For those of us not making fun of every story with some kind of playground joke; this is a big deal only because it perpetuates 'fears' that government and media continue to push onto the public. Take a couple of steps back and look at how much legislation gets passed unnoticed because everyone fails to read beyond 'Terrorist', 'Safety' and 'Homeland'. What you don't see is all of the underlying BS that is getting set in place to remove more and more of your freedoms.
Because Americans are supposed to be 'afraid of terrorists', now the government has the right to do just about anything to anyone without much of a reason...other than they 'say so'.
"Those who desire to give up freedom in order to gain security will not have, nor do they deserve, either". -Benjamin Franklin