Greg Mitchell | The Nation

Live-blogging OWS daily since October 1.  Email: epic1934@aol.com. All times ET.   See my e-book "40 Days That Shook the World: From Occupy Wall St. to Occupy Everywhere."  My OWS-relevant "Journeys With Beethoven" just published in print and e-book, my other books here.

4:00 Wild:  Chris Moody at Yahoo! reports that rightwing activists at CPAC conference in D.C. are "bracing" for party crashing  Occupyers.   They also claim that many "infiltrated" OWS in recent month, "donning old jeans" to attend meetings and camps where they allegedly learned of threats of possible violence.   "Often a prime target of liberal protestors, online publisher Andrew Breitbart said he was excited about a possible clash with Occupiers during the conference. 'Screw them,' Brietbart told Yahoo News in an interview in the hotel lobby. 'I hate these people. They are the most evil, vicious people in the world.'"  He also called himself "omnipotent."

2:35 And now, J.A. Myerson interviews Chris Hedges about his, ahem, controversial article...   The Nation re-posts Todd Gitlin piece from couple weeks ago publishes elsewhere calling on Occupy to totally eschew violence.  Fight cops or fight corporate state?

2:20  Going postal:  Sen. Bernie Sanders calls out GOP on "manufactured crisis" and loss of 230,000 postal jobs.

12:30  The battle re: the streets continues:  David Graeber, a vital OWS organizer at the beginning and at times Black Bloc participant,  with new "open letter" to Chris Hedges. "This is the sort of misinformation that really can get people killed. In fact, it is far more likely to do so, in my estimation, than anything done by any black-clad teenager throwing rocks."

12:25 Another good break down on the mortgage decision by our own George Zornick. 

11:30 Piece by the great Carne Ross here at The Nation on Occupy and the new "participatory democracy" in this "disorderly world."

10:50  NYT:  Stop the presses! 33% of Americans have positive view of socialism.  Time for my hero Upton Sinclair to make a comeback!

10:45 For my local home boys and home girls:  I am giving a talk on Saturday night at Nyack Library before concert on my new Beethoven book (and partly on relation to recent and current political upheaval from Chile to China and back to Occupy).

10:40  CNN's take on (badly flawed?) mortgage deal... The great Yves Smith at Naked Capitalism on the "official propaganda" and settlement....Also on  the other hand... The deal explained by a graphic...

10:25  Ha:  Wall Streets respond to matchmakers' tips on dating them. 

9:30 Chris Hedges' slam at the "Black Bloc"  (and violent militants) as a "cancer" on Occupy continues to spark fierce debate pro and con.  Now David Swanson critiques Susie Cagle's piece at Alternet which hit Hedges. "The primary argument seems to be that if you are not in Oakland and familiar with every detail you shalt not offer your advice.  But knowing whether the person who smashed a window was wearing a mask or not hardly eliminates the possibility of usefully commenting on whether it helped or hurt to smash that window."

9:20 Bad news for Chinese workers--Apple promises new iPad 3 by early March.  And new report on Apple work policies ("even worse than you think").  See below on petitions with 250,000 names being delivered to Apple store in Grand Central this morning.

9:05 NYT: Half of homeowners won't be covered by controversial bank "settlement." More Fannie and Freddie fallout.... New deal slammed here....MoveOn is pushing this video of Maddow hailing Occupy actions against foreclosures.

8:50 What a shock: Ron Paul SuperPAC operated by a 9/11 "Truther."

8:00  Mormon in America: Next up in GOP attack on unions-- Utah.

12:05 Hot dispute in Little Falls, Minn.:  Woman told to take down Occupy sign in yard says bank with Support Our Troops sign should do likewise.

From late Wednesday

NYT news alert:  "States Reach $25 Billion Deal With Banks Over Foreclosure Abuses"

Matt Taibbi rips that NY magazine cover story on Wall Street "emasculated" by Obama and OWS.  Says "stop whining" and reporter Gabe Sherman bought it.  "Listening to Wall Street whine about how it is misunderstood is nothing new. It’s been going on for years (often in that same mag). But if Sherman’s piece heralds a new era of Wall Street complaining about how it is not only misunderstood but undercompensated, you’ll have to excuse me while I spend the next month or so vomiting into my shoes."

Following up again:  NYT story on couple without heat inspires $100,000 in donations, more...... Susie Cagle points to this brief  audio interview with an original Oakland protester.   What happened to protesting banks?

For our daily Occupy song pick of the day last week we featured Beatles' live electric version of "Revolution," rare enough but now here is true rarity: an unplugged acoustic version (audio only).   Timed to the great current debate over militant tactics.

