Jamie Dimon, often cited as the most responsible head of a Wall Street investment bank, reigned as Chairman and CEO of JP Morgan Chase today.
In a blistering letter published this morning in Britian’s Financial News, Dimon says he is tired of working in the “bankrupt moral culture” of finance and called for a criminal investigation into wrongdoing at JP Morgan and other major investment banks.
“For too long I have been a witness to what I consider to be unethical and sometimes even illegal behavior at the highest levels of Wall Street,” the letter reads. “I thought that I could change the system from the inside. But over the past few years I have been proven wrong.” – Jaime Dimon
“Despite the concerted effort of myself and my closest staff, the recent losses at our Chief Investment Office and the global LIBOR scandal show that firms such as JP Morgan have simply become too big to manage.
“For that reason I am resigning from my posts as Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of JP Morgan Chase effective at noon EST today. And I urge global regulators to introduce new rules seeking to limit the size of scope of the largest international financial institutions.”
Starbuck’s Pequod
Long recognized as a less corrupt institution than competing banks such as Goldman Sachs and Barclays, JP Morgan has come under fire in recent months for a number of trading scandals. Most notably the bank lost over $6 billion on bad derivatives bets in the notorious London Whale fiasco.
But in his resignation letter Dimon did not limit his reasoning to recent events, explaining that he is disgusted by the behavior of investment banks during the financial crisis.
“Over four years has passed since the greatest financial collapse in the history of this nation,” Diamond recounts, “and still no one on Wall Street has been held accountable for the crimes which have been committed.
“Washington says they can’t find one single banker guilty of fraud. I can think of 15 people off the top of my head who should be behind bars.” - Jamie Dimon Read the rest of this entry →
Five years into the crisis and not a single banker has been prosecuted. Over 333,000 of us signed a petition demanding that the President and the Department of Justice prosecute the bankers. Join Occupy Sacramento, and others to deliver those signatures to the Department at Justice, and tell President Obama and Attorney General Eric Holder that nobody is above the law, no matter how “big” they are. Oust the Banks !
Tuesday, 2 Apr 2013, 1:00 PM
Sacramento, US Dept of Justice, Federal Courthouse, 501 I Street
Infographics on the distribution of wealth in America, highlighting both the inequality and the difference between our perception of inequality and the actual numbers. The reality is often not what we think it is.
15 Mind-Blowing Facts About Wealth And Inequality In America
New documents prove what was once dismissed as paranoid fantasy: totally integrated corporate-state repression of dissent led by Corporate Banks that had Vested Interests in Protecting their Bailout Money, the FBI, Homeland Security and Local Police Forces.
Police used teargas to drive back protesters following an attempt by the Occupy supporters to shut down the city of Oakland. Photograph: Noah Berger/AP
It was more sophisticated than we had imagined: new documents show that the violent crackdown on Occupy last fall – so mystifying at the time – was not just coordinated at the level of the FBI, the Department of Homeland Security, and local police. The crackdown, which involved, as you may recall, violent arrests, group disruption, canister missiles to the skulls of protesters, people held in handcuffs so tight they were injured, people held in bondage till they were forced to wet or soil themselves –was coordinated with the big banks themselves.
The Partnership for Civil Justice Fund, in a groundbreaking scoop that should once more shame major US media outlets (why are nonprofits now some of the only entities in America left breaking major civil liberties news?), filed this request. The document – reproduced here in an easily searchable format – shows a terrifying network of coordinated DHS, FBI, police, regional fusion center, and private-sector activity so completely merged into one another that the monstrous whole is, in fact, one entity: in some cases, bearing a single name, the Domestic Security Alliance Council. And it reveals this merged entity to have one centrally planned, locally executed mission. The documents, in short, show the cops and DHS working for and with banks to target, arrest, and politically disable peaceful American citizens.
The documents, released after long delay in the week between Christmas and New Year, show a nationwide meta-plot unfolding in city after city in an Orwellian world: six American universities are sites where campus police funneled information about students involved with OWS to the FBI, with the administrations’ knowledge (p51); banks sat down with FBI officials to pool information about OWS protesters harvested by private security; plans to crush Occupy events, planned for a month down the road, were made by the FBI – and offered to the representatives of the same organizations that the protests would target; and even threats of the assassination of OWS leaders by sniper fire – by whom? Where? – now remain redacted and undisclosed to those American citizens in danger, contrary to standard FBI practice to inform the person concerned when there is a threat against a political leader (p61). Read the rest of this entry →
Guerrilla warfare has been successful in many Third World countries. In Western countries it has to be slightly adapted. Safe base areas where the guerrilla can recuperate and plan new actions are not possible. Guerrilla is the extension of politics by putting direct pressure on the most powerful people, the 1%. (Pressure on politicians, the puppets of the 1% is counter-productive). Most action principles are still valid, I name only a few: Care for a long series of small victories Attack incessantly
Have the initiative, we act so they have to react and not we react on what they do.
Use deception when possible
Surprise the enemy
Minimise damage to the 99%
Simple ideas but they have worked!
