Jon Gold Arrested on the Evening News

gretavo's picture

So there's RT, nursing his Brooklyn Lager like the good barfly he is, looking up at the TV as they show footage of the antiwar protests in DC today when, out of nowhere, Jon Gold appears on the screen. Apparently he was in front of the White House, on the ground with some other protesters. As soon as the cops and CBS cameraman converged on him he leapt up to be handcuffed by DC's finest. Now, most protesters try to make it difficult for the cops to haul them off--there is a well known process of going limp so as to make yourself "dead weight", in addition to linking arms to make the cops have to work to remove you from your place of protest. I mean, if you're going to leap to your feet and practically handcuff yourself then why did you go sit somewhere you weren't supposed to in the first place? If I didn't know Jon Gold to be the selfless and attention-avoiding activist that he is, I would think that he wanted to make sure the cops grabbed him and no one else so as to increase his chances of being on TV...

UPDATE 7/13/2010 (emphasis added):

http://peaceoftheaction.org/2010/07/12/free-at-last/
FREE AT LAST!!!
July 12, 2010
Jon Gold
7/12/2010

They tried and tried to put the glove on, but it just didn’t fit. I kid, I kid.

On March 20th 2010, I was arrested for crossing a police line. Today, I was acquitted for the crime, along with Cindy Sheehan, and Jim Veeder. Sadly, Matthis Chiroux, Elaine Brower, and Lafloria Walsh were found guilty of failing to obey.

This was my first arrest and trial so all of this was new to me. Before the trial began, our lawyers and the prosecutor tried to work things out so there wouldn’t be a trial. The prosecutor offered a “pay and forfeit” without any conviction, and all of us declined. We stood our ground, and wanted the chance to clear our names. We felt strongly that our arrests were unjust, and wanted our day in court.

Cindy told me a couple of times before the trial that it was going to be boring, and it was. The only “excitement” came when Elaine, Laflora, and Cindy were allowed to testify. Everyone did great. When Casey was brought up, Cindy started to cry. I leaned over to Ann Wilcox (one of our attorneys, Mark Goldstone was the other), and said I want to testify. I wanted to come to the aid of Cindy because I was angry that she was made to cry, and the thought, “WTF?!? Hasn’t she been through enough already?” went through my mind. I was told that my testifying wouldn’t do any good, so I declined. I’m glad I didn’t testify, because if I did, I most assuredly would have been found guilty. I wanted to say, “yes, I crossed the police line, but that’s because the police were manhandling Cindy, and I wanted to keep an eye on her.” I think the only reason I got off was because there was no video of me going under the police line. If I did testify, I would have probably ruined it for everyone else.

The first to be acquitted was Jim Veeder. They clearly had no evidence that he ever crossed a police line, so he was let go. That was early in the day.

So in other words, the REAL activists who DID NOT comply instantly when asked by the police to get up, did in fact have to pay the price for their convictions. The FAKE activist Jon Gold, who leapt up immediately when the police approached him and offered himself to them, was of course not convicted of anything. This is the action that was going to shut down D.C., putting people's bodies between the gears of the machine, etc.? How utterly pathetic.

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juandelacruz's picture

Now if you were some newby

Now if you were some newby truther who hasn't been around long enough, you might think this Jon Gold guy is really standing up for the truth. You might end up believing 9-11 was done by Arab terrorists and Pakistan, fbi incompetence, and other lihopy shit, coz Jon Gold said so, yeah!

Jpass's picture

interesting

Wow. Sander Hicks has a history of the type of behavior you describe.

This shit is getting stranger everyday. If it weren't so 'wrong' to discuss how completely contrived the actions of Gold and other famous LIHOPPERS seem....I would.

gretavo's picture

john bursill pimps gold arrest at 911Blogger

This video doesn't show when Gold was actually cuffed--i'll keep a lookout for the CBS news footage I saw where he practically jumps into the officer's arms...


gretavo's picture

how exactly did this advance our cause?

