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May 2012 23

99Solidarity Occu-Bus: Day 4 (Pt. 2) Of Our Epic Coast-To-Coast Road Trip From Los Angeles To New York By Way Of Chicago9

Posted In Activism,Blog,Politics

by Nicole Powers


[#M19 wildcat march – photos by @ZDRoberts]

The action that had taken up much of the first part of my day had gone down in my personal history as one of the most civilized political protests I’d ever participated in (see previous post). It was in a great neighborhood – the mayor’s – in the midst of a handsome tree-lined street, which provided just the right amount of shade. The neighbors we surprisingly happy to see us, which is testament to how popular Rahm Emanuel is in his own hood. There was lots of beautiful flowering shrubbery, albeit with riot cops popping up out of it at regular intervals, and vendors were serving ice cream and fruit popsicles out of carts.

Afterwards I’d hopped onto a train and returned to 99% Solidarity’s temporary base to edit images and exploit their wi-fi so I could upload them. I’d also intended to post an updated blog, but then shit started hitting the proverbial fan…

I first began to realize that something was awry when several sources warned me it might be best if I refrained from attending a National Streamers Meeting that was planned for that evening. Then Twitter started to explode with news that superstar livestreamer Tim Pool’s (aka @Timcast) Chicago lodging had been surrounded and searched. Later Pool tweeted that his car had been stopped and that he, fellow streamer Luke Rudkowski a.k.a. @Lukewearechange, and three others has been detained by CPD at gunpoint (see video below). Other 140 character or less posts confirmed the monitoring, detainment and/or arrest of several other online personalities and streamers.

[Sunday M20 at approx. 2 AM: Luke Rudkowski, Tim Pool & Crew Detained at Gunpoint by Chicago Police]

Justified paranoia set in amongst their ranks as they realized they may have become targets of a coordinated effort to silence the truly free media. @YourAnonNews perhaps summed it up best, when they called it “a war on bloggers.”

The rationale for this strategy became all too apparent after two marches – one in support of the NATO 3 who had been arrested earlier in the day and another against police brutality – converged and rapidly devolved into a brutal cat and mouse game. After several hours, the police kettled increasingly panicked protesters in Millennium Park.

At this point, I got a call from one of our #CaliDST members @TRWBS, who’d been shooting at close quarters when a police van had seemingly deliberately plowed down a protester (he was later identified as Jack Amico of Occupy Wall Street). @TRWBS’ footage of the incident was among the first to be archived, and rapidly went viral (see video below). There were numerous other images being posted of shocking uses of force, arrests, and bloody injuries.


Like a deer in headlights, at one point I just sat head in hands, overwhelmed by what was coming through on the various Twitter feeds and Livestreams. Events were unfolding faster than I could process them. I was at a loss for words and stopped even attempting to type. And just when I thought shit couldn’t get crazier, it did.

Likely panicked by footage of the carnage on the street, which by now had hit the mainstream news, a call came into 99% Solidarity’s base saying that the bus company had cancelled all of the NNU-sponsored buses, which had been booked to transport protesters from Occupy Chicago’s Convergence Center to the main #M20 #NoNATO rally at Grant Park the next day. The tone of the bus coordinator’s voice, which I overheard as it was broadcast on speakerphone, said more than any of the words coming out of his mouth as he laid out a litany of so last minute they were implausible excuses as to why suddenly absolutely none of the fleet of 14 buses would be available the next day.

With chaos still raining on the streets, I monitored the livestreams to make sure my fearless #CaliDST friends were OK. One by one they signed off for the night, and as the Twitterverse calmed down I finally succumbed to sleep.

Full disclosure: Nicole Powers has been assisting with 99% Solidarity’s efforts and is in no way an impartial observer. She is proud of this fact.

