GLOBAL POLITICAL AWAKENING: peaceful assembly

Showing posts with label peaceful assembly. Show all posts

Tuesday, July 2, 2013

DHS and Police Uses Violence on Peaceful Pot Smokers

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Tuesday, September 25, 2012

Leaked NYPD Footage Shows Brutal Crackdown on Protesters

Be the Change! Share this using the tools below. Sharing on Reddit and Newsvine will help the most.

Friday, June 10, 2011

Journalists Attacked by Police For Filming Protest (Video)

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Saturday, June 4, 2011

Latest Video of Adam Kokesh Dance "Mob" at Jefferson Memorial, June 4, 2011

ACTIVISTS: Join Adam Kokesh For a Dance Party at TJ's Today at Noon

Activist Post

The recent video of Adam Kokesh and others being brutalizedby police at the memorial to one of history's greatest champions of free speech, Thomas Jefferson, is going viral with over 850,000 views. Kokesh has issued an invitation to bring your dancing shoes today in another statement of civil 'danceobedience.'

A recent announcement from Adam Kokesh states:

Please RSVP to the Facebook event here and invite your friends to join us!

Oh, and I'm also holding a video contest...

VIDEO CONTEST

You can view video entries HERE. Over 3,000 people are signed up to attend the event this today 12:00 - 1:00 p.m. at The Jefferson Memorial.

Now is the time to get active and declare your own independence!

Wednesday, May 25, 2011

Report: Over Two Thousand Six Hundred Activists Arrested in US Protests

Dees Illustration

Bill Quigley
BuzzFlash

Since President Obama was inaugurated, there have been over two thousand six hundred arrests of activists protesting in the US. Research shows over 670 people have been arrested in protests inside the US already in 2011, over 1290 were arrested in 2010, and 665 arrested in 2009. These figures are certainly underestimate the number actually arrested as arrests in US protests are rarely covered by the mainstream media outlets which focus so intently on arrests of protestors in other countries.

Arrests at protest have been increasing each year since 2009. Those arrested include people protesting US wars in Afghanistan and Iraq, Guantanamo, strip mining, home foreclosures, nuclear weapons, immigration policies, police brutality, mistreatment of hotel workers, budget cutbacks, Blackwater, the mistreatment of Bradley Manning, and right wing efforts to cut back collective bargaining.

These arrests illustrate that resistance to the injustices in and committed by the US is alive and well. Certainly there could and should be more, but it is important to recognize that people are fighting back against injustice.

"Free Speech Zones" Killing Free Speech Across Orwellian America

"Congress shall make no law... abridging... the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the Government for a redress of grievances." -- First Amendment to the Constitution of The United States of America.

John Galt
Activist Post

The "free speech zone," despite being anathema to the U.S. Constitution, has been used intermittently since the Vietnam War protests. When their use was expanded to actually hide protesters during both the Democratic and Republican National Conventions in 2004, free speech zones were quickly written off by the mainstream media as either no big deal, or essential to protect participants from dangerous activists. Many in the alternative media warned that this was a dangerous precedent to set; after all, America itself is considered by the Constitution to be a free speech zone, with laws that were created to prosecute crimes when they are committed and not before.

These zones have now become a political tool used to alter the perception of media coverage, as supporters are allowed a front-row seat in full view of cameras, while protesters are housed in cages sometimes blocks away from the actual event.

Sure enough, free speech zones are cropping up across America in a variety of locations, as evidenced in the following video from Orlando, FL where judge Belvin Perry has designated a small section of sidewalk to those who might want to express their freedom at the Orange County Courthouse:

This is a clear demonstration of how rights have been turned into privileges.

US concerned at arrest of Russia protesters

Editor's Note: Haven't we heard this line before? Wonder what happens next...

Russian riot police detain opposition supporter during rally
© AFP Alexey Sazonov

AFP

WASHINGTON (AFP) - The White House on Thursday expressed concern at the detention of 150 people in St Petersburg and Moscow at protests highlighting the importance of the right of peaceful assembly.

