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Student probed by FBI for looking Middle Eastern

Abstract:
It sounds like the start of a joke, but one University student found nothing to laugh about.

A University student, a history professor, a reporter and an FBI agent met at Gumby's Pizza on Thursday morning. It was there that FBI agent William J.H. Filson came to confirm that junior Jim Diffly was, in fact, a student working on a class project - and not a terrorist seeking to destroy North Georgia's chicken plants....

msfreeh

posted 4/07/08 @ 7:08 AM EST

for a partial list of crimes committed by FBI agents over 100 pages long see
campusactivism.org
click on home in upper left
click on forum in upper right
scroll down to FBI WATCH
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Anon. because I'm different

posted 4/07/08 @ 8:34 AM EST

Wow. How incredibly scary.

"... when someone looks different... police may be called."

Being different warrants law enforcement involvement. I'm sure that there are folks who support this and don't see no problem with it. Those people probably aren't diffeent and thus don't feel threatened.

"But if I were Middle Eastern, what would have happened?"
Any students (or anyone else) who are from the Middle East (or possibly any place not familiar to Americans) ought to feel afraid because of this.

Even someone with honest intentions may not be protected from such fear-based reactions.
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Winfield J. Abbe

posted 4/07/08 @ 8:36 AM EST

Dear FBI agent: Would you please talk to the Athens Clarke County Mayor and Commissioners and the Georgia DOT and request that they address the very dangerous situation on Jefferson Rd. at the gasoline tank farm there? Tanker trucks enter and exit this facility with no traffic lights because the government places money over public safety and won't spend the money to install traffic signals there. It is just a matter of time until a speeding car or truck on Jefferson Rd. strikes an empty or loaded gasoline tanker truck and perhaps blows up the entire area. When this happens how will we know this was not a terrorist act rather than the negligence of local government? By the way, John LeConte,M.D., the great medical doctor and physicist of the nineteenth century, who resigned from UGA about 1855 following a dispute with then president Alonzo Church, and after the Civil War, left Georgia to become the first president and first professor of physics at the newly formed Univesity of California, Berkeley (1868), had a beard similar to the student in this picture. So did his distinguished brother Joe LeConte, M.D., the first professor of Geology at UC Berkeley. You can easily view their images in pictures at the Bancroft Library at UC Berkeley or possibly even at the entrance of LeConte Hall at UGA if the pictures have not been removed by the FBI. And Mr. FBI agent, it is possible to draw these conclusions about the unsafe conditions on Jefferson Rd. in Athens, GEorgia, 2008, without taking any pictures at all, but just observing with ones eyes, ears and functioning brain.
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stapler

posted 4/07/08 @ 9:16 AM EST

He is lucky that he's not in Gitmo right now. Hell, he's lucky he wasnt sent to Egypt to be "renditioned" either. I'm 1000x more afraid of this FBI agent than I am of some college student.
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RP

posted 4/07/08 @ 10:08 AM EST

As a brown man who has been stopped for these sorts of suspicions before, this is not a shock at all.

Welcome to our world.
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ain't buying it

posted 4/07/08 @ 11:16 AM EST

I'm not buying all of the supposed quotes that are being attributed to the officers and the agent. This article was written completely from the side of the "white" guy, as he was referenced several times.

I wonder, did the author make any attempt to contact the two Hall County officers to discuss the encounter with them?

This seems to me like a guy who has set out to draw attention to himself and create a scene got upset when he got just what he was seeking.
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Chocolate Milk

posted 4/07/08 @ 1:04 PM EST

Originally posted by

ain't buying it

 I'm not buying all of the supposed quotes that are being attributed to the officers and the agent. This article was written completely from the side of the "white" guy, as he was referenced several times.

I wonder, did the author make any attempt to contact the two Hall County officers to discuss the encounter with them?

This seems to me like a guy who has set out to draw attention to himself and create a scene got upset when he got just what he was seeking.


