The Infectious Escalation of Occupy Oakland
Natalie W writes at Diatribe Media:
An unofficial count of 400 Occupy Oakland demonstrators were arrested Saturday, January 28, after being fired upon, beaten, kettled, and trapped by Oakland riot police.
The Occupy Oakland social movement is rooted in the lower-income, ethnically diverse Bay area city and has been a previous site of violent police repression. Oakland has been a nexus of social unrest long before the Occupation catalyzed it as an outlet for frustration.
Oakland boasts closing public schools, an annual median family income at $56,000 in 2008, and in 2010, it was listed as the fifth most dangerous in the US with a history of police brutality. With all of these simmering tensions, Occupy Oakland’s actions should not come as a surprise to anyone, least of all elected officials like Mayor Quan and Interim Police Chief Howard Jordan.
The Occupy movement is a global social demonstration aimed at overturning the interconnectivity of money/economic/political entitlement. In 2011, acting…
Calling Out The Police For Hiding Their Nameplates
The California Penal Code states that uniformed police officers must wear “a badge, nameplate, or other device which bears clearly…the identification number or name of the officer”. Feel free to remind the police of this when they forget:
Officer Hargraves of the Oakland Police Department is called out by a citizen journalist for covering his name tag with a strip of black electrical tape. Police lieutenant Hu removes the tape while the camera rolls.
The issue of “anonymous police” remains a serious problem. This is especially true for “riot police” who wear dark anonymous uniforms while firing rubber bullets, tear gas canisters and flash-bang grenades into the crowd.
ABC And CBS News Both Cut Away Due To Technical Difficulties At Onset Of Oakland Police Violence
In more on the mainstream media’s bizarre coverage of Tuesday night’s police brutality in Oakland, a number of blogs have commented on this — both ABC and CBS local affiliates had helicopters providing live feeds as events unfolded in front of Oakland’s City Hall. Allegedly, both television channels cut their transmissions when the police began attacking protesters, and both said it was due to their helicopters’ needing refueling. That’s right — both the ABC and CBS helicopters ran out of fuel at the same moment. The moment when the newsworthy events began to occur. One can only say, wow. Oakland Local writes:
OPD gave us 5 minutes to disperse, and then attacked the crowd with tear gas, flash grenades, and rubber bullets. I was there until that point, and I can testify that it was a peaceful march until the police attacked it.
Moreover, they just happened to begin firing tear gas into…
Iraq Veteran In Critical Condition After Being Shot By Police At Occupy Oakland
On Tuesday night, the Oakland police staged a brutal attack on peaceful protesters gathered outside of City Hall. Among the worst injured was Scott Olsen, a 24-year-old ex-Marine who served two tours in Iraq and now works as an IT systems analyst and volunteers in anti-war groups. He is in critical condition with a fractured skull and brain swelling after being shot in the face by an officer with a teargas canister, the Guardian reports. Someone managed to capture this shocking video of police maliciously using a explosive device against a group of people as they attempt to move the gravely wounded Olsen to safety:
Night Of Police Clashes With Occupy Oakland Protestors
Tues
day morning, police forcibly cleared hundreds of people from the public plaza near Oakland’s City Hall. When the protesters tried to reassemble at the plaza last night, officers over loudspeaker ordered people to disperse or risk “chemical agents.” Riot police then attacked with tear gas, smoke bombs, and rubber bullets in a scene that seemed to devolve into chaos. Firsthand accounts and video footage make it pretty clear that this was a case of widespread and unprovoked police brutality, including officers gassing and firing upon children, the elderly, veterans, and the disabled.
Media Roots: Why Occupy Oakland?
Abby Martin of Media Roots conducts on the spot interviews with Oakland residents about why they want change on the first two days of Occupy Oakland:
Inside Oaksterdam University: ‘Where Marijuana Gets You Higher Education’
Jason Motlagh writes in TIME:
On the second floor of the downtown campus, a motley group of students listens to a lecture titled “Palliative and Curative Relief Through a Safe and Effective Herbal Medicine.” Not the sexiest of topics on the face of it, but there’s a catch: this is Oaksterdam University, and the medicine being discussed is marijuana. At “America’s first cannabis college,” in Oakland, Calif., the sallow-faced hippy-skater types that one expects to find sit beside middle-aged professionals in business attire, united in their zeal for the pungent green leaf. No one dares speak out of turn, until instructor Paul Armentano, a marijuana-policy expert, cites a news report that U.S. antidrug authorities plan to legalize pot’s active ingredient exclusively for drug companies’ use. “More stinking profits for Big Business,” mumbles a young man wearing a baseball cap. His classmates groan in agreement.
More than 17,000 students have enrolled since Oaksterdam…
The Walmart of Weed
Matthai Kuruvila writing for the San Francisco Chronicle:
Call it the Walmart of weed.
In a 15,000-square-foot warehouse just down the road from the Oakland Airport, an entrepreneur is opening a one-stop shop for medicinal marijuana cultivation that’s believed to be the largest in the state.
Don’t know the first thing about growing pot? The folks at iGrow have a doctor on site to get you a cannabis card and sell you all the necessary equipment for indoor, hydroponic cultivation – from pumps, nutrients and tubing to lights and fans.
Don’t know how to set it up? For a fee, on-site technicians will show you how to build it in your home and even maintain it weekly.
“A lot of people don’t know much about growing pot,” said Dhar Mann, 25, the owner, who stood in front of an array of Ikea-like displays, showing different rooms of cannabis cultivation systems. “Since there are no full-service…
