Caught kissing girlfriend beyond the checkpoint
Has anyone actually read this story? I kept seeing things in the news about a Chinese guy who ducked security at Newark and caused ridiculous delays, but today was the first time I actually read about it. The facts don’t come out in most of the headlines.
Here’s the real story. Ruben Hernandez, a law enforcement officer for the TSA, left his post. Mr. Haisong Jiang, a a postdoctoral fellow at the Center for Advanced Biotechnology and Medicine, wanted to say goodbye to his girlfriend, so he quickly went past the security checkpoint to give his girlfriend a kiss. The video is grainy, but don’t these kids look cute?
Haisong and his girlfriend
They couldn’t find Haisong. They launched an intensive manhunt, and they finally found him at the gym, where he was probably weightlifting, and probably working to show the world that not only are Asian men romantic, but they can also be buff. After the authorities caught him, the Port Authority said that they would try him for “defiant trespass,” a petty offense that has a maximum sentence of 30 days. Now one New Jersey lawmaker is mad:
In an interview on Saturday, Sen. Frank R. Lautenberg, of New Jersey, said he was hoping that the United States attorney’s office would consider bringing federal charges because the penalty Mr. Jiang is facing, “is hardly noteworthy and would not discourage people who want to break through the perimeter.”
The senator said the trouble the security breach caused far outweighed the punishment: 1,600 people stuck in the airport for six hours; flights delayed and an “incalculable” loss of money. And then for five days after the incident, New Jersey law enforcement officials searched exhaustively for the man caught on a grainy surveillance video, one which Sen. Lautenberg had released on Thursday.
Okay, I get it. The dude broke the law and caused the already struggling airports to lose even more money. He inconvenienced a lot of people. He deserves to be punished.
But c’mon, Senator Lautenberg, 30 days is the slammer is plenty for an offense like this. Jail sucks, and I’m sure going from, say, 30 days in prison to (god forbid), 30 years, isn’t going to make the guy more sorry than he already is. It’s not like the guy is a career criminal. It’s not like he was being defiant (although I guess he is being charged with “defiant trespass.”) He just made a bad decision because he was overcome by his romantic Chinese tendencies.
What surprises me is that so much focus is on this guy rather than the guard who left his post. If Hernandez had been at his post, there is no way Jiang would’ve crossed over. That guard with a gun is usually a pretty good deterrent for romantic stunts like this, even for hopeless romantics.
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Maybe the irristable smell of Chinese food wafted over from the food court, and the security guard couldn’t help himself. He just had to go get some Chinese food that was being sold by an even more irristable and pretty, petite, Asian babe to boot. It’s always the Chinese fault no matter what.
This case is yet another example of how the American state and establishment are using their bogus “War on Terrorism” to crack down on people, using contrived media hysterics.
Break out the duct tape and plastic sheeting. Be afraid. Be very afraid. LoL.
In case anyone has not figured out, there is no “War on Terrorism” to begin with.
It’s a lie, a massive criminal lie used to justify both American foreign policies (wars of aggression) and domestic policies (hi-tech surveillance state and shredding of civil liberties) that have very little to do with fighting terrorism.
This fundamental point is one that no one really questions in Mainstream America.
It’s only outside the US political mainstream that this essential realization is understood.
I meant to say irresistible both times. The new year has not been kind to me.
I really think the guard is to blame. Instead of punishing people and making it even worse at airports, perhaps we need more intelligent people working security instead of poorly paid people who have low IQs.
I’ve been super busy at work and don’t have time right now to get fully into this but I just wanted to ask something.
Larry, could you clarify your remarks about there not being a war on terrorism? Did you mean to say that our responses to terrorism is not real or credible or that terrorism itself is not a real threat to the US? I don’t think I agree with your assessment or rhetoric but would want to know more about your perspective for clarification.
Dude, I feel you! I couldn’t agree with you more.
I’ve echoed the exact same sentiments on my blog plus some.
The whole irony of the situation is when it really matters, more than half the time the real bad guys get through.
But when the impact is pretty trivial (besides the cost of delayed flights and stranded travelers) they jump on this guy faster than a fly landing on a piece of shit. I take that back. 6 hours to apprehend Jiang is actually quite slow.
Goddamn. What a bunch of funny fuckers.
