If it seems like you're jumping into the middle of something, try going to page one.
Still continuing our review of the protesters.
They kept hauling in additional ones.
Notice they have cable ties around their wrists but they're not actually connected to each other, and not all of the protesters even have that - they're just holding their hands back and hoping it looks OK. Notice also that they've tried to recruit as many young, pretty girls as possible to be the civilians/useful idiots.
The cops just watched. They kept a very close eye on everything but didn't bother anybody.
11:30am / Geary and Stockton -> Yerba Buena Gardens
...Torturees (6) to Yerba Buena Gardens, patrol pushes down Stockton (~15minutes) and meets up with waterboarding demonstrator at the MLK fountain.
...All others remain at Union Square guarded for a bit (should be a really good visual). After escaping, this group will head down Powell towards the Powell Turnaround at Market. Be at the Turnaround by 12:00 noon, flyer the demonstration, chill til we get there.
So at this point (about 11:15) they pulled out some of the "torturees" off down the street. Nobody stayed behind to guard anybody at Union Square - the remaining people just stood up and gave each other a hug (you can see it in the video). But the point is that part of the group's split and they'll all meet up at 12:00.
The poor legal observers actually lost the protest at this point - it wasn't at all clear what was going on and they weren't keeping to their timetable.
The Apple store had these guys guarding the opening - there was a line to get in even though it wasn't that crowded inside. Paranoid fire marshall or just marketing spin?
I eventually caught up with the self hating vets and their victims. They basically kept re-arresting and threatening them every couple of blocks. You'll see Frank Chu's right in there with them.
Police followed - some of the ones on foot I think were just directing traffic anyway - but the ones on mopeds are probably just for the protest.
Even from across the street it's hard to tell what's going on if you don't already know. How many people do you think were influenced by this "action"?
At this point we start tearing across the city to the next stop.
I always see snide comments about the mopeds but you can see why they use them to follow protesters.
The group further split and there ended up being one group heading to below the fountain, and another above.
Again, they're photographing this while thing with multiple cameramen to try to make it look dramatic after the fact.
Here's the upper level.
Um, that's not waterboarding. Not even close. Some demonstration. Also notice at least one guy with a camera still has his cable tie from earlier in the day - he was "arrested" at some point.
I found shot after shot on leftie blogs with close in (usually out of focus) facial shots of these people to make it look dramatic as possible and like they accomplished something - even though almost nobody outside of their own group was nearby. These blogs universally talked about the waterboarding demonstration because that's what the schedule said - but this isn't waterboarding and World Can't Wait at least should know better since they hold real waterboarding demonstrations all the time (ironically they've waterboarded many times more people than the US government).
And remember - they're accusing US troops of pointlessly arresting, abusing, and torturing innocents while at the exact same time actual gunmen are murdering hundreds in Mumbai. Where's the outrage for that?
There was lots of yelling to the effect that you're getting it next but we're going to force you to watch first. Notice the unconnected ties on Jo's wrists.
Since nobody ever guarded the civilians a lot of them just tagged along instead of waiting 45 minutes for their next bit.
Well, you get the idea. You could take close-up shots of the fake anguish on their faces but the overview shots show that almost nobody saw this, and it was fake anyway, and that's not even what waterboarding is. They call themselves "vets" so they can claim some kind of authority about what conditions are really like over there, but they don't even have the basic vocabulary down.
Oddly enough the people on the upper level got bored and came down. That's Jo playing with her cable ties on the left. They were all discussing where to get lunch.
By the way, other than the protesters and police almost nobody was there to see this. Because they were all shopping - I have no idea why they decided it was a good idea to leave all the people and find a pool so they could yell about waterboarding (which this isn't). On a sunny day, sure, there would be people around. Foggy late November on the biggest shopping day of the year? Nobody.
Very dramatic - some kids walking with their mom got really upset until she explained it was just a play and they didn't need help.
Job well done. Oh, and we're a half hour early... lunch?
I don't know how old Jo is but they recruit heavily from local high schools. Most of the young female supporters had acne.
Yeah, yeah, nobody's even watching at this point.
Seriously, there's no point.
12:00pm / Yerba Buena Gardens > Metreon > Bloomingdales
...IVAW will regroup after the extraordinary rendition, torturees will head over to Powell Turnaround where we will join soon.
...IVAW runs through Metron
...IVAW police patrols Bloomingdales and Westfield, enters on Mission and exits at Powell Turnaround on Market
Extraordinary rendition? Anyway, the ones in uniform were supposed to harass some local shopping centers and everybody meets up at the place the cable cars turn around. I made my way down there for...
12:15pm / Powell Turnaround
...Checkpoint > Iraqis trickle through our checkpoint, get harassed for a few minutes
...Taking Fire > Sound machine will sound and we will "take fire"
...Eddie's hit! > We'll take him out of the way and return fire on everyone
...Die - in > Blood packets for those who want 'em, pile up and remember to be dramatic!
That should be exciting! Shame it was still only 11:30 so I had 45 minutes to kill, but you can cut right to the chase on page three... and there's an anti-fur group too!
You can contact me at info (at) ProtestShooter.com
