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Politics : GOPwinger Lies/Distortions/Omissions/Perversions of Truth -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: JBTFD who wrote (134722)	9/6/2008 11:23:30 AM
From: longnshort	1 Recommendation Read Replies (2) \| Respond to of 173976

these aren't punks and they arrested some girls with bags of nails. These people remind me of some of Obama's friends REPUBLICAN NATIONAL CONVENTION Two Austin men arrested with Molotov cocktails Police were the targets in planned disruption, affidavit says By Patrick George AMERICAN-STATESMAN STAFF Saturday, September 06, 2008 Two Austin men accused of possessing Molotov cocktails and having ties to a group that planned to disrupt the Republican National Convention were charged in federal court Friday, according to an arrest affidavit. In federal court in Minneapolis, David Guy McKay, 22, and Bradley Neal Crowder, 23, were each charged with one count of possession of firearms, the U.S. attorney's office in Minnesota said. The two are accused of manufacturing eight gasoline-and-oil-filled bottles that they were planning to ignite and toss at law enforcement vehicles, the affidavit said. McKay is quoted in the affidavit as saying "it's worth it if an officer gets burned or maimed." The U.S. attorney's office says the men were members of an organization called the Austin Affinity Group, which the FBI has been investigating since February 2007. If convicted, McKay and Crowder could face up to 10 years in prison. Crowder is identified in the affidavit as the group's leader, and McKay is named as a member. The affidavit said that eight members of the group left Austin on Aug. 28 in a rented van and trailer that was hauling 35 "shields" made out of traffic barrels with protruding screws. An informant told investigators that the group was planning to use the "shields" to attack police officers, the affidavit said. The group went to a Wal-Mart on Aug. 31 and bought a two-gallon gas can, motor oil, rubber bands, ear plugs, bolt cutters and protective gear, the affidavit said. On Monday, an informant told law enforcement officials that the items were being stored in a St. Paul, Minn., apartment where the two suspects were staying, the affidavit said. The apartment was being leased by a person affiliated with the group. Law enforcement officials saw Crowder and McKay coming and going from the building, the affidavit said. The Republican National Convention was Monday through Thursday in St. Paul, Minn. McKay and Crowder were arrested Monday by the St. Paul police on disorderly conduct charges, the affidavit said. At that time, McKay was released; Crowder remained in custody. Later that day, McKay told another informant that he was having a falling out with the group and that he and some other members were planning some type of activity he described as "red actions" for Tuesday. McKay then told the first informant that he and Crowder had made several Molotov cocktails and that they intended to throw them at a parking lot near the apartment that was patrolled by police, military and U.S. Secret Service officers, the affidavit said. On Wednesday, St. Paul police raided the apartment. They found eight "fully assembled Molotov cocktails," the affidavit said. On Thursday, McKay told investigators that he and Crowder assembled the explosives to "get back" at "someone or something," the affidavit said. McKay is now also in custody, and a preliminary hearing for both men has been set for Tuesday in a Minneapolis federal court. Sgt. Richard Stresing, a spokesman for Austin police, said he had no information about the arrest or the group. Public record searches turned up no criminal records for the two men. Michael Plaster of Austin said his son interned last year with McKay at a local video production company. Plaster said his son, also named Michael Plaster, was in New Mexico but e-mailed him Friday about McKay. "He said he was pretty shocked to hear about him," Plaster said. "He said he had heard the name Austin Affinity from them (McKay and Crowder) but didn't know what it was about." Plaster said that he had met McKay through his son and that he "seemed like a good kid." U.S. attorney's office spokesman David Anderson said another man, Matthew DePalma, was arrested in Minneapolis this week, accused of possessing Molotov cocktails to use against law enforcement. He is not connected with the Austin men, Anderson said. Additional material from staff writers Claire Osborn and Miguel Liscano. Buzz up! Vote for this story!

To: JBTFD who wrote (134722)	9/6/2008 11:24:20 AM
From: TideGlider	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 173976

LOL the arrests were all of idiot animals! You are such a little bumpkin! Just like at the Dem convention. Too many weirdos show up.

