Displaying 961 To 990 Of 10,917 Comments OWS Episode V: The U.S. Empire Strikes Back “Open Letter to Chancellor Linda P.B. Katehi” I am a junior faculty member at UC Davis. I am an Assistant Professor in the Department of English, and I teach in the Program in Critical Theory and in Science & Technology Studies. I have a strong record of research, teaching, and service. I am currently a Board Member of the Davis Faculty Association. I have also taken an active role in supporting the student movement to defend public education on our campus and throughout the UC system. In a word: I am the sort of young faculty member, like many of my colleagues, this campus needs. I am an asset to the University of California at Davis. You are not. […] What happened next? Police used batons to try to push the students apart. Those they could separate, they arrested, kneeling on their bodies and pushing their heads into the ground. Those they could not separate, they pepper-sprayed directly in the face, holding these students as they did so. When students covered their eyes with their clothing, police forced open their mouths and pepper-sprayed down their throats. Several of these students were hospitalized. Others are seriously injured. One of them, forty-five minutes after being pepper-sprayed down his throat, was still coughing up blood. This is what happened. You are responsible for it. http://bicyclebarricade.wordpress.com/2011/11/19/open-letter-to-chancellor-linda-p-b-katehi/ » Posted By Chernynkaya On November 19, 2011 @ 10:33 am In this 2nd video, look at expression on Lt. Pike’s face around 2:07, as he’s shaking pepper spray can. » Posted By Chernynkaya On November 19, 2011 @ 10:28 am [img]http://boingboing.net/wp-content/uploads/2011/11/OccupyUCD3.jpg[/img] » Posted By Chernynkaya On November 19, 2011 @ 10:27 am San Francisco Examiner It’s almost farcical for law enforcement officials to continue defending pepper spray as a weapon to get protesters to follow orders. A videotape of officers applying pepper spray in liquid form to demonstrators’ eyes shows the technique to be a form of torture. Yet, attorneys for the Humboldt County Sheriff and the Eureka Police Department argue in federal court that this use of pepper spray is legitimate and unobjectionable. In court papers filed in a protesters’ suit against the cops, police training expert Joseph J. Callahan Jr. says, implausibly, that the videotape could be used as a training film “illustrating modern police practices delivered in a calm, deliberate manner.” (Remind us not to volunteer as guinea pigs for Mr. Callahan.) The videotape was shot by Humboldt sheriff’s deputies at an Oct. 16 demonstration, against logging in the Headwaters Forest, that took place in the Eureka office of Rep. Frank Riggs, R-Windsor. Four women who had chained themselves together with heavy metal “black bears” got liquid pepper spray rubbed into their eyes with cotton swabs, and one woman who refused even then to move had the pepper mist sprayed into her face. This hurts, as the videotaped reactions make clear. But it broke up the demonstration pronto, and that’s what counted for the law enforcers. “At stake,” attorneys for the cops argue, “is whether professionally trained police officers are to be deprived of the use of pepper spray, a substance carried by millions of private citizens in this country.” But this is really not the issue. Most people don’t object to police using pepper spray the way it’s designed to be used: To subdue a suspect who threatens officers or threatens to flee. Neither occurred in the case of the Eureka protesters. Police shouldn’t use pepper spray, or any other weapon, to dish out punishment to suspects. Just because cops are in a hurry doesn’t make it OK for them to take shortcuts, or inflict pain to get things done. The argument doesn’t wash that no lasting damage was done by the pepper spray. By the same logic, police could use branding irons, sharp knives or psychological abuse on recalcitrant protesters as long as “no lasting damage was done.” Other police legal arguments are similarly shallow. An attorney for the cops said the use of heavy metal sleeves linked with chains that made protesters virtually immovable amounted to “active resistance,” justifying the use of pepper spray. In the past, police used metal grinders to cut through the heavy metal in order to oust demonstrators. That takes longer and is inconvenient, but it doesn’t violate anyone’s civil rights or threaten their physical well-being. No one wants to live in a society where police are free to do whatever they wish in order to punish suspected law breakers. Cruel and unusual punishment is outlawed by the Constitution. And anyway, punishment is up to the courts to determine and the