OLA AntiSocial Media

“Lipstick on a Pig: The LAPD’s Much Improved PR...

Tue, 26 Feb 2013 11:14:00 -0500

“Lipstick on a Pig: The LAPD’s Much Improved PR Machine and the Legacy of Saint Bratton”

In January of 2010, a woman came forward and accused LAPD officer James Nichols of rape. According to the LA Times, who broke the story in January of this year, she immediately reported this crime to his supervisor in the narcotics division. Shortly after, another woman did likewise, alleging that the same officer and his partner had forced her to perform oral sex back in 2009.

In the 3 years after both these rapes were reported, these serious accusations went nowhere - except that this department eventually transferred the officers to different precincts, a practice eerily similar to the cover-ups of child molestation by the rightly-maligned Catholic Church. In fact, it wasn’t until one of the victims, so distraught by a lack of progress by this department, filed a civil lawsuit against the officers involved that the LAPD actually took any real interest in the case. To my knowledge, that interest seems to have been limited to spinning what the LA Times reported on the story rather than bringing criminal charges to the DA against two possible serial rapists who may still be on the force today.

But it gets worse. Due to this department - and particularly this Chief’s - continued obeisance to what former Chief Parker called the “thin blue line,” one of the officers involved in both of those crimes, who was never charged by this department or its main benefactor the District Attorney’s office, was later accused of severely beating a bank executive, Brian Mulligan, in May of 2012. This wouldn’t seem out of character for Officer Nichols, a man who apparently sees himself as above the very laws he enforces - and who is encouraged to believe that by this department’s brazen disinterest in public accountability.

Again, however, rather than seriously investigating those accusations, the LAPD made a concerted effort to slander the victim via its cronies at the LA Times, accusing Mulligan of moral turpitude and publicly undermining his credibility by speculating that he was on “bath salts.” As if - even if that were true - it would justify Officer Nichols, an already accused serial rapist, of savagely beating him and holding him hostage in a hotel room. And now, since the LAPD refuses to hold officers like Nichols accountable for their continued, belligerent and criminal behavior over a 5 year period against those they swear an oath to protect, the entire city - all of us - are the subject of a $50 million lawsuit. When the LAPD refuses to hold itself accountable, it’s the rest of us who pay - sometimes with our sense of safety and security, sometimes with our very bodies and lives, and other times, perhaps most often, with our hard earned tax dollars in the form of settlements and verdicts.

There are many more incidents like these that have occurred on Chief Beck’s watch, some made headlines, others did not. From an LAPD drive-by on an unarmed autistic man in Koreatown that Beck deemed an appropriate use of force to allegations against the department of selling specialty SWAT weapons, possibly contravening Federal law, for which the whistleblower has now faced significant retaliation - the culture of the LAPD is insular, racist, violent, and utterly UNCHANGED from its notoriously problematic past. There is an expression for Chief Bratton and Chief Beck’s legacy at the LAPD, and it isn’t “transparency and fairness.” It’s “putting lipstick on a pig.”

And while this Chief struts before cameras after Chris Dorner’s state-sanctioned murder with a carefully coiffed mustache straight off the set of CHiPS and with all his deliberate hollywood pomp and polish talks about “transparency and fairness,” the common theme among all of these stories I’ve mentioned here is a lack of accountability, if not an absolute and steadfast resistance to those ideas. That is the culture of the LAPD. It always has been.

This force, this commission and specifically this criminally complicit Chief Charlie Beck - have proven to this community that they are incapable of transparency, fairness, and accountability. It is laughable that you expect us to entrust you with once again investigating yourselves. It’s clear you are incapable of that, if you’re even truly interested at all.

We deserve better.

Your Anon News: Here's an UNCENSORED copy of the rogue LAPD officers manifesto

Thu, 07 Feb 2013 19:43:46 -0500

Your Anon News: Here's an UNCENSORED copy of the rogue LAPD officers manifesto:

youranonnews:

From: Christopher Jordan Dorner /7648

To: America

Subj: Last resort

Regarding CF# 07-004281

Christopher Dorner w/ Chief William Bratton

I know most of you who personally know me are in disbelief to hear from media reports that I am suspected of committing such horrendous…

For a World Without Capitalism - For A Society Without States

Tue, 29 Jan 2013 18:55:35 -0500

For a World Without Capitalism - For A Society Without States

Published on Jul 13, 2012 Here is the formal statement I...

Fri, 25 Jan 2013 12:47:41 -0500

Published on Jul 13, 2012

Here is the formal statement I gave to Federal Police on 16 June 2012:

On a trip to visit family in Seoul in April, I was approached by a man and a woman who claimed to be North Korean defectors. They presented me with a DVD that recently came into their possession and asked me to translate it. They also asked me to post the completed film on the Internet so that it could reach a worldwide audience. I believed what I was told and an agreement was made to protect their identities (and mine).

Despite my concerns about what I was viewing when I returned home, I proceeded to translate and post the film on You Tube because of the film’s extraordinary content. I have now made public my belief that this film was never intended for a domestic audience in the DPRK. Instead, I believe that these people, who presented themselves as ‘defectors’ specifically targeted me because of my reputation as a translator and interpreter.

Furthermore, I now believe these people work for the DPRK. The fact that I have continued to translate and post the film in spite of this belief does not make me complicit in their intention to spread their ideology. I chose to keep posting this film because - regardless of who made it - I believe people should see it because of the issues it raises and I stand by my right to post it for people to share and discuss freely with each other.

