it will become significantly less funny so let it go and stop digging. She kept digging and will now have to pay a price to get out of the idiotic hole she dug.

Spot on Zamo. Perhaps we can write a similar joke for Jim Davidson, send him to America and say This joke'll go down a bomb over there.:D :D

Lol, they'd cart him off to Fort Knox for that.... everyone knows the Americans are over-sensitive about everything since 9/11.... But the girl in this case should've known better at age 21, a teenager yeah, I could just about put it past them to make a retarded joke like that but not an "adult"...

I agree with fnkysknky

I'm obviously not as paranoid as everybody else.
It seems like everybody has jumped on the hysterior bandwagon here.

Bags get searched, x-rayed etc. No bombs will get through in suitcases, i'm sure.
I'm suprised anyone outside America would be so stupid as to be worried by this (albeit bad taste) joke. I can see why airport security are offended by it, but they were surely never worried. She's just been punished for offending people. That's all. And it's ridiculous.

Fifteen years - acceptable for this type of thing is it? You gotta be kidding me.

She's now known throughout the world (and rightly so) for being a pillock. That, together with her bail money and her time spent locked up so far, is suffice.

I cant sleep for worrying about her! They only did it to make a point after we stopped a bloke over here the other day who had boarded a flight in the good old U.S and landed here with bullets on him.

Originally posted by jackthedog
I agree with fnkysknky

I'm obviously not as paranoid as everybody else.
It seems like everybody has jumped on the hysterior bandwagon here.

Bags get searched, x-rayed etc. No bombs will get through in suitcases, i'm sure.
I'm suprised anyone outside America would be so stupid as to be worried by this (albeit bad taste) joke. I can see why airport security are offended by it, but they were surely never worried. She's just been punished for offending people. That's all. And it's ridiculous.

Fifteen years - acceptable for this type of thing is it? You gotta be kidding me.

She's now known throughout the world (and rightly so) for being a pillock. That, together with her bail money and her time spent locked up so far, is suffice.

But since 9/11 the Americans will always get their knickers in a twist over EVERY little security issue whether it's a daft joke, real or whatever....

These days people should be AWARE of that and not make stupid jokes like this in the first place, there's some things in life you just DON'T crack jokes about.

Should the price for telling a bad joke be 15 years imprisonment?

Originally posted by jackthedog
Should the price for telling a bad joke be 15 years imprisonment?
I don't know where the 15 years comes from - I read 6 months on the BBC website and I doubt she'll even get that.

What she did was a bit like people who make false 999 calls. It takes resources away from where they are needed and can therefore put people in increased danger. Perhaps that bloke with the bullets slipped through whilst they were interviewing her?!?!?!;)

I believe it was stupid and wrong to say what she did (and if she did repeat it twice more even more stupid) but given her age, I think she has probably suffered enough.

Come on, she's only a kid.

If it had been someone more mature, I think the authorities would have been right to treat her with more severity.

Originally posted by Sam Miguel
come on, she's only a kid.
She's 21 and has therefore been an 'adult' for 3 years already! But yes, I agree that she has probably now suffered enough. The best punishment would be for her to go and visit the survivors of terrorist attacks and help them out - i.e. community service.

Originally posted by Zamo
What she did was a bit like people who make false 999 calls. It takes resources away from where they are needed and can therefore put people in increased danger.
I don't think so. From the sounds of things, it was obvious she was a naive young girl trying to be funny, not an actual threat to the plane.
Originally posted by Zamo
Perhaps that bloke with the bullets slipped through whilst they were interviewing her?!?!?!;)
Which to me goes to show how ludicrous this whole thing is. If an actual terrorist did get on the plane because the security staff were busy trying to make an example of some dumb student, that would be pretty scandalous. Their resources should be put towards trying to stop people blowing up planes, not telling offensive jokes.

Originally posted by Geoff
She's 21 and has therefore been an 'adult' for 3 years already! But yes, I agree that she has probably now suffered enough. The best punishment would be for her to go and visit the survivors of terrorist attacks and help them out - i.e. community service.

