Liked on YouTube: Zayda Steel is the "Real Deal"

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Liked on YouTube: It Was OBAMA’s Deregulation That Caused East Palestine Disaster – Says Wash Post

It Was OBAMA’s Deregulation That Caused East Palestine Disaster – Says Wash Post
Ever since the train derailment disaster in East Palestine, Ohio, Republicans and Democrats have desperately pointed fingers at each other and sought to absolve themselves of blame. Digging in to the matter, journalist David Sirota discovered that it was, in fact, the Obama administration that refused to put in place the kind of regulations on transporting chemicals that might have prevented this very disaster. Jimmy and Americans’ Comedian Kurt Metzger discuss Obama's bragging that he deregulated more in his first term than George W. Bush. Kurt Metzger on Twitter: https://twitter.com/kurtmetzger Kurt’s website: https://ift.tt/ZYgEe2S Become a Premium Member: https://ift.tt/2CApzIu Go to a Live Show: https://ift.tt/TXcE3Di Subscribe to Our Newsletter: https://ift.tt/uvUrf4J LIVESTREAM & LIVE SHOW ANNOUNCEMENTS: Email: https://ift.tt/uvUrf4J Twitter: https://twitter.com/jimmy_dore Facebook: https://ift.tt/97xLANQ Instagram: https://ift.tt/gJ6D2uZ WATCH / LISTEN FREE: Videos: https://ift.tt/K8fITzw Podcasts: https://ift.tt/K8fITzw (Also available on iTunes, Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Google Podcasts, or your favorite podcast player.) ACCESS TO FULL REPLAYABLE LIVESTREAMS: Become a Premium Member: https://ift.tt/2CApzIu SUPPORT THE JIMMY DORE SHOW: Make a Donation: https://ift.tt/we6xnJL Buy Official Merch (Tees, Sweatshirts, Hats, Bags): https://ift.tt/HGDXE9u? DOWNLOAD OUR MOBILE APP: App Store: https://ift.tt/xDkRreh Google Play: https://ift.tt/PAhuwov Jimmy Dore on Twitter: https://twitter.com/Jimmy_Dore Stef Zamorano on Twitter: https://twitter.com/miserablelib About The Jimmy Dore Show: #TheJimmyDoreShow is a hilarious and irreverent take on news, politics and culture featuring Jimmy Dore, a professional stand up comedian, author and podcaster. The show is also broadcast on Pacifica Radio Network stations throughout the country.

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Activists Fight Against Criminalization of Homelessness in New Haven

New Haven, CT – New Haven’s Amistad Catholic Worker is a place of refuge for New Haven’s homeless population. Its director, Mark Colville, is also a local celebrity: spearheading campaigns targeting the city’s criminalization of homelessness, clearing of encampments, and hostility toward public services on city land. 

Each week, Colville works to prepare meals for the hundreds of homeless New Haven residents that have fallen through the cracks of the city’s support services. On any given day, around six New Haven residents also call his backyard home, creating what Colville calls a “Human Rights Zone.” 

Located in “the Hill” a historically Black neighborhood in New Haven, Colville’s service apparatus works to accommodate the needs of those living at the Catholic Worker and along Ella T. Grasso Boulevard. While no official tally exists of homeless individuals in New Haven, estimates place the number at around 600 experiencing “the literal definition of homelessness” but with thousands more experiencing housing insecurity. 

Colville has long worked to and isn’t afraid of defying city ordinances. “Not only have they not sanctioned or legalized this, it’s under constant threat. There’s always a standing threat that they’re going to shut it down,” Colville said.

Colville is also a longtime peace activist and member of the King’s Bay Plowshares 7 who broke into the Kings Bay Naval Base in Georgia to protest the use of nuclear weapons; he served a year and a half in jail. 

But the Catholic Worker is not only a place of refuge, but of community. Those living at the Catholic Worker agree to live in community with their “neighbors” as Colville emphasizes when speaking of the Catholic Worker’s residents. If there is any violation or if Colville’s neighbors complain, the operation is at risk of being shut down. Colville said, “what we’re doing is completely illegal, completely against zoning laws. So if you can’t get along with your neighbors, you can’t do it.”

As proof of this philosophy, Alexander, Colville’s next-door neighbor, happily works every Sunday morning to prepare pancakes and hot coffee for the Catholic Worker’s backyard residents. The Catholic Worker’s philosophy, which Colville helped to found, is not about service but mutual aid. “I work with the group to help them get to a system of mutual accountability and nonviolent conflict resolution in addition to information counseling for folks in need,” Colville said. 

To foster this sense of community, Colville hosts Sunday breakfasts and invites all residents of the Hill to join him in preparing, eating, and cleaning up. On Jan. 12, a number of neighbors joined Colville for a serving of pancakes and hot chocolate. The Catholic Worker also serves breakfasts on weekday mornings for residents living along Ella T. Grasso Boulevard. Colville indicated that he serves up to 60 residents weekly.

Tents and peoples’ belongings in the backyard of the Amistad Catholic Worker. Blue and green tarps in the foreground used to protect individuals from cold and windy weather.

Colville’s Human Rights Zone is a physical representation of New Haven’s failure to meet the needs of its residents and the result of decades of divestment from primarily Black and Brown neighborhoods in the city. For Colville, it is not only that the city is failing to meet the needs of its residents, but that it actively works to criminalize their existence: “people who are homeless have the right to take refuge on public land…when the state does not provide them with adequate affordable housing.” 

Yale University’s Lowenstein Clinic recently issued a report (PDF) detailing the extent of New Haven’s criminalization of homelessness, declaring, “the city condones the criminalization of some of its most marginalized residents.” A variety of laws work in tandem to criminalize homelessness, including those that make loitering and vagrancy illegal. An incident of eviction gained attention in August 2022 after a group of Yale students were brought by the Parks Department to remove the belongings of unhoused residents from a city park.

The laws, enforced by the New Haven Police Department, which recently drew the nation’s ire for paralyzing Randy Cox in the back of a police van, are responsible for enforcing the city’s ordinances, and activists and residents have decried the NHPD’s arbitrary enforcement of laws. Donna, a resident of the Catholic Worker expressed that she is frequently approached by NHPD officers when panhandling and told that she could be arrested.

But New Haven’s Director of Health & Human Services, Mehu Dalal has remained firm in his stance that “[the city] is not in the position to legalize encampment on public lands.” But with shelters full, and with nowhere else to turn, New Haven’s homeless residents have little choice but to sleep on the streets.

Dalal stressed that Connecticut had recently received a grant of $2.5 million from Jeff Bezos’s Day 1 Families Fund and would be opening public comment on how to spend the money. But activists have criticized New Haven’s willingness to outsource public services to nonprofit organizations instead of addressing the problem themselves. 

Alexander, who lives next door to the Amistad with his mother, prepares coffee for the Sunday community breakfast.

A recently formed advocacy group, U-ACT, or Unhoused Activists Community Team, is currently led by Tyrell Jackson and Keith Petrulis, who both live along Ella T. Grasso Boulevard, is lobbying the city for a list of demands, including, “Stop[ing] evictions of unhoused people from public land.” They rally weekly in front of City Hall with Colville after breakfast is served on Tuesday mornings. 

Colville has stressed that until New Haven passes the proposed Homeless Bill of Rights, unhoused residents will continue to experience violence at the hands of the police and state. And even then, the Catholic Worker will continue working to build systems of care and community support to take care of New Haven’s residents, whether the city is able to help or not. 

Cover images: A green, weather-worn house stands tall, with a Black Lives Matter poster displayed in the front window. An “Amistad” sign is hung over the front porch. Donna, a resident of the Amistad Catholic Worker stands in the kitchen of the house, smiling, as she heats up hot chocolate for the Sunday community breakfast. All photos by Theia Chatelle, a journalist based in New Haven, CT. Her writing has appeared in The Nation and CounterPunch. All socials @theiachatelle.

