Barton Creek Mall Christmas Arrest

CodePink Austin, along with allies from Veteran's for Peace and Women in Black staged a Don't Buy War "freeze" at Barton Creek Mall on Saturday, December 3rd. 

The group was between the Santa photo station and the Gamestop store, which prominently advertises the 'Modern Warfare 3' video game. 

The goals were to raise awareness about the continuing wars on Iraq and Afghanistan, to educate shoppers about the costs (both human and economic) of the wars, and to dissuade parents from purchasing war toys. An APD officer assaulted/arrested a young woman (Nicole Mann) who had joined the group spontaneously. 

*Update*


First reports are that she sustained 4 broken ribs!  Also, from people associated with the arrest.  She has been charged with 1 felony and 2 charges that were lowered to a class "B" and class "C" misdemeanor.

Searches to find information within mainstream news have turned up no information.

**I've often wondered when it became policy for security/police to surround people being arrested so that they can be brutalized while unthinking corporate servants run about telling people to stop filming.  It is not illegal to film public officers in public spaces!!!

I Wanted This To Be Different

I have been very busy following and photographing Occupy Austin although I haven't been sharing much on my blog.  I planned to share some of the beauty I had witnessed  and commend Chief Acevedo and APD for being respectful of the rights of Americans.  Instead, this takes precedence:


A Marine from Wisconsin, Scott Olsen (24), was shot in the head by a projectile fired by Oakland police. When people ran to his aid, an officer threw a flash grenade at the limp body and the would-be rescuers.  As police watched, the critically injured veteran was eventually swept up and carried away by human beings.

It is unfortunate that many officers have yet to understand that most in the Occupations support police, the difficulties and stresses they face and their wage/benefits challenges.  

The following is Oakland Mayor Jean Quan's response:


Taken from her Facebook Page
October 25, 2011
7:30 am

Many Oaklanders support the goals of the national Occupy Wall Street movement. We maintained daily communication with the protestors in Oakland.

However, over the last week it was apparent that neither the demonstrators nor the City could maintain safe or sanitary conditions, or control the ongoing vandalism. Frank Ogawa Plaza will continue to be open as a free speech area from 6 am to 10 pm.

We want to thank the police, fire, public works and other employees who worked over the last week to peacefully close the encampment. We also thank the majority of the protestors who peacefully complied with city officials.

I commend Chief Jordan for a generally peaceful resolution to a situation that deteriorated and concerned our community. His leadership was critical in the successful execution of this operation. City Administrator Deanna Santana developed the plan and secured mutual aid from other departments and the State of California. She will direct departmental teams, including safety, public works, communications, to restore conditions at the Plaza so that it is available for public use.

The City welcomes all Oaklanders to continue to use the Plaza during daylight hours for peaceful protest.


~Mayor Jean Quan


Apparently, 1st Amendment rights expire at sunset.


At the time of this post, there were 9,854 comments on the above Facebook profile post.  I read about 200 and found only one comment supporting her.  The post has been shared 848 times and when I linked my blog to the post.  Apparently, her e-mail address (jeanquan4@gmail.com) has been disabled.

Carlos Miller reported that the mainstream news turned a blind eye as police attacked an unarmed crowd of people exercising their 1st Amendment rights.


What are you going to do about this?

Video Footage from NYPD HQ Plaza - 30th September 2011

This Caught Me By Surprise

Veteran reporter, Lawrence O' Donnell criticizes police as aggressors. 

His indignation at the treatment of Americans at the Occupy Wall Street gatherings and in daily interactions is apparent.

Visit msnbc.com for breaking news, world news, and news about the economy

If the Tar Sands ad plays before this clip, you might click here 

to read about something you likely missed in the news.

Main Stream Media Is Missing A Wall Street Story

No major news outlet is covering "Occupy Wall Street"!  You might call your favorite news station and ask why.

CNN Footage from the RNC

More from the RNC as CNN reports:

Journalist and Producer Nicole Salazar Arrested at RNC

Nicole Salazar, a producer for Democracy Now! was arrested while filming at the protest.  The film is unsettling as you hear her ask the officer where to go to get out of the way.  Credentials around her neck and camera on her shoulder, she is forced to the ground and drug away, face down.

