Occupy has vowed to return to Art Walk tonight, Thursday the 9th, and “Chalkupy” the sidewalks, as well as staging

an open community art and music space in Pershing Square with a community potluck and a “Really Really Free” Market.

Occupiers also plans to have a portion of the evening dedicated to the victims of LAPD violence at last month’s event including those arrested for chalking, those injured by police projectiles and other law enforcement weaponries, small businesses and artists who had to shut down early, and residents and patrons who the LAPD kept from entering or existing buildings until early the next morning.

In advance of tonight’s Downtown Los Angeles Art Walk, members of Occupy were arrested earlier today for chalking Pershing Square. The three arrested Chalkupiers were bused in from Occupy Oakland. Two were released, and one remained in jail on an outstanding warrant.

The Los Angeles Police Department–which came down hard on  Occupy last month for chalking the sidewalks, streets and crosswalks–is taking a firm stance on sidewalk chalking, as is the city. Los Angeles Police Department Capt. Horace Frank, of the Central Division, told the Los Angeles Times that his officers plan to enforce the anti-chalking law if they see it being broken:

It’s a violation of the law, it’s vandalism, and we’re going to make an arrest,” he said, adding that he has received frequent emails from downtown property owners complaining about damage from chalk.

“My BlackBerry is burning up with pictures of businesses being vandalized.”

Meanwhile, though the city has declined to press charges on the majority of those arrested for chalking–which seems like a huge waste of everyone’s time and a form of intimidation–no permits will be issued for  chalking:

Richard Schave, a founding member of the Art Walk non-profit, asked the city if it would be possible to create a “safe space” for the group to protest, after LAPD clashed with protesters at last month’s “Chalk Walk.” The city said that it could approve a permit for protesters to congregate at Pershing Square, but not if the event included chalking, which it does not consider lawful.

The President of Public Works, Andrea Alarcon, sent Schave a letter saying that the city considers chalking illegal activity:

“Unfortunately, a request for a permit to assemble in Pershing Square for the purposes of ‘chalking’ does not fit within the parameters of our permitting structure because the use of chalk to deface public or private property is not lawful.”

9:15 p.m: According to Channel 9 News, Chalkupy is going on at Pershing Square and no arrests have been made. While there is a police presence, it’s waaaay smaller than last month’s; and police say they are taking things on a case by case basis, with no arrests so far tonight. Meanwhile, some of the chalkers are heading to Art Walk.

Will update at next news report.

Photo: Twitpic @FreshJuiceParty

HT: LAist

Joan Rivers, after giving away autographed copies of her new book in front of Costco yesterday, handcuffed herself to a shopping cart inside to protest the mega-mart big box store declining to carry her new book.

Costco won’t carry Joan Rivers’ new book because it has off-color jokes on the back cover. Costco has the right to decide what merchandise they carry.  Joan claimed that selling her new book wherever she wants is

A free speech issue and a First Amendment right.

Uh no. Joan has the right to free speech in public. She has the right to publish a book. And booksellers have the right to decide which books they choose to sell. It’s America!!!! We have rights! Just we don’t always understand them.

Consumers have the right to buy books at other stores aside from Costco. (And they should! Support your  independent booksellers!).  Some gossip report, which I caught on TV while eating an awesome tuna sandwich at the Casting Office while avoiding rush hour on the 101, showed Joan giving away her new book in the Costco’s outdoor nosh pit before marching inside with a bull horn. The “news” left out some of the crazier bits, which thankfully LAist caught:

She declared that the property wasn’t Costco’s, since it belonged to the Indians, and that it was like “Nazi Germany” for not permitting her book to be sold there. Ultimately, Rivers clamped on handcuffs, attaching herself to a shopper’s cart as the police and confused shoppers (with cellphone cameras) looked on.

She added:

Next, they will be burning the Bible.

before marching into the warehouse store without showing her membership card and handcuffing herself to a shopping cart before security called the police who escorted her away without pressing charges.

Joan came off like a crank. And her publishers should have realized that big box stores are fussy about packaging, then adjusted the cover material if necessary. Or simply created a

Banned by Costco!

wrapper for copies shipped to other stores.

If I had a precocious six-year old I might not want them reading smutty jokes at Costco. I’d want my kid to learn dirty jokes in the right environment– at the family dinner table!