Sabine

I have translated this film, laid in the English voice over and subtitles, and on legal advice have blurred the identity of the presenter and/or blacked out certain elements.

0:00 Introduction
6:54 Creating Ideas & Illusions
16:48 Fear
19:35 Religion
25:00 Beware the 1%
28:10 Emulating Psychosis
31:21 Rewriting History
41:15 The Birth of Propaganda
45:49 Cover Ups and Omissions
54:10 Complicity
58:05 Censorship
1:01:50 International Diplomacy
1:06:14 Television
1:08:11 Advertising
1:14:36 The Cult of Celebrity
1:22:34 Distraction
1:28:01 Terrorism
1:35:00 The Revolution Starts Now

Please share and discuss with as many people as you can, and if you have questions for me or want to discuss the content further, please do so below or go to:

http://www.facebook.com/pages/Propagandafilm/427263763965283

“The Western population’s lack of political education therefore allows their opulently wealthy “masters” to rule them unchecked, and gain support for their imperialist invasions under the guise of ‘counter-terrorism’.”

http://blogs.independent.co.uk/2012/12/17/forget-‘gangnam-style’-north-korean-‘propaganda’-is-the-real-viral-hit-of-2012/

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thepeoplesrecord: naamahdarling: thepeoplesrecord: World’s...

Fri, 25 Jan 2013 04:03:43 -0500

thepeoplesrecord:

naamahdarling:

thepeoplesrecord:

World’s 100 richest earned enough in 2012 to end global poverty 4 times over
January 20, 2013

The world’s 100 richest people earned a stunning total of $240 billion in 2012 – enough money to end extreme poverty worldwide four times over, Oxfam has revealed, adding that the global economic crisis is further enriching the super-rich.

“The richest 1 percent has increased its income by 60 percent in the last 20 years with the financial crisis accelerating rather than slowing the process,” while the income of the top 0.01 percent has seen even greater growth, a new Oxfam report said.

For example, the luxury goods market has seen double-digit growth every year since the crisis hit, the report stated. And while the world’s 100 richest people earned $240 billion last year, people in “extreme poverty” lived on less than $1.25 a day.

Oxfam is a leading international philanthropy organization. Its new report, ‘The Cost of Inequality: How Wealth and Income Extremes Hurt us All,’ argues that the extreme concentration of wealth actually hinders the world’s ability to reduce poverty.

The report was published before the World Economic Forum in Davos next week, and calls on world leaders to “end extreme wealth by 2025, and reverse the rapid increase in inequality seen in the majority of countries in the last 20 years.”

Oxfam’s report argues that extreme wealth is unethical, economically inefficient, politically corrosive, socially divisive and environmentally destructive.

The problem is a global one, Oxfam said: “In the UK inequality is rapidly returning to levels not seen since the time of Charles Dickens. In China the top 10 percent now take home nearly 60 percent of the income. Chinese inequality levels are now similar to those in South Africa, which is now the most unequal country on Earth and significantly more [inequality] than at the end of apartheid.”

In the US, the richest 1 percent’s share of income has doubled since 1980 from 10 to 20 percent, according to the report. For the top 0.01 percent, their share of national income quadrupled, reaching levels never seen before.

“We can no longer pretend that the creation of wealth for a few will inevitably benefit the many – too often the reverse is true,” Executive Director of Oxfam International Jeremy Hobbs said.

Hobbs explained that concentration of wealth in the hands of the top few minimizes economic activity, making it harder for others to participate: “From tax havens to weak employment laws, the richest benefit from a global economic system which is rigged in their favor.”

The report highlights that even politics has become controlled by the super-wealthy, which leads to policies “benefitting the richest few and not the poor majority, even in democracies.”

The report proposes a new global deal to world leaders to curb extreme poverty to 1990s levels by:

- closing tax havens, yielding $189bn in additional tax revenues

- reversing regressive forms of taxation

- introducing a global minimum corporation tax rate

- boosting wages proportional to capital returns

- increasing investment in free public services

“It is time our leaders reformed the system so that it works in the interests of the whole of humanity rather than a global elite,” the report said.

The four-day World Economic Forum will be held in Davos starting next Wednesday. World financial leaders will gather for an annual meeting that will focus on reviving the global economy, the eurozone crisis and the conflicts in Syria and Mali.

Source

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I wanna point out that I live in Oklahoma, and I can tell you that the reason our levels of poverty did not go up all that much is because WE ARE ALREADY SO FUCKING POOR.

WE ARE SO FUCKED HERE.

And I think it is the same for many of those pale blue states. That graphic represents change. Not actual poverty.

Yeah, great point! The dark blue states are the ones with more than 20% ‘rising poverty’. Many of those pale blue states are already very poor states and their poverty is also still increasing, just not as fast as many of the wealthier states.

I watched the marathon, 9+ hour Oakland City...

Wed, 23 Jan 2013 20:03:11 -0500

I watched the marathon, 9+ hour Oakland City Council meeting last night - attended by hundreds of well-informed, passionate Oaklanders who stridently covered every single potential concern (and statistical reality) about Bratton and his pernicious brand of penal confinement of already oppressed communities - only to sadly see what so often happens when you work within our wholly corrupt, democratic system: complete obeisance to neoliberal articles of faith by alleged liberal Democrats. If the racist doctrines of conservative-think-tank-conceived “stop and frisk” & unabashedly classist “broken windows” theory can hold sway over politicians in Oakland - the whole country is truly lost.