I have seen no mention of 9/11 truth in any article about this protest. Jon Gold wasn't wearing any kind of 9/11 shirt or holding any kind of 9/11 sign when he was arrested. As he was led to the police wagon he said he was dedicating his arrest to 9/11 victim family member Bob McIlvaine. Then he said to whichever one of his buddies was taping him that the government is covering up the 9/11 attacks (?) That was it. Given that only people who already read 9/11 websites are ever going to have any idea that a (so-called) 9/11 truther was arrested, it seems this action was designed more to help Jon Gold's "truther" career than the cause of 9/11 truth. Just more clapping for tinkerbell...

Annoymouse's picture

gosh this is embarrassing

redactions by gReT... please, no under the belt fat jokes! this is a serious site!

i hope he spends some time [XXXXX] or [XXXXXXXX] before his next big appearance.

gretavo's picture

great comment by Aidan Monaghan

With All Due Respect

In my humble opinion, it seems that the time of 9/11 Truth activists would be better served at this time by directing every available moment and resource toward the NYCCAN effort to compel NYC councilpersons to examine the evidence for controlled demolition at the WTC on 9/11, as opposed to being arrested before a handful of bystanders with camcorders, however well meaning the act may be.

http://www.nyccan.org/join.php

Submitted by Aidan Monaghan on Tue, 03/23/2010 - 12:59am.

gretavo's picture

sorry I'm late!

casseia's picture

An exchange at TA

[my bolding added]
YT
Posted: Mon Mar 22, 2010 8:59 am Post subject:
Intense. This brings up a lot of emotion. Godspeed to those who care enough to put their lives on the line to stop the murder.

truebeleaguer
Posted: Mon Mar 22, 2010 4:38 pm Post subject:
Symbolic arrests for nothing are a good start for publicity purposes, and I applaud Cindy and Jon and the others for what they did. But let's not fool ourselves. The sidewalk in front of the White House is not the gears of the machine.

When Mario Savio called for "putting your bodies on the gears" in Dec, 1964, the sit-in tactic had been used by the civil rights movement for years, and Savio was advocating that over 1000 students take over the administration building at Berkeley -- which they did. By the next summer, people were sitting down on the railroad tracks in front of troop trains. Putting your bodies on the gears means disruption. Getting a citation for parking your butt in a red zone is not disruptive.

YT
Posted: Mon Mar 22, 2010 5:03 pm Post subject:
Good point, but we only have 8 people!

truebeleaguer
Posted: Mon Mar 22, 2010 5:12 pm Post subject:
Right, I understand the practicalities. I just object to the overstated claim. They crossed a police line to get arrested; that doesn't justify the "this is what a police state looks like" chant I heard. Let's not confuse bullhorning in a free speech cage with "striking a blow for freedom" and let's not convince ourselves that passively getting arrested is putting our bodies on the gears. Remember the civil rights demonstrators faced police dogs, clubs, firehoses, bombs, and sometimes mobs.

There's strength in numbers, but lacking that there's strength in small group acts too. Here's what putting your body on the gears looks like:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Tianasquare.jpg

gretavo's picture

I will keep looking...

for an online clip of the news I was watching when I saw Gold jump up. it was local (Boston) CBS affiliate WBZ. it was so obvious that all he was interested in was getting videotaped being arrested.

gretavo's picture

and yes...

...it harshed my buzz!

gretavo's picture

hasta la LIHOPA siempre!

casseia's picture

"I was thrown in the hoosegow, and it sucked" by Jon Gold

[I've done this kind of civil disobedience before and yeah, they make it pretty sucky in jail, but it's not Gitmo...]

Jon Gold
3/24/2010

On Saturday March 20th, a huge anti-war rally and march was held at Lafayette Park in Washington D.C. It was sponsored by A.N.S.W.E.R. Speakers included Cindy Sheehan, Ann Wright, Ralph Nader, Matthis Chiroux, Mike Ferner, and many others.

The march ended in front of the White House. Some of the protesters placed faux coffins representing different countries we have harmed during these illegal wars against the fence in front of the White House. The Park Police set up a perimeter around these coffins using the “POLICE DO NOT CROSS” tape. My guess would be it was around 50ft x 50ft on the front sidewalk of the White House. People like Matthis Chiroux laid down in front of the coffins to protest. If you entered this zone, you were arrested. I refer to it as an arbitrary “arrest zone.”

