If this report is correct, the alleged filmmaker of the YouTube video — the one that the administration says is the cause or catalyst of violence at our embassies and consulates, while others argue is merely the latest excuse or fig leaf — is now released, and in hiding:
Three unmarked sheriff’s vehicles made their way into the residential cul-de-sac at about 3:40 a.m. Monday to pick up the family members of 55-year-old Nakoula Basseley Nakoula, who left the Cerritos residence just after midnight Saturday under the glare of a handful of news cameras.
Cerritos sheriff’s Capt. Joe A. Gonzales and sheriff’s department spokesman Steve Whitmore looked on as members of the Cerritos sheriff’s Special Assignment Operations (SAO) Team — three deputies, a sergeant, and a lieutenant — approached the front door, but were then asked to go the the side gate by the residents inside.
A few minutes later, four family members — Nakoula’s wife, his two sons and a daughter — walked out of the same black wrought-iron side gate the infamous patriarch of their family did just two nights before. The family, clad in hooded sweatshirts and jackets used to cover their heads and faces, quickly scurried towards the three sheriff’s vehicles, placing a few bags and belongings in the trunk before getting into the cars.
At 3:49 a.m., the three vehicles drove off, taking the Nakoulas to the Cerritos Station, where they reunited with Mr. Nakoula and the family departed in their own vehicle.
“They have no plans of returning back to their Cerritos home and plan to relocate elsewhere,” Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department spokesman Steve Whitmore told Patch.
Whitmore said the Nakoulas brought with them only what they could carry, adding that the family told him they “wanted to get to a safe location where they could resume a certain normalcy.”
If you mock Islam, you take your life in your hands. If you mock Christianity, the biggest risk you run is that you might not get a grant from the National Endowment for the Arts.
There is some dispute as to precisely what role this gentleman had on the YouTube video; he told the AP that he was “logistics manager,” not the director.
The Los Angeles Times laid out the official explanation for why Los Angeles County sheriff’s deputies brought the man into custody in the middle of the night:
On Friday, U.S. courts spokeswoman Karen Redmond said the Office of Probation in the Central District of California was reviewing whether Nakoula, who has been convicted on bank fraud charges, violated terms of his probation in relation to the video and its uploading onto the Internet.
He had been ordered not to own or use devices with access to the Internet without approval from his probation officer -– and any approved computers were to be used for work only. “Defendant shall not access a computer for any other purpose,” the terms read.
Glenn Reynolds argued that the detaining of the man constituted President Obama violating his oath of office to protect the Constitution, and its First Amendment:
By sending — literally — brownshirted enforcers to engage in — literally — a midnight knock at the door of a man for the non-crime of embarrassing the President of the United States and his administration, President Obama violated that oath. You can try to pretty this up (It’s just about possible probation violations! Sure.), or make excuses or draw distinctions, but that’s what’s happened. It is a betrayal of his duties as President, and a disgrace.