VETS FOR PEACE SHOULD BE PROUD TO BE EXCLUDED FROM VETERANS DAY PARADES

Apparently Veterans Day is when the fascist, flag-waving crazy comes out in the Valley of the Sun.  Maybe this shouldn't be surprising.  After all, we're talking about the same sprawling megalopolis that includes Mesa, a city that almost had notorious National Socialist and white master race proponent JT Ready as the master of ceremonies for its soldier celebration in 2006, only booting him when it came to light that he had been kicked out of the Marines with a dishonorable discharge.

Last year some neo-Confederates used the holiday to honor a defender of the southern slavocracy in Arizona.  Said they to the old-timey East Valley Tribune in 2012: "We seek to restore the honor for the soldiers who fought in this army. They put everything on the line for a cause they believed in and they died for it..."  So controversy abounds, naturally.

Meanwhile, in the county jail, Arpaio has plastered American flag stickers on the cells, leading some inmates to deface them, resulting in bread and water diets as punishment.  He's also reminding prisoners that they're in the greatest and most-incarcerating nation on Earth by playing the national anthem and "God Bless America" every day.  Apparently Arpaio's jail can test the patriotism of even the proudest flag fanatic.  And, in what must rank as the most bizarre tribute to the troops, Channel 10 reports on plans to recognize the troops by housing "all inmate-veterans together, in honor of their service."  Cue the F-16 fly-by.  Brings a tear to your eye, doesn't it?

And that segues nicely into the recent controversy in Phoenix.  The city outsourced control and planning of their yearly parade to a private nonprofit called Honoring Arizona’s Veterans -- which promptly banned the anti-war group, Veterans for Peace from participating.  Apparently HAV disapproved of V4P's message.  As well they should.  After all, everyone knows these veterans parades are really about the national religion of war, the deifying the armed services and the glorification of militarism and patriotic masculinity.  And Veterans for Peace are for, well, peace.

Hence whatever parade you watch you can be certain to see the American Legion among their numbers.  The Legion was founded in 1919 during the height of the Red Scare, aiming to "uphold and defend the Constitution of the United States of America; to maintain law and order; to foster and perpetuate a one hundred per cent Americanism."

Thus they naturally went right to work breaking up radical meetings and labor gathering, attacking immigrants, and basically violating the constitutional rights of anyone suspected of having anti-war or "anti-American" (read: leftist or labor union) sympathies.  Indeed, in 1919 Arizona Governor Campbell urged the Legion to rid the state of the troublesome radical unionists of the IWW, who he deemed "human vermin."  In 1948, the Arizona branch of the Legion sent representatives to a Los Angeles conference aimed at forming "inter-state un-American activities committees."

But I seem to remember that each soldier swears an oath to uphold the constitution.  And yet somehow the serial-violators of the American Legion get the green light to join the parade despite its vile history.  So considering all that, it seems to me that Veterans for Peace would do far better protesting the parade than participating in it.  Do they really want to put their stamp of approval on this jingoistic spectacle?  After all, in being excluded they are in good company.

Consider this simple thought experiment.  Private Chelsea Manning sits in jail today for revealing to the world the nightmare of the US wars in Afghanistan and Iraq, including its high civilian toll.  Among the revelations in the files she delivered to Wikileaks was the shocking video of Apache helicopter pilots gunning down journalists and civilians.  Without a doubt, those Apache pilots would be welcomed to participate in HAV's exclusive parade, while Manning and Vets for Peace are denied.  Revealing war crimes gets you banned, but participating in them?  Feel free to join right in!

Because 9/11 happened in Tempe?

So I have a suggestion for Veterans for Peace.  Since you're not welcome in the parade in Phoenix, you may consider coming down to Tempe.  Why?  Well check this out.

Tempe is going insane for veterans on Monday.  Not only are they having their own pointless parade down Mill Avenue, but they're sending their local aspiring brownshirts, the Tempe Police Explorers, door to door to place lawn flags in everyone's yards.  Check out the flyer below that appeared last Thursday on doors throughout the neighborhoods surrounding downtown Tempe.

Additionally, there's no word on whether these are recycled flags from Tempe's yearly 9/11 tribute at Tempe Beach Park (cuz, ya know, nothing says "support the troops" like a bunch of flags hemmed in between an artificial lake and public bathrooms) or if the city went ahead and purchased a thousand new flags.

What exactly being a police explorer has to do with spreading "some pride and patriotism" is left to our imaginations, but it does beg the question as to why exactly all this fuss is necessary.  Maybe it has something to do with Tempe's expanding counter-insurgency strategy against residents and students.  But, if Tempe residents were to support the young fascists' dream of covering the neighborhood with "red, white and blue to show support and appreciation for our veterans," are we to believe that, unlike in the case of Phoenix, this support extends to Veterans for Peace and Pvt. Manning, as well?  Highly unlikely.  And nor should they.

In 1954, Veterans Day usurped Armistice Day, the now ancient -- almost old-timey feeling -- holiday invoking the memory of the so-called "war to end all wars," and our alleged determination to learn the lessons of the past.  After the sometimes hot/sometimes not Cold War and more than ten years of the War of Terror, Armistice Day almost seems like it's a quaint relic from another world.  Not fit for our modern times.  So it should be no surprise then that those who oppose militarism, war, jingoism, mass murder and imperialism would find themselves excluded from Veterans Day parades and celebrations.

So, Veterans for Peace, quit trying to join that celebration of death and warfare in Phoenix.  Pack your signs into the spacious trunks of your bumper-stickered Priuses and drive over to Tempe.  Stand on the corner of Mill and University on Monday morning and declare your opposition.  Accept your well-earned place, along with Chelsea Manning, outside the parade.  Then maybe help the neighbors take care of all those flags.  And maybe bring a lighter.

DID THE FORMER PHOENIX COP UNION BOSS JUST CALL THE PPD RACIST?

