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Latest O'Keefe sting backfires hilariously (again)
cloudeagle
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(Sorry I can't add this to the old thread, but search is kaput.)
I'm sure you remember James O'Keefe. He's the guy who dressed like a pimp at ACORN branches to try to discredit the group, the guy who attempted to wiretap Mary Landrieu to prove that her office wasn't answering calls, and the guy who tried to lure a CNN anchor to a simulated sex party to... well, none of us really know what he was doing on that one other than gain attention to himself.
Well, O'Keefe, or at least his gang of Candid Camera rejects, are at it again. Their target was Planned Parenthood, a frequent target for O'Keefe in the past. And, according to Wikipedia, he had some success.
Only this time his group has stirred up something entirely different.
http://tpmmuckraker.talkingpointsmemo.com/2011/01/planned_parenthood_fbi_investigation_underway_over.php?ref=fpb
You'd think these guys would get the hint that perhaps they should be a little less ludicrous and a little more law-abiding.
I'm sure you remember James O'Keefe. He's the guy who dressed like a pimp at ACORN branches to try to discredit the group, the guy who attempted to wiretap Mary Landrieu to prove that her office wasn't answering calls, and the guy who tried to lure a CNN anchor to a simulated sex party to... well, none of us really know what he was doing on that one other than gain attention to himself.
Well, O'Keefe, or at least his gang of Candid Camera rejects, are at it again. Their target was Planned Parenthood, a frequent target for O'Keefe in the past. And, according to Wikipedia, he had some success.
O'Keefe helped plan and produce undercover videos with pro-life activist Lila Rose in 2006 and 2007 that showed several Planned Parenthood workers willing to circumvent state laws requiring that abortion clinics report statutory rape. The videos received national attention. O'Keefe met Rose, a UCLA student, while he was visiting the university as a Leadership Institute campus representative in 2006. With O'Keefe's support and advice Rose launched her first foray in activism at the UCLA campus health center. Soon he came up with the idea to have her pose as an underaged pregnant teenager, go to Planned Parenthood clinics for advice, and record the conversations that followed. Their expectation was that the clinics would try to get around reporting laws concerning statutory rape or engage in other illegal behavior. Seven videos resulted. In the first, a Santa Monica clinic advised Rose to "figure out a birthdate that works" and lie about her age to be eligible for an abortion.[38] Later videos led to an effort by Tennessee lawmakers to end a $721,000 contract with Planned Parenthood, and a vote by the Orange County California Board of Supervisors to suspend a grant of nearly $300,000 to the organization.[24]
O'Keefe phoned several Planned Parenthood clinics posing as a donor in 2007, specifying his gift should go to fund abortions of minorities because "the less black kids out there the better."[39] Clinics in seven states reportedly agreed to accept his donation under those terms.[40] After audio recordings of the conversations were made public in 2008, Planned Parenthood apologized for the behavior of the staff members, calling it "inappropriate".[39] In a call to an Albuquerque office, O'Keefe discussed affirmative action and said there were too many black people competing with white Americans for admission to schools; the clinic's representative replied, "Yes, yes, it's a strange time for sure."[41][42] A representative of Planned Parenthood of Ohio replied, "For whatever reason we'll accept the money."[43] Planned Parenthood of Idaho's vice president, Autumn Kersey, was suspended after the recordings divulged her laughing out of embarrassment and disgust, placating the caller by saying, "understandable, understandable" and "Excuse my hesitation, this is the first time I've had a donor call and make this kind of request, so I'm excited and want to make sure I don't leave anything out." After which she made attempts to have the call traced and recorded.[44][45]
O'Keefe's recordings led to demands by black leaders to withdraw public financing of Planned Parenthood,[46] and to a protest in Washington D.C. by African-Americans pastors who accused Planned Parenthood of perpetrating "genocide" on blacks.[40] Alveda King, a black minister and a niece of Rev. Martin Luther King, Jr., who had two abortions herself,[47] also supported the campaign.
Only this time his group has stirred up something entirely different.
The FBI has begun investigating a series of incidents in which a man told Planned Parenthood clinics around the country that he was running an underage sex trafficking ring, according to a spokeswoman for Planned Parenthood.
The FBI has been interviewing people at the clinics -- a total of eight spread out over five states and D.C. -- over the past two days, the spokeswoman tells TPM. She said Planned Parenthood has been giving law enforcement all the information they have.
The FBI did not return a request for comment.
Planned Parenthood requested an investigation earlier this month after the clinics reported getting nearly the same visit: A young man would come in, claim he needed treatment for a sexually transmitted disease, and then reveal to a staff member that he was operating an interstate sex trafficking ring that exploits minors and illegal immigrants.
