Thread: Thousands to occupy Wall Street in protest

now we're cooking with gas, eh booners?

It's Time: Occupy Building 7 - November 19 and 20, 2011 In front of the rebuilt WTC Building 7


Spread the word: Occupy Building 7 Next Weekend



Just a couple months ago, the Architects & Engineers for 9/11 Truth released this terrific little 15 minute video on WTC-7 for the 9/11 10th Anniversary, hosted by Ed Asner.

The world still eagerly awaits booner's review,

disturbing,



McGinn sorry for pepper spray, criticizes cops

BY SCOTT GUTIERREZ, SEATTLEPI.COM STAFF

Updated 05:45 p.m., Wednesday, November 16, 2011



Seattle activist Dorli Rainey, 84, reacts after being hit with pepper spray during an Occupy Seattle protest on Tuesday, November 15, 2011 at Westlake Park. Protesters gathered in the intersection of 5th Avenue and Pine Street after marching from their camp at Seattle Central Community College in support of Occupy Wall Street. Many refused to move from the intersection after being ordered by police. Police then began spraying pepper spray into the gathered crowd, hitting dozens of people. A pregnant woman was taken from the melee in an ambulance after being struck with spray.
Photo: JOSHUA TRUJILLO / SEATTLEPI.COM

story:
http://www.seattlepi.com/local/artic...ps-2272986.php

If a protester had sprayed a policeman they would be arrested for assault.

The democratic right to peaceful protest has been lost in the US, as well as other countries of course.

Originally Posted by Boon Mee

the funds I paid into SS over my working career will not, repeat, will not be depleated before I kick off. Therefore dear sir, I am not of the so-called 'parasitic class' you reference.

The funds you paid into the system have already been spent. You are living off my earnings so that makes you one of the parasites (you produce nothing but still gain from the system). At least you can say thank you

Originally Posted by Boon Mee

W/reference to what #OWS represents, I'll leave you with this: "Five people at the Occupy L.A. encampment have been charged with separate crimes, including a man who allegedly exposed himself and commited a sex act in front of a child, officials said Tuesday"

Ah, another deflection. This superficial shit you keep bringing up when asked a direct question is really funny, but tell me what you think about the message of OWS, namely: Take the corporate money out of politics. Abolish the Federal Reserve. Pass a constitutional amendment to end corporate personhood.

Or do you think its ok that our politicians are bought and paid for by corporations?

Originally Posted by Boon Mee

Good luck with that other pipe dream there HM - transcending the Left vs. right divide and rule paradigm.

The left/right divide is a created distraction for gullible people who believe there are choices in politics. The only divide is control vs freedom. Which party actually wants to empower people? Neither. Both want to control, coerce, and fleece as much as possible. Generally speaking, the right wants to control you through morality laws and the left through monetary restrictions. Both parties have some good ideas, but they are rarely implemented due to special interests and fear of pissing off the money people (one and the same most of the time).

In short, the whole left/right divide you've invested so much emotion into is just a fabrication to keep you angry and afraid, distracted from the real issues plaguing our society.

Issues that much of OWS is bringing forth.

[quote=HansuMan;1938156]

now we're cooking with gas, eh booners?

This is an interesting video. I have seen other videos that provide a variety of explanations for all the questions raised in this one, but it depends on which group of engineers and experts you choose to believe.

If this building was indeed brought down as part of some great plot (as seems to be the suggestion) then it must have been one hell of a plot. The sheer logistics, planning, and numbers of people involved surely would be so great that it could never really be kept secret for so long. Governments and their organizatons really are not that great at keeping secrets for very long. Just about everything gets leaked by somebody....even if it's only Wikileaks.

It's a mystery all right, and it would be good if it could be established for sure why it collapsed like that....exactly like a building being demolished by a professional demolition crew.....and why would it be destroyed? I read somewhere that it contained all kinds of "records". If it was taken down as part of the 9/11 "plot" it was a very odd way to do it. Did'nt AQ openly take credit for the destruction of the twin towers....but never mentioned anything about building 7. Was it assumed to be just collateral damage.?

^
Indeed.

BTW, ran into Elvis at Paragon the other day...

