Two video photographers capturing a moment in history. Have no idea what the plans are for their footage.

Just received this morning from “Dont Suppress OWS” working group a notice of a conference call for 9 p.m.

RE: Comments/Agenda:There’s 22 days to build for the day of mass action against the suppression of occupy and tens of thousands of people who support the occupy movement who need to know about the rally and march on Tuesday February 28 at 4pm and why they need to be there. There needs to be creative ambitious plans to get this out in a major way, reach a lot of people, and work with them to make this a powerful action, so let’s develop a strategy and some plans.

Discussion going on about the proposal from the adhoc working group on the suppression of OSW. Notice the multicolored hat at the top left of the picture (image partially blocked by video camera)..

Have no idea who she was. Definitely opposed to the proposal. Her objection made little sense but it was respected out of the protocol of OSW General Assembly. Kept barking at me to stop taking her picture and at first I did stop until I noticed that she said nothing to the videographers and others shooting away.

The Atrium, Wall Street Area, Meeting With General Assembly, OCCUPY WALL STREET. Saturday, February 4, sometime after 7 p.m.

I’ve been working with an ad hoc group that wants to do a mass action rally against the blatant political suppression – via NYPD – of OCCUPY WALL STREET in New York City and the attack on the movement in general across the country. The purpose of the nonviolent rally is a quick infusion of visible energy and support to OWS  in this time of crisis, to stir up the spirit of millions in the wake of the NYPD attack on Zuccotti Park, evicting OWS. I was concerned that though the spirt of OCCUPY is manifest, the NYPD eviction could be interpreted as a defeat for OCCUPY and that the movement has been thwarted.

Members of the ad hock group believe that a quick response is necessary as a response to the police eviction. So, I was there in the Atrium with the ad hoc group seeking approval to move forward with the plans: An interesting experience for this writer who did not participate directly in the Zuccotti Park action. Most of the 50-plus GA members seemed generally supportive of what we wanted to do. There were at least four who didn’t and, based on the rules formulated by OCCUPY, one could block the support. And, of course, there were four.

The guy holding the white form ins his left hand showed up well after the discussion began and, complaining that an OWS Facilitator treated him with disrespect, voted to block the plan. He was invited to address the assembled audience; there were hopes that he could be swayed to be supported. He wasn't.

It would be easy for me to heap criticism on the OWSer in the picture above but I won’t. That goes to the three others who also blocked. I am new to the game. The blocks, we eventually learned, reflected internal discord in OWS. There were attempts by the Facilitator and members of the ad hoc group and others from the audience to try to ameliorate the block of the OSWer in the picture above and the blocks of the others but it was to no avail.

So, it was decided that the proposal be tabled. The ad hoc group is to meet this coming Thursday to work on, discuss the Friendly Amendments of the four blockers and to re-appear before the General Assembly as soon as possible.

The creator of the sign was one of the <em>blockers</em> and he was insistent that the proposal include include information that there would be no burning of the American Flag at the rally.

For a variety a reasons, I have not been as detailed about the February 4 OWS GA as I would like. One reason, timeliness: I am publishing this today when I should have done it last night but was beat and need to whip it out  today, thus no time for many, many rewrites. Another, I haven’t discussed with the other members of the group what they thought and are thinking.

And one more reason: I Don’t wish to offend anyone until I have a great grasp of what I’m involved. Not that I’m saying I would offend anyone after I had the grasp.

CASABLANCA — In a packed courtroom, Mouad Belrhouat, 24, an anti-monarchist rapper who performs as El-Haqed, or The Spiteful, was convicted last Thursday of assault and sentenced to prison and a fine.

Article by Aida Alami 

Pat Buchanan spoke out for the first time about his absence from MSNBC on a Monday radio show.
Speaking to conservative host Hugh Hewitt, Buchanan denied reports that he has been officially suspended from the network following the release of a controversial book, “Suicide of a Superpower,” which claims that America’s European values are being drowned by waves of immigration. Buchanan has not been seen on MSNBC since Oct. 22.

Gabriel Rey-Goodlatte of ColorOfChange.org reports in an email today:

Pat Buchanan and his white supremacist ideology will no longer be on TV, thanks to ColorOfChange.org and CREDO Action members.

