Free Republic

CHARLESTON, S.C. — Supporters of Republican presidential candidate Rick Santorum were shoved and a baby stroller was left knocked over after a group of “Occupy” protesters disrupted his election-night gathering and threw glitter on him Saturday night. The ruckus occurred after Santorum made remarks to supporters following his third-place finish in the South Carolina primary Saturday night. One female protester threw glitter on him before quickly being escorted away. The protesters yelled phrases suggesting they disagree with Santorum’s stance on gay issues. They chanted “bigot!” as they were escorted out of the auditorium at the College of Charleston along with...

Officials with the revamped ACORN office in New York -- operating as New York Communities for Change -- have fired staff, shredded reams of documents and told workers to blame disgruntled ex-employees for leaking information in an effort to explain away a FoxNews.com report last week on the group’s involvement in Occupy Wall Street protests, according to sources. NYCC also is installing surveillance cameras and recording devices at its Brooklyn offices, removing or packing away supplies bearing the name ACORN and handing out photos of Fox News staff with a stern warning not to talk to the media, the sources...

His rank and file comrades have been toughing it out in squalid tents and church basements. But a leading figure of the Occupy Wall Street movement, who moonlights as a businessman, has eschewed the campfire comradeship for a room at a fashionable five star hotel. Peter Dutro, one of the members of elite finance committee, checked into the sumptuous W Hotel Downtown. The $700-per-night hotel, with 350-count Egyptian cotton sheets, also hosted Deloitte analyst Brad Spitzer, who covertly took part in protests while on a work trip from California, the New York Post reported. Spitzer said: 'I’m staying here for...

One of the enduring questions about Occupy Wall Street has been this: Can the energy unleashed by the movement be leveraged behind a concrete political agenda and push for change that will constitute a meaningful challenge to the inequality and excessive Wall Street influence highlighted by the protests? A coalition of labor and progressive groups is about to unveil its answer to that question. Get ready for “Occupy Congress.” The coalition — which includes unions like SEIU and CWA and groups like the Center for Community Change — is currently working on a plan to bus thousands of protesters from...

Jennifer Granholm, host of "The War Room," says she loves the Occupy movement and discusses what she'd like to see come out of it. She also says she's excited to join Keith Olbermann and Cenk Uygur in their coverage of the protests, which balances the mainstream media's focus on scattered clashes with police and other skirmishes.

OAKLAND -- More than 100 people were arrested Thursday during a chaotic confrontation in downtown Oakland which a splinter group of protesters set fires, vandalized buildings and hurled objects at police, authorities say. Of the 103 people taken into custody, 32 were from Oakland and another 42 were from other Bay Area cities, officials said. Fifteen arrestees were from other parts of California, while nine were from other states, including Michigan, New Jersey, New York, Oregon, Texas and Utah, police said. The hometowns of three people who were arrested could not be determined. Authorities said they arrested 25 women and...

OAKLAND, Calif. -- Police used tear gas and flash-bang canisters Tuesday night to disperse a group of hundreds of Occupy Oakland protesters that was calling for the crowd to retake Franklin Ogawa Plaza by city hall. The tear gas and flash-bang canisters were used by police at about 7:45 p.m. near the intersection of 14th and Broadway. The crowd of 500-to-1,000 people immediately cleared with people rushing away from the scene with their hands and handkerchiefs covering their faces. KTVU reporter Jana Katsuyama was on the scene when the tear gas was used and said that the gas remained in...

The incarnation of the Occupy Movement that I witnessed this past weekend, Occupy Ottawa, showcased why those of us who really want to change the world for the better are best to stay far from the madding crowd. Many anecdotes illustrate this. For example, when I was there a man recognized me from television and wanted to discuss the media portrayal of the protests. He believed we had inaccurately accused them of having no goals and wanted to prove to me otherwise. I welcomed the opportunity and he in turn extolled the virtues of a figure I knew little of,...

With the Wikileaks-style disclosure of emails from the Occupy Wall Street movement’s private listserv, observers and critics of the movement got their first look at the movement’s early internal history — including a previously unseen draft manifesto. The collection of emails emerged Monday morning, apparently collected and placed in the public domain by a movement insider. The manifesto, written by Micah White of the Canadian Adbusters Media Foundation, betrayed the beginnings of a more ambitious social agenda than one merely concerned with banking and Wall Street regulation. Included among its first demands was the forgiveness of all student loan debt....

