Things get rough as Occupy DC besieges ultra-rich Alfalfa Club at Hilton

On the 28th of January, roads around 16th and K sts were barricaded by the cops to secure the “Alfalfa Club” a hard-drinking party for the ultra rich. The party is named for the crop’s heavy water consumption. Attendees included most of the Bush family, and yet Obama also attended in spite of that. Occupy DC marched on the barricades, making it difficult for the wealthy to pass if they picked the wrong entry checkpoint.

Vidio of the protest featuring more of the high points and some of the police violence,Clips from two other videographers used in the police violence sections as well as my own

In the beginning, the action was divided into “North Group” and “South Group” each probing the defenses around the Alfalfa Club by a different route. When the rich and powerful were spotted entering via a checkpoint on K st between 16th and 17th sts, both groups converged on that spot.

Glitter was thrown on the wealthy as they pushed through the crowds and passed police lines. At one point, “DINO”(Democrat-in-name-only) Joe Lieberman took a direct hit to the head and shoulders from a massive charge of golden glitter, symbolic of all that gold driving his career.

Soon, they started coming down an alley just behind the barricades instead, so a small unit was detached to try and stop up the entrance. They were able to intimidate the security forces, so few of the rich were seen trying to use that route, but there were not enough people to blockade all the possible entry routes.

Therefore, this detachment went mobile, running full speed from barricade to barricade. This led to police reports of “running protesters” that seemd to intimidate them.

Eventually the main barricade protests settled into a “part” mode until about 9PM, at which point the whole group marched up 17th st. Shortly there after it was reported that a group of women had charged police lines before being beaten and trampled by horses.

About a half hour after that report, there were two more horse charges into the crowd, aimed at forcing people out of streets the cops wanted for themselves. A number of people were knocked down and others were stepped on by horses. This happened in the area of 16th and M streets.

Shortly after 10 PM, the Alfalfa Club participanst began leaving, and they had to arrange for their limos to pick them up at locations avoiding whichever checkpoint protesters were present at. This did not always work, and a number of the ultra-rich had to run a gauntlet of Occupy protesters on K street.

A number of the “1 percenters” leaving the Alfalfa CLub by K st messed up their logistics enough that they had to run the gauntlet unescorted, while horse cops were still somewhere else. Eventually the horse cops caught up, but that actually escalated matters, as people were still angry about being assauted by horse cops at 16th and M streets.

At some times, the south side service road on K st reminded me of a “list” strip used for heavy-armor jousting! Police on horses would attempt to guard the ultra-rich in their tuxedoes, while protesters (and myself) would charge down the strip in the opposite direction to get as close as possible to the targets. Nobody managed to get past those horses, but it must have been very unsettling for the tuxedo-clad drunks exiting the Alfalfa Club.

Eventually the suits stopped appearing at K st, and again detachments set out to heckle them at other checkpoints. It wasn’t until midnight that police begin pulling down some-but not all-of the barricades, as the “important” people had probably managed to slip out of the Hilton by that time.

One more instance of police brutality was reported in the 11:30 PM time period. A number of women were pushed to the ground and beaten or kicked by police after some of the partiers had to run the gauntlet at one of the checkpoints.

Wells Fargo being protested weekly over investments in private prisons

Wells Fargo bank spent their bailout money on investing in the GEO group, the second largest owner of private prisons in the world after CCA. Because of this, community activists are now protesting weekly at Wells Fargo banks at the Tivoli Theater(Columbia Heights) and 7th and T sts (Shaw). On Jan 24 they were reinforced by Occupy DC activists at a Columbia heights Wells Fargo protest.

Video focussing on the speakers

The protest was too large to fit on the sidewalk in front of the Wells Fargo in the Tivoli, so it had to be conducted in the park area on the other side of the street instead. Police motorcycles guarded the Wells Fargo branch to keep it from being shut down.

