Thursday, July 29, 2010

AZ Goes Hard

Sunday, July 25, 2010

Oakland: Feds Are Coming

Oakland Police Chief Anthony Batts will ask for federal help in patrolling Oakland.



The FBI, DEA, ATF and ICE will meet with "community leaders" and police in August. I wonder if those "community leaders" will be the same "leaders" who recently collaborated with the police to get their piece of the pie?

There was little doubt that the Feds had their eyes and hands on Oakland over the past year. Now Oakland may be an out-and-out Federal police state. We should make it clear that the Feds are unwanted and unwelcome... although I doubt our voices will do any more than make OPD more desperately desire federal support.

Outside agitators? ha!

Michael Rains, scumbag lawyer



Michael Rains is the lawyer defending Johannes Mehserle. He has a long history of defending pig atrocities.

Michael Rains is a California criminal defense attorney known for representing police accused of misconduct, including the pending case of the BART Police shooting of Oscar Grant and a successful defense of the Oakland Riders. Rains also won acquittal of the Corcoran 8, prison guards accused of staging fights amongst inmates.

Rains is a California State University, Long Beach graduate who served in the Vietnam War with the U.S. Marines. Working as a former Santa Monica police officer, he won a scholarship to attend Golden West University School of Law, and became a member of the California bar in 1979. His Pleasant Hill, California law firm has contracts with eighty California law agencies.

Pleasant Hill (Main Office)
2300 Contra Costa Boulevard
Suite 230
Pleasant Hill, CA 94523
PH: 925.609.1699
FX: 925.609.1690
info@RLWlaw.com




Rains lives in suburban San Ramon with his wife, Kathy, a former police officer, and their son.




(thanx Straight Outta Concord.)

Glenn Beck Influenced Cop Shoot Out

Byron Williams, the suspect in an Oakland police shootout, was on his was to kill members of the ACLU and Tides Foundation. Why? Because he was fed up with the "left wing agenda."

It always amazes me how these idiot rightwingers demonize the ACLU. It is the epitome of astroturf politics. The rich rightwinger fascists don't like being called out on contradicting the US constitution or actually having to live up to words like 'equality' (especially when it hits their bank accounts), so they make up some nonsense story about how the ACLU are taking away people's rights and trying to force a specific way of life down American's throats. (A way of life that, I guess, includes legality and equality under that law.) Nonetheless when you have the money and media on your side, people believe it.

Williams' other target, Tides Foundation, isn't as widely known. As a matter of fact, most people not working with Tides Foundation would probably only be aware of them because they are a favorite target of Glenn Beck's paranoia. Tides is a group that relies on philanthropy to help create progressive social change. Of course, according to Beck, they are part of some vast complicated cabal that have infiltrated the government and are turning us into a socialist dictatorship. I will spare you the convoluted details but Gawker gives a good rundown HERE.



So I ask- Where is the liberal outrage that this shooter was obviously influenced by Glenn Beck's hysterics?!

Secret America

The Washington Post has begun releasing their two-year investigation into post-9/11 intelligence and national security growth. It would seem that USA's security/spy/secrets rival any nightmare conjured up by tales of East Germany. In fact, it is so sprawling that it is almost impossible to effectively coordinate.


The report shows that the intelligence bureaucracy in the US has become "so unwieldy and so secretive that no one knows how much money it costs, how many people it employs, how many programmes exist within it, or exactly how many agencies do the same work".

... intelligence and national security work takes place in some 10,000 locations across the country.

The report also showed the degree to which US intelligence gathering and analysis has been farmed out to private contractors, with 1,931 private companies said to be working on counter-terrorism related programmes.

"To get their contracts renewed for the following year they will hue, they will dodge and they will dance around to give the right answer."




The report is lengthy and complex- just the type of reading that most Americans like to ignore. Below are links to several sites covering the report (and different aspects of it).

GAWKER - Post-9/11 Intelligence Apparatus Enormous, Wasteful, Intractable

AL JAZEERA - US 'intelligence flaws' revealed

SOCIOLOGICAL IMAGES - Top Secret America

and of course,
WASHINGTON POST - THE SECRETS NEXT DOOR

Capitalism Cannot Abide A Limit

Saturday, July 24, 2010

Link Roundup

- Blogging platform BurstNet said that "law enforcement officials" requested that Blogetery, and, by extension, the blogs it hosted, be shuttered. However, it has since become clear that BurstNet shut down the Blogetery of its own accord. Gotta stop terrorist bloggers.


