The UC Davis pepper-spray cop goes viral

Burlington, Vermont
Thanksgiving Day 2011

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The horror that is Black Friday

i was sitting for the grandsons last evening after my son and his wife left around 7 to go get into line for a 9 p.m. store opening... i received numerous text messages from them reporting on the length of the lines and how far they extended... while there's a rather massive distance between them and me on the matter of black friday, they are clearly free to choose how they spend their time over the thanksgiving holiday and just because i find such an orgiastic display of materialism to be truly horrifying doesn't mean they have to share my thinking...

however...

the entire notion of thousands of people rushing to stores across the country to stand in massive lines for the chance to snatch up more stuff at bargain prices is perhaps the clearest demonstration imaginable of just how far off the rails things are in my country...

moreover, if people are going to get pepper-sprayed, it at least ought to be happening while they're protesting economic and social injustice, not for trying to grab discounted merchandise...

Early-bird Black Friday turns ugly with 'shopping rage' incident

Ten minutes after the Wal-Mart in Porter Ranch [Los Angeles] opened, a female customer used pepper spray on other shoppers at the Black Friday sale, injuring at least seven people and forcing employees to evacuate a portion of the store, police said.

"This was customer-versus-customer 'shopping rage,'" said Los Angeles Police Lt. Abel Parga. He said one shopper was taken to a hospital after complaining of difficulty breathing.

Police officers, he said, were seeking a female suspect following the attack. Fire officials said they were treating about 20 people suffering minor injuries at the store, which is located on Rinaldi Street near Corbin Avenue.

Meanwhile, in Torrance, shoppers poured into a Toys R Us store, 50 at a time, when the doors opened Thursday night. Manager Ryan Smith said he figures there were 2,000 people on hand waiting to browse through the sprawling store. Within minutes, shopping carts began to fill up with Transformer action figures, Barbie dolls and video games.

South Bay-area resident Natalie Vyce, 36, was fourth in line with her son Jordan, 15, and they came prepared. "We have it all mapped out. You go in for what you need and you get out. You don't browse." She said she'll be out all night. Her next stop was Kohl's, and she planned to be back at Toys R Us at 5 a.m. when new items go on sale.

"The stores are all opening so early now that it's throwing off my strategy," she said, laughing.

"throwing off her strategy"... patético...

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Glenn: creating a climate of fear so that you know we can do whatever we want to you and no one can stop us

glenn posts this morning on the uc davis atrocity and offers his views on why such barbarity is being employed...

Implanting fear of authorities in the heart of the citizenry is a far more effective means of tyranny than overtly denying rights. That’s exactly what incidents like this [UC Davis] are intended to achieve.

[...]

[T]hey are all about deterring meaningful challenges to those in power through the exercise of basic rights. Rights are so much more effectively destroyed by bullying a citizenry out of wanting to exercise them than any other means.

glenn then includes this video clip of his talk at claremont-mckenna college on 4 november in which he cites the repressive tactics used on bradley manning as a clear example of why such extreme measures are not only being used but widely advertised... the second clip from that talk makes the same point about how effective the demonization of wikileaks has been in stoking fear in the citizenry...





i have to confess that, in the limited exposure i've had while protesting with the occupy movement, i've been acutely aware that, were i to be arrested, it would probably bring to a screeching halt any opportunity i have of gaining fresh contract work in my chosen field of international development... besides making it potentially difficult to pass any background checks, the possibility also exists that i could be placed on various watch lists that could turn entering and leaving the country into a endless nightmare... while i'd like to be able to dismiss such concerns, i cannot help but consider the consequences of having my last few years of earning a living snuffed out by my government...

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At UC Davis, police pepper spray peaceful students like they're spraying noxious weeds

from angry black lady at balloon juice via atrios...

This is what non-violent resistance in the face of egregious police brutality looks like.

be sure to stick with the video until the end...

UC Davis Chancellor’s office (530) 752-2065

UC Davis police (530) 752-1727

The officer who pulled out the pepper spray was Lieutenant John Pike. 530-752-3989 japikeiii@ucdavis.edu

if the ptb think that this kind of over-the-top police brutality is going to make the occupy movement go away, they're got another think coming... it's horrendous, truly abominable behavior...

from firedoglake...

UC Davis Chancellor Called to Resign After Police Pepper Spray Students

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