What happened in Oakland last night was the apotheosis of what Loic Wacquantcalled, “the invisible hand paired with the iron fist,” or, the application of “the dogma of the efficiency of the market to the realm of crime and punishment.” In Prisons of Poverty, Wacquant also notes that this application “has as its mission to bolster the social, racial, and economic order via the punitive regulation of the behaviors of the populations prone to visible and offensive deviance because they are relegated to the bottom of a polarizing class and caste structure.” Basically - if you’re black, brown, or otherwise discomfiting to white, middle class consumers, the prevailing prescription of the state is carceral warehousing and other forms of coercive control and domination. Like “stop and frisk.”

Of course, Bratton himself is a red-herring. These ideas weren’t born solely from his ample forehead as Zeus mythically bore Athena. Instead, they are the product of a slew of unabashed white supremacists like Charles Murray, George Kelling, James Q. Wilson, Lawrence Mead, and were produced in large part by long-deceased (and endlessly discredited) Iran-Contra CIA spymaster William Casey’s think tank the Manhattan Institute and others like the Heritage Foundation, the Adam Smith Institute, the Bradley Foundation, the Institute of Economic Affairs, etc… to spread their unsubstantiated and profit-serving “theory” around the globe. That profiteering charlatans like Bratton and his partners at Kroll (Robert Wasserman and Kelling) have peddled this snake oil so successfully from Boston to Giuliani’s NY to London to Villaraigosa’s LA to Milwaukee to Paris to Baltimore to Rahm Emanuel’s Chicago and now to Quan’s Oakland should be the final proof that the Democratic Party is now, and perhaps always has been, irreconcilable to people who want to see the world outside of a free market framework.

All of this, of course, is only compounded by the repeated allegation that Kroll has succeeded with this “theory” (and their unique ability to implement it through consultancy) by distorting the data they themselves collect (see also: LAPD). As Chief Howard Jordan noted in his own presentation before the City Council last night, “cops count” - which, as echoed recently by LAPD Chief Charlie Beck, is quickly becoming the ironic mantra of the internationally-organized, neoliberal policing strategy campaign he has now allied himself with in Bratton and Kroll. Yes, “cops count,” and when you’re running a quota-guided campaign of repression like “stop and frisk,” the people who tabulate the data probably shouldn’t be trusted with that responsibility, should they?

As a country, we need to take a long, serious look at ourselves and our penchant for “post hoc ergo propter hoc” fallacious zealotry - to divest ourselves of the notion that complex issues like crime and public safety can be solved with simple, single-bullet solutions (which, given the excessive-yet-sanctioned violence of the police - is perhaps a terrible turn of phrase in this case) and to take a little more time out of our day to recognize and appreciate complexity. Broken Windows has never empirically been proven to reduce crime. Data that does demonstrate a correlation between supercop Bratton and crime reduction does not equal causation. Myriad factors should be considered. After all, just because I drink coffee every morning and have never been attacked by a fire-breathing, scaly dragon does not mean that coffee is a magic elixir that prevents dragon attacks.

We need to do better, friends - and it starts with refusing conventional, market wisdom as the basis for everything we do. It starts with understanding that we are fighting not just against a single, isolated and racist cop like William fucking Bratton - but rather a highly coordinated and resurgent system of white supremacy functioning through the retrenched security state that has now gotten its toe hold in beloved Oakland, California. We saw what beautiful, brilliant speeches made before a supposedly sympathetic City Council can do. The vote was 7-1. We saw what packing a meeting, sending up over 250 of the best community orators I’ve every had the pleasure to witness to plead for reason could do. The Oakland City Council could have thrown a crumb to its constituents - it could have voted to exclude the polarizing figure Bratton represents from admittedly needed, OPD restructuring efforts while still enacting all their other misguided, pro-Law & Order measures on their agenda. The forces of neoliberal capitalism, however, wouldn’t even concede that much. Instead, they plowed forward with the politics of fear - steamrolling an intelligent and concerned citizenry, many of whom will now be increasingly in the crosshairs of a further unleashed police force, in their total capitulation to efficiency, force, coercion and control.

I think I saw a glimmer of what needs to be done last night. After @hyphy_republic was forced from the microphone by overbearing pigs doing the council’s bidding, a group of BRLP comrades situated themselves near the microphone to prevent any recurrence of intimidation toward the remaining speakers. They stood resolute before the pigs, ensuring that the rest of the speakers would have the time they needed to say what had to be said. It’s that kind of inter communal self-reliance that needs to be encouraged, not derided as “hooliganism” as the Oakland City Council so often does. It’s that kind of solidarity we need in our communities.

We have a lot of work to do.

His Name Was Aaron Swartz

Sun, 13 Jan 2013 04:10:03 -0500

When you think about Aaron Swartz, I want you to think about what it says about “justice” in this country when the plea deal has almost completely replaced a trial as the predominant resolution of criminal prosecutions. A staggering 90% of criminal complaints are resolved through plea deal rather than a free and fair trial. This, of course, also explains why prosecutors boast such striking conviction rates - they never have to prove their cases to begin with. They overwhelm and intimidate, bullying the innocent and the guilty alike in order to prevail without the cost and inconvenience of a trial.