Comparing a store to Nazi Germany because they won’t carry an item is just dumb. Health food stores don’t carry certain brands because of the ingredients. That’s their right, and it doesn’t make them Nazis, fascists, totalitarian, etc.

Hopefully for Joan Rivers’ sake, the book is funnier than her stunt.

Screenshot: TMZ

UPDATE: At a press conference on Friday morning, Assistant Police Chief Boyd Long said the number number of arrests was about 50.

While most people were keeping an eye on Occupys in Oakland and Nashville, between 1:45am and 2am Friday  the San Diego Police Department in riot gear descended on both Occupy San Diego encampments, Civic Center and Children’s Park. According to Occupiers, SDPD Assistant Chief Boyd Long had told them they could remain in Children’s Park as long as no tents were erected, and Occupiers had complied.

At Civic Center Plaza, many Occupiers sat down and chanted, singing protest songs and loudly telling the police they they too are the 99%. Despite this, there were between 20 and  44 arrests, including the media team, ex-military and a legal observer, and several protestors were struck and/or thrown to the ground. 

Occupy SD’s Facebook page says

There were several people beaten by the police today as well as over a dozen arrested at Occupy SD. Chief of Police Landsdowne was seen laughing and smirking behind a line of 300 cops with batons while occupiers were being beaten assaulted by the police on his direct order. Please call the Mayor and Chief of Police Landsdowne and tell them that infringing on people’s freedom of speech and assembly by beating and assaulting peaceful protesters is inhumane. San Diego Mayor Jerry Sanders: (619) 236-6330 and SDPD Chief William Lansdowne (619) 531-2777

All personal items and donated food and medical supplies were confiscated, and barricades were installed at Civic Center Plaza. Police said that Occupiers could return, but without belongings.

Side note, the NBC video above shows some very, shall we say, husky cops. In addition to registering displeasure with the SDPD’s actions, residents might also wish to call for physical evaluations including giving them the stamina tests cadets must pass before joining the force, since some of those guys look plainly out of shape.

HT OB Rag
photos: screen shots from NBC7

BART’s board of directors met today in a special open session to address the August 11 suspension of cell phone service, which the majority of directors soundly decried, putting interim BART general manager Sherwood Wakeman in the hot seat.

During the meeting BART experienced

technical difficulties

and did not provide live feed.  How um, odd….An earthquake was also felt during the meeting.

The following was gathered off Twitter feeds and news reports of the meeting.

BART police chief  Kenton Rainey told the board that he learned about the August 11 planned protest on

a blog webpage

and made to decision to shut off cellphone service for the riders’ safety. In a dreadful spin about the August 11 incident, BART spokesperson Linton Johnson had said

There are a multitude of groups … flying in from all over the country. They want to do surprise attacks, basically, on BART riders.

Weirdly BART doesn’t consider the full platforms caused by baseball games and drunken concert revelers to be

a threat to the safety of disabled passengers

A”no protests” card was pulled out by a BART employee during the meeting, while an advocate for the disabled informed the BART board of directors that shutting of cellphone service put people at risk–without texts, deaf people can’t get emergency info.

One cellphone-using BART rider said that in his opinion the claim that any 1st amendment right was violated

is specious and trivializes our 1st amendment freedoms

However, other speakers disagreed.  Michael Risher from the ACLU commented that

Just because something can pass constitutional muster doesn’t mean it’s right.… we hope in the next few weeks BART will develop a policy that they won’t turn off cell phone service except in most extraordinary of circumstances

and went on to say that he hoped that

the board takes opportunity to reaffirm free speech rights.

A representative from Indybay.org, a citizens’ news service pointed out that

The tactic of shutting down communications sets bad precedent, could spread to other police forces, this is historic.

Krystof (one name) from No Justice No BART stepped up to the mic, saying

I’m the guy that comes to your meetings.  I’m not anonymous to you!  Your counter-protest strategy is failing miserably…We don’t want you to improve free speech policy. We already have a policy called the Constitution..We don’t need your permission to protest. We are going to do it anyway. Our free speech zone is wherever we are standing,

adding that his group would continue to protest.

One speaker, Twitter handle dto510, aksed the board to vote regarding the cellphone shutdown:

I spoke to BART Board noting evidence of safety threat on Aug 11 was wrong, and asked for vote on cellphone shutdown.

