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<font size="4" face="Times New Roman" style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">see main for older 2/17</font><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"></font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">related to privacy</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">=</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">new&nbsp;</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><a href="https://slate.com/news-and-politics/2019/03/trump-government-tracked-targeted-database-american-citizen-journalists-activists-migrant-caravan.html">https://slate.com/news-and-politics/2019/03/trump-government-tracked-targeted-database-american-citizen-journalists-activists-migrant-caravan.html</a></font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">
</font></div><div><p class="slate-paragraph" data-editable="text" data-uri="slate.com/components/slate-paragraph/instances/cjsxyvn03003ni6m6z3wawmsj@published" data-word-count="144" style="box-sizing: inherit; line-height: 1.5; margin: 0px 0px 1.2em;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><b>Days before the Nov. 2018 midterm elections, President Trump&nbsp;<a href="https://slate.com/news-and-politics/2018/10/trump-migrant-caravan-military-at-border.html" style="box-sizing: inherit; transition: all 0.12s ease 0s; text-decoration-line: none; border-bottom-width: 2px; border-bottom-style: solid; border-color: var(--theme-color,#ff0e50);">cooked up</a>&nbsp;pre-election hysteria over the so-called “caravan” of migrants </b>a thousand miles away in southern Mexico, who were slowly making their way on foot towards the U.S. border. The president’s anti-immigrant chauvinism couldn’t stop his party from losing the House in a blue wave of Democratic victories, and afterward Trump largely dropped the issue until it became politically useful again months later during the government shutdown. The American government, however, sharpened its focus after the furor died down,&nbsp;<a href="https://www.nbcsandiego.com/investigations/Source-Leaked-Documents-Show-the-US-Government-Tracking-Journalists-and-Advocates-Through-a-Secret-Database-506783231.html?fbclid=IwAR0dgtOm11VpyoadTKQczcqDqWm9kfdFl8-dmWTLBGfcGwc6eHxmnSNZMD8" style="box-sizing: inherit; transition: all 0.12s ease 0s; text-decoration-line: none; border-bottom-width: 2px; border-bottom-style: solid; border-color: var(--theme-color,#ff0e50);">according</a>&nbsp;to a chilling report from NBC 7, NBC News’ local affiliate in San Diego. <span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">Documents leaked to NBC 7 show that the Trump administration went about gathering names of journalists, activists, and attorneys who had covered or worked with the fleeing migrants, and created a database that included dossiers on 57 people, including 10 journalists.</span></font></p><p class="slate-paragraph" data-editable="text" data-uri="slate.com/components/slate-paragraph/instances/cjsxz43tg00153h5wdo72p1vq@published" data-word-count="126" style="box-sizing: inherit; line-height: 1.5; margin: 0px 0px 1.2em;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><b>Those swept up in the government database where then targets for surveillance and harassment with&nbsp;<a href="https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/immigration/u-s-officials-made-list-reporters-lawyers-activists-question-border-n980301?cid=sm_npd_ms_tw_ma" style="box-sizing: inherit; transition: all 0.12s ease 0s; text-decoration-line: none; border-bottom-width: 2px; border-bottom-style: solid; border-color: var(--theme-color,#ff0e50);">at least 21</a>&nbsp;individuals subsequently questioned or arrested by Customs and Border Protection.</b> The U.S. government, in some cases, placed alerts on the targeted individuals’ passports who were listed in the<b> database titled: “San Diego Sector Foreign Operations Branch: Migrant Caravan FY-2019, Suspected Organizers, Coordinators, Instigators and Media.”</b> The documents dated Jan. 9, 2019 included files on<a href="https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/immigration/u-s-officials-made-list-reporters-lawyers-activists-question-border-n980301?cid=sm_npd_ms_tw_ma" style="box-sizing: inherit; transition: all 0.12s ease 0s; text-decoration-line: none; border-bottom-width: 2px; border-bottom-style: solid; border-color: var(--theme-color,#ff0e50);">&nbsp;some 39 American citizens</a>, including seven who were tracked by the U.S. government. The documents are part of an interagency “SharePoint” application accessible to a myriad of agencies, including agents from Customs and Border Protection, Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), the U.S.<br style="box-sizing: inherit;" />Border Patrol, Homeland Security Investigations, and the San Diego office of the FBI.</font></p><p class="slate-paragraph" data-editable="text" data-uri="slate.com/components/slate-paragraph/instances/cjsxz43tg00153h5wdo72p1vq@published" data-word-count="126" style="box-sizing: inherit; line-height: 1.5; margin: 0px 0px 1.2em;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: large; text-align: center;">Some of the individuals who were there for the ultimate caravan standoff with border patrol suspected they were being targeted in the aftermath and the leaked documents showed the extent to which they were being singled out, including journalists being harassed at the U.S.-Mexican border, taken into secondary screening on the grounds it was a national security matter, and in one case denied entry to Mexico altogether. Here’s more on what was compiled from NBC 7:</span></p><blockquote data-uri="slate.com/components/slate-blockquote/instances/cjsxz4umz001h3h5wdv43h1e3@published" class="slate-blockquote" data-word-count="112" style="box-sizing: inherit; width: 780px; margin: 1em 0px 1.2em; border-left: 2px solid rgb(221, 221, 221); padding-left: 1em;"><div data-editable="text" style="box-sizing: inherit;"><p style="box-sizing: inherit; line-height: 1.5; margin: 0px 0px 1em;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">For each person, the documents show their photo, often from their passport but in some cases from their social media accounts, along with their personal information. That information includes the person’s date of birth, their “country of commencement,” and their alleged role tied to the migrant caravan. The information also includes whether officials placed an alert on the person’s passport.</font></p><p style="box-sizing: inherit; line-height: 1.5; margin: 0px 0px 1em;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">One dossier, shared with NBC 7, was on Nicole Ramos, the Refugee Director and attorney for&nbsp;<a href="https://alotrolado.org/" style="box-sizing: inherit; transition: all 0.12s ease 0s; text-decoration-line: none; border-bottom-width: 2px; border-bottom-style: solid; border-color: var(--theme-color,#ff0e50);">Al Otro Lado</a>, a law center for migrants and refugees in Tijuana, Mexico. The dossier included personal details on Ramos, including specific details about the car she drives, her mother’s name, and her work and travel history.</font></p></div></blockquote><p class="slate-paragraph slate-paragraph--tombstone" data-editable="text" data-uri="slate.com/components/slate-paragraph/instances/cjsxz43v700173h5wn9l82vkb@published" data-word-count="2" style="box-sizing: inherit; line-height: 1.5; margin: 0px 0px 1.2em;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Trump’s America.</font></p></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">=</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">lest we forget: &nbsp;</font></div><p><font face="Times New Roman" size="4"><a href="http://www.alternet.org/environment/environmental-and-land-activist-killings-hit-all-time-high">http://www.alternet.org/environment/environmental-and-land-activist-killings-hit-all-time-high</a></font></p><p style="margin: 0px 0px 22px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); line-height: 32px !important;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><b>Last year was the deadliest on record for environmental activists, according to new figures released by the UK NGO Global Witness.</b></font></p><p style="margin: 0px 0px 22px; line-height: 32px !important;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">The organization’s latest&nbsp;<a href="https://www.globalwitness.org/en/campaigns/environmental-activists/defenders-earth/" style="text-decoration-line: none;">report</a>&nbsp;documents a “crisis” spreading globally as the number of countries in which killings were recorded countries shot up from 16 to 24. 60% of deaths occurred in Latin America, which means that the region remains the most dangerous one in the world in which to oppose environmental degradation.</font></p><p style="margin: 0px 0px 22px; line-height: 32px !important;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">Yet again, Brazil, which has witnessed particularly bloody&nbsp;<a href="https://www.business-humanrights.org/en/brazil-pau-darco-massacre-is-the-second-largest-slaughter-for-land-conflicts-in-the-last-20-years-it-involves-peasants-santa-l%C3%BAcia-farm-private-security-companies-public-agencies#c158039" style="text-decoration-line: none;">land conflicts</a>&nbsp;in recent months, ranks first with 49 murders. Nicaragua has the highest rate of killings per capita: 11. And in Colombia, figures hit an all-time high: 37.</font></p><p style="margin: 0px 0px 22px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); line-height: 32px !important;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">“This report tells a very grim story. The battle to protect the planet is rapidly intensifying and the cost can be counted in human lives”, says Ben Leather, a campaigner at Global Witness.</font></p><p style="margin: 0px 0px 22px; line-height: 32px !important;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);"><b>In Asia,</b>&nbsp;resistance to big mining projects in such countries as India and the Philippines has been met with state-sanctioned repression and violence.&nbsp;<b>India</b>&nbsp;has witnessed a three-fold increase in killings and the<b>&nbsp;Philippines,&nbsp;</b>where 28 activists were killed last year, stands out as the most lethal country in the region.</font></p><p style="margin: 0px 0px 22px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); line-height: 32px !important;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Logging and agriculture, including extensive cattle ranching, are two other main drivers of conflict, the report says.</font></p><p style="margin: 0px 0px 22px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); line-height: 32px !important;"><strong><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Peace is dangerous for Colombia</font></strong></p><p style="margin: 0px 0px 22px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); line-height: 32px !important;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><b>Last year, as the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC) gave up control of swathes of rural territory as part of a historic peace process, deforestation and environmental degradation increased.</b></font></p><p style="margin: 0px 0px 22px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); line-height: 32px !important;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Deforestation rose&nbsp;<a href="http://www.elespectador.com/noticias/medio-ambiente/se-disparo-la-tasa-de-deforestacion-en-colombia-articulo-701754" style="text-decoration-line: none;">44 percent</a>&nbsp;in 2016, encompassing an area of 690 square miles, as criminal groups moved into areas vacated by the FARC and engaged in illegal logging and mining, according to figures released by the Colombian government’s Institute of Hydrology, Meteorology and Environmental Studies (<a href="http://www.ideam.gov.co/" style="text-decoration-line: none;">IDEAM</a>). The Amazonian regions of Putumayo, Caquetá, Meta and Guaviare, in the south, were the worst affected.</font></p><p style="margin: 0px 0px 22px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); line-height: 32px !important;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">“They [the FARC] weren’t environmentalists, but they did regulate activity, and—since they had the guns—people complied”, activist Susana Muhamad recently told&nbsp;<a href="https://www.theguardian.com/world/2017/jul/11/colombia-deforestation-farc?CMP=share_btn_tw" style="text-decoration-line: none;"><em>The Guardian</em></a><em>.&nbsp;</em>Under their watch, they limited deforestation by civilians to 2 hectares per year, so as to maintain forest cover which helped their protection from government forces.</font></p><p style="margin: 0px 0px 22px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); line-height: 32px !important;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Along with rising deforestation, killings of those defending land and the environment have also increased. “The peace process in Colombia has paradoxically fueled more violence against those who defend their land and the environment against destructive industries”, says Billy Kyte, leader of Global Witness’ land and environmental defenders campaign.</font></p><p style="margin: 0px 0px 22px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); line-height: 32px !important;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Kyte explains that communities returning to reclaim lands lost during the armed conflict are now facing paramilitary groups, large landowners and criminal gangs eager to profit from Colombia’s rich natural resources.</font></p><p style="margin: 0px 0px 22px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); line-height: 32px !important;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">It is the Colombian government’s responsibility to promote the rule of law in rural Colombia and make areas safe for communities, Kyte adds, before promoting environmentally degrading development projects.<strong>&nbsp;</strong></font></p><p style="margin: 0px 0px 22px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); line-height: 32px !important;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
Earlier this year, at least one expert questioned Global Witness’ methodology in a special report profiling the situation in Honduras. He argued that it conflated killings of environmentalists and victims of agrarian conflict.</font></p><p style="margin: 0px 0px 22px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); line-height: 32px !important;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><strong>Methodology questioned</strong></font></p><p style="margin: 0px 0px 22px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); line-height: 32px !important;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">“Global Witness’ report doesn’t stand up to scientific scrutiny,”&nbsp;<a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qkY2LzGB7IY" style="text-decoration-line: none;">said</a>&nbsp;José Herrero, vice-president of the conservation foundation FUCSA, arguing that the “confusion” of the categories of victims in the report inflated the figures.</font></p><p style="margin: 0px 0px 22px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); line-height: 32px !important;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Kyte, who was&nbsp;<a href="https://internacional.elpais.com/internacional/2017/02/09/america/1486617921_790115.html" style="text-decoration-line: none;">intimidated</a>&nbsp;and threatened with arrest for promoting the report in Tegucigalpa, the Honduran capital, defends Global Witness’ data collection methods: “We compile data on land and environmental defenders – people who defend land or environmental rights. Our definition and criteria for inclusion is and always has been very clear – we don’t just record killings on environmentalists,” he says.</font></p><div><font face="Times New Roman" size="4">=</font></div><div><p style="margin: 1em 0px 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; line-height: 1.44em; vertical-align: baseline; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">=</font></p><p style="margin: 1em 0px 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; line-height: 1.44em; vertical-align: baseline; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font face="Times New Roman" size="4"><a href="https://www.democracynow.org/2017/7/10/headlines/nyt_mexican_govt_surveilled_international_investigators_probing_ayotzinapa_case">https://www.democracynow.org/2017/7/10/headlines/nyt_mexican_govt_surveilled_international_investigators_probing_ayotzinapa_case</a></font></p><p style="margin: 1em 0px 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; line-height: 1.44em; vertical-align: baseline;"><font face="Times New Roman" size="4"><b style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">The New York Times is reporting that the Mexican government used an Israeli-made spy software to surveil&nbsp;</b><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">a team of international investigators who had been dispatched to Mexico to investigate the high-profile disappearance of 43 students at the Ayotzinapa teachers’ college in Guerrero in 2014. The international investigators included some of Latin America’s most prominent lawyers, who had been granted a form of diplomatic immunity to carry out their investigation.&nbsp;</span><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">The Times has also reported the Mexican government also used the spying software called Pegasus to spy on Mexican human rights activists and journalists.</span></font></p><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">=</font></div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">----</font><p><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">activist suppress
