Soul Snatcher, Productions ™ Democracy Wall

Barry Crust w/hand carved Madrone staff

Puyallup, WA (5-13-14) — Barry A. Crust is an artist who works with what he calls ‘beachy treasures’ made from Hood Canal driftwood and other found treasures from the shore–unique birdhouses, walking staffs & Canes, sculptures. He accepts commissions and sometimes sells his artwork.

Barry’s contact info:
University Place, WA 98467
Cell – (253)273-0953
basa28@comcast.net
www.beyondthebeach.biz

6′-6″

Waiting for Godot

This short interview was done in the park between Puyallup’s City Hall and its public library on a sunny May morning as temperatures climbed into the mid-80’s. The delightful man shown was an appropriate compliment to the gorgeous flowers and the park’s  manicured lawn, playground, small children swinging with their moms–a few eyeing the photographer suspiciously.

In the Pink

Walk In The Park

Protective Mom & Photographer Taking Each Other’s Measure

Schmoozing in the Park

Golden Boy

Sibling Rivalry

Vertigo

Stripes

Barry (artist above) describes his muse as: “Created by Nature, Found by Me”

Puyallup Police Citing Black Man

Puyallup City Park Spring in May on a Sunny Day

Puyallup City Hall’s Front Lawn

Old Fashioned Prop Plane Airliner

Plane Spotting

Busker Lessons

Street Musicians

Low Rider

Drop Dead Gorgeous Landscaping in Puyallup’s Park

Portland, OR @ PSU (5-10-14) — The Law & Disorder Conference (L&D) hosting Kristian Williams as one of its featured panelists was disrupted by chanting protesters drowning out the words of those scheduled to speak. Police were called, accusations made, protesters fled, Kristian Williams (for his part) flinched when he canceled the event and quailed in response to allegations he’d ‘snitched’–focusing on responding to the labeling rather than the disruption itself. There was enough cravenness for all.

For those unfamiliar with the Pacific NW @narchist ‘scene’, or at least what lead up to this incident, it can be summarized best by those closest to the center of the storm.

Anarcho-Syndicalists protesters got protested at their own conference. A panelist by the name of Kristian Williams was scheduled to speak at the annual Law & Disorder conference, but was thwarted by a protest.

Austin Petersen wrote:

A meeting of Anarcho-Syndicalists devolved into chaos at Portland State University last week. The “Law & Disorder” conference presented by the Students of Unity was disrupted by protesters complaining about “survivor trauma” and the “patriarchal society” which is “prioritizing powerful white men.”

Eventually police were called, causing the protesters to flee.

Anarcho-Syndicalists are a subset of anarchists who believe in a communistic approach to self governance. Their theory is to use revolutionary unionism as a method for workers to destroy the capitalistic society and gain control of the economy. Contrast that with libertarian anarchism, Anarcho-Capitalism, which argues that free markets and voluntary interactions are the greatest moral and ethical good.

As for Kristian Williams himself, the author of ‘The Politics Of Denunciation’ (which this incident mirrored to a ‘T’) he cravenly denied having anything to do with calling the campus police or those who did. He went on to placate the ‘protesters’ by claiming he canceled the event out of concern for their safety–that explanation and the Brooklyn Bridge are for sale. Williams went on in his online blog to explain:

by Jenny Esquivel, Kristian Williams, and Scott Crow

On May 10, 2014, we attempted to speak on a panel at Law and Disorder
entitled, “Informants: Types, Cases & Warning Signs.” This is a subject
with which all three of us are only too-well acquainted. It is a subject
of utmost importance to us — both personally and politically. One of us
has a partner spending almost 20 years in prison because of an informant.
We believe that sharing our experiences with the movements and struggles
we are a part of and that we care about deeply can go a long way towards
protecting those movements and the people involved in them.

And so it was with great dismay that we realized two weeks before our talk
was to happen that people were planning on disrupting the event. The
series of events that has unfolded has been disheartening and upsetting to
us as long-time anarchists and organizers.

As our first presenter began to speak, several people from the crowd stood
up and started chanting over him (“We will not be silenced by your
violence”) while the panelists sat silently, waiting to speak. The people
who were chanting have accused him of silencing survivors of domestic
abuse by writing a critique of call-out culture in his essay, “The
Politics of Denunciation.” Despite the efforts of the moderator, some
conflict-resolution peacekeepers, and event staff hired by the conference
organizers, it became impossible to proceed with the panel. When we were
notified that the police were preparing to intervene, we decided it was
best to end the event and leave.

To be clear — no one on the panel called the cops. And we also didn’t
tell anyone else to call the cops. This should be obvious to anyone who
was present at our panel, as none of us used our phones or in any way
communicated with anyone else who used a phone during this time. We did
everything within our control to prevent this from happening and were
assured prior to the event that no one would call the cops and that no one
would be arrested. We would not have agreed to speak if not for these
assurances.

As speakers, we have had two security priorities throughout this entire
experience: 1) ensuring that the cops did not get involved, and 2)
ensuring our ability to speak about an issue we believe is critically
important to our struggles. In the end, we resigned ourselves to
sacrificing our second priority (our ability to speak) to ensure that the
first was achieved. Our exit from the room was the only way we knew of to
ensure the safety of others who were present — including those who were
being disruptive.

We believe that the damage caused by patriarchy and intimate violence in
our movements is a real and terrible force. These are problems that need
to be discussed, addressed and confronted head on. The way we do that as
a community has real implications for how we move forward together — our
process around these issues has the potential to make us stronger. To
forge relationships based on solidarity, mutual aid and support that can
carry us through as we struggle against the state, patriarchy, capitalism
and all forms of oppression requires a level of willingness to treat each
other with respect and care — even when we disagree.

We also believe that our communities and movements are strongest when we
can disagree without branding each other as enemies. Dialogue around
critical issues is sometimes painful and complicated — but it doesn’t have
to mean that we destroy each other in the process, or that we sabotage
other important work. There are so many other places we need to be
focusing our energy and outrage — but instead people seem insistent on
internal destruction. This pattern is not unique to this particular
instance, unfortunately, but seems to be happening in many other places
across the country. We hope that someday very soon we can learn to
disagree in ways that are constructive, rather than destructive.

That is, in part, why we opened the panel by promising time afterwards to
talk about the issues about which people are upset. We wanted to provide
space for people to engage in a more productive dialogue about how to
resolve our disagreements and frustrations. It is unfortunate that this
did not happen because people shut down the entire talk.

We would like to thank the organizers of this event for standing on
principle. It would have been much easier for them to cave under the
pressure of coercive threats than to move forward with the presentation.
Their willingness to foster a dialogue, rather than run from politically
complicated issues was heartening and reassuring during an otherwise sad
and stressful time.

Apparently the protest was organized as a response to this article. Protestors planned to disrupt Williams’ speech after writing this summary of their grievances in an online forum at FreeTextHost:

Kristian Williams is scheduled to speak at the Law and Disorder Conference ( Law AndDisorder ) from 11:30am-1:30pm on Saturday, May 10th. It will be held in PSU’s Smith Memorial Student Union room 238. Please come and support the survivors who Kristian Williams has targeted, support the feminists and survivor-supporters who Kristian Williams has deemed as “divisive”, support a rad community that supports survivors and values women. We need to get him off the bill or make his time hell!

Please go to the Law and Disorder Conference pages that are linked above, or email them at ( lawandisorder@gmail.com ) and tell them to cancel Kristian Williams place at the conference! Ideally they’ll shut it down before we have to go and make hell. They’ve been working on a “safer space policy” and they need to know that manarchists whose goal it is to silence survivors aren’t welcome!!

RELEVANT INFORMATION:

The following is summarized in a comment by dave negation on Kristian Williams’ article titled “The Politics of Denunciation” http://anarchistnews.org/content/politics-denunciation

“One common response to Kristian Williams’ piece is that, whatever the specifics of what occurred in Portland, Williams’ piece is nevertheless valuable and makes some good general points. I disagree. It is extremely difficult to pry apart the content of Williams’ piece from facts about what happened in Portland. Williams’ account is utterly dishonest, and his article obscures Williams’ own role in what occurred. On the occasions where political content may be examined separately from Williams’ distortions, his commentary plays to typical sexist caricatures, such as of women as manipulative and unreasonable. The article is also unbalanced in its emphasis on doubting survivors. Williams does not argue for generalized suspicion, but wants suspicion to be focused on survivors. In other contexts where suspicion develops, Williams portrays this as a destructive breakdown of trust that is harmful to the community.

