Gird your loins, citizens. This is really hard to watch.
This sort of shocking police brutality has no place in a civilized society. I’m trembling with rage and my wallet is OPEN.
You see, after an uneventful protest at the White House the previous day, this past Sunday, the Manning Supporters decided they were going to protest at Quantico (where Manning is being held) which is, you know, a military base. So that was a good plan from the start.
After the handful of supporters seemed to grow tired of yelling about police states and how this is just like Libya and just like Egypt, it was time for Phase 2 of the plan. Operation Lay A Wreath at Iwo Jima. Retired Col. Ann Wright and Daniel Ellsberg had decided that they wanted to hold a flower-laying ceremony. I’m not sure why. Maybe World War II, and Daniel Ellsberg, and Wikileaks are related… somehow? I don’t know. I haven’t quite figured out how, yet.
But hey! I’m all for laying wreaths to commemorate our fallen veterans. My great-uncle fought in the Battle of Bulge (and then went on to found Veterans for Peace in Philly.)
But I digress.1 Less about me and more about the crazy.
As it so happens, Ellsberg and Wright were prevented from laying their wreaths. I don’t know why. I’m sure the police gave some bullshit reason.2 Undeterred, however, Ellsberg, Wright, and a few others decided to sit down in the middle of the street. Likewise undeterred, the police came at them like spider monkeys. And that’s when the shit went down. The riot police inched closer to the obviously scared shitless demonstrators, who sat cowering on the ground, staring death at the hands of the U.S. military in the face.
According to “reports,” the riot police quickly got out of control, outnumbering the protestors six to one. (Given how obnoxious the Hamburglar has been about these rallies (was she even there?!), how was she — or anyone, really — to know that only about 30 people would show up.) Maybe the cops showed up ready to kick some ass. Maybe the number of police required for crowd control was set in stone. I don’t know anything about this stuff, but I’m not willing to let the cheese slip off my cracker over it though — I know that much.
Then suddenly eventually, the police began to grab the demonstrators one-by-one right off the ground “body-snatcher style.” They even grabbed a blind dude! Can you imagine? They grabbed the blind dude instead of leaving him sitting in the middle of a highway. And then they grabbed some lady (Col. Wright) who started screaming bloody murder (for no apparent reason as far as I can tell). And it was all very melodramatic, at least according to the FireTwits:
Watch this shocking video of dozens of Virginia State riot police using far excessive force against peaceful protestors at Quantico Marine Base rallying for humane treatment of Bradley Manning.
From the beginning, the ratio of police to protestors was disproportionate. There were at least 100 regular police officers in vests around the area, plus another 6 on horseback. There were dozens of riot police, several police dogs, and then a half-dozen military men wearing gas masks, carrying automatic weapons and tear gas.
The police quickly got out of control at Quantico. At the start of this video taken by YouTube user tatoot1099, you see the advancing line of at least 50 riot police marching down Route 1 in response to Col. Ann Wright and Daniel Ellsberg’s decision to sit in the street after being denied the freedom to place flowers at Quantico’s Iwo Jima memorial. As riot police advance, they start pulling protestors through their line, body-snatchers style, one-by-one. The police even snatched an elderly blind man and had him arrested.
Starting around 7 minutes into the video, you can see and hear Ret. Col. Ann Wright screaming in pain as police are putting on handcuffs,. One officer in particular crushes Col. Wright with his riot shield. Daniel Ellsberg goes to the ground before he is picked up and arrested.
The average age of those who were arrested was easily 50, if not older, all of whom were speaking out for the humane treatment of a 23-year-old soldier being held beyond Quantico’s gates. This embarrassing brutality conducted by officers – and tolerated by the military and state police – was wholly unnecessary at this peaceful gathering.3
The injustice of it all! This aggression will not stand, man! Soylent green is people!
I’m sorry, what were we talking about?
Oh right. We’re talking about how we’re living in a police state, and how the Free Manning rally was just like Libya and just like Egypt.
Except for the fact that it totally wasn’t. But why let facts get in the way of spin? Facts won’t add money to the coffers. Time for Hamwallet to have another fundraiser, dontcha think? We must stop this sort of police brutality! We cannot live under martial law! We must rise up! We must stand (or sit) tall and look our Kenyan Oppressor in the eye and say NO MORE!
