To be fair to everyone, I could only find coverage of this in two places: the Politico link Kaztronic submitted, which is in turn linked on the Drudge Report. Which can be seen two ways: the Conservative press is exploiting yet another *thing* to stick it to the Obama administration, or the Liberal press is once again cherry-picking what constitutes news these days to white-wash the Obama administration. I say we all need to take the filters off and get to the bottom of what is really going on in this country. The video at face value is pretty chilling. But should it be taken at face value?
On a loosely related note, there is a new effort forming here in Nebraska that I believe will be called "Drop and Dial", where at designated points of the day coordinated phone calls are made to senators and congressman to protest DADT. The idea is to fill up the voice mail and keep attention on the issue. We'll see how it goes. It was supposed to start a month ago but sometimes wheels turn slow in the prairie...........
Interesting Reaction To A Protest Outside The White House
Moderator: Super Moderators
-
Cherry Kelly
- Pirate
- Posts: 12852
- Joined: 07-29-2000 02:00 AM
- Contact:
I would hope we can all agree that, given the expressed desire of this administration to be "transparent," as Politico archly observed, the action by the Park Police was outrageous and ridiculous, as the reporter in the video commented. What is confounding is why the Park Police would do this? It's a dumb, jackass move that was bound to p!ss off practically all parties, although it apparently kept coverage of the incident down, which seems to have been the intent. But whose intent?
One of the confusing things about DC is all the separate police jurisdictions: the Capitol Police, which are separate from the DC Metropolitan Police, which are separate from the US Park Police, which are separate from the Secret Service. (Not to mention the county and state police from Maryland and Virginia.) The Park Police are part of the National Park Service, which is under the Dept. of the Interior. So yes, they work for the President, but at a couple of removes. Protecting the President and White House are the job of the Secret Service, which is part of the Homeland Security Dept. (used to be part of Treasury).
Maybe somebody in the Park Police was embarrassed at the previous coverage of Lt. Choi; maybe somebody in the White House put the word out, given the previous day's hecklers; maybe not. We're not likely to find out, because it would make whoever is at fault look like a jerk. Which, of course, they are.
One of the confusing things about DC is all the separate police jurisdictions: the Capitol Police, which are separate from the DC Metropolitan Police, which are separate from the US Park Police, which are separate from the Secret Service. (Not to mention the county and state police from Maryland and Virginia.) The Park Police are part of the National Park Service, which is under the Dept. of the Interior. So yes, they work for the President, but at a couple of removes. Protecting the President and White House are the job of the Secret Service, which is part of the Homeland Security Dept. (used to be part of Treasury).
Maybe somebody in the Park Police was embarrassed at the previous coverage of Lt. Choi; maybe somebody in the White House put the word out, given the previous day's hecklers; maybe not. We're not likely to find out, because it would make whoever is at fault look like a jerk. Which, of course, they are.
Anchors Aweigh
Swerdloc wrote: One of the confusing things about DC is all the separate police jurisdictions: the Capitol Police, which are separate from the DC Metropolitan Police, which are separate from the US Park Police, which are separate from the Secret Service. (Not to mention the county and state police from Maryland and Virginia.) The Park Police are part of the National Park Service, which is under the Dept. of the Interior. So yes, they work for the President, but at a couple of removes. Protecting the President and White House are the job of the Secret Service, which is part of the Homeland Security Dept. (used to be part of Treasury).
Thank you, Bill, for the insight on this. Though extremely confusing -- and yes, we'll probably never find out -- it is an important distinction to keep in mind.
Did you ever stop to think, and then forget to start again?
update
If you go back to Kaz's Politico link you will find this update, which does mesh with the info provided by Swerdloc. Then again, I'm not ignorant of the fact that it could be spin.
UPDATE: U.S. Park Police spokesman David Schlosser tells POLITICO his service erred in pushing the reporters back, and stressed that the White House played no role in the move.
"That was strictly the U.S. Parks Police that screwed up – that has nothing to do with the Secret Service of the White House or the Administration," said Sergeant Schlosser. "We had some young officers who, when they were told to move the people back -- which we typically do when we're going to make arrests - they moved the people back a lot further than we typically do. That was a rookie, amateur error and they screwed up on that."
UPDATE: U.S. Park Police spokesman David Schlosser tells POLITICO his service erred in pushing the reporters back, and stressed that the White House played no role in the move.
