Earlier this week, Easton City Council member Taiba Sultana was arrested and charged with a physical assault against one of her own children. She spent a night in jail. Within hours of her release, she was at Easton's National Night Out with her children. She posted photographs of her with her children on her public Facebook page. Her settings enabled her posts to be shared. I posted one of the several photographs that she allowed users to share. I received this email.
Mr. Bernie
I hope you are doing well.
Your recent blog was brought to my attention this evening. Although I respect your opinion I request you to please remove the picture of my children from that blog.
I will truly appreciate that.
Thank you
Taiba Sultana
This is my response:
I would not post pictures of your children if they were taken privately. You chose to post them yourself on your public Facebook page. You use them as props all the time. You were out and about with them, acting as if all is well, less than 24 hours after you allegedly beat one of them. People need to see it, not for what it says about your children, but for what it says about you. Don't pretend to care about their privacy now. I am sorry and hope you get the help you need.
48 comments:
I’m sorry, but I think her request should be honored. Posting on her Facebook page is her choice (and likely a bad one), but I don’t think that gives permission (morally) to others to re-publish and amplify its reach.
I don’t think this is any different that doxxing someone.
If you want to continue to post the photo, I think a fair compromise is to blur out the faces of the children. That way, their identity is somewhat protected.
HEY ASSHOLE... STOP USING CHILDREN FOR BULLSHIT BLOG...YOU USELESS COWARD!!!
Whether or not you 'support' another's path is your business indeed. How you choose to protect the innocent however, is telling of another story which invites a different flavor of red meat children are ill prepared to swallow.
Your brand of bitter leaves marks. Leave the children to find their peace.
As an aside, the email request sent was mature, graceful and courageous. Your body politick response - far from each. Heather B
Bernie is a demonstrated doxxer and all around bitter miserable asshole. But he's right in this matter.
Bernie is correct. Once you post something on a social media platform such as Facebook it is fair game. You need to be careful what you post on any social media platform if you want your privacy.
I understand your position, Bernie. And does she use her children as props? Possibly. But her children don’t know that, they’re innocent amongst all this political warfare and it’s not an outlandish request. With the A.I. technology growing faster than we can understand, children will probably be hurt the most from nefarious individuals committed to doing harm with their images. I think no one should be showing the faces of their children on the internet these days, but perpetuating this real fear by reposting images of her children is just adding fuel to this dangerous trend.
I still love you though. :)
You nuked her 🤣and I hate to say it but you are right. It's a bs argument she already chose to disseminate them to a wide audience.
-Dumbass
If you post on Facebook for the world to see you give permission to post anywhere. People should consider this when posting anything. Having said that. After the response and hope she gets help (although I might have said it more gently) I would take the picture down.
Agreed.
Breaking news...
BO, Never, ever apologize for telling the truth.
She posted the pics publicly on Facebook. I have mixed feelings about leaving the picture up though. I would honor her request even though it makes no sense only because children are involved.
"If you want to continue to post the photo, I think a fair compromise is to blur out the faces of the children. That way, their identity is somewhat protected."
Bernie,
Agree with this. It's not the children's fault their parent behaves allegedly badly.
Once you post something online, you waive your privacy. The whole point of social media is to share information.
"Bernie is a demonstrated doxxer and all around bitter miserable asshole.
I amncertainkly an asshole but I never doxed anyone.
Bernie who give you the right or authority to be the community's social conscious. Your reputation is a disaster and maybe you should post some of your own indiscretions for the public to view!
The photo stays. If she was concerned about her children's privacy, she would (a) not post pics of them on her public facebook page or (b) changer her settings to make the pics nonsharable. She uses her children as props all the time and so did her husband when he ran for controller. What really bothers her is that the picture tells confirms precisely what I just stated. I would ordinarily honor a request like this, but not when an elected official makes her own children an issue. Also, the picture does not in any way show anything that might embarrass these kids, other than their mother.
"Bernie who give you the right or authority to be the community's social conscious. Your reputation is a disaster and maybe you should post some of your own indiscretions for the public to view!"
If my reputation is so bad, then this post shouldn't bother you. Consider the source, eh?
She’s completely wrong on this. If they were posted on her personal page, then I would be in agreement with her.
But the fact is she posted these to her official city Council Facebook page.
The guy from Forks, who is always on the Easton post page, almost got Sal, in a ton of trouble for deleting posts and blocking him.
She’s in the wrong on this, once again.
Standard bail conditions for a domestic incident include a no contact with the victim. It's interesting if the alleged victim is one of these kids. She is basically posting a violation of bail conditions assuming that is a bail condition.
Headline should read "Old White Guy Targets Minority Children for Clicks".
Tiaba if you wouldn’t have beat your kid bloody, this wouldn’t be an issue in the first place.
But here we are.
Resign today.
9:15, If it were on her personal page, I'd be more reticent. If her settings on her public page prevented the sharing of that post, I'd still write about it because she clearly is using her kids to try to paint an image of herself that I consider questionable. But I'd be unable to use the picture. If the photo showed the kids doing something embarrassing, I'd avoid publishing. I think I did the right thing and consider her objection ridiculous because she herself is using her children and still has that photo up on her public Facebook page. If she was concerned about her children's privacy, she'd take the photos down.
