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Sunday, October 13, 2024

Punch to the Face Heralds New Era of Political Violence in Emeryville

Tattler Editor Physically Assaulted by John Bauters’ Supporter 

Emeryville's Children's Harvest Festival Site of Political Violence

Unprovoked Attack Draws Yawns From Team Bauters

Commentry

By Brian Donahue

A friend and supporter of candidate for political office John Bauters, assaulted me without provocation last week as I was asking Mr Bauters a question at an Emeryville public event.  The assault came in the form of a punch to the face because the Tattler has been covering Councilman Bauters’ campaign for Alameda County Supervisor and the assailant doesn’t like the news the Tattler has been reporting.  It is the first example of political violence we know of in modern Emeryville history.


The Incident

Please review the video of the incident below.

Mr Bauters set up a tent to talk to voters and distribute campaign literature at Emeryville’s annual Harvest Festival at Huchiun Park on Sherwin Street October 5th.  The punch came less than one minute after I sat down to ask the Councilman a question for a potential Tattler story.  I wanted to ask him why, at an earlier public event in Berkeley, he had called his colleague on the City Council, Kalimah Priforce, a name that involves an expletive (he called him a “shitbag liar”).  

At first, Bauters said he didn’t recall calling Council member Priforce a name, and so I realized I needed to use the actual profanity, to jog his memory.   Because a man, the assailant with two young children, was standing under the Bauters tent and within earshot, I turned to him and told him I was going to quote back the profanity to Mr Bauters and for the sake of his children, I would give him ample time to move a few feet away for five seconds.  The assailant told me not to use the word in front of his children and he didn’t step away.  He told me I had to censor my speech.  I told him NO and I reminded him he could step back for a moment but instead, he menacingly ordered me to “stand up”.  I stood up and turned the camera to the man and told him his children were not in the camera frame.  Bauters, realizing his friend was about to turn to violence, called him by his first name and told him not to do it.  But his friend was not controllable.   He set down his child from his shoulders and punched me in the face.  I saw the punch coming and blocked it, turning it into a glancing blow but the kinetic force was enough to drive me backwards into my chair, which flipped over.  Then I tripped backwards over the chair and landed on the asphalt on my elbow, injuring it.

Writhing in pain on the ground and tangled up in the chair, the assailant verbally taunted me in front of his children he was seconds before trying to protect against hearing profanity, “Did that fucking hurt?” he said to me.   Because I did not defend myself against the small, 5’-9”, 150 pound man’s attack, there was no more violence.  Council member Bauters, who was standing six feet from me, did not offer me any assistance or help me to my feet, nor did any other of his political supporters standing or sitting under the tent.  The assailant did not apologize for his actions. 

The police were summoned as well as an ambulance.  The Emeryville police viewed the video and I pressed charges on the assailant who will appear before an Alameda County judge in December.  I was treated by medical EMTs.  My elbow is still injured.      

                                  

The Assailant

The Assailant 
Private school director.
He believes his calling is to treat
people with "respect and kindness".
The assailant, who lives in Oakland with his wife and children are long time friends and supporters of John Bauters’ political career.  He gave the Emeryville Council member $500 for his re-election campaign in 2019.  In 2023, when it was mostly Republicans clamoring for Alameda County DA Pamela Price to be recalled, the Bauters supporter gave $100 to the effort.  

On a popular social media site, the assailant prominently posted a photograph of himself and his two children.  The Tattler has blanked out the faces of his children for purposes of this story.  After punching me in the face and taunting me, the assailant said, “Don’t threaten my children”.

  At no time did I threaten his children as the video shows; as a matter of fact, I went out of my way to protect his children.  It was this violent man himself that (psychologically) harmed his own children.

The assailant is the Chairman of the Board of Trustees at an expensive Berkeley international private school where he is tasked with serving as an “ambassador for the larger community”.  The school claims their commitment to the community is to “interact with respect and kindness with everyone in our community.”

He is also the principle at an eponymous local insurance agency that is listed with $5 million revenue.


Political Violence

Amid ever increasing political violence around the nation, it was probably only a matter of time before it came to Emeryville.  Council member Bauters himself has been instrumental in changing the politics in Emeryville, leading a turn away from accountability, transparency and democratic inclusion.  This has come in the form of not answering emails, texts or phone calls of his constituents as well as a refusal to hold press conferences, all meant to keep his 'brand' untarnished, something not possible for a real politician in a true democracy.  The Mayor Courtney Welch and Council member Sukhdeep Kaur have also taken up this Bautersian ‘shield of darkness’ political tactic.  The total narrative control Bauters has birthed in Emeryville means constituents who ask him tough questions will find themselves frozen out.  The press as well.  In fact, the whole reason I seek to get questions answered at public events from these undemocratically minded Council members is that is the only time they can be approached and be subject to a question about their policies. 

