Free Republic

Democrats see minefield in Occupy protestsBy The Associated Press • Wednesday, November 16, 2011 **SNIP** So far, Democrats have tried to have it both ways - embracing the movement's economic concerns while steering clear of its rougher edges. "I think people feel separated from their government," President Barack Obama told ABC News. "They feel that their institutions are not looking out for them." The president has said his jobs plan, which would boost taxes on high earners, is a way to address some of the protesters' concerns. The Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee has gone a step further, posting a petition,...

Occupy Boston protesters vow they won’t be forced out of their tent city like New York’s Wall Street campers were yesterday — even as Mayor Thomas M. Menino promised they can stay — but legal advocates launched a pre-emptive strike anyway to bar the city from evicting them. “Mayor Menino you should know, hell no, we won’t go!” a protester tweeted at @Occupy_ Boston, marking progress online as a chanting group marched through downtown last night.

Occupy Wall Street activists grappled with the future of their movement after a police raid and a day of legal drama ended their hold on a Manhattan park that had become the symbolic center of the world-wide protest.

SALT LAKE CITY — Hours after a man was found dead inside a tent at Pioneer Park, Salt Lake Police Chief Chris Burbank announced Friday he could no longer allow camping in the park or anywhere in the city. "We can no longer have individuals camping on our streets," Burbank said. "We as a city just cannot tolerate this going on." Burbank asked members of the Occupy Salt Lake protest group to start packing immediately and to be out of the park by sunset Saturday. The ban on camping overnight also includes the Gallivan Center, where a group was recently...

ATLANTA (CBS Atlanta) – The home base for Occupy Atlanta has tested positive for tuberculosis. The Fulton County Health Department confirmed Wednesday that residents at the homeless shelter where protesters have been occupying have contracted the drug-resistant disease. WGCL reports that a health department spokeswoman said there is a possibility that both Occupy Atlanta protesters and the homeless people in the shelter may still be at risk since tuberculosis is contracted through air contact. “Over the last three months were have been two persons who have resided in this facility who have been diagnosed with confirmed or suspected infectious tuberculosis...

Sheriff Joe threatened for probing eligibility Says intimidation comes from drug lords, Obama fans: 'I'm not sure which are worse' Amid death threats, Maricopa County, Ariz., Sheriff Joe Arpaio is scratching his head over the major media's virtual silence about his decision to investigate Barack Obama's eligibility to run for re-election. "Getting death threats is nothing new for me," Arpaio told WND, referring to his national reputation as a tough enforcer of immigration laws. "But why has the media has decided to black out all news of our Obama investigation? That's what I don't understand. "I'm a controversial guy and...

It’s crime all the time at Zuccotti ParkBy LARRY CELONA, JAMIE SCHRAM and KIRSTAN CONLEY Last Updated: 9:36 AM, November 7, 2011 Tent City is becoming Camp Crime. Occupy Wall Street squatters at Zuccotti Park have been busted in recent weeks for incidents ranging from petty thefts to menacing threats and from low-life drug sales to sicko sex attacks, law-enforcement sources told The Post. The complaints have been a near-daily phenomena since Oct. 11, just about three weeks after a few dozen anti-greed activists began occupying the private park. “There’s been a spike in crime the last few weeks,” one...

(Visiting DC)The Obama Administration announced its objection to including President Roosevelt’s prayer on the World War II Memorial in Washington DC. The Obama White House said the prayer would dilute the message of the memorial.Todd Starnes reported: Republican lawmakers and conservative activists are expressing outrage after the Obama administration announced its objection to adding President Franklin Roosevelt’s D-Day prayer to the World War II Memorial in Washington, D.C.The objection was noted during a congressional hearing on Rep. Bill Johnson’s (R-OH) bill – the “World War II Memorial Prayer Act of 2011.”“It is unconscionable that the Obama administration would stand...

In 1928, Herbert Hoover was elected POTUS with 58.2 percent of the vote and 444 EVs to Al Smith's 87 EVs. During the Great Depression of the 30's, which started during his first, and only, term the encampments of the homeless and unemployed were named: "Hooverville". An empty front pocket pulled out of one's trousers was called the "Hoover Flag". He was decimated in the 1932 Election by FDR garnering only 39.7 percent of the vote. Some have begun to "tag" these "Occupy" Encampments as "Obamaville". This clever, little ploy needs to pick up some steam in order to identify...