Ah, my mistake, I thought that she much younger. That does put a slightly different perspective on it.

She really ought to have known better at that age.

Had she been drinking does anyone know?

Originally posted by Sam Miguel
Ah, my mistake, I thought that she much younger. That does put a slightly different perspective on it.

She really ought to have known better at that age.

Had she been drinking does anyone know?
No, I don't think she even have the decency to be p*ssed.

Travelling on a British passport and not lagged for the flight home?!? This unforgivable break with the traditions of British aviation travel deserves the hardest of punishments itself! :mad:

It's absolutely unthinkable, isn't it.

Even if you haven't got any money or booze for the flight, you can always tap the pilots - you'll find them in the bar.

I just heard that this girl has been signed up by both Max Clifford (to cover her PR) and also by Simon Cowell who has announced she will shortly be releasing a cover of Shaggy's "It wasn't me".

I know not if this is true.

---
PS. I can't believe it's Thursday - this thread has a certain Friday afternoon feel to it!

Being new to the forum, I've got to ask what gives a thread a Friday afternoon feeling?

Well for the majority of bored office workers, the weekend starts after lunch on a Friday. The remaining part of the day is spent reading those forwarded jokes you always get, posting stupid/funny posts on forums like this one and generally counting down the hours until you can get home for the weekend.

Originally posted by jackthedog
I agree with fnkysknky

I'm obviously not as paranoid as everybody else.
It seems like everybody has jumped on the hysterior bandwagon here.

Bags get searched, x-rayed etc. No bombs will get through in suitcases, i'm sure.
I'm suprised anyone outside America would be so stupid as to be worried by this (albeit bad taste) joke. I can see why airport security are offended by it, but they were surely never worried. She's just been punished for offending people. That's all. And it's ridiculous.

Fifteen years - acceptable for this type of thing is it? You gotta be kidding me.

She's now known throughout the world (and rightly so) for being a pillock. That, together with her bail money and her time spent locked up so far, is suffice.

No I'm afraid she will get what she deserves.

This law (which is also a law here) was around long before 9/11 like it said she repeated herself twice.

As for bombs will get picked up in x-rays security scans etc, what about the bloke the other day who brought bullets in his baggage it was us brits who stopped him. And he was on the route that at the same time was ful of security alerts with cancelled/delayed planes, although he didn't travel BA it was a Virgin flight.

As mentioned bombs can be very small look at the shoe bomber. You can not joke about things like this, they are not jokes. What if she had psycratic problems really did have bombs in there booby trapped to go off if the bag was opened, so saying (like somene has) that they would check her hand luggage and see she was lying is silly. What may have happened was the airport evacuted whilr they waited for the bomb squad. Lots of people in that airport would be saying 15 years for a sentance.

Jubby

Originally posted by jubby
What if she had psycratic problems really did have bombs in there booby trapped to go off if the bag was opened, so saying (like somene has) that they would check her hand luggage and see she was lying is silly.

That's why they use x-ray machines.

What good would it do to lock the girl away for 15 years?

Absolutely none. It's way over the top.

Don't you think that she will have got the message by now? I reckon so. I think the fact that she was arrested and locked up in the first place will have made a lot of people think.

Originally posted by Sam Miguel
What good would it do to lock the girl away for 15 years?

Absolutely none. It's way over the top.

Indeed

Chances are that she'll be flagged up on their immigration database as having been arrested by them etc and find it slightly more difficult to get in the USA from now on, with the Red, Amber, Green system they now have. More than enough punishment some might say.

But this is the Americans we're talking about.... they'll probably bang her up to send a "message" to other people thinking of doing anything like it....

You know, use her as a political scapegoat or something.

God they're stupid over there.

Originally posted by fnkysknky
That's why they use x-ray machines.
bullets are metal didn't see them on the x-ray machine in D.C now did they!!!

Originally posted by jubby
bullets are metal didn't see them on the x-ray machine in D.C now did they!!!