The visits all happened within a span of five days. Planned Parenthood, which is a frequent target of anti-abortion groups, wrote a letter to Attorney General Eric Holder asking him to investigate the potential sex trafficking operation, but acknowledged that it might be a "hoax."
The organization says they believe they've identified the man who made the visits and, they say, believe he's connected to Live Action -- a group that uses James O'Keefe-esque hidden camera "stings" in an attempt to dismantle Planned Parenthood.
The group is led by Lila Rose, an associate of O'Keefe's, and has been targeting Planned Parenthood with hidden camera operations since 2006.
Rose did not return calls from TPM. O'Keefe declined to comment.
http://tpmmuckraker.talkingpointsmemo.com/2011/01/planned_parenthood_fbi_investigation_underway_over.php?ref=fpb
You'd think these guys would get the hint that perhaps they should be a little less ludicrous and a little more law-abiding.
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cloudeagle on
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I mean, you can't go around to hardware stores and gun shops telling them you're planning on blowing up a building and asking for advice, even if it's all a hoax.
Edit: Can you?
Because it's totally responsible for someone to tell you they're involved in underage sexual abuse, and just throw them out instead of smiling and nodding while you email someone to call the feds!
I think if you can prove you had no intention of doing it, and aren't shady looking, the cops will probably just yell at you and let you go. Same thing with death threats apparently. People make them all the time, get hunted down by the feds, and the feds go "enh, he was all talk" and don't actually punish them to prove that no, you can't just go around making death threats because you had a few beers and disagreed with someone.
Yes, but in this case they was doing it deliberately and for their own profit, whether political or monetary. If you make the police waste their time because your stupid, intoxicated or insane you should be held accountable for it but not anything serious (education of the relevant laws, treatment, mental rehabilitation).
If your doing such a thing on purpose you are wasting societies resources for your own gain.
In both cases you CAN be prosecuted for your actions. It's just that the first case its not worth the effort to do so.
Steam: pazython
I mean, what is the message here? Unplanned parenthood is the only good parenthood?
Clearly the only logical solution is to completely defund the program.
I don't think O'Keefe had anything to do with this one. This looks like an entirely different douchenozzle this time.
http://www.newsy.com/videos/ambush-filmmaker-james-o-keefe-goes-after-teacher/
It's worth reading in full, absolutly outragous stuff.
Classy as hell. But man, if that's the best he got out of a drunk Spec Ed teacher, he's a worse reporter than we think he is.
Like I said, sickening.
And if I am reading this right, some random dickhead who thinks he's important is trying to say this is acceptable and normal because anything might be recorded and disemminated online so you shouldn't ever say a bad word?
Because someone might be recording you it's your fault for saying a bad word that could possible be taken out of context?
Is this what happened here?
I'm just trying to fully explore the awfulness of this whole thing, like you might prod a bad tooth.
Allow me to just put the pliers around that tooth and yank: the answer to all of those questions is "yes."
Also add if one lower ranking individual in an organization is caught doing something, the entire organization is corrupt and unrepairable.
:^:
Ah yes, the paradigm of white conservative privelige that people like O'Keefe will never understand. Is he a Tea Party activist as well? From the sounds of it he'd fit right in!
If I put baking soda in a bag and try to sell it as cocaine and the police arrest me, the charges arn't any less just because what I was selling was actually baking soda. If you represent yourself as someone who commits a certain type of crime and claim that you do commit that kind of crime, you should be charged for it.
There should be strictly enforced laws that if I am having a conversation and someone is recording me they need to tell me who they are, where the recording will end up, and that I am being recorded. This guy is mis-representing himself and profiting from it, letting him get away with this sets a bad precedent for society.
What also bothers me is that a lot of the reporting laws are there to further punish the girls who are in a really fucking hard position.
Mens rea (intent) without actus reas (the action) is no crime, bub
Faking a crime is arguably a step beyond intent, though
i suspect its argued otherwise because that allows for sting operations
Where I live, selling baking soda and claiming it's cocaine is indeed a crime, but a completely different one with a slightly lesser punishment.
Regardless, I'm pretty sure this is the sort of thing where you need a law already on the books.
A fox news brand conservative is impervious to slander and libel laws
The problem is that undercover reporting does have a place in society. O'Keefe is an asshole, but he's not worth getting rid of potentially valuable reporting.
They are, but unfortunately, the millstone there grins exceedingly slow.
Breitbart could threaten a failed lawsuit has to pay all lawyer fees, and they both enjoy bad publicity, so I don't see how even fishing for a fast settlement would work.