The first Occupy action – the occupation of thousands of squares in the world – was excellent. Surprise and initiative! Most further actions did not comply with guerrilla principles. Without daring and surprising actions in which the damage to the 99% is minimal and the pressure on the 1% maximal, there are no lasting successes. The beginning will be slow but suddenly a next spark can start a prairie fire (Mao Tse-tung).
Most guerrilla principles were already 2000 years ago written down in ”The Art of War” by Sun Tzu. Not weapons stand central but the strategy. Guerrilla is a political struggle, an action method that can be used by common citizens without any specialisation. Weapons are hardly necessary because a guerrilla in our kind of countries is not a war of a weak army against a strong army. It is a war of attrition against the centres of power, the 1%.
In several respects, Occupy Wall Street reminds me of the feminist movement. Corporate funded media has declared the women’s rights movement dead ad nauseam for four decades — and yet it thrives and reinvents itself. Similarly, corporate funded media has eulogized Occupy Wall Street from almost the moment of its nascent birth in the Fall of 2011.
If there is a common thread connecting these movements and the dire media prognostications of their demise, it is likely that when either one advances, entrenched power — and its iron grip on the wealth of a nation — loses.
Now, similar to the early court battles for women’s rights, Occupy Wall Street has tossed aside its encampments and bullhorns and donned its legal garb and pro hac vices. Occupy Wall Street’s brain trust, Occupy the SEC, just filed a Federal lawsuit that encapsulates the crony capitalist state that passes today for democracy.
The organization is suing every Federal regulator that resides in the pocket of Wall Street – which means they are suing every Federal regulator of Wall Street. And, spunky group that they are, they’re naming individuals too. Here’s the rundown: Ben Bernanke, Chairman of the Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System, Martin Gruenberg, Chairman of the FDIC, Elisse Walter, Chair of the SEC, Gary Gensler, Chair of the Commodity Futures Trading Commission, Thomas Curry, Comptroller of the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency, Mary Miller, Under Secretary for Domestic Finance at the Treasury, Neal Wolin, Acting Secretary of the Treasury. Read the rest of this entry →
Each year there are in Washington about ten big demonstrations.
In the last thirty years eight demonstrations attracted even more than 500,000 participants. (Wikipedia)
1969-11-15 Against the War in Vietnam
1971-04-24 Against the War in Vietnam
1987-10-11 For lesbian and gay rights
1989 April March for Women’s lives
1993-04-25 For lesbian and gay rights
1995-10-16 Million Man March
2000-11-02 CallDC for God’s move in this nation
2004-04-25 March for Women’s lives
The result of these demonstrations was disappointing. They hardly influenced politicians and the pressure on the 1% was minimal. Demonstrations and other mass actions have a propagandistic effect but it is not a real force politicians have to take into account. Mass actions also divide the 99% because they hinder the normal life of many citizens as is obvious with a strike in the public transport. – A Diversity of Tactics must be used to have success.
In mass actions as demonstrations, petitions, strikes, even referendums and other electoral events many people protest at the same time against decisions. But successes are not encouraging.
According to all recent reports, police officers themselves indicate people were provided with drugs by law enforcement agents, think what happens in the medical world for one second and how a Dr.’s life could be ruined in a second with one faulty prescription….
After thinking about that. realize that both Hennepin county and the city of Richfield and Minneapolis where this all happened, have both refused to file criminal charges despite confirmation from law officers that they were giving people drugs with no medical supervision and letting them loose in the street afterwords.
The original DRE report video, a new BCA ( bureau of criminal apprehension ) report and a list of all the interesting pages and the statements made on them is noted below, enjoy
hongpong.com — MINNEAPOLIS — NOV 12 2012 — Law enforcement officers under a state training program called Drug Recognition Evaluators encouraged people in downtown Minneapolis, including Occupy Minnesota protesters at Peavey Plaza and other vulnerable and houseless people to participate in alcohol and drug intoxication evaluations. After a 35-minute video “MK Occupy Minnesota” [produced by Occupy Minneapolis, Communities United Against Police Brutality, Rogue Media & Twin Cities Indymedia] was released documenting claims of several DRE participants they’d been given drugs and encouraged to take drugs, an officer from Hutchinson, MN, stepped forward to corroborate part of that story.
Mn Bureau of Criminal Apprehension under the Department of Public Safety, generated a 513-page investigative report described in Minnesota Public Radio & Star Tribune stories, but not available publicly in full until now, adding another chunk to this incomplete story from one of the many gray areas in the war on drugs & the suppression of Occupy protesters.
In a shocking video released this week that is titled “official video” rapper and hip hop legend Ice Cube uses some rather graphic footage of recent word events, and most notably Occupy Wall Street footage to portray the message Occupy Wall Street has been saying all along.. Everything’s Corrupt
MUST SEE video
Everything’s Corrupt – Published on Nov 2, 2012 by NewAmericaNow
Roguemedia.org would like to thank Ice Cube, and everyone involved in this production for have the guts to speak the truth about the lies we are being force fed in this culture.. THANK YOU!