Susie Cagle responds to Chris Hedges, adding that compared to the rest of USA, OccupyOakland is "still on fire."  Not literally!.... Next big @OccupyColleges actions:  Teach-ins Feb. 21-22, more here.

Big action set for tomorrow at 10 am at the new Apple store inside Grand Central in NY -- as activists deliver there petitions signed by 250,000 protesting working conditions at the China plants.  Change.org had a lot to do with the campaign.  Here's their link and tally.  Plus: "More than 55,000 SumOfUs members have signed that organization’s petition already, making it the most viral petition since SumOfUs, a new global grassroots community of consumers fighting for corporate accountability, launched just over two months ago. More than 35,000 of the petition signers say they buy Apple products, including over 20,000 iPhone users."

Live-blogging OWS daily since October 1.  Email: epic1934@aol.com. All times ET.   See my e-book "40 Days That Shook the World: From Occupy Wall St. to Occupy Everywhere."  My very OWS-relevant "Journeys With Beethoven" has just been published in print and as e-book, my other books here.

7:30  Rep. Tom Tancredo on Hardball admits economy may NOT be so much of issue in Nov. so it may be race against "Obama and Zuccotti Park" people.

4:40 Mitt Romney remakes the Clint Eastwood halftime Super Bowl commercial.

4:30  Gawker:  Giants Fans Occupy Zuccotti Park -- Demands Unknown. "The crowd of peaceful, if slightly-scruffy demonstrators have no unified message, outside of a vague sense of elation over their team's victory in the world's most hyper-capitalist sporting event. Many, we assume, are unemployed."

4:20 In wake of today's court rulings: Which states allow gay marriages and which don't? 

2:00 Richard Cohen of Wash Post, so wrong on Iraq, now repeats and expands in calling for attack on Iran (largely to defend Israel, of course).  And he is known as a "liberal" columnist.

1:00 Actor Joseph Gordon-Levitt and the Gregory Brothers help ACLU make fun and musical video on folks having the right to take photos and videos in public places (and at protests etc.)  "Transparency is good for all....to monitor the government....Police infringing on First Amendment rights."  Song sounds a blt like 1970s Kinks.

11:55 From my assistant Elizabeth Whitman:  A Javelin Strategy & Research study found that the approximately 610,000 people who switched to a smaller banking institution in the last three months of 2011 to protest potential debit card usage fees comprised only 11 percent of the 5.6 million people who switched banks during that period. However, while the proportion seems relatively small, noted the report, it pointed out that November 2011's "Bank Transfer Day," an effort that encouraged people to move their money to credit unions and smaller banks (it was not directly linked to Occupy Wall Street but certainly had ideological parallels), had a greater impact than similar movements in years past, such as the Huffington Post's "Move Your Money" day in 2008.

11:50  Bill McKibben: How the Energy-Industrial Elite really has it in for our planet.... Former Sen. Russ Feingold: Obama wrong to support movement against Citizens United ruling.

11:40  Krugman blogs: GOP returning focus to "values" to distract attention from soaring incomes at top and  income disparity.... AdBusters outlines what's ahead at Chicago demos this spring...You think Birtherism dead?  New poll finds 37% of GOPers still think Obama born in another land.

11:30 Interesting piece at The Atlantic site on how Occupy and its sense of "place" has changed urban government.  "At its core, Occupy Wall Street was a place-based movement. In commandeering urban public spaces as sites of protest, the movement marked an implicit challenge to the reigning model of urban governance in which place is irrelevant."

9:40   Evicted homeowner refuses to leave, supporters camp out in support... Despite threat, Pittsburgh camp still not evicted...

9:10  Obama comes out for constitutional amendment on Citizens United, a pet OWS issue.... The Army's "gold-plated guns." .... Joe Stiglitz's latest, on crisis in Europe. ... Obama has prime chance to reduce our nuclear arsenal, but will he do it -- in an election year?

9:00 Today's Occupy song pick of the day:  One of the greatest American songs ever, Stephen Foster's "Hard Times (Come Again No More").  I posted other versions,  from Dylan to Thomas Hampson, now here's the McGarrigle Sisters with guests including Rufus Wainwright and Emmylou Harris.

8:05  Gosh, Charles Dickens and Ronald Reagan share birthday. One exposed plight of poor, the other ripped "welfare queens" driving Caddys.

7:50  NYT on GOPers upset with that Chrysler / Eastwood "partisan" Super Bowl ad allegedly backing bailouts and hintiing Obama needs another "half" to fiinish job.

