#OCCUPYWALLSTREET campaign - September 17

[Bruce Dazzling]

.

My initial expectation, based on past experience especially with the Wall Street area, was that a police clearance would be ordered of all park space at 11 pm. New York has had a strict parks curfew policy since the Tompkins Square struggles of the late 1980s. In the process, they usually break up the protest with arrests and clearances of side streets as protesters retreat. The police have not enforced park curfew, which is very interesting, and so there have been hundreds of protesters around the clock since Saturday. Yesterday there were 7 arrests. From what I hear, the cops appeared ready to try a clearance. Protesters rallied using bullhorns. The arrests were for sound violations -- it's not the worst thing when they grab the speechifiers but back off the rest -- and the rally remained. The arrested were released without charges. Today the Cablevision-owned free tabloid "AM New York" is on the attack with a lurid, ridiculous headline: "Violence Erupts at Wall Street Protest." A lot of people hold this paper on the subway, so it's a bullhorn in itself. Fuckers. But otherwise the corporate media coverage has been, if not neutral and objective, then at least not yet openly hostile. WBAI has woken up to the action and they're giving hourly coverage. It's very key now that the gathering is past the midweek point. Hope to make it down there again today or tomorrow.

.

AM New York is a fucking plague. I'm still amazed at the number of seemingly sentient human beings who walk around with their fucking noses planted firmly in this goddamned rag.

It's like the print version of Idiocracy.

Welcome to Orwellville, I love you.

[2012 Countdown]

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Conservative Smackdown of the Day: Coverage of the Occupy Wall St. Protests
September 20, 2011
By Justin "Filthy Liberal Scum" Rosario

Or lack thereof…
You know, it’s not often that I agree with Sarah Palinz on, well, anything, but I have to say, her catchy little slogan “Lamestream Media” really does fit the bill.

Oh, don’t get me wrong! It has nothing to do with her imaginary persecution complex. A reporter asking you what newspapers you read is about as “gotcha” as asking me what I had for dinner last night (Ham and matzoh bread, in case your wondering. I take perverse pleasure in breaking my Jewish taboos).

No, I’m talking about how a few dozen imbeciles wearing tea bags on their hat can show up and protest utter nonsense and that will be all over the news for days on end but when thousands of liberals invade Wall St. to protest the very real damage these “captains of industry” have done to the people of this country, it’s barely a blip on the news.

It’s bad enough that the Sunday shows barely have progressives on to counter the never-ending propaganda from the Right Wing blowhards that magically seem to be invited in droves every single week. It’s bad enough that the evening news breathlessly reports every Republican talking point without even thinking of fact checking or contradicting obvious lies. No, we have to hear “both sides” except, of course, for the liberal side. Liberal protests are not worthy of coverage unless there’s violence, then, and only then, will it plastered everywhere.


Those damn violent Lefties!

I understand that you are so terrified of the mean old Right Wing because they call you “biased” that you will push the Republican agenda in a futile attempt to seem “fair and balanced,” but at least pretend that your not censoring our news!

For being so craven that you’ll “overlook” mass protests against the very people that destroyed the United States’ economy and got away with it in the name of appearing “neutral,” Congratulations mainstream media! You’re all spineless cowards!!


But they said we were unfair to Republicans and that we hurt their feelings! That makes us sad...

Read more about the protests on this major news network. Oh wait. NO ONE’S COVERING IT! Never mind…

http://www.addictinginfo.org/2011/09/20 ... -protests/

===

Live Blog of #OccupyWallStreet: Day Five, 99 Percenters Rise Up
By: Kevin Gosztola Wednesday September 21, 2011 8:46 am

(photo: pweiskel08 )Support for Occupy Wall Street is growing by the hour. Solidarity actions in Chicago, Phoenix and Paris, France, are all getting off the ground. In Los Angeles, Cleveland, and Atlanta, actions are in the works. Each of these may be occupations. And, now there is indication the International Workers of the World will have members at the site supporting the occupation plus it appears Sojourner’s, a Christian Left organization, is taking an interest in the action.

Additionally, this morning there is no explicit NYPD intimidation or harassment of the occupation to report. Some time during the night the police did approach and “dismantle” a projector that was being used to project Twitter updates on #OccupyWallStreet onto a sheet. The police gave some excuse that it blocked “line of sight” and so would not be allowed. There was also talk last night that police were claiming the “Sanitation Code” gave them the right to seize the tarps from the protesters as they did Tuesday morning.