The thing that corporate media is failing to speak to, and that both the republican and democratic parties are spending billions keeping quiet, is that a 2 party system will never work in this diverse of a culture, even more so when you have all the fortune 500 companies hedging their bets with unlimited campaign contributions to both parties…
Yeah, if you didn’t hear it in FOX “news” or MSNBC there is a reason, the corporations own and control them along with most of what you see on TV and hear on the radio, make no mistake it is all a system of control that is trying to manufacture your decision making process, and tell you what is important.
No matter which candidate wins, they are already in the pocket of all the big spenders, who are the real policy makers now days. Everything’s Corrupt, what a good way to put it.
Let’s all go to Washington, DC, and have a Halloween night party!
Let’s celebrate the wonderful Coke/Pepsi presidential election now in progress … and the honest, feisty way our elected reps in Congress have conducted our nation’s business … pay tribute to the bold visions they’ve put forward.
At dusk on October 31, let’s gather on Capitol Hill, trick or treat Congress and party like we’ve never partied before.
Bring mask!
CJ HQ
PS And if you cannot make it to DC then party in front of the Bank of America in your community… outside your city hall… or in the squares.
As I do after each one of Occupy Wall Street’s major days of action, I scoured news websites on Tuesday to learn what our “trusted watchdogs,” the mainstream media, had to say about S17.
And within minutes, I learned that the coverage – with little exception – amounted to nothing more than the typical and predictable refrain: Occupy is dead.
For me, reading Occupy stories written by reporters at the AP or Reuters or MSNBC or theDaily News or NY1 or Fox News or The New York Times is almost an exercise in masochism at this point. I don’t need to click on a link to know how the most important social movement of my lifetime is going to be handled by the establishment media. And it’s this: The coverage will fall somewhere between petulant group-think and outright falsehoods.
As a former mainstream media reporter myself – I wrote for the second-largest daily paper in New Jersey – I think I know why this is the case. Most journalists are either too meek and obedient to their most powerful sources (Mayor Bloomberg, the NYPD, etc.) to tell the real story – or they are too J-school trained to get “both sides” of the issue that they always leave the reader wondering: “So what’s the truth?” NYU professor Jay Rosen calls this “the view from nowhere.”
Throw in the fact that most mainstream media outlets are owned by huge corporations and that Occupy doesn’t fit into their neat parameters of what constitutes a political story (Democrats versus Republicans!!!), and it’s pretty obvious why every other story about the movement is an obituary.
But how many times is the mainstream media going to declare Occupy dead? It did so after encampments across the country were brutally raided and evicted late last year, it did so on Occupy’s six-month anniversary, it did so after May Day – and many more times in between.
The opening paragraph to these stories is always the same. It reads something like this: “Occupy Wall Street protesters gathered at such-and-such location yesterday, but their presence did not nearly live up to their numbers last fall.”
Enough already.
IF OCCUPY IS DEAD – AND HAS BEEN DEAD FOR MONTHS – WHY ARE YOU STILL WRITING ABOUT IT? Read the rest of this entry →
Video compiled from leaked police video of events on November 15th 2011 when police violently evicted protesters from liberty square in NY. Media was not allowed to cover the event, several journalists were arrested during the event, their video and equipment being damaged or destroyed in blatent police attempts at media repression. Journalists were told they could not be anywhere near the park as the eviction took place… removing any sense to the officers involved that they would be held accountable for their actions.
After protesters occupied a vacant bank building in Santa Cruz, the district attorney wildly over-reacted and began prosecuting media workers, community activists and caregivers whose work seems to be more reportorial than conspiratorial. This makes it appear that the Occupy Movement was the real target of the district attorney.
“Occupy the Banks.” Poster created by Dignidad Rebelde
The Santa Cruz Eleven have become political scapegoats for a property crime, and Occupy Santa Cruz finds itself an unlikely eye in the middle of this storm.
It all started at 75 River Street in Santa Cruz, a block away from the Town Clock, when an empty Wells Fargo bank building was occupied last winter, and activists seemingly dreamed it into new life as a haven for a community made flesh. Read the rest of this entry →
23 July 2012 – Statement from Jeremy Hammond, alleged Anonymous hacker – original post here
Thanks for everybody coming out in support! It is so good to know folks on the street got my back. Special thanks to those who have been sending books and letters, and to my amazing lawyers.
I remember maybe a few months before I was locked up I went to a few noise demonstrations a the federal jail MCC Chicago in support of all those locked up there. Prisoners moved in front of the windows, turned the lights on and off, and dropped playing cards through the cracks in the windows. I had no idea I would soon be in that same jail facing multiple trumped up computer hacking “conspiracies.” Read the rest of this entry →
By Staff | Fight Back News – original article here
Rachel Lang of the National Lawyers Guild speaking at City Hall protest (Fight Back! News/Staff)
Minneapolis, MN – More than 50 people rallied inside City Hall here, July 24 to demand all charges be dropped against members and supporters of Occupy Homes who were arrested defending the Cruz family home. In recent weeks, city prosecutors added the charge of third degree riot – a gross misdemeanor which carries a sentence of up to one year in prison and a $3000 fine – to the original trespassing charge. The 14 were arrested May 30 in a peaceful protest at the Cruz family home.
