Student detained at airport for Arabic flashcards, and more

Detained for having Arabic flashcards

A California college student was detained for five hours at Philadelphia’s airport for having Arabic flashcards in his luggage. Nick George says he should have been released after he showed ID and explained that he was teaching himself Arabic. Instead, he says, he was handcuffed and thrown into a holding cell where a TSA official asked him, “Do you know what language Osama bin Laden spoke?”

90 days in jail for swearing in public

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A Minnesota man is facing up to 90 days in jail for swearing in public. Lucas Wilcox, 19, cursed at police officers who had just ticketed him for underage drinking at a party, and was promptly found in violation of an 1887 ordinance that prohibits the use of “any obscene language’’ in public places.