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from the peaceful-protest-vs-armed-protest dept.
Catholic Online reports
On Thursday [October 27], the Bundy gang of ranchers who took over a federal building in Oregon and led a 41-day standoff were acquitted on all charges. At least five of the seven surviving militia members will now walk free from federal custody as a result. Ammon Bundy will not be released however because he still faces charges in Nevada over the standoff at his father's ranch two years ago. His brother, Ryan Bundy also remains in custody. An eighth member of their gang was killed by police when the standoff drew to an end.
[...]The Bundy gang also staged their occupation on sacred Native American land. This cannot be condoned; it would be like legitimizing the armed takeover of a parish church.
[...]At the same time the Bundy gang was being acquitted, heavily armed paramilitary-police moved into the crowds at Cannonball, North Dakota gassing and arresting protesters. The key difference in this case is [that] the protesters in North Dakota are peaceful and unarmed.
[...] During Thursday's protest, a fire broke out at the site and police moved in with riot gear and military-grade armored vehicles. They attacked the crowd with tear gas, a sound cannon, batons, and bean-bag ammunition. Police are evicting the protesters by force to make way for the pipeline's construction. Protesters have built barricades to keep authorities at bay.
Peoples World continues
[Continues...]
Encampment at Standing Rock cleared; over 140 arrested
Police and those present at the #NoDAPL protest encampment yesterday say that protesters have been cleared from the northern camp along the Cannon Ball River near the Standing Rock Sioux Reservation in North Dakota. News reports say over 140 people were arrested, and officers used pepper spray against protesters but no serious injuries were reported.
Beginning at 11:15 am MT [PDF], officers moved toward a group of people camping out near highway 1806 near the town of Cannon Ball, ND. According to the Associated Press, some of the officers were in riot gear, some were armed, and they arrived with soldiers driving trucks and military Humvees. They also deployed helicopters and an airplane that monitored them from above.
The Federal Aviation Administration began restricting flights over the area on Tuesday afternoon [October 25], and will continue to do so until Nov. 5, according to the FAA website, which cites "hazards" in the area.
The police operation came the day after the Morton County Sheriff's Department asked protesters to leave the land, [PDF] which is in the path of the Dakota Access Pipeline under construction.
Additionally, over the last several weeks, over 140 "water and land protectors", as those protesting the building of the Dakota Access oil pipeline call themselves, have been arrested during police raids. The mainstream media has remained relatively mum about the human rights violations that have been unfolding at Standing Rock, where the construction of the multi-billion dollar funded Dakota Access Pipeline is underway.
[...] Frustrations continue to rise as [a] media blackout continues.
[...] Many have voiced outrage over the selective coverage being given by the media to such a critical issue.
Last week, Energy Transfer Partners, the company constructing the Dakota Access Pipeline, voluntarily stopped work at the building site just North of the Standing Rock Sioux Reservation.
The Army Corps of Engineers has confirmed that the company doesn't have a written easement from the agency to build on Corps property. A Corps spokesperson says that Energy Transfer Partners has filed the paperwork for the easement but it's still under review.
Previous Coverage:
Ammon & Ryan Bundy Arrested in Oregon; One Dead in Shootout with Cops
Militia Occupies Federal Building in Oregon After Rancher Arson Convictions
(Score: 3, Interesting) by The Mighty Buzzard on Sunday October 30 2016, @10:53PM
False dichotomy. Many, many more white people are killed by cops every year and nobody thinks that's racially motivated.
My rights don't end where your fear begins.
(Score: 2) by Pav on Monday October 31 2016, @12:43AM
"Many, many more" translates to almost twice as many... or to put it another way, you're almost three times as likely to be shot if you are black, and over twice as likely even if you're black and unarmed. Even if you want to deny the racial component the police are killing more people of all races despite violent crime being at historic lows. Also, the number of killings per department are not strongly correlated to levels of crime (or lack thereof) in a particular city, so there's a problem even if you don't want to acknowledge the racial component of it.
(Score: 2) by The Mighty Buzzard on Monday October 31 2016, @01:03AM
False. Do the math yourself. Don't rely on pundits.
My rights don't end where your fear begins.
(Score: 2) by Pav on Monday October 31 2016, @01:28AM
The burden of truth certainly isn't on this side of the argument. Like all received wisdom I've checked the math on one or two random facts... not exhaustively, but enough to give me confidence. Links in articles included FBI statistics and reputable research from respected institutions. No, I'm not going to look it all up again for you.
(Score: 2) by Pav on Monday October 31 2016, @01:31AM
Burden of PROOF (not truth)... but meaning is the same I guess.
(Score: 2) by The Mighty Buzzard on Monday October 31 2016, @02:22AM
I did the math myself from government sources. It said a factor of something like 1.2 and it was confirmed by someone disagreeing with me right here, though I haven't verified which way that went yet, meaning either white people or black people are only ~20% more likely to be shot by police than the other. Now 20% still ain't inside statistical irrelevancy like it should be but it sure as shit ain't 2-3 times as likely.
My rights don't end where your fear begins.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Monday October 31 2016, @03:02AM
> I did the math myself from government sources.
That's funny. Not only does the mighty bullshiter have his own opinions, he's got his own government sources.
(Score: 2) by The Mighty Buzzard on Monday October 31 2016, @10:35AM
Your google-fu is lacking. It's only a quick search of the comments here away.
My rights don't end where your fear begins.
(Score: 2) by tangomargarine on Monday October 31 2016, @02:27PM
Many, many more white people are killed by cops every year and nobody thinks that's racially motivated.
That's because there's more of them. You're familiar with what the word "minority" means, right? By the math, whitey should get in trouble ~5.75x (72.4% vs. 12.6%) as often as blacks if we assume egalitarian police trouble.
False dichotomy.
Speaking of logical failures...
"Is that really true?" "I just spent the last hour telling you to think for yourself! Didn't you hear anything I said?"
(Score: 1, Informative) by Anonymous Coward on Monday October 31 2016, @04:06PM
That assumes racial parity in conduct apt to result in negative police interactions.
This is something of a third rail - suggesting that the melanin-empowered are crime-prone is obviously racist. But the case that criminal activities are evenly spread throughout society is, at best, unproven.
Many studies of a sociological nature point to cultural effects correlating with economic circumstances, and then segue into suggesting that institutionalised racism resulted in a race-based crime outcome, but there you get into chicken/egg arguments as well.
Suffice to say that a simple observation that white people are proportionally less likely to be arrested is not effective evidence of racism as such.
(Score: 2) by The Mighty Buzzard on Monday October 31 2016, @06:06PM
I can't tell if you're saying the police give passes to every other race or if you're saying black people are just more crime prone. I hope it's the latter because the former is obvious horse shit.
My rights don't end where your fear begins.
(Score: 2) by tangomargarine on Monday October 31 2016, @06:31PM
I'm not making any claim; I'm just pointing out your statement is disingenuous. Obviously white people get in trouble more since there's way more of them. If we took the total number of blacks arrested and the total number of whites arrested in the U.S. and the black number was higher *in total* obviously something is deeply, deeply wrong. (Which is not to say there's not already a problem; it's just not at that scope.)
This whole argument going up to the GGGGP or whatever (your first reply) is moronic.
"Is that really true?" "I just spent the last hour telling you to think for yourself! Didn't you hear anything I said?"
(Score: 2) by The Mighty Buzzard on Monday October 31 2016, @07:13PM
If you're not making any claim, your comment is a null op. I'll treat it as such then.
My rights don't end where your fear begins.