On September 4th, 2008 I covered the 2008 Republican National Convention in St. Paul, MN. I blogged in real time via Twitter, shot video and took thousands of photographs. Below find my real-time twitter entries along with photos. On day 4, the largest mass arrest took place with police arresting 300 marchers, shoppers and journalists. This brought the total arrests up to almost 900 of the estimated 15,000-20,000 protesters all week combined. In comparison, 1,800 of over 500,000 were arrested in New York in 2004.
Video: University Ave concussion grenades and tear gas (Short version)
Video: The march and the clash on University Ave (Long version)
The 2008 Republican National Convention - This is what I saw.
All photos copyright Chad Davis
04:11 Overheard at Super America..two cops getting gas talking to another pumper “one day to go..we will see what happens tonight..”
04:57 Got totally screwed by traffic. Walking over 35E now and up to capitol. Cameras in hand..
05:03 Bridge over 35E behind United Hospital is blocked off.
05:30 No one allowed to cross on John Ireland and Kellogg. About 50 riot cops in army suits with body shields waiting on Kellogg and Mulberry.
05:34 10 riot cops literally walking with me up to John Ireland Blvd over I-94..
05:36 Just got up to the bridge by walking around the museum..I’m behind the horses and I don’t know how many riot police..this does not look good.
05:40 Thinking to myself…there is no way they will gas the entire bridge..
05:53 Video rolling from roadway overlooking I-94 and John Ireland Blvd.
05:54 I can confirm plows are coming down John Ireland Blvd.
06:03 Marchers are moving off the bridge!
06:12 I see two being carried away in plastic cuffs walking toward plows into unmarked van.
06:12 They have allowed more access to bridge as police move to middle of bridge. Now standing behind them on bridge.
06:20 Cops in khakis and walkies with metal cuffs pushing us off the bridge back towards Kellogg on John Ireland..bridge being cleared.
06:22 Just spoke to officer who said we have to either be behind the wall by museum or by fence on other side on John Ireland.
06:23 I’m watching a man get into a bomb suit on John Ireland in front of museum.
06:30 Bomb squad is approaching a bag on the bridge.
06:30 We are now being pushed all the way back to the True Blue Minnesota sign on Kellogg and John Ireland.
06:38 Metro bus rolled up..says POLICE BUS. Parked at John Ireland and Kellogg
06:46 Ambulances pulling up on Kellogg and John Ireland.
06:47 Riot cops have now formed a line across the Kellogg side of the bridge.
06:49 Plows are back! Driving onto bridge.
06:52 Plows and Ambulance with flashing lights at Kellogg and John Ireland…plows blocking access to bridge.
07:00 Reinforcements arrived at Kellogg out of about 5 minivans. Full riot gear..looks to be ready to march.bridge completely blocked by plows.
07:00 Bag still in middle of bridge…
07:02 The reinforcements have now formed a line right on Kellogg. There is now a line on both sides of bride and in between the bag and first line.
07:05 Bomb squad guy in rubber suit went to put robot back on sidewalk..why have a robot?
07:24 Seems to be ppl moving around on other side of bridge.
07:32 There are two robots..they have bag now.
07:37 Things calm for now on Kellogg side of bridge.
07:40 Walking down kellogg to get to other side of bridge by capitol.
07:42 Secret service driving down Kellogg towards bridge in golf cart.
07:46 Was able to walk down Kellogg to Marion St….nevermind..new thought..just hear loud bang.
07:47 Was able to walk down Kellogg to Marion to St. Anthony..now on other side of John Ireland bridge..crowd is marching strong!
07:49 “this is what democracy looks like” marching down St. Anthony to Marion to get over bridge.
07:51 All the way up to in front of Sears..still peaceful. Police are creating the tension.
07:52 Our street they chant as cops on bikes fly by blowing whistles…barricades on Marion and St. Anthony now.
07:53 “if you do not leave to north other measures will be used” protesters marching down away from I-94 on Marion.
07:56 “This is what democracy looks like” “Who’s streets? Our streets!’
