As if the US tourism industry hasn't had enough problems lately, we now have another pathetic and frightening story out of NYC this weekend.
As if the US tourism industry hasn't had enough problems lately, we now have another pathetic and frightening story out of NYC this weekend.
REYKJAVIK, Iceland - Iceland's government has asked the U.S. ambassador to explain the treatment of an Icelandic tourist who says she was held in shackles before being deported from the United States.
The woman, Erla Osk Arnardottir Lillendahl, 33, was arrested Sunday when she arrived at JFK airport in New York because she had overstayed a U.S. visa more than 10 years earlier.
Look, I valiantly try to grant the benefit of the doubt, any time I read stuff like this, especially since it comes from MSM. I do. But, of course, as I read further, I get more and more pissed:
She contended she was interrogated at JFK airport for two days, during which she was not allowed to call relatives. She said she was denied food and drink for part of the time, and was photographed and fingerprinted.
On Monday, Lillendahl claimed, her hands and feet were chained and she was moved to a prison in New Jersey, where she was kept in a cell, interrogated further and denied access to a phone.
She was deported Tuesday, she told reporters and wrote on her Internet blog.
What the hell? I'm not sure what to make of this--there was no picture running with the MSNBC link, so I searched Ms. Lillendahl's name (which is where I found her blog link). I found an IHT link running the same AP wire text that MSNBC has. I could only find a handful of other links, and all had virtually the same story. I find that rather odd, but for right now, knowing what I know about what's been going on in our nation's airports since 9/11, I'm just not surprised.
Was Ms. Lillendahl threatening someone? Did she act suspicious? Evasive? Details are sketchy, other than what's on her blog. She damn sure doesn't look threatening, does she?
Sorry to contribute to the "outrage fatigue", but I actually saw a post on a diary the other night that said "I wonder what other countries must think of the US?" Wish I could remember which diary it was in, but I promise you, it did not appear to be a rhetorical question. Really and truly, I can't imagine why other countries don't hate us--we sure give them reason to, don't we?
Nice way to end my evening--NOT. Think I'll have a nightcap and read something mindless, so I can disengage my brain--because this is the kind of stuff that makes emigrating ANYWHERE seem attractive. Sigh...