BREAKING: Police Violently Raid Occupy Oakland

Close to 5 a.m. this morning, roughly 100-150 police in riot gear surrounded the Occupy Oakland encampment. It is reported that police used billy clubs, flash grenades, teargas and rubber bullets to disperse peaceful protesters. At present, at least 70 people have been arrested and the Occupy Oakland encampment has been torn down.

Those who work in downtown Oakland have been advised not to go to work until further notice due to the chaos caused by the raid.

UPDATE:
At present, people are being asked to leave the 14th and Bradway area to avoid further arrests.

FOOTAGE:

Video streaming by Ustream

Citibank claims "disruptive protesters"

The day of the Citibank arrests, I immediately sent an e-mail to Citi after seeing the footage, telling them they should be ashamed of treating their paying customers in such a manner. Roughly 22 hours ago, I received this message via an email address labeled as auto-response:

Dear Ms. Amittai,
[because we all know that 'Gideon' is a girl's name...]

Thank you for your message regarding the incident at
Citibank branch on La Guardia Place. We understand your
concern.

According to the media
[Really? You don't know what is happening at your own bank?]
a large amount of protesters
(non-Citibank clients) entered the Citibank branch at 555
La Guardia Place around 2:00 PM on Saturday, October 15.
They were very disruptive and refused to leave after being
repeatedly asked, causing our staff to call 911.The Police
asked the branch staff to close the branch until the
protesters could be removed. Only one person asked to close
an account and was accommodated.

We would like to assure you that Citibank clients may also
close their accounts by phone. The protesters were arrested
due to their disruptive behavior.

If we can be of any additional assistance, please send
another online message or call Citibank Online Client
Services at 1-800-374-9700. Internationally, you can call
us collect at 001-210-677-0065. Our professional staff is
committed to providing you world-class service and we are
available 24 hours a day, 7 days a week.

Sincerely,
Maria R Velasco
Citibank Online Client Services

I went back to Citi's site and sent another email, directing them to the video I previously posted (which I will post again in this one for all to see) that shows there were no disruptions except by NYPD shoving a lady bank into the bank.

Keep The Change, We'll Do It Ourselves

The Occupation Movement swept the globe this past Saturday with over 1500 cities joining in. From New York, to Spain, to Rome, to Australia and to Tokyo (and all the places in between) demonstrations of a few hundred to hundreds of thousands of people fed up with being stomped into the ground.

In New York, a small group of protesters went into Citi Bank to close their accounts. It ended with the arrest of 25 people.




Today, October 17, Occupiers urge everyone to make the switch from banks to credit unions. The idea is to keep your money out of the hands of greedy shareholders and into a local CU where it can benefit community growth. Many big banks, like Citi and Well Fargo, are beginning to charge customers for using their debit cards. Find out why here.

If you're interested in making the switch, you can start here to find your local CU.

For grins and giggles, as I was preparing this entry, I decided to inquire about a basic checking account at Citi. Here is the result:

Welcome
A Citi representative will help you in approximately 0 minutes 1 seconds.
For your protection, we'll never ask you for passwords, PINs, User IDs, security words or any part of your social security number during a chat. Other information may be required to help us verify your identity.

You are now chatting with 'Gloria' from Citibank, N.A.

Gloria: Welcome to Citibank Online Chat, my name is Gloria. How may I assist you today?

You: Hello. I was just wondering about the new fee for using a debit card. Why do customers have to pay to use it?

Gloria: Do you have a Citibank account?

You: No, but I was considering switching banks and was doing some research.

Gloria: Great! Citibank does not have a fee for using your debit card.

Gloria: Were you inquiring about a checking and savings account?

You: Just a checking. Could you give me some information on the various checking accounts offered by Citi?

Gloria: I can send you a link. Hold please.

[*It took her 5 min. to get a link I had already looked at*]

Gloria: please click here.

Gloria: Did you have any additional questions that I may address?

Gloria: Your satisfaction is my priority. Have I completely resolved your inquiry today?

You: I recently read an article in the New York Times that it has become a little more difficult to qualify for a basic checking account. What exactly are the qualifications?

Gloria: For a Basic checking account there is an $8.00 fee unless you complete 5 or more qualifying transactions such as direct deposit, checks paid, ATM withdrawals, bill payments or ACH payments.

Gloria: However, starting with the November statement, the monthly fee will be $10.00 unless you keep a minimum balance of $1,500.00 or one direct deposit.

You: That seems kind of expensive for a basic account.

Gloria: Again, if you have one direct deposit and one bill payment, you do not have to meet the minimum balance.

You: Ah ok. Well, I don't think I have any more questions at the moment. Thank you for taking the time to help me.

Gloria: You are welcomed.

