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Sunday, May 27, 2012

Story Updates 5/27/12

If you haven't liked the Tireless Agorist page on Facebook you haven't heard the latest on some of the stories we've reported here. Click the link above and like the page, or use the button near the bottom of the sidebar to stay up-to-date.

Today we've got updates on Detroit, Emily Miller, armed drones, Tombstone, AZ's ongoing water battle, a new source for Phoenix Society type information, and more on the Ron Paul Revolution.

Detroit Fights Back

Russia Today did a nice job of covering the current state of affairs in Detroit, America's Greece in the following video focusing on private security. "In a city where a reported 7 out of 10 murders go unsolved, it's a service welcome by the community."


Emily Got Her Gun

Some of you will remember Emily Miller for her "Emily Gets Her Gun" series, exploring her four-month trip through Washington, D.C., convoluted process to obtain a handgun legally, and my coverage of that story in Shall Not Be Infringed? There's good news for Emily.
Washington Times Senior Editor for Opinion Emily Miller was awarded the Clark Mollenhoff Award for Investigative Reporting from the Institute on Political Journalism.

The Mollenhoff award was given to Ms. Miller for her “Emily Gets Her Gun” series, which ultimately resulted in review of onerous gun regulations by Washington, D.C., officials.
The Washington Times is proud of her work too.
“Emily Miller’s work exemplifies the guiding principle of our editorial pages, which is that good opinion writing is based on solid reporting” said Editorial Page Editor Brett M. Decker. “Her ‘Emily Gets Her Gun’ series shows what individuals can do to fight back against bad government regulations. It’s investigative journalism up front and personal because the writer is involved in the drama as it unfolds.”
Congratulations, Emily!

Arming Domestic Drones

We discussed Drones Coming Home to Roost, but the story's gotten even worse. Not satisfied with using drones to violate citizen's privacy on a regular basis, some law enforcement officers want to up the ante and arm their drones.
Chief Deputy Randy McDaniel of the Montgomery County Sheriff’s Office in Texas told The Daily that his department is considering using rubber bullets and tear gas on its drone.

“Those are things that law enforcement utilizes day in and day out and in certain situations it might be advantageous to have this type of system on the UAV (unmanned aerial vehicle),” McDaniel told The Daily.

The use of potential force from drones has raised the ire of the American Civil Liberties Union.
If they start arming these things, they better think about armor-plating them, too.

Tombstone Denied Water Again

When we last spoke of Tombstone, Arizona, they were hoping that an emergency request to repair their water system would be approved by the Federal Courts. The request has now been denied.
It is fire season in the West. Reports say the early start is “not a good sign,” and forecasts claim the “combination of heat and dryness will only make western wildfires worse.” The predictions were made in the same week that US District Judge Frank Zapata made a decision to deny an emergency request by the city of Tombstone, AZ, to repair its water system damaged in last year’s Monument Fire. He doesn’t think Tombstone has a crisis. Zapata said: “Claims of a drastic water emergency related to public consumption and fire needs are overstated and speculative.”
This is another of those stories reminiscent of the breakdown of society foretold in Atlas Shrugged. If fire gets loose in Tombstone, the finger-pointing will be fast and furious.

The Phoenix Society

Reason Magazine had a nice article about MakeShift, "a quarterly print and online magazine about creativity in unlikely places, from the favelas of Rio to the alleys of Delhi."
These are environments where resources may be scarce, but where ingenuity is used incessantly for survival, enterprise, and a self-expression. We believe in an industrial future fueled by networks of makers, from roadside engineers to co-working creatives. We are documenting a movement of hackers, sharers, and entrepreneurs innovating under resource constraints. Makeshift is about people, the things they make, and the context they make them in.
Makeshift features a regular column, "The Misfit Economy," on black-market innovation.

Ron Paul's Revolution

As reported in 30 Seconds to Destroy Democracy , the March 10th Republican convention in Clarke County, Georgia was hijacked by establishment Republicans, who willingly violated the rules they were operating under in an attempt to retain control of the county's party machine.

