#1 2008-08-31 12:45:50
Fucking with the Peeps!
http://iwitnessvideo.info/blog/index.html
[They have been targeted by a series of highly intimidating, sweeping police raids across the city, involving teams of 25-30 officers in riot gear, with semi-automatic weapons drawn, entering homes of those suspected of planning protests, handcuffing and forcing them to lay on the floor, while law enforcement officers searched the homes, seizing computers, journals, and political pamphlets. Last night, members of the St. Paul police department and the Ramsey County sheriff's department handcuffed, photographed and detained dozens of people meeting at a public venue to plan a demonstration, charging them with no crime other than "fire code violations," and early this morning, the Sheriff's department sent teams of officers into at least four Minneapolis area homes where suspected protesters were staying.
Jane Hamsher and I were at two of those homes this morning -- one which had just been raided and one which was in the process of being raided. Each of the raided houses is known by neighbors as a "hippie house," where 5-10 college-aged individuals live in a communal setting, and everyone we spoke with said that there had never been any problems of any kind in those houses, that they were filled with "peaceful kids" who are politically active but entirely unthreatening and friendly. Posted below is the video of the scene, including various interviews, which convey a very clear sense of what is actually going on here.
"In the house that had just been raided, those inside described how a team of roughly 25 officers had barged into their homes with masks and black swat gear, holding large semi-automatic rifles, and ordered them to lie on the floor, where they were handcuffed and ordered not to move. The officers refused to state why they were there and, until the very end, refused to show whether they had a search warrant. They were forced to remain on the floor for 45 minutes while the officers took away the laptops, computers, individual journals, and political materials kept in the house. One of the individuals renting the house, an 18-year-old woman, was extremely shaken as she and others described how the officers were deliberately making intimidating statements such as "Do you have Terminator ready?" as they lay on the floor in handcuffs. The 10 or so individuals in the house all said that though they found the experience very jarring, they still intended to protest against the GOP Convention, and several said that being subjected to raids of that sort made them more emboldened than ever to do so.
Massive police raids on suspected protestors in Minneapolis. Glenn's post includes videos. One of them is embedded here, below, "from the house that had just been raided."
"The house where I-Witness Video is staying in St. Paul has been surrounded by police. We have locked all the doors. We have been told that if we leave we will be detained. One of our people who was caught outside is being detained in handcuffs in front of the house. The police say that they are waiting to get a search warrant. More than a dozen police are wielding firearms, including one St. Paul officer with a long gun, which someone told me is an M-16. We are suffering a preemptive video arrest. For those that don't know, I-Witness Video was remarkably successful in exposing police misconduct and outright perjury by police during the 2004 RNC. Out of 1800 arrests, at least 400 were overturned based solely on video evidence which contradicted sworn statements which were fabricated by police officers. It seems that the house arrest we are now under and the possible threat of the seizure of our computers and video cameras is a result of the 2004 success."
Offline
#2 2008-08-31 13:19:28
They've already begun to suggest that Hurricane Gustav is going to disrupt the RNC (not physically, but by tearing our fickle attentions away, boo hoo). All this "Chinese tomfoolery" may be for naught.
Offline
#3 2008-08-31 13:36:45
Even if the story in its entirety is true (which I highly doubt), I still have no feelings of remorse for these left wing bozos.... Several of the individuals there don't seem to be the smartest of citizens and I can see them making threatening or anti-establishment statements on some "grassroots" blog someplace, I wouldn't even be surprised if one of them mentioned bombing the RNC at some point..... Actually, having heavily armed police in riot gear break through their door was a wet dream come true for them....... That's what I love about election time, it always brings societies whack jobs into the limelight....
Offline
#4 2008-08-31 13:48:27
Dirckman wrote:
Even if the story in its entirety is true (which I highly doubt), I still have no feelings of remorse for these left wing bozos.... Several of the individuals there don't seem to be the smartest of citizens and I can see them making threatening or anti-establishment statements on some "grassroots" blog someplace, I wouldn't even be surprised if one of them mentioned bombing the RNC at some point..... Actually, having heavily armed police in riot gear break through their door was a wet dream come true for them....... That's what I love about election time, it always brings societies whack jobs into the limelight....
