Merry Christmas, And Calling Bullshit, Physics Edition - #OWS Day 100

Thrive - the trailer

There are some real problems in this world that need to be addressed. Movies like Thrive are not helpful. Judging from the trailer, it is particularly noxious because it mixes facts about the imbalance of political and economic power in our world with the fancy of unlimited available energy being withheld by a sinister elite.

Not helpful. It kind of reminds me of What the Bleep Do We Know!? from just a few years back - a propaganda piece for the Ramtha cult, neatly dicing together some of the more esoteric aspects of physics together with metaphysical dream-weaving.

(Oil) Money Trumps People Every Time For Our "Leaders" - #OWS Day 92

10,000 souls don't mean shit

[Update: Jane has hosted the #OWS liveblog today (Kevin is liveblogging the Bradley Manning pretrial): Re-Occupy Wall Street Live Stream]

Tar Sands Action:

Dear Friends,

As you might know, the Keystone tar sands pipeline is back in play.

This morning, the Senate passed a bill that requires a 60-day, expedited approval process for the pipeline in return for a payroll tax cut, and the President has said he will sign it...

#OccupyEverywhere!

West Coast Port Shutdown - #OWS Day 88

Occupy Protesters Set Up Barricade To Shutdown Port Of Seattle
(some pretty good general coverage of other actions as well)

Today's FDL Liveblog: Live Blog for #Occupy Movement: Police Violence in Houston, Seattle & San Diego Extends Port Shutdown Action.

Last night's thread: Live Blog for #Occupy Movement: West Coast Port Shutdown Action (Evening Edition).

#OccupyEverywhere!

Police are now using ad hoc "tents" to conceal actions against protesters. Houston:

Occupy Houston arrested on #D12. Police use tent to hide arrest tactics! Caught on tape!

West Coast Port Shutdown - #OWS Day 87

West Coast Port Blockade - Shut Down Wall Street On The Waterfront! Occupy Strikes Back 12.12.11

Gosztola: Live Blog for #Occupy Movement: West Coast Port Blockade Action.

TarheelDem: "A Global Corporatist Imperial Multi-National Regime" - #OWS Day 86

[Update: FDL liveblog: Live Blog for #Occupy Movement: International Human Rights Day Actions Plus Occupy SF Raided]

Only those who do not intend to co-opt the movement can co-opt the movement. That is not ironic. That is not a paradox. That is a contradiction. Because what happens when the whiff of co-option occurs is that the movement fragments and in doing that loses the power that co-option would bring.

Only sociopaths do not participate honestly in the general assembly process. And only people who do not yet experience the failure of all institutions are impatient with the wrangling that is required to reach a consensus for there is no easy way out. Remember that when there is pressure to streamline the consensus process.

#OccupyPhoenix Raided This Morning - Day 84, #OWS

Hang in there, Phoenicians

Nice to see my former homies stepping up for #Occupy. DownTown Devil.

Kevin liveblogging from #OccupyBoston: Live Blog for #Occupy Movement: Occupy Boston Still Standing & OWS Occupies ‘Law & Order’:

10:06 AM At midnight (scroll down for details on how this developed), Occupy Wall Street went to a “Law & Order: SVU” set and occupied a fake Zuccotti Park camp in Foley Square. What unfolded was incredibly surreal. It was a revolutionary guerrilla nonviolent action that Adbusters and the Yes Men might have planned. Except, the occupiers weren’t really protesting “Law & Order: SVU” (though in retrospect they could have because the story line for the episode will probably revolve around serial rapist living at the OWS camp). That made what was happening even more subversive. And quite frankly one wonders if Monty Python would have written a skit about Occupy Wall Street, would it have been like this?

#OccupyEverywhere!

Label Creep: "Terrorist" Meme Officially Birthed For #Occupy Movement - #OWS Day 83

City of London Police conflate #OccupyLondon with terrorists. Image from Alexander Higgins' blog

Kevin's daily liveblog: Live Blog for #Occupy Movement: Police Retreat from Occupy SF Plus Boston Mayor Orders Occupy Boston to Leave.

From The Independent (UK):

The City of London Police force was facing criticism last night after including the Occupy London demonstration in a letter warning businesses about potential terrorist threats.

The letter, a "Terrorism/Extremism Update", lists al-Qa'ida, the Colombian dissidents Farc, and Belarusian terrorists who bombed the Minsk underground. It also lists Occupy London under the heading "Domestic".

#OccupySF Brutally Raided At 2 AM On Day 82 of #OWS - Also, #OccupyOregon

SF DPW disposing of #OccupySF protestor's belongings with a compacting garbage truck Dec 7th, 2011

[Update: Today's FDL liveblog: Live Blog for #Occupy Movement: Reports from #OccupyHomes Day of Action & More]

Kevin Gosztola (SFPD Mount Sneak Attack on #OccupySF After Emails No Longer Returned):

Early Wednesday morning, 2 am PST, hundreds of San Francisco police (SFPD) arrived at Justin Herman Plaza, the site of Occupy San Francisco.

Occupiers were asleep. They woke up to find they had five minutes to get their belongings and leave the Plaza...

Davey D reported fully functional bikes, entire backpacks with computers and the life savings of homeless people were all thrown away. Male officers searched peaceful female occupiers, which led to complaints of male officers feeling them up. The SFPD also rubbed one occupier’s face in the pavement, and on the UStream they could be seen sneering and laughing about the raid...

Day 81 of #OWS: Sean Penn To The Rescue, #OccupyLA

Sean Penn on Piers Morgan Tonight in October, Part 1 of 4

From Kevin's liveblog (Live Blog for #Occupy Movement: Occupy NOLA Evicted Despite Scheduled TRO Hearing):

…And then my phone rings. A scruffy voice says, “Hello Joan?” and I reply, “Yes.”