To: JBTFD who wrote (134722)	9/6/2008 11:24:57 AM
From: longnshort	1 Recommendation Respond to of 173976

More of Obama's friends, uh I mean punks, oops repeated myself again. Police and 'Anarchist' Protesters in St. Paul While Republican delegates are whooping it up inside St. Paul's Xcel Energy Center, federal and local law-enforcement officials have been battling a shadowy neo-anarchist group that was allegedly plotting to disrupt the convention by kidnapping delegates, hurling Molotov cocktails and committing other acts of "guerrilla warfare," according to police and other law-enforcement documents. More than 300 anti-convention protestors have been arrested in St. Paul this week. While many have since been released, 16 have been charged with felonies that include "conspiracy to commit riot ... in the furtherance of terrorism," as the official violation reads. Among those charged are the accused ringleaders of a group calling itself the Republican National Committee Welcoming Committee (RNCWC)-an obscure outfit that organized two major conferences over the past year at which hundreds of activists plotted how to "shut down" the GOP convention through acts of violence, according to a criminal complaint filed this week in Ramsey County, Minn., against eight members of the group. "It appears they are fairly organized," said Ed Dickson, the FBI counterterrorism official who oversees domestic terror investigations. He added that the FBI was "looking at this group" as well as other domestic organizations that might be planning violent activity "during the campaign season." The FBI has played down its own role in investigating groups like the RNCWC, at least compared to the way the bureau publicizes its probes of Islamic terror groups. The FBI did, however, announce Wednesday that it had arrested a 23-year-old Michigan man on charges that he was assembling Molotov cocktails as part of a plot to "blow up" the GOP convention by entering the Xcel Center through underground tunnels. The man, identified as Matthew Bradley DePalma, had allegedly revealed his plans to a confidential informant at a "CrimethInc. Convergence" meeting in Waldo, Wis., this summer that was attended by RNCWC members. His lawyer had no comment. Still, documents released this week show that federal and local law-enforcement officials have infiltrated the RNCWC and closely observed its activities for more than a year as the group's members allegedly plotted what appeared to be well-laid-out plans to foment riots and disrupt the Republican convention. It is still unclear how serious the group was about some of the alleged plans-such as the supposed talk of kidnapping delegates. But the police charges and accompanying documents released by local law-enforcement officials this week suggest the group's plans were at least as elaborate as some of the so-called "homegrown" (and often half-baked) Islamic terror plots that have been cited by top Justice Department officials as serious threats to national security. On its Web site, the RNCWC identifies itself as an "anarchist/anti-authoritarian organizing body" fighting "the rapid growth of racist militarized borders across stolen lands" as well as "police brutality and [the] prison industry," among other leftist causes. (One anonymous missive was signed "from the occupied territories of Minnesota.") According to the complaint filed (against the eight arrested members of the group) on Wednesday, the RNCWC held more than 100 meetings over the past year, including two major conferences that were attended by as many as 200 anarchists from throughout the country. The group appears to have been fairly open about some of its activities. Last February, according to the complaint, one of its members released a YouTube video of buildings and hotels in downtown St. Paul with the song "Five Million Ways to Kill a CEO" playing in the background. In addition, the group organized an "action camp" in Geneva, Minn., this summer where its members erected a stage labeled the "Xcel Center" and then practiced throwing mock Molotov cocktails at it, according to the complaint. "A simulated delegate vehicle was targeted by throwing rocks, slashing tires, and attempting to overturn the vehicle," the complaint states. Discussions at the "action camp" included plans to block bridges, slash tires and using "large puppets to conceal and transport materials such as Molotov cocktails" as well as bricks and caltrops-described as "a device with nails or other sharp objects protruding from it used to disable vehicles." Local law enforcement kept members of the group under watch as they arrived in St. Paul and rented apartments. Last weekend, on the eve of the convention, local sheriff's deputies raided the residences and arrested some of the RNCWC members. Still, the first night of the convention was unusually tense, as hundreds of protestors flooded the streets around the Xcel Center. Some of the protestors wore black masks and hurled rocks at police cars, officials say. "It was scary," said Susan Gaertner, the Ramsey County Attorney who is prosecuting the accused RNCWC members. (During the police response, three journalists-Amy Goodman, the host of the popular liberal talk-radio show "Democracy Now," and two of her producers-were arrested covering the event. Goodman, who was later released, said she was handcuffed and locked up by police despite repeatedly trying to display her press tags and shouting, "I'm a reporter.") On its Web site after the arrests, the RNCWC denounced the law-enforcement officials for "entrapment" of its members. One member-listed as its press contact who would identify himself only as "Andy"-said the group was merely trying to provide "logistical support" for those who wanted to come to St. Paul to oppose "Bush-McCain policies." Asked about the charges that members were plotting violence, he responded: "They're just saying this as a reason to crack down on dissent."