InfoWars!

Just three random videos I've came across recently on InfoWars revealing yet more atrocities perpetrated by police officers throughout America.

We are the land of the free only if you consider being under constant surveillance with a never ending fear of arrest for every day activities freedom.

We are the home of the brave only if you consider 'roided out police officers wearing body armor and carrying tasers, pepper spray and guns to protect themselves against the citizens truly brave members of society.  

But that is just a slight rant... check these videos out.

Land of the Slaves Home of the Police State.

Beating on the Disabled

Every single day a police officer somewhere not only ruins someones day but completely destroys their ability to enjoy the people, places and things that they used to find pleasure in.  Todays harrowing experience went down between a San Diego Sheriff and a man with Down Syndrome.  After being pepper sprayed and beaten outside of his families bakery for the heinous crime of taking a walk at the wrong time he can no longer visit the bakery without being reminded of this event.  The CNN article is edited down for the highlights down below:

His eyes stinging with pepper spray, a developmentally disabled 21-year-old man was hit and forced to the ground before being taken into custody by California sheriff's deputies in an incident that left his family Thursday demanding justice.

His father is considering suing the department and the city of Vista, California, the young man's sister, Jessica Martinez, said.

"But really, all we want is for the sheriff's deputy who did this to my brother to get fired," Jessica Martinez, 20, said. "That's all we want. We want justice."

I could not agree anymore, these people are not looking to make a quick buck out of this tragedy they truly want justice to be served.  Police officers should not be allowed to get away with this, a slap on the wrist is not enough.  A paid suspension might as well be a vacation, a reward for doing wrong.  This officer obviously does not deserve to be wearing a badge.

Martinez is well-known around the Vista neighborhood, where he lives and his family has a bakery, his sister said. He was out walking between his home and the bakery when the deputy called out to him, at which point neighborhood men explained that the young man had Down Syndrome and wasn't doing anything wrong, according to Jessica Martinez.

The deputy didn't back off. Instead, while trying "to gain compliance and prevent a possible escape," he used pepper spray on Antonio Martinez, said Caldwell from the Sheriff's Department.

The deputy began using a baton as an agitated crowd approached, the spokeswoman added. The deputy hit Antonio Martinez with it, forcing him to the ground, then levied "a couple more strikes to get his hands free," Sheriff's Department Capt. Joe Rodi told CNN affiliate KGTV.

So even with neighbors explaining this mans situation the officer could not care less.  He suspects this guy of something wrong so any amount of force is allowed.  Even though Antonio DID NOTHING WRONG!  So now with the amount of force used against him we may as well be condemning him to guilt before being proven so.  Antonio's Sister had this to add to the story as well:

"I heard my brother screaming mine and my sister's name," she said. "He was screaming for help.

"My brother wasn't fighting. He was crying and screaming. He was scared."

"When I asked my brother if he was sad, Antonio told me his heart hurt," his sister said. "He's just really sad right now, and he doesn't want to go to the bakery any more."

What a big man this police officer must feel like bringing a man with Down Syndrome to tears, arresting him and holding him against his will until late into the night.  Read the entire article to get the full details.  As for my humble opinion, fire this sheriff today!

Disarm the Police!

Yesterday a man opened fire in a Portland Oregon mall killing two and injuring one.  He yelled out that he was "the shooter", then proceeded to open fire for a few moments before killing himself.  Bringing back fresh memories of the Aurora Colorado shooting this is just another step in the march towards TSA agents searching you before you enter any public location.  You want to go to a football game, or the mall, the movies, or a city park, sooner than later you're going to have to walk through a metal detector, backscatter x-ray machine or a good old fashion pat down just to enter.

Whether these recent shootings are legitimate mental breakdowns or instigated fear tactics orchestrated by the federal government is up for debate.  What is also becoming a large part of our public conversation is whether citizens should be allowed to own weapons at all.   I want to know why the the conversation about whether police officers are allowed to carry guns is never brought up in this country?

The majority of officers doing their routine beat will never fire their gun, they are dealing with domestic disputes, disorderly conduct, shoplifting, and a whole gauntlet of situations where having a gun makes everyone involved less safe.  When dealing with a handicapped schizophrenic man in a wheelchair does a gun ever have to come in to play, when chasing down a shoplifter is pulling a weapon really necessary and when subjugating someone to a side of the road DWI test must your hand be readied on your weapon, just in case?