From day one, FDL has been live blogging this action. I (and a team of dedicated FDLers who are constantly posting updates in the comments thread) have banded together to give you the latest updates and insight into the occupation. Here’s a list on Twitter to follow if you would like read reports from Liberty (Zuccotti) Park, where the encampment for the occupation is located.

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11:54 AM Two must-reads on the Occupy Wall Street, both posted at The Guardian: Amy Goodman’s article “Why Occupy Wall Street makes sense” and Micah White and Kallie Lasn’s “The call to occupy Wall Street resonates around the world.”

11:50 AM Video of the earlier reported arrest.

10:35 AM Sleep deprivation?

10:30 AM Another arrest at 10:10 AM. The report is the person blew a horn too close to a police man on a megaphone.

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9:55 AM 11 Things You Can Do to Help the Occupy Wall Street Movement

9:49 AM A couple of buses from Wisconsin on the way to Occupy Wall Street.

9:40 AM A march in progress

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http://dissenter.firedoglake.com/

===

Edited to add one more...

csulaiman Cynthia Sulaiman
#occupywallstreet BREAKING NEWS: NYPD Announces Confiscation of Signs to Begin at 9:30AM

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http://twitter.com/#!/search/realtime/% ... wallstreet
===

Any confirmation on this?

==
CunningxStunt Elly Bos
NYPD Taking Away Signs from Peaceful Protestors http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=B1kGtUxHQmc&feature=share #OWS #occupywallstreet #NYPD
6 minutes ago »
===

Occupy Wall Street: Day 5 - Industrial Workers of the World Join Protest
By Chaz Valenza

An Industrial Workers of the World NYC-GMB representative would come to address Occupy Wall Street. The time was set for 12:30 p.m. today. The IWW would send their workers and the children of their workers for an evening march of solidarity tomorrow, Thursday, September 23.

To the Party of Wall Street: see that light at the end of the tunnel? It's a train.

And that, my friends, is what democracy looks like.

10:00 AM - Live video stream from Occupy Wall Street down. Communications team has been allocated money to purchase better equipment and get it up and running for Thurs. Sept. 22.


11:00 AM - Vote on Occupy Wall Street Demands: HERE

(As I did yesterday - I will post time-stamped updates as revisions to this article above. I will be at the event on Thursday, September 22nd.)

Link: 11 things you can do to support Occupy Wall Street

Today's Occupy Wall Street Agenda:

Facilitation Training - 12:30 pm

IWW Local Workers Struggles - 12:30 pm

Teamsters Meeting - 2:00 pm

General A ssembly - 4:30 pm

March!!! - 5:00 pm

Corporate Personhood Presentation - 5:00 pm

FULL-
http://www.opednews.com/articles/1/Occu ... 1-806.html

===

[2012 Countdown]

Twitter is definately censoring the 'trending' feature for #occupywallstreet.

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An0nymousPR Anonymous
The #occupywallstreet media team has been attacked by #NYPD What would've been your reaction if #iNYPD had confiscated #CNN equipment?
4 minutes ago
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vvibbert Vincent Vibbert
#OCCUPYWALLSTREET Several more violent arrests by overzealous #nypd. The whole world is watching.
5 minutes ago
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Vindictive29 David Low
E-mail your representatives and congressmen to let them know that you are 1 of the 99% and you support #OccupyWallStreet #OpESR
6 minutes ago » latinorebels Latino Rebels

RT @alexitoelbonito: #occupywallstreet Let your congress reps know that you are against the #NYPD wanton disregard of the #1stamendment
7 minutes ago
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WarOnErrorDKos War on Error
BREAKING NEWS: Watch this vid of NYPD Taking Away Signs from Peaceful #occupywallstreet Protestors #breakingnews <> http://youtu.be/B1kGtUxHQmc
1 minute ago
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brooklynrob Rob
On my way to lunch passed by #occupywallstreet site. Couple folks were getting arrested http://yfrog.com/gzimavthj
4 minutes ago
===


Why 'Occupy Wall Street' makes sense
Banks are sitting on cash hoards and corporate profits are riding high – yet ordinary US taxpayers face joblessness and cuts