I have a class with Dr. Hayes and he told us the exact same on Friday, including the quotes from the FBI agent, before this was published. And he doesn't have an agenda to the best of my knowledge.
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C Smith

posted 4/07/08 @ 5:01 PM EST

I can tell you that I have known Jim for almost 4 years. In fact he was my co-woker and roommate for quite some time and the fact of the matter is, he tells the truth. Jim is a relatively quiet guy with a good heart. He has turned his life around and for the better. He is, by far, one of the best people I have ever met. For anyone to say that he is an attention seeker solely because of his appearence is just as bad as the two officers that questioned him about his "style" so to speak. If it were a blonde haired, blue eyed frat boy wearing a polo and khakis, I guarantee you this would not have occurred. And it's not all the police's fault. I'm sure in a small town like Gainsville, Jim did look "suspicious" and as a result the police were called. But once they stopped him, found out that he is in fact not Middle-Eastern, and saw the proof that he was doing a report for school, the issue should have been dropped! But it wasn't and this was a case of profiling. We have to be consistent when it comes to this matter. We can't say "Oh profiling is bad! It Shouldn't be done. It infringes on our civil liberties." and the turn around and say "Oh well, look at this guy! Shave your beard and you won't be harrassed!". It's a double standard. Jim, you know I love you and keep on being who you are!
Originally posted by

ain't buying it

 I'm not buying all of the supposed quotes that are being attributed to the officers and the agent. This article was written completely from the side of the "white" guy, as he was referenced several times.

I wonder, did the author make any attempt to contact the two Hall County officers to discuss the encounter with them?

This seems to me like a guy who has set out to draw attention to himself and create a scene got upset when he got just what he was seeking.
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buzzkill

posted 4/07/08 @ 11:51 AM EST

ain't buying it seems like the kind of person who would stand in the "she was asking for it" crowd in a rape case. no one is looking to get interrogated by the fbi, dude. just because somebody wears something not croakies and topsiders and doesn't want to deal with having his bangs in his eyes doesn't mean he should be intimidated by the federal government.

they should have talked to the officers, too, though.
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Frank

posted 4/07/08 @ 1:39 PM EST

Some of this is quite disturbing indeed. However, let's not forget the fact that the student was specifically denied access, then took it upon himself to snoop anyway. Could be that police would have been called regardless of what he looked like (despite the disturbing quote in the article).
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anon

posted 4/07/08 @ 1:44 PM EST

Originally posted by

Frank

 Some of this is quite disturbing indeed. However, let's not forget the fact that the student was specifically denied access, then took it upon himself to snoop anyway. Could be that police would have been called regardless of what he looked like (despite the disturbing quote in the article).


The guy didn't snoop. He simply took pictures of the outsides of the farm. Taking pictures of buildings is in no way sketchy business. If he had infiltrated the building Solid Snake style, then the FBI might have a case on their hands. But he didn't.
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Chicken Hawk

posted 4/07/08 @ 2:14 PM EST

Hell, what do you expect? What would anyone do if this dude showed up outside your house, or your place of work doing the same thing? Ignore him? Dude asks permission to tour, gets denied, and shows up at or near the property anyway and start taking pictures. What are the police supposed to do, ignore it? Don't bother to notify the FBI, just in case they might know more than the local police? Then dude shows up to his meeting with the FBI with a machine gun on his chest giving a big "Fuck You" to the FBI? There is room for common sense while exercising freedom of speech. He might not be a terrorist, but he certainly has a problem with authority, which he freely admits is part of the reason for looking like he does. Maybe if he's so interested in a chicken plant he should go work for one for a few weeks.
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NIce One

posted 4/14/08 @ 6:56 PM EST

Originally posted by

Chicken Hawk

 Hell, what do you expect? What would anyone do if this dude showed up outside your house, or your place of work doing the same thing? Ignore him? Dude asks permission to tour, gets denied, and shows up at or near the property anyway and start taking pictures. What are the police supposed to do, ignore it? Don't bother to notify the FBI, just in case they might know more than the local police? Then dude shows up to his meeting with the FBI with a machine gun on his chest giving a big "Fuck You" to the FBI? There is room for common sense while exercising freedom of speech. He might not be a terrorist, but he certainly has a problem with authority, which he freely admits is part of the reason for looking like he does. Maybe if he's so interested in a chicken plant he should go work for one for a few weeks.


LMAO! The only "problem with authority" I see here is your seemingly burning desire to submit to it.
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BC

posted 4/07/08 @ 2:49 PM EST

An article written with such ignorance...even if it is scary. First of all folks from the Middle East and North Africa are technically Caucasian (aka white). While they tend to have a darker complexion and darker hair, like an Italian or Greek, they are still "White".

However, the fact that Hall County and the FBI seem to think that terrorists are going to blow up their chickens is a bit of a stretch. They should focus on fighting real crimes.