So with more ado than really was necessary, I present the video that while shock you to your very core:
Oh whoops, wrong bit of police brutality. This is the one I meant to post:
Drink it in, comrades. This is the future of our country. Are you scared yet? Raise your hand if you think that the 30 person relatively cheerful protest was JUST LIKE EGYPT!!!
Now slap yourself with it.
A break? Can someone give me one, please? I’m dyin’ ovah heah.
1 Maybe since they had failed to get arrested, they figured this was the way to go about it? I don’t know. I’m pretty cynical about all bullshit spewing forth from the FireDogGeyser.
2 Apparently, Quantico made it clear that it would be closing Iwo Jima on the day of the protest out of claimed concerns about vandalism and concerns regarding Anonymous attacks. Kevin Zeese, one of Hamwallet’s lackeys posted a Huffpo article (ugh, I know. I couldn’t not click on it though) in which it becomes clear that the Manningites were aware as of March 15 that Quantico would not permit the flower-laying ceremony. Now whether or not Quantico was truly concerned about vandalism and whatnot, or whether they were being dicks, or whether they are sick of dealing with Hamwallet (remember how she and House were detained and prevented from delivering their petition and it was so terrible and whatever?) it’s pretty clear that the “let’s sit down in the middle of the street” was for the purpose of being arrested (on camera with shaky Michael Bay-esque footage and everything). And, given Ellsberg’s tweet in advance that he was off to get arrested, you’ll pardon me while I laugh at this ginned up bullshit. It’s truly ridiculous. These are the people who are leading the progressive net-roots movement? Not if I have anything to say about it. (And I do. Or at least, I will… in due time.)
3 I’m not linking that sewer, so, here’s a screenshot:
No justice! No Reese’s Pieces!
“…the Manning Supporters decided they were going to protest at Quantico (where Manning is being held) which is, you know, a military base. So that was a good plan from the start.”
I bet your Veterans for Peace relative would totally agree with you that protesting at military bases is completely unacceptable. And those plowshares activists facing decades sentences for pouring blood on stockpiled nukes? They’re just racist anti-Obama haters, too.
Here’s a clue about why Ellsberg is doing what he’s doing: because he can see himself locked up in a hole, facing a life (or death) sentence, if things had broken just a little differently. But now he’s been arrested, maybe this is his chance to serve that time that your logic says he should.
That said, FDL is also f*ing killing me with the hyping of this. Why can’t they show a little respect for the dignity of a civil disobedience arrest? I’ve seen violent incidents of that kind, and this was not one.
hyperbole.
The pentagon papers were irrelevant. They weren’t even government documents, but rather a private study by a civilian think tank, that contained no crucial information.
Richard Nixon famously said they were irrelevant and didn’t want to do anything about them. But psychoanalyst Henry Kissinger pushed the self-hating Nixon’s buttons saying the russians would think he was weak if he didn’t do anything.
At most Ellsberg would have received a minor sentence.
The documents Manning stole may end up being just as irrelevant. And if they are, he’ll receive a short sentence for what amounts to pseudo hacking. Hacking is still illegal. The kid who hacked into Palin’s yahoo email account received a year in prison. But if the government can prove he released sensitive data, then he’ll be dining with Jonathan Pollard for the next 10 years.
In short, Manning may be either Christopher Boyce or Palin’s hacker. I’ll wait to make judgment.
You are a moron. Ellsberg is a brilliant man. He graduated top of his class of over 1000 at officer training school at, ironically, Quantico. Do you think he would choose to leak documents that weren’t significant, when he had top secret clearance? The papers were instrumental in ending the Vietnam war. Like Manning, Ellsberg’s confidentiality was betrayed, and he faced 115 years in prison. The case was thrown out because of prosecutorial misconduct. Manning is looking at life without parole. He will go to Leavenworth, possibly in SuperMax. Pollard, a civilian, is in a medium security federal facility and is eligible for parole based on his date of sentencing.
Is this Jane?
Jane I love your sockpuppets.
A+ for an intellectually meaningful response.
(he unwillingly replied, trying to pull back his hand fast enough to escape the hungry troll’s teeth)
Soylent Green is people???
