By The Associated Press

12 December 11

SEATTLE -- Occupy Seattle demonstrators planned a march and two rallies Monday as part of the campaign to shut down West Coast ports.

Organizers said on their website they would rally at 1 p.m. at Westlake Plaza in downtown Seattle then march to Port of Seattle property for rallies at 3 p.m. and 6 p.m. near the Spokane Street bridge and under the West Seattle bridge.

The website says demonstrators do not plan to break into port property or to sabotage equipment, but organizers say they plan on blocking traffic into the Port of Seattle in solidarity with other West Coast movements. Occupy marches and rallies also are planned Monday in Tacoma, Olympia, Vancouver, B.C., and other port cities along the coast.

By Kate Linthicum, Los Angeles Times

11 December 11

Protesters from Occupy L.A. and other groups plan to form a picket line at the Port of Long Beach on Monday to try to shut down traffic at at least one shipping terminal. Similar actions are planned at ports up and down the West Coast.

The target of the Long Beach protest is SSA Marine, a shipping company. Occupy L.A. demonstrator Michael Novick said protesters chose SSA Marine because "they embody all the ills of this economic regime we live under."

Protesters say SSA Marine has engaged in unfair labor practices and pursued objectionable environmental policies. Their other complaints include the company's role as a military contractor during the Iraq war and its connection to Goldman Sachs, an investor in SSA Marine.

By occupywallst.org

12 December 11

NYC will Target the Vampire Squid- Goldman Sachs In solidarity with the West Coast Port Shutdown on December 12th, the NYC Occupy Movement vows to disrupt business as usual for the those that exploit our nation's ports – and profit from the exploitation of tens of thousands of working people laboring behind the scenes ...of the international trade system.

In New York, Occupy Wall Street is descending upon a single Wall Street giant – the owner of half of one of the planet's largest transportation and shipping outfits – Goldman Sachs. Goldman Sachs is the vampire squid who sucks the blood of workers.

Goldman Sachs' shipping companies throughout the United States, specifically in LA, cynically pit thousands of citizens and undocumented immigrants against each other -- for low wage jobs with unreliable hours -- Goldman Sachs and its shipping companies reap record profits off the backs of workers.

By The Associated Press

11 December 11

SAN FRANCISCO (AP) — Police have arrested dozens of people during a raid of an Occupy San Francisco encampment outside the Federal Reserve building early Sunday.

San Francisco police Officer Albie Esparza says that around 4 a.m. officers arrested about 55 people for illegal lodging.

By The Associated Press

12 December 11

OAKLAND, Calif. — Anti-Wall Street protesters up and down the West Coast are joining an effort to blockade some of the nation’s busiest ports from Anchorage to San Diego.

Demonstrators are scheduled to gather at 5:30 a.m. to march on the Port of Oakland, which Occupy protesters successfully shut down in November. Marchers expect to descend even earlier on the sprawling port complex spanning Los Angeles and Long Beach as the work day begins. In Portland, Ore., the protest will get under way at 6 a.m.

By Scott Galindez, Reader Supported News

11 December 11

We find ourselves at a turning point in the Occupy Movement. Progressives, liberals, populists, labor activists, peace activists, environmentalists ... all now have the country's attention.

We have a golden opportunity to unite and build a future that we've all been fighting for over the years. Our biggest obstacle is not the corporations or the government - it is ourselves.

Unfortunately, we find ourselves once again fighting each other. If we can't get along with our natural allies then how we will we ever build the true majority we need to change our world and build a just, sustainable society?

By WestCoastPortShutdown.org

10 December 11

Oakland, California -- Today, rank-and-file workers from the ILWU and Teamsters, local union leaders, veterans, and occupy organizers explained plans for the upcoming West Coast Port Shut Down on December 12 called for by the Occupy Oakland General Assembly.

Community pickets and mass mobilizations to blockade the ports are being organized by Occupy movements in San Diego, LA, Oakland, Portland, Tacoma, Seattle, Vancouver, and Houston.

Occupy Anchorage, Occupy Denver, and Occupy Wall Street are targeting Goldman Sachs and Walmart on the 12th. Solidarity actions are being planned as far away as in Japan.

By Guardian UK

10 December 11

Police have evicted Occupy protesters from Boston's Dewey Square, tearing down tents and arresting about 40 people. The raid brought to an end a 10-week demonstration spawned by the Wall Street occupation in New York.

Police moved in at about 5am and the operation lasted less than an hour. A police spokeswoman said the protesters were "very accommodating". Two dozen demonstrators linked arms and sat down in protest before the arrests began. The arrests were for trespassing, disorderly conduct and resisting arrest.

