Photo by Kai Eiselein

On his Flickr page newspaper editor/photographer Kai Eiselein details his run-in with the authorities at the Thomas S. Foley Federal Courthouse in Spokane, Washington. As is typical in these situations, a lot of fuss was made out of a lot of nothing.

Three security guards, two federal cops from the Department of Hopeless Stupidity, lights and sirens, all for one lone photographer.

Eiselein was harassed by security and police and told he couldn’t take photos of the building or the guards’ faces. Then they ran his ID and tried to intimidate him with some nonsense about what he couldn’t do on this “level 4”-ranked federal property. Eiselein stood his ground, explaining he was “standing up for my rights, because if I don’t no one else will.”

It’s unfortunate when our federal authorities don’t respect or understand constitutional rights (or public vs. federal property). How can we expect them to defeat real terrorism threats when this basic information goes ignored?

Read Eiselein’s account and see the photos here.