- Former Correctional Officer turned rapper, Rick Ross first stole his name and now is stealing the title "Teflon Don."

- Glee castmember, 18yr old Charice has gotten Botox injections and skin lightening treatments. Filipina singer Charice is the only actress on the show actually young enough to still be in high school!



- Whatchu know about New Orleans Bounce?

Sniper(s) v. OPD

“The guerrilla fights the war of the flea, and his military enemy suffers the dog’s disadvantages: too much to defend; too small, ubiquitous, and agile an enemy to come to grips with".
--Robert Taber, The War of the Flea: Guerrilla Warfare in Theory and Practice (1965).


Oakland police were targeted by sniper fire. They could not find the shooter or a gun. Security cameras were vandalized.

Anarchism and Nonviolence

While I don't agree with a lot of Randall Amster's piece 'Anarchism and Nonviolence: Time for a ‘Complementarity of Tactics,' it does provide some reflection on the perception of anarchy/anarchists by outsiders.

Anarchism and Nonviolence: Time for a ‘Complementarity of Tactics’

The police blame property damage by anarchists for de facto mistreatment of poor communities. This doesn't mean people should stop property damage so as to not provide the police with a reason. The police need no reason. The brutalizing of communities is what sparks the anger that leads to the property damage. Denying the state this one scapegoat will not stop their mistreatment of us.

However, we must also leave lasting images of anarchist organizing/struggle/building/gathering in the minds of our fellow community members.

Antipathy toward anarchists seems to have increased steadily since then, not only from corporate elites and law enforcement officials, but from a number of fellow movement participants as well. Ironically, this comes at a time when interest in anarchism among activists has greatly expanded, and likewise when its impact upon American activism in general has seen a strong resurgence in recent years.

What worked once or even a few times as a tactic can grow stale when done repeatedly, and frankly begins to seem neither creative, spontaneous, or very anarchistic at this juncture. Not to mention that it has created a situation so rife with the prospect of infiltration that it cannot even be certain any longer whether anarchists themselves are in fact guiding their own course of conduct and self-definitions.


A bigger issue is properly defining violence. Property damage is not violence.

Guantanamo inmate refuses plea deal

Canadian Omar Khadr, 23: "I will not take any of the offers because it will give the US government an excuse for torturing me and abusing me when I was a child."



The biggest war criminal in the world, the USA, wants Khadr to admit to war crimes. US forces in Afghanistan took Khadr prisoner when he was just 15 years old in July 2002. He has now been in Guantanamo Bay for eight years.

"I will not willingly let the US government use me to fulfil its goal." Khadr said.
"It's going to be the same thing with lawyers or without lawyers. It is going to be life sentence," he said.

Avengers Assemble!


(L-R) Robert Downey Jr., Clark Gregg, Scarlett Johansson, Chris Hemsworth, Chris Evans, Samuel L. Jackson, Jeremy Renner, Mark Ruffalo, Director Joss Whedon, Producer and Marvel Studios’ President Kevin Feige













Education On Capitalism

I don't know exactly what perspective this film takes but the trailer looks interesting.

Sunday, July 18, 2010

CalGuns Gets Over on Anti-Gun Forces



Popular online gun forum, CalGuns, suspected that anti-gun force, Legal Community Against Violence, was monitoring their forums. So CalGunnerss pretended to organize a potentially rowdy protest at LCAV's annual fundraising dinner in San Francisco.

LCAV were listening in and took CalGuns seriously. They even mobilized SFPD. However, no one showed and CalGuns revealed that LCAV had been had.

CalGuns:
As much fun as it would have been to organize a great big ruckus, it was much more fun watching them scramble about in fear that the gun nuts were going to heap insult upon the injury of McDonald at their pyrrhic victory dinner.

And we didn’t have to expend an ounce of energy.

What was the point?

Well, we learned a bunch.

1) That past actions have convinced them to take us seriously. Calgunner attendance at City Council meetings, legislative hearings and court cases has demonstrated that we’re able to mobilize a motivated group of activists on short notice. We’ve proven to them that we show up. We’ve shown that we’re effective, too. Emeryville’s revision of their proposed ammunition ordinance proved that.