And for the poster up there saying something about how the Athens Mayor and Commission need to put a light in on Jefferson Highway... that is a state road and Athens-Clarke have no jurisdiction... all efforts there have to be done by the State...so take up your complaints with them.
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El Jaguar

posted 4/07/08 @ 3:05 PM EST

This article and the comments about it are totally ridiculous. The FBI does their job and investigates suspicious activity.......you are all up in arms. Suppose he HAD been a terrorist and something was blow up resulting in damage and the loss of life? Ya'll would be the first ones writing in to say President Bush caused this act by his war on terror, and wasn't doing anything to protect us. Either way you people are going to whine, so get over it. I personally am ecstatic that someone is actually looking into suspicious activity. The fact that there hasn't been another terrorist attack on American soil since 9/11 is enough for me
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RP

posted 4/07/08 @ 4:28 PM EST

Originally posted by

El Jaguar

 This article and the comments about it are totally ridiculous. The FBI does their job and investigates suspicious activity.......you are all up in arms. Suppose he HAD been a terrorist and something was blow up resulting in damage and the loss of life? Ya'll would be the first ones writing in to say President Bush caused this act by his war on terror, and wasn't doing anything to protect us. Either way you people are going to whine, so get over it. I personally am ecstatic that someone is actually looking into suspicious activity. The fact that there hasn't been another terrorist attack on American soil since 9/11 is enough for me


Ummm....there have been terrorist attacks on American soil since 9/11....o wait, you meant large scale terrorist attacks by people of Middle Eastern origin? Why didn't you say so! Those ARE the only terrorist attacks that we count anyway!

What is appalling is you are making an excuse for racial profiling. As someone that has been racially profiled I can tell you outright that it is not fun or funny. It's annoying, demeaning, and disgusting.
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Mentok

posted 4/07/08 @ 4:37 PM EST

Originally posted by

El Jaguar

 This article and the comments about it are totally ridiculous. The FBI does their job and investigates suspicious activity.......you are all up in arms. Suppose he HAD been a terrorist and something was blow up resulting in damage and the loss of life? Ya'll would be the first ones writing in to say President Bush caused this act by his war on terror, and wasn't doing anything to protect us. Either way you people are going to whine, so get over it. I personally am ecstatic that someone is actually looking into suspicious activity. The fact that there hasn't been another terrorist attack on American soil since 9/11 is enough for me


Preach on brotha man, chicken plans have chicken s*it which can be used to make explosives (remember OK city). Trust, but verify.
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Common Citizen

posted 4/09/08 @ 3:34 AM EST

It does not matter if some person is red, green, purple or pink. If said person seems to be acting out of norm citizens should take notice and react appropriately.
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barack

posted 4/07/08 @ 4:43 PM EST

we live in a world where we need to be aware that we have enemies who would want to hurt us in anyway possible, even through our food

I'm sorry this jim laden had to spend 20 minutes at gumbys

shave and maybe you wont look like a threat
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SD

posted 4/07/08 @ 5:39 PM EST

He should shave and cut his hair. He looks like an a-rab.
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Jim Diffly

