Bret Baier reports OWS rants about benefits of Hurricane Sandy, “Anonymous” twitter accounts then threaten him
Yesterday FNC’s Bret Baier on Grapevine reported on the comments by @OccupyWallStreet ‘s official twitter account in response to Hurricane Sandy. See his report here. This earned him some unfavorable attention from twitter accounts associated with Anonymous (one of the founding parts of Occupy). They “doxed” Baier (got his personal information including his home address and phone) and said “anything goes” against him.
On Tuesday, the day after the hurricane started, the OWS account started with a rant against capitalism:
Capitalism is the astounding belief that the wickedest of men will do the most wickedest of things 4 the greatest good of all. #election2012
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Occupy Wall Street (@OccupyWallSt) October 30, 2012Then followed up immediately thereafter with the specific “benefits” of Sandy:
That community you're experiencing, in the face of crisis? It's always there. Think about what it is that usually obscures it. #sandy #nyc
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Occupy Wall Street (@OccupyWallSt) October 30, 2012What obscures “community”? Why, Capitalism, of course.
They then advised people to go outside on Tuesday (while many wires and trees were still down and dangerous, most without power, many still under water ).
Go outside. Meet your neighbors. Talk. Share a meal. When capitalism retreats, our communities flourish. #sandy #nyc
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Occupy Wall Street (@OccupyWallSt) October 30, 2012No subways. No electricity. No chains. #capitalism #sandy #nyc
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Occupy Wall Street (@OccupyWallSt) October 30, 2012As capitalism halts, we experience "an exceptional period of mutual support and common care." ow.ly/eSX4t #sandy #nyc @StrikeDebt
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Occupy Wall Street (@OccupyWallSt) October 30, 2012In the above tweet, they link to an article on another Occupy site that refers to Sandy as the “People’s Hurricane” and a “Climate Strike” (arguing Sandy is due to Climate change that evil Wall St loosed on itself).
In response, the OWS account was widely castigated by the Twitterverse. Jaceyla Jones was perhaps one of the best, reminding them that people had died.
@OccupyWallSt, There's another, better worded truism for your rambling masquerading as 'wisdom': Misery loves company. People are DEAD, FGS!
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Jacelya Jones (@JacelyaJones) October 30, 2012After being roundly criticized, suddenly the OWS account seemed taken over by notices of how one could volunteer to help out Sandy victims, and posting on Occupy “volunteer efforts”. Still, they revealed it was all about the politics, noting:
Insurance is the capitalist answer to what should be an effort of mutual aid from the community. #sandy
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Occupy Wall Street (@OccupyWallSt) October 30, 2012They then started praising themselves for their “rapid response” to Sandy, and attacked the Tea Party and government response.
#OWS rapid response to #Sandy shows importance of building networks for mutual support. When government falls short, people stand tall.
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Occupy Wall Street (@OccupyWallSt) October 31, 2012MT @tylerevansokay: So, #ows is helping w/cleanup & aiding #Sandy victims, where are the groups the media legitimized? Tea party? Nowhere?
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Occupy Wall Street (@OccupyWallSt) October 30, 2012When the FNC report by Baier then dared report some of the above tweets, this Anonymous account first called him a liar, saying that Occupy was helping victims.
FOX News: "@OccupyWallSt is happy about the damage" foxnews.com/on-air/special… #OWS is aiding victims. How do you sleep at night? @BretBaier #Liar
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Anonymous (@DBCOOPA) November 01, 2012Thereafter the following tweets recorded the effort to “dox” Baier and discussed what should be done to him. Click to enlarge:
This was then followed up with a post with his “dox” including phone numbers, home address, age and birthday. Citizen Journalist will not be linking to that dox page.
Here is a copy of the page with relevant info excised.
Anonymous@DBCOOPA has since scrubbed the first tweet about “ruining Baier’s life”.
HT @RichardRSmithJr for screenshot
OWS: “We are the proletariat!”
Here is more video from the #S17 protest on the anniversary of the start of Occupy Wall St a year ago September 17.
