Category: police state
- Labels: games, government, history, hubris, lust, mind control, myopia, obscene, philosophy, police state, politics, propaganda, psychology, psychopath, tyranny
- Labels: banks, corporations, corruption, deception, deviant, media, military, mind control, money, police state, prison, terrorism
- Labels: fascism, police state, politics
The American approach to law enforcement was forged by the experience of revolution. Emerging as they did from the shadow of British rule, the countryâs founders would likely have viewed police, as they exist today, as a standing army, and therefore a threat to liberty. Even so, excessive force and disregard for the Bill of Rights have become epidemic in todayâs world. According to civil liberties reporter Radley Balko, these are all symptoms of a generation-long shift to increasingly aggressive, militaristic, and arguably unconstitutional policingâone that would have shocked the conscience of Americaâs founders.
Rise of the Warrior Cop traces the arc of U.S. law enforcement from the constables and private justice of colonial times to present-day SWAT teams and riot cops. Today, relentless âwar on drugsâ and âwar on terrorâ pronouncements from politicians, along with battle-clad police forces with tanks and machine guns have dangerously blurred the distinction between cop and soldier. Balkoâs fascinating, frightening narrative shows how martial rhetoric and reactionary policies have put modern law enforcement on a collision course with the values of a free society.
- Labels: control, fascism, fear, government, liberty, police state
“They
- Labels: corporations, corruption, criminals, government, greed, police state
Pussy Riot is a Russian feminist punk-rock musical collective in Moscow, who stage politically provocative impromptu performances about Russian political life in unusual locations, such as on top of a trolleybus or on a scaffold in the Moscow Metro.
On February 21, 2012, four members of the group staged a performance on the soleas of Moscowâs Cathedral of Christ the Saviour, motivated by their opposition to Vladimir Putin and the politics of the Russian Orthodox Church. Their performance was interrupted by church security officials. On March 3, after the video of the performance appeared online, three of the group members were arrested and charged with hooliganism aimed at inciting religious hatred.
Their trial began in late July and raised much controversy in Russia and globally. According to a poll by the Levada Center, 44% of Russians supported the trial and believed in its fairness, while 17% did not. According to another poll by Levada, only 6% sympathised with Pussy Riot, while 51% “felt antipathy or had nothing good to say about them”; only 4% believed group members should be acquitted. On the other hand, the band members gained the noticeable support of many in Russia and internationally because of allegations of harsh treatment while in custody and the risk of a possible seven-year jail sentence.
On August 17, 2012, the three members were convicted of hooliganism (article 213.2 of the Criminal Code) and each sentenced to two years imprisonment. The Russian Orthodox Church issued a statement appealing to the authorities to show clemency, within the law, and urging the court to “divide the sin from sinner and reprimand the first while hoping the latter will improve”. The Church, however, condemned the “rude hostility to millions of people and their feelings” and cast no doubt on the legitimacy of the courtâs decision. The trial and conviction have attracted international criticism. The foreign ministries of Germany and Sweden, together with representatives of the European Union and the United States, called the sentence “disproportionate”. (read more)
Huffington post
Topless Warriors
The Kent State shootingsâalso known as the May 4 massacre or the Kent State massacreâoccurred at Kent State University in the U.S. city of Kent, Ohio, and involved the shooting of unarmed college students by the Ohio National Guard on Monday, May 4, 1970. The guardsmen fired 67 rounds over a period of 13 seconds, killing four students and wounding nine others, one of whom suffered permanent paralysis.
Some of the students who were shot had been protesting against the American invasion of Cambodia, which President Richard Nixon announced in a television address on April 30. Other students who were shot had been walking nearby or observing the protest from a distance.
There was a significant national response to the shootings: hundreds of universities, colleges, and high schools closed throughout the United States due to a student strike of four million students, and the event further affected the public opinionâat an already socially contentious timeâover the role of the United States in the Vietnam War. (read more) (four dead in ohio)
- Labels: death, police state, waste
Who Bombed Judi Bari? is a suspenseful story about people who risked their lives to save the California redwoods and took on the FBI for trampling their freedom of speech. It shines a light on an amazing protest movement that succeeded against all odds – with creativity, music, and humor. In 1990, a bomb blew up in the car of two of the most prominent Earth First! redwood activists: Judi Bari and Darryl Cherney. They were accused of bombing themselves, but twelve years later won their landmark lawsuit against the FBI, proving that officers falsified evidence and intentionally tried to frame them. To date, the real bomber has never even been searched for and remains at-large. Directed/Edited by Mary Liz Thomson, Produced by Darryl Cherney, Executive Producer Elyse Katz, Co-Executive Producer Sheila Laffey, Co-Executive Producers Bill & Laurie Benenson
- Labels: non violent direct action, police state
rounded up
“Tagged for evacuation, Salinas, California,” May 1942 | Russell Lee
This is a file from the Wikimedia Commons
February 20, 2012 marked the 70th anniversary of #EO9066, the executive order signed by Franklin Delano Roosevelt that authorized the deportation and eventual detainment of Japanese Americans from the west coast during World War II. Here is a great rundown of some of the essential facts related to internment, a particularly dark spot on our nationâs history and one glossed over by Democrats and Republicans alike.
