South Essex Register of Deeds: Mortgage Settlement Fails to Address Banking Criminal Enterprise

I will continue to pursue my request for Federal and State grand juries to be impaneled to hold the CEO’s of these banks liable for the crimes that have been committed under their watch. The only thing missing in this illegal scheme that MERS and the big banks came up with was a gun and a mask. I will continue to expose this fraud and work everyday to make sure that the taxpayers are fully reimbursed for the over $44 million dollars in lost recording fees in my district alone by institutions who still believe fees are “for thee but not for me.” A message needs to be sent to these banks that they may think that you are too big to fail but they are not too big to go to jail.

http://tinyurl.com/6olhfnz

Harvard: The Dilemma of the Radical – On-Campus Activism in the Age of Occupy

Even within activist organizations like the EAC, convincing students to get out and protest isn’t easy. “A lot of people show up to meetings and not to events. Others go to one or two rallies but don’t sustainably involve themselves,” he explains.
12:03 p.m. Stepping out of the Park Street station, Chaudhary joins about 25 people who are gathered for the rally. Most are well out of college, but there are a few other students from Brandeis and Tufts as well.

http://tinyurl.com/6r9kwhd

What if Occupy Created a Movement so Big it Couldn’t Control it?

Essentially, something can only be considered an “official” statement or action by Occupy Wall Street if it gains approval by the group’s general assembly in New York. It’s a cumbersome process, and most Occupy-related actions don’t go through it — but they’re done in “good faith” with the guidelines the group ratified in its Statement of Autonomy, so there’s usually no problem. Lately, though, more such Occupy-branded actions that diverge from the group’s ethos have been popping up. Remember the Occupy Super PAC last week and quickly drew the ire of the movement? Or the Occupy candidates, who’ve emerged despite the fact that the group has specifically pledged not to endorse parties or candidates? Or that delegation from Zuccotti Park that nearly (gasp) met with Congress before thinking better of it?

http://tinyurl.com/7na6v87

Continue reading “The OB Media Rundown for 2/24/12” »

Student Activists Occupy Novartis

AIDS activists, students, and community groups “OCCUPIED” the offices of pharma giant Novartis today in three US cities on the eve of the Swiss pharmaceutical company’s annual shareholders meeting in Switzerland.  The effort was part of a global day of action drawing attention to the company’s lawsuit against cancer patients and the government of India, aiming to reinterpret India’s patent standards to block access to life-saving generic medicines.

In 2006, Novartis sued the Indian government after its request for a patent on its blockbuster cancer drug Gleevec was denied. The Novartis version of the drug costs roughly ten times the cost of the high-quality generics on the market and the company is trying to stop production of those versions.

Since Novartis initiated action against the Indian government, protests have been held around the world. On Wednesday, demonstrators in New York, Washington, and Boston stood in solidarity with actions in India, Switzerland, and other regions. “We’re here to try to ensure that India remains the pharmacy of the developing world,” said Katrina Ciraldo, Boston University medical student and member of Occupy Boston’s Health Justice group.

http://tinyurl.com/82tbaze

After a long winter of discontent, can Occupy Boston bloom again this spring?

As the weather warms, though, the question looms: will there will be an Occupy Spring? Will the movement once again reign in the national headlines – not just as a sideshow tailing presidential candidates, but in cities like Boston, where much of the fall was dominated by Occupy actions and the response to the sudden surge in activism?

All signs point to “yes.” In addition to vague plans to establish another camp in April – a surefire way to attract news cameras – daily Occupy Boston strategy meetings remain staffed by significant numbers of dedicated operatives. Saturday-night general assemblies draw roughly 80 attendees. The crowds are smaller than those that rallied on Dewey Square at the height of Occupy intensity, but a core group of direct-action-minded folks are regularly joining more established forces like City Life and the T Riders Union in protesting everything from MBTA service cuts to foreclosures and, this past weekend, prisoner abuse. College occupations are also picking up some slack; earlier this month, a New England student summit at Harvard attracted delegates from more than a dozen schools (as well as Occupy godfather Noam Chomsky).

http://tinyurl.com/7hcc6mg

Chris Faraone Q&A: Living with the 99 percent

When the Occupy movement was raging last fall, Chris Faraone was there. In Boston. In Seattle. In New York. [Chris Faraone] the 32-year-old Boston Phoenix writer and Jamaica Plain resident spent more time at the encampment here than any journalist, not to mention his visits to Occupy movements around the country, from Miami to New York to Seattle to Oakland. This month he releases his self-published book, “99 Nights With the 99 Percent,” and on Feb. 27 he’ll speak at Brookline Booksmith at 7 p.m.

http://tinyurl.com/6r3w9c3

Continue reading “The OB Media Rundown for 2/23/12” »

Occupy Somerville protests potential MBTA cuts and fair hikes

With Occupy evicted from Dewey Square in December, [Jay] Jubilee now spends much of his time riding MBTA trains and buses, spreading the word about the possible effects of the T’s financial problems and encouraging riders to attend a Feb. 28 MBTA hearing at Somerville High School. The new mission is very different from his old one, but he says the same political philosophy drives him.

“It’s very much in the spirit of Occupy,” he said, “which is to say defending public services against austerity cutbacks and, more generally, trying to find ways to unite and defend the interests of the 99 percent.”

http://tinyurl.com/7l2o7o7

Boston Phoenix writer responds to Breitbart hit piece that used extensive excerpts from her article to attack Occupy

The first person I am calling out is a lady who calls herself Liberty Chick. Last week she penned a piece directly in response to my January 31 piece for the Phoenix regarding Occupy Boston’s attempts to create safer spaces for women, LGBTQ folks, and victims of sexual violence in general. Hiding behind her pen name, LibChiqq wrote the piece for Andrew Breitbart’s website “Big Government.”