Gloria: It was nice chatting with you today. Please complete a quick survey by selecting 'End Chat' in the top, right corner of this window. Thank you for considering banking at Citibank. Have a great day. Goodbye.

Yes, I did take the survey. I scored them low and in the comment box I entered, "I am the 99%" and then clicked submit.

The Great Debate

As of late, I've been holding quite a lively discussion with a Ms. Ann Marie (@Political_QRM) on Twitter. Sometimes 140 characters is a blessing in disguise, as it keeps me from ranting. As I said previously, Ann is conversing with me on Twitter; her Tweets are not protected and you can view the discussion easily, so I'll be sharing the discussion in-full here. It began as I was looking through various Tweets bearing the #occupy hashtag and I came across her initial opinion on Occupy Wall Street, and I was curious how her mind works, so I felt obliged to reply:

Political_QRM: Video showing hand signals used at the protest http://www.breitbart.tv/occupy-protesters-creepy-hand-signals-explained/?utm_medium=twitter&utm_source=twitterfeed Why not take the effort put into these signals & look for a JOB! #tcot

GAmittai: A lot of the #OWS people do have jobs. Why not make the effort to get to know them instead of judging them from afar?

GAmittai: Also, I'm a registered Republican in favor of the #Occupy movement. I have a job, got a cut in hours. Any other comments?

Political_QRM: Sorry your hrs were cut. I know it's rough. But I do know the type.. It mirrors every Marxist tactic & speech. And I know Marxism

GAmittai: So you should know that Veterans were assaulted by BPD a few nights ago. I believe that's a form of Totalitarianism, yes?

Political_QRM: If anyone is breaking the law, veterans or no, or if they are violent, the "assault" you refer to is the police arresting them?

GAmittai: The "assault" I'm referring to is called a billy club or nightstick, which BPD used to assault unarmed American civilians.

GAmittai: Just curious: where do you stand on flag desecration?

Political_QRM: U know the ans. Here's the deal:U want smthng 4 nthng fm my tax dollars, VFP is sanc by UN (hate US) & I have to get to wrk Enjoy.

GAmittai: I pay taxes same as you. Thank you for taking the time to talk with me. I'm looking to share all views on the Occupation.

Please DO NOT send hate messages to Ms. Ann. She is entitled to her own opinion on the Occupation just as protesters are entitled to their right to assemble peacefully.

BREAKING: Police Disrupt Occupy Boston

I fell asleep in Tulsa, OK last night after working the closing shift at my job (the one I get paid for). I woke up this morning to find plenty to do with this job (the one I volunteered for).

Police in riot gear surrounded Occupy Boston overnight and, though they asked various mainstream media reporters to leave, citing they "could not ensure their safety", Boston police proceeded to beat and shove Occupiers. At least 100 arrests were made.

Among the Occupiers were the Veterans for Peace, "an official Non-Governmental Organization (NGO) represented at the UN" (see the tab entitled 'About VFP' in the link).

Though press members were asked to leave and not film anything, and protesters with cameras and phones had them ripped from their hands, footage was still captured of the incident.

WARNING: Footage may be graphic in nature. Viewer discretion is advised.








Boston PD Contact Info

Address:
1 Schroeder Plaza
Boston, MA 02120

Telephone: 617.343.4200
Facsimile: 617.343.4481
Website: http://www.cityofboston.gov/police
E-mail: Mediarelations.bpd@cityofboston.gov

[[[Send a message to Commissioner Edward Davis]]]

To Serve and Protect: The Law Enforcement Oath of Honor

On my honor,
I will never betray my badge*,
my integrity, my character,
or the public trust.
I will always have
the courage to hold myself
and others accountable for our actions.
I will always uphold the constitution**
my community*** and the agency I serve.
*Appropriate term may be substituted, such as: badge; profession; country
** Appropriate term may be substituted, such as: constitution, laws; monarch
*** Appropriate term may be substituted, such as: community; country; land; nation

According to the International Association of Chiefs of Police, this is the Law Enforcement Oath of Honor officers around the world [should] take when entering their respective positions. According to the IACP site, "Before any officer takes the Law Enforcement Oath of Honor, it is important that he/she understands what it means. An oath is a solemn pledge someone makes when he/she sincerely intends to do what he/she says."

It then lists words mentioned in the Oath along with their meanings:

Honor means that one's word is given as a guarantee.
Betray is defined as breaking faith with the public trust.
Badge is the symbol of your office.
Integrity is being the same person in both private and public life.
Character means the qualities that distinguish an individual.
Public trust is a charge of duty imposed in faith toward those you serve.
Courage is having the strength to withstand unethical pressure, fear or danger.
Accountability means that you are answerable and responsible to your oath of office.
Community is the jurisdiction and citizens served.