The BART board of directors weighed in. While at the top of the meeting, BART’s assistant General Manager of Operations Paul Overseir said a small hiccup in service could lead to overcrowding and danger on the platforms (again baseball games, oh heck football games, let’s just say it!) and BART chief counsel Burrows pointed out that there are designated free speech areas, the BART board of directors seemed generally unhappy about the cellphone shutdown.

Board member Robert Raburn called the August 11 action imprudent adding:

This will become a landmark case. We must protect 1st amendment. Speculation about protest doesn’t warrant cell shutdown.

Board member James McPartland (on speaker phone):

This is the start of a national discussion on authorities’ power to shut off cellphones.

Board member Joel Keller:

People have a right to cellphone service but BART also has to deal sometimes with situations of imminent danger. When two rights collide, the right to safety and the right to free speech, we should err on the side of not allowing the suspension of cell phone service. Once we allow cell phone service, we have to protect that right.

(the right to safety is not in the Constitution, fyi.)

Board member Lynette Sweet asked the staff to explain the chain of command that lead to the suspension of cell service, and BART Police Chief Rainey replied:

I am responsible for the actions of August 11.

BART’s interim general manager Wakeman says he ultimately authorized Aug. 11 decision on a recommendation from Rainey, and that the FCC was not notified. Nor was BART’s board of directors

Sweet asked about ADA compliance, if was that part of the equation. Wakeman replied

There are alternative means of communication for the  disabled.

Sweet said she has not been quiet on the issue because it is such a big issue, and that the board not being involved in the August 11 decision and the shooting of Charles Hill  shows that BART has not learned any lesson from the shooting of Oscar Grant in 2009. Sweet also said:

I agree with Krystof. Our counter protest strategy is not working.

Board member Tom  Radulovich said that the shut down of cell service was unjustifed and that BART should admit their over reaction and mistake regarding cellphones

even if it’s hard

Sweet concluded

There’s a way to have both safety and open communications.

BART board president Bob Franklin, who said that people have an immediate distrust of BART, still defended Aug. 11 cellphone shutdown, saying

It wasn’t about silencing protesters

much to the outrage of people following the live tweets. No really, then what was it about?

Franklin also said:

I supported Chief Rainey’s tactic to shut down cell service because of safety. We can’t take that chance.

That kind of double speak and attitude will lead to more protests.

@pixpls tweets and #opBART were invaluable for this story.

Photo: YourAnonNews

Websites run by the Tunisian government have been successfully targeted by Operation: Tunisia, a cell within Anonymous’ Operation Payback, in a distributed denial of service  action, which dropped this image and message on several government sites before the Anon-fueled DDoS knocked them offline. (Reminder: DDoS is illegal, and people have been arrested for it).

The message from Anonymous is to the point:

The Tunisian government wants to control the present with falsehoods and misinformation in order to impose the future by keeping the truth hidden from its citizens. We will not remain silent while this happens. Anonymous has heard the claim for freedom of the Tunisian people. Anonymous is willing to help the Tunisian people in this fight against oppression. It will be done.

This is a warning to the Tunisian government… It’s on the hands of the Tunisian government to stop this situation. Free the net, and attacks will cease, keep on that attitude and this will just be the beginning.

The sites affected include: pm.gov.tn, rcd.tn, benali.tn, carthage.tn, bvmt.com.tn, sicad.gov.tn, indrustrie.gov.tn, commerce.gov.tn,  douane.gov.tn and ministeres.tn. You can see screen shots of  some  pages here and here and here.

Anonymous has been assisting Tunisia dissidents with a strong efforts and dedicated actions, much as they did–and continue to do–in Iran responding to that country’s post-2009 election revolts, with codes, the manual mean of DDoS, and with spreading the word about what is happening in the country.

It is reported that many of the Tunisian DDoS-ers are based in that African nation, but with Anon being an Erisian global disorganization, there is help from around world with a bunch of people supplying code that helps Tunisians move past Internet filters and surf anonymously.

The country’s already tense situation escalated on after New Year’s Day when Tunisian President Zine El Abidine Ben Ali’s  government blocked WikiLeaks, a Tunisian WikiLeaks mirror and media sites reporting on Wikileaks; several cables from Embassy Tunis released by Wikileaks going as far back as 2008 were highly critical of the Tunisian government.