Related Posts:

99Solidarity Occu-Bus: Day 1 Of Our Epic Coast-To-Coast Road Trip From Los Angeles To New York By Way Of Chicago
99Solidarity Occu-Bus: Day 2 Of Our Epic Coast-To-Coast Road Trip From Los Angeles To New York By Way Of Chicago
99Solidarity Occu-Bus: Day 3 Of Our Epic Coast-To-Coast Road TripFrom Los Angeles To New York By Way Of Chicago
99Solidarity Occu-Bus: Day 4 (Pt. 1) Of Our Epic Coast-To-Coast Road Trip From Los Angeles To New York By Way Of Chicago

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May 2012 23

Ur W33K 1N G33K (May 15-23)0

Posted In Blog,Comics,Entertainment,Gaming,Geek,Internuts,Movies,TV

by A.J. Focht

The Avengers has continued breaking daily records. In just three weeks, it has become the fourth highest grossing movie of all time. The people at Marvel have been so pleased by the fan response that they have released a special ‘thank you’ video to fans.

Amidst all The Avengers success, Warner Bros. has kicked up its ad campaign for The Dark Knight Rises. Six new promotional character posters have been released. Two posters of each Batman, Catwoman, and Bane. A new theatrical poster was released as well.

Playing off the triumph of The Avengers, ABC has ditched AKA Jessice Jones for a new television series based on The Hulk. As ABC is owned by Disney, the series is likely to have tie-ins to The Avengers. To top things off, the series is being developed by Guillermo del Toro. It will not be ready for the coming season, but they are shooting for the following one.

Edgar Right has been pushing for an Ant Man movie for a long time. He tweeted a picture a few weeks ago that simply displayed: Ant + Man=Antman. The image created some buzz, and then he confirmed his intentions to Empire Magazine, saying he hopes to be shooting by the end of the year.

The Wolverine movie will begin shooting in August. Hugh Jackman confirmed this in a recent tweet. The new film is scheduled to hit theatres on July 26, 2013.

Two trailers for the CW’s Arrow have been released in the last week. A shorter trailer catches the idea of the series and has an awesome scene with Green Arrow shooting tennis balls. The longer trailer goes into the story a bit more, revealing that Green Arrow is going after a list of corrupt people given to him by his father. The series will air on Wednesday at 8:00 PM.

Ridley Scott has been working on a sequel to Blade Runner. Now it looks like they have a screenwriter as Hapton Fancher, the original Blade Runner scribe is in talks to come on for the sequel. More than thirty years after the original, the sequel is bringing the members of Blade Runner back together.

The Star Wars television series is still on the horizon. In a recent interview, Producer Rick McCallum gave an update on the long awaited television series. McCallum said that the series currently has over fifty scripts, the problem is each hour long script has more visual effects than any of the Star Wars movies. Lucas wants to wait on making the show till he can find a way to make it for less than $5 million an episode.

In response to Marvel having a same sex wedding in an upcoming issue of Astonishing X-Men, DC has announced that a ‘major’ and ‘iconic’ male character will be coming out as gay. In a tweet, Scott Snyder confirmed it will be a character that was not introduced in the New 52 relaunch. The big speculations right now are Wally West (a version of Flash) or Beast Boy.

Finally, Scotty has finally been beamed up. The ashes of James Doohan who played Scotty on Star Trek have taken for space amongst the unmanned Dragon spacecraft. They are expected to dock at the international space station in the next few days.

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May 2012 23

From The Archives: Bret Easton Ellis – Lunar Park0

Posted In Blog,Books,Entertainment,Interviews

by Daniel Robert Epstein

“I never expected to hit any kind of audience.”
– Bret Easton Ellis

Even though Bret Easton Ellis has written so many brilliant and disturbing novels such as Glamorama, American Psycho and Less than Zero he’’s been coming off so strange on his recent press tour. But he’’s is a lot cooler than what I expected. After reading Lunar Park, then perusing his recent press and even reading the press materials that the book publicity people sent along, I expected a stoned intellectual lunatic that would take one question and then talk for 45 minutes. But we had a great and very honest conversation that encompassed a good chunk of his career, the films made from his work, and even his extensive therapy sessions.