2) That they’re paying attention to us. We long suspected that LCAV was monitoring our communications. It’s one of the reasons that CGF boardmembers are circumspect when discussing legal strategies. So, please be patient when folks are using cryptic language to discuss options for regaining our rights.

3) That now they don’t know when we’re bluffing. We’ve spoofed them twice so far. Who knows what other kinds of wild goose chases we can send them on? It will be fun to learn.

4) That they’re afraid of us. Despite my assertions (and requirements) that this “action” not allow any physical contact, trespassing, etc., LCAV felt it necessary to mobilize the police and additional security.

5) That they’re irrational. In every interaction that we’ve had with the antis, we’ve been polite. We’ve been well dressed, well spoken, chivalrous and respectful. We’ve been met with profanities, threats and incivility. I wouldn’t be surprised if local officials are starting to take notice the difference in style.


What a great tactic. It would be fun to employ this and redirect other forces and expend their energy/resources if we knew we were being spied on.

Glenn Beck hates Jews and victims

Glenn Beck (who plays a lunatic on TV) caught some heat recently for underhandedly talkin' shit on Jews for killing his god:
"Jesus didn't come back from the dead and make the Jews pay for what they did."

WATCH VIDEO HERE

However, what I find more fascinating about the video clip is the way in which he describes his religion and his god.
"Jesus wasn't a victim, he was a conqueror. Jesus conquered death."
His constant use of the term "conquer" shows his unsurprising interpretation of religion/politics as social Darwinian force.

Rightwinger in Oakland Cop Shootout

A 45-year-old parolee, described as angry at left-wing politicians, opened fire on California Highway Patrol officers on an Oakland freeway.



He was wearing body armor and had multiple firearms in his vehicle.
He was angry about his unemployment and about "what's happening to our country" and "all these left-wing agenda items."

The man's mother believes "eventually, I think we're going to be caught up in a revolution." But she said she had told her son many times that "he didn't have to be on the front lines."

It is no coincidence that angry Americans can't tell the difference between rightwing pro-business government and any "left-wing agenda." The rightwing media has pushed the line so far that what most people consider leftwing is anything that doesn't fall in line with non-regulatory, no taxes on the rich, Christian fundamentalist, imperialism.

Link Roundup


- Everything You Think You Know About Mike Tyson Is Wrong
Intimidation is crucial to the art of warfare, and it's totally legit. It's allowed to be used. It must be used.
Discipline is doing what you hate to do, but nonetheless doing it like you love it.
I'm addicted to perfection. Problem with my life is I was always also addicted to chaos. Perfect chaos.
The thing that stuck from his
Quotations book: "No investigation, no right to speak." If you aren't going to look deep, just shut up.
That's me. God or guttersnipe.


- The next idiot who tells me that the Palestinians should find a Gandhi, I will punch in the nose
there are peaceful demonstrations daily. For years, if not decades... The army short sound bombs and tear gas at demonstrators.

- What prison might mean for Johannes Mehserle
CDCR has the option to transfer an inmate to another state.


Quite the odd lineup. Word has it that this yet-another reunited Unbroken show is again in the name of charity.

- Arizona now has Nazi's patrolling the US/Mexico border.
"We'll Kill Them."


"To imply that those currently at the top - the Warren Buffets and Roman Abramoviches of this world - are the very best, the nec plus ultra of humanity, is a kind of hate speech toward the species. Dignity demands that we refute it."
-Richard Seymour

Free At Last: Marilyn Buck

Marilyn Buck, a political prisoner in the U.S., was released on July 15, 2010 from the federal prison medical center in Carswell, Texas.



Marilyn Buck spent four years in prison in the early 1970s, allegedly for helping Black revolutionaries buy firearms. After she was furloughed from jail, she went underground to resume her political activism against U.S. imperialism and in support of Black liberation. She was captured again in 1985, and has been in prison ever since. At that time she was accused of actions such as helping Black revolutionary Assata Shakur successfully escape from prison in 1979, as well as conspiracy in the 1983 bombing of the U.S. Senate building in response to the Reagan administration’s invasion of Grenada, which had a leftist government at the time.

With her capture in 1985, Buck became part of the Resistance Conspiracy trial. This was a prominent trial in the 1980s against seven white anti-racist and anti-imperialist activists who were accused of conspiring “to influence, change and protest policies and practices of the United States Government concerning various international and domestic matters through the use of violent and illegal means.” They were accused of supporting armed Black revolutionaries within the U.S. and accused of a series of bombings of U.S. government and military buildings in protest of U.S. foreign policy in Central America and the Middle East. Buck received an 80-year sentence in the case.

