WWRFKD

Edit, 9AM 2 Sept.: looks like BoingBoing reported on the same story about half an hour after I made this post. Apologies if you read it twice.

There is very disturbing news coming out of the RNC that you should be made aware of. Police with assault weapons are invading homes and rounding up “potential rioters” using a never-challenged and almost certainly Unconstitutional statute. I leave more detailed analysis to those with more experience, though my few weeks in Criminal Law would certainly point me towards that conclusion.

I can do it no justice, and am a bit too fired up to serve objective opinion. Read Glenn Greenwald’s articles here, here, and here. Coldsnaplegal’s Twitter page is bringing minute-to-minute updates of police, FBI, and National Guard movements and activity. See also their official blog. Naturally, the Constitutionality of the law will not be sufficiently challenged until after these people are detained (conveniently, through the Sunday, Labor Day Monday, and no doubt well into the RNC week) and likely released with charges dropped. This is revolting. It is disgusting. It is everything we say we are not as a country when we look at the police states overseas. And it warrants immediate and full attention. Sarah Palin’s 17-year old daughter can wait.

Democracy Now‘s Amy Goodman was arrested, and according to ColdSnap, later released. Video of her arrest can be seen here:

Further, very distressing video taken by Greenwald and Firedoglake‘s Jane Hamsher interviewing those who were detained in a house raid.

Earlier this evening my father reminded me of a famous confrontation between Robert F. Kennedy (post-Attorney General, while a Senator) and the Sheriff of Kern County, California on a similar circumstance. The sheriff had recently arrested several people under a “conspiracy to riot” charge during the very famous “Huelga” grape-pickers strike. During a press conference surrounding a formal enquiry from RFK’s Congressional committee, he brought up precisely what’s on the minds of all of us tonight.

The transcript of that exchange, courtesy of Paradigm Productions:

Sheriff: Well, if we have reason to believe there’s going to be a riot started, somebody tells me there’s going to be trouble if you don’t stop them, then its my duty to stop them.

RFK: You go out there and arrest them?

Sheriff: Absolutely.

RFK: Who told you that they were going to riot?

Sheriff: The men right out in the field that they were talking to said if you don’t get them out of here we’re going to cut their hearts out. So rather than letting them get cut you remove the cause.

RFK: This is a most interesting concept, I think, that you suddenly hear talk about that somebody makes a report about somebody’s going to get out of order, perhaps violate the law, and you go in and arrest them, and they haven’t done anything wrong. How do you go arrest somebody if they haven’t violated the law?

Sheriff: They are ready to violate the law,in other words… just like these labor people out here…

RFK: Could I suggest in the interim period of time, in the luncheon period of time, that the sheriff and the district attorney read the Constitution of the United States.

A YouTube-posted documentary shows part of that exchange:

I suggest, in the overnight here in DC and out there in Minnesota, that the sheriff of Hennepin County read the Constitution of the United States.