Of the 120,000 Japanese-Americans imprisoned, 2/3 were American citizens making the number of Japanese-Americans interned without cause greater then the population of Wichita, Kansas. Americans with as little as 1/8 Japanese ancestry were interned, including orphan infants and Americans of Taiwanese and Korean descent.
70 Years Ago Japanese-American Removal and Internments Began | Care2 Causes
Poetry in History
…In an era of liberal personhood, when most â but certainly not all, recent legislation in Arizona being a case in point â citizens of the United States enjoy relative protection under the law, how are we to respond to the egregious moment in 1942 when crowds of Japanese immigrants and their American-born children were herded onto fairgrounds, relegated to horse stalls and racetracks, and ârelocatedâ to barbed-wire compounds and hastily constructed prison barracks throughout the nation? And all this, in response to sentiment like that expressed by columnist Henry McLemore: âI am for the immediate removal of every Japanese on the West Coast to a point deep in the interior. I donât mean a nice part of the interior either. Herd âem up, pack âem off and give âem the inside room in the badlands⦠Personally, I hate the Japanese. And that goes for all of them.â
Autumn foliage
California has now become
a far countryâYajin Nakao
Frosty night
listening to rumbling train
we have come a long wayâSenbinshi Takaoka
The Delta Ginsha [a free-verse poetry club] was founded in 1918 by Neiji Qzawa⦠Its members met monthly and submitted their haiku to the master of the month, who was usually the host or hostess for the evening. They submitted for consideration as many poems as they desired. The poems were then read and discussed and a vote was taken to determine the best haiku⦠It was an evening anticipated by the membersâgrape growers, onion farmers, teachers, housewives, bankers, pharmacists, and othersâwho had assembled for an enlightening cultural and social event.
Poetry in History: Japanese American Internment | Lantern Review Blog
Executive Order 9066
Japanese-American internment was the relocation and internment by the United States government in 1942 of approximately 110,000 Japanese Americans and Japanese who lived along the Pacific coast of the United States to camps called “War Relocation Camps,” in the wake of Imperial Japan’s attack on Pearl Harbor.[1][2] The internment of Japanese Americans was applied unequally throughout the United States. Japanese Americans who lived on the West Coast of the United States were all interned, while in Hawaii, where more than 150,000 Japanese Americans composed over one-third of the territory’s population, 1,200[3] to 1,800 Japanese Americans were interned.[4] Of those interned, 62% were American citizens.[5][6]
President Franklin D. Roosevelt authorized the internment with Executive Order 9066, issued February 19, 1942, which allowed local military commanders to designate “military areas” as “exclusion zones,” from which “any or all persons may be excluded.” This power was used to declare that all people of Japanese ancestry were excluded from the entire Pacific coast, including all of California and much of Oregon, Washington and Arizona, except for those in internment camps.[7] In 1944, the Supreme Court upheld the constitutionality of the exclusion orders,[8] while noting that the provisions that singled out people of Japanese ancestry were a separate issue outside the scope of the proceedings.[9] The United States Census Bureau assisted the internment efforts by providing confidential neighborhood information on Japanese Americans. The Bureau’s role was denied for decades, but was finally proven in 2007.[10][11]
In 1988, Congress passed and President Ronald Reagan signed legislation which apologized for the internment on behalf of the U.S. government. The legislation said that government actions were based on “race prejudice, war hysteria, and a failure of political leadership”.[12] The U.S. government eventually disbursed more than $1.6 billion in reparations to Japanese Americans who had been interned and their heirs.[13]
Japanese American internment – Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
The Amache Japanese Internment Camp at Granada, Colorado
- Labels: america, government, military, police state, war
A man who identified himself as Brendan Watts was beaten to the ground by police officers in Zuccotti Park. According to reports he was injured and suffered a fractured skull after being hit with a baton to the head as police clashed with protesters. Brendan Watts; photo: Occupy Wall St. on Facebook
. Video below
“I want to be very clear in calling upon the Egyptian authorities to refrain from any violence against peaceful protestors. The people of Egypt have rights that are universal. That includes the right to peaceful assembly and association, the right to free speech, and the ability to determine their own destiny. These are human rights and the United States will stand up for them everywhere.”