penal system to administer. What cops risk through indiscriminate use of pepper spray, and its indiscriminate defense in court, is losing it altogether. If police are too dense to distinguish between legitimate use and torture, the Legislature should eliminate any confusion and outlaw pepper spray, period. http://digbysblog.blogspot.com/2011/11/yes-of-course-pepper-spray-is-torture.html That holds true for all weapons that can be used for torture. » Posted By Chernynkaya On November 19, 2011 @ 10:24 am “THIRD TIME IS THE CHARM! (The Q-Tip Pepper Spray Eight Saga) San Francisco — An eight-person federal jury has returned a unanimous verdict for the Q-Tip Pepper Spray Eight activists/plaintiffs, finding the County of Humboldt and City of Eureka liable for excessive force in violation of the 4th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution. The excessive force was used by Humboldt County Sheriff’s Deputies and Eureka Police Officers when they applied pepper spray with Q-tips directly to the eyes of the eight nonviolent forest defense protesters in three incidents in 1997. Three of the activists were also sprayed directly in the eyes from inches away. Two of the young women were juveniles. Former Sheriff Dennis Lewis and current Sheriff Gary Philp also were found liable for causing the use of excessive force by setting policies allowing the unprecedented use of pepper spray on the passive demonstrators, who had locked their arms together inside metal pipes.[…] The jury awarded nominal damages of only $1 to each of the plaintiffs, who made it clear all along that they weren’t suing for the money, but to bring about a change of policy, to prevent the future use of pepper spray in Humboldt in the way it was used on them. They hope and expect that the verdict will reverberate far beyond rural Humboldt County to make it clear that police can not use the extremely painful pepper spray on non-violent people to coerce them to follow orders. Lawyer Tony Serra called the verdict a “mixed metaphor.” He said, “The verdict establishes now and forever that pepper spray applied in this fashion in these circumstances is excessive force. That will deter law enforcement officials throughout the country in the use of pepper spay and that’s very good.” But Serra said, “These young people suffered grievous mental anguish and should have been given a substantial amount of money to recompense them.” The defendants may be required to pay the reasonable attorney fees and costs of the plaintiffs, which will no doubt exceed $1 million for litigating the case through three trials and multiple appeals as high as the U.S. Supreme Court. » Posted By Chernynkaya On November 19, 2011 @ 10:22 am A Connection Between JP Morgan’s $4.6M Donation to NYPD and Police Brutality at Occupy Wall Street? Is this what JP Morgan donated 4.6 million dollars to the NYPD for? “Crowd control”? JPMorgan Chase recently donated an unprecedented $4.6 million to the New York City Police Foundation. The gift was the largest in the history of the foundation and will enable the New York City Police Department to strengthen security in the Big Apple. The money will pay for 1,000 new patrol car laptops, as well as security monitoring software in the NYPD’s main data center. » Posted By Chernynkaya On November 19, 2011 @ 10:17 am Em–was that the scoop that Chris Hayes said he would reveal today? That’s quite a story! It really doesn’t surprise me and I bet that lobbyist is not the only one. I bet there are several attempts underway to try to bring down the movement. » Posted By Chernynkaya On November 19, 2011 @ 10:13 am I just checked and there are over 5000 comments. This story can’t be buried! » Posted By Chernynkaya On November 19, 2011 @ 10:10 am The truth comes out: The cop group coordinating the Occupy crackdowns But a little-known but influential private membership based organization has placed itself at the center of advising and coordinating the crackdown on the encampments. The Police Executive Research Forum, an international non-governmental organization with ties to law enforcement and the U.S. Department of Homeland Security, has been coordinating conference calls with major metropolitan mayors and police chiefs to advise them on policing matters and discuss response to the Occupy movement. The group has distributed a recently published guide on policing political events. Speaking to Democracy Now! On November 17, PERF Executive Director Chuck Wexler acknowledged PERF’s coordination of a series of conference-call strategy sessions with big-city police chiefs. These calls were distinct from the widely reported national conference calls of major metropolitan mayors. The coordination of political crackdowns on the Occupy movement has been conducted