Snopes reports
Six journalists could spend up to 10 years in prison after being arrested during protests against President Donald Trump's inauguration.
The Guardian identified the journalists as freelancer Aaron Cantú; Vocativ senior producer Evan Engel; Jack Keller, producer for the online documentary Story of America; independent journalists Matt Hopard and Shay Horse; and RT America reporter Alex Rubinstein.
The group was charged under a District of Columbia statute penalizing "every person who willfully incited or urged others to engage" in a riot causing more than $5,000 in property damage with the potential 10-year prison sentence and a fine of up to $25,000. More than 200 people in total were arrested the day of the 20 January 2017 inauguration; they were reportedly arraigned the following day and will be back in court in February and March.
[...] Another independent journalist and documentarian, Tim Pool, said on Twitter that he and two NBC News journalists were also arrested during the 20 January 2017 demonstrations but released without charges. Pool said that a supervising officer told him "no less than three times" that they were under arrest. NBC News has not responded to our request for comment regarding Pool's account.
(Score: 5, Interesting) by Zz9zZ on Thursday January 26 2017, @08:55PM
They had better have some video evidence and not just officer testimony. There is very little detail about exactly what they were arrested for, the specific actions which are being called "inciting a riot". I find it incredibly unlikely that all these journalists from different networks were all encouraging people to riot. Ever since Trump started calling for unconstitutional censorship and other insane demands I worried that this was the next step.
Bush and Obama really opened the door for this behavior by flexing the POTUS power for unconstitutional acts, but now we are seeing the first very real and very public fascist demands. No hiding behind national security (we had to drone the guy he was an eviiiilll terrorist from Ooogaboogastan) or righteous national anger (9/11 rargh invade the wrong country!). Trump is tossing aside the veil of subtlety and showing the world what the US "elites" are really about. Propaganda has been pushing dictatorship as some solution to this "democracy" problem, and it seems like a fair chunk of the US is buying that steaming pile. This is the turning point for the US, do we knuckle under like the Germans did in the face of Hitler's populist policies? Do we turn Trump into a demi-god with unchecked power? Or do we fight against such bullshit and start electing all new critters every cycle until they start acting for the public good. Don't hold to your campaign promises? Go fuck yourself you're not getting a 2nd chance, we'll try someone else in a few years.
~Tilting at windmills~
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday January 26 2017, @09:01PM
Journalists without "press credentials" have always been subject to abuse.
Credentialing was always a bullshit form of state soft power.
What's different now is that the democratization of media has produced a lot more uncredentialed journalists.
(Score: 3, Funny) by tibman on Thursday January 26 2017, @09:04PM
I'll bet all the video footage from the journalists was confiscated during arrest.
SN won't survive on lurkers alone. Write comments.
(Score: 1, Funny) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday January 26 2017, @10:31PM
and lost
(Score: 5, Insightful) by EvilSS on Thursday January 26 2017, @09:04PM
Good news is that between the press coverage, body cams (if they had them), public surveillance cameras, private security cameras, and tons of smart phones there should be video of everything that happened that day.
(Score: 3, Informative) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday January 26 2017, @11:12PM
> I didn't realize Trump was out arresting protesters on his Inauguration day. Fact is these people were arrested that day,
That's not how it works. People are not automatons rigidly following orders.
People in the ranks take cues from the people at the top.
Trump's been broadcasting cues are loud as he possibly could since the day after the election and the people in the ranks that like him are particularly susceptible to taking those cues.
For example, the border agents who turned away canadians based on their opinions of trump. [snopes.com]
(Score: 2) by Bot on Friday January 27 2017, @01:09AM
> People in the ranks take cues from the people at the top.
district of Columbia, London City, Vatican... who is at the top?
Account abandoned.
(Score: 2) by schad on Friday January 27 2017, @03:12AM
"I was only following orders" isn't a legitimate defense, and neither is "I was only doing what I think the guy in charge would probably have wanted me to do."
Of course, a powerful person can make your life very unpleasant if you don't do as you're told. Which is why police have all sorts of protections against just that sort of thing. Seriously, if we're going to require anyone to refuse to follow unlawful orders, it's got to be cops.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Friday January 27 2017, @03:35AM
Its literally the opposite of following orders. Its indulging your biases because you think you've now got institutional cover to do it.
Cops have discretion because real life needs slack. Rigid adherence to the rules makes everything grind to a halt.
But the price we pay for that slack is that it will be abused. The people at the top set the tone for whether, and what kinds, of abuse will be tolerated.