Speaking in City Hall, Rachel Lang of the National Lawyers Guild announced the start of a campaign to press city officials to drop the charges. Other speakers included hip-hop artist Brother Ali, Michael Friedman of the Legal Rights Center and Dave Bicking, formerly of the Minneapolis Civilian Police Review Authority.
The decision of city officials to escalate the charges against anti-foreclosure protesters is an attempt to attempt to intimidate activists. The protests organized by Occupy Homes have garnered international media coverage and has been successful in saving the homes of those hit by foreclosures.
Other demands put forward at the protest were that, “All police, including Chief Dolan, who used violence against peaceful protesters be formally disciplined,” and that “no more public resources be used to help banks evict our neighbors.”
SFPD Shoot Unarmed Man In The Back While Handcuffed
Witnesses tell the tale of a handcuffed #OccupySF protestor being shot twice in the back by a member of the San Francisco Police Department.
As the police state continues to intensify, instances where members of the citizenry are being treated like second-class citizens and either spied on, wrongfully targeted and arrested, tazed and/or shot also continues to increase.
Such was the case Wednesday morning as eye-witness video, via #OccupySF Repressed Media and uploaded to Youtube, captured the victim, in what appears to be downtown San Francisco, being loaded into an ambulance, lying motionless and still in the handcuffs.
While asking what took place, one witness explained the circumstance, prompting the videographer to gain a better view, allowing him to see the victim being loaded onto the ambulance.
Based on the video statement, the incident took place around 10:30 AM PST, in front of the “Federal” Reserve building at 101 Market Street. According to the statement,
A man had just been shot and killed by SFPD by the SAFEWAY near Sue Bierman Park. OccupySF Repressed Media responded and witnessed paramedics and SFFD moving a body into an ambulance. Eyewitnesses report SFPD shot and killed an apparently unarmed Asian or Hispanic man twice in the back WHILE HE WAS ALREADY IN HANDCUFFS. WTF? #FTP We later discovered that the witness in this video actually saw the incident. #OccupySF Repressed Media was the first camera on the scene. (video below) Read the rest of this entry →
Early in the morning, on July 10, a SWAT team from the Seattle police department raided an apartment where organizers from the Occupy movement have been living. A warrant shown to the four people that were sleeping in the apartment at the time indicated the police were looking for “anarchist materials” and the raid was part of an ongoing investigation into militant action that Occupy engaged in on May Day.
The organizers raided are also known to be members of the Red Spark Collective (or the Kasama Project). A press spokesperson for the Red Spark Collective, Liam Wright, told Firedoglake the Seattle Police Department used a “battering device” to knock down the door of the apartment. They went inside. Some kind of a “flash bang grenade” was thrown. Tactical rifles were drawn. They then proceeded to tear apart the apartment destroying a book shelf and tearing down a curtain. Every door they could find was opened. This went on for about an hour and a half before they left the apartment.
Since the 1900′s the vast majority of the American population has dreamed about saying “NO” to the Unconstitutional, corrupt, Rothschild/Rockefeller banking criminals, but no one has dared to do so. Why? If just half of our Nation, and the “1%”, who pay the majority of the taxes, just said NO MORE! Our Gov’t would literally change over night. Why is it so hard, for some people to understand, that by simply NOT giving your money, to large Corporations, who then send jobs, Intellectual Property, etc. offshore and promote anti-Constitutional rights…
You will accomplish more, than if you used violence. In other words… RESEARCH WHERE YOU ARE SENDING EVERY SINGLE PENNY!!! Is that so hard? The truth of the matter is… No other modern Nation on earth, except the Icelanders, have carried this out successfully. Not only have they been successful, at overthrowing the corrupt Gov’t, they’ve drafted a Constitution, that will stop this from happening ever again. That’s not the best part…
The best part, is that they have arrested ALL Rothschild/Rockefeller banking puppets, responsible for the Country’s economic Chaos and meltdown. What does all this have to do with? The answer… AGENDA 21. If you’re not educated, about Agenda 21, please watch these short videos now: http://www.freedumbnation.com/?p=1130
Last week 9 people were arrested in London and Reykjavik for their possible responsibility for Iceland’s financial collapse in 2008, a deep crisis which developed into an unprecedented public reaction that is changing the country’s direction.
It has been a revolution without weapons in Iceland, the country that hosts the world’s oldest democracy (since 930), and whose citizens have managed to effect change by going on demonstrations and banging pots and pans. Why have the rest of the Western countries not even heard about it? Read the rest of this entry →
The Cruz family home in Minneapolis, Minnesota, went into foreclosure in 2011 when PNC failed to withdraw an online mortgage payment and then demanded two months’ payment as punishment. Unable to pay more than the current month’s installment, the family home fell into foreclosure.
Despite acknowledging that the Cruz’s foreclosure was due to a bank error and repeated claims that they are working “behind the scenes” to get the Cruz family back in their home, PNC Bank has refused to accept the documents necessary for the loan to be modified. So Alejandra and David Cruz, along with several supporters, are going hand-deliver the documents to PNC’s headquarters in Pittsburgh, PA!