Agree 9:15. Although we don’t know her exact conditions, generally in a case like this you cannot have contact with alleged victims. Surprised more aren’t talking about it.
5:02am- While I tend to agree with your comment, isn't it a tad early to be drinking and posting, Trish?
Bernie
I agree with you 1000% she created this situation and posted on her public page
When I read the first comment on this thread, I was leaning toward the removal of the picture. After reading the attacks and nasty remarks, I am in the “keep it up” category. The picture was published by the mother on a social media website. I just checked FB and her political site has more than 1000 followers and the photo in question is still posted, so I can’t imagine having the photo on “Mr. Bernie’s” blog means anything to her. Her email was bait — she knew Bernie would blog about it, so now she can spin her behavior to benefit herself and make it look like she is a victim. I commend Bernie for not catering to her passive aggressive bullying and for keeping this issue alive. Now that Musikfest is up and running, we know that the papers will cover nothing but that cash cow.
She is an absolute disaster as a role model and city representative. I believe she will either resign or be asked to resign based upon city home rule charter.
You’re using the kids as a prop too. I agree with your overall point here, but they didn’t do anything wrong and don’t deserve to have their photos plastered on your blog website for all eternity. I assume at some point she will remove the photos. Is it fair to the kids for you to keep them up? They don’t even name minors or post pictures of minors who commit crimes themselves anymore.
You are right, they kids did nothing wrong here and are the victims.
Which is being completely over shadowed by yet another photo op by Sultana, this time a few hours after she was released from prison for beating her kid with her fists and head.
She posted this to her official council page, Bernie is 100% in the right here and it’s good to see someone informing the public of the actual monster this narcissist truly is.
The way I look at it, this is no different from any parent being out with their kids in public. Technically, they’re exposing their kids to anyone and everyone.
But if someone’s taking a photo of me and my kids, even if we’re all unaware it’s being taken, that crosses the line into the “creepy” category.
This is really no different. Yes, she posted a photo that she took. Yes, anybody can copy or re-use it, but that doesn’t make it right.
Do the right thing and remove the photo, or blur out the kids faces to the point where they are unrecognizable.
Bottom line is that you don’t know the impact posting that photo along with your article will have on the kids, or where it goes from there. Err on the side of caution.
You can easily make the point of your post without using the kids’ images. Two wrongs don’t make a right.
Bernie
Some of these comments are coming directly from TS or someone connected. So easy to tell by their writing
My understanding, is the son she abused wasn’t there. So maybe they made him leave so she could stay. Children and youth better intervene before it’s too late
Great, great points!!!!!
She posted it on her City Council page used to communicate with constituents.
She is the one in the wrong here, and the anger should be 100% directed at her and nobody else.
Home Rule Charter C-2.06
B. Forfeiture of Office
(3) Is convicted of any crime classified as a misdemeanor of the second class or higher under the laws of the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania or the United States or is convicted of any comparable crime under the laws of any other state in the United States.
In all cases of forfeiture, the member shall be entitled to notice and a hearing before Council in accordance with administrative procedures established by § C-2.07 of this Charter.
Sultana’s charges are….
S. Harassment - Subject Other to Physical Contact
M2. Simple Assault
Easton's HRC is trumped by the state constitution. The only way to remove an elected official is by impeachment and conviction or being found guilty of an infamous crime. Simple assault is not an infamous crime.
I understand that she posted the photo. But she took it, and it’s hers to post even if in your view it’s not the best thing to do. The kids might actually enjoy seeing the photo on the city council page.
Taking that photo and attaching it to an article that criticizes the parents is certainly not a positive occurrence for the kids. No good can come from it.
Leaving it up on this site is certainly wrong, and an attempt to use the kids to hurt the parents. It disregards any negative effects it might have on the kids.
Take the high road here. Or spare us the moralizing when writing about people like Lynch bullying others. This is 1,000 times worse.
3:06 pm: First, this blog’s author is not victimizing or using the councilwoman’s children. He is simply sharing a photo of a woman, fresh out of jail, seemingly enjoying a night out with her children. He is showing her maternal side and the way she has been able to face the public despite the turmoil in her personal life. See, that is called spin and it was beautifully done, if I say so myself. Second, the children aren’t reading this blog. (Sorry, Bernie.)
Don’t make a public post if you don’t want it shared. She is very stupid.
8:51: you, sir, are an idiot.
If she can assault them, then you can show her posted pictures.
Headline should read: crazy woman beats her kids and gaslights public with “everything is ok” PUBLIC pictures.
Fixed it for you.
Sucks to be you. If you don’t want it shared, then don’t post it. Are you new to the internet? Is this Dumbass?
This person is not smart enough to hold an elected position.
Just because she hasn't the sense to protect her innocent offspring, doesn't mean you should lack the same sense and sensitivity. She's a poor parent. You're a poor person for adding to their abuse. I take it you were never a parent. Or perhaps, another bad one, as she apparently is.
Children and youth are likely to do more harm than good. Leave them out of it. If there was a crime committed, let the criminal Justice system sort it out.
Would this constitutional language apply to the Lynch mob if charged and convicted?
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