Obama email boy - fair and proportionate?

[Rum]

From the BBC at: http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-be ... s-11296303

Seems a slight overreaction to me!

Obama e-mail teenager gets US ban

A teenager from Bedfordshire has been banned from entering the United States for life for sending a "threatening" e-mail to the White House.

Luke Angel, 17, of Silsoe, was investigated after he expressed his dislike of President Barack Obama and the US Government.

Bedfordshire police, who then visited Luke, said the e-mail was full of abusive and threatening language.

"He was told that he wouldn't be able to go to America," they added.

A spokeswoman said it was a case of a boy "being silly" and no criminal action was being taken.

"We were informed by the Metropolitan Police and so we went round to see him," she said.

"He said 'oh dear, it was me'."

He told police he could not remember exactly what he had written in the e-mail.

[klr]

Hmmm .... I don't know. You threaten El Presidente, you can't enter our country.

[mistermack]

In a country packed with guns, they have to take threats more seriously. So would I.
It's the difference of cultures.

[Coito ergo sum]

I wonder what he wrote. Conspicuously absent from the article is the most important part. What the heck did he write?

[Robert_S]

I wonder what he wrote. Conspicuously absent from the article is the most important part. What the heck did he write?

Precisely.

In a country packed with guns, they have to take threats more seriously. So would I.
It's the difference of cultures.

As 9-11 and the Oklahoma City bombings taught us.

[Pappa]

I wonder what he wrote. Conspicuously absent from the article is the most important part. What the heck did he write?

That was my thought too. It mentions threats. Even if he felt he was doing it in jest, if the email contained death threats or similar, then it's understandable (if still a bit ott) that he's banned from the US.

[Trolldor]

Good. Fucking twat asked for it.
Next time do what every other asshole does and loose your wank over the internet. Nobody will care that way.

[Coito ergo sum]

Well, radio personality Michael Savage was banned from the UK, and all he did was express political opinions.

[Trolldor]

And?

[Elessarina]

I wonder what he wrote. Conspicuously absent from the article is the most important part. What the heck did he write?

That was my thought too. It mentions threats. Even if he felt he was doing it in jest, if the email contained death threats or similar, then it's understandable (if still a bit ott) that he's banned from the US.

I don't think it is OTT.. if someone took the time to send a message like that then they're clearly unstable. I think the decision was correct.. who behaves like that at 17? At 17 I waschasing guys, trying to find ways to get pissed [I know, no change..:heh:], doing A levels.. I was interested in politics but I had no desires to threaten peopleor any such thing.. at that age teenage angst should be the biggest problem you're dealing with...

[Gawdzilla Sama]

Sorry, didn't read the OP, wassup?

[Trolldor]

At 17 you were immature and irrational. You were also a girl chasing boys. It was also more than a decade ago.

Sending death threats is not a sign of instability, it's sending death threats you mean that is a sign of instability.

[Ian]

Just some teenage kid's dumb shenanigans. Occasionally, they attract minor (albeit international) press attention.

Mad Hatter - It really doesn't matter if you mean it or not. The US Secret Service has to take it seriously, even if it's just drunken ramblings.

[Gawdzilla Sama]

At 17 you were immature and irrational.

And that all went away when I turned 18.


Really, no kidding. They gave me guns and everything. (The "everythings" kept blowing up. )

[Clinton Huxley]

The Americans cannot allow the Axis of Email to go unchallenged! Evil-doers must be punished - preferably by nuking them from orbit, it's the only way to be sure.