Gracey's Tilted World

itsallgone:

Just thirteen days ago I was eight months pregnant.

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There are no word to describe the outright RAGE I feel having read this.  

These officers should not be surprised when they become targets… just sayin’.

(Source: )

youthiswasted:

This is a thoughtful and thorough piece on why it is critical to support #occupy’s Buy Nothing Day on Black Friday (traditionally the busiest day of the year for retailers). Instead, support local businesses, make gifts, and above all, pay cash so that the credit card companies are the ones which also feel the pain.

whatiremembered:

Christmas must be different this year.  For anyone who believes that Occupy is worth supporting, that economic revolution is necessary, possible, and imminent, that consciousness is evolving en masse from a hypnotic state of collective isolation and fear of the other to an awakened awareness of the singularity of existence, we must recognize that this Christmas is the moment of truth for all of us as consumers.  Are we willing to let go of our own personal displays of grotesque affluence?  Can we express our Love for one another without funneling more wealth and power to the 1%?  Can we celebrate the birth of a man who said:

“If you want to be perfect, go, sell your possessions and give to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven. Then come, follow me.”

without buying each other more possessions?  I know that we can, but we need to make it clear that we should.

I am not here to be a Grinch and the last thing I want to do is cancel Christmas.  Like all the Whos down in Whoville, I like Christmas a lot, and I know nothing can keep Christmas from coming. I just want to open up a conversation about how this can be done with minimal economic footprint. 

Many people have begun to think along these lines with the idea of “Shop Small Saturday” to follow retail feeding frenzy of Black Friday.  Which was a nice idea until it was co-opted by American Express.  It is worth noting that Amex has invested in a significant development effort to make it easy for you to search for local small businesses and like them on Facebook, however it appears that Amex is only populating this list of merchants form within their own merchant database.  It’s not like Amex is going to help support local merchants that aren’t paying them ridiculous fees to be able to accept their card for purchases.

That being said, these are the goals I’ve set for myself this Christmas (and I’d be eager to hear more suggestions):

1)      Buy everything with cash – Even if you’re using an ATM/Debit card instead of a credit card, and your own bank doesn’t charge you a fee to pay with an ATM/Debit card, they are certainly charging merchants a fee which inevitably inflates the cost of the purchases you make.   It is important to understand that banks not only make money by charging consumers usury fees as high as 30% for extending unsecured credit, but they also make money from merchants on each transaction which can be as high as 2.5%, and it’s always higher for smaller businesses.  Businesses make a flat rate commitment in order to be able to accept and process credit cards, but once their revenue percentage exceeds their monthly commitment, they begin paying a percentage of every sale.  Furthermore, banks will charge them nuisance fees for processing smaller transactions.

This is important and applicable even if you bank at a credit union.

2)      Give an experience or service – Last year my dad got me a certificate for a ninety minute hot rock massage and it was easily one of the best gifts I’ve ever received.  In fact, I’ll just put it out there now in case anyone I know happens to read this: the only thing I really care about getting for Christmas this year is another massage. 

Services and experiences such as massages, housekeeping, landscaping, tickets to local theater company performances, manicures/pedicures, guitar lessons, tarot readings, cooking classes, and personal training sessions, all create a minimal financial foot print.  The value is created immediately on behalf of the recipient and wealth is transferred directly to the individuals who are creating the value.  It is the most direct and immediate transaction you can make with no one standing in the middle insisting they get a cut of it because they took on the investment risk necessary to make it all possible.

3)      Give gifts I can purchase directly from their creator – It’s nice to buy from a small local merchant, but if I’m buying someone a revolving tie rack it’s really only marginally better than getting it at the mall.  There are artists and crafters who still make things themselves and some of them even sell the amazing things they make.  I even know some of these people already and you probably do too.  If you don’t or aren’t sure where to start, you can always check Etsy, but this necessitates the use of a credit card.  So if at all possible try to shop local and if you can try to meet and get to know the people who made your gift.   They are people worth knowing and supporting.

4)      Give second hand or antique gifts – I know most of us have at least one relative who will look down on us for getting them a second hand gift, but that’s why we have words like antique and vintage.   There are so many things in this world that we simply don’t need more of.  Everyone already has a digital camera and getting a marginally better one isn’t going to dramatically improve the lives of most amateur photographers, but a classic Polaroid 600 will make anyone the center of attention at the next party they go to. 

