Comments

1
Where there actually SPD officers there, or was CM Sawant just being CM Sawant?
2
Three days ago CHS reported about a gun related anti-Jewish hate crime that happened a few blocks from The Stranger's office. Is there a reason why they will cover a allegation of anti-Muslim or anti-black racism that happens on the other side of the country before they will cover an anti-Jewish incident that happens right in front of their face if the perp is one of their favored groups. If the perps were pasty faced white guys wearing "Make America Great Again" hats there would probably be some faux indignation and a condemnation of what crappy people Trump supporters are. But they were not white guy and they were wearing "Free Palestine" hats so at best it will be ignored and at worst there will be some empathy for the perps.
4
Tara dear, this is a thread about a protest at Sea-Tac, which is not on the "other side of the country". It's not even on the other side of the county. Why is everyone having problems with geography these days?

As far as the alleged hate crime is concerned, the fact that you read about it in CHS shows it is getting coverage. It's not up to The Stranger to cover every crime on Capitol Hill.

Self-righteousness is like a drug. One has to be careful of how and when one uses it, lest it mess you up.
6
We need the names and addresses of the local federal employees following these orders. If you're not a brown shirt you should be refusing to be involved. I was a federal employee for twelve years and if I was instructed to be involved with this type of unconstitutional action I would refuse even at the threat of losing the position. I mean it's a job, you don't have to do it. There are other jobs. These people should own their actions and expect local repercussions.
The SPD are complicit in this BS but I would expect nothing less.
7
Note the lack of body cams
8
@1 Thanks for writing, Catalina! As one of the reporters on the ground, I can confirm that there were SPD officers at Sea-Tac last night. I also saw officers from Renton PD and the King County Sheriff's Office.

There's also this from the Seattle Times: "Ten police agencies responded to the demonstration: The Kent, Federal Way, Auburn, Renton, Tukwila, Seattle and Normandy Park police departments; the King County Sheriff’s Office; and the Washington State Patrol. The Valley Crowd Management Unit, Valley S.W.A.T., also contributed."

http://www.seattletimes.com/seattle-news…
11
Thank you, Ana dear. It's always good to have confirmation of these things.

I will say this - I'm sure that there are public safety protocols in place for first responders in the case of public safety events at the airport. As we all know, airports are particularly vulnerable in the pre-security areas, and I'm sure that the Port Police run a bare bones staff in the evenings (since most of Sea-Tac's activity happens in the daytime) so I am willing to give them the benefit of the doubt in that regard.

However, I am both mystified and troubled by the way it was handled otherwise, particularly the transit issue. Why block Link if they were not blocking other transit and auto arrivals?

Also, a friend of mine arrived into Sea-Tac last night, and no one (and I mean no one) was allowed to leave the security zone. Not only that, apparently all of the retail outlets were shuttered. Did the authorities think that more protestors were arriving by air? It doesn't look like the protestors were violent, so there was no reasonable fear for the safety of arrivals and employees.

13
How many of you protested against Obama when he imposed a ban on Iraqis from entering the country in 2011? I'm guessing none. Hypocrites!!!
15
#Germansaugaeeater

8 US code 1182

(F). “Suspension of entry or imposition of restrictions by president. Whenever the president finds that the entry of any aliens or of any class of aliens into the United States would be detrimental to the interests of the United States, the president may, by proclamation, and for such period as he shall deem necessary, suspend the entry of all aliens or any class of aliens as immigrants or nonimmigrants or impose on the entry of aliens any restrictions he may deem to be appropriate.”

Obama used it and now Trump is using it....
16
@15 is that intended to be an anti-gay slur?
18
@11

Something is wrong with my browser. I can't see your dig at CM Sawant.in your second post.
20
@19
Well we could come protest at the McDonald's out there in bumfuck USA, but the train doesn't go there..
21
@19 has copypasted the same comment on every article today. When does the spammer get banned?
22
@1 i wish we would hold CM Sawant accountable. Until she apologizes for trying to organizing a protest vote against Clinton, we should be holding her responsible. Now that people are being affected by Trump we can see what affect a protest vote had. CM Sawant had a duty to protect this city and the people in it, instead she pushed for a vote that gave her party more power. Any time she makes a statement about Trump reporters should remind votes that CM Sawant campaigned against Clinton.
23
Shame on you, extremist right-wing Port of Seattle 'leaders'!
26
If we paid more attention to the bombs we export perhaps we wouldn't need to pay as much attention to the people we import.
30
@27 The 1st Amendment does not protect you from being inconvenienced while moving through the public square.

Yes I know it is annoying but that is the way it is. Sometimes when you have to move around in public you actually have to encounter the public. As our President says "it is disgusting I don't want to talk about it".
31
@28

Thank you for the video.
33
It must be a weird thing to work for the SPD.

Police are, by definition, the domestic army of the state. They are the monopoly on force a state must maintain to avoid failing. It i therefore inherent to their nature to panic when confronted with the possibility of dual power.

However, Seattle is not like any other city in America. I'd go do far as to claim that Seattle is unlike any other place on Earth. Our culture is oriented toward social anarchy, our guiding star is Emma Goldman. There are many pockets of smaller powers the state cannot control here- the oft-maligned Black Bloc. Parties such as Socialist Alternative, the SWP and the ISO. The Wobblies. We are the only city in North America to feature a statue of the man responsible for establishing dual power in the Russian Empire, an act which predicated the failure of that state. Spontaneous groups assume power periodically, from Occupy to the Womxn's March, tot he AFA March, to the Airport strike for $15 and now for immigrant rights. Organizations exist to provide rear echelon support to any such ad hoc protests as they arise- Food Not Bombs, the Black Cross. Every protest here that I've even been to, the very first sight I always see are baseball caps with "Legal Observer" printed on them, marking the wearers as those who after the protest will file the lawsuits against the cops if they suppress the dual power groups as they arise.

Anywhere else, the police can act like they rule the roost. And while they try that here too, they immediately get slapped down for it.

Its places like this that suggest to me that the very concept of police may be outdated. I've begun to question the legitimacy of the state, and it's forceful arm.

Please wait...

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