When shit that hits the fan hits home: the random acts of Police in Louisville, Kentucky - UPDATED 10/31/2009

Good morning friends,

Please pardon the crudeness of my language, but at the moment crude language is about all that seems to fit my mood. About 3 hours ago I had the pleasure of standing on my front stoop watching 2 policeman point guns at my friend as he and another friend arrived at my home in the Clifton neighborhood of Louisville, Kentucky. From what I can tell so far they were being pulled over for a traffic violation. But, to keep matters clear I will describe only what I saw and nothing that I'm guessing at. Here is my experience:

I was sitting in the rear room of my long, shotgun-style house when I heard yelling outside. At first I thought nothing of it--I thought it was probably just some latenight partiers making their way home from a local bar. As the yelling continued and intensified, I became concerned and walked to the front door to see what was the matter. When I opened the door I saw two police officers with guns drawn and aimed standing to the left and to the right of my front sidewalk that goes from my front door out toward the street. I also saw the car they were driving parked in one of the parking spaces on the street. Both guns were pointed at one of my two arriving friends; he was standing with his back facing me (and the police officers; I was behind them all) near the vehicle with his hands up. At a distance I heard the voice of my other arriving friend talking to other officers at another car (that was the last I heard of that friend). The police were shouting orders at my (other) friend at whom the gun was drawn. Whatever they were saying was pretty much unintelligible to me from my vantage point, but from what I could hear it did include a nice drizzle of cursing. My friend (with 2 guns that I could see still pointed at him) walked in reverse towards one of the officers, who I could by then make out was saying something along the lines of, "walk towards my voice" (or "Just walk towards my fucking voice!"--probably closer). After cop #1 got handcuffs on my friend, cop #2 finally stopped aiming his gun. By around this time I had calmed a little and took count of the police cars present and counted 7 (seven). After my friend was searched, the police proceeded to interrogate him for approximately 30 minutes as he stood in front of one of their vehicles, of course handcuffed all the while. There were 4-6 cops surrounding him at all times. (Still couldn't see what was going on with my other friend; tree blocking my view.) Finally, they put him in the back of one of their cars and drove away. I presume my other friend was taken away in another one of the cars.

Okay, done with the quick recollecting... I'll probably recount some more details (like the fun conversation I had with the cops) a little late, but I wanted to get the critical points down quickly and with clarity while the event is still fresh in my head. The final points I'd like to mention now are...

• AT NO POINT DID I SEE MY FRIEND WHO HAD THE GUNS TARGETED ON HIM MAKE ANY VIOLENT MOVES.
• AT NO POINT DID I SEE HIM DO ANYTHING OTHER THAN COOPERATE WITH THE POLICE OFFICERS.
• YET GUNS WERE DRAWN AND AIMED AT A LIVING HUMAN BEING--APPARENTLY OVER A TRAFFIC VIOLATION.

Fucked up, eh?
Good times in Louisville.
Thanks for listening.
To sleep now until the judge makes his decision at 7 am about pretrial shit.

Best wishes to every free being on this Earth... Goodnight.

UPDATE: Saturday, 31 October 2009 - Both friends released Thursday late afternoon after spending about 36 hours in jail. All charges (they managed to rack it up to four!!!! separate charges) on my friend who had the guns targeted on him were, in fact, traffic-related.

THEY CAN RUN, BUT THEY CAN'T HIDE! WE KNOW! The Mercenaries Previously Known as Blackwater [news story & book referral]

