It Begins. Team Obama Now Strong-Arming Outspoken Politicians & Detaining Reporters Near Oil Spill
Posted by Jim Hoft on Monday, July 5, 2010, 10:43 AM
It’s the Chicago way…
Last week the Obama Administration sent out the goon squad to strong-arm Louisiana Parish President Nungesser. They told him to keep his complaints to himself and out of the media.
One of the Top 20 Oil Spill Photos Team O does not want you to see.
Now they’re detaining photographers reporting on the BP-Obama oil spill disaster.
MSNBC reported:
A photographer taking pictures of a BP refinery in Texas was detained by a BP security official, local police and a man who said he was from the Department of Homeland Security, according to ProPublica, a non-profit news organization in the U.S.
The photographer, Lance Rosenfield, said he was confronted by the officials shortly after arriving in Texas City, Texas, to work on a story that is part of an ongoing collaboration between PBS and ProPublica.
Rosenfield was released after officials looked through the pictures he had taken and took down his date of birth, Social Security number and other personal information, the photographer said. The information was turned over to the BP security guard who said this was standard procedure, ProPublica quoted Rosenfield as saying.
Rosenfield, a Texas-based freelance photographer, said he was followed by a BP employee after taking a picture on a public road near the refinery, and then cornered by two police cars at a gas station. The officials told Rosenfield they had the right to look at the pictures taken near the refinery and if he did not comply he would be “taken in,” the photographer said according to ProPublica.
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Published February 8, 2012 at 8:42 pm - 106 Comments
Mats commented:
Change!
MaxTruth commented:
There is a national security aspect to people taking pictures of refineries. I see no reason for giving info to BP except to say it was not a security threat.
bill-tb commented:
well if PMSNBC reported it, you know it must be happening everywhere by now.
So why would you arrest photographers anyway?
You simply cannot hide 1/4 of the Gulf of Mexico from everybody. And who would be trying to hide it?
Kenny Solomon commented:
If members of a entity that relies exclusively on their absolute right within The 1st Amendment can’t exercise that right, then they’d better move down the list to the next one and exercise that….. because if they don’t, there’s nothing else left to work with.
Yeah, I said it.
KLS
Molon Labe.
averagemelon commented:
Swarm them with photographers and threaten BIG lawsuits. This is still AMERICA and we will not be kicked like dogs.
Kemo Sabe commented:
Security is racist. They asked for the photographers papers!
Sojourner commented:
..Scratch a progressive, find a facist.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uXsmLMV1CrM
Toaster802 commented:
if he did not comply he would be “taken in,”
As we all will be in the near future for sedition.
Stand by…
jennifer commented:
Wait!! Why are we angry with Arizona again?? Isn’t it something about being able to ask for someones papers, identification etc?
Hmm typical in this administration- one set of standards for the peon-oops people, and another for them.
FreakyBoy commented:
Is it just me, or has Obama sent more people to the Gulf to suppress the story than to clean up the mess?
Seansie commented:
It’s 2010. This guy could take pictures and immediately send it to hundreds of e-mail accounts. Don’t know what sort of byzantine rules Obama thinks he can impose, but it would be easier to stop ocean tide than the modern flow of information. Sucker.
Gloria commented:
This is a non-story. I live near a building that houses the main office of the biggest public utility where I live. One day I saw a man taking photos of the building. There is nothing architecturally interesting about the building itself, so I immediately became suspicious. I called the security office in the building. The security people immediately contacted the police and the man was interrogated by the police. This is routine. Normal people do not walk around taking pictures of public utility buildings or oil refineries. The BP security person did the right thing.
ProLifer commented:
“Ridicule as a weapon” (Alinsky) __ Obama uses it effectively at his townhall (propaganda) meetings.
Obama knows how deadly ridicule is. It must become one of our weapons against him!
Follow the law commented:
My goodness, Obama is at war with America. Doesn’t he have to clear it with Congress first? That shouldn’t be a problem. Until November, that is.
BarbaraS commented:
Gloria is right. This photographer should have informed the refinery officials that he would be taking pictures and what for since this was for PBS. We have lauded the police and other officials for arresting suspicious characters loitering around public buildngs and bridges and taking pictures for no apparent reason. We assumed in those cases that these people were terrorists intent on harming the country. These officials were not informed about the photographer’s intent and acted accordingly. He was let go after they verified his bonafides. It would have been another story if he had been up to no good.
Andreas K. commented:
Welcome to Europe.
This is pretty much standard here these days.
In Germany a mohammedan group complained about “evil whities” taking photos of their mosque from the street (public area), the “evil whities” were then told to leave by the police.
In another incident in Germany a woman, who had just been robbed by mohammedans, and had taken photos of them with the loot, was told by police to delete the photos, so that she wouldn’t anger the mohammedans further.
In the UK police has taken down CCTV cameras in a mohammedan area, because the mohammedans protested. The law abiding British citzen still has the CCTV cameras spying on his daily life, but the group of people, where actual surveillance would make mose sense, whines and the government obeyes.
Welcome to Europe.