Just Like The Tea Party. A List of Occupy Mayhem Sorted by Type:

Arson

• Occupy Fort Collins – Member arrested, $10 million in damage
• Occupy Portland - Member arrested for throwing Molotov Cocktail
• Occupy Seattle – Suspicious fire at Bank of America 2.7 miles from camp
• Occupy Portland – Three men arrested with homemade grenades

Assault/Threats

• Occupy SF – 12 assaults in 24 hours
• Occupy LA – 4 assaults including two with knives
• Occupy Philly – Man punches woman in the face
• Occupy LA – Two assaults including setting someone on fire
• Occupy Berkeley – Police respond to three assault calls per night
• Occupy Wall Street – Three men threaten the life of a sexual assault victim
• Occupy Lawrence – Punch thrown
• Occupy Orlando – Knife fight sends man to hospital
• Occupy Portland – Multiple assaults within a 24 hr. period
• Occupy Toledo – Man assaults police officer after arrest
• Occupy San Diego – Woman assaults cameraman
• Occupy Victoria – Man dumps urine on city worker
• Occupy Vancouver – Two police officers bitten during near riot
• Occupy Oakland – Death threats
• Occupy Austin – Man in Joker make-up arrested for brandishing knife
• Occupy Oakland – Man sets his dog on reporter
• Occupy Oakland – Man pulls a knife in camp
• Occupy Wall Street – Photographer assaulted

Drugs/Dealing

• Occupy Boston – Two drug busts in a week
• Occupy Boston – Another drug arrest
• Occupy Boston – Heroin dealers busted were living with 6 year old boy directly behind welcome tent
• Occupy Portland – First hand account “Drugs. Selling…Heroin. Meth.”
• Occupy Portland – Video of open drug use in the camp
• Occupy Portland – “I get high“

Fraud

• National Lawyer’s Guild member Ari Douglas pretends to be run over by a police scooter

Illness/Death

• Occupy Santa Cruz – Ringworm outbreak
• Occupy Atlanta – TB outbreak
• Occupy Wall Street – Zuccotti lung outbreak
• Occupy New Orleans – Man discovered in tent had been dead 2 days
• Occupy Portland – Body lice outbreak

Murder

• Occupy Oakland – Fatal shooting

Public disturbance

• Occupy Dallas – Protesters block bank entrance, 23 arrested
• Occupy Vancouver – Mob with bullhorn enters bank
• Occupy Wall Street – Protesters block bank entrance, four arrested
• Occupier takes a bathroom break in the street
• Occupy Vancouver – Occupiers disrupt debate, threaten riot when asked to leave
• Occupy Long Beach – Group disrupts city council meeting
• Occupy Boston – Three arrested for occupying Burger King
• Occupy Oakland – Yelling and nonsense at Burger King
• Occupy DC – Group storms AFP event, traps attendees inside

Rape/Sexual Assault

• Occupy Philly – Man arrested for alleged rape
• Occupy Wall Street – Two sexual assaults unreported to police
• Occupy Wall Street – Man arrested for sexual assault, suspect in rape
• Occupy Dallas – Sex offender allegedly rapes 14 year old
• Occupy Ottawa – Sexual assaults go unreported to police
• Occupy Lawrence – Sexual assault reported
• Occupy Toronto – Foot sniffer arrested
• Occupy Seattle – Man exposes himself to young girls
• Occupy Portland – Sexual assault
• Occupy Wall Street – Drunk gropes women in Zuccotti Park
• Occupy Cleveland – Rape reported after an overnight stay
• Occupy Glasgow – Possible gang rape
• Occupy Baltimore – Multiple reports of harassment
• Occupy Chicago – Man arrested for child porn
• Occupy LA – Man charged with exposing himself to a child

Sedition

• Occupy DC – Let’s have a coup by taking over the military
• Ted Rall wants occupiers to choose the path of violence
• Occupy DC – Mike Malloy incites crowd to cheer for President Bush’s execution

Suicide/Overdose

• Occupy Burlington – Man kills himself with handgun
• Occupy Salt Lake City – Man found dead with syringe in his tent
• Occupy Vancouver – Young woman dies of cocaine and heroine overdose
• Occupy OKC – Young man with history of drug abuse found dead