OAKLAND -- Work crews and employees of trashed buildings in downtown Oakland set to work this morning cleaning up from the post-midnight riot that broke out after Occupy Oakland's daylong general strike. Graffiti was spray-painted on many buildings along Broadway from 14th to 16th streets, where masked vandals shattered windows and threw objects at police. Officers responded by firing tear gas and flash-bang grenades and making dozens of arrests. ... At the Men's Wearhouse, which had closed Wednesday and put up signs in support of the general strike, windows were shattered. A box nearby read, "Cop uniform surrender box." No...

BEGIN TRANSCRIPT RUSH: Well, finally I find some sound bites here that are not about me. Okay. We're gonna start at number 15. Folks, I'm sorry to do this but I just got the sound bite roster and I'm going through here and it's all about me. It's got Sharpton talking about me, Brokaw talking about me, everybody talking about me -- and I don't want to play those. So 15 through 19 is where we'll start, and after that, you know, I gotta play it by ear. How you doing, folks? Great to have you... (interruption) Oh, I'll play...

The Oakland Police Officers’ Association just sent an “Open Letter to the Citizens of Oakland” exposing what appears to be a corrupt effort by the mayor’s office of the City of Oakland to direct public employees to support the Occupy Oakland “Stop Work” general strike on Wednesday, Nov. 2. But in the State of California, giving public employees free time off is the crime of the “theft of time.“ Furthermore, the mayor and staff who planned or facilitated this action would also be personally liable to financially reimburse the city for “improper use of city time.”

Does rape now go unreported at Zuccotti Park -- and no one cares? So it would seem. The Post first reported -- weeks ago -- that women were being molested by members of the rag-tag Occupy Wall Street group holding court at the Zuccotti encampment. The response: Ho-hum. Now comes news -- reported in The Post on Sunday -- that a woman was sexually assaulted at the site around 6 a.m. Saturday. Other “Occupiers” scared off the assailant -- but nobody called the cops.

Wall Street protesters in Zuccotti Park battened down the hatches yesterday as the early October snow turned their tents into igloos, but the close quarters also made easy pickings for one predator. A sex fiend barged into a woman’s tent and sexually assaulted her at around 6 a.m., said protesters, who chased him from the park.

POLICE were today probing reports that a woman taking part in an 'Occupy' anti-capitalist protest was gang raped in her camp. Officers are hunting a group of men who entered the site in George Square, Glasgow, where demonstrations were taking place, early this morning. The men were not part of the protest and were allegedly drinking and chatting with those occupying the land outside Glasgow's City Chambers. (snip) "There was a gang of about three men in the tent with the girl at the time and she sounded as if she was crying while they were doing God knows what...

The FBI Announces Gangs Have Infiltrated Every Branch Of The Military The FBI has released a new gang assessment announcing that there are 1.4 million gang members in the US, a 40 percent increase since 2009, and that many of these members are getting inside the military (via Stars and Stripes). The report says the military has seen members from 53 gangs and 100 regions in the US enlist in every branch of the armed forces. Members of every major street gang, some prison gangs, and outlaw motorcycle gangs (OMGs) have been reported on both US and international military installation

Russell and Patricia Caswell are a hard-working couple who may soon have their American Dream taken from them by the unholy alliance of local and federal law enforcement officials seeking to cash in on the Caswell’s property. The Caswells face this dilemma even though they have broken no law and have spent their entire professional career working to combat crime with the very police force that now seeks to take their property though civil forfeiture. What is happening to Russ and Pat, however, is by no means an isolated instance and local law enforcement’s end-run around state laws designed to...

At a food pantry in a Chicago suburb, a 38-year-old mother of two breaks into tears. She and her husband have been out of work for nearly two years. Their house and car are gone. So is their foothold in the middle class and, at times, their self-esteem. "It's like there is no way out," says Kris Fallon. She is trapped like so many others, destitute in the midst of America's abundance. Last week, the Census Bureau released new figures showing that nearly one in six Americans lives in poverty — a record 46.2 million people. The poverty rate, pegged...

<p>In a sweeping move that opens a new front on the housing crisis, the U.S. government on Friday sued 17 financial firms, including the largest U.S. banks, for selling Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac billions of dollars worth of mortgage-backed securities that turned toxic when the housing market collapsed.</p>