Thread: US Coast Guard member 'removed' after making 'offensive' OK sign on live TV

US Coast Guard member 'removed' after making 'offensive' OK sign on live TV

By Lukas Mikelionis | Fox News
7 hours ago

The U.S. Coast Guard “removed” a member from its Hurricane Florence response team on Friday after he made an “OK” hand gesture on live television that the agency deemed “offensive.”

The unidentified team member was caught looking into the camera and then swiftly making the hand gesture, prompting a backlash on social media.

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The hand signal was seen in the background of MSNBC’s live interview with Sector Charleston Commanding Officer Capt. John Reed, who was providing an update on actions taken by the Coast Guard in response to Hurricane Florence.

Many social media users called for the firing of the individual, accusing him of making a so-called “white power” hate symbol.

The agency immediately responded to the outcry and distanced from the controversy.

“We are aware of the offensive video on twitter - the Coast Guard has identified the member and removed him from the response. His actions do not reflect those of the United States Coast Guard,” the agency tweeted.

The Guard is now investigating the matter. In a statement, the agency said the incident was a “frustrating distraction” amid the dangerous hurricane that is poised to affect more than 10 million people this week in the Southeast.

There have been at least four deaths since the storm reached the coastline on Friday morning, according to officials.

"This is a frustrating distraction for the Coast Guard during our hurricane response. This person has been removed from the response pending an investigation. These types of actions are not reflective of the core values of the Coast Guard."
- U.S. Coast Guard

There’s no clear consensus whether the “OK” hand gesture constitutes a hate symbol. While it has been adopted by some fringe far-right figures, it has also been commonly used by many Trump supporters.

The Anti-Defamation League previously noted that the “OK” gesture isn’t a hate symbol. “Has the simple thumb-and-forefinger ‘OK’ hand gesture become a white supremacist hand sign? Well, no, it hasn’t, but you are likely to hear just the opposite from social media, thanks to the latest hoax from members of notorious website 4chan,” read a post from the anti-racism group.

Earlier this month, liberal activists accused a Jewish-Mexican former Trump administration official, Zina Gelman Bash, of making the “white power” hand gesture during the confirmation hearing of Supreme Court nominee Brett Kavanaugh, prompting derogatory descriptions of her as a “neo-Nazi” or “white supremacist.”

U.S. Attorney John Bash, her husband, defended Bash: “The attacks today on my wife are repulsive. Everyone tweeting this vicious conspiracy theory should be ashamed of themselves. We weren’t even familiar with the hateful symbol being attributed to her for the random way she rested her hand during a long hearing,” the tweeted, noting that Bash’s grandparents are Holocaust survivors.

http://www.foxnews.com/us/2018/09/15...n-live-tv.html

So the Coast Guard WILL discipline a member for "kneeling" during the National Anthem!

Here is video.....was it intentional?

Originally Posted by stoptheinvaders

Here is video.....was it intentional?

Hey, you know that today anybody can call anything offensive, and you will be held accountable for offending them. We must learn to keep our hands in our pockets and keep our face expressionless. Everything is open to interpretation!

In the short clip I don't see where that guy was aware he was on camera. And we all brush our heads and faces with our hand in a number of positions that someone could interpret as being a signal. I have seen people, where for a split second, appear to be flipping off. I see no reason for the Coast Guard to have taken any action against this guy. Maybe he has a history behind the scene that caused them to act. But is it not apparent to me.

Left wing media is clearly winning the propaganda war.

Originally Posted by jtdc

Hey, you know that today anybody can call anything offensive, and you will be held accountable for offending them. We must learn to keep our hands in our pockets and keep our face expressionless. Everything is open to interpretation!

In the short clip I don't see where that guy was aware he was on camera. And we all brush our heads and faces with our hand in a number of positions that someone could interpret as being a signal. I have seen people, where for a split second, appear to be flipping off. I see no reason for the Coast Guard to have taken any action against this guy. Maybe he has a history behind the scene that caused them to act. But is it not apparent to me.

I watched it several times, and I feel the same as you described. It is apparent with all the left has done about Twitter, Facebook, Google, and now simple hand movements, they will not be satisfied until anyone opposing them is silent and motionless.

Remember this?

Black West Point cadets under scrutiny for raised fists in photo


By David Shortell, CNN
Updated 2:48 PM ET, Mon May 9, 2016




(CNN)It's a time-honored tradition at the U.S. Military Academy in West Point, New York -- graduating seniors in small groups don their ceremonial high-collared uniforms and pose for a photo in front of historic Nininger Hall.


Their poses are typically stern and stoic, mimicking sepia-toned editions that date back to the 1800s.
They do not typically raise a clenched fist in the air.
So when a photo of 16 female, African-American cadets making the gesture was posted online last month, it raised eyebrows at the elite training academy, which produces many of the nation's future military leaders.
The photo circulated among students over social media, said a school representative. Soon, it grew into an on-campus controversy -- a potential break in the taboo against advocacy by military personnel.

The photo gained national attention last week when a blogger popular among some in the military wrote about it after multiple cadets sent in the photo, according to the blog's author. In posts on his blog and on his Facebook account, John Burk called the image a "completely unprofessional" reference to the Black Lives Matter movement. The Facebook post drew hundreds of comments and was shared more than 1,400 times.
In days since, scores of alumni have lined up in support of the young women, who have not spoken publicly about the photo or been identified by West Point. Meanwhile, the school said it is investigating whether the photo violates the military's restrictions on political expression.

Mary Tobin is a graduate of the academy who said she is a mentor to some of the women in the photo and has spoken to them since the inquiry was launched. She said the pose had nothing to do with politics.
"They weren't doing it to be aligned with any particular movement or any particular party. It was, 'We did it and we did it together,'" Tobin said, referring to their completion of four years at West Point.

https://www.cnn.com/2016/05/08/us/we...oto/index.html

BTT

So sad this man was reassigned, apparently without even an investigation.

The leftist mob destroys another career and persons life.

View from another camera.
He looks right at the camera and makes the sign.




Coast Guard Member Suspended After Flashing “White Power” Sign

http://jimheath.tv/2018/09/coast-gua...te-power-sign/

Originally Posted by JohnDoe2

View from another camera.
He looks right at the camera and makes the sign.

Two frames. Without the video, we can't see if these were proximate in the timeline. But this is a headline to you?

Coast Guard Member Suspended After Flashing “White Power” Sign

by Jim Heath | Sep 15, 2018

The Coast Guard said a member of its hurricane response team has been removed after he made the white power hand signal during a live broadcast on Friday night.

The Coast Guard tweeted this response after social media began circulating the video.


The gesture was made on MSNBC while Captain John Reed was giving an update on Tropical Storm Florence and the response efforts in Charleston, South Carolina.

As Reed spoke, a Coast Guard member sitting at a table behind the captain is seen looking directly at the camera before quickly giving the ‘OK’ sign, a once innocuous hand signal that is now widely associated with the alt-right.




Coast Guard Lt. J.B. Zorn said this morning that the incident was under investigation.

‘We’re not going to let one person detract from the good work the Coast Guard is doing in the region,’ Zorn told NBC News. ‘We’re going to stay focused.’

Many people took to Twitter posting that the Coast Guard member needs to be fired.



The OK signal – index and thumb in a circle with the other fingers pointing up – is associated with white power.



It’s tied to an alt-right meme of the cartoon Pepe the Frog holding his hand up making the gesture. The cartoon frog was adopted by white supremacists.

http://jimheath.tv/2018/09/coast-gua...te-power-sign/