A longer criticism of Williams’ article is necessary, because to the extent that his politics are clear (and potentially separable from context) they are very bad indeed. In general, however, Williams’ article is not good faith contribution to discussions about gender, patriarchy and abuse. Rather, it is an attempt to circulate lies about what occurred in Portland and to harass a local survivor and her supporters. Williams’ motivations are much clearer once we examine some of his distortions as well as Williams’ own role in the events he wrote about. Providing such context is the task of my comments here.

Williams omits that he helped to edit the anti-survivor statement that was read aloud at the Patriarchy and the Movement event. In conversation, Williams admits to having helped prepare the statement. However, Williams writes his “Politics of Denunciation” article as though he was some sort of neutral bystander to the entire scene. Furthermore, Williams characterizes the prepared statement as being about the personal experience of Eleanor (who read it aloud) “trying to address domestic violence and other abuse in the context of radical organizing.” This is a tortured way to put things, to say the least.

The statement signed by ex-Bring the Ruckus (BTR) members Geoff and Eleanor was a direct response to the survivor’s experience plus Peter Little’s name having being mentioned. (See one version of the statement here.) The ex-Bring the Ruckus statement begins: “A lot has been said this evening regarding our comrade Peter Little and his behavior.” Note that this was a prepared statement, so it is clear that it was to be issued just in case Little’s name got mentioned at the event. The statement claimed that Geoff, Eleanor and the rest of the ex-BTR crew considered the matter to be closed, and that they wished to present general points so as to move away from “personalized attacks on comrades.” It is clear, firstly, that the statement co-edited by Williams portrayed the underlying situation as being about “personal attacks” not anything of substance. (To be clear about Williams’ relation to Bring the Ruckus: Williams was not a member but he worked closely with that organization.) Secondly, the more general points within the statement were a way of speaking about the specific situation without actually going into details, or they were red herrings to divert from the situation at hand.

When Eleanor, either going off-script or reading from a version of the statement that was different from the one subsequently circulated online, made a comment along the lines of “we think it’s important to be critical of survivors” (proximate quote, the ex-BTR intervention was not recorded) this comment was understood as a jab at the survivor, phrased in the typical indirect style of Portland Bring the Ruckus. People gasped and were upset because they understood the ex-BTR statement and Eleanor’s comments as an attack on the survivor, even though it was passed off as some sort of general comment (and then later denied altogether by Eleanor, despite a room full of people having heard her speak.)

Here, I should say something quick about the underlying situation. There is certainly more to say, but this is just a quick version for those who do not want to trudge through the various accounts online. Peter Little is not being accused of intimate violence against the survivor; they were never intimate. The issue is that Peter Little hijacked an “accountability process” regarding an abusive friend of his, with Little then portraying himself as the voice of the process while breaking all understandings that the “process” was founded on. Instead, Little used his power and his self-presentation as the voice of “accountability” to demean and try to ostracize the survivor. As a result, Little was asked to leave the process, having in effect already sabotaged it. The great majority of those involved in the process have by this point spoken out regarding Little’s behavior and identified it as highly damaging. Little continues to besmirch and organize against the survivor to this day, and has continued to escalate despite many opportunities to change his behavior. As far as anybody can tell, Little’s actions are due to a grudge he has held against the survivor ever since she–long before the situation of abuse– made a snarky comment critical of Little and Bring the Ruckus. It is simply not acceptable to use situations of abuse instrumentally, as a way to exact revenge upon a survivor for petty grudges and quarrels. Yet this is precisely what Peter Little did. (Peter Little’s own account is that he was acting gallantly to save a child from the survivor’s wrath, a threadbare and insulting story.)

Back to the Patriarchy and the Movement event: the ex-Bring the Ruckus statement was clearly an attempt to shut up a survivor and those who had supported her. Williams turns the situation on its head when he suggests that it was some sort of “totalitarian” feminism that was engaged in “silencing.” (Following some shock and uproar, Eleanor was given space to politically defend her statement, which she could not do.) After the Patriarchy and the Movement event, Eleanor and Geoff even made an insincere apology for their intervention, admitting that “We can see how this was interpreted as an attempt to shield an individual and felt silencing.” Now, Williams has changed the narrative to his BTR friend having been “silenced” and in fact being a victim. The apology made by Eleanor and Geoff was a cynical political move from the start, but their online post at least demonstrates what was actually considered as “silencing” at the time. The anti-survivor nature of the ex-BTR statement was not only noted by the organizers of the Patriarchy and the Movement event (http://patriarchyandthemovement.wordpress.com/2013/03/07/statement-on-the-patriarchy-and-the-movement-event-portland-2282013), but also by the Red & Black Café (http://www.redandblackcafe.com/statement-in-response-to-2-28-13-event-2) (where the event was hosted), the Patriarchy Resistance Committee of the Portland branch of the IWW (http://patriarchyandthemovement.wordpress.com/2013/04/29/statement-from-the-patriarchy-resistance-committee-of-the-portland-branch-of-the-iww), as well as other observers.

With all this in mind, how was the statement read by Eleanor actually about her “experience trying to address domestic violence and other abuse in the context of radical organizing” as Williams alleges? As stated earlier, Williams’ wording is tortured. One of the reasons why people were so appalled by the statement signed by Eleanor and Geoff, is due to Geoff and Eleanor’s earlier role in this situation. Trying to address Little’s harmful conduct discretely, the survivor’s supporters attempted to talk with Bring the Ruckus about what was going on. The result was a meeting with Geoff and Eleanor, which is now Eleanor’s “experience” referred to by Williams. Yet the “personal experience” in that case is not one of opposing abuse, but rather of betraying a survivor! This needs to be further spelled out.

Bring the Ruckus constantly emphasized how everyone who knew of the situation needed to be quiet about it. The survivor’s close support did not accept the initial demand of Bring the Ruckus, which was: in order for BTR even to meet with you and hear you out, you must not talk to others about this matter. The survivor’s support team refused such a gag order, but tried to stay mostly quiet thereafter so as to create a situation favorable to what was needed: de-escalation, an apology from Little, and damage limitation. Instead, the BTR circles (including the clique which remained in Portland after that organization’s formal disbanding) from that point onwards just made excuses for Little and decided that the survivor was really the problem, for having dared to have a problem with their favored commissar.

It was protracted efforts against the survivor which led to one of her supporters finally talking about the situation openly at Patriarchy and the Movement, because relative quiet on this issue had only been used against the survivor. Prior to Patriarchy and the Movement, the ex-BTR people certainly did not practice the discretion which they expected of everyone else. The survivor was presented by Little and his associates as “political liability” to anybody who would listen (the phrase itself is vague, but was used for the purpose of borderline COINTELPRO-jacketing, when the survivor was not simply portrayed as crazy.) In context of such ongoing efforts, the pre-written statement from Geoff and Eleanor (with Williams’ assistance) was a way of communicating to the survivor that their clique would throw all their efforts into opposing anyone who did not shut up. Williams had already been recruited for the purpose of their intervention, helping with the statement in case Little’s patriarchal behavior got referenced at the anti-patriarchy event. Williams had not even heard from the survivor or her supporters before he threw himself into the conflict. So much for Williams’ pose of wanting “political discussion” or for people to examine situations critically!

Williams’ article claims to be about “The Politics of Denunciation” yet ignores the actual denunciation that has taken place since Patriarchy and the Movement. Soon after the Patriarchy and the Movement event, ex-BTR cadre telephoned their contacts coast to coast in order to denounce the survivor. Within a couple of weeks of the Eleanor and Geoff pseudo-apology, Peter Little recruited his allies Don Hammerquist and Janeen Porter to issue a 2700-word statement against the survivor to all their contacts on an international “revolutionary” listserv. Hammerquist and Porter made clear that they would not tolerate any challenge to their account not backed by “supporting evidence,” while they broadly circulated lies from Peter Little without any proof except Little’s word for it! Those who could offer evidence contradicting Porter and Hammerquist’s repetition of Little’s dangerous claims were banned from the listserv. Also involved in harassment of the survivor were Seattle’s Black Orchid Collective, who wrote not one but two pieces on the topic (the final one wondering why the survivor’s supporters had not turned to them for help!) Peter Little’s new organization Hella503 also circulated a fantastic “report” against the survivor to their contacts. (When Hella503 began, it featured several alumni of Portland Bring the Ruckus, which suggests some of the pressure on the group to work against the survivor.) None of these actions consist of “denunciation” to Williams, apparently.