posted 4/07/08 @ 7:12 PM EST

It was spring break, I was broke, no money to go on vacation. So, I worked around 40 hours and took a day off so I could do this field study assignment (not cause I care about the poultry industry in Gainesville cause I don't). I called five different places the day before I went and got no responses, but drove out there on my day off anyway to see what I could get. First I went to the chicken monument in the center of the city, looked at it and took some pictures. Oh by the way i'm in Grady with a photojournalism interest. After that I went to Fieldale Farms where I got rejected, as I drove off I saw some employees in the employee parking lot and thought maybe I could talk to them to get some info. Well I figured I would do it right, since it was enclosed by a huge fence, and ask the security gaurds if they had a problem with me doing that and they did. I begged, and the gaurd proceeded to pretend like he was going to shut the gate on my car, lifting it up and down barely not hitting my car. So I left, and went to three other places. The third place being the Pilgrims Pride plant. The security gaurd there sent me to a little side entrance where I asked the secretary if I could take a look around. She said no and found it necessary to tell me they were required to take a W.M.D. course before working there. Really, if I didn't look the way I do she would have not found that necessary. Driving away from the plant I went over a bridge and noticed the train tracks right next to the plant, and figured since I had my camera and had not gotten anything else I might as well take some photos that I could turn in to my professor and maybe get some extra-credit, even if not I thought it was a cool spot. I went on the bridge and snapped some shots, got back in my car drove down the tracks a little further and took some more. That is when the Hall County Sheriffs officers pulled up. They got out and asked me what I was doing and I told them. But me telling them wasn't enough they asked if I had proof. So instead of getting defensive I showed them my notes, gave them my UGA I.D, my professors phone # and e-mail address. Then they asked me what the deal with my beard was so I told them, they asked about my dreads also. I understand they were following up on a call but then they reported the incident to the FBI. While I was getting questioned by the police, the man who runs the Fieldale Farms plant called me back and said I was welcome to come anytime and take a look around the place. So I did, and the guy who showed me around was from Pakistan (FYI, not that it matters its just kind of ironic). The FBI agent called me and was under the impression that I was from the middle east, which he should have known I wasn't from the report from the police but there report must have been missing something. Sure, I could still be a terrorist but not middle eastern, however I gave them proof they could have called my professor. The FBI agent said he had to meet me face-to-face and I told him I understood and was not against it at all because it was a national security concern. However, I do have a problem with being profiled and didn't have anything to hide so I wore my shirt with an AK-47 on it to meet the agent. I will probably never get interrorgated by the FBI again (hopefully) so I figured why not. I am a college student, I try to be professional but sometimes I am not. I have had a rough past so maybe I am still a little rough around the edges, but I mind my own business and intrude on nobody. When he met me, he said that the reason he had to contact me was because on the report he recieved the was something concerning the Buford Dam on the report and that was the main issue the FBI was concerned about. The Buford Dam! The Buford Dam was at least a thirty minute drive around the lake from where I was. If the issue had been about agriterrorism I would have understood but it wasn't the main issue. I am in no way trying to bring attention to myself, after I got the call from the FBI agent, I went to my photojournalism class and brought it up with the class because I had mentioned the issue already. Well, the professor went and spoke to the dean of Grady and suggested that I call the UGA law offices and contact the Red & Black. So I did both. The law offices told me to tell my professor and when I told him he said he wanted to come with me which I had no problem with. Then a reporter for the Red & Black said she wanted to come also, again no problem. Thats where the story ends. I am not a terrorist. Also, I am not cutting my dreads, or my beard, or taking my earrings out, or pulling up my pants, and if you have a problem with it grow up and mind yourself.
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bolt

posted 4/07/08 @ 7:20 PM EST

Well it looks as though the student is just going way out of his way to piss his grand dad off. Maybe when he grows up he'll realize what all the fuss was about.
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James

posted 4/07/08 @ 7:35 PM EST

If I am male, white, blonde, crew cut hair style, wearing a black jacket with a Confederate battle flag sewn on the back and I am walking down MLK Blvd. in Atlanta at 2am in the morning - I am going to be questioned by the police. I have the "right" to be there but so sad too bad. A couple of years back I was listening to a radio talk show about "profiling". An African American Atlanta police officer called in and said he worked the morning watch (midnight shift to you civilians) in an all black area of Atlanta. He stopped EVERY vehicle containing a white person on his beat. He said they were in his area for one of two reasons - either they were looking to buy drugs or they had gotten off the interstate and were lost. In either case he got them out of there. He admitted it was profiling and he would continue to do so. Bravo!
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ain't buying it

posted 4/07/08 @ 7:40 PM EST

I still have not seen any response to my pointing out that the R&B seemingly did not seek out the two Hall County officers involved. If the author did so, there was no mention of it in the article. The article is completely one sided, and I tend to doubt the validity of an article written in such a manner. That is the indictment of the author and the publisher and not the individual in question here.

I also find it amusing that there has been no self righteous indignation of checking out the guy because he "looked Middle Eastern".

As to my assertion about the individual in question here, the article stated that he grew out the beard in response to a conservative grandfather. That is in part what I based my assertion upon combined with the presented facts in the article that he was denied access by the property owner so he set about doing just what he wanted to do anyway.

As to the allegation that I would stand by and watch a woman get raped, that is a purely pathetic.
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Tiffany

posted 4/07/08 @ 8:14 PM EST

Actually, Jim, you really do look like one of the most terrifying faces that a poultry industry professional can see-- not Middle Eastern, but a hippy. With the long beard, dreads, and lackadaisical attitude, you don't exactly fit the bill of the sort of person who'd be supportive of a chicken plant. Add to that the fact that you just wandered up with a camera, and started snapping pictures, and you are definitely going to get rejected, and cops are going to be called. Maybe throwing in "He's Middle Eastern!" was just added security to get you gone. Maybe they're racist. I can't be sure.

