Post by Aaron Cynic The day kicked off in a tame but at least celebratory manner at a rally held in Daley Plaza by National Nurses United. After two hours of speeches and wandering around a square grabbing random flyers and other literature, there was no way that at least part of the 3,000 plus [...]

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As the police launched high velocity flash bangs, smoke bombs, and bean bag projectiles while a few demonstrators tossed hand-sized objects while fleeing the public street. In Oakland, a city so rife with economic and repressive tensions, Mayor Quan and Police Chief Howard seem intent on ignoring the needs of the public and grinding them under the department-approved 5.11 ATAC boot heel. In the mainstream media, Occupy Oakland participants have been typified as the aggressive instigators when, according to citizen journalism, they were only reacting to the upswing in violent action.

“It was a burning feeling in my throat for me…There was a lot of people who got it in their eyes. They were burning, they were screaming, crying.” “…Moments later, my throat stung. I was coughing really bad and watering up.” “This one guy was coming up to my wife going, ‘Call an ambulance! Call [...]

The mass arrests at peaceful demonstrations prove how removed government is from the needs of its people and how determined it is to silence or ignore the very people it has been created to protect.

It seems sadly fitting the USA Patriot Act turned ten years old the day after police in Oakland, California assaulted peaceful demonstrators with tear gas and rubber bullets. While police violence had been already rampant in New York in Zuccotti Park, Oakland marked one of the first major violent confrontations with Occupy demonstrators. Soon after, [...]

File this under “not surprised:” The L.A. County Sherriff’s Department will begin using a smaller version of the Active Denial System to control inmates at the Pitchess Detention Center. The Assault Intervention Device stands at only 7.5” tall and will emit an invisible heat wave nearly 5 inches in diameter in a range of about [...]