Protest for economic justice and you are now a terrorist? Wonder why all of a sudden cities across America coordinated and shut down the Occupy Wall Street movement? Now we know and it was coordinated by the banks. The FBI, DHS, police, and private-sector financial businesses all coordinated to repress the people and suppress a movement. Civil Justice Fund a non-profit, posted FBI files which show this is what happened. Think we are free and have freedom of speech and protest in the United States? Freedom is allowed only if no one hears you.
FBI documents just obtained by the Partnership for Civil Justice Fund (PCJF) pursuant to the PCJF’s Freedom of Information Act demands reveal that from its inception, the FBI treated the Occupy movement as a potential criminal and terrorist threat even though the agency acknowledges in documents that organizers explicitly called for peaceful protest and did “not condone the use of violence” at occupy protests.
These documents show that the FBI and the Department of Homeland Security are treating protests against the corporate and banking structure of America as potential criminal and terrorist activity. These documents also show these federal agencies functioning as a de facto intelligence arm of Wall Street and Corporate America.
The findings from the FBI files will make your hair stand on end. Yet the claim the Federal Reserve was involved in surveillance is most egregious.
The Federal Reserve in Richmond appears to have had personnel surveilling OWS planning. They were in contact with the FBI in Richmond to “pass on information regarding the movement known as occupy Wall Street.” There were repeated communications “to pass on updates of the events and decisions made during the small rallies and the following information received from the Capital Police Intelligence Unit through JTTF (Joint Terrorism Task Force).”
This Guardian article suggests even the FBI files release might be a strategy to deter further protests:
The release may be strategic: if you are an Occupy activist and see how your information is being sent to terrorism task forces and fusion centers, not to mention the "longterm plans" of some redacted group to shoot you, this document is quite the deterrent.
Naked Capitalism has more commentary:
The rationale for this overkill was that OWS was a terrorist threat. That’s a striking contrast with the media depiction of the movement when it was in its encampment phase as a bunch of directionless hippies with no message. But the FBI response highlights how anything other than corporate or otherwise officially sanctioned assembly is no longer permitted in America.
This isn't the first time movements in the United States have been crushed. From the war against labor organization to the FBI's COINTELPRO agenda, the pattern is more to repress any organization effort against those in power.
Below are the highlights Partnership for Civil Justice Fund, a legal organization which focuses on projecting first and fourth amendments rights.
- As early as August 19, 2011, the FBI in New York was meeting with the New York Stock Exchange to discuss the Occupy Wall Street protests that wouldn’t start for another month. By September, prior to the start of the OWS, the FBI was notifying businesses that they might be the focus of an OWS protest.
- The FBI’s Indianapolis division released a “Potential Criminal Activity Alert” on September 15, 2011, even though they acknowledged that no specific protest date had been scheduled in Indiana. The documents show that the Indianapolis division of the FBI was coordinating with “All Indiana State and Local Law Enforcement Agencies,” as well as the “Indiana Intelligence Fusion Center,” the FBI “Directorate of Intelligence” and other national FBI coordinating mechanisms.
- Documents show the spying abuses of the FBI’s “Campus Liaison Program” in which the FBI in Albany and the Syracuse Joint Terrorism Task Force disseminated information to “sixteen (16) different campus police officials,” and then “six (6) additional campus police officials.” Campus officials were in contact with the FBI for information on OWS. A representative of the State University of New York at Oswego contacted the FBI for information on the OWS protests and reported to the FBI on the SUNY-Oswego Occupy encampment made up of students and professors.
- Documents released show coordination between the FBI, Department of Homeland Security and corporate America. They include a report by the Domestic Security Alliance Council (DSAC), described by the federal government as “a strategic partnership between the FBI, the Department of Homeland Security and the private sector,” discussing the OWS protests at the West Coast ports to “raise awareness concerning this type of criminal activity.” The DSAC report shows the nature of secret collaboration between American intelligence agencies and their corporate clients - the document contains a “handling notice” that the information is “meant for use primarily within the corporate security community. Such messages shall not be released in either written or oral form to the media, the general public or other personnel…” (The DSAC document was also obtained by the Northern California ACLU which has sought local FBI surveillance files.)