</font></p><p><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><span id="docs-internal-guid-fbd2aedc-cb4b-0334-b775-e4194520d00c">On June 19, Louisiana’s Democratic Governor John Bel Edwards&nbsp;</span><a href="http://www.wafb.com/story/35699999/la-has-45-more-new-laws-after-gov-edwards-signs-bills" target="blank">signed a bill into law</a>&nbsp;which will enter his state into the&nbsp;<a href="https://www.desmogblog.com/2016/10/27/emergency-assistance-law-dakota-access-pipeline-out-state-cops">Emergency Management Assistance Compact (<span class="caps">EMAC</span>)</a>.</font></span></p><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" /><p><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);"><span class="caps">EMAC</span>&nbsp;is the compact which last year gave out-of-state cops the legal authority to flood into North Dakota during the protests against the&nbsp;<a href="https://www.desmogblog.com/energy-transfer-partners-bakken-oil-pipeline-through-iowa">Dakota Access pipeline</a>,&nbsp;owned by<a href="https://www.desmogblog.com/directory/vocabulary/19688">Energy Transfer Partners</a>.&nbsp;</span><span id="docs-internal-guid-fbd2aedc-cb4b-0334-b775-e4194520d00c">The Louisiana bill,&nbsp;</span><a href="http://www.legis.la.gov/legis/ViewDocument.aspx?d=1051705" target="blank"><span class="caps">SB</span>&nbsp;151</a>, was signed as Energy Transfer Partners has another pipeline proposed to run through Louisiana, the&nbsp;<a href="https://www.desmogblog.com/conflict-cajun-country-bayou-bridge-pipeline-louisiana-standing-rock">Bayou Bridge pipeline</a>. Bayou Bridge is an&nbsp;<a href="http://www.theadvertiser.com/story/news/local/louisiana/2016/12/03/proposed-south-la-pipeline-linked-dakota-pipeline/94603448/" target="blank">extension</a>&nbsp;of Dakota Access, set to run from Nederland, Texas, to refinery markets and export terminals in&nbsp;Louisiana.</font></p><p dir="ltr"><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);"><span id="docs-internal-guid-fbd2aedc-cb4b-0334-b775-e4194520d00c">The compact, signed into existence&nbsp;</span>by President Bill Clinton in 1996,&nbsp;was created in the aftermath of Hurricane Andrew with the intent of expediting and bolstering natural disaster response efforts. But the federal&nbsp;<a href="https://www.congress.gov/104/plaws/publ321/PLAW-104publ321.pdf" target="blank">legislation creating the compact</a>&nbsp;also has language allowing for a governor of a state to issue an emergency order in the case of the rise of an “insurgency or enemy&nbsp;attack.</span>”</p><div class="views-field views-field-disqus-comment-count"><span class="field-content">
</span></div><div class="views-field views-field-view-node"><span class="field-content"><a href="https://www.desmogblog.com/2017/06/21/louisiana-emac-bayou-bridge-dakota-access">Read more</a></span></div><p></p><p><font style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">&nbsp;=</font></p><p><a href="https://www.desmogblog.com/2017/06/22/exclusive-pa-lawmaker-working-curb-pipeline-protestors-tied-shadow-lobbyists-company-behind-project"><font style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">https://www.desmogblog.com/2017/06/22/exclusive-pa-lawmaker-working-curb-pipeline-protestors-tied-shadow-lobbyists-company-behind-project</font></a></p><p><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">
recent intensification in protests against<b>&nbsp;Williams Partners’ planned Atlantic Sunrise pipeline in Pennsylvania</b>&nbsp;prompted a state senator to propose legislation aimed at limiting&nbsp;demonstrations.</span></p><p>Last month, Pennsylvania Republican Senator Scott Martin&nbsp;<a href="http://www.legis.state.pa.us/cfdocs/Legis/CSM/showMemoPublic.cfm?chamber=S&SPick=20170&cosponId=23839" target="blank">announced</a>&nbsp;his intention to introduce legislation that would pass the costs of law enforcement responding to protests onto the demonstrators. Martin also helped introduce a different bill that would criminalize protests at natural gas&nbsp;facilities.&nbsp;</p><p><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">A DeSmog investigation has found, however, that Martin is intimately tied to an obscure group of lobbyists recently hired by Williams&nbsp;Partners.</span></p><p><strong>State Legislators Against Pipeline&nbsp;Protestors</strong></p><p><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">The Tulsa, Oklahoma-based Williams Partners plans to construct the Atlantic Sunrise pipeline through its subsidiary, Transco. The $3 billion 200-mile project, which would&nbsp;<b>transport fracked gas&nbsp;</b>from the state’s northern shales southward to the company’s interconnecting pipeline systems, received federal approval earlier this year but still requires several state&nbsp;permits.</span></p><p>Grassroots and citizen opposition to the pipeline, which has been ongoing since the project’s original proposal in 2014, has intensified in recent months. In February, activists built an&nbsp;<a href="https://stateimpact.npr.org/pennsylvania/2017/02/17/atlantic-sunrise-pipeline-opponents-begin-encampment/" target="blank">encampment</a>&nbsp;on the planned route near Conestoga in Lancaster county, which Scott Martin&nbsp;represents.</p><p>Led by the group Lancaster Against Pipelines, they signaled their willingness to engage in nonviolent direct&nbsp;action.</p><p><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">Yet in early May, a day after&nbsp;<a href="http://www.senatorscottmartinpa.com/2017/05/05/protest-preparation-seminar/" target="blank">arranging</a>&nbsp;a conference call between local first responders and North Dakota law enforcement officials who dealt with the Dakota Access pipeline protests, Senator Martin published a&nbsp;<a href="http://www.legis.state.pa.us/cfdocs/Legis/CSM/showMemoPublic.cfm?chamber=S&SPick=20170&cosponId=23839" target="blank">legislative memo</a>&nbsp;detailing his plan to propose a bill penalizing protestors. The memo, which directly referenced the Dakota Access pipeline demonstrations, is aimed at “shielding taxpayers against the additional costs resulting from protests.” Martin is currently seeking cosponsors for his&nbsp;legislation.</span></p><p><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">Two weeks earlier, Martin was among a group of senators advancing a&nbsp;<a href="http://www.legis.state.pa.us/CFDOCS/Legis/PN/Public/btCheck.cfm?txtType=PDF&sessYr=2017&sessInd=0&billBody=S&billTyp=B&billNbr=0652&pn=0752" target="blank">bill</a>&nbsp;sponsored by Republican Senator Mike Regan seeking to essentially criminalize civil disobedience and other forms of demonstrations at critical infrastructure sites, including gas pipelines and facilities. According to the bill, those who “impede or inhibit” the operations of the facility will be charged with a f<b>elony, face imprisonment, and pay hefty fines.&nbsp;&nbsp;</b></span><b>&nbsp;</b></p><h3>Williams Hires Secretive Group&nbsp;with Ties to Sen.&nbsp;Martin</h3><p>A recent disclosure by Transco to the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (<span class="caps">FERC</span>) reveals that last year the company hired an entity generically called the Pennsylvania Advocacy Group&nbsp;<span class="caps">LLC</span>.</p><p><a href="https://www.desmogblog.com/sites/beta.desmogblog.com/files/Image%20%23%201_0.png" target="blank"><img alt="" src="https://www.desmogblog.com/sites/beta.desmogblog.com/files/Image%20%23%201_0.png" style="width: 810px; height: 292px;" /></a>
<em>From Transco’s latest financial report to&nbsp;<span class="caps">FERC</span>, showing a payment to Pennsylvania Advocacy Group&nbsp;<span class="caps">LLC</span></em></p><p><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">State corporate records reveal that Pennsylvania Advocacy Group&nbsp;<span class="caps">LLC</span>&nbsp;was created in 2014 by five lobbyists from two different firms:&nbsp;<a href="http://novakstrategic.com/alan-novak/" target="blank">Alan Novak</a>,&nbsp;<a href="http://novakstrategic.com/angela-leopold/" target="blank">Angela Leopold</a>, and<a href="http://novakstrategic.com/dan-hayward/" target="blank">Dan Hayward</a>&nbsp;from Novak Strategic Advisors, and David Feidt and Michael Musser from Community Networking Strategies&nbsp;<span class="caps">LLC</span>.</span></p><p><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">Novak, Leopold, Hayward, and Feidt are also long-time top Pennsylvania republican operatives. Musser runs a political action committee that supports politicians from both&nbsp;parties.</span></p><p>Although it does not have a website, state corporate records indicate that Community Networking Strategies is a subsidiary of the Harrisburg-based legal and lobbying firm&nbsp;<a href="https://www.mcneeslaw.com/" target="blank">McNees, Wallace&nbsp;<span class="amp">&</span>&nbsp;Nurick</a>. While Community Networking Strategies is not officially registered as a lobbying firm in Pennsylvania, state disclosure records show that McNees, Wallace&nbsp;<span class="amp">&</span>&nbsp;Nurick is currently lobbying for several fossil fuel entities, including Gulf Oil Ltd, Industrial Energy Consumers of Pennsylvania, and Sunoco&nbsp;Logistics.&nbsp;&nbsp;</p><p><b>Scott Martin is closely tied to Community Networking Strategies.&nbsp;</b>According to his state senate financial disclosures, Martin worked at Community Networking Strategies immediately before starting his tenure as legislator in January this&nbsp;year.</p><p>Disclosing a position of “vice president,” Martin described his professional activities in the company as “business development.” The address he provided on the disclosure matches McNees, Wallace&nbsp;<span class="amp">&</span>&nbsp;Nurick’s address for the firm’s Lancaster Pennsylvania&nbsp;branch.</p><p>img
<em>From&nbsp;<span class="caps">PA</span>&nbsp;Senator Scott Martin’s financial disclosure, showing his work for the lobbying firm Community Networking Resources, a subsidiary of McNees, Wallace&nbsp;<span class="amp">&</span>&nbsp;Nurick</em></p><p>Martin’s LinkedIn&nbsp;<a href="https://www.linkedin.com/in/scott-martin-a1b2755" target="blank">profile</a>&nbsp;states that he worked for Community Networking Strategies between January 2016 and January&nbsp;2017.</p><h3>Community Networking Resources Fundraises for Senator&nbsp;Martin</h3><p>Apart for its business lobbying, Community Networking Resources also engages in political campaigning. According to Pennsylvania campaign finance records, in recent years the company has provided political support and fundraising services – including for Scott&nbsp;Martin.</p><p>Michael Musser, whose two hats include Community Networking Resources and Pennsylvania Advocacy Group, runs a&nbsp;<span class="caps">PAC</span>&nbsp;called&nbsp;<a href="https://www.campaignfinanceonline.pa.gov/pages/CFAnnualTotals.aspx?Filer=2008059" target="blank">Better Government for&nbsp;<span class="caps">PA</span></a>. A review of the&nbsp;<span class="caps">PAC</span>’s records show that since 2008 it has contributed over $36,000 to Martin’s&nbsp;<span class="caps">PAC</span>, Friends of Scott Martin. At the same time, Friends of Scott Martin&nbsp;<a href="https://www.campaignfinanceonline.pa.gov/pages/ShowReport.aspx?ReportID=135575&isStatement=0&is24Hour=False" target="blank">hired</a>Musser’s Community Networking Resources on several occasions for fundraising services when Martin served as Lancaster County&nbsp;Commissioner.</p><p>Lobbyist David Feidt, also of both Community Networking Resources and Pennsylvania Advocacy Group, is&nbsp;<a href="https://www.pavoterservices.pa.gov/ElectionInfo/CommitteeInfo.aspx?ID=3340" target="blank">registered</a>&nbsp;as the treasurer of Better Government for&nbsp;<span class="caps">PA</span><span class="caps">PAC</span>.&nbsp;&nbsp;</p><p>By contracting with Pennsylvania Advocacy Group, Transco can potentially benefit from its deep ties to the state’s&nbsp;<span class="caps">GOP</span>. From the Novak Strategic Advisors side of the firm, Alan Novak is former chairperson of the Pennsylvania Republican Party, while Dan Hayward served as the party’s Executive Director. Angela Leopold served in the past in the Republican State Committee of&nbsp;Pennsylvania.</p><p>From the Community Networking Resources side, David Feidt currently serves as chairperson of the Dauphin County Republican Committee. Feidt’s twitter account continuously promotes the use of natural gas, including&nbsp;<a href="https://twitter.com/davefeidt/status/819190834893615104" target="blank">support</a>&nbsp;for the Atlantic Sunrise&nbsp;pipeline.</p><p>In a conversation with DeSmog, Michael Musser confirmed that Pennsylvania Advocacy Group was formed jointly by the firms Community Networking Resources and Novak Strategic Advisors, but said his involvement in the company is minimal. He referred DeSmog to Dan Hayward from Novak Startegic Advisors. Hayward did not reply to several requests for comment. A spokesperson for Transco did not provide comment&nbsp;either.&nbsp;</p><p>Senator Martin denies his previous work for Community Networking Resources had any effect on his legislative efforts concerning pipeline protests. In an email to DeSmog, Martin responded to a series of&nbsp;questions:</p><p><em><strong>Have you ever provided work for Transco as part of Pennsylvania Advocacy Group and/or in any other&nbsp;capacity?</strong></em></p><p><span class="dquo">“</span>I have never provided work for Transco in any capacity and haven't done work for Pennsylvania Advocacy Group.”&nbsp;&nbsp;</p><p><em><strong>As senator, were you ever contacted by employees of Pennsylvania Advocacy Group and/or Community Networking Resources and/or Novak Strategic Advisors in relation to Transco's gas&nbsp;projects?</strong></em></p><p><span class="dquo">“</span>As Senator, I was never contacted by these groups in relation to Transco's gas&nbsp;projects.”</p><p><em><strong>Did your ties to Community Networking Resources have any effect on your recent legislative efforts related to pipeline protesting?&nbsp;&nbsp;</strong></em></p><p><span class="dquo">“</span>No, Community Networking Resources had no effect or involvement on my protestor legislation being worked on. I started that initiative to try to be proactive in our community having seen the aftermath and costs of the&nbsp;<span class="caps">NDAPL</span>&nbsp;protests. Having been heavily involved with Emergency Management as a commissioner and concerned about costs and impacts on our community is what motivated me to look at this&nbsp;legislation.”</p><p><em><strong>Do you currently receive any compensation from Community Networking Resources and/or its parent firm, McNees, Wallace&nbsp;<span class="amp">&</span>&nbsp;Nurick?</strong></em></p><p><span class="dquo">“</span>I receive no compensation from any source except for my job as State&nbsp;Senator.”</p><p><em><strong>Can you describe your relationship with Mike Musser of Community Networking Resources? According to state campaign finance records, Musser's&nbsp;<span class="caps">PAC</span>&nbsp;contributed to your&nbsp;<span class="caps">PAC</span>&nbsp;in the past, while Community Networking Resources provided political consulting and fundraising for your&nbsp;<span class="caps">PAC</span>.&nbsp;</strong></em></p><span class="dquo">“</span>Mike helped organize my annual fundraisers throughout my time as county commissioner. I was employed by&nbsp;<span class="caps">CNR</span>&nbsp;[Community Networking Resources] for a year after I left being a county commissioner, before starting with the Senate.”<font style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"></font><font style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">
</font></span></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><a href="http://www.alternet.org/activism/indigenous-woman-facing-federal-charges-protesting-dakota-access-pipeline">http://www.alternet.org/activism/indigenous-woman-facing-federal-charges-protesting-dakota-access-pipeline</a></font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">---</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><a href="https://www.democracynow.org/2017/5/2/headlines/j20_inauguration_day_protesters_facing_up_to_75_years_in_prison">https://www.democracynow.org/2017/5/2/headlines/j20_inauguration_day_protesters_facing_up_to_75_years_in_prison</a></font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">In Washington, D.C., prosecutors have filed a slew of additional felony and misdemeanor charges against more than 200 people who were arrested at protests during President Trump’s inauguration on January 20. While most of the protesters were already charged with felony rioting, the new charges also include inciting or urging to riot, conspiracy to riot and multiple counts of destruction of property. The legal support group Defend J20 Resistance says the new charges mean protesters are now facing up to 75 years in prison.</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"></font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><a href="http://www.alternet.org/activism/unprecedented-court-escalation-trump-protesters-could-be-facing-decades-prison-their">http://www.alternet.org/activism/unprecedented-court-escalation-trump-protesters-could-be-facing-decades-prison-their</a></font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><b><font style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">N</font><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">early six months after Donald Trump was sworn into office, more than 200 protesters who gathered in Washington, D.C. to protest his inauguration are facing felony charges that carry sentences of 70 to 80 years.</span></b></font></div><p dir="ltr" style="margin: 0px 0px 22px; line-height: 32px !important;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">According to&nbsp;<a href="http://www.aljazeera.com/indepth/features/2017/05/anti-trump-protesters-facing-decades-bars-170522063956218.html" target="blank" style="text-decoration-line: none;">Al Jazeera</a>, the 212&nbsp;protesters were arrested by the Metropolitan Police Department and initially charged with felony rioting, a crime that carries a 10-year prison sentence and a $25,000 fine. On April 27, the Superior Court of the District of Columbia added additional charges that include urging to riot, conspiracy to riot and destruction of property.&nbsp;</font></p><p dir="ltr" style="margin: 0px 0px 22px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); line-height: 32px !important;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">The possibility of long-term prison sentences for these protesters could have a chilling effect on participation in future rallies, particularly at a time of heightened levels of anti-Trump activism. While it's unclear whether police departments will respond to large-scale political protests in a similar fashion, a dangerous precedent has been set. These legal actions may also infringe on the demonstrators' First Amendment rights, as they directly target anti-Trump protest movements.</font></p><p style="margin: 0px 0px 22px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); line-height: 32px !important;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Olivia Alsip, a 23-year-old from Chicago, told Al Jazeera she&nbsp;<a href="http://www.aljazeera.com/indepth/features/2017/05/anti-trump-protesters-facing-decades-bars-170522063956218.html" style="text-decoration-line: none;">never envisioned</a>&nbsp;participating in the anti-Trump protests on inauguration day could leave her facing an 80-year prison sentence: "It seems that innocent until proven guilty is a falsehood—all the way from the prosecution and police to the people who had previously supported me in my activism.”</font></p><p dir="ltr" style="margin: 0px 0px 22px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); line-height: 32px !important;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Alsip and the other defendants face the additional strain of having to pay for travel expenses to and from Washington for each of their court hearings before they go to trial. "Most of us don't have a whole lot of money," she said. "Generally we are fighting the rich because we are economically or politically disadvantaged and don't have a lot of capital."