Poultry isn't just some thing that Georgians do. It is a huge economic supporter of the state and it's taken Very Very Seriously. You have to shower in and out to get in to most farms, and plants are only slightly less hardcore. Do you have any idea how much trouble you could cause for them if you brought in some sort of contaminant, knowingly or unknowingly? Your professor had no right to speak for a plant to say that you could just walk on up. The guards at the gate were completely in their rights to drop the fence on your car. And the lady at the desk, while totally sounding racist, may have in fact been indicating to you that no, she can't just let any UGA student walk in to the plant and poke around, because, seriously, they have to take a WMD COURSE just to work at a secretary's desk. Biosecurity isn't a joke.

Unfortunately for you, you look like an Arabic PETA-phile. I'm not saying in any way, shape, or form that the profiling due to possible Middle Eastern descent is justified or acceptable. But seriously... chicken folk don't play around. Next time, make sure to call ahead. The best way to avoid suspicion is to avoid suspicious activity.
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Ron

posted 4/07/08 @ 11:35 PM EST

I'm glad the FBI is doing its job and at least following up on possible leads in an effort to protect our economy and industry. Whats wrong with the agent doing his job and asking questions? Should the FBI just do nothing and let another terrorist attack happen?
This article was written with an extreme liberal anti law enforcement scew.
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Walter White

posted 4/07/08 @ 11:58 PM EST

[Quote Mentok]Preach on brotha man, chicken plans have chicken s*it which can be used to make explosives (remember OK city). Trust, but verify.[/Quote]

Wrong fertilizer there. The fertilizer used in the OK city bombing was ammonium nitrate. Although, I'm sure you could make a lot of money if you can find a way to make high explosive out of chicken s*it.

-Walter White
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Sweat

posted 4/08/08 @ 1:19 AM EST

Get use to it, or get a hair cut
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Hindsight

posted 4/08/08 @ 9:16 AM EST

If there is an issue here it would be with the local police not the FBI for following up. If the FBI was truly concerned do you think they would have called for a appointment!

How about this fictious scenerio... Buford Dam is damaged by an explosion affecting 1000's of residents, and killing 5 local hikers. The FBI through their investigation have determined that an untold amount of fertilizer (animal waste) had been recently stolen from a local chicken plant and may have been used in making the bomb. Local police had recently responded to a complaint of someone who had been taking pictures of the plant but the investigation had gone no further. The FBI had not been notified. The officers in charge are facing suspension.

Police are currently looking for a student who by all accounts was quiet, kept to himself, but had prior minor run ins with police and is described as having a long beard slightly dissheveled and wearing a T-shirt with a AK-47 on it. The FBI does not believe he is a member of any terrorist organization but may be rebelling against authoruty and his family.

Yes it is a free Country but that does not give any of us carte blanche to ignore a private companies denial of entry. In 2000 the FBI ignored warnings from one of its agents about foreign student pilots. Seven years ago may seem like history to you but not for us who watched the towers crumble. Bodies were pulverized to dust, many families received bone fragments of their loved ones to bury. Please watch any of a number of documentaries about 9/11 and let me know if having an uninvited stranger takes photos of a plant is considered suspicious activity. If not that should we ignore 3 random people taking pictures of the NY subway system, or of the tunnels and bridges in NY. How about photos of an office building where a loved one works. What may seem innocent on the surface to most may be a security issue that you or I don't understand, or don't have all of the information on due to other non-related activities in the area. Just jokingly mention "its not like I have a bomb" in a airport security line (while you are wearing shorts a T-shirt and sandles- with no carry on) and see if TSA responds with a laugh.
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ain't buying it

posted 4/08/08 @ 11:56 AM EST

Originally posted by

Hindsight

 If there is an issue here it would be with the local police not the FBI for following up. If the FBI was truly concerned do you think they would have called for a appointment!

How about this fictious scenerio... Buford Dam is damaged by an explosion affecting 1000's of residents, and killing 5 local hikers. The FBI through their investigation have determined that an untold amount of fertilizer (animal waste) had been recently stolen from a local chicken plant and may have been used in making the bomb. Local police had recently responded to a complaint of someone who had been taking pictures of the plant but the investigation had gone no further. The FBI had not been notified. The officers in charge are facing suspension.