Finally, it is ironic that at the start of Williams’ article as posted on Libcom, a “Trigger Warning” has been added to beginning of the text, presumably by some editor. (Libcom article offline at time of posting here.) A glance at Williams’ article will show that the word “triggering” is used in the article twice, both times in quotation marks. Williams’ article suggests that when people use the term “triggering” this is just to get what they want and to stop conversation. Good luck involving survivors in your efforts, if that is you how you view things. You will need all the luck you can get.”

Additional context:
The original accountability process which Chad Walter failed to adequately engage in (as of July 2011): http://chadwalterinfo.wordpress.com/accountability-process-demands-and-response/

P.S.. “Posts in support of Kristian Williams or in any way dismissing survivors WILL BE DELETED.” [But, of course–‘survivors’ will not be silenced/questioned unless THEY are doing the silencing/questioning. It was an ocean of protest in a sea of white men and ‘women’.]

Amicus Curia opined:

“The organizers brought this on themselves (it was predictable) and it bit them in the @ss when they condoned the violence (assault on 2 DGR females and defacing of their tabling literature) against women last year at the D&L Conference hosted in the PSU facilities. What’s sauce for the goose is good for the gander proved to be the case. Challenges to both the disruptive elements and the organizers about the irony of allowing women to be assaulted as blatant threats to trash the event were posted online and fell on deaf ears. The Greeks had a timeless saying: “Even the gods cannot protect fools from their folly.” It has become p@r for the course.”

“…or in the lifestyle @narchist ‘scene’ in the Pacific NW. This isn’t a ‘movement’, it’s a social circle/jerk, no different than a quilting bee or a knitting club. The polemics is simply a pretext for a social outlet. One women, (‘Crow’) got her feelings hurt and went off the deep end for a personal agenda and revenge. Hell hath no fury like a woman scorned. The L&D Conference is now in the position of @ping all its favorite bugaboos. (There must really BE a God!) The Greeks had another saying: When the gods want to punish us, they grant us our wish(es). So it is here with the L&D Conference–in spades!”

Luis Garcia Ramirez says:

“Which is what communism originally was. Turns out that in the real world such system is impossible because it runs counter to nature. Vladimir Lenin used to mock them as childish. And he was right.

Such a system will always devolve into centralized control.”

Amicus Curia:

“There’s something to that. Hard core communist theorists welcome the children’s brigade, which may be swept aside once they’ve sufficiently sapped the strength and energy of the capitalist overlords. The school yard politics of the L&D Conference is a classic example of how this is so. Even Kristian Williams doesn’t get it!”

Richard Simpson:

“What’s the difference between ‘the community’ and ‘the state’, in action? Both are merely useful fictions, imho, and not to be trusted with real resources.” [Max Stirner’s sentiments?–what’s ‘mine’ is what I can take AND keep, including people. Adolf may have been Stirner reincarnated.]

Amicus: 

“Community: The polemics about ‘us’
State: The polemics about ‘them’.
What’s characteristic about lifestyle @narchists is they can’t smell their own sh*t!”

NeoNationalist:

“Nothing like a bunch of anarchists to brilliantly illustrate the need for governance.”

Amicus:

“True. The L&D Conference became the poster child of why it shouldn’t be taken seriously.
(From the 142nd Fastest Gun In the West: 141 were faster than he–L&D was looking for 143!)

In the end, butterfingers L&D organizers gunned themselves down at the Law & Disorder Conference!”

Amicus:

“PRIVILEGED white men benefiting from institutional patriarchy. Why I’ve never found it is a mystery (at least to me). Perhaps I’ve just never passed for white? Or, maybe my gender is in doubt?…because my wallet is STILL empty–always has been. I could shower these revolution@ries with tales of assault, imprisonment, dispossession, even being described as an ‘enemy of the state’ by one corrupt court official, but who would listen?–certainly not THESE r@dicals. They’re too busy sniffing each others’ crotch and debating whether its ginger or tonic. It’s like watching kids play doctor. And Kristian Williams continues to treat them as though they were interns–go figure. Hearing/reading about him cringing at the possibility of being labeled a ‘snitch’ (denying having called the cops OR any of those who he spoke with calling the cops) lessened his stature, IMO. The L&D Conference ‘safer space’ policy is laughable in the extreme. PSU should ban it from a legal liability perspective alone.”

Lana Voreskova:

“It doesn’t matter who is speaking, or how ridiculous their views may be: The right to free speech is absolute and should be upheld at all costs by any educational institution. Students have the right to protest of course even if they have nothing to contribute other than the meaningless slogans of indoctrinated simpletons, but they do not have the right to shout down a speaker.

Any student who engages in such activity should be expelled from the institution. These people are disgusting. Shame on any college that allows these ignorant fascist minded protesters to dictate who can or cannot be heard: And they probably think of themselves as “liberals” or “progressives.” What a bunch of pathetic, pampered, self-obsessed idiots.”

Amicus:

“Lana, you’re right, of course. But, this is not an aberration. TESC (The Evergreen State College) in Olympia follows suit by not only allowing, but encouraging the same, such as the shouting at the PRESS by those disrupting public events on campus, and even failing to prevent assaults and robberies of photojournalists. College campuses have become the fountainhead of Law & Disorder. Many of the miscreants involved were NOT students. And these rumpkins wonder why they’re monitored/tracked! One of the core functions of government is to PREVENT force and fraud. These life style @narchists promote it. You speak of ‘rights’–they reject that rights even exist. They openly declare themselves at war with the state, society, even civilization. They reject all laws. “Each may do as they wilt shall be the whole of the law,” is their mantra. They’re dangerous, violent, and undisciplined as this incident reveals…as a pattern of similar incidents reveals. Perhaps worst of all, they are their own worst enemies.”

Bruce Wilkinson (an @narchist NV organizer) says: 

“I appreciated the workshops I went to on Sunday, which was the only day I could make it. Great work to all the organizers and presenters. Thanks to the volunteers and attendees. No thanks to those that worked against it, be it the agents who were no doubt undermining the event or merely the aggressive ideologues.

The presenters had an obvious passion for social justice and the rigor of following the issues as deeply as they could. That takes a lot of effort and time. It is also not work that is rewarded in our capitalist system considering the effort especially. To all the presenters, I appreciate your risk and personal sacrifice in speaking truth to power. Undoubtedly you all face government and corporate attacks besides the surveillance that is ubiquitous. Continue your great work and hopefully more now, because of this conference, will help your efforts.

To the organizers, a conference like this, the bringing in of so many great minds on such diverse issues is a complex and difficult task. The passion to put this together, the thoughtfulness, the inclusiveness, deserves applause. Organizing a gathering like this, especially for five years, is a Herculean task and the reward under capitalism doesn’t exist although the risk certainly does. To all the organizers, I appreciate your risk and personal sacrifice in organizing others in speaking truth to power and in also acting to build grassroots power and tear down the walls of the authoritarian power of empire. Undoubtedly you all, as well, face government and corporate attacks besides the surveillance that is ubiquitous.

I applaud the presenters and organizers. I also want to give thanks to the volunteers. Support work is vital work that is often invisible but I think in this crowd, where people sometimes provide support and sometimes present and sometimes organize, I would hope you all have been appreciated.

To those who attended, thank you all, you all are part of a very small sliver of people who actively seek out the knowledge and connections for effective struggle. I hope that you all gained from this like I did. I was an attendee and it was a great chance to hear diverse voices coming together. I hope to bring back lessons and share them in my community and I hope you all do the same as that is the reason that conferences like this are held.

