Here’s a video from the University of Pittsburgh, which became, in every way a reasonable person can suppose, a police state / martial law zone during the recent G20 gathering.

I’ve been staying out of the folly of video posts about the Pittsburgh G20, but this video is worth a watch.  This is by no means the worst thing that happened or was recorded, but the videographer in this case is really outstanding.

I teach a class on recording police, including encounters in which the journalist is or is not involved.  This journalist did everything correctly.  I wonder if he / she was looking exclusively through the viewfinder?  That is my surmise.

Great job.  I’m sure the cops will not be held accountable for this assault.

Not much I can add to this one.  Just watch.

Steven Anderson, a Pastor at Faithful World Baptist Church in Phoenix, Arizona, encountered a “border” checkpoint about 75 miles from our southern border.

Border agents told Anderson that a dog had indicated the presence of contraband in his vehicle. At some point, thankfully, he turned on a video camera. Shortly thereafter, his car windows were broken and he was horribly brutalized by police officers, including being shocked by electrostun weapons over and over again.

Please take the time to watch both of these videos. The first is his account of the situation; the second is actual footage.

Warning: The second video contains audio of the pastor being shot by multiple TASERs and is highly disturbing.

Police brutality in the United States of America is completely out of control. Does anyone have any suggestions? With each passing day, I feel more and more strongly that we must divest every police officer in the country of electro-torture devices such as TASERs. These are tools of government control and brutality, nothing more.

Join the new anti-TASER facebook group here.

….and here’s a Facebook group dedicated to stopping the wall on the border.

When it rains it pours!

It seems that this guy was, as per usual, in no way threatening the officer, although he does yell like an idiot at the end.