By Ernest A. Canning, BradBlog

10 December 11

Many of the individuals who were swept up by last week's LAPD raid on the Occupy LA encampment at Los Angeles City Hall were arrested even as they attempted to disperse in accordance with police directives, according to testimonials from some who were detained in the early morning hours of November 30th and held on misdemeanor charges for days after.

Their videotaped testimonials [some of which are posted below] both corroborate and reinforce the excessive force and post-arrest abuse charges detailed in our previous article on the Occupy LA raid, in which detainees charged that they were hand-cuffed behind their backs and left to languish inside L.A. County Sheriff's Department (LASD) buses for eight to nine hours without access to food, water, medicine, or toilets as they were left to urinate on themselves in their seats.

By Sean Captain, Wired

10 December 11

"If this is the revolution, this is our Valley Forge," said a doughy, middle-aged man with frazzled long brown hair.

I was shivering when we spoke at 7:30 a.m. Thursday morning - as I had been shivering for the seven previous hours. Arriving about midnight on Wednesday, I'd missed the day of cold rain that had left the Occupy DC camp somewhere between damp and drenched. Without a sleeping bag or pad (both lost in a police action a few days earlier) and in 35-degree weather, I settled into a soggy upholstered chair under a mostly dry blanket. The loose weave welcomed the wind that whipped through our flimsy yurt on the barren granite and marble of Freedom Plaza along Pennsylvania Avenue..

By Associated Press

09 December 11

BOSTON — A diminished Occupy Boston encampment held its ground early Friday after police decided not to immediately enforce a midnight deadline Mayor Thomas Menino had set for them to leave a city square.

Two protesters were arrested after police said they moved a tent into a street and refused to move, blocking traffic. But there were no other serious confrontations between the demonstrators and supporters who gathered at the site as the deadline loomed.

Boston police Supt. William Evans told protesters that even though Menino set the deadline, he did not specify when the camp would be shut down.

By Will Kane, SF Chronicle

07 December 11

At least one protester tried to set up a tent on San Francisco's Justin Herman Plaza this morning, hours after police and Occupy demonstrators said no tents would be allowed and sparred into the night.

Police quickly moved in and removed the tent before requiring the dozen campers who had spent the night sleeping under the stars on the plaza to get up and stop sleeping in the park.

By Patrick Meighan, Writer - The Family Guy

08 December 11

It was horrible to watch, and apparently designed to terrorize the rest of us. At least I was sufficiently terrorized. I unlinked my arms voluntarily and informed the LAPD officers that I would go peacefully and cooperatively. I stood as instructed, and then I had my arms wrenched behind my back, and an officer hyperextended my wrists into my inner arms. It was super violent, it hurt really really bad, and he was doing it on purpose. When I involuntarily recoiled from the pain, the LAPD officer threw me face-first to the pavement. He had my hands behind my back, so I landed right on my face. The officer dropped with his knee on my back and ground my face into the pavement. It really, really hurt and my face started bleeding and I was very scared. I begged for mercy and I promised that I was honestly not resisting and would not resist.

By Robin Bravender & Abby Phillip, Politico

08 December 11

The mix of protesters from across the country, including union workers, progressive activists and community organizers, said they’re opposed to the corporate greed embodied by the street known for housing special interest groups and offices of major corporations. Adopting the slogan of the Occupy Wall Street protesters in New York, the activists spilling onto K Street said they were fighting for the interests of the “99 percent” of ordinary Americans.

Demonstrators celebrated their success after shutting down K Street for several hours on a busy weekday. “Thousands of unemployed workers and community members are engaging in peaceful civil disobedience this week to make the voices of the 99 percent heard above the power of the 1 percent and their K Street money machine,” said Stephanie Mueller, a spokeswoman for the American Dream Movement, a coalition of labor and progressive groups.

By Quinn Norton, Wired

08 December 11

On one end of the spectrum, defeats for Occupy could mean continual police crackdowns in every major city in America until protesters either give up in defeat or imprisonment — which could either end the movement or force it to become more creative in its tactics in its fight against a system that’s built to increasingly expand the gulf between the rich and poor.

On the other, victory could create constitutionally protected encampments dotting city parks on the national map for months — or even years — should occupying be held as a protected right under the First Amendment’s guarantee of the right to assemble in protest.

By Will Kane, SF Chronicle

07 December 11

Police raided the Occupy SF camp early today, arresting 70 campers and protesters at Justin Herman Plaza and clearing out the two-month-old encampment, authorities said.