Article: "The Mercenaries Previously Known as Blackwater"
Source: PRwatch.org (orig. source The Washington Post)
Excerpt(s): First it was Blackwater USA. Then it was Blackwater Worldwide. Now, it's "Xe" (pronounced "Zee"). The private military company has repeatedly tried to re-brand, after numerous controversies from the killing of civilians in Nisoor Square in Baghdad; to its no-bid contracts in Iraq, Afghanistan and New Orleans, post-Katrina; to its hiring troops with ties to repressive regimes, like that of former Chilean dictator Augusto Pinochet. The company says its latest name change is meant to reflect a new focus. Blackwater / Xe spokesperson Anne Tyrrell said, "We've taken the company to a place where it is no longer accurately described as Blackwater." Its subsidiaries also have new names: Blackwater Airships is now Guardian Flight Systems, Blackwater Target Systems is GSD Manufacturing, and Blackwater Lodge and Training Center is the U.S. Training Center. The company has also shed its famous (or infamous) bear-paw and crosshairs logo. The new head of Blackwater / Xe, Gary Jackson, told employees, "Xe will be a one-stop shopping source for world class services in the fields of security, stability, aviation, training and logistics," reports the Wall Street Journal.
Links to Full Story: http://www.prwatch.org/node/8214 and http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2009/02/13/AR2009021303149.html
Click on image of bookcover above right to read more [link to Amazon.com preview] about the origins and recent practices of Blackwater in Jeremy's Scahill's well-researched book (highly recommended--though he still takes it a bit easy on them...).

Erik Prince, founder of Blackwater & imperialistic aristocrat
(Image by The Washington Post / click on image for original source)

MARTIALLING LAW FRENCH-STYLE France sends police to quell Guadeloupe riots [news story]

Article: "France sends police to quell Guadeloupe riots"
Source: Agence France-Presse
Excerpt(s): POINTE-A-PITRE, Guadeloupe (AFP) - - France dispatched hundreds of police reinforcements to its Caribbean island of Guadeloupe on Wednesday as a month-long strike over the rising cost of living descended into deadly riots. Union representative Jacques Bino, aged in his 50s, was shot dead overnight when he drove up to a roadblock manned by armed youths in Pointe-a-Pitre, the island's main city. It was not immediately clear who shot him, but he was the first victim of the escalating violence on Guadeloupe, normally a tourist-friendly island but crippled since January 20 by a general strike. "There were no police nearby," said local prosecutor Jean-Michel Pretre... The conflict has exposed race and class divisions on the island, where the local white elite wields power over the black majority. The economy is largely in the hands of the "Bekes," the local name for whites who are mostly descendants of colonial landlords and sugar plantation slave owners of the 17th and 18th centuries. A Socialist opposition leader, Malikh Boutih, said it was "shocking" to watch a police force "almost 100 percent white, confront a black population" and drew a parallel with the 2005 suburban riots in France. "There are no concrete buildings, there are palm trees, but it's the same dead-end, the same 'no future' for young people, with joblessness and a feeling of isolation," Boutih said. Unions launched a strike on the neighbouring French island of Martinique on February 5 also to press for higher salaries and measures to bring down the prices of basic goods.
Link to Full Story: http://sg.news.yahoo.com/afp/20090219/twl-france-guadeloupe-martinique-strike-6b0205e.html
Picture from Agence France-Presse, originally captioned: A map of Guadeloupe. France mobilised police reinforcements Wednesday after an activist was killed in Guadeloupe as the month-long strike on the French Caribbean island descended into rioting.

NEW WORLD ORDER INVENTIONS--SERIOUSLY, THINK ABOUT WHAT SHIPPING PEOPLE MEANS: Mystery Prison Buses in Arizona Desert [news story]

Article: Mystery Prison Buses in the Desert
Source: GlobalResearch.ca
Excerpt(s): "On a recent visit to Tucson, Arizona, where I was invited to give a presentation on monetary reform, I was disturbed by a story of strange goings on in the desert. A little over a year ago, it seems, a new industrial facility sprang up on the edge of town. It was in a remote industrial zone and appeared to be a bus depot. The new enterprise was surrounded by an imposing security fence and bore no outward signs identifying its services. However, it soon became apparent that the compound was in the business of outfitting a fleet of prison buses. Thirty or so secondhand city buses were being reconfigured with prison bars in the windows and a coat of fresh paint bearing the “Wackenhut G4S” logo on the side..."
Link to Full Story: http://www.globalresearch.ca/index.php?context=viewArticle&code=BRO20090122&articleId=11951

NEW WORLD ORDER INVENTIONS--SERIOUSLY, THINK ABOUT WHAT YOUR CELL PHONE CAN DO: NSA Targeted Journalists, Snooped All U.S. Communications [news story]