Police are currently looking for a student who by all accounts was quiet, kept to himself, but had prior minor run ins with police and is described as having a long beard slightly dissheveled and wearing a T-shirt with a AK-47 on it. The FBI does not believe he is a member of any terrorist organization but may be rebelling against authoruty and his family.

Yes it is a free Country but that does not give any of us carte blanche to ignore a private companies denial of entry. In 2000 the FBI ignored warnings from one of its agents about foreign student pilots. Seven years ago may seem like history to you but not for us who watched the towers crumble. Bodies were pulverized to dust, many families received bone fragments of their loved ones to bury. Please watch any of a number of documentaries about 9/11 and let me know if having an uninvited stranger takes photos of a plant is considered suspicious activity. If not that should we ignore 3 random people taking pictures of the NY subway system, or of the tunnels and bridges in NY. How about photos of an office building where a loved one works. What may seem innocent on the surface to most may be a security issue that you or I don't understand, or don't have all of the information on due to other non-related activities in the area. Just jokingly mention "its not like I have a bomb" in a airport security line (while you are wearing shorts a T-shirt and sandles- with no carry on) and see if TSA responds with a laugh.


damn skippy
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Walt

posted 4/08/08 @ 12:43 PM EST

Originally posted by

Hindsight

 The FBI through their investigation have determined that an untold amount of fertilizer (animal waste) had been recently stolen from a local chicken plant and may have been used in making the bomb.


People, listen. You can't make a bomb from chicken waste. Yes, it is used as a fertilizer, but when they are talking about "fertilizer" being used in bomb production, as was used in the Oklahoma City bombing, they are talking about ammonium nitrate, which acts as an oxidizing agent in conjunction with other chemicals.

Take a damn chemistry class sometime, good god.
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Actuality

posted 4/09/08 @ 9:17 PM EST

Originally posted by

Hindsight

 If there is an issue here it would be with the local police not the FBI for following up. If the FBI was truly concerned do you think they would have called for a appointment!

How about this fictious scenerio... Buford Dam is damaged by an explosion affecting 1000's of residents, and killing 5 local hikers. The FBI through their investigation have determined that an untold amount of fertilizer (animal waste) had been recently stolen from a local chicken plant and may have been used in making the bomb. Local police had recently responded to a complaint of someone who had been taking pictures of the plant but the investigation had gone no further. The FBI had not been notified. The officers in charge are facing suspension.

Police are currently looking for a student who by all accounts was quiet, kept to himself, but had prior minor run ins with police and is described as having a long beard slightly dissheveled and wearing a T-shirt with a AK-47 on it. The FBI does not believe he is a member of any terrorist organization but may be rebelling against authoruty and his family.

Yes it is a free Country but that does not give any of us carte blanche to ignore a private companies denial of entry. In 2000 the FBI ignored warnings from one of its agents about foreign student pilots. Seven years ago may seem like history to you but not for us who watched the towers crumble. Bodies were pulverized to dust, many families received bone fragments of their loved ones to bury. Please watch any of a number of documentaries about 9/11 and let me know if having an uninvited stranger takes photos of a plant is considered suspicious activity. If not that should we ignore 3 random people taking pictures of the NY subway system, or of the tunnels and bridges in NY. How about photos of an office building where a loved one works. What may seem innocent on the surface to most may be a security issue that you or I don't understand, or don't have all of the information on due to other non-related activities in the area. Just jokingly mention "its not like I have a bomb" in a airport security line (while you are wearing shorts a T-shirt and sandles- with no carry on) and see if TSA responds with a laugh.


You sound just like every other overly paranoid, gullible sheep that plagues our society.

Get out of America if you love tyranny so much.
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Cincinnatus

posted 4/14/08 @ 10:42 PM EST

While Mentok is a bit impractical, he is essentially correct. The ammonia used in making ammonium nitrate can be extracted from chicken waste (one of the most common sources of ammonia prior to synthetic processes). While it is a long way from the technical-grade ammonium nitrate used in weapons production, dried chicken sh*t is explosive. Maybe you should study a little harder in the chemistry classes you took...

Originally posted by

Hindsight

 If there is an issue here it would be with the local police not the FBI for following up. If the FBI was truly concerned do you think they would have called for a appointment!