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Liked on YouTube: Bullfrog vs Dragon - Ozzy Man Reviews

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Liked on YouTube: $UICIDEBOY$ x SHAKEWELL - WHOLE LOTTA GREY (Lyric Video)

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Watch on YouTube here: Statement in Solidarity with 'Tortuguita' During East Phillips, No Roof Depot Demolition Protest
Via Christian Gasper

‘Tortuguita Vive’: A No-Compromise Movement Responds to Police Killing a Forest Defender

DeKalb County, GA – The anonymous communique issued in May 2021 was written in romantic prose. Its author describes a nighttime walk through the South River Forest, just south of Atlanta, where “a couple of queers” had discovered seven unattended pieces of heavy machinery parked in the woods. The equipment was staged near the proposed sites of what activists now call ‘Cop City’ and a new sound stage complex being built by Blackhall Studios. For the anonymous people who found these machines, there was no question about what had to be done. The saboteurs destroyed the earth movers, cutting fuel lines, smashing glass and spray painting messages to tell the would-be operators of the machines why they had been destroyed.

The culprits set the machines on fire before disappearing into the night. The statement claiming responsibility for the attack ended with a warning: “Any further attempts at destroying the Atlanta Forest will be met with similar response. This forest was here long before us, and it will be here long after. We’ll see to that.”

This was the first known physical blow against the Atlanta Police Foundation’s (APF) attempts to build a sprawling police training facility and manufactured green space on a 381-acre wooded plot of land just south of Atlanta. In the nearly two years since that anonymous communique was issued, locals in Atlanta and supporters from across the United States have taken up the fights against both ‘Cop City’ and ‘Hollywood dystopia,’ two projects that currently threaten the forested area described as one of the “lungs” of the city for the dense foliage it holds.

A broad and diverse movement has sprung up in resistance to both projects, and local action, bolstered by national and international support, has effectively prevented the construction of Atlanta’s Public Safety Training Facility and stalled work on the new movie studio campus. Through a wide diversity of tactics including everything from preschooler-led art builds and music festivals to militant direct action and sabotage, the grassroots opposition has gained worldwide attention. Anarchists, environmentalists, abolitionists and socialists have taken note of the successful campaigns being waged against the projects, which have come to symbolize the intersections of many struggles.

But as the movement has grown, so too has the state’s repression against people in the fight to defend the Atlanta forest. On January 18, Georgia State Patrol (GSP) troopers shot and killed Manuel ‘Tortuguita’ Paez Terán during an armed raid on a protest encampment in Weelaunee, also known as the South River Forest. The killing followed a year and a half of police, prosecutors, and politicians resorting to increasingly repressive measures to punish activists.

Armed raids and politically-motived domestic terrorism charges have come to characterize the state’s response to the movement. Organizers have long warned about the danger the escalated tactics presented, including the potential for deadly violence at the hands of police. After the warnings became reality last month, those embattled in the fight to defend the Atlanta forest face a new set of challenges.

From its beginning, the movement has been one of no compromise, with protesters vowing that “Cop City will never be built.” The state seems to be responding in kind, pushing forward with the broadly unpopular plan to build the nation’s largest police training facility, resorting to tactics up to and including lethal force against those opposed to the project.

An illustration of Manuel ‘Tortuguita’ Paez Terán rests on an altar created in their memory after police killed the forest defender in January.

Remembering Tortuguita

On Jan. 18, members of a Georgia State Patrol SWAT team killed 26-year-old Manuel ‘Tortuguita’ Paez Terán during an armed raid in Weelaunee, the forested area just south of Atlanta where the city plans to build a $90 million police training compound known derisively as ‘Cop City.’

Since summer 2022, Terán, known to friends and fellow protesters as ‘Tortuguita’, (“little turtle” in Spanish) had been an active participant in the intertwined struggles to defeat the massive police training facility and the new, sprawling sound stage complex set to be built on parcels adjacent to the ‘Cop City’ land. They joined the permanent occupation of the wooded area that the city and private developers plan to raze to complete these projects.

Tortuguita was a nonbinary Indigenous Venezuelan anarchist who relocated to the U.S. and lived in Tallahassee, FL, among other places, before living in the woods nearly full-time. While there, they set up and maintained a section of the camp for those who are queer, transgender, Black, Indigenous, and people of color — protesters who face unique challenges as members of traditionally marginalized and targeted groups. They were committed to seeing ‘Cop City’ stopped and the forest remaining intact, and they put their beliefs into practice, organizers told Unicorn Riot (UR).

“You couldn’t come into the forest without meeting them,” one local organizer told UR on the condition of anonymity. “They were such a part of the social fabric of the forest.”

Friends of Terán who spoke with Unicorn Riot emphasized Tortuguita’s practice of radical love and fierce commitment to building a better world. They coordinated fundraising efforts and mutual aid projects, and acted as a steward for those coming to the forest to join the fight. A trained medic, Terán often traveled to queer and trans gatherings to help support other queer people and organizations using their training and knowledge. According to those who knew them in the movement, they were a complex, unique and thoughtful person who lived by their convictions and brought dedication to their work.

“Tortuguita just had so much compassion for everybody. They saw the humanity in every single person, and they wanted to see a better world,” the anonymous local told UR.

Tortuguita’s killing sent shock waves through the movement and the broader international community of abolitionists, anarchists, environmental defense organizers and civil rights advocates. In the weeks since their killing, Atlanta locals and those in solidarity around the world have responded with grief, sadness, anger, and redoubled determination to stop ‘Cop City.’

An altar for Tortuguita, cobbled together using rubble from a destroyed concrete path that once led into the forest, sits in the muddied parking lot of Weelaunee People’s Park.

Shortly after the killing, people organized vigils in Atlanta, while others across the country coordinated memorials and other shows of support. When Atlanta community members showed up for the first vigil following Tortuguita’s death, on the night of Jan. 18, they didn’t yet know who they were mourning. While everyone knew a protester had been killed that morning, police had not released the name of the victim, and organizers were still struggling to identify who was shot. But the following day, organizers confirmed and announced that it was Tortuguita. The police confirmed the victim’s identity a short time later.

Once confirmed, the sadness and anger already gripping the community was compounded. Outpourings of support came from across the country while those in Atlanta struggled with the reality that police had used lethal force against a forest defender known to so many in the movement.

Three days later, a fiery protest took the streets of downtown Atlanta, as people smashed windows at the Atlanta Police Foundation headquarters, destroyed two police vehicles, and damaged storefronts of companies funding APF’s push to build ‘Cop City.’ The militant action sent a clear message: the police killing of Tortuguita would not stop the movement, and those responsible would continue to face consequences.

An Atlanta Police Department cruiser sits in flames on Peachtree Street in downtown Atlanta on Jan. 21. Two police vehicles, along with several storefronts and the building that houses the Atlanta Police Foundation were also targeted during the protest in memory of Tortuguita.

The death of a forest defender came among what movement participants describe as a clear trajectory of increased violence and repressive action being brought by the state and police. Now that the police have used lethal force against a ‘Cop City’ protester, others in the movement have been forced to confront the ramifications and figure out what to do next. While the terrain has shifted, the determination and no-compromise ethic of the fight to stop ‘Cop City’ remains.

A rain-dappled photograph of Tortuguita is the centerpiece of a memorial for the slain protestor at Weelaunee People’s Park.

Terrorists or Forest Defenders?

January’s killing fits within a larger context of criminalization of environmental and abolitionist movements that has escalated in recent years. In Atlanta, people organizing against ‘Cop City’ saw this escalation taking root locally, and predicted its outcome well before a Georgia State Patrol SWAT team shot Tortuguita to death.

The community had warned about the risk of police using lethal force for months ahead of Tortuguita’s killing. Marlon Kautz, an organizer with the Atlanta Solidarity Fund, told Unicorn Riot that Tortuguita’s killing, while devastating, was not surprising to those who had been paying attention to police rhetoric and activity over the last two years.

Kautz described what organizers now see as a linear path of increasingly hostile, violent and repressive measures that law enforcement agencies have taken to stop activists in their fights against the police training complex and movie studio, all of which culminated in Tortuguita’s killing on Jan. 18.

On February 25, the Atlanta Solidarity Fund (ASF) and Community Movement Builders, along with attorneys at the Civil Liberties Defense Center and Georgia attorney Donald F. Samuel made an announcement that they expect state prosecutors to charge some activist organizations including ASF as “criminal organizations” under Georgia’s RICO law.