</font></p><p dir="ltr" style="margin: 0px 0px 22px; line-height: 32px !important;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">As political protests and civil disobedience reach their highest levels since the 1960s, 18 states have responded by proposing over 30 bills aimed at suppressing demonstrations by&nbsp;<a href="https://theintercept.com/2017/05/06/oklahoma-governor-signs-anti-protest-law-imposing-huge-fines-on-conspirator-organizations/" style="text-decoration-line: none;">increasing</a>&nbsp;and&nbsp;<a href="http://www.alternet.org/activism/state-lawmakers-are-brutally-cracking-down-protesters-under-cover-trumps-law-and-order" style="text-decoration-line: none;">expanding</a>&nbsp;penalties for protesters. A new law in Missouri prohibits protesters from covering their faces with masks or other disguises. Florida, Tennessee, Georgia and Iowa have introduced bills that call for increased penalties for blocking traffic and demonstrating on private property.</font></p><p dir="ltr" style="margin: 0px 0px 22px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); line-height: 32px !important;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><b>The American Civil Liberties Union</b>&nbsp;has called these new laws “unconstitutional,” vowing to “fight in statehouses against any bill that violates the First Amendment.”</font></p><p dir="ltr" style="margin: 0px 0px 22px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); line-height: 32px !important;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">While several defendants have pleaded guilty to shorten their sentences, about 130 of the defendants have joined a "points of unity" agreement pledging to reject any potential plea deals and cooperation with prosecutors. On May 26, 21 defendants filed motions to have their cases dismissed.</font></p><p dir="ltr" style="margin: 0px 0px 22px; line-height: 32px !important;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">Following the January 20 arrests, lawyers for some of the arrested protesters&nbsp;<a href="http://dcist.com/2017/05/even_more_felony_charges_for_inaugu.php" style="text-decoration-line: none;">filed a class action lawsuit</a>&nbsp;against the MPD alleging that law enforcement engaged in excessive use of force and conducted false arrests.</span><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">&nbsp;The Office of Police Complaints, a D.C. government agency, has called for an&nbsp;</span><a href="http://dcist.com/2017/02/office_of_police_complaints_wants_i.php" style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); text-decoration-line: none;">independent investigation</a><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">&nbsp;evaluating the actions of MPD officers that day.</span></font></p><div><p><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">&nbsp;</font></p><p><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><a href="https://boingboing.net/2017/05/27/provocateurs-and-drones.html">https://boingboing.net/2017/05/27/provocateurs-and-drones.html</a></font></p><p style="box-sizing: border-box;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Tigerswan, a secretive private mercenary company, was hired by Energy Transfer Partners to run campaigns against Dakota Access Pipeline protesters in five states, including states in which they were not licensed to operate -- the measures they deployed were developed as counterterrorism tactics, including</font></p><p style="box-sizing: border-box;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Tigerswan prepared reports that called the indigenous-led protests "an ideologically driven insurgency with a strong religious component" and compared them to jihadi fighters.&nbsp;The reports were leaked by a Tigerswan contractor to The Intercept, who supplemented the with thousands of pages of documents secured through public records requests.</font></p><p style="box-sizing: border-box;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Tigerswan appears to have also run an online disinformation campaign, "creating and distributing content critical of the protests on social media."</font></p><p style="box-sizing: border-box;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Tigerswan conducted substantial infiltration and provocateur operations against the water protectors.&nbsp;These infiltrators engaged in "exploitation of ongoing native versus non-native rifts, and tribal rifts between peaceful and violent elements."</font></p><blockquote style="box-sizing: border-box; border-left: 4px solid rgb(153, 153, 153); padding-left: 1em; margin: 1em;"><p style="box-sizing: border-box;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Perhaps one of the most striking revelations of the documents is the level of hostility displayed by TigerSwan toward the water protectors.&nbsp;TigerSwan consistently describes the peaceful demonstrators using military and tactical language more appropriate for counterterrorism operations in an armed conflict zone.&nbsp;At times, the military language verges on parody, as when agents write of protesters “stockpiling signs” or when they discuss the “caliber” of paintball pellets.&nbsp;More often, however, the way TigerSwan discusses protesters as “terrorists,” their direct actions as “attacks,” and the camps as a “battlefield,” reveals how the protesters’ dissent was not only criminalized but treated as a national security threat.&nbsp;A March 1 report states that protesters’ “operational weakness allows TS elements to further develop and dictate the battlespace.”</font></p><p style="box-sizing: border-box;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">In one internal report dated May 4, a TigerSwan operative describes an effort to amass digital and ground intelligence that would allow the company to “find, fix, and eliminate” threats to the pipeline — an eerie echo of “find, fix, finish,” a military term used by special forces in the U.S. government’s assassination campaign against terrorist targets.</font></p><p style="box-sizing: border-box;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">TigerSwan pays particular attention to protesters of Middle Eastern descent.&nbsp;A September 22 situation report argues that “the presence of additional Palestinians in the camp, and the movement’s involvement with Islamic individuals is a dynamic that requires further examination.”&nbsp;The report acknowledges that “currently there is no information to suggest terrorist type tactics or operations,” but nonetheless warns that “with the current limitation on information flow out of the camp, it cannot be ruled out.”</font></p></blockquote><p><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><span id="more-526248" style="box-sizing: border-box;"><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);" /></span></font></p><p style="box-sizing: border-box;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><a href="https://theintercept.com/2017/05/27/leaked-documents-reveal-security-firms-counterterrorism-tactics-at-standing-rock-to-defeat-pipeline-insurgencies/" style="box-sizing: border-box; text-decoration-line: none;">LEAKED DOCUMENTS REVEAL COUNTERTERRORISM TACTICS USED AT STANDING ROCK TO “DEFEAT PIPELINE INSURGENCIES”</a>&nbsp;[Alleen Brown, Will Parrish and Alice Speri/The Intercept]</font></p><p style="box-sizing: border-box;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">...</font></p><p><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"></font></p></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">---</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><a href="http://www.alternet.org/media/jailed-facebook-post-how-us-police-target-critics-arrest-and-prosecution">
</a></font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><a href="http://www.alternet.org/media/jailed-facebook-post-how-us-police-target-critics-arrest-and-prosecution">http://www.alternet.org/media/jailed-facebook-post-how-us-police-target-critics-arrest-and-prosecution</a></font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">
</font></div><div><p style="margin: 0px 0px 22px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); line-height: 32px !important;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Robert Peralta’s life was derailed by a single&nbsp;<a data-component="auto-linked-tag" data-link="" href="https://www.theguardian.com/technology/facebook" name="auto-linked-tag" id="auto-linked-tag" style="text-decoration-line: none;">Facebook</a>&nbsp;comment.</font></p><p style="margin: 0px 0px 22px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); line-height: 32px !important;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">When the San Franciscan saw a well-known local activist had posted about being “choked” and “slammed” by a sheriff’s deputy at&nbsp;<a data-link="" draggable="true" href="http://www.sfexaminer.com/frisco-5-member-blasts-district-attorney-sfpd-chiefs-swearing/" name="in body link" id="in body link" style="text-decoration-line: none;">city hall</a>, Peralta fired off a short response: “Wow, brother they wanna hit our general. It’s time to strike back. Let’s burn this motherfucker’s house down.”</font></p><p style="margin: 0px 0px 22px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); line-height: 32px !important;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Peralta, a 35-year-old activist and musician, didn’t think twice about the 23 January Facebook thread until two months later, when he learned that police had issued a warrant for his arrest – accusing him of threatening to kill law enforcement.</font></p><p style="margin: 0px 0px 22px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); line-height: 32px !important;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">“Why waste all of the county’s money on this?” said Peralta, who turned himself in and was booked into jail, despite having no criminal record. “You’re going to take me to jail … for Facebook?”</font></p><p style="margin: 0px 0px 22px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); line-height: 32px !important;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Peralta’s felony criminal case is part of what civil rights campaigners say is a disturbing trend of police and prosecutors targeting activists for social media posts, arresting users over innocuous political messages that constitute free speech.</font></p><p style="margin: 0px 0px 22px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); line-height: 32px !important;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">“For a country that purports to be guided by democracy and guided by civil rights, this is a very dangerous and very slippery slope,” said Malkia Cyril, the executive director of the Center for Media Justice. “Black activists are expressing anger, rage, hatred even about the conditions that threaten their daily lives, and they are being held liable for how they express that anger, even though they’ve committed no crime.”</font></p><p style="margin: 0px 0px 22px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); line-height: 32px !important;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Peralta’s charges have come at a time of heightened concerns about threats against law enforcement following a number of police killings – most notably a Dallas shooter who&nbsp;<a data-link="" href="https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2016/jul/08/dallas-police-shooting-gunman-kill-white-officers" name="in body link" id="in body link" style="text-decoration-line: none;">shot five officers</a>&nbsp;last year. Donald Trump has also lamented a so-called “<a data-link="" href="http://www.reuters.com/article/us-usa-election-trump-idUSKCN10R1P0" name="in body link" id="in body link" style="text-decoration-line: none;">war on police</a>”, and there has been a wave of “<a data-link="" href="https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2016/may/27/black-lives-matter-louisiana-hate-crimes" name="in body link" id="in body link" style="text-decoration-line: none;">Blue Lives Matter</a>” bills seeking to classify police as a protected class.&nbsp;<a data-link="" href="https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2016/may/16/us-police-deaths-decline-2015-fbi-data" name="in body link" id="in body link" style="text-decoration-line: none;">Government statistics</a>, however,&nbsp;<a data-link="" href="https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2016/dec/29/police-killed-2016-average" name="in body link" id="in body link" style="text-decoration-line: none;">suggest</a>&nbsp;there is no surge in violence against police.</font></p><p style="margin: 0px 0px 22px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); line-height: 32px !important;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Critics say that digital surveillance is also&nbsp;<a data-link="" href="https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2016/oct/11/aclu-geofeedia-facebook-twitter-instagram-black-lives-matter" name="in body link" id="in body link" style="text-decoration-line: none;">plagued by racial biases</a>, with law enforcement devoting significant resources to spying on specific activist communities, while ignoring complaints from minorities and women who&nbsp;<a data-link="" href="https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2016/apr/11/women-online-abuse-threat-racist" name="in body link" id="in body link" style="text-decoration-line: none;">face violent online abuse</a>.</font></p><p style="margin: 0px 0px 22px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); line-height: 32px !important;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">When Peralta commented on the Facebook post about alleged police violence in January – which included a photo of the officer’s arms around the activist’s neck – he said he knew nothing about the identity of the law enforcement official.</font></p><p style="margin: 0px 0px 22px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); line-height: 32px !important;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">“On Facebook, you comment on so many things in minutes,” he said in a recent interview. “I didn’t even mean it.”</font></p><p style="margin: 0px 0px 22px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); line-height: 32px !important;" /><div alt="" class="media-image" height="59" width="478" style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><img alt="" class="media-image" typeof="foaf:Image" src="http://www.alternet.org/sites/default/files/robert1_0.jpg" width="478" height="59" style="border: none;" /></font></div><p style="margin: 0px 0px 22px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); line-height: 32px !important;"><em><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Robert Peralta’s Facebook post. Photograph: Facebook</font></em></p><p style="margin: 0px 0px 22px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); line-height: 32px !important;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">He later learned that an investigator had obtained a search warrant for his Facebook and was able to comb through his personal account.</font></p><p style="margin: 0px 0px 22px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); line-height: 32px !important;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Peralta thought it was a simple misunderstanding he could clear up by talking to police. But instead, prosecutors jailed him, saying the threat was “made so unequivocally, unconditionally, immediately and specifically as to convey to the person threatened a gravity of purpose and an immediate prospect of execution”.</font></p><p style="margin: 0px 0px 22px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); line-height: 32px !important;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">His bail was set at $25,000.</font></p><p style="margin: 0px 0px 22px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); line-height: 32px !important;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">“In jail, you just want to get out. You can’t deal with the environment,” he said. “I was not feeling like I was treated like a human.”&nbsp;</font></p><p style="margin: 0px 0px 22px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); line-height: 32px !important;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">A friend helped Peralta post an initial $750 payment on the bail so he could be released, and eventually prosecutors agreed to dismiss the charge in exchange for Peralta giving a presentation to youth about responsible social media use.&nbsp;</font></p><p style="margin: 0px 0px 22px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); line-height: 32px !important;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Although he is on track to have the case wiped from his record, the prosecution has taken a serious toll on his life, Peralta said. He is still on the hook for $2,500 and is now paying monthly installments that are difficult to afford, given that he has a fixed income from disability payments. The sheriff’s office also seized his phone, which has his music on it, and won’t return it until the case is formally dismissed later this year.</font></p><p style="margin: 0px 0px 22px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); line-height: 32px !important;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">“I’m still dealing with the repercussions,” he said.</font></p><p style="margin: 0px 0px 22px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); line-height: 32px !important;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">A spokeswoman for the sheriff’s office noted that Peralta apologized to the deputy, adding, “It’s an excellent resolution to the case.”&nbsp;</font></p><p style="margin: 0px 0px 22px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); line-height: 32px !important;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Alex Bastian, spokesman for the San Francisco district attorney’s office, which prosecuted the case, noted that family members of the deputy had reported Peralta’s Facebook comment. He added in an email: “The first amendment is very sacred to us. At times, people make statements that infringe on another’s freedom to live free from fear. We are always striving to find the right balance between those two important considerations.”