behind closed doors, with city officials and PERF refusing to say how many cities participated in the conference calls and the exact nature of the discussions. Reports of at least a dozen cities and some indication of as many as 40 accepting PERF advice and/or strategic documents include San Francisco, Seattle, New York, Portland, Oakland, Atlanta, and Washington DC. The San Francisco Police Department and Mayor Ed Lee’s office did not returned the Guardian’s request for comment about the PERF calls by press time. However, Oakland interim Police Chief Howard Jordan was quoted by the Associated Press confirming Oakland and San Francisco police involvement in the strategy sessions. PERF coordinated a November 10 conference call with city police chiefs across the country – and many of these cities undertook crackdowns shortly afterward. […] PERF’s current and former directors read as a who’s who of police chiefs involved in crackdowns on anti-globalization and political convention protesters resulting in thousands of arrests, hundreds of injuries, and millions of dollars paid out in police brutality and wrongful arrest lawsuits. These current and former U.S. police chiefs — along with top ranking police union officials and representatives from Canadian and British police — have been marketing to municipal police forces and politicians their joint experiences as specialists on policing mass demonstrations. Chairing PERF’s board of directors is Philadelphia Police Commissioner and former Washington D.C. Metro Police Chief Charles Ramsey, who was responsible for coordinating the police response to protests against international banking institutions including the World Bank and International Monetary Fund. Those protests, and Ramsey’s response to massive anti-war demonstrations in Washington DC in the lead up the the Iraq War, often resulted in preemptive mass arrest of participants that were later deemed to be unconstitutional. MORE: http://www.sfbg.com/politics/2011/11/18/cop-group-coordinating-occupy-crackdowns » Posted By Chernynkaya On November 19, 2011 @ 1:23 am Petition: Tell UC Davis Chancellor Linda P.B. Katehi to Resign http://www.change.org/petitions/uc-davis-chancellor-linda-pb-katehi-resign » Posted By Chernynkaya On November 19, 2011 @ 12:57 am Bito, seeing your comment on the sidebar, without any context, I thought you were saying, “I’m never going to have any pleasure again.” Whew–glad I read that it was a reply to kes! » Posted By Chernynkaya On November 18, 2011 @ 2:49 pm Another thing is how heartwarming and inspirational that was. It is so positive and these protesters touch me an some essential way. It really is a “cry from the heart of the world”–a primal yearning for justice. The 1% is soulless and can’t begin to understand. For that I actually pity them. How must it feel to be so empty? » Posted By Chernynkaya On November 18, 2011 @ 2:14 pm kes–what a wonderful person! These two things–of many great things–in the interview struck me: I’m 45. The people who worked on this are a diverse range of ages. Some are in their 20s, but not all of us are that young. It’s hard to study what’s happening in the environment and with the global economy and not feel afraid. There is a lot to fear. One of the things we were projecting tonight, it was Max Nova’s idea. “Do not be afraid.” And I think that’s so important. “99% / MIC CHECK! / LOOK AROUND / YOU ARE A PART / OF A GLOBAL UPRISING / WE ARE A CRY / FROM THE HEART / OF THE WORLD / WE ARE UNSTOPPABLE / ANOTHER WORLD IS POSSIBLE / HAPPY BIRTHDAY / #OCCUPY MOVEMENT / OCCUPY WALL STREET / list of cities, states and countries / OCCUPY EARTH / WE ARE WINNING / IT IS THE BEGINNING OF THE BEGINNING / DO NOT BE AFRAID / LOVE.” » Posted By Chernynkaya On November 18, 2011 @ 2:05 pm Just when you thought they couldn’t come up with a more outrageous lie. “They are assassins!” or maybe, “They are homicidal maniacs!” I’m waiting for “They are Mooslims!” » Posted By Chernynkaya On November 18, 2011 @ 1:33 pm Important point, bito. Exactly right–they have had even more defeats than us over the years but they never give up. They plan LONG range and start small, locally. And of course, they have vast fortunes to keep them going. » Posted By Chernynkaya On November 18, 2011 @ 1:24 pm KT–so very true. Let’s say the movement got even a small number of accomplishments. For example–and not necessarily the most urgent-they got the right to demonstrate on public property. That would take legislation from each city to pass. Or a hearing by the SCOTUS. Years. But what about holding Wall St. accountable? If they haven’t already started, it would take the DOJ and the SEC months or years to build cases that would hold up in court against hundreds of individual players. As