Cancer-stricken children, parents ejected from park near White House

An overcorrection from several recent high-profile failures would be my guess.

 

The Secret Service is paid to be professionally paranoid. The official prayer of the service is "Oh God, please not on my watch."

If the school truly thought it was a bomb, their behavior after finding it was criminally negligent. I don't buy for a minute that they actually believed that.

 

LOL. That's your daily bread!

 

Wasn't the suspicion with Ahmed that he had built a "hoax" bomb, for which there is a law against?

As for the cancer kids, while they weren't placed in cuffs, they were still treated like shit, and evicted from a public park, for which they had secured a permit.

It looks like the Post has updated their story:

In a statement e-mailed late Sunday, Brian Leary, a spokesman for the Secret Service, said the closures on Pennsylvania Avenue and Lafayette Park were “put into place based on standard [Secret Service] protocols prior to protectee movements in the vicinity of the White House Complex.”

He added, “The Secret Service would like to express its regret for not communicating more effectively with this group concerning the timeline for protectee movements in the vicinity of Lafayette Park.”

They basically admit that there was no perceived threat. They just moved the kids because of "protocol". And, the only apology offered is for the poor communication with the cancer group.

 

I have been there when the park was locked down. This is right in front of the White House, and when the president is going somewhere, the area is cleared and locked down.

Organizers should have considered it and maybe planned the vigil for a place where such an incident isn't so common.

 

Not for nothing, but "protocol" should most definitely include clearing an area that's no more than a football field away from the White House's front door.

A little empathy and critical thinking would probably be nice, though. Someone, somewhere had to know this would look terrible.

 

I don't think "empathy" is high on the Secret Service skill set.

 

Based on the apology, it sounds like they were in contact with the SS about it and the SS gave them shitty information. Can't blame the group for that.

 

True. Though I seriously doubt the Secret Service would have shared the timeline for the president's movements. However, they should have been more clear that it was a risk that the park would be cleared and closed.

 

Yep.

 

It's absurd, and does nothing to protect the President.

What's the point of the National Park Service issuing permits for events if they mean nothing?

The President could have been moved out of other exits from the White House grounds.

But... let's assume that this was all necessary, and that their were no other options but to follow this protocol.

What do you think the reaction would have been if Concerned Muslims for America had been ejected from the park, despite securing a permit, and not allowed back in for over two hours, while not being told why this was happening?

I'm guessing we would have folks saying that it only happened because they were brown and/or Muslim.

The truth is our security protocols are all designed to cover the asses of those in charge, and as theater. That's why we get 14-year-old kids put in handcuffs when they bring their home made clock to school, and why we eject cancer kids from a public park because the President is a football field away, in a bomb proof car, surrounded by guards carrying automatic weapons.

 

I don't really get the connection between Ahmed and these people. Nobody here was arrested or detained. One has absolutely nothing to do with the other.

Honest question: Is this the first time a group has been ejected from the grounds while the "protectee" is moved?

One guy said it pretty well: "We understand the need to keep our president safe. But we think a little consideration would have gone a long way." USSS could have certainly been more considerate. Point, YankeeFan. Is there anything else to see here, or should we move along?