In the movement’s early stages, as people began organizing protests and demonstrations against ‘Cop City’ and the DeKalb County land swap, police made arrests on minor charges, such as accusations of being in the street illegally. The first round of arrests came during a 2021 demonstration outside a city council member’s home while the city voted to approve a land lease between the city and the Atlanta Police Foundation. Eleven people were arrested and reportedly charged with “pedestrian in the roadway” violations.

Opposition grew as locals and supporters carried out home demonstrations and other protests, and police response escalated to include increased surveillance of protesters through tactics like visiting organizers’ houses and issuing arrest warrants to bring in people actively opposed to the project, Kautz told Unicorn Riot.

But the movement continued to pick up momentum and national attention as opponents set up permanent occupations inside Weelaunee to block construction from starting. Police responded with more hostility. A series of raids in the woods, aimed at clearing out protesters and their camps, began in late 2021 when local police and DeKalb County employees evicted an encampment in the South River Forest.

Protesters in turn doubled down in their commitment to stop the project. Across the country, a decentralized movement against ‘Cop City’ grew to target contractors and funders who are aligned with the Atlanta Police Foundation or other aspects of the project. Solidarity actions began popping up in New York, Minneapolis, Portland, and elsewhere as others watched the struggle unfolding in Atlanta.

The state was watching, too. Over the course of 2022, police raids increased in intensity and frequency as Georgia assembled a multi-jurisdictional task force made up of local, state and federal law enforcement agencies to counter the rapidly expanding movement. The task force, which includes members from the Georgia Bureau of Investigation, Atlanta Police Department, Georgia State Patrol, DeKalb Police Department, FBI, and multiple prosecutors’ offices, was mobilized as a response to the increasingly dedicated movement to stop the project.

In May of 2022, police once more raided the forest in hopes of clearing the woods of protesters. The operation marked a significant escalation in police activity in the woods, as agencies with the multi-jurisdictional task force entered with guns drawn, reportedly pointing their weapons at protesters as they worked to evict campers once more. Radio traffic from the day of the raid captured local police preemptively justifying the use of lethal force as they discussed what constituted a “deadly force encounter.”

Several months later, a two-day operation starting on Dec. 13, 2022, saw the multi-jurisdictional task force, armed with lethal and less-lethal weapons, close off a public park and enter the forest again. Once inside, they cornered tree sitters and confronted protesters occupying the forest. Police surrounded protesters in tree sits and peppered them with less-lethal weapons including tear gas and plastic bullets.

The raid ended early the next day with seven people arrested, six of whom were charged with state-level domestic terrorism offenses. It was the first time the charge was used against protesters in the fight against the project and marked a significant escalation in legal repression brought against activists in the movement.

As part of the justification for December’s domestic terrorism charges, Georgia law enforcement cited a U.S. Department of Homeland Security decision to classify the dispersed movement they say organizes under the name “Defend the Atlanta Forest” as a “Domestic Violent Extremist” group. Arresting officers referenced the designation in warrants presented to a judge during bail hearings, but it has since been reported that the DHS doesn’t use, or even have, any such classification.

Despite the non-existent “Domestic Violent Extremist” label, to date 19 people arrested in connection with protests against ‘Cop City’ are facing state-level domestic terrorism charges.

Those involved in the movement say the December arrests and charges sent a clear message — if you’re associated with the fight against ‘Cop City’ in any way, the state will use its full power to stop your activity. Further, activists on the ground who have warned of the potential for deadly force from police say that labeling protesters as “terrorists” has served to amplify police response and put law enforcement on edge as they confront forest defenders.

“We can see that, when you call a political movement terrorists, that functions as a dog whistle to the police, calling for more police violence,” Kautz, of the Atlanta Solidarity Fund, said.

Since the initial round of domestic terrorism charges in December, political leaders have consistently called protesters “terrorists” for things such as breaking windows, marching in the street, and being in the woods during the Jan. 18 raid. In the days following the Jan. 21 protest, Georgia Governor Brian Kemp declared a state of emergency while officials continued to describe property damage as violence.

“And so it’s no surprise that a police force who has been inundated with that kind of rhetoric will enter the forest during a raid as though it’s a military operation,” Kautz said. “They clearly believe that they’re entering a combat situation where they have to prepare to shoot and kill any threat.”

All of these factors culminated in the January 18 raid that left Tortuguita dead in the forest.

Tents lay destroyed in what once served as the QTBIPOC area of the Weelaunee forest protest camp. The scene pictured is the area where Georgia State Patrol troopers shot Tortuguita to death Jan.18. Police laid waste to camps throughout the forest, slashing tents and arresting activists during the deadly January raid.

‘Raid, please help’

The morning of Jan. 18, the same multi-jurisdictional task force, including Georgia State Patrol SWAT teams, gathered outside Weelaunee before entering the woods to confront tree sitters and protesters. A forest defender who was in the woods on the morning of the raid recounted their experience with Unicorn Riot on the condition of anonymity.

“The first thing was, the person up in the tree heard crashing, and a banging,” the anonymous protester said.

The encampments included a number of tree sits — platforms built in tree tops that protesters occupy to prevent construction. The morning of the raid, several of these blockades throughout the woods housed activists. A thick fog obscured the tree sitter’s sight, but they would soon learn the sounds they heard were police with heavy machinery destroying a barricade protesters had built to block equipment from entering the area.

A yet-unknown number of police from across the region fanned out into the woods and started moving through the trees. Officers and troopers from different agencies closed in on protesters, who only learned of the raid after it had begun.

Police swept the forest, approaching tents and slashing any they came across after clearing occupants. Those in the tree sits were confronted by heavily armed police equipped to reach activists who had set up blockades in the forest’s canopy.

When police reached the wooded encampment that Terán had started for forest defenders who are queer, trans, Black, Indigenous and people of color, they came upon Tortuguita’s hammock, the spot where they slept, according to forest defenders who spoke with UR.

What happened next is unclear, and few concrete details have emerged since the killing, but the same anonymous protester on the ground described a text exchange that unfolded between Terán and others in the moments before their death.

“The last message we got from Tort was, ‘raid, please help.’,” the forest defender said. “And then as soon as people were texting, ‘what do you need,’ we heard one gunshot, then a bunch of gunshots.”

An independent autopsy completed January 31 would later reveal that Tortuguita was shot at least 13 times by multiple people.

One yet-to-be-identified GSP trooper was injured, reportedly with a bullet wound to their abdominal area, and evacuated to a nearby hospital.

Little detail about the moments between that text message being sent and Terán being shot to death has been released as of this article’s publication, but several versions of that morning’s events have since been put forth.

In the hours following the shooting, the GBI announced at a press conference that during the raid someone had, without warning, opened fire on a Georgia State Patrol trooper, after which GSP troopers fired back in defense. A written statement issued later the same day said that GSP troopers had encountered a person in a tent and given them verbal commands. The release says the person did not comply with police orders and shot the GSP trooper. The GBI would later claim that it recovered a 9mm Smith and Wesson handgun, reportedly registered to Terán, which was the weapon used to injure the GSP trooper.

But many in the movement are hard pressed to believe the state’s story. Organizers that UR spoke with suspect that the police, who were armed with military grade weapons and equipment and fed a steady diet of political rhetoric describing protesters as “violent” and “terrorists,” may have opened fire mistakenly, striking one of their own and prompting others to open fire on Terán.

While the Georgia Bureau of Investigation has said no bodycam footage of the shooting itself exists, bodycam videos released by the Atlanta Police Department on Feb. 8 capture audio of the shots that killed Terán and video of police activity in the area surrounding the site.

In the minutes after the shots rang out, Atlanta Police Department officers are heard commenting on the shots, saying it sounded like suppressed gunfire, like that which would come from a suppressed rifle used by the GSP’s SWAT teams.

“You fucked your own officer up,” one APD officer is heard speculating shortly after the shooting.

Immediately after the shooting, police evacuated the injured trooper to a nearby hospital. Radio traffic captured on the APD bodycam footage never included calls for medical support for Terán.

When police kill someone in Georgia, the incident is investigated by the Georgia Bureau of Investigation (GBI), an agency under the state’s Department of Public Safety (DPS). Georgia State Patrol, the police agency implicated in the killing, is also a division of the DPS, which has led community members to doubt the effectiveness of what the state is calling an independent investigation currently being done by the GBI.