Prosecutors pile on charges because the threat of increased jail time is a great bargaining chip against a defendant in order to resolve matters in a cheap, efficient manner. Not because they pursue justice, but because they pursue cost effective outcomes for an already overburdened court system. Many of you can only imagine how this disproportionately affects the poor and marginalized among us. Some of you are those people and don’t need to imagine this at all.

In the UK, these questionable practices are forbidden:

“Prosecutors should never go ahead with more charges than are necessary just to encourage a defendant to plead guilty to a few. In the same way, they should never go ahead with a more serious charge just to encourage a defendant to plead guilty to a less serious one…”

When I was in court before my trial, I witnessed a particularly distressing lecture from a judge to a public defender. The defendant refused to deal and it clearly upset the pre trial judge.

“May I remind you,” he said to the public defender he had ordered to approach. “You’re job is to make your client aware of the potential consequences of going to trial.”

It was news to me. I thought the job of a public defender was to ensure a defendant’s rights.

After my trial, the prosecution suggested during sentencing that my insouciance in going to trial should be weighed against me. He said that he had made every effort to strike a deal with me but that I was unwilling to listen to reason.

Nevermind that I stood accused of battery on an officer - a charge which was a pure fabrication and which I was compelled to fight on general principle. Nevermind that I continued to express that I would entertain a deal so long as it didn’t include that charge. So rather than take a deal that consisted of pleading guilty to something I didn’t do, I had to fight five charges before me. I like to pretend that I wouldn’t have taken a deal anyway - that I believed justice would prevail on all counts - but I knew better. I just couldn’t bring myself to admit I did something I didn’t do. And the City Attorney decided to make me pay for that.

When you think about Aaron Swartz, a young man.who hung himself after two years of facing trumped up, Federal charges that were clearly meant to elicit a plea - I want you to think about the vast majority, the 90%, who don’t all have his name, wealth, or other available resources. I want you to think about how many people are in jail, not because they are guilty, but because the smart choice often is to take a deal rather than fight for justice. And if that’s true, even in one case, what does that say about justice in this country?

The thing about Aaron Swartz shouldn’t be what a special genius he was - it should be how utterly unremarkable his tragic fate would be if he wasn’t our beloved Aaron Swartz.

- ctizzie

thepeoplesrecord: Austerity disaster: Sandy victims thrown to...

Fri, 11 Jan 2013 20:41:08 -0500

thepeoplesrecord:

Austerity disaster: Sandy victims thrown to lending sharks, privatized relief
January 8, 2013

In a shameless display of putting politics before human needs, Congress began 2013 still scrapping over a $60 billion Hurricane Sandy relief bill fully nine weeks after the disaster hit. And if the Katrina experience is any indication, the bill may not bring adequate relief to struggling and displaced homeowners even when it is finally passed.

The damage wrought by Sandy to New York and New Jersey coastal areas was similar in scale to that to New Orleans from Hurricane Katrina in 2005. Just two weeks after Katrina hit, Congress approved $62.3 billion in emergency appropriations, along with numerous subsequent emergency funding requests to cover the damages, which topped $100 billion. Yet as noted on the Occupy Sandy Facebook page, federal relief funds post-Katrina were gutted in favor of “privatizing and outsourcing relief, making room for predatory lenders, disaster capitalists, and gentrification developers.”

According to a report by Strike Debt, the vast majority of FEMA’s resources and efforts are spent on public assistance programs that provide infrastructure restoration. Individual victims of disaster are for the most part just offered personal loans – loans that have many features of predatory subprime lending.

Disaster victims are now being expected to shoulder relief expenses that used to be shared publicly. Most people believe they are covered by their insurance policies or by the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA), but many disaster victims have found that their insurance policies include obscure provisions that exclude coverage, and the only aid that FEMA gives to individuals is the opportunity to take on more debt.

It is a failing of our austerity-strapped federal disaster relief system that it can offer little real help to individuals; and it is a failing of our private, for-profit insurance system that the legal duty of management is to extort as much money as possible from customers while returning as little as possible to them, in order to maximize shareholder profits.

Most Sany Victim Are Left Stranded

The report by Strike Debt was based on observations made at a community meeting in Midland Beach, Staten Island, on November 18, 2012, as well as on interviews with FEMA and Small Business Association (SBA) representatives, volunteer workers, local business owners, and residents throughout New York City. According to the report, there are three main sources of financial support being offered to Sandy victims: insurance, grants, and loans. Federal support is available only once private insurance has been exhausted.

For federal aid programs:

* Victims are required to first apply for loans before qualifying to apply for FEMA aid, placing the economic cost of the disaster on the individual victim.

* Aid programs favor those who can take on debt, further exacerbating pre-existing inequalities among residents.

* Federal programs are inflexible and fail to meet even basic individual and community needs.

* Relief options are not clearly communicated or well understood. Policies are so complex that even lawyers are confused.

Except for temporary living costs, FEMA grants are accessible only after the homeowner, renter or business applies for an SBA loan. If the applicant qualifies for a loan, he or she is not likely to be provided further FEMA aid. Disaster loans are made through FEMA on the basis of credit history, and favorable interest rates are available only if the applicant cannot get credit elsewhere. That means favorable interest rates are offered only if an applicant cannot qualify for credit through a commercial bank. When the banks got in trouble themselves, the Fed dropped the Fed funds rate (the rate at which they borrow from each other) to nearly zero. But no such relief is extended to disaster victims.

