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 →
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 →
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 →
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.
That’s when the global stock market collapse happened. More precisely, Monday October 19, also known as Black Monday.
So what do radical cheerleaders, super heroes, guitar wielding rabble rousers and clown armies have in common ?
Well, intersections of course!
On Black Monday, more commonly referred to as #s17, affinity and action groups such as these will be occupying intersections in the financial district, sending a clear message that we won’t stand for Wall Street’s theft and greed.
Unlike disillusioned americans, many of us would rather take direct action than count on a politician (republican, democrat or whatever!) to take action for us. It’s been four years since the financial collapse of 2008. Has anything changed? Have any bankers gone to jail? Though i fight against the prison industrial complex and don’t suggest we fuel it by arresting bankers and putting them behind bars, something should have been done. Something by the very politicians who promised it. But nothing! Who then DID do something you may ask? We! Occupy Wall Street. We haven’t let those bastards on Wall Street and in the US Treasury forget what they helped create. We fought! We fight! and we will continue to do so until neo-liberalism meets its death bed.
So instead of sitting on your couches and wondering what all those filthy radicals in #occupywallstreet are up to, join us. Be there, on September 15 through the 17th and help us disrupt business as usual.
We’re not back, we never left, we won’t stand for Wall Street’s theft.
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 →
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 →
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.
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.
Screen shot 2012-05-02 at 12.09.30 PM
Screen shot 2012-05-02 at 12.10.40 PM
Screen shot 2012-05-02 at 12.12.54 PM
Screen shot 2012-05-02 at 12.13.29 PM
Screen shot 2012-05-02 at 12.15.02 PM
Screen shot 2012-05-02 at 12.15.17 PM
Screen shot 2012-05-02 at 12.15.34 PM
Screen shot 2012-05-02 at 12.18.30 PM
Screen shot 2012-05-02 at 12.19.00 PM
Screen shot 2012-05-02 at 12.19.16 PM
Screen shot 2012-05-02 at 12.19.32 PM
Screen shot 2012-05-02 at 12.19.41 PM
Screen shot 2012-05-02 at 12.20.50 PM
Screen shot 2012-05-02 at 12.21.33 PM
Screen shot 2012-05-02 at 12.21.47 PM
Screen shot 2012-05-02 at 12.22.46 PM
Screen shot 2012-05-02 at 12.22.57 PM
Screen shot 2012-05-02 at 12.24.47 PM
Screen shot 2012-05-02 at 12.25.16 PM
Screen shot 2012-05-02 at 12.27.30 PM
Screen shot 2012-05-02 at 12.49.01 PM
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.
Wednesday October 26, 2011 in reclaimed Oscar Grant Plaza. 1607 people voted. 1484 voted in favor of the resolution, 77 abstained and 46 voted against it, passing the proposal at 96.9%. The General Assembly operates on a modified consensus process that passes proposals with 90% in favor and with abstaining votes removed from the final count.
This May Day brought the explosive global resurgence of Occupy, one of the most significant social movements in decades. In New York City, the heart of global capitalism and center of the movement, the New York Civil Liberties Union estimated that 30,000 demonstrators took part in a massive rally and march down Broadway, led by a score of city taxicabs. As has become alarmingly common for a country that constantly proclaims its zealous devotion to democracy, the day ended with brutal police violence and arrests.
The visible success of Occupy in creating a space for the voice of the people impelled uncontrolled thousands to pour onto the streets of New York City, Oakland, and elsewhere around the country and across the world on May Day, in the start of what US organizers have called an “American Spring.” Touting its message of class solidarity–”we are the 99 percent” – Occupy has revealed the profoundly undemocratic nature of a democratic consensus expressed by corporate-sponsored political representatives, demanding direct popular involvement in areas of social and political life normally dominated by ruling class power.
The powerful rejuvenation of the Occupy movement, however, was used by the US media – owned by the very same interests that Occupy directly threatens – as an opportunity to finally kill the Occupy movement and marginalize the voices of its participants. Since September, the mainstream press in the US has systematically ignored and demonized the Occupy movement. The nakedness of the class bias in this case, however, was especially jarring: the size and significance of the protests were downplayed, reports of police brutality were largely ignored, and the movement was portrayed as violent and dangerous. Many of the most prominent US news outlets, such as The New York Times, practically ignored the protests altogether. These shameful distortions by the corporate press display the function of the media as an organ of the rule of “the 1 percent,” and reveal how threatened elites are by organized, direct action and democratic participation. Read the rest of this entry →
Occupy’s May Day General Strike was a surprising and bold success for the visceral side of the movement. While most of Occupy put its energy into building coalitions with “legacy progressive groups”, labor unions and immigrant rights organizations, these efforts did not yield the anticipated results. In New York, for example, despite amassing a coalition of over a hundred organizations and rallying a crowd of more than 30,000, occupiers were thwarted in their attempts to shut down banks or re-occupy Wall Street. And some Zuccottis have complained that union representatives actively blocked an attempt to lead the crowd toward direct action at the end of the night. Meanwhile in Seattle, Oakland, San Francisco, New Orleans and elsewhere, anarchists using Black Bloc tactics stole the show.