7:45 Check out my brand new blog on Beethoven, global Occupy  brother #1.

12:05 Great weekly roundup from the Occupied Wall Street Journal on actions around U.S. and latest debate and backlash over tactics and divisions. Includes this: "The mainstream media is now portraying the movement as split over tactics and conflicted about the role of black bloc affinity groups in direct actions.  While these issues – like every other issue – are continually  debated within the movement, portrayals of Occupy as divisible were met with widespread backlash."

From late Monday

Full schedule of events for "Occupy KochTown" Feb. 17-19 in, naturally, Wichita. ... National Lawyers Guild moves to quash subpoena for OWS Twitter user in New York.

Since this seems to be the Topic of the Day, here is an Infoshop guide, or as they call it, "Black Blocs for Dummies." Sample:  "Isn't the black bloc just a bunch of young hooligans? Black blocs have been comprised of people of many different ages. While participants in black blocs tend to be young--reflecting the demographic of most protesters--there have been quite a few people over the age of 30 in black blocs. There have been reports of black bloc participants who are in their 50s and 60s."

From my assistant Elizabeth Whitman:  "For those who want to join the growing movement for the greater good,  The Green America blog of GreenAmerica.org suggests ten reasons to break up with your mega-bank, including supporting local and small businesses and not funding climate change. What they call for echoes much of the changes or actions Occupiers have called for or rely on. They suggest some of the same empowerment tactics, such as switching from large commercial banks to credit unions."

Article causing big stir in the ranks (or some of the ranks) today: Chris Hedges at Truthout calling the Black Bloc the "cancer" within or around Occupy.   He calls the faction  "a gift from heaven to the security and surveillance state. The Occupy encampments in various cities were shut down precisely because they were nonviolent. They were shut down because the state realized the potential of their broad appeal even to those within the systems of power."  Black Blocers "confuse acts of petty vandalism and a repellent cynicism with revolution."

Yes, there's now a Super Pac sympathethic to staunchly anti-Super Pac OWS.  And we're not talking about Stephen Colbert's...New documentary on how the banks Never Lose, you can watch all 48 minutes here..... Bill Moyers and Michael Winship latest to ask, Saul Alinsky Who?

Live-blogging OWS daily since October 1.  Email: epic1934@aol.com. All times ET.   See my e-book "40 Days That Shook the World: From Occupy Wall St. to Occupy Everywhere."  My very OWS-relevant "Journeys With Beethoven" has just been published in print and as e-book, my other books here.

SUNDAY

5:20  Boston Globe piece on Occupy in the nearby cities and suburbs, such as Somerville, Salem, Lowell.  Less camping and publicity but carrying on.

2:35  Wash Post: Tax tips for the 99%. .... Our own Dave Zirin tweets: "Protests now in Indy: Occupiers, IBEW, UFCW, CWA, gathered at Indy statehouse."...  Skip Madonna, re-live when The Boss rocked halftime.  Clarence R.I.P.

11:30 Major piece at Salon on rough tactics used to disloded OccupyDC folks yesterday.

11:15 Great NYT article warms heart of oil company owners-- gets heat to hard hit Mainers.

10:45  A Hoosier point of view on "Occupying" the Super Bowl.  Ah, if onlh Kurt Vonnegut was still alive.... Arizona State Univ unblocks Change.org after outcry. Yet another win....

10:30  Rumor: RIot cops massing to invade 2nd D.C. camp at Freedom Plaza?.... D.C. police say cop hit in face with brick, protester arrested.

10:00  Just launched new blog, "Roll Over, Beethoven," on Occupyer #1, and tied to my new book.  If you doubt #1 status:  see highlight of recent protest--before half a million.

*SATURDAY*

11:45 Local TV reports: Protesters--all 70 of them--kicked off march in Oakland tonight by burning U.S. flag. Sure to rally the 99%. ... Update: Reuters says march mostly peaceful.

10:45 Wash Post on Anonymous apparently hacking Boston's police department with an OWS statement. "Anonymous hacks Boston Police website in retaliation for police brutality at OWS.” Site seems okay now.

4:40 Full article and photos on last night's eviction in Austin, from the Austin Chronicle. About 7 arrests. One woman had a seizure.  Many homeless made homeless again.  "The consensus seems to be that this whole event was handled much worse than the cleaning/clean out operation or the Halloween arrests."... Big NYT piece on Oakland piece being "stretched" by protests and not able to serve other parts of city well. "The violent clashes have also placed Oakland under nationwide scrutiny, renewed concerns about excessive force and solidified the city’s soiled reputation as a place where protesters and criminals, and even sometimes the police, run amok."

