Hangin' Out In 100b

I’m going to have to make it quick this week, so I just have a trio of violent and ridiculous (in the exasperating, slightly scary sort of way) stories to share with you all. These three all popped into my blog reader over the last week or so, making for a lovely post-apocolyptic feel to the news.

First, it looks like the LAPD and Hollywood Bowl have taken a lesson from past Houston concert policing and attacked some nice folks at last week’s Radiohead show. All sarcasm aside, this is outrageous, assuming it’s all true, and even my cynical ass can’t believe that people can get away with this.

And that brings us around nicely to the Republican National Convention, which seems to be going swimmingly. First, You Ain’t No Picasso reports that some photographer friends of his were arrested during protests that they were, well, taking photos of. Take notice of the photo he’s posted, where the cops in question totally do not look crazed with power. Maybe I’m reading that into it, or maybe it’s the thick stream of pepper spray (or similar) clouding my judgment. Anyway, if you stop by YANP, also check the links in his post for more RNC madness.

Oh, wait, there’s more! Police also shut down a Rage Against The Machine show that was to take place nearby the convention. Doesn’t democracy just warm your heart? RATM seem to have just switched gears, picking up a megaphone and marching their people down to the convention center in protest. Although it ended in tear gas (as, sadly, stories involving protest of any kind often do nowadays), let’s all just take a minute to thank RATM for being so badass in so very many ways.

   Rage Against The Machine – Killing In The Name