Lunar Park is the most personal and revealing book of Ellis’’ career because it is about a version of himself. A drug crazed asshole version, but one that seems like it would be fun to hang out with and snort coke off of Ione Skye’’s tits.

Read our exclusive interview with Bret Easton Ellis on SuicideGirls.com.

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May 2012 23

Tease of the Day0

Posted In Blog,Tease

Brulee Suicide in Passkey

  • INTO: A lot. .
  • MAKES ME HAPPY: Family, sushi, my animals, dreads, and taking pictures of my food.
  • MAKES ME SAD: ASPCA commercials.
  • HOBBIES: Being crafty and exploring.
  • 5 THINGS I CAN’T LIVE WITHOUT: iPhone, gum, water, a hair gizzy, sunscreen.

Get to know Brulee better over at SuicideGirls.com!

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May 2012 22

Gotcha!11

Posted In Activism,Blog,Favorites,Politics

by Steven Whitney

The long, agonizing, and often unintentionally hilarious Republican debates – the multi-network reality show that ran more first-run episodes than most network series – are finally over. And the one thing you have to grant early loser Rick Perry, the second successive mentally-challenged Governor of Texas, is that he never once claimed that “What three cabinet departments would you eliminate?” was a gotcha question.

While one can hope his restraint was the beginning of a new Republican trend, all evidence points in the other direction. Egged on by Fox (Not Really the) News and an almost complete lack of facts supporting their delusional positions, Republican candidates of all stripes – those running for local and state offices, and those aspiring to the House, Senate, and Presidential chambers – will be forced to campaign on lies, made-up fantasies, wild accusations, and, yes, outrageous whining and crocodile tears (or should we call them elephant tears?) when asked “gotcha” questions, especially when the gotcha is not a gotcha at all.

So where did the gotcha question come from?

Early in the 20th century, the gotcha question grew internationally popular through the fictional mysteries of Agatha Christie and Erle Stanley Gardner (Perry Mason). Said well-plotted gotchas always resolved the complex story at the climactic moment, freeing the innocent and/or condemning the guilty.

Before long, police detectives across America were encouraged to manipulate frightened, confused, exhausted, and unwitting suspects through a series of questions that would eventually lead to a self-incriminating answer.

So, too did trial attorneys on both sides strive for the most dramatic gotcha moments to impress upon juries the defendants’ innocence or guilt.

Then came the historic 1966 Miranda Decision, in which the Supreme Court restored suspects’ constitutional rights (to remain silent, etc.) by reaffirming the 4th and 5th Amendments. With attorneys now in the interrogation room, it became almost impossible to ensnare suspects into gotcha statements. Indeed, fearing accidental gotchas, most attorneys advised their clients to “shut the fuck up,” and gotchas became largely ineffective as a law enforcement tool.

Spying opportunity, and not bound by legal restraints, the press jumped feet first into the gotcha arena which – with the Cold War, the RFK and MLK assassinations, Vietnam, the Pentagon Papers, global student uprisings, and so much more – ushered in the glory years of investigative journalism. Indeed, Watergate provided perhaps the most famous gotcha question of all: What did he know and when did he know it?

With modern journalism’s mandate to make the news as well as report it, gotcha scenarios expanded exponentially, becoming the coup de grâce of political reportage – the gotcha moment of Muskie crying, the gotcha photo of Dukakis’ tank helmet, the gotcha forensics of a semen stain on Monica Lewinsky’s skirt. The victims were mostly Democrats, wounded by a relentless gotcha strategy employed by the Republican machine (and well-funded by the 1%)…and yet, I never heard a Democrat complain about a gotcha.

That was left to ill-informed Republicans, who bitched and moaned about every relevant question they could not answer while accusing the so-called liberal media of gotcha journalism.