The military-industrial-agricultural-big-pharma-suzuki-evening-wear-blink-182 complex must not stand!!
I’m not nearly as smart as ABL, but even I figured out that her point was that faux outrage that police dared to come move people out of a street and away from a highly sensitive area is ludicrous.
Quantico isn’t Ann Arbor or Berkeley. You can’t just wear North Face, eat Whole Foods granola, block traffic and present an unknown risk to a national security location and expect the world to stop for you and your circle jerk while you discuss whether or not Soylent Green is people.
It’s also a STUNNING and EGREGIOUS violation of my FIRST AMENDMENT RIGHTS that I can’t “joke” about having a stick of dynamite crammed up my ass in the airport security line and still expect to board my plane.
If you look at the police shields on the above screen shot you may notice they say “STATE POLICE.” That is your clue that protesters were not on base property.
Johnny, I’m not our esteemed hostess, but I feel comfortable making this assumption: I suspect her great-uncle, had he decided it was necessary to stage such a demonstration at a military installation, would have EXPECTED to get arrested, just as Ellsberg did.
Real activists who perform acts of civil disobedience (as opposed to the FDL Keyboard Kommandoes) don’t whine, snivel, curl their lips or mewl about being taken away in handcuffs, because THAT WAS THE PLAN.
Because it’s better for the cause if the cops just take the protesters away and no one knows about. Moron.
That’s what the video camera, and the many invites I’m sure Jane sent out to the media beforehand, are for. Thanks for confirming that you don’t know jack shit about civil disobedience, brave Keyboard Kommando.
Well, I’m used to people saying what they mean, and what she said was that protesting on an army base is a bad idea.
She also mocked Ellsberg’s wreath-laying, when one of his explicit reasons for supporting Manning’s leaks is that he thinks there are war crimes being perpetrated in Iraq and Afghanistan. He is of the opinion that these leaks serve a larger purpose.
Moreover, I expressed my agreement with the FDL bashing in this case because they ruined what looks like it could have otherwise been a rather dignified demonstration, so I don’t know why you’re abusing the caps lock.
And finally, one purpose of this post was clearly to discredit Ellsberg by association. Look at uber-troll Debbie throwing her feces all over the page, and the only item that bothers ABL enough to elicit a response is a rather naive defense of Hamsher’s financial situation.
Hey, how come you didn’t post this at BJ?
Did Cole ask you not to say anything negative about his pathetic pin-up girl?
This is too good for Balloon-Juice. Try Rolling Stone. Gird yer loins, Matt Taibbi.
Seriously, why are you idiots trying to undermine the case of poor Bradley Manning? You want him to go to SuperMax? And don’t say it’s not about Manning it’s about Jane Hamsher. Jane is not making money off this story, or anything. She has said she’s trying to make FDL self-sustaining which implies she’s supporting it off her own savings. Jeesh.
Jane is not making money off this story, or anything. She has said she’s trying to make FDL self-sustaining which implies she’s supporting it off her own savings. Jeesh.
you have GOT to be shitting me.
I’d walk you through the details, but it’s hard to make the case without linking to “that sewer.”
“Jane is not making money off this story, or anything. She has said she’s trying to make FDL self-sustaining which implies she’s supporting it off her own savings. Jeesh.”
Self-sustaining means YOUR donations and ad revenues cover the operating costs, you ninny. The “self” does not refer to Jane but to the site, which YOU can sustain by becoming a member of FDL for as little as $45 per year. You get a wallet card with which you can prove your progressive credentials if yours are questioned, and a secret decoder ring with which you can translate encrypted Wikipedia files.
Convincing you that only brave Jane is fighting The Man, and goosing her page-views with torture-victim porn, brings eyeballs to the ads and gets you to sign her petitions with your email address that she can lease to other “progressive” causes for money, and hopefully persuade you to make a small donation to support her hard work bringing down the evil Bush, er Obama.
Notice how Jane didn’t attend the sit-in. She’s too good to get arrested for Bradley Manning.
I heard she drove with Daniel Ellsberg, but you probably know more than I do.
Was that the same car that “Glennifer” Greewald was in? Or was he too busy updating his latest Salon opus to protest his hero’s confinement?
