Jason DeRusha asks if this weekend’s citizen journalist effort is adding any value. He specifically mentions MnIndy and The Uptake. Good — and civil! — discussion in the comments.

Related to Jason’s question, MnIndy and The Uptake both have longer-form pieces up today addressing yesterday’s events. (Note that most of yesterday’s coverage was live, on-the-spot type stuff.) David Brauer’s got them all in today’s RNC-themed Daily Glean. Follow all of his links.

Glenn Greenwald has a long and oft-updated piece at Salon, focusing largely, but not entirely, on the arrest of Amy Goodman from Democracy Now!. And he has this to say on the Saint Paul PD’s press conference:

Interestingly, all of the standard journalists asked very police-sympathetic questions (“how much property damage was done? were all the criminals part of this same RNC Welcoming Group? How many police officers were injured (answer: none)), while all of the independent journalists — such as those from the superb, intrepid site, The Uptake — asked challenging and skeptical (i.e., real) questions.

Today’s protest activity almost makes the weekend’s raids look tame.

Before the info, my opinions.

Somewhere approaching 10,000 people showed up in Saint Paul today to say with their signs, their voices, and their presence that they disagreed with something our government is doing. They got their message out with causing any harm to anyone or anything.

A few hundred dillweeds showed up, threw bricks through windows and dumped garbage bins into the street, and generally caused a ruckus for the sake of causing a ruckus, essentially fucking it up for everyone. I’m not against protesting or demonstrating. I am against being a jackass.

And, you know, if you really mean it, show your face instead of hiding behind a bandana. If you have a message that you stand by, attaching your real identity to it gives it more meaning.

At the same time, the presence of various local and federal law enforcement agencies in full riot gear somewhat escalates the situation. If you’re gonna go full out like that, you’re going to spur people on. If you’re ensconced inside your protective bubble, it encourages people to try to break it.

On to the roundup.

Chuck Olsen doing his thing.

Originally uploaded by diversey.

(Okay, I know that’s not actually news, or at least it’s the most meta take on the story, but look at him! Work it, Chuck.)

My #2 favorite: Corinne McDermid is one of The Uptake’s CJs who has been broadcasting from downtown Saint Paul all day. This is video she took while detained by police in a massive roundup of protestors.

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wCST-5IXzDA[/youtube]

@MnIndyLIVE brings you the Quote of the Day:

Overheard from excited Mpls policeman, “So I shot him with impact round a he just fucking dropped!”

Brian Moen has a great photoset of the peaceful protest action.

Terrific photos of the RNC Mania also from wRen, including the following.

Originally uploaded by waiting line.

Originally uploaded by waiting line.

Photos and commentary from Messiah Complex from his vantage point at the Ordway.

And finally many RNC-related dispatches from MnIndy throughout the day and a pretty good roundup of the action and the major conflicts at the Pioneer Press (where bugmenot.com is your friend).

As the PiPress tweets, “Protest tally: 256 total; 119 felonies; 48 gross misdemeanors; 89 misdemeanors. Per Ramsey County Sheriff’s Department.”

Oh yeah, and the RNC did actually start and Hurricane Gustav did actually hit the ground. Most of the country was watching hurricane coverage or the US Open.

Coverage of this weekends raids and various protests, parades, marches, etc. continues.

The Uptake has a nifty google map of the raid locations. Click on the markers to see video from each location. MnIndy has the deets as well. The Pioneer Press had a pretty good story, I think, but when I tried to hit it again they redirected me to the registration page (GRRRRR!).

“Coldsnap Legal Collective is an autonomous legal collective based in the Twin Cities whose purpose is to work in solidarity with other groups or individuals in order to EDUCATE, EMPOWER, and SUPPORT the radical community by sharing knowledge, raising awareness, and developing a network of legal support and solidarity.” They’re tweeting updates on police activity, organizer activity, and calling for legal observers to show up/help out at locations where there could be conflict. And LOLcats. [web] [twitter]

Minnesota Public Radio on street medics. If you’ve ever gone through first responder training at your place of employment, you can be a street medic. Featured: The Northstar Health Collective, which also provides training.

You already know your local independent media joints are all over the action. Independent citizens are out gathering stories, photos, and video themselves. Tony Webster [twitter] and Matt Albiniak [twitter] are just two who are frequently tweeting their observations. Tony’s got a great photoset of the Earth Justice bus that was pulled over and impounded, leaving the occupants on an I-94 exit ramp.

While I ordinarily am not a fan of media reporting, I do enjoy MinnPost’s David Brauer, who is tweeting copiously and insightfully on the coverage of the police activity and the RNC. [twitter]

And, oh yeah, the Republican National Convention is going on, too. They have decided to delay the start of the RNC for a couple days, on account of the big-ass hurricane bearing down on the Gulf Coast. Originally scheduled for September 1-4, the RNC will now delay its start until Wednesday, September 3. I don’t know what’s the best way to handle it, but I’d like to see the convention go ahead and just get the damn thing over with already. Delay the start, fine, but finish it early, please, and go on home.

I was on my to work this morning when I saw a group of protestors on the side of the road. I’ll confess, I only circled back because they had rainbow flags. Turns out they weren’t rainbows for The Ghey, they were for rainbows for Make Love Not Bumbs.

This group of 30 or 40 spry retirees was conducting the weekly protest of ATK (formerly Alliant Techsystems). ATK is our friendly neighborhood purveyor of land mines and cluster bombs.

Originally uploaded by swirlspice.

Strangely coincidentally, as I pulled up to the circle I saw an acquaintance of mine. She mentioned that they do this every week, and I it occurred to me that I’d actually heard of this activity before. I’d not seen them at this location in my year of commuting in this direction. I’m wondering if they rotate, or if ATK is putting folks in this newly constructed building.

They were passing a megaphone around. Each person would introduce themselves and make a statement about how they’d been affected (the couple of statements I heard were dubious) or why they were there. They had copies of the order of the ceremony printed and laminated and a big not-homemade banner. They’re clearly organized and practiced.