"That was strictly the U.S. Parks Police that screwed up – that has nothing to do with the Secret Service of the White House or the Administration," said Sergeant Schlosser. "We had some young officers who, when they were told to move the people back -- which we typically do when we're going to make arrests - they moved the people back a lot further than we typically do. That was a rookie, amateur error and they screwed up on that."
Did you ever stop to think, and then forget to start again?
I certainly hope this could be chalked up as an error of some sort, it just seems a bit "off", on a gut level, if you know what I mean.
Now, that doesn't mean the President personally picked up the phone and made some calls. But their are certainly plenty of possible scenarios one could envision and weigh against the "official version" of events. Each of us can decide what seems more likely.
For me, the idea that this was some type of rookie mistake - for an organization that deals with these types of protests constantly just stretches credibility a bit....... Perhaps more than a little bit. I mean, you would think that kind of thing would be covered in training when it comes to this particular beat, no?
I'm saying that on the face of things, sending out rookies to a beat at Lafayette Park next to the White House, with inadequate training on how to handle this type of issue just doesn't seem to be a likely scenario in this day and age.
One might reasonably think that as these six protesters handcuffed themselves to the fence, that a police officer on the scene, in charge of the situation would pick up their walkie-talkie and contact HQ to say - "Breaker Breaker - Hello HQ, we have six people chaining themselves to the fence of the White House in some sort of protest - please advise - over and out". You would also think that of all those cops there as seen on the video (and there are quite a few) - that someone would not have been a rookie, and might have tried to help their young misguided associates along with standard protocol.
All I'm saying is that the scene is unusual, and a bit too coincidental for my taste. You know, Washington has been getting pretty big on coincidences lately.......
Now, that doesn't mean the President personally picked up the phone and made some calls. But their are certainly plenty of possible scenarios one could envision and weigh against the "official version" of events. Each of us can decide what seems more likely.
For me, the idea that this was some type of rookie mistake - for an organization that deals with these types of protests constantly just stretches credibility a bit....... Perhaps more than a little bit. I mean, you would think that kind of thing would be covered in training when it comes to this particular beat, no?
I'm saying that on the face of things, sending out rookies to a beat at Lafayette Park next to the White House, with inadequate training on how to handle this type of issue just doesn't seem to be a likely scenario in this day and age.
One might reasonably think that as these six protesters handcuffed themselves to the fence, that a police officer on the scene, in charge of the situation would pick up their walkie-talkie and contact HQ to say - "Breaker Breaker - Hello HQ, we have six people chaining themselves to the fence of the White House in some sort of protest - please advise - over and out". You would also think that of all those cops there as seen on the video (and there are quite a few) - that someone would not have been a rookie, and might have tried to help their young misguided associates along with standard protocol.
All I'm saying is that the scene is unusual, and a bit too coincidental for my taste. You know, Washington has been getting pretty big on coincidences lately.......
Last edited by Kaztronic on 04-21-2010 12:57 PM, edited 1 time in total.
"You'll get used to my babbling, all the others have." - Anna Madrigal from "Tales Of The City" by Armistead MaupinNo, you haven't missed anything. A few sites covered it, a few activist groups covered it - not much play beyond that.
It has become increasingly apparent over the past year that relations between the media and the Obama Administration have been growing more contentious - the issue has consistently been one of access, or a lack thereof.
Given this incident, and the speculation folks like us have had over it, I think it would be fascinating to be a fly on the wall in some of these big newsrooms. You know that if we're talking about it, they sure are to (if not publicly, privately).
It has become increasingly apparent over the past year that relations between the media and the Obama Administration have been growing more contentious - the issue has consistently been one of access, or a lack thereof.
Given this incident, and the speculation folks like us have had over it, I think it would be fascinating to be a fly on the wall in some of these big newsrooms. You know that if we're talking about it, they sure are to (if not publicly, privately).
"You'll get used to my babbling, all the others have." - Anna Madrigal from "Tales Of The City" by Armistead Maupin-
Bobbi Snow
- Pirate
- Posts: 2366
- Joined: 01-20-2008 01:57 PM
I have been for Equal Rights of all good people since I became an adult - up until I moved out of my small town, I had no idea there were people different from us who weren't being given Equal Rights. I learned quickly that living in a microcosm makes you think everything's okay. Coming to Los Angeles and learning "on the job" so-to-speak, was a BIG eye-opener.
If you're still breathing, it's not too late!