Hundreds protested in the streets of downtown Atlanta on Jan. 21, four days after police killed Manuel “Tortuguita” Paez Terán.

The shifting story and lack of any corroboration, coupled with the conflict of interest in the state’s investigation, have left movement participants with little faith that the Georgia Department of Public Safety’s investigation will provide anything of value.

“The police, and Georgia State Patrol in particular, have every incentive to lie about what’s happened,” Kautz told Unicorn Riot while remarking on the need for an investigation without state conflicts of interest.

The Atlanta Solidarity Fund and other local organizations are calling for an independent investigation separate from the DPS and GBI, which activists say is the only hope for accountability or transparency after January’s killing.

The state has withheld information about the killing on the grounds that it’s part of an ongoing investigation, but Tortuguita’s family and community members are pushing for more transparency into the killing and the ongoing investigation.

Protestors carry a banner during a riotous protest in downtown Atlanta in defiance of police killing a forest defender in January.

‘Cop City will never be built’

From the first act of sabotage carried out against ‘Cop City,’ its opponents have been clear that they see no room for compromise in the overlapping struggles the fight represents. ‘Cop City’ and those fighting against it sit at the intersection of what activists describe as two critical struggles: the fight to defend ecologically valuable spaces in the face of climate change and the struggle against the carceral state that seeks to punish those fighting for a livable future.

“The stakes of Cop City and Ryan Millsap’s Hollywood dystopia being built here would be catastrophic, and if we think that the state repression tactics that they’re using right now are bad, I mean, get ready for when they can train on a mock city,” an anonymous forest defender told UR. “They’re ramping up for conflict. That’s why they want to build Cop City, is because they’re trying to get prepared for the next conflict where they’re going to have to beat people in the street again.”

The fallout from Tortuguita’s killing has rippled through Atlanta and well beyond. A wave of solidarity actions came in the days after their death, and a steady stream of reports documenting sabotage, property damage and protests targeting politicians and companies involved in building ‘Cop City’ has continued in the weeks since.

The actions, in Atlanta and beyond, speak to the movement’s commitment to its original no-compromise approach. Chants of “cop city will never be built” and “if you build it, we will burn it” are common at local protests against the project. The outpouring of actions following Tortuguita’s killing cement these words as promises more than sloganeering, but the escalation, activists say, has been solely fueled by the state’s violent response.

“They could call off the project, and everyone would go home,” the same anonymous forest defender said. “That’s their decision. We told them the terms, they just won’t accept them.”

But the movement includes more than militant saboteurs, and opposition has grown across political lines in the weeks since GSP killed Tortuguita.

On the day of the killing, Nicole Morado, a member of the Community Stakeholders Advisory Committee (CSAC), a governing body meant to serve as the public facing arm of the ‘Cop City’ project, resigned from the committee in protest. This was only made public days after it had happened, and Morado was later quoted as having said, “Really I did not want to be affiliated with a project that is using police violence and taking lives…,” as reported by SaportaReport.

On Feb. 6, another CSAC member appealed a land disturbance permit in a legal filing that could have delayed construction. Amy Taylor filed the appeal on the grounds that the land clearing would lead to increased runoff into Intrenchment Creek.

Students and faculty with the Atlanta University Center Consortium, a coalition of historically Black colleges and universities in the area, demanded that their institutions withdraw support for the project, while more than 1,300 social justice and civil rights groups from across the country called on Atlanta Mayor Andre Dickens to resign over his handling of the situation. And groups ranging from physicians to faith leaders have weighed in, urging politicians to step in and stop the project.

But while those engaged in the fight to defend the Atlanta forest continue to organize and opposition to ‘Cop City’ grows, the city is barreling forward with the project, similarly refusing to compromise on its promise to build the police training compound.

On January 31, Mayor Andre Dickens, alongside DeKalb County CEO Michael Thurmond, announced their intention to move forward with the project while committing to “environmental protections and enhancements.” The same day, the city of Atlanta issued the final land disturbance permit required to begin construction on the police training campus. On Feb. 6, while the family of Terán addressed the public for the first time since their killing, heavily armed police once more raided the forest, escorting heavy machinery into the woods.

“I don’t know what it’s going to take to stop Cop City, but what I do know is that the APF could back out. The mayor could back out. City council could back out. They could stop at any time,” the forest defender said.

Until then, the activist said, those committed to stopping ‘Cop City’ will keep fighting, no matter the cost.

“Nobody wants their friends to get domestic terrorism charges, but people feel so strongly that they’re willing to risk that,” the forest defender said. “People feel like there is high enough stakes that it is worth that to do it.”

In March, the first mass gathering against ‘Cop City’ since the police killed Tortuguita will take place in Atlanta. Organizers hope that the “week of action” can bring together the growing opposition for the next phase of the struggle against ‘Cop City.’

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Unicorn Riot's coverage on the movement to defend the Atlanta Forest:

• Landing Page: Unicorn Riot Coverage of the Movement to Protect the Atlanta Forest
• Atlanta Activists Say Prosecutors Plan to Indict them on RICO Charges (February 25, 2023)
• ‘Community’ Committee Cheers Police Violence as Authorities Repress Resistance to ‘Cop City’ (February 24, 2023)
• Supporters of ‘Cop City’ Opponents Rally in Philly (February 24, 2023)
• Minneapolis March Connects Roof Depot Demolition Resistance to the Atlanta Forest (February 21, 2023)
• Atlanta PD Releases Bodycam Footage from Deadly Jan. 18 Forest Raid (February 8, 2023)
• Manuel ‘Tortuguita’ Terán’s Family Seeks Transparency in Police Killing (February 7, 2023)
• City of Atlanta and DeKalb County Announce ‘Agreement’ Amidst Growing Opposition to Cop City (January 31, 2023)
• Marches and Vigils Across the US Respond to the Police Killing of Forest Defender Tort (January 22, 2023)
• Protester Shot and Killed by Officers During Raid on Atlanta Forest (January 18, 2023)
• Blackhall Intensifies Destruction of Weelaunee People’s Park in Atlanta Forest (January 16, 2023)
• SWAT Teams Attack Atlanta Forest Encampments, Activists Charged with ‘Terrorism’ (December 18, 2022)
• [Mini Doc] Defending the Atlanta Forest: Behind the Movement to Stop Cop City (Oct. 9, 2022)
• “Cop City” General Contractors’ Offices Attacked (May 19, 2022)
• Police Raid Atlanta Forest Occupation (May 18, 2022)
• Atlanta Fights to Save Its Forest (May 14, 2022)

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The post ‘Tortuguita Vive’: A No-Compromise Movement Responds to Police Killing a Forest Defender appeared first on UNICORN RIOT.

by Unicorn Riot via UNICORN RIOT

Liked on YouTube: People in Memphis leak the address of the officer$ in the Tyre Nichols case… Fair game ?

People in Memphis leak the address of the officer$ in the Tyre Nichols case… Fair game ?


via YouTube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mDnDWUer0ww

FBI Harasses Activists in Florida; Two Indicted on Federal Charges for Jane’s Revenge Actions

Miami, FL – On May 8, 2022, as the world waited anxiously for the Supreme Court ruling overturning Roe v. Wade to drop, anonymous vandals smashed in the window of the Wisconsin Family Action building in Madison, Wisconsin and set the building ablaze. On the wall of the building, they scrawled the message, “If abortions aren’t safe then you aren’t either.”

The back of a so-called “crisis pregnancy center” in Winter Haven, Florida is spray painted following the Supreme Court ruling in Dobbs, June 16, 2022. Photo by Rebecca Klein via The Ledger. 

“This was only a warning,” wrote the attackers in an anonymous communique sent to journalist Robert Evans. “We demand the disbanding of all anti-choice establishments, fake clinics, and violent anti-choice groups within the next thirty days.”

The arson and communique sent shock waves through the country and inspired a coast-to-coast campaign of more than 20 acts of sabotage and vandalism on the infrastructure of the anti-abortion movement — mostly against so-called “crisis pregnancy centers” (CPCs) and churches involved in anti-abortion activism.

More than nine months later, the federal government has announced the first prosecutions of Jane’s Revenge vandals. But the two indicted on federal charges aren’t accused of burning down any buildings, or even smashing any windows.