In my humble opinion the only officers allowed to carry weapons should be SWAT and officers who routinely deal with gang related violence.  If you are an officer walking down main street surrounded by children and merchants, there is absolutely no reason to be carrying a weapon.  You are there to keep the peace not disturb it with gunfire.  The video above is a perfect example of why cops, on and off duty, should not carry weapons.

Disarm the Police!

Black Friday

"They took me out and they arrested me for nothing in my opinion"

The day after Thanksgiving has become the most absurd example of American consumerism while completely depicting our quick and utter descent in to decadence and an absolute removal of moral value's along with consideration for our neighbors.  It is the grossest aspects of our society getting together to save $30 on a TV at 5 in the morning.  Me personally, I'd rather spend an extra $30 as to not be in Walmart at 5AM.  Those who do decide to take part in such a pathetic attempt to save a couple bucks get what they deserve when stampeding crowds crush them to the ground and single mothers punch them in the face for the last Tickle Me Elmo on the shelves.

With that said a story coming out of a Florida Walmart early this morning concerning a woman arrested for trying to cut the check out line was almost to absurd for me to comment on.  The more I thought about it though the more it became apparent that this ladies situation was at least worth mentioning.  According to the story this Black Friday shopper was attempting to cut the line, when two police officers told her to back up.  She did not listen, became unruly and ended up being tackled to the ground and handcuffed.  According to the Huffington Post, Samantha Chavez had this to say of the situation.

Though police say she was trying to cut the lines, Chavez told Central Florida News 13 that she was just trying to find her sister-in-law in the crowded store.

"I came back and the lines kind of moved and I couldn’t find her. Her cellphone wasn’t working, the battery had died. This cop’s in front of me and he’s like 'no you can’t go, you need to go the other way,'” Chavez told Central Florida News 13. “I’m like 'I’m just looking for my sister' and he’s like ‘no you have to go that way’ I’m like ‘but she’s here, I need to find her.’”

I'm not sure why she was tackled, or who is telling the truth here, all I know is that the police should have much better things to do then make sure people aren't cutting lines at Walmart.  Seriously, two officers to subdue one small woman for cutting a line?!  Pathetic.  Should school children be concerned that next time they cut the lunch line a security guard is going to take them to the ground and bring them in to the principals office?  

Then there's this story about a man in Texas who also had an issue with a line cutter.  In this case the customer pulled his gun on another man trying to cut the line.  The guy with the gun was not charged with anything as the police claim he was well within his rights.... WHAT?!  According to MySanAntonio.com:

Roger Rivera, who was shopping in the Sears, said Salame was punched then pulled a gun. Everyone scattered, "tumbling over things, dropping boxes," Rivera said. The man who was trying to cut in line ran and hid behind a refrigerator before he fled the store. "It kind of went a little crazy in there," Carey said.

Meanwhile the masses who overrun store security and staff are not only allowed, but encouraged to maul each other over discounted cell phones with absolutely no repercussions.   

While the extreme violence erupts inside the stores, outside of a California Walmart the LA Times reports that nearly a dozen peaceful protesters were arrested, they refused to take part in the insanity that is Black Friday and wanted to show their support for workers rights.  They weren't there to spend money so just throw them in jail for the day.  The American Way!

Just Another Day...

Just another day in America as a police officer is allowed to shoot a taser at a ten year old boy who refused to clean the officers patrol car and gets three days suspension...

In even deadlier news which occurred in Arkansas a police duo shoot and kill a guy whose only weapon was a pool cue and whose crime was breaking a window...

Meanwhile police all over the country are ready and willing to break in to your home in order to murder you, steal your possession or attack your children.

Cannibal Cop

UPDATE 3/9:

This story speaks for itself, it is very telling just how psychotic a NYPD Police Officer can be without any alarms going off in his psyche evaluation or in one of the other supposedly well trained, highly perceptive officers on the force, here are a bunch of the highlights in the story posted to Fox News earlier in the week.

A New York City police officer plotted to kidnap, cook and eat women, using a crime victim database and possibly an online dating forum to choose potential victims and discussing his twisted scheme in grisly detail online, local and federal law enforcement authorities said.

The six year vet of the force had these exact words to describe his plot:

“to kidnap, rape, torture, kill, cook and cannibalize a number of women.”

 US Attorney Preet Bhara had this obvious deduction to add to the case:

"This case is all the more disturbing when you consider Valle’s position as a New York City police officer and his sworn duty to serve and protect."