it stands now, they have won large settlements from GS, BofA and others. Writting better regs? Even Dodd-Franks is on shaky grounds now. Mortgages–already robo signing is being challenged in state and Federal Courts–take year for just that! » Posted By Chernynkaya On November 18, 2011 @ 1:10 pm Em, your comment made me realize I’d forgotten a big new label: “They pose a threat to public health!” » Posted By Chernynkaya On November 18, 2011 @ 1:03 pm Bito, not only as you say– that the 99% movement and unions are fighting for many of the same things, I am tired and a little amused by the parade of labels: Those protesters are just hippies! What next–because there WILL always be a “next”–That they are communists? Terrorists? Gay? Anti-American? Rapists? What will be the next lie about the protesters that the flailing MSM and RW can try to tar them with? » Posted By Chernynkaya On November 18, 2011 @ 10:43 am Ohfergawdssake, Sally. I am too tired to post and will leave with my tail between my legs. SORRY AD! Sheesh. » Posted By Chernynkaya On November 17, 2011 @ 9:59 pm Adtnext, if you get a chance, I’d like your take on this piece I came across about OWS-LV. DO you think it’s accurate? Something feels odd about it, but I have no idea. » Posted By Chernynkaya On November 17, 2011 @ 9:46 pm I can appreciate that Cove. And please don’t mind me; I just go ballistic whenever HP is mentioned. The video was definitely worth posting again–so thanks! » Posted By Chernynkaya On November 17, 2011 @ 9:15 pm I hope so, AdLib. I think that this will wake up many, but not the 20% that are beyond reason. That leaves us a lot to pick up. We have to, but I think as during the Vietnam protests, it will take a while. That’s the downside of the arrests and the success (so-far) or the corporate media. The people we need to join are turned off by conflict. But the next phase will be more fruitful. The conversation has already changed and when things evolve, economic justice will become a louder drumbeat. » Posted By Chernynkaya On November 17, 2011 @ 7:52 pm HAH! I failed on yours though, sorry! » Posted By Chernynkaya On November 17, 2011 @ 7:36 pm Sally, my channeler. I just posted that on the other Occupy thread. I’ll try here too: » Posted By Chernynkaya On November 17, 2011 @ 7:31 pm “Justice, justice thou shalt pursue.” Babylonian Talmud. » Posted By Chernynkaya On November 17, 2011 @ 7:06 pm Wonderful quotes! He was right on each one. The last one gives me pause, however, for our country: Because 100,000 Englishmen simply cannot control 350 million Indians, if those Indians refuse to cooperate. We have too many collaborators in the ranks of the 99%. But maybe, just maybe, they are too small in number to prevent a victory. » Posted By Chernynkaya On November 17, 2011 @ 6:55 pm Thanks, Sabreen. I actually posted that Exminer article before I saw Moore. And only after did I learn that the Examiner is an Anschuz propaganda rag. » Posted By Chernynkaya On November 17, 2011 @ 6:45 pm Police in NY are estimating that there were almost 36,000 people on the streets tonight an hour ago. How’s that working out for ya, Bloomberg? » Posted By Chernynkaya On November 17, 2011 @ 6:34 pm Man, C’Lady– yes! what about those abortion protesters?! Now I’m even madder! I know you and your community will give them hell. Coming from the faith community, it will be important. No, critical! » Posted By Chernynkaya On November 17, 2011 @ 6:31 pm Adlib, parenthetically, I just saw an unconfirmed report that they are cutting off cell phone reception too. IF that is true, God help us–it’s a police state. But let me check and see if it is happening. » Posted By Chernynkaya On November 17, 2011 @ 6:12 pmComments Posted By Chernynkaya
Monday, Nov. 17, 1997 Page A 18
According to PERF’s website, general membership in the group is exclusive to “the executive head of a municipal, county or state-funded agency that provides general police services. The agency must have at least 100 full-time employees, or serve a population of 50,000 or more people.”
They are just unions.
They are just homeless.
They are just jobless.
They are just kids.
They are just druggies.
They don’t know what they want!
They want too many things.
They are disorganized.
They are organized by Obama.
Obama tried to destroy them!
They hate capitalism!
They are divided between elites and poor!
They are violent!
They are lazy.
They are costing the taxpayers!
They will fade away.
http://www.lasvegassun.com/news/2011/nov/17/protesters/
[img]http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=439×2334317[/img]
As you know, I feel it is at the heart of this movement.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Philip_Anschutz
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