Facebook Announces Graph Search, a Powerful Way to Search Through Data Facebook Owns, Allowing You to Filter Through Everything That's Been Shared by Your Friends

Facebook Announces New Graph Search

ABC News describes Graph Search as, " turning some of the personal information people have shared on Facebook into a powerful searchable database." 

January 15, 2013

Business Insider - Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg just announced a new beta service called Graph Search.

Think of Graph Search as a way to navigate the Internet through the data Facebook owns.

Graph Search allows you to search across different friends' Timelines without having to go to each individual profile to figure out if they like a specific place or thing.

ABC News describes Graph Search as, " turning some of the personal information people have shared on Facebook into a powerful searchable database."

A potential graph query would look like, "Who are my friends that live in San Francisco?"  Graph search will scan all your Facebook friend's pages and  spit back the relevant information about friends who live in San Francisco.

Another potential search term could be, show me  "friends who like Star Wars and  Harry Potter" for a big movie night.

Graph search is Facebook's way of searching for objects on the Internet by how they are mapped out in likes, not links. Metadata and connections are also factored in. Facebook is using Graph Search as a way to get back to its roots and allow people to use the graph to make new connections.

Graph search is currently in beta but people, photos, places, and interests are at the foundation of the beta.  If the data from your Graph Search is too general, you can refine the search to get specifically what you want.

Zuckerberg told an audience of journalists and Facebook engineers that, "e very piece of content on Facebook has its own audience, making graph search very challenging to build."

Here's some more information on exactly what Graph Search is via ABC News :

Until now, the search bar you saw when you logged in to your Facebook page wasn't very powerful. You could only search for Timelines -- your friends' pages, other peoples' public pages and business or product pages.

But now, after close to a year and a half of development, the new "Graph Search" will allow you to search and discover more about your friends and other information that's been put on the world's largest social site.

In case you were wondering, Graph Search is privacy aware too, e very piece of content has its own audience, m ost content is not public, and y ou can only search for content that has been shared with you.

Graph Search is rolling out slowly, it will only be available to a limited set of U.S. users at first. Users can sign up for the wait list here: https://www.facebook.com/about/graphsearch.

Bing search results are integrated into Graph Search too.

Banker Leaves Waitress 1% Tip, Inciting Class Warfare Between the 1% and the 99% - Could Be Hoax

Yesterday we reported a story about a banker who allegedly left a $1.33 tip on a $133 lunch bill at True Food Kitchen in Newport Beach, California. The story was shared all over the Web, and we received thousands of comments about the insulting remark written on the receipt. New developments suggest that the receipt from the restaurant may have been digitally altered. According to the website the Smoking Gun, True Food Kitchen's spokesperson said it found the original merchant copy of the receipt, and the one circulating the Internet was "altered and exaggerated." The original receipt does not contain the tip "Get a real job." Also, the real bill was for $33, not $133, and the tip given was $7.33, not $1.33. The blog that originally posted the receipt, Future Ex-Banker, was taken down Friday as well. However, even though the restaurant has come forward with this information, people are still skeptical. People on social media are demanding to see the undoctored version of the receipt from the restaurant. The Trending Now team contacted the restaurant and its spokesperson Jamie Reagan told us the receipt was doctored. Reagan said the reason that the issue was not corrected more quickly is because the corporate offices were closed over the weekend. - Trending Now, February 28, 2012

Banker’s Insulting Waitress Tip Incites Class Warfare Between the 1% and the 99%

February 27, 2012

Trending Now - Just when you may have thought the ongoing battle between the 99% and the 1% was dying down, it may have been reignited. A wealthy banker left a $1.33 tip on a $133 lunch at the True Food Kitchen restaurant in Newport Beach, California.

To add insult to injury the word "tip" was circled on the receipt, and the banker wrote "get a real job" on the bill. The picture of the receipt was taken and uploaded to the blog Future Ex-Banker by a person who was dining with the anonymous banker. As expected, the blog received a lot of attention and has now been taken down. The author of the blog wrote,

"Mention the 99% in my boss' presence and feel his wrath. So proudly does he wear his 1% badge of honor that he tips exactly 1% every time he feels the server doesn't sufficiently bow down to his holiness."

People online who had a chance to see the blog post before it went offline and those who have been made aware of it on social media outlets are outraged. One person called the tip a "tale of greed and contempt," and another referred to it as "arrogance personified."

The Web's general reaction to this story is eerily similar to an almost identical 1% vs. 99% scenario that took place last fall. In Washington state, a waitress received a tip of no money and advice scrawled on the receipt that told her she could "stand to lose a few pounds."

Civil Disobedience is the Most Sincere Method of Dissent

Occupy Extreme and Establishment Moderate

December 19, 2011

Infowars.com - So much written about the Occupy Wall Street is pure BS. If this street theater was a spontaneous and independent movement, where is the outrage towards the high priest of monetary manipulation, George Soros?

From the outset, civil disobedience is the most sincere method of dissent. Breaking All the Rules is based upon a healthy and judicious resistance towards all levels of false authority and systemic corruption. Therefore, it is with a heavy heart, that the careerist organizers and front groups for the establishment sweep away the noble intentions of earnest radicals. Those enablers and facilitators of fraudulent financial institutions makes a mockery of authentic protection.

Long ago, the glory of tangible free enterprise was destroyed under the boot of State Capitalism. When the confused populace rails against demonstrations and defend the crooks that perverted economic M A R K E T S, it becomes clear why the public has a habit of losing money with brokerage houses. In order to take the going broke out of the “so called” investments, one had better learn early that paper assets, often come with future liabilities, when entrusted to the establishment.

Occupy Wall Street is smeared as extreme by those who benefit from a diversion away from their own wrongdoings. Once upon a time, a stock exchange functioned as a clearinghouse medium for raising capital. The investment funds financed new ventures that would produce useful products and employ labor. This bygone era was the engine of creating true wealth. Today, gambling is the primary activity conducted under a rigged casino wheel.

How much history do you recall? The incompatible Antony C. Sutton documents in Wall Street and the Bolshevik Revolution how the monopolists of finance funded Lenin. George Soros plays the Schiff role in this modern day version of a Goldman Sachs impersonation of Kuhn, Loeb and Company. If you do not know this pesky fact of the last century, one cannot be expected to make sense out of current events.

A simple comparison between OWS and TE (The Establishment) is in order.

Occupy Extreme	Establishment Moderate
Blame Wall Street for Economic Foes	Make OWS the Issue to Deflect Scrutiny
Gain Media Attention for Misdeeds of the Rich	Shift Public Outrage to OWS – Protect System
Argue that 99% vs. 1% is Unjust and Immoral	Use Class Warfare to Demigod OWS Radicals
Demand Redistribution from the Wealthy Rich	Champion Benefits of Capitalism of the Few
Call for Bigger Government and Intervention	Strict Regulation for Benefit of Big Business
Abolish Market System – Expand Socialism	Expand Collectivism – More People Control

During the Old Regime under the reign of Louis XVI, the aristocracy lost their heads under the guillotine. In the 21th Century, the masters of the universe, spread breadcrumbs by way of food stamps to a society relegated to systemic government poverty and dependency. The only cake consumed these days requires a hedge fund account to pay for the icing and toppings.