This just posted on Occupy Arkansas Facebook page by Paul Timmer: "Raymond...were all meeting at the Democratic Party headquarters of Arkansas in front of the capitol....the Union leaders and democratic chairmen have been up all night making food, tent donations, sleeping bags at Academy sports, and making the signs they want us to hold. Make sure to go pick them up!" Interesting, huh? What are some ironic or telling quotes from Occupy facebook pages going on in your area? Post here!

Plain & Simple: Well ah,it's like,We Are Protesting The Corporate Greed that has DeCruppted the Financial Scrutiny of the Average American who is suffering because like,there are 42,000 Billionaires in the country of whom stole all of our money,and uh,now they wont spend it,and because of dis we wont get our free new cars,free rent,free food and cigarettes. It's the Bi-Constipated People in the White House that need to put a stop to The Internal Degression !Dey say that Franny Drescher & Freddie Krooger caused the housing meltdown,well they should go jail and pay for all of our college expenses!...

HANOVER, N.H. — Barely 48 hours before nine Republican presidential hopefuls are scheduled to debate at Dartmouth College, signs began appearing on campus Sunday evening announcing a demonstration in support of the Occupy Wall Street protests. A “Students Stand With Staff” organization with ties to the Service Employees International Union is organizing the event. The group plans to hold its rally on the center of campus during the four hours immediately preceding Tuesday evening’s high-profile debate. Sterling Beard, a senior at the college and editor-in-chief of The Dartmouth Review, a conservative campus newspaper, told The Daily Caller that organized labor’s...

http://newyork.craigslist.org/brk/gov/2618821815.html The Working Families Party (WFP) (www.workingfamiliesparty.org) is New York's most energetic, independent and progressive political party. Formed in 1998 by a grassroots coalition of community organizations, neighborhood activists, and labor unions, we came together to build a society that works for all of us, not just Wall Street CEOs and the well-connected. WFP is independent from corporate and government funding and in-addition we are community based; community funded and equally uninfluenced by both major parties. Our agenda focuses on economic and social justice, corporate accountability, job creation, environmental protection, and investment in education and healthcare. For the past twelve...

The Occupy Wall Street rally may not be growing, but press coverage of it is. Even some members of Congress, like Rep. Keith Ellison, D-Minn, are endorsing it. Last night on the O’Reilly factor, Gretchen Carlson warned: “It would be dangerous for any politician to align themselves with this group. It’s dangerous if it continues to become more violent.” (Hat Tip: Alex Alvarez at Mediaite.) Fortunately, House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi dismissed them as “astroturf.” Oh wait, no, that’s what she said of the Tea Parties. These were her sentiments about the Occupy Wall Street folks:

A liberal organizer told the Daily Caller on Thursday afternoon that he paid some Hispanics to attend “Occupy DC” protests happening in the nation’s capital. TheDC attended the protest event, an expansion of the “Occupy Wall Street” movement that began in New York City. Some aspects of the protest, it turned out, are more Astroturf than grassroots. One group of about ten Hispanic protesters marched behind a Caucasian individual from the DC Tenants Advocacy Coalition, a non-profit organization dedicated to supporting rent control in Washington, D.C. Asked why they were there, some Hispanic protesters holding up English protest signs could...

While the Occupy Wall Street movement has captured the imagination of genuine activists nationwide, intrepid libertarian reporter Michelle Fields for The Daily Caller uncovered that some protestors were being paid off to attend one of the rallies in Washington DC. “Some of them are volunteers. Some of them aren’t. I can’t identify them. I’m not going to get into an identification game,” admitted an organizer from DC Tenants Advocacy Coalition, a group that advocates for affordable housing. Fields attended an Occupy DC rally Thursday and spoke to small group of Hispanic protestors who just happened to march right by her....

South Florida Occupy groups were preparing to gather this weekened in Miami and Fort Laurderdale to plan their actions. Occupy Fort Lauderdale's Facebook page said the group will meet from 6 p.m. to 9 p.m. on Saturday in front of the Broward Main Public Library, located at 100 South Andrews Ave.

A liberal organizer told the Daily Caller on Thursday afternoon that he paid some Hispanics to attend “Occupy DC” protests happening in the nation’s capital. [ ... ] Interviewed in Spanish, the protesters told conflicting stories about how their group was organized. Some said it was organized at their church, and that they were there as volunteers. Others, however, referred to the man from the DC Tenants Advocacy Coalition — the only Caucasian in the group — as their “boss.” TheDC asked that organizer whether he was paying the group to attend the protest, and he conceded that some protesters...

The public has had it with Washington and conventional politics. It has lost trust and respect in the conventional governing class. There is mounting evidence voters don't see President Barack Obama or the current crop of GOP candidates as the clear and easy solution...