- Naval Criminal Investigative Services (NCIS) reported to the DSAC on the relationship between OWS and organized labor for the port actions. The NCIS describes itself as “an elite worldwide federal law enforcement organization” whose “mission is to investigate and defeat criminal, terrorist, and foreign intelligence threats to the United States Navy and Marine Corps ashore, afloat and in cyberspace.” The NCIS also assists with the transport of Guantanamo prisoners.
- DSAC issued several tips to its corporate clients on “civil unrest” which it defines as ranging from “small, organized rallies to large-scale demonstrations and rioting.” It advised to dress conservatively, avoid political discussions and “avoid all large gatherings related to civil issues. Even seemingly peaceful rallies can spur violent activity or be met with resistance by security forces. Bystanders may be arrested or harmed by security forces using water cannons, tear gas or other measures to control crowds.”
- The FBI in Anchorage reported from a Joint Terrorism Task Force meeting of November 3, 2011, about Occupy activities in Anchorage.
- A port Facility Security Officer in Anchorage coordinated with the FBI to attend the meeting of protestors and gain intelligence on the planning of the port actions. He was advised to request the presence of an Anchorage Police Department official to also attend the event. The FBI Special Agent told the undercover private operative that he would notify the Joint Terrorism Task Force and that he would provide a point of contact at the Anchorage Police Department.
- The Jacksonville, Florida FBI prepared a Domestic Terrorism briefing on the “spread of the Occupy Wall Street Movement” in October 2011. The intelligence meeting discussed Occupy venues identifying “Daytona, Gainesville and Ocala Resident Agency territories as portions …where some of the highest unemployment rates in Florida continue to exist.”
- The Tampa, Florida FBI “Domestic Terrorism” liaison participated with the Tampa Police Department’s monthly intelligence meeting in which Occupy Lakeland, Occupy Polk County and Occupy St. Petersburg were discussed. They reported on an individual “leading the Occupy Tampa” and plans for travel to Gainesville for a protest planning meeting, as well as on Veterans for Peace plans to protest at MacDill Air Force Base.
- The Federal Reserve in Richmond appears to have had personnel surveilling OWS planning. They were in contact with the FBI in Richmond to “pass on information regarding the movement known as occupy Wall Street.” There were repeated communications “to pass on updates of the events and decisions made during the small rallies and the following information received from the Capital Police Intelligence Unit through JTTF (Joint Terrorism Task Force).”
- The Virginia FBI was collecting intelligence on the OWS movement for dissemination to the Virginia Fusion Center and other Intelligence divisions.
- The Milwaukee division of the FBI was coordinating with the Ashwaubenon Public Safety division in Green Bay Wisconsin regarding Occupy.
- The Memphis FBI’s Joint Terrorism Task Force met to discuss “domestic terrorism” threats, including, “Aryan Nations, Occupy Wall Street, and Anonymous.”
- The Birmingham, AL division of the FBI sent communications to HAZMAT teams regarding the Occupy Wall Street movement.
- The Jackson, Mississippi division of the FBI attended a meeting of the Bank Security Group in Biloxi, MS with multiple private banks and the Biloxi Police Department, in which they discussed an announced protest for “National Bad Bank Sit-In-Day” on December 7, 2011.
- The Denver, CO FBI and its Bank Fraud Working Group met and were briefed on Occupy Wall Street in November 2011. Members of the Working Group include private financial institutions and local area law enforcement.
- Jackson, MS Joint Terrorism Task Force issued a “Counterterrorism Preparedness” alert. This heavily redacted document includes the description, “To document…the Occupy Wall Street Movement.”
This happened under the Obama administration. The FBI and DHS are part of the executive branch.
Comments
Founding Fathers would be considered terrorists by establ. today
Think about it, the very ideas and people that helped create and forge our liberty and freedoms would be spied on and incarcerated nowadays, even before they created a full blown revolution. How ironic that nowadays the very same values that the Founding Fathers created our Nation with are now once again viewed by the powers that be as a threat. Freedom of speech, speaking out against large banks, speaking out against corporations, warning against monopolies, demanding protection for the poor, elderly, physically and mentally disabled, protesting corruption, fighting for the creation of good public education systems for everyone (including the importance of math, science, history, languages, and other liberal arts), etc. Ring familiar, don't they? And so when in doubt that the educated common man or woman that is struggling and despised by the powers in control is actually doing the right thing, it's always good to have a collection of books to refer to. I'll take a library over corrupt politicians and their servants (whether they are knowing or merely clueless) any day of the week. Terrorists? Wow, how utterly ridiculous. But actually financing terrorists by Bank of America, Wells Fargo, HSBC, Standard Chartered, and all the others which are acting as accomplices to terrorism (including narcoterrorism) and co-conspirators to terrorism isn't putting anyone in those companies on a watch-list or in prison, now is it? And the politicians and lobbyists that accept money from those companies and aid their activities (including writing laws for those criminals) aren't on watch-lists or in prison, are they? Double standards and hypocrisy. Anyway, back to my books and Common Sense.
