TheAgitator.com
On There Only Being One of Me
Friday, September 5th, 2008I am aware of the police raids in Minneapolis ahead of the RNC. I haven’t written about them because (a) I’ve been on vacation, then trying to catch up from said vacation, (b) there’s a lot to absorb about them, and (c) there’s a lot of misinformation on both sides to sort through, and because of (a), I haven’t had time to do so.
My lack of writing about them does not mean I don’t care; that I secretly favor the Republicans, and so am secretly pleased that the people protesting them were raided; that I don’t care because the people raided were lefties and environmentalists; or any other nefarious motive you want to ascribe to me. It just means that I have a lot on my plate and, unfortunately, paramilitary police tactics have become ubiquitous enough that I can’t write about every incident that makes the news and still do enough independent reporting to be sure I have my facts straight when I do.
I may yet get around to covering them, particularly as the facts shake out. But I have quite a bit of other stuff to work on. So I may not. But plenty of others are giving the raids lots of attention–people who, unlike me, were actually there.
Now, please stop sending me angry email.
The interesting thing about this is that, even after the raids, some left-wing nuts were able to throw bags of either sand or concrete mix off an overpass and hit some buses, apparently with officers present below.
While I would expect some sort of analysis eventually, your posts on these types of police activities have always been more about shedding light on incidents that would otherwise receive little press.
The political reasoning behind these raids doesn’t make them any more egregious than the use of these tactics for stopping other consensual activity, as they are all gross violations of our freedoms. Maybe they value political speech above using drugs or playing cards, but they must recognize that a government that can take away one of these things can take away all of them.
May I leave angry comments instead?
(Some of your readers apparently need to take a chill pill. If that’s still legal.)
The interesting thing about this is that, even after the raids, some left-wing nuts were able to throw bags of either sand or concrete mix off an overpass and hit some buses, apparently with officers present below.
Not the most interesting thing about this. The most interesting thing about this is that an amendment to the constitution was squashed by the power of the majority.
Radley, don’t sweat the haters…. keep ya head up!
It’s not like the raids have not been covered. In the local press here in Saint Paul, there have been many articles written, with both sides telling their stories. Lot’s of video available as well.
I’m sure you will comment on it when you get a chance so don’t sweat it.
(Heck, I didn’t even know you were getting hate mail about this at all! Hang in there dude.)
Anyone seen chucking anything big over a highway overpass into traffic ought be shot dead on sight without warning for willful attempted murder.
— It’s about time the police used their service-revolvers in a worthy endeavor.
Seems to me that someone would have to have an amazing sense of entitlement to complain about you not providing them free content.
If the issue is a perceived favoritism in your coverage, well, anyone who cares that much about this site and its content should know better.
Amen to Graham. For anyone to suggest you play favoritism to either party is ridiculous.
Your blog is fantastic and to be honest I wouldn’t expect this much quality from something I actually paid for.
Radley, I’m surprised you even felt the need to comment in a public sphere. This actually, to me anyway, speaks volumes about your character. That you CARE enough to say something, to clarify.
That said, come on brothers and sisters. If you have a problem about what’s going on with the police why don’t YOU go do something about it? Go investigate for yourself and find out what is happening. Radley isn’t a one man band ya’ know?
Hey, and for the record. If you throwing anything at a moving vehicle you are the ass and should be punished accordingly. Your violence proves it. I can’t even wrap my head around why anyone would do that in the first place. It’s just plain ignorant…..like Radleys’ inbox of late.