This group of marchers was made up of mostly Hispanic self-identified Maoists. One was was wearing a pro-Palestinian scarf with little Che buttons on it. He noted that most of the pro-Palestinian people with whom he was familiar were also pro-communist.
Although it is not always reported on, many in Occupy are pro-Palestinian, anti-US involvement in the Middle East.
As they chanted, they seemed oblivious to the concept that most Americans would have no idea what they were talking about, and would in fact step back from such classist terminology. It is not clear that these people, at best in their twenties, really understood what happened the last time marching groups waved around that little red book, the flags and millions died.
Video by Billy O’Keefe @DefendWallSt
Occupy Wall Street twitter account hacked
In the early morning hours of yesterday morning, the official Occupy Wall Street twitter account began sending out advice on how to better your credit score.
According to BetaBeat:
One follower recognized this particular spam from a virus spreading on Facebook and warned the rebels they’d had a breach. But judging by the number of retweets and favorites, not all the freedom fighters were hip to the scam. When the account announced at 4:06 a.m. that it had been hacked and was “working on shutting it down,” a few followers breathed relief. “Yeah, I was wondering why you’d be tweeting about credit reports,” tweeted one Erik Smith
“Freedom fighters”? And then there were the rest of us that had a bit of a giggle.
Occupy seizes land from UC Berkeley
According to KGO TV, San Francisco,
A group of activists says it has taken over a tract of University of California at Berkeley-owned land on the Berkeley-Albany border and plans to plant seedlings and convert the land to agricultural use.
The group Occupy the Farm took over the property known as the Gill Tract, at San Pablo Avenue and Marin Avenue, this afternoon, and plans to stay overnight, group members said.
Activists described the property as “the last remaining 10 acres of Class I agricultural soil in the urbanized East Bay,” and noted that the university plans to sell the property for a retail development.
University officials and Albany police have not yet responded to calls seeking comment.
Private property isn’t private if Occupy wants it. If they want it, it is their right to take it.
Occupy-Update on NYC OWS “Black Bloc” riot action
Alexander Penley Nicholas Thommen Eric Marchese
Update:
More background on the OWS/”Black Bloc” “FTP” riot this past weekend.
Original story can be found here: http://citizenjournalistdotorg.wordpress.com/2012/04/15/two-arrested-after-nyc-ows-black-bloc-ftp-march/
Participants:
While receiving broad local coverage, most of the MSM seemed to miss the OWS connection, despite the fact that the OWS involvement of at least two of the arrestees was easily ascertainable.
Alexander Penley and Nicholas Thommen were charged with assault on a police officer, menacing and inciting to riot after allegedly using a metal pipe to push back several cops in the Astor Place coffee clash Saturday night.
As we had noted, both Alexander Penley, 41, and Nicholas Thommen, 30, had connections with OWS; in fact, they were described on OWS twitter accounts as “organizers”. Twitter accounts also noted the “march” was full of OWS members. Additionally, OWS “jail support” was provided, and providing bail for the two men was discussed.
Both Penley and Thommen had prior records, despite Penley being an attorney. The New York Daily News noted:
Penley, who lives on the upper West Side, was charged 20 years ago with a entering a restricted area at a military facility in Boise, Idaho, the source said.
He also has arrests for marijuana possession with intent to distribute in Utah, for burglary, trespassing and vandalism in California and for failure to show up in court on a resisting arrest charge in Oregon.
Despite this prior arrest and charge of assault on a police officer, Penley was released without bail.
Penley can be seen on this “Occupii” page upon which he posted a video on the “Black Bloc tactics-10 Quick points”. http://occupii.org/profile/AlexanderPenley
Thommen also had prior arrests, in his home state of Oregon for driving with a revoked license, marijuana possession and harassment over the telephone, the source said. Thommen was held on $1000 bail.
The third man, Eric Marchese, 24, had a prior arrest in New Jersey for “improper behavior”, a disorderly persons offense.
Anarchist Book Fair and Judson Church:
We noted in our prior article that there were flyers given out for the march at the Anarchist Book Fair at Judson Church, and asked the question why would a church allow that.
Judson Church has housed various Occupy events, as well as Occupiers themselves, after they were evicted from Zuccotti Park. OWS allocated regular money payments to Judson as well as other churches who were housing Occupiers.