founding fathers probaby be charged with treason as well
Or whisked away to be locked up under the Patriot act. This news actually broke before Christmas but I missed it due to site upgrades and the holidays.
It's so important I wanted to make sure we covered it for this site is all about regular people and economic justice, through statistics.
At the time it happened I saw the very obviously nationally coordinated shut down of OWS and suspected it was coordinated by FBI-DHS-Local governments, but to see the banks involved is really the economic terrorism of this story.
We're talking millions participated in OWS and in a matter of days they shut down millions of voices.
In 1937 a National Labor Relations Board member
in the La Follette Committee hearings estimated that business had spent 80,000,000 on spies, finks, and other traitors,thugs such as the Pinkertons, police departments, others to break the unions people were forming to demand such things as 8 hour days, unemployment, safe working conditions, and fair treatment.
At least the police aren't shooting unarmed peaceful demonstrators dead in the street, clubbing women and children like baby seals, hanging them, or jailing them for years on trumped up charges of treason.
Only because they are smarter now
If they had murdered people or thrown them into jail by the thousands with no trial, the entire nation would have revolted.
What they are doing is to diffuse, so there is no opposition to the corporate agenda.
We see it right now. Media is creating fiscal cliff hysteria when in reality, it's all about reducing people's benefits.
If they really wanted to reduce the deficit, they would be looking at corporations parking profits offshore, the total amount equals the deficit and taxing those funds could dramatically reduce the deficit. Just one example out of many, many that could really reduce the deficit and it's all corporate welfare and stopping for profit health care monopolies making obscene profits of treating sick people.
"deficit hawks"
Indeed. The so-called "deficit hawks" have plainly and repeatedly demonstrated that they couldn't care less about deficits. The only reason any of them are still taken seriously is because the corporate media refuses to point out the obvious. That would violate their traditional role as propagandists for the billionaires who want to get their hands on all that money in the social security trust fund. The level of propaganda is surreal. First Republicans spin the tale that high unemployment is caused by the deficit and austerity is the cure. Then Obama parrots the nonsense, followed by other Dems and the corporate media talking heads. So they enact the big austerity plan know as the fiscal cliff. Then when the fiscal cliff is approaching, they all start freaking out because a big austerity program will actually take us back into a recession. And yet not one single politician nor pundit on TV has pointed out this radical 180 by the entire beltway establishment. It's as if it never happened. "We've always been at war with Eastasia." The bullshit has reached psychedelic levels.
miasmo.com
uh, no, don't think so.
From 1870 to 1932 they had federal troops breaking up strikes, private and public forces shooting and killing and beating on crowds of men, women children who wanted nothing more than an 8 hour day or fair compensation. Paid for by corporations.
Peaceful protesters were attacked by politically motivated police administrations. They were hung and imprisoned on false charges, sometimes charges trumped up as they were acquitted from another charge.
Police lined up on the dock in Everett and shot people out of boats and killed them in the water for daring to come speak in public.
And the nation's newspapers editor's, reports and interviews from citizens and business owners said many approved heartily of the hanging and executions and imprisonment. They even applauded hanging whether the charges were proven or not, because the "threat" from these anarchists, (who, in the end, wanted 8 hour work days, no child labor, respect for their brothers and sisters), made them dangerous.
I wouldn't count too much on the people "rising up" against anyone but the protesters (and that's what we are seeing - does no one read history any longer?) unless someone is willing to do the hard work and dying of organizing in much greater numbers. (They barely got as many to show up as there are bankers and the politicians who do their bidding. What kind of show is that?). They seem to expect people to log onto their web site to show "solidarity". rofl. That's not how one builds the kind of human spirit it will take to defeat the bastards.
