The Police State comes to Minneapolis/St. Paul
By bluegal Saturday Aug 30, 2008 3:00pm
Protesters here in Minneapolis 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..."
If this wasn't so despicable, unconstitutional, and downright fascist, it would be funny. Cops circling a place called Seeds of Peace? Raiding so-called "hippie houses"? If the cops wanted to know what was going on with RNC protesters, they could have checked the website. When a guy from the National Lawyers Guild reads the charges, people can't help but laugh:
Videos from Veracifier/Talking Points Memo.
Firedoglake notes the mainstream media silence....
Twincities Indymedia is following with a live feed of updates.
More updates: The Dirty Hippies are suing to stop confiscations of cell phones and cameras among protesters... Um, is there a publicity department for the Ramsey County MN Sheriff’s Office? We think not.
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Which orthopedic surgeons removed the MSM's spines? Let us know so we can avoid them...
Stop The Fascist Police State. Americans in Minneapolis, hit the streets! We love you! (I'm overseas).
ummm, if its unconstitutional, then the patriot act is unconstitutional...and needs to be repealed, cuz that is how the cops are getting their warrants
you see, the main goal of the patriot act is to silence legal protest
that and find lonely perverts on line
Hey! I forgot about that!
Where were the throngs of protesters outside the DNC Convention last week? I mean, where were all those Right-wingers out to "Thank God for George W Bush and John McCain"?
How long will it be before Obama and Biden end up being arrested?
If anything, it's reason to revolt ... big time.
Maybe it's a practice run for Nov 5th when all hell breaks loose as McBush & Quaylin prep their victory speeches.
Un-fucking-believeable.
Bush and Cheney and pals should have had this happen to them. Fuck you Nancy Pelosi, blink all you want you pathetic excuse for leader, it's time to really clean house America.
A conspiracy of anarchists is such an oxymoron.
The rethugs are not only good at creating new terrorists abroad, they're most certainly creating them internally. As you sew.. Let's all go to the gun-show, let's all go to the gun-show
I heard they were outsourcing the work to the Chinese and the Russians.
We'll see what happens this Tuesday when Meeks holds his "Don't Go To School" protest in Chicago.
Hall Monitor
http://detentionslip.org
Scott @ 7:
I know, that's a great line!
But I'm afraid this sort of thing is going to get worse before it gets better. Any odds on protesters being tasered this week?
There is a good reason for the Second Amendment.
btw.
Any postponement or delays in the Republican Convention will more than double the cost of the convention. That means any bump in money raised by selecting Palin will be more than consumed in overruns and rescheduling fees for the convention.
Anyone who thinks that the people at the convention center will give the Republicans a break on the costs...has never worked with people at a convention center. They are as money driven as anyone in a capitalistic society...maybe even more so.
ohhh now they are going to halt the RNC big party so they can phone back.... oyy
I wonder If they will have Bree VanDerCamp on the phones. Wait her name is Sarah Pailin. sorry. just similar plot lines.
Obviously this won't get on MSM news, Jordan Kushner read too much for Wolf Blitzer to comprehend
OT, but after seeing this, I know she's more than qualified now!
http://sports.yahoo.com/nba/blog/ball_dont_lie/post/Republican-VP-candid...
/snark off
this isn't funny one bit. the (R) doesn't like minnesota..
why. it probably started with hubert humprey.they especially don't like the 'cities' highly educated,creative,middle class liberals. a threat because they're different.
ohh and btw...
if you don't watch Desperate Housewives...
Bree's daughter gets preggers, and pretends to be pregnant to prevent shame befalling the family. Bristol Palin had mono for 8 months being cured and back in school right around the time that Sarah had the baby.
HMMMMMMMMMMMM.
sounds like a scandel, and maybe John should have talked with her a bit further.
HISTORIC FAIL
Our PATRIOT Act at work.
Shades of Lexington and Concord. Will patriots turn out to defend the nation in MN? One, if by land. Two, if by sea. What was it again, if by SWAT?
Will McCain protect freedom by speaking out against this?
