Abby Martin of RT TV interviews former Captain Ray Lews about his case

RT TV – Retired Captain Ray Lewis served within the ranks of the Philadelphia, Pennsylvania Police Department for nearly a quarter of a century. Now he is at odds against the force’s higher ups, however, over his role with Occupy Wall Street.

Captain Lewis became a regular at protest and rallies since the infancy of the Occupy movement last year. Regularly donning his Philadelphia PD uniform, Lewis was caught at demonstrations across the country demanding for changes within the system. Speaking with RT, though, the 24-year veteran of the force says it hasn’t been easy.

After first involving himself with OWS, Lewis says he received a letter from the department condemning his uniformed protests. “They want to make sure that no other officers join me in promoting this Occupy movement,” he tells RT. According to the captain, the aesthetic of a uniformed officer rallying against the backbone of the law enforcement industry is the reason behind the department’s demands.

“It is my belief that they were pressured by corporate America, because the one sign I carry on a daily basis is to ask people to watch the documentary Inside Job,” says Lewis. “Inside Job is a scathing, indicting film of banks, specifically in the 2008 financial collapse, and anybody who watches that documentary will fully understand the corruption of our banks in this country.”

The ties between the police and the nation’s financial institutions might not be clear cut, but Lewis attests that it is certainly there.

“In Philadelphia, the Fraternal Order of Police — a lot of cops want to be the president of that union — and they have elections. And these elections are run just like any other political election: they are based on money. A lot of advertising goes into these elections and those cops don’t pay for that advertising out of their back pockets. This advertising is paid for by corporations, banks, financial institutions.

“Subsequently, when you are elected, you are beholden to those financial institutions. And when I come out condemning those financial institutions, if the president of the [union] wants to get continuing contributions, he better pay heed to the banks,” explains Lewis. Now, he says, his benefits with the Philly PD could be revoked if the department decides to pursue an investigation into his role with the protest movement.

Lewis says that the union’s response to his participation in the Occupy movement wasn’t exactly what he had expected. He tells RT he “was taken aback” when he received a letter in the mail from high higher-ups at the Fraternal Order of Police.

“They threatened me with having a hearing, perhaps to expel me,” he says. “I was surprised that they took that extent, without even giving me the courtesy of a phone call and finding out exactly what I was doing; what I was about.”

After going public with his grievances over his demands, Lewis was let off the hook — for now. He says that the way the department acted over his involvement with the Occupy movement should be a chilling wake up call to the rest of the country, though.

“When they come out and say what I’m doing is illegal or improper and give me an order to immediately cease and desist wearing my uniform…or they will take any and all unnecessary action to stop me, what’s so egregious about this is it sends the message to officers that they can violate people’s First Amendment rights,” he says.

Today Lewis says he has yet to be expelled but is still sure that the department will continue to investigate his role with OWS. As for the movement itself, he says he has no expectations but is still behind it 100 percent.

“It’s not going to do any good wondering where it’s going to go,” he says. “I’d rather spend my time and my positive energy on determining what path I can take, what can I do to further the goals of the movement.”

RT TV

MEDIA ROOTS –  Our very own Abby Martin, the founder and editor-in-chief of all of the content on this website has been over at Russia Today (RT) America this past month learning the ropes of live TV journalism.  Abby has over 2 hours of live content broadcast on every Wednesday and Friday at 4, 5, 7 and 8 EST.

Recently, the network has been giving Abby bigger guests like Sibel Edmonds, Alex Jones, a fugitive from hacktivist group Anonymous and even retired generals.  Interview guests who come on TV shows have certain expectations, either they will be walking into a predetermined  partisan hackery ‘lion’s den,’ knowing that they will have to argue from within the left vs. right box with a TV host who is basically a skilled (or not so skilled actor).  So what does a combative and hard hitting interview look like these days in a world where questions are complete softballs, and ‘hard’ questions seem cultivated, manufactured, or even staged?  Can you remember the last time you watched a TV news special and watched a TV show host outside of the paradigm of partisan hackery have a meaningful argument with a guest? I sure can’t.