For example:
__________________________
Chicago, April 1, 1932. Five hundred school children, most with haggard faces and in tattered clothes, paraded through Chicago's downtown section to the Board of education offices to demand that the school system provide them with food.
__________________________
Why do you think FDR was able to pass those relief programs? They were sending police out to stop protest esters from GETTING to D.C. The programs were passed to protect the capitalists from further violence.
(Maybe call a meeting in Washington D.C. of everyone, all 26 million, who want a job to demand that Congress quit sending subsidies to corporations and create a jobs program. Get all the students of all ages who got a degree and can't find a job to gather in D.C and demand a suspension of our $1 trillion in student debt and a free people's university system. (Or just start one. That's how colleges started here in the first place)).
There is a dearth of depth, spirit, and feeling outside their little encampments. Tha should not be allowed. Maybe go caroling with labor o protest songs through the neighborhoods, give stump speeches and organize the old way? Ring doorbells and talk, talk, talk. Occupy put the focus on themselves, and it needs to be on the struggle that is still going on.
They should read the experiences of the organizers of the 1870's through 1933 - all those decades it was legal for companies to break your union in nearly any way they wanted to, and all workers had was their solidarity. Even Gompers in the AFL, the traitorous little bastard, broke up the steel strike in 1919, got a lot of good people hurt, just so he could side with business. Just because someone says they are on your side...
Until whatever group grabs onto some of those old industrial union ideas and realizes the long haul they are in for, they will never be strong enough.
There are homeless people who have and are "occupying" parks longer than Occupy did, with goals that gained them just about as much.
If Occupy would ally with the old folks and everyone else they could fuse the revolutionary spirit of the young with the wealth, practicality, and experience of those that are older, (all of them have the same enemy, btw), and would be unstoppable. They need to set their sights not on defending a space to play clappy games of communication in the park but on a struggle for freedom, respect, food, shelter, etc for the 50,000 people who are being evicted every month, the 26 million who say they want or need a job, or sufficient food for the 47 million now on inadequate food stamps.
Instead they want to run around and wave an FBI paper and talk about how beleaguered THEY are. Any kid who doesn't get to eat every day is a lot more oppressed than most any protestor, and if they aren't working to stop that, or put bankers in jail, or do something bigger, they should just go home and quit getting people hurt for nothing.
Maybe they should start printing millions of $1 t-shirts that say "I'm Being Watched By the FBI", or "They are reading YOUR email too" - so we can ALL wear them and talk about this?
Excuses...I'm tired of hearing them.
Thank you for your excellent posts, btw. Great information, and obviously a labor of love and a lot of work on your part.
"At least the police aren't...
... jailing them for years on trumped up charges of treason." Bradley Manning might disagree with that.
miasmo.com
Serving "the private sector" as a public servant = conflict
Let's be clear, if you are in NCIS, the FBI, a local DAs office, an AGs office, DOJ/US Attorney's Office around the country, there is nothing, nothing, nothing that says you serve or take orders from or work closely with "the private sector." In fact, that would contravene your oath to serve the laws and public on your first day of duty. Even when investigating a specific crime or suspect, you never serve a victim or party, you always serve the Nation, State, etc., so you better serve the laws of your jurisdiction (e.g., California, Florida, your local county, etc.) and the federal and state constitutions. And if you want to pretend you are serving the "private sector," then carry the charade out, don't just invite large cap banksters and private equity and other corporations to your secret meetings, carry it out, invite the local hardware store owner, the local pizzeria owner, the local IT firm owner that got IP stolen by Microsoft and might have two kids that are long-term unemployed and supports OWS. This is what America is about, lest you forget it (and apparently they have).
