...is the unnamed (and inappropriately officious, but oh so wrong) Federal Reserve Police officer who struts out and hassles a news cameraman, telling him that it's illegal to film the building from a public sidewalk unless he obtains special "permission" from the apparatchiks at Public Affairs.
This photog claims that he had previously filmed such places as the White House, the Capitol and the Treasury building with absolutely no problems, as it should be.
"Really, you can't take pictures of a Federal building. Period."
Is that so? Please cite the appropriate statute that justifies you making such an asinine statement. Take your time, we'll wait while you look it up.
Apparently, according to this learned fount of non-existent and made-up laws, a tourist walking by and "snapping a quick picture" is OK. Linger a little too long or have too big of a camera, and the black-clad thugs are going to start giving you a hard time, even if you're taking pictures FROM ACROSS THE STREET.
"But this is the Federal Reserve, sir"
Big whoop. It's a PUBLIC BUILDING, paid for by OUR MONEY, being filmed from a PUBLIC PLACE. Try to get that concept through your skull, ma'am. I know it's difficult, but I'm sure you can get there if you try hard enough.
It's becoming clear that lots of us are going to have to begin a new hobby of documenting the architecture of Federal buildings in the near future, just to make sure that the concept of "a public place" is pounded into these goons.
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2 comments:
Great video. We can all do someting like this. It's a simple and effective way to make sure our freedoms are not taken away a little bit at a time. The non aggressive way this guy handled the situation was perfect.
If you are a regular reader of this blog, and you have not yet done something like this, you should. It's thrilling to actually exercise your First Amendment rights. I know the editor of this blog regularly does.
Last year I took a digital tape recorder to a City Council meeting to document the poor handling of city business in my small town. Some (not all) of the council members were outraged, and questioned whether or not I could tape their little private meeting. I reminded them that this was a public meetig and taping it was legal and constitutional. Later, one of those members resigned and stated in a letter to the editor that my taping of the meeting was a major reason. Another council member later decided not to run again.
The newly elected city council is a much better council. Happy ending. Using our freedoms does make a difference.
A couple of years ago, a man was questioned by a federal officer because he had been photographing the Mayo Clinic through a telescope, and citizens were concerned. It turns out he was taking pictures of the hawks the clinic had encouraged to net on the top of the building. The fed was nice about it, liked the pictures, and just told the photographer that some people were getting a little nervous about things.
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