Apparently big things are happening in NYC. Post your links here, because I am hearing all sorts of stuff.
#OWS
My Thoughts on Occupy Wall Street and Permanent Camps
Where do we go from here?
Yesterday, the judge in the “Can We Or Can’t We Camp” case reversed the temporary restraining order it had issued in the morning preventing the Zucotti occupiers from being “evicted,” and ruled that the protestors are not permitted to camp overnight. (Here’s a link to the court order.) I can’t say that I’m surprised. Let’s hope Occupy Wall Street can pick itself up, dust itself off, and figure out what’s next in terms of ameliorating income inequality and eliminating corporate malfeasance.
I put together a chirpstory about my thoughts on the constitutional ramifications. True to form, however, BJ WordPress won’t show the chirpstory (FYWP), so you’re going to have click my blog in order to read it. (And lest anyone accuse me of “shilling” for my blog, Cole asked me to post this.) Also, I notice people are talking about legal issues in the thread below about DHS coordination, so I thought people might want some facts and law and terminology they can use to do their own research. Basically, the First Amendment is not absolute, the government can place reasonable restrictions on speech, and everybody should wish Thurgood Marshall were alive right now.
My Thoughts on Occupy Wall Street and Permanent CampsPost + Comments (220)
Wednesday Morning Open Thread
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Thanks to commentor THE for this morning’s moment of Zen.
Our correspondents at Occupy Missoula could use some help.
Website for Thursday’s Nov. 17 Mass Day of Action here.
Greg Sargent at his Washington Post Plum Line blog reports that AFL-CIO chief Richard Trumka says that “organized labor will continue standing with evicted protestors“: “The question of whether organized labor can succeed in tying the protests to a larger working class constituency is still unanswered. But Trumka seems to be confident that the protesters’ message will continue to resonate among the working class rank and file, despite the mounting imagery of cops clashing with them across the country.”
The Guardian has a fellow activist’s op-ed on “Scott Olsen, Occupy Oakland’s soldier for peace“.
And finally, after heaping praise on Police Commissioner Kelly’s “minutely planned raid“, the NYTimes permits itself to report that “other sites hope N.Y. raid will energize cause“, while seeking “new paths to influence“…
What else is (should be) on the agenda?
About that ‘DHS Coordinated’ Crackdown on Zuccotti Park…
I’ve called bullshit — it’s still ringing.
Twitter is abuzz with news that the Occupy raids were coordinated with the help of the Department of Homeland Security and the FBI, and that Obama “greenlit” the raids. (See also this.)
As far as I can tell, the source for this claim is an article in Examiner.com, which quotes an anonymous Department of Justice official who claims that the multi-city raid of Occupy camps “was coordinated with help from Homeland Security, the FBI and other federal police agencies.”
From (the disreputable) Examiner.com:
Over the past ten days, more than a dozen cities have moved to evict “Occupy” protesters from city parks and other public spaces. As was the case in last night’s move in New York City, each of the police actions shares a number of characteristics. And according to one Justice official, each of those actions was coordinated with help from Homeland Security, the FBI and other federal police agencies.
The official, who spoke on background to me late Monday evening, said that while local police agencies had received tactical and planning advice from national agencies, the ultimate decision on how each jurisdiction handles the Occupy protests ultimately rests with local law enforcement.
According to this official, in several recent conference calls and briefings, local police agencies were advised to seek a legal reason to evict residents of tent cities, focusing on zoning laws and existing curfew rules. Agencies were also advised to demonstrate a massive show of police force, including large numbers in riot gear. In particular, the FBI reportedly advised on press relations, with one presentation suggesting that any moves to evict protesters be coordinated for a time when the press was the least likely to be present.
Is that true? Maybe. But given that this information came from Examiner.com, the proper response is “citation needed.” Why? Because Examiner.com is Fox News light. From Media Matters:
About that ‘DHS Coordinated’ Crackdown on Zuccotti Park…Post + Comments (212)
And Then He Repeatedly Attacked the Cop’s Fist With His Face
Your liberal media at work again. Here’s the picture from AP:
Here is the caption:
An Occupy Wall Street protestor draws contact from a police officer near Zuccotti Park after being ordered to leave the longtime encampment in New York, Tuesday, Nov. 15, 2011, in New York, after police ordered demonstrators to leave their encampment in Zuccotti Park. At about 1 a.m. Tuesday, police handed out notices from the park’s owner, Brookfield Office Properties, and the city saying that the park had to be cleared because it had become…
Amadou Diallo wasn’t shot! He just drew contact with a lot of police bullets!