Welcome back Marilyn!

Stupid Cop in PA

Want another reason to hate on cops?:



Entertaining video of a cop relying on authority with no idea of the law.

Souls of Mischief and Boots Riley on OPD

Bay Area Anarchists: Step Up!

Oakland North blog published an infuriatingly frustrating article about the Oscar Grant riots and anarchist involvement. Perhaps it was born out of a genuine desire to show 'the anarchist perspective' but it ends up following essentially the same narrative put forth by The City of Oakland and OPD. What is even worse is the inclusion of John Weston Osburn. Osburn is supposed to be a 26 year old anarchist who travelled from Salt Lake City, UT to take part in whatever went down after Mehserle's verdict. I refuse to deny Osburn's valid grievance with police or his "right" to be in Oakland but I call into question Oakland North's choosing an out-of-town anarchist to feature exclusively in the article. Maybe Oakland North couldn't find or convince any of the MULTITUDES of Oakland anarchists to take part. Maybe Oakland anarchists are smarter than to talk to strangers.



This brings me to my criticism of Osburn- Why the fuck would he talk to the media?! Is he stupid? Is he fake? As has become painfully obvious in the aftermath of Oscar Grant's killing, the media operate as an arm of corporations and the state. They tow the line and their cameras are their guns. It is a frustrating time for some of Oakland's anarchists with the way the pigs are attempting to divide us from the rest of the angry city's folks. However, we can't for a minute believe that our true message or intentions can be told through the prism of the corporate media (or apparently even well meaning blogs)! We are going to have to use our voices directly to the people.

Oakland North does make mention of Raider Nation Collective. Then, for reasons that make no sense whatsoever, the blog mentions Nazi fucks, BANA, as anarchists. (The article originally named BANA as "A more widely known anarchist group" but has since rightfully edited the piece.) Luckily, the article does shed some light on the murky figures the OPD keeps repeating with no explanation. Apparently, of the 78 people arrested, they claim the actual majority (47) WERE from the Bay Area.



Regardless of Oakland North's intentions, all they ended up doing was adding fuel to The City of Oakland and OPD's notion that the anger and frustration felt by a cop killing a man in cold blood is invalid and not popular as well as that it was White outsiders who stirred up the trouble (and either committed all the looting themselves or somehow duped Black youth to do it). All of this is a bullshit attempt to redirect anger away from the police and city that protects Mehserle.

So what are anarchists to do? This is an imperative question at this juncture.
We must begin a massive push to explain to our neighbors of Oakland what anarchy is. This shouldn't be hard. No matter what OPD wants us to believe, The Town is angry and knows who the real enemy is: the real outside agitators, the cops. This effort should be launched on every front; our normal everyday interactions, extralegal actions as called for, (legal) community interaction and "outreach", and through our words. Our words don't need the corporate/outsider media. We can take our words to the streets.

Oakland anarchists might have become something that people knew existed but never understood. That void is being taken advantage of by the state. Bay Area anarchists CANNOT allow the only voice explaining to people who/what anarchy is to be the pigs. Step up!

Saturday, July 17, 2010

Chomsky Answers Your Questions



Skip to 7minutes.

"The insistence on purity of proposal simply isolates you from effectiveness in activism and even from approaching your own goals."

"Fuck The Facts"

Joe Keohane wrote an amazing article detailing how when presented with provable facts that contradict people's beliefs, Americans tend to reject the facts and deepen their support of the disproved belief.

It is a defense mechanism to avoid cognitive dissonance. People tend to seek consistency. The manner in which the contradiction is presented can have some effect.

"The more threatened people feel, the less likely they are to listen to dissenting opinions, and the more easily controlled they are."

_____

Right in line with that, over at Why Evolution Is True, they continue to debunk attempts at suggesting science and religion are compatible.

Henry in NY

Even though Henry has already been paraded on tv shows before he met the team, either MLS learned from the David Beckham debacle or Henry is just a much nicer dude.



It could just be that he can speak without his handlers telling him exactly what to say.

MLB Boycott of Arizona



Milwaukee Brewers pitcher, Yovani Gallardo, has said that if The All-Star Game is in Arizona and he is fortunate enough to make it, he will not go.
"They could stop me and ask to see my papers," Soria said. "I have to stand with my Latin community on this."