Officers, sheriff's deputies, firefighters and public works crews converged on the camp at the foot of Market Street at about 1 a.m. today and gave protesters five minutes to clear out, said Officer Albie Esparza, a San Francisco police spokesman.

By Anna Lekas Miller, Alternet

06 December 11

“I have a confession to make,” said Jim Gerritsen, an organic seed farmer from northern Maine, “This is my first time in New York City. I had no good reason to come until today.”

Jim Gerritsen was one of several farmers, farm laborers, and food activists that came from across the country to the country to the Farmer’s March this past Sunday—a rally and march designed to connect the struggles of rural farmers held captive by the corporate control of big agriculture with the Occupy movement in New York City.

By Felicia R. Lee, The New York Times

05 December 11

As a political movement, Occupy Wall Street has attracted plenty of headlines, buzz and creative energy. Now, this being New York, it has its own film series. Rooftop Films, in partnership with several movie houses throughout the city, is presenting a free series of four films from Dec. 13 to 16 featuring issues that ignited the demonstrations.

Rooftop Films is a nonprofit best known for showing movies outdoors (hence the name). In a statement released on Monday, Dan Nuxoll, the program director for Rooftop, said the series was prompted by a public outpouring over the events surrounding Occupy Wall Street.

By Adam Parris-Long, Yahoo! News

05 December 11

City of London Police have sparked controversy by producing a brief in which the Occupy London movement is listed under domestic terrorism/extremism threats to City businesses.

The document was given to protesters at their “Bank of Ideas” base on Sun Street – a former site of financial corporation UBS. City police have stepped up an effort to quell the movement since they occupied the building on 18 November, with the document stating: “It is likely that activists aspire to identify other locations to occupy, especially those they identify with capitalism.

By Dylan Ratigan, MSNBC

06 December 11

Today the Occupy movement took another step, moving from cities, colleges, and Wall Street to the actual courthouse — the kangaroo court, if you will, corrupting our nation.

Occupy Congress descended on the bull’s-eye of Washington today — a beautiful thing in our view! Members from a broad range of organizations marched to the Capital and then spread out to meet with their representatives, air their grievances, and as they say, “take back the people’s house.”

What better way for the 99% to take a stand against the growing wealth gap than confronting our crushingly ineffective and misaligned Congress, which has not only worked to preserve and strengthen the finances of the richest Americans, but is half full of millionaires itself?

This comes on the heels of a standoff at Washington’s McPherson Square, where 31 Occupiers were arrested, with some Occupiers forcibly removed.

By Dylan Ratigan, MSNBC

07 December 11

I’m troubled by the images of Occupy protesters being forcibly removed from McPherson Square park here in Washington, D.C. I didn’t like it when the protesters were removed by force in New York or Oakland, either, but Washington is different. Washington is our public square, it’s where the nation comes together to voice our views, air our grievances, and most important, petition our government. That’s a right granted to all of us by the First Amendment of the Constitution.

Throughout our history, the people have come to Washington to express through peaceful protest their ideas and feelings. The Civil Rights marches. The anti-abortion protests. The Million Man March. The Tea Party. Whether you agree with them or not, these are sign posts on our national journey toward forming a more perfect union.

By CNN

06 December 11

Protesters from the Occupy movement and other groups are planning to converge on Capitol Hill Tuesday to air their grievances in front of members of Congress. Members of a broad range of organizations, including unions and community groups, are expected to travel to Washington to take part in an event dubbed "Take Back the People's House."

Many of the participants plan to assemble in the morning before marching toward the Capitol, according to information posted on the website of Progressive Maryland, a nonprofit organization that says it works to improve conditions for working families.

After arriving at the Capitol, marchers say they intend to fan out for meetings with representatives and "occupy" Congressional offices until closure. Not all participants have meetings scheduled, so some protests are expected in the area around the Capitol.

By Naomi Colvin and Bryn Phillips

06 December 11

Occupy London is 50 days old on Monday and it's time to take stock. Unlike those occupations across the world that started off small and were able to expand gradually, our occupation was born in the full glare of the media on 15 October, a "big bang" launch that meant we had to hit the ground running. Since then we have expanded to three sites across three London boroughs, each of which is a hive of activity. We currently have 39 working groups based at St Paul's alone, operating across topic areas as diverse as direct democracy, outreach and sanitation.

As a non-hierarchical movement, Occupy is inextricably a joint endeavour. Everyone who joins us – even for an evening - holds equal decision-making weight. At the same time, for those of us who are fully immersed in the process, Occupy is a challenging full-time job that is often combined with other commitments. Seeing the sacrifices people make to keep this project going has been humbling.