(Score: 1, Interesting) by Anonymous Coward on Friday January 27 2017, @08:20AM
Rigid adherence to the rules makes everything grind to a halt.
Only because bureaucracy is out of control. Force every agent of the state to follow the rules, and the politicians will be forced to simplify the rules until they get so simple that anyone can understand them. Then the people will also be able to follow the rules, and only real criminals will be criminals, who gets thrown into prison will no longer be a matter of "discretion".
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Friday January 27 2017, @05:59PM
Again you've got it exactly backwards.
The rules constrain the cops more than they constrain the people.
Less rules, means more discretionary power.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Friday January 27 2017, @07:19PM
"The rules constrain the cops more than they constrain the people."
good!
(Score: 3, Informative) by wisnoskij on Friday January 27 2017, @05:15AM
That is not how the law works. No country allows you in after you say you are coming to protest. You area allowed to come in and spend thousands of dollars (otherwise they do not want you). I have seen people who were harassed for not carrying enough money with them (they only had access to $4K).
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Friday January 27 2017, @06:01PM
> No country allows you in after you say you are coming to protest.
I'll take made up facts for $1,000 Alex!
> I have seen people who were harassed for not carrying enough money with them
100% irrelevant to the discussion. A further sign you aren't playing with a full deck.
(Score: 2) by bob_super on Thursday January 26 2017, @09:22PM
Don't you know that the Superbowl is coming, the Dow is above 20k, companies are going to hire Americans, and taxes are going to be lowered?
Why are you obsessed by things which really don't matter, citizen?
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday January 26 2017, @10:06PM
Hallelujah money, oh yes, hallelujah moneyyy.
At least we have high quality bread and circuses these days...
(Score: 2, Informative) by khallow on Thursday January 26 2017, @09:49PM
(Score: 1, Insightful) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday January 26 2017, @10:03PM
You should have a /s at the end of your comment, but somehow I don't think you meant "Good times" sarcastically.
Well, they do have a bit of property damage
Please cite for that bit, all I'm seeing is:
The group was charged under a District of Columbia statute penalizing "every person who willfully incited or urged others to engage" in a riot causing more than $5,000 in property damage ...
So they aren't being charged with directly causing the property damage, they are just being put under the umbrella of "every person who willfully incited or urged others to engage" which is serious bullshit vaguery unless there is actual evidence. Trump made it clear he wants to clamp down on the press and shutdown anyone he doesn't like, and you'd be a fool to think the DC police is not influenced by the politicians that work there.
Those sting stories have nothing to do with the journalists, just more garbage being thrown around in this weird political battleground.
(Score: 1, Interesting) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday January 26 2017, @11:50PM
From GP: Project Veritas
"Veritas" is Latin for "truth".
We're talking about a slimy bunch whose stock in trade is lies.
(This is a grand example of irony, Alanis.)
Reactionary Con Artist James O'Keefe Busted for Dirty Tricks Against Trump Protesters [alternet.org]
Another headline that may put a finer point on it for you:
GOP Con Artist Busted Trying to Bribe People to Riot at Trump Inauguration So He Can Blame Dems [latest.com]
This is the outfit that has repeatedly edited video deceptively and given it to Breitbart. [google.com]
-- OriginalOwner_ [soylentnews.org]
(Score: 1, Insightful) by Anonymous Coward on Friday January 27 2017, @02:40PM
Thanks for that.
COINTELPRO is effective. It's damned effective. And it's easy as shit. The most effective part is that even trying to make people aware that yes, there really are people who will do this shit, no it's not just being paranoid, just gets you labeled a paranoid nut. Getting video evidence is the only defense against COINTELPRO tactics.
With video evidence, some people might be willing to say, ok, well, this time there were people acting in bad faith. But next time they'll totally take everything at face value and tell you you're a paranoid nut all over again.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Friday January 27 2017, @03:43PM
We're talking about a slimy bunch whose stock in trade is lies.
CNN?
(Score: 2, Informative) by khallow on Friday January 27 2017, @06:29AM
Well, they do have a bit of property damage
Please cite for that bit, all I'm seeing is:
The linked articles in the story. One of them shows a burning vehicle.
So they aren't being charged with directly causing the property damage, they are just being put under the umbrella of "every person who willfully incited or urged others to engage" which is serious bullshit vaguery unless there is actual evidence.
I guess we'll have to see if there is evidence. I doubt the vehicle spontaneously caught on fire, but good chance that's on video. There seems to be a lot of video out there these days.
(Score: 2) by tangomargarine on Friday January 27 2017, @03:44PM
I doubt the vehicle spontaneously caught on fire
Well, that kind of depends. Was it an American company's car? ;)
"Is that really true?" "I just spent the last hour telling you to think for yourself! Didn't you hear anything I said?"