This is making me ill.

Please take action.

A Guide to Surviving Police Encounters

This is an interesting video that is narrated by Ira Glasser, the Executive Director of the ACLU from 1978 to 2001. I am posting it as an educational piece on how to exercise your rights when confronted by a police officer. There are several scenarios presented. Each illustrates what to do and what not to do when confronted by an officer.



Although the actors in each scene have done something illegal and want to exercise their rights so that they can avoid prosecution, I feel it is important that all of us exercise our full rights each time we are confronted by police. These are our rights and making certain that they continue to be respected shouldn't be considered a hassle or an indication of guilt. The more often we, as citizens, exercise our rights; the more likely it will be that we will be approached as if we actually have rights.

TSA Forces Woman to Remove Nipple Piercings with Pliers

The TSA never fails to disappoint with its intellectual approach to protecting the homeland. "Welcome to Texas! Howdy and please remove your nipple jewelry!" Here's another ridiculous safety-associated assault that I initially ran across this on the Roxiticus Desperate Housewives blog:

"The Transportation Security Administration said it will change they way its officers search passengers with body piercings after a Texas woman complained she was forced to remove a nipple ring with pliers in order to board an airplane."

Her attorney said, "The last time I checked, a nipple was not a dangerous weapon."

Personally, I hope that Mandi Hamlin sues the crap out of Big Brother for this one.

You can read the MSNBC story here.

NY Cops Beat Tibetans in Front of U.N.

Did you see this on the news?

The United States has given China most favored nation trading status. China is hosting the Olympics. Our corporations lobby against the rights of workers in China. We accept China's financial bailouts year after year. It only stands to reason that Police Officers in the United States would show their support for China by beating the crap out of peaceful "Free Tibet" protesters in front of the United Nations.

The following footage was shot at a free Tibet peaceful march and assembly in New York on the 14th of March.

It shows the protestors holding flags and signs and peacefully walking down the street towards the UN building as police vehicles screech onto the sidewalks, cops pour out and begin to beat the protesters with clubs as UN security guards stand and watch.

At one point, you can hear Officer Serano threatening to "f***ing kill" two of the peaceful protesters.

You can hear the cameraman say,

"Look at these cops, clubbing people in front of the UN, unbelievable, protesting to free Tibet, cops clubbing people in their legs on the sidewalk, in front of the UN in America, unbelievable, this is not China."

According to Wikipedia:

In the 1990s continued most favoured nation status for the People's Republic of China sparked U.S. controversy because of its sales of sensitive military technology and its use of prison labour, and its most favoured nation status was only made permanent in 2000.

If you would like to call the NYC Internal Affairs Bureau to have your voice heard, you can reach them at 212-741-8401.

Anyone else going to call their local news station to ask why this hasn't appeared?

Another Police Brutality Allegation

A Shreveport police officer, Wiley Willis, has been fired after a female prisoner taken into custody on suspicion of DWI wound up lying on a floor at the police station in a pool of blood. The beginning of the incident is on tape, as is the end.

(Image courtesy of ABC News)

The woman, Angie Garbarino of Shreveport, was arrested for DWI. In the tape, you can hear her requesting to make a phone call. It is obvious she is becoming upset and uncooperative. The police officer starts becoming more physical and emotional. He then does something that makes citizens shudder, he turns off the tape.

When the tape resumes, Angie is lying in a pool of her own blood on the floor. (Video is still graphic and should not be viewed by children.)


When the video returns and she is laying in a pool of blood, Willis turns her on her back and tells her, "Lay down; don't move." She responds, "I can't believe what you just did. I really can't. "

Because the police officer turned the tape off as things were escalating, no charges are being filed because there is no film of the alleged attack. Since when can we not file charges without film footage? Does Big Brother have to be watching for a crime to have been committed? Did turning off the video as the situation escalated make you think he was trying to protect the prisoner who ended up with two black eyes, two broken teeth and stitches or himself?