Within nine hours of the government shutting down access to Wikileaks, numerous sites linked to the government were decorated with Anonymous/Operation: Tunisia’s message, then knocked offline.

As of this writing many government sites still remain offline. Tunisian pro-government hackers have returned the favor according to more than one report; Tunisian blogger Lina Ben Mhenni, a university assistant, told Al Jazeera:

The government has cracked down on activists by hacking our emails, facebook and blogs. They have deleted a few pages in which I was writing about the public protests.

According to reports on Facebook, there have been dozens of injuries and at least four deaths in the recent spate of protests, though this is difficult to confirm.  Al Jazeera is covering the protests–which include police surrounding high schools and colleges to prevent demonstrations after

[A]bout 250 demonstrators, mostly students, attended a peaceful march on Monday afternoon to express their support for the protests in the region of Sidi Bouzid, a union source told AFP.

The march then turned violent when police tried to contain the protesters by firing tear gas canisters, one of which fell into a mosque.

Enraged, the protesters then reportedly set fire to tyres and attacked the local offices of the ruling party, the source said.

Because of tech issues centering around  DNS servers hosting governmental as well as business and media sites (DNS=domain name service, a hierarchical naming system built on a distributed database for computers, services, or any resource connected to the internet), some non-governmental sites have been unavoidably affected.

As pointed out in the Wikileaks cables, corruption in Tunisia is rampant, so Operation: Tunisia has also targeted Tunisian President Ben Ali’s wife, Leila Ben Ali and her extended family the Trabels are knocking off websites linked to the  family’s businesses.

In an egregious and morally reprehensible move, the government has cracked down on access to religious leaders and local police and officials are harassing Muslim men with beards. According to the Tech Herald which has done excellent reporting on the Tunisian situation:

One [internet relay chat/IRC] user explained how local mosques are only available during certain times of the day now.

“In the mosques we have not the right to learn our religion, we do the prayer, and they close the mosques,” a Tunisian explained to us on IRC.

“We have five prayer sessions a day. We go to the mosque, do it, and then they close the mosque until the next prayer. In the past there is Imam (religion man) who [teaches] people the Quran, now we have nothing.”

This is the second African nation which has been the focus of an Anonymous DDoS action; in late December Anon instigated a DDoS-ing of  a complete takedown of the ZANU-PF website, the Zimbabwean government portal, and the Zimbabwean Finance Ministry website, as well as posting their message on Finance Ministry website, stripping all other news content and offering a message that said simply:

We are Anonymous. We are Legion. We do not forgive. We do not forget. Expect us.

we await silent tristero's empire?

Hey kids, I bet it’d be fun to print out a few cables as holiday cards, wrapping paper and decoupage! Make silkscreens for tee shirts and posters! Or use them for logomancy and Burroughs-esque cut up.  Just get ‘em while you can at any of the these of sites:

http://wikileaksmirrorlist.blogspot.com/:

• wikileaks.ch – Official Wikileaks Page [173.227.66.20, 208.65.130.26 and others]
• wikileaks.fi – Mirror Finland [46.59.1.2]
• wikileaks.nl – Mirror Netherlands [46.59.1.2]
• wikileaks.de – Mirror Germany [88.80.13.160]
• wikileaks.eu – Mirror Europe [88.80.13.160]
• wikileaks.pl – Mirror Poland [88.80.13.160]
• wikileaks.at – Mirror Austria [46.59.1.2]
• wikileaks.lu – Mirror Luxembourg [46.59.1.2]
• wikileaks.se – Mirror Sweden [88.80.6.179]
• wikileaks.no – Mirror Norway [46.59.1.2]
• wikileaks.is – Mirror Iceland [46.59.1.2]
• nyud.net – Mirror United States [129.170.214.192]
• wikileaks.ca – Mirror Canada [46.59.1.2]
• wikileaks.info – Mirror of previous leaks [62.2.16.94]

A number of students from Itawamba Agricultural High School have  joined the discussion on the post The MEANEST Town in America.  According to the most recent comments, there were three

parent run proms

for students on the night of April 2, the night of the country club prom that Constance attended with five others. The student, screen name fentdog goes on to say:

I don’t much about the school run prom. I do know that everyone went to Evergreen because more work was put into it.

