Updates 3/3/12

Hello everyone.


I know I'm a bit late this morning. I'm sorry. I slept in a little bit. It is my birthday, after all. :)


On to the news:



-- Occupy Rochester has until March 11th to vacate their Occupation. The mayor says he won't change his mind, and that the Occupiers have turned their slogan over on it's head, as they are "less than one percent of the people denying access to the 99 percent of people who have a right to be in the park." Occupiers have not yet said if they will follow the orders or resist, but they are surprised at the mayor's actions. They've cooperated and worked through several issues in the past.



-- Republicans in Georgia are working on pushing a new bill into law, which would make it illegal to protest or picket outside the homes of company executives. The bill details the executives' rights to "quiet enjoyment." Right now, criminal trespass is a misdemeanor, but if this becomes law, it could become felony charges.



-- A judge has dismissed more than 100 charges against 88 Occupiers in Albany. The District Attorney originally proclaimed that he would not prosecute the Occupiers, and regardless of the many that attacked him for it, he stuck to his word. Without the prosecution, the judge announced that he had no choice but to drop the charges. Only one man has previously plead guilty to any charges.



-- The Occupier running for Congress in Philadelphia, Nate Kleinman, has pulled himself from the ballot, opting instead for a write-in campaign. The other candidate, Allyson Schwartz, is an incumbent who took Kleinman to court to challenge the validity of over 500 of his 1500 signatures. Supporters of Kleinman are calling out Schwartz on her fear of running against Kleinman, who has a modest budget of roughly $10,000 compared to Schwartz' $2.3 million. Kleinman pulled himself from the ballot, stating he would rather spend the next seven weeks working on his campaign rather than fighting her in court.



-- Now that the anti-Occupy bill in Tennessee has been signed into law, Occupy Nashville has only one week to leave the plaza. Some protesters say they are still going to defy the law and push back, while others are working on packing up and cleaning. Roughly 120 signs were posted on the plaza yesterday, declaring that Occupiers will be prosecuted if they do not leave. If an Occupier is arrested, they can face up to a $2500 fine and a year in jail.



-- Three Occupiers in Oakland have been arrested for robbery and hate crimes, after a woman crossing the street yelled at them not to riot back in February. The three allegedly surrounded the woman, shouting epithets concerning her perceived sexual orientation before taking the woman's wallet. One was arrested that night, while the others were arrested during the march on February 29th.



That's all for today.



***Solidarity***



To contact me for any reason, please email me at elvishbutterfly@hotmail.com. Thanks for reading.