But after the Supreme Court installed Bush and Cheney into the Executive Office, Republicans hit upon a unique solution to hide their cluelessness. If you asked a tough question, or even one they simply didn’t like, you were denied access and, worse, had to “earn” your way back into their so-called “circle of trust.” If a reporter on a political beat does not have or cannot get access to insiders, the news organization has no choice but to install a new reporter who can get access. The new Republican policy was: ask a tough question, you risk your job, your health insurance, your house, everything. So when the counselor at the Midnight Mission wonders how you became homeless and riddled with pox, you can only say: “I asked Dick Cheney what was discussed at his secret meeting with oil executives on May 31, 2001.”

But now that Republicans once again need the media, they’re reluctantly submitting to media debates and interviews. And their awful whining is about to hit fever pitch.

So let’s define it. A gotcha question is one that leads inescapably to a self-incriminating or self-defeating answer. While there may be many forms of gotchas, they are designed almost solely to trap, or corner, or “get” the target.

At the same time, gotcha questions are fair as long as they fall within one unspoken rule of honest journalism – that questions must arise from the real actions, thoughts, promises, and platforms of the person being questioned.

Here, as examples, are some legitimate questions based on the words and actions of some prominent right-wingers.

To Rick Santorum (and other Evangelical candidates): Like Abraham, if you heard God order you to kill your eldest child as a proof of your faith, what would you do?

To Supreme Court Justice Samuel Alito: If you were speaking from the bench at a Court proceeding and one of the attorneys stood up and yelled “Liar!”…would that constitute Contempt of Court?

To any Republican running for office: Why is your pledge to Grover Norquist more sacred than your oath of office?

To Mitt Romney: Why are you on both sides of every important issue?

Given these real gotchas…really, how tough is “What do you read?”

Here’s a rule of thumb: anyone whining about a tough but legitimate question must be asked just one follow-up question: are you smarter than a 5th Grader? If you aren’t, you shouldn’t be running for any office, not even dogcatcher.

Gotcha!

[..]

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May 2012 22

Tattoo Tuesday Roundup!0

Posted In Blog,Tattoo Tuesday,Tattoos

by Blogbot

Every week we ask the ladies and gentlemen of the web to show us their finest ink in celebration of #TattooTuesday.

Our favorite submission from Twitter wins a free 3 month membership to SuicideGirls.com.

This week’s #TattooTuesday winner is Caitlynn Wachter a.k.a. @caitlynnmariex.

Enter this week’s competition by replying to this tweet with a pic of your fav tattoo and the #tattootuesday hashtag.

Good luck!

A few things to remember:

  • You have to be 18 to qualify.
  • The tattoo has to be yours…that means permanently etched on your body.
  • On Twitter we search for your entries by looking up the hashtag #TattooTuesday, so make sure you include it in your tweet!

Check out the Tattoo Tuesday winners of weeks past!

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May 2012 22

NEW SG Interview: Nadine-Labaki – Where Do We Go Now?0

Posted In Activism,Blog,Entertainment,Interviews,Movies,Politics

by Fred Topel

“This film is really my way of saying we’ve had enough.”
– Nadine-Labaki

Nadine Labaki is my kind of woman. A Lebanese filmmaker, Labaki has lived life and experienced war and tragedy, so the perspective in her art is perceptive and philosophical. Certainly not superficial. You would think coming from a conflicted region, Labaki’s films would be serious and perhaps difficult to take. She actually makes comedies. Her first film, Caramel, was a romantic comedy. Her second, Where Do We Go Now?, is a comedy about religious conflict between Christians and Muslims.

How can such a subject be funny? Well, Where Do We Go Now? opens with a procession of Muslim women marching and swaying in rhythm, so you know there’s something different here. The men of their unnamed village are always on the brink of fighting. The women do everything they can to distract the men, from drowning out news broadcasts to bussing in a group of bikini models. With a light touch, Labaki gets people thinking and talking about important matters. Speaking with her in person was equally impressive. Though she was from the other side of the world, she spoke my language both literally (English) and spiritually. We had a gentle conversation about the culture and film making of Lebanon.

Read our exclusive interview with Nadine-Labaki on SuicideGirls.com.