And according to further details found on the cannibal cops computer:

In a conversation from July 9 of this year, Valle is asked by an unknown co-conspirator, “How big is your oven?”

Valle allegedly responded: “Big enough to fit one of these girl[s] if I folded their legs…the abduction will have to be flawless…I know all of them.

“I can just show up at [one prospective victim's] home unannounced, it will not alert her, and I can knock her out, wait until dark and kidnap her right out of her home,” he also said before boasting that he could make his own chloroform.”

“I was thinking of tying her body onto some kind of apparatus…cook her over a low heat, keep her alive as long as possible,” he allegedly wrote.

Who was finally responsible for discovering this nefarious plot, believe it or not, his wife!  This maniac had a wife who left him after she found "weird stuff" on his computer and reported it to police.

On Valle's OK Cupid profile he had this to say of himself:

Valle lists his favorite book as “Green Eggs and Ham,” and says he enjoys Italian, Mexican, Chinese and Japanese food, adding, “I'll try anything and am not picky at all.”

You just can't make this stuff up.

One NYPD cop found to be plotting cannibal escapades, I'd bet money he's not the only police officer in New York, or America that has frightening inner thoughts about what he'd like to do to criminals and innocent people alike.

One becomes a cop to subvert others will and enact their own fantasies of grandeur.  Police officers should be watched the closest, yet they are the ones we allow to watch us.  If a guy like this can get in to the most powerful police force on the planet, what does that say about the recruiting process?

Oh yeah and one last thing, this guy wanted to eat women and he wasn't even high on bath salts, wait a second, sober people can be crazy too?!  No way!  We should create laws against being sober, it makes people think about the most insane things!

The General Public's Perception of LSD

Lysergic acid diethylamide or LSD is a mystery to the common person walking down the street.  Acid as it has become known over the decades creates a unique and thought provoking experience for the user.  At times it can also create quite a harrowing and completely unexpected psychological response.  If you've never done acid there is literally no way to have someone who has tried it explain the experience to you.  The words "hallucination" and "trip" or someone claiming they saw faces and color waves do not do the entirety of the experience any justice what so ever.

Watching movies and reading books in which the character "drops" acid can only allow the slightest of glimpses in to the actuality of a trip.

In the cultural consensus on hallucinogenic drug use most would assume that the hay days were the late 60's.  That the summer of love was the peak of LSD use in America and around the world.  I would argue that people who believe this are romanticizing an era beyond it's actual scope.  I believe there are more people using LSD today than ever before.  The reason the late 60's will be linked to acid use for the rest of eternity is that this was the period that usage sky rocketed and society became aware of it.  Similar to the way people think the crack epidemic ended in the 80's when in reality it is worse than ever.

Thousands upon thousands of people experience counter culture in one way or another, whether they're going to Coachella or Bonnaroo, visiting a "hippie commune", surfing Erowid and Basement Shaman, living more or less on any college campus in America, trekking to Burning Man, spending a week in the woods with the Rainbow Gathering, or just happen to have a friend who has journeyed to the furthest realms of their mind and wants to share the experience.  Tons of people are trying acid for the first time each and every year.

The conservative folks who refuse to do anything outside of the box and think that those who do are degenerate wastes of life will fight to the bitter end to create the illusion that taking LSD makes you crazy and  causes delusions.  We all remember the Miami cannibal story from a few months ago, the guy who ate someones face on the side of the road.  All of the initial news stories have him high on LSD, then Cocaine, then Bath Salts.  Guess what, when the drug analyses came in, the guy was completely sober!  You'll never hear that in the news though, "Sober guy eat's someones face".

A headline like that is to scary, it says that anyone can commit this horrible crime, the news would rather you believe that only someone tripping out would do something that insane.  In reality someone tripping out is probably the last person in the world who would stoop to devouring human flesh.  The thought alone is enough to send someone on acid in to a massive internal debate.  Someone on acid is very unlikely to be so "high" that they are unaware of their actions.  As a matter of fact normally they are highly aware of every thought and action that is going on in their nervous system.

This brings me to the reason LSD is in the news the past few days.  A college student who had just left a music festival in Mobile Alabama after consuming LSD showed up back to campus, stripped down, pounded on the campus police headquarters door, and was then promptly shot and killed.  The student was naked, had his arms out stretched revealing that there was nothing in his hands and walking towards the police officer.  Without taking any other precautionary steps , such as, oh I don't know, tackling the student, taking a few steps back, or pretty much any assortment of physical actions that could have subdued him, the officer opened fire and killed him on the spot.