What is honorable about beating those you swore to protect? By these actions, is it right to assume that you beat your family and friends? How can anyone trust you not to do harm? What is courageous in beating unarmed civilians? To whom are you accountable if you cannot even admit when you are in the wrong? Is the community you serve limited only to those who share the same views and opinions as yourself?

WARNING: Some of the content in the videos below are graphic in nature. Viewer discretion is advised.

Going Strong and Building Steam

Occupy Tulsa:

Occupy Tulsa had their first General Assembly (GA) meeting on October 1, 2011. I was unfortunately unable to attend, but Ms. Pressley was kind enough to send a summary of the things discussed to those unable to attend*:

Hey everyone,

Sorry if anyone who was at the meeting gets this e-mail but I had everyone that I was communicating with on the same e-mail list.

I wanted to let everyone know that I've handed the task of updating and communicating with you guys over to the head of the Communications committee group that was organized at the meeting this Saturday.

If anyone would like to keep in contact with me despite this, feel free to e-mail or text/call me. I just thought it would be more appropriate if someone who lived in Tulsa who was going to be more informed about arrangements that were more local to be your direct line to the Tulsa group. I will still be attending the meetings and encourage all of you to try and make it to at least one. Comparatively, Tulsa was far more organized, cohesive, and productive than OSU or OKC seemed to be, from my observations over the course of this weekend.

The next Tulsa meeting will be at Newblock Park at 10 am, same as this weekend. If anyone needs a ride, please don't hesitate to ask me, as I'll still be commuting from Stillwater to attend the meetings in Tulsa.

Thanks for everyone's time and interest in this,

Kirsten Pressley
(***) ***-****

P.S. Big news! OU and OSU are now both organizing in cahoots to Occupy Oklahoma - this has gotten WAY bigger than Bedlam! :D

The next GA meeting will be on October 8, 2011 in the same location at the same time. They are currently planning a mini protest for September 5, 2011. The general concensus seems to be that they march at the 61st and Sheridan branch of Chase bank at noon CST, but no plans have been solidified as of yet.

(*Number removed for privacy. If you need it, find her through Occupy Tulsa's Facebook page).

Occupy Wall Street:

Going into their third week, the protesters in New York keep growing exponentially. On September 5, 2011 Occupy Wall Street protesters will be joining Union members in a march from Foley Square to the Financial District at 4:30 p.m. EST.

After the Brooklyn Bridge incident this past weekend, the Transport Workers Union (TWU) has filed a lawsuit against the New York Police Department (NYPD) for forcing bus drivers to transport the 700 plus arrestees to holding facilities. While U.S. District Judge Paul Engelmayer rejected an initial request from TWU that would bar NYPD from commandeering buses, stating that, "New York state penal law requires a person to assist police with an arrest when it’s 'reasonable' to do so", the judge has not ruled out the union's request for permenent injunction.

Occupy Seattle:

Reports of arrests was said to be false late Tuesday evening when a rumor began spreading across Twitter that the police were on the scene with vans and paddy wagons arresting protesters. One protester said he heard a radio transmission that police were at 5th and Pine, but another stated that a single officer was on scene to aid a drunken man who had injured himself.

Current reports are that Seattle PD may be waiting for crowds to thin before descending upon protesters.

Occupy St. Louis:

After the Cardinals suffered a 3-2 defeat by the Philies, fans leaving Busch stadium mingled with protesters. One protester mentioned via Twitter that they are set up about two blocks away from the stadium.

Occupy Los Angeles:

Twitter was buzzing for a little while on Tuesday with reports that SWAT teams were barring people from making withdraws at Bank of America. It tuned out the information was, in fact, from a 2007 incident (similar reports buzzed about St. Louis, but those reports were also false, as they were from August 2011).


If you'd like for your Occupy organization to be mentioned here, send a summary of the day's events and/or a summary of upcoming events to: gideon.amittai@gmail.com

The Brooklyn Bridge Incident

Watch and be educated.

Five hours and counting...

Occupy Tulsa officially kicks off at 10 a.m. on October 1, 2011 with a General Assembly meeting at Newblock park. If you are unable to attend, Ms. Pressley (whom I mentioned in my previous post) will be recording the meeting and posting the video to the Occupy Tulsa Facebook page.

[Click Here To Visit The Occupy Tulsa Page On Facebook]

Earlier this evening, I and some friends watched V for Vendetta, starring the remarkable Nigerian-born Hugo Weaving as Alan Moore's antagonistic hero V. If you have never seen it, I urge you to. Better yet, read the graphic novel first, as the message within books often gets lost in Hollywood translation (just ask the Watchmen fans).

The following is a scene between V and Evey, as portrayed by the lovely Natalie Portman. This is one of many memorable quotes that ring true for any place anywhere in the world:



This is why the NYPD maced, beat and arrested protesters. This is why, when the protesters marched to the police station on September 30th, NYPD had riot gear ready to go. The government is terrified, but they will never admit it.