What realistic likelihood is there for a people’s revolution to replace the titans of finance, when the robber barons are playing CHOPIN: Marche Funèbre for the occupied nation? What chance is there for a replay of the French Libertine Tradition to play out when the theme of anti-clericalism, anti-establishment and eroticism have had their run and the establishment just gets more bold and powerful?

A novel counter approach to guns and pitchforks is the video camera that documents the police state. Deplorably the ordinary exploited bystander is characterized as an extremist and soon will be incarcerated into internment camps, built by the Uber Elite. What many naive observers see is not the brutality of the Gestapo police, but the disrespect of the unclean protestors of the Capitalist kingdom.

Most Americans refuse to face the facts of their enslavement and rather condemn the social rebel. Bringing true social justice to an economic system that has eliminated all vestiges of real Free Market enterprise is viewed as a betrayal.

When that hideous dinosaur of establishment journalism, Time Magazine, wraps the symbolism of the protestor in the garb of a terrorist, the message is clear for even the most brain dead striver for more government largess.

Time distorts the significance with more deflection and confusion.

“Massive and effective street protest” was a global oxymoron until — suddenly, shockingly — starting exactly a year ago, it became the defining trope of our times. And the protester once again became a maker of history.

The Washington Post adds to the illusion.

“In this year’s report, Time pieced together what all these revolutions have in common, why they protest, and what the legacy of the year’s protests will be. The magazine profiles a citizen journalist who started the live stream for Occupy Wall Street from Zuccotti Park.”

What both Time and the Washington Post want you to accept is that these protests are composed of radical inspiration and democratic design. No doubt, many demonstrators believe they are acting out of pure intentions, but most are so deluded by inept viewpoints, absent of any consistent or comprehensive philosophy, that they are clueless about goals, objectives and have no viable substitute economic system.

Wall Street only uses money accumulation for keeping score. The underlying objective of the power elite is to control the political process and write all the rules. Nothing has changed from the days of installing Marxist ideology in Russia to the present stage of completing the task of instituting totalitarian collectivism in our country.

Another establishment media purveyor of disinformation is MSNBC. In an article by the perennial social outlaw and opportunist, Jesse Jackson compares the global anti-capitalist movement to the U.S. civil rights struggle, the battle against apartheid in South Africa and the fight for Indian independence.

“Jesus was an Occupier, born under a death warrant, a Jew by religion, born in poverty under Roman occupation,” the two-time candidate for the Democratic presidential nomination told a crowd near Saint Paul’s Cathedral. “Gandhi was an Occupier, Martin Luther King was an Occupier, (Nelson) Mandela was an Occupier.”

Coming from an extortionist posing as a minister of faith, this charlatan plays a bit role in the overall scheme to destroy the legitimate foundations of raising capital for worthwhile business endeavors. He insults the significance of Jesus’ ministry and Gandhi’s example. His role is to lead more people into even greater mental confusion.

The establishment refines the elements of mass propaganda and psychological indoctrination to create image campaigns that the system is a moderate and stable force, and must be maintained. As with most left or progressive oriented mindsets, the articulation of social wrongs and injustices are often well stated. However, when it comes to providing meaningful alternatives, the peasants just demand a larger sliced of bread because they are unable to learn the skills to bake their own cake.

Until society embraces the insight that the establishment is behind most radical social movements, they will just keep falling into a dark coffin, designed for them by the very elites that they protect. Economic conditions and business endeavors are on the mind of everyone, especially those who are on the edge of survival. OWS will never provide moneymaking guidance for the average citizen. Even so, do not condemn all forms of protest. Actually genuine resistance accompanied with practical time proven principles of monetary and business wealth creation is the desired option.

In order to explore the nature of financial alternatives and present rational choices for a replacement of the corporatist system of monetary tyranny and transnational globalism, BATR will be starting the Negotium series of weekly business columns.

Blending functional economics with political realism is the mission of this endeavor. The overriding principle to achieve a prosperous society requires building upon a solid foundation of Western Civilization and traditional heritage. Understanding the extent that the establishment is willing to go and the degree of deceit that bonds the various corrupt institutions is an essential goal for this collection of essays.

Appreciating the need for extreme encounters with the moderate establishment is a concept that some will challenge. However, given the current state of economic ruin, the plights of the former middle class will only deteriorate at a faster pace under the rule of the Wall Street banksters.

There is an alternative, and you are invited to join the spontaneous rebellion of the real America. Someday the OWS proponents may mature and gain the wisdom to know who is benefiting from their manufactured and controlled protests. Until that time, the task resides with you. Register your opposition to the Wall Street enslavers who stage-manage righteous outrage as an opportunity to misdirect legitimate rebellion. Time is short, act soon.

Russia Braces for Nationwide Protests

Wall Street Propagandists Scramble to Cover U.S. Ties to Russian Protesters

Wall Street and London’s media machine claims Russia’s protests are “leaderless” and not being organized by political opposition movements – even as it interviews protest organizers such as, Boris Nemtsov, who takes to stages build amidst supposedly “spontaneous” protests with a troupe of US NED-funded NGO leaders and opposition parties cheerleading what is clearly yet another Western-funded color revolution.

December 11, 2011

Tony Cartalucci - As the evidence begins to mount pointing the accusing finger at the increasingly illegitimate corporate-financier occupiers of the West’s governments as having built up Russian opposition movements and being behind the current unrest filling Russia’s streets, the corporate media has already started to rewrite events as they unfold.

An amazing piece of mid-event revisionism titled, “Moscow braces as election protest goes viral,” desperately attempts to portray the protests as “leaderless” even as the article itself interviews “organizers.” Quoting unnamed, and most likely nonexistent protesters, the article featured in the Sydney Morning Herald insists protesters claimed,

“I came on my own. I learnt about it on the web.” But the article then states (emphasis added), “and last night, thanks to the web, organisers were expecting more than 30,000 people to demonstrate against what they see as the rigged results of last Sunday’s elections, because that’s how many have committed themselves to a sign-up sheet on Facebook.”

While the article claims that no political party is recruiting protesters, earlier reports out of the Western media contradict this entirely, with the London Telegraph reproducing a blog post by US NED-funded opposition leader Boris Nemtsov stating before the December 10 protests,

“I am talking about pickets at Petrovka 38 (the main police station) and on Simferopol Boulevard where the detained are being held, and other actions too. We start from today. I will take part in all this myself. On Saturday, December 10, a general meeting will be held on Revolution Square (in Moscow) at two o’clock to protest against these false elections. ”

The Daily Mail has also reported,”and Moscow rally organiser, opposition politician Vladimir Ryzhkov, has announced there will be another protest on December 24, which he says will be twice as large,” and RIA Novosti News reporting, “on a stage emblazoned with the logo “Return Power to the People” Russia’s best known opposition figures, from cultural leaders like Navalny and opposition music critic Artemy Troitsky to opposition politicians Boris Nemtsov, Vladimir Ryzhkov and Solidarnost youth leader Ilya Yashin, addressed the hyped-up crowds.”