(Score: 5, Informative) by rts008 on Thursday January 26 2017, @10:07PM
According to the news I saw yesterday, the reporters were only reporting, and were rounded up along with over 200 protesters as 'part of the crowd'. There were no riots in the immediate area, or part of the arrested crowd. At one point, one of the reporters started to switch memory cards in her camera, and a cop nearby yelled out: "She's not recording, not a reporter, arrest her!" Luckily she got the cards switched and started recording again, and evaded being singled out. The incident was recorded by another reporter, and uploaded before the whole group was arrested..
I saw this covered yesterday on a youtube live stream of 'The Young Turks' newscast(tyt network on youtube), if you are interested. *disclaimer: TYT is a self-admitted progressive slanted news show, having a good record for sticking to the facts (verified), but will also throw in their 'two cent's' worth, while stating it is only their opinion*
Personally, I think authoritarian-minded people feel emboldened by Trump as President, and are acting out their fantasies, same for the racists.
(Score: 3, Interesting) by tangomargarine on Thursday January 26 2017, @10:27PM
Why the hell do the authorities get so panicky whenever someone records them doing their job? "Nothing to hide" doesn't even cover it. They're trying to prevent being recorded when the act of doing so seems to be the only thing they're actually doing that's objectionable?
"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) by moondoctor on Friday January 27 2017, @12:07AM
power.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Friday January 27 2017, @01:50AM
In this case they were going to arrest her because she was not recording.
Kind of an ironic twist.
(Score: -1, Flamebait) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday January 26 2017, @11:51PM
If the alternative is that non-patriotic America-hating city folk turn this country into a 3rd-world nation, well you gotta do what you gotta do.
Liberals don't seem to get that their policy won't lead to a clone of Iceland, Norway, or Japan. A nation isn't just land or laws. It's culture. Some uniform cultures have trust and cooperation. We like that, and we lose what we have left if we dilute and pollute our culture with 3rd world people. We'll be getting a clone of Lebanon, Rwanda, or Nigeria. If you like that you should move -- you can have it now!
Germans didn't knuckle under. They actively supported, because the alternatives were worse. They rightly wanted to make Germany great again, putting Germany first. Much of America feels likewise. If liberals don't want us to pass an enabling act, maybe they should think about putting America first, both culture and economy.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Friday January 27 2017, @12:10AM
Liberals don't seem to get that their policy won't lead to a clone of Iceland, Norway, or Japan
If their policy includes publicly funded political campaigns as a core value, I don't see why not.
The problem is Oligarchy.
If we get private money out of politics, we could do even better than those Liberal Democracies (which haven't done that).
Ranked voting (as all the advanced democracies do) would also be a boon.
Supermajorities of USAians want these (not just Liberals/Progressives).
Let's start there and see how far we get.
-- OriginalOwner_ [soylentnews.org]
(Score: -1, Flamebait) by Anonymous Coward on Friday January 27 2017, @12:34AM
What you are missing is that those countries have fairly uniform culture and even ethnicity.
That is huge. It is the primary basis for trust and cooperation. You can't just ape their political system and expect similar results.
We have a state that is kind of like those countries. It's Vermont. Vermont isn't that way because it is liberal; if anything it is liberal because it already has uniformity. Vermont may be liberal, but it is the least mixed-race state in the union. It is anything but multicultural.
The next closest is any other place that could be called "small town America", without much immigration in the past half century. These places might not be well off, but they have trust. People help each other. People work together.
When you threaten to destroy that by bringing in 3rd world people who don't give a shit about American culture, you should expect some pushback. Unless you want an enabling act passed, you need to back off. Lots of Americans want to live with Americans, not 3rd worlders. Immigration sets us on a path that will ultimately cause extreme violence. Picture formerly-friendly neighbors in Rwanda hacking each other to death, and then imagine it here. Well, we still have guns. We're many years from severe violence I hope... but a lot can change in a few decades.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Friday January 27 2017, @01:07AM
I forgot to mention that Lamestream Media needs to have their broadcasting license, which allows them to use the PUBLIC airways, revoked when they don't serve ALL the people.
Y'know, actually being "fair and balanced"; informative, not propagandist.
Oh, and there's your racism which I also forgot to mention.
The people of Norway actively thwarted the efforts of the Nazis to deport Jews.
The (Arab) Moors who captured Spain allowed Catholics to continue to exist and just made them pay a fine for not converting to Islam.
