Clearly, the dude's a bit touched in the head, but he did seal the comment in an envelope and sign his name, so it's pretty obvious that there was no nefarious intent.I'm not sure why signing his name and sealing the envelope makes it pretty obvious that there was no nefarious intent.
The "Gilligan's Island" references were to a 1960s-vintage CBS television comedy about a charter boat crew and their oddball passengers who become shipwrecked and wind up living together on a tropical island.That's helpful.
Might I suggest trains? -- Lord PallA train to Hawaii?
Why wouldn't they? Perhaps they are not only nuts, but really, really into kerplosions. Like I said, crazy people are crazy. Some are so crazy they're willing to kerplode a whole bunch of people to kingdom come because the implant the Carlyle Group installed in their molar told them too.Well, why wouldn’t anyone try to blow up a plane? For one thing, we're supposed to assume that they haven't managed to bring any explosives on board, thanks to security. What exactly did people thing he was going to do? The note is not a threat, it's just rambling nonsense. Maybe he thought it was funny. Maybe he was being sarcastic. I can understand taking the plane around, especially since it's a however many hour flight. But charging him with a crime is insane.
Johnson told authorities that he had flown only about four times in his life and that the Maui-bound flight was his first over water; that he had occupied himself first by reading in-flight magazines and then by filling out comment cards provided by the airline. He said he had lifted the phrase for the card "I thought I was going to die" from comedian Mike Myers, the affidavit said.Jesus Christ people. The idea that he's insane or unbalanced or whatever is seriously paranoid. It was a joke that failed, one he didn't even expect to be read by the flight staff.
"Johnson stated that he didn't think anyone would open it during the flight," the affidavit added. "He told me that he thought the card was going to be taken back to an office somewhere, opened, and everyone in the room would 'get a laugh' from it, and that perhaps he'd even get some frequent flyer miles out of it. Johnson stated he didn't intend to scare anyone and he would not have written his name on the card if it was a threat. Johnson stated that he felt bad about what had happened and that he was sorry."
Haisong Jiang just wanted to say goodbye to his girlfriend before she boarded a flight back home to California, said friends of the 28-year-old Rutgers University student who last week walked into a secure area of Newark Liberty International AirportOkay, $500 no big deal right?
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He faces a fine of up to $500.
But New Jersey’s senators said Saturday that the Jan. 3 security breach at the airport should not be downplayed as merely the act of a romantic man.Seriously.
“What he may have thought was a cute trick turned out to be a disaster,” Sen. Frank Lautenberg said about Jiang, a doctoral student arrested late Friday for the airport breach that stranded thousands of travelers.
Jiang was with his girlfriend, a former Rutgers student who was flying home to Los Angeles. She has not been identified.
“People who say he was just a Romeo don’t understand the gravity of this situation, when you look at all the inconvenience to over 16,000 people, the delays, the concerns, the fears and the costs in financial terms,” Lautenberg said.
Lautenberg called for harsher penalties for Jiang, who faces arraignment on a “defiant trespassing” charge for the breach. He faces a fine of up to $500.
Lautenberg, a Democrat, said he would push for a review of federal statutes “to see if there is any course of action” that could be taken against Jiang.
“I’d like to see if we can bring this under federal jurisdiction, as opposed to just a misdemeanor and a $500 fine, that’s a slap on the wrist,” Lautenberg said. “He maybe thought he was being a Romeo, but he added to our woes, to the unease about travel. An example has to be made of this.”
NAME: Julius H. Marxposted by caddis at 5:52 PM on January 10, 2010
ADDRESS: 21 Lincoln Road, Great Neck, Long Island
HAIR: Very little
OCCUPATION: Smuggler
PURCHASES: Wouldn't you like to know!
Johnson said he crafted the note well into the flight out of boredom. He didn't buy anything to read at the airport, citing the cost of magazines. He had already read through the airline's in-flight magazine, then the special instructions for the bulkhead emergency exit where he was seated, when he filled out the comment card.posted by smackfu at 12:39 PM on January 11, 2010
Haisong Jiang just wanted to say goodbye to his girlfriend before she boarded a flight back home to California, said friends of the 28-year-old Rutgers University student who last week walked into a secure area of Newark Liberty International AirportThree words for you, potential romantics:
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He faces a fine of up to $500.
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posted by EarBucket at 1:40 PM on January 10, 2010 [3 favorites]