bifemmefatale showed me this link to a report from Starhawk on the RNC’s raids on protest groups. Glenn Greenwald has a similar report in his blog on the Salon. An excerpt:
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,” 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.
McCain’s choice of VP scares me as much as it amuses me. I find her to be personally loathsome, as she pretty much embodies a set of social and political views that are perfectly antithetical to my own.
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Is John McCain Mentally Fit To Be President?
6 things the Palin pick says about McCain
The VP Choice that Lost the Presidency for McCain
(One can only hope.)
Scholars question Palin credentials
2 Top Alaska Newspapers Question Palin’s Fitness
Palin Repeatedly Professed Desire To Renew Federal Funding For ‘Bridge To Nowhere’
Gleh. I can barely post about this asshole right now.
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Y’know? I really, truly love Jimmy Carter.
And in case you didn’t see it, this might be McCain’s most absurd, tackiest POW ploy to date.
In WND column, Corsi co-author Craig R. Smith called Obama “our first hip-hop president”
In his August 25 WorldNetDaily column, Craig R. Smith, who co-wrote Black Gold Stranglehold: The Myth of Scarcity and the Politics of Oil (WND Books, October 2005) with Obama Nation author and WND staff writer Jerome Corsi, asserted that “the real reason” Sen. Barack Obama’s election would be “a moment of historical significance unlike any other” is because Obama “will be our first hip-hop president.” Smith continued: “I can only imagine how the world will embrace the leader of the free world when he introduces other foreign leaders with, ‘give it up for my man Vladimir.’ Giving ‘props’ for joining us in a treaty. Or the first lady Michelle talking about ‘my man’ the ‘daddy of my babies’ when referring to the president. … The use of ghetto slang during the primaries and even today may be a clear indication just how the Obamas intend to ‘roll’ if given the privileged seat in the Oval Office.” Smith also wrote: “I can see it now. Air Force One decked out with ’22s’ and spinners. Maybe even a set of hydraulics. Watching the hip-hop president in the Oval Office with his baseball cap on backward coping a gansta lean in the big chair. Should be really pimp, don’t you think?”
U.N. Finds Airstrike Killed 90 Afghans
ISLAMABAD, Pakistan, Aug. 26 — United Nations officials in Afghanistan said Tuesday that there was “convincing evidence” at least 90 civilians — two-thirds of them children — were killed in a U.S.-led airstrike last week that caused the Afghan government to call for a review of U.S. and NATO military operations in the country.
The whole Biden family is fantastic. Cried my ass of during Beau Biden’s speech.
Aaaannnnd… John Kerry kicked serious ass.