Amy Goodman guardian.co.uk, Wednesday 21 September 2011 10.15 EDT
http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree ... CMP=twt_gu
===

[2012 Countdown]

Protest
150-Year-Old Law Against Wearing Masks Used to Arrest Wall Street Demonstrators
By Jen Doll Wed., Sep. 21 2011 at 12:31 PM

Categories: Jen Doll, NYPD, Protest

Yesterday we reported that seven people had been arrested for participating in Occupy Wall Street, the vaguely defined, relatively disorganized financial-district protest that's been going on (and dwindling down) for the past few days. Amid accusations of excessive police force, there was also the question of what, exactly, the protesters were being arrested for. Turns out, there's a 150-year-old New York City law that bans "masked gatherings." Five of the people arrested have been issued a violation for wearing masks.

The Wall Street Journal reports that 28-year-old Max Hodes, along with a few other people wearing bandanas, were pulled from a line of protestors and taken to the 1st Precinct, where he was issued a summons for "loitering and wearing [a] mask." According to the New York Times, two men wearing masks and a woman with a plastic mask on the back of her head -- possibly Anonymous "V" masks -- were also arrested.

The anti-mask law goes back to 1845, when tenant farmers used disguises (dressing up like Indians) to attack law enforcement officials, apparently. In 1965 the law was updated to prevent masked gatherings of two or more people, except in the case of masquerade parties. Whew.

New York Police Department spokesman Paul Browne said that in other protests in other cities, demonstrators have worn masks in the hopes of escaping identification and engaged in vandalism and confrontations with the cops. But, it sounds like the police mask-defense is more of a handy solution for quelling the protest effort and less about any real danger done by the "masked" (or bandana-clad) demonstrators.

Here's video of at least one arrest (you can see at 0:04, the guy who is detained at 0:08 has the mask up on his head, not covering his face).

video at link-
http://blogs.villagevoice.com/runninsca ... _str_2.php
===

'and dwindling'? May you prove to be a liar, too 'hip' to protest your own destruction.

[JackRiddler]

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The masks are props. They put on the Guy Fawkes or they pull a turtleneck sweater over their noses, and a little bit later they take them off again. I could do without the affectation. The unconventional power of the protest is in its constant open-platform dialogue. Being and appearing strictly peaceful are essential.

.

[Bruce Dazzling]

Just came in from the protest and I'd say that the numbers seem to be holding steady at around 200.

Spirits are up, and there's no sign of this abating any time soon.

Here are some photos that I took.

WARNING: The last 2 photos contain female nudity.













The nudity seems to be doing its job...



Yes, this guy did an actual double-take.

[2012 Countdown]

Thanks for the reports and thanks for the photos! Over at the financial bd I frequent, some posters were commenting about it. saying 'hey, some of the protestors were hot', lol

yes, the nudity is doing its job.


re Masks -I like them (obviously). Its all part of 'branding' and Anon's 'brand' as well. This whole 'occupation' has been a marketing experiment. We should go with what works in the consumer trained society.

==

More twitter-

http://twitter.com/#!/search/realtime/% ... wallstreet

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» gzrecoil Rain on me
@NYCMayorsOffice - #Bloomberg's office repeatedly hanging up on all callers in regards to #OccupyWallStreet -212-341-2009

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wagenonviolence Waging Nonviolence
Endorsements from patch Adams and Noam Chomsky for #OccupyWallStreet #takewallstreet #wearethe99
9 minutes ago

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OutcastMommaSun Sun
GOD LOVES YOU can trend but #occupywallstreet can't? Hmmmm
9 minutes ago

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bangash bangash
@ @Sierra8561 @karengifford @chaztv No Standing When Speaking Rule??? what is this the Twilight Zone?? #OccupyWallStreet

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Sierra8561 Jared
RT @karengifford RT @chaztv: OpEd NEWS: #OccupyWallStreet: Cops enforce No Standing when speaking rule at (cont) http://t.co/lhBESf0k

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PMbeers PMbeers
Join us in Los Angeles! Please RT http://t.co/Y3QPrODU #OWSLosAngeles #OccupyWallStreet @Serpentine202 @chaplinlives @hg47 @vitaminwater
4 minutes ago

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robinsage Robin Sage
@FoxNews #Anonymous plans on attacking pension funds by hacking the NYSE
#OccupyWallStreet
1 minute ago