Lee Stranahan notes more on Alexander Penley and on some of the “talks” that one could have attended at the Book Fair at Judson. http://leestranahan.com/page/2
These talks included:
Self-defense and street combat for anarchists… – Sunday, 4:15-5:45pm Judson Assembly Room
J. “G.” J.
will provide a basic overview of offense and defense when dealing with recalcitrant fascists and/or pig police. We will deal with holds, strikes, traps and disarming techniques. No prior martial arts experience is necessary. The techniques are simple and effective, derived from the Yip family Wing Chun lineage (invented by a womyn, for wimmin and slight-bodied people). Anyone with experience, ideas and techniques of their own are welcome and encouraged to share! Come prepared to move, and preferably with someone you trust to work with. I try to make this as fun and non-triggering as possible! *appropriate for teens.
In all of this anarchist approach, we can see the nature of an altered reality. It is the view of the imagined police state that somehow will be negated by smashing windows and running through the streets. Where even children can be brought to the fray.
While we have seen OWS utilize “black bloc” most notably in Oakland prior to this past weekend, it hadn’t been a big part of the action in NYC.
However, OWS NYC has a “working group” called the “OWS Black Knights” who in their description describe themselves as “black bloc” (as well as Black Panther and Marine). This group has even requested funding for black clothing and capes, for their “security” role. Hard to know how much of that is hyperbole; there is no evidence that anyone involved in that working group has been involved in anything illegal. http://www.nycga.net/groups/ows-black-knights/events/
However, what is clear is as May 1 and the summer approaches, OWS will be trying to ramp up what action they can to get people’s attention. With “black bloc” which is as much an attitude as a tactic, OWS may be in for a rough summer of confrontation and a very unreceptive public.
Occupy: May 1st Blockade Called For New York Bridges, Tunnels, and Ferries — Commuter Delays Expected
Occupy has been trying to ramp up and throw all efforts into their planned May 1 “general strike”.
We wrote of their desire to shut down the Golden Gate Bridge in San Francisco on that date.
They are also trying to blockade transit into and out of New York City on that date, according to a post on their OccupyWallSt.org site:
MAY 1: NEW YORK BLOCKADE ANNOUNCEMENT
NEW YORK – On May 1, 2012, autonomous direct action groups within Occupy Wall Street, as a part of the global mobilizations for general strike and economic non-compliance, will block one or more Manhattan-bound bridges or tunnels to protest the shameful opulence of the 1%. Working and unemployed people across this country have seen no improvement to their lives in spite of all of the chatter about a recovery from the Financial Crisis of 2008. We don’t care what Obama or Romney say because only working people —domestic laborers, rank and file union members, undocumented workers, restaurant, retail and chain-store workers— can solve today’s problems.
Last fall, when Occupy Wall Street blocked the Brooklyn Bridge for several hours, we were acting within a long line of protest in New York City that stretches back to the so-called Fiscal Crisis of 1975, which much like now, was a bank led assault against working people. In the summer of 1975, striking hospital employees, including doctors and nurses, blocked the Brooklyn Bridge. The bridge was even blocked by thousands of laid-off police, the very people who act as the guard dogs of the 1%. More recently, both the Brooklyn Bridge and the Holland Tunnel were shut down during protests of the shooting death of Sean Bell. But this May 1, we will create the biggest shut down the city of New York has ever seen.
We are announcing these blockades now as a fair warning to the rest of the working people of New York and New Jersey who are considering joining the strikes and mobilizations of the day: the city will be shut down, so enjoy the day without the 99%!
Let’s do a little translation.
“Be the crisis” – get people into the streets, doesn’t matter how or why, but get them so we can galvanize them for action
“Autnomous direct action groups” – if anything happens we can disavow it as not an “officially approved” OWS action
“economic non compliance” – you haven’t done what we say (whatever that might be).
“protest the shameful opulence of the 1%” – if you’re rich, you’re evil, because it’s not fair.
“only working people —domestic laborers, rank and file union members, undocumented workers, restaurant, retail and chain-store workers— can solve today’s problems”
-the revolution has to proceed from the proletariat.
