Even as Tropical Storm Isaac bears down on the Gulf Coast, hundreds are expected to protest this morning in Tampa against the Republican National Convention. Today’s official RNC events were canceled due to the storm. But organizers from the Coalition to March on the RNC spent the night encasing their picket signs in plastic. Thousands of law enforcement officers from the local police and sheriff departments, as well as the National Guard, are patrolling the streets near the RNC in an area being called the Green Zone. We’re joined by two guests helping to organize protests in Tampa: Medea Benjamin, co-founder of CODEPINK and author of the new book, "Drone Warfare: Killing by Remote Control," and Tracy Molm, an activist with Students for a Democratic Society, whose mobilizing at the 2008 RNC in Minneapolis-St. Paul landed her on the FBI’s surveillance list. Agents raided Molm’s home in 2010, along with the homes of others engaged in antiwar activism critical of U.S. foreign policy. That investigation is ongoing but has not stopped her from continuing to protest. [includes rush transcript]
