Major Nidal Hasan, accused of killing 13 people at Fort Hood Army base, has been described by former colleagues as "psychotic." As more details emerge about Hasan's troubled state, gun safety advocates are launching fresh attacks on a Senate bill they say would make it easier for mentally unstable veterans to buy firearms.
Sen. Richard Burr (R-N.C.) says his "Veterans 2nd Amendment Protection Act" will protect veterans' gun rights. But the Brady Campaign to Prevent Gun Violence calls it a "dangerous" proposal that could allow "over 100,000 mentally incapacitated or incompetent persons" to buy guns—people who would previously have been barred from doing so by the Veterans Administration (VA).
(click on the link for the full story and for the in-text links)Major Nidal Hasan, accused of killing 13 people at Fort Hood Army base, has been... more
You have the right as an individual to own a gun and defend yourself.
Prohibition didn't stop liquor use; the drug laws can't stop drug use. Making gun ownership illegal will not stop gun ownership.
The primary victim of these misguided efforts is the honest citizen whose civil rights are trampled as frustrated legislators and police tighten the screws.
Banning guns will make guns more expensive and give organized crime a great opportunity to make profits in a new black market for weapons. Street violence will increase in new turf wars. Criminals will not give up their guns. But, many law abiding citizens will, leaving them defenseless against armed bandits.
Rather than banning guns, the politicians and the police should encourage gun ownership, as well as education and training programs. A responsible, well-armed and trained citizenry is the best protection against domestic crime and the threat of foreign invasion. America's founders knew that. It is still true today.You have the right as an individual to own a gun and defend yourself.
Prohibition... more
Almost every time a gun is used in a homicide, a chorus of special interests calls for gun control. These calls happened after the shootings at University of Texas in 1966 and in Columbine, Colo., in 1999 and more recently at Virginia Tech University where a student rampaged through the campus killing 33.
There was an organized outcry at Virginia Tech for banning guns. This was farcical since Virginia Tech, like most college campuses, was already a gun-free zone.
On March 22, a prison parolee and felon, 26-year-old Lovelle Mixon, shot and killed four police officers in Oakland, Calif. The officers were upstanding citizens leaving behind families. The incident was predictably followed by a call for banning guns. Even if California had total gun control laws, it would not have prevented the killing of the four officers. Felons already are banned from acquiring weapons.
Felons are antisocial beings who do not follow laws. Not surprisingly, when they want a gun they obtain it illegally. Criminals use the underworld, not legitimate businesses to obtain guns. The Cato Institute has noted that since 1978, when the Washington, D.C., gun ban went into effect, violent crimes rose 55 percent. The same phenomenon has been reported in Australia in 1996, in England in 1997 and the Canadian 2003 gun bans. Preventing citizens from having guns increased violent incidents.
Please read article at link and discuss-Almost every time a gun is used in a homicide, a chorus of special interests calls for... more
"It appears Twitter is playing an important role at a crucial time…"
— P.J. Crowley, Assistant Secretary of State for Public Affairs
We believe that now is a "crucial time".
We believe that resistance is important.
We believe that new communications modes can have an "important role" to play.
And we believe that this applies as much in the rest of the world as in Iran.
Elliot Madison appeared to believe many of the same things. And the FBI believed that he should be stopped.
You turned your twitter avatar green to show solidarity with the people of Iran.
Now turn it red and black to show solidarity with the resistance movement in the USA.
__________
For more on the case of Elliot Madison and the complete violation of his humanity buy the FBI and state, go here:
Turkish police used water cannons and pepper spray on Tuesday to disperse protesters demonstrating at the annual International Monetary Fund and World Bank meetings in Istanbul.
Riot police clashed with protesters in a square close to where thousands of finance ministers, central bankers, and economists from around the world are meeting to discuss the global economy. Police followed some protesters as they fled onto nearby streets.
The demonstrators were seen breaking the windows of some banks and shops. Some were seen throwing Molotov cocktails.
Dozens of people were detained during the protests, which were organized by several Turkish unions.