They’re accused of graffiti.

Caleb Freestone and Amber Smith-Stewart, two community organizers in Florida, have been charged with one count each of Conspiracy Against Rights and two counts each of Freedom of Access to Clinic Entrances, a law designed to prevent the blockading of abortion clinic entrances and the intimidation of those seeking abortions.

The indictment alleges that on May 28, June 26, and July 3, 2022 the pair spray painted slogans on the outside of three anti-choice centers reading, “If abortions aren’t safe niether are you” [sic], “Your time is up!! We’re coming for U” and “We are everywhere.”

The sign for the LifeChoice Pregnancy Center in Winter Haven, Florida is tagged with an anarchist Circle-A symbol June 26, 2022. Photo by Rebecca Klein via The Ledger.

For the past month, Freestone, Smith-Stewart and four other local activists have faced a campaign of targeted harassment from the FBI, according to several sources familiar with the incidents. FBI agents raided Smith-Stewart’s house on January 23. A week later, agents raided the home of another local activist as well. 

At 6 a.m. on February 1, FBI agents claiming to have a no-knock warrant threw flash bang grenades and pointed automatic rifles at the activist and two teenage children who were also in the home at the time. Agents led the family out of the house at gunpoint. As of this writing, about a month later, the activist whose home was raided on February 1 has not formally been charged with anything.

FBI Agents have also shown up at activists’ places of employment, attempted to solicit information from activists’ parents, and sent at least one “target letter” indicating that the federal prosecutor involved in the case believes that the person either committed a crime or has information about a crime. One person was fired from their job shortly after the FBI visit.

Two of the agents involved in harassing the Florida activists are Special Agent Steven May and Special Agent Timothy Taylor. 

Several activists and community organizers in Florida described living in fear, not knowing if they’ll be the next to be awoken at daybreak to the sound of flash bang grenades and the shouts of cops with rifles. “If a raid is gonna happen, I just want it to happen and be over with,” said one activist. 

Activists familiar with the incidents have called it a “fishing operation,” in which agents, lacking any actual evidence, harass people and search their homes in hopes of getting someone to talk.

The Civil Liberties Defense Center, an Oregon-based nonprofit law firm specializing in criminal defense of activists, is representing Smith-Stewart in the case. “If convicted of the offenses, these two activists each face up to a maximum of 12 years in prison, three years of supervised release, and fines of up to $350,000,” wrote CLDC staff attorney Sarah Alvarez in a statement shared with Unicorn Riot. “The allegations against our client amount to spray painted graffiti.”

In compiling its case, the FBI may be relying upon tips from far-right internet trolls. On January 26, three days after the raid on Smith-Stewart’s home, far-right, Proud Boy-connected social media troll Linda Catalina celebrated the indictments of Freestone and Smith-Stewart on the podcast she co-hosts with Isabella Rodriguez, claiming she had turned the pair in to the “clinic,” who passed the information on to the FBI.

“We knew who this guy was, we identified him, by the way,” said Catalina. “We sent it to the owners of Heartbeat Center, so you have us to thank if you go to jail and other people in the community who helped.”

Last week, Catalina posted on her Instagram that she was helping the anti-abortion center raise “$10,000 to open up their 5th pregnancy clinic in Homestead, FL. Since 2007, Heartbeat of Miami has saved over 60,000 babies from ab*rtion.” [sic]

What Catalina may not be aware of is that when Donald Trump was president, he made changes to Title X, allowing for crisis pregnancy centers “to qualify for this federal ‘family planning’ funding.” And in 2019, “the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) awarded $1.7 million in Title X funds to the California fake clinic chain Obria Group and an additional $1.7 million for each of the grant’s subsequent two years,” according to the Expose Fake Clinics national initiative. 

Title X was created in 1970 to provide federal funding for comprehensive and confidential family planning services and preventive health care, prioritizing people and families with low-incomes. Under the Trump administration, the purpose of Title X shifted from “acceptable and effective method[s] of family planning” to limiting “access to essential health care and information,” according to Physicians for Reproductive Health.

Despite their obvious dedication to political goals rather than reproductive health, the FBI apparently considers Heartbeat of Miami and other similar entities to be “reproductive health” centers under federal law. Now, for the first time in its history, continuing the legacy of the Trump administration, they’re targeting pro-choice activists with a federal law designed to protect abortion clinics from anti-abortion attacks.  

Freedom of Access to Clinic Entrances Act

In order to indict the two alleged graffiti artists on federal charges, the U.S. Attorney’s Office has leveraged a law created under the Clinton administration called the Freedom of Access to Clinic Entrances Act, known as FACE, which prohibits in part “intentionally injuring, intimidating, or interfering with,” any person from “obtaining or providing reproductive health services.”

Dr. Susan Mezey, Professor Emeritus of Political Science at Loyola University Chicago, studies reproductive rights and public policy. Dr. Mezey explained that FACE was created in response to a 1993 U.S. Supreme Court decision in which the Court refused to order federal injunctions against individuals who were harassing patients and staff at abortion clinics. Realizing the need to update federal law to protect the facilities, the U.S. Congress passed FACE in 1994.

According to Dr. Mezey, the legislation has been effective in pushing back on right-wing violence. “There is research that shows that there were fewer attacks after the legislation than before the legislation, and that the legislation seemed to have stopped most of the violent protests [against abortion clinics],” Dr. Mezey said. “Needless to say, any prosecutions that arose, arose against anti-abortion protesters.”

Dr. Mezey said that the law was written to be “viewpoint neutral.” In other words, it specifically targets neither those who want abortion to be legal, nor those who want it to be illegal. However, “the clear intent of the law was to make abortion providers accessible to women seeking abortions and to prevent the type of activity that was going on by the hundreds by anti-abortion activists,” Dr. Mezey explained.

As far as she knows, this is the first time FACE has been used to prosecute pro-choice activists.

“I don’t see how this fits in with the language of FACE,” said Dr. Mezey, referring to the vandalism Freestone and Smith-Stewart are accused of, “which is to ‘injure, interfere with, intimidate.’ None of that seems to be happening [here].”  

The use of FACE legislation against the Florida activists hinges on the language “reproductive health services,” an ambiguous term that may have been clearer at the time the legislation was written. Although the legislators who created the law were intending to protect abortion clinics, since the law was passed, anti-abortion forces have proliferated a national network of CPCs claiming to provide reproductive health services.

“Such clinics are relatively new,” said Dr. Mezey, “most didn’t exist when FACE was passed.” 

The first network of anti-abortion “pregnancy clinics” was founded in 1968, but their spread has increased since the mid-90s due in large part to support from Republican administrations, said Dr. Mezey.

“They have been given federal money, certainly during the Trump administration and under other Republican administrations, even though many of them freely admit they’re opposed to abortion and try to turn women who come to their doors against having an abortion.”

Dr. Susan Mezey

Many such “clinics,” including the Respect Life Center in Hollywood, Florida, which Freestone and Smith-Stewart are accused of spray painting, do not even attempt to hide their anti-abortion political agenda. Their website contains selective information implying that abortion is both dangerous and traumatic.

“Abortion is a traumatic pregnancy loss,” the website reads. “The wound caused by abortion often remains unhealed and becomes a secret sorrow carried alone and without support.”

Crisis pregnancy centers can cause those seeking abortions to delay much-needed abortions, says Dr. Mezey. Under new abortion laws that impose strict time limits for legal abortions, such delays can lead to patients being unable to get abortions they need.

“Women seeking abortions who go to these places have to wait for a legally mandated ultrasound, and have to wait for a legally mandated physician’s lecture,” said Dr. Mezey. “And thus the time limit goes by. I think that’s terrible.”

Dr. Mezey said she’s not sure if graffiti has ever been charged federally, but if so, she’s never heard of it. “I’m sure there are Florida laws making it just a misdemeanor to deface property, so I don’t understand why the federal government has to get involved.”

Community organizers in Florida are asking themselves the same question. 

“These protesters’ actions are as close to non-violence as you can get,” said Dr. Mezey. “Technically, I believe they broke the law. But I think there is a great imbalance of moral culpability. I think these people are reacting to a terrible decision by the Supreme Court in Dobbs. I understand their frustration.”