Police had earlier detained opposition politicians Boris Nemtsov and Eduard Limonov as they joined hundreds of activists at protests in the Russian capital and in Saint Petersburg.

The protest was one of a series of "Strategy 31" demonstrations organized for the 31st day of the month in reference to Article 31 in the Russian constitution which permits peaceful demonstrations.

National Security Council spokesman Tommy Vietor said Washington was concerned at the detention of Article 31 demonstrators, some of whom were chanting slogans critical of Prime Minister Vladimir Putin.

Reality Report: The Hypocrisy of Regime Change (Video)

Monday, March 21, 2011

Police brutality against Col. Ann Wright and Daniel Ellsberg at Free Bradley Manning Protest (Video)

Sunday, January 16, 2011

Martin Luther King, Jr. and the Tools of Freedom

The ultimate measure of a man is not where he stands in moments of comfort and convenience, but where he stands at times of challenge and controversy. - Martin Luther King, Jr.

Ethan Jacobs, J.D. -- Activist Post

Introduction:

Martin Luther King, Jr. was assassinated April 4, 1968, shortly after he started speaking out against the global elite and the injustice they inflict on all of humanity through orchestrated wars and economic oppression. He believed that "a nation that continues year after year to spend more money on military defense than on programs of social uplift is approaching spiritual death."[1]

While King may not physically be with us today, we are fortunate that he left us with powerful principles and tools for defeating tyranny. King, Gandhi and many others have set the precedent for our liberation, proving that courage, love, persistence, and some simple tools are ultimately victorious.

In fact, the tools and principles utilized by King are so powerful that they rocked the foundation of the global elite’s power structure. As Andrew Gavin Marshall writes:

When Martin Luther King began speaking about more than race, and openly criticized the entire social structure of empire and economic exploitation, not simply of blacks, but of all people around the world and at home, he posed too great a threat to the oligarchy to tolerate him any longer. It was at this point that the National Security State chose to assassinate Martin Luther King, and the philanthropies greatly expanded their financing of the Civil Rights Movement to ensure that it would be led in their desired direction.[2]

Hatred for King by the elite’s agents in government intensified after he publicly identified the U.S. government as “the greatest purveyor of violence in the world today.” The FBI and U.S military kept King under 24-hour surveillance, and agents had infiltrated the civil rights movement. Therefore, the elites were aware of King’s Poor People’s Campaign for Washington D.C., where King planned to shut down the nation’s capital in the spring of 1968 through massive civil disobedience until the government agreed to combat economic inequality in the United States rather than drop bombs on Vietnam.

On December 8, 1999, in the wrongful death lawsuit filed by the King Family, a jury composed of six white and six black people deliberated less than three hours to find that Loyd Jowers (who confessed on television in 1999) and others “including governmental agencies,” were parties to the conspiracy to assassinate Martin Luther King, Jr.[3] During closing argument, King family attorney William Pepper stated: “When Martin King opposed the war, when he rallied people to oppose the war, he was threatening the bottom lines of some of the largest defense contractors in this country. This was about money. He was threatening the weapons industry, the hardware, the armaments industries, that would all lose as a result of the end of the war.”[4]

All Americans would be well advised to review the evidence that was presented at the trial.

Now we shall examine Martin Luther King, Jr.’s principles and tools for restoring freedom in greater detail, committing them to memory by applying them with action each day.