What do you think? Abuse or slip-and-fall? Should the camera have been turned off?

Skateboarding Is NOT an Executable Offense!

When did we replace Serve & Protect with Intimidate and Accost?

Dude Man...This is what happens when a fat, authoritarian idiot is forced to drive a mini clown car all day:



My favorite line from Officer Man Dude Rivieri from the Baltimore PD was:

"You go around doing this kinda stuff, someone's gonna kill you!"

I know he could not possibly be suggesting that skateboarding and responding with a defensive voice when spoken to aggressively is an offense worthy of death.

Someone needs to send this one in to Alex Jones for his next movie.

Serve and Protect?

Warning!!! This is very explicit footage of police abuses. I hate posting this sort of thing, but feel it is important for all of us to know it is going on. If the police had or if they were to charge Hope Steffey under the 2006 Military Commissions Act or under the Thought Crimes legislation that is about to breeze through the Senate...All of this would be considered legal and acceptable behavior.

CHILDREN SHOULD NOT WATCH THIS VIDEO!!!



Let me point out that I strongly believe that there are honorable, respectful, thinking men and women on the force who would never participate in or allow such a thing to happen. Unfortunately, new officers are being trained in paramilitary, rather than sheriff, style approaches to interacting with citizens. (Citizens, not civilians)

If you notice, the officers didn't appear to be doing this with joy or an evil intent. It looks as if they are just going through the mundane duties of processing a perp; like there isn't anything unusual about what they are doing. I think this is the part that is most disturbing.

We are quickly losing our liberties and our leaders are asking that we forgive those who trounce our rights because they are protecting our freedoms. Whose freedoms are we fighting for and where did habeas corpus go?

Confused Police Kill Crime Film Actors

Some days it's just not safe to be an artist.

(Picture: from the U.K. Metro)

"Radical Ribeiro, of the Banda Mulundi production company, insists he had permission to film at the location, a gritty suburb of Luanda."

He said: "We saw the police pick-up speeding towards us. It looked empty but then suddenly it stopped and people appeared on the back.

"Without asking any questions, they started shooting at everybody at close range."

Read the rest of the story here. I was relieved to hear it wasn't officers in East Austin this time.

Militarization of our Police

Let me begin by saying, there are respectful,honorable,reasonable, caring men and women who wear the badge and do the thankless, low-paid job for the betterment of their society and their fellow man. However, there has been a steady progression toward militarization and an frightening increase in the acceptance by citizens to be treated as "civilians".

I am a citizen, not a civilian!!!

The video points out some observable shifts in the way police are armed and how they interact with the public they serve (not rule). What happened to serve and protect? When did the police become intimidators, tax-collectors aggressors, and our militarily armed keepers, rather than public servants?



Write your city council members to let them know what you think of the police in your area. If you have a wonderful police force, write a letter to let them know how wonderful you think they are and encourage them to continue to interact with the public in a respectful, reasonable and empathetic manner.

Police State - Go Skateboarding Day

It's a new world...Torture is what the "good guys" do, skateboarding is a crime, and police hand out beatings to children to help them understand how dangerous the sport can be.

To check out more about Go Skateboarding Day, click here.

Peter King - Too Many Mosques!

New York Rep. Peter King, a prominent House Republican, said "we have too many mosques in this country" and "we should find out how we can infiltrate, we should be more aggressive" to use the NYPD as an example, I think we should give the NYPD a medal for the job they did at the Republican convention" in a recent interview with Politico.



Deserve a medal? What do you think?

Senator Kerry, Role Model?

University Police drag off and taze a university student (Andrew Meyers) after "the honorable" John Kerry called on him to ask questions after a lecture at the University of Florida.

The police did not like his questions or his tone and grabbed his arms to drag him off. They did not Mirandize him, they did not advise him if or why he was being arrested when as officers grabbed each arm. The student made a "poor decision" and resisted their arrest/assault after questioning if and why he was being arrested. Then, as there was an ant pile of the serve and protect crowd on and around him, they made the decision to taze him.