Who’s Glennifer Greewald. Is this some Urban Dictionary slang I don’t know about?
I am sooooo sorry – I meant his Highness, Glenn Greenwald of Salon.com. But you know that already, right? No need to be coy…
Everyone knows Glenn lives in Rio.
“Everyone knows Glenn lives in Rio.”
Everyone except you also knows that we have these things called airplanes now, which allow people who live in other parts of the world to visit whenever something is happening in the US that they consider important enough for which to travel.
Dohhh… I never considered airplanes.
The chicken shit bitch didn’t put her lying ass on the line. She was too busy putting making a racist blackface caricature of Loserman and Clinton.
Obama wrote in his book that he dumped a girl because she was white. Racial ignorance exists on the left. Hamsher’s graphic was five years ago. When can we let it go?
A dating preference and drawing blackface are two different things. But thanks for playing…
your attempts to defend Our Lady of Hamshire are really sad.
From FDL’s write-up:
“The average age of those who were arrested was easily 50, if not older,”
That speaks volumes. The only people who showed up were burn outs still fighting over Vietnam. I hope they remembered to take their Geritol.
Yeah veterans tend to be old. Funny isn’t it?
you keep using that word “funny.” i do not think it means what you think it means.
Huh? I was trying to make the point that Veterans for Peace were the primary organizers of this protest, and they are an older group. You can’t infer anything about the level of support for Bradley Manning among younger people.
I can infer that they’re NOT in attendance.
Please. This event was well advertised across the blogosphere. It even had the tremendous backing of FDL and Code Pink. And yet only a handful of burn outs from 1968 showed up.
I wasn’t there (I’m in SoCal) but from the video it looks like more than a handful of people. Thirty-five were arrested. I’m guessing several times that attended. David House was there. House is Manning’s regular visitor and advocate, though perhaps better known to anti-Manning cranks as “the guy who fakes his accent to get girls.”
PS Free Mumia!
FREE BIRD!!
FREE TRADE!!
FREE MONEY FOR THE RICH!!
DUE PROCESS-FREE ASSASSINATION!!
I think we all know the GOP/Teabag talking points – have anything CONSTRUCTIVE to say?
Thought not.
Go curl back up in Hamhock’s lap, maybe she’ll give you a Milkbone.
Those aren’t just GOP talking points. They’re Obama administration policies.
Ru-oh — someone from FDL has deigned to respond to you!
It means they’re aware of your blog!!
Get ready for the eventual invasion of snark-impaired internet nitwits to poop self-righteousness all over this place!
I know it bugs you no end that we don’t like Obama, but try to get over that and find some common ground. We all like unions. :}
Your team plays a vital role in US politics and I hope you don’t ever stop.
As long as you market yourself as the authentic voice of the left and scream at Obama and call him a Republican, his re-election is assured.
On any given day half of you are saying we help Obama and half of you are saying we hurt him. Either way you’re welcome.
I’ll let you in on a secret. When we tell you you’re hurting Obama, we’re hoping that it emboldens you to become increasingly unhinged and spittle-flecked in your obsession to destroy him. It’s all part of the strategy.
We hope that you and Glenn and Jane and Cenk and Michael Moore and Cindy Sheehan and Code Pink and Dennis Kucinich will protest nude at the 2012 Democratic Convention, and when Obama is renominated, you will all douse your naked bodies with kerosene and set yourselves on fire.
Our only fear is that you’ll peak too soon.
On any given day, you all couldn’t SHTFUP any faster for my taste. The only thing you hurt is the argument that only the Right is a shrill, one-note, reactionary movement led by self promoting dilettantes with money.
So for example when LAC tells us to SHTFUP, he *really* means do it more? That’s whack.
You spittle-drenched fools all deserve each other.
Match made in hell.
Shut up @bmull & @LAC & @Allan.
bmull – you don’t like being told off here for your whiny defense of Jesus Manning and his acolytes, then go run to Balloon Juice or whinydoglake and have fun in your echo chamber.
johnny – I think the site will survive without your highbrow contribution to it. No one is forcing you to stay around…
I like it here. I appreciate that I haven’t been immediately banned like I was at Shoq’s place. That guy will block you before he will admit he is wrong. You can’t win.