The violence brought this condemnation from
Council member Priforce.  The rest of the Council
members refused to comment on it. Maybe they think 
political violence is no big deal?

With political violence spilling out of red states a lack of accountability from a politician, born of a binary narrative that the community is made up of good (supportive) people and bad (unsupportive) people, can lead to violence here.  What Mr Bauters and his Council followers are doing can rive the community into warring camps and ultimately, political violence.  Strong leadership is what’s needed to stop political violence.  But it also requires the whole community to be on board.  Sarah Birch, Professor of Political Science at King’s College London and author of Electoral Violence, Corruption, and Political Order says “A community that will tolerate violence will get violence. A community that does not tolerate violence is much less likely to have violence.”   

Emeryville citizens can put aside political differences and collectively refuse political violence, but it will take saying NO to it.  Greater American political dysfunction of the violent kind is creeping into Emeryville.  Because what may have been seen as abstract and foreign in the recent past can now be seen in actual fists impacting actual faces.   We have learned it can happen here.

The video of the incident may be viewed HERE.

Lifted from his social media account, the assailant 
posted this picture of himself with his two children.
We blocked out their faces out of respect for them.
He punched a man in the face, unprovoked, in front
of his own children. Lifetime memories were made.

53 comments:

  1. The story is not necessary to read. The video tells you everything you need to know. The punch came out of nowhere. The guy went from 0-100 in half a second. He's obviously a Bauters supporter who cannot tolerate any disrespect of Bauters, even asking questions. OUTRAGEOUS! He belongs in jail. My only question, why are you not reporting his name? It's obvious you know it.

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    1. The assailant's name is not published so as to not prejudice a potential jury in case of a trial.

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    2. You obviously don't know Brian very well. He does nothing but provoke people. He truly believe it's his calling. Maybe now he will stay out of folks faces.

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    3. If you consider filming public servants a provocation then I do provoke some people, it's true. If you're a police officer or a Council member or government official and you are acting as a bully or doing a bad job or being unaccountable, I will provoke/film you when I can. BTW, it's called the 'Tattler Camera of Accountability' and you never know when it's going to come at you! Ask John Bauters, Courtney Welch or Sukhdeep Kaur, they'll tell you.

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    4. There is also video footage showing Brian continuously filming children at the event despite being asked not to - In addition to the footage that shows that Brian fell over his chair when the “assailant” tried to grab his phone to stop him from filming his child… there were no punches thrown. Total fabrication. Brian even gloated to the police that he knew he told them he would be assaulted.

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    5. To the Oct 17th 2:12 PM comment:
      It seems you think it’s illegal to film children in public. If that were the case, virtually everybody at Disneyland would be a criminal because if you take a picture there, there’s going to be a child in the background in it. In fact, it’s not illegal. Every journalist knows this. Cops know it too. Try getting a cop to do anything about a person photographing a child in public besides shrugging his shoulders. They won’t….because it’s not illegal. You say it is illegal. So why didn’t you have me arrested that day? If I were breaking the law, I should have been arrested. Why wasn’t I? Why did you let me ‘illegally' film all those children, Mr Anonymous? What’s that make you?

      Filming children “…despite being asked not to” you say. I wasn’t asked not to not film children but if I asked you not to come to this park, would you do as told? Of course you wouldn’t….because it’s perfectly legal for you to come to this (or any) public park. I could report that you came to the park despite being asked not to. But I would never say such an asinine thing.

      The “continuous” filming of children at the park that day you’re talking about is incidental if it happened at all; children could have been in the background, it’s true. But that’s true for you too. You took video there and there were children in the background. What’s that make you? Answer: a dumb hypocrite. Dumb because you’re ignorant of the law and a hypocrite because, like right wingers everywhere, your outrage is predicated on postulating that laws for ‘are thee but not for me’.

      I don’t “film” children for the Tattler but I could. If I ever needed to film a child in public for the sake of the news, I would do it. I might block out their faces but I would definitely film them. So far, I’ve never had to do it. That’s why you won’t see any children (except far in the background) in any Tattler story….but you might someday.

      Regarding your other opinions in this comment: The County DA will decide about this case. Not you. If a law was broken (it was), the DA will seek justice. I place my trust in the law….the actual law, not made up law.