Article: "Whistleblower: NSA Targeted Journalists, Snooped on All U.S. Communications"
Source: Blog.Wired.com/27bstroke6/
Excerpt(s): Just one day after George W. Bush left office, an NSA whistleblower has revealed that the National Security Agency's warrantless surveillance program targeted U.S. journalists, and vacuumed in all domestic communications of Americans, including, faxes, phone calls and network traffic. Russell Tice, a former NSA analyst, spoke on Wednesday to MSNBC host Keith Olbermann. Tice has acknowledged in the past being one of the anonymous sources that spoke with The New York Times for its 2005 story on the government's warrantless wiretapping program. After that story was published, President Bush said in a statement that only people in the United States who were talking with terrorists overseas would have been targeted for surveillance. But Tice says, in truth, the spying involved a dragnet of all communications, confirming what critics have long assumed. "The National Security Agency had access to all Americans' communications," he said. "Faxes, phone calls and their computer communications. ... They monitored all communications."
Link to Full Story: http://blog.wired.com/27bstroke6/2009/01/nsa-whistleblow.html

NEW WORLD ORDER INVENTIONS--SERIOUSLY, THINK ABOUT WHAT YOUR TV CAN DO: Digital TV & Mandatory RFID Microchipping [news story]

Article: "Digital TV & Mandatory RFID Microchipping"
Source: Educate-Yourself.org
Excerpt(s): If you do not believe the threat of involuntary microchipping is real, please take a moment to read over the following disquieting developments. Taken together, they reveal a focused effort to promote human microchipping. The time to nip this trend in the bud is now...
Link to Full Story: http://educate-yourself.org/cn/ottdigitaltvandmicrochips20jan09.shtml

OBAMA'S GUANTANAMO ORDER LEGALLY MEANINGLESS / DETAINEES MAY STILL BE HELD INDEFINITELY, TORTURED Obama's orders on Guantanamo and torture [video]

Obama orders on Guantanamo and torture (~10.5 min.):


Note from HBAF: Now, Ratner may overall have a positive sixth sense about Obama's recent Guantanamo "shut down" order, but as we here at HBAF see it, and as the legal language shows, Obama's "shut down" orders are meaningless. There is not legal language changing the fact that people are and will be held indefinitely... this is not even coming close to the CONSTITUTIONALLY REQUIRED re-institution of habeus corpus (put to rest during the Bush regime). This guy is definitely being suckered by (or is trying to suckers us into) Obama's progressive-seeming, but completely hollow, manner. Please note in particular that at ~6 minutes into this video the question of accountability is asked, and Ratner cites "hope," and "good reporting," as some means of holding the executors of these laws accountable, then says that the question has been put to rest, without showing in any way how these executive orders have any checks and balances. He has far too much too good to say about Obama's hollow changes for someone who calls himself a constitutionalist. Don't be deceived by the smile (or the suave language)! Obama is no different than the other schmucks that have been running this country for 100 years.

Description from TheRealNews: Michael Ratner (President, Center for Constitutional Rights) comments on Obama's executive orders, loopholes, and the prosecution of Bush/Cheney. 24 January 2009. TheRealNews.com

HOW DO YOU DEFINE GENOCIDE? Israel kept out aid for Gaza / U.S. complicit [news story]

Article: "Israel kept out aid for Gaza"
Source: Sydney Morning Herald
Excerpt(s): ISRAEL deliberately blocked the United Nations from building up vital food supplies in Gaza that feed a million people daily before the launch of its war against Hamas, according to a senior UN official in Jerusalem. In a scathing critique of Israeli actions leading up to the conflict, the UN's chief humanitarian co-ordinator in Israel, the former Australian diplomat Maxwell Gaylard, accused Israel of failing to honour its commitments to open its border with Gaza during several months of truce from June 19 last year. "The Israelis would not let us facilitate a regular and sufficient flow of supplies into the Strip," Mr Gaylard said. The chief spokesman for Israel's Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Yigal Palmor, said the claims were "unqualified bullshit".
Link to Full Story: http://www.smh.com.au/articles/2009/01/18/1232213448835.html

THE U.S. IS ON THE IMPERIAL PATH TO FASCISM Talk by Naomi Wolf - The End of America [video lecture]

Talk by Naomi Wolf - The End of America: Letter of Warning to a Young Patriot (~48 min. - well worth the listen!):


How To Become A Dictator In Ten Steps or Less...