"Private sector" our collective asses, it's crony capitalism, not democracy, and it's TPTF clowns that sell out state secrets to China and India all in the name of the all-mighty dollar. Congratulations, FBI and others, you are helping companies that outsource national security secrets to our enemies. You are protecting companies that aid terrorists from the Middle East and terrorists that kill tens of thousands of people south of our border. And this is what "public servants" do while serving who? Following what laws? Following whose orders? Whose federal constitution? What state constitution? Where was the "public" that you serve and that pays the bills? These same banksters loot pensions, including federal and state pensions, so while you take their orders, they become billionaires for sitting in front of computers and doing nothing and you can't cash out your pension because it's gone, gone, gone baby, gone. Ask these questions, because the answers are obvious no matter how uncomfortable they are. At these round tables of idiots that needed taxpayer $ to fund their broke asses, did any Special Agent or US Attorney ever ask why they are aiding banks that aid terrorists? Why they are protecting companies that sell national security secrets to China and others? Why they are crushing civil protests in the US to protect companies that have admitted they don't believe in patriotism or the US but only seek to enrich those in the boardrooms? Hey, Bueller, does anyone have the answers to the obvious?
right and if members of a Federal Reserve branch were there
then, they should have only been acting as private citizens, certainly not reporting to the FBI or DHS. But what should be and what is are clearly two very different things.
also seems the FBI plotted to assassinate occupy leadership
from here, p 61: http://www.justiceonline.org/commentary/fbi-files-ows.html#documents
1. An identified as of October planned to en Iacks .196
against protestors in Houston, Texas, if deemed necessary. An indentifiedl had ib7C
received intelligence that indicated the protesters in New York and Seattle planned similar protests in
Houston, Dallas, San Antonio, and Austin, Texas. planned to gather intelligence against
the leaders of the protest groups and obtain photographs, then formulate a plan to kill the leadership via
suppressed sniper rifles.
same thing on page 69: To: Jacksonville From: Jacksonville b7A
Re: 10/19/2011 b7E
b6
interested in developing a long--term plan to kill local Occupy leaders
via sniper fire.
(much is redacted)
Seems they like easy, law-abiding protestors vs. real threats
Much easier to chase and intimidate people expressing their 1st Amendment rights in their own country within walking distance of local FBI or other law enforcement offices. That doesn't cost too much money or time, the protesters are more likely to cooperate if really confronted (they are following the laws of the land in protesting, after all), and possibly overtime can be earned without really facing too much of a threat. Now compare that with chasing people that don't speak the language, have no problem sacrificing anyone or anything that dares get in their way, know who their friends and allies and kin are for the last 100+ years and don't talk to anyone but, and it's a different story. In other countries like Pakistan or Mexico or Nigeria, it'd be more difficult to chase criminals and investigate crimes. That would take lots and lots of hard work, possibly learning multiple foreign languages, and spending years infiltrating organizations in which relative strangers are never trusted (and if they are allowed in, they and their families and friends are watched 24/7). It would also involve years of shared sacrifice and empathy with victims and witnesses to ensure cooperation. And overtime and dinners at Outback Steakhouse on weekends might have to be sacrificed. So who wants that?
Sure, plenty of folks would like to chase the real threats and actual people breaking real laws and loathe chasing lawful protesters fighting big banks and corrupt politicians that are actually breaking the laws the same officers were meant to enforce, but those people aren't allowed to play. Nope, targeting people expressing their constitutional rights is easy, fully supported by the powers in charge (and partially bankrolled by banksters and other corporate players), and has been tried over and over again. And success against easy targets (or claimed success) makes good press conference material. Just build up the threat, ignore the violations, claim they just took care of such inflated threat, and hold a press conference and release PR material to non-questioning media from Fox to CNN and everyone else. Rinse and repeat, take paycheck home, and go to Outback Steakhouse for celebratory dinner. Don't think about what just happened too much.
The Ervin Committee: Abuse of Power
In the long expose of the sins of the Nixon Administration in the summer of 1973, one member, Father Drinan, focused on domestic CIA spying, COINTELPRO, and the IRS enemies list. The IRS, CIA, and FBI were all used by LBJ and Nixon to break the Vietnam war era anti-war movement.
The CIA infiltrated demonstrations, disrupted anti-war organizations, planted spies inside the U.S., in violation of its 1947 Charter. COINTELPRO was directed by Nixon and LBJ to find and name anti-war activists. The IRS, meanwhile did much of the real dirty work by auditing the tax returns of Conscientious Objectors and other anti-war activists through the infamous Enemies List.
The Ervin Committee eventually reported out a Bill of Impeachment against Nixon which included the CIA Abuse of Power charges. Abuse of power impeachable offenses resonated with the public, quite like none of the other charges (like fudging 1968 Tax Return or the Watergate Break-In, even corruption and payoffs).
