Following up on James's post on the subject, here are some links to recent news about police raids in the Twin Cities of activist houses. They are knocking down doors and coming in with semi-automatic weapons to arrest people and confiscate belongings, including computers, journals, and political pamphlets. They have also arrested National Lawyer Guild lawyers trying to find out more information.
- Main spot for coverage in the Minnesota Independent. One story: Crackdown begins: Food Not Bombs house among Saturday raids. You can follow them on twitter also.
- Salon's Glenn Greenwald on the story
- Lindsay Beyerstein for Firedoglake
- Video from Theuptake
Here is one video from a visit by Glenn Greenwald to a house after it was raided:
At one time we pretended to have a constitutional republic (see previous post) but now we're not even pretending. Check out this paragraph from an AP story on the raids:
Protester Michelle Gross said a fourth home, this one in St. Paul, was being raided Saturday afternoon. Two people were outside the home in handcuffs while police awaited a search warrant, she said. St. Paul police spokesman Tom Walsh said a search warrant was being executed but could not confirm whether anyone had been arrested.
Meanwhile, I don't even see this story on the home page of Daily Kos. Boing Boing, which normally covers such things, and did so regarding Tibet protests in Beijing, is ignoring this and giving us crap like moon-cake USB sticks. Shameful.
It's not only the Twin Cities where the police are out of control. Check out this video and story of an ABC reporter in Denver being shoved and arrested by a uniformed, cigar-smoking cop.
Police in Denver arrested an ABC News producer today as he and a camera crew were attempting to take pictures on a public sidewalk of Democratic senators and VIP donors leaving a private meeting at the Brown Palace Hotel.
OK, I'm done. Enjoy your election, people. This is disgusting, and I hear nothing from any of our elected officials. They like things this way. Keeps everything tidy.