In this concise lecture Naomi Wolf systematically goes through her 10-point list of actions that according to her research and analysis have been taken by would-be dictators in order to overturn the democratic (or at least more democratic) societies in which they operate and establish dictatorship. She uses as her main examples Italy in the 20s, Germany in the 30s, Russia in the 30s, East Germany in the 50s, Czechoslovakia in the 60s, Chile in the 60s and... of course... the United States today.

While I must put forth the caveat that I do not always appreciate her sometimes too-lighthearted personality (unlike her, I don't think it's amusing that she's OK with her daughter watching America's Top Model; behavior such as that definitely contributes to the distraction and apathy of the citizenry), I respect the depth of her research and her non-stop activism over the past couple of years, and think that this lecture provides an excellent introduction to how fascist societies have developed in the past. Furthermore, she makes it very clear that this is happening in the United States today, and puts forth the urgent call that the window of opportunity to stop this change is closing, and that we must RISE UP NOW!

I especially recommend this video to those who think that it's "crazy" when people make comparisons between the United States today and Hitler's Germany. The comparison IS clear. This IS happening now. As Wolf says, fascist states don't start off with midnight raids and domestic mass murder, they are able to develop to that stage because the people of those nations allow their own and others' rights to be slowly eroded away until they no longer even have the capacity to do anything about it. It is important to note that while fascism is set up slowly, once it really gets to the point of mass implementation, the process rapidly accelerates.

This lecture was fifteen months ago, and because of the aforementioned acceleration, it is important to understand these concepts now more than ever. We, in the United States, are every day confronted with more and more martial law, and of course we continue to allow our military to slaughter persons throughout the world. Although I will never give up the fight, there will be a point at which this process will become virtually irreversible, and every moment that we wait to STOP THE EMPIRE means more lives and liberties lost, and increases our impotence to do anything about it. Wake up!

Here are Wolf's 10 Classic Steps to Destroying a Democracy and Establishing Dictatorship:
1. Invoke a terrifying internal and external enemy (may be real or fictional, but is always hyped)
2. Create a secret prison system (gulag) where torture takes place that is outside the law
3. Create a paramilitary force (thug caste)
4. Establish a surveillance apparatus used against ordinary citizens
5. Arbitrarily detain and release citizens
6. Harass and infiltrate citizens groups (e.g. antiwar groups, environmentalists groups)
7. Target key individuals
8. Restrict and control the press
9. Make Dissent = Treason
10. Subvert the rule of law, declare martial law

If you prefer to read rather than listen, basically the same information may be found in the following article by Wolf:
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/naomi-wolf/ten-steps-to-close-down-a_b_46695.html

EDITORIAL Martial Law, the Financial Bailout, and War [news story]

Article: "Martial Law, the Financial Bailout, and War"
Source: GlobalResearch.ca / Peter Dale Scott
Excerpt: It is becoming clear that the bailout measures of late 2008 may have consequences at least as grave for an open society as the response to 9/11 in 2001. Many members of Congress felt coerced into voting against their inclinations, and the normal procedures for orderly consideration of a bill were dispensed with. The excuse for bypassing normal legislative procedures was the existence of an emergency. But one of the most reprehensible features of the legislation, that it allowed Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson to permit bailed-out institutions to use public money for exorbitant salaries and bonuses, was inserted by Paulson after the immediate crisis had passed... Even more reprehensible is the fact that since the bailouts, Paulson and the Treasury Department have refused to provide details of the Troubled Assets Relief Program spending of hundreds of billions of dollars, while the New York Federal Reserve has refused to provide information about its own bail-out (using government-backed loans) that amounts to trillions...
Link to Full Story: http://www.globalresearch.ca/index.php?context=va&aid=11681

McKinney does more good works -- Ship carrying aid to Gaza rammed by Israeli patrol boat [video]

VIDEO "cnn - mckinney ship rammed by israeli patrol boat":


YouTube Description:
Cynthia McKinney "tried to bring medical supplies to gaza. the boat was in international waters as it got rammed by an israeli patrol boat. 'i would like to ask my former colleagues in the united states congress, to stop sending weapons of mass destruction around the world..'"