Last week, a student was detained after throwing a shoe at International Monetary Fund Director Dominique Strauss-Kahn during an appearance at an Istanbul university. The shoe missed the IMF leader.Turkish police used water cannons and pepper spray on Tuesday to disperse protesters... more
Turkish police have fired tear gas to break up hundreds of protesters outside a meeting of the International Monetary Fund in Istanbul.Turkish police have fired tear gas to break up hundreds of protesters outside a... more
Version 1 of a documentary about the recent Pittsburgh G20 Protests, and the Police Occupation of the University of Pittsburgh. This film is a collaboration between Pittsburgh Indymedia, Chicago Indymedia, Twin Cities Indymedia, and the Glass Bead Collective. Expect a future version with even more footage, and more analysis about the G20 and the Occupation of Pitt.Version 1 of a documentary about the recent Pittsburgh G20 Protests, and the Police... more
This Week With Jasiri X- Season 3 Premiere-Pittsburgh hosted the G-20 Summit and Jasiri X and Paradise The Arkitech were on the scene. Paradise directed this episode and King Sym provided the powerful production. All footage showing the Police attacking citizens happened in Pittsburgh, not a dictatorship but the United States of America during the G-20.
LYRICS
Verse 1
Lyrical Molotov cocktails the Holocaust plot swells
humanities almost lost try telling me that it's not hell
they crucified MJ somebody's watching me like Rockwell
so many death threats I feel like I'm getting Barack's mail
cops tail my paparazzi is the FBI
no threat was I when I was stressed and high I was left to die
now I testify right hand over the bible
left hand around the mic this is hip-hop for survival
we were lied to when they said this was a democracy
hypocrisy walk with me here's something you gotta see
the foreign policy's supposed to save the economy
but everybody that died for came from poverty
slain constantly so the richest 1%
get trillions and we don't even have enough for rent
what the f*#$ is this?
billions up and spit and not one busted prick got cuffs on his wrist
and I'm not just pissed I'm mad as hell
cause we sip cups of Cris and take drags from Ls
And we got bags to sell of the crack and cane
feeling OT pain for a big ass chain
insane
Chorus
Reality is free but the TV will sell you a dream
cause the only color that matters is green
where the richest families and countries meet in secret to scheme
cause the only color that matters is green
they will make you a prisoner a slave prostitute or a fiend
cause the only color that matters is green
whether your black, brown, red, yellow, white you just a way to a means
cause the only color that matters is green
Verse 2
How wicked is Satan you crippin and bangin
on the strip that your claimin he'll take ya whole hood with gentrification
in the richest of nations the here sickness is basic
where the biggest of racist transmit it on stations
or put the fifth in the faces tell em strip and get naked
with a quickness and take it cause they pigment they hatin
no witness no statement no media coverage
salute the American flag believe in it and love it
in the place where a black face ain't seeing no budget
they having meetings discussing how they deceiving the public
what deficit see the President speak at a luncheon
go less than a mile you'll see a child eating nothin
mom spent the food money cause she be need a substance
daddy's doing 20 in SCI Greene for hustlin
and his breathing encumbered but he's receiving no comfort
he don't have health insurance cause all they seeing is numbers
and the schools are flat broke so they can't teach him to function
so he ain't reading he duckin cause all he's seeing is bustin
and the 20 wealthiest counties ain't feeding his stomach
cause it poor people like him that be keeping em running
and that's
Chorus
Reality is free but the TV will sell you a dream
cause the only color that matters is green
where the richest families and countries meet in secret to scheme
cause the only color that matters is green
they will make you a prisoner a slave prostitute or a fiend
cause the only color that matters is green
whether your black, brown, red, yellow, white you just a way to a means
cause the only color that matters is greenThis Week With Jasiri X- Season 3 Premiere-Pittsburgh hosted the G-20 Summit and... more
Matthew Lynas reiterated a familiar demand to listeners at the G-20 Summit speak-out on the William Pitt Union patio last night.
“I declare this to be an unlawful assembly. You must leave,” he said.
He said that police had no more authority to disperse people than he did. But he didn’t blame the police.
“Fundamentally the blame lies with us,” he said. “At what points did governments think they could get away with what they did?”
Lynas, a Carnegie Mellon University junior from Glasgow, Scotland, joined the Pitt students, representatives of the anti-war group Thomas Merton Center, and other members of the community at a rally sponsored by Pitt’s American Civil Liberties Union student group yesterday evening.
About 150 people gathered to listen to testimonies about the demonstrations in Oakland last Thursday and Friday night. Many of them wore black, blue and gold ribbons around their arms, symbolizing the bruises people received from the police, as well as Pitt pride.
Nathan Lanzendorfeor, 23, from Mt. Lebanon, didn’t wear the ribbons. He wore black and blue on the back of his legs and on his upper arm.
Lanzendorfeor said police shot rubber bullets on Friday night while he was running away down Fifth Avenue. He said four bullets struck him, leaving a palm-sized bruise on the back of his left leg.