The news will portray this as a crazed student pursuing a officer whose only option was to kill him or be killed.  This 18 year old might have eaten the officers face off if given a chance, so getting any closer to him to subdue him was out of the question.  Not to mention the officer most likely did not want to touch a naked boy, that's pretty gay right?  So. shoot him, that's a viable option.

I pray and wish and hope that this officer gets life in prison.  This is manslaughter, not self defense!  It's one thing if this were happening in a dark alley where the assailants identity was completely unknown, but now we're going to allow campus police to gun down the youth of America?  I hate to speculate but I'd bet money that this student had also consumed a ton of alcohol, which in my opinion was actually the determining factor behind his actions.  The LSD didn't make him walk around naked, it was the fact that he was drunk as all get out and had very lose inhibitions as well as a unstable state of mind to begin with that brought him to the front of a campus police station naked.

So every time a frat party goes south and there's a half naked pledge stumbling towards an officer the first thing they're taught to do is open fire?  I truly hope not.

In somewhat related news another fellow tripper was stun to death in Australia this week as FOUR officers attack him with their tasers at once and stopped his heart.

But the guy was high on LSD so this was obviously their only option.

Fox News

Washington Post

PoliceOne

Chalk Vandalism?!

This story is nearly two weeks old now, but I wanted to touch on it.  A woman in Napa Valley California was arrested on September 15th for writing with chalk on the side walk.  Initially when she was approached by an officer she was told it was okay, but moments later that same officer came back to gather the woman's identification.  When the woman who was later identified as Amy Larson refused to give any information she was immediately arrested.

Amy was charged with  felony vandalism and $10,000 bail was set, due to her clean record they dropped the bail though and released her.  That was after keeping her behind bars for four days though.  Amy believes that the real treason she was arrested had little to do with her 9/11 Truth and YouTube WTC 7 slogans she chalked though and more to do with her not telling the officer her name, address and birthday.  IE. Amy got arrested for not "showing her papers"

Yesterday amazing news came out of a Napa court room, Amy Larson's case has been dismissed.  A level headed and rational judge finally decided that using chalk on a sidewalk should not be a felony case.  THANK GOODNESS!  However this doesn't change the fact that a police officer felt they had the right to detain an innocent woman for four days.  A woman whose only crime was trying to spread the truth in a medium that washes away in the rain.

If you want to find out more check out the original Patch article detailing the arrest as well as yesterdays follow up informing the public about the dismissal.

This is not the first time in recent memory that citizens have been arrested for using chalk.  What is this country coming to that police officers are wasting their time and tax payers dollars arresting people writing in chalk?!  This obviously has little to do with vandalism and more to do with the content of the message being written.  The powers that be want us to know if we write anything to do with an investigation in to 9/11, The Occupation of Wall St, or similar questions of the status quo on the side walk we will be arrested.

Houston Police Kill Double Amputee

You would think that those who are called in to the line of duty as a police officer would have a high tolerance for fear and a steady hand when it comes to dealing with possibly dangerous situations.  This assumption comes from the fact that those who decide to become an officer of the law know that they are putting their lives on the line when dealing with what could be a lethal situation any given day.

A police officer who is dealing with such a situation should choose to use their weapon only if there is absolutely no other choice, and if they do go ahead and shoot someone who ends up being less lethal than perceived in the moment, that police officer should be put in jail.

Today, Sunday September 23rd a Houston Police Officer shot and killed a man with one arm and one leg.  The double amputee was in a wheel chair and living in a home for the mentally ill as he suffered from schizophrenia.  CNN explained the situation as follows:

A Houston police officer fatally shot in the head a schizophrenic, wheelchair-bound double amputee threatening people with a pen at a group home for the mentally ill after authorities said the man advanced on the officer's partner, police said.

"The officers made verbal commands for the suspect to drop whatever he had in his hand, to stay still and to speak with the officers, but the suspect continued to make threats," 

Officer Matt Marin, "in fear of the safety of his partner and the safety of himself, discharges his duty weapon, striking the suspect," 

The unnamed Houston police spokesperson said later Sunday that Marin himself was not cornered, unlike his partner, when he shot the wheelchair-bound man in the head. 

"This was an incident that didn't have to take place if the individual -- a police officer -- had been trained in dealing with emotionally disturbed individuals."