Principles to Defeat the New World Order

Courage

In his eloquent speeches, King often quoted great philosophers. It was Aristotle that said, “courage is the first of human qualities because it is the quality that guarantees the others.”[5] Everything we do requires a particular degree of courage, whether it be interviewing for a job, asking for a date, playing a sport, or resisting a global fascist oligarchy. Fear prevents us reaching our potential and accomplishing what is most important. “Cowards die many times before their deaths, the valiant never taste death but once.”[6] Every time fear prevents us from doing what our conscience tells us we must, we suffer a spiritual defeat which, if not remedied, can lead to habitual cowardice and spiritual death. “A coward is incapable of exhibiting love; it is the prerogative of the brave.”[7]

Agape Love

King realized that agape love is essential to bring about positive social change. Agape love is simply redemptive good will for all men and women.[8] If you truly love your spouse, children, family friends, neighbors, and humanity itself, you will take action to reverse mankind’s incremental enslavement. An important aspect is telling others the truth, even when the truth is not pleasant to hear. Agape love also requires that you not allow yourself to hate the global elite and their agents despite their history of unspeakable crimes against humanity. “Darkness cannot drive out darkness: only light can do that. Hate cannot drive out hate: only love can do that.”[9] Of course, agape love does not imply that the global elite should not be arrested, tried by an impartial jury, convicted, and imprisoned for their crimes.

Perseverance The Civil Rights Movement would not have been successful without perseverance. Perseverance means moving steadily toward an important goal in spite of difficulties and obstacles. Martin Luther King Jr. worked towards equality, justice and equal rights from the early 1950s until his assassination in 1968, which he foresaw. King and other activists faced being sprayed with high-power fire hoses, police dogs, arrest, prison, beatings, court injunctions, and death threats. The King family home was even bombed on January 30, 1956. When he arrived home to his bombed house, King walked onto the front porch and calmed the crowd of his angry supporters:

[10]

Tools That Defeat All Forms of Tyranny

The hope of a secure and livable world lies with disciplined nonconformists who are dedicated to justice, peace, and brotherhood. – Martin Luther King, Jr.

Education

King valued education and spent much of his time teaching others in the Civil Rights Movement. As Thomas Jefferson said, “if a nation expects to be ignorant and free, in a state of civilization, it expects what never was and never will be.” Therefore, we must educate ourselves and others on the fact that wealthy individuals and private organizations like the Council on Foreign Relations are primarily responsible for government policy. Most importantly, we must escape the false left-right paradigm (Democrat vs. Republican) which is nothing more than a divide-and-conquer strategy implemented by the global elite.

Non-Compliance

Martin Luther King stated that, “one has not only a legal, but a moral responsibility to obey just laws. Conversely, one has a moral responsibility to disobey unjust laws.”[11] Rosa Parks refused to comply with the law requiring her to give-up her seat on the bus. Sit-ins were an integral part of the non-violent strategy of civil disobedience and mass protests that eventually led to passage of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, which ended legally-sanctioned racial segregation in the United States.

Much like past civil rights activists refused to submit to unjust and immoral laws, we must refuse to comply with laws and administrative dictates that reduce us to serfs. We must refuse to be radiated by airport naked body scanners. We must refuse to be groped and fondled by government agents, in violation of the 4th Amendment and natural unalienable rights, when there is no probable cause or even reasonable suspicion of criminal activity. We must refuse to allow our naive young men and women to join the military, so that the global elite cannot use them as pawns to conquer practically defenseless third-world countries to steal natural resources for profit. We must refuse to allow three-year-old children to be strip-searched in public by mindless drones, while adult men and women stand by immobile. We must refuse to let government forcibly medicate us into submission by fluoridating the public water supply. We must refuse to give our kids vaccines loaded with toxic levels of mercury, aluminum, and squalene. We must refuse to allow low-level drug offenders to be incarcerated at taxpayer expense while the government traffics narcotics. You can think of many other things that you should not tolerate as well.

Boycott

On December 1, 1955, Rosa Parks was arrested for refusing to give-up her seat due to her skin color and move to the back of a public bus. The Montgomery Bus Boycott, led by Martin Luther King, Jr. and others followed, lasting 385 days. The boycott campaign ended with a U.S. District Court ruling in Browder v. Gayle that ended racial segregation on all Montgomery public buses.