Did former Phoenix Law Enforcement Association President Mark Spencer just call the Phoenix Police Department racist?  It sounds like he did.

In an interview with Channel 12 on Friday, Spencer offered his comments on what might be described as a quota-system-in-everything-but-name being developed by Chief Garcia.  In the same report, Garcia described his new system, a disturbing cross between pre-crime and the NYPD's famously racist (and recently struck down as such) "Stop and Frisk" policies, this way:

“When [officers are] not responding to calls, when they're not actually in the process of writing a report, what are they doing? Are they in those areas that are areas that are going to be – that have a history, or that we think are areas that we want to go into to stop burglaries, auto thefts, aggravated assaults. We want to be productive. We want to stop crime before it happens. Before your home gets burglarized we want to catch the burglars. Before the aggravated assaults occur, how can we stop those?”

Chief Garcia swears this is not a quota system -- merely a vision for a more "pro-active" and more productive PPD -- and that despite asking for more civilian contacts from his officers there are no hard and fast numbers that he is requiring.  Just more.

In an statement released Friday night and tagged on verbatim to the end of a story posted at Channel 5's website (like good stenographers), Garcia tried to clarify his philosophy, saying "We will continue to proactively direct our efforts towards persons committing crimes, places where crimes are committed and behaviors that lead to crime."
 
The chief gives us no indication how he expects officers to know which neighborhoods are the right ones to target for increased harassment, or which people are the right ones to stop arbitrarily.  Nor does he explain how officers are supposed to stop crime before it happens.  After all, our criminal system, at least on paper, is based on people being accused of committing crimes and then having evidence brought against them, not precognition. 

So there's good reason for skepticism.  Valley residents should consider the experience of NY City with Stop and Frisk when they hear this kind of talk.  For over a year New York police officer Adrian Schoolcraft secretly recorded his bosses as they twisted themselves into contortions to say without explicitly stating that NYPD expected officers to create contacts, stops and arrests in order to meet productivity expectations under Stop and Frisk.  Quotas, essentially, though no one would speak the offending word.  This led to the obvious: manipulated stops, searches and arrests that naturally fell disproportionately on young people of color.  Because it turns out that cops are racist.  I know this news will shock some of you.

Read more of Down and Drought's coverage of Valley police

In fact, Tempe got a preview of what these kinds of policies might look like in the Valley during the city's short-lived and ill-fated "Safe & Sober" campaign.  Thousands of police flooded neighborhoods surrounding the university and made thousands of contacts over several weekends.  Per capita those stops rivaled those of Stop and Frisk.  After four weekends the city abruptly cancelled the effort after facing student and neighborhood resistance, and the "zero tolerance" shooting of Austin Del Castillo in broad daylight on Mill Avenue on the first morning of phase two of the operation.  Tempe hasn't released the racial breakdown of their stops, but it wouldn't be surprising at all if these numbers also skewed, just like Stop and Frisk, disproportionately against youth of color.

It wouldn't be a surprise, namely, because of the history of local police forces.  People may remember the infamous "no n***er zone" that Scottsdale cops enforced up by McCormick Ranch.  Or the racial profiling by DPS as documented by the ACLU, in which the state cops stopped and searched people of color more frequently than whites -- even though whites were more likely to have contraband on them!  Or the more recent ruling against Sheriff Joe for racial profiling.  

Indeed, here at Down and Drought we ourselves have recently documented racist behavior by Phoenix police.  And, of course, there's the entire history of policing to go by.  So it wouldn't be outlandish at all to suspect that a rise in quotas à la Stop and Frisk, such as Chief Garcia seems to be proposing with his increase in officer productivity, would disproportionately target blacks, Latinos and indigenous people, especially youth.

Which brings us back to Mark Spencer.  Make no mistake, Spencer is a former union boss for the cops, so his main concern is the speed-up that Chief Garcia is trying to impose on officers, not the defense of civil rights.  Forcing cops to do more stops and document their activity in terms of productivity means more work for them, and it's the union's job to push back on that.  He'll use whatever excuses he has available towards that end.

But Spencer did say something very important that should be remembered.  He called the Phoenix Police Department and its officers racist.

“When you remove discretion from an officer and you mandate enforcement action our minority community partners seem to pay a higher price for that."

Spencer seems to be saying that if his former buddies are bored and forced to make busy work, that they're going to go pick on minorities to make their numbers.  As they say, even a broken clock is right twice a day.

TAILGATE: PHOENIX'S SURVEILLANCE SCANDAL SPIRALS OUT OF CONTROL

ASU FOOTBALL FANS, CITY COUNCILMEN, ACTIVISTS AND ANARCHISTS ALL BECOME TARGETS OF THE WIDENING AND SUSPICIOUS GAZE OF BIG BROTHER


Is this a photo of the "War of the Worlds" spy camera that provoked Phoenix City Councilman Sal DiCiccio into action against the encroaching Big Brother state this week?

In various Facebook posts and media interviews, the councilman for the upscale Phoenix neighborhoods Ahwatukee and Arcadia says he was just enjoying a good time tailgating at the ASU-USC game at Sun Devil Stadium when he and his friends noticed a curious white truck from the Phoenix Police Department patrolling the parking lot.   Protruding out of the bed of the truck was "a tall adjustable spire" with a sci-fi look to it and a camera, scanning the assembled fans and their hot dogs.

“I was just frustrated, and I wasn’t happy about it,” the councilman told the Arizona Republic  “Why does Phoenix police send out a truck with a camera videotaping tailgaters? ... It’s just one more level of intrusion by the government looking into our personal lives.”

DiCiccio made several inquiries and after ASU and Tempe initially denied involvement Phoenix stepped forward to claim credit, in a way, and to tell us all to relax: the spying was for our own good and they didn't really feel like explaining much more about it.  So there.  If you're not satisfied with that then you're supporting the terrorists.

