December 16, 2011 - Daily Blog (#OWS)

Occupy Wall Street Sign of the Day

12:05 AM: Democracy Now! on the port shut down



12:08 AM: To Hitch (RIP Christopher Hitchens):



12:12 AM: If you're looking for a cool, productive way to help, you can contribute to this Occupy Oaklander's mission to Sockupy Oakland.

1:21 AM: Occupy Oakland medic (see her in blog roll on the left) Mic Checks Oakland Mayor Jean Quan:



1:25 AM: Article on Christopher Hitchens....

11:54 AM: Bill Black on Dante's Divine Comedy, Banker's Edition.

1:09 PM: 100 reason to be a freeway blogger.

1:15 PM: From Sam Seder: After 19 months, Bradley Manning hearing...



1:35 PM: Seven minutes of Bach from my Mom (the version you liked best can't be imbedded):



1:55 PM: Noam Chomsky on media manipulation strategies.

3:23 PM: Inside Occupy Wall Street's Next Occupation:

At first glance, Occupy Wall Street's plan to take over a gravel lot in SoHo tomorrow seems a bit strange. After all, the property isn't all that close to Wall Street. It's owned by Trinity Church, which hardly seems like the kind of symbolic target that OWS found in Brookfield Office Properties, the politically connected owner of Zuccotti Park. And the occupiers have already gotten free food and meeting spaces from Trinity; they now risk the appearance of biting the hand that feeds them.

Of course, organizers behind #D17, as the occupation attempt is known on Twitter, see things differently. Trinity Church is one of the city's largest landowners and strongly tethered to the 1 percent: Five of the 20 members of its vestry, or church parliament, for example, hail from high-ranking roles at financial firms such as Citigroup and Merrill Lynch, and others come from the insurance behemoth AIG, a market research firm for energy investors, and even Brookfield. The church's two wardens, the men directly below the rector who are responsible for its assets, run an investment bank and group of mutual funds....

The Trinity Church parcel, which sits along Canal Street next to the publicly owned Duarte Plaza, has been slated for occupation by OWS even before the eviction from Zuccotti Park. Though the parcel is several subway stops from Wall Street, OWS organizers now see it as their best shot for re-establishing the kind physical presence that many occupiers still consider vital to the movement. But with the church dug in against the idea, claiming that the site is reserved for a future school, organizers have been forced to get creative. In late November, they marched to the lot along with sympathetic clergy members and civil rights leaders to hold a candlelight vigil. They've also reached out to local politicians....

Still, it's far from clear how tomorrow's occupation will play with the public....

3:28 PM: So, tomorrow, December 17 marks 3-month anniversary of Occupy Wall Street, Bradley Manning's Birthday and the one-year anniversary of the self-immolation of Mohamed Bouazizi (the event that started the Arab Spring).

3:53 PM:

BootsRiley Boots Riley
Crime is not the problem. Poverty is the problem. Mayor Quan is not the problem either. Capitalism is. #OccupyOakland #OWS

4:37 PM: If we don't get some cool rules ourselves - pronto - we'll just be bogus too:



4:44 PM: No Justice for Bradley Manning.

6:04 PM: Bill Hicks 50th Birthday....





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