Theft

• Occupy Portland – Theft is ongoing
• Occupy Boston – Store owner suffers 4 break-ins since camp began

Vandalism

• Occupy Eureka – Protesters use local bank as a toilet
• Occupy Portland – Two banks vandalized, promises of more to come
• Occupy Oakland – Bank windows broken, Whole Foods vandalized, broken windows
• Occupy Boston – Banks vandalized with anarchist, OWS graffiti
• Occupy Portland – Spike in vandalism near camp
• Occupy SF: ATMs being smeared with feces
• Occupy Santa Fe: Banks vandalized with OWS-themed graffiti
• Occupy San Diego – Vendors cart vandalized with bodily fluids
• Occupy graffiti found on PA governor’s mansion

Strange way to achieve their goals - nebulous as they are. As John Lennon once said: "If you go carrying pictures of Chairman Mao, you ain't gonna make it with anyone anyhow"

Yep, the whole world is watching...

Source

A clip of Thursday OWS protesting in NYC





Another clip from the Telegraph on the protestors retaking Zuccotti park.

Too bad eh that these #OWS freakazoids have attained any work to get back to?

Originally Posted by koman

it must have been one hell of a plot

If you want to get to the gist of WTC7, forget the 'Grand Conspiracy' theories and look instead at a glorified insurance job, the prime beneficiaries (Larry Silverstein & Frank Lowy) being very high up in, to use the standard euphemism, 'pro-Israel' causes. Mossad certainly knew before the 911 event, and tipped off a (very) few key people- personally I believe not including the US government, but that is open to questioning, and the inevitable Conspiracy theories. This is also the likely explanation for the Options insider trading- which any financial guy can tell you was absolutely not a random spike.

The only conspiracy involving the stooges in the US government is why they keep this covered up. I mean, who do they report to- the US people, or the Knesset. I guess we all know the answer to that question.

It Doesn't Get Any Better Than This!

Originally Posted by Boon Mee

It Doesn't Get Any Better Than This!

We know

It is ironic that those police officers who are busting up the Occupy protesters are themselves victims of the same social ills the demonstrators are combating: corporate greed; the slackening of essential regulatory systems; and the abject failure of all three branches of government to safeguard civil liberties and to protect, if not provide, basic human needs like health, housing, education and more. With cities and states struggling to balance the budget while continuing to deliver public safety, many cops are finding themselves out of work. And, as many Occupy protesters have pointed out, even as police officers help to safeguard the power and profits of the 1 percent, police officers are part of the 99 percent.

Police Chief Who Oversaw 1999 WTO Crackdown Says Paramilitary Policing Is a Disaster | Occupy Wall Street | AlterNet

With U.S. cities moving this week to crack down on Occupy Wall Street encampments - including the one in New York's Zuccotti Park - the staying power of the movement is in question. Whatever its future, it's clear that so far, the Occupiers haven't changed many minds on Wall Street over blame for the country's hard times. The cognitive disconnect between the protesters and the captains of finance is alive and well.

David Mooney, chief executive officer of Alliant Credit Union in Chicago, one of the nation's larger credit unions, used to work at one of Wall Street's top banks, JPMorgan Chase. There's a vast cultural gap between Wall Street and his new world, he says: Old friends from the Street, he says, now jokingly refer to him as a "socialist." A credit union is supposed to be run in the interests of all members, he says, while commercial bankers tend to see consumers as customers who can be "exploited" by layering on more fees.

Says Mooney: "I don't say this lightly, but the consumer is simply an income stream and exploiting that is the purpose of the banking organization."

Insight: The Wall Street disconnect | Reuters

I was at the WTO protests. I was gassed and shot with rubber shotgun pellets in the dace and blasted with a flash bang grenade. This is a a piece written by the then chief of Seattle police Norm Stamper. The movement is getting stronger by the day it is global and we are getting stronger. Please read this;



They came from all over, tens of thousands of demonstrators from around the world, protesting the economic and moral pitfalls of globalization. Our mission as members of the Seattle Police Department? To safeguard people and property—in that order. Things went well the first day. We were praised for our friendliness and restraint—though some politicians were apoplectic at our refusal to make mass arrests for the actions of a few.