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Alex Binder contributed to this report for Unicorn Riot.

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Editor’s Note: In our reporting, some quotes refer to people who have abortions as “women,” and it is important for us to note that we at Unicorn Riot know that women are not the only gender/type of people who can become pregnant and have abortions.

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Unicorn Riot's Coverage on Abortion and Reproductive Rights:

• Richmond Abortion Rights Rally Highlights Intersections of SCOTUS Ruling - July 29, 2022
• July 4th Abortion Protests in Washington, D.C. - July 4, 2022
• The End of Federal Abortion Protections Isn’t the End of Abortion Access - June 25, 2022
• Dozens in Boulder Protest Christian Nationalist Group and its Spreading of Extremism - June 23, 2022
• Leaked U.S. Supreme Court Abortion Draft Decision Incites Protests - May 3, 2022
• A Fight to Defend Abortion in Brooklyn: Clinic Defense and New York City for Abortion Rights - April 9, 2022
• Freedom of Choice Under Fire in Ohio - Jan. 5, 2022
• “Abortion is Sacred:” The Past and Present of Reproductive Rights - Oct. 14, 2021
• Patients Face Daily Harassment Outside Planned Parenthood in Denver - Nov. 10, 2018

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The post FBI Harasses Activists in Florida; Two Indicted on Federal Charges for Jane’s Revenge Actions appeared first on UNICORN RIOT.

by Unicorn Riot via UNICORN RIOT

Liked on YouTube: YG "The Red Cup Tour" with OhGeesy & Kalan.FrFr (Concert Recap)

YG "The Red Cup Tour" with OhGeesy & Kalan.FrFr (Concert Recap)
Subscribe: http://bit.ly/subWSHH | WSHH Snap Discover: http://bit.ly/worldstarsnap More exclusive WSHH music videos: https://youtube.com/playlist?list=PLcK0neBMyFxSpYgDfKCsHRwgxlN-Tnt9D&playnext=1&index=2 Filmed & Edited: https://ift.tt/oRyGbE6 Executive Producers: https://ift.tt/P1N3elG https://ift.tt/oRyGbE6 Follow WorldstarHipHop: Website: https://ift.tt/gfmhkAi TikTok: https://ift.tt/Y7qyf1z Facebook: https://ift.tt/AnDxPGp Instagram: https://ift.tt/W3xecAv Twitter: https://twitter.com/worldstar Watch more WorldstarHipHop: Newest Videos: https://youtube.com/playlist?list=PLcK0neBMyFxTF85bfUSUXiKiDy_AlNsu2&playnext=1&index=2 Music Video Premieres: https://youtube.com/playlist?list=PLcK0neBMyFxSpYgDfKCsHRwgxlN-Tnt9D&playnext=1&index=2 Hottest Tracks: https://youtube.com/watch?v=YdrUe_IFSjs&list=PLcK0neBMyFxRCJvtRqACQvs0qmyL-Ee7Q&playnext=1 Music Videos by Artist: https://youtube.com/user/WorldStarHipHopTV/playlists?view=50&sort=dd&shelf_id=13 Original WSHH Series: https://youtube.com/user/WorldStarHipHopTV/playlists?view=50&sort=dd&shelf_id=11 About WorldstarHipHop: WorldstarHipHop is home to everything entertainment & hip hop. The #1 urban outlet responsible for breaking the latest premiere music videos, exclusive artist content, entertainment stories, celebrity rumors, sports highlights, interviews, comedy skits, rap freestyles, crazy fights, eye candy models, the best viral videos & more. Since 2005, WorldstarHipHop has worked with some of our generation's most groundbreaking artists, athletes & musicians - all who have helped continue to define our unique identity and attitude. We plan on continuing to work with only the best, so keep an eye out for all the exciting new projects / collaborations we plan on dropping in the very near future. #WorldstarHipHop #YG #TheRedCupTour

via YouTube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VjBvgt6tqao

Liked on YouTube: What Happiness & Love Can Be

What Happiness & Love Can Be
Reel10.3 All shot/edited by Wiggy #shotbywiggy #filmreel

via YouTube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jkDdxOI1jl0

Liked on YouTube: Mark Out Mania Saturday Morning 195!

Mark Out Mania Saturday Morning 195!


via YouTube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1kOcotxSO5o

Liked on YouTube: Witchcraft Altar Tour

Witchcraft Altar Tour
I feel weird uploading without mentioning the George Floyd situation so I just wanted to make it clear that I am an ally to all POC, I will support you all and I want to use my privilege to help in anyway I can. Black Lives Matter is an important movement to me and I support it 100%. I hope that one day we will no longer live in a world where some people have privilege based on their skin colour. The murder of George is shocking, sickening and extremely upsetting to me, I do not want privilege, I wish we were all just equal. I love you all and I want to educate myself so I can spread more information about the topic in a dedicated video. Please email the Minneapolis police department and ask for the four officers involved to be charged with murder, I have done so and I will continue to do all I can from the other side of the world. I know this doesn't relate to the video at all but I don't have enough knowledge to make a dedicated video on the subject yet. I just wanted to let you all know that I truly and deeply care about this, I'm extremely upset and have cried over this with you, I pray for change, I hope this sparks big change. I love you, and if you're affected by this situation I am here for you, please feel free to reach out to me on instagram (@alishaacat) Okay with that said, here is the video description... Hello angels! Welcome to my altar tour video. My altar is currently Ostara themed, I really need to update it haha. I hope this video give you a little insight on how you can set up an altar for witchcraft and about how I like to express myself magickally. If you have any questions please feel free to leave a comment! and also leave a comment telling me about your altar and what your favourite thing about my altar is! Lots of love everybody xoxo ✿✿✿ MUSIC Song is Tranquility by Prod. Riddiman https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3u43yUcB8uY " This beat is available for you to use and make profit with, but please credit me (Prod. Riddiman) where possible! ✌️" ✿✿✿ Thank you for watching! Please like and subscribe if you enjoyed this. If this is your first time here, hi! My name is Alisha, I'm from England. I love cats, travelling, tattoos, make up, spirituality, nature and fantasy worlds. If you're not new here than hello, welcome back, thank you for sticking around ♥️ ✿ Pastel Instagram - https://ift.tt/ORXzBbe (@alishaacat) ✿ ✿ Witchy Instagram - https://ift.tt/aH0AIOV (@faery.cat) (My only social media, along with youtube) ✿ I'm also on the "Pagans & Witches" Amino ✿ https://ift.tt/tFPVqHd ♥️♥️♥️ NSFW ♥️♥️♥️ I have some not suitable for work content available for sale, for more details you can check out my work accounts ✿ Twitter - @LilyxMoonflower ✿ ✿ Instagram - @LilyxMoonflower ✿

via YouTube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LdUQ_YojSks

Liked on YouTube: 15 Great Depression Foods We Will All Be Eating Again Soon

15 Great Depression Foods We Will All Be Eating Again Soon
The reality of millions drastically changed after the 1929 stock market crash. All of a sudden, affluent Americans lost everything, middle-class families became poor, and poor households fell into misery. For over a decade, our citizens struggled to make ends meet and many of them didn’t have enough to eat.  Parents would skip meals to feed their children as they were forced to survive on next to nothing. Bread lines extended for miles, and food insecurity became an epidemic. Fast forward to today, and we have what experts call the biggest stock market bubble in history just ready to burst. Even though we have learned a lot since the 1930s, our leaders continued to make the same mistakes. And now more than ever, it’s looking like history is about to repeat itself. The question is: when everything collapses will you be prepared? According to a very detailed article published on Ask A Prepper by Katherine Paterson, for us to be truly ready for the challenges that are coming for us, we will all need to get creative with our meals. To understand how Americans survived the dark times of the Great Depression, we need to understand how to make our resources last. Back then, essentials including meat, eggs, and milk were in extremely short supply, and people often had to make a little go a long way, as explained by Paterson. We are already seeing the same shortages happening today. And it’s just a matter of time before another financial disaster throws our economy into disarray. With a little bit of preparation, you won’t have to panic when staples start disappearing from store shelves if you know how to adapt. You don’t need many different ingredients, and you definitely don’t need expensive foods to cook delicious dishes.  Culinary is something very important for our culture. It was through such hearty meals that people had the drive to keep fighting to get out of such challenging situations. Food connects us and gives us a sense of purpose and identity. That’s why it is so crucial to make preparations for when the essentials we rely upon aren’t available anymore. The warning signs of an impending financial and economic meltdown are everywhere. And once it happens, vulnerable supply chains can be broken in a snap of fingers.  Our leaders may have made the same wrongful decisions that put us where our grandparents and great-grandparents were almost a century ago. But that doesn’t mean we can’t make more conscious choices this time around. So get ready now while we’re still experiencing the calm before the storm, because when start to spiral out of control, it may be too late. That’s why in today’s video, we listed some very popular meals that previous generations used to eat during that era because those recipes may soon become handy for all of us as well. For more info, find us on: https://ift.tt/nLbtkpV

via YouTube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=14pjSrIZ-HA

Liked on YouTube: Rey Mysterio and Karrion Kross battle after Kross’ massive disrespect | WWE on FOX