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    6. That person that you’re responding never to never said that it was illegal to film a child, I think they’re just calling you a dick. And yes, we all know that being a dick is perfectly legal.

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    7. That was a whole essay that I skimmed about the legality of filming children.. why? I didn’t infer it was illegal. Learn to read dumbass

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    8. This is what Brian does. If anybody pushes back on him, he usually goes on a long rant that involves sycophants or Rob Arias or the corporate elite, even if it has nothing to do with the thing the person brought up. I think he just likes to hear himself talk.

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  2. Sad. The private school should immediately consider asking the assailant to resign from his position on the board of directors. Violence at any level is not acceptable in schools, private or public. Having a role model resort to violence for any reason, particularly against a journalist, is against the principles of most Americans.

    As to Councilman John Bauters, his remarkable inaction during and after the assault provides an indication as to his tolerance and acceptance of violence in American society. It is remarkable that he failed to offer any sympothy or assistance, even offering a hand, to Mr. Donahue. Mr Bauters: have you no sense of decency, sir, at long last?

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  3. I hope you can bring this up at the next public meeting involving Bauters and bring more attention to his thuggish nature.

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    1. You Brian supporter are the worst. All 5 of you! How do you know this man did not feel threatened? You stick a phone up in a stranger's face and record them, get ready for the outcome.

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    2. Yes, if you anger a criminal type, they might perpetrate all manner of crimes against you. That's what criminals do. In this case I obeyed the law and the Bauters supporter, a criminal type, broke the law. He's now getting ready for the outcome.

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  4. You report that Bauters told him not to go violent. That right there absolves Bauters from any blame. He literally told the guy not to attack.

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    1. That's probably how Council member Bauters thinks about this.

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  5. That should be career ending for both of those douchebags. That's about as inappropriate as it gets. I was a supporter, but will no longer support Bauters. His inaction speaks volumes. If he can't take the heat he needs to get out of the kitchen. As for the other asshat, he needs to be fired from his positions, jailed and made to pay a fine. Nice lesson you gave your kids there. What an ass. A public apology is the least that needs to come from this.

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  6. I guess his kids will now learn how to talk to daddy through the prison window.

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  7. https://evilleeye.com/news-commentary/disturbing-body-worn-camera-footage-of-school-board-candidate-confrontation-provided-by-epd/

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    1. The link is one of many displaying your horrifying behavior. Once the courts see the many complaints and video's displaying your threatening behavior you should be the one on trial. Maybe they will end up arresting you.

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    2. Maybe they will. Rob’s been hoping for that for more than a decade but it never seems to happen. But last time I checked, journalists holding politicians accountable is not against the law. Crimes are against the law. People get arrested for crimes. Me hurting your feelings is not a crime.

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  8. What's the assailant's name? He should be reported to his employer!

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    1. His name will be released after trial.

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    2. Trial, that's hilarious. You better hope your truth don't come out, You may be the one arrested. Hopefully this has knocked some sense in this dramatic fake tattling, factious storyteller.

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    3. The prospects of a trial I don’t think are hilarious to the assailant at this point. He’s probably worried about it. I’m going to be arrested, you say? Is your name Rob, per chance? This has been the line from Rob Arias for more than a decade: I’m a criminal who keeps breaking the law. The police will arrest me soon. That’s what he keeps telling his friends and readers. The authorities are always readying themselves for a take down of me. But somehow I never seem to actually get arrested. Why is that? Are the cops all too stupid? You and Rob (presuming you’re not one and the same) like the police too much to say something like that. So why can’t they get it together and arrest me for all my criminal activity? The police keep arresting criminals in Emeryville…all but one. Why is that? Go ahead, please inform us.

      Oh, and if you find anything factually incorrect in the Tattler, point it out, provide evidence and I’ll investigate it and if your claim turns out to be true, I’ll post a retraction and an apology (unless it’s just a typo). This goes for all Tattler readers of course.

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  9. I'm sorry you went through that experience. Violence is so rarely the answer. It's not entirely clear to me that this is "political" violence however. It's pretty clear he asked you to not use profanity in front of his children which is a pretty reasonable request. That certainly doesn't excuse his behavior.