Passers by were urged to boycott Wells Fargo and close any existing accounts. Protesters reminded them that there are now more Black men in prison in the US than were in slavery in 1850-and that Well’s Fargo is investing in today’s Jim Crow. Speakers bluntly called the 50 cents per hour “work” in GEO groups’s prisons slavery.

Tar sands pipeline opponents throw penalty flags for Congress, API

On the 24th of January, many of the same groups that protested the Keystone XL tar sands pipeline held a protest on Capitol Hill dressed in football referee uniforms and blowing whistles. They demanded that oil industry lobbyists STOP trying to revive the tar sands pipeline and that members of Congress refuse their “donations.”

Video focussing on the visit to API

Audio-most of the speakers in front of the US Capitol

After the rally in front of the Capitol, most of the protesters boarded the Metro and got off at the McPherson Square station. From there they marched to the offices of API, the American Petroleum Institute. At API, penalty flags were thrown and whistles blown to protest API’s massive efforts to corrupt US democracy not only on the Keystone XL, but on ALL issues related to oil.

On the same day as this protest, the GOP announced that they are considering attaching language to authorize construction of the pipeline to the upcoming highway funding bill. If the GOP-controlled House refused to pass any other version of the bill, Obama would have to veto or the Senate refuse to pass the bill containing essentially ALL the highway repair and construction money for the upcoming year.

Once again, Big Oil is going to try to buy Congress. Over time, their “investments” on Capitol Hill have paid off in taxpayer-funded subsidies to the tune of over 300 dollars for every dollar API et all have spend on lobbying. This in spite of the fact that Exxon is the richest corporation “in the history of money” as one speaker in the rally put it.

This time around, it will be an epic fight: On the one hand, Obama has to do the right thing, or pro-Earth voters will stay home in November. He has therefore refused to cooperate with the GOP on the pipeline-for now. In addition, the Occupy Movement has blown the Tea Party off the stage.

On the other hand, Citizens United means API, Exxon, Shell, etc can legally spend as much money as they want trying to buy permission from Congress to build the pipeline. Failing that, they can try to buy the 2012 election for pro-oil industry GOP candidates, again with NO spending restrictions.

Occupy Congress seizes Supreme Court steps, then forces White House security lock down

At about 7PM on the 17th of January, Occupy Congress did something I have never seen a protest accomplish before: They took over the iconic steps of the Supreme Court building, with one report saying some reached the doors. There were no reports of anyone getting inside.

Video:Supreme Court and White House actions

In all the years of protests and even street battles around the Supreme Court over abortion and the death penalty, the Supreme Court police have jealously guarded these steps, arresting any protesters who dared to mount them.

When an estimated 2000 occupiers showed up, the Supreme Court police were caught with their pants down. Unable to stop the surging crowd with their limited forced then on duty, they simply stood out of the way while Occupy Congress seized the famous steps. The closest thing I have seen to this-ever, was SDS in 2007 fighting their way from 3ed st to the top of the steps of the US Capitol. Unlike SDS, Occupy Congress did not need shields and did not have to fight to take the steps, the cops simply yielded to the reality of a surging, unstoppable tsunami of people.

Afterwards, a march on the White House culminated in a mass of protesters mounting the concrete base of the White House fence, an unconfirmed report of someone trying to get over it, and the White House security lights being turned on, the first them I have ever seen them come on during a protest.

FAUX Nnews is claiming that one or more smoke bombs may have been heaved over the White House fence. I didn’t see them go off, but heard a rumor of “firecrackers” which I never heard go off. I don’t know if these were the reason for the security lights and several rifle-armed SS agents on the White House lawn, or if a false report therof was being used as an excuse. FAUX(you know who they are…) also gave an estimate of only 1,000 protesters, though some might have left after the historic Supreme Court action.

As Occupy mounted the steps and the security lights came on, the north entrance to the White House was closed to everyone, even the White Hosue staff, etc. Anyone leaving the White House grounds had to go through the White House itself and exit by the South Entrance according to Faux News.