Peoples can coexist--if bigots with a mile-wide streak of prejudice don't get to call the tune.
-- OriginalOwner_ [soylentnews.org]
(Score: 2) by vux984 on Friday January 27 2017, @01:14AM
" Lots of Americans want to live with Americans, not 3rd worlders."
I remember learning in school about when all the real American's didn't want any "Irish"
This isn't a new thing, "real American's" are pretty much everyone who has a couple generations roots, and they have always systematically denigrated every one who landed in the country after them as some sort of corrupting and unwelcome influence that would destroy 'real america'.
It just one long sequence of the current generation hating immigratns until those immigrants had been around long enough to claim they were the real americans and could take there turn hating immigrants.
Immigration sets us on a path that will ultimately cause extreme violence.
How old is the country now? Its been an immigration destination for a few hundred years now.
(Score: 1, Insightful) by Anonymous Coward on Friday January 27 2017, @01:39AM
Europeans are similar enough that the problems don't last. Even the East Asians are not much trouble -- the culture may look alien but it isn't 3rd world. After a bit of initial discomfort, we can merge in people from Europe or East Asia.
The 3rd world is another matter entirely, particularly the parts with Islam. That doesn't smooth out with time. It festers. There is no place on Earth where significant numbers of muslims live peacefully with non-muslims or even other types of muslims. There is no part of Africa that isn't horrid, despite numerous countries with distinct histories.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Friday January 27 2017, @01:41AM
Picture the people of the USA as water in a glass. Add a drop of pee, and it still tastes fine. Keep adding though, and soon enough you have a drink that isn't water.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Friday January 27 2017, @03:04AM
One drop is enough for me! Here you have Americans, a nation of tolerant liberal freedom-loving people, and you add one drop of nazi racism and it sours the whole thing. Nope, ain't gonna drink no racist water, no siree! Take that shit back to Bratbarf where you got it from, you scum of a rightwing Nazi! Go, before we all punch you in your frog-lapel pin wearing face!
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Friday January 27 2017, @04:10AM
It looks like we'll have to pass an enabling act. You'll blame conservatives, but it'll be you who pushed them too far. Your unwillingness to cooperate in preserving American culture means that things get ugly. Nobody likes this. Conservatives especially hate messing with how government functions, but American culture is a valuable culture and it is ours. We won't give it up, even if we have to get ugly.
Really, if you don't like American culture, you should go somewhere more to your liking. That would avoid violence.
In the end, liberals will not win. It'll come down to a fight between conservative Americans and conservative muslims. Probably the muslims win, but who knows? The loser of those two will die trying.
(Score: 4, Insightful) by Thexalon on Friday January 27 2017, @02:17AM
Well, actually, it is true that in one case, a wave of immigrants utterly wrecked the culture of the "real Americans". That wave of immigrants, of course, was when those weird-looking palefaces showed up and acted like they owned the place, completely disregarding all local traditions, refusing to learn the language or assimilate, and forming gangs to destroy or capture everything the "real Americans" had created.
As I'm sure some sachem said at the time: When England sends its people, they aren't sending their best. They aren't sending you. They’re sending people that have lots of problems, and they’re bringing those problems with us. They’re bringing diseases. They’re bringing crime. They’re rapists. And some, I assume, are good people.
The only thing that stops a bad guy with a compiler is a good guy with a compiler.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Friday January 27 2017, @03:59AM
You're mixing places up. The bad ones got sent to Australia.
Also, drop the "noble savage" myth. The original inhabitants, in either place, were also plenty bad.
(Score: 3, Insightful) by dry on Friday January 27 2017, @07:29AM
Up until the American revolution, they were sent to America. Georgia was a penal colony. Lots of indentured servants sent over, one reaction was to import black slaves because those horrible indentured servants were only indentured for x years and then they joined society.
Look at the dates, the Australian penal colonies were a reaction to losing America and needing somewhere else to send the poor who were reduced to stealing bread. Between enclosure and industrialization, there were a lot of unemployed poor
(Score: 2) by Thexalon on Friday January 27 2017, @01:26PM
It's worth mentioning that a staggeringly high percentage of indentured servants in Virginia in particular didn't make it to the end of their indenture. This isn't surprising, because their masters had a financial incentive to ensure that they didn't: They were supposed to pay their indentured servants a sum of cash on their way out the door to help them get started out in their new life, but if the servants didn't survive then they wouldn't have to pay. Those that did make it to the end of their term didn't have enough resources to buy land, and their weren't enough jobs, so a lot of them ended up going west to try to take some land from the Natives. Their descendants basically became what is now known as the Appalachian culture.