LibChiqq basically cut and pasted my whole piece into their super right-wing content farm and then tried to re-contextualize my writing to point out the ways in which Occupy is at fault for being a breeding ground for rapists and misogynists. She then uses my words as a means to discredit the movement as a whole.

http://tinyurl.com/775rp5g

Judge says Breitbart must face defamation lawsuit

Former U.S Department of Agriculture official Shirley Sherrod’s lawsuit against right-wing blogger Andrew Breitbart survived a motion to dismiss, clearing the way for her to pursue the high-profile defamation suit she filed against him and a colleague last year.

Sherrod sued Breitbart, Larry O’Connor and a third, unidentified individual in 2011 for allegedly editing down her 43-minute speech at the March 2010 NAACP Freedom Fund Banquet into a 2 minute 36-second clip meant to mislead the public into believing that Sherrod gave preferential treatment to black farmers in doling out federal funds.

The short video, in which Sherrod spoke of her own feelings about helping a poor white farmer, went viral and within days had her pulling her car over at the behest of the White House to “email her resignation from her blackberry,” claimed Sherrod in her federal complaint.

http://tinyurl.com/7vmldq4

Continue reading “The OB Media Rundown for 2/22/12” »

Occupy URI Begins (University of Rhode Island)

Students and faculty at the University of Rhode Island have set up their own Occupy Wall Street protest group.

So far, the group has had two organizational meetings and plans to put up a tent on campus as a symbol of their efforts.

A teach-in is scheduled for later this month and there’s a rally planned for March.

http://tinyurl.com/7a8qa3s

700 gather outside San Quentin for Occupy protest

As many as 700 peaceful Occupy demonstrators gathered outside San Quentin State Prison this afternoon as part of a nationwide effort to call for prison reform.

Among the reforms protest organizers are calling for are elimination of solitary confinement, a ban on the death penalty and an end to California’s “three-strikes” law. The protest was one of about 15 taking place at prisons across the country today.

http://tinyurl.com/7scvb7s

Occupy movement stages day of protests at US prisons

Occupy demonstrators participated in a nationwide day of action to protest against the US prison system on Monday, with demonstrations carried out at over a dozen sites across the country, including prisons in California, Chicago, Denver and New York.

The call to protest was issued by activists with the Occupy Oakland movement and was co-ordinated to coincide with waves of prison hunger strikes that began at California’s Pelican Bay prison in July. Demonstrators denounced the use of restrictive isolation units as infringement upon fundamental human rights. The hunger strikes followed a US supreme court ruling in May which stated that overcrowding in the California prison system had led to “needless suffering and death.” The court ordered the state to reduce its overall prison population from 140,000 to 110,000, which still well-exceeds the state’s maximum prison capacity.

Sarah Shourd, Josh Fattal and Shane Bauer – the American hikers who were held for over a year by Iranian authorities – took part in demonstrations outside San Quentin prison in Marin County, California. Addressing the crowd, Shourd described the psychological impact of solitary confinement, saying her 14 and a half months without human contact drove her to beat the walls of her cell until her knuckles bled. Shourd noted that Nelson Mandella described the two weeks he spent in solitary confinement as the most dehumanising experience he had ever been through.

http://tinyurl.com/6n4t4qw

Continue reading “The OB Media Rundown for 2/21/12” »

Support for Occupy from within the assisted-living community: ‘Hard times – we made it through and we have faith that you will too’

In every generation there is a passionate group of people who seek to do battle with whatever injustice there is going on. Good for them, we hope they do. We’ve lived through a few movements ourselves. Many of us were shocked when we saw segregated restrooms in our travels around the country. One of us even recalls getting in the wrong line. Who knew? A toilet is a toilet. Then, we witnessed a movement that led to change for the better.

Though we aren’t very familiar with the Occupy movement, we do know, the world is changing, our country is in a recession, and for many people, things don’t seem to be getting better. Are you unsure about what direction our world is going right now? We understand that.
. . .

If you think times are hard, if you think it’s scary, and you think there is no hope for the world, come and “occupy” the nearest assisted living community near you, and ask us how we found hope in our time. We made it through, and we have faith that you will too.

http://tinyurl.com/87pluwy

Occupy medics give first aid to 7-year-old struck by car [NM]

A 7-year-old girl was hit by a car while crossing Main Street at Orchard Avenue on Saturday.

The girl, whose name has not been released, was walking with her family, when a car turned east off Orchard onto Main and struck her.

“She must have flown at least between six and 10 feet,” said Cornelia de Bruin, who was protesting with Occupy Farmington at Orchard Park at the time. “Luckily, we had some medical personnel occupying with us.”

According to De Bruin, the medical personnel included a physician, Lynne Portnoy, and trained medic Brandon Prince. Both ran to the girl’s side to administer aid.

http://tinyurl.com/6rfbfd5

Occupy the Sec roundtable discussion with Chris Hayes

(video)

http://tinyurl.com/83zzrvj

Climate peaceful at ‘Occupy Koch Town’ protest

About 150 protesters marched through downtown Wichita on Saturday afternoon as activists from across the country gathered for the weekend “Occupy Koch Town” rally. Although the block-long line of protesters temporarily blocked several major intersections, the march was peaceful, and police made no arrests and issued no citations.

Among the marchers was Doris Ravenfeather, a retired nurse from Wichita, who said her concerns about the environment prompted her to join the protest.

“My major thing is protecting nature,” she said as she walked toward Century II. “We’ve got to save our land. I’m tired of seeing it abused.”

http://tinyurl.com/7wv6q6g

Continue reading “The OB Media Rundown for 2/20/12” »