And remember. Freedom is slavery. Ignorance is strength. War is peace. Hope and change.
newton commented:
“… part of an ongoing collaboration between PBS and ProPublica.”
ProPublica is a left-leaning news organization, with plenty of “rich-Left” funding (read: Soros). Why would they deny them anything?
Florida commented:
Don’t worry. We’re heading back up there and nothing is going to stop us from taking photos and videos. BTW, that story of them using sand to cover up the tar balls on the sand? That was broken by this guy two weeks ago in the Florida panhandle.
http://travelingwoodbury.blogspot.com/
Liz commented:
They are threatening journalists with $40,000 fines and class D Felony charges for getting to close to the spill!
SirKnob commented:
This is absolutely normal operations. Since 9/11 we question anyone taking pictures of a refinery, power or chemical plant, container facility, ships, etc… anyone taking odd pictures can simply be collecting information and details for terrorist activities. Terrorist normally case their targets and often conduct drills, such as taking detailed pictures, thar are designed to test security and note response techniques.
There is a difference between taking momento type pictures and detailed photographs.
As I stated, it is normal ops to question someone taking detailed photographs. It happens everyday all over the country.
Jeremiah commented:
Malibu caught on that he wouldn’t be able to spin all hate to BP but has calculated this late response will absolve him. The time to stick him with the oil crises is now!
The problem is the MSM is spinning the narrative that BP is who we want to blame, not Malibu. Eventually if something gets said enough it becomes the conventional wisdom.
The Republican party neither capitalizes or is timely in it’s attacks on Malibu. They can’t be counted on to do what is obvious.
Does anyone have the ability to raise money or contact a figure like Dick Morris so we can put a commercial out that pins the incompetence on Malibu? The message of the MSM has to be counteracted by us and soon before the clean up progresses to the point that the American public loses interest.
gail commented:
Gloria and Sir Knob are correct. Actually refineries are very desirable terrorist targets, and questioning photogs makes perfect sense, What doesn’t make sense, except from a governmental propaganda point of view, is to levy huge fines and threaten jail sentences for taking pictures of oiled birds.
dlc commented:
Send in the Drones?
http://www.youtube.com/user/RutherfordInstitute
Jeremiah commented:
The commercial writes itself, based on a time line of malibu’s actions, although it seems like a fairy tale, because it seems like no one could be that stupid or incompetent.
Anyone of us could put together a powerful and condemning commercial without professional studio help.
oldguy commented:
the administration doesn’t care if reporters take pictures, they just want to see if they can get away with censoring us without being overthrown. As Ann Coulter said, he may not be the first black president, but he will certainly be the last.
daryl commented:
ProPublica sounds like a place where old retired or laid-off leftist journalists and photographers go to keep their knives sharpened or to make a little walking around money.
ProPublica – Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/ProPublica
“ProPublica has partnered with more than 50 different news organizations, including 60 Minutes, CNN, ABC World News USA Today, the New York Times, Los Angeles Times, Washington Post, Huffington Post, Politico, Salon.com, Slate, MSN Money, MSNBC.com, Newsweek, Reader’s Digest, Business Week, This American Life, and NPR among many others.”
Nuff said?
Opus #6 commented:
Tyranny.
Rock commented:
This is such a fraud on the part of BP and National Security official. go to Google Earth, use street view, then go drink it up with any BP employee at a local bar and you will gain a lot more than what this administration would like you to believe they where preventing by intimidating this reporter. This is just what the story suggest, and if you argue otherwise, your are nothing but a Socialist tool.
down with dems commented:
Obama’s Next Frontier for NASA: Fix Relations With Muslims?
http://www.foxnews.com/politics/2010/07/05/nasa-chief-frontier-better-relations-muslims/
So we’re ending the plan to return to the moon, we’re scrapping the successor to the space shuttle, we’re redirecting NASA to study “climate change”/”global warming”, and now NASA is supposed to have a Muslim lovefest.
LET ME BE CLEAR, Obama couldn’t be speaking more loudly or clearly about his intentions or his “vision” for the United States and its place in the world. The NASA crap alone tells it all, but add in the federal government (along with MEXICO!) suing Arizona over immigration enforcement, canning the missile defense shield, printing Monopoly money hand over fist, isolating and rejecting Israel, favoring unions, taking over private industries, the Democrats drooling over a VAT… the list goes on and on.
Wake up, America.
Remember in November.
BarbaraS commented:
Andreas K
There is a big difference between taking pictrues of a mosque and a gasoline refinery. A gasoline refinery is not likely to be subversive to this country and is a likely target for terrorism. A mosque and its members can and have been working against this government and the people of this country. . We need to keep a closer eye on a religion that wants us to die or enslave us and any government that does not watch these people carefully is not only stupid but suicidal. Uk is not doing this and neither is our government. We hear of islamist camps all the time and a survey was taken at one of them in this country and the respondents said the Mumbaii sexual mutiliations were justified. They also said that this is the best way to win submission.
