ATLAS EXCLUSIVE: President Obama Skips Arlington for Chicago BBQ – Louis Farrakhan’s Nation of Islam Thugs Skirmish with Secret Service and Press pool
UPDATED: SCROLL SCROLL SCROLL: UNCLEAR IF FARRAKHAN WAS THERE SKIRMISH BETWEEN NATION OF ISLAM PARAMILITARY AND SECRET SERVICE AND PRESS POOL
How did the President of the United States spend his Memorial day weekend? Honoring the glorious dead by laying a wreath at Arlington cemetery? ? Not a chance.
It is unclear but he may have pow-wowed with race baiter, Jew-hater Louis Farrakhan, a frequent visitor to the White House. Back in March, Farrakhan blamed the Jews for O’s woes.
“The Zionists are in control of Congress,” Farrakhan said as he listed off a slew of Jewish economic advisers, adding that the “bloodsuckers of the poor” were rewarded with a bailout.
UPDATED: What is clear is that the paramilitary wing of the Nation of Islam, Fruit of Islam, skirmished with Secret Service and the White House press pool.
America is in trouble.
Jackie Calmes, a New York Times reporter who covers the White House, was in Chicago covering the President’s visit there this weekend. On Saturday night, she was one of the reporters who was assigned to the White House pool of reporters covering the President on his evening out having dinner at what appears to be, according to the Chicago reporters on site, the home of Louis Farrakhan. The official line is that it was the home of Marty Nesbitt (treasurer of OFA — Organizing for America), but the house is “is tax exempt for being a religious institution.” The press pool van was parked nearby. UPDATE: It appears to have been Nesbitt’s home.
Here is what Jackie Calmes reported on behalf of the press pool:
Sent: Sat May 29 21:08:47 2010
Subject: Pool Report 5
At 7:20 local time the pool was holding at Woodlawn and 49th, next to a large sandstone mansion that the Chicago reporters say is the home of one Louis Farrakhan. Our Secret Service agent allowed us off the bus (Air!) and as a dozen of us congregated on the sidewalk, inevitably some shoes touched grass. Immediately a polite man in jeans and Tshirt emerged to ask us to stay off the grass. Though this grass was the curbside city property, we obliged.
Soon, however, he was pacing and talking on a cell phone. He went inside the mansion’s black wrought iron fence, crossed the well-landscaped yard, lifted a water bucket behind rose bushes and, voila!, a walkie-talkie. He was heard to refer to “the CIA” once he began speaking into it.
Soon he approached our agent, asking him to move the van and its occupants, though your pooler could not hear much else he said. But the agent said, “How is this a security breach?” And he asked if the house was a government property. The man said something else and at that point the agent stuck out his hand to shake hands and introduced himself as a Secret Service agent. He added, “Sir, I can assure you that we will do nothing to interfere with whatever is going on in there.”
The man is back to pacing and talking on his cell, walkie-talkie in hand.
A co-pooler searched the Internet for the address and found it listed on a Web site called NotForTourists and another called Taxexemptworld.com.
Indeed, another pooler found a county Web site that confirmed this property is tax exempt for being a religious institution.
Reinforcements arrived–three men in Tshirts reading “Wide or Die!” One surly man has been staring daggers at us. Asked if this is Minister Farrakhan’s house, he just stared at your pooler. Asked again, he said, “I don’t have no comment.”
You should have the WH statement on top kill’s failure. At nearly 8 pm local time we are still holding while POTUS and family remain at the Nesbitts.
Sent: Sat May 29 22:07:24 2010
Subject: Pool Report 5a
It’s 8:45 and nearly dark; your pool has retreated back inside the van. We’re outnumbered now by roughly a dozen Fruit of Islam agents for the Nation of Islam. As each casually dressed man arrives, he exchanges elaborate handshake/hug/double air-kisses with others. Two walked by your pooler chanting “Islam.”
Several have filmed and photographed your poolers, the van and its license plates with their cell phones.
One came and stood close to a couple poolers and OUR agent. He asked if he could help. No answer. He asked again. The man said no. The agent said, “Secret Service — Please move away from this group of people.”
He did.
Soon the agent asked us to go in the bus.
We did.
But several poolers, hearing the call of nature, are asking whether they might ask the Fruit about using their bathroom.
Still holding. No pun intended.
And now, have a look at how mainstream media (AP) covered this story (and remember, AP feeds all the news outlets throughout the world. This is what they are hearing about, not Farrakhan.) The media is covering all this up.