To the protesters, you don’t deserve any thanks because you did nothing of benefit to the conference or the causes of the presenters. I am truly ashamed of the way in which you all acted, ashamed because I perhaps once believed that you all were part of the social movement. I understand that only a few of you were the ones who came up with this ridiculous protest and the rest were merely ill informed followers but either way your actions speak loudly the disrespect you had for the presenters, the organizers and the rest of the attendees. I continue to be offended by the ugliness of the discourse I have been reading on here by you all. My only comfort is that going forward hopefully those who paid attention to the ridiculous and harmful nature of this attack against a radical conference will heed less to your voices and more to the nuanced voices of the presenters and organizers who did well despite this unfortunate and hurtful antagonism.

To the agents. We know you were there. We know you wouldn’t miss such a thing as a “Law and Disorder” Conference filled with political prisoners and their allies. We know your funding comes from hyping the threat of radicals. We know that your job is observing, orienting, deciding and then acting against us over and over. We know some of you come from the US government but likely the majority are hired by corporations either directly or through third party private security spy agencies. Your job is to find the divisions and exploit them or manufacture divisions where there aren’t any. If you weren’t involved directly in manufacturing, finding or exploiting this division then I would be surprised, but you definitely are aware of it now.

Despite the turmoil, some connections were strengthened, some movement work was furthered. We shall overcome someday.”

Amicus:

“Bruce, sometimes ‘agents’ are unnecessary. “When the enemy is set against and destroying itself, do NOT interfere!” -Sun Tzu-

Had L&D Organizers defended assaulted women at last year’s conference, they wouldn’t have had to confront the same issue (safety) this year. The organizers, even now, have condoned this kind of behavior by failing to condemn it. (or worse, applauding it) It is hardly the only @narchist venue where this happens, but the title of the event, ‘Law & Disorder’ makes it an inviting target for jokes at its expense. When the dogs of war/disorder are unleashed, no one is safe. This was pointed out by the women who were victimized/assaulted at last year’s conference. The L&D organizers ignored them and even thanked those who assaulted them. And now?–the scholarly author, Kristian Williams, the reputed epitome of NW @narchy himself cringes at the thought of being labeled a ‘snitch’ for the allegation of having anything to do with calling the police?…instead of focusing on the cancer within, a scenario that could have been lifted right out of the pages of his ‘The Politics Of Denunciation’? How pathetic. When the witch hunt arrived on Williams’ doorstep, he quailed. He opined the meeting could not be held under the circumstances. Bullsh*t! It could have been moved to a different room or the room itself could have been emptied, and a more selective process of who was admitted could have been implemented. Then Williams disingenuously reckons he canceled out of concern for the ‘safety’ of the protesters? Yeah?–and I’ve got a bridge to sell those who believe it.

This was known (open threats being posted on the internet by the perpetrators) for WEEKS before hand–yet NOTHING effective was done and NO plan B was in evidence. Yes, the L&D organizers worked very hard under difficult conditions and took on tremendous risks from a system that brooks no opposition…but they did a LOUSY job of planning for what they’d virtually been given a blueprint of–the disruption. What if the protesters had shown up with weapons?–and that’s been DONE, so it’s not beyond the pale. The organizers were clueless and inept despite their so called ‘safer space’ policy which consisted of little more than political purity checks. PSU itself is idiotic in assuming liability for this kind of chaos where, in the words of L&D organizers, rabble rousers are welcome. Sometimes you get what you wish for–as in this instance.”

Tennessee — Yet another reason all public officials should be filmed, especially the ones toting around a badge, appeared in the news. Imagine this father’s predicament if he hadn’t captured this encounter on video. The school’s security officer would have lied to his heart’s content while covering his ass in his official ‘report’. Most judges have never met a cop they didn’t like. But here, the public gets the opportunity to see the way the system tends to work in all is incompetent/corrupt glory. It’s also a classical example of why incompetence is as pernicious as corruption: the net results are the same!

A Tennessee man was arrested for arriving to pick his special needs kids up from school. The school wanted the parents to sign a form to allow their children to walk home “unsupervised.”

Naturally the parent questioned the safety of this new policy. He went to school and naively called the Sheriff’s department to voice his concern over the new policy, then one officer begins his power trip.

At one point the father cites the law which allows him to pick up his children when school is out. The officer then has the audacity to tell the father, “Yes, school is out you can pick up your child, but it doesn’t say when, now, does it?” “I’ll be damned if some bureaucrat on a power trip is going to tell me when I can and cannot have access to my children,” explained the father.

Soon after, the cop is made to look like the tyrant fool that he is. So, he does what all cops do when backed into a legal corner–arrests someone.

Shelton, WA @ Squaxin Tribal Event Center (Sunday, 5-11-14) — A great and ancient spirit Cedar tree fell in the forest May 5, 2014. Billy Franks Jr. was easily the best known NW Indian, the Nelson Mandella of his people and indigenous people across the face of America and Canada. An internationally recognized leader respected even by his enemies who once persecuted him for standing tall in the defense of the environment and his people’s ancestral treaty rights, he overcame the anger which must have gnawed at him after 59 arrests, jail, and even having his face pressed into the mud of the Nisqually under the boot of a Fish & Wildlife officer. Today, Senators, Congressmen, and Governor Inslee eulogized him. An American flag flown over this nation’s capital in his honor was presented to his son, Willy. There were songs, tears, drums, and oceans of respect as love for this legendary man from across the political spectrum by every race/ethnicity poured out in the crowded cavernous Squaxin event center attended by thousands. President Obama acknowledged Billy’s passing. The Governor had ordered the State flag to be flown at half mast on the capitol campus.

Yet, curiously, photojournalists were prohibited from bringing their cameras to the funeral billed as ‘public’ and of keen interest to Americans everywhere even with the promise no photos would be taken inside. One Island Enterprise employee graciously offered to hold the reporter’s camera equipment during the services in a ‘PRESS’ room with video feeds for the news people gathered there. This room was located in the Little Creek Casino’s hotel above the poker room. (One eulogy offered the observation the NW tribes were not only a ‘gaming’ people, but a fishing people.)

After trusting the white unnamed Squaxin employee with the camera and gear (more trust than the photojournalist was getting), an effort to enter the throng was made. The interior revealed a massive crowd spilling out into an outdoor overflow tent with large screen live monitors generously distributed inside and out. A number of commercial scale tripods and video cameras were noted in addition to the ones permanently mounted atop the pillars supporting the huge roof. Spotlights had been arranged to illuminate the podium. Flashes from the crowd testified to pictures being taken despite the official ban. It was learned the video being taken was being broadcast across the internet in a live stream/podcast format. The excuse the Frank family wanted no photos taken during the service began to seem thin.

Adding to the temporary confusion was one woman tagged as yet another employee who spotted the “PRESS” button worn. She averred the ‘family’ wanted no ‘press’. Recognizing the ‘press’ was inherently PART of the ‘public’, the reporter removed the button and stuck it in his pocket. “It’s too late,” she insisted, “I already saw it.” “Look, be reasonable,” he argued. Catching her momentarily blank expression, he thanked her and quickly disappeared into the crowd.

After taking in the breadth of the service, nervousness about the camera gear prompted this photojournalist to leave before the wooden casket was ushered into the black Cadillac hearse waiting outside in order to locate the ‘PRESS’ room where it was promised it would be safely held. (Google glass might have been just the ticket on this occasion.) Billy was to be taken to a local Indian Shaker Church cemetery for burial, but the decision to skip the grave side service and dinner later that evening was made given the official antipathy to independent press coverage. Still, it was noted the vehicle procession to the burial site was a long one…a very long one, generating a seldom seen traffic jam in rural Mason County.

A few helpful directions found the huge PRESS room with equally huge monitoring screens occupied by hundreds of vacant folding chairs except for two intrepid photojournalists from Seattle’s KOMO news. After introductions, stories were swapped regarding the event being covered. They allowed as how they had not been permitted to enter the building where the memorial services were being held, at least with their gear, which was large, heavy, and expensive. They’d chosen to stick with the gear rather than pursue the story. But, they’d been assigned as photojournalists, not gonzo journalists. When asked if the display monitors provided a resolution of broadcast quality (it wasn’t very good), they revealed they’d been instructed NOT to take photos of the displays either.

