Something’s rotten in St. Paul

Borrowing from Shakespeare, “things rank and gross in nature” are happening in St. Paul, Minn., where the Republicans are convening this week to finalize the nomination of their presidential ticket.

Tear gas and rubber bullets were reportedly used against protesters and journalists, according to Twitter feeds published by ColdSnap Legal, a legal support collective located in Minnesota; Christina Siun O’Connell of Firedoglake has been posting reports from Lindsay Beyerstein, who, along with Jane Hamsher and Glenn Greenwald, are trying to keep up with the facts on the ground.

Our own Jeff Morley already reported from Minneapolis a comprehensive overview earlier today of the pre-emptive raids against anti-war/peace groups; you’ll find more coverage at our sister site, Minnesota Independent, whose team has been covering this crackdown on political dissent from the beginning.

Nothing like this happened last week in Denver during the Democratic National Committee’s convention; granted, there were a few run-ins with police, but nothing on this scale or pre-emptive in nature against similar groups who want to exercise their First Amendment right to free speech within range of politicos who hold the reins of power.

Maybe these aren’t ghosts of other regimes that forcefully put down dissent that we now see roaming the streets of St. Paul, and maybe Shakespeare isn’t the literary reference I should use.

The pre-emptive nature of this crackdown looks more like something out of the movie “Minority Report,” a Dickesian nightmare of pre-crime prosecution.  Let’s hope that saner, cooler heads prevail over the next week.