Child Abuse Case Used to Question the Patriot Act
This is what happens when journalists opt for sensationalism over substance.
In July 2007, FBI agent Scott D. Eicher, a 10-year veteran of the Bureau, filed an affidavit stating that he had interviewed the flight attendant, pilots, and several passengers and supported the arrest of Freeman based on the following facts:
- “Maria Aldeguer observed Freeman drinking alcohol on the flight, cursing and screaming at her children, and hitting the children with open fists on their shoulders and knees.”
- “David Shipman stated that he observed Freeman hit her children with a closed fist during the flight.”
- Carrie Storin, who was sitting in front of Freeman on the flight, heard Freeman hitting her children “the entire flight,” to the point where the children were trying to hide in a corner and on the floor.
- Amy Grant observed Freeman hitting her children repeatedly and yelling profanities at her children and at the flight attendant. She observed Freeman swing with an opened hand down at the children and heard the children crying after being struck.
- Katie Shanahan observed Freeman drop her son on his back and head on the ground when he did not want to go to the bathroom with her [in the airport]. Freeman let her son on the ground crying for several minutes.
- Dianne Delverstoni was the passenger who first approached the flight attendants regarding Freeman’s assaultive behavior toward the children. She observed Freeman hitting her son several times “over and over,” using profanity to the flight attendant, and throwing a drink.
In other words, it was the passengers who asked the flight attendants on Frontier Airlines to intervene for the welfare and safety of two helpless children. Their actions fell under the banner of society’s common welfare, not the Patriot Act.
The Patriot Act indeed has significant flaws, including the fact that it allows the government to break in and search your home without your knowledge. Further, it allows the government to monitor what books you take out of the library and medical treatments you may have received. But when journalists misrepresent situations to prove a point it smells as dangerous as phony holocaust stories. The truth is more than enough.
Note: Annie Jacobsen contacted reporters Ralph Vartabedian and Peter Pae via their email addresses listed at the bottom of their story requesting comment. Neither responded by press time.
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Annie Jacobsen writes about aviation and intelligence. She blogs at TheAviationNation.com and is working on a new book for Little Brown and Company.
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9 Comments
1. Benson:The LAT story strikes me as unclear and imprecise. Freeman lost her children, but why? The newspaper implies it was because she was convicted of an infraction under the Patriot Act. Is that all there is to it, or would there have to be a good deal more evidence that she is an unfit, abusive parent?
This LAT article qualifies as innuendo motivated by ideology, IMHO. My thanks to Mrs. J for exposing it — she’s one of the Good Journalists. She’s helping.
Feb 9, 2009 - 2:06 am 2. Ohio Granny:(I found the complaint thanks to Ken, a former federal prosecutor who blogs anonymously as Ken at Popehat.com.)
Geez Annie, I wouldn’t want to be your friend or source.
As to the “professional journalists” cherry picking facts, sigh, what else is new? For my entire adult life I found it absurd when newspapers would pick a fact and then scream it. 12% of all Americans like grape over cherry jelly. A full Twelve Per Cent. TWELVE PER CENT. TWELVE PER CENT!!!!!!! (and if that does’t pound it in, they start using bigger and bold fonts)
Feb 9, 2009 - 5:59 am 3. submandave:While ignoring the 88 per cent.
Sadly, it works.
“I wouldn’t want to be your friend or source”
I had the same initial thought, Granny, but when I looked at it twice Annie didn;t give out any more information on “Ken” than he gives himself where he blogs (Popehat.com).
Feb 9, 2009 - 7:30 am 4. Annie Jacobsen:My source requested to be identified that way, which, yes, is how he blogs.
Feb 9, 2009 - 8:14 am 5. Ken:–Annie Jacobsen
Annie respected my anonymity in the manner in which I requested.
Feb 9, 2009 - 8:32 am 6. Self-hating Boomer:Clue: if that were a dad, single or otherwise, you would have had a very different handling.
Feb 9, 2009 - 11:06 am 7. Mike T:Only if he were white and non-Muslim. If a Middle Eastern man had done this, the NYT would have been all over his case defending him. Pretty ironic too since beating children (yes, beating in a sense that conservatives would call beating) is considered acceptable as a form of punishment in most Middle Eastern states.
Feb 9, 2009 - 12:12 pm 8. HalifaxCB:What is it about progressives that makes them hate children so? It sems to be such a common theme on the liberal agenda, whether it’s avoiding pregnancy at all costs, aborting if that fails (or simply fails to generate a cookie cutter concept of perfection), institutionalizing their upbringing if they happen to get born via birth-to-adulthood daycare, and then if all else fails, mortgaging their future to the hilt to pay for adult refusal to be self-reliant? I guess in the long run it indicates that progressivism is a self-limiting enterprise, but in the meantime it certainly makes for an emptier world.
Feb 9, 2009 - 2:40 pm 9. Ares Vista:So, the airlines allow 9/11 to happen because they didn’t follow procedure, and now they are arresting people for disciplining their children and kissing? WTF? The entire nation should be leveled, and we should all be forgotten. Our country has lost its identity. We have become greedy, hateful, and selfish. God save us all.
Jun 18, 2009 - 9:09 am