By this time, the removal of the casket from the hall was well underway and the KOMO guys (2) hoisted their gear accompanied by the Squaxin media minder to see what they’d be allowed to film now that the assembly had come outside. They were then told, upon arriving outside, they wouldn’t be allowed to photograph the procession either unless they did so OFF the casino property, which wasn’t much of a concession…in fact, it was no concession at all. The KOMO news team reacted very professionally and thanked their minder for his ‘help’ as they shook hands. They’d gotten NO footage, and by being chained to their gear, no story either other than what can be seen in the internet stream link above–which may be exactly the point!

This Billy Frank public funeral isn’t the first time an event signifying the end/beginning of an era has been ‘owned’/hi-jacked by those involved. Dr. Martin Luther King’s assassination, public speeches, and legacy comes to mind. The King family invoked copyright claims to his “I have a dream” speech, et ux, for decades. Out of respect for a great leader, a legend, a maker of history, and his bereaved, who was going to challenge such an assertion?–no one!

When questions arise that are difficult to answer or are not forthcoming, following ‘the money’ provides a reasonable answer 95% of the time. So it is here. Being the number 1 employer in Mason County gives Island Enterprise, the corporate arm of the Squaxins, a lot of clout. Having their operations under the protection of a sovereign such as the Squaxin tribal government doesn’t hurt either. The contradiction between what was glibly attributed to the Frank family’s desires and the actual photojournalism going on during the public memorial services for Billy Frank suggests something more–much more, and at the same time, something less.

Billy Frank Jr. was a hero, a spokesman, a leader, and a diplomat of the order of Nelson Mandela and Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.  But, he was not a wealthy man, nor is his family. He was a humble affable man whom the world came to embrace and love. That world would insist on acknowledging him en mass! To host such an event would be costly, an expense the Frank family was unable to sustain. But the Squaxins have always been superlative business people and Island Enterprise has done well in the gaming and hotel/event hosting business–extremely well. Two years ago, they spent over a million dollars hosting the Salish Sea canoe paddle on a building constructed singularly for that purpose then torn down. They graciously transported visitors to the tribal center to watch the week long ceremonies and hosted Indian tribal members from afar participating all the while. It was an awesome display of hospitality and solidarity. The Billy Frank public memorial service was no less so.

Still, the Squaxins are nothing if not shrewd business people. The best guess is they reached an agreement with the Frank family whereby they would receive exclusive rights to cover the event in return for sponsoring and paying for it–a considerable expense even for the Squaxins. In return, the tribe would benefit from the PR generated, both politically and economically. They would control the message and this would be a step to expand their event hosting business into the realm of the internet. Currently, the Little Creek Casino hosts major entertainers for a stiff admission fee. But an online presence opens up the possibility of charging a much reduced fee for subscribing to these events in the same way as, perhaps, a Netflix subscription, or online subscription to the newspaper of your choice. Billy Frank’s name is one that has immense political, social, economic, and PR value.

No, the thin pretext the Franks objected to news coverage at the public memorial service makes little sense given the number of large video cameras and lighting present. It makes much more sense Island Interprise wanted exclusive rights and the associated benefits which came with that. They wanted to ‘own’ the eulogies and love Billy Frank inspired. It was a pretty safe bet the expense would pay off in the long run–an expense the Squaxins were predisposed to make in any event, but had the advantage of a return in uncountable ways over time. When people thought of Billy Frank Jr., they would remember him though the lens Island Enterprise had held. His legacy would be ‘incorporated’ (as it were) into their business plan/strategy.

As for the memorial service itself, everyone who was anyone was there from every conceivable corner of the political, ethnic, and social spectrum. Senator Murray, Senator Cantwell, Governor Inslee, Norm Dicks, Dicks’ successor, anarchists, Zahid, his wife, Anne, ACAP (abolish cops & prisons) members, Marines, tribal leaders from every quarter, whites, blacks, reds, browns…they were all there. There was not enough time to allow for every notable/dignitary who wished to eulogize Billy. The relatively few who had such an opportunity revealed a Billy Frank given to affability, spontaneous explosions of well meant profanity, bear hugs, and overcoming great adversity, both personal as well as legal/political. He was a consummate diplomat, a keen judge of human nature and a sage. “People listen better if they believe you care about them,” he would say. He was also a father, grand father, and great grand father–a leader not only for his people, but for humanity as he staunchly defended the environment along with human rights. He was a man everyone could love and who even his enemies came to respect and embrace. Some present found common cause with native Americans in their struggle with an aggressively dominant federal government. Others recounted how Billy has been a U.S. Marine and, ironically, an MP during his service to this country. But Billy was also a member of the tribe (Nisqually) who had their Chief (Leshi) hung as a ‘criminal’ by Governor Stevens–a stain upon the history of Washington territory. Billy’s tribe had all their land appropriated except for 2 square miles out of the thousands of square miles which had been their home for countless generations. Of the 2 square miles left for them to ‘survive’ on, the U.S. Army though its surrogate, Pierce County, took half of that with the advent of WWI. It may have been no coincidence that Lakewood is the modern municipality within which the gallows for Chief Leschi once stood, where he was executed like a dog. Even U.S. Army commanders were appalled a man who lead his people against encroachments on their homeland would be dealt with in such a fashion–it was a violation of international prisoner of war protocol. Billy Frank came from a tribe forced to endure all this, overcame his anger at how his people and he, personally, had been treated to achieve a success no one could have predicted by virtue of his character, his forbearance, his leadership.

“I don’t believe in magic. I believe in the sun and the stars, the water, the tides, the floods, the owls, the hawks flying, the river running, the wind talking, They’re the measurements. They tell us how healthy things are. How Healthy we are. Because we and they are the same. That’s what I believe in.” -Billy Frank Jr.-

Billy’s family released some thoughts (Together In Heaven), they believe he must have for his many friends and admirers:

“My dearest friends and family, there are things I’d like to say; first of all, I’ll let you know I arrived here safe today. I am sending word from Heaven where I’ll dwell with God above; there are no tears and sorrow, there is only peace and love.

I had to leave you as my time on earth was through; loved ones waited for me just as I will wait for you. I missed them and am happy to be with them again. I want you all to know I’m here with family and friends.

God Gave me many tasks he wishes me to do; high up on the list is watching over all of you. Don’t think I do not hear you because I am out of sight; remember I am with you every morning, noon and night.

When your load gets heavy, don’t cry too many tears; then I can whisper to you what you will need to hear. I always will be near you to guide you through each day; remember when you need me I am just a thought away.

Our love will build a highway and our memories a lane; I’ll walk right down from Heaven and be with you again. Remember, when you miss me and I am on your mind; although you will not see me, I’ll be just a step behind.

When your life on Earth is over, and your soul is finally free; believe me when I tell you, you’ll be coming home with me.”

Outside the Billy Frank Jr. Public Memorial Service

Mourners Celebrating Billy Frank Jr.’s Life at his Public Memorial Service, courtesy of the Squaxin Tribe

Place of birth:  Nisqually River, Frank’s Landing

Date of birth:  March 9, 1931 – Date of death: May 5, 2014

Burial Site: Indian Shaker Church cemetary (Mason County, WA)

Preceded in death by: 1st & 2nd wives, Norma and Sue Crystal; by his daughter, Maureen; by his parents, Willie Senior and Angeline.

Surviving family:  3 sons, Tobin “Sugar”, Tanu, and Willie Frank.

Pall Bearers:  Neugie Kautz, Richard Trudell, Charles Wilkinson, Tobin “Sugar” Frank, Bucky Johns, Danny McGee, Reuben Wells, Joe Symonete, George Walters

FUNERAL SERVICES PROGRAM

Billy Frank Jr.: March 9, 1931 – May 5, 2014

OPENING CEREMONY

Indian Shaker Church – Ministert Dennis Anderson

Services Coordinator – Robert Whitener (Squaxin Island) Introduction & Messages & Transitions

Color Guard – Posting the Colors

Reading from Ecclesiastics: A Time for Everything – Pastor Tandyy Charley (Quinnault)

TESTIMONIALS & REMEMBRANCES

U.S. Representative Norm Dicks

Quinault Indian Nation President Fawn Sharp

Author-Attorney Charles Wilkinson

Attorney Patricia Zell

Attorney Thomas P Keefe, Jr.