How about this fictious scenerio... Buford Dam is damaged by an explosion affecting 1000's of residents, and killing 5 local hikers. The FBI through their investigation have determined that an untold amount of fertilizer (animal waste) had been recently stolen from a local chicken plant and may have been used in making the bomb. Local police had recently responded to a complaint of someone who had been taking pictures of the plant but the investigation had gone no further. The FBI had not been notified. The officers in charge are facing suspension.

Police are currently looking for a student who by all accounts was quiet, kept to himself, but had prior minor run ins with police and is described as having a long beard slightly dissheveled and wearing a T-shirt with a AK-47 on it. The FBI does not believe he is a member of any terrorist organization but may be rebelling against authoruty and his family.

Yes it is a free Country but that does not give any of us carte blanche to ignore a private companies denial of entry. In 2000 the FBI ignored warnings from one of its agents about foreign student pilots. Seven years ago may seem like history to you but not for us who watched the towers crumble. Bodies were pulverized to dust, many families received bone fragments of their loved ones to bury. Please watch any of a number of documentaries about 9/11 and let me know if having an uninvited stranger takes photos of a plant is considered suspicious activity. If not that should we ignore 3 random people taking pictures of the NY subway system, or of the tunnels and bridges in NY. How about photos of an office building where a loved one works. What may seem innocent on the surface to most may be a security issue that you or I don't understand, or don't have all of the information on due to other non-related activities in the area. Just jokingly mention "its not like I have a bomb" in a airport security line (while you are wearing shorts a T-shirt and sandles- with no carry on) and see if TSA responds with a laugh.
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Stay Puft

posted 4/08/08 @ 4:46 PM EST

I can understand this being a big deal if the police or FBI actually did something to harm the guy. But having a polite little meeting at Gumby's to make sure he's not a threat sounds like a very pleasant "racial profiling incident."

Chatting with a federal agent over some delicious Pokey Sticks? This is bad now?
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Hmmm...

posted 4/08/08 @ 7:14 PM EST

Headline should really read "Student Probed by FBI for Looking Middle Eastern and Acting Creepy"
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MJ

posted 4/08/08 @ 8:26 PM EST

Yes, I have no idea how anyone could be suspicious of this individual.
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bloody brown mouse...

posted 4/08/08 @ 8:36 PM EST

i will have all of u pencil dick frat boy bro's know that none of u could be half the man that jim is nor half the size of his love muscle. BTW Georgia Bulldogs are an embarrassment
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sail

posted 4/09/08 @ 1:12 AM EST

Corporations are now using the DHS to keep whistle blowers silent through the "Infragard" organization.

FBI Deputizes Private Contractors With Extraordinary Powers, Including 'Shoot to Kill'

http://www.alternet.org/rights/76388/

Join the club, many others have also been "investigated" (silenced)
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Southern guy

posted 4/09/08 @ 1:54 AM EST

A few weeks after 9/11, I was walking across the parking lot of a small strip shopping center in Jacksonville, FL. After a bad day, I had a bit of an attitude on and I saw the security guard staring in my direction. Also, an older couple were walking out to the lot and past me. As I approached the guard, I asked if there was some problem. He said he was "watchin' them A-rabs" in the parking lot. I looked around and saw only the couple. I asked if he meant them. "Yeah, them A-rabs," he said with a full sneer on. I pointed out that 1) the couple owned a business that paid his salary, 2) their business was the restaurant just behind him and 3) they, and their restaurant, were Chinese.
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First impressions

posted 4/09/08 @ 2:37 AM EST

You're all right, i'm sure we should take all of our first impression from jim's feeeeeeeeeeeeeeelings, not from the fact that he looks like a complete sociopath.

If you see someone in a doctor costume, you assume they are a doctor.

If you see someone in a hooker costume, you assume they are a hooker.

If you see someone with dreds, a long beard, a camo shirt with machine guns on it, glazed eyes and a sneer... the first thing that pops in my head is most certainly NOT "caring, inquisitive student with a flair for photography," sorry.
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Dissent

posted 4/09/08 @ 7:52 AM EST

Here's a tip, everyone go take pictures from public property of the same chicken plant then see which ethnicities get visits from law enforcement.
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Tipster

posted 4/09/08 @ 9:55 AM EST

Originally posted by

Dissent

 Here's a tip, everyone go take pictures from public property of the same chicken plant then see which ethnicities get visits from law enforcement.