Full article
Photo

Police officers accused of rape get a pass from the LA Times

Tue, 08 Jan 2013 03:08:00 -0500

Police officers accused of rape get a pass from the LA Times:

#rapeculture isn’t just Delhi or Steubenville, ya’ll.

Portland: “The Story, Last Night, Wasn’t the Broken Windows”

Wed, 17 Oct 2012 15:01:27 -0400

Portland: “The Story, Last Night, Wasn’t the Broken Windows”:

uhavenothin2losebuturchains:

anarcho-queer:

By Jess E. Hadden

Yesterday afternoon, via Facebook, I heard about a solidarity march, being organized by an autonomous group. The reason: Leah from the Red & Black Cafe was being imprisoned for refusing to testify before a Grand Jury. I didn’t personally know Leah, but philosophically I supported the stand she was taking against the Federal government’s witch-hunt, targeting activists.

So, I hit “share,” passing the invitation along.

I observed the march as it approached SE Hawthorne Blvd, via 35th Ave. Since I did not recognize the people in the march (it’s hard to recognize a black bloc, especially at night, without my glasses) — and since I myself wear very bright colors — I decided to watch while maintaining a distance. Technical difficulties prevented me from livestreaming, but I still wanted to be able to report the real story.

As the marchers took the east-bound lanes of Hawthorne, I watched a growing crowd of curious people, in regular attire, following the march along the sidewalk, and inquiring about this unexpected sight.

Then, I heard, rather than saw, the sound of glass shattering. Immediately, the disastrous anti-police brutality march of last February 6th came to mind, when Occupy Portland and an autonomous group mixed like oil & water. I expected to see marchers, locals, and lookie-loos arguing and fighting with one another over tactics, and the definition of “violence.”

But that’s not what I saw. I saw the windows of Umpqua Bank — a bank that tries to present a local image, but really isn’t — smashed. And to my astonishment, I saw regular people, watching from sidewalks & bars, cheering. I found myself no longer observing the march, so much as I was observing the people observing the march.

Smash. Wells Fargo. Smash. Chase Bank. Smash. US Bank. Cheers, each time, from regular people, watching. As I passed the tables outside of the Hawthorne Theater, across the street from the Chase Bank at SE Caesar Chavez & Hawthorne, I heard people laughing and talking about how much they hated that bank. One man stood up and yelled, “Yeah! Smash that up!”

The Walgreens, at Caesar Chavez Blvd. & Belmont, appeared to be the last target, before I lost sight of the march. I heard sirens in the distance, but as far as I could tell, the march had already dispersed, almost as quickly as it had begun.

Contrasted with the march from last February 6th, there was a noticeable lack of contention about the targets of this black bloc. The only contention that appeared to exist was in regard to some marchers dragging items like recycling bins & newspaper dispensers into the streets — ostensibly, to block traffic and slow a police response. Other people, not necessarily marchers themselves, quickly removed the items from the streets. The point ultimately was moot; police vehicles came from multiple directions, and were remarkably slow to arrive.

Local corporate media and Portland Police later reported that the marchers were also attacking passers-by with glass bottles. This is, in fact, not true.

To me, the story really wasn’t about the smashed windows. I headed back to Hawthorne, to put my ear to the ground.

People were still buzzing about what had just happened. Absent, was a sense of anger regarding the vandalism. It is curious, how astonishing the absence of something can be. Inner SE Portland is, after all, a sleepy urban community.

I stopped in at Nick’s Coney Island for a drink. Police arrived, and questioned the bartender. I asked her what that was all about, to which she replied, “Some protesters took one of our chairs and threw it through the Wells Fargo window.”

Before I could stop myself, I blurted out, “That’s awesome.”

She leaned in, smiling, and replied, “I know! Fuck Wells Fargo.”

fuck yeah. people in portland are fucking down. smashing windows, and property destruction is not violence. it’s crazy that people even consider that violent. we live in a violent society of poverty, incarceration, homelessness…

This:

Fort Hernandez 14620 Leadwell Street Van Nuys, CA...

Tue, 16 Oct 2012 01:22:25 -0400

Fort Hernandez
14620 Leadwell Street
Van Nuys, CA 91405

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE Contact: Adam Rice,
tel#: 773-908-xxxx email: occupyforthernandez@gmail.com

15 October 2012

IF YOU’RE FACING FORECLOSURE, METRO CITATIONS ARE NO JOKE

VAN NUYS, CA, Oct 15 -
In what can only be understood as continued harassment on behalf of banks and retaliation for resistance, LAPD cruisers and a Department of Sanitation truck lined the street outside the Hernandez family’s Van Nuys home this afternoon and declared that furniture and a temporary wooden barricade on the property are violations of city sidewalk ordinance 56.11. The Hernandez family, facing imminent foreclosure, currently have proceedings pending before the court for two earlier 56.11 citations, noting that there are no sidewalks in front of their home and no immediate threat to public health or safety. The Hernandez family has erected the ten-foot barricade in symbolic protest of their impending, fraudulent eviction by Bank of America with the help of neighbors, the Occupy Movement, and other grassroots groups.

On Saturday, five officers from the narcotics division lurked in three unmarked cars outside the Hernandez home waiting for Ulises Hernandez to emerge. Shortly after 5:00 p.m., they seized Mr. Hernandez giving no explanation at the time of arrest. Hernandez is the spokesperson for the ongoing protest at his home, dubbed “Fort Hernandez,” devoted to putting a personal face on the foreclosure crisis.