“guard dogs of the 1%” – watch those evil guard dogs in action brutally enforcing the dictates of the evil 1% against peaceful OWS protesters:
“the rest of the working people” -we really don’t care if we inconvenience you and any of those other people because what we have to say is much more important than anything you might be concerned with on that day.
So expectant moms trying to get to the hospital, stuff the baby back in and have it on another day. This is our day.
Update: Apparently not quite their day, they’ve allegedly called of the Golden Gate Bridge blockade, because the union isn’t behind the idea(translation: then there wouldn’t be enough people to do it).
Occupy Bats
No really, Occupy Wall Street finds a bat and discusses what to do with it.
Seriously, bats in NY are likely full of disease.
Two arrested after NYC OWS “Black Bloc” FTP march
Two men were arrested last evening after what appeared to be a large crowd of people dressed in black vandalized the neighborhood between Astor Place and Tompkins Square Park and a police sergeant was assaulted with a lead pipe.
OWS live streamer Tim Pool reported about the action on livestream, although he was not able to get actual footage of the vandalism.
You can see his video here:
Reportedly, a “black bloc” group of people formed after the Anarchist Book Fair at Judson Church (a place which hosts OWS events and has housed OWS members). Pool noted, “a text has gone out”, and “we were late arriving”. The bloc moved to around Astor Place and ended at Tompkins Square Park near the 6th Street Community Center, where there was to be an after party for the book fair. On the way, the group went on a rampage of vandalism, tipping garbage cans, spray painting anarchist graffiti, and smashing windows, including a 7-11 window. They chanted ”fuck the NYPD”, “cops are murderers,” and “all pigs must die.”
An NYPD spokesman said that officers received a report around 9 p.m. that a “disorderly group” had gathered in front of the Starbucks at Lafayette and Astor Place.A video transmission detailing that an officer needed assistance followed, and police found “individuals hitting the window of the establishment.” When a sergeant attempted to intervene and make an arrest, “the crowd became unruly,” and he was allegedly struck with a metal pipe by two men. The officer sustained minor injuries to his hands and knees, and was taken to a local hospital before being released. The two men fled.
The NYPD’s press release referred to the group as “anarchist related” and the two men were among a group of 25 who fought with police and who had tried to use eight-foot-long galvanized metal pipes to smash windows of a Starbucks at Astor Place and Lafayette Street at 8:45 p.m.” The police also claim that patrons of Starbucks were hiding under the tables during the incident.
7-11 window smashed during Black Bloc FTP march. Didn't like the Slurpee?
The night’s events, according to a city anarchist legal worker named Marcus@mcompost, were part of a “very loosely organized anti-police protest” or an “NYC FTP(Fuck the Police)” march. According to Marcus, he witnessed bottles flying – “These folks are making oo(Occupy Oakland) look like a bunch of hippies! so many bottles”. He also noted the attempt to “de-arrest” someone:
https://twitter.com/#!/mcompost/status/191328591970172928
Marcus was thereafter chastised for speaking about the action by well known Occupier Justin Stone Diaz:
https://twitter.com/#!/justinstoned/status/191341594220298240
What is a “black bloc”?
Here is Wikipedia’s general answer as to the meaning of “Black Bloc“:
A black bloc is a tactic for protests and marches, whereby individuals wear black clothing, scarves, ski masks, motorcycle helmets with padding, or other face-concealing items.[...] The clothing is used to avoid being identified, and to, theoretically, appear as one large mass, promoting solidarity.
Black Bloc protests first came about in the 80s in Europe and were a part of the anti-World Trade Organization demonstrations in Seattle in 1999. Protest techniques are disruptive and volatile. They include rioting, vandalism and fighting as well as assistance to fellow protesters in fleeing police.
Occupy Oakland has a very active “black bloc” contingent that has been responsible for a lot of violence and vandalism during marches. OWS has also held ”FTP” marches. At one such march, Occupiers broke into the city hall, vandalized the building, and burnt an American flag on the steps:
After the march last night made it to the Tompkins Square Park area (near the 6th St Community Center and the after party), the group reportedly took off the black and disappeared into the regular crowd of people. However there were reports of more bottles being thrown at police and that was when the two arrests actually occurred.