Then came day two. Early in the morning, large contingents of demonstrators began to converge at a key downtown intersection. They sat down and refused to budge. Their numbers grew. A labor march would soon add additional thousands to the mix.

“We have to clear the intersection,” said the field commander. “We have to clear the intersection,” the operations commander agreed, from his bunker in the Public Safety Building. Standing alone on the edge of the crowd, I, the chief of police, said to myself, “We have to clear the intersection.”

Why?

Because of all the what-ifs. What if a fire breaks out in the Sheraton across the street? What if a woman goes into labor on the seventeenth floor of the hotel? What if a heart patient goes into cardiac arrest in the high-rise on the corner? What if there’s a stabbing, a shooting, a serious-injury traffic accident? How would an aid car, fire engine or police cruiser get through that sea of people? The cop in me supported the decision to clear the intersection. But the chief in me should have vetoed it. And he certainly should have forbidden the indiscriminate use of tear gas to accomplish it, no matter how many warnings we barked through the bullhorn.

My support for a militaristic solution caused all hell to break loose. Rocks, bottles and newspaper racks went flying. Windows were smashed, stores were looted, fires lighted; and more gas filled the streets, with some cops clearly overreacting, escalating and prolonging the conflict. The “Battle in Seattle,” as the WTO protests and their aftermath came to be known, was a huge setback—for the protesters, my cops, the community.

More than a decade later, the police response to the Occupy movement, most disturbingly visible in Oakland—where scenes resembled a war zone and where a marine remains in serious condition from a police projectile—brings into sharp relief the acute and chronic problems of American law enforcement. Seattle might have served as a cautionary tale, but instead, US police forces have become increasingly militarized, and it’s showing in cities everywhere: the NYPD “white shirt” coating innocent people with pepper spray, the arrests of two student journalists at Occupy Atlanta, the declaration of public property as off-limits and the arrests of protesters for “trespassing.”

The paramilitary bureaucracy and the culture it engenders—a black-and-white world in which police unions serve above all to protect the brotherhood—is worse today than it was in the 1990s. Such agencies inevitably view protesters as the enemy. And young people, poor people and people of color will forever experience the institution as an abusive, militaristic force—not just during demonstrations but every day, in neighborhoods across the country.

Much of the problem is rooted in a rigid command-and-control hierarchy based on the military model. American police forces are beholden to archaic internal systems of authority whose rules emphasize bureaucratic regulations over conduct on the streets. An officer’s hair length, the shine on his shoes and the condition of his car are more important than whether he treats a burglary victim or a sex worker with dignity and respect. In the interest of “discipline,” too many police bosses treat their frontline officers as dependent children, which helps explain why many of them behave more like juvenile delinquents than mature, competent professionals. It also helps to explain why persistent, patterned misconduct, including racism, sexism, homophobia, brutality, perjury and corruption, do not go away, no matter how many blue-ribbon panels are commissioned or how much training is provided.

External political factors are also to blame, such as the continuing madness of the drug war. Last year police arrested 1.6 million nonviolent drug offenders. In New York City alone almost 50,000 people (overwhelmingly black, Latino or poor) were busted for possession of small amounts of marijuana—some of it, we have recently learned, planted by narcotics officers. The counterproductive response to 9/11, in which the federal government began providing military equipment and training even to some of the smallest rural departments, has fueled the militarization of police forces. Everyday policing is characterized by a SWAT mentality, every other 911 call a military mission. What emerges is a picture of a vital public-safety institution perpetually at war with its own people. The tragic results—raids gone bad, wrong houses hit, innocent people and family pets shot and killed by police—are chronicled in Radley Balko’s excellent 2006 reportOverkill: The Rise of Paramilitary Police Raids in America.

It is ironic that those police officers who are busting up the Occupy protesters are themselves victims of the same social ills the demonstrators are combating: corporate greed; the slackening of essential regulatory systems; and the abject failure of all three branches of government to safeguard civil liberties and to protect, if not provide, basic human needs like health, housing, education and more. With cities and states struggling to balance the budget while continuing to deliver public safety, many cops are finding themselves out of work. And, as many Occupy protesters have pointed out, even as police officers help to safeguard the power and profits of the 1 percent, police officers are part of the 99 percent.

