The Trots over at WSWS did a good job of old-fashioned investigative reporting in the following piece:

http://www.wsws.org/articles/2012/may2012/clev-m03.shtml

Simply by reviewing local news reports and reading the FBI’s own affidavits, the journalist found that the FBI recruited a convicted criminal as an informant, sent him(or her, I’m guessing it’s a him) down to Occupy Cleveland, where he ran into some mentally ill and probably methamphetamine-addicted(you can tell that just by looking at the  eyes of the accused if you’ve ever known a meth head) people who were hanging out there possibly because some of them were homeless themselves.

Addicts often do become homeless after they wear out their welcomes with all of their friends and families.

These self-described anarchists(my speculation: anarchy is a convenient excuse for people who feel they should have the right to do whatever they want whenever they want, especially when it comes down to their “right” to party, er, get high) thought it might be fun to knock down a bank sign, or set off some stink bombs downtown, yuckle-doodle-doo.

The informant, of course, had a better idea. Why just knock down a sign when you could blow it up? For that matter, why settle for mere stink bombs when he could fix them up with real explosives? And why settle for a bank sign when they could really have some fun by taking out a bridge or two?

I’m guessing the informant was supplied with some drugs to provide these self-styled anarchists so he could show them a really good time and earn their trust, which is about all it takes to earn the  trust of addicts and disturbed people.

Then he supplied them with fake explosives and detonators, they actually placed the fakes on the bridge and pressed the detonator, and were promptly arrested. The arrests were announced just before Occupy Cleveland was set to have their call for a general strike on May Day, as the article points out.

What the article missed is that a new casino is set to open in downtown Cleveland later this month, and the local business community and the mayor have been looking for ways to get rid of Occupy Cleveland’s permit to have a tent in Public Square for almost a year. Might make those gambling tourists uneasy, bad for business. Of course, the City of Cleveland immediately revoked Occupy’s tent permit, but not their right to peaceably assemble. You see, most Clevelanders are sympathetic to the Occupy Movement, and that includes the Cleveland Police Department. Occupy Cleveland protesters themselves have told me repeatedly that the cops have been “great” to them. When I delivered some supplies to them, gatorade,  pizza, etc, there was always a police car I could park behind while doing so.

I guess it’s no surprise that it was an FBI informant who acted as the agent provocateur, and not a local police informant.

Is the WSWS article’s conclusion, that this was a test run for more police state tactics to suppress future dissent against corporatist rule, correct? No, it’s not a test run. They’ve been doing this for centuries. This type of police operation is downright ancient. Find a few crazies, gin ‘em up to do something stupid, publicly bust them, and then try to paint an entire social or political movement with one broad brush, and use that to convince people that they need to give up more of their liberty to the State in order to enhance their security.

Still, it was nice to see some good investigative journalism.  Beats political TV talking heads any day.