Genevieve Redd, president of Pitt’s ACLU student group, said she was pleased with the peaceful event, though some people made the event partisan by calling for Mayor Luke Ravenstahl’s impeachment. The group plans to table in Towers lobby to get more people to sign petitions.
There were two petitions with identical wording, but one was on behalf of Pitt students and the other on behalf of the Pittsburgh community. The petitions call for Student Government Board, Chancellor Mark Nordenberg and the city to conduct a public investigation of the police officers’ behavior last week. It also asks Pitt’s Judicial Board to consider the “situations that were rendered by police action and ended in student arrests.”
The petition also requests an apology from city officials, the mayor and the Secret Service “for the indiscriminate and unconstitutional violation of our community’s First Amendment rights, as well as for the physical harm inflicted upon members of our community.”
Adrienne Mellori, who is a member the G-20 Resistance Project, said that the “police intimidation ” started before there was any rioting.
“Police and authorities are given much more worth than the average civilian,” she said. “The real heroes were the protesters, including the anarchists, and the students who stood their ground when police occupied their campus.”
SGB member Nila Devanath said the last SGB meeting was one of the most highly attended meetings and thanked students for voicing concerns.
“If you keep coming and voicing your concerns, we’ll keep fighting for you,” she said.
Simone Cheatham contributed reporting to this article.By Estelle Tran / Assistant News Editor
published: Thu, 1 Oct, 2009
Matthew Lynas... more
The local corporate media, as part of their role as hand-puppets and mouthpieces for law enforcement, have been making a point of finding and interviewing the local residents who somehow identify with the armed thugs and the Wall Street interests they protect. Whether it is out of fear, or some naive, misguided hope that kissing up to their oppressors will result in better treatment from them or make them eligible for some kind of discount from the corporate stores they somehow mistake for friends. Ambitious and cowardly people will always side with bullies. It is the submissive, cheer-leading behavior of these people who allow the Hitlers and Saddam Husseins of the world to seize and hold power.
While covering the protests against the G-20 summit, most of the Pittsburghers who I encountered were not shy about expressing their support and admiration for those participating in the demonstrations and were disappointed, but not surprised by the violent behavior of the law enforcement thugs whose day to-day mission is to terrorize and control low-income communities. The partnership between the local, centralized, corporate media and the local and global elites, intended to silence the opposition to the policies and presence of the G-20, was successful in discouraging out-of-town participation, but at the expense of their "outside agitator" theme. The protests against the G-20 were predominantly a local affair, while the heavily armed, violent, goon squads which were protecting the elites and advancing their agenda with violence were mostly from outside of the region, if not from outside of Pennsylvania.
Despite the Lawrenceville section of Pittsburgh's reputation for racism and vigilantism, the curious, picture taking residents whom I spoke with were overwhelmingly sympathetic to the People's Uprising and were distressed by the indiscriminate use of chemical weapons in their neighborhood. The local media also neglected to interview the young woman employed by one of the businesses whose dumpster was briefly rolled away, who at first could not understand why. She was under the mistaken impression that police were escorting the march, rather than attacking it. When the situation was clarified and it was suggested that the marchers were using dumpsters for self-defense, she sympathized with them
I was also unprepared for the number of University of Pittsburgh students who decided to participate in the September 25th march, after they had been gassed and beaten the night before. The University's insistence on remaining open for the duration of the summit and their decision to lock students out of their dormitories while police and military personnel attacked them will likely prove to be costly mistakes.The local corporate media, as part of their role as hand-puppets and mouthpieces for... more
"It was all students and no protesters -- it looked like any Friday night in Oakland but with more people," said Nathan Lanzendorfer, 23, of Mount Lebanon. He went to Oakland out of curiosity to see the protests and shortly before midnight was caught on Forbes Avenue, with police deploying OC gas from two directions, trapping him on the street.
He was then hit with a rubber bullet in his right leg and his left, started to run, and was then hit in an arm and his lower back. "I never heard any warning to leave the area -- all four [rubber bullet] shots were within five seconds," he said. "All the wounds are on my back. If I was opposing [the police] at all you'd think I I'd have a front wound."
Mr. Lanzendorfer, an independent computer network technician, went to UPMC Presbyterian for treatment of his contusions, two of which are shown below.
This vid is really upsetting and I don't recommend it for those who were there or who are easily triggered by police violence but pass it around so the world sees it.
If the bullet were an inch higher, he likely would have died.