Mayor Stanton put it this way:

“The suggestion is that we shouldn’t provide homeland security support to another jurisdiction unless it rises to the level where we’re ready to arrest somebody,” Stanton said as he stood in front of Chase Field in downtown Phoenix.

“I think most people, both in the law enforcement world and then families who are attending this game, would probably disagree. ... Rather, what is in the best interest of keeping tens of thousands of people attending a game safe.”

What size hot dog is that in your hand, citizen?  The state needs to know to keep you safe.  From terrorists.  Or maybe just protesters.

Because, dear reader, you may find it interesting to know that the photo above of the PPD's spy cam didn't come from the ASU-USC game.   That photo was taken at a protest in 2012, when thousands of Unitarian Universalists bused themselves into town from around the country for their national conference and held a highly regulated and peaceful protest against SB1070 in front of Arpaio's tent city gulag.

Unitarians protest fucked up shit, get played by Big Brother -- via State Press

The PPD positioned the surveillance device by the entrance to the rally, presumably recording everyone coming in and out of the protest zone.  Indeed, this caused quite a bit of controversy because police, perhaps tipped off by the towering eye in the sky, singled out several local protesters, anarchists mostly, and then proceeded to exclude them from the protest with the cooperation of out of state UU organizers (who may not have understood that they were being manipulated by PPD's red squad).

Cops wait for anarcho-Qaeda among the Unitarians -- via AzCentral

In the emails below, PPD terror cop Brenda Dowhan (who was PPD's main internet spy during Occupy Phoenix) is discussing putting together a "face sheet" so that cops can identify specific activists at the Unitarian protest, and expressing her concerns about anarchists and which of them ought to go on the sheet.

In one case she's reaching out to Tempe terror cop Derek Pittam for his input. Pittam himself is famous recently for having massively over-reacted to community gardeners, deploying undercovers and riot cops to stop the planting of of veggies in an empty lot in downtown Tempe.

This face sheet is to be used to pick out undesirables, despite no criminal allegations against them, and eliminate them from the protest.  She also references a previous face sheet that was created in collaboration with various private and federal intelligence agencies for the anti-ALEC protests that took place the previous April.  Of course, this raises the question of whether the Phoenix cops' spy toy has facial recognition technology.

Again, no one made any allegation that these protesters had committed any crime.  The basis for the special attention seems to have been their participation in Occupy Phoenix, according to emails released by the PPD to investigator Beau Hodai.  And, as we've cataloged here at Down and Drought, the PPD was involved in a long and detailed surveillance operation against local anarchists and Occupy Phoenix activists, which included information sharing with private and corporate security companies, as well as the Feds via the local fusion center.

One indication, that we're looking at the same spy device, aside from the striking similarity to DiCiccio's description, is the fact that the PPD's own explanation of their ASU operation matches up with the way it was used in 2012.  Responding to the Republic, the PPD reported the device was "part of a multi-jurisdictional operation to monitor entry and exit points from the stadium area from a homeland security perspective.”

The cops describe their ASU surveillance operation as part of Urban Areas Security Initiative, a federal grant that funds the equipment.  And of course homeland security is big business.  The chart above, taken from DHS's report "The State of Arizona’s Management of Urban Areas Security Initiative Grants Awarded During Fiscal Years 2007 through 2009," shows the many millions of dollars that flowed into Arizona via homeland security grants in just a few years -- millions that bought equipment just like that spying on local activists and football fans.

And, of course, it's not just a bounty for local law enforcement agencies.  As an upcoming Greater Phoenix Chamber of Commerce event indicates, local companies are keen to strap on the federal feedbag as well.  Innocuously entitled "Doing Business with the Federal Government," check out the teaser:

The federal budget is more than $1 trillion, with the Departments of Defense and Homeland Security spending a combined $20 billion in Arizona alone in 2012. Through this highly-interactive presentation, you will learn how to get started on earning some of that business for your company, find out about available assistance, gain insight into future trends and share your successes and challenges of doing business with the federal government.

Twenty billion dollars is a lot of dough.  And it buys a lot of equipment.  Although their website claims the GPCC "pursues and promotes a free market," they don't hesitate to line up for the government slop when its feeding time.  Even when it comes at the expense of our freedom.  Isn't that interesting?

And, of course, the other part of the equation in Tempe is the city's recent crackdown on what they call "rowdyism."  Essentially a counter-insurgency crackdown on fun with the aim of pacifying the area around ASU for developers, the city flooded the downtown neighborhoods with overwhelming police force for three weekends in a row, including enlisting the help of the notoriously racist MCSO, making thousands of arrests with contact rates rivaling NYPD's racist "stop and frisk."  All in an alleged effort to stop college drinking.  Sound familiar?  In his response to DiCiccio, Mayor Stanton claimed that ASU requested the surveillance, which was confirmed by the ASU PD.

Clearly this has to viewed in the larger context of the crackdown in Tempe.  Perhaps, surprised at the level of resistance their "Safe and Sober" campaign received, ASU and the city have turned to other means.  Or maybe this is just a case of mission creep.  After all, despite local terror cops assertions, not much in the way of terrorism is happening in the Valley.  But once you got the tools, you gotta use them for something.

It's worth pointing out that these police activities aren't just problems of Big Brother, personal data and privacy.  They can be about life and death.  The militarization of the police has consequences, sometimes deadly. They certainly were on the first day of phase two of Tempe's "zero tolerance" crackdown on "rowdyism", when Tempe police responding to a call about a man with a box cutter gunned down Austin Del Castillo in plain daylight at the intersection of Mill and University.

In that case police claimed they "feared for their lives".  But doesn't the deployment of spy cameras against activists and football fans indicate the same level of fear, this time of the population at large -- a general criminalization of society in which we are all assumed to be guilty rather than innocent, each of us a potential threat.  And, as we see, when we accept this augment for increased police power in one case, it quickly gets turned to broader use.  What was bought under the excuse of fighting terrorism first becomes a tool for tracking activists and disrupting their activism, and then the next thing you know there's an embarrassing photo of your drunk-ass puking your brains out in a DHS database.

