Suspicious Activity Reporting program . . .

Are these the same people that dicked up the surveillance of the two brothers bombing the Marathon?

Now we know why do not have time to do the above.

Make sure you have not been added to no fly list which they do willy nilly and you do not find out until the next time you are at the airport.
 
Well Boston photogs, how about a Rainbow Swish photo contest - during one particular week? Open to shooters with any camera, digital or film, from Minox to LF on a big tripod. All Photoshop manipulations encouraged.

HFL
 
I think the photographer in question should have interacted with security in a different way. He should have given them his business card. And he could have asked to speak with someone at the company in public relations. Guy shows up in rental car at facility and some security guard who doesn't like his attitude, even though he should know the guy's not a problem, decides to f with him by going by the book and filing an incident report -- or whatever he does.

Although this incident should never have happened, NY Dan has a point. How the photographer behaves will affect the way the security guards handle the matter. A few years ago I was photographing a building here in St. Louis from the sidewalk. A security guard came out wanting to know if I had "permission." I explained that you don't need permission to photograph anything you can see when you are in a public place. I added that the news in recent times has made us all fearful, and for some reason this was causing people to be suspicious of photographers. She thanked me for the information and went back inside.

There is a line of dialog in the movie, "Harvey" where James Stewart says, "I've tried smart and I've tried polite. I recommend polite." Whether attitude and behavior, including body language and tone of voice, would have made any difference in the present case, I don't know. But I think Stewart's advice is worth remembering should such a confrontation occur.
 
I don't this is *precisely* what terrorists are after, to be honest. The installation of a global caliphate? Sure. Martyrdom? Almost certainly.

But annoying photographers is probably quite low on Al Qaeda's 'to do' list.

Adorable that you would confine your definition of terrorism to Muslim extremists.
 
Adorable that you would confine your definition of terrorism to Muslim extremists.

It's a well-known fact that when 'terrorist' acts are done by Christian or other non-Muslim extremists, it is an isolated instance of mental instability only. Don't you follow the American news???
 
Sounds like Big Brother is turning into Big Bully. Stupidity and ignorance galore.

Happens all over the planet though. Funny to see that we have so much less privacy and liberty under capitalism now than thirty years ago we were told communism would condone. Maybe another revolution is due? ;) But even funnier, as long as shopping online is working fine, nobody will be interested in that!
 
Sounds like Big Brother is turning into Big Bully. Stupidity and ignorance galore.

Happens all over the planet though. Funny to see that we have so much less privacy and liberty under capitalism now than thirty years ago we were told communism would condone. Maybe another revolution is due? ;) But even funnier, as long as shopping online is working fine, nobody will be interested in that!

That is so true. Do not get in the way of Amazon. :)

...or Ebay

...or UPS

...or FedEx

...or
 
Whoaa, that's it. You're on the list for sure now. :bang:

I had heard rumours of this type of head-in-sand type of thing, but I've never seen it for myself.

The facts are these:

1. In 2014, the vast majority of terrorists are Muslim, including virtually all terrorists who employ suicide bombing as an MO.

2. This IN NO WAY implies that the majority of Muslims are terrorists; this is demonstrably false, and anyone who says otherwise is an out and out racist.

3. Despite the fact that it is currently impolitic to say so, we in the liberal west are very much at war with Islam, in the same way we would be at war with 13th century Christianity. We are at war with the vision of society clearly laid out in the Koran and the Hadith, just like we would be at war with the vision of society laid out in the Old Testament.

I see nothing whatsoever contentious about any of this.
 
Edge I hate to tell how wrong you are but most Terrorist acts in the West were carried out by non muslims. In shear numbers 9.11 might have been the biggest Terrorist act carried out by a Terrorist Organisation but considering that the west killed around 1 Million Iraqis and a few hundred thousand other muslims I would say the muslims have to commit a lot of Sept. 11 to come even close to the number of muslims killed by us educated christians. Also the Taliban were created by the west and the majority of the Terrorist on 9 11 came from our friends in Saudi Arabia.
Furthermore the West has the tendency to bomb the most secular islamic countries into Democracy. http://www.globalresearch.ca/non-mu...0-of-all-terrorist-attacks-in-america/5333619
I also believe this is the wrong Forum to discuss such matters.
 
Edge I hate to tell how wrong you are but most Terrorist acts in the West were carried out by non muslims. In shear numbers 9.11 might have been the biggest Terrorist act carried out by a Terrorist Organisation but considering that the west killed around 1 Million Iraqis and a few hundred thousand other muslims I would say the muslims have to commit a lot of Sept. 11 to come even close to the number of muslims killed by us educated christians.

In 2014, the vast majority of worldwide terrorism (let's not pretend that all terrorism against the west is committed in, or even against, the US) is committed by Muslims (mostly, it should be said - and fortunately for us - against other Muslims). (http://filipspagnoli.wordpress.com/...tics-on-war-conflict/statistics-on-terrorism/)

Ask yourself this: who was responsible for more Muslim deaths than anyone in history? Saddam Hussein. Ergo, it would have made sense for Al Qaeda to praise the downfall of Saddam at the hands of the US (and others).