Buchanan hasn’t appeared on MSNBC since we launched our campaign, and MSNBC President Phil Griffin just confirmed that Buchanan is suspended indefinitely1,2 because some of his ideas aren’t “appropriate for national dialogue on MSNBC.”3 While Griffin said he hasn’t decided whether Buchanan will return, media analysts say it’s very unlikely he will be allowed back.4 This is a huge victoryfor everyone who cares about keeping hateful, racially divisive rhetoric and misinformation out of the mainstream media.

Read Huffington Post story here.

Bill O’Reilly’s penis envy?

The New York Civil Liberties Union has filed court papers challenging the Nassau County Police Department’s refusal to disclose public records concerning allegations that the department launched an internal affairs investigation at the behest of Fox News pundit Bill O’Reilly of a detective whom the TV personality believed was romantically involved with his wife.

Click here for more info.

I am so glad that NYCLU lead with TV Personality instead of TV Journalist.

Bull Connor Theophilus Eugene “Bull” Connor (July 11, 1897 – March 10, 1973) was the Commissioner of Public Safety for the city of Birmingham, Alabama, during the American Civil Rights Movement. Connor directed the use of fire hoses, and police attack dogs against peaceful demonstrators, including children during the Civil Rights era. Read more here.

Check out the WORD’s Michael Hensley’s story on NYPD’s Stop and Frisk taking place in primarily Big Apple Communities of Color.

This year has given us simply too many worthy contenders for FAIR’s annual P.U.-litzers–recognizing the stinkiest journalism of the year. A big part of the problem was that so many outlets were striving to distinguish themselves with especially awful coverage of the Occupy Wall Street movement. So to note those lowlights, we bring you a special installment of P.U.-litzers: The OWS edition.

Read full story here.

Dear Professor Morris,

It’s embarrassing that I have to get to this point for any class, but unfortunately, here we are. It’s time to man up or shut up.

As you are well aware, I have been absent for more than half the class this semester. At this point in time in my life, I’m in a scenario where I have to reorganize my priorities, and this class is unfortunately an obstruction for me.

Unlike other students who have dropped this class, I’m not backing out because of the course material or your teaching. Quite the contrary, when the semester started, I was excited to take a legitimately HARD journalism course. Unfortunately, it also happened to be my 5th class, and when coupled with my current (sometimes never ending) job quest, It’s just turned out to be too much.

Therefore, as unfortunate as it is, I will be drafting up the materials to Withdraw from this class with a W, and will be coming by your office during your Monday hours for signatures (so that I may properly turn in all the paperwork by the Wednesday, Nov. 17th Deadline)

As much s**t as you took/take from the other students in the class at times, I want to let you know that I appreciated your academic style and the course setup.

It’s just a shame my work and attendance ethic could not meet up to the standards I held the class in. For that, I apologize.

Thank you for your patience, attention(!) and assistance(!) through this phase of my life, and hopefully in the future we can meet/teach under better circumstances.

-With Regret,
-[Name Withheld of Course]

As of this date, there are four students still enrolled.

So, what is this about? Read on.

Truth can wither in the throes of too much self-aggrandizement.

For the record: Casavant, with her mentor’s considerable support and help, was selected for a Chips Quinn Scholar but she never represented the WORD in that matter (as well as manner) as she alleged in her post. But that’s a minor quibble. She was blocked from the Hunter WORD facebook page for lying and deceit and for calling, absurdly, for a boycott of the publication because facebook friends didn’t agree with her reasoning. [They were a lot more tolerant of her than I was but they didn't know she was lying. I did.]

Also, there was no posting of 9/11 jokes in the WORD. Nor was there ever any consideration for that, only for a serious discussion in a restricted forum about what was appropriate and inappropriate. It has to be said that sometimes some facebook “friends “act like morons and have to be quickly dispatched.

More to come on this after the period ends, that is, the time I allotted  for a response from the news services regarding this writers queries and alerts. Also, here is the link to her tumblr page. It’s beginning to make sense why her tenure as a newspaper reporter probably was short: The truth can be daunting for those who prefer to engage in un-truths and deceptions.

Nevertheless, this whole matter will make for a great discussion in my journalism classes.

!

On my way home from Hunter College

Picture so much better as size gets bigger.