FREE SPEECH?

Arabic-speaking student kicked off Southwest flight
By Carma Hassan and Catherine E. Shoichet, CNN

Khairuldeen Makhzoomi says he was removed from a Southwest flight for speaking on the phone in Arabic.

(CNN)One day, Khairuldeen Makhzoomi was proudly asking the U.N. secretary-general a question. The next, he was booted from a Southwest flight and questioned by the FBI.

For the 26-year-old student at University of California, Berkeley, it was a shocking turn.
Now he's pushing for an apology from the airline and spreading the word about what happened, which he calls a clear case of Islamaphobia.
It all started, according to Makhzoomi, after he decided to call his uncle in Baghdad after getting on the plane. While he waited for takeoff on his flight from Los Angeles to Oakland, California, they chatted in Arabic about an event he'd been excited to attend the day before: a dinner with U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon.
"I just called him and talked to him about it and everything, and he told me (to) call him when I get to Oakland, and I said, 'insha'Allah insha'Allah (God willing), I will call you when I arrive.' And during the conversation a lady was staring at me," Makhzoomi said.
The political science student thought the woman might have been concerned with how loudly he spoke on the phone. He saw her abruptly leave the plane. And suddenly, the situation turned.
"One guy came with police officers within two minutes -- I can't believe how fast they were -- and told me to get off the plane," he said.

Airline: 'Report of potentially threatening comments'
Southwest declined to provide details about the incident but said in a written statement that the airline doesn't tolerate discrimination.
"Prior to the departure of Flight 4620, our crew made the decision to investigate a report of potentially threatening comments overheard onboard our aircraft. A group of our employees including the flight crew made the decision to review the situation. We understand local law enforcement also spoke with that passenger as the aircraft departed the gate," Southwest said.
Prior to the departure of Flight 4620, our crew made the decision to investigate a report of potentially threatening comments

Southwest Airlines

"To respect the privacy of those involved, we will not publicly share any further specifics of the event. We prefer to communicate directly with our customers to address concerns and feedback regarding their travel experience."
"No further action" was taken after questioning Makhzoomi, an FBI spokeswoman said.
Makhzoomi says he hasn't received an apology from Southwest since he got kicked off the April 6 flight.
"All I want is an apology today," Makhzoomi said. "We as a people, Iraqi, American, Iranian, we share one thing in common, and that is our dignity. If someone tries to take that away from us, we should fight but not with aggression, with knowledge and education. One must stand for his principle."

Muslim in America 01:34
'I felt oppressed'
Getting escorted off the plane was only the beginning, Makhzoomi said.
From, there, he said, the situation only got worse.
"The guy who came and pulled me from the plane, he took me to the jet bridge, I believe he worked with Southwest and I must say he was aggressive in the way he treated me. He was not very nice. He tried to speak to me in Arabic, but I couldn't understand his Arabic, so I asked him to speak to me in English," Makhzoomi said. "I felt oppressed. I was afraid. He said, 'You seem that you were having a serious conversation on the phone. Who were you talking to?' "
Makhzoomi told him he had been speaking with his uncle and showed him the video of the dinner with Ban Ki-moon.
According to Makhzoomi, the man responded, "Why are you talking in Arabic? You know the environment is very dangerous."
Then, Makhzoomi said, dogs came and sniffed his bag, someone searched him at the gate and took his wallet, and FBI agents escorted him away.
He says one of the agents asked a question that surprised him: "You need to be very honest with us with what you said about the martyrs. Tell us everything you know about the martyrs.'
"The moment that she said that, I told her I never said that word, I only said insha'Allah."
The questioning soon ended.
"Southwest will not fly you back," the agent said, according to Makhzoomi. "You may go."
'New normal' for Muslims?
Makhzoomi said Southwest gave him a refund, and he booked a flight home on Delta. By the time he returned to Oakland, he was so shaken he took to his bed and slept for days.
Then, he contacted the Council on American-Islamic Relations. The organization says it's the latest sign of an alarming trend.
"It's frightening on an individual level. This story is frightening when it's a singular incident," CAIR representative Zahra Billoo said, "and it's problematic that there's numerous complaints against Southwest and others this year. This is just the new normal for Muslims while flying."
Southwest says its primary focus is safety.
"We wouldn't remove a passenger from a flight without a collaborative decision rooted in established procedures," the airline said. "Southwest neither condones nor tolerates discrimination of any kind. Our company could not survive if we believed otherwise. In fact, a cursory view of our workforce, as well as our expansive, multicultural customer base, is a reliable indicator that we exalt and appreciate diversity."
CNN's Sheena Jones contributed to this report.