The community, as a whole, has rallied to help the Cruz family, and many other families defend their homes from unethical and often illegal bank foreclosures. [see videos below of these events, including one featuring musician Brother Ali talking about these issues and why this struggle is so important] – roguemedia
The Cruz family stopped today at the regional headquarters of Freddie Mac, the bailed-out secondary market lender that has posted guards and boarded up the doors and windows with reinforced steel to keep the Cruz family and supporters out of their home. After this, they marched, with supporters to a nearby PNC branch, where they refused to allow them to go inside and present loan modification documents.
Since April 30, Occupy Homes MN has been working with the Cruz family, whose home went into foreclosure when PNC Bank mishandled an online payment. Although PNC executives have acknowledged their error and repeatedly told Cruz supporters that they are working on a solution, their actions have shown the opposite. They have refused to work with the family, instead working with Freddie Mac and the city of Minneapolis to launch a series of costly police raids against home, resulting in 23 arrests in less than a week. Despite ongoing protests, PNC still thinks we’ll go away if they ignore us long enough. It’s time to show them otherwise: on June 19, Alejandra and David Cruz will be travelling along with a team of supporters to PNC’s Pittsburgh headquarters to hand-deliver their modification documents and demand a meeting with CEO Jim Rohr! Occupy Homes MN is calling for a national day of action on PNC to coincide with the Cruz’s arrival on Thursday, June 21. see videos below
Minneapolis, MN — After a several month campaign pressuring Citibank to negotiate with Colleen Mckee Espinosa and a last minute blitz of social media, petition signatures, and calls to the office of CEO Vikram Pandit, Citibank canceled a scheduled sheriff’s sale and approved a loan modification for the Espinosa’s home. An official with CitiMortgage’s Executive Response Unit contacted the Espinosa family with news that Citibank had approved a loan modification that would keep the family in their home and reduce their payments by one-third on a 7.5 year payment plan. The dramatic news came less than 24 hours before the house was to be sold at auction on Wednesday, June 13. Read the rest of this entry →
NATO Protest 2012 - Chicago Police Violently Oppress Protesters, using unnecessary violence and brute force batons to the skull, just as they had told some protesters in a May 9th video, as routine tactics. Snatch and grab tactics were also used, people were picked up on charges that did not float to the surface for weeks while they were in jail... Police state anyone ? It appears to anyone we have talked to that was on the frontlines, that protesting, and dissent are now illegal in the United States.
Six months after police violently evicted peaceful protestors from Occupy camps across the US, activists now see a program of local engagement and international coordination as central to advancing their movement.
Global economic and political systems continue to be delegitimised in the eyes of many, as communities are squeezed by the ongoing manifestations of the global financial crisis. While mainstream political forces attempt to absorb and deflect citizens’ dissatisfaction, activists within popular protest movements, rather than merely venting anger, are beginning to offer alternatives to the status quo.
In 2012, the Arab Spring appears to have become mired in sectarian conflict, repression and infiltration by religious fundamentalists, but non-violent direct action remains an effective tactic for movements in other parts of the world. Recent national and regional elections in France, Greece and Germany, saw voters reject parties advocating a continuation of economic austerity policies that cut government spending and services in order to service national debt, while in Spain the Indignados returned to the streets in their tens of thousands.
In the United States, the Occupy movement consists of no central organisational structure but is composed of independent collectives in various cities covering a variety of issues. Read the rest of this entry →
Over the last few months, we have been enheartened by the revolt taking shape in the streets of Montreal. The students of Quebec have taken a struggle against tuition hikes and mobilized hundreds of thousands against austerity and state repression. What began as a one-week university student strike has precipitated into an anti-capitalist revolt against universities, banks and police in what many are calling a general and indefinite social strike. In the face of intense state repression, including the draconian law 78 more or less banning protest, court injunctions against university picket lines, and mass arrests, the rebels of Montreal return to the streets night after night for over 100 days. They have called for solidarity actions from everyone and everywhere that can connect with the struggle, saying that if the strike “cannot inspire disruptions of its own, then it will die out quick.”
In the Bay Area, we, too, have seen revolt spread from universities into the community through Occupy, and we’ve seen tens of thousands come together against state repression for the November 2nd general strike and December 12th west coast port shutdown. And during those days of intense struggle, we drew strength and joy from the solidarity extended to us from as far as New York to Mexico City to Cairo.
It is now time for us to extend our solidarity to our comrades in Montreal and work to inspire the same solidarity and desire to disrupt business as usual in our friends, families and neighbors.
How did Quebec Students Mobilize Hundreds of Thousands for Strike?
by Michelle Hill – occupynewhampshire.org/2012/05/29/freedom-of-speech/
While at the first rally, the one sponsored by National Nurses United (the union which paid for the buses to get us to and from Chicago), I found my brand new phone didn’t work. I couldn’t get or receive texts or phone calls. So I asked one of the police officers why our phones were being blocked. He responded with “there are too many people trying to use their phones at once. No one is blocking them.” Frankly, I didn’t believe him. Later in the week I overheard two officers talking. One was saying how glad she was cellphones had been blocked. The other nodded his head. I believed this officer to be telling the truth.