Politico is claiming that the Secret Service “moved people from the area” but I saw neither an attempt to move the protesters off the fence nor the capability to do so without using weapons such as pepper spray or worse. Politico’s headline was “White House locked down because of smoking objects.”

At 9:42 PM, at which time to protest had essentially ended, Obama himself was reported by Politico as returning by the South Entrance, this being described as his usual route. That’s no surprise, it’s a much easier staging grounds of a motorcade of that size. Still, you can bet he was told not to return to the White House until Occupy left! As for Occupy, they were demanding that Obama “Come out and talk” as there were matters requiring a discussion. The problem is, if Obama were to comply, he would then be so closely linked with Occupy as to bet the entire 2012 election on Occupy being able to mantain both their momentum and their popularity, reported in November 2011 by the Washington Post as 37%, with the Tea Party at 34%.

Occupy Congress blockades steps of Rayburn Building, enters Longworth building

At about 4PM on the 17th of January, Occupy Congress atttempted to march into the Rayburn building but was forced back outside. Shortly therafter, some of the protesters managed to enter the Longworth, though they were limited to passing through the checkpoints individually to do so.

Video: Video of the House Office Builing actions and street march afterwards

Some of the folks at the Longworth were refused entry, while the Independance Ave entrance to the Rayburn was effectively blockaded by Occupy.

After withdrawing from the GOP-dominated House Office Buildings, Occupy marched through the streets in rush hour, going as far as 7th st on Independance Ave before turning back towards their main camp in front of the US Capitol.

There was also a report on Twitter that at about 4:30PM, 17 people managed to do a “mic check” in the Rayburn’s courtyard.

How to kill the corporations behind SOPA and stop any SOPA II

SOPA the anti-filesharing legislation proposed in Congress, is a sop by Congress to the MPAA, the RIAA, and some sellers of pay software. If SOPA passes, this website will be moved to a foreign country and your IP will NOT allow a direct connection, due to non-SOPA compliant video that are and WILL REMAIN linked from this site. That’s right-we will NOT comply with ANY law written to serve the lawsuit-happy copythugs at the RIAA and MPAA.

One of two things is about to happen: Either we kill SOPA and the copythugs go back to the drawign board, or SOPA passes and we all have to learn about Tor, alternate DNS servers outside the US, avoiding malicious redirects when not using official DNS services, etc. We will keep on sharing files, we will keep on liberating copythugged media just as we do now, we will just be using “Darkenets” instead of what we now call the Internet. Maybe we disconnect from the phone companiews and network computers directly with wireless like they did in Tunesia when the former regime tried to turn off the Internet. We keep sharing files, they come up with SOPA II.

How can we strangle the next SOPA before it’s even born? Simple-bankrupt the MPAA and the RIAA so they are NOT around to lobby for it!

If NOBODY buys music, NOBODY goes to the movie theater, NOBODY buys cable TV or sattellite TV, and NOBODY buys movies, all the record and movie companies that fund the RIAA and MPAA will go belly-up, and SOPA-style legislation will be dead. Commericial are will be dead-and all those garage bands you NEVER hear on pay media will finally have a chance, as they have just as good access to Bitorrent as Metallica does!

Takoma Park activist Walt Rave remembered with fur and population protests

On the 14th of January, a bitterly cold day, area animal rights activists memorialized Takoma activist Walt Rave by first protesting the Catholic Church’s opposition to birth control at the Knights of Columbus. then protesting the fur trade at Gartenhaus Furs.

Walt was an in-your face advocate for animal rights and for limiting the total human population on this Earth.

Walt Rave used to protest at area fur retailers carrying a dead fox on unknown origin in a trap on a chain. The fox was salvaged from a part or Walt’s home the fire did not reach-and was brought to Gartenhaus Furs, being displayed outside while their overpriced coats of death were on display inside.

