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The decision by Bay Area Rapid Transit officials to cut off cellphone service Thursday evening – to forestall a planned protest – raises a fundamental question: Do Americans have a basic right to digital free speech or to digitally organized assembly? Because July protests against BART police shootings had turned violent, BART officials took the unusual step to protect public safety, they said. The tactic may have worked: No protests took place Thursday night at BART stations. Temporarily shutting down cell service and beefing up police patrols were "great tool[s] to utilize for this specific purpose," BART police Lt. Andy...

How about the TEA PARTY getting with the times and making more use of technology and social networking. My proposal is to adapt the liberal/union tactics of "flash mobs", by employing their methods in order to create "Instant Tea" parties. Spot a liberal politician in your district...tweet/text/email to a Tea Party list and have an "INSTANT TEA PARTY" in their faces. What say you?

Thank you for taking the time to read my Vanity post. A lot of people here, and in my face-to-face world, have mentioned that the mobs, riots and looting that is occuring around the world would take a different path here in the US, in areas where people are allowed to carry firearms, and use them in accordance with both laws and sensibility. And it's the Sensibility portion of that I would like to discuss. Everytime I measure and imagine (Simulations!) my response to violent flash mobs or rioters, I come up snake eyes. Here are two of such scenarios...

I just noticed on Twitter and Facebook that the Left is calling for a US Day of Rage on September 17th. The Twitter #s are: #USDOR, #occupywallstreet, #revolution Facebook: Occupy Wall St. or US Day of Rage They invite people to occupy Wall Street and DC and State Capitals. Publius is Very Unhappy! Bring your tents! Wall Street belongs to us! Demand the the top 2% pay their fair share! Lots of tweets but the Facebook pages are low volume. In addition, there is a group of Muslim activists that are pushing this and in England for the rioters to...

Police departments in several cities around the country are investigating what appear to be incidents of "flash mob"-generated violence, in which packs of dozens or even hundreds of youths appear seemingly out of nowhere to commit assaults, robberies and other crimes against innocent bystanders. The motive and circumstances surrounding the attacks that have resulted in numerous arrests around the country are being investigated -- and law enforcement officials in at least one city are looking into a possible racial component to the crimes. Philadelphia Mayor Michael Nutter, who recently imposed a stricter curfew in response to the city's latest attack,...

One of my closest friends, "Gail," lives in a pristine suburb in northern New Jersey. It's one of those leafy bedroom communities where residents drive their Lexus SUVs to the railroad station each morning to catch the train to Manhattan. After 9/11, Gail told me that eerily, several vehicles were left abandoned in the parking lot for weeks. Their drivers never returned home that day to retrieve them. But, in general, not much goes on in her sleepy, idyllic town. The residents rave about shopping sprees to Loehmanns and sprints to Whole Foods for organic strawberries. There is no crime...

One of my closest friends, "Gail," lives in a pristine suburb in northern New Jersey. It's one of those leafy bedroom communities where residents drive their Lexus SUVs to the railroad station each morning to catch the train to Manhattan. After 9/11, Gail told me that eerily, several vehicles were left abandoned in the parking lot for weeks. Their drivers never returned home that day to retrieve them. But, in general, not much goes on in her sleepy, idyllic town. The residents rave about shopping sprees to Loehmanns and sprints to Whole Foods for organic strawberries. There is no crime...

Out of nowhere, a kid punched me in the side of the head through my open window. One blind swing, and he ran away. At the same time, a youth attacked a car two in front of us. He broke the driver-side window, kicked the car and reached inside. The car pulled out to escape the attack. The car in front of me then pulled forward and hesitated. Worried that the mob might come around to the passenger side of my car and attack my wife, I pulled around the car in front of me, crossed over lanes and turned...

Race War At Wisconsin State FairRicky Kreitner | Aug. 5, 2011, 10:25 AM According to witnesses, a group of anywhere from 30 to 100 young black men descended on the Wisconsin State Fair last night, beating fairgoers and looting carnival games, in what witnesses said were racially-motivated attacks, Milwaukee's WTMJ reports. One witness named Eric, an Iraq veteran, said the attacks reminded him of war: "I had a black couple on my right side, and these black kids were running in between all the cars, and they were pounding on my doors and trying to open up doors on my...

Sporadic violence has broken out in several parts of London as police are attacked with missiles - including petrol bombs - and shops are looted in a third day of civil disorder. The latest unrest in the capital was centred around Hackney in east London and Lewisham and Peckham in the south of the capital. In Hackney, shops were attacked, and objects including chairs and pieces of wood were thrown at officers in riot gear. At one point, several people broke into the back of a stationary lorry. They pulled its contents out onto the road, and some hurled it...