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Occupy Wall Street: Day 5 - Two More Violent Arrests
http://www.opednews.com/articles/Occupy ... 1-806.html

[2012 Countdown]

Bumper Sticker
Designer: Waking Minds
Product ID: 576241814
Date Created: September 20, 2011 at 10:14 AM

Resisting the criminal bankers and Wall Street hedge fund managers will take strong organization, protests & other collective actions. Transform the system. Occupy Wall Street., bumper sticker.
----------------
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$5.00
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Sticker (Bumper)
Occupy Wall Street Bumper Bumper Sticker - Tell the world how you feel! Our bumper stickers are perfect for expressing yourself while cruising down the highway or just for posting on the wall.

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http://www.cafepress.com/+occupy_wall_s ... ,576241814

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More-
http://www.cafepress.com/+wallstreet+bumper-stickers

===

If you attend one of the other gatherings and have some fundage to spend, I would suggest getting 50 or so of these and passing them out.

[Bruce Dazzling]

Why 'Occupy Wall Street' makes sense
guardian.co.uk, Wednesday 21 September 2011 10.15 EDT
Amy Goodman

If 2,000 Tea Party activists descended on Wall Street, you would probably have an equal number of reporters there covering them. Yet 2,000 people did occupy Wall Street last Saturday. They weren't carrying the banner of the Tea Party, the Gadsden flag with its coiled snake and the threat "Don't Tread on Me". Yet their message was clear: "We are the 99% that will no longer tolerate the greed and corruption of the 1%." They were there, mostly young, protesting the virtually unregulated speculation of Wall Street that caused the global financial meltdown.

One of New York's better-known billionaires, Mayor Michael Bloomberg, commented on the protests: "You have a lot of kids graduating college, can't find jobs. That's what happened in Cairo. That's what happened in Madrid. You don't want those kinds of riots here."

Riots? Is that really what the Arab Spring and the European protests are about?

Perhaps to the chagrin of Mayor Bloomberg, that is exactly what inspired many who occupied Wall Street. In its most recent communique, the Wall Street protest umbrella group said:

"On Saturday we held a general assembly, two thousand strong. … By 8pm on Monday we still held the plaza, despite constant police presence. … We are building the world that we want to see, based on human need and sustainability, not corporate greed."

Speaking of the Tea Party, Texas Governor Rick Perry has caused a continuous fracas in the Republican presidential debates with his declaration that the US's revered social security system is a "Ponzi scheme" Charles Ponzi was the con artist who swindled thousands in 1920 with a fraudulent promise for high returns on investments. A typical Ponzi scheme involves taking money from investors, then paying them off with money taken from new investors, rather than paying them from actual earnings. Social security is actually solvent, with a trust fund of more than $2.6tn. The real Ponzi scheme threatening the US public is the voracious greed of Wall Street banks.

I interviewed one of the "Occupy Wall Street" protest organisers. David Graeber teaches at Goldsmiths, University of London, and has authored several books – most recently, Debt: The First 5,000 Years. Graeber points out that, in the midst of the financial crash of 2008, enormous debts between banks were renegotiated. Yet only a fraction of troubled mortgages have gotten the same treatment. He said:

"Debts between the very wealthy or between governments can always be renegotiated and always have been throughout world history. … It's when you have debts owed by the poor to the rich that suddenly debts become a sacred obligation, more important than anything else. The idea of renegotiating them becomes unthinkable."

President Barack Obama has proposed a jobs plan and further efforts to reduce the deficit. One is a so-called millionaire's tax, endorsed by billionaire Obama supporter Warren Buffett. The Republicans call the proposed tax "class warfare". Graeber commented:

"For the last 30 years, we've seen a political battle being waged by the super-rich against everyone else, and this is the latest move in the shadow dance, which is completely dysfunctional economically and politically. It's the reason why young people have just abandoned any thought of appealing to politicians. We all know what's going to happen. The tax proposals are a sort of mock populist gesture, which everyone knows will be shot down. What will actually probably happen would be more cuts to social services."

Outside in the cold Tuesday morning, the demonstrators continued their fourth day of the protest with a march amidst a heavy police presence and the ringing of an opening bell at 9.30am for a "people's exchange", just as the opening bell of the New York Stock Exchange is rung. While the bankers remained secure in their bailed-out banks, outside, the police began arresting protesters. In a just world, with a just economy, we have to wonder: who would be out in the cold? Who would be getting arrested?