The other obvious point is that even in the colonies other than Georgia, the kinds of people who wanted to pack up their life and move to the Americas weren't living the high life in Britain.
And as for the "noble savage" thing, my initial post didn't say anything about the quality of the Native American life, only suggesting that they would have had exactly as much reason (if not more) to be xenophobic as we are now.
The only thing that stops a bad guy with a compiler is a good guy with a compiler.
(Score: 3, Touché) by Hairyfeet on Friday January 27 2017, @09:34AM
Oh please. I didn't see the guys on the right losing their shit, rolling cars and starting riots when Obama won either time...nope its just the regressives that have been acting like fucking fools. You lost, suck it up, quit throwing rocks and having baby fits and demand that every bit of the corrupt cabal that is the DNC get kicked to the curb so you can have a decent candidate like Bernie next time.
Trump hasn't been in there a fricking week and you are already pissing yourselves and throwing the Hitler card...where were you when Obama was drone striking everything he could? Where were your Hitler cards when you had the media openly and blatantly spreading false narratives to start race riots like in the Brown and Martin cases? Oh yeah it fit into your political narrative so no fucks were given...grow up.
ACs are never seen so don't bother. Always ready to show SJWs for the racists they are.
(Score: 2) by Zz9zZ on Friday January 27 2017, @06:30PM
You can piss right off with your false equivalences, its like you didn't even read my post and just decided to throw your own hissy fit. It is telling that you stop condemning the increasingly dictator-like behavior of the President now that "your guy" is in there. You should grow a pair of balls and stand up for the ideals this country was founded on and which so many people have died.
But hey, don't let me rain on your "fake news!" parade, never mind that Trump is one giant false narrative. People like you are the ones who will support policies that mimic the Nazis (muslim registry, climate scientist registry), and I will continue to bring it up as long as it is still relevant. Also, if you've been paying any attention most people on this site condemn Obama's dictator actions as well. Woops, another hole in your own false narrative.
~Tilting at windmills~
(Score: 2) by Hairyfeet on Friday January 27 2017, @11:53PM
I was for Bernie and I don't remember seeing a single post of yours here under Obama throwing Fascist Godwins...checks history...nope only when someone on the right comes in do you wet your panties and start screaming Hitler.
I repeat grow the fuck up put on your big boy pants and actually do something other than whining like a little bitch and DEMAND that the rotten to the core identity politic wall street dick sucking cabal at the DNC be thrown to the curb so actual decent candidates like Bernie won't have the elections rigged against them.
Or keep Godwinning and acting like a spoiled brat and enjoy the next decade plus of right wing rule because the public is sick of the histrionics and baby fits of the left.
ACs are never seen so don't bother. Always ready to show SJWs for the racists they are.
(Score: 2) by Zz9zZ on Monday January 30 2017, @10:04PM
Hugs and kisses, perhaps you should get a foot rub, sounds like your hairy feet could use one. "Histrionics and baby fits of the left", perhaps you haven't been paying any attention to how Trump handles criticism, or the rabid fits thrown by the right. Histrionics is a bipartisan issue, and I'll stop bringing up Hitler as soon as Trump stops mimicking Hitler's rise to power.
The radicals on the left and right both need to grow up, but save your condescension for someone that deserves it. As for a decade plus of right wing rule, we shall see how the next election pans out. "The public" that elected Trump happens to be in the minority, I love how you stalwart Trump defenders keep ignoring that irksome fact. Trump still has almost 4 years to make good on his promises, we shall see if he helps the US or harms it. If he does well, then perhaps we'll have more Trump time, but currently it looks like he's pissing off a lot of people.
Or keep Godwinning and acting like a spoiled brat and enjoy the next decade plus of right wing rule because the public is sick of the histrionics and baby fits of the left.
Your points about the DNC are valid, your delivery is that of a condescending jerk. With policies targeting specific groups of people, and not even the correct ones, Trump is 100% starting on the same path as Hitler, and as I said I will stop making the comparison when it stops being valid. Check my history better, perhaps some of my anti-obama comments were made as an AC since I don't usually log in from my phone. I was an Obama supporter for maybe his first year or two, then I saw him for what he is, a fascist hiding behind a slick feel-good persona. He doesn't quite compare to Hitler as a leader, he was much more reasonable and diplomatic. He's still a fascist pig-dog who droned US citizens. His joke about droning some guy who wanted to date his daughter made me feel sick. Here's another, Obama is like the less murderous and more agreeable version of Hitler. That make you feel better? Or do you need to scream at me over the net some more because I made another Nazi comparison?
~Tilting at windmills~