New York area union members will join an expected several thousand labor activists and supporters tomorrow in a Wall Street march and rally in support of the Occupy Wall Street protesters.The grassroots-grown protest is now in its third week, with a diverse array of people from across the country camping out in the heart of the financial district to demand Wall Street is held accountable for the schemes and reckless games that led to the nation’s economic collapse.The mostly young Occupy Wall Street protesters are “speaking for the vast majority of Americans who are frustrated by the bankers and brokers who have...

From the onset, it appears that they do. Obama and fellow Dems have little to nothing to run on. Bad economy, no jobs, and Obama did not keep his promises to the Democratic base about GITMO, the Patriot Act, wiretapping laws, a public option being a necessity within the health care reform bill (or else Obama would not sign it) and so on. Obama and fellow Dems did not make Card Check and amnesty for illegals (along with the rest of the aforementioned) their first priorties, even though Obama ran on these promises. And so they must get the base...

(CNN) -- Charlotte Bevins' long blond hair blows in the wind as she stands amid protesters, her eyes red and puffy from crying. Just four months ago, Bevins' brother, Charles, lost his life in a drilling accident in central New York. He was 23, a father of two small children. Gazing at the ground, Bevins tightens her grip on the handles of the baby stroller that cradles her young niece while hundreds of protesters lining the nearby streets wave signs and yell around her. No fracking way. No fracking way. No fracking way, the crowd chants. Bevins recently made the...

In recent weeks, I have been interested in Google and in the telecommunications companies. It’s not the typical “institutional left” topic on which I usually tend to focus. At least, not on the surface. The truth is, these industries ARE about the institutional left. And if the Obama administration and the media reformists on the left get their way, the institutional left will achieve some very significant goals over the next few years in their push to see all media publicly owned. That is, unless we all start paying more attention. Before I give you the big picture, let me...

The exact same spot where Pawlenty was heckled by a gay man earlier, Michele Bachmann and her husband get hit with heckling and chants of 'shame on you.' Both incidents took place today at the Iowa State Fair. There is a group of hecklers at this Bachmann speech. (video)

The media reform cabal is at it again. The same professional Soros-funded astroturfers who brought us Van Jones to demand “media justice” and SaveTheInternet and Net Neutrality have been focused on a new target. For months now, Free Press, Media Access Project, Public Knowledge, Consumers Union, and the New America Foundation have been thwarting the proposed merger of cell phone providers AT&T and T-Mobile, saying the move would raise prices for consumers and cost jobs. As the deal sits with the FCC, which just this week temporarily halted its review of the proposal, AT&T and T-Mobile have tried to reassure...

Dear MoveOn member, "Can liberals start their own tea party?"1 That was a Washington Post headline on Friday—and it's a good question. Last week, green jobs visionary Van Jones introduced a new organization focused on progressive economic solutions: Rebuild the Dream. Rebuild the Dream is joining with organizations including MoveOn, the AFL-CIO, SEIU, the Campaign for Community Change, and many more, to launch a new effort to build up a people-powered movement to counter the influence of the tea party. The first step for this emerging American Dream movement is creating our own blueprint for fixing the economy—an all-new Contract...

How many times have you passed by a protest site and marveled at the dedication to come out and march for a cause. Even if you don’t agree with protest you must feel a grudging respect to the volunteers who attend these events on their own time. That in itself is a small victory for the protesters to make the public aware of their cause. Would you feel differently if you found out that these are not volunteers but paid workers for a powerful organization? These protesters would not seem so noble anymore and the message would be diluted to...

The House Democrats’ campaign wing is trolling for Medicare protesters at town halls this week in 20 Republican-held congressional districts, The Caucus Blog of The New York Times reports. The Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee (DSCC), which has launched a website called Don’t End Medicare, will provide picket signs and budget talking points to anyone who wants to attend. DSCC robo-calls denouncing Medicare reform are going out to seniors in Florida, Arizona, and other states in an attempt to ratchet up the noise level at constituent meetings with pro-reform lawmakers. Republicans say House Democrats are showing more interest in GOP meetings...

NY-26 special election may not be in the forefront of conservative minds, but the race has serious national implications: "A win by the Democrat in this Republican district -- even if created by a phony Tea Party candidate siphoning off votes from the Republican-- will be spun as a major victory for Obama.  You will hear nothing but how it signals Obama's turnaround, how it reflects Obama's new found popularity after the bin Laden kill, and how it signals unhappiness with Republicans.  You will not hear a word in the MSM about the fact that Davis is not a real...