What has them being metal have to do with it? You use an x-ray to see inside something, you have metal detectors to check if it's metal...

i hope she gets 6 months the silly idiot. Those people do their best to keep us safe. Everyones moaning on about how they go OTT well i for one am glad they do because the whole world would complain if they made the slightest slip up and let something through. Why they should be joked about is beyond me theyre trying to save lives and ill feel safer flying if they carry on being so 'OTT' Saving lives and stopping dangerous fools boarding planes is not something to be laughed at its a serious matter.
Then again if she gets 6 months so should many other crimes that dont get severe enough punishments.

"the jury finds the defendent guilty on all charges of making a bad joke..."


Oh come on. :roll:

No I think she's had enough now.
It was stupid and she deserved to be locked up, but he's been sent down in an American holding Jail for a week or so... they've paid a couple of grand in bail.

She's scarred to death, so I reckon that is enough for her.

However it serves her right for making the same stupid, irresponsible, outragous, dangerous and not the least bit funny joke... not once.... but 3 times (even when asked by authorities... I mean hello:loopy: ).

How thick can you be :roll:

Erm... ok, I orignally thought she was younger, and now I've found out she's 21 I feel a little less morally righteous, however I've got a couple of points I'd like to make (don't leave jsut yet guys... guys...? guys?!)

1) Prison is meant to be a correctional institute. i.e. it is supposed to teach you the error of your ways. I don't believe locking up an idiot will make them intelligent, or learn from their experiences.

2) If you had a bomb on you, and were fulling intending to detonate it on an aeroplane, would you repeat the same line three times to the people scanning your bag???

3) They had an x-ray machine! For christ's sake! Did they even try looking in her bag?

4) That's it really. That sort of stupidity deserves financial punishment, not physical incarceration

She's already had financial punishment, and done a spell under lock and key. And she's now known - worldwide - as a fool.

She's paid for her stupidity. I can guarantee she'll never do it again. Leave her be now.

One of the main reasons for the threat of prison is to warn anyone else who may be thinking of doing the same thing. It seems to have worked in spades in this case. The international exposure of the possible consequences of 'joking' about bombs in US airports will hopefully drive home the message 'it's not funny'. Whether or not they imprison her is immaterial, the message is that anyone doing it in the future faces the prospect of 15 years in a US jail.

What crime were/are they intending to charge her with?

Probably some new U.S law they'll invent like: "U.S over-sensitivity underestimation" or something.

Originally posted by Agent Dan
1) Prison is meant to be a correctional institute. i.e. it is supposed to the experience! It will also make other people learn.
teach you the error of your ways. I don't believe locking up an idiot will make them intelligent, or learn from their experiences.

Prison is also a form of punishment. You're right, it won't make her more intelligent but I think you're wrong that it won't make her learn from it. It also sends a message that others will learn from.

Originally posted by Agent Dan
2) If you had a bomb on you, and were fulling intending to detonate it on an aeroplane, would you repeat the same line three times to the people scanning your bag???

Maybe but, like someone already said, most bombers are likely to be a couple of sarni's short of a picnic. You could also have a case of a suicide bomber changing their minds when faced with the reality of it. They had no choice but to take it seriously even if it was 99.9% certain she was just being an idiot.

Originally posted by Agent Dan
3) They had an x-ray machine! For christ's sake! Did they even try looking in her bag?
It is unlikely the bomb will be made from of sticks of dynamite with a clock on top. They are actually hard to spot as it is easy to disguise a small amount plastic explosive and then assemble a detonator on the plane from components also hidden.

Originally posted by Agent Dan
4) That's it really. That sort of stupidity deserves financial punishment, not physical incarceration
Matter of opinion. By the way she hasn't paid for it financial yet either. She's paid a bond (bail) which she'd lose if she doesn't attend the hearing but gets it back if she does.

Originally posted by fnkysknky
What crime were/are they intending to charge her with?
Falsely reporting a bomb.

Quoting from the Sun for a change! More info about "our Samantha" who has now come home (http://www.thesun.co.uk/article/0,,2-2004032936,00.html)

Incidentally, when I went on a plane to the US, we had to fill this form in while in the air. I dont know what it was called, but it was to do with entry clearance or a visa waiver.