With cities facing an alleged budget crunch, and politicians like DiCiccio calling for union busting under the argument that we can't afford them, maybe it's time to look to a fire sale of police hardware to get us out of the red.  How about we de-certify the police union as punishment for their over-reaching.  The cops clearly can't use either their power or their toys responsibly.  Plus, it could do far more than save other innocent public workers from needless cuts to pensions and salaries.  Think of the payoff in terms of freedom!  Can you put a price tag on that?

A TALE OF TWO RUN-INS WITH THE POLICE

It's difficult to watch the video of the Phoenix police assaulting -- killing -- Michael Angel Ruiz.  It's also hard to tell what exactly killed him.  Was it the chokehold that was applied for no apparent reason?  Was it the tasering?  Or was it the multiple blows to the head that he received as his head repeatedly struck one concrete stair after another as the police half-dragged, half-carried his limp body from the second floor.

In what is an all too common occurrence, the cops dog-piled someone who didn't appear to be resisting, accused him of resisting and then went hog-wild on him.  Following the assault, Ruiz lost consciousness, had to be resuscitated at the scene, transported to the hospital and was eventually taken off life support on August 2nd.  Doctors had declared him brain dead.

Channel 15 covered the story:

Many of Michael's neighbors witnessed everything and recorded it all on their phones.

Gary Carthen was good friends with Michael, and witnessed it all.

"This was bad, very bad. Because he didn't deserve that to happen, not like that," he said.

Carthen and his neighbors want answers. Verna Young says you could hear his head banging on the stairs as police dragged him down.

"I started crying 'cause that's not right, to hurt nobody like that," she said. "He didn't deserve that. He was a nice person, very nice."

Ruiz's father, a former LAPD detective was shocked by what he saw.  And if an LAPD cop is shocked by police behavior, then you know it's beyond the pale.  It's hard to imagine any thing that could explain what is clear to see on the video other than violent cops out of control.  Again.

It's perhaps ironic, given how the police treated him, that Ruiz's Facebook page, now gathering some condolence messages from friends, also features prominent posts from him supporting the LAPD in their hunt for once-rampaging cop killer Christopher Dorner, including one in which he poses in front of a Confederate flag.  The degree to which Phoenix police may have perceived Ruiz, a self-confessed Republican, as not white when they encountered him isn't clear, but one thing's for sure, that gang of cops aggressively piling on him was very white.

But let's take a step back for a minute and see if we can draw any lessons by comparison.  To do that, let's check out some coverage of a different encounter with the police that happened this week, this time over at Az Central.

Notice anything?  Well, first off there's the glaringly obvious: one got killed by the cops and the other got escorted off the property instead of arrested.  There's no indication that the cops threatened John Coulter with violence, at least beyond that which underlies all interactions with the police.  In fact, if the cops' stats can be believed, in every other incident such as this, arrest was the result.  Coulter may have gotten off pretty well, considering, receiving a only a citation.

And, at first glance, it seems like that there is probably a class difference as well, at least in the eyes of the police.   Season tickets aren't cheap, and even though many people share season tickets, I think we can conclude pretty safely that the target of the beer cops' ire was seen by them as respectable and reasonably well off.  Meanwhile, the shirtless Ruiz standing on his roof was almost certainly not viewed in the same way, or given the same benefit of the doubt.  And, of course, Coulter is clearly white.  And Coulter is alive.

In many significant ways, these two incidents are like night and day.  But what's really interesting is what Coulter says about what an epiphany it was for him to be treated in what he felt was a disrespectful way by the police.  He says, "I would normally support the police if I heard a story like this, however, in this case I was standing right there and I witnessed abuse and over-zealous pursuing of the situation... it was totally uncalled for."

No doubt, it is rare for white people -- especially white middle class people -- to encounter the police in any situation even remotely threatening to them.  Police, as far as white middle class people are concerned are helpful and kind; they direct traffic, come to take your report after an accident for insurance purposes, and keep crowds flowing at sports games.  They make you feel safe.  You generally like having them around.  This is the experience of most white middle class people.  And they generalize from this that this must also therefore be the experience of other people, people unlike them.  People that the police in fact treat quite different far away from white middle class suburban sensibilities.  And that therefore, when bad things are done to these other people by the police, it's probably because they deserve it.

So, the question is, can Coulter take the eye-opening, if relatively mild by comparison, run in that he had with the cops and use that to help him understand what other people experience.  Certainly the cops had no inkling that Ruiz's father was a former cop.  When they saw him, they saw something quite different than what they saw when they looked at Coulter.  And they acted accordingly.

PHOENIX POLICE SCHOOL RESOURCE OFFICER AND YOUTH VOLUNTEER ARRESTED FOR CHOKING SON

Local media is reporting the arrest today of Phoenix police lieutenant Dalin Webb in Mesa for assaulting his 17-year-old son.  Webb was released after being charged with aggravated assault and disorderly conduct.   Webb has four children and works as a school resource officer. Down and Drought has also learned that Webb is listed as a volunteer at the nonprofit organization Not My Kid.  According to reports, Webb got in a violent confrontation which led to Webb choking his son and shoving his wife.

Jennifer Thomas at AzFamily.com reports,

...Webb and his son were in an argument and the boy's mother went to the bedroom to check on the commotion. Webb reportedly shoved her out of the room and her leg buckled when he shut the door.

The son told police that he cursed at his father for shoving his mother and Webb pinned him down on the bed by his neck, restricting his airway with a stranglehold.

The victim's mother told police that she walked back in after the fight had begun and saw the boy on the bed with Webb's hand around his neck. She said her son's voice sounded restricted.