I saw Walt’s reminder of where fur REALLY comes from on display at the Compassion over Killing fur protests from 1997 to about 2002. Many times the Fox put in an appearance at Neiman-Marcus or Miller’s furs! As recently as some of the last few years, he would show up at Fur Free Friday.

Walt Rave died of burns received trying to save his six cats when his house burned down around him on the 7th of December, 2011. The fire was said to have started in his truck, with a dead cold engine shot off for hours and been blown to his house by very high winds that night.

Update of the fire and investigation

At the time of the fire it was thought that all six of Walt’s cats had died with him as he tried to find and save them. I am not aware of any of their bodies being recovered, and now one cat consistent with the description of one of Walt’s cats has reappeared and is being fed as people try to help him/her recover from this trauma and get over any lingering fear of people.

After the Jan 14 protests, I looked at pictures of what the fire did to Walt’s truck that suggested an awfully small fire from the truck to have jumped to the house if all the fire originated under the hood.

The official story is that the fire started “in the engine compartment of the truck” and jumped to the house. The official report makes no attempt it seems to determine just how the engine or engine compartment burst into flames hours after the truck was shut off. Almost everyone around Walt has concluded that the fire was arson, although the photos do suggest that the truck, not the house, was the target of the fire.

It was the truck that regularily bore in-your-face signs such as “Selfish? have more babies!” The fire damage to the truck was consistent with gasoline poured into the heater air intake at the base of the windshield and ignited, with some fire damage under the hood, some on the passenger side dashboard, and about half the paint on the hood and a little on the right side fender burned off. The tire under that fender did NOT burn.

Most automotive heater boxes are plastic, and gasoline poured there and ignited would quickly burn through, in many cars getting access to both the dashboard area and the engine compartment. Once in the engine compartment, many Toyota products have a massive plastic engine cover that could be ignited. A burned up mass of something sits on top the truck’s engine in another photo.

Such a fire would have created a steady flame rising from the base of the windshield so long as any gasoline remained either in the heater box or under it trapped by sheet metal parts of the dashboard or engine compartment. Once the heater box was gone, it would allow flames from other fuels to escape via the windshield base vents, possibly as long as the fire was burning.

My conclusion, based on an examination of the evidence, and my own experience when I used to race cars with engine fires, is that this was a set fire aimed at the truck, fanned into the house by the brutal winds of that night. Every engine fire I ever had or saw in 20 years around hot rodded cars happened with the engine running, starting up, or just shut down. I saw lots and lots of engine fires around auto racing (they are a fact of life in racing!), but never ONE in a car that was cold after sitting for hours and not being started up.

In addition, I have never seen a fire creating damage to parts on top of the engine burn into the heater box and through it past the firewall into the passenger compartment. Even when my own car suffered a massive engine fire fed by a shorted-to-on fuel pump and gallons of fuel, the heater box was not penetrated and no fire came into the car. Even had the large plastic heater box common on newer cars with A/C been installed, little of the fire would have reached it based on damage patterns.

If the fire at Walt Rave’s house was set, and did not originate from an engine long shut off and stone cold, then someone is guilty of felony murder. In the highly unlikely that this was NOT a set fire, Toyota has one hell of a safety issue!

Largest ever Gitmo protest demands Gitmo be CLOSED

On the 10th anniversary of the opening of Guantanimo Bay, the largest protest ever held in the US against this hellhole demanded that it be closed. Cold rain could not deter this protest, as unlike Guantanimo Bay nobody had to worry about being waterboarded.

Video: The march to the Supreme Court and the speakers there

Audio: A former US Navy sailor STATIONED AT GUANTANIMO BAY,discharged as a conscientious objector, speaks out

Audio: A poem written by a Gitmo detainee is read out at the Supreme Court, preceded by the stories of two detainess, one of them the author

Occupy DC added their numbers to the existing ranks of antiwar protesters who have marched against Gunatanimo Bay every year on the 11th of January, the day the first prisoners arrived at Gitmo back in 2002.