Russia Braces for Nationwide Protests

December 10, 2011

Al Jazeera - Russia is bracing itself for the first nationwide protest against Vladimir Putin’s 12-year rule amid signs of swelling anger over a poll won by his ruling United Russia party with the alleged help of widescale fraud.

Moscow authorities gave permission for 30,000 people to gather on a square across the river from the Kremlin at 10:00 GMT after detaining some 1,600 activists over the past few days who joined unsanctioned rallies against the December 4 vote.

The opposition is also organising rallies in at least 14 other major cities in a rare outpouring of mistrust in a system put in place by Putin when he first became president in 2000.

A 30,000-strong demonstration would be the largest to hit the Russian capital in 20 years, in what some see as the first warning bell for the former foreign agent and his secretive inner circle of security chiefs.

Al Jazeera’s Neave Barker reporting from says:

“Troops from the interior ministry and water cannons are also on standby in Moscow.”

“I do think, that if the protestors to try and widen the rally, then there could well be a clampdown,” said our reporter.

The authorities’ decision to permit Saturday’s rallies to go ahead nationwide is a first for the Putin era and suggests the Kremlin would prefer to avoid street battles between protesters and the riot police.

Putin’s United Russia has been bruised by allegations of corruption, after opposition parties and international observers said the vote was marred by vote-rigging, including alleged ballot-box stuffing and false voter rolls.

The official results of the elections to Russia’s Duma showed that the ruling party United Russia lost 77 of its 315 seats, just retaining a small majority.

Neave Barker, Al Jazeera’s correspondent in Moscow, said there is a widespread view, fuelled by mobile phone videos and accounts on internet social networking sites, that there was wholesale election fraud, and that Putin’s party cheated its way to victory.

Putin accepted the vote’s outcome but stayed silent about the protests for three days before accusing US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton of inciting the unrest by questioning the polls.

He said Clinton’s criticism “had set the tone for some people inside the country and given a signal”. US State Department spokesman Mark Toner retorted that “nothing could be further from the truth”.

Putin has remained Russia’s most popular and powerful politician as both president until 2008 and prime minister today - an image he has cultivated with tough talking against foreign powers and warm words for the Soviet past.

Three Major National Unions, MoveOn.org and the American Dream Movement Piggyback on the Press of OWS and Organize a Massive Push for a Public Works Program under the Banner of 'Occupy the Jobs'

Unions and OWS Openly Together at Last: Day of Action Planned for Next Week

November 13, 2011

HotAir.com - Three major national unions plan to join members of the Occupy Wall Street movement for “We are the 99 percent” protests next Thursday. The AFL-CIO, the Service Employees International Union and the Laborers’ International Union of North America are eager to piggyback on the press of OWS — all to call for increased infrastructure spending. MoveOn.org and the American Dream Movement also plan to join the party.

The Hill reports:

Bill Samuel, the AFL-CIO’s director of government affairs, said labor has been frustrated by Republican-led filibusters in the Senate to block the parts of President Obama’s jobs bill that would increase infrastructure spending.

“It is an effort to focus public attention on repairing bridges and help with the jobs crisis. The Congress seems to be unable to do either at the moment with Republicans blocking these measures,” Samuel said.

The “Day of Action” will feature one march from Albany to New York City and another from a Verizon call center in Maryland to McPherson Square in Washington D.C. (Why Verizon? The company has been embroiled in a labor union dispute.) MoveOn also hopes a little protesting will occur at structurally sketchy sites to illustrate the need for funding for repairs.

It’s true Republicans recently opposed the Rebuild American Jobs Act, a portion of the president’s jobs bill that calls for $60 billion in increased infrastructure spending at the price of tax hikes. Even Republicans who have previously supported increased federal funding for infrastructure voted against it, including Sen. Kay Bailey Hutchison, who serves as the ranking member on the Senate Committee on Commerce, Science and Transportation.

The Washington Post’s Greg Sargent suggests this opposition was motivated by a desire to spare the rich a teensy-tiny surtax. But I’d argue that it says something that even those who consider infrastructure important still opposed the bill. In other words, Republicans didn’t oppose it because they like potholes. They just recognize the president’s bill is unaffordable. Furthermore, the only bipartisan position on the bill was against it. Independent Sen. Joe Lieberman of Connecticut and Democratic Sen. Ben Nelson of Nebraska both opposed it, as well.

As a reminder, other options exist to improve infrastructure. State and local governments are best positioned to know what needs improvement in the first place. In Indiana, for example, Mitch Daniels tackled the problem of a money-losing toll road head-on by selling a toll road to a private (foreign) company. His decision was highly unpopular at the time, but, ultimately, proceeds from the deal “unclogged a massive backlog of projects and funded hundreds of new proposals without increasing taxes or adding to the debt,” as one writer put it. Federal funding isn’t the only way to tackle the infrastructure problem.

Why aren’t the labor unions asking for infrastructure improvements at the state level? Might it be because state governments would be better positioned to balance their own budgets if public-sector unions weren’t bleeding them dry? Gas taxes and toll road fees are rarely reinvested in infrastructure because states are overcommitted. If these unions really want better infrastructure, perhaps they ought to show a little more support for efforts to balance state budgets.

Constitution? Bah! We Demand Jobs!

Occupy joins Obama czar in effort to rewrite America

November 13, 2011

WND - A partner of Occupy Wall Street has launched a massive push for a public works program under the banner of “Occupy the Jobs” in which the government would be required to provide jobs at union wages for more than 30 million unemployed and underemployed workers.

The concept bears a striking resemblance to proposals by Cass Sunstein, President Obama's regulatory czar, who has sought a new Bill of Rights in which the government is constitutionally required to offer each citizen a "useful" job.

Another major Occupy goal, a new U.S. Constitution, is similar to a Sunstein-initiated effort – involving other senior White House officials and funded by billionaire George Soros – to push for a new, "progressive" U.S. Constitution.

According to the group's literature, the Occupy the Jobs movement will serve as "an exciting fight-back program for jobs, against racism and for the rights of workers and poor people to unions, food, healthcare and public education."

The Communist Workers World newspaper reported Occupy the Jobs will "demand a massive public works program big enough to provide jobs at union wages for the more than 30 million unemployed and underemployed workers in the country."

The movement adapted a proposal to hold protest "actions" on the Martin Luther King holiday weekend of Jan. 14-16. Other Occupy For Jobs activities include a Nov. 17 national "Occupy for Jobs" march and rally in New York City to "shut it down!"