Here's another tip. Ask permission, get denied, then trespass on railroad property to take pictures of the plant anyway.
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Keith

posted 4/09/08 @ 10:41 AM EST

The shirt with the AKk-47 was good, but he should have made a quick stop by Party City and picked up a "shiek" halloween costume before his meeting at Gumby's.
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Lvis

posted 4/09/08 @ 10:44 AM EST

A white guy with a shaved head and rebel flag t-shirt is taking pictures of a NAACP office....you think no one is going to call the cops

Wahabi style hair style with scaggly beard, camo t-shirt with an AK 47 on it and he expects nobody to look at him suspicously. Be real...this guy is screaming "LOOK AT ME!"

But you guys are right, we should never investigate anyone who tries to look like the stereo typical terrorist. It is OK if his friends think he looks like Osama Bin Laden but if the people we depend on to protect us from real terrorists fall for his juvenille plea for attention then they are the new Gestapo.

I used to have hair down to my ass and hang out at the 40 Watt Club but when I left Athens for the real world I discovered that there are people out there who do want to kill us and make the FBI look like cub scouts. People who enslave women, murder gays and impose midieval theocracy upon everyone under their domain. People who openly want to impose their way of life on the entire world.

Grow up, get a hair cut and quit whining. Or just hang out in Athens, grow your dreads down to your ass. Either way quit your whining.
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apropos

posted 4/09/08 @ 11:25 AM EST

http://youtube.com/watch?v=McB9tsabPn0
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Nick

posted 4/09/08 @ 11:30 AM EST

Well I dont think I would be looking for little old ladies that were White ... There are times that racial profiling make sense ... How many lil ole ladies have blown up anything ? I don't think that lil ole white ladies are robbing corner 7 - 11's or shooting people over drug deals ? As unfortunate as it is , it's still a fact ! So this is when you get a situation that you had better start racial profiling or you are looking in the wrong places, Like the airport taking Mothers aside for pare knives to peal skins off fruits to feed to their toddlers ... give that same knife to a Middle eastern or a brown / black person , and I don't want to get on that plane ( wrong ? ) Not in my opinion
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RP

posted 4/09/08 @ 11:38 AM EST

Originally posted by

Nick

 Like the airport taking Mothers aside for pare knives to peal skins off fruits to feed to their toddlers ... give that same knife to a Middle eastern or a brown / black person , and I don't want to get on that plane ( wrong ? ) Not in my opinion



Should I give you a white pointy hat Nick?
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Earl Johnson

posted 4/09/08 @ 4:54 PM EST

If you don't want to be harassed, try not being a scruffy dude wearing a black neckerchief and a camo t-shirt with a picture of an assault rifle on it. You lok like an anarchist.

And FBI...chciken plants? Seriously?
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more

posted 4/09/08 @ 5:03 PM EST

"frat boys" are scary to me; I think of date rape and people who think they are above the rest of us, including the law when I see some of them. That's one of my profiles; to me this guy's hair and maybe "glazed eyes" would tell me he is probably a pacifist, possibly a vegetarian. I do agree that anyone who breaks laws or ignores written and verbal warnings is to some degree brining trouble on themselves.
btw, I agree about the little old white ladies and moms, except that that woman definitely should have known better than to take any knife on a plane; there are better ways, and the knife could have harmed her own child.
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Ben Lott

posted 4/09/08 @ 5:20 PM EST

I'm a light skinned black man with a beard. I few years ago I was traveling in the northern part of Georgia near the Tennessee/North Carolina border. My friend who was a white lady and I went site seeing and I like taking a lot of pictures. Being a northerner in the south I had heard a lot of the stories of black men traveling around and problems, especially when traveling with a white female. Well a lot of places we stopped were Dams and a few bridges and such and every time some truck with either officials or folks who would fit the "good old boys" stereo type would pull up and discretely (when I was out of earshot) ask my friend was I Muslim, to which she would reply, "no he's black, Catholic as a matter of fact" and they would say something along the lines "OK fine, he's one of ours" and travel on (and my heart would start beating again when they left). It is weird, and even stranger when you do the whole tourist thing, I'm lucky I'm not Muslim or middle eastern or who knows what would have happened they were touchy about me taking photos in a public place. My brother doesn't have it as easy as I do because he is a Muslim convert and has been harassed by officials, he spent 5 hours once coming home from Egypt, in an interview with homeland security. Society has gone nuts with the whole profiling thing. The thing that really scares me is if some radical nut job wanted to do something bad all they would have to do is get a shave, haircut and dress in western clothing and they would go completely undetected.
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