Free Republic

NEW YORK: Sparked in Tunisia, popularized in Egypt, spreading in Europe and increasingly in the United States; demonstrations, strikes, riots and occupations of public squares are a growing global trend and an international phenomenon. Inspired by the peaceful, nonviolent uprisings in Egypt and elsewhere – New York’s Occupy Wall Street movement has caught on like wild fire throughout the United States and has spread to over 80 countries worldwide. The metastatic anti-capitalism movement began this past September at Liberty Plaza in Lower Manhattan, two blocks north of Wall Street – symbolically, beneath the office windows of the world’s leading financial...

New Jersey Republican governor Chris Christie said Tuesday that he understands the growing Occupy Wall Street movement, adding that demonstrators have a right to be upset with the economy. “What they’re saying is ‘The government’s not working for me anymore, the government is not being fair, the government is not helping me the way that they should,’” Mr. Christie told a crowd of supporters. “I understand why they’re angry. Because you look down at what’s happening in Washington, D.C., it should disgust all of us,” the New Jersey Republican added. “You have a president who’s unwilling to drag people to...

With the Occupy Wall Street protests gaining steam in the U.S., it seems obvious to link the movement with the other grassroots movement that recently shook up American politics: the Tea Party. President Barack Obama did it this morning, telling ABC that the protesters in downtown New York are "not that different" from the Tea Party: both the right and the left feel "that their institutions aren't looking out for them." My colleagues' pieces number among a flurry of others pondering the parallel. Michael Scherer recast Occupy Wall Street as the Tea Party of the American left. Roya Wolverson suggested...

Have fun!!! Some of the posts are a real hoot. The fleabaggers are getting ticked.

A convicted sex offender from California who registered his address at the Occupy Portland camp spoke to FOX 12 about his past and reasons for moving. "I'm not here to harm children," said Raymond Curtis. "I'm not harmful to children." Curtis said he left Mendocino, CA, started driving and ended up in Portland. Since last week, he's been living in Lownsdale Square among the dozens of other demonstrators in solidarity with the national Occupy Wall Street movement. "I found there was an opportunity to maybe change the system and I've put everything I have into it. Here I am," said...

The now-global Occupy Wall Street movement rolled into its 31st day on Monday, with an appearance by three Americans freed after being held in Iran highlighting activities on the U.S. West Coast. The three Americans -- released after being convicted of spying in Iran and held for several months -- were set to address a crowd of people camped out in front of Oakland, California, City Hall at 5 p.m. PT (8 p.m. ET). Josh Fattal, Shane Bauer and Sarah Shourd were to make "their first West Coast public appearance" since leaving Iran, weeks after the two men were freed...

President Obama and the Democratic leadership are making a critical error in embracing the Occupy Wall Street movement—and it may cost them the 2012 election. Last week, senior White House adviser David Plouffe said that "the protests you're seeing are the same conversations people are having in living rooms and kitchens all across America. . . . People are frustrated by an economy that does not reward hard work and responsibility, where Wall Street and Main Street don't seem to play by the same set of rules." Nancy Pelosi and others have echoed the message. Yet the Occupy Wall Street...

Seattle police and city parks employees went into the Occupy Seattle protesters' encampment in Westlake Park at 7 a.m. Monday morning and cleared out the 150 or so tents and police made nine arrests. The 150 Occupy Seattle tents in Westlake Park were taken down by 7:30 Monday morning as Seattle police and Seattle parks employees moved in to clear what the city has long said was illegal camping on city property. Police also arrested nine people. All the tents were down within a half-hour, according to Assistant Police Chief Mike Sanford. The protesters were told to take the tents...

I'm Getting Arrested is a creative Android app that, according to developer Quadrant 2, was inspired by a real-life "Occupy Wall Street" incident. It lets you quickly notify your family, friends, and crack legal team (if you have one) of your situation with a single tap of your finger.