Sojourner commented:
hmmm..
here, another story..”Team O does not want you to see:”
US ORDERS BLACKOUT OVER NORTH KOREA
TORPEDOING OF GULF OF MEXICO OIL RIG
…”A grim report circulating in the Kremlin today written by Russia’s Northern Fleet is reporting that the United States has ordered a complete media blackout over North Korea’s torpedoing of the giant Deepwater Horizon oil platform owned by the World’s largest offshore drilling contractor Transocean that was built and financed by South Korea’s Hyundai Heavy Industries Co. Ltd., that has caused great loss of life, untold billions in economic damage to the South Korean economy, and an environmental catastrophe to the United States.”
…”Most important to understand about this latest attack by North Korea against its South Korean enemy is that under the existing “laws of war” it was a permissible action as they remain in a state of war against each other due to South Korea’s refusal to sign the 1953 Armistice ending the Korean War.”
http://www.eutimes.net/2010/05/us-orders-blackout-over-north-korean-torpedoing-of-gulf-of-mexico-oil-rig/
chili palmer commented:
BP is routinely mentioned on the scene and making more confusion. At least one of their officials involved in the blast pleaded the 5th and refused to speak to congress. Criminal charges are being filed. Someone in congress must take steps to have BP personnel removed from US land and sea cleanup efforts.I have read multiple times how our people in the gulf were left hanging for weeks supposedly waiting for BP to get back to them about booms or other matters. This is a crime. BP’s focus is on getting money from other oil companies to pay for the cleanup. They have proven to be untrustworthy top to bottom, so Beltway officials must stop forcing US citizens to deal with them since Obama won’t. He thinks it’s funny.
Sandy commented:
It would seem there’s too many holes in the dyke that is this Presidency to try to plug. Isn’t intimidation the last refuge of a scoundrel? It was all supposed to be soooooo easy. We were supposed to enjoy being screwed. But something funny happened on the way to this one night stand–The Republican Party, Talk Radio, Fox News and Gateway Pundit talked truth to power and the American People listened.
Sandy commented:
My friend told me she heard that the 10 major oil companies offered all the help Obama could possibly need and he turned them down.
If he’s proud of the mess he made in the Gulf he should seek out reporters to tell the story instead of censoring them.
militant conservative commented:
Gloria
July 5th, 2010 | 11:24 am | #17
And others that agree with her. You have lost so much freedom and are willing to give more away for security. Hmmmmm famous person said you would have neither freedom nor security. Idiot, I was against homeland security from the get go. Too much power in anyones hands and an expansion of government. KS, your right the excrement is getting ready to hit the fan and many do not see it coming. Me I’ll die free rather than a slave. powder is dry
Dave commented:
Sounds like mass resistance and an organized photo shoot is needed. Imagine tens (hopefully hundreds) of people converging on the BP refinery to take pictures. Will BP and the government suffer an embarrassment in a mass arrest of photo takers?
gail commented:
Sojourner, EUTimes is a very unreliable source.
gail commented:
I’d want to see any EU Times report corroborated at at least one site I trusted before I’d consider it probable/possible.
Sojourner commented:
..gail.. indeed..it’s not in my nature to assume a ‘dark side’ to events. ..however, you’d also think that someone in the media would be asking the obvious question the story raises: Is there any proof/documentation of such a vessel being in the Gulf during that time period?
AuntieMadder commented:
What if no one had bothered the photographer and it wasn’t until after the refinery was ‘sploded that Ahkmed Mohammed was identified from a photo as the guy who’d been taking photos of the refinery from the street a week before the ‘splosion?
AuntieMadder commented:
EU Times is like the Weekly World News of Europe.
Note: In case you’re not familiar with the fine publication, Weekly World News is the paper that brought us such stories as Bat Boy Steals Car and My Frog Baby Almost Drowned (including this quote from the frog baby’s mother: “My baby almost croaked!”)
seven commented:
The right to bear arms. The right to take pictures. Cameras are a weapon.
Criminals hate pictures. Actually a refinery has rights that end on the property line.
JeffinSac commented:
Sorry but I 100% disagree with yours and the medias take on this, because no where in the article does it state this reporter contact BP before showing up unannounced to take photo’s. As they stated once he identified himself and showed the pictures he was let go and how was anyone to know he was not a terrorist scoping out the place to do an attack in the future?
The real story is how the media things they can do anything they want and them blame BP and authorities when they failed to coordinate with them.
LibsAreCommies commented:
Nah, this band of ghetto gangsta thugs now running our government aren’t Commies. Why, that’s just silly…
Kick the Bums Out commented:
This is change….we are changing from a free capitalistic democracy to a socialist monarchy. Change you will believe in OR ELSE!
Bulldog1972 commented:
Indeed! There IS & HAS BEEN a Media Blackout en force because neither BP nor the POTUS want to come clean with the DANGERS (verified) that face Americans in countless States and others as well. Besides the obvious Oil now being part of the evaporation process, toxins are being dropped on everyone in the form of rain which works it’s way into our already fluoridated water tables. It is now reported & been verified that this IS happening! Additionally, we ALL are breathing very toxic air! NO Mainstream Media will report this & the current Admin does NOT want us all KNOWING! TOO BAD! Protect yourselves people. I am down here right on the beleagured Gulf Coast & I ASSURE YOU that air is TERRIBLE as is Rain!