Category Archives: Miami

It looks to me as if this judge has clearly shown that he must recuse himself. That said, his commentary in open court is pretty reliable evidence that the Miami cops were — as has been suggested here before — waaaay over the line in trying to corral the FTAA protestors:

A judge presiding over the cases of free trade protesters said in court that he saw ''no less than 20 felonies committed by police officers'' during the November demonstrations, adding to a chorus of complaints about police conduct.

Judge Richard Margolius, 60, made the remarks in open court last week, saying he was taken aback by what he witnessed while attending the protests.

''Pretty disgraceful what I saw with my own eyes. And I have always supported the police during my entire career,'' he said, according to a court transcript. “This was a real eye-opener. A disgrace for the community.''

In the transcript, he also said he may have to remove himself from any additional cases involving arrests made during the Free Trade Area of the Americas summit.

''I probably would have been arrested myself if it had not been for a police officer who recognized me,'' said the judge, who wears his hair in a graying ponytail.

Note that Judge Margolius is a state court judge, not a federal judge.

The weather today was almost perfect. A tiny bit more humid than I'd like, but clear and not too warm. It felt like a perfect late spring day in New England. Only it's December and they are having snow storms up there.

It's exam season, but the students on campus seemed really relaxed. I walked around the lake (yes, we have a little lake) and saw undergraduates lolling about, a group singing along with a guitarist, others strolling hand-in-hand or skating, it was idyllic. Even in the law school courtyard, the people taking study breaks…sometimes quite long study breaks…looked fairly happy (ok, it's early in exam season). It could be that yesterday's free massage service, (complete with special chair, massage therapist and assistant) for stressed students (3-7pm, long wait times due to popularity) organized by the law school student government had some positive effects.

Given the perfect weather, it was no surprise to read that South Beach—a twenty minute drive away, albeit one I hardly ever make unless I have out of town visitors—is “in” again: Journeys: South Beach: From Hot to Cold, Back to Hot Again.

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I wasn't there myself, so I can't testify from personal observation, but there are a lot of accounts floating around of vastly excessive police behavior during the recent FTAA meetings. The city's power structure — never known for its enlightenment — is just tickled pink that no one was killed and nothing tangible was damaged. The intangible cost to our freedom is not something most of them seem very concerned about.

You can get a good flavor of what's going on — and what (in the sense of an independent investigation) is unlikely to happen — by reading these columns from the Miami Herald. Thank goodness for the columnists: other than this AP news story, AFL-CIO asks for probe of police conduct, the news coverage has been largely supine . Hurry, these may only be online for a few days:

• Jim DeFede, The power of the police needs watching
• Michael Putney, Citizens' panel should review complaints
• Jim DeFede, FTAA security review shouldn't be done by cops
• Lida Rodriguez-Taseff, ACLU: 'In the name of maintaining order, Chief Timoney suspended the constitutional rights of law-abiding people.'

Best quote is from DeFede,

Several people, including police officials, kept referring to the protesters as ''out of towners.'' They said the police correctly decided to ''prioritize'' the rights of local business owners over the rights of out-of-town protesters.

I was surprised to hear it articulated so plainly from police officers. I said I didn't realize they could choose who was deserving of rights and who wasn't. Shouldn't the Constitution apply to everyone? Isn't there some middle ground between the lawlessness that overran Seattle in 1999 and the police state that engulfed Miami last month?

…

Last month the police decided ''out of towners'' could have their rights violated.

Who's next? Poor folks in Wynwood? Overtown? Liberty City?

Exactly.

FTAA IMC. It looks from this page as if the police in Miami are on a hair trigger — which fits with everything we've been reading in the local press for the last couple of weeks. It would be tempting to dismiss this web page as agitprop — and it may be — but certainly the cops came armed for bear.

The mainstream media reports, Thousands march peacefully after early clashes. It starts off with how great things are, but the further you go into the article, the less great they sound — although so far at least there have been no major incidents, just many minor ones.

Even the boosterish Herald reports,

Among those arrested today: Marc Steier, an attorney with Miami Activist Defense, which defends the rights of protesters. He said he was seized by police early this morning and charged with obstruction of justice as he attempted to assist protesters.

''I didn't last 25 minutes on the street,'' he said.

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Just after dropping off the kids this morning, I hit the wrong button on the car radio this morning — wait! there's a point to this story! it's not just pointless self-indulgent diaristic blogging! — and the radio flips from NPR, where it usually lives, to AM, where I never go. And I find something strange.

Local AM radio around here usually is below awful. But instead of shock jocks, or wall-to-wall ads, or mindless sports talk, or crime-and-wrecks, what I hear is a calm, measured voice, speaking in long sentences, expressing complex ideas. And the voice….the voice is saying things I thought you didn't get to say on the radio. Especially not in Florida.

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