The Phoenix Police Department issued a statement confirming the arrest and  stating that it's Professional Standards Bureau is opening an investigation into the matter.

Not My Kid describes itself as "dedicated to serving the interests of youth and families".  Webb is listed on its website as serving as a parent and faculty educator.   Not My Kid offers a variety of programs for kids, including topics like bullying and "unhealthy relationships".  They list their values as:

Social Thinking: A sincere desire to consider how others perceive situations.

Resilience: Acknowledging the inevitability of change, accepting the “new” and adapting.

Hope/Faith: A capacity to believe in a purpose or meaning greater than oneself.

Self-Control: A capacity to behave in a positive self-directed manner.

Integrity: Recognizing and demonstrating the value of ethical behavior.

 
In this age in which parents fear violence in school (whether those fears are justified or not is another question), and police, increased policing and the militarization of school security are increasingly held up as solutions, it's worth taking a minute to consider the implications of arrests like this one.

After all, it is well-established that police engage in domestic violence and violence against loved ones at more than twice the average rate.   Indeed, the National Center for Women & Policing found that as many as 40 percent of law enforcement families experience domestic violence, in contrast to 10 percent for the general population.

The CWP highlights the particular reasons why domestic violence committed by cops should be particularly concerning to everyone, but especially to parents whose children will be exposed to these abusers in schools.

Domestic violence is always a terrible crime, but victims of a police officer are particularly vulnerable because the officer who is abusing them:

• has a gun,
• knows the location of battered women's shelters, and
• knows how to manipulate the system to avoid penalty and/or shift blame to the victim

Cops who do commit violence in their families often escape punishment altogether.  And Webb is hardly the first Valley or even Phoenix cop arrested for assaulting a spouse (see also here and here, for just two more recent examples).  Nor is he the first arrested for abusing a child.

Which raises what would be an obvious question if we were dealing with any violent group other than police: should cops be allowed near children and in schools?  Should they be held up as role models to kids on how to control violent impulses?

The violence and general abusiveness of police is well-documented, yet they almost always get a pass when they engage in violent behavior.  People seem to think that officers are able to turn these violent impulses off, reserving violence for circumstances that require it.  Yet the domestic abuse rates put the lie to that assumption.

If the objective is safer schools, it seems illogical to increase the presence of documented violent, abusive groups like the police.  The case of Detective Chris Wilson, who is alleged to have met his teenage targets through the course of his daily job duties in the "community relations" squad, ought to stand out here as a further warning.  And this goes for youth programs like Not My Kid, as well.  Getting the cops out of schools and out of youth programs would be a positive first step.


Not My Kid was contacted for comment but has not responded to our request..

Emails reveal: New Times Reporter Took a Mulligan on Occupy Phoenix

A special for Down and Drought by Erik Blare

In golf, a mulligan is when a player gets to cheat for making a bad stroke. In serious competition, the practice leads to the player being disqualified.

Former New Times reporter James King appears to have taken a mulligan by calling on the cops to do his work for him. According to e-mails uncovered as a result of a FOIA request and released Monday by D.B.A. Press, King was playing golf with New Times editor Paul Rubin instead of covering Occupy Phoenix. He calls on top cop Trent Crump to give him the rumpus on what went down because he “can’t stand hippies” and “protesting with no cause is stupid.”  His poorly written e-mails may be a symptom of golf elbow.  Here is the e-mail in full:

From: James King <james.king@newtimes.com>
To: "Martos, Steve" <Steve.Martos@phoenix.gov>, "Thompson, Tommy" <Tommy.Thompson@phoenix.gov>,
"Crump, Trent" <Trent.Crump@phoenix.gov>
Sent: Sat, Oct 15, 2011 04:01:35 GMT+00:00

Subject: occupy phoenix

hello, sirs. was hoping for any info you have on the occupy phoenix march today. any arrests? any mayhem? anyone other than dirty hippies pretending it's 1968? here's my dilemma: i was supposed to go down there and cover it. instead, i went and played golf with paul rubin because i think protesting with no cause is stupid and I can't stand hippies. that said, i'm still expected to write something about it tonight. any help you could offer would be greatly appreciated.
thanks
JK

Someone whose profession is protected by the First Amendment should have some respect for the right of citizens to protest. The fact that King thinks there is no cause worth protesting is because he is short-sighted and single-minded. The Occupy Movement protested the fallout of one of the worst financial crises in the country’s history and the government’s unprecedented bailout. There were multiple causes to protest, which confused many journalists like King and irked others by the fact that they would have to do some work to cover the story.

It may be that King’s snarky and sarcastic tone is a ruse to cover up his rag’s “liberal” reputation amongst pols and cops, but his attitude is in full effect in his coverage of Occupy Phoenix. His October 15th, 2011 story 'Occupy Phoenix: Banks Are Evil, the Government's Evil, and Jan Brewer's a "Lying Whore" With Alzheimer's' show that he reported the story with extreme bias. King goes for the low-hanging fruit of finding the wackiest protestors to give him a complete action plan of how to overhaul capitalism. When he doesn’t get it, he dismisses the protestors whole-handedly.  He writes, “Apparently, blowing bubbles is the key to redistributing wealth. Who knew?”

Apparently, King was hoping for a riot because in King’s mind a protest looks the documentaries about the ‘60s that he saw in his high school civics class. When he doesn’t get one, he leaves disappointed and abrogates his duty to the police. “Tomorrow, Phoenix police will update us about any mayhem that went down after we left the demonstration.” After quickly surveying the scene and finding the wackiest protestors to photograph and mock, King presumably went to the links to get some face time with his golf buddy boss and to figure out how many Bud Lights it takes to get a decent enough buzz to kill 18 holes of boredom.  King was not connected to the community. He had no contacts in Occupy Phoenix, so he relied on the police for his reporting. His lackadaisical reporting led to his shoddy story.