Those of the Left rarely like to admit or acknowledge that they are of the Left. Witness their repeated vacillations on what they call themselves. It was “progressive” – until people figured out what that meant and loathed it. So they bastardized the classical definition of "liberal" – until people found out what they meant by that and loathed it. So they are now back to "progressive" – hoping that no one remembers how much they loathed it the last go 'round. So too is it with the Leftist grievance groups. The assemblages that exist aren’t really to promote their...

Spot the Satanic Obama 2008 logo, again rearing its ugly head?? College students may well have an agenda I would say.Send your photos as well showing a revival of support for "The One" more so then celebrating a united AMERICAN MILITARY AND INTELLIGENCE AGENCY victory, more of a hoped-for conclusion on the WOT rather than a redoubled effort to proceed even further to get more Jehadi scalps (al-Awaki, al-Zawahiri), and fully support our US military and intelligence agencies first and foremost in the process.

Students gather outside capital's university to express solidarity with protesters killed campaigning for democracy. Hundreds of students have rallied in Damascus, the Syrian capital, to express solidarity with pro-democracy protesters killed over the weekend. The rare demonstration on Monday at Damascus University reportedly turned violent when security forces beat up and arrested several protesters who were shouting for freedom and unity, witnesses told the Associated Press news agency. Ammar Qurabi, head of Syria's National Organisation for Human Rights, told the AP news agency that one student had died after he was shot in the demonstration. Video footage posted online showed...

Democratic activists, angry that Washington residents pay taxes but have no voting representation in Congress, have set up a Facebook page to urge protesters to dump their trash outside Boehner's home if the government shuts down Friday night.

Human Events’ readers, in an online poll, recently voted billionaire financier George Soros “the single most destructive leftist demagogue in the country.” Here are the Top 10 Reasons George Soros Is Dangerous1. Gives billions to left-wing causes: Soros started the Open Society Institute in 1993 as a way to spread his wealth to progressive causes. Using Open Society as a conduit, Soros has given more than $7 billion to a who’s who of left-wing groups. This partial list of recipients of Soros’ money says it all: ACORN, Apollo Alliance, National Council of La Raza, Tides Foundation, Huffington Post, Southern Poverty...

Updated Thursday, March 10, 2011 3:46:18 a.m. After learning the state Senate passed the collective bargaining portion of the budget repair bill without the 14 missing Democrats, the Capitol erupted Wednesday evening as protesters flooded the closed building against a court order. The hearings where the Senate passed the bill lasted less than a half hour, prompting the building to officially close around 6:30 p.m. Protesters outside chanted in frustration, “Let us in.” ...DOA spokesperson Tim Donovan said law enforcement officers attempted to prevent forced entry from happening but were unable to because of the large volume of people. “We’re...

Ok, I haven't been reading much the last couple of days, so many be I missed something. My hubby just told me that one of his friends relatives son is being paid by SEIU to protest at the Capitol in Wisconsin. Has there been news about this? Or am I a day late and a dollar short?

SendShaqtoIraq posted this on the Indiana forum a little bit ago. I thought everyone should see this. Check to see if your local Dems are doing this, and flag the posting as spam!! "Just found this on Indy craigslist: Stand, Walk, Chant, Protest (Downtown)Date: 2011-03-01, 11:03AM EST Reply to: gigs-5rcwm-2240867280@craigslist.org [Errors when replying to ads?] We need more men to protest this coming week. We will call in the morning on when we will need you. We pay $7.50. You will be helping out middle class workers in our State. This job is only for 4 - 6 hours at...

MADISON, Wis. — Harriet Rowan was among the first to join the Wisconsin Capitol protest village. That was on Valentine's Day. The University of Wisconsin senior made a snap decision to coordinate protest efforts, producing signs with media talking points and starting a Twitter feed detailing legislative meeting times, union rally locations and details on day-to-day life in the Capitol. Madison residents have opened their doors to out-of-town visitors, offering lodging to anyone friendly to unions. Busloads of supporters from Los Angeles and elsewhere arrive to boost the numbers. Paul Adler, who arrived from Washington, D.C., said he didn't know...

SEIU, AFL-CIO, Progressive States, Democracy for America... a few of the many. http://hearus-now.org/?p=1636

The public employee unions and AARP have spent the last decade at war with the people they purport to serve. The Washington Post's Robert Samuelson wrote about AARP earlier this week, and Salem's Lee Habeeb tackled the "Astroturf activists" of Wisconsin, Ohio and Indiana. Both will be on today's show to discuss the collapse of credibility of the AARP's and of the public employee unions, and I will continue to urge everyone over 55 to join the rapidly expanding AMAC as we work to build a counterweight in Washington to the hard left politics of AARP. AARP's decline in the...

