S.1 was a bill introduced into the United State Senate again and again during the 1970s and 1980s, which provided the government with extraordinary powers to investigate, arrest, detain, and prosecute individuals who were vaguely suspected of working against the government. It was a bill that grew every year like fungus from the fertile manure of fear and hatred manufactured by those who controlled most of the resources in the United States and who wanted to make sure that this did not change. Every year the bill would sprout, like the first whiff of mildew you encounter when you revisit a home closed for a period of time, on the restart of Senate business. It was called S.1 because it was the first bill the right wing (mostly Republicans but some Democrats) would introduce into the senate at the start of the season. And of course, it smelled much worse than mildew.

Ted Kennedy and the other liberals, including moderate and liberal Republicans (yes, in those days there were quite a few liberal Republicans), would hurriedly squash the annoying and embarrassing bill, and normal Senate business would continue. Eventually, the yahoos stopped introducing the bill. But it didn’t go away. It did what fungus does. It stayed hidden in the ground, out of sight, invisibly growing and refining and waiting until the right conditions above ground came to be. Hijacked airliners flown into civilian and military targets by crazed fundamentalist Muslims on September 11th, 2001 produced those conditions, and S.1 was introduced again and passed.

You know of it as the Patriot Act.

And many states enacted their own versions of the same bill, and the society we live in now has this as one of its properties: criminal “justice” agencies and police forces around the country have ample funding, legal basis, and legislative and executive encouragement to directly repress individuals and groups who might disagree with the government. They can use spying, coordinated dissemination of illegally obtained information, harassment, home invasion, falsification of evidence, physical intimidation, arrest, and prosecution.

I hope you understand the great irony of all this, which I shall only mention once before moving on. The right wing and libertarian gun nuts and yahoos (and apparently everybody who lives in Texas and Florida) have been fighting all their lives to keep the government from having these very powers, but they did so by using only one, single utterly ineffective tactic: guaranteeing that they (the yahoos) would have the right to bear arms. All other tactics to minimize the ability of the government to control and repress protest, disruption, or even shouting in frustration or producing subversive art were ignored. As a result, the right to bear arms as a means of keeping the government under some sort of control in the political and social arena has been obviated by the Patriot Act. And the Patriot Act exists (here comes the irony) because George W. Bush stole one presidential election and lied his way past another. He was voted and then kept in office by the aforementioned yahoos, Texans, and Floridians. Thus proving that the yahoos and gun nuts are, by and large, morons.

~ ~ ~

I know some people. These people are between 20 and 30 years of age. They dress as postmodern hippies. They are smart and well educated. They are critical thinkers (except about certain things, depending on the individual), and they tend to be activists. They ride bikes, not cars; they eat more organic and less processed; if they smoke, they prefer Indian tobacco; they make zines and volunteer their time for good works; they tend to be atheists; and they hang out in coffee shops. They live all over the place, but most of the ones I know live in South Minneapolis, where they represent the third generation of political activists grown up in this more-radical-than-most-people-realize city. Their parents were all about Hubert Humphrey and Anti Viet Nam, the Utne Reader and the Mother Earth Catalog, Radical Theater and holding the line at the second Red Barn in Dinkytown.

They are the aging youth of a liberal city and I know them (well, some of them) because they found out that I was teaching radical ideas that interested them, so they came to gawk and sometimes talk, and to introduce themselves to me, in some cases to become my dear friends, and sometimes to tell me to fuck off, and sometimes to get inspired.

A subset of these people are more politically active than others, and when the Republican National Convention was planned for Saint Paul last year, they (and by “they,” I mean people from around the country sharing the same Venn diagram) organized protests and modest disruption. They also did something very humorous and intelligent: the production of a low-end, symbolism-rich, faux threat against the authority of the government, the Republicans, the police, and the military. I have it here, and I need you to watch it from beginning to end before you read the rest of this essay.

Did you spot the symbolism? The Molotov cocktail is obvious. The bowling ball may be less so. We will not all agree with the symbolism, but I saw 1984, ablution, anarchists bicycle movement, anarchists of yore and brats on the Weber of more recent times, awakening, the labor union wars, innocence of youth, Kafka, Marathon Man (the movie), more Kafka, Ralph Nader, several references to earlier protest movements in Minneapolis (a sort of “Hi, Mom and Dad!”), the Beaver Cleaver family representing the inured middle class, the Big Lebowski, the coffee shop trope (in several forms), the environmental movement, the holocaust, the local food movement and the old “food not bombs” trope, the more peaceful messages in the Bible, and more. And I laughed the whole time. I love this video. I love the kids who made it. I love the message it gives and the way it is given.