Alexander Penley, 41, and Nicholas Thommen, 30, were arrested for allegedly assaulting the police sergeant with the pipe during the earlier action at the Starbucks at Astor Place. They were charged with assaulting a police officer, menacing, criminal possession of a weapon, resisting arrest, and inciting a riot.
Penley is an attorney and has been an organizer with the Occupy Wall Street movement since the fall. Thommen has also been very active with Occupy.
Alexander Penley(in center)
Nicholas Thommen
Update: NY Post notes more of the event including that a NYPD lieutenant was also injured and a third person, Eric Marchese, 24, was arrested in the process of trying to smash a window. http://www.nypost.com/p/news/local/manhattan/panic_as_anti_government_goons_smash_23aHRRaT5TKyArG1amxweI#ixzz1s9DzDAx6
Update: MSM catches up-a little. MSM finally notes the OWS connection, as Metro NY notes Occupier presence and that “during the scuffle, several police officers were assaulted with pipes, bottles, and physical force, cops said”. http://www.metro.us/newyork/comment/article/1140328–anarchists-occupy-wall-street-members-arrested-after-trying-to-smash-windows-at-east-village-starbucks
Update: Apparently, notices for the FTP march were handed out at the Anarchist Book Fair at the Judson Church. One has to wonder why the Church would condone such behavior.
“99% Spring” Democratic operation?
We heard from Sage about the “socializers” (anti capitalists) taking over(sage comment, that).
But while the “anti capitalists” have held sway over Occupy Wall St, others have since the beginning been trying to co-opt it.
The drama behind the scenes with all this would make old 80s soap operas look sophisticated by comparison.
Charles Young, who has been involved with Occupy, tells of attending the “99% Spring” training session organized by Move On.org and having the sudden revelation that it was run by the Democrats:
With hindsight gained by googling “MoveOn” and “co-opt” after the fact, I can’t claim that nobody tried to warn me. Many websites with left and even liberal politics had said in so many words, “Be wary of this organization called The 99% Spring. It is a Trojan horse for the Democrats.” I just didn’t read that anywhere in a timely fashion. I’ve had a lot of stuff on my plate lately. That’s my excuse. And in my ignorance, I responded to some spam about “nonviolent direct action training” organized by MoveOn and got invited to this 99% Spring thing on April 10 at the Goddard Riverside Community Center in Manhattan. Somebody even called me all the way from San Francisco to make sure I was a sincere seeker on the left and would be attending, along with 120,000 others in training sessions around the country.
Which I did. The meeting was a few blocks from where I live. The spam said it was “inspired by Occupy Wall Street.” I wasn’t sure what that meant, but I was vaguely hoping that whatever The 99% Spring was, it would start a chapter of Occupy Wall Street on the Upper West Side, conveniently near my abode, and agitate for the Democrats and MoveOn to move left.
The first clue that my evening might go otherwise was the sign-up table, where there were a bunch of Obama buttons for sale and one sign-up sheet for the oddly named Community Free Democrats (are they free of community?), which is the local Democratic clubhouse. That killed the “inspired by Occupy Wall Street” vibe right there. No piles of literature from a zillion different groups, as there had been in Zuccotti Park. No animated arguments among Marxists, anarchists, progressives, punks, engaged Buddhists, anti-war libertarians and what have you. Just Obama buttons, which didn’t appear to be selling.
A large man with long wavy hair combed back started the presentation with a stirring call for…the meeting to be off the record. He didn’t want any stories that would violate anyone’s privacy, and if there were any lurking journalists, they weren’t allowed to use any names and they must see him afterwards for further instruction on the ground rules. This struck an even more dysphoric note with the crowd than the Obama buttons.
WTF thought #1: This was a public event ostensibly to convince members of the public to engage in behavior that challenged the legitimacy of government authority in public and might cause angry police to beat the public crap out of them. Why would anyone risk that without trying to get publicity for their cause? Nonviolent direct action that no one knows about is like jerking off. It might make you feel better, but you’re not changing the world.