DEMAND ISRAEL / U.S.A. CEASE ATTACK ON PEOPLE OF GAZA [video]

From AlJazeeraEnglish on YouTube:


YouTube Description:
"It is, according to Israel, just the beginning. A wave of missile attacks on the Gaza Strip, which began on Saturday morning, bombarded security compounds belonging to Hamas, which controls the coastal territory."

VIDEO Were 5,000 prisoners shot in the head in the wake of Hurricane Katrina? Presidential candidate Cynthia McKinney reveals...

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Were 5,000 prisoners shot in the head in the wake of Hurricane Katrina? Presidential candidate Cynthia McKinney reveals that the mother of a man hired to process the bodies shared this story with her, and that she had confirmed it with Red Cross sources (who chose not to identify themselves).

Cynthia McKinney REVEALS
5,000 EXECUTED (~2 min.):

Whatever the circumstances... this is a major concern, but this concern is magnified by the incredibly high (and rising) prison population in the US. Graphs below are from Wikipedia entry Incarceration in the United States. Click on each graph to view larger version:

VIDEO Cop Flees When Protesters Defend Each Other From His Criminal Behavior - THANK YOU MAN IN BLACK JACKET - Martial Law Will Not Stand in America!

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In this video a criminal police officer, probably "just acting on orders," is assaulting a protestor--literally dragging the man through the street by his shirt. Thankfully the people around stop taking pictures and start to help, and the cop quickly runs away (after spraying a chemical agent aimlessly at the surrounding crowd). I think this is exactly the sort of behavior this nation could use more of--it is a brave man in the black jacket who tackled the police officer to stop his violent assault on his fellow human being. I, for one, take heart in his bravery.

We will not be bullied. We will stand up for ourselves, and for each other, as they continue to try to bring martial law down upon us. Criminal elements in our government are desperately trying to prevent ACTION on the part of peaceful, free human beings, through the systematic intimidation of the population at large, and by intimidating the good people within the government into becoming agents of their politics of fear. They're trying to scare us with their mace, their prisons, their detention camps, their torture, and yes, their guns; but WE WILL NOT BE INTIMIDATED. Thank you, man in black jacket, I won't forget your decisive and brave action.

Republican National Convention: Cop flees when protesters defend each other from his criminal behavior (a.k.a. "RNC: Cop Attacked"):

VIDEO NEWS Numerous journalists detained and arrested during Repulican National Convention (RNC). Say NO to martial law, NOW!!

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Coverage of events by TheUptake.org:
Police swarm and seize bus along I-94 in St. Paul
National Lawyers Guild: "Raids Unwarranted".
Activist hints that police burglarized her home while she was detained
Fence can't keep journalist Amy Goodman from police.
Inside Anarchists HQ After Raid
Police bust through attic to detain "Democracy Now" journalist

Free Press Calls for Charges to Be Dropped Against Amy Goodman, Independent Journalists (FreePress.net)
... FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE. Date: September 2, 2008. Contact: Craig Aaron, Free Press, (202) 265-1490, x25. WASHINGTON -- Today Free Press, the national, nonpartisan media reform group, called on St. Paul Mayor Chris Coleman and local law enforcement officials to drop all charges against all journalists arrested while covering protests outside the Republican National Convention. Those arrested Monday include Democracy Now! host Amy Goodman and two producers from her show, as well as a photographer from the Associated Press. Other independent journalists have been pepper-sprayed and even held at gunpoint during "pre-emptive" raids aimed at disrupting protesters. This follows the arrest of an ABC News producer at the Democratic National Convention in Denver. - FreePress.net