Nice to see the stupid gene still at work....
Offline
#5 2008-08-31 13:50:09
It does appear that there were members of the so-called "RNC Welcoming Committee" that were planning some nefarious acts, but the raids seemed to cover more houses than just those, and raiding houses with automatic weapons to grab a few people you suspect of throwing buckets of urine and molotov cocktails at a protest seems like it's designed to do more than just round them up.
Offline
#6 2008-08-31 13:57:15
Dmtdust wrote:
Dirckman wrote:
Even if the story in its entirety is true (which I highly doubt), I still have no feelings of remorse for these left wing bozos.... Several of the individuals there don't seem to be the smartest of citizens and I can see them making threatening or anti-establishment statements on some "grassroots" blog someplace, I wouldn't even be surprised if one of them mentioned bombing the RNC at some point..... Actually, having heavily armed police in riot gear break through their door was a wet dream come true for them....... That's what I love about election time, it always brings societies whack jobs into the limelight....
Nice to see the stupid gene still at work....
Yes DMT, you're right, the fuckin' Illuminati are using their favorite reptilian humanoid George Bush to randomly kick in the doors of smelly fuckin' hippies.....
Offline
#7 2008-08-31 14:07:49
I love how you support the constitution at every step.
Offline
#8 2008-08-31 14:08:11
Oh, yeah, do you know what the constitution is? Just askin'
Offline
#9 2008-08-31 14:09:20
Good to see them applying anarchist principles to grammar. Powars to the peepols.
Offline
#10 2008-08-31 14:11:26
orangeplus wrote:
Good to see them applying anarchist principles to grammar. Powars to the peepols.
May I quote you?
Offline
#11 2008-08-31 14:27:38
For Dirck...
Sorry, you make it hard to resist, and 'You're Pretty When You Cry'...
Offline
#12 2008-08-31 16:30:48
I'm just simply being skeptical of this whole situation.... So far all we know is that some left wing protesters had their door kicked in by police wearing riot gear. By their own admission the police had a search warrant, no one was arrested, and the police were looking for specific individuals..... The police that entered their home were not Federal officers, but rather representatives of the local Sherriffs department... By looking at a group of twenty three "politically aware" individuals, all of whom are at an impressionable age living in a home together I can infer that there is a good chance that at least one of them had made statements of interest.... I'm assuming that the statements they made were done over the internet seeing as the police took interest in the computers that were there... I can also infer that there was a chance that the statements involved explosives seeing as the police were looking specifically for bomb making material.... I'm obviously speculating here, but just by seeing one side of the story it's difficult to blatantly categorize this incident as leftists being intimidated by the establishment..... I also don't feel as if the police did anything unconstitutional here either.... They had a search warrant signed by a judge, and when entering an establishment with that many individuals certain safety precautions must be met to ensure their safety as well... Just trying to bring a little rationality to this thread is all....
Offline
#13 2008-08-31 16:55:30
Dirckman wrote:
..... The police that entered their home were not Federal officers
Offline
#14 2008-08-31 19:03:00
Dirckman wrote:
I'm just simply being skeptical of this whole situation.... So far all we know is that some left wing protesters had their door kicked in by police wearing riot gear. By their own admission the police had a search warrant, no one was arrested, and the police were looking for specific individuals.....
Actually six people have been arrested on suspicion of "conspiracy to commit a riot", but haven't been formally charged yet.
Dirckman wrote:
The police that entered their home were not Federal officers, but rather representatives of the local Sherriffs department... By looking at a group of twenty three "politically aware" individuals, all of whom are at an impressionable age living in a home together I can infer that there is a good chance that at least one of them had made statements of interest....
The big question is what constitutes "statements of interest", and what constitutes grounds for raiding a house and cuffing everyone.