Back in Chicago, Obamas enjoy weekend barbecue
APCHICAGO — President Barack Obama and his family are enjoying their hometown holiday weekend with barbecue Saturday night at a friend’s home.
The First Family, led by Obama and his mother-in-law Marian Robinson, left their residence in the Hyde Park neighborhood shortly after 4 p.m. They headed to dinner a few blocks away at the house of Chicago businessman Marty Nesbitt.
Obama was dressed casually in a pair of jeans, sandals and blue, button-down collared shirt. He was joined by wife, Michelle, and their daughters, Sasha and Malia, who was walking Bo, the family dog.
Also in attendance were Obama’s brother-in-law Craig Robinson and his wife.
The Obamas are in Chicago for the Memorial Day weekend. Earlier, Obama played basketball at the University of Chicago Lab School.
The Post-American Presidency: The Obama Administration’s War on America
UPDATE: The Fruit of Islam, by the way, is the paramilitary wing of the Nation of Islam.
UPDATE: Byron York has nore now that the story has gotten out. Was Farrakhan there?
It might be assumed that an assurance from the Secret Service would be enough to satisfy any security-minded guardian of Louis Farrakhan. But not in this case. Calmes continues:
The man is back to pacing and talking on his cell, walkie-talkie in hand.
A co-pooler searched the Internet for the address and found it listed on a Web site called NotForTourists and another called Taxexemptworld.com. Indeed, another pooler found a county Web site that confirmed this property is tax exempt for being a religious institution.
Reinforcements arrived — three men in T-shirts reading “Wide or Die!” One surly man has been staring daggers at us. Asked if this is Minister Farrakhan’s house, he just stared at your pooler. Asked again, he said, “I don’t have no comment.”
At nearly 8 p.m. local time we are still holding while POTUS and family remain at the Nesbitts.
More time passed. The men in T-shirts were joined by even more men, from the Fruit of Islam, Farrakhan’s security force. From Calmes:
It’s 8:45 and nearly dark; your pool has retreated back inside the van. We’re outnumbered now by roughly a dozen Fruit of Islam agents for the Nation of Islam. As each casually dressed man arrives, he exchanges elaborate handshake/hug/double air-kisses with others. Two walked by your pooler chanting “Islam.”
Several have filmed and photographed your poolers, the van and its license plates with their cell phones.
One came and stood close to a couple poolers and OUR [Secret Service] agent. He asked if he could help. No answer. He asked again. The man said no. The agent said, “Secret Service — Please move away from this group of people.”
He did. Soon the agent asked us to go in the bus. We did.
At that point, the Secret Service was badly outnumbered by the Fruit of Islam, who apparently believed that some sort of “security breach” had occurred. Were Farrakhan’s men armed? Were there more on the way? The Secret Service agent called for backup. From Calmes:
9:20 local time and our agent got reinforcements from three Secret Service agents. One shook hands with one of the 22 Fruit members we now can count from the van. After a short discussion the three Secret Service agents walked away again.
No word on when we get to leave. We’re guessing POTUS is watching the Blackhawks game at the Nesbitts’ home.
While this was happening, word of the standoff apparently got around as a result of Calmes’ pool reports (they were sent out piecemeal by email). Someone who had read the reports got in touch with Farrakhan to let the Nation of Islam leader know that the people waiting outside were just covering Obama. From Calmes:
The power of pool reportage! Standoff ends, apparently with help of intermediary in Detroit:
Your pooler got a call at about 10:15 local time from a pool report reader who identified himself as the Rev. Gary Hunter, a Baptist minister in Motown who writes and blogs for the Detroit Times. He said he had called Minister Farrakhan and his son and asked them to have the Fruit stand down.
“I told him you were good people,” Rev. Hunter said. “He said he didn’t know you all were just waiting for the president.”
As it happens, the Fruit of Islam indeed had mostly gone by then. The Rev. Hunter apparently is remembered by [White House social secretary staffer Samantha] Tubman, and he said he knows our frequent press rustler Ben Finkenbinder from past travels with Obama.
Anyway, at 10:33 we pulled away and we are at the Obama residence. Never saw POTUS at all.
And that was the end of it. Some observers will make light of the whole thing — just a little misunderstanding with those weird Nation of Islam guys — but the fact that Farrakhan’s security force is close to the president’s home is likely a matter of continuing concern to the Secret Service. And on Saturday night, the two forces ran into each other.
Weird Nation of Islam guys – it’s the paramilitary arm on the Nation of Islam. The whole story stinks. Did Obama see Farrakhan or not?
Thoughts Of A Conservative Christian 