That Bill of Impeachment against Nixon was approved by a vast majority in the House Committee which included a very large number of Republicans and by similar majorities in the House.
Patriot Act and the Predator tools used by the CIA have clearly delineated sanctions against domestic spying. There is no hiding behind the Patriot Act, awful as it is.
Abuse of Power, then and now, destroys the rule of law in the most fundamental way. It is the most deadly charge that can be made against any Administration - as long is this country remains a Republic any any form. Or as Franklin said, "a Republic, if we can keep it."
See http://www.historyplace.com/unitedstates/impeachments/nixon.htm
Burton Leed
snipers on leadership
I pulled the documents to read that section for myself. It helps to read the pdf version so you can see what was redacted more easily. So, clearly some local official in some agency was talking about mass assassination of "leaders".
We have non-stop 24/7 cable news ramblings on Benghazi, yet this gets no press?
My god, that's really a terrorist act against citizens sanctioned by the state and just unreal someone could even think of such mass murder and not be immediately fired and arrested.
I had to pull up the documents because I couldn't initial believe this was real.
TBTF as quasi-law enforcement? Law enforcement as security?
Government agents are out of their minds (or just have become so haughty and complacent) if they think they can share intel with TBTF alone and protect them through whatever means necessary. Even on search warrants for basic drug or weapons or forgery or any other case, private parties are not allowed to share or take part in a search or get their hands on evidence. If a private party that isn't specifically written into a warrant takes part in sharing evidence or a search is found out, they will and can be sued because they are infringing on citizens' private property, etc. Judges will be extremely pissed off if law enforcement allows non-law enforcement or law enforcement from other jurisdictions to share intel or search results. They can't be present during searches and even if they want to know what searches or seizures turned up, judges will almost always deny their requests (that's after the case goes to a court for hearings and trials). Even if a case goes to indictment, etc., private parties have to file FOIA requests and as we see/know, the govt. denies those requests or redacts heavily for a multitude of reasons.
But to actually allow law enforcement to share specific intelligence about specific people and groups pre-investigation, let alone pre-arraignment or pre-trial with select private parties, that's outrageous. And these people were present when sniper attacks were considered? That's quite a lawsuit, and personal lawsuits at that, corporate and agency protections don't apply. If TBTF is present when laws are being broken, let them be accountable. That's the reason people with a lick of sense let law enforcement do its job (as we understood it). They have chains of commands, oaths, and rules and procedures. They have nothing to do with protecting private interests of select people or companies. There's a reason for the separation and avoiding conflict. If certain agencies want to be private security forces as if they serve Afghan warlords and TBTF want to think they can have quasi law enforcement powers, let them all deal with the repercussions. They are all on the hook and enjoy getting sued and fired. Corporations and public law enforcement, people with brains know the difference and the importance of keeping them separate. Once they start serving the same masters, all rules are off the table. We knew this was going to come as soon as Guiliani allowed the NYPD to work for private parties.
http://www.counterpunch.org/2011/10/10/financial-giants-put-new-york-cit...
Almost like Cecil Rhodes running his own army nowadays in the USA to protect his private fortune and interests. I wonder how the British would have felt if Rhodes used his own private army in the UK vs. in Africa?
re: snipers
"We have non-stop 24/7 cable news ramblings on Benghazi, yet this gets no press?"
Great point, Robert. It's outrageous. Just another "pulling away the curtain" to help us see that mass media completely controlled by concentrated wealth has little to do with a free and open press.
miasmo.com
Most people are probably
Most people are probably wondering, "Whatever happened to those Occupy nuts?" That's assuming they think about OWS at all. Now we know. The key people got a look at the fist inside the glove.
More than ever I believe the people in charge are behaving like children. They're so busy maximizing their returns, they don't realize they're squeezing the life out of the economy, or else they don't understand that they're the ones responsible. And now we see that they're so insecure, they can't tolerate any disagreement. One way or another, they need to go, or at least loosen their grip.
I don't know what you are trying to sy
OWS was not full of nuts and it was an effort to bring awareness of all of the economic injustice going on. They were not acting like children and considering the world of silence on the never ending middle class squeeze, how else are the people supposed to be heard?