Rey Mysterio and Karrion Kross battle after Kross’ massive disrespect | WWE on FOX
Rey Mysterio and Karrion Kross met in the ring after Kross insulted Mysterio’s honorable mask exchange with Santos Esobar following their Fatal 4-Way Matchup. #WWEonFOX #Smackdown #ReyMysterio SUBSCRIBE for more from WWE ON FOX: https://ift.tt/SQroIzn The all-new FOX Sports App, built for the modern sports fan: https://ift.tt/JE3Q9gR ►FOX Sports YouTube channel: https://ift.tt/NdM2C9X ►PBC ON FOX’s YouTube Channel: https://ift.tt/rMSEVo1 ►CFB ON FOX YouTube channel: https://ift.tt/OsuCzgS ►FOX Soccer’s YouTube channel: https://ift.tt/Gs6ZnMu ►NASCAR ON FOX YouTube channel: https://ift.tt/gEb9sOw See more from WWE ON FOX: https://ift.tt/zsvXEcq Like WWE ON FOX on Facebook: https://ift.tt/MHuxhzV Follow WWE ON FOX on Twitter: https://ift.tt/8PxFqcD Follow WWE ON FOX on Instagram: https://ift.tt/4HXJgf6 About WWE ON FOX: Your official home for all things WWE on FOX, from Friday Night SmackDown to NXT and everything in between! WWE highlights, WWE Backstage segments, original stories with your favorite Superstars, and much, much more — find it all right here on WWE on FOX! Rey Mysterio and Karrion Kross battle after Kross’ massive disrespect | WWE on FOX https://youtu.be/YRzMeP7_Uc0 WWE ON FOX https://www.youtube.com/c/WWEonFOX

via YouTube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YRzMeP7_Uc0

New video by Unicorn Riot on YouTube - go check it out ;-)

Watch on YouTube here: Memories Shared During Minneapolis Vigil for Manuel ‘Tortuguita’ Terán
Via Christian Gasper

‘Community’ Committee Cheers Police Violence as Authorities Repress Resistance to ‘Cop City’

Atlanta, GA – As the movement to prevent the destruction of a huge swath of forest outside Atlanta grows more powerful, the authorities are scrambling to contain it. As they do, they are resorting to increasingly violent measures — including the killing of an Indigenous protester, Manuel Terán, also known as Tortuguita, on January 18 and charging 19 protesters with trumped up domestic terrorism charges. 

All the while, the majority of the members of the Atlanta Police Foundation’s Community Stakeholder Advisory Committee (CSAC) have cheered on the increased police presence and harsh repression of community members who oppose the project, with one member praising the police’s deployment of “shock and awe.”  

Shock and awe is a wartime military strategy which relies upon the spectacular deployment of overwhelming force to paralyze an enemy’s will to fight. It is also called “rapid dominance.”

“So one of the things we charged them with, to include criminal trespass, was domestic terrorism charge that we put on them,” said Assistant Chief Carven Tyus of the Atlanta Police Department, during a December 15, 2022 meeting of the CSAC. 

Excerpts from the Dec. 15, 2022 meeting of the ‘Cop City’ Community Stahekolders Advisory Committee (CSAC).

“So going forward, that is one of the charges that we will be using,” Tyus continued.

In his presentation to the committee just days after a raid on the forest encampments that led to six arrests, Tyus explains why he and other law enforcement officers have chosen to arrest the protesters for “domestic terrorism” — they aren’t from Georgia.

“None of those people live here; they don’t have a vested interest in this property and we show that time and time again. Why is an individual from Los Angeles, California concerned about a training facility being built in the state of Georgia? And that is why we consider that domestic terrorism,” Tyus explained.

Tyus’ statements are particularly ironic given a recent revelation by the Atlanta Community Press Collective that the proposed training center will recruit 43% of its trainees from out of state. If built, the training center would increase the power of police not just in Atlanta, but throughout the region and the country. 

The Atlanta Police Foundation is the primary organization behind the Atlanta Public Safety Training Center, often referred to as ‘Cop City’ by opponents. To construct the 85-acre facility, part of Weelaunee (the South River Forest) will be razed.

The video of the Stakeholder’s Committee meeting was first released by the Atlanta Community Press Collective. 

Police reports from the December 13 raid on the forest obtained by Unicorn Riot also confirm protesters’ reports of police use of chemical agents on tree sitters. “GBI and SRS ordered chemical agent to be used in the treehouse in an attempt have her surrender without further incident,” the report reads. The tree-sitter “was provided numerous warnings, offers of assistance to get down, and provided with safe routes of egress. However, [the tree-sitter] continually refused to get down and said, “No,” when ordered to get down.”

Police then fired repeated rounds of chemical munitions “using a city-issued PepperBall Launcher.” But the tree-sitter proved to be more resilient than police anticipated. They “refused to have a dialogue with [Georgia Bureau of Investigation] agents and refused to surrender. Sgt Krieger gradually increased the amount of PepperBall agent in the treehouse in hopes that [the tree-sitter] would surrender. After it was determined the PepperBall agent was ineffective, APD SWAT arrived and took over all chemical munitions.”

Another report confirmed that officers hit tree sitters with the chemical munitions. “Officer N. Palencia, Officer G. Jackson and Officer T. Cone were all advised by supervisors to strike the tree with chemical agents, PepperBall, in an effort to make [the tree-sitter] uncomfortable and come down on his own,” the report reads. “All Officers who launched Pepperball, did strike [the tree-sitter] as well due to the unpredictable flight of the Pepperball, but caused no injuries.”  

According to the reports, none of the protesters were threatening the police in any way. One tree-sitter “was playing music, dancing, and periodically stuck his head out to yell at police,” according to the reports. 

Police Reports

Incident Supplement

Combined-Reports_Redacted

Incident_Supplement_Redacted

In the December meeting, Tyus also admitted to arresting an individual on a technicality during the December 13 raid because he tried to film the police, which is a protected First Amendment right. “We had an individual who was out attempting to film our officers,” said Tyus, “so we were able to get him with the hands free law as he drove by filming our officers. So we were able to lock him up.”

This is only the most recent occasion of police attacks on journalists and others who seek to document police activities in the midst of the movement to defend the forest in Atlanta. Reporting by Saporta Report documented a number of instances of such attacks, including the arrest of a Unicorn Riot contributor during a protest in Atlanta in May 2021. 

Just hours after police killed Terán on Jan. 18., someone was arrested near the entrance of Intrenchment Creek Park. Before they were placed into a Georgia State Patrol vehicle, they told a Unicorn Riot contributor that they had only been filming.

There have also been defections from the otherwise universal saber-rattling of the committee. One member, Nicole Morado, resigned from the committee shortly after police killed Terán, according to recent reporting by Saporta Report.

“Really I did not want to be affiliated with a project that is using police violence and taking lives…,” Morado told Saporta Report. “I’m still an interested resident. I just don’t want to be affiliated with that group any longer.”

Another Committee member, Amy Taylor, filed an appeal against the construction project on February 6 with the DeKalb County Zoning Board of Appeal citing concerns about water run-off into Intrenchment Creek Park. 

