Judge makes decision about Twitter use in private session
A Suffolk Superior Court judge made a decision in a private conference during a hearing held yesterday about a Twitter user linked to Occupy Boston, but it will be stayed for 10 days to allow attorneys to appeal, a court official said yesterday.
http://tinyurl.com/chzdojh
Twitter user ‘amused’ by DA’s probe
An apparent target of the Suffolk District Attorney’s Twitter subpoena – part of a probe into alleged hacking of Boston police email – claims to have nothing to do with the case, and finds it entertaining that authorities want the microblogging site to cough up personal information.
“Suffice to say it amused me greatly. I won’t be losing any sleep over it,” the tweeter, who goes by the name GuidoFawkes, told the Herald via email from Wexford, Ireland, last night. “I hadn’t even heard of the Occupy Boston crowd until this blew up. I’m a firm believer in the benefits of free enterprise capitalism and don’t sympathise with their aims.”
http://tinyurl.com/c8wyr7y
(CNN) Occupy Boston activist’s Twitter info subpoenaed
A decision by Massachusetts prosecutors to subpoena the Twitter records of an Occupy Boston activist, as well as records linked to two Twitter hashtags, has free speech advocates up in arms, calling the move a violation of the First Amendment.
WTF? (What the Fawkes?)
Rosa Luxembourg famously said that those who do not move cannot feel their chains. This morning in Suffolk county court, the ACLU of Massachusetts and our client moved. And we felt our chains.
I had gone to court to listen to our legal team argue a case to protect the First Amendment rights of our client, Twitter user @p0isAn0n, aka Guido Fawkes. That user, who wishes to remain anonymous throughout the proceedings, was the target of a Suffolk County Assistant District Attorney’s administrative subpoena to Twitter, dated December 14, 2011. As we wrote last week, the subpoena asked Twitter to hand over @p0isAn0n’s subscriber information, including our client’s IP address, which can be used to help track down someone’s physical residence.
Twitter, Anonymous, Occupy Wall Street, the First Amendment, and the Suffolk County district attorney
While Guido Fawkes didn’t move to block the subpoena, the American Civil Liberties Union did. An ACLU attorney made a motion to invalidate the subpoena on First Amendment grounds, but just today a Suffolk County Superior Court judge decided against the ACLU. It’s not yet known if Twitter has released the information requested in the subpoena, and it’s possible that the ACLU will appeal today’s decision. We’ll keep you updated as this story unfolds.
Young People More Likely To Favor Socialism Than Capitalism: Pew
The poll, published Wednesday, found that while Americans overall tend to oppose socialism by a strong margin — 60 percent say they have a negative view of it, versus just 31 percent who say they have a positive view — socialism has more fans than opponents among the 18-29 crowd. Forty-nine percent of people in that age bracket say they have a positive view of socialism; only 43 percent say they have a negative view.
And while those numbers aren’t very far apart, it’s noteworthy that they were reversed just 20 months ago, when Pew conducted a similar poll. In that survey, published May 2010, 43 percent of people age 18-29 said they had a positive view of socialism, and 49 percent said their opinion was negative.
Long-time Obama ally Rahm Emanuel readies for protesters at G-8 summit in May by escalating fines
Chicago Mayor Rahm Emanuel on Wednesday announced a new ordinance that was drastically increase the fines potentially facing protesters of the NATO and G8 summits the city will host in May of next year.
The plan entails more than doubling the fines for resisting a police officer or aiding escape from their current range of $25-to-$500 to $200-to-$1,000. Further, the ordinance will amend the hours that public parks, playgrounds and beaches will be open, in accordance with Chicago Park District’s hours of operation from 6 a.m. to 11 p.m., and will allow the mayor to enter into contracts with both public and private security and planning entities, without City Council approval, as the city prepares for the concurrent summits, scheduled to take place May 15-22, 2012.
Occupy, civil rights groups join at NC event
Members of a traveling Occupy group met Thursday with civil rights leaders in Greensboro and announced marches reminiscent of the one in Selma in the 1960s in an unusual confluence of interests of blacks and the mostly white anti-Wall Street movement.
http://tinyurl.com/ccfnmu6
Occupy Alaska protesters facing sub zero temps
The mayor’s office says they can protest in the town square, but they have to get rid of their tents and stoves. That is considered camping and against the city code. But the protesters say they need them — to maintain their right to free speech through the winter.
Ethan Allen, Occupy Fairbanks protesters says, “This isn’t recreation, we’re here to speak out and raise awareness, and in order for us to do that 24-7, we need to be able to keep warm and maintain our presence that way.” Forecasters predict temperatures will not rise above zero degrees Fahrenheit this week.
Occupy vs. Ron Paul
Five members of the Occupy the Caucus movement in Des Moines Iowa were arrested this morning while blockading the entrance to Ron Paul’s campaign headquarters.
Using their iconic mic-check speaking style, the protestors spoke out against Ron Paul’s campaign pledge to close the Environmental Protection Agency if elected.