Squaxin Island Tribe Chairman David Loperman

First Alaskans & AFN – Willie Hensley

NCAI President Brian Cladoosby

U.S. Senator Patty Murray

U.S. Senator Maria Cantwell

Attorney Richard Trudell (Santee Sioux)

Governor Jay Inslee

NWIFC Vice-Chair Lorraine Loomis (Swinomish)

Attorney Keith Harper (Cherokee)

State Senator John McCoy (Tulalip)

U.S. Representative Denny Heck

NWIFC Treasurer Ed Johnstone (Quinnault)

Tulalip Tribes Treasurer Glen Gobin

Scott Aiken of the Potowatamie Tribe from Kansas

Stillaguamish Tribe Chairman Shawn Yanity

Makah Tribe Chairman T. J. Green/NWIFC Justin Parker

12:45 – 1:00 PM

Indian Shaker Church – Minister Dennis Anderson

Shaker Closing & Removal of Casket from Event Center to Procession

1:15 PM Event Center

Singer Ray McCloud, Jr.

Prayer & Remembrance – Pastor Tandy Charley (Quinault)

Carry-Over Speakers

Indian Student Singers – Jeremiah George

Lummi Nation Singers

Color Guard – Retiring the Colors

GRAVE SITE SERVICES

2:00 PM

Indian Shaker Church Ceremony – Minister Dennis Anderson

Prayer Song – Frank Eaglespeaker

U.S. Marine Corps Flag Cover & Folding, 21-gun salute, Taps

Indian Shaker Church Ceremony – Minister Dennis Anderson

Lowering and Closing of the Grave

3:00 PM

Return to Event Center

DINNER AT EVENT CENTER

4:00 – 4:30 PM, Begin

Robert Whitener

U.S. Representative Derek Kilmer

Singers (Limited)

Other Dignitary Speakers

Presentations & Thanks

CLOSING CEREMONIES

Indian Shaker Church – Minister Dennis Anderson

Many Tribal Members Attended Billy’s Public Memorial Service

Photos were taken inside & outside the Billy Frank Public Memorial Service.

Shelton, WA (4-30-14) — Larry Ray Gillette, 53, a recently released convicted felon who had served a long stretch in Washington’s prison, was angry, wanted to get even, and was desperate. It’s not easy for an applicant with a criminal history to find employment. Larry wasn’t about to try. After hitting the streets only days earlier he contributed to his own undoing by stupidly taking the bait in a multi-agency coordinated sting operation hook, line, and sinker.

The  FBI had been tracking Larry for some time as his release date loomed. Larry had been talking, sharing his plans for his release with a cell mate. Larry imagined bombing a crowded Shelton Wal-Mart parking lot (along with 2 local gas stations) as a distraction so he could rob several banks on the opposite side of town, killing as many people during the heists as possible he said. It isn’t known whether the jail house snitch received a reduction in his own sentence for ratting Larry out, but that’s often the motivation for such cooperation with the authorities. The people of Shelton may possibly owe the snitch a debt of gratitude, it’s speculative.

What’s uncertain is whether Larry could have actually found a man, minus the government intrigue, who would have done Gillette’s bidding by finding explosives (including propane canisters, timing device, a box van-bomb loaded and ready to detonate, 4 Glock high powered hand guns, and a partner willing to accept only 50% of the loot for all this preparation. It wasn’t real, of course. The accomplice turned out to be an FBI agent, the firing pins in the hand guns had been emasculated, the bombs were fake–the van was real. No doubt, the agent would have produced a convincing mock-up of a missile if Larry had asked for one.

The day of Larry’s planned mass murder arrived. So did the van with its compliment of bogus bombs, timer, harmless handguns, and a veritable army of law enforcement agencies waiting for none other than Mr. Gillette to show. “Are you sure you want to do this?” the agent had asked Larry several times. Oh, yeah–Larry wanted to do it. There was all that money to be had and who knew how high the body count might go–payment for the years Larry had spent behind bars for his crimes.

As soon as Larry took possession of the van, set the fake timer, and walked away from it in Shelton’s Wal-Mart parking lot, the law enforcement agents swooped, en mass, on Larry and took him into custody without incident. Larry couldn’t have gotten a shot off if he’d tried. The weapons furnished to him were about as lethal as a kid’s cap pistol. Why anyone would dream such an armory and ready-to-deliver van-bomb would be available like a load of lumber from a hardware store may be evidence Larry’s long prison term had already turned his mind to jelly. Delusional?–or criminal?…perhaps both!

Larry was taken & delivered to the federal lock up for such miscreants at the correction complex in SeaTac. It’s doubtful he was allowed with the general population of prisoners held there. He faced up to 30 years if convicted for solicitation to commit a crime(s) of violence (murder), unlawful possession of a (dysfunctional) firearm by a felon, as well as plotting to use weapons of mass destruction–and it’s likely he would have been.

Larry bailed. He used his get out of jail free card. Mr. Gilllette was found, dead, in his prison cell (4-30-14) 2 days after his aborted attempt to kill as many Shelton residents as possible, planning on robbing 3 area banks in the process. Sheriff Casey basked in the media limelight, taking much of the credit although it was the feds who did almost all the heavy lifting.

Larry was transported to a medical center where he was pronounced DOA at  5:37 pm. The FBI is investigating the death as an apparent suicide. No fowls are suspected.

Though not for Larry, this story had a happy ending for Shelton area residents. No one was hurt, the suspect was taken into custody, and any other wannabe mass murderers planning on killing folks in these parts have some bedtime reading to contemplate. It doesn’t make us all that much safer, of course, but it makes us feel much better than if Larry had succeeded with even a sliver of his ill conceived plans. Good job…or good enough, you tin horned rumpkins. Now go find some miscreant a little more challenging than a brain addled thug with delusions of grandeur–like a few of the more violently inclined area anarchists who give each other pep talks on a regular basis at our colleges and universities.

by Andrew Meyer of PINAC

Chicago, IL (5-6-14) — “I’m gonna erase the memory card.”

A security guard for Acme Refining in Chicago followed through on this threat, and deleted two days’ worth of Benn Jordan’s photography.

Jordan was taking landscape photos from a public area of the South Side of Chicago when security guards rolled up on him and started getting physical.

In the video Jordan posted to YouTube called, “This crap is why I can’t make a timelapse landscape of Chicago,” you can see part of Jordan’s encounter, as Acme’s overly aggressive security guard pushes the camera phone Jordan used to film the altercation.

The security guard seizes Jordan’s camera, claiming he was on private property while threatening to call the cops, insinuating Jordan had criminal intentions. Similar to the staff at an Illinois refinery who recently tried to have a photographer arrested, this security guard seems to be treating photography as a form of terrorism.

Jordan said the aggression took place before he was able to turn on his camera phone.

“I wish I could get to my phone sooner when they initially approached me, as I definitely have grounds for assault,” Jordan said.

In the YouTube video description, Jordan says Acme has resolved the situation, and is meeting with them to get his damaged equipment replaced.

If Jordan decides to file a lawsuit for assault, battery, and destruction of property – as he legally could – Acme will learn, as all businesses should, to be careful when hiring security guards because a lawsuit can end up costing more than a security guard would ever save.

Legally, security guards do not have the right to delete photographs. And they can only ask trespassers – which Jordan wasn’t as he was standing on the sidewalk – to leave the property or have them arrested. Even a police officer cannot legally delete a person’s photos as spelled out by the U.S. Dept. of Justice in this document.

A final note on this story – Benn Jordan also happens to be an accomplished musician. Maybe this incident will inspire a song on the right to take pictures.

by Carlos Miller of PINAC

Dearborn, MI (5-8-14) — A disturbing dash cam video shows a group of Michigan police officers pouncing on a mentally ill man who was doing nothing more than standing on a residential street trying to fix his bicycle chain.

The first Dearborn cop pulls up, steps out of the car and begins donning gloves – a usual indicator he is about to get physical.

And sure enough he does, insisting on patting Ali Baydoun down for weapons, even though he was not doing anything that would have given the cop a reasonable suspicion that he had or was about to commit a crime.

If anything, the cop should have had a reasonable suspicion that Baydoum was mentally ill and was possibly not understanding the situation.

But recognizing and working with mentally ill citizens has never been a priority for police departments in this country where the general attitude is escalate the aggression until the mentally ill man is either dead or incarcerated.

In this case, Baydoun was transported to a hospital for injuries sustained during the beat down but was never taken to jail or charged with a crime.