As the photos show, a lot of work went into the Evergreen prom, including a marquee tent with decorations like huge cut outs of masks seen above, balloon arches and disco lights.

The student writes that the Evergreen  event did not have tickets, that there were no invitations, instead kids were “told about” the Evergreen event. The student writes about Constance

people tried to go contact her, but she would never pick up her phone. On the night of the prom, she goes to a different one…the school sponsored one. She didn’t know that everyone had decided to go to Evergreen, thus she had a fit. I can personally recall trying to call Constance to go to Evergreen….but she never answered.

Hmmm, okay. So then why wasn’t she emailed, or Facebooked about it? And what about the other kids who showed up at the country club?

The Evergreen prom/dance party, the one which had photos that appeared on Facebook, the one with kids dressed to the nines cruising away stretch SUVs, the one “everyone went to” where two girls where photographed tongue kissing, shared the same theme as the original school prom which was to be held at the IAHS Commons, according to a memo, dated February 5, which appears to be from the school, issued by two teachers.

The apparent memo about the original prom stated the theme, Masquerade. That theme is seen in photos from the Evergreen party.

The memo also laid down the criteria for the students’ guests. It clearly states that  guests

must be of the opposite sex

Constance challenged that.

Constance isn’t the first student to face discrimination at IAHS. Just before Constance spoke out, another student was forced to leave town.

On February 4, 2010,  WTVA reported that IAHS student Juin Baize was suspended for wearing make up, women’s clothing and boots to school.  Juin, who per Dan Savage, currently prefers the use of the male pronoun, said

They told me that I can not come to school dressed like a girl.

The story continues:

And that’s unfair…says Juin’s friend, senior Constance McMillen.

She says a group of girls came to school Thursday morning, dressed as guys in support of Juin dressing like he does.

Constance says the principal immediately told Juin to go home.

McMillen said, “Mr. Wiygul came to Juin and told him he had to leave and I stopped Mr. Wiygul and I said Mr. Wiygul why are you making him leave? Because he’s dressed like a girl? And he said yes, and I said you know that’s not fair because all of us are dressed like boys. Why aren’t you telling us to leave? And he just said I’m following orders from the school board and I said you can’t rightfully make him leave and not make us leave because, I mean, it’s the same thing.”

Juin was was given a suspension notice and sent home, and when he returned to school after his first suspension, he was suspended again. The reasons for a student’s suspension are supposed to be noted on the suspension form, but that part of Baize’s suspension notice was left blank, according to Kristy Bennett, legal director of the ACLU of Mississippi.

Bennett told Dan Savage:

Juin’s case was a situation where a transgender student wanted to attend school dressed in feminine clothing, and the school district would not even let him attend school.

Neither the superintendent nor school board attorney wanted to go on camera with WTVA, but both did talk to WTVA by phone at the time of the incident, telling the news station that they.

are simply following the handbook rules, which allows a student to be sent home, if he or she is determined to be a distraction.

The situation escalated, and Juin’s mother, who had just relocated from Indiana to stay with relatives, moved Juin out of state to live friends, fearing for Juin’s safety. Juin is currently attending a virtual school, and the ACLU which was investigating the cae said they won’t be pursuing it.

Juin not being in Fulton makes it difficult for us to pursue any kind of legal action here. And personally, I feel it may be a better decision for Juin to relocate and move on with his life.

The “distraction” issue is being used by the American Family Association to bolster the IAHS school board’s decision. In an editorial published on the Itawamba County Journal site, NEM360.com, Bryan Fisher, the AFA’s Director of Issues Analysis cites a Supreme Court decision, Morse v. Frederick (2007)

that school officials are entitled to restrict student speech and expressions in order to maintain an orderly, disruption-free school environment.

But a reader succinctly refutes that, stating that Fisher misrepresents Morse v. Fredrick, which was case about drug usage, quoting an analysis:

Joseph Frederick, a student at Juneau-Douglas High School  in Juneau, Alaska, displayed a banner at a high school event on which was written:  “Bong Hits 4 Jesus.”  The principle, Deborah Morse, regarded the banner as promoting illegal drugs and confiscated the banner and suspended the student.  After the Ninth Circuit held that the principle violated the student’s First Amendment’s rights, the Supreme Court overturned and held that his rights were not violated…

Chief Justice Roberts wrote “[And] that the rights of students ‘must be applied in light of the special characteristics of the school environment.’ … Consistent with these principles, we hold that schools may take steps to safeguard those entrusted to their care from speech that can reasonably be regarded as encouraging drug use.”