As a reporter for a publication started by a counter-culture college drop out who protested the Vietnam War, King calling protestors "dirty hippies" would be ironic if New Times was still true to its original muckraking spirit.  New Times has a history of dismissing community activists with sarcasm. One of the most egregious cases was the fake pro-yuppie protest they sponsored in response to San Francisco’s late ‘90s anti-gentrification movement called the Mission Yuppie Eradication Project.

SF Weekly, a New Times publication, contacted a Project member named Nestor Makhno. The paper covered the story and Makhno wrote a well-researched report on the issues facing the Mission district because of internet-bubble-fueled rapid gentrification of a neighborhood of immigrants, artists and activists. Makhno even refused payment because he wouldn't have his real name printed on the check.

SF Weekly relied on a community activist to cover a burning issue that it couldn’t or wouldn’t. It was a wise move on their part because the then upstart alt-weekly faced stiff competition from long-standing and respected San Francisco Bay Guardian.  True to its snarky, pseudo-libertarian colors, the Weekly turned on Makhno and staged the fake pro-yuppie protest and mocked the counter-demonstrators.

What does a long ago beef between activists and a New Times publication in San Francisco have to do with Phoenix New Times’ reporting on Occupy Phoenix? It demonstrates that New Times has long strayed from its image as an alternative to the mainstream press.  As it became an alt behemoth, it bought out local publications and homogenized content, all of which is covered in a bitter sauce of sarcasm dripped from on high by reporters without connections to the community.

King, a New Yorker, is emblematic of this. He failed to see that a national protest had real roots in Phoenix, which had one of the highest home foreclosure rates in the nation. He didn’t take the time to find real people affected by a growing national disaster. For King, a protest is nothing more than spectacle. He brought his dismissive attitude and biases to Occupy Phoenix and left without the tear gas and batons he wanted for his pre-scripted story. It’s clear from his e-mails to Phoenix police what he wanted:   “tucson police have made 351 arrests so far during their ‘occupation.’ if phoenix police have arrested any fewer than 1,000 hippies, i'll be thoroughly disappointed.”

Occupy Phoenix was nothing but a joke to Phoenix New Times. Despite the real pain and sacrifice of Phoenix residents, King took it as nothing but a laugh at the expense of others, which is not comedy but a mark of arrogant contempt. King’s reporting never let on that he thought Occupy Phoenix was a joke form the onset. That joke was shared only between him and the police. Phoenix police chief responded to King’s written request for information by getting in on the joke. Crump wrote, 

James, I don't know if I believe anything you are saying, first of all rubin [couldn't] swing a golf club if [his]  life depended on it and I don't know what golf course would allow you two liberals to be out on it at the same time. But, in the spirit of helping you keep your job, the demonstration today was very peaceful.  They marched to the variety of locations in the downtown area and were dispersed by 6 pm. We had no arrest or problem to report. I know that does not make for a good story but, I can make something up if you really need it.

While King didn’t make anything up, he clearly had a story in mind before he actually did any reporting. His e-mails and reporting reflect the biases he had prior to covering the story. He prefers playing golf and joking with the police to doing his job. The joke is on New Times because it is a thoroughly discredited source amongst activists. (See Stephen Lemons' press conviction of the Arpaio 5, for example). King has had his last laugh. He disappeared from Phoenix to work for another community newspaper destroyed by New Times’ greed and guile, the historic and venerated Village Voice. Shortly thereafter, King was fired or left that paper and is now in journalism purgatory as a freelancer.

The lesson from this is that the community needs to do the reporting itself, which is why Down and Drought is the perfect forum for activists to tell the story as they see it and feel it. Despite some infrequent good reporting, Phoenix New Times can not be trusted to do the job they claim to do: “Afflict the comfortable and comfort the afflicted.” If any more evidence of this is needed, just remember that those “dirty hippies” who started the alternative newspaper have sold out to become pimps at Backpage.com. After all, advertising erotic services is far more profitable than serious business of reporting the truth.

James King was contacted for this story but did not reply as of press time. His e-mails can be read in full here.



This is part 7 in our ongoing series analyzing recently released police and Federal documents detailing their surveillance and infiltration of Occupy Phoenix and anarchists in the Valley. 

GPEC to out of state corporations: come to Arizona, exploit workers, make big profits!

The webpage and PR magazine for the Greater Phoenix Economic Council's Arizona Sun Corridor Partnership (ASCP) essentially amounts to one big "screw you" to workers, enticing corporations to Arizona by arguing that Arizona workers receive scant protections at work and that corporations can expect to take large profits on their backs thanks to low personal and corporate tax rates.

The ASCP, essentially a who's who of corporate boosters pushing a massive region-wide and environmentally-destructive development project (which includes the idiotic Loop 202 expansion, recently ranked by the Sierra Club as one of the worst transportation projects in the US), lists several attributes that they see as arguing in favor of out of state businesses relocating to Arizona. They basically break down into two categories: (1) You can exploit your workers, and (2) You won't be taxed while you do it.

Just a few of GPEC's corporate partners, putting their seal of approval on GPEC's vision of high corporate profits and low worker protections.

While one of the seven bullet points listed under the heading "Expand or Relocate Your Business to the Arizona Sun Corridor" refers to the number of flights that out of state corporate execs can take as they zip in and out before and after exploiting Arizona workers, the rest clearly highlight the relative ease with which that exploitation will take place, as well as the low rate of taxation the corporations and their execs will get while pocketing their profits.

• "Individual income taxes are 4.5% versus up to 13.3% in California
• Corporate taxes are capped at 6.97% and decreasing to 4.9%
• Workers compensation rates are almost half of those in California
• We have the lowest unemployment insurance tax in the nation
• Our unionization rate is up to four times lower than in California
• We’re a Right to Work State"

The public relations magazine they put out comes with this handy graphic, in case you're the kind of greedy CEO that needs a visual demonstration of the relative scale of your rapaciousness.  Nice utilization of gold, by the way.  I'd have gone with blood red, myself, although now that I think of it, stacking skulls would have really gotten the point across, and given proper tribute to their fondness for the low workers compensation rates in Arizona (after all, with no protections at work, who can bring a suit against the boss?).