... So instead of grabbing this guys wheel chair and wheeling him away, an officer decided the best course of action was to shoot him in the head.  I can understand that the officer may not have known it was a pen at first, he thought it was a knife obviously, but this wheel chair bound amputee had no ability to lunge at anyone and was obviously paranoid and scared.

This is beyond disgusting and completely unacceptable behavior.  Why are police officers allowed to murder people?  Why do they get away with things like this with a simple slap on the wrist and a few days paid leave?  What in the world is wrong with our society that we condemn innocent dark skinned people to death row when the evidence is barely there to convict them, but when a police officer murders someone in public they are just doing their job?!

Police officers need to be held responsible for their actions.  Officer Matt Marin should be sentenced to death!  Justice with mercy my ass.

Wells Fargo B & E

This is one of the saddest stories I've ever read.  Wells Fargo hired a crew to break in to an elderly couples home, steal all of their stuff and destroy it.  The nefarious bank was under the impression that they owned a mortgage on the house, which in fact they did not!  The owners of the home had literally built it with their own two hands.  Now after raising three generations of their family in their dessert home every single item they have ever owned was taken and destroyed in a matter of hours.  A CBS affiliate in LA had this to say about the situation:

A crew broke into Alvin and Pat Tjosaas’ desert home and took everything after being directed by Wells Fargo to secure the structure.

The couple, however, didn’t have a mortgage on the home.

Alvin said the deputy sheriff said, “Good news, we know who took (your possessions)…Wells Fargo. Bad news, your stuff is all gone.”

The couple seem pretty forgiving about this situation being quoted as saying:

“When you put your heart into something…it makes me real sad. I’m just glad I have my sweetheart. We’ve been together a long time,”

This make's him real sad, if a bank came in and stole every worldly possession of mine that I had accumulated over decades I would be furious, there would be no end to the obscenities and threats coming out of my mouth.What does the bank have to say for themselves?

“We are deeply sorry for the very personal losses the Tjosaas family suffered as a result of their home being mistakenly secured,” said Alfredo Padilla. “We are moving quickly to reach out to the family to resolve this unfortunate situation in an attempt to right this wrong.”

Whether the victims of this crime get paid some large sum doesn't change the fact that there were almost certainly irreplaceable relics of their children's past as well as unique keepsake that the couple had acquired over years of being together.  Stuff that money cannot buy.  So what I want to know is, who is going to jail for this?   

If I were to break in to someones home to take all their stuff and then got caught I would be arrested on the spot.  Yet an entire crew worth of people went in to this home illegally and a banker sent the word to the crew to go on this heist.  Sounds to me like a kingpin and his cronies just admitted to their crimes.  So when are they going to be arrested?

As mad as I am I had to do a bit more research on this subject and it ends up that the home was actually Alvin Tjosaas' parents home, who he was the caretaker of.  It still had tons of Alvins tools, his fathers WWI uniform, an American flag and appliances that were all taken.  Then to add insult to injury, when they came back to check on it a few days later another crew hired by Well Fargo had made the same mistake and cleared out the remainder of the house.

I can't take it anymore I am fuming over this story, go to ABC to find out more.

LAPD VS Unarmed Women

I stared this blog nearly four months ago after reading about a Dekalb County police officer who kicked a pregnant woman in the stomach.

Last month while my girlfriend and I were driving from Virginia to Texas we passed through Dekalb County Georgia.  The only reason I even realized it was because I saw a police speed trap on the side of the road.  When I saw Dekalb County proudly emblazoned on the side of the car it was almost like seeing a celebrity, a member of the police department who inspired me to start this blog.

On the entire other side of the country though, the LAPD has spent the past few days putting Dekalb County's Dickhead Cops to shame.  I normally paraphrase and quote the articles I find, but in this case I think it is more appropriate that I just copy and paste the entire blog from Boing Boing that popped up in my Google Reader this afternoon:

A drug-addicted woman who dropped off her two children at a police station because she recognized that she was unable to care for them was tracked down by LAPD officers who reportedly told her to "get your fat ass in the car," threatened to stomp her genitals, then followed through on that threat.

35-year-old Alesia Thomas is reported to have been "combative." After being stomped in the groin, she suffocated while being taken into custody, and died.

Why do we know about this, and why are five LAPD officers now under internal and criminal investigation in her death? The altercation in front of her apartment was captured by a patrol car's video camera.