And, of course, the officers were never charged with a crime either, which is why his family is filing a lawsuit today over the incident that took place in December.

From a Youtube commentator:

Kyle Howell

by Carlos Miller of PINAC

Nassau County, NY (5-8-14) — Last January, Kyle Howell was pulled over by Nassau County police in New York and pulled out his phone to record the stop, only to get threatened with violence if he dared do it again.

Last month, he was pulled over again by the same officer, boldly pulling out his phone to record the stop despite the previous threat – only for the cop and another cop to make good on the threat by viciously beating him in a violent rage.

The cops prevented him from recording the arrest, enabling them to conjure a story that they were the ones attacked in a “violent struggle” that sent them to the hospital for treatment, justifying felony charges against the 20-year-old man who had only been pulled over for a cracked windshield.

But then a surveillance video emerged showing that the cops were the aggressors. And now his family is planning on suing.

According to Newsday:

A lawyer for Howell filed a legal claim against the county Monday seeking unspecified damages.

Howell said he didn’t put up a fight but suffered a broken nose, bone fractures near both eyes and facial nerve damage.

After Howell’s release on $10,000 bond following a hospital arraignment, he and his father got a video from a store security camera that captured his police encounter, according to his family. Howell said he also started recording on his cellphone before the officers came up to his car. He said police began beating him after one officer took away his phone. Howell said the same officer had warned him during a January traffic stop not to record him again.

“He said ‘The next time you record me I will use physical force to stop you,’ ” Howell said.

He recalled getting a knee to his face, being hit repeatedly in the head and hearing police telling him to spit something out.

He said he was only chewing gum, didn’t have any drugs, and didn’t hit the police back.

Attorney Amy Marion filed the notice of claim with the county Monday claiming Howell was the victim of false arrest, excessive police force, and deprived of his civil rights, including by Nassau University Medical Center employees who concealed illegal police behavior.

Howell, who may be left with permanent vision problems, was charged with assaulting the cops, tampering with physical evidence and resisting arrest.

As ironic as it is, the tampering with evidence charge stems from the allegation that Howell had been trying to eat marijuana police had found in his car.

He insists he was only chewing gum.

This is what he told CBS:

“I remember getting a knee to my face and after that, I don’t really remember much. I was hit in the head so many times,” Howell said. “They were telling me to spit something out of my mouth.”

“They came out of the car, I gave them my information, they opened up the door and my paycheck started to fly out the door. I went to go reach and the next thing you know, I got a knee to the face. And then the next thing I remember, I was in the hospital,” he said.

The officers, Vincent Logiudice and Basil Gomez, have been placed on “modified duty where they don’t have contact with the public and can’t earn overtime pending the outcome of the internal affairs probe,” but judging by their salaries, they will probably survive without having to milk the taxpayers for more overtime dollars.

Records show Logiudice joined the police force in 2007 and earns $145,900 a year, and Gomez joined the department in 2005 and earns an annual salary of $160,867.

In 2008, internal affairs probed an alleged beating incident after a complaint involving an officer named Basil Gomez, but a police spokesman said Monday the law kept him from disclosing the outcome.

But you know they would have released the outcome of that investigation had he been cleared of any wrongdoing.

Check out the surveillance video below.

by Carlos Miller of PINAC

Knox County, Tennessee (5-9-14) — Knox County sheriff’s deputies thought they had it under control when they arrested a college student for trying to video record them breaking up a block party last month.

But they didn’t realize a professional photographer was standing about 70 feet away on the stairs of an apartment building, partially obscured by a tree, snapping away with his Canon DSLRs as a deputy squeezed the neck of a handcuffed student until he lost consciousness while two other deputies calmly looked on.

John Messner ended up selling his photos to the Daily Mail (as well as licensing them to PINAC), which led to the immediate firing of deputy Frank Phillips and the suspension of the other two deputies, Ronald Chaperon Jr. and Brandon Gilliam.

But while Messner’s photos and the accompanying story ended up going viral, not much attention was paid to University of Tennessee student Jacob Shelton who was arrested for video recording the aggressiveness of deputies that night.

In fact, the 23-year-old electric engineer major ended up accepting a plea deal where he was forced to shell out $300 as well as agree to eight hours of community service.

According to the Knoxville News-Sentinel, who don’t allow you to read their article unless you agree to a monthly subscription:

Shelton said he grew alarmed when officers began arresting fellow partygoers whose crimes were not apparent to him, so he whipped out his cellphone and started videoing the arrests.

“I had just seen multiple people arrested that shouldn’t have been,” he said. “I thought if I started videoing, it would save me from the same thing. That didn’t work out so well.”

“It was bogus,” the 23-year-old electrical engineering major said of the obstructing a sidewalk charge lodged against him during a massive block party in Fort Sanders on April 26.

But Jacob Shelton said Tuesday he saw little choice but to accept a plea deal offered in Knox County General Sessions Court. He tried, he said, to lawfully fight the law — and lost.

“I just want to distance myself from this whole thing,” Shelton said in an interview with the News Sentinel.

Shelton was among as many as 11 students arrested on charges ranging from public intoxication to obstructing a sidewalk to disorderly conduct to resisting arrest during a block party that drew at least 800 students and more than 60 law enforcers.

I reached out to a Univerity of Tennessee student named Jake Shelton on Facebook for an interview, but he never responded. I also couldn’t find any video online of his arrest, if he did post it, but there are several photos and videos on this Twitter feedfrom the block party.

Meanwhile, Knox County Sheriff J.J. Jones, who wasted no time in firing Phillips after the photos emerged, was reelected in a primary election this week.

And Onslow County Sheriff Ed Brown, who went easy on his deputy after trying to ignore a viral video that showed her snatching two camera photos from citizens, was soundly defeated in a primary election this week – a huge upset after 24 years on the job.

So perhaps the voters are becoming more demanding of the their local law enforcement leadership.

We’ll see how they respond if Jones decides to rehire Phillips, which is a common practice among law enforcement agencies once the media hype wears down.

Messner compiled 60 photos of the choking incident in a time-lapse video below.

On April 27, 2014 a large party spilled into the streets of the Fort Sanders neighborhood in Knoxville, TN. A dozen people were arrested, this is one of them. This a 60 frame time lapse video of that arrest.

Olympia, WA (5-10-14) — Last year, Law & Disorder (L&D), an anarchist ‘organization’, held a conference at Portland State University (PSU). During the 2 day event consisting of lectures, workshops, and tabling by assorted r@dical groups, 2 women from Deep Green Resistance (DGR), a fundamentally extreme environmental collective (which also includes r@dical feminists who do not believe transgender women (men) are truly men, but are persons still tainted by being born male along with the presumed white male privilege of patriarchy in the U.S.) were assaulted by 2 men for tabling literature from DGR. The men found the literature obnoxious because DGR refuses to accept gender benders as ‘women’ in its circle.  Once a man, always a man seems to be DGR’s mantra. What that has to do with the environment, their main draw, is anybody’s guess.

The ‘men’ not only assaulted the 2 DGR women, but defaced their literature. None of the men (there were many) who witnessed this incident did anything to defend the women being attacked. In fact, no one did, not even the organizers, either during the incident or after–just the opposite. They rewarded the assailants by lionizing them and condoning their actions. One man who did try to speak up for the 2 victims had food and trash hurled at his head. Nor did he receive any assistance or an apology from the organizers.

The following excerpt dealing with the incident was taken from L&D’s blog (http://lawandisorder.wordpress.com/inclusivity), their version of a ‘safer space’ policy. Of course, it’s nothing of the kind, just the opposite. Rather than remedying a dangerous environment by defending the civil rights of all attendees, the organizers head in the opposite direction, digging the hole they find themselves in deeper. But, the Greeks once believed when the gods want to punish us, they grant our wishes. This year finds the L&D Conference neck deep in controversy for hosting Kristian Williams, a renowned and prolific author, scholar, as well as self described anarchist. Williams is well researched and above all, rational to a fault. His logic is not buried in academic/theoretical jargon, nor histrionics or emotional hysteria, but makes sense even to the untutored. It is serenely persuasive.