Dirckman wrote:
I'm assuming that the statements they made were done over the internet seeing as the police took interest in the computers that were there... I can also infer that there was a chance that the statements involved explosives seeing as the police were looking specifically for bomb making material.... I'm obviously speculating here, but just by seeing one side of the story it's difficult to blatantly categorize this incident as leftists being intimidated by the establishment.....
They were looking for riot tools, which included molotov cocktails, but what they're being accused of is planning to disable vehicles and disrupt the convention, not blowing people up.
Dirckman wrote:
I also don't feel as if the police did anything unconstitutional here either.... They had a search warrant signed by a judge, and when entering an establishment with that many individuals certain safety precautions must be met to ensure their safety as well... Just trying to bring a little rationality to this thread is all....
Really? Assault rifles are necessary any time you enter a house with a lot of people? Cuffing everyone and lining them up on the lawn and searching the house before presenting a warrant was necessary? And they hit a lot of houses. Were they all really hosting insidious rioter-to-be ne'er-do-wells?
Offline
#15 2008-08-31 19:23:29
This just in: All 9 people that were arrested have been released by a judge for insufficient probable cause.
Offline
#16 2008-08-31 19:46:33
tojo2000 wrote:
This just in: All 9 people that were arrested have been released by a judge for insufficient probable cause.
Got a link? Or at least what TV station/radio station you heard this from?
Offline
#17 2008-08-31 19:54:04
George Orr wrote:
tojo2000 wrote:
This just in: All 9 people that were arrested have been released by a judge for insufficient probable cause.
Got a link? Or at least what TV station/radio station you heard this from?
Only thing I want to know is whether the cops wiped the video and recording equipment they illegally seized, or simply installed malware.
Offline
#18 2008-08-31 19:58:18
Ah, it appears that I was a little wrong. Only the people from the war protest that were arrested off the street were released.
http://cliffschecter.firedoglake.com/20 … yesterday/
Offline
#19 2008-08-31 21:09:37
My Apologies to Dirckster...
I had had only one cup of coffee when I chewed and mauled you. Sorry Sunshine.
Offline
#20 2008-08-31 21:56:48
That's perfectly alright buttercup... You know I love you.....
Offline
#21 2008-08-31 22:29:58
Dirckman wrote:
That's perfectly alright buttercup... You know I love you.....
Yeah, its a guy thing.
Offline
#22 2008-09-01 01:01:30
Get a room, queens.
Offline
#23 2008-09-01 02:47:36
You know, they make a place for partisan discussions such as these.
I, for one, no longer care. I've been wrongly influence by drugs and am now apolitical.
Oh, and all of you can suckle your man-gobblers on my festering taint, if you will.
tanks! (60 lb!)
Offline
#24 2008-09-01 14:00:19
pALEPHx wrote:
Get a room, queens.
We're being men about it, erm... ya know.
Offline
#25 2008-09-01 18:26:41
Dmtdust wrote:
pALEPHx wrote:
Get a room, queens.
We're being men about it, erm... ya know.
Just don't ask me which one of you "played the girl." I'm at a loss.
Offline
#27 2008-09-01 18:42:11
pALEPHx wrote:
Dmtdust wrote:
pALEPHx wrote:
Get a room, queens.
We're being men about it, erm... ya know.
Just don't ask me which one of you "played the girl." I'm at a loss.
Of course you are. You exhibit that lost quality almost on a daily basis.
Offline
#28 2008-09-01 18:57:47
orangeplus wrote:
http://www.startribune.com/local/27703754.html?elr=KArksLckD8EQDUoaEyqyP4O:DW3ckUiD3aPc:_Yyc:aUnciaec8O7EyUsX
Even more enlightening.
Dmtdust wrote:
me wrote:
Just don't ask me which one of you "played the girl." I'm at a loss.
Of course you are. You exhibit that lost quality almost on a daily basis.
And there, ladies and gentlemen, we have the girl.
Last edited by pALEPHx (2008-09-01 18:59:45)
Offline
#29 2008-09-01 19:06:13
PROACTIVE CAKEFART
Offline
#30 2008-09-01 19:06:16
Catcher? Boy do you call em wrong.