Boycotts can be successful today as well. We must refuse to do business with companies that donate money to ‘think-tanks,’ tax free foundations, and false charities that strategize how to take our money while enslaving us. Furthermore, why support a bank that made huge profits making bad loans through the fractional reserve banking scam, only to later be bailed out by taxpayers? It should be noted that by some estimates the four largest banks make up 55 percent of U.S. banking assets.

We must boycott credit cards in favor of cash because their high interest rates are usury, and using them promotes the cashless society control grid, where a record of all of your transactions is kept so that companies and the government can monitor and predict your behavior. Make no mistake, mortgage and credit card debt is the modern form of slavery. Special laws have been passed to allow banks and credit card companies to charge absurdly high interest rates.

In a similar fashion, we must refuse to watch the banker/government controlled media, which have deceived the public into wars based on false pretexts, economic depressions, fabricated swine flu pandemics, false flag operations, etc. Just six corporations control approximately 90 percent of the “mainstream” Operation Mockingbird media. Instead, we must support and promote the alternative media, which is growing stronger each day despite the globalists censoring it. We must also boycott toxic food and pharmaceuticals that make us sick. And boycott companies working with Homeland Security to surveil us while we shop, creating a snitch culture of citizen spies.

Protests and Marches

“He who passively accepts evil is as much involved in it as he who helps perpetrate it. He who accepts evil without protesting against it is really cooperating with it.”[12] King led many marches and protests on his quest for equality, most notably the Albany movement (1961), Birmingham campaign (1963), and the march on Washington (1963). Today, organizing a peaceful march, protest, or meet up is easier than ever thanks to online meet-up groups and social networking.

While peaceful protests and marches are effective in attracting public attention important issues, it must be noted that there are obstacles to organizing large demonstrations. First, similar to the FBI falsely labeling King as a communist and wire-tapping his phone,[13] the government may label you a “domestic extremist” and put you on a watch list. Second, the city where you want to have the protest may violate your Fist Amendment by requiring you to obtain a permit, or telling you that you may only protest in a free speech zone. Third, as King’s movement was infiltrated by people he trusted, your march or protest will be infiltrated by undercover law enforcement, modern day Judas Iscariots, or, at worse, agents provocateur and black-bloc (government sponsored) anarchists.

Email

Unfortunately, King did not have the access to the power and efficiency of email. On the other hand, we must utilize it each week by emailing our contacts the best articles for exposing the New World Order from the many great sites and blogs exposing the agenda. Our future economic health, safety, and survival depends on us educating our friends and families about the Chinese-like totalitarian policies that the globalists intend to implement. If you do not inform your friends and family, who will?

Flyers

Every weekend each peace/truth activist should deliver at least 50 to 100 flyers to front doors in their neighborhood. The flyers should contain the “real news” and links to trustworthy alternative news sites. If just 10,000 people distribute 100 flyers every weekend, 49 weeks per year, we will reach 49,000,000 people each year (10,000 people x 100 flyers x 49 weeks). Distributing 100 flyers takes less than an hour and black and white copies are inexpensive.

Nullification:

Martin Luther King, Jr. stated that “injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere.”[14] Jury nullification occurs when a jury returns a verdict of "Not Guilty" despite its belief that the defendant is guilty of the violation charged. The jury in effect nullifies a law that it believes is either immoral or wrongly applied.[15] In the United States, jury nullification first appeared in the pre-Civil War era when juries sometimes refused to convict for violations of the Fugitive Slave Act. Later, during alcohol prohibition, juries often nullified alcohol control laws, possibly as often as 60% of the time. Should juries nullify laws pertaining to speeding, drug use, tax laws, refusing to be drafted during times of war?

“State nullification is the idea that the states can and must refuse to enforce unconstitutional federal laws.”[16] This power is granted to the states by the Tenth Amendment to the U.S. Constitution. “The powers not delegated to the United States by the Constitution, nor prohibited by it to the States, are reserved to the States respectively, or to the people.” In short state and local governments should not assist the federal government in enforcing unconstitutional federal laws.