There will always be situations—an armed and barricaded suspect, a man with a knife to his wife’s throat, a school-shooting rampage—that require disciplined, military-like operations. But most of what police are called upon to do, day in and day out, requires patience, diplomacy and interpersonal skills. I’m convinced it is possible to create a smart organizational alternative to the paramilitary bureaucracy that is American policing. But that will not happen unless, even as we cull “bad apples” from our police forces, we recognize that the barrel itself is rotten.

Assuming the necessity of radical structural reform, how do we proceed? By building a progressive police organization, created by rank-and-file officers, “civilian” employees and community representatives. Such an effort would include plans to flatten hierarchies; create a true citizen review board with investigative and subpoena powers; and ensure community participation in all operations, including policy-making, program development, priority-setting and crisis management. In short, cops and citizens would forge an authentic partnership in policing the city. And because partners do not act unilaterally, they would be compelled to keep each other informed, and to build trust and mutual respect—qualities sorely missing from the current equation.

It will not be easy. In fact, failure is assured if we lack the political will to win the support of police chiefs and their elected bosses, if we are unable to influence or neutralize police unions, if we don’t have the courage to move beyond the endless justifications for maintaining the status quo. But imagine the community and its cops united in the effort to responsibly “police” the Occupy movement. Picture thousands of people gathered to press grievances against their government and the corporations, under the watchful, sympathetic protection of their partners in blue.

Norm Stamper was Seattle’s police chief from 1994 to 2000, and a police officer for 34 years. He is a member of Law Enforcement Against Prohibition and the author of Breaking Rank: A Top Cop’s Exposé of the Dark Side of American Policing. He wrote this article for the Nation.

http://www.alternet.org/occupywallst...r/?page=entire

Check this out, police thugs at a peaceful student rally pepper spray the protesters and threaten the crowd with paintball guns.



At least the protestors remained peaceful and shamed the police into retreating.

Mayor Mike McGinn said he's sorry police pepper-sprayed peaceful Occupy Seattle demonstrators, after a photo of 84-year-old demonstrator Dorli Rainey's dripping face went viral. But the apology didn't satisfy protesters who say the police response has been "excessive."

"To those engaged in peaceful protest, I am sorry that you were pepper-sprayed," McGinn said in a statement Wednesday. The mayor said he has spoken with Rainey.

The confrontations began Tuesday afternoon after demonstrators blocked downtown intersections, delaying commuters. As far back as Oct. 8, police have followed a policy of keeping streets clear, by arrest if necessary.

McGinn said he and Police Chief John Diaz are reviewing two pepper-spray incidents from Tuesday and developing procedures to ensure "appropriate commanders" are on hand at future protests.

Diaz couldn't be reached Wednesday, and police spokesman Sgt. Sean Whitcomb declined to comment, saying, "We'll defer to the mayor." Sgt. Rich O'Neill, head of the police union, did not return calls for comment.

Police said they used pepper spray to disperse a crowd in Belltown, while arresting a 17-year-old girl who swung a stick at officers. Protesters regrouped on Fifth Avenue at Pine Street. "Pepper spray was deployed only against subjects who were either refusing a lawful order to disperse or engaging in assaultive behavior toward officers," said the department's online statement.

In an interview Wednesday night, McGinn said the city is "walking a fine line between protecting public safety without allowing the actions of the police themselves to become a flash point for others."

He said he understood that some protesters in the crowd Tuesday, as well as during previous clashes with police, used the cover of the crowd to provoke violence.

"We're well aware that there are individuals who have been extraordinarily provocative to police over the last six weeks. That was my point in apologizing to peaceful protesters."

But he added it was important he and the police command "critically review what's gone on in order to do the best job we can. We need to have the appropriate police presence, and they need to have the support they need."

Occupy Seattle activists issued a statement Wednesday night saying McGinn's apology did not go far enough. The statement described the group's actions as "nonviolent civil disobedience" and was critical of police response throughout the protests.

"The sheer quantity of officers, vehicles, weapons, hostilities and pepper spray was and is excessive and absolutely unnecessary," said the statement.

The city last week said the protests had cost the city more than $500,000, most of that for police overtime.

