Two of this weekend's top headlines were the 700 arrests made on the Brooklyn Bridge, and the announcement of another season of Arrested Development. Both events can tip their hats to the Occupy Wall Street protesters, going strong as they enter their third week of existence. The MSM is still a little foggy on the demands of the movement, but Occupy Wall Street photos on Flickr suggest that protesters are gathering together against police brutality, ending war, world hunger, and narcolepsy.
Here is some of the latest news and insight regarding the expansion and support of the Occupy Wall Street movement:
Army Vet Ward Reillymade news when he shared a call to arms from a marine friend of his on social networking site Reddit encouraging vets to attend the OWS event. "I didn't fight for Wall St. I fought for America. Now it's Congress' turn," the former marine writes. This post has inspired reports of marines coming to "Protect Protesters On Wall Street".
There have been articles suggesting that this is a response to JPMorgan's unprecedented donation of $4.6 million to the New York City Police Foundation, but the donation was made in June, before the protests started to drain resources from NYPD.
Supporters have been coaching protesters through social media, encouraging protesters to stop looking like unwashed hippies gain respect by suiting up and giving the movement a professional look. The movement took matters into their own hands, deciding instead to dress as corporate zombies and "eat Monopoly money to let financial workers' see us reflecting the metaphor of their actions.'"
Representative Ron Paul (R-TX) has offered his support to the movement, always an opponent to the Federal Reserve. Vlogger Alex Jones of infowars.com provided a very extensive explanationof OWS's problems originating with the FED.
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The Movement has gained support among multiple union groups. The United Steelworkers based in Pittsburgh issuedastatementin support of the movement, stating that they, too, "are fed up with the corporate greed, corruption and arrogance that have inflicted pain on far too many for far too long." Otheruniongroupspledgingsolidarityinclude:
The United Federation of Teachers and the Transport Workers Union Local 100. MSNBC reported that union member support will have a physical presence sometime this next week.
The Daily Caller has been keeping an eye on liberal activism group MoveOn.org, which has been in full support of the Movement. There are plans to incorporate and feature the protest into MoveOn.org's "American Dream Summit" in DC.
The Expansion of Occupy Wall Street:
The Occupy Together website is the "unofficial hub for all of the events springing up across the country in solidarity with Occupy Wall St.". It lists multiple locations that suggest events planned in Tokyo, Australia, and about a dozen European and South American countries, and numerous US cities. A Trendsmap of #OccupyWallStreet shows twitter interest is heavily located in the US and UK, with additional attention from the rest of Europe, Australia, Japan, with scattered interest in South America and the Middle East.
Occupy DC:Appears to largely be students who are protesting their school loans, taking breaks to attending class.
Occupy Chicago: "For more than two weeks they've camped out in front of the Chicago Board of Trade and other financial centers, banging drums, barking demands and disrupting people working in neighboring offices." -- Smart Money
Occupy SanFran: 6 people were arrested for squating inside of a Chase Bank branch, with chanting, sign-carrying comrades outside.
Occupy LA: This week's events include a flash mob (Tuesday AM), trespassing on bank executives private residencies (Tuesday PM and Wednesday PM), littering (Wednesday AM).
Occupy Boston: Protesters were arrested for trespassing a Bank of America office building, in a response to the bank's foreclosure policies; but the actual Occupy Boston protesters were several blocks away.
Occupy Tulsa, Okla.: Protests are going to start taking place in Tulsa this coming weekend, with more action set up for later in the month. Protesting events will be heavily scheduled on the weekend in order to accommodate protesters' weekly works chedules.
Occupy Philly: A commie tried to jump on board, but there's still no word of a location for the protest to take place.
Occupy Toronto, Canada: Activists have scheduled their occupation to begin on Saturday, October 15th. There are also pages listed for protests to be held in Calgary, Montreal, Newfoundland, Nova Scotia, Ottawa, Vancouver and Victoria on the Occupy Together website.
Blog post by Emily Moore.
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