</font></p><p style="margin: 0px 0px 22px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); line-height: 32px !important;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Activists said Peralta’s story is not unique. After the Dallas police shootings last year, there was a spike in arrests across the country of people who criticized police on Facebook and Twitter, according to the&nbsp;<a data-link="" href="https://theintercept.com/2016/07/12/after-dallas-shootings-police-arrest-people-for-criticizing-cops-on-facebook-and-twitter/" name="in body link" id="in body link" style="text-decoration-line: none;">Intercept</a>. In March, police&nbsp;<a data-link="" href="https://arstechnica.com/tech-policy/2017/03/police-win-warrant-to-search-dakota-access-pipeline-protest-facebook-page/" name="in body link" id="in body link" style="text-decoration-line: none;">won a warrant</a>&nbsp;to search a Facebook page of a Dakota Access pipeline protest group, leading to an ACLU&nbsp;<a data-link="" href="https://www.aclu.org/news/aclu-challenges-warrant-search-data-facebook-page-group-protesting-dakota-access-pipeline" name="in body link" id="in body link" style="text-decoration-line: none;">challenge</a>.</font></p><p style="margin: 0px 0px 22px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); line-height: 32px !important;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Chris Wahmhoff, a 38-year-old Michigan activist who was convicted of a felony for an&nbsp;<a data-link="" href="http://www.mlive.com/news/kalamazoo/index.ssf/2014/12/enbridge_pipeline_protester_ch.html" name="in body link" id="in body link" style="text-decoration-line: none;">oil pipeline protest action</a>, got into trouble last year when he criticized governor Rick Snyder on Facebook amid the&nbsp;<a data-link="" href="https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2016/feb/26/flint-water-crisis-rick-synder-advisers-emails-michigan" name="in body link" id="in body link" style="text-decoration-line: none;">Flint water crisis</a>, writing: “So when y’all are ready to march in and take his ass across the street, I have my torch, I got warm socks. I’m waitin on y’all … ”</font></p><div alt="" class="media-image" height="127" width="589" style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><p style="margin: 0px 0px 22px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); line-height: 32px !important;"><em><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Chris Wahmhoff’s Facebook post. Photograph: facebook</font></em></p><p style="margin: 0px 0px 22px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); line-height: 32px !important;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">The comment led to a probation violation&nbsp;<a data-link="" href="http://www.mlive.com/news/index.ssf/2016/02/flint_water_snyder_enbridge_pr.html" name="in body link" id="in body link" style="text-decoration-line: none;">charge</a>&nbsp;for “threatening behavior”, even though Wahmhoff insisted that he was trying to argue for the governor’s arrest – that he be taken from his office across the street to the police department.</font></p><p style="margin: 0px 0px 22px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); line-height: 32px !important;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">“I really felt we should have marched and did whatever we needed to do – non-violently – to get him in jail,” Wahmhoff said in a recent interview, adding that he felt his Facebook was targeted because of his previous protests. “They come after you if you become an activist just for the needs of control. They are going to keep pushing. It’s as simple as a bully.” The charge was later dropped.</font></p><p style="margin: 0px 0px 22px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); line-height: 32px !important;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Landon Davis, a San Francisco public defender, noted that the courts have granted citizens broad protections to criticize public officials, even if the comments are repulsive or shocking. Davis recently represented a man accused of making&nbsp;<a data-link="" draggable="true" href="http://abc7news.com/news/man-accused-of-threats-against-sfpd-interim-chief-arrested/1434119/" name="in body link" id="in body link" style="text-decoration-line: none;">racist threats</a>&nbsp;against a black police chief on Twitter, but ultimately convinced a judge to&nbsp;<a data-link="" draggable="true" href="http://www.sfexaminer.com/charges-dropped-man-allegedly-made-twitter-threats-acting-sfpd-chief/" name="in body link" id="in body link" style="text-decoration-line: none;">drop the charge</a>&nbsp;on free speech grounds.</font></p><p style="margin: 0px 0px 22px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); line-height: 32px !important;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">“As offensive as his statements were, if you look at the entire context, it was completely political,” said Davis, who is black.&nbsp;</font></p><p style="margin: 0px 0px 22px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); line-height: 32px !important;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Sometimes when police allege threats, Davis said, it seems they lack any evidence of danger and are simply pursuing charges because they were offended by the comments: “They use that as a basis to prosecute someone either they don’t agree with or don’t like … It can have a huge chilling effect on people’s expression online.”</font></p><div wibbitz="embed-main-player" style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><div class="bio-new body_media-culture" style="width: 630px; font-style: italic; line-height: 22px; height: auto; border-top: 3px solid rgb(223, 223, 218); clear: both;"><div class="author-bio"><p style="margin: 0px 0px 22px; line-height: 32px !important;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Sam Levin is a journalist currently living in Oakland, CA, where he works as a staff writer for the East Bay Express.</font></p></div></div></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"></font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><a href="https://www.commondreams.org/news/2017/04/02/un-americans-right-protest-grave-danger-under-trump">https://www.commondreams.org/news/2017/04/02/un-americans-right-protest-grave-danger-under-trump</a></font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">apr 2, some defeated?</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">
</font></div><div><p style="box-sizing: border-box;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><b>At least 19 U.S. states have introduced bills that attack the right to protest since Donald Trump's election as president, an "alarming and undemocratic" trend, U.N. human rights investigators said this week.</b></font></p><p style="box-sizing: border-box;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><b>Maina Kiai and David Kaye, independent U.N. experts on freedom of peaceful assembly and expression respectively, are calling on lawmakers in the United States to stop the “alarming” trend of “undemocratic” anti-protest bills designed to criminalize or impede the rights to freedom of peaceful assembly and expression.</b></font></p><p style="box-sizing: border-box;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">"The trend also threatens to jeopardize one of the United States’ constitutional pillars: free speech," they said in a statement, calling for action to reverse such legislation.</font></p><p style="box-sizing: border-box;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">“From the Black Lives Matter movement, to the environmental and Native American movements in opposition to the Dakota Access oil pipeline, and the Women’s Marches, individuals and organizations across society have mobilized in peaceful protests, as it is their right under international human rights law and US law,” Kiai and Kaye said.</font></p><ul style="box-sizing: border-box;"><li style="box-sizing: border-box; list-style-type: none; padding: 0px 0px 5px;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">The Arizona State Senate in February&nbsp;<strong style="box-sizing: border-box;"><a href="http://www.commondreams.org/news/2017/02/23/new-law-would-let-arizona-treat-organized-dissent-organized-crime" style="box-sizing: border-box; background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; text-decoration-line: none;">voted to expand racketeering laws</a></strong>&nbsp;to allow police to arrest anyone involved in a protest and seize their assets, treating demonstrators like organized criminals.</font></li><li style="box-sizing: border-box; list-style-type: none; padding: 0px 0px 5px;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Portland, Oregon activists organizing against police killings of Black men, white nationalist politicians, and the countless systems of racism throughout our local, state, and federal governments&nbsp;<a href="http://www.commondreams.org/views/2017/03/10/why-dhs-labeling-protesters-domestic-terrorists" style="box-sizing: border-box; background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; text-decoration-line: none;"><strong style="box-sizing: border-box;">are now considered&nbsp;</strong></a><a href="http://www.commondreams.org/views/2017/03/10/why-dhs-labeling-protesters-domestic-terrorists" style="box-sizing: border-box; background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; text-decoration-line: none;"><strong style="box-sizing: border-box;">“<span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">domestic terrorists”</span></strong></a><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">&nbsp;by Department of Homeland Security.</span></font></li><li style="box-sizing: border-box; list-style-type: none; padding: 0px 0px 5px;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">In January, North Dakota Republicans proposed legislation&nbsp;<strong style="box-sizing: border-box;"><a href="http://www.commondreams.org/news/2017/01/16/shocking-north-dakota-republicans-want-legalize-running-over-protesters" style="box-sizing: border-box; background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; text-decoration-line: none;">to legalize running over protesters</a></strong>&nbsp;if they are blocking roadways.&nbsp;<span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">(The legislation failed, for now.</span>)</font></li><li style="box-sizing: border-box; list-style-type: none; padding: 0px 0px 5px;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Missouri lawmakers want to&nbsp;<strong style="box-sizing: border-box;"><a href="http://house.mo.gov/billtracking/bills171/hlrbillspdf/0794H.01I.pdf" style="box-sizing: border-box; background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; text-decoration-line: none;">make it illegal</a></strong>&nbsp;to wear a robe, mask or disguise (remarkably, a hoodie would count) to a protest.</font></li><li style="box-sizing: border-box; list-style-type: none; padding: 0px 0px 5px;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">In Minnesota, following the police shooting death of Philando Castile, protests caused part of a highway to shut down. Then, at the beginning of the state legislative session, Minnesota legislators drafted bills that&nbsp;<a href="http://www.commondreams.org/views/2017/02/18/where-protests-flourish-anti-protest-bills-follow" style="box-sizing: border-box; background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; text-decoration-line: none;"><strong style="box-sizing: border-box;">would punish highway protestors</strong></a>&nbsp;with heavy fines and prison time and would make protesters liable for the policing costs of an&nbsp;<em style="box-sizing: border-box;">entire protest</em>&nbsp;if they individually were convicted of unlawful assembly or public nuisance.</font></li><li style="box-sizing: border-box; list-style-type: none; padding: 0px 0px 5px;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">Republicans in Washington state have&nbsp;<strong style="box-sizing: border-box;"><a href="http://www.kiro7.com/news/local/washington-state-senator-seeks-to-criminalize-illegal-protests/467962158" style="box-sizing: border-box; background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; text-decoration-line: none;">proposed</a></strong>&nbsp;a plan to reclassify as a felony civil disobedience protests that are deemed “economic terrorism.”</font></li><li style="box-sizing: border-box; list-style-type: none; padding: 0px 0px 5px;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">Lawmakers in North Carolina want to make it a crime to&nbsp;<strong style="box-sizing: border-box;"><a href="http://www.newsobserver.com/news/politics-government/state-politics/article128185274.html" style="box-sizing: border-box; background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; text-decoration-line: none;">heckle</a></strong>&nbsp;lawmakers.</font></li><li style="box-sizing: border-box; list-style-type: none; padding: 0px 0px 5px;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">In Indiana, conservatives want to&nbsp;<a href="https://iga.in.gov/legislative/2017/bills/senate/285#document-79282dd2" style="box-sizing: border-box; background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; text-decoration-line: none;"><strong style="box-sizing: border-box;">allow police to use “any means necessary”</strong></a>&nbsp;to remove activists from a roadway.</font></li><li style="box-sizing: border-box; list-style-type: none; padding: 0px 0px 5px;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">Colorado lawmakers are considering a&nbsp;<strong style="box-sizing: border-box;"><a href="http://leg.colorado.gov/bills/sb17-035" style="box-sizing: border-box; background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; text-decoration-line: none;">big increase</a></strong>&nbsp;in penalties for environmental protesters. Activists who tamper with oil or gas equipment could be, under the measure, face felony charges and be&nbsp;<strong style="box-sizing: border-box;"><a href="https://www.colorado.gov/pacific/sites/default/files/14%20FELONY%20INTRO.pdf" style="box-sizing: border-box; background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; text-decoration-line: none;">punished</a></strong>&nbsp;with up to 18 months behind bars and a fine of up to $100,000.</font></li><li style="box-sizing: border-box; list-style-type: none; padding: 0px 0px 5px;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">A&nbsp;<a href="http://lis.virginia.gov/cgi-bin/legp604.exe?171+ful+SB1055" style="box-sizing: border-box; background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; text-decoration-line: none;"><strong style="box-sizing: border-box;">bill</strong></a>&nbsp;before the Virginia state legislature would dramatically increase punishment for people who “unlawfully” assemble after “having been lawfully warned to disperse.” Those who do so could face a year in jail and a $2,500 fine.</font></li></ul><p style="box-sizing: border-box;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">The experts took particular issue with the characterization in some bills of protests being “unlawful” or “violent”.</font></p><p style="box-sizing: border-box;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">“There can be no such thing in law as a violent protest,” the experts said. “There are violent protesters, who should be dealt with individually and appropriately by law enforcement. One person’s decision to resort to violence does not strip other protesters of their right to freedom of peaceful assembly. This right is not a collective right; it is held by each of us individually,” the experts stressed.</font></p><p style="box-sizing: border-box;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">“Peaceful assembly,” they added, “is a fundamental right, not a privilege, and the government has no business imposing a general requirement that people get permission before exercising that right.”</font></p><p style="box-sizing: border-box;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">The experts also emphasized that legislators should be mindful of the important role that the right to freedom of peaceful assembly has played in the history of American democracy and the fight for civil rights.</font></p><p style="box-sizing: border-box;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">“We call on the US authorities, at the federal and state level, to refrain from enacting legislation that would impinge on the exercise of the rights to freedom of peaceful assembly, expression and opinion,” they concluded.</font></p></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"></font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">http://www.globalpossibilities.org/when-protests-are-powerful-the-powerful-punish-protest/</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">
