The Revolution Will Be On YouTube

I read the wire report and typically it got everything wrong, citing anger at the police presence. The fact is there was no civil police presence – this was an occupation by an army in all but name. The question to ask is if the cops have posted sharpshooters and what they were packing.

Welcome to America.

Where were the police helicopters and SWAT and the armored riot police when people were bringing assault rifles to presidential town hall meetings? How about during the Teabagging protests or Glen Beck’s zillion white person march in Washington? Could there be some reason why protests to keep the powerful in power seem to be allowed but protests for change of any kind are crushed? I suppose it’s probably just a coincidence.

The last few seconds of the video were chilling. That police officer looked very angry that he couldn’t shoot somebody for asking questions.

Is this the trailer for the new RoboCop?

Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the government for a redress of grievances.

@Mistress Cynica: Commie. Everyone knows the first amendment was superceded by the second.

@nojo: Mr Cyn woke me up in the middle of the night to show this to me, and at first I thought it was a movie. It’s just completely unreal. Ya wanna talk fascist? Talk to the Pittsburgh PD.

@Mistress Cynica: Rachel played a different clip last night, showing that sound-cannon truck in action. I’m still agog.

When does the guy come from the future to stop the evildoers? Wait, this isn’t a movie?

Truly awesome in a scifi totalitarian sense, like “V for Vendetta”, “Enemy of the State”, etc. come to life. I’d like to see these guys take on some geared up hard ass militia types instead of undergrads in organic cotton T-shirts sometime.

You could gear up for a protest for about $60-80 for foam ear plugs for the sound cannon, gas mask for tear gas* and hard hat (face shield would be extra). Body armor would set you back another $650 minimum. The gear the cops are wearing runs about $1500 each just for the body armor, then there’s the unis, the “tacticool” holsters, the $600-$950 pistols (less cop discount), the $1500 rifles (again, subject to the pro discount), the $100 flashlights, etc., etc. , which we the taxpayers paid for.

BTW, have you all seen the heat ray they’re developing down the road at Sandia National Lab in Albuquerque?

* if you can find one. cheaperthandirt.com is completely sold out.

@Mistress Cynica: Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the government for a redress of grievances.

There. Fixed It.

The young woman who they threw to the ground around 4:02 looked like she was about 5’2″ and 100 pounds soaking wet. Horrifying.

@SanFranLefty: From the Times story:

A block north, as people scattered, officers fired projectiles at a young man riding a scooter down Fifth Avenue, knocking him to the ground and arresting him.

Picture that for a moment: The police picked off a guy riding his scooter. Had he thrown a rock through a window a moment before? Assaulted somebody? Or was he just, I dunno, leaving?

@SanFranLefty: I know! WTF was that? What possible threat was she posing that would justify such violence? I really hope she’s OK. I swear, they did that to my kid, I’d be with her on the next plane to baked’s place. It just gets crazier and scarier every day.

The dingbats there for the show? I could do without them. But that takedown of the girl at the end was just pointless.

Shoot. What was on the other side of the line of police? If I have it right, the Pitt campus is about, oh, several miles away from the Point and all the stuff that the Bigs were doing.

[INSTANT CORRECTION NOT A MISTAKE I NEVER MAKE MISTAKES — looks like that takedown was in downtown, near 4th Street. Sorry. But still no call for the bodycheck.]

(The good news, however: Ear-Shredding Police Welcome Wagon Noise is going to be the newest indie sensation. Literally: a sensation. In response, My Bloody Valentine will bring an IP suit, which will then have the City of Pittsburgh in a bang lot of trouble.)

While looking at this I found myself thinking of all our citizen-patriots buying Walmart out of cheap plastic shotguns and such as. Do they seriously think they could compete with this kind of firepower? Even if tries to look at the world through their eyes… WTF? 50 fat texans with Glocks up against this?

There must be a reason for this display of overwhelming force. I’m not saying it’s a good one but someone must have thought it a good idea.