Over the last week or so, there have been a variety of news stories - some better intentioned than others - challenging us to aspire to even higher levels of efficiency, transparency and accountability. We take it as a compliment that, after only seven weeks, we are regarded as significant enough to warrant the kind of tough questioning that much more powerful organisations find hard to respond to. Unlike them, we intend to rise to the challenge.

By Adalia Woodbury

06 December 11

When OWS first started, the corporate media ignored it hoping it would just go away. When that didn't work, the 1% turned to propaganda. First they mocked the occupy movement describing them as lazy kids who don't know how the world functions. Occupy got stronger. The propaganda got uglier, but was discredited. OWS still gained popularity, surpassing the 1% astro-turfing Tea Party.

That's when the 1%'s minions and supporters turned to creative applications of the law, while overlooking legal niceties like the first amendment. Property was seized. Scott Olsen and Dorli Rainey became national symbols of the violence that Occupy protesters endured.

Olsen survived two tours of Iraq, only to be seriously injured, when a tear gas cannister hit him in the head, while peacefully protesting in Oakland, California. He is still recovering from the injuries he sustained and he is still an Occupy supporter. In a recent, on the Ed Show, Olsen explains why he continues to support the Occupy Movement.

By Chris Hedges, Truthdig

05 December 11

By Joe Conason, National Memo

05 December 11

When the reigning wordsmith of the Republican right says that he is "frightened to death" by Occupy Wall Street, there must be a compelling reason for him to admit his fear. Such was the confession of Frank Luntz, famed pollster and consultant whose advice has been sought by Fox News, Newt Gingrich and many other leaders in the political and corporate worlds. Speaking before the Republican Governors Association in Florida this week, Luntz went on to warn its members that the public wants to raise taxes on the wealthy, deeply distrusts Wall Street, and even thinks capitalism is "immoral."

By Jillian Anthony, GOOD

05 December 11

Finally, our generation is taking a stand, and we have a chance to be a part of something more than serving lattes or spreading guacamole on a Chipotle burrito for a few bucks an hour. We're faced with a choice: continue working an unfulfilling low-wage job or unpaid internship, or become part of something meaningful and future-shaping.

By Joshua Holland, AlterNet

02 December 11

It's disappointing that Naomi Wolf's response to my criticism of her November 25 Guardian column – and earlier blog-post -- doesn't address the many misstatements of fact, logical leaps and baseless assertions which I highlighted.

Wolf instead spends much time on a general discussion of heightened federal surveillance and the increased coordination between federal and local law enforcement agencies, which she says I am naïve not to acknowledge, and devotes an enormous amount of space to establishing that federal law enforcement agencies have had some sort of role in at least monitoring the Occupy Movement and offering some guidance to local law enforcement agencies.

By The Boston Channel

03 December 11

A Suffolk Superior Court judge says Occupy Boston protesters can stay in an encampment on Dewey Square until Dec. 15.

After a four-hour hearing, Suffolk Superior Court Judge Frances McIntyre took both sides' arguments under advisement and said she would issue a ruling in two weeks time. Until then, she said, an injunction that bars the city from booting the protesters remains in place.

The protesters called the decision a "victory."

By Quinn Norton, Wired

03 December 11

Yes, it has come to this - cops and Occupy protestors at one of the last major encampments in the United States are fighting over a kitchen sink.

Boston police moved in with heavy force on Thursday's General Assembly meeting in Boston's Dewey Square to remove a DIY grey-water sink intended to help Occupy Boston members wash their dishes and comply with sanitation requirements that the city says the encampment is violating.

But the Boston cops who surround the Financial camp day and night enforce an embargo on anything durable entering the camp. So after Occupiers gang-rushed the 10-foot-long industrial sink into the camp Thursday night, the cops forced their way into the camp to remove the 'contraband.'

One officer guarded the sink, while he was surrounded by a cold and frustrated crowd chanting, "Let us do the dishes!"

By Zaid Jilani, ThinkProgress

03 December 11

The Richmond Tea Party has been alleging that it is being singled out for unfair treatment from the city of Richmond, Virginia after officials have opened a tax audit of the group. These Tea Partiers complain that the city has been much more lenient on Occupy Richmond (which recently faced arrests after resisting an eviction) and that 99 Percenters are getting preferential treatment.

Yet the Richmond Tea Party just got an unexpected ally in its claim against the city - Occupy Richmond.

By Naomi Wolf, Guardian UK

03 December 11

What a firestorm my Comment is free blog post in the Guardian, "The Shocking News Behind the Crackdown on Occupy", has unleashed: some have prai