US Citizens Tortured at the RNC! (with VIDEO)
In a most disturbing twist of events, it has been reported that not only were journalists and news photographers detained and/or arrested, and preemptive arrests were performed, but it is now being reported that the brutality of the St. Paul police, under the direction of the Department of Homeland Security, was extended to medics on the scene, as well as local residents.
We'll start as a young protester describes his own torture at the hands of the police, a telling which is too reminiscent of the handling of detainees at Guantanamo Bay. Watch the video. Then read the stories of medics and residents who were abused.
This is the most appalling event, and if it is allowed to continue, we will all be living in a police state, with no ability to carry out our First Amendment rights in speaking out against our government.
This is the government brought to us by the Republicans?
Read this story and act now!
We'll start as a young protester describes his own torture at the hands of the police, a telling which is too reminiscent of the handling of detainees at Guantanamo Bay. Watch the video. Then read the stories of medics and residents who were abused.
This is the most appalling event, and if it is allowed to continue, we will all be living in a police state, with no ability to carry out our First Amendment rights in speaking out against our government.
This is the government brought to us by the Republicans?
Read this story and act now!
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Thugocracy.
September 7, 2008 8:43 PM | Reply | Permalink
Disgusting, isn't it? I don't know what happened to this country and why more people aren't completely outraged.
September 7, 2008 9:05 PM | Reply | Permalink
I don't want to aggravate the concern, but the situation is deteriorating.
I see increasing enrollments in criminal justice programs. Increasing homeland security curriculums starting up at universities and community colleges all over the country. A burgeoning industry developing around security, law enforcement, surveillance, intelligence gathering and storage, and crowd control. In other words its a money thing...money is pouring into a new part of the economy and the supply sometimes creates demand.
Now what I conjecture is that we are developing a security/surveillance sector of the economy. Not big enough to register as a trackable sector of the market, but getting there. The surveillance state arrives partly driven by market forces. Which makes it immune to a changeover of parties in Washington.
September 7, 2008 9:11 PM | Reply | Permalink
I've noticed that, as well. There is a blog ad for Homeland Security positions. I remember seeing it thinking, whoa. It was pretty freaky.
Real ID. Chips in passports. I am waiting for mandatory RFID injections, like I have in my dog. Then will we all be issued those electric shock bracelets that Homeland Security is negotiating with that Canadian company as a mandatory accessory?
GATTACA.
September 7, 2008 9:40 PM | Reply | Permalink
Yes, the ideal republican economy: half of us flippin' burgers, the other half watching us to be sure we don't sneak any home to our starving families!
September 7, 2008 10:46 PM | Reply | Permalink
A true Jean Val Jean moment.
And the build up to a revolution.
September 8, 2008 10:41 AM | Reply | Permalink
How you gonna revolt if Obama takes away your guns? Have you ever considered that? I oppose ANY form of gun control, not because I hunt or target shoot, or just to defend my family, but as the ultimate check and balance on gov't power. Oddly, the left seems to want to give up their rights, at the same time they see a coming oppressive gov't. I see the oppression coming from their side.
September 8, 2008 2:37 PM | Reply | Permalink
You see oppression coming from "their" side and not over the last eight years? The Patriot Act? The Military Commissions Act?
Please!
September 8, 2008 5:44 PM | Reply | Permalink
I agree, Lux, except the police state economy, which is very real, is also big enough to be quantified. It's a huge growth industry, fully privatized, so we the people pay for every dime of it. Jane Alexander, a deputy director at the Department of Homeland Security said "we don't make things. If it doesn't come from industry, we're not going to be able to get it." The former director of the National Security Agency said "Homeland security is too important to be left to the government." Michael Steed, managing director of the homeland security firm Paladin said "I've been in private equity since the early 90s, and I've never seen a sustained deal flow like this."
How much is it? This list includes both the newly privatized war machine and Homeland Security. From the Pentagon, $270 billion a year to private contractors; US intelligence agencies, 42 billion a year to contractors; Department of Homeland security, $130 billion to contractors. In 2003, the Bush administration spent $327 billion on contracts to private companies, nearly 40% of the discretionary budget.
September 8, 2008 5:55 PM | Reply | Permalink
So much for the Constitution and the Bill of Rights. Thank you MsJoanne. I posted on this previously, and I think we need to keep the pressure on about it. There was no justification for these brutal and unconstitutional events. It sends chills down my spine.
I don't know how many of you on TPM are familiar with the events of Kristallnacht,
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kristallnacht one of the pivotal Gestapo events of Nazi Germany, but if you have any sense of history, atrocities like this on American soil, but so-called American law enforcement should make you worry. And the silence around it, the lack of coverage and the lack of any plausible explanation on the part of the forces of repression should worry you even more.
Here's a little tidbit from one of the Founding Fathers of this country - Benjamin Franklin:
Emphasis added.
September 7, 2008 11:07 PM | Reply | Permalink
Thanks for the post. I had heard rumors of this but was waiting for the media to really put it out there... I don't understand how there has not been more outrage as reporters where involved.
The was suprised not to hear more from John Steward when he started of Friday night talking about mace.
September 8, 2008 12:38 AM | Reply | Permalink
I've been reading about this stuff since the convention. I have friends who survived the Columbia riots of '68, and this is the same old shit. Don't expect the MSM to cover any of this crap, but the Blogosphere has to keep this from going down the memory hole.
The right to assemble, the right to petition the government, must be protected. I also am highly suspicious of the so called anarchists who destroyed property. Back in the 60's provacateurs were regularly sent in to demonstrations to create violent confrontations that provided excuses for police brutality. We could recognize them easily back then, because they usually had black shiny shoes. But I remain highly suspicious of these guys.
September 8, 2008 11:27 AM | Reply | Permalink
Oh, I thought this was going to be about the people who had to listen to McCain's speech.
September 8, 2008 6:24 PM | Reply | Permalink