This news comes in the same week that Los Angeles Police chief Charlie Beck vowed an investigation into another video that shows two LAPD officers body-slam another woman, a 5'4" tall mother and nurse targeted for using her cell phone while driving.

Michelle Jordan, 34, pulled over into a Del Taco parking lot after being flagged down by police. She then got out of her car. Surveillance video from the Del Taco camera shows that two male police officers slammed her into the ground—twice. Then, they exchange a celebratory fist-bump.

To protect and serve.

Empire State Shooting

By now we've all heard of the shooting that took place in front of the Empire State Building the morning of August 24th.  One victim dead and the gunman shot by two NYPD police officers also dead, with nine wounded and bleeding out on the streets.  A gory scene for sure, but what might not be making the rounds as quickly as the initial news is that ALL nine of those wounded during the shooing were victims of the police officers trigger fingers.

Fox News of all places had this to say about the wounded bystanders:

All nine bystanders caught in the crossfire of a shooting outside New York City's iconic Empire State Building were wounded by two police officers who had never fired their weapons on duty, authorities confirmed Saturday.

While the shooter did turn around abruptly and aim his gun at the officers giving them every right to open fire, you'd think there would be more consequences against the NYPD and the two officers in general for injuring nine innocent civilians.  Further testing after the gruesome morning events proved that:

"it appears that all nine of the victims were struck either by fragments or by bullets fired by police,"

Thank goodness none of the injuries are life threatening, however this doesn't take away from the fact that these nine people who were walking down the street on what seemed to be any given morning were abruptly hospitalized due to shoddy police work.  Unsurprising to absolutely no one Commisioner Ray Kelly applauds the work of his officers, being quoted as saying the officers had:

"a gun right in their face" and "responded quickly, and they responded appropriately."

As well as:

"These officers, having looked at the tape myself, had absolutely no choice,"

Once again as proven time and time again, if you're wearing a badge it is legal to shoot and maim just about anyone for any reason.  If you don't have that badge though expect to be murdered in cold blood for all to see.  Instilling that fear in the populace so we all know, don't mess with the police!

As always this blog is skewed towards putting a negative spin on police actions.  I was not there and have read the same news as many other people around the nation have.  I am sure that these officers did what it took to protect their lives and in the moment what they thought they needed to do to protect bystanders.

It is just very sad that those bystanders ended up being the victims of sixteen rounds shot at a perpetrator in an extremely robust section of New York City.

Burlington Riot Police VS New England Hippies

There is power in our voices, 

There is power in the land, 

Saying yes to the earth 

We say no to tar sand.

In 1968 during the Democratic National Convention police officers in Chicago took unprecedented actions against protesters.  The video footage of violent responses from authority figures against non violent protesters stirred a generation in to action.  In 2012 it seems like every other afternoon we see more and more footage of violent responses from police officers against non violent protesters.  Instead of learning a lesson from 40 years ago we've descended in to a depth of depravity regarding the use of pepper spray, rubber bullets and flash grenades that the flower children from a generation past could have never even fathomed in their worse nightmares.

The last place one would imagine to see police officers dressed like soldiers would be a small ski resort town like Burlington VT.  Sadly this weekend officers dressed ready to fight against the Taliban aimed and shot guns at protesters wearing, to put it kindly, very little.  A woman wearing literally a bikini top and skirt was on the front line staring down the barrel of riot police in bullet proof vests carrying shields, baton and guns.  Is this really necessary?!

According to The Burlington Free Press:

Burlington police in riot gear shot a number of protesters with rubber bullets and pepper-sprayed and hit others as a large, peaceful demonstration turned violent and ugly Sunday afternoon. 

They go on to say:

Demonstrators said police in riot gear, about 25 of them, cleared the driveway forcefully, pushing people into the street. At least two individuals were shot with rubber bullets, and at least two others were sprayed with pepper spray.

“The demonstrators blocked big gigantic buses,” said Bea Bookchin of Burlington, who had attended the earlier demonstration. “so the police slowly pressed against the people. The police moved forward with their shields against people.”

When questioned by a reporter one protester had this to say:

Did the police overreact? 

“Absolutely,”Tokar said. “Their only concern was to get the bus out as quickly as possible, no matter what the consequences.”

The initial tipping point in instigating the violence was, as it so many times seems to be, a complete misunderstanding:

“One policeman tripped,” over a dropped banner, Fernandez said, “and that’s when they began firing. They pepper-sprayed a man who was just standing there. It was a gross overuse of violence,” he said. “It was completely unnecessary.” 

