Scenes From a Civil War: Cops Vs. Crying Mothers

Hello, retired Police Captain Ray Lewis! Today has been interesting. Sorry we haven't had more to offer. The real story is happening as a live event, created by real people, and the total absence of political leaders is one way to both judge its authenticity and dismiss any real need for "news media" -- even when that "news media" is just some ongoing joke/word-terrorism project, like Wonkette. Anyway, here are some bits from what's going on, tonight, in America.

“I was there to take down the names of people who were arrested… As I’m standing there, some African-American woman goes up to a police officer and says, ‘I need to get in. My daughter’s there. I want to know if she’s OK.’ And he said, ‘Move on, lady.’ And they kept pushing with their sticks, pushing back. And she was crying. And all of a sudden, out of nowhere, he throws her to the ground and starts hitting her in the head,” says Smith. “I walk over, and I say, ‘Look, cuff her if she’s done something, but you don’t need to do that.’ And he said, ‘Lady, do you want to get arrested?’ And I said, ‘Do you see my hat? I’m here as a legal observer.’ He said, ‘You want to get arrested?’ And he pushed me up against the wall.”

— Retired New York Supreme Court Judge Karen Smith, working as a legal observer after the raids on Zucotti Park this Tuesday, via Paramilitary Policing of Occupy Wall Street: Excessive Use of Force amidst the New Military Urbanism 

The Bat Signal hit the ugly Verizon building during tonight's march on the Brooklyn Bridge. It lookedfantastic:  

Hundreds and hundreds of people were arrested in cities across the country, for protesting the kleptocrats and their enablers in Washington, for protesting years of economic collapse, decades of vicious greed, an era of amorality.

Here's a woman being pepper sprayed, in the face, by riot cops in Portland.

In New York, the cops even arrested a New York city councilman!