Notice Charles in his disturbance, says something quite striking here. The purpose of Occupy is not bailouts, money in politics or whatever was the initial “get” used to draw people. The purpose is to challenge the legitimacy of government authority. Get people in the streets, whatever the issue. Wall St, war, racism, Trayvon, autism, mental illness. Plumb the ranks of people who have an issue and try to bring them to the cause. Once you get them, then you can shape them through training: by marching and chanting together, you build a contingent that will do things that would not have done before.
But I digress, Charles was just discovering that someone else was working him:
WTF thought #5: The name of the large man with the wavy hair was Marc Landis. He is a District Leader for the Democrats, who were paying for use of the meeting room. He is running for City Council. According to his law firm’s website his areas of experience are: “Real Estate, Banking & Finance, Corporate & Business Law, Securities & Private Placement, Fund Formation & Investment Management Group…” His Facebook page, which is geared for his City Council campaign, makes it sound like his specialty is pro bono community work. I don’t know. He might be a nice guy, but it doesn’t take a lot of intuition to wonder if he’s really been finding a lot of inspiration in Occupy Wall Street. He’s a corporate lawyer. I can think of no reason for him to demand that the meeting be off the record other than he and his party don’t want to be publicly associated with anything radical, even it’s a pseudo-radical front group meant to steer people away from the truly radical Occupy Wall Street and into pointless activities that don’t embarrass Obama.
Next they showed a video that invited us “to tell our story” so that The 99% Spring could post us online along with hundreds of other people who had been foreclosed, bankrupted, lost their medical insurance or whatever. It appeared they all wanted to raise taxes, so that the rich would “pay their fair share.”
It was sanctimonious. It was supplicating before power. The audience looked like it wanted to puke.
And I said that the other thing I liked was that it was to the left of the Democratic Party and was pushing it from outside. There had been some mention of “the repeal of the Glass Steagall Act during the 90s” and I pointed out that it was Bill Clinton, a Democrat, who deregulated Wall Street.
“Excuse me,” said Landis. “We have a limited amount of time and a lot to discuss. We need to let everyone speak.”
I’ve thought about that a lot. I don’t believe I spoke for more than a minute, but I habitually obey the rules in a group, so I shut up. In retrospect, I was censored. I should have demanded a discussion of the true purpose of The 99% Spring and why Obama’s Department of Homeland Security orchestrated the violent destruction of hundreds of nonviolent Occupy camps around the country last fall.
As it was, we finished going around the circle. Everyone was a teacher or writer or connected with the labor movement. Wisconsin came up a few times. Landis asked what kind of a world we wanted to see. Someone said, “Socialism” and Landis said the topic for discussion was now how to plan for a “hypothetical direct action.” Every time somebody brought up something that was actually happening, Landis insisted that our agenda was set and we were only discussing hypothetical situations. So we talked about hypothetically withdrawing money from a hypothetical evil bank, or hypothetically stopping the hypothetical fracking in the Catskills that is going to poison New York City’s hypothetical drinking water.
“I heard that Occupy Wall Street was calling for a general strike. They’re planning actions all around midtown and they’re saying that nobody should go to work that day.”
“I don’t know anything about that,” said Landis. “We’re talking about hypothetical situations here.”
And so it went from 6:30 to 9:30 last Tuesday night. Over half the crowd left early. Most of those who stayed appeared to be angry and mystified that they had received no training whatever in nonviolent direct action.
Charles got a lesson, but not exactly the lesson he was expecting. Had he been more aware he would have recognized it in the nature of the organizations and people that were already running actions at Occupy Wall Street. New York Communities for Change and the Working Families Party have been and are actively involved in Occupy. They are the reconstituted ACORN which has close ties to Obama. http://www.nationalreview.com/articles/224610/inside-obamas-acorn/stanley-kurtz . MoveOn and Code Pink have also been involved, Code Pink since the beginning as one of the founding groups of Occupy, along with the Workers World Party and Anonymous.
As much as Charles believes he fled the co-option upon recognizing it, he still hasn’t quite figured it all out.
(The rest of Charles Young’s post may be read here: http://www.thiscantbehappening.net/node/1126)