Conclusion:

“We know through painful experience that freedom is never voluntarily given by the oppressor; it must be demanded by the oppressed.”[17] We must demand our freedom now and use the tools listed above to peaceably bring it into existence. Martin Luther King, Jr. broke silence, and the Civil Rights Movement set the precedent. Just as the globalists have spent many years implementing their plans to enslave mankind in debt and fear of war, our victory will not be gained overnight. Each individual that desires freedom must be the change that he or she wants to see in the world.[18]Once our freedom is obtained, it must be vigilantly guarded, as the masters of deception always quickly regroup when defeated. But rest assured, by all of us who desire true freedom, following King’s example in our local communities, the banking and corporate sowers of inequity will lose their control over humanity.

When our days become dreary with low-hovering clouds of despair, and when our nights become darker than a thousand midnights, let us remember that there is a creative force in this universe, working to pull down the gigantic mountains of evil, a power that is able to make a way out of no way and transform dark yesterdays into bright tomorrows. Let us realize the arc of the moral universe is long but bends towards justice.[19]

Ethan Jacobs, J.D. is a licensed California attorney with a B.A. in Political Science. His passion is researching and writing about a wide range of issues, hoping to raise public awareness.

Notes:

[1] Martin Luther King, Jr. Wikipedia Online Encyclopedia. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Martin_Luther_King,_Jr.

[2] Andrew Gavin Marshall. The American Oligarchy, Civil Rights and the Murder of Martin Luther King. Global Research.

November 30, 2010. http://www.globalresearch.ca/index.php?context=va&aid=22168 .

[3] Jim Douglass. The Martin Luther King Conspiracy Exposed in Memphis. Probe Magazine (Spring 2000)

http://www.ratical.org/ratville/JFK/MLKconExp.html

[4] Ibid.

[5] Aristotle. Nicomachean Ethics. http://www.constitution.org/ari/ethic_00.htm

See also http://www.great-quotes.com/quote/785892

[6] William Shakespeare. Julius Ceasar. Act II, Scene ii. http://www.infoplease.com/spot/shakespearequotes3.html

[7] Mohandas Gandhi. BrainyQuote.com, 2010. http://www.brainyquote.com/quotes/quotes/m/mohandasga164233.html

[8] Martin Luther King Jr. The Power of Non-Violence. June 4, 1957. http://teachingamericanhistory.org/library/index.asp?document=1131

[9] Martin Luther King Jr. Strength to Love (1963). http://www.mlkonline.net/quotes.html

[10] January 30, 1956 – Martin Luther King Jr.’s Home was Bombed. January 1, 2009.

http://rhapsodyinbooks.wordpress.com/2009/01/30/january-30-1956-%E2%80%93-martin-luther-king-jr%E2%80%99s-home-was-bombed/

[11] Martin Luther King , Jr. Letter from a Birmingham Jail (1963)

[12] Martin Luther King Jr. Stride Toward Freedom. A Testament of Hope: p. 429. (1958).

[13] Martin Luther King, Jr. Wikipedia. Ibid.

[14] Martin Luther King, Jr. Letter from a Birmingham Jail (1963).

[15] Doug Linder. Jury Nullification (2001). http://www.law.umkc.edu/faculty/projects/ftrials/zenger/nullification.html

[16] Thomas E. Woods, Jr. Nullification: How to Resist Federal Tyranny in the 21st Century. Regnery Press. (June 28, 2010)
http://www.tomwoods.com/

[17] Martin Luther King, Jr. Letter from a Birmingham Jail (1963)

[18] A quote attributed to Mohandas Ghandi.

[19] Martin Luther King Jr. Where Do We Go From Here? Address to the Southern Christian Leadership (1967).