On Nov. 23, the group plans to protest the congressional Super Committee's "proposals to slash $1.2 trillion from the federal budget."

6 Things That Occupy Wall Street Has Already Accomplished

OWSers have turned Zuccotti Park into a hotbed of bacterial and viral diseases - which are now occupying the occupiers - let's hope the diseases stay there and don't "immigrate" into the general population. With wintry weather poised to swoop into the cramped outdoor quarters of Occupy Wall Street protesters, it may not be long before more campers catch what's being called Zuccotti lung. That's what demonstrators have dubbed the sickness that seems to be spreading among them at an unpleasantly high rate these days: It's a real thing, Willie Carey, 28, told the New York Times. With little sleep in cold conditions, cigarettes and drinks being passed from mouth to mouth, and few opportunities to wash hands, Zuccotti Park may now just be the best place to catch respiratory virus, norovirus (also known as the winter vomiting virus) and tuberculosis, according to one doctor. The damp clothing and cardboard signs wet with rain are also breeding grounds for mold. Some protesters are urinating in bottles and leaving food trash discarded throughout the campground, providing further opportunities for nastiness. Pretty much everything here is a good way to get sick, Salvatore Cipolla, 23, from Long Island, told the Times. It'll definitely thin the herd. - Occupy Wall Street: Protesters Coming Down With Zuccotti Lung, AOL Message Boards and NBC News, November 10, 2011



Watch the Protests Live (UStream)

6 Things That Occupy Wall Street Has Already Accomplished

November 3, 2011

Activist Post - Just 2 months into the Wall Street protests bureaucrats nationwide have already began to crack down and demand an end to the occupation. Little do they know, this is only the beginning. The establishment didn’t bat an eye when we demanded an end to their many occupations across the world, so now it’s time for us to pay them the same respect that they gave to us.

Regardless of which form the movement takes from here, there are already several victories that have already been won for the “99%”. A successful revolution doesn’t seek to create more laws and government action, but is aimed at creating a shift in the public consciousness that will hopefully render the status quo obsolete.

Occupy Wall Street has opened the door to that shift; a door that could very soon become a floodgate if those of us who have been focusing on these issues for years are able to step up our game and rise to the challenge.

1. NOW YOU KNOW YOU ARE NOT ALONE

Although the movement against big banks and government corruption has been steadily growing for a number of years, many people who have found themselves in this struggle still felt incredibly isolated from the rest of society. Now, with hundreds and thousands of like-minded people getting together in various cities across the world, activists are beginning to realize that they are not alone. There are now events in thousands of different cities, where you can go to meet other people who are concerned about the future and want to change the status quo. The Internet has exploded with activist information and those of us who were once looked upon as a “fringe community” are now becoming a strong force in the political landscape.

2. THE ACTIVIST COMMUNITY IS RE-ENERGIZED

Since there are so many different issues that are being championed by this movement, a lot of activists are still on the fence when it comes to Occupy Wall Street. However, even those who may not entirely agree with some of the ideas coming out of the Occupy camps are still stepping up their own efforts and getting more serious with their activism. This is similar to the situation that one witnesses when they show up to a nightclub too early. They will typically find an empty dance floor, with a bunch of nervous wallflowers waiting for someone to make the first move. Once someone is brave enough to make that first move, the dance floor erupts within minutes because everyone then becomes less self-conscious. This is exactly the kind of energy that activists worldwide are starting to experience -- now that the first move has been made its time for the wallflowers to dance!

3. IT'S COOL TO PROTEST AGAIN

For some reason there has been a huge social stigma attached to civil disobedience for a number of decades. Since the late '60s and early '70s the visible activist presence had diminished considerably . . . until now. Polls nationwide are showing that more and more people are showing support for Occupy Wall Street and are sympathetic to the anger that the protesters are experiencing. This is actually a huge victory, considering the fact that most of the protests that have taken place in the past few decades were vilified by the media and public alike. Now we are starting to see a fracture between the media and the American public, which is illuminating just how out of touch the mainstream media is.

4. MAINSTREAM MEDIA CORRUPTION HAS BEEN EXPOSED LIKE NEVER BEFORE

The coverage (or lack of coverage early on) that the mainstream media has been giving to the OWS movement has majorly backfired and has exposed the dying institution for the fraud that it is.

Many of your average hard-working Americans who spend most of their lives just trying to make ends meet have long relied on the evening news to let them know what’s going on around the world.

When thousands of people were camped outside of Wall Street for months and half of the country still didn’t know about it, it raised some new concerns in the hearts of those who still trusted the word of the mainstream media. The fact that the pundits on the news only say what their paid to say, and what they are allowed to say, has been proven on a daily basis since these protests started.

5. THE NEW AMERICAN POLICE STATE IS EXPOSED

For the most part, these protests have been entirely peaceful. The majority of the violence that we have seen has actually been unprovoked police assaults on innocent protesters. Thanks to advanced technology, images of peaceful protesters being maced and roughed up by police went viral on the Internet and showed the world how police brutality works in America.

As the independent media began to investigate the details, it was uncovered that J.P Morgan chase alone “donated” 4.6 million dollars to the NYPD. When we follow the money it is plain to see that the police officers aren’t here to protect us, but here to protect the highest bidder. This has been going on for some time, but luckily we now have cold hard proof and documented evidence of the corruption that exists between the financial sector and law enforcement.

6. WE ARE FINALLY STARTING TO LOOK BEHIND THE CURTAIN

After watching Bush Sr., Clinton, Bush Jr., and Obama systematically destroy our economy and take away our freedoms over the course of various Democratic and Republican presidential terms, it has become apparent to the American people that they really have no say in their political system. Americans now realize that going to the polls at election time is going to do absolutely nothing to change the foreign or domestic policies in this country. These policies are dictated entirely by big banks, multinational corporations and international think tanks that operate through Wall Street and the financial district in London known as “the city”.

The worst of these organizations -- the Federal Reserve, committee of 300, the Bilderberg Group, the Council on Foreign Relations, the Trilateral Commission and the world’s dominant banks -- are not being specifically called out enough yet, but you can rest assured that they are starting to get extremely nervous. If we can keep up the pressure and continue to educate those around us about the intricacies of this struggle, then we have the potential to create an unprecedented change for the better.

U.S. Government to 'Cull Intelligence' from Social Media Networks

Homeland Security Reviews Social Media Guidelines

October 31, 2011

AP - The wave of uprisings across North Africa and the Middle East that have overturned three governments in the past year have prompted the U.S. government to begin developing guidelines for culling intelligence from social media networks, a top Homeland Security official said Monday.

Department of Homeland Security Undersecretary Caryn Wagner said the use of such technology in uprisings that started in December in Tunisia shocked some officials into attention and prompted questions of whether the U.S. needs to do a better job of monitoring domestic social networking activity.

"We're still trying to figure out how you use things like Twitter as a source," she said. "How do you establish trends and how do you then capture that in an intelligence product?"