Cindy Sheehan, myself, and others walked through the crowd until we reached the barrier closest to those laying down on the sidewalk. As you can see in this video, the barrier failed, and Cindy Sheehan walked across. As soon as she entered the “arrest zone,” the Park Police immediately grabbed her, and handcuffed her. They were literally manhandling her.

This made me angry, and I yelled at the Park Police to “let her go!” Before I knew it, the barrier was back up. I tried to push through the barrier, but the Park Police pushed back. I managed to push two Park Policeman back until one of them grabbed for something on their side to use against me. It was probably mace, but it could have been anything. I stopped pushing. I walked around to the side where the police tape was, that failed, and I found myself within the “arrest zone.” I decided that I was going to allow myself to be arrested in order to keep an eye on Cindy. One of the Park Police grabbed me by my arm, and placed me next to Matthew and the others.

When I sat down next to Matthis, he said to me, “you’re on the right side of the line,” and I said, “I know.” One of the Park Police walked over to me, and said to another officer, “he crossed the line, arrest him.” That Park Policeman lifted me up, and put me in regular metal cuffs. As I stood up, I screamed as loud as I could, “THIS ARREST IS DEDICATED TO 9/11 VICTIM FAMILY MEMBER ROBERT MCILVAINE JR.!!!” and part of the crowd cheered. As they walked me away I could see Ann Wright waving her fist at me with a big smile on her face as if to say, “RIGHT ON!”

Before I was placed in the van, they changed the metal cuffs to the plasticuffs. They put them on WAY too tight. I told them I have a bad shoulder, but it didn’t matter. They were not too concerned with our comfort. As a result of the plasticuffs, my left thumb is numb. Joshua Smith took this video of me being taken to the van.

This arrest was completely unplanned. The action Camp OUT NOW did plan was to take place about 45min – 1hr later (around 4pm) when the Democratic Caucus arrived to discuss the new health bill. The plan was to sit in front of the entrance ways to the White House to block them from getting in. We never had the opportunity.

Personally, I think it’s a shame that more people didn’t cross the line. That is a public sidewalk paid for by the people of this country, and we have a right to peaceably assemble. This arbitrary “arrest zone,” is unconstitutional as far as I’m concerned.

"Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the Government for a redress of grievances. – The First Amendment to the United States Constitution"

A song had been going through my head all week. Power To The People by John Lennon. I started singing it in the van, and everyone else joined in. It was really quite amazing to see.

When we arrived at the Park Police station, they took us out of the van, and brought us in to get our information, and to strip of us of everything we were carrying. Including our shoelaces. I told the officers that my shoulder was hurting, and that the plasticuffs were on too tight. They clipped them off, and Matthis described the way my arms shot forward like a “spring board.” My wrists had these huge purple gashes in them where the plasticuffs were. They took my information, and placed me in a cell by myself with a window, a small metal bench, and a metal sink with a toilet. The air conditioning was on, so that was good for me, but a lot of the other arrestees were freezing.

We spent several hours in those cells only to come out to get fingerprinted, and photographed. Two of the people that were arrested with us eventually were allowed to leave, but six of us were not. Other people found out that we would most likely not be getting out until Monday, but I didn’t hear anything from within my cell.

Cindy writes:

"The two that were released were from DC and those of us held were out-of-towners. Immediately, we knew this explanation was total b.s. because I have been arrested in DC about 13 times now and I have always been from “out-of-town,” and have never even been held overnight, let alone two nights.

Was it a coincidence that Camp OUT NOW had two major actions over the weekend to try and hold our campsite that I missed due to being jailed? I don’t think so."

I asked officer Walker if we would be getting out that night, and he said he had to talk to his supervisor. Eventually officer Walker opened my cell door, and placed a tag on my wrist with my info and mugshot, and said “put your hands behind your back.” This time they didn’t put the plasticuffs on me so tightly. One of the officers TIGHTENTED Cindy’s plasticuffs after another officer put them on less tighter than before. Elaine had cuts on her wrists.