PRIVACY?

Your Conversation On The Bus Or Train May Be Recorded
by Joel Rose, NPR

When you ride on buses or trains in many parts of the United States, what you say could be recorded. Get on a New Jersey Transit light rail train in Hoboken or Jersey City, for example, and you might notice an inconspicuous sign that says "video and audio systems in use."

A lot of riders are not happy about it.

"Yeah I don't like that," says Michael Dolan of Bayonne, N.J. "I don't want conversations being picked up because it's too Orwellian for me. It reeks of Big Brother."

New Jersey's public transit system is just the latest to add audio and video surveillance on some of its trains. Other agencies have been quietly recording their passengers for years, but critics say that's an invasion of privacy.

Security Cameras Are Fine, But Audio Recordings Cross The Line

"Private conversation should be private between you and the individual that you're speaking to," says NJ Transit rider Neeley Banks of Bayonne. But like a lot of commuters, Banks says she's OK with security cameras on the trains.

"Because if it's security for us on this train, that wouldn't bother me," she says.

NJ Transit insists that security and safety are exactly why it's installing audio and video recorders on light rail trains around the state. But officials at the agency do not want to talk specifics.

"We're using every available technology to deter criminal activity on our system," said Dennis Martin, NJ Transit's acting executive director, while fending off questions from reporters after a board meeting this week.

For a lot of people, audio recording seems like crossing a line.

"It is creepy that they want to record our conversations," says Jeanne LoCicero, a lawyer with the ACLU of New Jersey. "We all have a reasonable expectation that we can have private conversations in public and this really is undermining that principle."

Most Of The Time, No One Listens

To law enforcement, audio surveillance can be a useful tool. The Maryland Transit Administration has been recording audio and video on many of its buses in the Baltimore area since 2012.

"The idea that people are listening in, Big Brother if you will, is very far from the truth," says Capt. Christopher Holland of the MTA police. "The common misperception is that everything is being listened to. It's not only impractical, it's impossible."

The cameras and microphones are recording whenever the buses are running, Holland says. Most of the time, no one listens to the recordings, and they get erased after 30 days — unless there's a robbery, fight or other incident.

Holland says audio recordings can potentially reveal information the video doesn't, including the names or nicknames of people involved in the incident.

It's not clear how many other transit agencies are doing this. But the answer seems to be a lot. The cost of surveillance systems can run into the millions of dollars, which is often covered by the Department of Homeland Security. There are several companies that specialize in building surveillance equipment for transit agencies.

Apollo Video Technology is one such company. CEO Rodell Notbohm says his company alone has supplied equipment for about 200 agencies. And all those systems have microphones.

"Typically it's not gonna hear a conversation between two people that are sitting next to one other," says Notbohm. "The idea is to be able to capture the interaction between passengers and the operator. And then any big altercation or noises that are going on in the vehicle."

Hard To Know How Recordings Are Used

It's hard to say how many transit systems are actually recording audio. Some only do it when the driver pushes a button, while others never do. That can make it hard for passengers to know exactly where they stand.

"Often there's a lack of policies and procedures that are available to the public so they understand what's going on," says Jeramie Scott with the Electronic Privacy Information Center. "How the information's being used, how it's being stored, how long it's being retained, who it's being shared with."

New Jersey Transit, for example, is unwilling to answer any of those basic questions. That may help explain why riders are so worried about what Big Brother might overhear.

Copyright 2016 NPR. To see more, visit NPR.

 

Another example of how religion can cause a fucking shitstorm ...

How many terrorists are last heard saying "praise allah" or the phrase this guy used that alerted the woman to call authorities. She cannot be faulted, the airline although being fuckwads, are not out of line here either. The fact that the guy fits a terrorist profile appearence wise is a sad reality and I feel for the guy but he is a product of his own environment ...

If I missed the point of the story because of falling asleep about halfway through this mini-series, I apologise in advance.