Kansas City reliever Joakim Soria, who leads the majors with 25 saves, said he would support a Latino protest and stay away.

Toronto outfielder Jose Bautista declared, "We have to back up our Latin communities."

Spineless punk asses Robinson Cano and Alex Rodriguez, both of New York, refused to take any stance.

Bay Area Pride

Paul Saffo's SFGate article suggests The Bay Area needs to act like a city-state.

The Bay Area has all the qualities of a successful city-state. Consider geography: The Bay Area... it is defined by a central bay and bordered by mountains.

In an age when nations have become so large that their citizens no longer identify with distant governments, city-states are political units large enough to have a global economic impact but small enough for even the most casual citizen to understand the relationships that make their city-state work.

...perhaps the Bay Area should follow Singapore's example in 1965 and threaten to secede. If we stopped tax payments to Sacramento and embargoed the export of iPhones, the rest of California would beg us to return - and on our own terms.

Link Roundup

- Another right on article pointing out the rightwing culture of The Twilight Saga.
Stephanie Meyer wrote a very thinly disguised book about Mormon dating from a fundamentalist pro-abstinence perspective. Her books normalize gendered violence, present their young female protagonist as unable to think, defend herself, or even be a whole person without a man, and hammer home an abstinence message. And don't even get me started on the anti-abortion, pro-sexual violence, pro-pedophilia mess that is Breaking Dawn.

- US troops are engaged in combat in the Philippines.

- Republicans in Northern Ireland have been rioting and targeting police.

Political Prisoner Marie Mason Benefit

Battles Yet To Be Won: A Benefit for Political Prisoner Marie Mason Perspectives on Repression & Resistance- From the 1960’s to the Present



Thursday, July 22, 2010
7:30 PM
Submission Gallery
2183 Mission Street, San Francisco

donation: $5 – $20, no one turned away

Featuring: Former Prisoners Jeff Luers and Linda Evans, and Earth First!er Karen Pickett

Marie Mason is a long-time activist in the environmental and labor movements. In 2008, she was arrested on federal charges of property destruction that occurred in 1999. She was sentenced in 2009 to almost 22 years – the longest term of any “Green Scare” prisoner. Marie is currently appealing her sentence. She is imprisoned in Waseca, MN and is the loving mother of 2 children, from whom she has been torn away. For more information, see www.supportmariemason.org

The “Green Scare” refers to the recent arrests of animal rights and environmental activists, charged with acts of economic sabotage. The US government and courts have dealt the activists outrageous sentences, publicly labeling them as “terrorists” – despite the fact that no one has been injured in any of their actions. For an introduction to the Green Scare, see http://www.greenisthenewred.com/blog/green-scare/.

This event will contextualize the current repression, a continuation of the government’s COINTELPRO agenda that historically also targeted movements such as the Black Panthers, American Indian Movement, Chicano rights, Puerto Rican Independentistas, and those in solidarity with them. Former prisoners will share their experiences and perspectives on Marie Mason’s case, focusing on what we can do to support her. Our struggles for change can only succeed if we show solidarity with our brothers and
sisters who have fallen into the hands of the state. Let’s gather to strengthen our resistance!

Thursday, July 15, 2010

Internet Movies



Wow, what a trailer! I honestly didn't expect much from this film (or trailer) but was curious. This trailer embodies the zeitgeist of an era we are just growing out of. The birth of social networking as social phenomenon.

I think we are already getting sentimental about when we were all a little more naive about the net. Afterall, in addition to The Social Network, there is Middle Men. This is a period comedy about porn taking over the internet and has a lot of similarities to The Social Network (even though roughly 10 years separate the two periods).

CLICK IMAGE FOR TRAILER

Oakland: No Snitching!

Oakland Police Department released photos of people allegedly looting and destroying property during the protests following last week’s verdict in the 2009 shooting death of Oscar Grant. 15 photos are on the department’s website. One can only assume these are the out-of-town "Anglo" anarchists the City has been talking so much about.

A $1,000 reward is being offered for each person identified. Anyone who takes that money is an enemy of the people of Oakland.

No link provided for a reason.

OPD say they received these photos from protestors and people observing the rally. This brings up a larger point- Did you see how many people were out there with cameras?!?! I don't know what people think these photographers are doing or why they weren't driven away. Obviously some, if not most, of them were pigs (whether professional or amateur).

