Editor's note: This updates with apparent cause for the order to halt Twitter feeds.
A few national park Twitter accounts, at least, went silent Friday afternoon after the newly installed Trump administration ordered the Interior Department to idle its accounts.
"... All bureaus and the department have been directed by incoming administration to shut down Twitter platforms immediately until further notice," read a notice that went out across the National Park System on Friday.
President Trump, of course, is famous for using his Twitter account at all times of the day.
The issue behind the order was apparently an unflattering retweet the National Park Service made comparing crowds at President Obama's 2009 inauguaration and Trump's inauguration. The photos were telling: gaps in the crowds for Trump's inauguration, and a National Mall practically bursting at the seams for Obama's.
Not all parks seemed to get the message, though, as a number of parks were still posting tweets Friday evening.
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Comments
Give him a chance? Wait a while before criticizing? Stop whining because we didn't get our way? Get real! This has nothing to do with party politics. The so-called "president" is actively violating the 1st Amendment by censoring public service announcements for millions of our citizens less than 24 hours after his swearing in and you louts expect us to just be silent on the matter? Never! Maybe you diehard Trump supporters are content to sit back as your Constitutional rights are torn away from you, but the rest of us are not. People rely on the NPS for live updates on hazardous road conditions. Public safety is at risk from this blatant censorship of speech and press, direct violations of constitutional law. Resistance is no longer the talk of sore losers; it is now our duty as free citizens to maintain a free country.
You obviously haven't been in a national park lately. I've seen the effects of climate change in our parks. Glacier National Park almost has no glaciers left. Alaska was 5 degrees above normal. The permafrost is melting. The problem is people are so partisan nowadays that they can't even see the truth (which is science, natural laws that don't change).
No you have a young intern at NPS running their social media accounts, and s/he thinks that it is ok to take a political posture and RT a politically angled tweet because it was ok for the past 8 years and everybody here thinks alike. Time to be mature and learn there is a new boss and official federal social media sites are not for personal messaging, at least in the career service. Also, if these young folks understood the national archives and records administration responsibilities they would know why accounts start over clean.
Robert Reich on Trump vs. media (~3 min):
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=W_anu-feuKE&feature=youtu.be&
Ohh no.... data is EVIL, eh beachdump!
http://www.beachapedia.org/State_of_the_Beach/State_Reports/NC/Beach_Ero...
Wow! It's always such a mind-blower to read so many non-park-related commentors being so vitriolic to others on this national park-oriented website (and most of you commentors aren't even members of this site). Really, look at these comments - many of them have nothing to do with the national parks. Instead, you are all ranting and raving about how glad you are the liberals are no longer in office and how America can now be saved. Eye roll. In line with what the Traveler stands for, I would be more worried about the news (I'm sure some of you will call it fake) in this link https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2017/jan/19/bureau-land-manageme... than about some liberal trying to destroy your 1950's view of America. I understand that many of you don't really think wildlife refuges and national parks and national forests mean much to getting food on the table and putting minorities and immigrants in their places. However, these lands provide something a little less tangible but no less important to our wellbeing. In truth, these refuges and forests and parks are the reminders of what the land was like before *we* even came along. They are the de-clutterers of the mind and allow us to find mental, visual, audio and emotional respite from the rest of the world. These lands provide us with space to stand up tall again after being quashed down by the gray, muddy rest of life. We can breathe in fresh air not tainted by the fragrance of gas flare or chlorine or particulate matter from smokestacks (I speak from experience here) and marvel in awe at the beauty of the scenery and the wildlife. They are special places that really, no other country provides to its people in such great extent. I fear, though, that with the stroke of a pen from this new administration, what is left of these lands will eventually either become only the purview of the rich, or just some photo in a textbook because they won't be there for future generations. And you can sure bet they aint gonna return the lands to the original Native Americans / First Nations Peoples. Greed and shortsightedness will have fulfilled its directives. And many of you won't care, because you've really never appreciated these lands. Hell, you may have never even visited any of these lands - you just think the photos are pretty and, again, this is a great venue for you to comment about something totally not representative of this website.
In 1923, scientists predicted Glacier National Park would be ice-free by 1948, due to a warming climate.
http://www.newspapers.com/image/103670563/?terms=glaciers%2Bmelting
There has been beach erosion long before the SUV. There is a difference between politized "adjusted" data and real raw data, I'll stick with the real raw scientific data. That real raw data shows virtually no global warming and no acceleration of sea levels. I look forward to getting real information from our government now.
Gary aren't you supposed to be rioting somewhere today?