If you really want to make an impression call up your local Goodwill or Salvation Army and ask if they have a “premium” shop in the area.  These days second hand shops tend to filter out the best donations and send them all one location.  You’ll end up paying a bit more than you would at the regular Goodwill, but you’ll also be supporting a local charity rather than faceless multinational corporation hell-bent on convincing you the purpose of your existence is to acquire their products.

5)       Make something myself – Anyone who loves me will want this from me more than anything I can buy them anyway.

6)      Make a charitable donation – I’ve heard that this is what Jesus does for everyone on his Christmas list.

If for some reason you find yourself at the mall on Christmas Eve, unsure of what to do or how you ended up in such a bind, just remember that even if you buy something with a corporate logo stamped on it, behind that logo is the imagination of a person like you.  Whatever you buy this Christmas, remember the people who dreamed up the gifts you’re giving.  They were able to imagine something that never existed before, and make it real.  If such a thing is possible, then it is just as possible for us to imagine a world that never existed before and make it real.

(Source: whatIremembered)

Yes, I know this is a huge wall of text, but it is well worth taking the time to click on the links, watch the videos, and get past the whitewash that is the corporate media regarding the Occupy Movement.

It has become abundantly clear, at least to me, that WE have to BE the Media. We have to do more than just occupy public spaces, we have to OCCUPY THE CONVERSATION, and cover the events that are unfolding within our own country.  Read the following, watch the videos… EDUCATE YOURSELF.

abaldwin360:

This comes from reddit user PingTiao

If you don’t want to post up a wall of text on your tumblr, at least re-blog this as a link, there needs to be accurate information out there about this.

The media spin is pretty ridiculous on ALL the networks this morning. Even CNN is whitewashing their coverage from yesterday, and they were doing the best half assed coverage of the major networks yesterday!

In the morning, protestors showed up at Liberty Plaza/Zuccotti Park at 7AM. When at least 1,000 protestors were there they marched to various blockaded intersections near the NYSE. They tried to disrupt people getting to work and engaged in various peacefully “disruptive” tactics which were sometimes dealt with less than peacefully by the police.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AykRe2ECu4I

Here are some clips you won’t see on the news:

Woman gets hair pulled by police (the real video, not the one the networks barely tried to peddle.)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PbeSfDbAAmI

Here is a beautiful angled shot of the incident:

http://imgur.com/dbINW

This is the video CNN, Fox, MSNBC, and others were showing in response to the reported hair pulling incident when they mentioned it throughout the day.

http://ireport.cnn.com/docs/DOC-705266?on.cnn=1

Human Chain VS NYPD Bus: This happened at one of the disrupted intersections around the NYSE.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=i4Gg64QLfWo&feature=youtu.be&hd=1&t=31s

Sit In Near NYSE Busted Up by Police:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AODsFCH_EJY&feature=player_embedded

CNN keeps having errors on their own coverage: (tell me if you notice this too?)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GG0xPfi5nSs

Reuters is also having “technical difficulties” regarding OWS videos. CNN and Reuters are far from alone in this:

http://uk.reuters.com/video/2011/11/1%C2%AD8/occupys-day-of-action?videoI%C2%ADd=225305881&videoChannel=75%EF%BB%BF

Too Crowded for Motorcycle Cops:

http://www.infowars.com/nypd-overwhelmed-by-occupy-wall-street-protesters-motorcycle-cops-retreat/?utm_source=twitterfeed&utm_medium=twitter

Snatch and Grabs Near NYSE:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EvLyxodbSjM

One of many journalists arrested who decided to ignore the police warning to stay away. They sure hate the scrutiny.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=00CLssMbc-k&feature=share

Some helicopter shots:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jXe5lKtwWHw&feature=related

I am certain there are many more videos of this part of the day, but no major network was anywhere near this action, except Russia Today if you consider them a major news source. CNN, seemed to be the only ones putting in a morning effort and they just hung out near the empty Zuccotti Park.

The protestors decided to reassemble at Liberty Plaza/Zuccotti Park.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AykRe2ECu4I

After the park had slowly filled up, because police bottlenecked the park through one entrance, protestors took down the barricades and reclaimed the park:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IRNXttY6_Xc

Here’s a CNN video that still plays:

http://www.youtube.com/user/cnn?blend=1&ob=4#p/u/23/GG0xPfi5nSs

The police flipped their shit, called in riot police and pretty much any reinforcements they could:

(videos of this are already censored.)