Luckily we have Abby Martin on our side, asking tough questions that come from the heart, not from a page or a talking point.  In a single day, Abby makes two ‘retired’ generals red faced and flustered by challenging their dogmatic narratives.  Usually a TV news reporter has a certain level of deferrence and authoritative ‘respect’ towards a sitting or ex military officer.  Abby very calmy throws that rule book out and speaks to these men as if they are normal everyday citizens, who spread dangerous and divisive baseless propaganda.  Both generals also try to inject their own agenda (we suspect it’s a think tank talking point) of saying that military spending isnt the main problem, instead they claim that entitlement programs, like welfare and food stamps, are really what’s bringing our economy down.

At Media Roots we would much rather have our tax dollars going to help poor and starving people instead of killing muslims and Arabs thousands of miles away in foreign countries.

Later that day, she had the chance to interview a member of Anonymous.  Instead of butting heads with him on the generic point that Anonymous is ‘criminal’ or hurting our image across the world, Abby asks him several challenging questions that have rarely if ever been asked of an Anonymous member.

“How do we know you’re not an FBI informant?”

“How do we know you’re really in Anonymous when the point of the group is to remain Anymous?”

“Don’t you think the government could use Anonymous coordinated attacks as an excuse to launch the war on cyberterror, further squashing civil rights of all Americans?”

He tries to answer as best he could, and you can tell that this man has never encountered questions like this before, forcing him to think outside of the predetermined ‘fixed’ argument that usually happens on these TV shows.

After having shows like Hardball, Crossfire, Hannity and Colmes forced down our throats for years, we’ve forgotten what truly combative hard hitting interviews look like on the news.  We’ve been accustomed to the equivalent of a WWF wrestling match between people with ‘opposing’ viewpoints in which individually reinforce a false paradigm, but when matched together solidify said paradigm into nearly inpenetrable propaganda for the general public.

Luckily Abby is here to start changing that direction and bringing back the fourth estate into live TV interviews.  Don’t stop what you’re doing Abby… you’re just getting this party started!

Robbie Martin for Media Roots

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Watch these excellent interviews below: 

Abby Martin interviews ex Army Colonel about Defense Spending.

Abby Martin’s interview about Pentagon spending turns into a debate about the threat of Iran.

Abby Martin Interviews Commander X of Anonymous

MEDIA ROOTS – The Transportation Security Administration (TSA) has been widely criticized for its invasive procedures, most notably their nationwide implementation of naked body scanner machines.  Many Americans feel the TSA is an enormous waste of tax payer’s money, and that their safety measures are just a form of “security theater” that don’t really make us any safer.  One engineer turned blogger decided to expose the inefficient agency’s failed body scanners.  Jonathan Corbett, engineer and president of Fourten Technologies, put the $87 million scanners to the test and exposed their inability to detect metal objects when placed in insewn pockets.  He joins RT TV to discuss his upcoming presentation to Congress about his explosive findings in an attempt to rid of body scanners from airports.

Abby Martin interviews Jonathan Corbett, the blogger who exposed the failures of the body scanners.

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This is another RT TV interview about the TSA with Anthony Randazzo, director of economic research at the Reason Foundation.

Abby Martin interviews Reason’s Anthony Randazzo about the TSA’s incompetency.

MEDIA ROOTS – The MegaUpload scandal is a perfect example of how the US government doesn’t let anyone get in their way of going after cases of alleged copyright infringement. The US government bypassed criminal courts and went after MegaUpload founder Kim Dotcom, seizing his assets last year after a high-profile raid of his New Zealand compound–and now America is seeking his extradition to the US. Julie Samuels, staff attorney for the Electronic Frontier Foundation, joins Abby Martin in the RT TV studio to discuss the case and what this means for Net Neutrality.

Abby Martin Interviews Julie Samuels from the Electronic Frontier Foundation at RT TV

MEDIA ROOTS – The Obama administration has the worst track record when it comes to prosecuting whistleblowers. Obama once claimed he’d work hard to have a transparent government, but many have faced retaliation for revealing controversial government information. One of the most startling whistleblowing cases is Sibel Edmonds, Iranian born former FBI translator, who has been called the “most gagged woman in history.”

She waited 340 days for FBI clearance of her memoir but finally decided to release it on her own, without any redactions or government approval. Her book gives explosive allegations that indict multiple levels of the government of traitorous deception and cover up the highest levels of government. Edmonds, founder of the National Security Whistleblowers Coalition, joins Abby Martin in the RT studio to discuss.

Abby Martin Interviews Government Whistleblower Sibel Edmonds at RT TV