[Nordic]

Nobody in Tahir Square had to show their tits to make a point.

This is just exhibitionism, and it's bad for the movement. Make them look like a bunch of whacky hippies.

[dqueue]

Nobody in Tahir Square had to show their tits to make a point.

This is just exhibitionism, and it's bad for the movement. Make them look like a bunch of whacky hippies.

On the other hand, it takes advantage of a NY state law (allowing topless women in public places) at a time when police are doing their best to limit any "freedoms" available to those gathering.

[2012 Countdown]

Tahir square is not consumer driven America, or busy NYC.
One does what works, and is effective.

For the anti-maskers or prudes and/or 'family' oriented critics who judge from afar, perhaps this is more to your liking...


Nice and wholesome young people.

I would not dare judge ANY of these people.

[Nordic]

I'm not a prude, but I know branding, I know marketing, and I know propaganda.

Naked women walking around a protest makes them look like a bunch of "loony leftists" (in their eyes, their description).

It doesn't help.

Why would anyone think it helps?

Next thing you know Rage Against the Machine will be giving a free concert there, Bruce Springsteen will show up, Al Sharpton will give a speech, and it will be just another lefty gathering that everybody will pooh-pooh.

Somebody who understands this kind of shit needs to be in charge.

But that ain't gonna happen, so ..... whatEVER.

[82_28]

Nobody in Tahir Square had to show their tits to make a point.

This is just exhibitionism, and it's bad for the movement. Make them look like a bunch of whacky hippies.

I agree, semi obnoxious, but this is still the USA and I like that she has the right to her body, whereas other places on Earth she would not. What about the American journalist who was beaten and raped there by, as far as we know, the Tahir throngs of men? That certainly would never fly in NYC, not in and of a political movement. Not trying to compare either by wrongs and violent attacks upon lone women in a foreign country.

But she was FREE and men are more or less NOT FREE in this country to rape, as we at least have a view to the equality of the sexes and that speaks volumes to where American culture still stands and for women's rights. I can go out right now, as my shirt happens to be off and water the garden. Around the house my lady prances around far more naked than me all the time, but could not go out to the garden and water like I could right now. Her body is just as natural as mine (except for all her damned tattoos), but there are laws in place in civil American/Western society expressly meant to protect women and their freewill. And this I find admirable and proud of, as an American.

[Nordic]

Nobody in Tahir Square had to show their tits to make a point.

This is just exhibitionism, and it's bad for the movement. Make them look like a bunch of whacky hippies.

I agree, semi obnoxious, but this is still the USA and I like that she has the right to her body, whereas other places on Earth she would not. What about the American journalist who was beaten and raped there by, as far as we know, the Tahir throngs of men? That certainly would never fly in NYC, not in and of a political movement. Not trying to compare either by wrongs and violent attacks upon lone women in a foreign country.

But she was FREE and men are more or less NOT FREE in this country to rape, as we at least have a view to the equality of the sexes and that speaks volumes to where American culture still stands and for women's rights. I can go out right now, as my shirt happens to be off and water the garden. Around the house my lady prances around far more naked than me all the time, but could not go out to the garden and water like I could right now.

Oh good grief.

Listen, nobody loves naked women more than I do. Nobody.

You miss the point by a wide wide margin.

Never mind. Obviously way too many people don't get the point, which is why these things always never get anywhere.

The right wing GETS THIS SHIT. They understand propaganda, message, branding, mass communication. They're masters of it, which is why so many people are complicit in their own downfall in this country.

The left? They just don't fucking get it. AT ALL.

So there you have it.

This occupation of wall street shouldn't have a "left" vibe. It shouldn't have a "rightist" vibe. The ONE THING that might save this fucking country is if people get together and realize that left and right are illusory, they're astroturf, they're meaningless in the face of massive gangsterism having overtaken both Wall Street and the government.

But no, there's naked chicks walking around and that's COOL. Pretty soon they'll all be doing yoga and singing Kum Bay Yaa and holding up "Meat is Murder" signs and it'll all be over.

Let me tell you, the people who don't want this protest? They can't WAIT for that to happen. They can't fucking WAIT. They're probably hiring strippers, dressing them up like granola chicks, and letting them loose into the protest.

If they're not yet, they will soon.