Wagner said the department is establishing guidelines on gleaning information from sites such as Twitter and Facebook for law enforcement purposes. Wagner says those protocols are being developed under strict laws meant to prevent spying on U.S. citizens and protect privacy, including rules dictating the length of time the information can be stored and differences between domestic and international surveillance.

Wagner said the Homeland Security department, established after the 9/11 attacks, is not actively monitoring any social networks. But when the department receives information about a potential threat, contractors are then asked to look for certain references within "open source" information, which is available to anyone on the Internet.

The challenge, she said, is to develop guidelines for collecting and analyzing information so that it provides law enforcement officials with meaningful intelligence.

"I can post anything on Facebook, is that valid? If 20 people are tweeting the same thing, then maybe that is valid," she said. "There are just a lot of questions that we are sort of struggling with because it's a newly emerging (issue)."

Wagner was in Colorado Springs to deliver a speech at the National Symposium on Homeland Security and Defense, a conference that included defense contractors and the military.

Aside from discussing the use of technology in unrest that has led to regime changes in Tunisia, Egypt and Libya, she delivered a speech that addressed the way the department operates, saying that its crucial elements include a nationwide network of 72 fusion centers that gather and analyze reports of suspicious activity, a new National Terrorism Advisory System that replaces the color coded alert system with one that provides more information about a threat, and a "See Something, Say Something" campaign that encourages citizens to report suspicious activity.

She also said another key program involves training hundreds of thousands of law enforcement officers across the country in filling out suspicious activity reports.

How Researchers Are Studying You on Facebook

America is Getting Very Angry and the Protests are Going to Become Much More Frightening

Buckle Up: America is Getting Very Angry and the Protests are Going to Become Much More Frightening

October 12, 2011

The American Dream - The Occupy Wall Street protests and the rise of the Tea Party movement have both changed America, but you haven't seen anything yet. You better buckle up, because America is getting very angry; and as the economy continues to decline, the economic protests are going to become much more frightening in the years ahead.

Americans have become very accustomed to prosperity. Now that our prosperity is vanishing, people are starting to become very angry.

The scary thing is that the vast majority of our population now lives in tightly congested urban areas. That makes the potential for mass rioting and civil unrest much greater. Back in 1910, 72 percent of Americans lived in rural areas. Today, only 16 percent of Americans live in rural areas. So what happens when you have millions of incredibly angry people crammed into tightly congested metropolitan areas? Well, we are about to find out.

Over the past 4 years, we have seen some unprecedented things happen in America. First we witnessed the rise of the Tea Party movement. Initially it pretty much was a true grassroots movement but now it has been mostly taken over by establishment Republicans. Now we are witnessing the rise of Occupy Wall Street. While there are some grassroots elements to it, the reality is that Occupy Wall Street seems to be pretty much controlled by the Democrats. In fact, one individual was recently told that "Ron Paul signs are not welcome here" at a recent protest.

So we have the left and the right fighting with each other like cats and dogs. The Tea Party movement and Occupy Wall Street both pretty much hate each other.

Meanwhile, those that control both political parties are enjoying the view.

But the people that are expressing their anger through protest movements such as Occupy Wall Street are not going to be content with the status quo for long.

The truth is that there is a lot of anger in the United States today, and that anger is rapidly growing. Millions upon millions of Americans are deeply upset about the economy and about our financial system.

Right now, protests by both the Tea Party movement and Occupy Wall Street have been mostly peaceful. But that will not last indefinitely. In fact, there are already signs that Occupy Wall Street protesters are not content with simply sitting in the park and banging on drums.

For example, protesters stormed the Senate Hart Office Building in Washington D.C. today. A handful of protesters were arrested. Also, more than 50 protesters from the Occupy Boston movement were arrested today when they would not do what police were ordering them to do. But most notable of all was the march to the homes of certain millionaires up in New York. Earlier today, Occupy Wall Street protesters marched to the homes of Jamie Dimon, David Koch, John Paulson, Howard Milstein, and Rupert Murdoch.

Needless to say, that is going to seriously upset some people.

The home protests were not spontaneous. The truth is that they were highly organized. Organizers such as SEIU board member Stephen Lerner have been talking about them for quite some time. In fact, you can hear him discussing plans for the upcoming protests at the homes of these millionaires back on October 3rd right here.

There is a lot about Occupy Wall Street that can be criticized (just check out this article), but one thing that Occupy Wall Street is actually doing right is that it is focusing on the role of money in politics. The big financial powers spend hundreds of millions of dollars on political campaigns. Just check out this infographic. All of that money buys a lot of influence over the political process. If it didn't, the big financial powers would not be spending that kind of money.

But the big financial powers are not just spending money on political campaigns. It has now come out that the big Wall Street banks can order New York City police officers just like they would order pizzas. In fact, over a million dollars is going to be spent this way just this year alone.

A recent article that was posted on counterpunch.org detailed how this works....

One of the ingenious methods that has remained below the public’s radar was started by the Rudy Giuliani administration in New York City in 1998. It’s called the Paid Detail Unit and it allows the New York Stock Exchange and Wall Street corporations, including those repeatedly charged with crimes, to order up a flank of New York’s finest with the ease of dialing the deli for a pastrami on rye.

The corporations pay an average of $37 an hour (no medical, no pension benefit, no overtime pay) for a member of the NYPD, with gun, handcuffs and the ability to arrest. The officer is indemnified by the taxpayer, not the corporation.

New York City gets a 10 percent administrative fee on top of the $37 per hour paid to the police. The City’s 2011 budget called for $1,184,000 in Paid Detail fees, meaning private corporations were paying wages of $11.8 million to police participating in the Paid Detail Unit. The program has more than doubled in revenue to the city since 2002.

So expect the big Wall Street banks to be sending in orders for huge numbers of New York City cops to protect them from the half-crazed Occupy Wall Street protesters.

Sadly, if recent poll numbers are any indication, the anger of the American people is not going to abate any time soon....

• According to Gallup, the percentage of Americans that lack confidence in U.S. banks is now at an all-time high of 36%.

• According to a recent Washington Post-ABC News poll, 90 percent of Americans believe that the economy is performing poorly and approximately 80 percent of Americans believe that it is "difficult" to find a job right now.

• According to a recent Rasmussen survey, 48 percent of all Americans believe that reductions in government spending are "at least somewhat likely" to result in civil unrest inside the United States.

• Another recent survey found that 73 percent of all Americans believe that the nation is "on the wrong track".

• According to a recent CBS News/New York Times poll, Congress has a disapproval rating of 82%.

• A recent Rasmussen survey found that 85 percent of Americans believe that members of Congress "are more interested in helping their own careers than in helping other people", and that same survey found that 46 percent of the American people believe that most members of Congress are corrupt.

• According to a different Rasmussen survey, only 17 percent of all Americans now believe that the U.S. government has the consent of the governed.