Unfortunately, blocking cellphones became the norm.
By blocking cellphones live tweets weren’t sent, people couldn’t call one another, and there was a dearth of Facebook status updates. It seems to me by blocking our phones, the police (or whomever was the guilty party) curtailed Freedom of Speech since phones are no longer just for voice communications.
Speech is our most basic freedom. To curtail it, for any reason, is not only unconstitutional, it’s a sign of fascism. For city police to participate in such behavior is totally unacceptable. For any police to participate in the silencing of speech is totally unacceptable.
I wondered why my brand new phone didn’t work but others did. I saw cops and paramedics on their phones. I saw other Occupiers on their phones. So maybe the technology used worked only on new phones. I’m not that tech savvy so I can’t answer my own question. But what I can say is I felt stifled. I could not reach the woman I was supposed to meet so we never connected that day. I felt uninformed without my twitter updates. When the rally moved I couldn’t find where the climate people went because of the dearth of text messages. Read the rest of this entry →
Two Big Mortgage Frauds: MERS and Tranche Insurance Payoffs
MERS stands for “Mortgage Electronic Registry Systems,” and was started in 1997 by the big banks to help expedite the quick buying and selling of loans. They are found in 65 million mortgages across the US, about 60% of all American loans. You may find them in your mortgage chain of title posing as either the nominee mortgagee or in an assignment of your deed of trust, which is recorded at the Register of Deeds office where your property is located.
They are strictly a registry system with NO authority to buy and sell a note; and,
it appears they VOID your note if they appear ANYWHERE in your mortgage transaction. The mortgage/deed of trust cannot be separated from the note (US Supreme Court, 1872, Insurance v. Eldredge.) They are incorporated in Delaware and have offices in Reston, VA and in Flint, Michigan. Read the rest of this entry →
At the Chicago NATO Summit, after the rally off Cermak and Michigan, May 20th 2012. Police surrounded protesters and box off one group from the rest of the rally. Without any dispersal order, the police leading with batons and violence, started pressing thousands of protesters through a narrow exit. Towards the end of the video a independant journalist is attacked after filming police violence, his camera broken in the incident.
Tim Pool Seeks Monopoly on Audio Broadcast in the Event Data Services Go Down - NATO Protest 2012
Having recently worked in and around the NATO protests in Chicago, we’re surprised to learn that self professed “fair and balanced” reporter @timcast , Tim Pool was trying to corner the market and get : A monopoly on audio broadcast in the event that data services went down and people were being prevented from live streaming. This report was witnessed by several other individuals.
Many people, from all over the world, thought they would be jamming or shut down internet and cellphones for months leading up to this event in Chicago, rumors had been circulating through various circles. It seemed to many people, that it would be standard practice for an event like this where military helicopters were flying through the loop in DT Chicago between skyscrapers, just weeks in advance, on training exercises.
The rumor that was floating around among many video streamers was that data services would be down during the protest, but that cell phone service itself would remain intact. There was a lot of speculation as to what this would mean, and many people [including Tim] involved in media efforts, were trying to figure out ways to work together towards solutions.
Tim was involved in trying to arrange for special favors, in his exact words, ”…then I could have a monopoly [on audio]…” This would have been broadcast in the event that data services went down and live video streaming was not an option.
We can also confirm that the independent media center was told they could no longer use his [ Tim 's ] video stream to re-broadcast coverage of NATO as they had been doing from various live video feeds from everyone around the country in attendance. There was not a single other streamer that had a problem with being re-broadcast. In fact, most people we talked to that were uploading video live or via other means were happy to freely share, so that the whole story could be seen from multiple points of view.
Stories From A Street Medic Involved In NATO Protests In Chicago, May 2012
all day i’ve wanted to be left alone, yet needed to be around others.
i don’t remember how i ended up at the front of the lines.
the first anti-capitalist march i went on was proof enough that my instinct is to cut away, dart through the crowd, and get to the front as swiftly as possible to deescalate the situation as quickly as possible.
or at least be there to provide any services within the skill-set of an energy mosh-medic.
so i guess i arrived there on auto-pilot.
be aware, i did not panic through all of this.
when they (cpd) first started shoving us back, i felt confused and in danger.
my perception snapped into slow motion.
(though there remain some gaps in my memory of it all)
what i noticed in those first split seconds was the commanding officer stepping forward. walking down the line. assaulting every other protester in passing.
prepping the army. leading by example. Read the rest of this entry →
There are still dozens of people held in jail in Chicago after the NATO protests. In addition, the police bloodied upwards of 90 people on Sunday, according to the National Lawyers Guild’s Sarah Gelsamino.
For all the great work that the National Lawyers Guild does, raising bail is not something that they can legally do for their clients. That is up to individuals and organizations not legally representing the imprisoned.
