green scare prisoner rod coronado has been released from prison. he will be spending the next three months in a "halfway house" as part of his release conditions.

from a upi story:

ST. PAUL, Minn., Jan. 5 (UPI) -- A well-known community activist who worked with protesters at last year's Republican National Convention in St. Paul says he's an FBI informant.

Brandon Darby, an organizer from Austin, Tex., who gained prominence as a member of Common Ground Relief, which helped victims of Hurricane Katrina in New Orleans, has announced in an open letter that he has been working as an FBI mole and said he will testify at the Minnesota trial of two fellow Texans accused of hurling Molotov cocktails during the RNC, The New York Times reported Monday.

In an interview with the Times, Darby defended his decision as "a good moral way to use my time," telling the newspaper he wanted to prevent violence during the convention at the Xcel Energy Center.

David McKay and Bradley Crowder, both also from Austin, are scheduled to go on trial in Minnesota on Jan. 26. If convicted on all counts of making and possessing Molotov cocktails, each faces a prison sentence of up to 30 years.

"I am well aware that I've stepped outside of accepted behaviors and that I've committed a sin in the eyes of many activists," Darby told the Times.

Found this story here.

Kop Busters is an "online reality show" run by Barry Cooper, an ex-cop in Texas who now sells videos purporting to help people "beat the cops". While I'd be skeptical of those videos, this story is pretty incredible:

KopBusters rented a house in Odessa, Texas and began growing two small Christmas trees under a grow light similar to those used for growing marijuana. When faced with a suspected marijuana grow, the police usually use illegal FLIR cameras and/or lie on the search warrant affidavit claiming they have probable cause to raid the house. Instead of conducting a proper investigation which usually leads to no probable cause, the Kops lie on the affidavit claiming a confidential informant saw the plants and/or the police could smell marijuana coming from the suspected house.

The trap was set and less than 24 hours later, the Odessa narcotics unit raided the house only to find KopBuster's attorney waiting under a system of complex gadgetry and spy cameras that streamed online to the KopBuster's secret mobile office nearby.

The attorney was handcuffed and later released when eleven KopBuster detectives arrived with the media in tow to question the illegal raid. The police refused to give KopBusters the search warrant affidavit which is suspected to contain the lies regarding the probable cause.

Kop Busters apparently has never heard of Copwatch, however, because they claim that "This operation was the first of its kind in the history of America. Police sometimes have other police investigating their crimes but the American court system has never dealt with a group of citizens stinging the police." Still, it's interesting to see a reality show used for good, not evil.

video here