• A recent Washington Post poll found that 78 percent of Americans are dissatisfied "with the way this country’s political system is working" and that only 26 percent of Americans now believe that the federal government can solve the economic problems that we are facing.

So what does all of that add up to? It adds up to a U.S. population that is very frustrated and that is looking for outlets for that frustration.

As the U.S. economy continues to fall apart, that frustration is going to continue to rise.

What we are seeing all across America is only the beginning. We are going to see protest movements and explosions of anger that we can't even imagine right now.

Dark days are coming for America.

You better buckle up.

Reuters Finds Indirect Financial Links Between Soros and Adbuster: The 'Occupy Wall Street' Protests Were Triggered by an Adbusters Campaign

The protests began in earnest on September 17, triggered by an Adbusters campaign featuring a provocative poster showing a ballerina dancing atop the famous bronze bull in New York's financial district as a crowd of protesters wearing gas masks approach behind her. Dressed in anarchist black, the battle-ready mob is shrouded in a fog suggestive of tear gas or fires burning. Some are wearing gas masks, others wielding sticks. The poster's message seems to be a heady combination of sexuality, violence, excitement and adventure.

Adbusters founder and editor Kalle Lasn, 69, declined to be interviewed by The Vancouver Sun about his role in creating the Occupy Wall Street movement, saying he wants the media’s focus to be on the grassroots activists. However, in a recent interview with the website ArtInfo, the Estonian-born Lasn said: “That combination of the hashtag #OccupyWallStreet and the poster, that ‘one-two punch’ is sort of what gave birth to this movement.” Lasn told ArtInfo that Adbusters has always been a propagator of ‘memes,’ the term used for ideas that spread through a culture. “We came up with this ‘Occupy Wall Street’ meme, and then came up with this poster, which is to me a visual meme, and now the meme we’re trying to propagate is, ‘we’ve had our American Tahrir moment and there’s a movement beginning — but now it has to go global.’ ” - Vancouver's ties to 'Occupy' financial movement, The Vancouver Sun, October 13, 2011

Who's Behind the Wall Street Protests?

October 13, 2011

Reuters - Anti-Wall Street protesters say the rich are getting richer while average Americans suffer, but the group that started it all may have benefited indirectly from the largesse of one of the world's richest men.

There has been much speculation over who is financing the disparate protest, which has spread to cities across America and lasted nearly four weeks. One name that keeps coming up is investor George Soros, who in September debuted in the top 10 list of wealthiest Americans. Conservative critics contend the movement is a Trojan horse for a secret Soros agenda.

Soros and the protesters deny any connection. But Reuters did find indirect financial links between Soros and Adbusters, an anti-capitalist group in Canada which started the protests with an inventive marketing campaign aimed at sparking an Arab Spring type uprising against Wall Street. Moreover, Soros and the protesters share some ideological ground.

"I can understand their sentiment," Soros told reporters last week at the United Nations about the Occupy Wall Street demonstrations, which are expected to spur solidarity marches globally on Saturday.

Pressed further for his views on the movement and the protesters, Soros refused to be drawn in. But conservative radio host Rush Limbaugh summed up the speculation when he told his listeners last week,

"George Soros money is behind this."

Soros, 81, is No. 7 on the Forbes 400 list with a fortune of $22 billion, which has ballooned in recent years as he deftly responded to financial market turmoil. He has pledged to give away all his wealth, half of it while he earns it and the rest when he dies.

Like the protesters, Soros is no fan of the 2008 bank bailouts and subsequent government purchase of the toxic sub-prime mortgage assets they amassed in the property bubble.

The protesters say the Wall Street bank bailouts in 2008 left banks enjoying huge profits while average Americans suffered under high unemployment and job insecurity with little help from Washington. They contend that the richest 1 percent of Americans have amassed vast fortunes while being taxed at a lower rate than most people.

BANKING LIFE SUPPORT

Soros in 2009 wrote in an editorial that the purchase of toxic bank assets would, "provide artificial life support for the banks at considerable expense to the taxpayer." He urged the Obama administration to take bolder action, either by recapitalizing or nationalizing the banks and forcing them to lend at attractive rates. His advice went unheeded.

The Hungarian-American was an early supporter of the 2008 election campaign of Barack Obama, who will seek a second term as president in the November, 2012, election. He has long backed liberal causes - the Open Society Institute, the foreign policy think tank Council on Foreign Relations and Human Rights Watch.

According to disclosure documents from 2007-2009, Soros' Open Society gave grants of $3.5 million to the Tides Center, a San Francisco-based group that acts almost like a clearing house for other donors, directing their contributions to liberal non-profit groups. Among others the Tides Center has partnered with are the Ford Foundation and the Gates Foundation.

Disclosure documents also show Tides, which declined comment, gave Adbusters grants of $185,000 from 2001-2010, including nearly $26,000 between 2007-2009.

Aides to Soros say any connection is tenuous and that Soros has never heard of Adbusters. Soros himself declined comment.

The Vancouver-based group, which publishes a magazine and runs such campaigns as "Digital Detox Week" and "Buy Nothing Day," says it wants to "change the way corporations wield power" and its goal is "to topple existing power structures."

SLOW START

Adbusters, whose magazine has a circulation of 120,000 and which is known for its spoofs of popular advertisements, came up with the Occupy Wall Street idea after Arab Spring protests toppled governments in Egypt, Libya and Tunisia, said Kalle Lasn, 69, Adbusters co-founder.

"It came out of these brainstorming sessions we have at Adbusters," Lasn told Reuters, adding they began promoting it online on July 13. "We were inspired by what happened in Tunisia and Egypt and we had this feeling that America was ripe for a Tahrir moment."

"We felt there was a real rage building up in America, and we thought that we would like to create a spark which would give expression for this rage."

Lasn said Adbusters is 95 percent funded by subscribers paying for the magazine.

"George Soros's ideas are quite good, many of them. I wish he would give Adbusters some money, we sorely need it," he said. "He's never given us a penny."

Other support for Occupy Wall Street has come from online funding website Kickstarter, where more than $75,000 has been pledged, deliveries of food and from cash dropped in a bucket at the park. Liberal film maker Michael Moore has also pledged to donate money.

The protests began in earnest on September 17, triggered by an Adbusters campaign featuring a provocative poster showing a ballerina dancing atop the famous bronze bull in New York's financial district as a crowd of protesters wearing gas masks approach behind her.

Dressed in anarchist black, the battle-ready mob is shrouded in a fog suggestive of tear gas or fires burning. Some are wearing gas masks, others wielding sticks. The poster's message seems to be a heady combination of sexuality, violence, excitement and adventure.

Former carpenter Robert Daros, 23, saw that poster in a cafe in Fort Lauderdale, Florida. Having lost his work as a carpenter after Florida's speculative construction boom collapsed in a heap of sub-prime mortgage foreclosures, he quit his job as a bartender and traveled to New York City with just a sleeping bag and the hope of joining the protest movement.

