Apparently The Constitution IS Just A Goddamned Piece Of Paper - (MUST READ !!!)

[WillyT]

Police arrest reporters as press complains of media blackout at ‘Occupy Wall St.’
By Andrew Jones - RawStory
Tuesday, November 15, 2011

<snip>

“Occupy Wall Street” protesters weren’t the only group who had a difficult morning thanks to NYPD’s actions in Zuccotti Park. A number of reporters complained of a media blackout from covering the morning raid. Police Commissioner Ray Kelly confirmed that several journalists were arrested by authorities.

The Associated Press reported that two of their reporters, writer Karen Matthews and photographer Seth Wenig, were taken into custody. The New York Daily News reported that their reporter Matthew Lysiak was also detained. NPR freelance reporter Julie Walker was arrested but indicated she has been released. A photographer with Agance France Presse, a reporter for The Local East Village, and other journalists were also arrested. Police don’t currently know the exact number of journalists were arrested.

Lindsey Christ, a reporter for local New York One News, said she was getting pushed by police and also wrote, “No media allowed in.” She indicated to The New York Times‘s Brian Stelter, “Those 20 minutes were some of the scariest of my life.” Mother Jones reporter Josh Harkinson reported that cops shoved him while he was taking a picture of a man being stretched into an ambulance.

Democracy Now and The Guardian contributor Ryan Deveraux tweeted, “Police are now pushing the press off the block. They just took the press pass off an NBC news anchor.” The Village Voice reporter Rosie Gray told a police officer, “I’m the press.” The officer replied, “Not tonight.”

<snip>

More: http://www.rawstory.com/rs/2011/11/15/police-arrest-reporters-as-press-complains-of-media-blackout-at-occupy-wall-st/

:mad:

:wtf:

:kick:

[onethatcares]

1. they used to tell me

that these things only happened in communist countries.

[gratuitous]

5. Or to people who didn't "deserve" rights

For the slow coaches, this is right on a continuum with denying those quaint "due process" and "trial by jury" rights because the person we summarily execute (as well as the luckless bystanders who should learn to be more careful about who they're standing by, lest they get hit with a Tomahawk missile) doesn't "deserve" any such consideration because they're really, really bad.

So, who's really, really bad this week? I dislike having to tell more than a few people "I told you so," but I fucking told you so.

[Newest Reality]

2. It is times like these

when the mask our system wears comes off in plain sight.

That's when Micky Mouse comes out, dressed in Fascist Police gear and takes it all off to reveal something hideous and deadly like Giger's Aliens.

There is a monster on the loose and it is really pissed-off.

I ponder how many people can see what's under the facade now.

[RevStPatrick]

12. Kinda like this favorite old quote...

"The illusion of freedom will continue as long as it's profitable to continue the illusion. At the point where the illusion becomes too expensive to maintain, they will just take down the scenery, they will pull back the curtains, they will move the tables and chairs out of the way and you will see the brick wall at the back of the theater."

- Frank Zappa

[WillyT]

13. + 1,000,000,000... What You And Frank Said !!! - EXACTLY !!!

:hi:

:kick:

[bengalherder]

22. What you said reminded me of this:

WH Auden: THE TWO

You are the town and we are the clock.
We are the guardians of the gate in the rock. The Two.
On your left and on your right
In the day and in the night, We are watching you.

Wiser not to ask just what has occurred
To them who disobeyed our word; To those
We were the whirlpool, we were the reef,
We were the formal nightmare, grief And the unlucky rose.

Climb up the crane , learn the sailor's words
When the ships from the islands laden with birds Come in.
Tell your stories of fishing and other men's wives:
The expansive moments of constricted lives In the lighted inn.

But do not imagine we do not know
Nor that what you hide with such care won't show At a glance.
Nothing is done, nothing is said,
But don't make the mistake of believing us dead: I shouldn't dance.

We're afraid in that case you'll have a fall.
We've been watching you over the garden wall For hours.
The sky is darkening like a stain,
Something is going to fall like rain And it won't be flowers.

When the green field comes off like a lid
Revealing what was much better hid: Unpleasant.
And look, behind you without a sound
The woods have come up and are standing round In deadly crescent.