Of course, this didn't happen.

Next ask yourself, what would happen if the west were to undergo a mass conversion to Islam? I'll tell you what: all of the perceived grievances that Al Qaeda (and others, of course) have against the west would disappear overnight.

The point being: the west is hated by extremist Muslims precisely because of the doctrines of Islam, not because of any perceived insult to Islam.

Also the Taliban were created by the west and the majority of the Terrorist on 9 11 came from our friends in Saudi Arabia.

Agreed. All of which argues AGAINST the notion that these acts were done for any other reason than that they are consistent with the tenets of Islam.

Furthermore the West has the tendency to bomb the most secular islamic countries into Democracy. http://www.globalresearch.ca/non-mu...0-of-all-terrorist-attacks-in-america/5333619

The US (and much of the west) has much to answer for in its foreign policy. But its foreign policy is entirely irrelevant with respect to the nature of Islamic terrorism.

Ok, next "ask yourself" question: the US was responsible for a near-genocide of the native North American population. Why haven't we seen any degree of suicidal terrorism from the Cherokee or Navaho people (to use two examples).

China has routinely massacred Tibetan Buddhists, and yet we don't see hordes of Buddhist monks turning themselves into bombs, do we?

The reason these groups don't carry out suicidal terrorism is that suicidal terrorism makes no sense within the confines of their religious beliefs. There is a reason we must confront Muslim terrorism and not, say, Jain terrorism, in every corner of the earth; despite the fact that Jains believe some outlandish things about the universe, they don't believe the kinds of things that tend to make people fly planes into buildings.

I also believe this is the wrong Forum to discuss such matters.

On this, we agree.
 
As a German, I'm most probably under US surveillance already, but are you guys aware how suspicious it is, to participate in this thread? Be warned, listen to the quiet crackling in your internet connections and the faint echoes of your shutter sounds...
 
As a German, I'm most probably under US surveillance already, but are you guys aware how suspicious it is, to participate in this thread? Be warned, listen to the quiet crackling in your internet connections and the faint echoes of your shutter sounds...


We're watching you right now! :)
 
...... Funny to see that we have so much less privacy and liberty under capitalism now than thirty years ago we were told communism would condone. Maybe another revolution is due? ;) ......

This photo of residents of a small Cuban village lining up when kerosene became available again got me detained for an hour by the police, then turned over to Cuban immigration. I was made to sign a document acknowledging that my photography was in violation of the terms of my tourist visa and agreeing that any more "non-touristic" photos could result in my expulsion from the country. I have been more careful since then. Also I know that any e-mail or telephone conversation with my Cuban friend are completely open to the Cuban authorities. I will take capitalism any day.

people-waiting-cooking-fuel-Guaro.jpg
 
Well Boston photogs, how about a Rainbow Swish photo contest - during one particular week? Open to shooters with any camera, digital or film, from Minox to LF on a big tripod. All Photoshop manipulations encouraged.

HFL

Great Idea....

It's a well-known fact that when 'terrorist' acts are done by Christian or other non-Muslim extremists, it is an isolated instance of mental instability only. Don't you follow the American news???

Don't forget Southern Bible Right winger citizens...
(the ones who control Congress with an under 25% minority presence of over 430 members).




if we read every article about photographers getting hassled by the police and or FBI.... we would all take to our bunkers....

I am sure it was probably sorted out w/o any followup or retraction printed.




 
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. . . I guarantee you that when KSM and OBL were planning 9/11, they weren't saying, "Well, if this doesn't work out, at least the US government will waste precious resources monitoring its law-abiding citizens, thereby eventually eroding the trust the average American has in his or her government, leading inexorably to an ever-present state of near panic amongst the citizenry.". . .
The only way you could possibly guarantee this is if you were involved in the planning, which I assume you were not. A moment's thought will reveal that the "propaganda of the deed" (as terrorism was once called) is designed precisely to spread fear, alarm and despondency -- in other words, the things you "guarantee" it wasn't about.

Do you REALLY believe that 9/11 was only about knocking over a couple of buildings and killing a few thousand people? Of course it wasn't. They were merely a handy and very dramatic tool. Stop and think for a moment about the word "terrorism". It doesn't mean "killing people". It means "frightening people". And they have succeeded.

Cheers,

R.
 
Stop and think for a moment about the word "terrorism". It doesn't mean "killing people". It means "frightening people". And they have succeeded.

Cheers,

R.
Roger,

All too true. And while some of this is no doubt about "them" I suspect that the achieved effect is far more about "us". And it doesn't paint a pretty picture of "us".

My immediate point of reference is the difference between my personal experience in London in the late 70s and early 80s when the IRA (and UVF) bombing campaigns were on, versus the reaction to the "7/7" bombings in 2005 and incidents thereafter. The earlier episodes appeared to be dealt with by a degree of stoicism, perhaps some fatalism, and a genuine realisation that overreaction would be counter-productive. The latter, well, "can too much panic ever be more than barely enough?" I find the contrast depressing.

...Mike
 
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