Hernandez later said that after asking his name, police asked where he was born. When he requested a lawyer, the officers started to place the call but put down the phone, ended their questioning, and put him in a holding cell. He was held there for hours without knowing the charges against him.

In a second interrogation, he was questioned about the Fort Hernandez protest. Only after friends posted the $561 fine did police tell Hernandez that the warrant that brought out a squad of narcotics officers was for the infraction of riding on the bus without paying the $1.50 fare.

A week ago, the Hernandez family went to the LAPD Commissioner’s meeting to file a formal grievance demanding Chief Charlie Beck investigate harassment and attempted intimidation. There, Mr. Hernandez provided evidence of a 15 minute harassing monologue and attempted provocation by an LAPD Sergeant. The complaint was also in response to a pre-dawn visit from 40 LAPD officers, some in riot gear, during which, the officers issued the family a sanitation citation for sofas and armchairs that line the front edge of the property.

After his release from custody on that same day of the arrest, Hernandez summed up his three-hour visit to the Van Nuys jail: “It’s another show of intimidation. They’re trying to make us make a mistake in any way possible.” He returned home at about 9:00 p.m., greeted with cheers, hugs, and balloons from family and community supporters at Fort Hernandez.

###

shaimonster: Los Angeles Queer Resistance + 1,000,000

Thu, 16 Aug 2012 03:56:33 -0400

shaimonster:

Los Angeles Queer Resistance

+ 1,000,000

Our Adoring Fan Base (loves CAPS LOCK)

Mon, 13 Aug 2012 23:13:01 -0400

On Aug 13, 2012 4:55 PM, “Susan” wrote:
>
> WE ARE IN THE PROCESS OF FILING LAW ENFORCEMENT COMPLAINTS AS WELL AS LAWSUITS AGAINST THE PERSON OR PERSON/S WHO WRITES OR HAS EVER WRITTEN THE OLAASM TWITTER OR TUMBLR OR ANY OTHER OLAASM COMMUNICATIONS. These are being filed on behalf of the many victims of this vicious, irresponsible person/s who have defamed and harassed so many victims.
>
> IF ANYONE HAS THE ACTUAL IDENTITY OF THE person/s writing this or who has ever written any of it, Please contact OFF LIST to this email. this will be handled with the strictest of confidence. ALSO, all who wish to join in the complaint against this bad person/s, please also write OFF LIST in strictest confidence.
>
> Thank you.
>
>

"The Dark Knight Rises... Towards an Apotheosis of Capitalism" or "Fuck Your Fascist Propaganda, Chris"

Sat, 21 Jul 2012 06:41:14 -0400

*Spoiler Alert: The themes and even some details of The Dark Knight Rises are discussed in this post. If you absolutely must see this vile piece of counterrevolutionary propaganda, please download it illegally and do so before reading this.

—-

Christopher Nolan’s The Dark Knight Rises gives us a sheer brute destructive force as its villain. But the film itself is as viciously and sickly devoted to destruction as its villain Bane. Bane, as twisted as he is, could only have killed a few million Gotham citizens. This film uses the extraordinary fanatical popularity of Batman—and this trilogy in particular—to aid and abet imperialist and capitalist class oppression, the prison industrial complex, and the police state. Which is to say, this film perpetuates the brainwashing, killing, imprisonment and exploitation of bilions across the globe.

First of all, news flash for the ‘don’t read too much into it’ crowd: writer Frank Miller has frankly admitted to hating Occupy, warned about Islamicism, urged everyone to join the army, and has a penchant for making his villains Muslims: “[Occupy] is anything but an exercise of our blessed First Amendment. Occupy is nothing but a pack of louts, thieves, and rapists, an unruly mob, fed by Woodstock-era nostalgia and putrid false righteousness. These clowns can do nothing but harm America.” Which is pretty much a good description of the way an uprising of the poor and oppressed is portrayed in the putrid, false righteousness that is The Dark Knight Rises. Let’s start with its fascist notion of class warfare.

The writers give the most inspiring and freedom-loving speech to…a psychotic brute serial killer. Our vicious villain sounds exactly like Occupy when he talks politics and culture, as the people of Gotham are exhorted to take back the city for themselves and end class oppression. The people who storm the stock market and the houses of the rich are portrayed as brute thugs who would abuse anyone to get ahead, and use the court system merely to affirm a foregone undemocratic conclusion. Um, you got it backwards Nolan and Miller: That’s what the oligarchical ruling elite do, not the poor.

Then there’s the speech about the oppressed inside of prison, who are there (and this is in the script) because of the manipulative lying of cops and politicians, in their clean-the-streets-at-all-costs crusade. This is of course a villain’s speech, and when the inmates break out they’re of course bent on nihilistic destruction, not building a self-sustaining community based on mutual aid, community services, and non-hiearchical community organization, which is what the Panthers in prison were ‘plotting’.