Milwaukee police officers are investigating a string of mob-like actions involving a very large and unruly crowd near the Wisconsin State Fair Thursday night, where several people were badly injured and cars and homes were rampaged, Fox6 News reported. Twenty-four people were arrested inside the fairgrounds after fights broke out, State Fair officials said. The violence continued after closing time outside the park. State Fair Park CEO Rick Frenette said seven park police officers were injured, including two who were taken to the hospital. Milwaukee Police said just after 11 p.m. they responded to complaints of an unruly mob attacking...

About 100 teenagers swarmed from a McDonald’s to Trader Joe’s to a new Target store during a riot in East Liberty on Sunday, police said. Police said the trouble started at Mellon Park, where Mount Ararat Baptist Church had just wrapped up its community picnic. The Rev. Linda Oliver said that out of an estimated attendance of over 3,000 people, only a fraction of those people are responsible for starting the trouble. “We had a few fights that broke out with the young people,” said Oliver. When reporter Dave Bondy arrived at the scene, police were everywhere. At least a...

WEST ALLIS - Witnesses tell Newsradio 620 WTMJ and TODAY'S TMJ4 of a mob of young people attacking innocent fair-goers at the end of the opening night of State Fair, with some callers claiming a racially-charged scene. Milwaukee Police confirmed there were assaults outside the fair. Witnesses' accounts claim everything from dozens to hundreds of young black people beating white people as they left State Fair Thursday night. "It looked like they were just going after white guys, white people," said Norb Roffers of Wind Lake in an interview with Newsradio 620 WTMJ. He left the State Fair Entrance near...

This past weekend, a former mayor had his business vandalized and another community leader got beat up in Center City Park. "One of the teenagers came up from behind and just punched me in the back and kicked me and knocked me to the floor. Then, he just continued to kick me, punch me, step on me. People were screaming," Mitchel Sommers, executive director of the Community Theatre of Greensboro said. The swarm came from nowhere and the beating lasted seconds. "Within a minute, I'd say, hundreds and hundreds and hundreds...I'm not being dramatic...hundreds of young people...just came descending upon...

Police had a rough night in East Liberty on Sunday. A large mob of teens damaged several stores along Penn Avenue. Our Channel 11 News crew was listening to the police scanner when they heard a call to 911 for hundreds of teens causing trouble in a strip mall. Police said they went inside the McDonald's, Trader Joes, and finally ended up at the new Target. Officials said it's fortunate that no one was hurt during the chaos. When reporter, Dave Bondy, arrived on scene, police were everywhere. At least a dozen officers were ordering hundreds of teenagers to leave...

http://www.cnn.com/2011/CRIME/07/30/pennsylvania.philadelphia.attacks/index.html?eref=igoogledmn_topstories

Flash Mob Robbery Occurs at Victoria's Secret Store in GeorgetownUpdated: Monday, 25 Jul 2011, 10:50 PM EDT By WILL THOMAS/myfoxdc WASHINGTON - D.C. Police detectives are investigating a theft at a Victoria’s Secret store Monday afternoon located inside the Shops at Georgetown Park. Lt. John Hedgecock said two men and two women entered the store at 2 p.m. and within a matter of seconds, scooped up lingerie and took off on foot. "We have some information that they may be using some of the social media such as Facebook and Twitter to schedule an event if you will," Hedgecock said.

Bob Fulcher stood frozen on Market Square with his arms stretched out like he was waiting for a hug. "I wanted to do it. I wanted to be here and I wanted to be a part of the human furniture that was laid out about the beauty of humanity," the 58-year-old said after participating in a frozen flash mob Friday evening. From a woman taking a sip from her cup to two men in mid-fight with lightsabers, Market Square was taken over by several hundred people who stood frozen for five minutes.

For the neighbors at East Lake Courts who bore the brunt of what police call, a racial attack, the biggest shock is how blatantly the three suspected displayed racism. Angela Lonise witnessed several men drive by several times in a white pick up truck around 3 a.m. Saturday morning. According to Chattanooga Police Spokesperson Jerri Weary, Kyle Montgomery, 21, Colton Partin, 21 and James Smiley, 27, threw fireworks at African Americans while yelling racial slurs like, "run N***** run." Police say the suspects admitted they were targeting black people. "I thought all that racial stuff was over with and I...

A Bronx man was viciously assaulted and robbed on a subway train Sunday by four men who he says taunted him for being white. Police confirmed they are investigating the assault and robbery of Jason Fordell, 29, but have not labeled it a hate crime. They are seeking the four assailants, who fled the scene. A fifth passenger who police say spontaneously joined in the attack has been arrested. "Everyone on the train was egging them on," said Fordell, 29, of the early-morning attack on the 4 train. ..." [SNIP] "People started saying stupid little comments - cracker this, white...