In a good indication that the Wisconsin protests have become a liability for Democrats, the White House and the DNC have clumsily attempted to distance themselves from the event in the New York Times: "Administration officials said Sunday that the White House had done nothing to encourage the demonstrations in Wisconsin — nor was it doing so in Ohio, Florida and other states where new Republican governors are trying to make deep cuts to balance their budget. … And, officials and union leaders said, reports of the involvement of the Democratic National Committee — specifically Organizing for America, the grass-roots...

While part of the current unrest in Wisconsin is driven by local issues, new information has been uncovered indicating an orchestrated attempt to stir up 'worker protests' not only in Wisconsin but in at least a dozen states. The coordinated effort is part of a 'revolution' spearheaded in part by a group called 'Heartland Revolution,' a Kentucky-based political action organization. The group was first envisioned by a Kentucky Democrat, John Waltz, who announced his candidacy in 2009 to oppose 2-term Republican Geoff Davis for the 4th Congressional District. Waltz was defeated in the November 2010 midterm elections but embarked on...

Message to Wisconsin taxpayers: President Obama and the Democratic National Committee have declared war on you. Message to other states: You're next. The political unrest in Wisconsin, billed as some kind of grass-roots uprising, is being organized and directed by Barack Obama's Organizing for America and the Democratic National Committee. This development is consistent with Mr. Obama's instructions for supporters to "get in the face" of those who oppose them, but in this case, they are seeking to derail a lawful legislative process.

The Democratic National Committee's Organizing for America arm -- the remnant of the 2008 Obama campaign -- is playing an active role in organizing protests against Wisconsin Governor Scott Walker's attempt to strip most public employees of collective bargaining rights.

Attracting immediate fire from congressional Republicans, the chairman of the Federal Communications Commission on Wednesday outlined a modified "net neutrality" plan that would expand the federal government's power to regulate traffic over the Internet. FCC Chairman Julius Genachowski, President Obama's pick to head the agency, said he was pushing for an FCC board vote later this month on his proposal - before the next Congress is seated with a GOP majority in the House and an expanded Republican minority in the Senate. The chairman's modified proposal was seen as decidedly more friendly to business interests than a proposal he outlined...

Regulation: In the name of fairness, a Federal Communications Commission plan to impose "net neutrality" without any legislative or legal authority will in effect be silencing a conduit for the truth that keeps us free. The Internet is once again under attack, not from hackers intent on spilling secrets or causing mischief, but by an administration intent on controlling the free flow of information that it views as a threat to its expanding power. According to the Hill, which obtained a copy of the FCC's tentative December agenda just after midnight Wednesday, the government agency will seek to impose rules...

The first direct link above is to Soros' own web page. Many of you will choose not to click on it and well that's your choice. But some of you should actively look and see for yourself. Open the PDF, scroll down to the year 2008. Electronic Frontier Foundation got 300,000 dollars from Soros. Now scroll down to the year 2007. Another 100,000 dollars. So the total is 400k. And there is more. Let's take a look at who it is that sits on their various boards: http://www.eff.org/about/advisoryboard I am aware of Ethan Zuckerman being a Soros buddy because of...

WASHINGTON - Millionaire blogger Arianna Huffington is picking up the bus fare for more than 10,000 New Yorkers headed Saturday to Comedy Central's "Rally to Restore Sanity." "It was a moment of irrational exuberance," Huffington joked in an interview with the Daily News, admitting she never expected so many people to take her up on the offer.

...Mr. Soros is the sugar daddy of the Democratic Party and the modern left. His net worth is more than $7 billion. He is one of the richest and most influential men in the world. Almost every major liberal organization, think tank or media outlet has been the beneficiary of Mr. Soros' largesse. The Nation magazine, Mother Jones, Media Matters, MoveOn.org, NPR and the Center for American Progress - all together they have received tens of millions of dollars from the financier. They serve as front groups and propaganda vehicles to promote Mr. Soros' brand of transnational socialism. ..Mr. Soros...

Before last night’s U.S. Senate campaign debate in Kentucky between Rand Paul and Jack Conway, a fracas ensued when a left-wing activist approached Paul wearing a blond wig and carrying an anti-Paul sign. The activist accosted the Republican candidate, upon which she was wrestled to the ground and had her head stepped on by some overzealous and hypersensitive Paul supporters. Interestingly enough, the activist – whose name is Lauren Valle – seems to have spent some time in Louisiana earlier this year. And Valle picked up a citation for rather uncivil conduct during her stay in the Sportsman’s Paradise. Per...