Sometimes the screenwriters’ idiotic notion of who runs the world and who starts revolutions is not so much infuriating as plain laughable, like when they make the revolutionaries’ backed by greedy corporate types. Sure, that’s who greedy corporate types back in America. Cheap attempt to appeal to confused audiences post 2008 anti-banker sentiments. Then there’s Catwoman, who starts out a revolutionary wanting to see wealth redistribution, but then conveniently turns to a ‘clean slate’, presumably as a good hard-working little capitalist. The film isn’t even original or clever in its fascist propaganda. Once the revolution happens there of course food lines, in a cheap red-baitng reference to the Soviet Union. The pigs (I’m sorry, cops) are of course the heroes, and not one of them joins the revolutionaries. The villains are portrayed as corrupted and not really believing in the people power they espouse, hence Bane doesn’t really give the power to blow up the city to an ordinary citizen, because of course all revolutions are headed by cruel tyrants who only want to enslave everyone for power.

I won’t say this film is all bad. It’s well-crafted cinematically, and is a fascinating character study of Bruce Wayne. If only Wayne wasn’t such a dupe of people-hating police-state loving screenwriters, he could serve as a real hero, with his profound climb out of the well of his own self-protective toughness and forgetting, and his willingness to date criminals. The one real spot of redemption was Alfred saying “Maybe it’s time we stop trying to outsmart the truth. Maybe we should give the truth its day”, which makes up for the hideous ending of the “Dark Knight”, where lies are preached as good for the people and good for your loved ones. Then again, the person who reveals the truth about Harvey Dent in this film is once again the insane psychopath. It almost makes me miss “The Dark Knight”, where the fascism really only played out in its refusal to tie criminality to social relations (Why is the joker like that? Who cares, is Nolan’s answer. He just is).

On a less political note, do we really need to see this kind of back-breaking, brutal, unartful violence in a superhero film? Go watch that violence in a constructive way and see Schindler’s List or The Battle of Algiers, and keep the superhero violence on an Avengers level (a film so far superior to this one it’s like comparing Fellini to Michael Bay). I find the whole farce of ‘realism’ in preposterous superhero and action thriller films to be astoundingly idiotic. Are you kidding? You don’t get enough of life’s brutal violence and terror from real life, so you need to put it in a film about a man dressed up like a bat with high-tech vehicles that sell a lot of toys? Or is it that you don’t actually read enough or see enough (hint hint: go to an occupy action. Try chalking a sidewalk…) everyday violence in your sheltered suburban home and you want it packaged in an escapist format, so that it goes down smooth but still gives you some realism credentials?

In sum, the film is a lot like most people I know—good at psychology; bad at philosophy (esp. political philosophy). But psychology without political understanding serves only one ideological agenda—neoliberalism. That’s what they’ve always wanted for us. To rack our brains trying to figure out what motivates and drives our heroes and villains, as long as the explanation stays purely in the realm of the psychological. Political explanations are dangerous to Power.

What’s the real origin story of Batman, for example? Economic inequality. That’s what leads to street robbery, and that’s what killed Bruce Wayne’s parents. How could Bruce really save the world? Joining a revolutionary movement against class and capitalist wealth accumulation, not fighting one. Or, he could use his money and power to fund such movements, or at least fund some anti-culture industry art and action. But what a boring film that would be, huh? No batsuit.

So the true ‘master’ behind this film that so many think was made by a ‘master’ filmmaker is neoliberal ideology. You’re being sold your own oppression, people. And the seller’s names are Nolan, Nolan, and Miller. But of course if you’re rich, you should like this film. It’s made to serve you. To those who predictably want to interject that this is just ‘art’ or ‘entertainment’ and you shouldn’t read into it that much, I respond: if it’s just entertainment why does it take itself so seriously? And believe me, its political agenda is working on people. That’s how the culture industry works. Nothing is harmless. Nothing. Nolan even tried to defend his film against these kind of criticisms, which are coming in strong from the left, by claiming his film isn’t ‘political’. Again, only one type of political agenda claims anything isn’t political. It’s of course the one in power, which has carefully positioned its ideology as reality or human nature, a line most buy because it’s all they’ve ever known, and even their scientists and psychologist, and yes, ‘master’ filmmakers perpetuate it.

Your film is quite political, Nolan. Long live the 1% for which Batman fights. Give away some more money to charity, Bruce Wayne, to ease your conscience while you ‘clean up our streets’ along with the police state. And give me back Tim Burton’s Batman Returns, where the traditional Batman villains are portrayed as products of a sick misogynist classist system (Catwoman) that rejects all otherness (Penguin), and the real villain is, of course, a CEO.

Love Letters from the Frontline of the Class War

Mon, 16 Jul 2012 14:52:59 -0400

Neil C NeilC@webtv.net

occupyla.antisocialmedia@gmai Show details

IF I HAD MY WAY. YOU WOULD ALL BE LOADED IN AIRCRAFT AND KICKED OUT IN TERRORIST CONTROLLED AREAS OF THE WORLD

YOU ARE A BUNCH OF IGNORANT LOW LIFE, SCUM SUCKING, PUSS EATING, TOTALLY

RETARDED CHILDISH PUNK ASSHOLES!

NEIL C. REINHARDT

A 77 year old Pro Iraq War Agnostic Atheist Activist and 101st Airborne

Former member of management in some of Top American 500 corporations/

Also ‘formally’ a Fire Walking, Deep Sea -Scuba Diving, Paratrooping, Bungee Jumping, Spelunking, 1 & 3 Meter Spring Board Diving, Partying & Dancing, Rock Climbing, River Rapid Running, Expert Shooting, Life Saving, Body Surfing and Beach VolleyBall Playing Son of a Beach.