An ad hoc group of CANG8 activists has announced a fundraiser at:
Carey’s Lounge, 2251 W. Devon Avenue,
Sunday night beginning at 8 PM
Suggested donation: $10 – no one turned away for inability to pay
All funds raised will go directly to those whom the Guild is able to identify as people who, as friends and family members, are trying to raise bail funds for their loved ones.
Thousands of marchers gathered in Chicago today to continue a week of criticism directed at the arms industry, NATO, and the austerity measures carried out against social service providers on the local level.
The first of three marches on Saturday focused attention on the closures of half of the city of Chicago’s neighborhood mental health clinics as 2-3 thousand people congregated in front of Mayor Rahm Emanuel’s home at 4228 N. Hermitage.
Around 3:30pm, Saturday, approximately 1,000 marchers gathered at Daley Plaza to protest the raid of a Bridgeport home and terrorism charges levied against three anti-NATO activists — a group dubbed the NATO 3, inspiring a currently trending campaign on twitter with the keyword #NATO3.
A third march, the Anti-Capitalist march, had been called to meet at the statue commemorating the international labor movement in Haymarket Square at Randolph and Desplaines on the Near West Side.
Several hundred people from the #NATO3 group marched to the South Loop, and in attempting to meet the “Anti-Capitalist” march at Haymarket were divided and redirected by the Chicago Police Department into several smaller groups. By the time the disparate marches converged near Randolph and Desplaines around 6:30pm, the police department had repeatedly stopped the marchers at intersections as the different groups attempted to reach each other, walking through the closed-off downtown streets in 90 degree heat.
One march headed west on Harrison Street over the south branch of the Chicago River, a second became kettled at State and Congress, while the third mustered at 175 N. Desplaines, and proceeded south towards the others. After converging near Madison and Jefferson, the larger gathering moved north, then east, to turn south onto State Street, when double lines of police on foot and bicycles again met, stopped, and kettled the crowd of approximately 1,500, arresting several, while using batons to beat several more. The crowd worked its way south on State Street, and as it neared Taylor, it was again hemmed in, and in response to some provocation (likely the rapid brandishing of metal batons by officers) the noise level in the crowd increased. Around ten people in the assembly were beaten.
credit – CUAPD (communities united against police brutality), indymedia twincities, roguemedia.org, and occupy minneapolis who are all awesome.
Update since this article/video first aired on the interwebs :: Pending Further investigation by the BCA (Bureau of Criminal Apprehension) the DRE program has been suspended in Minnesota.
Video documentation [shown below] by local activists and independent media shows that police officers and county deputies from across Minnesota have been picking up young people near Peavey Plaza for a training program to recognize drug-impaired drivers. Multiple participants say officers gave them illicit drugs and provided other incentives to take the drugs. The Occupy movement, present at Peavey Plaza since April 7th, appears to be targeted as impaired people are dropped off at the Plaza, and others say they’ve been rewarded for offering to snitch on the movement.
Local independent media, activists, and members of Communities United Against Police Brutality began investigating police conduct around the Plaza after witnessing police dropping off impaired people at the plaza and hearing rumors that they were offering people drugs. We videotaped police conduct and interviewed participants, learning some very disturbing information about the DRE program.
Officers stated on record the DRE program, run by the Minnesota State Patrol, has no Institutional Review Board or independent oversight. They agreed no ambulances or EMTs were on site at the Richfield MnDOT facility near the airport where most subjects were taken. Multiple times, participants left Peavey Plaza sober, returned intoxicated, and said they’d been given free drugs by law enforcement. We documented on more than one occasion, someone being told they were sober by one officer, and then picked up by a different officer, and returning intoxicated.
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Last May, WCCO reported DRE as an innovative training program for law enforcement agents in which they recruited individuals who were already impaired on drugs to test and observe the effects of those drugs minnesota.cbslocal.com. This program, which trains Drug Recognition Experts (DRE) was portrayed in glowing terms and the article emphasized the subjects recruited were already drug-impaired.
On its website, the State Patrol provides this training description:“DRE training consists of nine days of classroom work, where officers learn about specific drug categories, physiology, and enhance their SFST [standardized field sobriety testing] skills. Following the classroom training, DRE candidates must complete certification training, where they perform 12 evaluations on drug-impaired subjects. These evaluations will be monitored and verified by DRE instructors and the BCA Lab. Certification training generally takes 2–3 weeks.”
Given the dangers of impaired driving, there is value in training law enforcement officers to distinguish between the effects of various drugs and several common medical conditions. However, we have captured video footage of instances in which DRE trainees recruited subjects who are not already impaired, and those participants say they were given drugs by the officers.
Although program documents indicate that participants must sign a waiver, dps.mn.gov there was no indication from any of the participants interviewed that a waiver was offered or obtained. Further, video footage seems to validate the recollections of participants that no medical personnel or ambulance were on site during the observation and testing in Richfield. A DRE officer told one of our investigators that no Institutional Review Board assessment of the program has been made, a requirement of all experiments involving human subjects. Since it’s unethical to encourage people to take drugs–whether by giving them drugs directly or enticing them with food, cigarettes, or other rewards (which participants say they were given)–it is unlikely such a program would pass IRB review as it endangers the test subjects.
