Month: December 2011

by Medea Benjamin / Common Dreams / December 27, 2011

I had the privilege of starting out the year witnessing, firsthand, the unfolding of the Egyptian revolution in Tahrir Square. I saw people who had been muzzled their entire lives, especially women, suddenly discovering their collective voice. Singing, chanting, demanding, creating. And that became the hallmark of the entire year–people the world over becoming empowered and emboldened simply by watching each other. Courage, we learned in 2011, is contagious!

1. The Arab Spring protests were so astounding that even Time magazine recognized “The Protester” as Person of the Year. Sparked by Tunisian vendor Mohamed Bouazizi’sself-immolation to cry out against police corruption in December 2010, the protests swept across the Middle East and North Africa—including Egypt,Libya, Bahrain, Syria, Yemen, Algeria, Iraq, and Jordan.

Billions in post-9/11 taxpayer dollars have paid for combat-style gear on display in the Occupy crackdowns.

By Justin Elliott / Salon / December 26, 2011

The militarization of America’s metropolitan police forces was on full display in recent months as police from Los Angeles to New York cracked down on Occupy protests, decked out in full SWAT gear and occasionally using strange pieces of military hardware.

San Diego “Portland Loo” Project to be Delayed Longer than Expected -project suggested to City Council by Girls Think Tank over a year ago still has not seen the light of day

by Lara McCaffrey / Empower San Diego / Originally posted Dec 21, 2011

San Diego, CA. With the end of the fiscal year approaching fast in June, there is only so much time to change the budget conversation in San Diego. Like Empower San Diego, fellow non-profit Girls Think Tank (GTT) has taken steps to convince the City Council to use valuable tax-payer funds for projects that benefit the less fortunate. GTT has been working for nearly 2 years to get the City to install 24 hour access public restrooms as a part of their Basic Dignity Campaign for San Diego’s homeless.

WHAT: San Diego ASA Medical Cannabis Educational Rally and March

WHEN: 12/26/2011 – 2pm-5:30pm

WHERE: Corner of Newport Ave and Abbot Street in Ocean Beach, CA

The federal government has begun a crackdown on legitimate medical marijuana patients, caregivers, and providers. In San Diego alone as a result of Federal threats, hundreds of safe access locations have been shut down causing legitimate patients to go without their doctor recommended medicine as well as helping crime rise in our City.

The San Diego Chapter of Americans for Safe Access strongly opposes the Federal commandeering and intervention into state law and is organizing a medical cannabis educational rally!

By Nadin Abbott / December 23, 2011

During the early morning hours of December 23rd the Occupy San Diego encampment was raided by San Diego Police, and three people were arrested, at least two of them seemingly without cause.

Later that day, the American flag that’s been guarded by Occupiers at Civic Center Plaza (dubbed “Freedom Plaza” by occupiers) was confiscated from a Marine Corp veteran of the Gulf War, John Canter. Carter stated “I was guarding the flag during the raid. They took anything not held.”

msnbc / Dec. 23, 2011

SEATTLE — Across the country, the long-awaited release of Nike retro Air Jordan basketball shoes on Friday resulted in fights, arrests, and the use pepper spray as police tried to calm frenzied shoppers, many of whom had waited outside stores overnight.

In Richmond, Calif., a man was arrested after he fired a gun while waiting in line, KTVU TV reported.

In Seattle, Tukwila police officer Mike Murphy said more than 1,000 people lined up to buy shoes at 4 a.m. at four stores in the Westfield Southcenter mall. He said police used pepper spray on about 20 people who were fighting, while one man was arrested for assault after police say he pushed an officer.

The bogus arrests of Occupy San Diego activists continue. Within the last 24 to 36 hours, a man was arrested for burning sage in the Plaza, a man videotaping another’s arrest was grabbed by the neck, choked, and brought down by three officers, a veteran carrying an American flag had the flag taken from him, two others awake in sleeping bags were roughly arrested.

Freedom Plaza has now been “cleared” of those demonstrators. And we have Police Chief William Lansdowne to thank – as well as his boss, Mayor Jerry Sanders. Sanders is a lame duck and a burnt out politician.

Lansdowne takes his orders from Sanders, but Lansdown could object to the ridiculous and unconstitutional manner his troops are ordered to harass and arrest peaceful demonstrators trying to exercise their First Amendment rights.

By Steven Cuevas / KPCC /Dec. 16, 2011

Occupy protests have spread to nearly 150 locations equally distributed between Northern and Southern California. Researchers at UC Riverside used social media sites like Facebook to track the movement’s growth from large urban centers to remote mountain towns.

Sociology professor Christopher Chase-Dunn and graduate student Michaela Curran-Strange manned the study, which has traced the Occupy movement to some far-flung locations.

After the US Senate voted for the National Defense Authorization Act on December 15th with 13 senators voting against it, one of those, independent Senator Bernie Sanders made the following statement: …

“This bill also contains misguided provisions that in the name of fighting terrorism essentially authorize the indefinite imprisonment of American citizens without charges. While we must aggressively pursue international terrorists and all of those who would do us harm, we must do it in a way that protects the Constitution and the civil liberties which make us proud to be Americans.”

By Ryan J. Reilly /TPM / December 21, 2011, 4:02 PM

Attorney General Eric Holder confirmed speculation Wednesday that President Barack Obama would issue a signing statement when he makes the National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA) and its controversial detention provisions law.

‘Congress will, for the first time in 60 years, authorize the indefinite detention of U.S. citizens without charge or trial’

By Senator Al Franken / HuffPost / Dec. 16, 2011

Yesterday (Dec 15), the Senate passed a bill that includes provisions on detention that I found simply unacceptable. These provisions are inconsistent with the liberties and freedoms that are at the core of the system our Founders established. And while I did in fact vote for an earlier version of the legislation, I did so with the hope that the final version would be significantly improved. That didn’t happen, and so I could not support the final bill.

The bill that passed on Thursday included several problematic provisions, the worst of which could allow the military to detain Americans indefinitely, without charge or trial, even if they’re captured in the U.S.

At their core, these provisions will radically alter how we investigate, arrest, and detain individuals suspected of terrorism. What’s more, they could undermine the safety of our troops stationed abroad, and they introduce new and unnecessary uncertainty into our counterterrorism efforts.

It was five minutes after midnight this morning (Dec 22) when five San Diego Police officers walked into Freedom Plaza and began making arrests of peaceful Occupy San Diego protesters keeping vigil.

They walked up on Alan who was laying down – not sleeping as he had a cigarette going – yanked the cig out of his mouth and threw it on the ground, placed handcuffs on him as he sat there, then pulled the tall peaceful protester out of his sleeping bag and took him.

Other protesters asked the officers what the charges were – repeatedly – and no officer answered.

Then as occupier Chris was videotaping Alan’s arrest, police moved up to Chris, grabbed him, pulled him off his feet while choking him, and then altogether three of them wrestled him to the ground.