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Saturday, December 18, 2010

Chase Foreclosure Protest: 22 Arrested In LA

Jacob Adelman
Associated Press

LOS ANGELES — Police arrested 22 demonstrators who blocked entry to a downtown Chase bank branch Thursday to protest what they said were unfair home foreclosures.

The demonstrators, which included homeowners facing foreclosure, community advocates and labor leaders, silently allowed officers to bind their wrists behind their backs with plastic restraints and guide them into a police van.

Dozens more demonstrators chanted and marched on a nearby sidewalk holding sighs that said "Stop Bank Greed, Save Our Neighborhoods" as the 12 men and 10 women were taken into custody.

Read Full Article

RELATED ARTICLES:
10 Ways You're Being Fleeced by Banks
5 Signs The End is Near For The Criminal Banks

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Thursday, November 25, 2010

"Tyranny is Coming to The United States" -- Alex Jones (VIDEO)

YouTube -- RT

RELATED ARTICLES:
Activism in The Age of Tyranny and Terror
Tyranny's Last Stand: The Tipping Point is Here
Endgame Legislation: Lame Duck Session Ushers in Tyranny

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Monday, October 11, 2010

Couple: State took our baby

Concord Monitor

Libertarians turn out for protest

Photo by Alexander Cohn / Monitor staff

Concord Police Sgt. Steven Smagula hands Johnathon Irish a letter from Concord Hospital banning Irish from hospital property except for emergency services while Irish protested at the corner of Langley Parkway and Pleasant Street; Friday, October 8, 2010. Protesters joined Johnathan Irish and Stephanie Taylor of Northwood outside of Concord Hospital after New Hampshire DCYF took the couple's daughter into custody on Thursday, hours after she was born at Concord Hospital. Irish claims that the state acted because he is a member of the political group "The Oath Keepers." Court records show an ongoing investigation into charges that Irish abused Taylor and her two-year-old child.Purchase photo reprints atPhotoExtra »

By Daniel Barrick / Monitor staff

October 9, 2010

An Epsom couple says state social workers seized their newborn baby hours after her birth because of the father's affiliation with an organization that opposes government tyranny. State officials, however, cited domestic violence and child abuse allegations against the baby's father in taking her into state custody.

The issue turned the parents, Johnathan Irish and Stephanie Taylor, into instant celebrities in the online libertarian community. By mid afternoon, about 20 people who had never met the couple gathered at Concord Hospital to protest what they termed the state's unconstitutional interference in a family matter. None claimed to know anything about government's allegations that Irish had beaten his fiancee or her young children, but they said they were outraged that the affidavit supporting the taking of his newborn mentioned Irish's association with a group called the Oath Keepers. The group's website describes it as an affiliation of current and former military and law enforcement members who promise to resist totalitarian actions by the government.

Irish said that on Thursday, one day after Taylor gave birth to their daughter, a group of police officers and state social workers took her from them. He said he and Taylor did not know where their daughter had been taken.

"She's either in the nursery there or in a foster home," said Taylor, who was on hand with Irish to greet protesters and grant interviews.

But according to an affidavit provided to Irish by the state Division for Children, Youth and Families, state officials took the child because of Irish's long record of violence and abuse. According to the affidavit, a judge determined that Irish abused Taylor's two other children. She is still married to the father of those children, though Taylor said yesterday that her husband has refused to accept her divorce petition for the past two years.

The affidavit also says that the police in Rochester report a "lengthy history of domestic violence" between Taylor and Irish, and that she accused him of choking and hitting her on more than one occasion. According to the document, Irish failed to complete a domestic violence course as ordered by the state, and that a hearing was held last month to terminate Taylor's parental rights over her two older children.

Taylor "has failed to recognize the impact of domestic violence in her life and the potential danger it poses to a newborn baby," the affidavit reads. "Mr. Irish has not acknowledged any responsibility to date and remains a significant safety risk to an infant in his care. . . . Without the intervention of the court, the infant will be at risk of harm."