Bored now, off for absinthe.
Offline
#31 2008-09-01 19:42:44
Everybody loves the buckets of urine. Why the obsession with buckets of urine?
They found one bucket of urine and two buckets of dishwater. The bucket of urine was from the guy who was living in the illegal apartment upstairs where there was no bathroom, and the buckets of "gray water" were dishwater. Apparently the hippies decided to reduce their water consumption by disconnecting the drain from the kitchen sink and putting a bucket there. When the bucket filled up they took it to the bathroom and used it to flush the toilet.
Offline
#32 2008-09-01 22:11:48
Welp, they got the old hippies now. I'm sure there'll be a cadlelight vigil and some folk songs sung at Pacifica headquarters tonight.
http://rawstory.com/news/2008/Amy_Goodm … _0901.html
Ladies and Gentleman I give you Amy Goodman of Democracy Now! radio:
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.
WTF is "suspicion of rioting"?
And on another note, allow me to say the St. Paul cop's riot uniforms do not nearly have the same Ninja Turtles panache as the Denver cops. Shame, shame, Minnesota.
Last edited by orangeplus (2008-09-01 22:41:36)
Offline
#34 2008-09-01 22:44:01
this is going to get fun
Offline
#35 2008-09-01 22:45:40
Rebels without a clue:
http://www.slate.com/id/2199060/pagenum/all/#page_start
Aren't these trust-fund white trash sort of like Marlon Brando in "Rebels Without a Cause"?
"What are you rebelling against?"
Brando: "Whaddya got?"
Methinks the baby-boomers in charge of the mainstream media have over-romanticized 1968 way too damn much...
Last edited by AladdinSane (2008-09-01 22:46:27)
Offline
#36 2008-09-01 23:45:49
orangeplus wrote:
this is going to get fun
Once they stop pretending to care about the [non-Florida, non-Texas] Gulf states, it will.
Offline
#37 2008-09-01 23:49:55
AladdinSane wrote:
Rebels without a clue:
http://www.slate.com/id/2199060/pagenum/all/#page_start
Aren't these trust-fund white trash sort of like Marlon Brando in "Rebels Without a Cause"?
"What are you rebelling against?"
Brando: "Whaddya got?"
Methinks the baby-boomers in charge of the mainstream media have over-romanticized 1968 way too damn much...
hehehe
I can't help thinking of Grand Theft Auto IV—when you hear the copter, you know you're doing well.
I remember how the 80's generation was so desperate to live up to the 60's, and the birth of this desire was an overpriced coffee shop on every corner and Nirvanna...
Gee, thanks Generation X.
The funniest part of all of this is that two thirds of the guys in this pseudo-riot won't even bother to vote.
Offline
#38 2008-09-02 00:58:03
ptah13 wrote:
The funniest part of all of this is that two thirds of the guys in this pseudo-riot won't even bother to vote.
Will you, Señor Guevara?
edit: Whoops. Che was a physician.
Last edited by choad (2008-09-02 00:59:59)
Offline
#39 2008-09-02 02:19:49
choad wrote:
ptah13 wrote:
The funniest part of all of this is that two thirds of the guys in this pseudo-riot won't even bother to vote.
Will you, Señor Guevara?
edit: Whoops. Che was a physician.
I even voted in the primary.
I voted for Obama.
God bless the USA!
Offline
#40 2008-09-04 22:33:06
From The Wall Street Journal
"I think it really exposes that we live in a police state," said a woman who gave her name as Loaf Owls, her age as 20 years old, and said she was a professional clown. "Someone at the march said yesterday that anarchists are protectors of the people, and that pretty much sums up why I'm here."
"We'll protest the grass being green," shouted Robert Wilson, 45, who said he is homeless. "I love protesting. My favorite cologne is pepper spray."
Last edited by AladdinSane (2008-09-04 22:34:07)
Offline
#41 2008-09-04 23:47:38
Yer people Lad!
Last edited by Dmtdust (2008-09-04 23:48:11)
Offline