NO CAMERAS!

The police are full of ideas of who to blame for demonstrating/rioting in the face of the verdict. All of it to distract Oakland from the real reason- Killer cops and the City that protects them!

Wednesday, July 14, 2010

End Of A Year @ The Waiting Room

Hunger & prison



I just watched the 2008 film Hunger. It is about The Maze Prison, the "dirty protest" and the 1981 hunger strike, and focused chiefly on Bobby Sands. It was a powerful film that relied heavily on silence. The conditions these political prisoners lived through (and died through) was difficult to watch even as a film.

The brutality inflicted upon the IRA prisoners immediately reminded me of the known brutality inflicted upon inmates at Abu Ghraib and other secret US prisons. You can see it in the abuse they suffer, the simple rights they are denied (and fight for), and the seeming last recourse of hunger strikes.

The IRA prisoners were able to use their hunger strike as a propaganda tool, a tool to further point out the brutality of Britain, to recruit young soldiers, and pressure the British government. Abu Ghraib prisoners have also attempted hunger strikes as a means to use their very lives as tools for improvement of conditions and to draw attention to their plights. Of course, a hunger strike relies heavily on being able to get the word out for support. It also relies on being able to actually carry out the hunger strike. The USA has a policy of force feeding prisoners to prevent death. The force feeding process is akin to torture.

Hunger also illustrates just how CO's/prison guards are one of the lowest forms of human beings. One has to be a sadistic pig to do that job.

Read more on
BOBBY SANDS
THE TROUBLES
MAZE PRISON
DIRTY PROTEST
1981 HUNGER STRIKE

Police Police Police


Just in time!

OPD continue their fear mongering by announcing that citizens should not expect emergency service for the following crimes:
-burglary
-theft
-embezzlement
-grand theft
-grand theft:dog
-identity theft
-false information to peace officer
-required to register as sex or arson offender
-dump waste or offensive matter
-discard appliance with lock
-loud music
-possess forged notes
-pass fictitious check
-obtain money by false voucher
-fraudulent use of access cards
-stolen license plate
-embezzlement by an employee (over $ 400)
-extortion
-attempted extortion
-false personification of other
-injure telephone/ power line
-interfere with power line
-unauthorized cable tv connection
-vandalism
-administer/expose poison to another's


A fair amount of those I would be fine with seeing go uninvestigated (loud music?! unauthorized cable?! false info to a LEO?!).
The rest? Well, get to know your neighbors. Pool resources and skills with friends.
_____

OPD is also fighting over who gets to police the demonstration in response to the Mehserle verdict.
Two councilwomen and mayoral candidates, Jean Quan and Rebecca Kaplan, were both at the Oakland demonstration for a photo op. They were also doing their part to act as protest police and hold the police line in front of the police. OPD doesn't like that.



_____

Feeling sorry for the cops yet?

On Monday July 19th, there will be a rally in support of cops being allowed to kill people in Walnut Creek.

"ENOUGH IS ENOUGH. ITS TIME TO STOP THROWING OUR OFFICERS UNDER THE BUS. ITS TIME TO STEP UP AND SUPPORT JOHANNES AND OUR OFFICERS AND TAKE A STAND. OSCAR GRANT WAS RESISTING ARREST. JOHANNES MEHSERLE TOLD THE TRUTH!"

They claim it will be a "PEACEFUL" rally but I don't know how peaceful advocating police be allowed to kill is.

2 to 5 p.m. at the Walnut Creek Courthouse, 640 Ygnacio Valley Road.

I can only assume they are holding the rally in Walnut Creek to abide by Oakland's request that outside agitators not come to Oakland.

Oakland's Verdict

Oaklander George Ciccariello-Maher wrote an excellent account of the events in Oakland following Mehserle's verdict.
READ IT HERE

Tuesday, July 13, 2010

Oakland: Sue the Anarchists!.. ?

Oakland's city attorney is considering suing dozens of people he calls "outside agitators."


"Some of the vandals are with a group calling themselves anarchists."

Police are still going hard on this "75 percent of the arrests from Thursday night's demonstrations are people from outside Oakland".
They describe anarchists as "black-clad demonstrators who cover their faces and stay together in a tight cluster. They are responsible for violence at major demonstrations around the world."