According to the WCCO article, officer trainees in the past have worked with various non-profit organizations to recruit drug users. It would appear now that they are no longer relying solely on this tactic, instead recruiting users directly and, participants say, providing them with drugs. After the sessions, these individuals are then dropped off in public areas without supportive care, creating a public safety hazard. In an example at Peavey Plaza caught on film, an individual who said he’s been smoking courtesy of the police for an hour, crossed a line of Minneapolis police barricades, climbed to the top of a large sign and sat 15 feet above the sidewalk swinging his arms and legs in front of a police camera.
Our investigation points to particular efforts to target and recruit youth. Further, law enforcement officers have been taped recruiting people from the Peavey Plaza area of Nicollet Mall and have dropped off a number of impaired individuals at Peavey Plaza. In some instances, Minneapolis police squad cars were present while DRE trainees recruited people at Peavey Plaza. After receiving drugs, some subjects were asked to snitch on the Occupy movement or asked about various people and activities of Occupy, they said. Given efforts by the Minneapolis city council to pass an ordinance designed to restrict access to Peavey Plaza by the Occupy movement, the conduct of DRE trainees points to the possibility that they are working hand-in-glove with Minneapolis police to discredit and disrupt the Occupy movement.
“I think most people would be very surprised to have our tax dollars used to get people high,” states Michelle Gross, president of Communities United Against Police Brutality. “These activities call into question the methods and motives of this DRE training.”
There are some key points to this video evidence that is being overlooked by people who say there is no smoking gun in this video. The key points are:
1- no medical professionals are on site while this is going on
2- there is no review board, or independent oversight of this program to ensure people’s safety
3- the police are admittedly dropping off people they have just tested and confirmed were intoxicated in public…
When this was released there was a hearing in the Minneapolis City Council to decide the future of Peavey Plaza. They were trying to use evidence police had of people intoxicated on Peavey Plaza to create a new rule saying people could not be on the plaza after 10 or 12 pm..
There was a brood of slumlords and private corporate interests there to speak out about how vile and despicable the people on Peavey Plaza were and that it was a public nuisance that must be eliminated.
Meanwhile, every single citizen that stood up to speak talked about how opening up public space for a dialog among the people within the community was the best thing that had ever happened to the human race.
To end it all, the man with the afro in this video stood up and told city council exactly what was happening in this video as it had happened to him. A member of city council had recieved a phone call the night before from a concerned mom, who said that police had given her son drugs and she was very concerned about how her government was being run.
Police did indeed give Occupiers free pot, new evidence suggests; DRE program suspendedblogs.citypages.com
::Update since this story was run:: Apparently at least one officer has come forward and tried to railroad a Hutchinson Officer as the sole perpetrator of this offense. Our investigation seems to point to this as being a systemic problem, and that painting one single officer who was only doing as he was told is not the solution. It is quite clear from the video that all of the officers felt very uncomfortable being on film as they knew what they were doing was wrong. One officer from the Dakota County Sheriff’s Office clearly says, “we don’t need to get in trouble for anything.”
Minneapolis Police Chief Timothy Dolan {who is reported to have been at a national conference of the International association of chief’s of police during this documentary, IACP, who are the private organization behind this program} said the city’s {minneapolis’} police force had no part in the training. Elsewhere in City Hall, Minneapolis Mayor R.T. Rybak expressed outrage in a statement Wednesday. This statement from Dolan comes in stark contrast to the fact that last may WCCO ran an article that highlighted the benefits of this program and that Minneapolis PD was involved, and had more than 1 officer involved in the training. It is clearly seen in the video that a Minneapolis Police cruiser is escorting the out-of-town sheriff vehicle away from Peavey Plaza.
Based on the preliminary findings of our investigation, we make the following demands:
1) An investigation into the training and recruitment methods of the DRE program, along with an identification of the sources of drugs being given to recruits and the source of funding for those drugs. Public release of any written protocols regarding recruitment, treatment and release of impaired subjects, along with policies on the presence of medical personnel. An investigation into what—if any—oversight exists of these training programs and their use of human subjects, including any controls, standards of conduct, or oversight bodies. A ban on participation by the Minneapolis police in the DRE program until it is fully investigated.
2) An immediate change in practice so that only already-impaired people are used for training and an end to the practice of providing drugs or offering them to entice subjects. An immediate change in practice so that subjects are only released to a safe and supportive environment
3) An investigation into possible ties between DRE trainees and the Minneapolis police department and any efforts to discredit the Occupy movement. Immediate cessation of efforts to recruit and drop off impaired people at Peavey Plaza. An end to all efforts by government and law enforcement to defame, disrupt, or discredit protest movements in a way that decreases the safety of public gathering spaces.
4) An end to the Johnson Resolution and other efforts to block access to public plazas. It is blatant hypocrisy for the city to advance these kinds of proposals supposedly for public health and safety while police programs endanger people in the same areas.
Activists and journalists intend to continue our investigation and demands for safety for the subjects of this training program along with an end to attacks on the Occupy movement.