In a case of justice (partially) restored, the credentials committee of the state Republican Party stripped Clarke County of their representation at the state convention.
Among those representing Clarke County at the convention were Secretary of State Brian Kemp and Secretary of the Georgia Republican party, John Padgett, two well-known and influential members of the Georgia Republican Party. Other prominent local GOP members affected by this decision included Clarke County chairman Matt Brewster and several members of the Clarke County Executive Committee. The entire delegation was asked to leave the convention floor and members lost their delegate status. As a result, Clarke County voters had no representatives at the convention.
Doug Wead reports on the dirty tricks played by the Republican establishment across the country.
  • The establishment turned off the air conditioning at the Arizona State GOP Convention last weekend, trying to sweat the Ronulans into leaving.
  • In Oklahoma they pulled out a ballroom divider to cordon off Ron Paul supporters and shut them out of participation. Later they turned out the lights. Voice votes that were clearly lost were declared won.
  • In Carson County, Nevada they turned off a microphone when a Hispanic tried to speak, they knew that Hispanics were for Ron Paul.
  • In Minnesota they told their people not to vote for any delegate under the age of fifty.
  • In Alaska, they defeated the majority by retaining the committee which “interpreted rules” and later, after taking the delegation, reluctantly gave up the party control to the new majority but transferred all of the money out of the Republican Party accounts.
  • In Virginia, at a District Convention, they coaxed the Ron Paul delegation outside and then locked the door. The pastor of the church that was hosting the event was, himself, locked outside.
  • In Missouri they had all the delegates sign up at County Conventions and then had their County Chairman take the rolls outside and lock them in their car trunks so they could block roll call voting and have their chairman declare lost voice votes as won. At another convention delegates were arrested.
Nonetheless, the delegate strategy discussed in Where in the World is Ron Paul? and He's Catchin' On, I'm Tellin' Ya! continues to reap dividends, and Ron Paul continues to change the world.

Ron Paul has had victories in Nevada, Maine, Louisiana, Massachusetts, Alaska, Iowa, Minnesota, and Washington State, as reported on the Rachel Maddow show.



Some other states where the Paul campaign is expected to do well include Colorado, Michigan, Missouri, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island and Virginia.

Four years ago, although Ron Paul was denied access to the Republican National Convention floor, he held a Rally for the Republic counter-convention across town from the Republican National Convention that drew a crowd of 12,000. I don't think he'll find that necessary this time around. He's going to have an awful lot of his friends at the official party. Watch for an interesting convention in Tampa, August 27-30.

...and that's all I have to say about that.



This Rally for the Republic trailer is also a great 21/2 minute explanation of the Ron Paul Revolution.

7 comments:

  1. I haven't kept up with your blog and haven't read your earlier Detroit entry, but the "Detroit Fights Back" video is interesting (I get the impression that in Detroit, when seconds count, the police are only hours away), but it brings back my frustrations at an online poster who in recent months refused to empower a bullied child to do anything other than "report the incident." Some people seem to be active contributors to the "wussification of America."

    I just read your whole entry about Emily getting her gun, and about three of her own articles, and I learned that in DC means after all she went through to get it she can only have it in her car locked up in a box, and only then when she's going from or to a firing range. I'm not sure what she can do with it at home, but I get the impression that if she stays within DC law, it would not be useful in protecting her life in her own home. And I can easily see how these gun laws have protected the citizens of our nation's Capital city (where's that smilie holding up that sign?).

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    1. You've basically got it right, Ben. The laws do allow her to use it to defend herself in her own home, but that's all. Emily continues to fight for lifting additional restrictions, however.

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  2. Re: The Great FreeFor Drone Freakout of 2012.

    There have been cops in the sky with cameras and stopwatches and FLIR for decades, and people are getting all twisted up about drones just now? I don't get it.

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    1. I think it's because all those other things came to be in more innocent times, when people still believed the police where there "to protect and serve." Given the tremendous increase in the militarization of the police and the rise in incidents of malfeasance, people are a lot less willing to assume the best of their public servants these days.

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    2. At the risk of being dubbed heretical, I wonder if, like crime in general, this isn't an increase in frequency but rather in frequency of reporting.

      In the days before dash cams, the "curbside tuneup" used to be common; now it's newsworthy.

      Just a thought.

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  3. I was hoping for an update on the road fixed by the residents of that Hawaii community. Are they allowed to drive on it yet?

    (Your work is never done! Good thing you're tireless :D )

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    1. I've been watching for news from Polihale State Park, but haven't found anything to date. As soon as I do, I'll be sure to let my readers know. Is there anybody from Kauai reading this who could do a little local research and let us know?

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