Every single one of us needs to forward this to our elected reps and ask them WTF is going on here! And BTW this is not "like" a police state. This IS a police state. I'd like to know how the information on these people was gathered in the first place and by who, specifically. What is their name, position? Who gave the order to get it done. This is why, when I heard someone say "I'm not a terrorist so I don't care about the Patriot Act" I wanted to slap the shit out of them.
These unconstitutional acts combined with the high likelihood of GOP voter fraud in the election may very likely trigger the next civil war.
Yet if you're caught with scoped rifles, bullet proof vests, walkie talkies and crystal methamphetamine, then threaten the life of a black liberal candidate, suddenly the Ministry of Security becomes the chief public defender's office.
Were the cops wearing their 'American Hats'?
http://www.dailykos.com/story/2008/8/30/121350/137
You have to ask yourself why they're pulling this particular kind of action at this time. Doesn't it just underline the disastrous consequences of electing another Repugnicant into the White House? I would think that this would only galvanize most Americans to get out and vote against the Nazification of the country. That and never having to hear Sarah Palin's squeaky nails-on-chalkboard voice again.
How can anyone of good conscience go along with this? This is evil. These people have done nothing wrong and they've been dragged out of their homes and held without cause. It's fucking ILLEGAL! There should be protests in the streets.
I knew that justice was down but I had no idea it was out completely.
CNN actually has a tiny story on this:
Police raid headquarters of RNC protestors
"St. Paul Police spokesman Tom Walsh said they were executing a search warrant.
"The cause for the search warrant is not public at this time," Walsh said."
We have actually lived in a police state for years. The police are code enforcers. They enforce the rule of law upon us. They do not and never have been here to protect us. And if you've ever protested, you know by the look in their eyes and their actions that they literally cannot wait to beat or otherwise assault people. They are the brown shirts of the neo-Roman/Nazi Fascist States of Amurika.
We torture, we use a 1950s Chinese torture manual.
The Chinese today use torture and point to us as a role model.
We condemn the Chinese for human rights abuses.
We abuse human rights here at home.
Is anyone keeping score?
My scorecard says:
China zero.
US zero.
This is not the land of your forefathers.
Maybe it never was.
Did St. Paul just put up a that says “Welcome Anarchists”, or what?
Oops. A "sign". My bad.
In the 1960s, protestors called the cops pigs.
It's a label highly insulting to pigs.
Roket @ 30:
Yep. Just gave them an engraved invitation with gold leaf. Stoopit bastahds don't seem to realize that these kinds of actions actively attract the more radical and potentially violent segments of the left (far smaller and fewer than those on the right).
When the Republicans came for the Americans,
I remained silent.
These actions in the Twin Cities, along with this, are the kinds of things you do when you are preparing to declare martial law.
Fascism is right. And I can see the right-wing reaction to the second video now, "lefties laugh at the idea of violence against police." This is the sort of thing Republicans oppose when they're not it power. An abuse of power is wrong no matter who does it.
Batocchio @ 36:
Always remember IOKIYAR. It is not an abuse of power when they do it.
Clean up in aisle 38. We have a nasty spill.
It seems perfectly predictable, and to an extent correct, that an anarchist group would be forcibly opposed and combated by our police departments.
The line between the harmless vagabonds that frequent these communals and the hardcore anti-establishment types is difficult to discern and perhaps, in this instance, it is a case of "better safe than sorry."
Pete Rooke @ 40:
No it is not reasonable and "better safe than sorry" has no place under the constitution, which explicitly ensures that this will never be a "politically safe" country. The rights to free speech and assembly are absolute and unabridged. Unless these protesters (or apparently potential protesters) committed actual crimes, the police have no right to harrass them in any way and have themselves broken the law.
Hard to believe there are enough anti American cops to even buy into this facist state bullshit. Those damn hippies.The second video is hilarious. All the belly laughs as the lead guy reads the Sheriffs statement. Its the best way to deal with these people. Just laugh in their faces. Smile and wave. No law against that is there ? Never used to be.