Sitting arm in arm, the members of the Occupy movement chanted; “We are fighting for the future generations. In order to live we need clean air, clean water, and safe food. Don’t dismantle the EPA. We won’t allow this business to open before our demands are met.”
http://tinyurl.com/bpw4ksx
12 Arrested at Occupy the Caucus Protest
An air of irritation surrounding the Occupy the Caucus movement crept in Thursday as 12 protesters, including a 14-year-old girl, were arrested for blocking the doors to the Iowa Democratic Party headquarters.
Unlike more than a dozen arrests this week at the campaign offices of the Republican presidential contenders Mitt Romney and Representative Ron Paul, where officers joked with protesters and the news media were allowed to watch the arrests up close, the tone was formal. All bystanders had to watch from the fringe of the property.
While all the arrests were made peacefully, the change in mood suggests an early, if subtle, indication that the patience of the police, protesters and campaign staff members may be put to the test in the coming days.
http://tinyurl.com/bpazgzm
Enshrining the lies of the US’ 1%
If Americans cannot cast off lies that directly steal money from their own pockets, and steal their children’s future from them, what chance is there confronting lies that only harm them indirectly? What chance is there with lies told in their name? With lies purportedly told in their interest? Lies told for their own benefit? What chance is there to stop being, at bottom, a people of the lie? What chance to once more become a people of the dream?
Occupy movement making ‘born again Americans’
One of the most encouraging things to happen in 2011 was the birth of the Occupy Wall Street movement, which is giving the entire country the chance for a “born again American” moment. In calling attention to the country’s widening chasm between rich and poor, the Occupiers have unleashed decades of pent-up patriotic outrage against the systematic violation of our nation’s core principles by the “say good-bye to the middle class” alliance of the neocons, theocons and corporate America.
http://tinyurl.com/887562k
SEC chided again by judge in Citigroup fraud case
In his latest sharply-worded order, U.S. District Judge Jed Rakoff chastised the SEC for not telling him it had filed an emergency request with an appeals court to put the case on hold, after making the same request to him.
So when Rakoff on Tuesday issued a ruling opposing any delay in the case, he was beaten to the punch; 78 seconds earlier, the 2nd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals had granted the SEC the temporary halt it sought.
http://tinyurl.com/6wcrdge
In wake of boycott, GoDaddy Now Firmly Against SOPA
GoDaddy was for SOPA before it was against it.
GoDaddy’s new CEO Warren Adelman on late Thursday issued a statement acknowledging the negative effect an online boycott has had on the company’s total domain registry numbers, and clarifying that GoDaddy is now vehemently opposed to the House of Representative’s maligned Stop Online Piracy Act (SOPA).
http://tinyurl.com/87wa7h7
Why Ron Paul inspires such anger in liberals
He doesn’t play by standard political rules, so while old newsletters bearing his name showcase obvious white supremacy, he is also the only prominent politician, let alone Presidential candidate, saying that the drug war has racist origins. You cannot honestly look at this figure without acknowledging both elements, as well as his opposition to war, the Federal government, and the Federal Reserve. And as I’ve drilled into Paul’s ideas, his ideas forced me to acknowledge some deep contradictions in American liberalism (pointed out years ago by Christopher Laesch) and what is a long-standing, disturbing, and unacknowledged affinity liberals have with centralized war financing. So while I have my views of Ron Paul, I believe that the anger he inspires comes not from his positions, but from the tensions that modern American liberals bear within their own worldview.
Banking regulators failure to control a perverse executive compensation system enabled Fannie, Freddie fraud
Here is the crazy thing ? the SEC, OFHEO, and Department of Justice all failed to demand that Fannie and Freddie end their perverse executive compensation system that made the executives wealthy through fraud and put the entities and the government at risk. The Bush White House took no action and made no criticism of the compensation system. The Congress (both parties) made no criticism of the compensation systems. Remember, we had seen these perverse compensation systems blow up the S&L industry and the Enron-era accounting control frauds.
OFHEO even allowed Mr. Mudd, Fannie’s COO during the period of its extensive accounting and securities fraud, to replace Raines’ as CEO in December 2004. None of this was due to any weakness in OFHEO’s regulatory powers. The problem was an unwillingness to regulate. The unwillingness was ideological.
http://tinyurl.com/7arwz3n
The Dumbest Idea In The World: Maximizing Shareholder Value
“What would lead [a CEO],” asks Martin, “to do the hard, long-term work of substantially improving real-market performance when she can choose to work on simply raising expectations instead? Even if she has a performance bonus tied to real-market metrics, the size of that bonus now typically pales in comparison with the size of her stock-based incentives. Expectations are where the money is. And of course, improving real-market performance is the hardest and slowest way to increase expectations from the existing level.”
One Response to “The OB Media Rundown for 12/30/11”
on December 30th, 2011 at 1:38 pm #
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