But the Saint Paul Police Department saw it differently.

We now know, because of the release of previously secreted information and some excellent reporting at MinnPost, that this video was the primary piece of evidence used by the police to argue before judges, city officials, state officials, and federal authorities that they needed funding, warrants, and overall administrative support as well as coordination at the federal and state level to spend $300,000 invading several homes, harassing several people, confiscating truckloads of stuff that police claimed was either evidence or dangerous materials, and ultimately arresting over 800 people.

OK, have you stopped laughing? Have you stopped screaming? Have you cleared the tears from your eyes? Yes, it is true. This video scared the authorities into spending hundreds of thousands of dollars to carry out dozens of blatantly unconstitutional acts and hundreds of inappropriate activities. Thousands of law enforcement officials were involved. It was almost like a municipally organized pogrom pitting the police against the populous. The mayor of Saint Paul and the chief of police saw this video, shat in their pants, and the smell is still ripe.

The vast majority of the arrests were the sort of arrests that happen at protests, where protesters are carted off to prison for a few hours or a day and released. But many arrests stemmed from pre-Republican National Convention raids on homes (or other places) in which, it was thought, the ring leaders of a movement that would “destroy the city” of Saint Paul were jailed and charged.

Almost every single charge against almost every single individual has been dropped because there was no case. The vast majority of the confiscated evidence has been shown irrelevant. A very small number of individuals, who are now known as the Saint Paul 8, are still charged with a reduced number of crimes. These charges are likely to be further reduced or dropped. In addition, several quite viable lawsuits are now in play against the police and the city of Saint Paul.

The culture of citizen criticism, positive collective action, and thoughtful radicalism that defined this subculture within Minneapolis has always scared the authorities. Especially the authorities in Saint Paul. The restless spirit of Minneapolis has been used, rather than repressed, by the city itself more often than not, and brought to bear to solve many social problems. But this subculture has always frightened the more conservative, the less informed, and frankly, the less intelligent. When the national movement teamed up with the local to move on the Republicans, it was not enough, apparently, to put up some extra defenses. What had to happen is that this spirit had to be crushed. The free thinkers had to be punished. Those who dared to question the very questionable authority of a rogue political party and a pretender president needed to be labeled as the same ilk as “Al Qaeda” and silenced, even at the cost of our national sense of liberty, and even by a Democratic mayor.

Below I provide a list of resources for those interested in catching up on what happened, what is now known about what happened, and what is ongoing. The Saint Paul 8 have their next hearing in court scheduled in about a month. The prosecuting authorities seem to keep putting it off as though…as though they just want the whole problem to go away. It is widely accepted these days that the highly effective and very repressive actions taken against the RNC protesters (and journalists, and others who were unrelated to any of this) were by and large illegal, inappropriate, retrospectively embarrassing, un-American, and just plain wrong. Almost no one believes that what was done was in any way okay.

At the same time, it has also been said that these activities by the police have put a damper on future protests and broken the spirit of those who might think again about disruption and civil disobedience against an oppressive government.

This, I doubt with every fiber of my being.

News and Resources

Two-part article from MinnPost. This is a must read. Start here.

Part I: Assessing RNC police tactics: missteps, poor judgments and inappropriate detentions
Part II: Looking back at GOP convention: Police kicked into ‘disruption mode’

Details on the Joint Analysis Center: What’s the Minnesota Joint Analysis Center?

Defend the RNC 8 Web Site

Democracy Now reporting on the charges:

Journalist from above report getting busted by the cops in Saint Paul:

Just for fun: Watch Naomi Wolf use the word “permiticization”…but seriously, this is interesting:

A 16-minute retrospective: Minnesota’s Coleman-Franken election battle just keeps going and going

From the campaign name calling through the current lawsuit, the race and recount have combined to create the longest election process in the state’s history. The UpTake’s Mike McIntee walks us through how we got to this point.

MinnPost

Interviewing Coleman, Fox & Friends repeatedly misinforms on Coleman-Franken race

On the April 3 edition of Fox News’ Fox & Friends, co-host Brian Kilmeade teased an interview with former Sen. Norm Coleman (R-MN) by claiming that Coleman is “not close to giving up, even though some Democrats are vowing to make it impossible for him to win.” During the segment with Coleman, co-host Gretchen Carlson claimed, “[T]he last time I checked, Norm Coleman won the election after election night.” However, while Coleman was ahead in the vote count after election night, he was not certified the winner; his opponent, Al Franken (D), now leads by 225 votes after the results of a recount mandated by state law because of the closeness of the results.