He responds, “This is Sean Penn. Where are you? What is happening?”

...Sean asks if I am willing to go over and meet with the director of the film to help resolve the issue, “Go alone and tell them you are my friend and that you need to speak to Ruben Fleischer.” Moreover, he says that he is willing to pay for digital editing to remove people and shadows from the shots of City Hall. He tells me that he supports Occupy and did not know that the film was doing these re-shoots in the same place that the Mayor set aside for free speech activities.

Also #OccupyHomes is underway. Kevin:

12:50 PM Actions have begun in last hours. In Chicago, where I am right now, there are two actions underway. One is a house warming party for a family that “liberated a foreclosed home” in the Belmont Cragin neighborhood of Chicago. Another involves a vacant, bank-owned building on Van Buren St that is being cleaned and boarded up by the South Austin Coalition (SACC).

#OccupyEverywhere!

Local Action #OccupyPortland On Day 80 #OWS

Doggin' Wells Fargo 2011/12/05

#OccupyEverywhere!

Still Standing II: #OccupyDC - #OWS Day 80

Occupy DC Protesters Arrested (Raw Video - h/t Kevin Gosztola)

Live Blog for #Occupy Movement: Occupy DC is Still Standing:

For what it’s worth, Occupy DC released a statement on the winter structure that police tore down.

The modular structure was designed by professionals ‘to code’. It meets all health and safety requirements and is fully accessible. It is non-permanent, has no foundations and is not tethered to the ground. It’s designed to be movable every four days to protect the grass beneath the structure. The structure is fully sustainable–it is built to be entirely passively solar-heated and will feature a hydroponic irrigation system on the roof.

Take It Back: #OccupyPortland On Day 79 #OWS

"If you want a picture of the future, imagine a boot stamping on a human face — forever." - 1984 (image from @Jason_Darnell)

[Update: Live Blog for #Occupy Movement: Occupy DC Police Raid, Arrests Made of People in Structure]

Portland Mercury BlogtownPDX (h/t Gosztola @ FDL):

From Sarah Mirk on Sat, Dec 3, 2011

10:40pm
The march is now reportedly wandering around Old Town. The crowd is over 300 people strong, which is large enough to block traffic and garner alternate solidarity fists/"Fuck You!"s from the bros hitting the bars downtown.

It's a bit of a cat and mouse game, with police seemingly trying to guess the direction of the march and block it off, but overall taking a hands-off approach to the protest at this moment. There appear to be few or no riot police directly around the march. There is, of course, at least one person on stilts...

11:10pm
Surprise!

The New Normal: LASD's Guantanamo Dreams - #OccupyLA, Day 78 #OWS

Image from BailBondsLosAngelesCounty.com

[Update II (videos): Human microphone testimonials of abuse, below the fold. (h/t TarheelDem)]

[Update:Live Blog for #Occupy Movement: Undercover LAPD Infiltrated Occupy LA]

Some things do "trickle down." The voodoo economics of upwards wealth distribution - in the vain hope that worthy "producers" will use their lunatic gravity to swell a tide lifting all boats - has been pretty well clearly exposed as a scam. However, our treatment of certain categories of human beings (why are there categories of human beings?) has just as clearly infected the status quo of domestic detention procedure.

This violent country has always had its chain gangs, its Abner Louimas, its Clint Yarboroughs & Scott Norbergs (yah, that's a two-fer for serial prisoner abuser Sheriff Joe Arpaio there), and various other prison atrocities. But these have been considered (accurately or not) as fringe incidents, and generally receive the full weight of public and media disapprobation upon discovery, often accompanied by sanctions.

Now that torture and mistreatment of "terrorist" prisoners has been sanctified by the highest levels of our government, the immutable law voiced by pastor Martin Niemöller...

First they came for the communists,
and I didn't speak out because I wasn't a communist.

West Coast Port Shutdown Monday, Dec 12th - #OWS

West Coast Port Blockade - Shut Down Wall Street On The Waterfront! Occupy Strikes Back 12.12.11

Luntz's Sweet Little Lies - Day 77 #OWS

Fleetwood Mac - "Little Lies" from Tango in the Night

Kevin's liveblog: Live Blog for #Occupy Movement: Occupy Tampa Participants Arrested After Refusing to Leave a Public Park

Frank Luntz says he's "frightened to death" over #OWS' messaging success. I don't know - the man's stock-and-trade is advising how to obfuscate... oh, crissakes, he's a professional liar. In any case, his wisdom has been handed down.

Via Yahoo! News (h/t TarheelDem - click through to read of Luntz's reasons for these sweet little lies):

• Don't say 'capitalism.'
• Don't say that the government 'taxes the rich.' Instead, tell them that the government 'takes from the rich.'
• Republicans should forget about winning the battle over the 'middle class.' Call them 'hardworking taxpayers.'
• Don't talk about 'jobs.' Talk about 'careers.'
• Don't say 'government spending.' Call it 'waste.'
• Don't ever say you're willing to 'compromise.'
• The three most important words you can say to an Occupier: 'I get it.'
• Out: 'Entrepreneur.' In: 'Job creator.'
• Don't ever ask anyone to 'sacrifice.'
• Always blame Washington.

...and...

• Don't say 'bonus!'

I do have problems with the excitable (and partisan) Cenk Uygar, who "loves Capitalism"

#OccupyEverywhere! Frank Luntz is scared!

H.P. Albarelli, Jr.'s Latest Now Available For Pre-Order

A Secret Order: Investigating the High Strangeness and Synchronicity in the JFK Assassination
by H.P. Albarelli, Jr.