Amy Goodman and Two Democracy Now! Producers Unlawfully Arrested At the RNC (DemocracyNow.org)
... ST. PAUL, MN—Democracy Now! host Amy Goodman was unlawfully arrested in downtown St. Paul, Minnesota at approximately 5 p.m. local time. Police violently manhandled Goodman, yanking her arm, as they arrested her. Goodman was arrested while attempting to free two Democracy Now! producers who were being unlawfuly detained. They are Sharif Abdel Kouddous and Nicole Salazar. Kouddous and Salazar were arrested while they carried out their journalistic duties in covering street demonstrations at the Republican National Convention. Goodman’s crime appears to have been defending her colleagues and the freedom of the press. Ramsey County Sherrif Bob Fletcher told Democracy Now! that Kouddous and Salazar were being arrested on suspicion of rioting. They are currently being held at the Ramsey County jail in St. Paul. - DemocracyNow.org

VIDEO Amy Goodman Arrested at RNC:

NEWS Daily Headlines & Propaganda 20080902 human beings are free TUESDAY Afternoon Edition, WARRING & PROTESTS: Iran, Russia, Iraq, Afghanistan

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Daily Headlines & Propaganda from HumanBeingsAreFree
Tuesday, 2 September 2008 (see All News)
Afternoon Edition, WARRING & PROTESTS: Iran, Russia, Iraq, Afghanistan

News from Iran:
Putin warns against NATO navy boost (PressTV.ir - Tehran, Iran)
Abkhazia requests Russian troops (PressTV.ir - Tehran, Iran)
Russia to send 'humanitarian aid' to Cuba (PressTV.ir - Tehran, Iran)
BTC project crisis and the Caspian Basin energy game (PressTV.ir - Tehran, Iran)

News from Russia:
Georgia mobilizes commando units near S.Ossetia - Russian military (Rian.ru - Moscow, Russia)
U.S. warship leaves Sevastopol after protests (Rian.ru - Moscow, Russia)
Ukraine, NATO start military drills in Poland (Rian.ru - Moscow, Russia)

Official US Proclamation regarding relationship with Iraq:
Declaration of Principles for a Long-Term Relationship of Cooperation and Friendship Between the Republic of Iraq and the United States of America (WhiteHouse.gov - Washington, DC, USA)

Death in Afghanistan:
Troops kill 3 children, add to Afghan strain (BuffaloNews.com - Buffalo, New York, USA)
'US troops are committing war crimes' (Quqnoos.com - Kabul, Afghanistan)

Peace and Pepper Spray:
Anti War Protester Who Offers Flower To Police Pepper Sprayed (InformationClearinghouse.info - Southern California, USA)

VIDEO Anti War Protester Who Offers Flower To Police Pepper Sprayed (Posted 01/09/08 - IndyBay.org):

VIDEO Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) Dentention/Concentration Camps? STAY TUNED IN... More important info to come. Watch. Share. Be Aware.

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This compilation video, just posted on Disclose TV, contains just about all the footage I've seen online labeled as "FEMA camps," and contains what I see as a pretty level-headed analysis. I can't speak to exactly what each of these videos means, or what exactly the pictures are of, but generally speaking, the pictures seem to speak for themselves. Furthermore (let us not live in a state of denial), it is totally plausible that such detention centers, concentrations camps, are already built and perhaps running in the United States. We know about the international jails and torture rings, Guantanamo, Abu Ghraib, and so forth..., and we know about our exponentially increasing prison population in the USA (as is covered in this video also). Plus, it isn't as if they haven't told us their basic agenda, even if they haven't shared some of the details... Watch. Share. Be Aware.

More important information about the FEMA Camps! (~11 min.):


Thanks Disclose TV!

VIDEO & LEGAL COMMENTARY Martial Law. Minneapolis Raid Of Peace Protesters, Bruce Nestor (~10 min.)

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Just like at the Democratic National Convention (DNC), truth seekers are protesting at the Republican National Convention (RNC), and the police are cracking down, in this case with what appears to be random "pre-emptive" searches of citizens' homes and the seizing of their property. Video, and transcript of a portion of video with legal commentary by an attorney representing one of the arrestees, below...

VIDEO
Minneapolis Raid Of Peace Protesters, Bruce Nestor (~10 min.)