Still a very Truth Telling, No BS, Women Chasing (92 times Catching) Iconoclastic, Philosophizing, Crime Stopping, and a “Barking” Grumpy Old

“Son Of A Beach.”

OccupyLA: Rant to Non-Activist Friends: by a Comrade

Wed, 23 May 2012 04:06:07 -0400

OccupyLA: Rant to Non-Activist Friends: by a Comrade:

occupyla:

It really bemuses me that none of my 400+ non-activist friends seem to be at all worried about the steady erosion of their (already quite limited) rights. Further, the rapidly broadening definition of the word “violent” by governments, both foreign and domestic, is deeply troublesome. The media…

#M1GS: CNN Lies To The People

Sun, 29 Apr 2012 03:14:12 -0400

On April 27th, 2012, CNN published a misleading, inaccurate and damaging article entitled ‘LA May day observances split immigration’. While the various immigration groups who have traditionally marched on May Day have naturally been in various stages of ideological and sometimes political conflict, Occupy LA has never been part of these internal differences, and stands firmly in support of im/migrant rights. The General Strike Preparation Committee, as part of its planning for May Day 2012, actively put out the call for various immigration groups and organizations to join Occupy in building a coalition to participate in a May 1st General Strike. Despite numerous calls, these groups were not interested in participating in a coordinated effort on May Day, and preferred to stick to holding their own separate marches, rallies and events on the day. Occupy LA supports this decision, and as a mark of their respect for these groups’ work and the meaning of May Day in Los Angeles, the General Strike Preparation Committee made sure that they prioritized Im/migrant rights on their list of demands for the General Strike.

On 4pm May 1st, 2012, Occupy LA has committed to marching with the Southern Californian Immigration Coalition with their full support. The SCIC is a group which, back in October, voted NOT to participate or organize within Occupy. Occupy LA has urged all participants on their Four Winds Caravan to join this march, with SCIC’s cooperation. Occupy LA respects all groups working and organizing in Los Angeles, and recognizes and appreciates their autonomy and right not to participate in Occupy LA actions, without any ill-will or disrespect. Viva La Revolución! All Power to All People!

Sexual Predator Alert from The Radical Womyn's Circle

Fri, 27 Apr 2012 04:28:48 -0400

It has come to our attention that Sam Resnik, a sexual predator that assaulted one of our sisters is planning on attending G.A Friday (April 27th).
Below is the email that the Radical Womyn’s Circle sent him.
———
Sam,
It has come to our attention that you will be attempting to attend G.A (Friday April 27th) to issue an “apology” and to be perfectly blunt, this is unacceptable. This is completely disrespectful to —-anonymous—- and the Radical Womyn’s Circle. Especially since you did not show up to a set meeting to begin attempts at a reconcilation process. You have failed to comply with the simpliest of demands from the person you victimized and this attempted action does nothing more than prove your complete and utter failure to accept any form of accountablity. This is clearly a sneaky and under-handed attempt to divide our community which you have already made unsafe. You did not sexually assault the G.A.

You sexually assaulted —anonymous—.

If for some reason you forgot the demands that were originally listed they are below:

1. Your agreement to come to a meeting with a group of women speaking about the experiences they have had with sexual assault to give you the opportunity to understand the damage that these type of experiences cause to us.

2. For one month you agree not to attend any actions or events (G.A’s included) that —anonymous— will be attending with the understanding that you are giving her time to heal and feel comfortable within our community.

3. Within this time you take space you need to reflect on the situation and give —anonymous—- an apology that is genuine and is given with the understanding that you have hurt her and she deserves honest closure.

There is already a large organized group of people that are willing to call you out and let everyone know in detail the reason why we do not want you there. We have been in contact with the wimmin from PCC as well and have become well informed of what transpired there. Next time you try to think of a way to fix things- you should strongly consider the fact that regardless of what you think this IS NOT YOUR “OWN PERSONAL ISSUE.” This is not going to go away easily and we refuse to stay silent as you violate more of our sisters and make a mockery of our community by thinking we are so ignorant that an incident of this magnitude could be swept aside with an empty apology.

We are organized.

We are unafraid.

and we will not stop.

A Message of Solidarity from The Black Riders

Fri, 27 Apr 2012 01:22:00 -0400

Power To The People! Revolutionary Greetings!

The Black Riders considers itself to be the new generation Black Panther Party for Self-Defense. We are a Black Revolutionary organization based in South LA that stands against terrorism, racism, capitalism, and imperialism. Our organization was created in 1996. We started off by organizing numerous Bloods and Crips to stop gangbanging and committing Black on Black violence. We helped to transform the criminal gangsta mentality into a positive Revolutionary mentality. We also created a ‘watch a pig’ program to patrol our community and police the police. Since then our organization has been subjected to military style raids, harassment, and arrests of numerous members on trumped up charges. Our leader, General T.A.C.O has received the brunt of the repression. He has been set up and politically imprisoned many times in the past. The state has strapped a G.P.S. tracking device on his leg and has banned him from political activity and association. We will continue to fight back and exercise our 2nd amendment Constitutional right to bear arms and defend ourselves against any and all attacks. May day represents a day of resistance to capitalism, racism, and Imperialism across the planet. As we work together in solidarity with Occupy L.A and others, it will raise awareness amongst poor oppressed people that our fight against oppression should be based on a race and class struggle!

Power To The People!!!
Power To The People!!!

Smashy.

Mon, 23 Apr 2012 00:28:25 -0400

Smashy.