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  10. It's good that you have pressed charges against the assailant. I suggest you consider suing the violent bully too. He used violence in an attempt to keep you from doing your job as a reporter, a right which is protected in the U.S. Constitution. He then tried to suggest he was protecting his children, as his motive for his attacking you-- How pathetic can a violent bully get, hiding behind children? Punks like him need to have consequences for their actions or they will continue to use violence against others and attack other people's Constitutional Rights. Do him, yourself, and the community a favor by educating this man about the consequences of the violence he chose and make his actions an example not to follow because 1. you will have a criminal record. 2. It will cost you a lot in attorney fees and settlements when you violently attack members of the public and the press. There must be a cost for this man's actions against the community. He didn't just assault you, he assaulted our free press-- an attack on the community. Perhaps the people at the fancy private school he is associated with ought to be informed of his violent tendencies and his quick-to-anger nature and would be grateful for you letting them know of this walking time bomb and the liability he presents to the school. Perhaps he will attack a parent or a teacher or a student with whom he disagrees, and then the school will find itself in a whole heap of legal trouble. Do that school a favor and let them know about this dangerous liability and the threat he represents to the school community immediately.

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  11. The community bully, it's about time someone knocked you on your big dumb a**. Always needing attention and playing the victim. You don't realize your approach is threatening. I would have punched your lights out too if you were up in me and my child's face. Hope you learned something. Stay the f**k out of peoples faces. It's not always about violence, in this case it looks like defense. Personnel space is just that, again you crossed the line. Get over it and stop whining.

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    1. Point by point, violent Tattler troll: It sounds like you haven’t watched the video. I suggest you do watch it. You should learn a little about the law. I’m not “playing the victim”, our system of juris prudence casts me as the victim. And that’s because assault and battery has been determined to be illegal. When law breaking happens, there’s a perpetrator and there’s a victim. The one who violates the law is the perpetrator and the other one is the victim. I’m not “playing” anything. The term ‘victim’ is bestowed upon me by the legal system.

      You can “punch my lights out” but then you will be the perpetrator. And they’ll put you in a place you won’t like.

      I have learned that political violence has come to Emeryville. It sounds like you know it’s been here for some time, because maybe it’s part of your world view.

      I’m not “in people’s faces”. I stay back six feet. It’s the criminals that get closer than that, like this Bauters supporter. He got up in my face with his fist. I didn’t cross that line, the assailant did.

      I’m not going to ‘get over it’. I’m going to seek justice. And I’m not ‘whining’, I’m charging this man with a crime.

      You've got some major violence fantasy issues. Are you a Republican?

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  12. Look, the whole community knows Brian is a dick. He's our leading community dick, and he is the one who channels all of our immature dickishness. I've been frustrated as hell by him, and cringed until my smile fell off my face. I've seen him use his child as props at school board meetings, and he is generally counter productive in his methods of communication, to the point where really, nobody wants to leash themselves to his trips down the rabbit hole to his Wonderland. I admit, he's pissed me off to the point where I fantasized about giving him a knuckle sandwich.
    That said, you can't punch the guy in the face in front of your kids at a community event meant to bring our community together, and not bear consequence. That is assault straight up, and honestly, Brian wasn't even at his most dickishness. Bauters needs to apologize to the community for allowing this to take place in his honor, and for not showing some remorse for the incident. This is not a good look for that young man John. I think the larger local mainstream press would be interested in this story and incident. KTVU, KRON and the others should pick up this story. The fact there is video is pretty damaging. Tizzy Ent on X has been notified. Bauters should be worried about this incident. I don't think this is going away any time soon.

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    1. I'm part of the community and I don't think I'm a dick. Maybe a little to the power elite....

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  13. Brian, the more I've learned about your past behavior, the less remarkable this video becomes. Overall, it's just surprising that this is the first time you've had an outcome like this. It's also not political violence however much you want it to be that. Perhaps, you can also learn something about yourself, your behavior and the outcomes you want from them that will form your future approach to getting your message across and convincing people to your point of view?

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    1. I’m with this person. Yes, it’s illegal and morally wrong for Brian to get punched in the face, but man he’s had it coming for a long time. It was bound to happen.

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    2. Just like Trump had it coming?

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  14. The most astounding thing about this incident is not that this guy is a Bauters supporter or that this is political violence, or that Bauters didn’t help you after you got injured. The most astounding thing is that this guy did his dirty work in front of his children and that he’s a director at a school. I believe you have a duty to report this to the school. Then let them decide what to do. But they need to be informed.

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  15. It will be interesting to see what the DA's office does with this and how it compares to what they have done with all the other similar assaults of a fist thrown.

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  16. If you weren’t a journalist, would you have gone up to Bauters’ booth to ask about Priforce, regurgitate hearsay, and speak profanities in front of a child, all while recording?

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    1. I didn't regurgitate hearsay, I quoted him back to himself. But the answer is, no. If I weren't a journalist, I would not approach him to try to get answers because I already know enough about him myself. Recordings serve as notes but also insurance in case these pols claim they didn't say what they said.