Change maker

Dorli Rainey is a longtime activist who recently collected signatures and spoke against the $2 billion Highway 99 tunnel. In a blog called An Old Lady in Combat Boots, she mentions, "I believe change begins in the streets."

The photo, by Seattlepi.com photographer Josh Trujillo, shows her face soaked in pepper spray, along with a liquid applied by fellow protesters to treat it. She told The Associated Press she joined the crowd after hearing helicopters over downtown Seattle, and will participate again in Occupy events.

"I'm pretty tough, I guess," she said.

A pregnant woman and a clergyman also reportedly were among those sprayed.

Wednesday night, Rainey appeared on "Countdown with Keith Olbermann."

"I'm feeling great. I feel so energized. It's amazing what a little pepper spray will do for you," she told the political talk-show host.

She said that when she rode a bus home, people asked her what happened. "I must have looked a fright," she said. "It became a really wonderful educational opportunity for me to convert a busload full of people to our way of thinking."

At the end of the nearly 10-minute interview, Olbermann chuckled and said, "You're one of my heroes now."

Tuesday's incident came just a day after the Seattle City Council passed a resolution supporting the grievances of the Occupy movement, a protest against plutocracy that began on New York's Wall Street and spread internationally.

Thursday afternoon, Occupy participants are to join the labor-union group Working Washington at the Montlake Bridge to call for more federal investment in jobs fixing old infrastructure.

New problem

Protesters and the city might be headed for another standoff Friday night. Occupy Seattle organizers sought a Parks Department permit for a hip-hop concert from 5 to 10 p.m. in Westlake Park. Parks officials said that was too late for a concert.

Dewey Potter, parks spokeswoman, said nearby residents had complained about noise during two previous concerts. The department asked the Occupy Seattle representatives not to amplify music after dark, which falls at about 5:30 p.m.

But a news release sent out by "Hip Hop Occupies" about to publicize Friday's concert said the rally and performances would be from 5:30 to 8:30 p.m.

Meanwhile, Princeton University Professor Cornel West, who made news recently for criticizing President Obama's lack of focus on ending poverty, gave a pep talk to about 200 Occupy Seattle supporters Wednesday.

He compared the mostly young activists' commitment to saxophonist John Coltrane and Seattle guitar legend Jimi Hendrix, whose statue sits across the street from the Occupy camp at Seattle Central Community College.

"Yes, it is a love movement; it's what John Coltrane called 'A Love Supreme.' When you have a 'love supreme,' you will stand out in the rain. ... It's precisely because we love the people that we hate injustice."

West told the group it wasn't necessary, at what he called an "early stage" of the Occupy movement, to issue specific demands. "We want to change the whole ethos of the nation; we want to change the whole ethos of the world," he said.

West lamented that the 14th Amendment, "which was written for what, the 4.2 million ex-black slaves in America who had their personhood affirmed by the 14th amendment, now a hundred-some years later appropriated over and over again by corporations saying they're a person, that they have the same rights as individuals."

When told of Tuesday's pepper-spraying, he said, "I think [police] ought to be ashamed of themselves."

West was to speak Wednesday night at Green River Community College in Auburn, and Thursday visit Occupy Oakland, site of a police crackdown Oct. 25 that turned violent. "I asked my mama to say a prayer for me," joked West.

Originally Posted by bsnub

Mayor Mike McGinn [...] added it was important he and the police command "critically review what's gone on in order to do the best job we can. We need to have the appropriate police presence, and they need to have the support they need."

The OWS movement will give them all the support they need when the police turn around and support the protests against the real criminals in the system.

^ Exactly. I believe it is only a matter of time.

^I think it unlikely. The movement will probably go one of two ways - it will run out steam (interest) or it will coalesce into a viable third party, a la Tea Party. As far changing anything right away I doubt it.

The OWS is just a precursor to something greater, I think, but we will have to go through a much greater crisis to trigger it unfortunately.

^ you may well be right about that however I think that some areas of this country will take to it much faster and with less of a catalyst then you may realize. My town being one. The mayor here backs the movement as does the city council. This gas incident is under a city review and the mayor is not happy about it.

BTW go check out vice.com and look at their news section some great stuff over there.