Media Matters

Order for Delivery of Ballots

The Uptake (pdf)

Coleman: ‘We’re gonna push to the Minnesota Supreme Court’

On Fox News Radio today, Norm Coleman vowed, “We’re going to push to the Minnesota Supreme Court.” He clarified his timetable after next week’s expected election-contest trial court ruling: “We’ll file [a petition to the state's high court] quicker than 10 days.”

Minnesota Independent

Why Norm Coleman continues to fight

Though it looks like Norm Coleman will not prevail before the three-judge panel hearing the Senate election case, the battle is far from over. Coleman’s side took a hit Tuesday when the panel said it would consider counting only up to 400 more votes. Coleman quickly announced plans to appeal. But is Coleman risking looking like a sore loser?

MPR

O’Reilly Announces Plan To Boycott Minnesota (Not An April Fool’s Joke*)

So it is tonight I am announcing that until Franken leaves or is asked to leave the US Senate, I will be boycotting Minnesota. The entire state and anything that has the least bit of connection to Minnesota. This means I will not be visiting Minnesota, nor shopping at stores nor using products of any businesses headquartered in Minnesota (including Target, UnitedHealth Group, 3M, General Mills, Best Buy). In addition, I will not be watching any TV shows emanating from or about Minnesota, including Minnesota Timberwolves, Vikings or Twin games. That means, much to my chagrin, I will no longer watch the film Fargo or my beloved Mary Tyler Moore show reruns and from now on be referring to Minnesota Fats as just plain Fats.

Steve Young on Politics

A River Prone to Flooding, and Misunderstanding

The flood surge rose much faster than expected in Fargo, the state’s largest city, then peaked sooner and at a lower level than forecast — to the city’s great relief and gratitude. In the last two days — surprise again — it has gone down more rapidly than foreseen.

But the uncertainty has taken a toll.

NY Times

RNC Eight case wades into murky legal waters of conspiracy theory

In the eyes of law enforcement officials, they were the core of a vast criminal conspiracy that for two years plotted to violently disrupt the Republican National Convention (RNC).

But in the view of their allies in social-justice circles, they were dedicated activists seeking to shine a bright light on war, poverty and other injustices.

Minnesota Independent

New snow, winds complicate fight against surging Red River

A hard, sloppy and urgent fight to restrain the surging Red River of the North became harder, sloppier, colder and more urgent today, as a slow-moving winter storm threw as much as 8 inches of new snow and winds above 30 mph at weary sandbaggers in Fargo-Moorhead and other threatened cities along the North Dakota-Minnesota border.

MinnPost

Fargo Red River Flooding: Level Tops Historic Marker, Undermines Dike

The agonizing decision to stay or go came as the final hours ticked down before an expected crest Sunday, when the ice-laden river could climb as high as 43 feet, nearly 3 feet higher than the record set 112 years ago. The city got a one-day reprieve Friday night when the National Weather Service pushed its crest projection back from Saturday to Sunday afternoon, saying frigid temperatures had slowed the river’s rise. While the weather service targeted the crest near 42 feet, it said feet 43 is still a possibility.

Huffington Post

Dike break fixed, but Oak Grove school flooded

The Red River breached a dike today and sent water flowing into buildings at a school campus in Fargo in an episode the mayor called a “wakeup call” for a city that needs to be vigilant for weaknesses in levees that could give way at any time.

“The campus is basically devastated. They fought the good fight. They lost and there’s nothing wrong with that,” Mayor Dennis Walaker said. “Those things will continue to happen. I guarantee it.”

Bismarck Tribune

Coleman-Franken recount trial: The wait continues … What’s it mean? Why is it taking so long?

Two weeks and counting.

That’s where we stand as Judges Elizabeth Hayden, Kurt Marben and Denise Reilly have kept lawyers for Al Franken and Norm Coleman — and all the others who still care — waiting for rulings in the election contest trial that lasted seven weeks but ended on March 13.

Both sides expected some decisions this week, but none came.

MinnPost

Coleman won’t rule out federal appeal

Speaking to reporters at the Capitol before a weekly Republican lunch meeting, Coleman said Tuesday he’s not anticipating the case going to the U.S. Supreme Court, but he signaled that the recount trial may be far from over. A three-judge state court could rule any day on the Coleman-Franken case, but the panel has been deliberating for more than a week.

“I’m not anticipating, you know, at this point being across the street,” he said, referring to the Supreme Court. “For certain, I want to make sure that equal justice under law is applied. We’ll see how that plays out in Minnesota.”

Politico

Exec says Coleman donor ordered $100K payments

Thomas’ deposition, taken under oath on March 19 and obtained by the Star Tribune, is the first corroboration from an official at Deep Marine of allegations made by company founder Paul McKim in a lawsuit filed last year against the company.