In Denver the police did not make preemptive raids on homes prior to the start of the convention. The downtown area had 2000 police dressed in riot gear and who knows how many couldn't see. Police were instructed by city council not to make any marijuana arrests. Overall the protesters were orderly, the police were OK and 150 were arrested (some frivolously). Hats off to the city and county of Denver for a job well done.
Gotta love this...Democracy?
"He's got books and no TV! Shoot him!"
IMPEACH.
Pretzels to Bush !!!!
They had amongst their person "a gas mask, bolt cutters, axes, slingshots, homemade 'caltrops' for disabling buses, even buckets of urine." The urine may conceivably have been used for pleasure - shudder.
I'm afraid that's like saying we had to destroy the constitution in order to save it. They could have sent people to the door and asked them what their intentions were, but no. Let's smash in the doors and erode our freedom a little bit more.
.....Orwell was right
...he just got the year wrong.
Pete Rooke @ 45:
No. The police warrant alleges that they did. That has not in fact been demonstrated in court or elsewhere.
Compared to these guys, Orwell was an amateur.
Most of them 10-4 types can't see beyond the end of their noses anyway...Just following orders like good sheep
An American today will accept the trampling of rights so long as they aren't his or her rights.
Axes, Caltrops and slingshots? Wow, sounds deadly, just imagin if they had M-16's.
For someone who wants to track these events, I've put some links here. It includes the sites of one of the organizing committees, the legal team, TC Indymedia, and various other sources.
I wouldn't wish death on anyone but id sure pay large to see Bush riding a bike , eating pretzels , drunk and high on cocaine while reading My Pet Goat right side up. I'm not so sure hes that good at multi tasking.
DrDick @ 48:
And may I add that none of the people arrested has yet been formally charged, but are being held on a probable cause warrant, which gives the police 36 hours (exclusive of weekends) to provide evidence of reasonable cause for charges.
Militias arose for various reasons, one being distrust of government.
This would never have happened if Jesse "The Body" was still Governor
Hmmm...I wonder how many Google searches are going on at this moment for contacting Ramsey County MN Sheriff’s Office? This definitely warrants a very strongly worded letter. As someone else has already said, if this wasn't so scary it would be positively hilarious. Are the 'authorities' genuinely acting on bona fide information, or simply fear mongering? No one will ever know...it's probably a big secret to 'protect' the public. I don't know, if they keep this crap up, it might create an actual problem. Then again maybe that's the plan?
Welcome to The United State of AmeriKa...land of the oppressed and home of the victimized.
To #21- Wasn't there a story last week about a group of videographers who were arrested and their records seized? They were working on a story about protesters and alleged police brutality.
Its Gestapo time baby! And more to come before we hear the last of Bush/Chaney.
The crowd is laughing when the lawyer reads things like [the RNC Welcoming Committee is full of ] "self-proclaimed anarchists." So I google their website and find this:
So what's the joke? I don't defend unconstitutional searches by any means, especially those that are based just on checking to see that everything is legal, but when you have this kind of text on your website:
I could very easily see a judge granting a retroactive warrant, based on probable cause of immediate threat. Additionally, I think the best thing progressives could hope for would be that the convention goes off without a hitch. McCain Palin is such an incredibly weak ticket, I want them to have plenty of time to show america who they are, in their full sleaziness. Gustav and the protestors promise to help the GOP, not hurt it.
(Quotes are from " http://www.nornc.org/ ")
I think i like the way Charles Mingus said it best, although he certainly wasn´t the first...
This one is from the Mingus Big Band's 1999 album "Blues & Politics"... In the beginning of the composition "Don't Let It Happen Here" voice reads:
One day they came and took the Communists, and I said nothing, because I was not a Communist. Then one day they burned the Catholic Churches, and I said nothing, because I was born a Protestant. Then they came and took the Unionists, and I said nothing, because I was not a Unionist. One day they came and took the people of the Jewish Faith, and I said nothing, because I had no faith left. Then one day they came and took me, and I could say nothing, because I was as guilty as they were for not speaking out and saying that we all have a right to freedom...
Yes people, but it was a police state back in 2000 when Bush was governor of Texas and preparing to rig the 2000 election. I was fortunate that things happened to me in Austin that enabled me to clearly see the hand-writing on the wall and gave me the wisdom and forsight to get the hell out of the USA. Actually, many smart Americans have already left.