</font></div><div><div class="itemFullText" style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; outline: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial;"><p style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px 0px 10px; border: 0px; outline: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; line-height: 18px;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">When people feel powerless — locked out of decision-making, bypassed by real governance — they turn to protest. Especially for the disenfranchised and oppressed, protest is often the only way to exert power and affect policies and practices that impact their lives and communities.</font></p><p style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px 0px 10px; border: 0px; outline: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; line-height: 18px;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">With Donald Trump in the White House and the Republican Party in control of both houses of Congress and a majority of statehouses around the country, protest is now a&nbsp;key avenue of resistance.</font></p><p style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px 0px 10px; border: 0px; outline: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; line-height: 18px;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">We can’t expect an agenda that puts people and planet first to come from above, so people are taking to the streets. The first hundred days of the new&nbsp;administration have&nbsp;been&nbsp;marked as much by protest as by Trump’s demagoguery and appeals to hate and fear.</font></p><p style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px 0px 10px; border: 0px; outline: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; line-height: 18px;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">So it is no wonder that there is a new wave of anti-protest laws being implemented across the country. When protests are powerful, the powerful punish protest.</font></p><p style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px 0px 10px; border: 0px; outline: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; line-height: 18px;"><strong style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; outline: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">Oklahoma’s Anti-Protest Law</font></strong></p><p style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px 0px 10px; border: 0px; outline: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; line-height: 18px;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">On May 9,&nbsp;<a href="https://theintercept.com/2017/05/06/oklahoma-governor-signs-anti-protest-law-imposing-huge-fines-on-conspirator-organizations/" target="blank" rel="noopener noreferrer" style="background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; outline: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; text-decoration-line: none;">Oklahoma Governor Mary Fallin signed a bill into law</a>&nbsp;that increases fines for civil disobedience, and seeks to punish “conspirator” organizations. The ordinance, HB 2128, targets protests that disrupt “critical infrastructure” with felony charges and a minimum of $10,000 fine. There are further fines of up to $100,000 and up to ten years in jail for those found damaging facilities. Organizations that “compensate” such protests could face up to $1 million in fines.</font></p><p style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px 0px 10px; border: 0px; outline: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; line-height: 18px;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);"><a href="http://publicradiotulsa.org/post/house-approves-bill-address-perceived-threat-paid-protesters#stream/0" target="blank" rel="noopener noreferrer" style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; outline: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; text-decoration-line: none;">Public Radio Tulsa reported part of the debate in the Oklahoma House</a>:</font></p><blockquote style="margin: 1.5em; padding: 1em; border: 1px solid rgb(220, 220, 220); outline: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; quotes: none;"><p style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; outline: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; line-height: 18px;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">Rep. Mark McBride faced a barrage of questions from Democrats, including Rep. Cory Williams, who asked what constitutes “compensation” under HB2128.</font></p><p style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; outline: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; line-height: 18px;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">“It means just what we want it to on this bill. How about that?” McBride said.</font></p><p style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; outline: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; line-height: 18px;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">“I’m sorry, what?” Williams said. “Is it a check? Is it money? Is it staying at somebody’s house? Is it some other benefit conferred?”</font></p><p style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; outline: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; line-height: 18px;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">“That would be for the courts to decide,” McBride said.</font></p><p style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; outline: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; line-height: 18px;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">“All due respect, we’re supposed to be writing laws. They interpret them. Our laws should have definitions in them,” Williams said.</font></p><p style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; outline: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; line-height: 18px;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">Rep. Collin Walke bristled at a provision saying an arrest — not necessarily a conviction — is enough to create that liability.</font></p><p style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; outline: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; line-height: 18px;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">“And if that doesn’t cause you concern as a small-government conservative, that we are punishing legal activity, then I question your status as a small-government conservative,” Walke said.</font></p></blockquote><p style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px 0px 10px; border: 0px; outline: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; line-height: 18px;"><strong style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; outline: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">Curbs Nationwide</font></strong></p><p style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px 0px 10px; border: 0px; outline: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; line-height: 18px;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">In Oklahoma, oil and gas are king. The goal of these measures is&nbsp;clear: dissuade protests against oil, gas and pipeline facilities and interests.</font></p><p style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px 0px 10px; border: 0px; outline: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; line-height: 18px;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">But Oklahoma is just the latest example of an attempt to punish protest.&nbsp;<a href="https://www.commondreams.org/news/2017/04/02/un-americans-right-protest-grave-danger-under-trump" target="blank" rel="noopener noreferrer" style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; outline: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; text-decoration-line: none;">At least 19 US states have introduced measures to&nbsp;curb the right to protest since Donald Trump’s election.</a></font></p><p style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px 0px 10px; border: 0px; outline: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; line-height: 18px;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">In North Carolina, there was a proposal to&nbsp;<a href="http://www.newsobserver.com/news/politics-government/state-politics/article128185274.html" target="blank" rel="noopener noreferrer" style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; outline: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; text-decoration-line: none;">punish heckling</a>&nbsp;of politicians with five years jail time. In Arizona, legislation was ultimately dropped that would have&nbsp;<a href="http://azcapitoltimes.com/news/2017/02/27/arizona-house-speaker-wont-hear-rioting-bill/" target="blank" rel="noopener noreferrer" style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; outline: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; text-decoration-line: none;">seized homes and other property</a>&nbsp;from protesters. North Dakota state Rep. Keith Kempenich proposed a bill that would make a driver who hits or kills a protester who is obstructing traffic&nbsp;<a href="http://www.phoenixnewtimes.com/news/plan-a-protest-lose-your-house-bill-sb-1142-killed-by-arizona-house-9121181" target="blank" rel="noopener noreferrer" style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; outline: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; text-decoration-line: none;">free from punishment</a>!</font></p><p style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px 0px 10px; border: 0px; outline: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; line-height: 18px;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">This trend even caught the eye of the United Nations. Maina Kiai, UN Special Rapporteur on freedom of peaceful assembly and of association, and David Kaye, UN Special Rapporteur on the promotion and protection of the right to freedom of opinion and expression,&nbsp;<a href="http://www.ohchr.org/EN/NewsEvents/Pages/DisplayNews.aspx?NewsID=21464&LangID=E" target="blank" rel="noopener noreferrer" style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; outline: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; text-decoration-line: none;">issued a report about the wave of anti-protest legislation in the&nbsp;</a>US:</font></p><blockquote style="margin: 1.5em; padding: 1em; border: 1px solid rgb(220, 220, 220); outline: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; quotes: none;"><p style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; outline: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; line-height: 18px;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);"><i>“</i>The bills, if enacted into law, would severely infringe upon the exercise of the rights to freedom of expression and freedom of peaceful assembly in ways that are incompatible with US obligations under international human rights law and with First Amendment protections. The trend also threatens to jeopardize one of the United States’ constitutional pillars: free speech.”</font></p></blockquote><p style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px 0px 10px; border: 0px; outline: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; line-height: 18px;"><strong style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; outline: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">Why Does Protest Matter?</font></strong></p><p style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px 0px 10px; border: 0px; outline: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; line-height: 18px;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">One has to wonder why those in power are so worried about protest. Giant mega-corporations have all the money and influence. Corporate allies and henchmen dominate our legislatures and government offices. It would seem they have all the power. So why punish protest — why not just ignore it?</font></p><p style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px 0px 10px; border: 0px; outline: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; line-height: 18px;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">Because protest works. Even in the face of massive wealth and political influence, protest has the ability to change the conversation, to educate the public, change facts on the ground, and&nbsp;mobilize opposition.</font></p><p style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px 0px 10px; border: 0px; outline: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; line-height: 18px;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">When a police officer shot Michael Brown to death in Ferguson, Missouri in August, 2014, spontaneous protests by local Black young people turned what would have been yet another unnoticed police shooting into a national movement declaring “Black Lives Matter.”</font></p><p style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px 0px 10px; border: 0px; outline: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; line-height: 18px;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">In 2016, thousands of American Indians gathered near Cannonball, North Dakota through summer heat and bitter winter cold, to stand in prayerful opposition to the Dakota Access Pipeline. The pipeline project ignored the concerns and sovereignty of the Standing Rock Sioux tribe, and bypassed government procedures and environmental regulations. In the end the pipeline went through, but not before winning the hearts and minds of the world and sparking a new upsurge in Native organizing.</font></p><p style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px 0px 10px; border: 0px; outline: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; line-height: 18px;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">On January 21, millions took to the streets of Washington DC and around the world&nbsp;for the Women’s March, setting records for mass protest, one day after the Presidential inauguration. The march galvanized opposition to Trump and reframed his agenda as an affront to the majority of people in the US</font></p><p style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px 0px 10px; border: 0px; outline: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; line-height: 18px;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">Tens of thousands of people have packed town halls and forums across the country to express outrage over GOP plans to gut healthcare for millions. These protests&nbsp;blocked the first attempt to present the bill to repeal healthcare&nbsp;in the House, and derailed the second attempt.</font></p><p style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px 0px 10px; border: 0px; outline: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; line-height: 18px;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">Even though the House passed their “Trumpcare” bill on May 10th, millions are still making their voices heard, and the bill faces massive public opposition as it enters consideration in the Senate.</font></p><p style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px 0px 10px; border: 0px; outline: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; line-height: 18px;"><strong style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; outline: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">New Era of Protest</font></strong></p><p style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px 0px 10px; border: 0px; outline: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; line-height: 18px;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">We are in a new era of protest, and state laws aimed at stopping it are bound to fail.</font></p><p style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px 0px 10px; border: 0px; outline: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; line-height: 18px;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">Corporate apologists, who have bought and sold influence&nbsp;in this country for so long, and their friends in government&nbsp;simply can’t understand there is a kind of power that can’t be bought.</font></p><p style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px 0px 10px; border: 0px; outline: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; line-height: 18px;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">When they see&nbsp;massive turnouts at town halls and in the streets, they imagine it must be paid for, just as they are accustomed to do. But authentic protest is an expression of people’s power — which&nbsp;in the end can’t be stopped with&nbsp;<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Strategic_lawsuit_against_public_participation" target="blank" rel="noopener noreferrer" style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; outline: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; text-decoration-line: none;">SLAPP suits</a>,&nbsp;fines or&nbsp;<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Free_speech_zone" target="blank" rel="noopener noreferrer" style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; outline: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; text-decoration-line: none;">“free speech zones.”</a></font></p><p style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px 0px 10px; border: 0px; outline: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; line-height: 18px;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">During the civil rights movement, thousands of people put their lives and livelihoods on the line to bring about a&nbsp;massive sea change in attitudes. No laws or even violence could turn this&nbsp;tide, once people took hold of protest as their road to change.</font></p><p class="disclaimer" style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px 0px 10px; border: 0px; outline: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; line-height: 18px;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">We are likely to see more State laws aimed at curbing protest. But we are going to see a lot more protest too. It’s our only option.</font></p></div><div id="email-a-friend" style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; outline: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial;"><div class="itemExtraFields" style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; outline: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial;"><div style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; outline: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial;"><h2 style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px 0px 5px; border: 0px; outline: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; letter-spacing: -1px; line-height: 1em; font-weight: normal;"><a href="http://www.truth-out.org/author/itemlist/user/52125" style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; outline: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; text-decoration-line: none;"><font size="4" color="#000000" face="Times New Roman" style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">Libero Della Piana</font></a></h2><div style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; outline: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial;"><p style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px 0px 10px; border: 0px; outline: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; line-height: 18px;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">Libero Della Piana is a senior organizer at the&nbsp;<a href="http://otherwords.org/partners/alliance-for-a-just-society/" target="blank" rel="noopener noreferrer" style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; outline: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; text-decoration-line: none;">Alliance for a Just Society</a>.</font></p></div></div></div></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">=</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><a href="https://www.usnews.com/news/articles/2017-04-28/north-carolina-house-votes-to-protect-drivers-who-hit-protesters" style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">https://www.usnews.com/news/articles/2017-04-28/north-carolina-house-votes-to-protect-drivers-who-hit-protesters</a></font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">also traffic cam 500$ fine</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">