-Barack Obama,
28 January, 2011
Shocking Images Show Escalating Violence Against OWS
by Beth Buczynski
November 19, 2011
Shocking Images Show Escalating Violence Against OWS | Care2 Causes
November 17th marked the two-month anniversary of the Occupy Wall Street movement. To demonstrate resilience and solidarity in the face of coordinated crack-downs, Occupiers around the world organized a massive day of action.
Many of these actions were met with marked violence by law enforcement. At UC Davis, a police officer flippantly pepper-sprayed seated college students at point-blank range while a wall of onlookers documented the heartless act.
Police pepper spraying and arresting students at UC Davis- YouTube. Crowd chants police out of the quad with “Shame On You” and “You Can Go”
Update: The cop who used the pepper spray, reported to be Lt. John Pike, earns $110,000 a yearâalmost twice that of an experienced assistant professor at UC Davis. Pikeâs cell phone number is (530) 752-3989 (confirmed). His email is japikeiii@ucdavis.edu. Tell him what you think of his violence against these kids and the interests that he serves.
A similar scene played out at Occupy Portland, which was completely destroyed by the Portland Police Department last week. On November 17th, 21 Occupy Portland protesters were arrested occupying Chase Bank and Wells Fargo. These actions followed the arrest of twenty-five union members on the Steel Bridge protesting the lack of infrastructure spending and job creation, which was led by We Are Oregon and organized labor.
see Occupy Portland Under Attack: Police Evict Protesters | Care2 Causes
Over twelve instances of pepper spray at point blank range targeting people on the sidewalk, reported Occupy Portland in a statement. Two people were stepped on and pushed down by police horses. At least six people were beaten with batons by the police. Seven people were injured from impacts with police bicycles. One individual suffered an injured back after being forcefully grabbed by a mounted office. One elderly person was taken to the hospital with leg or hip injuries.
âOn multiple occasions the police pointlessly endangered demonstrators and ensarled traffic, including a mounted charge of peaceful protesters on a sidewalk, forcing them onto the MAX tracks on SW Yamhill,â said David Osborn.
In New York City, the nexus of the Occupy Wall Street movement, over 30,000 people took to the streets (see above) to protest political and economic injustice, and to show support for the recently evicted Zuccotti Park occupation. Over 100 were arrested at the action, including journalists.
A man who identified himself as Brendan Watts was beaten to the ground by police officers in Zuccotti Park. According to reports he was injured and suffered a fractured skull after being hit with a baton to the head as police clashed with protesters.
see Blood on Wall Street: Violent OWS arrests (GRAPHIC PHOTOS, VIDEO) â RT and videos belowAt first, OWS protesters were chanting “Put away the riot gear. I don’t see no riot here” and ‘”This is a nonviolent protest”. But when police went on with tough arrests â it was “Shame” and “This is what a police state looks like” chants all the way.
At 3pm, thousands of students, workers, and other supporters gathered in Union Square chanting âShut the city down!â and using the Peopleâs Mic to share stories of how banks and corporate greed have impacted the 99%. Simultaneously, Occupiers took to multiple subway stations in all five boroughs. The day of action culminated when the student strike, labor unions, and various OWS groups took over a number of streets in Lower Manhattan on their way to Foley Square before marching across the Brooklyn Bridge.
Shocking Images Show Escalating Violence Against OWS | Care2 Causes
Brendan Watts videos (New York)
OWS NYPD Bloody Faced & Crying Protester Ugly Arrest – Brendan Watts – YouTube
Man BLOODIED by NYPD at OccupyWallStreet
photos
Portland
A woman is blasted with pepper spray during Occupy protests in Portland Thursday. (Randy L. Rasmussen, The Oregonian)
“The dramatic photo of a young woman getting a blast of pepper spray on her face during a mostly peaceful Occupy protest in Portland is destined to become an enduring image of the national movement.”
Portland pepper spray incident generates iconic Occupy photo – KDVR
Seattle
Seattle activist Dorli Rainey, 84, reacts after being hit with pepper spray during an Occupy Seattle protest on Tuesday, November 15, 2011 at Westlake Park. Protesters gathered in the intersection of 5th Avenue and Pine Street after marching from their camp at Seattle Central Community College in support of Occupy Wall Street. Many refused to move from the intersection after being ordered by police. Police then began spraying pepper spray into the gathered crowd hitting dozens of people. A pregnant woman was taken from the melee in an ambulance after being struck with spray. Photo: JOSHUA TRUJILLO / SEATTLEPI.COM
Seattle Police officers deploy pepper spray into a crowd during an Occupy Seattle protest on Tuesday, November 15, 2011 at Westlake Park. Photo by Joshua Trujillo, seattlepi.com
PHOTOS: Elderly woman, pregnant woman hit with pepper spray at Occupy Seattle | Seattle's Big Blog – seattlepi.com
New York
Try arresting that!
“brooklyn bridge gettin it! covered end to end. Try arresting that!”
Occupy Wall St. on Facebook | Wall Photos