Why are they so paranoid about cameras and cell phones? They have their secure zone around the Xcel Center. Unless the Repubs don't want people taking photos of their activities in other parts of town.
now we know why the terrorist watch list is 1 million names and counting . . . under the bush regime, "terrorist" means anyone opposed to petrol fascism and the military industrial complex
Its Gestapo time baby! And more to come before we hear the last of Bush/Chaney.
PS-- The way Bush has changed the Constitution, he can declare all of them enemy combattents and send them all to Gitmo. But don't worry, they can get a hearing in 3 years.
Let us also keep in mind that obama voted for the patriot act...
Change we can belive in??????
I've written my elected representatives. I urge you all to do the same.
Make some noise!
On this site, no one much disagrees about ends.
Arguments are about means.
As the old saying goes, talk is cheap.
To me the first question is, If these people were such a threat to America in general and Minneapolis/St. Paul in particular, why the delay (no pun intended) in the search? I suppose I missed the memo that stated the the Twin Cities is now the new front on "The War With Terror". Scrap that, I've just had my moment of providence. The "War On Terror" has always included anyone, especially fellow Americans, who didn't toe the line with the powers that be. Oh well, in the spirit of the Republican Party, it is more fiscally responsible to round up dirty effing hippies here in the homeland than it is chasing down the likes of bin Laden along the Pakistani/Afghanistan border. One last rant/question and this goes to Senator McCain, why is it easier to catch or kill bin Laden at the questionable "Gates of Hell" than it is to do the same at a known location? You may have well stated The Milky Way, at least you would have narrowed it down to a particular solar system. Implying "The Gates of Hell" means you have all but given up your search and will leave it to the hands of God or fate (depending on one's beliefs). Eff your surge and kiss my ass.
Change we can believe in.
A Harvard Law grad ending a sentence in a preposition.
I wouldn't put it past Cheney to plant stuff on their website to justify what they did.
HeyCaptain @ 72:
Like some of the odd posters who have been showing up today?
Well, it makes me glad to know our Dem party (soon to be my former Dem party) is out to appease Repub authoritarians like this instead of cleaning them out. Nice to watch them spread our country's cheeks in a bipartisan manner.
from the patriot act that obama voted for:
"A terrorism enterprise investigation may be initiated when facs or circumstances reasonably indicate that two or more persons are engaged in an enterprise for the purpose of furthering the political or social goals wholly or in part through activities that involve force or violence and a federal crime..."
i love the "reasonably indicate" and "or in part"
wonderfully vauge...
To help to stop this shit we need to get rid of Bush for starters.You can help by going to http://kucinich.us and signing the petition to impeach. We cannot do it without your help and your friends.REMEMBER;Bush cannot pardon his cronies if he`s under impeachment.
Oh but that woman with the ponytail and high heels is going to make you all vote for McCain, right?
VietVet8666 @ 71:
"Ending a sentence with a preposition is a piece of utter impertinance up with which I will not put."-Winston Churchill
My friends, we live in the Matrix. What you see and hear is not real - just a hologram created by the Powers that Be (PtB).
If we manage to actually have an "election," before Cheney et al perpetrate some other "national emergency" ....well, it won't matter, 'cause they'll just take over.
And, those of us whose IP provider addresses or URLs, or whatever appear on sites like C&L, etc. , will begin to hear that knock, knock, knockin' on our doors.
sully18 @ 78:
There, all fixed.
Of course the MSM, being dutiful parrots, will mindlessly repeat the Sheriff's talking points in their news. "criminal enterprise"? "Injuring police"? Are these rent-a-cops so effete that they think demonstrating students require the use of submachine guns and full armor?
"The welcoming committee is a criminal enterprise" These rent-a-cops watch far too many movies. Perhaps they are concerned that the joker is behind this mastermind "criminal enterprise
These guys might be encouraged to go back to guarding old construction areas. Without guns, of course. They might injure themselves.