In the two weeks before the November U.S. Senate election, two lawsuits were filed against Deep Marine — one by McKim and one by a group of minority shareholders. In them, Kazeminy was accused of funneling payments to Hays to benefit the Colemans, as well as other alleged financial wrongdoing.

Star Tribune

Thousands of immigrants held in violation of international law

A comprehensive report issued by Amnesty International USA Wednesday finds that tens of thousands of immigrants — and, in one case, a Minnesota-born citizen — have been held in detention in the United States, many in violation of international law.

Minnesota Independent

RNC Eight FBI informant found guilty on three criminal charges

Andrew Clark Darst, a key informant in the conspiracy case pending against the RNC Eight, has been found guilty of three criminal counts stemming from a January altercation in Minnetrista.

Hennepin County District Court Judge Daniel Mabley ruled today that Darst is guilty of a gross misdemeanor charge of damage to property, as well as two counts of misdemeanor assault. The 30-year-old Minnetrista resident was acquitted on two burglary counts.

Minnesota Independent

Turbines will soon churn in 11 Minnesota cities

Recycled turbines that turn renewable wind energy into electricity are expected to begin appearing this summer in Anoka, Buffalo, North St. Paul and eight other Minnesota cities that are part of a power agency.

Star Tribune

House energy panel votes to continue nuclear power moratorium

A state law prevents new nuclear power plants from being built in Minnesota, and some say that means nuclear can’t even be part of a discussion about the state’s future energy needs.

An effort to change that suffered a setback Thursday, when members of a House energy committee voted down a bill that would lift the ban.

MPR

Xcel Energy Eagle Cam
Two of the three eggs have hatched!

FBI vet Rowley rips RNC report, readies WAMM complaints, pursues police data

FBI whistleblower-turned-activist Coleen Rowley is on a roll. She ripped into the City of St. Paul’s report on Republican National Convention law enforcement in a commentary that appeared Friday at MinnPost and today at The Huffington Post. Tomorrow, as court hearings start in the cases of the RNC8 protesters, Rowley and individuals from Women Against Military Madness (WAMM) and other groups will file formal complaints against the city, state and Ramsey County over police tactics. And Rowley’s inquiries into what she suspects was overbroad surveillance during the RNC are starting to bear fruit — or at least what she calls a first “non-responsive” response from Ramsey County Sheriff Bob Fletcher’s office.

Minnesota Independent

Lawsuits filed alleging police misconduct around the RNC

Let the litigation begin. Eight lawsuits have been filed in U.S. District Court claiming civil rights abuses by police officers during events surrounding the Republican National Convention (RNC) in September. The civil suits accuse officers of physical and sexual abuse, illegal searches and seizure of property, and wrongful detainment.

“This is just the beginning,” says Ted Dooley, one of the attorneys handling the cases. “There’s going to be a lot of litigation, and it’s going to take a long time.”

Minnesota Independent

One in 31

From the Pew Center on the States report, One in 31: The Long Reach of American Corrections, “Adding up all probationers and parolees, prisoners and jail inmates, you’ll find America now has more than 7.3 million adults under some form of correctional control. That whopping figure is more than the populations of Chicago, Philadelphia, San Diego and Dallas put together, and larger than the populations of 38 states and the District of Columbia. During Ronald Reagan’s first term as president, 1 in every 77 adults was under the control of the correctional system in the United States. Now, 25 years later, it is 1 in 31, or 3.2 percent of all adults.”

Sociological Images

Is anything made in the U.S.A. anymore? You’d be surprised

It seems as if the country that used to make everything is on the brink of making nothing. In January, 207,000 U.S. manufacturing jobs vanished in the largest one-month drop since October 1982. U.S. factory activity is hovering at a 28-year low. Even before the recession, plants were hemorrhaging work to foreign competitors with low-cost labor. And some companies were moving production overseas.

But manufacturing in the United States is not dead or even dying. It is moving upscale, following the biggest profits and becoming more efficient, just as Henry Ford did when he created the assembly line to make the Model T car.

International Herald Tribune

Court upholds conviction in guns case

The Supreme Court on Tuesday affirmed the use of a federal law barring people convicted of domestic violence crimes from owning guns, the first firearms case at the high court since last year’s decision in support of gun rights.

The court, in a 7-2 decision, said state laws against battery need not specifically mention domestic violence to fall under the domestic violence gun ban that was enacted in 1996.

Associated Press

Giz Explains: Why Lenses Are the Real Key to Stunning Photos

When most of us talk digital cameras, we talk megapixels, ISO, image noise, shot-per-second speed and image processing. We’re tech geeks. But really, none of that stuff matters as much as your camera’s lens.

Gizmodo