</font></div><div><div class="ad-in-text-target " style="box-sizing: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;"><p style="box-sizing: inherit; margin: 0px 0px 1.25rem; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5; text-rendering: optimizeLegibility;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">The North Carolina House of Representatives approved legislation in a lopsided 67-48 vote Thursday that would shield drivers from civil liability if they collide with protesters.</font></p></div><div class="ad-in-text-target " style="box-sizing: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;"><p style="box-sizing: inherit; margin: 0px 0px 1.25rem; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5; text-rendering: optimizeLegibility;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">Opponents say the legislation is unnecessary and may give drivers the false impression they can maliciously run over activists. One Democrat warned it would make the state the butt of jokes about being full of “dumb rednecks.”</span></font></p></div><div class="ad-in-text-target " style="box-sizing: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><p style="box-sizing: inherit; margin: 0px 0px 1.25rem; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5; text-rendering: optimizeLegibility;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">But Republican proponents, who sent the measure to the state Senate by a veto-proof margin, say recent encounters between activists and drivers makes the reform both sensible and necessary.</font></p></div><div class="ad-in-text-target " style="box-sizing: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;"><p style="box-sizing: inherit; margin: 0px 0px 1.25rem; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5; text-rendering: optimizeLegibility;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">Last year, people protesting the fatal shooting of&nbsp;<a href="https://www.usnews.com/news/national-news/articles/2016-11-30/no-charges-against-officer-in-keith-lamont-scott-shooting-in-charlotte-prosecutor-says" style="box-sizing: inherit; line-height: inherit; text-decoration-line: none;">Keith Lamont Scott</a>&nbsp;by a Charlotte police officer blocked roadways during at-times chaotic protest-related activities.</font></p></div><div class="ad-in-text-target " style="box-sizing: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;"><p style="box-sizing: inherit; margin: 0px 0px 1.25rem; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5; text-rendering: optimizeLegibility;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">“These people are nuts to run in front of cars like they do … and say, ‘Me and my buddy here are going to stop this two-and-a-half-ton vehicle,’” GOP state Rep. Michael Speciale said in support of the bill, The News & Observer&nbsp;<a href="http://www.newsobserver.com/news/politics-government/state-politics/article146957349.html" target="blank" style="box-sizing: inherit; line-height: inherit; text-decoration-line: none;">reports</a>. “If somebody does bump somebody, why should they be held liable?”</font></p><div data-config-distributor-id="90080" id="ndn-video-player-2" class="ndn_embed" data-config-site-section="ndn1_usnews" data-config-height="9/16w" style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); box-sizing: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; width: 636.656px;"><div class="ad-in-text-target " style="box-sizing: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;"><p style="box-sizing: inherit; margin: 0px 0px 1.25rem; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5; text-rendering: optimizeLegibility;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">Democratic state Rep. Henry Michaux, however, points out North Carolina is one of&nbsp;<a href="http://www.americanbar.org/content/dam/aba/events/lawyers_professional_liability/ls_lpl_2016_fall_conf_50_state_survey_comparative_fault.authcheckdam.pdf" target="blank" style="box-sizing: inherit; line-height: inherit; text-decoration-line: none;">just four states</a>&nbsp;with a pure contributory negligence rule, which means it's already impossible to collect a payout if the injured party is even 1 percent at fault for an accident.</font></p></div><div class=" " style="box-sizing: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;"><div class="callout-right hide-for-small" style="box-sizing: inherit; margin: 0px 0px 0.9375rem 1.5rem; padding: 0px; width: auto; float: right; max-width: 300px; position: relative; z-index: 2; display: inherit !important;"><hr class="hide-for-small-only" style="box-sizing: inherit; border-style: solid; border-color: rgb(221, 221, 221); border-image: initial; border-right-width: 0px; border-bottom-width: 0px; border-left-width: 0px; clear: both; height: 0px; margin: 0px 0px 1.1875rem; display: inherit !important;" /><h4 class="text-normal text-uppercase text-coal block-normal" style="box-sizing: inherit; margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-left: 0px; padding: 0px; font-weight: 400; line-height: 1.4; text-rendering: optimizeLegibility; margin-bottom: 0.9375rem !important; text-transform: uppercase !important;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></h4><hr class="block-flush" style="box-sizing: inherit; border-style: solid; border-color: rgb(221, 221, 221); border-image: initial; border-right-width: 0px; border-bottom-width: 0px; border-left-width: 0px; clear: both; height: 0px; margin-top: 1.25rem; margin-right: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px !important;" /></div></div><div class="ad-in-text-target " style="box-sizing: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;"><p style="box-sizing: inherit; margin: 0px 0px 1.25rem; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5; text-rendering: optimizeLegibility;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Michaux, an African-American attorney, tells U.S. News the bill therefore would not give drivers additional protection from liability. Instead, he sees it as an unconstitutional invitation to mow down protesters or weave through parades, and he feels the motivation behind the bill may be racial.</font></p></div><div class="ad-in-text-target " style="box-sizing: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;"><p style="box-sizing: inherit; margin: 0px 0px 1.25rem; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5; text-rendering: optimizeLegibility;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">“Who demonstrates more than people of color?” Michaux says. “It would give some folks the idea,” he says, to intentionally run over people “because you’ve got a group of black folks out here or a group of Latinos out here.”</font></p></div><div class=" " style="box-sizing: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;"><div class="ad-in-text-target " style="box-sizing: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;"><p style="box-sizing: inherit; margin: 0px 0px 1.25rem; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5; text-rendering: optimizeLegibility;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">The idea of immunizing drivers appears to have originated in North Dakota, where state Rep. Keith Kempenich proposed a&nbsp;<a href="https://www.legis.nd.gov/assembly/65-2017/documents/17-0351-01000.pdf" target="blank" style="box-sizing: inherit; line-height: inherit; text-decoration-line: none;">similar bill</a>&nbsp;in January after his mother-in-law&nbsp;<a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/post-nation/wp/2017/01/17/how-a-lawmakers-mother-in-law-inspired-a-bill-to-protect-drivers-who-accidentally-run-over-protesters/?utm_term=.ce2df14b7012" target="blank" style="box-sizing: inherit; line-height: inherit; text-decoration-line: none;">allegedly</a>&nbsp;was swarmed on a roadway by protesters opposed to construction of the&nbsp;<a href="https://www.usnews.com/news/business/articles/2017-03-28/a-timeline-of-the-dakota-access-oil-pipeline" style="box-sizing: inherit; line-height: inherit; text-decoration-line: none;">Dakota Access oil pipeline</a>. The measure was rejected in a&nbsp;<a href="https://legiscan.com/ND/bill/1203/2017" target="blank" style="box-sizing: inherit; line-height: inherit; text-decoration-line: none;">41-50</a>&nbsp;vote in February.</font></p></div><div class="ad-in-text-target " style="box-sizing: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;"><p style="box-sizing: inherit; margin: 0px 0px 1.25rem; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5; text-rendering: optimizeLegibility;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">Tennessee lawmakers also&nbsp;<a href="https://www.usnews.com/news/articles/2017-02-13/common-sense-legislation-would-shield-drivers-who-run-over-protesters" style="box-sizing: inherit; line-height: inherit; text-decoration-line: none;">took up the cause</a>&nbsp;after a driver ran into protesters opposed to an action by President Donald Trump and wound up with "<a href="http://wate.com/2017/01/30/nashville-police-investigate-report-of-car-running-into-group-at-rally/" style="box-sizing: inherit; line-height: inherit; text-decoration-line: none;">five or six</a>" on his hood. Sponsors were tight-lipped amid negative press and the bill&nbsp;<a href="https://www.usnews.com/news/best-states/tennessee/articles/2017-03-22/tennessee-bill-to-shield-drivers-who-hit-protesters-fails" style="box-sizing: inherit; line-height: inherit; text-decoration-line: none;">failed</a>&nbsp;in committee in March.</font></p></div><div class="ad-in-text-target " style="box-sizing: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;"><p style="box-sizing: inherit; margin: 0px 0px 1.25rem; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5; text-rendering: optimizeLegibility;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">The potential for bad press did not deter lawmakers in North Carolina, who passed the bill over a warning from Democratic Rep. Graig Meyer that it was inviting jokes about “those dumb rednecks” in the state.</font></p></div><div class="ad-in-text-target " style="box-sizing: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;"><p style="box-sizing: inherit; margin: 0px 0px 1.25rem; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5; text-rendering: optimizeLegibility;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">The bill says drivers are not protected from liability if they are "willful or wanton" in plowing over pedestrians, but are protected if they are exercising "due care" and hit someone who is "participating in a protest or demonstration and blocking traffic in a public street or highway."</font></p></div><div class="ad-in-text-target " style="box-sizing: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;"><p style="box-sizing: inherit; margin: 0px 0px 1.25rem; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5; text-rendering: optimizeLegibility;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">The measure includes language barring immunity if a driver strikes a pedestrian who has “a valid permit” allowing a protest in the public street "where the injury occurred."</font></p></div><div class="ad-in-text-target " style="box-sizing: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;"><p style="box-sizing: inherit; margin: 0px 0px 1.25rem; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5; text-rendering: optimizeLegibility;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Democratic Gov. Roy Cooper's office did not respond to a request for comment, nor did the<b>&nbsp;bill's sponsor, Republican state Rep. Justin Burr,&nbsp;</b>or the state Senate's Republican majority leader, Harry Brown.</font></p></div><div class="ad-in-text-target " style="box-sizing: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;"><p style="box-sizing: inherit; margin: 0px 0px 1.25rem; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5; text-rendering: optimizeLegibility;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Republicans hold substantial majorities in both chambers of the state legislature and could make the bill law by overriding a potential gubernatorial veto. They overrode vetoes on&nbsp;<a href="http://abcnews.go.com/US/wireStory/carolina-lawmakers-halfway-veto-override-court-size-47037980" target="blank" style="box-sizing: inherit; line-height: inherit; text-decoration-line: none;">two bills</a>&nbsp;this week.</font></p></div><div class=" " style="box-sizing: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;"><div class=" " style="box-sizing: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;"><div class="callout-left hide-for-small" style="box-sizing: inherit; margin: 0px 1.5rem 0.9375rem 0px; padding: 0px; width: auto; float: left; max-width: 300px; display: inherit !important;"><hr class="hide-for-small-only" style="box-sizing: inherit; border-style: solid; border-color: rgb(221, 221, 221); border-image: initial; border-right-width: 0px; border-bottom-width: 0px; border-left-width: 0px; clear: both; height: 0px; margin: 0px 0px 1.1875rem; display: inherit !important;" /><h4 class="text-normal text-uppercase text-coal block-normal" style="box-sizing: inherit; margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-left: 0px; padding: 0px; font-weight: 400; line-height: 1.4; text-rendering: optimizeLegibility; margin-bottom: 0.9375rem !important; text-transform: uppercase !important;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></h4><hr class="block-flush" style="box-sizing: inherit; border-style: solid; border-color: rgb(221, 221, 221); border-image: initial; border-right-width: 0px; border-bottom-width: 0px; border-left-width: 0px; clear: both; height: 0px; margin-top: 1.25rem; margin-right: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px !important;" /></div></div><div class="ad-in-text-target " style="box-sizing: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;"><p style="box-sizing: inherit; margin: 0px 0px 1.25rem; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5; text-rendering: optimizeLegibility;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">One Democrat&nbsp;<a href="http://www.ncleg.net/gascripts/voteHistory/RollCallVoteTranscript.pl?sSession=2017&sChamber=H&RCS=477" target="blank" style="box-sizing: inherit; line-height: inherit; text-decoration-line: none;">voted for</a>&nbsp;the protester-collision bill on Thursday, and three Republicans voted against it.</font></p></div><div class="ad-in-text-target " style="box-sizing: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;"><p style="box-sizing: inherit; margin: 0px 0px 1.25rem; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5; text-rendering: optimizeLegibility;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Michaux believes&nbsp;<a href="http://www.ncleg.net/Sessions/2017/Bills/House/PDF/H330v2.pdf" target="blank" style="box-sizing: inherit; line-height: inherit; text-decoration-line: none;">the legislation</a>&nbsp;is likely to become law through an override vote and sees a lawsuit as the only way to keep it off the books. He looks to the 1969 Supreme Court ruling in Shuttlesworth v. City of Birmingham, which says it’s not always necessary to have a permit to march in the street....</font></p></div></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
<a href="https://www.democracynow.org/2017/5/4/headlines/codepink_activists_face_up_to_1_year_in_prison_over_jeff_sessions_protest">https://www.democracynow.org/2017/5/4/headlines/codepink_activists_face_up_to_1_year_in_prison_over_jeff_sessions_protest</a>
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</font><p><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">In Washington, D.C., three members of the activist group CodePink were convicted Wednesday over their role in a January 10 protest against a Senate confirmation hearing for Jeff Sessions as attorney general. One of the three, Desiree Ali-Fairooz, faces up to 12 months in prison on&nbsp;<b>"disruptive conduct" charges, after she let out a burst of laughter when Sessions said he had a record of "treating all Americans equally under the law."</b>&nbsp;<span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">During the protest, the demonstrators wore white hooded robes and chanted "No Trump! No&nbsp;<span class="caps">KKK</span>! No fascist U.S.A.!" Sessions has a history of making racist comments, including reportedly saying he thought the Ku Klux Klan was "OK until I found out they smoked pot."</span></font></p><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">=
<a href="https://www.democracynow.org/2017/5/2/headlines/j20_inauguration_day_protesters_facing_up_to_75_years_in_prison">https://www.democracynow.org/2017/5/2/headlines/j20_inauguration_day_protesters_facing_up_to_75_years_in_prison</a>

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</font><p><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">In Washington, D.C., prosecutors have filed a slew of additional felony and misdemeanor charges against more than 200 people who were arrested at protests during President Trump’s inauguration on January 20. While most of the protesters were already charged with felony rioting, the new charges also include inciting or urging to riot, conspiracy to riot and multiple counts of destruction of property. The legal support group Defend J20 Resistance says the new charges mean protesters are now facing up to 75 years in prison.</font></p><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">stop LA cop surveil</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">gait, drive / plate reader, cams trifecta, dear john letters to red light district LA; palantir; stingray</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"></font></div><div><div class="cnc" style="padding-bottom: 4px;"><h3 class="r U6c" style="font-weight: normal; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; white-space: nowrap; overflow: hidden; text-overflow: ellipsis;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><a class="l _HId" href="http://kfgo.com/news/articles/2017/feb/04/activist-faces-felony-charge-in-pipeline-protest/" style="cursor: pointer;">Activist faces&nbsp;<span style="font-weight: bold;">felony charge</span>&nbsp;in pipeline&nbsp;<span style="font-weight: bold;">protest</span></a></font></h3><div class="slp" style="margin-bottom: 1px;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><span class="tQb IId">KFGO</span><span class="v5" style="padding: 0px 4px;">-</span><span class="f nsa uQb" style="display: inline-block;">Feb 4, 2017</span></font></div><div class="st" style="line-height: 1.24; word-wrap: break-word;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Chase Iron Eyes could face up to five years in prison if convicted on the&nbsp;<span style="font-weight: bold;">felony&nbsp;</span><span style="font-weight: bold;">charge</span>. He also faces a misdemeanor count of criminal trespass.</font></div></div><div class="hnc card-section" style="display: inline-block;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><a class="sQb" href="http://hotair.com/archives/2017/02/03/dakota-access-pipeline-protest-leader-charged-with-inciting-a-riot-74-arrested/" style="text-decoration-line: none; cursor: pointer;">Dakota Access Pipeline&nbsp;<span style="font-weight: bold;">protest</span>&nbsp;leader&nbsp;<span style="font-weight: bold;">charged</span>&nbsp;with inciting a riot ...</a>