07:57 March is now up to Aurora and Marion..
07:58 Up to Marion and University..traffic stopped…
08:02 Tear gas smoke bombs cucussion bombs.
08:06 Major clash on University..attacks on media as well. Smoke bomb thrown right at protesters.
08:08 More concussions…”where do we go” ppl scream.
08:09 Plows clearing Marion.
08:10 Chants are back..”who’s streets..our streets!”
08:15 People are told to go on bridge..everyone is afraid if they do they will be arrested.
08:16 Everyone on bridge..trapped. They continue to throw gas and smoke.
08:18 Everyone on bridge sitting down..hands on head.
As I mentioned about a few days ago, Barack Obama held his rally at the Xcel Energy Center last night. After fighting with almost 40,000 strong in a line about 2 miles long in the heart of downtown St. Paul, It was quite the scene to experience. The Star Tribune reports there were 17,000 strong inside the arena and 15,000 that were not able to get in viewing a jumbotron outside.
Making it all that more exciting, he came out to the crowd like a rock star stating “Tonight, I can stand before you and say that I will be the Democratic nominee for president of the United States.”
Photos from the event from my flickrstream:
I have sat back and watched FOX News and Bill O’Reilly try and spin and slander every other news agency that carried the story on his racist comments. To be fair, here is the audio and below is the transcript:
“You know, I was up in Harlem a few weeks ago, and I actually had dinner with Al Sharpton, who is a very, very interesting guy, and he comes on The Factor a lot, and I treated him to dinner because he’s made himself available to us, and I felt that I wanted to take him up there. And we went to Sylvia’s, a very famous restaurant in Harlem. I had a great time. And all the people up there are tremendously respectful, they all watch The Factor. You know, when Sharpton and I walked in, it was, like, big commotion and everything, but everybody was very nice. And I couldn’t get over the fact that there was no difference between Sylvia’s restaurant and any other restaurant in New York City. I mean it was — it was exactly the same, even though it’s run by blacks, primarily black patronship; it was the same. And that’s really what this society is all about, now…
[...] There wasn’t one person in Sylvia’s who was screaming, ‘M-Fer, I want more iced tea.’ You know, I mean, everybody was — it was like going into an Italian restaurant in an all-white suburb in the sense of people were sitting there, and they were ordering and having fun. And there wasn’t any kind of craziness at all.”
After hearing the above dialog I can only come to two conclusions:
1.In his own words, he states he “couldn’t get over the fact” that his experience in the said all black-run restaurant was similar to that of one in an all-white suburb. Why would he be surprised? The fact that he even mentioned there was a difference is enough to realize what he is getting at.
2. Mr. O’reilly understands his viewers are racist and he feels the need to explain to them that the restaurant in question is not one of the black type restaurants they all think of.
I can not and have not heard any other explanation offered up. Bill O’Reilly made a comment with racial tones. That should be the end of story. Any other man that would make a comment that anyone would even consider to be racist, immediately offer up an apology. Why would one want to offend anyone? Why would a man argue whether he offended or not? It just doesn’t make sense. O’Reilly has built his career(after he left tabloid Inside Edition) on the concept of being better than anyone else. His show is built around his ego and depends entirely on his viewers believing all he says. Bill O’Reilly’s persona on television does not allow him to apologize. It would go against everything his show stands for - and that’s why you won’t hear him apologize.
Now, O’Reilly has gone on to use his television show to attack, in an immature matter, any news agency that has carried the story of his comments. Mr. O’Reilly needs to understand that the reason it is a story is because he is the #1 anchor at his hour on cable tv. This is why it is a story. He knows his ratings. He mentions his ratings every single time someone says something he doesn’t like. The argument “they do it for the ratings”, “their ratings are down” and/or “they can’t catch up to FOX” is getting old. But sadly, his own line is the reason it became a story.