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In arrest warrants, officers explained why the “domestic terrorism” charge was applicable to forest defenders. The majority of the warrants begin by describing the “terrorist” activity as involving “participating in actions as part of Defend the Atlanta Forest (DTAF), a group classified by the United States Department of Homeland Security as Domestic Violent Extremists.”

However, as reported by Forever Wars, the Department of Homeland Security clarified in a statement that it “does not classify or designate any groups as domestic violent extremists.” Instead, the department uses the term to refer to “the conduct of groups or individuals.”

Yet, in many of the warrants, it’s unclear what that “terrorist” conduct entails. One of the warrants reads, “The accused affirmed their cooperation with DTAF by criminally trespassing on posted land and was arrested while sleeping in a hammock with another defendant.”

The same warrant also appears to criminalize Constitutionally protected political positions: “Said accused is also a known member of a prison abolitionist movement.“

12/13/22 Warrant 1

12/13/22 Warrant 2

12/13/22 Warrant 3

Screenshots of DeKalb County Police charging docs for protesters via StatusCoup’s Jan. 23, 2023 report “Inside the Dangerous “Domestic Terrorism” Charges Against Cop City Protesters”

Screenshots of DeKalb County Police charging docs for protesters via StatusCoup’s Jan. 23, 2023 report “Inside the Dangerous “Domestic Terrorism” Charges Against Cop City Protesters”

Screenshots of DeKalb County Police charging docs for protesters via StatusCoup’s Jan. 23, 2023 report “Inside the Dangerous “Domestic Terrorism” Charges Against Cop City Protesters”

The majority of the warrants are submitted by Special Agent Ryan Long, of the Georgia Bureau of Investigation (GBI). Ryan Long joined the GBI in 2019 after leaving his former job as an officer with the Lilburn Police Department. According to the Lilburn PD’s administrative records and Facebook photos, his full legal name is most likely Gerald Ryan Long.

Georgia Bureau of Investigation Special Agent and former Lilburn Police Officer Ryan Long. Photos via Facebook.

In response to a Unicorn Riot public records request, Lilburn PD stated that no disciplinary proceedings or allegations of misconduct took place against Ryan Long during his time there. However, Lilburn PD records confirm that Long fired two shots at a vehicle being driven by a person named Jesse Allen on January 18, 2018. According to the Atlanta Journal-Constitution, Long was also involved in a brawl with a pastor inside a church on March 25, 2018.

One protester arrested on Dec. 15 was charged with domestic terrorism based only on the report that they had been “fleeing from Atlanta Police Department Investigator Ronald Sluss, causing injuries to INV Sluss’ right knee and right elbow, said injuries being scrapes and cuts.”

Ronald C. Sluss is part of Atlanta PD’s Homeland Security Unit and a member of the International Gang Investigators Association. According to his LinkedIn profile, he “analyze[s] call detail records, plot cellular device locations, and analyze digital forensics of electronic devices [and] have testified as a subject matter expert in call detail records analysis, device geolocation, GPS and digital evidence.”

Atlanta Police Homeland Security Unit Investigator Ronald C. Sluss. Photos via Facebook and LinkedIn.

The majority of the domestic terrorism protester warrants are signed by Judge Fatima El-Amin, who is Chief Judge of the DeKalb County Juvenile Court. Judge El-Amin’s judicial assistant, Kathy Reynolds, confirmed that the judge routinely sits in for Superior Court judges due, in part, to the court’s long backlog due to COVID-19. Reynolds did not, however, explain how the judge makes decisions regarding the validity of warrants for extreme charges such as domestic terrorism. 

DeKalb County Juvenile Court Chief Judge Fatima El-Amin. Photo via DeKalb County Juvenile Court.

When asked whether Judge El-Amin was merely ‘robo-signing’ any warrant put in front of her, including those alleging domestic terrorism, Reynolds responded that the judge considers the validity of each warrant. 

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Despite the host of civil rights issues raised by recent police actions, members of the Community Stakeholder Advisory Committee at the December 15 meeting were thrilled to hear that police had begun charging protesters with domestic terrorism. None of the members present at the meeting balked at Chief Tyus’ admission that his officers had arrested someone for filming the police.

“I just want to make a quick comment to say that I’m so pleased to see the level of charge being domestic terrorism,” said Committee Chair Alison Clark.

Clark previously presided over the legally dubious removal of environmental engineer Lily Ponitz from the Committee in retaliation for notifying Atlanta media and local government about unaddressed concerns about soil and groundwater contamination in and/or around the proposed ‘Cop City’ site.

In an apparent conflict of interest, CSAC Committee Chair Alison Clark is married to Major Curtis Clark of the Fulton County Sheriff’s Office, a local law enforcement agency likely to enjoy use of the proposed training facility. (Atlanta is the county seat of Fulton County.)

Fulton County Sheriff’s Office Administrative Services Division Major Curtis Clark is married to Alison Clark, Chair of the Atlanta Public Safety Training Center Community Stakeholder Advisory Committee. Photo via Fulton County Sheriff’s Office.

According to the Georgia Board of Public Safety, Curtis Clark is “a bomb technician, cross-trained in weapons of mass destruction.”

Committee chair Allison Clark during a December 15, 2022 meeting of the Community Stakeholder Advisory Committee (L) and posting for a 2014 Facebook photo with her husband, Fulton County Sheriff’s Office Administrative Services Major Curtis Clark (R).

Another Committee member, Shirley Nichols, praised Chief Tyus for the violent police response to tree-sitters and their supporters. “I was beginning to feel that we were just being too soft with these people,” Nichols said. “And I know that you are doing a lot of investigation and a lot of things behind the scenes we don’t know about. I do applaud you, when I found out last night that they had arrested somebody, I was really pleased to know that had happened. Thank you very much for all that you’re doing.”

Committee member Shirley Nichols during a December 15 meeting of the Community Stakeholder Advisory Committee.

“I just wanted to say ditto to everything you just said,” said Committee member Sharon Williams. “I was happy to see this show of force.” 

Committee Co-Chair Sharon Williams during a December 15 meeting of the Community Stakeholder Advisory Committee.

At the January meeting of the committee, Williams praised Tyus for having DeKalb County Police vehicles stationed at many locations surrounding the forest, calling the added police presence “shock and awe.” 

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The Community Stakeholder Advisory Committee was scheduled to meet on Tuesday, February 21 but the meeting was cancelled with less than 24 hours notice. While required by law to meet every calendar month, the CSAC has yet to meet in February 2023. Its last meeting was on January 17, the day before Georgia State Patrol shot and killed forest defender Manuel ‘Tortuguita’ Terán. The cancelled February 2023 meeting would have been the committee’s first meeting since the killing of Terán, the resignation of committee member Nicole Morado in protest of Terán’s killing, and the Zoning Board appeal filed by committee member Amy Taylor.

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Unicorn Riot's coverage on the movement to defend the Atlanta Forest:

• Minneapolis March Connects Roof Depot Demolition Resistance to the Atlanta Forest (February 21, 2023)
• Atlanta PD Releases Bodycam Footage from Deadly Jan. 18 Forest Raid (February 8, 2023)
• Manuel ‘Tortuguita’ Terán’s Family Seeks Transparency in Police Killing (February 7, 2023)
• City of Atlanta and DeKalb County Announce ‘Agreement’ Amidst Growing Opposition to Cop City (January 31, 2023)
• Marches and Vigils Across the US Respond to the Police Killing of Forest Defender Tort (January 22, 2023)
• Protester Shot and Killed by Officers During Raid on Atlanta Forest (January 18, 2023)
• Blackhall Intensifies Destruction of Weelaunee People’s Park in Atlanta Forest (January 16, 2023)
• SWAT Teams Attack Atlanta Forest Encampments, Activists Charged with ‘Terrorism’ (December 18, 2022)
• [Mini Doc] Defending the Atlanta Forest: Behind the Movement to Stop Cop City (Oct. 9, 2022)
• “Cop City” General Contractors’ Offices Attacked (May 19, 2022)
• Police Raid Atlanta Forest Occupation (May 18, 2022)
• Atlanta Fights to Save Its Forest (May 14, 2022)

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The post ‘Community’ Committee Cheers Police Violence as Authorities Repress Resistance to ‘Cop City’ appeared first on UNICORN RIOT.

by Unicorn Riot via UNICORN RIOT