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The NYPD didn't just spy on entire Muslim communities -- a new report by The Associated Press reveals that cops also surveilled liberal political groups. The AP (via CBS) notes that undercover cops went to liberal political groups' meetings, building intel files on activists and protesters. The newswire says that interviews and docs collected during the investigation "show how police have used counterterrorism tactics to monitor even lawful activities." The AP points out that the NYPD used these same tactics in 2004, when the department monitored church, environmental, and anti-war groups in the U.S., claiming these policies were necessary to...

Congress has just made it easier to arrest and convict those who exercise their 1st Amendment rights of protest and assembly. A number of articles have recently appeared on the web concerning the “Federal Restricted Buildings and Grounds Improvement Act of 2011,” a bill recently passed by Congress which makes it a criminal offense to “impede or disrupt” the activities of the President, Vice President or anyone under the immediate protection of the Secret Service. The measure also makes it illegal to engage in “disorderly behavior” at a special event of “national significance” or in the proximity of a “restricted...

Did Wisconsin’s Capitol Police Chief Charles Tubbs cut a secret access deal with one of Madison’s most infamous protesters? That’s the question being asked after one of our reporters caught an interesting conversation at the Wisconsin Capitol. While the rally was in violation of the policy governing access to state facilities, it appears protesters may have established an understanding with Capitol Police Chief Charles Tubbs. As he was speaking to veteran protester Miles Kristan about their understanding, the chief asked our reporter to leave. “You told me you were going to help me with this,” Tubbs is overheard saying to...

Was anyone watching just now? Two women tried to jump in the ring just as they got the dogs in, were grabbed and screaming. Kudos to great security.

Police were in the process of arresting about 100 Occupy protesters for failing to disperse Saturday night, hours after officers used tear gas on a rowdy group of demonstrators who threw rocks and flares at them and tore down fences. Police Sgt. Christopher Bolton said the arrests came after protesters marched through downtown Oakland a little before 8 p.m. Saturday, with some of them entering a YMCA building. Meanwhile, about 100 police officers surrounded City Hall while others were swept the inside of the building to see if any protesters broke in.

Oakland Mayor Jean Quan can’t catch a break. Quan was visiting Washington, D.C., for the U.S. Conference of Mayors meeting when she was spotted riding in a cab by Occupy DC protesters and surrounded. Quan sat in the cab and shielded her face while roughly a dozen protesters surrounded the car and chanted, “Shame! Shame! Shame! Shame!” “We were busy talking away, and I looked up and there were all these protesters there,” Quan said in a interview with the Oakland Tribune. “I think they freaked out the taxi driver.” Police moved in and pushed the protesters out of the...

Republican presidential frontrunner Mitt Romney got off to an awkward start back in New Hampshire on Wednesday when the first question he took at a town hall meeting was from an Occupy protester. Fresh off his narrow win in Iowa, Romney was making his first campaign appearance ahead of the New Hampshire primary on Jan. 10 when the questioner – who said he was from both the Occupy New Hampshire and Occupy Boston protest groups against economic inequality – raised his hand and asked a question about corporate greed. “You have said that corporations are people, but in the last...

At a Monday event in Iowa, Texas Rep. Ron Paul and his son, Kentucky Sen. Rand Paul, were greeted at the Steeplegate Inn in Davenport with a trademark “Occupy” mic check. “Mic Check” said one attendee loudly, as the GOP presidential candidate made his way to the podium. In the movement’s call-and-response pattern, others shouted back, “Mic check.” But rather than belittle the to-be speakers with lethargic policy jibes, as has been done to other GOP presidential candidates, the attendees belted out compliments. “Thank you, Dr. Paul, thank you for opposing the indefinite detention of Americans!” they shouted.

The city of Los Angeles is weighing a lawsuit against Occupy LA protesters to recoup financial damages sustained during the two-month encampment.

This ought to make Obama proud that he played a part in getting rid of that evil tyrant Mubarak. Let's go to the videotape. Here's an explanation of what you just saw for those who, like me, are Arabic challenged. But first, a picture: A picture of a female Egyptian protester who was stripped from her black abaya and allegedly abused by army men has met with angry tweets criticizing the country’s Supreme Council of the Armed Forces (SCAF) on Saturday. The photos on social media shows a woman, clothed in just her denim pants, as army men hurl kicks...

