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US Customs Officer Harasses Defense One Journalist at Dulles Airport
A passport screening official held a Defense One journalist's passport until he received an affirmative answer to this repeated question: "You write propaganda, right?"
The incident took place about 4 p.m. on Thursday at Dulles International Airport. News Editor Ben Watson was returning from an assignment in Denmark when he entered permanent resident reentry aisle No. 17 at Dulles. After the Customs and Border Protection official asked the usual question about undeclared fruit or meat, the interaction took an unusual and unsettling turn.
CBP officer, holding Watson's passport: "What do you do?"
Watson: "Journalism."
CBP officer: "So you write propaganda, right?"
Watson: "No."
CBP officer: "You're a journalist?"
Watson: "Yes."
CBP officer: "You write propaganda, right?"
Watson: "No. I am in journalism. Covering national security. And homeland security. And with many of the same skills I used in the U.S. Army as a public affairs officer. Some would argue that's propaganda."
[...] The CBP official's behavior appeared to violate the spirit, and possibly the letter, of DHS's internal Directive 0480.1, "Ethics/Standards of Conduct"; DHS Code of Conduct § 102-74.445; and possibly U.S. Customs and Border Protection Directive 51735-013A, "Standards of Conduct."
Also at The Hill, Newsweek, and The Washington Post.
(Score: 2, Informative) by captain normal on Saturday October 05 2019, @05:08AM (17 children)
Get used to it...we are now living in a Franz Kafka novel. With DHS bureaucrats running their own interpretation of Her Donald's rantings.
Everyone is entitled to his own opinion, but not to his own facts"- --Daniel Patrick Moynihan--
(Score: 2, Insightful) by fustakrakich on Saturday October 05 2019, @05:33AM (4 children)
I expect the government to do what it can get away with. It's the timid reaction and lack of opposition that makes it a problem.
La politica e i criminali sono la stessa cosa..
(Score: 3, Interesting) by isostatic on Saturday October 05 2019, @03:13PM (3 children)
We’re out-outraged. 4 years of outrage has made it all ignorable, psychologically people just can’t cope.
(Score: 3, Interesting) by hendrikboom on Saturday October 05 2019, @04:26PM
I call that outrage fatigue.
(Score: 1) by fustakrakich on Saturday October 05 2019, @05:44PM (1 child)
There's no need for outrage.
Just vote them out.
La politica e i criminali sono la stessa cosa..
(Score: 1, Funny) by Anonymous Coward on Saturday October 05 2019, @06:33PM
or stop paying for it all like a bunch of cowardly slaves. what are you dipshits scared of? you'll be dead in the blink of an eye, but instead of standing up for yourself, dying like a free man/woman/smizmar and setting a good example for your family, you suck up to the criminals running the federal government. or maybe you actually think funding the IRS helps the country? pitiful idiots funding their own destruction.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Saturday October 05 2019, @10:08AM (5 children)
it's Herrn Donald "Jessica" Trump ramblings to you.
or at least double r.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Saturday October 05 2019, @12:23PM (2 children)
Or was it Herr Starr wearing a toupee?
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Saturday October 05 2019, @02:11PM (1 child)
Hair Donald.
(Score: 2) by TheGratefulNet on Saturday October 05 2019, @04:26PM
chinga tu pelo!
"It is now safe to switch off your computer."
(Score: 3, Informative) by hendrikboom on Saturday October 05 2019, @04:27PM (1 child)
I think I missed some news. Where does the "Jessica" come from?
(Score: 2) by hendrikboom on Wednesday October 09 2019, @12:38PM
It baffles me that this was moderated "informative". What it needs is an answer, not an upmod.
(Score: -1, Troll) by Phoenix666 on Saturday October 05 2019, @02:00PM (4 children)
You mean like using the IRS to harass groups whose beliefs you don't like? How about using the intelligence agencies to spy on your political opposition and subvert the electoral process? How about using the media to smear and denigrate you 24/7?
Yes, we are living in a Kafka novel, but not for the reasons you think.
Washington DC delenda est.
(Score: 5, Informative) by Anonymous Coward on Saturday October 05 2019, @03:18PM (2 children)
That never happened. The IRS was looking into nonprofit organizations that were potentially using tax exempt money for political speech in violation of regulations covering tax exempt funds.
It just turned out that it's mostly right wing groups that think they're above the law.
(Score: -1, Flamebait) by Anonymous Coward on Saturday October 05 2019, @06:39PM
fuck you and the illegal "law". everyone at the IRS should be burned alive.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Sunday October 06 2019, @12:59AM
That's the essence of so much conservative whining - "why are you singling out conservatives? its not fair!" Because you fucktards keep breaking the law.
Its like if ebola complained that all the doctors were being mean to it and ignoring the mold that makes penicillin. Why are you targeting meeeeee?
(Score: 1) by fustakrakich on Saturday October 05 2019, @04:39PM
we are living in a Kafka novel
An autobiographical one. The story is ours.
La politica e i criminali sono la stessa cosa..
(Score: 2) by PartTimeZombie on Saturday October 05 2019, @11:34PM
The fact you have a "Department of Homeland Security" is the really worrying bit.