Another protester pondered why the police are so willing to attack their fellow citizens with such little provocation: 

“I want to know why they’re willing to inflict pain,” he continued. “Misunderstanding is met with aggression. It doesn’t make sense. Today we were trying to open up a conversation,” he said. “This is Vermont. We’ve been shut out.”

“The world is messed up, and historically the only thing that has changed things is when people organize,”

Recording the Actions of Police

Any time there is a protest, a violent crime or even just a couple cops on the street harassing a citizen chances are there will be dozens of people within shouting distance with a camera right in their pocket.  In the case of a protest the massive demonstrations almost demand to be captured on film, a violent crime can many times draw out the more depraved individuals who would like to share their disturbing video online and when a police officer is harassing someone unjustly it is not only our right, but our duty to record them and report them to their superiors.

Sadly many MANY individuals have been arrested, beaten, and had their equipment broken or stolen while filming any given police officer.  Washington D.C. Police Chief Cathy Lanier came out July 24th to reiterate the fact that U.S. citizens have every right to film on duty police officers.  Ars Technica reports that:

"A bystander has the same right to take photographs or make recordings as a member of the media," Chief Lanier writes. The First Amendment protects the right to record the activities of police officers, not only in public places such as parks and sidewalks, but also in "an individual’s home or business, common areas of public and private facilities and buildings, and any other public or private facility at which the individual has a legal right to be present."

Lanier says that if an officer sees an individual recording his or her actions, the officer may not use that as a basis to ask the citizen for ID, demand an explanation for the recording, deliberately obstruct the camera, or arrest the citizen. And she stresses that under no circumstances should the citizen be asked to stop recording. 

That applies even in cases where the citizen is recording "from a position that impedes or interferes with the safety of members or their ability to perform their duties." In that situation, she says, the officer may ask the person to move out of the way, but the officer "shall not order the person to stop photographing or recording." 

She also notes that "a person has the right to express criticism of the police activity being
observed.

There is NO reason a cop should take your camera from you unless you specifically allow them to.  

"Consent to take possession of a recording device or medium must be given voluntarily," 

Even if there is deemed to be evidence or contraband inside the camera a superior officer needs to be called in order to circumvent the necessary warrant normally needed to take someones personal possession.  If they do have probable cause to review the contents of your camera:

"photographs or recordings that have been seized as evidence and are not directly related to the exigent purpose shall not be reviewed"

If for any reason the police confiscate your camera they are NOT allowed to delete anything from it.  Chances are what they are attempting to delete is evidence that they were conducting their job inproperly or breaking the law themselves.  The article goes on to say that officers:

"shall not, under any circumstances, erase or delete, or instruct or require any other person to erase or delete, any recorded images or sounds from any camera or other recording device. [Officers] shall maintain cameras and other recording devices that are in Department custody so that they can be returned to the owner intact with all images or recordings undisturbed."

Of course this is all great that the Police Chief announced all of this, so what happens the very next day according to Pixiq:

an undercover cop snatched a cell phone from a man who was recording an investigation in public.

When they finally returned the phone back to Earl Staley later that day, he said his memory card was missing.

Apologist for the police claim that the officer in question may not have known about the "new" rules handed down by the chief.  When in reality these are not new rules at all just her REITERATING the existing laws for ignorant and uneducated police officers who don't care to actually know the laws of their land.  As always this does not reflect on ALL cops, there are many MANY great police officers out there doing their job properly and upholding the laws to the tee.

It's the Steroid Headed Macho Man Dumb Asses who think they can do whatever they want to a U.S. citizen that puts all of their peers in a negative light.  Sadly when things like this happen the officer in question rarely if ever gets even a warning.  The police are allowed to break as many laws as they want in order to make sure no one else even thinks about bending them.  What a truly sad state of affairs we find ourselves in.

Anaheim Police Shooting

"Is Anaheim police really protecting our communities? They're not protecting our communities. They're killing our kids"

 "no justice, no peace" "cops, pigs, murderers"

"The whole system is guilty" "Am I next?"

Facts are still pouring in on this story, but here are the basics according to ABC News as I understand them thus far:

Police were pursuing three suspects into an alley in Anaheim at about 4 p.m. Saturday when they chased 25-year-old Manuel Angel Diaz. The man was confronted by an officer at the front of an apartment complex, where he was shot. Diaz later died in the hospital, while the two other suspects managed to evade the police.