<span class="nsa _tQb f _IId">Hot Air</span><span class="v5" style="padding: 0px 4px;">-</span><span class="nsa uQb f" style="display: inline-block;">Feb 3, 2017</span></font></div></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"></font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">15 and 23 yo flowers on meat</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><a href="http://www.dailycamera.com/news/boulder/ci_30831919/activists-facing-felony-charges-boulder-meat-protest-turning">http://www.dailycamera.com/news/boulder/ci_30831919/activists-facing-felony-charges-boulder-meat-protest-turning</a></font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">...</font></div><div><p times="Times" new="New" roman="Roman" serif="serif" color="color" rgb="rgb" background-color="background-color" font-variant-numeric="font-variant-numeric" normal="normal" important="important" font-stretch="font-stretch" line-height="line-height" px="px" style="margin: 0px 0px 11.326px;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">We evaluate the evidence and the law in filing charges," Garnett said. "We'll review this case and make an appropriate decision."</font></p><p times="Times" new="New" roman="Roman" serif="serif" color="color" rgb="rgb" background-color="background-color" font-variant-numeric="font-variant-numeric" normal="normal" important="important" font-stretch="font-stretch" line-height="line-height" px="px" style="margin: 0px 0px 11.326px;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Police say Knight and Goldman entered the Ideal Meat Market, 1275 Alpine Ave., on Sunday evening and&nbsp;<b>Goldman walked behind the meat counter and placed flowers on the raw meat.</b></font></p><p times="Times" new="New" roman="Roman" serif="serif" color="color" rgb="rgb" background-color="background-color" font-variant-numeric="font-variant-numeric" normal="normal" important="important" font-stretch="font-stretch" line-height="line-height" px="px" style="margin: 0px 0px 11.326px;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Direct Action Everywhere — the animal rights activist group claiming responsibility for the protest — released a statement saying that Goldman and Knight were motivated by a recent investigation of a Whole Foods turkey supplier. Ideal Market is owned by Whole Foods.</font></p><p times="Times" new="New" roman="Roman" serif="serif" color="color" rgb="rgb" background-color="background-color" font-variant-numeric="font-variant-numeric" normal="normal" important="important" font-stretch="font-stretch" line-height="line-height" px="px" style="margin: 0px 0px 11.326px;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">...</font></p></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"></font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><a href="http://www.cnn.com/2017/02/22/politics/trump-inauguration-protesters-indictment/">http://www.cnn.com/2017/02/22/politics/trump-inauguration-protesters-indictment/</a></font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" /><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">CNN)A total of 214 people have been indicted so far on felony rioting charges in connection with the Inauguration Day protests in downtown Washington.</font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></div><div>
</div><div>On the morning of January 20, protests over Donald Trump's inauguration turned violent when black-clad "anti-fascist" protesters smashed storefronts and bus stops, hammered out the windows of a limousine and eventually launched rocks at a phalanx of police.</div><div>
</div><div>Officers responded by launching smoke and flash-bang devices into the street to disperse the crowds. Six police officers were injured and 230 protesters were arrested that day.</div><div>
</div><div>On Tuesday, a grand jury in DC charged five individuals. This was in addition to the 209 other defendants who've been indicted on rioting charges earlier this month.</div><div>Felony rioting carries a maximum of 10 years in prison and a fine of up to $25,000.</div><div>The indictment accuses the defendants of using a tactic called "Black Bloc" in which people conceal their identities with dark or black clothing and accessories such as scarves, sunglasses, helmets and masks.</div><div>They assaulted a limousine driver, smashed windows of local businesses, destroyed a government vehicle and committed "violent and destructive acts," according to the indictment.</div><div>The DC Police had said that the several hundred demonstrators who actively confronted officers were vastly outnumbered by the thousands of nonviolent protesters who swarmed the nation's capital for Inauguration Day and the Women's March, held the day after.</div></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"></font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">https://thinkprogress.org/federal-prosecutors-slap-felony-charges-on-more-than-200-inauguration-protesters-92e3154a8fd1#.sj74n2d5g</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Some 230 people have been charged with felony rioting in Superior Court after Washington, D.C. police responded to a handful of property destruction incidents on Inauguration Day by rounding up everyone who was in the area at the time.</font></div><div><p name="9a84" id="9a84" class="graf graf--p graf-after--p" style="margin: 29px 0px 0px; --baseline-multiplier:0.179; line-height: 1.58; letter-spacing: -0.003em;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">The charges and street tactics shocked legal observer groups that provide volunteer jail support around high-profile street protests in the nation’s capitol, where police have a long track record of handling demonstrators with a subtler approach. The decision by United States Attorney Channing Phillips leaves plainclothes marchers and provocation-minded radicals alike facing maximum punishments of 10 years in prison and a $25,000 fine.</font></p><p name="dca6" id="dca6" class="graf graf--p graf-after--p" style="margin: 29px 0px 0px; --baseline-multiplier:0.179; line-height: 1.58; letter-spacing: -0.003em;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Arrest reports show the department is using the exact same language to describe its reasons for arresting all 200-plus caught in the round-up, without offering specific allegations of individual property destruction.</font></p><p name="e7f5" id="e7f5" class="graf graf--p graf-after--p" style="margin: 29px 0px 0px; --baseline-multiplier:0.179; line-height: 1.58; letter-spacing: -0.003em;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">There is no argument that some marchers near the area on Friday morning smashed windows, and that others lit small fires after police had “<a href="https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2010/dec/10/kettled-shocking-experience" data-href="https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2010/dec/10/kettled-shocking-experience" class="markup--anchor markup--p-anchor" rel="noopener" target="blank" style="background-color: transparent; text-decoration-line: none; -webkit-tap-highlight-color: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.44); background-image: linear-gradient(rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.6) 50%, rgba(0, 0, 0, 0) 50%); background-repeat: repeat-x; background-size: 2px 0.1em; background-position: 0px 1.07em;">kettled</a>” hundreds of reporters and marchers near a downtown park. But Phillips’ choice to collectively pursue a much larger group based on their proximity to the action strikes longtime protest legal observer Ria Thompson-Washington of the National Lawyers Guild as a dark turn away from the restraint that law enforcement have shown with protests and unrest in the past.</font></p><blockquote name="532a" id="532a" class="graf graf--pullquote graf-after--p" style="margin: 55px 0px 0px -1.75px; border: none; padding: 0px 0px 0px 50px; --baseline-multiplier:0.157; font-style: italic; line-height: 1.48; letter-spacing: -0.014em;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">If I’m a bystander to this, and I know I’m being charged with a 10 year sentence…I’m going to plead out even if I’m innocent.</font></blockquote><p name="16a3" id="16a3" class="graf graf--p graf--startsWithDoubleQuote graf-after--pullquote" style="margin: 54px 0px 0px; --baseline-multiplier:0.179; line-height: 1.58; letter-spacing: -0.003em; text-indent: -0.4em;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><span class="markup--quote markup--p-quote is-other" name="anon_ba26e0425330 bfc513bc6dbe" data-creator-ids="anon e0ef4aa3fc5" style="transition: background-color 0.2s; cursor: pointer; background-image: linear-gradient(rgb(244, 235, 255), rgb(244, 235, 255)); background-color: transparent !important;">“The police here always give three warnings to protesters before they give any action. In this case, there was nothing,” Thompson-Washington said in an interview.</span>&nbsp;“There was no order of dispersal, no warnings. They just immediately brought out their batons and pepper spray without any warning.”</font></p><p name="9829" id="9829" class="graf graf--p graf-after--p" style="margin: 29px 0px 0px; --baseline-multiplier:0.179; line-height: 1.58; letter-spacing: -0.003em;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">One of the NLG-trained legal observers, who wear bright green hats or shirts so police can distinguish them from protesters, was pepper-sprayed straight in the face, said Thompson-Washington, and several other green-hatted observers were arrested and charged. The kettling tactic meant anyone who’d been inside the initial police perimeter was not allowed to leave as several hours passed before the arrests began.</font></p><p name="9801" id="9801" class="graf graf--p graf-after--p" style="margin: 29px 0px 0px; --baseline-multiplier:0.179; line-height: 1.58; letter-spacing: -0.003em;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">At least half a dozen journalists are facing charges from Phillips’ office as well. Vocativ’s Evan Engel, 30, and RT’s Alex Rubinstein, 24, were among those rounded up Friday evening after police used “kettling” tactics to block hundreds of reporters and protesters into a small patch of downtown D.C. last Friday. The Guardian reported late Tuesday that&nbsp;<a href="https://www.theguardian.com/media/2017/jan/24/journalists-charged-felonies-trump-inauguration-unrest" data-href="https://www.theguardian.com/media/2017/jan/24/journalists-charged-felonies-trump-inauguration-unrest" class="markup--anchor markup--p-anchor" rel="noopener" target="blank" style="background-color: transparent; text-decoration-line: none; -webkit-tap-highlight-color: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.44); background-image: linear-gradient(rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.6) 50%, rgba(0, 0, 0, 0) 50%); background-repeat: repeat-x; background-size: 2px 0.1em; background-position: 0px 1.07em;">another four of those charged are journalists</a>, and that police have kept the cell phone of at least one of them</font></p><p name="71f2" id="71f2" class="graf graf--p graf-after--p" style="margin: 29px 0px 0px; --baseline-multiplier:0.179; line-height: 1.58; letter-spacing: -0.003em;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Scores of riot officers kept the group boxed in for hours, deploying both pepper spray and “sting-ball” grenades on the crowd. Engel’s camera was confiscated as evidence and had not been returned as of late Monday, a source familiar with his case told ThinkProgress.</font></p><p name="71f2" id="71f2" class="graf graf--p graf-after--p" style="margin: 29px 0px 0px; --baseline-multiplier:0.179; line-height: 1.58; letter-spacing: -0.003em;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">...</font></p></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"></font></div><div><p class="story-body-text story-content" data-para-count="196" data-total-count="196" times="times" new="new" roman="roman" serif="serif" max-width="max-width" none="none" width="width" px="px" color="color" rgb="rgb" background-color="background-color" style="margin: 0px 0px 1em 75px; line-height: 1.625rem;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Prosecutors in Washington have dropped felony rioting charges against four of the six journalists&nbsp;<a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2017/01/25/business/media/journalists-arrested-trump-inauguration.html">arrested while covering Inauguration Day protests</a>, but charges remain in place against two others.</font></p><p class="story-body-text story-content" data-para-count="278" data-total-count="474" times="times" new="new" roman="roman" serif="serif" max-width="max-width" none="none" width="width" px="px" color="color" rgb="rgb" background-color="background-color" style="margin: 0px 0px 1em 75px; line-height: 1.625rem;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">The six were among 230 people arrested during violent demonstrations that took place just blocks from the inauguration of&nbsp;<a href="http://www.nytimes.com/topic/person/donald-trump?inline=nyt-per" title="More articles about Donald J. Trump." class="meta-per">Donald J. Trump</a>, who was sworn in as the 45th president on Jan. 20. Some protesters smashed shop windows in downtown Washington and set a limousine on fire.</font></p><p class="story-body-text story-content" data-para-count="235" data-total-count="709" times="times" new="new" roman="roman" serif="serif" max-width="max-width" none="none" width="width" px="px" color="color" rgb="rgb" background-color="background-color" style="margin: 0px 0px 1em 75px; line-height: 1.625rem;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Charges against three of the journalists — Matthew Hopard, John Keller and Alexander Rubinstein — were dropped on Monday, according to Bill Miller, a spokesman for the United States attorney’s office for the District of Columbia.</font></p><p class="story-body-text story-content" data-para-count="119" data-total-count="828" times="times" new="new" roman="roman" serif="serif" max-width="max-width" none="none" width="width" px="px" color="color" rgb="rgb" background-color="background-color" style="margin: 0px 0px 1em 75px; line-height: 1.625rem;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Charges against a fourth — Evan Engel, a writer for the media and technology site Vocativ — were dropped on Friday.</font></p></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"></font></div><div><p name="200e" id="200e" class="graf graf--p graf-after--figure" style="margin: 38px 0px 0px; --baseline-multiplier:0.179; line-height: 1.58; letter-spacing: -0.003em;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">In North Carolina, protesting your government could soon open you up to charges of “economic terrorism” under a measure proposed Thursday by two Republican lawmakers.</font></p><p name="eb38" id="eb38" class="graf graf--p graf-after--p" style="margin: 29px 0px 0px; --baseline-multiplier:0.179; line-height: 1.58; letter-spacing: -0.003em;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">The bill would&nbsp;<a href="http://www.indyweek.com/news/archives/2017/03/02/two-nc-state-reps-want-to-label-some-protesters-economic-terrorists" data-href="http://www.indyweek.com/news/archives/2017/03/02/two-nc-state-reps-want-to-label-some-protesters-economic-terrorists" class="markup--anchor markup--p-anchor" rel="noopener" target="blank" style="background-color: transparent; text-decoration-line: none; -webkit-tap-highlight-color: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.44); background-image: linear-gradient(rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.6) 50%, rgba(0, 0, 0, 0) 50%); background-repeat: repeat-x; background-size: 2px 0.1em; background-position: 0px 1.07em;">create a new felony charge</a>&nbsp;applied to any criminal offense that leads to at least $1,000 in economic harm to any business, if the offender intended to intimidate the government or the public. Separate language in the proposal would make it illegal to block traffic as part of a protest or demonstration.</font></p><p name="25fe" id="25fe" class="graf graf--p graf-after--p" style="margin: 29px 0px 0px; --baseline-multiplier:0.179; line-height: 1.58; letter-spacing: -0.003em;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">The proposal is so broad it could potentially be used to ensnare people like the Rev. William Barber II, a key leader of the state’s Moral Mondays protests.</font></p><p name="d3f0" id="d3f0" class="graf graf--p graf--startsWithDoubleQuote graf-after--p" style="margin: 29px 0px 0px; --baseline-multiplier:0.179; line-height: 1.58; letter-spacing: -0.003em; text-indent: -0.4em;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">“Many of these extremist legislators cannot stand protest because it doesn’t allow them to do in the dark the work they’re doing that’s hurting so many people,” Barber told ThinkProgress. “This is an old game. It is an attempt to malign movements that work and that challenge what the system is doing.”</font></p><p name="9fb7" id="9fb7" class="graf graf--p graf-after--p" style="margin: 29px 0px 0px; --baseline-multiplier:0.179; line-height: 1.58; letter-spacing: -0.003em;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">The mass meetings Barber helps convene are rigorously peaceful, but numerous participants have been arrested for acts of civil disobedience or at the request of legislators. Such arrests could, under the broad language of the bill, be construed as felonies if a prosecutor linked the protest in question to an economically harmful boycott or street closure.</font></p><p name="4645" id="4645" class="graf graf--p graf-after--p" style="margin: 29px 0px 0px; --baseline-multiplier:0.179; line-height: 1.58; letter-spacing: -0.003em;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">The proposal from state Reps. John Torbett (R-Gaston County) and John Faircloth (R-Guilford County) is the latest in a string of state-level proposals to roll back protester rights and raise the legal stakes of public dissent in the era of President Donald Trump.</font></p><div name="397c" id="397c" class="graf graf--mixtapeEmbed graf-after--p" style="position: relative; overflow: hidden; max-height: 280px; box-sizing: border-box; box-shadow: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.04) 0px 1px 4px, rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.09) 0px 0px 0px 1px inset; display: table; width: 700px; margin-top: 43px;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><a href="https://thinkprogress.org/minnesota-lawmaker-launches-possibly-unconstitutional-attempt-to-curtail-black-lives-matter-fbd4998762b7" data-href="https://thinkprogress.org/minnesota-lawmaker-launches-possibly-unconstitutional-attempt-to-curtail-black-lives-matter-fbd4998762b7" class="markup--anchor markup--mixtapeEmbed-anchor" title="https://thinkprogress.org/minnesota-lawmaker-launches-possibly-unconstitutional-attempt-to-curtail-black-lives-matter-fbd4998762b7" style="background: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0); text-decoration-line: none; -webkit-tap-highlight-color: transparent; display: table-cell; vertical-align: middle; padding: 20px;"><span class="markup--strong markup--mixtapeEmbed-strong" style="letter-spacing: 0px; line-height: 1.3; display: block; margin-bottom: -8px;">Minnesota Lawmaker Launches Possibly Unconstitutional Attempt To Curtail Black Lives Matter…</span>