4:35 Conflict continues in D.C. as police try to clear parts of park completely.  Right now library threatened.  Arrests.  Rain.  Horses. 

4:30  I quoted him last night but here is clip of Bill Maher on his HBO show hitting Occupyers who have gone the more "violent" route lately.  "Stragglers...anarchists."

4:00 Best song of the year so far and former Occupy song pick of the day remains Joseph Arthur's "Travel as Equals" and his new album is still a free download.

3:25 How's that war workin' out for ya? Wash Post:  2011 record year for civilian deaths and new refugees in Afghanistan.

2:00 Occupyers and Tea Partyers find some common ground in Worcester, MA.  "Members of each group said they admired the other group for its stand on NDAA, but except for a brief speaking portion of event, Occupy Worcester members mostly occupied the north end of the small Federal Plaza Park and tea partiers mostly the south. There was some 'good discussion' among the members."

11:00 Cool photo of two women embracing in front of Tent of Dreams in D.C. as riot cops moved in, with copter overhead.

10:20 Tents coming down at OccupyDC at last, possible arrests just now, we are told, eviction started about five hours ago.  Folks claim police assured them tents not seized but now all taken, some labeled "bio hazard" and will be trashed.  One site left with permit until end of month, they say. watch:

10;00 Todd Gitlin, veterans of '60s protest disputes, via email poses these two new queustions: "If you were David Koch, would you rather see Occupy preoccupied with the cops or with fighting the banks? If you were Sheldon Adelson, would you rather see Occupy smashing windows or bringing down any candidate who opposes reinstating Glass-Steagall?"

9:25  Charles Ferguson on Obama's State of the Union: Let Them Eat....Task Forces?.... Chicago Tribune refuses to run Doonsebury because of plug for DonorsChoose.

9:00  Obama calls on Assad to step down in wake of Syria massacre....now protest building outside Syria embassy in London...

12:05  Eviction  in Austin. Watch livestream.  Update:  Plaza cleared, folks take to streets.

LATE FRIDAY

Protests outside Syrian embassies in USA protesting today's killings, joined by Occupyers.... embassy in Cairo burned...

Bill Maher on HBO tonight brieftly  slams Occupy, says did great work at start "now a bunch of douche bag" anarchist stragglers who throw chairs thru windows.  Guest Wes Moore then tells him can't say those folks about really Occupyers, and organizers and core of movement serious people and not like that.  Maher then admits that he is going on what he sees in media now, quite different from early days of movement. 

New poll in SF-Oakland-San Jose area finds only 40% of Democrats now back Occupy, 56% oppose (31% of them say they once backed OWS).  Can't vouch for poll's rep tho.

My new book on Beethoven's influence today--including politically and re: Occupy--just out this morning in print edition, was available in various e-book editions a few days ago.  Co-authored by Kerry Candaele and linked to his great upcoming Beethoven as universal hero film.  Beethoven even rocked the biggest Occupy-related rally of the year -- over half a million in Madrid.

  New film take on Komen and "breast cancer industry."... NY atty general goes after banks on foreclosure fraud. ....Color commentator:  CNN looks at OccupyTheHood "adding color" to OWS.

Live-blogging OWS daily since October 1.  Email: epic1934@aol.com. All times ET.   See my e-book "40 Days That Shook the World: From Occupy Wall St. to Occupy Everywhere."  My very OWS-relevant "Journeys With Beethoven" has just been published in print and as e-book, my other books here.

-----GO HERE FOR THE THURSDAY EDiTION OF THiS BLOG

11:00 Waiting for Arlo Guthrie to re-make his dad's song as "Self-Deportees."

8:45 Josh Harkinson:  Occupy Oakland focus more anti-cop than anti-corp? 

7:30 Laughable, but is anyone laughing?  Over 400 arrests in Oakland the other night lead to exactly....12 charges. NBC: "It appears that the mass arrest -- the biggest in the Easy Bay since 1982, when 1,200 people were taken into custody during an anti-nuclear demonstration -- will do very little to dampen revolutionary spirits: a reading of a list of 90 names of those arrested who will not be charged was punctuated by a call of f*** the police, the Bay Citizen reported."

6:05  Andy Borowitz tweets: "Romney: 'I'm not concerned about the very poor. They're all working at my house.'"

5:10  NYT and other news orgs have some questions for police about handling of journos at protests....High School students walk out and marchee to Union Sq today in NYC.... Occupy Detroit saves home of couple facing eviction... Bill Moyers talks to former CitiGroup head.