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From the outside looking in, Occupy Wall Street's headquarters at Zuccotti Park may look like a clutter of tents and sleeping bags. But just a few blocks away, the so-called Trojan Horse of this well-organized movement is in plain sight. That's where the Occupy Wall Street supply room is located, a stockpile of food, clothing, and medical supplies housed in a former bank on the corner of Broadway and Exchange. "We get anywhere from 100 to 400 boxes a day," protester Saum Eskandandi told NBC New York as he led a tour of the supply room. "People have been sending...

Today, as he belatedly dedicated the Martin Luther King Jr. memorial on the National Mall, President Barack Obama made the questionable claim that MLK Jr. would have supported the class-conscious and envy-motivated Occupy Wall Street movement. The Washington Times reports: “At this moment, when our politics appear so sharply polarized, and faith in our institutions so greatly diminished, we need more than ever to take heed of Dr. King’s teachings,” Mr. Obama said, who praised King’s belief in the “creative tension of nonviolent protests.” “If he were alive today, I believe he would remind us that the unemployed worker can...

It seems Occupy Charlotte protesters have no place to go to the bathroom downtown. This is causing some problems for both the protesters and city officials. Protester organizers have sought to rent portable toilets but city ordinances won’t allow that. Police are also on hand to make sure protestors can’t do that. Some protesters have started to do what comes naturally on the lawn. “You can smell something is not right”, says Ted Mark on of about two dozen die hard Occupy Charlotte protesters who are shuttling people to bathrooms across town. “When you got to go you have to...

Hey Wall Street “occupiers.” What do you suppose would happen to the United States if the rest of us – I’ll call us “the other 99.99%” – started behaving like you? Will you allow this question to “occupy” your minds for a moment? Seriously, what would happen to our country if we all chose to do nothing but take up space on “public” property (or even on other people’s private property as some of you have done), consume resources at other people’s expense, and spend several days in a row not producing things? Have you even thought of what might...

"Legalize Marijuana. Gov. Brewer Has Alzheimers (sic). Lying Whore." That's what was written on the protest sign that welcomed us to the "Occupy Phoenix" demonstration in downtown Phoenix this afternoon -- and at least that sign was spelled correctly (almost). There were hippies, teachers, communists, anarchists, stoners, militant black guys, people dressed as cows, people dressed as cops, people with guns, and they all have one thing in common: they're mad as hell and they're not gonna take it anymore. What Phoenix's occupiers are mad about varies, depending on who you ask. According to Darren Lansing, who was interviewed while...

Say what you want about the assorted professionals, philosophers, bums, radicals, students and wage slaves comprising Occupy Wall Street, but they've managed to pull off the impossible. In the center of one of the world's most expensive cities, a place where the average tourist family of four spends roughly $3,500 per visit, they've accomplished something even the guidebooks wouldn't dare promise: New York living on less than $10 a day. Lexi Ricciardelli, a protester from Central New Jersey, says she packed light for her first foray into protesting. She loaded her backpack with a notebook, makeup kit, pocket knife, bandana,...

To The Awake & Inspired, This Saturday at 5pm we take: Times Square ...

Occupy DC protesters took their anger out on Americans for Tax Reform president Grover Norquist by protesting in front of the Washington D.C. non-profit's 12th street office on early Thursday evening. DC's Metropolitan Police cruisers stood nearby as demonstrators chanted, "Occupy Wall Street. Occupy K Street. Occupy everywhere and never give it back." "We are here today to protest against Grover Norquist and Americans for Tax Reform, because they're obstructionists, and they impede the flow of the democratic process. Their philosophy, which has pigeonholed Republican politicians into a corner, and say that compromise on increasing taxes for anyone--individuals and corporations...

At his recent news conference, President Obama praised Occupy Wall Street, saying, "It expresses the frustrations that the American people feel." Former House Speaker Nancy Pelosi praised the protesters, saying, "God bless them for their spontaneity." Vice President Joe Biden claimed the protesters had "a lot in common with the Tea Party." And the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee is circulating a petition seeking 100,000 signers to declare, "I stand with the Occupy Wall Street protests." The political calculation behind all this is obvious: Democrats hope Occupy Wall Street will boost their party's chances in next year's election as the tea...