The Frankfurter School

Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the Government for a redress of grievances.

Journalist Amy Goodman, host of Democracy Now!, is the most prominent of an estimated 250 people who have been illegally arrested in St. Paul and Minneapolis in federally coordinated raids during the Republican National convention. Scores of peace activists, anti-war demonstrators, lawyers, and journalists have been subjected to violent raids and detention by police and FBI who have acted on intelligence provided by infiltrators working for the government and newly expanded eavesdropping power, and are charging people with such things as “conspiracy to riot” and other trumped up charges that essentially criminalize political speech and assembly.

Glenn Greenwald at Salon has the best summary of facts and as well as the appropriate context:
Part 1
Part 2
Part 3

Footage of Amy Goodman’s arrest on YouTube:

The statement from the independent news organization Democracy Now! can be found here.

CNN and the like are running brief mentions of the police “clashes” with protestors, and are solely characterizing them as “anarchists.”

The key points to keep in mind about these arrests are:

• The FBI, courtesy of the FISA bill passed in June by the Democratic Congress, used its newly legal powers to spy on Americans to surveil college students and peace activists
• The FBI made infiltrated several anti-war and peace groups and made use of spies and paid informants in its months-long effort to silence dissent at the conventions
• The FBI coordinated surveillance, intelligence, and federal and local law enforcement cooperation
• No one alleges that any of the detainees have actually committed a crime; all of the arrests have been  “pre-emptive” or for “conspiracies”
• The arrests of the legal observers and independent journalists were precipitated by these people asking lawful questions of the police about the arrests

This is a very sad day for America.