This is really a bad situation and, given the number of press people at the Republican Convention it would seem that this would be a story worth doing. One of the problems is that it is unlikely that those in control of the MSM will allow actual reporters to do stories or such stories will not get on the air.
Being arrested and held because you describe yourself as an Anarchist (yet have committed no crime) clearly indicates where this country has arrived at. Suppose Obama gets elected, takes the Presidential Powers Chaney has so carefully created, and start arresting Republicans because they might commit a crime.
I have watched the MSM fail in it's job for 8 years. We are in a war nobody wants and that serves no purpose. We have lost our moral authority with other countries. Our economy has failed. We are falling behind in our ability to operate in a post-oil world. An now, our fundamental rights are being abused in plain sight. American citizens are being taken to prison and held without charges and based on nothing.
Those in the MSM that fail to cover this kind of story are no longer "neutral" and must be counted as standing with those that want to destroy the constitution and remove most of our rights.
hitler did it in germany
bush and cheney have done it in America.
FUCK BUSH AND CHENEY
Uncle Joe Mccarthy @ 3:
if they are to find "lonely perverts on line", then
they would have to arrest more than half
of the gop and reichwingneocons and their evangelists brothers.
Somebody should make posters with pictures of the Keystone Kops, and post these all around the city, with the words:
Be very careful that you might accidentally injure one of these, the Ramsey County Sheriff's finest. Be delicate with their feelings, and get rid of all household materials except pillows, as our effete are concerned about being injured by cardboard, wicks, and anything that has gasoline in it. They may break into your house to rid it of these horribly terrifying devices.
Adam @ 61:
Yeah, I'm not sure why the crowd laughed at that line either. Maybe because they know that the police have a very distorted perception of who anarchists are. The RNC Welcoming Committee IS an anarchist group that wants to stop the convention with a wide variety of tactics, and though direct action is a central tenet of anarchism, the anarchists (among other protesters) are ultimately out to stop violence and war, not instigate it. No one wants American fascists to continue their crusade for global hegemony, and everyone desires to live in a democracy where the people control the decision-making apparatus. What some folks need to understand is that the RNC Welcoming Committee is simply a manifestation of these desires.
I support the anarchists.
Pre-emptive strikes on American university students (with "evil intents".) = Police State.
Who knew we were awash in anarchy? I need to get out more 'cause I seem to have missed all the malatov cocktail parties and Sacco and Vanzetti Birthday parades. Glad to see someone has resurected the spirit of Palmer. Now I'd like to see some of those darn anachists do something useful like dance on the hoods and roofs of all those cars that keep me bottled up at five o'clock on the freeway.
Edwin Hussein @ 87:
it´s the law... read it and weep... (patriot act)
Che's Lounge @ 23:
I'm assuming that by liberal you actually meant conservative as Obama is not a liberal. Just being to the left of a republick doesn't make one a liberal, it just means they're to the left of the republicks as they have moved into the far right insane nutsy sphere.
But yeah, this whole thing reeks.
DrDick @ 80:
Thanks,DrDick.
The list of items they show as being used for possible mayhem are a joke and could be in anyones home, except one thing. Why did they have three 5 gallon buckets of piss? I typically only keep one 5 gallon bucket of piss in my garage for emergencies, three seems a bit much.
It's not just in St. Paul, but Denver as well ... this isn't a partisan issue, but an issue of standing up to corrupt authority.
DNC: UNCUT Police slam CodePink to ground
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hzrBYF99QKI
slugo@82 "Those in the MSM that fail to cover this kind of story are no longer “neutral” and must be counted as standing with those that want to destroy the constitution and remove most of our rights."
I totally agree.I`ve been saying this since freezing my ass off in D.C. in 2003 Feb..Those reporter guys who are referred to as MSM are traitors just like Bush and Cheney.Go to http://kucinich.us to get rid of them.
CSPAn had someone from the police department on this morning. He used the offical line that he 'could not go into detail' of what set them off 'because its an ongoing investigation'...but suggested that due to threats from the students made on the web caused the raid, and he said they found explosive devices, and alluded to them planning to disable buses and the throwing of urine and excrement.