The protest was so large that it had to divide into multiple elements going to multiple targets, as not everyone could fit at the Supreme Court. There were 171 marchers in orange jump suits and black hoods, the symbol of Guantanimo Bay and the “black” or secret prisons. These marchers went to the Supreme Court.

One speaker at the Supreme Court rally was a former US Navy sailor who was stationed at Guantanimo Bay. He was so horrified by what he saw that he requested and got a Conscientious Objector discharge, and now is speaking out against the prison there.Audio-his speech on 1-11-2012, same as above

Other marches went to Congress, the Department of Justice, and one may have returned to the White House. Each of these arms of government plus the Supreme Court are jointly responsible for the continued existance of Guantanimo Bay 10 years after it opened, and three years after Obama supposedly ordered it shut down

Occupy DC invades Price-Waterhouse Coopers

On the 9th of January,just after the Nigeria protest at the World Bank, Occupy DC invaded the lobby of Price-Waterhouse Coopers with about 60 protesters.

One of the signs carried by protesters implied that Price-Waterhouse Coopers support for Mitt Romney was the reason they were invaded.

Repaired video originally shot by one of the partipants in the lobby invasion

Here is the relevant Twitter stream of events:

OccupyDCAction OccupyDCAction
#occupydc is now marching back to camp
1 hour ago

msamricth msamricth
45 minutes in #OccupyDC are still occupying building. “the criminals are behind you” second warning given.
1 hour ago
Retweeted by OccupyDCAction

msamricth msamricth
43 minutes in about to give second warning. #OccupyDC
2 hours ago
Retweeted by OccupyDCAction

msamricth msamricth
@
@BethanyKJohnson @OccupyDCAction we wish you were here to hear our message
2 hours ago
Retweeted by OccupyDCAction

BethanyKJohnson Bethany Johnson
#occupydc has invaded my office building! We must remain at our desks during this breach of security.the one day I wish I was as the office!
2 hours ago
Retweeted by OccupyDCAction

msamricth msamricth
Twitter is refusing to upload video #OccupyDC first warning given. 38 minutes in.
2 hours ago
Retweeted by OccupyDCAction

msamricth msamricth
Officers about to give us warnings #OccupyDC paddy wagon here now. No ones leaving. Firm is shut down. About 60 protestors strong.
2 hours ago
Retweeted by OccupyDCAction

OccupyDCAction OccupyDCAction
Follow @msamricth for live-tweets of the #occupydc PricewaterhouseCooper LLP action
2 hours ago

OccupyDCAction OccupyDCAction
PricewaterhouseCoopers LLP is currently occupied! RT @msamricth: @Sara_Jeans pic.twitter.com/WZ3l9jNz
2 hours ago

OccupyDCAction OccupyDCAction
#occupydc is currently holding it down inside a major lobby firm!
2 hours ago
»

amickjohn John Amick
#OccupyDC direct action today against a lobbying firm (chosen, but not announced), 1:30, starting at McPherson @OccupyDCAction @OccupyKSt

Nigerians protest at World Bank against fuel price hikes, police violence

On the 9th of January, Nigerians protests at the headquarters of the Wold Bank. They acted in solidarity with Occupy Nigeria and labor activists in Nigeria who have called a general strike (and been met with live ammunition) against protesting fuel price hikes demanded by the IMF and World Bank.

Video focussing on speakers in front of the World Bank

On New Year’s Day, Nigerians awoke to find the price of gasoline and diesel had doubled overnight, as the Niterian president acceded to the demands of the IMF and World Bank, removing public subsidies from fuel. Nigeria is a major oil-producing nation, yet the sale of crude oil to Shell is being deemed more important than the ability of the people whose land sits over the oil to use that very oil.

Occupy Nigeria, the Nigerian “We the People” coalition, and the Nigerian labor unions have called a general strike beginning today, the 9th of January.

One update from Nigeria was announced during the World Bank protest: Several police officers who has shot protesters in recent days have just been arrested.