Williams published an essay, “The Politics Of Denunciation” which some r@dical feminists in Portland took exception to for suggesting, as it did, that serious allegations should bear up under serious scrutiny rather than being universally accepted within the ‘movement’ at face value. This set off a storm of howls from some r@dical feminists and gender benders who took the most extreme umbrage a man they characterized (“smeared” many said) as a ‘rape apologist’ and who had egregiously injured ‘survivors’ by challenging their assertion their word should be accepted without question–always–was to be given space on a panel to share his insights. A little research revealed the root of the firestorm wasn’t rooted in “principle” so much as in personal angst and an agenda stemming from one party in particular feeling ostracized by some ancillary r@dical groups who had chosen to align themselves with the man ‘Carol Crow’ (her online name) had called out. The two erstwhile friends were now antagonists and onlookers were choosing sides.

All of the above is predictable when certain people try to make what purports to be a political movement their social outlet. It has, in fact, become more of a ‘scene’ than a movement as a result. What wasn’t as predictable (except by Kristian Williams) was how the L&D Conference itself would be labeled/tagged as a ‘rape apologist’ for refusing to disavow and deny Williams as it has done with DGR. Though Williams has never apologized for any rape or rapist, he did make penetrating observations about how a friend of his was literally shouted down at a public meeting when she attempted to bring some sanity to the impasse regarding how the internal accountability process of the group had been hijacked.

It was enough to make the harpies explode with anger, threatening to disrupt the 2014 L&D Conference and make Kristian Williams’ presence “Hell” for him and the organizers for hosting him at all. It was a script for a play instead of an essay if Williams had chosen to write “The Politics Of Denunciation” that way. Was life imitating ‘art’ or had Williams hit a nerve?

The L&D organizers, for their part, continued to feed the dogs of war raw meat. Their blog throws down the following gauntlet:

INCLUSIVITY [‘Safer Space’ Much?]

The Law & Disorder (L&D) Collective is taking steps to rectify the concerns that people have regarding the Deep Green Resistance (DGR) incident from our fourth conference last year in 2013. There is also contention that the Queer Students of Color Conference is taking place at PSU on the exact same days as this years 5th Annual Law & Disorder Conference May 9-11th 2014. Below is a list of things that we are doing to make the conference a safer space. Please feel free to e-mail us with questions, concerns as well as constructive ideas as to how we can make the conference more inclusive and a safer space: lawandisorder@gmail.com

1) DGR and any of its members from any chapter are not welcome at the Law & Disorder Conference in any capacity. In fact the PDX chapter self imploded due to the efforts of many courageous conference goers in 2013 and we are thankful for that. We are now requiring all persons, organizations, movements and collectives to register for tabling on our website to make sure that they are in line with our politics and Safer Space Policy. L&D has been in contact with the Queer Resource Center (QRC) since October 2013 regarding the coincidental and unintentional overlap with the two conferences. L&D has extended our resources to promote the Queer Students of Color Conference including outreach as well as space (rooms). We are intentionally not scheduling overlapping keynotes where possible.

The QRC has issued a public statement about this and can be seen here:https://www.facebook.com/QSOCC/posts/667688449964835

2) Folks have brought up issues related to the lack of gender neutral bathrooms and we are also looking into this under guidance of the QRC. There will be clearly posted maps of campus that have gender neutral bathrooms. It has not been a priority and has gone overlooked in the past. For this we sincerely apologize. We understand that using the bathroom is a human need, and human needs aren’t met if there’s not a place for people to safely use a bathroom.

3) We continue to have persons presenting on LGBTIQQAA issues and topics this year such as, but not limited to PFLAG who have participated and attended in the past. We are currently looking back over and revising our safer space policy and asking folks to help review/edit it. There is a link on our website that has the updated versions of the safer space policy as we are in process of revising and finalizing. A collective member is in the process of meeting with Portland queer and trans* community members to get feedback about the conference.

4) People want to know why it took a week for a statement to be released about the DGR incident. The only reason is organizational capacity. In other words the collective had to check in about what happened and drafted a solid collective statement as soon as possible. We apologize in the delay of releasing that statement but we did try to get it out as soon as we could. We also understand that people are unsatisfied with the statement and we apologize for this too and are attempting to take steps to rectify the situation. It is clear that there was not much action taken by L&D that are in-line with our safer space policy. And the conference organizers did not ask DGR to leave and so attendees felt unsafe, therefore many courageous attendees forced DGR to leave. Simultaneously L&D members started to become better informed of the issues by those attendees who took it upon themselves to kick them out and for that we are thankful.

5) L&D had issued a statement that was posted on our website within a week of the incident taking place. Please read below for the full statement. Issued in April 2013 after the 4th Annual Law & Disorder Conference: “The members of the organizing committee for this years 4th Annual Law & Disorder Conference 2013 would like to address matters regarding the conflict between members of Deep Green Resistance Portland (DGR-PDX) and other attendees/participants. Members of the L&D steering committee were unfamiliar with DGRs staunch transphobic tendencies. In the past few conferences we have not monitored our tabling but simply left out tables for people to set up in good hopes that we would not have discriminatory groups and that we would generally monitor for that as well as taking direction from our attendees. Whereas we had this problem this year with DGR-PDX we will not allow DGR-PDX to attend and will now monitor all tabling and will require all groups to sign up for tabling with registration where we can have groups commit to our updated safer space policy which will be up on our website soon! (lawandisorer.wordpress.com) We want to thank all members of the community that have informed and enlightened us as to DGR’s role in promoting transphobia as well as schooling us in proper sensitivity to LGBTIQQAA issues in general!! We deeply apologize to all that were triggered by DGR’s presence as well as demonstrations of hyper-masculine behaviors. ACCOUNTABILITY STATEMENT: Members of the L&D conference organizing committee hold ourselves accountable for allowing DGR to table at this years conference and denounce all statements and acts of transphobia taken on by DGR. A member of our steering committee was familiar with one of the members and had said that it was okay for them to table only with good intentions to allow a local group to share ideas about environmental activism not knowing of their rampant transphobia. All members of our collective were unaware of the rampant transphobia demonstrated by DGR and we denounce this. We will also update our safer space policy to be more fined tuned and specific to the role of discriminatory groups. We would like to use this conflict as an opportunity to create dialogue about transphobia as well as other marginalized groups! INTERVENTIONS: The group will meet several different times to discuss and complete the various steps of interventions that we would like to take. Firstly we are offering this public statement holding ourselves accountable. Secondly, we will not have DGR table or participate at future L&D events. Thirdly we will plan a public event to discuss issues of transphobia in the movement inspired by conversations ignited by last weekends conflicts. Lastly we will continue these conversations among ourselves so we can continue to fine-tune the absence of discriminatory groups and behaviors at future events in the community as well as next years conference in 2014 and beyond! FOR TOTAL LIBERATION! FREE ALL POLITICAL PRISONERS! FIRE TO THE PRISONS! & FREE THE LAND!! In solidarity, 2013 Law & Disorder Conference Steering Committee”

[The following comment was made on L&D’s blog in response to the above, but is posted here given the extreme censorship evident in this group’s practice and policies:]

COMMENT

While you’re ‘fine tuning’, what are you doing to preserve the civil rights and physical safety of ALL attendees? Frankly, it looks like L&D was liable for the assault on the women last year and would be liable for similar assaults (having taken no real responsibility or made no real effort to prevent such assaults) this year (2014). Threats to disrupt this year’s L&D Conference for including Kristian Williams as a panelist is an example. The L&D Conference is about as ‘safe’ as a dark alley in NYC…and for many of the same reasons.

You might want to mark these words: This is the kind of dysfunctional organizing that has historically lead to violence and death. Malcom X, Trotsky, Mao’s purges, snitch hunts (to name just a few), and the easily anticipated violence associated with the same, physical attacks on journalists, vilifying others with different thoughts, all come to mind. You’re assurance of a ‘safer space’ based on conflating ideological purity with the actual means in place to preserve people’s physical safety is ridiculous on its face. You can’t even provide for your own safety or prevent the L&D Conference from being disrupted. In fact, your methodology invites such disruption.

While you refused to cave (so far as I know) on having Kristian Williams speak at the 2014 L&D Conference, his critique, “The Politics of Denunciation” could easily have had pronouncements here, such as yours, in mind. It isn’t the lack of ideological purity that puts attendees ‘safety’ at risk during the L&D Conference, it’s YOU!