In order to get a sense of how I need to report once Occupy Tulsa takes off, I've been scouring the internet and reading various articles. I have to say I am not the least bit surprised to find that nearly all of what I have read has been extremely one-sided in one direction or the other. I have also taken it upon myself to read comments posted by readers and was once more not in shock to see the one-sided opinions.

For example, Yahoo released an article on September 30th. It is uninformative and the author clearly did not make an effort to research his or her topic. However, I would like to share some comments from that story (usernames will be omitted; grammar will not be corrected):

"This isn't the first time since Bush Jr. has a peaceful protest been broken up by authorities and peaceful people being arrested. In one event of a sit in not too long ago people were purposefully shot, for sitting. You see it is scare tactics from the gov. to let each law enforcement agency stop protests because they deem it to be against National Security. All we can do is keep protesting. They can't put 300 million+ in jail all at once!!"

"Yes, these protesters are sure showing Wallstreet, going their in their Oil filled cars, Texting each other with words of sticking it to the "man" on their I-phone, Stopping by Mcdonalds or Subway for a quick bite to eat. All before stopping by Wal-mart for some materials to create signs that show just how evil those corporations are! That will show them."

"the constitution says you have the RIGHT to the pursiute of happiness. it does not say that you are entitled to it. you have to EARN it people. im just saying."

"Nobody wants a revolution or a war on our own land but this country is too far gone to correct in any other way. These corrupt politicians have made a joke out of what our forefathers intended. There will be no way to replace them all by voting. Marching on Washington is the only answer. Now our citizens can't even express their opinions? Be seeing you soon Washington."

"Maybe what these loser protesters need is a JOB. They should move their protest to DC and demand Obummer deliver on broken promises and failed job stimulous packages."

and someone posted in reply to that last comment:

"most of them had jobs sweety, they all left to do what's right... looks like nobody in these comments know a thing about what's going on..."

That is where this blog comes in. I intend to tell the details to the best of my abilities and to share the viewpoints of those against the Occupation Movement. All people get a voice here.

All are heard.

Occupy Tulsa: The Beginning

A branch of the Occupation Movement has landed in Oklahoma; Tulsa, to be more precise. Anyone interested in hearing what they have to say can "like" them on Facebook.

The Occupy Tulsa branch will be holding their first General Assembly and Planning Meeting this weekend:

What: Occupy Tulsa General Assembly and Planning Meeting

When: Saturday, October 1, 2011 at 10 a.m.

Where: Newblock Park (Get Directions)

If you need a ride or have further questions, you may contact Ms. Kirsten Pressley via text (405) 714-3103 or e-mail (k12573n@yahoo.com).

The New American Revolution

Occupy: (verb)
1. to take or fill up (space, time, etc.).
2. to engage or employ the mind, energy, or attention of.
3. to be a resident or tenant of; dwell in.
4. to take possession and control of (a place), as by military invasion.
5. to hold (a position, office, etc.).

The word 'occupy', as you can see, has many different meanings; some conjure good thoughts, others conjure bad thoughts. No one really wants to live in a place with military occupation, yet sometimes we have a need to occupy ourselves to keep the boredom away. Today, there is a movement sweeping across the United States of America. It began in New York on September 17, 2011 with Occupy Wall Street. People of all ages, nationalities, religions, political preference, sexuality, and social status came together to, essentially, "stick it to The Man".

Amid the corporate bailouts, falling stocks, and rise in unemployment, the American people have begun banding together to create one Voice to be heard above what they deem to be the alluring corporate advertisements and the seductive promises of politicians; the Voice of the Occupation is demanding a revolution. I can imagine the word "revolution" is startling to quite a few of you, mainly because you are likely remembering everything you ever learned in a History class: the American Revolution, the Industrial Revolution, etc. Let's take a quick look at what a revolution is:

Revolution: (noun)
1. an overthrow or repudiation and the thorough replacement of an established government or political system by the people governed.
2. Sociology: a radical and pervasive change in society and the social structure, especially one made suddenly and often accompanied by violence.
3. a sudden, complete or marked change in something.

The people coming together to occupy various other cities across the United States identify themselves as The 99 Percent. They define themselves as those "getting kicked out of our homes. We are forced to choose between groceries and rent. We are denied quality medical care. We are suffering from environmental pollution. We are working long hours for little pay and no rights, if we're working at all. We are getting nothing while the other 1 percent is getting everything." These people are wanting to make a positive difference in the midst of harrowing times. Instead of sitting around feeling sorry for themselves and spiraling further down, they declared that they have had enough and are hoping to peacefully ignite change across the nation and to restore order and equality once more.

To further educate yourself on the movement, as well as various responses to the movement (both positive and negative), stay tuned. You can also visit the links embeded above this post, as well as Occupy Together.