Valiant effort and the people need to regroup and re-organize in my view. Think what's going on in America today has much to do with the middle class or even improving the economy as a whole? Think again.
Sorry, changed topics in
Sorry, changed topics in midstream. By "people in charge" I meant the 1%, the FBI, the Fed, etc., not OWS.
Richmond Fed - General Counsel must have approved this
The Richmond Fed had people working closely to destroy Occupy. Here's a link to the Richmond Fed GC's prior "issues" with the bank she came from. http://ml-implode.com/article/HowdidLandAmsGluckendupattheRichmondFed/01...
Attorneys, especially general counsel and law enforcement attorneys (or those treading into law enforcement areas) really do have to understand the importance of working alongside police, federal agents, etc. and taking on roles they never should take on. If you want to earn massive $ and claim expert knowledge while 25% of your fellow citizens are unemployed and overqualified, then please read, research, and understand constitutional limits. People exercising their 1st Amendment rights are being targeted by snipers and intimidated and somehow government attorneys or public servants are going along with this? That's unacceptable in any democracy/republic. The Fed represents the 99%? Just more proof that it doesn't. How's Dimon doing on the NY Fed Board? 2013 and he's still there? USA USA.
Anyway, Happy New Year to the rest of us! Some of us may be poor, unemployed, or desperately struggling despite our degrees, experience, and service to our Nation, but looking at those earning millions and billions and in the seats of power, it's not hard to understand why we're kept down. Integrity, it's what should be for dinner (and breakfast and lunch).
Happy New Year!
I'm skipping the typical "top 10 posts" and new year stuff due to trying to get the new site done. Seriously underestimated the work involved here.
I'm not sure those statements you found are specific to OWS, although I was just shocked to see anyone from the Federal Reserve involved in the least, except maybe to get some better ideas, so I might be in denial.
Are shysters now counsel to the Federal Reserve Bank?
Kurtz wrote:
=========================================
People exercising their 1st Amendment rights are being targeted by snipers and intimidated and somehow government attorneys or public servants are going along with this? That's unacceptable in any democracy/republic. The Fed represents the 99%? Just more proof that it doesn't.
=========================================
Kurtz,
Thank you for posting the URL above. I thought that it was highly informative. And freaking unbelievable. It is unbelievable that someone such as Michelle Gluck is now Legal Counsel to the Richmond Federal Reserve. UNBELIEVABLE. Are shysters now advising the Federal Reserve Bank?
-- Paul D. Bain
PaulBain@PObox.com
"Constitutional law professor" arguing against the Constitution
Found this on zerohedge and checked out the editorial on The NYT. So this happens on both sides of the phony political spectrum when either side wants to get its way - they want to abandon the law of the land in pursuit of their own sick motives and goals. And of course when there's a massive backlash against this garbage, The NYT and the professor will predictably claim they were just seeking to start a debate. Of course if people agreed with the position entirely, they would say they were dead serious and want to implement real changes.
http://www.nytimes.com/2012/12/31/opinion/lets-give-up-on-the-constituti...
Absolutely sickening for several reasons. First, the NYT is a paper that enjoys its very existence to the very protection of the Constitution that it now allows to be derided and scorned as if it was so much toilet paper - I speak of the Constitution, Thomas Jefferson was quite right (most of the time) in his view of newspapers on the other hand as evidenced by their presence in bathrooms across the land. Funny, people swear oaths to the Constitution, and their own state constitutions, when they take oaths immediately before spending their lives running into hostile fire, protecting the weak and disabled, carrying guns, jumping out of planes, flying helicopters rescuing people or preventing attacks, etc. But to The NYT and editors sitting high above the fray in their salons and offices, it's just a rag to be used or ignored as needed. And there's not an outcry in The NYT that they are imperiling their very existence? Once these morons go this way, why the Hell should we view the 1st Amendment as so sacrosanct? Based on the edification The NYT and US and People and US News and The NY Post provide? They really want to go down that path? Good thing I love all of the Constitution because some people might love to see The NYT disappear ASAP (which its declining readership might ensure anyway). No one's swearing oaths to The NYT, Huffington Post, Fox News, the GOP, the Democratic Party, or Congress or the President or local and state officials, and for good reason. But hey, it's only the Constitution, The NYT says treat it like paper you wrap fish in.
