#violation of first amendment

[phyrefamily]

South Gate Police Attack Cop Watcher. Destroys Cellphone.

[existentialistmumbojumbo]

In July, I reported on a violent "thought crime" raid in Seattle, Washington, at the home of Occupy-affiliated activists. As I wrote then, "Most of America was not awake when a SWAT team burst in the front doors of an apartment in Seattle on the morning of July 10, 2012. Four local activists struggled to dress; but, they say, after the agents stormed in, they grabbed them physically. The activists reported that these agents tied their hands at the wrists, while holding automatic rifles poised against them."

Vandalism had occurred in a protest in May; but the sight of several black-clad individuals engaging in vandalism against property hardly justified, many would say, the severe repression that followed.

Many scoffed at that time at the notion of a "thought crime" arrest in the US and insisted that the victims of the militarised SWAT team must have done something to deserve the response. But the early reports turn out to beno exaggeration. Those peaceful activists, including 24-year-old Leah-Lynn Plante, are now being held in Federal prison for refusing to testify about other protesters to a Federal Grand Jury.

The warrants issued for the original raid specifically targeted these activists for the colours they chose to wear - the original raid identified their black sweatshirts as one of the reasons for them to be subjected to arrest.

The raid also targeted the literature which they chose to read in their homes (anarchist literature). Their home and lives were invaded, in violation of First and Fourth Amendment protections; and they are now being judged by a government which has recently defined even peaceful anarchists, in a newly released FBI presentation, as "Criminals seeking an ideology to justify their activities".

Unconstitutional weapon

After the raids, the activists received subpoenas to face a Federal Grand Jury. Because one cannot retain the right to remain silent - that is, the right not to be forced to incriminate others - a  Grand Jury proceeding can be used as one of the most draconian and unconstitutional weapons in the Department of Justice's arsenal against peaceful activists. 

In other words, if you choose to remain silent in a Grand Jury, you may face 18 months in jail. As Natasha Lennard, a long-time Occupy reporter, notes in her excellent continuing coverage of the case:

"The closed-door procedures are rare instances in which an individual loses the right to remain silent. As was the case with the Northwest grand juries resisters, the grand jury can grant a subpoenaed individual personal immunity; Fifth Amendment rights against self-incrimination are therefore protected, but silence is not. In these instances, refusal to speak can be considered civil contempt. Non-co-operators can be jailed for the 18-month length of the grand jury."

[existentialistmumbojumbo]

A year ago this week, it was learned that a US grand jury had secretly issued subpoenas for the Twitter account information of several WikiLeaks supporters.

The subpoenas have been held up by challenges from the American Civil Liberties Union and the Electronic Frontier Foundation, but now U.S. District Judge Liam O’Grady has ruled that Twitter must provide the data, reasoning that the grand jury investigation is being delayed and that he does not believe the challenge is likely to succeed.

“Litigation of these issues has already denied the government lawful access to potential evidence for more than a year,” O’Grady stated. “The public interest therefore weighs strongly against further delay.”

[existentialistmumbojumbo]

Yasha Levine was forced to surrender his freedom, as well as his shoe laces…for his own protection

"At least one busload of protesters (around 40 people) was forced spend 7 excruciating hours locked into tiny cages on a Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Dept. prison bus, denied food, water and access to bathroom facilities. Both men and women were forced urinate in their seats."

[existentialistmumbojumbo]

Officials in cities across the world are telling Occupy protesters that it’s time to pack up their camps and go. And if they don’t, a growing number of mayors are calling in the police to forcibly remove them.

A Seattle college told Occupy Seattle protestors in an open letter Wednesday that they are not welcome to camp on their property. OWS protestors voted October 24 to move locations to Seattle Central Community College, but the school said making their property a campsite is "prohibited to all individuals and groups."

SCCC has cited potenial injuries, damages and disruption to campus activities as reasons for barring the protestors. The protests have cost the city more than $100,000 in police and administrative overtime, The Seattle Times reports.

In Oakland, Calif., police cleared the Occupy Oakland encampment outside City Hall early Tuesday morning, and protesters attempting to reclaim the space clashed with police later that day. More than 100 protesters were arrested, the Los Angeles Times reports. Wednesday night saw more tension between protesters and police, some of whom wore riot gear, the New York Times reports.

[affairofthepoisons]

This would, by modern standards, reflect a violation of the First Amendment rights of the flag-bearers, but in 1920s North Dakota displaying a red or black flag, with or without anti-American sentiments drawn upon it, was considered a threat to society and security of its citizens. The "red flag" was directed at any number of flags of the Socialist, Communist, or Bolshevist movements and the International Workers of the World, which were gaining ground among the farmers of North Dakota during the 1920s. According to Mayor Hylan of New York, New York, who banned the red flag in 1918, "The display of the red flag in our thoroughfares seems to be emblematic of unbridled license and an insignia for law hating and anarchy, as the black flag represents everything that is repulsive to ideals of civilization and the principles upon which our government is founded."