On websites and forums, anarchists are rejoicing the spectacular showing of Black Bloc. “American anarchists haven’t experienced this much positive public attention since the euphoria and aftermath of N30 in Seattle,” writes one commentator. For many, the Black Bloc represents a tactical innovation that suggests the future of Occupy. “Occupy is dead, long live the Black Bloc,” writes another. An anarchist in New Orleans described how the status quo was unprepared for their tactics: “the Anti-Capitalism march caught the police off-guard and has the media dumb-founded. A full 24-hours later the Times Picayune has said nothing about the Anti-Capitalist March, only making mention of the permitted march that happened earlier in the day.”
In Oakland, the Black Bloc, which made up a large portion of the May Day General Strike, displayed a coordinated tactical philosophy – including the de-arresting of comrades, throwing eggs filled with paint, using homemade smoke-creating incendiaries to confuse police, and the rejection of media – that suggests prior planning, ongoing innovation and increasing sophistication. And Black Bloc tactics are just one aspect of the overall rejuvenation of anarchism that is happening right now including the increase of infoshops (there are two near Occupy Oakland: The Holdout and The Longhaul); the creation of bottom-up solidarity networks to replace top-down unions; providing free food on the model of Food Not Bombs; offering a compelling DIY aesthetic.
Anarchist occupiers are energized and their visceral tactics are attracting members. Now, the power of the Black Bloc is growing within Occupy and pushing the movement in unexpected directions.
Round 7 goes to the Black Bloc – now let’s see what we can do for the rest of May! adbusters.org
On May 1st, 2012, a general strike took place in Los Angeles. During this action, a faction of protesters had had enough. They decided to take matters into their own hands.
This is not a new headline, but I feel it needs to be re-addressed as IT IS STILL PERFECTLY LEGAL TO LIE TO THE PUBLIC in United States Corporate Media, and it is getting worse.
By Nick Hathaway – roguemedia.org
“Fox News will not be moving into Canada after all! The reason: Canada regulators announced they would reject efforts by Canada’s right wing Prime Minister, Stephen Harper, to repeal a law that forbids lying on broadcast news. Canada’s Radio Act requires that ‘a licenser may not broadcast….any false or misleading news.’ The provision has kept Fox ‘news’ and right wing talk radio out of Canada” -Robert F. Kennedy Jr. – Huffington Post
I lived in Vancouver, BC for about 2 years myself around 2005-7, and was astonished at the fact they actually got real world news. Something I was not used to coming from the U.S. and I commented on all the time. People there were shocked to hear when I told them what a traditional U.S. news broadcast entailed..
I told them that I have never lived in communist China, but going off what I had heard I did not think the U.S. was much different in terms of getting real honest news reports of what was going on around the world, let alone in my own city or state. I still feel that way today and I believe it is getting worse.
The illusion of freedom of the press is perhaps more damaging and dangerous than knowing that you are being lied to and that everything you hear is censored. Read the rest of this entry →
And many more insightful details obtained through a public records request of emails
Major Glenn Stolzenberg, who heads the Homeland Security Bureau for the Miami-Dade Police Department wondered if it was illegal for me to post photographs of police officers
Eleven hours before I was arrested during the Occupy Miami eviction in January, the Miami-Dade Police Homeland Security Bureau sent an email to various police officers, which was then forwarded to the department’s public information officers – including arresting officer Major Nancy Perez – informing them that I would be documenting the action.
The subject of the email was “Multimedia information/Situational Awareness.” It included my Facebook profile photo where I’m trying my hardest to look like a terrorist thug.
Sinister looking terrorist thug, is that some gang sign he is holding up?
It also included the following statement about me.
Carlos Miller is a Miami multimedia journalist who has been arrested twice for taking pictures of law enforcement. He has publicly posted on social networks that he will be taking pictures today in order to document the eviction.
The email makes it clear that the Homeland Security Bureau was monitoring my Facebook page since before my arrest – not that I have an issue with that considering I have my profile set to public.