Here’s a bunch of raw footage of the police retaliation:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y6qb3RC-Vtk

Police beating a protestor bloody:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nIZ3ZWRpA5s&feature=channel_video_title&t=1m30s

A bloody photo of the protestor being led away and a hokey official story:

http://cityroom.blogs.nytimes.com/2011/11/17/protesters-and-officers-clash-near-wall-street/?hp#bloodied-protester-charged-with-attempted-assault

Police attack protestors with barricades:

(video censored)

The police surrounded the already barricaded and penned in park and tensions mounted. Then the police engaged in “snatch and grab” tactics, going for protestors who are more visible members whom they keep thinking are “leaders”.

This is how the tactic is being used against Occupy Wall Street:

Large numbers of police surround the protestors at any time, sometimes a hundred, sometimes several hundred. TARU, HMS, and various other law enforcers video tape the protests and pick out people they think are leaders. Taking out leaders should slow things down, plus they get to start up files of these people and interrogate them. During briefings, the police are told, “when you have the order and the opportunity, take these people.” These are some of the people you see arrested when police seem to pick and choose from all the protestors they want to arrest.

Here’s an example:

(Video censored, I’m really trying to find mirrors, but I have seen the videos before, they’re being removed and blocked quickly though)

Protestor thrown over Zuccotti Park barricade:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xzfcJqV6uks

After the police retook the park by force, everyone decided to go off on other actions. The most publicized were when protestors went into subway stops to ask people to join up for the rally at Foley and the march across the Brooklyn Bridge. News outlets were erroneously reporting we were going to shut down the subways and cause chaos. The truth is that protestors effectively used the subways to bring tens of thousands of people to Foley Square, they did not want to shut them down!

As Fox News reported more than most, but all networks reported plans for subway chaos:

http://video.foxbusiness.com/v/1281472607001/protesters-to-rally-on-subways-city-hall-and-bkln-bridge

This is what protestors did, this was the Occupy Subways plan all along:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vk8pPkdgHLc

Protestors have done similar things many times before as an outreach action. We truly aren’t the violent anarchists we have been smeared as being. There are more videos than this of different people occupying on different days, just look around:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IXfylbl_bVM

Well, after all the occupations of subways, which were not violent BTW, tens of thousands of protestors rallied at Foley Square:

There was Hip Hop:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tGetw-06kio

Some more footage of larger than reported crowds from the ground:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DaTfWZrXODU

Protestors listening to police scanners heard the police estimate was 30,000 protestors. CNN reported it and showed helicopter shots. You can not find the helicopter shots, or many of the other videos from their coverage yesterday. I saw it myself and now the videos are being blocked. Maybe they’ll come out later today, but the morning media… even CNN, is completely whitewashed.

Here’s one screen cap of the helicopter footage. The helicopter did pan around and show a crowd of tens of thousands, who all rallied there from various parts of the city, gathered together through Occupy Subways, which was to use the subways effectively to protest.. NOT shut them down.

http://occupywallst.org/article/november-17-historic-day-action-99/

This also was projected on the Verizon building for people crossing the Brooklyn Bridge to see. Many cars honked in solidarity.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CxG4g62rnd8

Keith Olberman has some good footage near the end of this video. I get the feeling he saw what I did, but didn’t record it before the chopper was told to buzz off.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1NRirhZffgc&feature=related

Hey, look! I found the helicopter footage without Candy Crowley’s commentary! It took a few hours… ridiculous!:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PHjS2r55L_k

The expected bad commentary, with decent bridge footage and credit for large numbers and peacefully getting over the bridge, from Fox News last night:

http://video.foxnews.com/v/1281914870001/occupy-protesters-march-on-the-brooklyn-bridge

I will try to find more video evidence of the day’s events.

Hopefully I did a better job than the morning news shows compiling this information for you. It is unfortunate the major networks are blocking and burying many of the videos I saw them run live yesterday. There is much more compelling evidence, but it’s being censored.

For your entertainment, here is a good article about the Fox News smear campaign, just for shits and giggles.

http://mediamatters.org/research/201111160003?frontpage

Anyway, morning news, no mention of all the people who rallied at Foley Square. It was so many people, it took hours to cross the Brooklyn Bridge because the queue was so long. Most people stayed on the pedestrian walkway, and apparently CNN became so disgusted by the mostly peaceful protest they covered ALL DAY, that they removed or blocked most of their footage. I can’t even find mirrors! All that is being reported is 400 and some odd arrests, 7-10 cops with such severe injuries as finger stitches and vinegar splashes, and more smears.