The bolt is sliding in its groove,
Outside the window is the black remov- ers' van.
And now with sudden swift emergence
Come the woman in dark glasses and humpbacked surgeons And the scissors man.

This might happen any day
So be careful what you say Or do.
Be clean, be tidy, oil the lock,
Trim the garden, wind the clock, Remember the Two.

[woo me with science]

23. Those who still believe our own government is not siding against us

are either not paying attention or complicit.

[annabanana]

3. It is a nightmare. . . . n/t

[Rex]

4. Been toilet paper since 2000.

Why? Did something change while I was away?

[redqueen]

6. WTF indeed.

We're now officially in 'then they fight you' territory.

[global1]

7. These Tactics Are Just Opening The Eyes Of More Supporters For The Movement.....

In the long run this will backfire on the facists.

[WillyT]

8. + 1,000,000,000... What You Said !!!

:hi:

:kick:

[WillyT]

9. MORE HERE:

The Disturbing Silencing of the Press in Last Night’s OWS Raid
By: David Dayen - FDL
Tuesday November 15, 2011 2:10 pm

<snip>

I’ve heard legal theories that the city of New York has the right to impose restrictions on the time, place and manner of the exercise of free speech. This will obviously play out in a court of law. I don’t know how anyone can reasonably look at the laws and say that the wholesale shutdown of the press, not only from the ground but from the air, is in any way a legal exercise.

As New York City police cleared the Occupy Wall Street campsite in Zuccotti Park early Tuesday morning, many journalists were blocked from observing and interviewing protesters. Some called it a “media blackout” and said in interviews that they believed that the police efforts were a deliberate attempt to tamp down coverage of the operation <...>

At a news conference after the park was cleared Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg defended the police behavior, saying that the media was kept away “to prevent a situation from getting worse and to protect members of the press.”

Some members of the media said they were shoved by the police. As the police approached the park they did not distinguish between protesters and members of the press, said Lindsey Christ, a reporter for NY1, a local cable news channel. “Those 20 minutes were some of the scariest of my life,” she said. Ms. Christ said that police officers took a New York Post reporter standing near her and “threw him in a choke-hold.”

I’ll go one better than shoves and choke holds. Josh Harkinson of Mother Jones was forcibly dragged out of the ecampment, after sneaking in to witness the proceedings. He was one of the lucky few journalists to witness the batons and pepper spray that characterized the eviction of Zuccotti Park. Other journalists were arrested in the exercise of doing their job. And by the way, there was violence coming from the police:

<snip>

More: http://news.firedoglake.com/2011/11/15/the-disturbing-silencing-of-the-press-in-last-nights-ows-raid/

:kick:

[WillyT]

10. PLUS VIDEO:

Link: http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=385x635026

:kick:

[WillyT]

11. AND MORE:

Link: http://mediadecoder.blogs.nytimes.com/2011/11/15/reporters-say-police-denied-access-to-protest-site/

:kick:

[cui bono]

14. Chapel Hill SWAT team had cuffed press and made them stop taking pics even after

after showing press credentials. Just saw that on yesterday's Countdown.

SWAT??? Came in with semi-automatic rifles held up, aimed and ready to shoot. Wtf?

[WillyT]

15. And If One Of Those Idiots... Were Actually To Pull One Of Those Triggers...

It will become Kent State on steroids.

If they're smart (LOL !!!) those weapons have NO BULLETS.

:shrug:

[RegieRocker]

16. The paper is good. Some of the overlords then and most now

are not.

[WillyT]

17. It Is The Actions Of Men And Women Of Good Heart That Make It A Living Document

Just sayin...

:hi:

[neverforget]

18. The freedoms guaranteed by that document are for the use of the 1%

and for the 99% only when permitted by the 1%.

[WillyT]

19. Word !!!

Exactly.

:hi:

[Zorra]

20. I'm completely dedicated to ridding our country of fascism.

I detest fascists. I really, really do.

Whatever it takes, short of violence, count me in forever.

[WillyT]

21. Kick !!!

:kick:

[woo me with science]

24. Kick. nt

[dorksied]

25. I'd like to kick Bloomberg in the teeth, but I'll kick this thread instead.