But it also makes it clear that Perez should have known exactly who I was when she singled me out from a horde of other journalists documenting the eviction and had me arrested. Read the rest of this entry →
What is the Occupy Bodyguard Initiative?- The Occupy Bodyguard Initiative is an a group of volunteers who provide close protection services for the independent media covering Occupy events. If your Occupy doesn’t have an OBI group yet, you can form one of your own!
Why do we need bodyguards?- Because the police have repeatedly made a point of targeting anyone with a camera for intimidation, arrest and violence. They have attacked journalists, destroyed equipment and erased footage to cover up the truth. Bodyguards make it easier for independent media to avoid harassment and keep filming.
Do the bodyguards help people resist arrest?- No, absolutely not. Occupy bodyguards are strictly nonviolent and we would never interfere with an arrest in progress as that would only further endanger the person being arrested.
So what does a nonviolent bodyguard do?- Journalists are often so focused on their work that it can be difficult for them to maintain continuous awareness of what may be happening behind or around them. The job of the nonviolent bodyguard is to pay attention to what is happening in all directions at all times, to warn the journalist of approaching dangers and to try to spot traps such as “kettles” ahead of time in order to help the journalist avoid the trap. Read the rest of this entry →
EU bankfail as everyone relishes Spain’s ‘successful auction’ – American bankfail continues as homeless spirals, inflation & money velocity drift
On the MN front, well the Occupy movement in Minneapolis really flushed out a lot of authoritarian over-reactions in the last couple weeks, starting with a haphazard police action slapping a KSTP photographer, arresting a dozen occupiers including an indy videographer (which the tut tutters ignore, etc). A meeting with the mayor and police chief was achieved. Videos & stills from the street incident by various folks including myself and roguemedia.org at youtube.com/hongpong & quickly circulated as far as Iran’s state news service PressTV lol.
A few days later, Minneapolis City Council President Barb Johnson tried to sneak an unlawful resolution without any public notice, which would have instantiated shutting down many inalienable rights between midnight and 6 AM on Nicollet Mall and Peavey/Greenway/Riverside plazas etc., including my right to collect stories and media as a journalist, a proselytizer’s right to preach the Gospel, a protesters right to protest, a homeless person’s right to exist, etc., in the name of the hellish blandness demanded by corporate psychopaths who want peace & quiet and these damn kids off their publicly owned lawns. The Council kicked it to committee 9-4 after the mayor lobbied for the corrupt resolution.
For the moment, anyhow, this pushed Johnson from the perceived ‘center’ to the ‘right’ of the DFL-dominated city political continuum. With an embarrassing defeat for the mayor, with the high stakes Vikings Stadium deal to rail thru without a vote in Minneapolis on the rocks at the Capitol, and Barb’s greasy Peavey Plaza plan whacked in at least one committee, it seems the wheels of shadiness have trouble turning when a little sand gets in the gears. (the next hearing is May 2nd or 3rd, this would be a public hearing for the public safety committee vote, don’t have info on hand. see facebook.com/occupymn or occupyminneapolis.mn )
According to one source, Mayor Rybak & Johnson’s defeat last Friday was enough to spur one pol to discuss finally taking on the city machine — the notion is that this new shakeup could finally crack open some political space in Minneapolis for an alternative after years upon years of stasis and acquiescence to top-down control (on behalf of the big banks and police union types in particular).
If nothing else then, it shows that the Founding Feathers insisted upon enough cracks in the machine to get the sand into. They never really could guarantee that the machine would work, but it seems like the saving grace for the last week was basically our dwindling freedom to throw sand in the machine. Good times. Even in Big Stone County people are standing up against massive mining projects.
New York (CNN) — In the spirit of spring rebirth, the Occupy movement is ramping up activities as warm weather blankets the country. But while the season is typified by a reawakening of life outdoors, demonstrators are using sleep to get their points across. They call it “sleepful protest.”
The sleeping bags started appearing on the corner of Wall and Broad streets across from the New York Stock Exchange on April 9. A civil rights attorney sympathetic to the Occupy movement provided the legal justification for the move in the form of a court ruling from 2000. A federal district court judge said people can sleep on sidewalks as a form of political expression as long as they take up no more than half of the sidewalk and don’t block any doors.
Occupy organizers declared a month ago that the movement would be planning a comeback in the spring and summer. Some city and state governments, armed with new ordinances aimed at the Occupy movements, are ready to prevent demonstrators from re-establishing encampments. Read the rest of this entry →
We win a small victory with the pigs over sidewalk chalk. They claim that you cant draw on the public sidewalk, we question this to the fullest extent. You can clearly hear the “Supervisor” claim he is not dealing with this one!