Daros was one of the first people to arrive on Wall Street for the so-called occupation on September 17, when protesters marched and tried to camp on Wall Street only to be driven off by police to Zuccotti Park - two acres of concrete without a blade of grass near the rising One World Trade Center.

"When I was a carpenter, I lost my job because the financier of my project was arrested for corporate fraud," said Daros, who was wearing a red arm band to show he was helping out in the medic section of the Occupy Wall Street camp.

Since its obscure beginnings, the campaign has drawn global media attention in places as far-flung as Iran and China. The Times of London, however, was not alone when it called the protests "Passionate but Pointless."

Adbusters' co-founder Lasn dismisses that, reeling off specific demands: a tax on the richest 1 percent, a tax on currency trades and a tax on all financial transactions.

"Down the road, there will be crystal clear demands coming out of this movement," he said. "But this first phase of the movement is messy and leaderless and demandless."

"I think it was perfect the way it happened."

Soros Spokesman Says He is Not a Funder of Wall Street Protests

October 13, 2011

Reuters - George Soros isn't a financial backer of the Wall Street protests, despite speculation by critics including radio host Rush Limbaugh that the billionaire investor has helped fuel the anti-capitalist movement.

Limbaugh summed up the chatter when he told his listeners last week,

"George Soros money is behind this."

Soros spokesman Michael Vachon said that Soros has not "funded the protests directly or indirectly." He added:

"Assertions to the contrary are an attempt by those who oppose the protesters to cast doubt on the authenticity of the movement."

Soros has donated at least $3.5 million to an organization called the Tides Center in recent years, earmarking the funds for specific purposes. Tides has given grants to Adbusters, an anti-capitalist group in Canada whose inventive marketing campaign sparked the first demonstrations last month.

Vachon said Open Society specified what its donations could be used for. He said they were not general purpose funds to be used at the discretion of Tides -- for example for grants to Adbusters.

"Our grants to Tides were for other purposes."

Tides declined to comment.

According to IRS disclosure documents from 2007-2009, the latest data available, Soros' Open Society gave grants of $3.5 million to Tides, a San Francisco-based group that acts almost like a clearing house for other donors, directing their contributions to liberal non-profit groups. Among others the Tides Center has partnered with are the Ford Foundation and the Gates Foundation.

Soros-backed MoveOn.org is Funding the 'American Dream Movement'

George Soros is a Hungarian-American financier, businessman, and notable philanthropist focused on supporting progressive-liberal ideals and causes. He is Chairman of the Soros Fund Management. Soros is also the chairman of the Open Society Institute and a former member of the Board of Directors of the Council on Foreign Relations. MoveOn.org aggressively supported Barack Obama’s 2008 election campaign and is now “perhaps the lead lobby organization for his policies…apart from Obama’s own Organizing for America,” reports Source Watch. Soros-backed MoveOn.org is actively attempting to hijack the growing Occupy Wall Street movement and turn OWS protesters into an Obama campaign re-election tool.

Protesters Set to Descend on Frederick, Maryland: American Dream Group Backs Occupy Wall Street

October 12, 2011

News-Post - Frederick will have its own Occupy Wall Street style protest today.

The event will show support for the Wall Street protests that started in New York and have spawned rallies in several cities around the country, said Jeannette Bartelt. Bartelt, who is organizing the rally, said the movement is about making it possible for working people to survive.

"We have contributed to the wealth of the country," she said in a telephone interview.

"I have worked hard all my life," she said. "When I work I give everything. ... We shouldn't have to work two jobs. ... These are real life issues."

Both major political parties at the federal and local levels are being influenced too much by wealthy citizens, said Bartelt, MoveOn.org Frederick Council organizer.

The Frederick rally is one of 390 American Dream Movement events scheduled Oct. 10 through 16 as part of the Jobs Not Cuts: Week of Action movement.

The movement endorses 10 steps, including investing more in the nation's infrastructure and education, free health care for all, and living wages for all jobs [all big government, socialist initiatives]. Today, Bartelt wants to get people to sign the American Dream contract petition to show support for the contract's 10 steps.

She particularly wants to reach Frederick County's congressional representative, 6th District Rep. Roscoe Bartlett, and Commissioners President Blaine Young, a Republican, and urge them to support the contract.

She doesn't expect them to, considering they have conservative voting records that put them at odds with the movement, she said.

The protest is part of a nationwide campaign to shift the conversation away from deficit reduction and towards addressing a jobs crisis, Bartelt said.

Locally, the county should stop considering outsourcing government services to private contractors, she said.

Young said the county is doing what it can to create jobs in the private sector "by bettering the business environment."

If the county decides to outsource some services, it will be to reduce the cost of government and keep taxes lower, Young said.

Outsourced jobs could generate jobs at local businesses, he said.

"The government doesn't create jobs," Young said.

Raising taxes on the wealthiest citizens would help fund the contract's 10 steps, Bartelt said.

She said she was discouraged by prospective candidates in both parties because money has too much influence.

"You can't even run unless you're wealthy," she said.

Suzanne Gibbons of Frederick said Tuesday that if she didn't have to be at work today, she would attend the rally. She wanted to help the protests send a unified message, she said.

"I think we need to address the jobs issue," Gibbons said. "The economy has to be at the heart of everything."

Bartelt said most people don't realize how little is spent on programs like Medicare. According to the latest federal data, 47 percent of the $3.3 trillion 2010 budget went toward Medicare, Medicaid and Social Security combined. In Maryland, per capita federal spending was $16,673, the third highest of the 50 states. Grants accounted for 21 percent of the 2010 federal budget. Grants to federal departments of education ($58 billion), transportation ($64 billion) and Health and Human Services ($407 billion) accounted for 78 percent of $683 billion federal grant expenses.

As of Tuesday, 36 people had registered to participate in the rally and Bartelt said she expected many more.

Starting at noon today, Bartelt said the group plans to walk up and down Market Street carrying signs.

Lt. Patrick Grossman of the Frederick Police Department said police would try to contact rally organizers to make sure they know the rules and assure them the police will protect their right to assemble as long as they abide by the noise ordinance, don't impede pedestrian or motor traffic and are orderly.

More Than 100 Arrested at 'Occupy Boston' Protest Site

The arrests began around 1:20 a.m. when police lined up on Atlantic Avenue. Minutes later, dozens of sheriff vans and police wagons arrived, and more than 200 officers, both in uniforms and riot gear, surrounded the section of the Greenway occupied by the protesters. Police Superintendent William Evans and Commissioner Edward F. Davis watched from across the street. Evans gave the crowd two minutes to disperse, warning that they would be locked up if they did not comply. The crowd, energized by the sudden appearance of the Boston and transit police officers, chanted, ‘‘The people united will never be defeated,’’ “This is a peaceful protest,” and “The whole world is watching.’’ About 10 minutes later, the first officers entered the park and surrounded the group. Evans, using a loudspeaker, gave one more warning and then each protester was individually put on his or her stomach, cable-tied, and dragged off as other officers tore down tents and arrested and detained people on the fringe of the park. - More than 100 arrested in Occupy Boston protests, Boston Globe, October 11, 2011

More Than 100 Arrested at Occupy Boston Protest Site

October 11, 2011

Reuters - Tensions boiled over early on Tuesday in downtown Boston, where police arrested more than 100 protesters after the Occupy Boston group expanded its footprint and was told by authorities to move back.