Jonathan LaTourelle, 26, junior at the University of Pittsburgh who lives in South Oakland, had participated in protests in Lawrenceville on Thursday and the permitted "People's March to the G-20" on Friday. He said he was not on campus to protest Friday night, but he went to the plaza "in solidarity with a lot of other kids who I knew were going there who were angry about what happened the night before."
At the park, he said, "People were playing duck-duck-goose and talking. Mostly, I think people were there because the events that had happened the night before ... " he said.
"We weren't doing anything. We weren't confronting them. We weren't even protesting." He said the police didn't give the order to disperse "until they had surrounded most of the park." Many people then left. He said a group was pushed across Forbes Avenue and into the Cathedral of Learning lawn. He said some were turned away by police on Fifth Avenue.
"No matter where you went, there was no way to leave," he said. "A lot of people were saying, 'I'm just trying to leave.'"
He said he was released from SCI Pittsburgh at 5:30 a.m. and met by members of the Pittsburgh G-20 Resistance Project. He said they asked him about his physical and mental condition, fed him, and gave him a ride home.
He said he was not a member of the G-20 group, but belonged to a college group that had worked on education issues around G-20.
Drew Singer, editor of the student newspaper The Pitt News, watched the events from a window in the William Pitt Union, which has a view of Schenley Plaza. Two Pitt News photographers were among those arrested.
"There were way more police than there were civilians, nonpolice," he said.
He said the police gave a loud order to disperse. He said police usually arrest people who are especially unruly, but Friday night, "it seemed like anybody who didn't leave immediately was being arrested even if they were just kind of watching. Technically, they did not disperse."
He said some Pitt News reporters saw people passing out note cards earlier in the day at the permitted "People's March to the G-20," which announced a rally that night in Schenley Plaza.
While there may have been protesters, he said, "I personally didn't see a single protester. There was absolutely nothing like Thursday night. It was overwhelmingly spectators and people who just wanted to see what was going on. It seems like just after Thursday night, [police] just weren't taking anything. They just weren't up for any funny business. They gave the orders to disperse, and I guess anybody who didn't immediately disperse they were going after, it seemed like."
n
"It was all students and no protesters -- it looked like any Friday night in Oakland but with more people," said Nathan Lanzendorfer, 23, of Mt. Lebanon. He went to Oakland out of curiosity to see the protests. Shortly before midnight he was caught on Forbes Avenue, with police deploying OC gas from two directions.
He was hit with a rubber bullet in his right leg and his left, started to run, and was then hit in an arm and his lower back.
"I never heard any warning to leave the area -- all four [rubber bullet] shots were within five seconds," he said. "All the wounds on my back. If I was opposing [the police] at all you'd think I'd have a front wound."
Mr. Lanzendorfer went to UPMC Presbyterian for treatment of his contusions, one of which is softball-sized, he said.
n
Post-Gazette reporter Sadie Gurman, 24, was among those arrested on the Pitt Cathedral of Learning lawn.
"I was arrested on the cathedral lawn while truly trying to get out of the fray," she said.
Citizen Kate finds herself in the middle of an RNC protest - and finds out how not to get maced. Citizen Kate finds herself in the middle of an RNC protest - and finds out how not to... more
Did you know that anarchists killed several police officers during the 1999 anti-WTO protests in Seattle?
No, you don't know that, because it never happened. But this is the kind of thing that many rank-and-file police believe who have been trained to police summit protests, including the ongoing anti-RNC protests happening this week in St. Paul, Minnesota. There were riots and lots of police violence in Seattle in 1999, but nobody was killed during those protests. Yet, police officers doing anti-protest policing in many American cities have been told this lie about anarchists.
This is probably not the only lie about protesters and anarchists that are indoctrinated into the police. Those who attend protests and those who have been arrested can attest to hearing incredible anti-protester beliefs coming out of the mouths of the police. Numerous online message boards have seen comments about protesters that come from police officers. Did you know that anarchists killed several police officers during the 1999 anti-WTO... more
At both the DNC and RNC, anarchists showed themselves to have seized the initiative to determine the character of street demonstrations. The US anarchist movement has survived several years of repression and attempted co-optation, proving that the upsurge associated with the anti-globalization era was not a flash in the pan: if anything, we are stronger today than ten years ago.At both the DNC and RNC, anarchists showed themselves to have seized the initiative to... more
In the streets of Denver, riot police and protestors were out in force, and a clash was inevitable.In the streets of Denver, riot police and protestors were out in force, and a clash... more
There is a call to action by the Anarchists against the Olympics and their multi-national corporate sponsors.
This plus both conventions and the election... it's going to be a busy year for them.There is a call to action by the Anarchists against the Olympics and their... more