The environment at IAHS may come up very soon. Chris Keifer reports in NEM360.com

The American Civil Liberties Union is questioning the motives behind the two events as it drafts its lawsuit seeking damages from the Itawamba County School District…

We are disappointed at the sparse attendance (at the event McMillen attended), and we’re looking further into the situation,” said Kristy Bennett, legal director of the ACLU of Mississippi.

“Whatever we find will be brought to the court’s attention, whether it is in the damages trial, or whatever. There will still be a trial on the merits. The case didn’t end in the preliminary hearing.”

[ht Dan Savage,  Queerty.com]

The United States Supreme Court has said it would consider an appeal from the father of a slain Marine who hopes to reinstate a $5 million verdict against Fred Phelps’ Topeka-based Westboro Baptist Church.

At issue are rights of free speech versus the right of privacy. Richard Levy, a professor of constitutional law at the University of Kansas told the Topeka Star:

This is a hot area of First Amendment law. There are a lot of issues swirling around this type of case, and the court may feel it should step in and clarify the law.

The SCOTUS ruling could affect state laws designed to curb funeral protests and potentially affect free speech. I don’t like how Phelps protests, I don’t care for what he says in the least; it’s shoddy theology designed for maximum PR. But so what? WBC has the right to say it, in the same way Anonymous has the right to protest outside the Church of Scientology with signs that say “Holy Xenu! Stop the Cult of Greed and Lies!” or morans have the right to march holding placards depicting whoever is president now as Hitler/Stalin/Mother Theresa.

I disapprove of what you say, but I will defend unto to death your right to say it

wasn’t actually written by Voltaire, to whom the above quote is oft attributed; it’s a paraphrase of Voltaire’s attitudes by Evelyn B. Hall, possibly based on a letter the French philosopher wrote to Abbe le Riche in 1770:

Monsieur l’abbé, I detest what you write, but I would give my life to make it possible for you to continue to write.

Free speech–even Phelps’ troglodyte, hate-filled screed–is a necessary component of democracy. But as groups like Steal This Protest, the Pastafarians, Sabotage & Dialogue and others show, Phelps’ hate can be diffused.

Lets Keep it Fun, Funny, Clever, Stupid, and Absurd
and avoid the mean, hateful, political, or confrontational.

This is a party not a protest.
This is a celebration not a confrontation.
This is humorous and provocative street theater where we will respond to hate with love, humor and absurdity.

At the San Diego Pride Parade, the Phelpsbots are kept in a specific area with a horse patrol keeping them apart for the parade. The “God Hates <insert noun here>” crowd can bullhorn and shake their huge signs all day as they face the rear ends of the police ponies who um, kinda poop a lot when stationery.

Meanwhile, the publicity-loving, America-hating Phelps family is eagerly awaiting their moment before the Supreme Court:

Shirley Phelps-Roper, a church leader and daughter of Westboro founder Fred Phelps, said her sister Margie Phelps is likely to argue the church’s case before the Supreme Court. Shirley Phelps-Roper and Margie Phelps are licensed attorneys.

Phelps-Roper said it’s God’s will that the church gets to appear before the nation’s highest court. Regardless of the ruling, she said it’s a “win-win” for the publicity-hungry church.

“You know how hard we’ve worked to get in front of them?” she said. “We came to the kingdom for this hour.”…

Westboro’s adherents argue that the First Amendment is designed to protect speech the majority may not want to hear. But Phelps-Roper is ambivalent, noting that man’s law won’t matter much when America meets divine wrath.

“Her destruction is imminent,” she said. Laughing, she added: “And it’s going to be marvelous.”

The Phelps are bughouse loony, and satire and humor are great uses of free speech to point out their utter craziness. With clever counter-protests, rather than matching their hate with anger, the WBC can be handled, cooled and made to go away.

Limiting speech simply because the message is uncomfy sets a dangerous precedent.

And dancing frat boys kinda makes free assembly worth keeping too.