Alongside the peace activists protesting the Republican National Convention back in September of 2008 were the violent anarchists. While the peace crowd wanted to make their voices heard, the violent anarchists wanted to shut the RNC08 down by wrecking ****. The violent anarchists use the peace movement as cover -- they always have and they always will.
While I was aghast at the over-the-top actions of Ramsey County Sheriff Bob "Gestapo Bob" Fletcher, the violent anarchists piss me off in another way. Dumping a bag of rocks or sand (whatever it was) from an overpass onto a bus full of Republican delegates simply isn't cool.
Glenn Greenwald: This is what happens when a Blue Dog defender of illegal eavesdropping gets busted for dirty backroom deals caught via illegal wiretapping.
Normally, you would expect Chris Coleman (no relation to Norm Coleman), the St Paul mayor who won with 69% of the vote against an incumbent, to have no problems running in the re-election. However the recently circulating emails and resolutions show that St Paul was not pleased with being turned into a police state for Republican National Convention. It was so bad that most businesses lost money due to the convention.
From: Hope For Saint Paul
Date: February 1, 2009 4:11:31 PM CST
Subject: No Endorsement for Chris Coleman
As a leader in your community, I am writing you today about a very important and urgent issue. Please feel free to forward on this message!
With the caucuses leading to the City endorsing convention on Tuesday, it is time for Progressive St.Paul DFL'ers to make it clear to Chris Coleman that his leadership (or lack thereof) of the Republican National Convention, the trampling of free speech rights and the whitewashing of the event by "his committee" is NOT OKAY. In fact, it is shameful, embarrassing and a disgrace to our city. It is shameful to our values as a democracy and as progressives! Leaders like him have no place leading any further! While there may not currently be any progressive challenger, this could change, and I encourage you to deny Chris Coleman the DFL endorsement. It is very plausible, given the rules and the amount of people who have expressed their lack of trust and shame in having Chris Coleman as Mayor that WE CAN DENY HIM THE DFL ENDORSEMENT!
It only takes 40% of delegates to vote no endorsement! Show up to your caucus and become a delegate, it's a very easy process.
Eventually it had to come out in the trials for alleged crimes at the Republican National Convention(RNC) that the so called "anarchists" of the RNC Welcoming Committee were being influenced by provocateurs. Basically the worst that happened at the RNC was broken windows, slashed tires and one dropped sandbag. However, the worst alleged planned incident that was an alleged fire bombing by three people. The stories that are now coming out point to the leader of that group as Brandon Darby, paid by the FBI. Brandon had the strongest political activist background. Brandon was not a person just sitting in a meeting taking notes, he was a person teaching people in martial arts how to fight the police. Brandon was a leader! Informants don't lead, provocateurs lead. Yet this provocateur is getting off scot-free and even being called a hero by the Powerline Republican blog. Brandon suckered two naive young people into doing acts that will put them in jail for a long time. David McKay and Bradley Crowder, from Austin, Texas are scheduled to go on trial in Minnesota on Jan. 26, and are facing a possible 30 years in jail if convicted on all counts.
LISA FITHIAN: I have no question that he's a provocateur. I mean, I've worked with Brandon for a long time, and everywhere that Brandon has worked, there has been discord, tension, aggression. We know that-you know, the interesting thing is that now that we know for sure, more and more stories are starting to emerge about what Brandon has asked people to do in the past. So the more I find about these young men, as well, it's clear to me that-
AMY GOODMAN: Like what?
LISA FITHIAN: Well, that, I mean, they are two young men from Midland, Texas who are angry at our government, who wanted to learn about organizing, and they wanted to make a difference in this world. They are not that experienced, and they were very impressionable. And when you have somebody like Brandon, who has some national notoriety, he's-they were star-struck. And again, based on the documents-and I know Carly will talk more about this-these documents make it very clear that he was leading these young men down a road that unfortunately got them into a situation that they are now facing very serious consequences, years in prison, as a result of the work of Brandon Darby.
And here is testimony from even further in Brandon Darby's past in the organization, Common Ground:
MALIK RAHIM: And I knew from the very beginning that Homeland Security had infiltrated us. I knew that when I realized that to be critical of FEMA response as it related to Katrina, on the aftermath of Katrina, we took upon the wrath of Homeland Security. I was looking at it coming from many different ways. But God knows I didn't think it would be from Brandon. And that part of it has literally-it has literally broken my heart, again, you know, that this has happened.
I know that there's been many people that left from Common Ground in frustration, and many of it was due in part because of Brandon. Many young ladies, many individuals that he literally ran off, you know? It just tackles me. I couldn't read the whole letter.
