And you think you live in America……isn’t that cute…
Today in my daily tea-drinking/investigate-the-world’s-surprises morning ritual I came across this video showing the Denver Sheriff’s Dept.’s facility they’re planning on using for the upcoming Democratic National Convention. To keep arrested protesters in, that is.
Something to note – The protesters have a constitutional RIGHT TO PROTEST. From the Florida ACLU Website –
It is probably no accident that freedom of speech is the first freedom mentioned in the First Amendment: “Congress shall make no law…abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press, or of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the Government for a redress of grievances.” The Constitution’s framers believed that freedom of inquiry and liberty of expression were the hallmarks of a democratic society.
The way they get around this is by changing the definition of “peaceful” into basically standing silently in these walled off FREE SPEECH ZONES and anything else they do outside of that gets them gassed, beaten and arrested.
From the FREE SPEECH ZONES link above –
Free speech zones have been used at a variety of political gatherings. The stated purpose of free speech zones is to protect the safety of those attending the political gathering, or for the safety of the protesters themselves. Critics, however, suggest that such zones are “Orwellian”,[1][2] and that authorities use them in a heavy-handed manner to censor protesters by putting them literally out of sight of the mass media, hence the public, as well as visiting dignitaries. Though authorities generally deny specifically targeting protesters, on a number of occasions, these denials have been contradicted by subsequent court testimony. The American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) has filed, with various degrees of success and failure, a number of lawsuits on the issue.
The level of intimidation, control, and eventual deterrence inherent in the construction and use of such facilities speaks quite loudly to the idea that Free Speech is “free” only to those that can pay for it, and only if it’s sanctioned by the Corporate Controlled Government.
I’m disgusted that the takeover manifests itself in this way. While obviously NOT the worst trait of the takeover, it’s one of the most flagrantly Anti-American ways that Power demonstrates it’s power, and it’s crude mechanisms of control and silencing dissent speak to almost barbaric levels of criminality and arrogance.
I can’t understand why so many people in this country allow and even agree with these tactics. They call themselves Americans but they’re not willing support even the most basic and powerful concepts that DEFINE what America is, (assuming you agree the Constitution is a good and powerful document on which to base a country’s government. If you don’t think it is, well, it’s good for you that the Constitution protects your right to think the Constitution sucks), and instead enable things like this to occur.
So before I completely freakout, here’s the report on this Denver Cage Facility