Really? The most influential and newsworthy person of the year currently occupies space in urban downtown areas, unless you’re on the West Coast, where you can find them hanging out at the docks, blocking traffic and making your cost of goods needlessly increase. At least that’s how Time Magazine sees it, and they get there by conflating the Arab Spring protests with the labor-driven Occupy “movement,” which is collapsing from its own meaninglessness: Once upon a time, when major news events were chronicled strictly by professionals and printed on paper or transmitted through the air by the few for the...

NORMAN, Okla. — Members of Occupy Norman marched quietly along a sidewalk in downtown Norman on Wednesday, despite being threatened and having a tent vandalized earlier in the day. Peyton Gates said an irate man yelled at Occupy protesters currently camping at Andrews Park. “He threw the hammer at us,” she said. “He also said, ‘I’ll do a lot worse than that.” While Gates and other Occupy Norman members did not see the man vandalize the tent, they said he made statements of admission to them and threatened them. “Are you ready to die for your liberalism” was a statement...

UPDATE Monday at 9:35 a.m.: Los Angeles police are holding off on a plan to forcibly evict Occupy LA protesters from their encampment near city hall for now, the Los Angeles Times reports. Still, the paper reports that a few refused to leave the street and that four people were arrested after several protesters began throwing things at police. Hundreds of police wearing riot gear have lined the streets but currently continue to show restraint. The LAT: "Police said that there are still no plans to begin evicting people from the City Hall park, which was officially closed at midnight...

Barack Obama may not be the kind of man you and I want as president, but he's a very slick stage magician. That's how he's made it in politics, along with scandal bombs tossed by Axelrod. The 2008 Obama campaign was an endless series of stage tricks, epitomized by the infamous Greek styrofoam temple columns in Denver. Stage magicians work a lot by distraction. A well-timed distraction makes people lose track of whatever they are thinking. If I'm an in-your-face street hustler and you're beginning to get suspicious about me, all I have to do is tap your shirt and...

Cairo (CNN) -- Egypt's general prosecutor on Friday ordered a police officer to submit to questioning regarding his suspected role in shooting protesters in the eyes during recent clashes in Cairo's Tahrir Square. "The Ministry of Interior is preoccupied by the latest events, but he will come in for questioning soon," Adel Saeed, a spokesman for Egypt's general prosecutor, said about the suspect, 1st Lt. Mahmoud Sobhi El Shinawi. The evidence offered against El Shinawi includes videos recorded by protesters and posted on Facebook, Saeed said. At least five demonstrators have been shot in the eye, according to authorities. They...

BOULDER -- In the first police action related to the Occupy Boulder movement, officers early Monday morning ticketed 11 people in a makeshift camp outside the Boulder County courthouse along the Pearl Street Mall. ... According to police records, officers issued a total of 10 tickets on charges of illegal camping or public urination. Additionally, police ticketed P.J. Jentsch for having a dog on the mall. His 3-year-old border collie mix, Shelby, garnered national media attention after being elected leader of the Occupy Denver movement in early November following a request from Denver Mayor Michael Hancock that protesters designate a...

OWS Protesters Chant ‘Follow Those Kids!’ As Small Children Try To Go To School On Wall Street CBS Loca; Tiny Tots, Some As Young As 4, Overwhelmed By Hostility, Crush Of Humanity CBS Local(hat tip Armaros) Some grade school students were forced to walk a gauntlet of screaming “Occupy Wall Street” protesters just to get to school on Thursday. It was a wild day in lower Manhattan for most everyone involved, including elementary school children who had to brave the mayhem just to get to class on the other side of Wall Street. GALLERY: Occupy Wall Street “Day Of Action”...

NEW YORK (AP) -- Police arrested protesters who sat on the ground and blocked traffic into New York City's financial district on Thursday, part of a day of mass gatherings in response to efforts to break up Occupy Wall Street camps nationwide. Police in riot helmets hauled several protesters to their feet and handcuffed them at an intersection one block from Wall Street. "All day, all week, shut down Wall Street!" the crowd chanted. Hundreds of protesters thronged intersections around the financial district, .. After several arrests along one street, protesters retreated. A line of riot police followed them and...

Yeah. These guys are JUST like the Tea Party! Share|

So this has been the marketing strategy for Mens Wearhouse all along, huh? The “day of action” is to begin early, with protesters converging on Wall Street camouflaged in business suits hoping to blend in with office workers trooping out of the subway. “We will rise from beneath. They can’t stop all of us. It’s going to get crazy,” vowed one organizer. “They took the first shot Tuesday night. [Thursday] we return fire. We will be peaceful, but we will resist.” The city said it was bracing for tens of thousands of people in the streets. “The protesters are calling...