He has attacked CNN and Media Matters more than others. His viewers really genuinely believe everyone was out to get him. The real story is that neither CNN nor Media Matters has ever stated that Bill O’Reilly is racist. They have simply put his comments on the air and let their viewers decide what to think of it. In fact, Rick Sanchez who first brought the story up has taken the most heat from O’Reilly’s rants. In reality, Sanchez has also been the most fair to O’Reilly. Going as far as mentioning O’Reilly’s stance more than 5 times on his September 24th show. He has also openly invited O’Reilly to appear on his show to discuss the comments. Not once did Sanchez(who is a minority) accuse anyone of being racist.
On September 24th, on CNN’s Out in the Open host Rick Sanchez spoke with O’Reilly via telephone prior to the live show.
O’Reilly stated “This is a hatchet job by Media Matters“.
Sanchez: What’s wrong with a white guy making social commentary about other people’s race, which is what he seems to be doing here?
Sanchez: Well, what’s interesting is, I just finished reading his book. And, Bill, let me look at the camera and offer an invitation to you. If you want to come on and talk about this and defend your point of view and disagree with Mr. Martin on what he has to say, we would love to have you. And by the way, to be fair, one more time, Mr. O’Reilly’s point of view, no racial intent, benign program. Not one single complaint. Hatchet job by Media Matters. And Media Matters is one of those websites that talks about what we do in this business. They’ve criticized me plenty, by the way, as well. And I’m sure you too.
Sanchez then ended the story by stating “And by the way, to be fair, one more time, Mr. O’Reilly’s point of view, no racial intent, benign program. Not one single complaint. Hatchet job by Media Matters. Media Matters is one of those websites that talks about what we do in this business. They’ve criticized me plenty, by the way, as well. And I’m sure you [Martin] too.”
On September 24th, on MSNBC’s Countdown host Keith Olberman briefly mentioned O’Reilly’s comments like so:
OLBERMANN: Number three, best meal: Bill-O. Says he took Al Sharpton to dinner in Harlem at the famous restaurant Sylvia’s. And Orally actually says on the air, “I couldn’t get over the fact that there was no difference between Sylvia’s restaurant and any other restaurant in New York City. I mean, it was exactly the same, even though it’s run by blacks, primarily black patronship. There wasn’t one person in Sylvia’s who was screaming ‘M-Fer — I want more iced tea.’ ” Oh, my God.
What Bill O’Reilly calls a “Hatchet Job by Media Matters” can be found here.
Could someone explain this to me? Michael Vick admits that he murdered 6-8 dogs while participating in dog fighting. This all under oath in Federal court documents. The district attorney for Surry County, Virginia then goes to the grand jury and it hands down an indictment on Vick for only one count of killing dogs and one count of promoting dogfights. What happened to the other co-defendants who also offered testimony under oath(and accepted by the court) that they killed dogs. What more does a DA need?
The grand jury works as sort of a middle man between the prosecutor and the community itself. It is designed to stop overzealous prosecuters. The prosecutor gathers his evidence and then brings it in front of a grand jury to determine if there is probable cause. It is not the grand juries job to determine the guilt or innocence of a defendant. Finding that there is probable cause a crime has been committed is a very low burden to prove. Presenting just a copy of the signed plea bargain by Vick would have been overwhelming evidence of probable cause. In fact, it’d be enough to convict him.
It is impossible to assume that the grand jury was presented with the evidence we already know and still arrived at only a 2 count indictment - only one for killing of dogs. This DA should be fired immediately. He can not handle his job and as this has shown, can not prosecute even when a defendant admits to the crime, has 6 co-defendants agreeing with the events, and all while being under oath and in writing.
I find this all very interesting. When Michael Vick decided to plead out to federal charges last month there were no stipulations to his plea bargain that the state would agree not to press charges as well. His lawyers had to of informed him that if he admitted to dogfighting that the state of Virginia would then have a slam dunk case. Maybe Vick and his attorneys rolled the dice and assumed Pointdexter was so unbelievable incompetent that he would not be successful in obtaining an indictment.
Or there are other things going on down in Surry County, Virginia…
Technorati Tags: Crime, Current Events, Michael Vick, NFL, Law