In the end, though, what the website and the glossy magazine show us is their ideal vision of the world.  One in which development, high profits and CEO pay come at the expense of workers, who get little or no protection on the job, little to no recourse when injured at work, and little to no protection from dislocation between jobs when some fatcat executive prefers taking profits over keeping you employed.  Hey, that private jet doesn't pay for itself, you know.  Welcome to the future.  Welcome to the Sun Corridor.

Phoenix cops might wear short shorts while they kick your ass this summer, may be slightly uncomfortable while they do it

Do you like to laugh?  Watch this, then.





Phoenix cops are pissed off at having to pay for new uniforms.  So angry, in fact, that they joined with the rest of the working class and demanded that all workers get money for work clothes.  Just kidding, they didn't do that.  That'd be pretty crazy, right, given that cops spend their day beating and kidnapping other workers.  Have you been following what they did to Occupy Phoenix and other poor and working class people?  Yeah, no one would believe that.  These cops are a bunch of spoiled brats.

Turns out the chief, in an attempt to restore some credibility to an institution that is completely discredited in the eyes of everyone except the local media that kisses its ass all day, has opted for some cosmetic changes to the force.  No, they're not going to stop the day to day obscenity that is policing in the Valley.  But they might start wearing shorts, though.  So there's that.  Cops in shorts are pretty funny looking, after all.

Anyhow, apparently despite their higher than average salaries compared to other workers and even other cops, Phoenix police are somehow upset at having to pay money for slightly less fascist-looking uniforms.  PPD cops are really fond of their paramilitary outfits.  Makes them feel tough.  The new belts inhibit their ass-kicking ability, they claim.  Oh, is that the sound of a cop smashing a sad-sounding violin over the head of a homeless person that we hear?  Yeah, we're not buying this complaint.

Time to man up, dudes.  No one takes you seriously when you sue over clothing but stay silent every time one of your own kills an urnamed man and his dog.  Thin blue line much?  Time for the thin blue polyester shorts.  And, yeah, we'll be laughing at you.

Did Phoenix Police and FBI fusion center information-sharing on protesters extend to Freeport-McMoran, too?

Good news!  Arizona's richest CEOs are doing fine.  Because I know you were worried.  So, just so you can sleep at night, know that although there was a slight dip in pay for the state's top CEO's and chairpersons (there's a woman or two in the mix, after all!), Arizona's capitalists and managers-in-chief are still making out pretty damn well.  Granted the average did drop from $1.33 million the year before to $1.31 million last year, but what's twenty grand between friends, right?  Hey, we're all tightening our belts these days!

And standing on the top of the heap for a second year in a row is Freeport-McMoran CEO Richard Adkerson.  While the average worker in Arizona took around $44,000 last year, the mining boss took in just shy of $20 million, which actually was quite a bit less than the year before, when Adkerson cashed out some stock and took home a cool $82 million.

Which should come as some consolation to mine workers in West Papua, Indonesia (well, the ones who are still alive, that is).  Last month 28 were killed in a tunnel collapse in a Freeport-McMoran mine.  But what's a little death between friends, right?  Especially when it's easily replaceable workers.  As long as the profits continue to flow up the ladder.  

On Friday another worker was killed in a similar manner.  The union representing the workers, who fought a brutal 3 month strike for higher wages in 2011, has called on workers to halt production again until there is a safety review of the mine.

But, hey, raking in millions while workers die isn't the only perk of being a Freeport-McMoran executive.  As a recent release of Phoenix Police Department documents reveals, being a top mining executive also gets you the cooperation of the police when anyone has the gall to protest your dangerous and destructive profitable production methods.   And, maybe, it gets you a seat in the FBI fusion center.

And that's precisely what seems to have happened in 2011-2012 in Phoenix, as Occupy Phoenix protesters, members of the Industrial Workers of the World, the East Timor Action Network and others organized a series of demonstrations in front of Freeport-McMoran's downtown Phoenix offices.  Documents show that PPD was working directly with the company to provide them with intel about what protesters were up to.  Just how much?  It's not clear, but it could have been a lot.  And it could have gone as far as DHS as well.

As several of the emails now available for review about police actions during that period show, cops made sure to include Freeport-McMoran corporate security manager Tom Tyo (a retired MCSO captain) in their conversation.  In these emails they coordinate security and share information about the protest, when it will arrive, how many will attend and information about potential tactics.  There were several of these protests.

We don't know what else they shared in part because we don't know what was said in phone calls, but also because large numbers of documents in the time period including these protests were released completely redacted, totally blacked out.  However, protesters and organizations are named in police documents surrounding the protests.

This may seem like standard cop behavior.  After all, perhaps it's just natural to think that the police would inform and cooperate with a corporation being targeted by protesters.  Public safety, protection of property, etc.  However, we've seen from other documents that police during this period routinely gave over information to both the Feds and corporations about protesters and their plans, even when they were completely legal.  

In addition, Phoenix PD shared information on protesters through the FBI fusion center.  Documents indicate that information-sharing happened at the very least with the right wing, pro-corporate lobbying group ALEC when it became the target of local protesters.

But there may well be more to this story.  Documents also show that Infragard, the private-public security organization, was allowed to sit in on Fusion Center meetings and receive information on Occupy Phoenix protests and other actions, possibly including data on specific protesters.  

Infragard functions as a partnership between businesses, private citizens, the police and the FBI to share security information.  If this sounds to you like a proto-fascist organization, then you're not alone.  The Arizona chapter's website declares that since it's members "are vetted by the FBI, we can do information sharing with sensitive but unclassified data: via member to member, FBI to and from members, Intelligence bulletins to and from members and the Department of Homeland Security to members."

