Occupy 2.0 rollout:

“Both the G8 Summit and NATO Summit will take place in Chicago in May, and the Occupy movement leaders are testing the waters for a big showing in President Barack Obama’s home turf. Instead of going after Wall Street bankers, they are going after the politicians and even the military. It’s round two in the 99% vs Laissez-faire capitalism.”

http://www.forbes.com/sites/kenrapoza/2012/01/26/occupy-wall-street-creators-raise-the-stakes-gun-for-g8-and-nato/

Obama creates fraud unit:

Making good on his State of the Union promise, the President created a special unit to deal with the rampant fraud within the banking industry.

 Jan. 25 (Bloomberg) -- “President Barack Obama's mortgage investigation unit will probe bank conduct that created the housing bubble and bust, including the packaging of loans into securities, the New York Attorney General said."

 “The president announced the unit in his State of the Union speech yesterday (Tuesday).”

http://news.businessweek.com/article.asp?documentKey=1376-LYC0706S972801-43B2VFM56VFTRH0F9B70BALAQ7

Obama said in his State of the Union speech that the unit “will hold accountable those who broke the law, speed assistance to homeowners, and help turn the page on an era of recklessness that hurt so many Americans.”

 “The new investigative effort, to be co-chaired by New York Atty. Gen. Eric Schneiderman and four federal officials, will try to coordinate a number of existing federal and state probes into mortgage practices that led to the financial crisis.”

http://www.latimes.com/business/la-fi-obama-mortgage-20120126,0,2858269.story

California update: Harris says no deal

Jan. 25 (Bloomberg) -- “A proposed multistate settlement with Bank of America Corp., JPMorgan Chase & Co. and three other U.S. mortgage servicers to resolve probes of foreclosure practices is 'inadequate for California,' state Attorney General Kamala Harris’s office said.”

http://www.businessweek.com/news/2012-01-26/bank-foreclosure-deal-inadequate-says-california-s-harris.html

Meanwhile, Bank of America is trying to settle with borrowers in Arizona with the stipulation that they keep quiet about it. To get loan relief or a cash payment you have to promise not to criticize the bank. That includes tweets.

One agreement stipulate the borrower will “will remove and delete any online statements regarding this dispute, including, without limitation, postings on Facebook, Twitter and similar websites,” and not make any statements “that defame, disparage or in any way criticize” the bank’s reputation, practices or conduct, according to documents filed in state court in Phoenix.

http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2012-01-26/bank-of-america-settlements-impede-fraud-probe-arizona-says.html

This is consistent with the experience of the Occupation Movement. Bank of America along with other mega-banks know that they have some serious exposure as far as public relations. They don't like the foreclosure actions by occupiers and supporters at all and when a few hundred marchers show up at their front door they have effectively been temporarily shut down. They really don't like that. But the evidence that surfaces daily that proves the validity of the occupy message continues to be the scariest scenario for them.

So we've seen rather blatant attempts by the banks to stifle the OWS message. It has been noted here that the Democrats have already been lambasted by their benefactors on Wall Street when they said anything supportive of OWS or the movement.

The President is also in a tough spot when it comes to SOPA. The entertainment industry is less than pleased with his position and they can state exactly how much they have contributed to Democrats including Mr. Obama. To his credit the President appears to have come around after massive protests against the legislation.

There has been at least adequate coverage of some of the more blatant transgressions by the banks in the business sections and reports like the Bloomberg article above. Business Insider has proved to be a great source for stories pertaining to bank practices. So now the question becomes at what point will the mainstream media figure out that their audience is engaged in this discussion despite their lack of coverage?

Better late than never.

'Crackedwalls' on Youtube:

A series by crackedwalls at Youtube.com has been following Occupy Los Angeles without a lot of fanfare. These videos offer some of the best accounts of the local scene prior to the raid. This video is part 9 of the series posted by crackedwalls. Citizen journalism at its best:

 http://youtu.be/djIDXg73qAk

Tell us something we don't know

WASHINGTON -- “After denying that they are coordinating responses to Occupy Wall Street, the U.S. Conference of Mayorsrecently surveyed city administrations across the country about the movement.

“In the survey, the organization also called on city administrations to share tactics. 'Please describe any strategies or tactics your city is employing in responding to Occupy-related events, including an assessment of their effectiveness if possible.'"

"These are sessions that were intended in assisting cities in creating the public pretext for the eviction of the encampments,' Verheyden-Hilliard said. 'I think they tried to play a fairly covert role in what was an extremely significant nationally coordinated effort to shut down the occupations.'"

“D.C. Metropolitan Police Department spokeswoman Gwendolyn Crump told HuffPost that Chief Cathy Lanier 'participated in many calls about this issue.'"

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/01/25/occupy-wall-street-us-conference-of-mayors_n_1232080.html

Citizen journalist update: Reporters Without Borders

“Reporters Without Borders' latest Press Freedom Index was released on Wednesday, and the list reflected some of the tumult that took place in the world in 2011, as well as the impact that those events had on journalists across the globe.”

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/01/25/press-freedom-occupy-wall-street-us-arrests_n_1230825.html

Results at Reporters Without Borders website:

http://en.rsf.org/press-freedom-index-2011-2012,1043.html

'What do you make of this?'

This is a must-see video because it nails the Buffet Rule. This concept has been misunderstood since it showed up and this video explains why:

http://youtu.be/-cArkuFo9_Q

Another 'showdown'

The U.S. Park Service has been getting heat for the DC occupation at McPherson Square and it appears the confrontation will end at the President's desk due to federal jurisdiction. Of course this means we have another “showdown” brewing according to conservative reporter Jarret Stepman of Human Events:

“The National Parks Service (NPS) has jurisdiction over the parks that Occupy DC has taken over, so ultimately it is the Obama administration that will have the final say in whether or not the occupants are evicted.”

http://www.humanevents.com/article.php?id=49076

The argument by Joe Walsh doesn't make a lot of sense. The occupiers aren't getting preferential treatment if everyone is entitled to protest legally. The Park Service is saying the Tea Party could do the same thing if they wanted to, but because the occupiers are perceived as lefties their must be some sort of bias involved.

So we have another example of how conservative groups and media outlets are always seeking out a story that includes a perceived (by them) confrontation, and when it doesn't exist they become trolls or show up at General Assemblies and try to instigate one according to reliable reports found in previous posts.

Last and least:

“Republican Arizona Gov. Jan Brewer and President Obama got into a little tiff at the airport in Phoenix yesterday, if you haven’t heard.”

http://www.csmonitor.com/USA/Politics/The-Vote/2012/0126/Did-Arizona-Gov.-Jan-Brewer-disrespect-President-Obama-video

Grumpy