Surprise, Homeland Security Coordinates #OWS Crackdowns
Remember when people were freaking out over the Patriot Act and Homeland Security and all this other conveniently ready-to-go post-9/11 police state stuff, because it would obviously be just a matter of time before the whole apparatus was turned againstnon-MuslimAmericans when they started getting complain-y about the social injustice and economic injustice and income inequality and endless recession and permanent unemployment? That day is now, and has been for some time. But it's also nowconfirmedthat it's now, as some Justice Department official screwed up and admitted that the Department of Homeland Security coordinated the riot-cop raids on a dozen major #Occupy Wall Street demonstration camps nationwide yesterday and today. (Oh, and tonight, too: Seattle is being busted up by the riot copsright now, so be careful out there.)
Rick Ellis of the Minneapolis edition of Examiner.com has this, based on a "background conversation" he had with a Justice Department official on Monday night:
Over the past ten days, more than a dozen cities have moved to evict "Occupy" protesters from city parks and other public spaces. As was the case in last night's move in New York City, each of the police actions shares a number of characteristics. And according to one Justice official, each of those actions was coordinated with help from Homeland Security, the FBI and other federal police agencies.
[...]
According to this official, in several recent conference calls and briefings, local police agencies were advised to seek a legal reason to evict residents of tent cities, focusing on zoning laws and existing curfew rules. Agencies were also advised to demonstrate a massive show of police force, including large numbers in riot gear. In particular, the FBI reportedly advised on press relations, with one presentation suggesting that any moves to evict protesters be coordinated for a time when the press was the least likely to be present.
Well gosh, that's exactly what happened. Good to know the FBI and DHS are "always there to help a brother out." (This is their motto, in Latin.)
(And for those who are understandably doubtful about Examiner.com as a news source, here's an AP story from a couple hours ago that verifies everything except the specific mention of DHS coordination.)
Meanwhile, according to the steady stream of insanity on the Twitter, the Seattle riot cops just "maced a pregnant woman, a kid, a priest, and a blind woman w/ a fucking cane!" We know a version of this with a rabbi and Batman and Jesus and a grasshopper ordering a Grasshopper at a bar, we think? But nothing about riot cops spraying a pregnant woman with mace.
And meanwhile at Zuccotti Park, there are thousands of people apparently ready to mix it up with the cops, who are using some kind of DARPA audio-pain weapon on the assembled humans. No way this could turn ugly!
AND, on Thursday, the Ocupados are planning to (finally?) march on the New York Stock Exchange. If they throw a roll of pennies on the trading floor, this should create a distraction and then they can just demolish the whole evil building, just as Darth Vader did not so long ago:
Thisdoeslead to some thoughts about "what #OWS should do next." For example, if cops always attack the #occupy protests because they're told to by Obama's Justice Department, perhaps theprotestsshould simply invade and occupy the Justice Department and all the dozen federal and state cop offices in every town in the country, since the cops are already there. It would save a lot of time! [ Examiner.com / Associated Press ]