 

No problem, we all know rabbits have other things on their minds...

 

Well, I don't really know happen on that plane, but I do understand people's fear of Muslims....

Take this for example, if you had a choice to board a plane full of Muslims that didn't have to pass through any security and were allowed to carry anything on board or you could fly on another plane full of Christians that didn't go through any security and have the same rules....

Which plane would you get on????

 

There were security checks. He passed them all, just like everyone else on the flight. Nice try.

 

You can't say "bomb" on an airplane. Right?

Why?

Because it unsettles the other passengers.

 

I thought people weren't even supposed to use personal electronics during taxiing, takeoff and landing. Or any other time the no phone light is on.

Has that changed?

On Southwest or any other commercial airline?

 

I haven't flown in years, but apparently the plane hadn't left the gate yet if they pulled him off.

 

Yelling "fire" in a crowded theatre is not considered protected speech, nor should saying "Allah" on an airplane be considered protected speech.

 

Why not? It is simply another name for God.

 

And "fire" is just another word for "combustion".

 

Saying "Allahu Akbar" on a plane unsettles the other passengers. Irrationally, perhaps.

The same way saying "bomb" on a plane unsettles the other passengers. Irrationally almost always.

I see no difference whatsoever.

Up and down my commute, there are LED signs on the highway, from the Feds, that say, "If you See something, Say something."

Damn it, I see raghead terrorists every time I walk into a Starbucks, and I seldom dial 911. Am I showing rational restraint, or am I aiding and abetting the next atrocity?

 

we would not have the problems if we just had all the Muslims leave when the Mexicans get out....

and the don't let anymore of them back in...............simple as, abc go fish..........

 

You fly, right? So you tell me, because no one else will: wasn't this goatherd breaking a rule by being on the phone in the first place?

 

Yep phones are to be shut off before the plane leaves the gate......not suppose to be using any electronics during taxi before take off....
but I did not read when he was doing the talking.....

too much there to read....did see it on the news....

 

Cell phones are permitted while the plane is sitting at the terminal. The pilot will announce when passengers need to turn off their phones.

 

This whole incident looks a lot like the clockboy incident. Much like the clockboy incident this incident is an attempt to browbeat Americans NOT to say something when they see something.

The San Bernardino terrorist attack happened shortly after the clockboy incident. One of the neighbors of the San Bernardino terrorists did see something suspicious, but she kept quiet as this occurred just days after clockboy was invited to the Whitehouse and our evil President used the incident to make fun of and attack people who dared to "say something" when they saw something.

This latest attempt to cry "Islamophobia" is another attempt to stop Americans from acting with common sense out of fear of being attacked by insane liberals who want us to roll over and submit to Islamofascism.

 

Well since I don't have the right to say "bomb" I'll also happily give up my right to say "Allahu Akbar."

 

I was thinking the same thing.....this guy will get invited to the whitehouse.....

Muslims are pissed about this......

Egyptian student in hot water after posting Trump threat

ORANGE, Calif. --A flight student from Egypt is facing deportation from the United States after being investigated by federal agents for posting on his Facebook page that he was willing to serve a life sentence for killingDonald Trumpand that the world would thank him.

While U.S. prosecutors have not charged 23-year-old Emadeldin Elsayed with a crime, immigration authorities arrested him last month at the Los Angeles-area flight school he attended and now are trying to deport him, attorney Hani Bushra said Wednesday.

Elsayed, who is being held in a jail in Orange, is devastated at seeing his dreams of becoming a pilot dashed over what Bushra acknowledged was a foolish social media post. An immigration court hearing will determine whether Elsayed will be deported.

"It seems like the government was not able to get a criminal charge to stick on him, so they used the immigration process to have him leave the country," Bushra said. "The rhetoric is particularly high in this election, and I just feel he got caught up in the middle."

 

Definitely the plane full of Christians.

If you're not afraid of the Saracen horde, you're a suicidal goofball.

Anyone see the telecasts of the Boston Marathon finish line today? For the final mile of the race, it was cops arm to arm. More cops than spectators. And there were as many cops behind the spectators. And cops on the roofs of the buildings, with sniper rifles. And the race doesn't even allow walk-ons anymore!

You telling me Boston's not afraid?

Hah. That's Boston Strong for you. A city afraid of its own shadow.