It gets better. This afternoon’s Mooninite invasion of Boston, it is now being reported, consisted of “magnetic lights that were part of an outdoor marketing campaign for an adult cartoon” (that being Adult Swim’s Aqua Teen Hunger Force).
According to an apology from Turner Broadcasting, posted at boston.com, “[The lights] have been in place for two to three weeks in Boston, New York, Los Angeles, Chicago, Atlanta, Seattle, Portland, Austin, San Francisco, and Philadelphia.” So, thanks for jumping on the threat right away, security folks.
On Fox News, The Big Story with John Gibson is currently discussing the legal implications of the publicity devices of mass destruction. Could Turner Broadcasting (a corporate sibling of TIME) have violated a law? Says Fox judicial analyst Judge Andrew Napolitano, “If these were legitimately placed advertisements, they did not break any law… Here’s the test under Massachusetts law: would a reasonable person looking at that device reasonably conclude that it was intended to cause substantial bodily harm or injury to property? It depends on the mind of the observer.” Indeed. I understand the North Koreans are working on a billboard so large, it could level a city.
Somewhere in a Turner office, I suspect someone is getting fired. Or getting a giant raise.