Protesters said that late on Monday police had issued an ultimatum to return to their small original encampment by nightfall or be moved along.

Protesters' tents have been set up in Dewey Square Park in downtown Boston all month but on Monday expanded to a larger section of the nearby Rose Fitzgerald Kennedy Greenway.

Shortly after midnight, hundreds of Boston and Transit police officers, some in riot gear, moved in, handcuffing protesters and tearing down tents.

Police said 129 people were arrested, most for unlawful assembly.

"At 1:30 this morning hundreds of police in full riot gear brutally attacked Occupy Boston," the protest group said in a news release, adding that authorities "made no distinction between protesters, medics, or legal observers."

Police said no one was injured in the maneuver.

Metal barriers were erected around the section of the greenway on Tuesday as the protesters returned to Dewey Square Park.

Among those arrested was 58-year-old small business owner Michael Turner, who said he was taken into custody about 2 a.m. while sitting on the greenway, arms locked in a circle with other supporters.

"I just had to come," said Turner, who along with his wife has stopped by before and had donated supplies.

"I think corporate America is screwing us, basically," he said.

Turner, who said he was last arrested in Boston some 40 years ago protesting the Vietnam War, said the police were polite and in his view the situation was calm.

Boston Mayor Thomas Menino said in a Twitter message he was sympathetic to the Occupy Boston cause, but public safety was a priority.

"We all want to fight for the middle class," a second tweet from the mayor said. "Still, need to respect all our residents and make sure the city runs smoothly."

Many of those arrested were scheduled to appear in Boston Municipal Court throughout the week.

Occupy Boston organizers linked on their website to an online collection site to fund legal aid for those arrested.

More than $7,000 was donated from about 220 people by mid-day, according to the website.

Boston earlier saw one of its biggest rallies so far in a movement that began in New York last month to protest against perceived Wall Street excesses and other social issues and has spread to cities across the nation.

Hundreds of protesters, including many college students, marched in support of Occupy Boston.

Protests across the country have objected to what they see as an unacceptable income gap between rich and poor.

They also complained about the Wall Street bailout in 2008, which they say aided banks while average Americans suffered under high unemployment and job insecurity.

Wall Street Activists Being Paid to Protest

Wall Street Activist Says He is Being Paid to Protest

October 11, 2011

Spokane Conservative Examiner - One Chigaco protester is allegedly being paid $22 and hour - plus overtime - to protest "corporate greed," the International Business Times reports.

The IBT adds that's "more than many Americans with actual jobs."

According to the IBT:

Business Insider has obtained a video interview of a seemingly well-informed Chicago protestor who mentions -- almost in passing -- that he gets paid $22 an hour plus overtime to participate in a Chicago offshoot of the "Occupy Wall Street" protests.

The protester calls this a "full time gig" but fails to say who is actually paying him. According to the man in the video, his benefactor is "getting his money's worth."

The Times notes that at $22 an hour, this protester is being paid three times the local minimun wage of $7.33 an hour.

Business Insider, however, seems skeptical:

Not sure if the video below is real or not--perhaps it was created to make the Wall Street protesters look bad--but this Chicago "protester" appears to say that he's getting paid to complain about corporate greed.

If this protester's allegation is true, Business Insider says it raises a "host of questions," such as:

• How many of the "protesters" are getting paid?
• Who is paying them?
• Do the ones who are not getting paid know that some of their brethren are making more for chanting and holding signs than most Americans with actual jobs?

The IBT says, however, that the fact this protester does not make the allegation until three minutes into the recorded interview "undermines the possibility it was staged."

Last Thursday, an organizer for Occupy DC admitted paying some Hispanic protesters to carry signs, and a craigslist ad put up by New York's Working Families Party promises to pay protesters $350 - $650 per week.

A video at The Blaze showing how the protests were organized, indicates that an ACORN/SEIU front group with ties to the Administration, the Democratic National Committee and the Democratic Socialists of America planned the protests - all with the backing of the Tides Foundation and George Soros.

Occupy Wall Street: Are Protesters Being Paid?

October 11, 2011

The Week - Conservatives insist that a Craigslist ad from the liberal Working Families Party proves that the Left is hiring protesters for $350-$650 a week.

A reader at the conservative blog PowerLine has spotted a Craigslist ad from New York's progressive Working Families Party, which is apparently looking to hire people for $350 to $650 a week to "fight to hold Wall Street accountable."

The "immediate hires" must be "outgoing, articulate, dedicated, determined," and "energetic communicators," the ad says. But "this is not a policy job! Through direct action you will be shaping NY state politics for the next 20 years."

Outraged conservatives read this as liberals paying people to attend the Occupy Wall Street protests. Is this proof the Left is secretly bankrolling the movement?

Related: 5 facts about the Occupy Wall Street movement

This sure looks like Astroturfing to me: The ad doesn't specify what you're supposed to do for $350 a week, says Ed Morrissey at Hot Air. But "the headline strongly suggests that the position entails getting paid to protest," and "'direct action' usually means protesting." The most obvious explanation, then, is that "WFP wants Astroturfers, presumably to join other Astroturfers," on Wall Street. It would be interesting to know how many of the Occupiers are already on WFP's payroll. - "Political party paying Occupy Wall Street protesters?"

This conspiracy theory is just "silly": This isn't the first right-wing attempt at "'exposing' the secret liberal money behind the Wall Street occupation," says Harry Siegel at The Village Voice. But it might be the dumbest. The ad's obviously the kind liberal groups like WFP "have run for years, under some topical banner, to find kids willing to take low-paying, rather lousy canvassing jobs." If any of these conspiracy-mongers had bothered to call WFP, they'd look much less foolish now. - "Right-wing sites succumb to silly Occupy Wall Street conspiracies"

The protesters are pro bono — and anti-Obama: "Occupy Wall Street is confusing to many Americans," not just right-wing bloggers, says David Weider at MarketWatch. But after talking to participants for a month, I can say with certainty that "not one is getting paid to protest." Quite the opposite: Many of them "have sacrificed income to march." And there's one more way I know they're not paid Democratic shills: Almost every one "complained about Obama and how he's pandered to Wall Street interests."

Other stories from this topic:

• The List: What the Wall Street protests will accomplish: 3 theories
• Controversy: Occupy Wall Street: A U.S. version of the Arab Spring?
• Fact Sheet: The Occupy Wall Street protesters: What exactly do they want?