City attorney John Russo is looking into ways to prevent anarchists from coming into Oakland at all.
"I would defy anyone to explain to me how it furthers the cause of justice for a bunch of Anglos from out of town to come into Oakland and trash a town that is a majority of people of color," says Russo.

Pure comedy.
This is City of Oakland's feeble attempt to divide and conquer the people of Oakland. What are they planning to do? Set up Oakland border patrols and exclude people entrance based on political lines they have clearly shown they don't even understand?
Pig Russo and City of Oakland are continuing a racialized definition of anarchy and Oakland in order to prevent any further symbiosis in future insurrections. I am confident that The City is baiting White anarchists to turn on Black youth by pointing the finger at them.

Give it up.
Anarchy IS Oakland.

Sunday, July 11, 2010

Free Colton!

Colton Harris-Moore, "The Barefoot Bandit," has been captured in the Bahamas.


The teen is a skilled outdoorsman who honed his abilities growing up in the woods of Camano Island in Puget Sound about 30 miles (50 kilometers) north of Seattle.

He was sentenced to nearly four years in juvenile detention after being caught in an unoccupied home in 2007, but he did well enough there that he was transferred to a group home, where he sneaked out of a window more than two years ago. Harris-Moore, who has been running from American law enforcement since escaping from a Washington state halfway house in 2008, gained fame and thousands of fans who admired his ability to evade arrest. He is suspected of stealing cars, boats and at least five planes

Propaganda Of The Deed

Propaganda of the deed thus included stealing (in particular bank robberies - named "expropriations" or "revolutionary expropriations" to finance the organization), rioting and general strikes which aimed at creating the conditions of an insurrection or even a revolution. These acts were justified as the necessary counterpart to state repression. As sociologist Max Weber had argued, the state has the "monopoly on the legitimate use of physical force", or, in Karl Marx's words, the state was only the repressive apparatus of the bourgeois class. Propaganda by the deed, including assassinations (sometimes involving bombs, named in French "machines infernales" - "hellish machines", usually made with bombs, sometimes only several guns assembled together), were thus legitimized by part of the anarchist movement and the First International as a valid means to be used in class struggle. The predictable state responses to these actions were supposed to display to the people the inherently repressive nature of the bourgeois state. This would in turn bolster the revolutionary spirit of the people, leading to the overthrow of the state. This is the basic formula of the cycle protests-repression-protests, which in specific conditions may lead to an effective state of insurrection.


This cycle has been observed during the 1905 Russian Revolution or in Paris in May 1968. However, it failed to achieve its revolutionary objective on the vast majority of occasions, thus leading to the abandonment by the vast majority of the anarchist movement of such bombings. However, the state never failed in its repressive response, enforcing various lois scélérates which usually involved toughclampdowns on the whole of the labor movement. These harsh laws, sometimes accompanied by the proclamation of the state of exception, progressively led to increased criticism among the anarchist movement of assassinations. The role of several agents provocateurs and the use of deliberate strategies of tension by governments, using false flag terrorist actions, work to discredit this violent tactic in the eyes of most socialist libertarians. John Filiss and Jim Bell are two of the best known modern advocates.

World Cup 2010

The World Cup 2010 is over. Spain are champions of the world.


I won't even attempt a comprehensive post about South Africa 2010. Now that it is over, I don't know what I am going to do. Never before has soccer taken over my life as much as this tournament did. This is primarily because of the awesome availability of the matches coupled with the internet.

I won't be going in to work late. I won't be spending a lot of time on the clock at work watching live matches at ESPN3. People who don't normally watch or care about the beautiful game will go back to not caring. No more two hour lunches. I can go back to sleeping in on weekends. I will probably ditch Twitter which I took up only for football updates. I can rearrange my iphone back to pre-World Cup settings. I don't have to check my calendar for upcoming matches. I don't know what I am going to do.

I had never gotten so excited cheering for the USA. That winning goal against Algeria was the highlight for me. Hell, I cheered and ran around my living room.

Spain. Prior to the tournament's kick-off, I picked Brasil to be in the final against either Spain or Netherlands. Well, I was close. I am glad the #1 ranked team in the world didn't make it to the final. I loved Netherland's aggressive playing and who can't like 5'7'' Wesley Sneider?? Spain is another of my fave's if probably only for the strong Barcelona presence. I cheered ever time David Villa put it in the back of the net.


how perfect is this photo?