From there, we were placed into a truck that had a VERY cramped sitting area. I am somewhat claustrophobic so it was hard for me to get in. I did. On the way to the jail, we were talking about how we should have been let go, among other things.

After we arrived at the jail, they took off our plasticuffs, and they frisked us. Then we were placed into what can only be described as a human kennel. The cells were SMALL, and comprised of steel walls, steel beds, steel sinks, and steel toilets. The bars were made up of big bars, and a steel mesh that kind of looked like this from Star Trek TNG. It was easily 85-90 degrees in there, with one big fan blowing. There was very little air circulation. My shirt became my pillow, and I put my socks in the water, and wrapped them around my head Rambo style in order to cool off.

As I said, I’m somewhat claustrophobic, and I started to get a panic attack. I asked to be taken to the hospital in order to get something to calm me down. They did, and as I was there, I was watched by two different shifts of officers from the Metropolitan Police Department. Most of them were nice. We talked about politics, and other things. Every single one of them laughed at me when I told them why I was in jail. They told me I should have gotten a $25-$100 fine, and been released after a few hours.

When I was returned to the kennel, they put me in a bigger cell by myself. In there, I sat for 30 some odd hours. Oddly enough, the fact that I didn’t have cigarettes really didn’t bother me. The cockroaches kept all of us company. They were ALL OVER the place. One of them crawled into bed with me.

The one commodity in jail is the time of day. There were no clocks on the wall so you had no idea what time it was. The only way you could get the time was to ask a guard as they passed by. Some of them gave us the correct time, and others lied to us about it. They fed us bologna and cheese sandwiches every 12 hours, along with bug juice and lemonade.

It is very hard to sleep in jail. Someone told me the guilty sleep well, and the innocent do not. I could only sleep an hour here, and an hour there. It didn’t help that some of my cellmates were talking, or that my neighbor sang and banged on the wall for all hours of the day.
This was my very first arrest, and the charge is “crossing a police line.” I expected a phone call, and to have my rights read to me, but the big joke of the weekend was, “that’s only on TV.”

On Monday morning, we were eventually taken out of our cells to be taken to the court house. They plasticuffed us together. Three or four people per grouping, and placed us into the vans with the VERY cramped sitting area. We arrived at the court house, and they walked us into an area to put leg shackles on us. We saw Cindy and Elaine for the first time in this area. Obviously men and women are separate in jail. From there, they took us to a holding cell for traffic court offenders. It was run by the U.S. Marshal service.

Attorney Ann Wilcox came walking through one of the doors, and we finally got to hear a little bit about what was happening with Camp OUT NOW, and with our arrests. A BIG thank you to Ann for doing everything you did for us.

When it was time to go to court, they put handcuffs on our wrists that attached to a chain around our bellies. Then we were taken to a cell that is meant to hold four people, but they managed to shove 14 in. Cindy, Elaine, and other ladies were in the neighboring cell.

Never before have I wished for my name to be called. We waited for at least 2 hours in that cell before we finally were able to see the judge. We all plead not guilty, and have a trial sometime in June, but one of the more interesting things to happen was a request from the White House to create a “stay away” area around the White House that if we were to enter, we would get an automatic sixth months in prison.

When I finally entered the court room, I was THRILLED to see some of our friends from Camp OUT NOW waiting there for us. It made me feel really good inside.

Finally, the shackles and everything were taken off, and I was able to have a cigarette outside (thanks Josh). PressTV was there to interview us, and they took pictures of the purple abrasions on my ankles from the leg shackles.

The one thought that I had all weekend was that anything that I and the others experienced PALED in comparison to what those people in Afghanistan, Iraq, and Pakistan have had to endure. Cindy said they couldn’t do anything worse to her than taking the life of her child.
I was often asked if I would do it again. My answer is without hesitation.

PEACE OF THE ACTION!!!

Source:
http://peaceoftheaction.org/2010/03/24/a-dog-for-three-days/

Annoymouse's picture

Is it just me,

or does he write like a 12 year-old?

gretavo's picture

>bump<

...the poor man...

gretavo's picture

oh, and it looks like we called it...