The local community is not happy about how this situation went down.  The fact that the victim was a potential gang member and heroin dealer doesn't deter them from wanting answers as to why this man was shot.  The story goes on to say:

Hours after the shooting, area residents took to the streets, setting a dumpster on fire and tossing rocks and bottles at police officers who were investigating the shooting. As officers attempted to diffuse the unrest, they fired rubber bullets and doused the crowd with pepper spray.

Further instigation of the massive outcry came when:

In the midst of the melee, police released a K-9 dog into the crowd. Video of the scene shows the dog charging at the crowd, which included a woman with a child, before it attacked a man by biting his arm.

The Associated Press reveals more information when they reported:

In the largely Hispanic, working-class neighborhood where 25-year-old Manuel Diaz was killed Saturday afternoon, residents left candles, flowers and posters blasting police and questioned why officers would shoot a man they said was a gang member but didn't have a gun or appear to be committing a crime.

They also added to the story comments from an eye witness:

"He was laying there, dead," Gallardo said, adding that he saw bullet marks in his friend's lower back and neck. "They were searching him — I was like, why are you searching him? He's dead right there."

On Tuesday the protests intensified and according to Christian Science Monitor:

Protesters broke windows of least a half-dozen storefronts in Anaheim on Tuesday and five people were arrested in the second major clash between police and demonstrators since an officer shot dead an apparently unarmed man.

"This is not quite 'The Happiest Place on Earth,' and now the world knows it,"

"If I wore baggy clothes and had a shaved head, would they shoot me, too?"

Backscatter X-Ray Vans

A company called American Science and Engineering is in the news for the recent revelation that they have sold over 500 backscatter x-ray scanners mounted in unmarked vans, the same ones being routinely used in airport security that can see through clothing.  These unidentifiable vans will be and certainly already are roaming American streets and indiscriminately viewing the insides of every vehicle they pass.  Forbes explained the current reach of this invasive technology as such:

“This product is now the largest selling cargo and vehicle inspection system ever”

They also go on to explain the finer details of operations:

The Z Backscatter Vans, or ZBVs, as the company calls them, bounce a narrow stream of x-rays off and through nearby objects, and read which ones come back. Absorbed rays indicate dense material such as steel. Scattered rays indicate less-dense objects that can include explosives, drugs, or human bodies. That capability makes them powerful tools for security, law enforcement, and border control.

Appropriately enough Joe Reiss, president of the company that manufactures the x-ray scanners is so tied up in the money he is making and the promotion of how well his product works that he is incapable of understanding what exactly the word privacy even means.

“From a privacy standpoint, I’m hard-pressed to see what the concern or objection could be,”

Yes it is hard to see what concerns people might have over strangers searching their belongings with an x-ray scanner.  Sounds perfectly normal and acceptable to us all.  As long as there are some strong safeguards and legal framework to keep citizens safe from entrapment and warrant-less searches.  Sadly, American citizens don't have rights anymore, we're all just chattel awaiting our next strip search as the final nail is driven in to the coffin of our privacy:

Just what sort of safeguards might be in place for AS&E’s scanning vans isn’t clear, given that the company won’t reveal just which law enforcement agencies, organizations within the DHS, or foreign governments have purchased the equipment. 

Unmanned Aerial Vehicles

The military has been perfecting the use of Unmanned Aerial Vehicles, or drones, for years now, sending them overseas to eliminate enemy combatants in Pakistan, underage US citizens in Yemen, and Al Queda wherever they're found hiding.  Some new recruit fresh from his X-Box tournaments in high school mans a drone from somewhere in Virginia that is killing a complete stranger, a blip on a screen, on the other side of the planet.  Now these drones are trying to find their way in to domestic airspace as well.  If new policy is put in to place soon *more* police departments and even private agencies will be flying drones over our towns and cities to keep an eye on things and report any fishy happenings back to the proper authorities.

CBS News explains the situations as such:  

The revised Air Force report is a continuation of a policy already a few years old, but is causing more alarm now as drones appear poised to soon become a ubiquitous presence in U.S. skies thanks to a federal policy to promote their use, first by law enforcement agencies, and then by commercial concerns.

What has critics alarmed is that data collected by drones accidentally, under the guidelines, can be kept by the military up to three months before being purged and can also be turned over to “another Department of Defense or government agency to whose function it pertains.”

So keep a eye on the sky, because soon it'll be keeping an eye on you for sure.