The lengths our media will go to excuse and provide cover for a police state is kind of breathtaking. I guess the only thing left for this story is for Ron Fournier to write breathless love letters to the NYPD.
And Then He Repeatedly Attacked the Cop’s Fist With His FacePost + Comments (39)
DHS ‘Coordinated’ Police Assaults on Occupy Everywhere Protestors
(Update from NYMag‘s Daily Intel as of 8pm: “Around 2,000 activists have marched single-file back into the newly tentless Zuccotti Park. They are spending the evening in general assembly, forging a strategy for the coming days…” and links to OccupyNYC’s livestream, which won’t load directly on my pc.)
Via the Guardian, Rick Ellis at the Minneapolis Examiner:
Over the past ten days, more than a dozen cities have moved to evict “Occupy” protesters from city parks and other public spaces. As was the case in last night’s move in New York City, each of the police actions shares a number of characteristics. And according to one Justice official, each of those actions was coordinated with help from Homeland Security, the FBI and other federal police agencies…
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According to this official, in several recent conference calls and briefings, local police agencies were advised to seek a legal reason to evict residents of tent cities, focusing on zoning laws and existing curfew rules. Agencies were also advised to demonstrate a massive show of police force, including large numbers in riot gear. In particular, the FBI reportedly advised on press relations, with one presentation suggesting that any moves to evict protesters be coordinated for a time when the press was the least likely to be present.
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The FBI has so far failed to respond to requests for an official response, and of the 14 local police agencies contacted in the past 24 hours, all have declined to respond to questions on this issue.
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But in a recent interview with the BBC,” Oakland Mayor Jean Quan mentioned she was on a conference call just before the recent wave of crackdowns began…
Charlie Pierce at Esquire‘s Daily Politics Blog sums it up nicely:
Your right to peaceably assemble for the redress of grievances, and how you may do it, and what you may say, will be defined by the police power of the state, backed by its political establishment and the business elite. They will define “acceptable” forms of public protest, even (and especially) public protest against them. This is the way it is now. This is the way it has been for some time. It’s just that people didn’t notice. And that was the problem with the Occupy protests. They resisted the marginalization — both literal physical marginalization, and the kind of intellectual marginalization that keeps real solutions to real problems out of our kabuki political debates. They could not be ignored…
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DHS ‘Coordinated’ Police Assaults on Occupy Everywhere ProtestorsPost + Comments (108)
Professor Warren Fights Back
(ActBlue donation page here.)
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Greg Sargent’s take, from his Washington Post Plum Line blog:
Elizabeth Warren’s campaign is up with its first ad of the cycle — a direct response to Crossroads GPS’s ad attacking her for embracing Occupy Wall Street. It’s now clear that Warren will be the number one target for an emerging national conservative strategy: Seizing on the protests to tar Dems as culturally out of touch with struggling blue collar whites and moderates, and to discredit Dem policies designed to address inequality by depicting them as radical and out of the mainstream…
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Warren and her advisers recognize the political danger of getting drawn into an all or nothing choice between fully embracing the protests or repudiating them. Instead, as this ad indicates, Warren intends to keep the focus on the broader argument set in motion by the protests — over inequality, excessive Wall Street influence and lack of Wall Street accountability — and on the fact that anxiety and anger over these problems are mainstream public sentiments that go far beyond the diehards camped out in tents.
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Indeed, it’s worth asking whether the attacks on Warren constitute a bit of overreach: As Sam Stein notes, her campaign has already brought in over $300,00 in fundraising off the Crossroads attack, and will likely bring in much more.
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Bottom line: While Warren does seem to be treading a bit carefully when it comes to the protests’ excesses, it’s clear that the attacks aren’t softening the populist rationale of her candidacy at all. They are doing nothing to distract her campaign from keeping the focus exactly where it belongs: On Wall Street.
Thanks to Mr. Sargent, also, for the link with Ari Berman explaining to Keith Olbermann how Karl Rove’s attack ad has been a fund-raising bonanza for Elizabeth Warren’s campaign.
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