You had to answer various questions, one of which was something like "Are you coming to the US to plot or carry out terrorist actions?".

Yes I know it is a bizarre question, but I would imagine that if you ticked "yes" for a joke, they wouldnt let you in then either.

Some things are not funny and bombs on planes are one such thing.

Glad she is coming home though, if I was her I wouldnt go back either....

Just found this on www.ananova.com

Goodness me some people are beyond mental!


"A woman has been arrested after telling airport check-in staff she had a bomb in her luggage.

The 48-year-old arrived late at Newcastle Airport for an easyJet flight to Paris this afternoon, and became aggressive when she was told she could not catch the plane.

The woman, who comes from South Tyneside, made threats towards staff that she had a bomb in her luggage, a Northumbria Police spokeswoman said.

She is being questioned this afternoon by officers."

You can't believe that people like that exist, can you? I mean, whe the girl said it it was something out of the blue, but to do it while it's topical.....

Well, dig my parrot's head up, please!

Here's the 2 peneth from Sky News.........


BOMB JOKER ARRESTED

A woman has been arrested at Newcastle Airport after telling check-in staff she had a bomb in her luggage.


It comes after British student Samantha Marson, 21, was arrested at Miami airport after joking with staff she had three bombs in her bag.

The 48-year-old arrived late at Newcastle Airport for an easyJet flight to Paris and became aggressive when told she could not catch the plane.

The woman, who comes from South Tyneside, made threats towards staff that she had a bomb in her luggage, a Northumbria Police spokeswoman said.

She is being questioned this afternoon by officers.

Marson faces 15 years in a US court if convicted.

She later admitted her remarks were "the most stupid thing in the world ever".

http://www.sky.com/skynews/article/0,,30000-1120480,00.html

Meh, people are stupid....

They should throw the book at the likes of her and that 21 year old to send a message to other idiots who are considering doing anything like it.

Perhaps a few years at George W Bush or Her Majesty's pleasure will teach them not to be so daft in future.

Yeah throw the book at them and lock them up for 15 years then let Maxine Carr out in a few months. This planet is ****ed...

The latest woman to say she had a bomb in her bag did so FIVE times to officers and has been banned from EasyJet flights forever :thumbsup:

can i also make the point the first girl didnt actually pay the fine some business man who heard about her paid it for her so she got off very lightly

Originally posted by kittykat
can i also make the point the first girl didnt actually pay the fine some business man who heard about her paid it for her so she got off very lightly
This is true but I understand the charges haven't been dropped and she's expected to return for the hearing. If she doesn't then I suspect that business man will be coming looking for his money!

Originally posted by kittykat
can i also make the point the first girl didnt actually pay the fine some business man who heard about her paid it for her so she got off very lightly
I thought it was The Sun wot got her back.

From Sky News.......


BOMB 'JOKER' WALKS FREE

A British student arrested after "joking" that she was taking bombs on to a London-bound flight has been freed by a court in Miami.

But Samantha Marson, 21, has been told to give £650 to a fund supporting victims' families from the September 11 attacks.


Marson spent four nights in a Miami jail after making the "foolish" joke during a baggage check at Miami International Airport.

She was about to board a British Airways flight to London on January 17 to renew her visa.

Police said she told a Transportation Security Administration official during a baggage check: "Hey be careful, I have three bombs in here."

Asked to repeat herself, she allegedly made the same statement twice more. She was arrested and charged.

After being bailed from Miami Dade County Jail four days later, she said she was "really very sorry" for the "foolish mistake".

She added: "This is a warning for everybody who wants to play stupid jokes not to do that. I wasn't thinking, that was my problem."

Good stuff I reckon.

Meh, in my opinion the daft bitch should've been made an example of.

Apologies for the language.

I've heard her boyfriend is a US Marine, now by rights she should be banned from the US, is this the case.??

Jubby

Please don't start new threads on the same topic. I merged your post Lindseyw with the original one - it wasn't too hard to find it on the search ;)

Just a friendly reminder from your picky admin :P