What's the relevance to Freeport-McMoran?  If you pull up Freeport-McMoran security honcho Tom Tyo's LinkedIn profile, what do you find?  Infragard.

Yet again we see that the Phoenix Police response to Occupy Phoenix and other local activists was very likely more than it seemed, with strong indications that police either willingly cooperated with corporate targets of protest or facilitated information sharing with them thanks to the mammoth, bloated homeland security infrastructure.    

The short version?  The Feds let Infragard sit in on FBI fusion center discussions about Occupy protests in Phoenix that targeted Freeport-McMoran, and the head of security for Freeport-McMoran in Phoenix is a member of Infragard.


If more information sharing than appears in the emails didn't happen, it would be surprising, but it still demonstrates just how dangerous this public-corporate policing alliance is, especially in the context of the anti-terrorism framework, where police have been turned into bored but well-paid little anti-terror auxiliaries, whose funding and internal structure tend towards encouraging busy work, self-justification and the identifying of false threats in order to pad resumes and secure promotions and funding.  By now, we have a decade of cops, bureaucrats, corporate functionaries and private consultants whose careers depend heavily on the anti-terror apparatus.  This is a dangerous situation for everyone, but most of all those who stand up and challenge it.

Were protesters singled out by the police and then shared with anti-terrorism authorities and corporate security?  It certainly looks that way when it came to the ALEC protests, and it looks a lot like that was the case with the Freeport-McMoran protests as well.  

But the final outrageous element in the equation is the complete silence so far from the local media on the matter.  What's the problem?  Too busy reporting on Amy's Baking Company?


This is part 5 in our ongoing series analyzing recently released police and Federal documents detailing their surveillance and infiltration of Occupy Phoenix and anarchists in the Valley.

Emails raise more questions about PPD, the red squad, homeland security and the repression of Occupy Phoenix

As we continue to go through the emails released by the Center for Media and Democracy detailing Phoenix Police, Tempe Police and FBI collusion in spying and disrupting Occupy Phoenix, many troubling questions arise.

For instance, who was in the driver's seat during the police response to the ALEC protests of 2011?  It seems clear from the emails that at least some PPD officers were serving as off-duty private security for ALEC while others were working on-duty.  They were coordinating, perhaps as one might expect, but this cooperation raises real questions about the role of a police force that likes to claim that its presence at protests is to facilitate the exercise of constitutional rights.  Clearly PPD doesn't look like an unbiased actor given these facts, a conclusion that no seasoned activist would dispute.

These records also show clearly that PPD was working with banks and, through the FBI fusion center, private security firms like Infragard.  Many questions about these relationships will surely be answered as we dig deeper into these thousands of emails.  But as of now, the answers don't look good for PPD and other police agencies.

Still other emails raise questions about not just the independence of the PPD, but also of whether there was appropriate oversight of such police protest staples as the community relations unit (affectionately known by local activists as the "red squad"), just what it's actual role is in the era of anti-terrorism and even whether it ought to exist at all.

This team plays a central role in the released messages which show it several times to be very important on the ground links for funneling information to police anti-terrorism officials and the FBI fusion center, and for carrying out their plans.  Such a relationship validates the "red squad" monicker that activists have given the unit.  Time and again the community relations unit proves itself to be an integrated part of the overall spying apparatus.

One recurring source of serious concern centers around the role played by Detective Chris Wilson, at the time assigned to the Phoenix PD community relations unit.  As we have previously reported, Detective Wilson, now revealed to have been using his contacts and authority as liaison to the Phoenix LGBTQ community to target and sexually abuse underage boys, is frequently cited in these documents as a source of information and as someone who can use his community contacts to get details on protesters and their plans.  

In the documents features above and below, Brenda Dowhan of the PPD and an alphabet soup of various other anti-terrorism related units responds to a February 2nd request by Tracey Woods of the Glendale PD for "a list of Occupy Phx members with pics".   Woods email in turn was in response to an initial message from Dowhan warning that underage occupiers, known to "openly consume drugs and alcohol" and "create a riotous atmosphere", might attend a fundraiser for a gay pride scholarship at the Mighty Cup & Spoon in Glendale. Incidentally, among Dowhan's other duties was to monitor Facebook and other social media.

Dowhan refers Woods to Wilson, who she says "has contacts with the LGBT and can obtain more information on their plans for the night".  Here we not only see the direct relationship between the community relations unit and the homeland security behemoth, but also how Det. Wilson's directives from above to spy on and interface with elements within the LGBTQ community put him directly in contact with the community he was later to admit victimizing.  This is of course particularly disturbing given the November memo from Det. Wilson's direct supervisor on the community relations unit, Sgt. Mark Schweikert, alleging that Wilson had protection from powerful individuals in the police and city government, and that Wilson was as a result difficult to manage.

But we must resist the tendency to chalk this up to a single bad apple.  In fact, what these emails reveal is that the "red squad" was key in the repression, surveillance, and disruption Occupy Phoenix, not to mention the role it played in creating the opportunity and authority necessary for Wilson to abuse his young victims.  Further, it suggests strongly that it has become a key element of the larger anti-terror infrastructure, a vital part of the information funnel and repressive machinery of homeland security that increasingly targets domestic activists as part of its ever-expanding mandate.

As the saying goes, if all you have is a hammer, every problem looks like a nail.  And this is precisely the model on which anti-terrorism operates, a form of policing to which community relations has become wedded.  Assets unused for fighting terrorism instead must be justified by hyping threats.  Likewise, resistance must be framed as terrorism.  And the red squad was situated at a crucial juncture in that system.  Such a relationship creates a chilling effect with regard to the exercise of the very rights it claims to protect and makes a very good case for the total dismantlement of the unit.



This is part 4 in our ongoing series analyzing recently released police and Federal documents detailing their surveillance and infiltration of Occupy Phoenix and anarchists in the Valley.