I find two things particularly disturbing: A number of the students in the auditorium began to cheer as these thugs in uniform were violating his civil rights. What the hell has happened to college students? They line up to go through metal detectors and get searched, but they won't speak out for a fellow student? Where would they ever learn such a behavior?

The second item I find so unsettling? The example John Kerry set for all of those hungry young minds. This man who wanted the top position in the country and to swear an oath to"... protect and defend the Constitution". Do you feel he proved himself as a defender of the Constitution? Did he say, "This is America, let the boy speak."? I think the young man made his point.

Not only did Senator Kerry not object to watching this young man be stripped of his civil rights, dragged off and tazed; he decided to ignore the situation and continue lecturing. Senator Kerry did what all good Americans are being trained to do, act like nothing is happening as your fellow citizens are being carted off for disagreeing, questioning or some other heinous infraction like being brown.

Mr. Kerry, your actions were disgraceful and you are a disappointment to your constituents.

I thought students were encouraged to ask questions in a university setting, but maybe that's just my pre-9/11 thinking.

Police Brutality Update

Update to the LA Police Brutality post:

(click image or on link below to view)

http://www.democracynow.org/article.pl?sid=07/05/03/1357234

The link includes some footage from the protests. I saw much more the night of the attack. It is unfortunate that this is the only outlet I have been able to find that is providing footage, so far. Please send in any other footage you locate. Are those who are being trained to protect us train in reason, logic and negotiation or just small arms, tazer and hand-to-hand combat?

Text from the link:

The Los Angeles Police Department is coming under increasing criticism for violently crushing a largely peaceful immigrants rights march on Tuesday. Police with riot guns fired 240 rounds, shot tear gas and clubbed protesters and journalists gathered in MacArthur Park. At least ten people were injured including seven journalists.

Pedro Sevcec was broadcasting live for the Spanish-language television network Telemundo when police knocked over his monitors and lights and hit his staff with batons. Sevcec told the Los Angeles Times a police officer grabbed one of his cameras and threw it more than fifteen feet to the ground. He said police pointed a riot gun at his face, hit him with a baton and forced him out of the park.

Patricia Nazario of the public radio station KPCC was also injured. On Wednesday Nazario described to listeners what had happened to her.

• Patricia Nazario, reporter for KPCC.

Others assaulted include four employees of KVEA-TV Channel 52 and a reporter for the public radio station KPCC hit by a police baton. Christina Gonzalez, a reporter for the Fox affiliate KTTV-TV Channel 11, suffered a bruised shoulder after she was shoved to the ground. Her camera operator suffered a broken wrist. The incident was caught on tape.

• Report by Fox affiliate KTTV-TV Channel 11.

The LAPD says it gave orders to disperse but several journalists and protesters have disputed the account. The order was made only in English and not even near the main crowd. LA Police Chief William Bratton admitted the actions taken by the police were inappropriate. He said "I was disturbed at what I saw." The LAPD has launched a pair of investigations. Several news groups say they're considering legal action.

Police Attack Journalists at Protest

Late last night, I turned on the TV. As there was little on, I flipped channels until I got to our Spanish-speaking channel and realized they were talking about an immigration protest in L.A.. I watched the video and was disgusted. Not only did I see police swinging batons at parents heads as they ran from the melee with toddlers in their arms, I saw the police (without provocation) attack a TV news crew (or two). They struck from behind, knocking them to the ground, kicking them and beating them with batons. The still below is from one of the videos. The girl in the white shirt is a TV reporter trying to help up her cameraman who was clubbed, thrown to the ground and kicked. As she moves to help him up, an officer strikes her from behind. I'm hoping the full video will appear on the web soon.


The police, as usual, claim that anarchists not involved in the protest threw rocks and a bottle...so they attacked the crowd of families and journalists. It is interesting that this is the same claim they make over and over when the police state lashes out against its enemy: the public.

When is this country going to skip a night or two of Tivo and attempt to regain control of our local, state and federal "law enforcement"? Has anyone seen this on white-people TV? I know I haven't.