4 ms·

The problem is that it's not a crime to be an idiot. A lonely teenager who's already angsty gets into a flame war with an internet troll. That happens every da

The problem is that it's not a crime to be an idiot. A lonely teenager who's already angsty gets into a flame war with an internet troll. That happens every day. And much worse things are said between people. What happened here is a dumb kid was dumb, and either the troll or some busy-body made the call to the cops. And, more importantly, an over-achieving DA with aspirations of being a district court judge thought this case could make her career - "Stopped a terrorist threat" would be a great line in her website, and she will get a whole bunch of publicity down in not-shit-ever-really-happensville Texas. Meaning she will be able to use this to campaign on later if she prevails. None of this is about the idiot kid. It's all about political ambition and cops doing what they do best - terrorize the weak and the innocent.

spacemanmatt 13y ago
There's also a judge who deserves a heaping portion of blame for abject failure to hold the cops to any reasonable standard of 4th amendment rigor. What probably happened is they got a bunch of classified information from the FBI and hastily constructed a very poor "parallel construction" which they are now seeing fall apart.
jessedhillon 13y ago
Actually it is often a crime to be an idiot, and it's quite appropriate. For example, in OP's case of the delayed El Al flight, yes it's a crime to declare to someone who might reasonably believe you that you're bringing a bomb on board. And so yeah, also, only months after Newtown and Aurora to declare that you're going to shoot up a school can be a crime -- although 8-10 years is beyond all proportion and reasonableness. But, especially if you have a history of expressing suicidal and other violent sentiments online, that's a quite reasonable thing for someone to think.
- zacinbusiness 13y ago
  I'd agree that his timing was a bit off, and he didn't land his punchline. But being a failed comedian and telling off-color jokes is, luckily, not a crime. Look at all of those dead baby jokes. So yeah, making a joke about a bomb or something might ruffle some feathers. But how many terrorists tell a plane full of people that they have a bomb BEFORE the people actually get on the plane? None of them. Because that's a stupid thing to do.
  - dirktheman 13y ago
    You're right. School spree killers do have a habit to make crazy threats on FB on forehand, though. But yes, fortunately having a deviant sense of humor isn't a crime!
  - jessedhillon 13y ago
    I don't even know how to respond if you don't understand the difference between making a joking threat while on stage at a comedy club, and making one when stepping onto a plane. Again given his previous comments and the picture of his personality given from his profile, it sounds like it might have been believable. It's at least not as clear cut as you're making it seem. I mean, otherwise we can extend this just joking defense to anything. Mail baking powder to your congress man in an envelope with a note saying "this is antrax" -- what will you tell the FBI when they come for you? "What kind of idiot thinks I'd really be sending anthrax? Can't you guys take a joke?" At what point can people make reasoned, defensive assumptions about the intentions of people who express threats?
    - zacinbusiness 13y ago
      There's a difference between a guy who went through a body scanner and a fleet of sniffer dogs and a guy who sends a package that goes through essentially no security (though you would think these guys would employ better security simply as they are higher profile people who get lots of threats). And I'm not saying that threats shouldn't be investigated, or even that exercising your freedom of speech doesn't have consequences (it does and should). But after they looked into his home life. Spoke to his friends. Tossed his room and spoke with teachers. And still found no actual evidence of a plan to commit a crime. The next step is get into contact with Facebook and get that thread. It wouldn't be hard and I'd assume FB gets this sort of request all the time. They probably have a protocol in place. I'm saying that just saying that you're going to commit a crime is not the same as doing it. And that an idiot kid who says something on Facebook is not and should not be considered, the same as a billionaire-backed, militarily trained terrorist. Do some disturbed people make threats on Facebook and then carry them out? Yes they do. And so yes, these things should be investigated thoroughly. But the case here was not investigated, it was rushed and sloppy. Did the police go get the thread themselves? No. Did the police get the kid a psych eval? Not that I've seen here anyway. Did the police do any real investigation? No. Innocent until proven guilty. That's the way it's supposed to be.
spacemanmatt 13y ago
It's not a crime to be an idiot if you are a cop or a judge. This should never have happened, and our system is loaded with rules intended to prevent it. Idiots failed to execute those rules faithfully.

spacemanmatt 13y ago

There's also a judge who deserves a heaping portion of blame for abject failure to hold the cops to any reasonable standard of 4th amendment rigor. What probably happened is they got a bunch of classified information from the FBI and hastily constructed a very poor "parallel construction" which they are now seeing fall apart.

jessedhillon 13y ago

Actually it is often a crime to be an idiot, and it's quite appropriate. For example, in OP's case of the delayed El Al flight, yes it's a crime to declare to someone who might reasonably believe you that you're bringing a bomb on board. And so yeah, also, only months after Newtown and Aurora to declare that you're going to shoot up a school can be a crime -- although 8-10 years is beyond all proportion and reasonableness. But, especially if you have a history of expressing suicidal and other violent sentiments online, that's a quite reasonable thing for someone to think.

zacinbusiness 13y ago
I'd agree that his timing was a bit off, and he didn't land his punchline. But being a failed comedian and telling off-color jokes is, luckily, not a crime. Look at all of those dead baby jokes. So yeah, making a joke about a bomb or something might ruffle some feathers. But how many terrorists tell a plane full of people that they have a bomb BEFORE the people actually get on the plane? None of them. Because that's a stupid thing to do.
- dirktheman 13y ago
  You're right. School spree killers do have a habit to make crazy threats on FB on forehand, though. But yes, fortunately having a deviant sense of humor isn't a crime!
- jessedhillon 13y ago
  I don't even know how to respond if you don't understand the difference between making a joking threat while on stage at a comedy club, and making one when stepping onto a plane. Again given his previous comments and the picture of his personality given from his profile, it sounds like it might have been believable. It's at least not as clear cut as you're making it seem. I mean, otherwise we can extend this just joking defense to anything. Mail baking powder to your congress man in an envelope with a note saying "this is antrax" -- what will you tell the FBI when they come for you? "What kind of idiot thinks I'd really be sending anthrax? Can't you guys take a joke?" At what point can people make reasoned, defensive assumptions about the intentions of people who express threats?
  - zacinbusiness 13y ago
    There's a difference between a guy who went through a body scanner and a fleet of sniffer dogs and a guy who sends a package that goes through essentially no security (though you would think these guys would employ better security simply as they are higher profile people who get lots of threats). And I'm not saying that threats shouldn't be investigated, or even that exercising your freedom of speech doesn't have consequences (it does and should). But after they looked into his home life. Spoke to his friends. Tossed his room and spoke with teachers. And still found no actual evidence of a plan to commit a crime. The next step is get into contact with Facebook and get that thread. It wouldn't be hard and I'd assume FB gets this sort of request all the time. They probably have a protocol in place. I'm saying that just saying that you're going to commit a crime is not the same as doing it. And that an idiot kid who says something on Facebook is not and should not be considered, the same as a billionaire-backed, militarily trained terrorist. Do some disturbed people make threats on Facebook and then carry them out? Yes they do. And so yes, these things should be investigated thoroughly. But the case here was not investigated, it was rushed and sloppy. Did the police go get the thread themselves? No. Did the police get the kid a psych eval? Not that I've seen here anyway. Did the police do any real investigation? No. Innocent until proven guilty. That's the way it's supposed to be.

spacemanmatt 13y ago

It's not a crime to be an idiot if you are a cop or a judge. This should never have happened, and our system is loaded with rules intended to prevent it. Idiots failed to execute those rules faithfully.