thinkprogress.org</a></font></div><p name="15c8" id="15c8" class="graf graf--p graf--startsWithDoubleQuote graf-after--mixtapeEmbed" style="margin: 38px 0px 0px; --baseline-multiplier:0.179; line-height: 1.58; letter-spacing: -0.003em; text-indent: -0.4em;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><a href="https://thinkprogress.org/minnesota-lawmaker-launches-possibly-unconstitutional-attempt-to-curtail-black-lives-matter-fbd4998762b7" class="js-mixtapeImage mixtapeImage u-ignoreBlock" data-media-id="cd5d3d40fad58ea048b0c2378ae2bc52" data-thumbnail-img-id="0gQpWIUgcdUsvDxc5.jpg" https="https" cdn-images-1.medium.com="cdn-images-1.medium.com" fit="fit" c="c" gqpwiugcdusvdxc5.jpg="gQpWIUgcdUsvDxc5.jpg" style="background-color: transparent; text-decoration-line: none; -webkit-tap-highlight-color: transparent; display: table-cell; vertical-align: middle; width: 160px; height: 160px; background-size: cover; background-repeat: no-repeat; background-position: center center; box-sizing: border-box; box-shadow: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.09) 0px 0px 0px 1px inset; background-image: url(">“No matter what your politics are, everyone should be concerned anytime that lawmakers seek to curb our fundamental constitutional right to not only protest, but to criticize our government,” American Civil Liberties Union of North Carolina spokesman Mike Meno said in an interview. “This is one bill in a wave of legislation that we’ve seen across the country designed to criminalize peaceful protest and really have a chilling effect on our First Amendment rights.”</a></font></p><p name="cd76" id="cd76" class="graf graf--p graf-after--p" style="margin: 29px 0px 0px; --baseline-multiplier:0.179; line-height: 1.58; letter-spacing: -0.003em;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><a href="https://thinkprogress.org/minnesota-lawmaker-launches-possibly-unconstitutional-attempt-to-curtail-black-lives-matter-fbd4998762b7" class="js-mixtapeImage mixtapeImage u-ignoreBlock" data-media-id="cd5d3d40fad58ea048b0c2378ae2bc52" data-thumbnail-img-id="0gQpWIUgcdUsvDxc5.jpg" https="https" cdn-images-1.medium.com="cdn-images-1.medium.com" fit="fit" c="c" gqpwiugcdusvdxc5.jpg="gQpWIUgcdUsvDxc5.jpg" style="background-color: transparent; text-decoration-line: none; -webkit-tap-highlight-color: transparent; display: table-cell; vertical-align: middle; width: 160px; height: 160px; background-size: cover; background-repeat: no-repeat; background-position: center center; box-sizing: border-box; box-shadow: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.09) 0px 0px 0px 1px inset; background-image: url(">Washington state is weighing a similar “economic terrorism” measure. Arizona lawmakers want to&nbsp;</a></font><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><a href="https://thinkprogress.org/arizona-gopers-push-bill-to-make-protest-planners-into-criminals-b4f18bd56d7c#.nnoq8zidf" data-href="https://thinkprogress.org/arizona-gopers-push-bill-to-make-protest-planners-into-criminals-b4f18bd56d7c#.nnoq8zidf" class="markup--anchor markup--p-anchor" target="blank" style="background-color: transparent; text-decoration-line: none; -webkit-tap-highlight-color: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.44); background-image: linear-gradient(rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.6) 50%, rgba(0, 0, 0, 0) 50%); background-repeat: repeat-x; background-size: 2px 0.1em; background-position: 0px 1.07em;">treat protest organizers like mobsters</a>. Minnesota legislators are pushing for&nbsp;<a href="https://thinkprogress.org/anti-protest-legislation-2afe0d59360a#.2wh2i18cq" data-href="https://thinkprogress.org/anti-protest-legislation-2afe0d59360a#.2wh2i18cq" class="markup--anchor markup--p-anchor" target="blank" style="background-color: transparent; text-decoration-line: none; -webkit-tap-highlight-color: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.44); background-image: linear-gradient(rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.6) 50%, rgba(0, 0, 0, 0) 50%); background-repeat: repeat-x; background-size: 2px 0.1em; background-position: 0px 1.07em;">the right to sue protesters</a>&nbsp;to recoup the costs of police overtime incurred by demonstrations. At least four states have moved to criminalize roadway protests in recent months.</font></p><p name="c3ea" id="c3ea" class="graf graf--p graf-after--p" style="margin: 29px 0px 0px; --baseline-multiplier:0.179; line-height: 1.58; letter-spacing: -0.003em;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">All these laws constraint protests in various ways, primarily by exposing demonstrators to new financial or criminal consequences.</font></p><blockquote name="d7d5" id="d7d5" class="graf graf--pullquote graf--startsWithDoubleQuote graf-after--p" style="margin: 55px 0px 0px -1.75px; border: none; padding: 0px 0px 0px 50px; --baseline-multiplier:0.157; font-style: italic; line-height: 1.48; letter-spacing: -0.014em; text-indent: -0.32em;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">“Any time tyrants try to stifle the voice of the people, it always backfires.”</font></blockquote><p name="6bc1" id="6bc1" class="graf graf--p graf-after--pullquote" style="margin: 54px 0px 0px; --baseline-multiplier:0.179; line-height: 1.58; letter-spacing: -0.003em;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">But the North Carolina law also recasts a longstanding American right as a sinister usurpation of public order. Where the Constitution protects citizens’ rights to group together in public to dissent from its government’s actions,&nbsp;<a href="http://www.ncleg.net/Sessions/2017/Bills/House/PDF/H249v0.pdf" data-href="http://www.ncleg.net/Sessions/2017/Bills/House/PDF/H249v0.pdf" class="markup--anchor markup--p-anchor" rel="noopener" target="blank" style="background-color: transparent; text-decoration-line: none; -webkit-tap-highlight-color: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.44); background-image: linear-gradient(rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.6) 50%, rgba(0, 0, 0, 0) 50%); background-repeat: repeat-x; background-size: 2px 0.1em; background-position: 0px 1.07em;">Torbett’s bill</a>&nbsp;targets efforts to “[i]ntimidate the civilian population at large, or an identifiable group…[or i]nfluence, through intimidation, the conduct or activities of the government of the United States, a state, or any unit of local government.”</font></p><p name="eee4" id="eee4" class="graf graf--p graf-after--p" style="margin: 29px 0px 0px; --baseline-multiplier:0.179; line-height: 1.58; letter-spacing: -0.003em;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">The law offers no detail on how officials would distinguish persuasion from intimidation when responding to protest activity. The state already has statutes on the books to punish rioting. Any law that requires cops and prosecutors to discern people’s intent creates a murky psychological task within a seemingly precise criminal procedure.</font></p><p name="49b5" id="49b5" class="graf graf--p graf-after--p" style="margin: 29px 0px 0px; --baseline-multiplier:0.179; line-height: 1.58; letter-spacing: -0.003em;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">The language about protesters’ intentions struck Meno as particularly ironic, he said, since Torbett and Faircloth’s bill itself “seems designed to intimidate people who would want to protest their government.”</font></p><p name="9dd9" id="9dd9" class="graf graf--p graf-after--p" style="margin: 29px 0px 0px; --baseline-multiplier:0.179; line-height: 1.58; letter-spacing: -0.003em;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Police and civic leaders would not have to divine protesters’ inner thoughts in all cases under Torbett’s crackdown, however. The second a protest moves onto a roadway, for example, everyone involved becomes a criminal under the proposal. Blocking roads would be as serious a misdemeanor as crimes like sexual battery or assaulting a public official. Public officials would be automatically required to dispatch police to clear a roadway, by force if necessary, once “at least 10 persons obstruct vehicular traffic.”</font></p><div name="948c" id="948c" class="graf graf--mixtapeEmbed graf-after--p" style="position: relative; overflow: hidden; max-height: 280px; box-sizing: border-box; box-shadow: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.04) 0px 1px 4px, rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.09) 0px 0px 0px 1px inset; display: table; width: 700px; margin-top: 43px;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><a href="https://thinkprogress.org/charlotte-rage-charlotte-roads-1ee83a4753a4" data-href="https://thinkprogress.org/charlotte-rage-charlotte-roads-1ee83a4753a4" class="markup--anchor markup--mixtapeEmbed-anchor" title="https://thinkprogress.org/charlotte-rage-charlotte-roads-1ee83a4753a4" style="background: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0); text-decoration-line: none; -webkit-tap-highlight-color: transparent; display: table-cell; vertical-align: middle; padding: 20px;"><span class="markup--strong markup--mixtapeEmbed-strong" style="letter-spacing: 0px; line-height: 1.3; display: block; margin-bottom: -8px;">To understand Charlotte’s rage, you have to understand its roads</span>
<span class="markup--em markup--mixtapeEmbed-em" style="display: block; margin-top: -1px; margin-bottom: 10px; max-height: 120px; overflow: hidden;">The long, winding history that led up to this week’s unrest.</span>thinkprogress.org</a></font></div><p name="c6f6" id="c6f6" class="graf graf--p graf-after--mixtapeEmbed" style="margin: 38px 0px 0px; --baseline-multiplier:0.179; line-height: 1.58; letter-spacing: -0.003em;"><font size="4"><font face="Times New Roman">The choice to single out traffic obstruction as a new and special offense is not random. Protests tied to the broad Movement for Black Lives have frequently targeted high-traffic roads and highways, gumming up a city’s normal flow as a means of calling the whole community’s attention to police abuse that would otherwise be easy for the white populace to ignore. (Roads are convenient targets, but also&nbsp;&nbsp;</font></font><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><a href="https://thinkprogress.org/top-infrastructure-official-explains-how-america-used-highways-to-destroy-black-neighborhoods-96c1460d1962#.w0pkv87y2" data-href="https://thinkprogress.org/top-infrastructure-official-explains-how-america-used-highways-to-destroy-black-neighborhoods-96c1460d1962#.w0pkv87y2" class="markup--anchor markup--p-anchor" target="blank" style="background-color: transparent; text-decoration-line: none; -webkit-tap-highlight-color: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.44); background-image: linear-gradient(rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.6) 50%, rgba(0, 0, 0, 0) 50%); background-repeat: repeat-x; background-size: 2px 0.1em; background-position: 0px 1.07em;">historically appropriate ones</a>&nbsp;for racial justice movements in particular.)</font></p><p name="1c5d" id="1c5d" class="graf graf--p graf-after--p" style="margin: 29px 0px 0px; --baseline-multiplier:0.179; line-height: 1.58; letter-spacing: -0.003em;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">The bill is unlikely to become law with Democrat Roy Cooper in the governor’s mansion, though Republicans do hold a veto-proof majority. Regardless, this will likely not be the last time lawmakers try to smear protesters.</font></p><p name="af6a" id="af6a" class="graf graf--p graf--startsWithDoubleQuote graf-after--p" style="margin: 29px 0px 0px; --baseline-multiplier:0.179; line-height: 1.58; letter-spacing: -0.003em; text-indent: -0.4em;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">“If thousands of people are marching to protest voter suppression laws, the people who passed those laws will say they’re disturbing the peace,” said Barber. “Even what happened in Charlotte, the people who wanted to use that as a scapegoat took the actions of a few people to try to malign the whole. That’s not new. That happened in [the 1968 sanitation workers strike in Memphis, Tennessee] just before Dr. King was killed.”</font></p><p name="0110" id="0110" class="graf graf--p graf-after--p" style="margin: 29px 0px 0px; --baseline-multiplier:0.179; line-height: 1.58; letter-spacing: -0.003em;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">While Charlotte’s brief-but-cinematic rage last September captured great public attention, North Carolina is also serving as incubator to a more sustainable, less flashy form of populist dissent — one that could nonetheless run afoul of the broad criminalization of protest activity which Torbett proposes.</font></p><p name="e07e" id="e07e" class="graf graf--p graf-after--p" style="margin: 29px 0px 0px; --baseline-multiplier:0.179; line-height: 1.58; letter-spacing: -0.003em;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">For&nbsp;<a href="https://thinkprogress.org/what-future-protests-can-learn-from-moral-mondays-5bea19ad5660#.28qzn7egv" data-href="https://thinkprogress.org/what-future-protests-can-learn-from-moral-mondays-5bea19ad5660#.28qzn7egv" class="markup--anchor markup--p-anchor" target="blank" style="background-color: transparent; text-decoration-line: none; -webkit-tap-highlight-color: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.44); background-image: linear-gradient(rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.6) 50%, rgba(0, 0, 0, 0) 50%); background-repeat: repeat-x; background-size: 2px 0.1em; background-position: 0px 1.07em;">nearly 4 years now</a>, thousands of North Carolinians have regularly rallied at the state capitol for “Moral Mondays,” a movement anchored by Rev. Barber’s call to revive working-class solidarity in the face of economic and social inequality.</font></p><p name="99ba" id="99ba" class="graf graf--p graf-after--p" style="margin: 29px 0px 0px; --baseline-multiplier:0.179; line-height: 1.58; letter-spacing: -0.003em;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">The movement has opted for rigorous state and local focus rather than the nation-wide activism of the Fight for $15 protests. It has rarely made the national headlines that often greet police protests. But it is&nbsp;<a href="https://thinkprogress.org/rev-barber-moral-change-1ad2776df7c#.l272l7gjk" data-href="https://thinkprogress.org/rev-barber-moral-change-1ad2776df7c#.l272l7gjk" class="markup--anchor markup--p-anchor" target="blank" style="background-color: transparent; text-decoration-line: none; -webkit-tap-highlight-color: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.44); background-image: linear-gradient(rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.6) 50%, rgba(0, 0, 0, 0) 50%); background-repeat: repeat-x; background-size: 2px 0.1em; background-position: 0px 1.07em;">rooted in an all-of-the-above moral urgency</a>&nbsp;that&nbsp;<a href="https://thinkprogress.org/fight-for-15-richmond-convention-1dbc73e24183" data-href="https://thinkprogress.org/fight-for-15-richmond-convention-1dbc73e24183" class="markup--anchor markup--p-anchor" target="blank" style="background-color: transparent; text-decoration-line: none; -webkit-tap-highlight-color: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.44); background-image: linear-gradient(rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.6) 50%, rgba(0, 0, 0, 0) 50%); background-repeat: repeat-x; background-size: 2px 0.1em; background-position: 0px 1.07em;">links those two fights</a>&nbsp;with dozens of other local and national causes — a broad, ambitious, and positively articulated vision of American social and political change that seems poised to blossom from statewide success to national significance.</font></p><p name="68b1" id="68b1" class="graf graf--p graf-after--p" style="margin: 29px 0px 0px; --baseline-multiplier:0.179; line-height: 1.58; letter-spacing: -0.003em;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Moral Mondays are so studiously lawful — despite&nbsp;<a href="https://thinkprogress.org/moral-monday-protester-arrests-hit-900-8ff135f7851e#.bz90p57q6" data-href="https://thinkprogress.org/moral-monday-protester-arrests-hit-900-8ff135f7851e#.bz90p57q6" class="markup--anchor markup--p-anchor" target="blank" style="background-color: transparent; text-decoration-line: none; -webkit-tap-highlight-color: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.44); background-image: linear-gradient(rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.6) 50%, rgba(0, 0, 0, 0) 50%); background-repeat: repeat-x; background-size: 2px 0.1em; background-position: 0px 1.07em;">hundreds of arrests</a>&nbsp;that have been&nbsp;<a href="https://www.thenation.com/article/north-carolina-a-case-study-for-resistance-in-the-trump-era/" data-href="https://www.thenation.com/article/north-carolina-a-case-study-for-resistance-in-the-trump-era/" class="markup--anchor markup--p-anchor" rel="noopener" target="_blank" style="background-color: transparent; text-decoration-line: none; -webkit-tap-highlight-color: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.44); background-image: linear-gradient(rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.6) 50%, rgba(0, 0, 0, 0) 50%); background-repeat: repeat-x; background-size: 2px 0.1em; background-position: 0px 1.07em;">thrown out of court</a> — that Torbett and Faircloth’s bill would seem not to immediately target its activities. But it doesn’t take much imagination to envision how an ideologically motivated prosecutor might seek to link peaceful civil disobedience to lost revenue for a business owner who runs afoul of protesters — and then depict dissenters as “economic terrorists” using the bill’s language.</font></p><p name="714f" id="714f" class="graf graf--p graf-after--p" style="margin: 29px 0px 0px; --baseline-multiplier:0.179; line-height: 1.58; letter-spacing: -0.003em;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Barber, who is confident the proposal would be struck down in court if it ever became law, welcomed the hamfisted attempt at chilling protest activity.</font></p><p name="47d8" id="47d8" class="graf graf--p graf--startsWithDoubleQuote graf-after--p" style="margin: 29px 0px 0px; --baseline-multiplier:0.179; line-height: 1.58; letter-spacing: -0.003em; text-indent: -0.4em;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">“What they will do with attempting to pass things like this is grow the movement. There is no fear. People are not gonna stand down,” said Barber.</font></p><p name="0e70" id="0e70" class="graf graf--p graf--startsWithDoubleQuote graf-after--p" style="margin: 29px 0px 0px; --baseline-multiplier:0.179; line-height: 1.58; letter-spacing: -0.003em; text-indent: -0.4em;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">“Any time tyrants try to stifle the voice of the people, it always backfires.”</font></p></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"></font></div></div></div></div></div></div></div>