The dark side of the new military authorization bill

Glenn Greenwald spells out the concerns we should all have with the new military authorization bill (2012 National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA)), well on its way to passage:

Here are the bill’s three most important provisions:
(1) mandates that all accused Terrorists be indefinitely imprisoned by the military rather than in the civilian court system; it also unquestionably permits (but does not mandate) that even U.S. citizens on U.S. soil accused of Terrorism be held by the military rather than charged in the civilian court system (Sec. 1032); (2) renews the 2001 Authorization to Use Military Force (AUMF) with more expansive language: to allow force (and military detention) against not only those who perpetrated the 9/11 attacks and countries which harbored them, but also anyone who “substantially supports” Al Qaeda, the Taliban or “associated forces” (Sec. 1031); and, (3) imposes new restrictions on the U.S. Government’s ability to transfer detainees out of Guantanamo (Secs. 1033-35).
There are several very revealing aspects to all of this. First, the 9/11 attack happened more than a decade ago; Osama bin Laden is dead; the U.S. Government claims it has killed virtually all of Al Qaeda’s leadership and the group is “operationally ineffective” in the Afghan-Pakistan region; and many commentators insisted that these developments would mean that the War on Terror would finally begin to recede. And yet here we have the Congress, on a fully bipartisan basis, acting not only to re-affirm the war but to expand it even further: by formally declaring that the entire world (including the U.S.) is a battlefield and the war will essentially go on forever.

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Inventor says police are abusing weapons-grade pepper spray

From Democracy Now:

We speak with Kamran Loghman, the expert who developed weapons-grade pepper-spray, who says he was shocked at how police have used the chemical agent on non-violent Occupy Wall Street protesters nationwide — including students at University of California, Davis, female protesters in New York City, and an 84-year old activist in Seattle. “I saw it and the first thing that came to my mind wasn’t police or students, it was my own children sitting down having an opinion and they’re being shot and forced by chemical agents,” says Loghman, who in the 1980s helped the FBI develop weapons-grade pepper -spray, and collaborated with police departments to develop guidelines for its use. “The use was just absolutely out of the ordinary and it was not in accordance with any training or policy of any department that I know of. I personally certified 4,000 police officers in the early ‘80s and ‘90s and I have never seen this before. That’s why I was shocked... I feel is my civic duty to explain to the public that this is not what pepper spray was developed for.”

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Occupy the Moment is on the air

A few weeks ago, I covered an event by the St. Louis Occupy protest, interviewing many of the protesters. One of these protesters (named "Matt") has (along with "Mark") created a website called Occupy the Moment, which is "Podcasting in solidarity with Occupy Wall Street." I just finished listening to the Episode 3 podcast (more than an hour in length), and was encouraged to hear extensive intelligent, well-informed and self-critical analysis regarding Occupy protests, both in St. Louis and nationwide.  The first 40-minutes of Episode 3 concerned the Occupy movement. Listening to this podcast, I heard that some protesters are charging that at least some St. Louis police officers are obscuring the names on their badges or even displaying false names. The hosts do recognize that the St. Louis Police Department has generally shown admirable restraint regarding the St. Louis protesters. From the same podcast I also learned that last week the Manhattan police (apparently illegally) seized a Wikileaks donation truck.  I've heard that J.P. Morgan/Chase donated more than $4 Million to the New York Police Department shortly before the Department evicted protesters from Zucotti Park. I heard the hosts discuss other substantial collaborations between large corporations and law enforcement. The hosts also commented at length on the recent and obviously coordinated simultaneous evictions of protesters nationwide. Matt and Mark voice many well-considered opinions regarding the motives and methods of the Occupy protests and the oftentimes disappointing response to these protests by law enforcement agencies and the national media.  The podcast covers issues raised by particular Occupy protests in many locations across the country.   Once they finish discussing the Occupy movement, the hosts moved on to discuss other issues, including hot issues regarding intellectual property. Based on Podcast 3, I plan to periodically return to Occupy the Moment to hear further insights regarding the Occupy movement, in St. Louis and beyond.

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The ways in which First Amendment expression is morphing into “disorderly conduct”

In his article published at The Atlantic, Alexis Madrigal urges us to refrain from villainizing police officer John Pike and, instead, consider that his actions an illustration of change in the systematic police plan for responding to protest movements.

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