TRANSCRIPT OF INTERVIEW WITH LOCAL ATTORNEY
Protesters Arrested in the Twin Cities (30 Aug 2008)
By: Jane Hamsher Saturday August 30, 2008 3:23 pm
Original post location: CliffSchecter.FireDogLake.com

We're now hearing that "snatch squads" are picking up random people off the streets in the Twin Cities, and someone from Democracy Now has been detained. We interviewed Bruce Nestor of the National Lawyer's Guild when we were at th 17th Street Raid. He lives in the neighborhood and is representing one of the people who was arrested there. I'm including part of the transcript of the video because I think he contextualizes well what is happening:

Glenn Greenwald: So what were they charged with?

Bruce Nestor: They were charged with conspiracy to commit riot, which is about as bullshit a charge -- about as thin a charge -- as you could possibly come up with. And I say that as a lawyer.

Glenn Greenwald: How do you distinguish between that and a protest?

Bruce: You can't. It basically criminalizes political advocacy. I mean, the essence of conspiracy law is if a single individual takes an overt act towards accomplishing an illegal goal such as purchasing a brick, and the police then claim that someone else in his group has an intent to throw that brick, then everyone who advocates that you attend that demonstration...

Glenn: Even if you're not intending to commit that crime...

Bruce: ...even though you're not intending to commit the crime, could all be charged with conspiracy.

Glenn: Is that a very rarely used statute in Minnesota?

Bruce: In Minnesota it is hardly ever is used in state court. Conspiracy is a popular charge of federal prosecutors, because it expands the realm of evidence.

Glenn: But this specific conspiracy...

Nestor: I've never seen it before.

Glen: And you're a lawyer in Minnesota.

Nestor: I'm a lawyer in Minnesota.

Glenn: And you've never this seen it until this convention.

Nestor: That's right. I will say that in 1968 the Chicago 8 were charged with conspiracy to riot. Roundly criticized, in the however many years since now, thirty forty years, as a politically motivated prosecution -- as the type of charge that really is criminalizing free speech activity, and putting people on trial..

Glenn: I mean it clearly seems like it's clearly intending to intimidate. You break into a house with 25 officers with submachine guns drawn and put them all on the floor and handcuff them, it's clearly sending a message that they might want to think twice about participating.

Nestor: I do think....We're not in this country yet where we're having mass detentions of people like this, so it really is about sending a message. I think what it really is designed to do is to send a message to people who agree with some of the viewpoints of people organizing activity and to say - you know what? You can write an email, it's okay to write a letter, to vote, but don't go out in the street, don't organize public activity, because do you want us bursting into your house? Do you want to be associated with people who are getting arrested? It's designed to somehow say these aren't citizens engaged in the exercise of political freedom, but that they're kooks, they're freaks, they're dangerous, stay away from them, don't get involved.

Glenn: And there's been no evidence that any actual violence or illegality has been committed, this is all preventative right, it's all anticipatory?

Bruce: That's right.

Time To Wake Up! No Fear--Just Truth.
Human Beings Are Free.

VIDEO Peace, Propaganda and the Promised Land: Media & the Israel-Palestine Conflict (79 min)

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An insight-filled documentary about the Israel-Palestine conflict (if it should be called that, "conflict" seems like too light a word), covering both what is happening on the ground, and why most Americans have no idea what's happening on the ground. Filled with contrasting images from American and international press, including some surprisingly good BBC coverage, this documentary... I think... is showing a lot of TRUTH. This is especially insightful given the recent REVERSE (I.E. LYING) REPORTING of the US media about what is going on in Georgia. They tell us that Russia attacked first and Georgia responded, and likewise this video shows how they usually tell us that Palestinians attack first and Israelis responds, when it seems the reverse is true. It's getting so bad over here that I tend to believe that most of the time I'm not only being lied to by major media, but that the major media are almost always telling the exact OPPOSITE of the truth. Insanity! Wake up from your comfortable slumber, America! I was pretty damn comfortable until recently, too. War and aggression are not the answer. Say no to our government's warmongering. Refused to be lied to! Say no to war!

Peace, Propaganda and the Promised Land: Media & the Israel-Palestine Conflict (79 min)

VIDEOS Protestors at DNC physically restrained and beaten by police; Martial law tactics contiue to increase in US; Wake up America!

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Police Trap Peaceful Protesters in Denver:


DNC Protests: Police slam CodePink protester to the ground:


Thank you! Deprogram Your Mind! Video: DNC - Tell me what a police state looks like