I think that this guy should be thanked for pointing out how inept our airport “security” really is.
Papa and uRB4N:
I totally agree. Seriously, most people who work in security can’t get a job as a cop. Although it is not easy to get a job as a cop, many people who end up in security fall way short of minimal standards of intelligence. I know people with learning disabilities who could do a better job.
Last time I went through airport security my husband was detained for carrying six sealed store bought contains of dehydrated poi. POI! Can you believe that? All because some f-head tried to blow up his underpants!
One of the problems with our society is we accept stupidity, we accept half-assed slop. If you don’t do so well in school, you can get a job at Walmart, Burger King where push botton picture screens and bell/beeper tell you how to do your job. Maybe someone needs to invent a beeper and a touch screen, so if someone crosses the line a bell or beep goes off to alert the security officer that a breach occurred and send him a picure of the person who crossed the line.
mT,
That cracked me up!
P2H and AG,
Agreed. I lost my toothpaste on the way to the Banana Conference. I’m not kidding. Toothpaste. The tube was almost empty, but because the original size was more than four ounces, they confiscated it my two days worth of toothpaste.
MaSir,
It’s crazy what a big deal Lautenberg is making of this. I agree with uRB4N–he showed how bad security really is. I mean, really, no guard at the post?
Larry, could you clarify your remarks about there not being a war on terrorism? Did you mean to say that our responses to terrorism is not real or credible or that terrorism itself is not a real threat to the US?
I am saying that American is manipulating the issue of terrorism to push through other unrelated agendas.
In terms of foreign policy, America’s terror war is ultimately about global American domination such as control of energy resources and strategic positioning, among other things. This means attempted American dominance over Middle East and Central Asian energy (Caspian Basin), for instance.
In terms of domestic policy, America’s terror war is about creating a high-tech survelliance regime and the rollback of civil liberties under the guise of protecting people from terrorism. This system of course will be used to criminalize political dissent, as evidenced in the case of the RNC 8:
http://rnc8.org/
In a nutshell, America’s war on terrorism is about expanding a police state at home and US empire abroad.
It’s a criminal deception–just like “Weapons of Mass Destruction in Iraq.”
Even more honest Libertarians can see through this big lie and the latest comical hijinks that it often entails:
http://www.lewrockwell.com/blog/lewrw/archives/47026.html
Lautenberg is just doing what a politician does. He’s polishing his rubber as a tough prick so he can exploit the frustration people felt at being delayed.
My perspective is a little different since I work in federal law enforcement but I’m not here to argue the merits of our counter terrorism policies but to emphasize that the threat is real. This is a dangerous ideology and yeah, there might be some over reaction, but there has to be. Would you rather that we don’t take things seriously? Moreover, I’m not saying that the implementation of security measures is always perfect, or that people always use the best judgement, but from the perpsective of safety, there cannot be any let up. And yes, you will always get politicians strutting in front of cameras, posturing. That isn’t new.
I think the last administration was an abomination and that is where you will find hidden agendas. I will agree with you on that. But I don’t know if i agree that the new administration is using the PATRIOT ACT and what not to push thru hidden agendas. What would those hidden agendas be? Because if that were true, then all the Tea bagging assholes who carry assault rifles to these rallies against Obama would have been arrested by now. So where’s your police state?
It might be popular among some cirlces to say that our foreign policy objectives in response to terrorism is all about oil and US hegemony but I ain’t buying it. That may have been Cheney and the neo-cons world view but I don’t think it’s the current administrations at all.
Bottom line is, my real point here is there is a real threat from these pissed off ideological radical assholes. I would not minimize that at all and to think otherwise is foolish.
Look at the dude who tried to bring a bomb in his underwear. Some of these people are crazy. I think they’re very dangerous. (Although I still don’t think security had to take my almost empty toothpaste container…)
Haisong Jiang needs to find some good lawyers and sue back. Turn and grind the gears of the US legal system. Perhaps Luatenburg thinks that Haisong is asian and is easy to pick on. We need to use the tools we have available and fight back. Let those assh*les in govt know we can stand up for ourselves. If they thing the costs of the airport shutdown are high, how about dragging out the legal case for 20 years. Another example of the failed american leadership, on both sizes of the aisle.