Manhattan federal Judge Richard Sullivan (who joined the court in 2007 after being nominated by President George W. Bush) issued a ruling today upholding the arrests of two diehard anti-abortion activists for protesting near Madison Square Garden during the 2004 Republican National Convention. Apparently, protesters Michael Marcavage and Steven Lefemine (here's the latter's freaky anti-abortion website) wouldn't submit to the specially designated "demonstration area" on Eighth Avenue, and tried to get over to Seventh Avenue to chastise Bush for killing fetuses. more ›

The NYPD is not required to release roughly 1,800 pages of documents detailing their surveillance of individuals around the world in the months leading up to the 2004 Republican National Convention, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit ruled yesterday. The 43 page decision [pdf], which overturned a federal judge's ruling last December, was written by José Cabranes, a Clinton nominee. In the ruling, Cabranes wrote that the NYPD field reports were protected by "law enforcement privilege." more ›

Yesterday, the Rev. Al Sharpton kicked of the three-day National Action Network Convention in Midtown, welcoming Republican National Committee Chairman Michael Steele. Steele gave the keynote address, "One thing I've learned is that you can't please everyone. But you can certainly make them all mad at you at the same time." more ›

The city is not only settling lawsuits against the police during the Republican National Convention--the city also settles lawsuits against certain civilians! According to the NY Times, last week the city's legal department paid $55,000 to settle a lawsuit from June Brashares. Brashares, the Code Pink protester who interrupted President Bush's speech (she was charged and found not guilty of charges like disorderly conduct, harassment and assault), sued because she was tackled and dragged by convention volunteers. The city paid up because of "indemnification agreement" where the city agreed to pay for defending any lawsuit naming the RNC. And apparently St. Paul took note and made the RNC take out an insurance policy "covering up to $10 million in damages for civil rights violations by the police, to avoid saddling taxpayers with legal costs." more ›

The Republican National Convention may have ended last week, but lost in the haze of John McCain's acceptance of the nomination was how the final day of the St. Paul protests was marked by a spike in arrests. Police rounded up nearly 400 demonstrators during and after a major protest march, and at least 19 journalists were also arrested--including two from the Associated Press and even a New York-based reporter with the GOP-friendly Fox News. He's just published an outraged account of the experience, and says police misled protesters by telling them to disperse over a bridge, only to block the other side and then arrest hundreds of them en masse. more ›

Rent, the rock-musical that did more to force LES hipster culture into that mainstream than anybody would care to admit, will take its final bows this weekend on Broadway. The once acclaimed show, which has been on the stage since 1996, will leave as the 7th longest Broadway run ever, and has built up a devoted following of longtime fans. And, just in case you were dying to get one last fix, but missed out on tickets to this final show, it will be captured on film and brought to theatres nationwide at the end of the month. That said, the show is closing after a down couple of years, and it's pretty clear that its time, and its brand of hipster stereotype, has finally passed on. more ›

The Post has a funny editorial today about how St. Paul police could have avoided all "the ugliness that's marred the GOP convention this week" by taking some tips from the NYPD's "effective" management of the 2004 RNC protests. Of course, St. Paul officials did consult with the NYPD before the convention, and their raids on protesters' homes seem partly inspired by the NYPD's pre-convention spying in 2004. But according to the Post, demonstrators in St. Paul are now "pining for the apparently gentler tactics of the NYPD." more ›

No surprises here; more reports of heavy-handed police tactics are filtering in from the Twin Cities, where the NYPD has been consulting with local law enforcement on how to handle demonstrations during the Republican convention. Salon has a long story on police and federal officers ("in riot gear, with semi-automatic weapons drawn") raiding houses where protest organizers are suspected of staying, in some cases seizing computers, journals, and political pamphlets. more ›

With activists and citizen journalists pouring into Minneapolis in advance of the Republican National Convention (which starts September 1st), police there are already getting warmed up for what's sure to be another full-frontal assault on the bill of rights – which won't surprise anyone who protested the GOP's last convention in New York City. more ›

Time. Today, it was revealed the former NYC mayor would give the keynote on September 2 (here's a full list of speakers). A former senior adviser to Giuliani explained the strategy to the Observer, "The battleground is always in the middle, it's not the party regulars on the left or the right but smack dab in the center. Yes, Rudy will help with the independents, but he'll also rally the troops by his ability to get the convention rocking and rolling... There was nobody more conservative in the Republican race than Rudy Giuliani on taxes." Rudy is reportedly "honored." Well, we have two weeks to work on the Giuliani-at-RNC drinking game. more ›