Irish, 24, said in an interview yesterday that he had never abused his fiancee or her other children. He said he was unemployed and collected disability because he is blind in his left eye from a childhood accident. He said that Taylor suffers from "stress-induced seizure disorder" and that complications during her pregnancy required him to tend to her almost constantly. He said he has no lawyer, though a hearing in the matter has been scheduled for next week.

The affidavit also states that Irish is "associated with a militia known as the Oath Keepers and had purchased several different types of weapons including a rifle, handgun and Taser."

It's that sentence that riled up Irish and his allies yesterday, who saw it as proof that he was being persecuted for his political beliefs.

"They're saying that is the reason they're taking my daughter," Irish said.

Most of the couple's supporters shared that interpretation - even if they knew nothing about Irish's legal record.

"All I heard was that a baby was kidnapped, literally kidnapped, because the father posted on an online forum," said Ofer Nave, a Manchester man who did not know Irish or Taylor but described himself as active in "pro-liberty" causes. He said he heard about the protest from a friend, who likely heard about it through Facebook.

As for allegations that Irish had abused his fiancee's children, Nave said: "Maybe he's not that great a guy. Maybe he has a record. But just because the government says it's so, I don't believe it. The fact that there are documents about it is meaningless. But what they did is no different if I kidnapped that baby."

State and police officials declined to discuss the matter yesterday, citing privacy concerns.

"It's a juvenile issue, so I can't comment," said Lt. Keith Mitchell of the Concord Police Department.

A spokeswoman for the state Division for Children, Youth and Families said all child protection matters are confidential under New Hampshire statute.

A message on Concord Hospital's voicemail yesterday cited privacy regulations in declining to answer questions about the case.

About two hours into the protest yesterday, two Concord police officers handed Irish and Taylor a letter from the hospital's chief of security telling them that they were not welcome on hospital grounds unless they required emergency services. As the officers walked away, some of the protesters shouted taunts at them.

"Are you proud of what you're doing?" one called out.

Such support extended beyond Concord yesterday. In fact, the couple quickly found themselves a cause celebre on websites such as Global Political Awakening, Militant Libertarian and Truth is Treason.

Infowars.com, a website run by radio host Alex Jones, who focuses on conspiratorial theories behind what he terms the "New World Order," posted an account of Irish and Taylor's story. Within minutes, it attracted dozens of comments from readers offering support for the couple. Jones also interviewed the couple on his show yesterday.

"This is Nazi Germany crap that's what this is," wrote one commenter, Robininthehood. "The camps are coming next if you let this slide."

"What this comes down to is: you will no longer be able to just breed. Once you have the kid, they will take it away," wrote another commenter.

On the Oath Keepers website the group's founder, Stewart Rhodes, issued a statement in support of Irish and Taylor.

"If true, then this is as bad, and in fact worse, than any of the violations of liberty that our Declaration of Independence lists as the reasons for our forefathers taking up arms in our Revolution and for separating from England," Rhodes wrote. "We no longer have freedom at all if this is allowed to be done. And we will not let it stand."

The internet played a big role in rallying support for the couple. A Facebook page dedicated to the couple spurred the 20 or so protesters at the hospital yesterday. Many held signs, and conversational references to the Nazis and Stalin-era Russia were common. Someone brought poster board and markers for sign-making; one man held a sign that read "Infant Political Prisoner."

A woman who only identified herself as Tiffany held a sign that read "I am an Oathkeeper. Are you gonna take my kids too?"

Tiffany said she had joined the group only yesterday morning, after hearing of Irish's story.

"This is supposed to be America, not Nazi Germany," said Tiffany. "You can't have your children stolen."

Amanda Biondolillo, a Concord woman who came with her young daughter, said she didn't think the state should get involved in family issues at all, even if there is reason to suspect abuse.

"The family should be left to resolve it on their own," Biondolillo said. "Or private enterprise - private companies can contact the family and say, 'We heard you were hitting your kids. Can you stop that?' " (next page »)

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