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    2. The profanities in front of a child hysteria is ridiculous given that the violent bully perpetrated violence in front of his children and then used profanity. He’s a punk and a menace who deserves to be prosecuted.

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    3. Why did you need to quote Bauters back himself if there was evidence of Bauters saying so? If there was a recording or source, you’d play it back to Bauters or stated the source. It would otherwise have been impossible to verify if what you would be stating was factual.

      In the absence of verifiable facts or source, at that moment you were an antagonizer who wanted to restrict a child and another citizen’s activities (asking them to move away) and to state obscenities in a child presence’s regardless of whether they are there or not.

      You were also visibly recording the situation. It would have been impossible for bystanders to know if you had also included recording the child in your footage to be posted publicly.

      A father perceived your action as a threat and wanted you to stop and to stop recording his child without consent. You fell backward when he tried to remove the recording device.

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    4. To your points:
      Councilman Bauters told me Councilman Priforce is a “shitbag liar” at a previous public event. He said it after I had stopped recording. At the Harvest Festival, I attempted to get Councilman Bauters to, on camera, either verbatim repeat that or repeat it in other words because it is extremely newsworthy that a council member thinks that of their colleague. Mr Bauters has made it clear he has disdain for Mr Priforce in all his rude asides from the dais (despite the Council’s collegiality pledge) but the shitbag liar thing is next level and the people have a right to know this about their Councilman.
      Antagonizer: It’s called journalist doing his job.
      Filming a child in public: Perfectly legal thing to do but I didn’t think it was appropriate to use a curse word in from of children and I extended a courtesy to the father but he obviously didn’t care about profanity in front of his children. BTW, that’s perfectly fine. Many parents use profanity in front of their children and that’s fine. The camera turned to him because of his menacing and violence tinged demeanor.
      Threat: The police didn’t agree with you. They watched the video and told me the man assaulted me. They couldn’t arrest him directly at the event they said because they did not directly observe the crime but they told me I could effectuate a PPA (Private Person Arrest) and they would facilitate that. So he was arrested that way. Had the police decided I was at fault or we were both at fault, it would have been reflected that way by the police. The police attention was directed at the man, not me.
      Fall backward: I fell backward as a result of being punched with a lot of kinetic force.
      Take away: It is a crime to assault people. Flawed people commit assault. They are flawed because they are criminally minded.

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    5. Has anyone placing judgment on this guy and calling him violent seen or heard any other sides of the story. We all know Brian is a habitual liar, drama king and a real asshole. The truth shall come out and what almost all that witnessed this are saying he never laid hands on Brian.

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    6. Maybe you should start writing fictious books like your articles are.

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    7. You won't have not one (1) reader after they find out you trumpted up this story. Trying to get attention even if it is bad. Looks as if the community is no longer going for your Big Bad Bully approach.
      That guy smacked the phone out of your hand. You fell back and tripped over your big floppy feet. Why would you say he hit you? Please get help! Meds, do something before someone get hurt from you drama.

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    8. Dude you are just wrong, you are the one who need to apoligize to that man and his child. You envaded their personnel space and now you are lying on him. Can't wait until the truth comes out and all the eye witnesses come forth and the videos (besides yours) are made public.

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    9. Are you saying that small framed man knocked you off your big ass feet? Liar, liar pants on fire! You sound as dumb as you look.

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    10. Take away for you. Start minding your own damn business and stay the hell out of citizens faces, elected or not.

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    11. All reputable and legitimate news organizations would never film a child in public for media use and news distribution without the consent of the parent.

      As a journalist, your camera was on and recording footage and trained in the direction of the father and child.

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    12. Pro tip: If you are offering your opinion that someone didn’t commit a crime, don’t start by saying they committed a crime. The idea is to not show that the guy is a criminal, right? What you describe in this whitewashed version of the event describes a crime committed by your guy. Jeeze, I don’t think Bauters or his assailant guy friend appreciates your ‘help’.

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    13. Thanks for your opinion. I guess we’ll have to wait.

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    14. What are “ass feet”? Regardless, thanks for your opinion.

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    15. Sorry, guy….the Tattler remains. We’re going to continue on reporting the news of politics (mostly) in Emeryville. We don’t break the law but we report the news. Because nobody else is doing it and because the people have a right to know.

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    16. The Bauters supporter father gets recorded (breaking the law) and the children do not get recorded. Maybe you should watch the video before commenting. But it’s OK to comment even if you don’t want to watch it.

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