Second, this guy is a professor of Constitutional law. Again, he spends his limited law school teaching hours (which rarely exceed 10 hours/week while earning $200,000+) discussing the Constitution. And yet he apparently holds it in scorn. What exactly is he up to? Why is he not fired immediately for his obvious failure to understand the course material? We're all for academic freedom and discussion, but if he can't grasp the simple concept of constitutional importance, supremacy, and judicial review (meaning review and interpretation of laws and precedent, not holding the Constitution in contempt), we have a serious problem.
This is just another part of the spectrum of the destruction of the rule of law we are witnessing first hand. Protesters expressing their 1st Amendment rights against corruption and oligarchs and corporate control of our govt. and economy are viewed as terrorists. And on the other side, we have idiots posing as professors given national forums to attack certain parts of the Constitution and claim outright that we should not obey the highest law of the land that formed the very foundation of our Nation and protect the rights of individuals, groups, religions, the press, etc. against the State and tyranny. This is what passes for journalism? For government? For the rule of law? For academic discourse? And so again, who are the fools? The traitors? The hopeless puppets and overpaid charlatans? The lunatics are truly in charge of the asylum and any sane man or woman would demand it end because it is so far from being amusing and has now entered the realm of truly dangerous. Those who seek solace in the "left" or the "right" or the GOP or Democratic Party or this paper or that paper are only fooling themselves. People of questionable intelligence are in high offices and positions of power and passing off foolishness as genius and corruption as good governance. Under these circumstances, it's close to every man and woman for himself or herself.
Constitutional law professor writing nationally to disregard the Constitution because it doesn't suit him? This surely is a "South Park" episode I'm living through.
south park is our government
I've wondered also about a parliamentary system. Our Congress is so corrupt nothing can happen. Take chained CPI. Social security isn't part of the deficit, the original fix which is to increase the income ceiling for payroll taxes isn't even being mentioned, nor is a host of cost cutting measures, such as forcing the for profit pharmaceutical companies to give the same prices all other nations get.
I can see why everyone is all up in arms, but considering what has gone on for the last 30 years and esp. the last decade, maybe he has a point.
I am a terrorist? I thought I was a Procedures Analyst...
Lol - I was at OWS in NY. I am a 45 year old procedures analyst and I was accompanied by a 40-year-old Special Ed teacher from Danien, CT. I guess I'm a terrorist. I admit I can look pretty scary when i first wake up before showering and brushing my teethe, I fear we are going to get hit by REAL terrorists while we have our collective head up our butt in the United States.
FBI surveillance guidelines, internet cafes
Have you seen this flier for guidelines concerning 'suspicious behaviour' in internet cafes? While some of it seems self-evident, I wasn't aware that paying in cash was a behaviour only performed by suspected terrorists.
http://info.publicintelligence.net/FBI-SuspiciousActivity/Internet_Cafe.pdf
They'll interpret it any way they want - ambiguity is purposeful
It's pretty basic, if you are big man or woman, the rules, no matter what they are, will never apply to you. Gun laws, protecting yourself, discussion/exercising your 1st Amendment or any other rights will only be held against you if you are a little person/commoner/non-elite.
Now, take "suspicious behavior" regarding buses, planes, etc. If you get off first and are in a hurry, that can be interpreted by a law enforcement officer, if they want, as an attempt by someone to get off the bus, etc. ASAP to avoid a search, detection, or based on nervousness. If you stay in the middle of the crowd, that could be seen as trying to "blend in" to avoid detection. And if you exit last, that could be seen as an attempt to convey "calmness" to fool officers and show that you have nothing to hide. See, no matter what you do, it could be interpreted against you. But if you are a big man or woman, no worries, you can do as you please and actually break laws and get away with it because you make the right donations, pay the right politicians, own media outlets or are a public personality that appears on TV screens or in political offices. In fact, you could actually launder money for terrorists and get away with it. You could hack phones and make profits from those activities. You could interfere in murder investigations. You could bribe police. And make profits from all of it and never get questioned, let alone arrested. Compare that to cases of individuals currently in federal prisons or state prisons for hacking a few phones (remember the Palin hacking case for one average guy that happened one time and he was convicted super quickly and sentenced to time), attempting or actually bribing police and other officials, and destroying evidence in one case one time. It's not what the laws say in the books, it's who you are (or aren't).