4:15 He's baaaack: Interview with Bill Ayers, you know the former "terrorist" that Obama "hobnobbed" with.

4:00 Former top N.C. newspaper editor @JohnRobinson: "Sigh. I asked my college class what happened 52 years ago today. None knew. In fact, only one recognized the term 'Greensboro sit-ins.'"

3:15  Oakland arrestees claim brutal treatment in jail.

2:55   My new book on Beethoven's influence today--including politically and re: Occupy--just out this morning in print edition, was available in various e-book editions a few days ago.  Co-authored by Kerry Candaele and linked to his great upcoming Beethoven as universal hero film. Below Beethoven rocks the biggest Occupy-related rally of the year -- over half a million in Madrid.

12:55 Josh Fox, who directed the award-winning and popular doc "Gasland" was arrested, and handcuffed, today at a House hearing in fracking.  Story and photo here.  Naturally, he was just trying to film.  "I'm within my First Amendment rights, and I'm being taken out," Fox shouted as he was led away.

12:40  Occupy in a global and social network framework, by writer from the Ukraine.

12:05 Former "sheriff of Wall St.," Eliot Spitzer, chats with OWSers.

11:30  Today's song pick for Occupy, a daily feature since Oct.1:  Timed to hot debate over OWS "nonviolence," it's the Beatles "Revolution," where John on "destruction" sang "count me out...in...out."    (h/t Julia) Recently uncovered live version:

10:50  Now Christan Science Monitor with a piece on the Occupy "violence" debate, plus video.

10:25 More on new and now viral Romney quote about not caring about the poor.  Of course, GOP not worried because trying to disenfranchise poor at the polls now... #RobertKeiner: "Biggest story today: Crossroads' c-4 raised more than its Super PAC. Confirming that media is missing the boat by focusing on Super PACs."

10:05 Our regular correspondent Bob Plain, who has traveled to dozens of OWS sites, on Occupy 2.0: fewer protests, more community outreach.

8:30  Major MSNBC piece on the new conflict over strreamers as "snitches," highlighted by assault on Tim Pool the other night.  Tim says, "I probably will get severely injured in these next coming months....I pretty much expect to wind up in the hospital. The threats I'm hearing, with words like 'protection' in them, sound awfully Mafioso."

8:20  Big flap today over Romney on CNN saying "I'm not concerned about the very poor," then indicating that we'll surely hear from the Dems about them.

8:15 Debate on non-violent OWS continue to rage.  Official OWS feed from NY tweets: "Important Issue facing OWS right now. We are a non-violent movement. Stand Strong with MLK, Gandhi, Steve Biko & others." And links to video showing "Black Bloc" violence in Oakland.... 3 arrests, we heard, in Miami eviction last nignt.

8:10  @MichaelLuo of NYT:  "More than 80% of Romney super-PAC contribs came in 100K or more checks. That's efficiency." Later: "Eye-popping stats on pro-Romney PAC: 97% of its $ came in 25K or greater contribs; 82% 100K or more; 40% in 500K or more."

12:00 Our own Katrina's Wash Post column: "Time to Run for Office, 99 Percenters."   I wiill not run, but will accept a draft.

From late Tuesday

Elsewhere in Florida...livestream from Miami, where camp facing eviction now, warning that lethal weapons could be used.

From our colleague Elizabeth Whitman:  Arturo de los Santos, a California homeowner whose house was foreclosed on in June, appeared on Democracy Now! today.   With the help of Occupy Riverside, he managed to re-occupy his house, but now is facing eviction for a second time. He shares his experience and Jesse Eisinger, who co-authored an investigative story on how Freddie Mac bet against homeowners, relates it to the experience of other homeowners and to the information he discovered in his story.

Finally updated my personal blog, on request, to include all of my recent books, and older ones, new videos, links.

CNN's Erickson on the incident this week in D.C. camp: "Watching a hIppie protester get tased just made my day."

Tina DuPuy at Alternet: Why OWS needs to denounce violent tactics used by some at OccupyOakland. Growing debate.....Dean Baker, contra David Brooks today, notes giant income gains have indeed gone to top 1 percent not Dave's more general top tier.... Sen. Sherrod Brown introduces bill to prevent Congress folks from owning stock in companies they legislate.  Not true already??

If police pull down Tent of Dreams (left) in D.C. will it be a Tarp Bail Out?.... MoJo chart:  Wall St. donors blow all others away.   Occupied BY Wall Street....