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17 Nov 2011 21:53

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Politics: Daily Caller reporter, videographer protected by Occupy protesters

  • The protesters came up to me right away and asked if I needed any medical assistance. They were actually very kind and helpful. It was the police officers who were very aggressive.
  • Daily Caller reporter Michelle Fields • Discussing how protesters treated her after she and videographer Direna Cousins were struck by NYPD officers earlier today. “Direna had a camera in her hand and I had a microphone, and we were being hit,” she said. “When I fell to the ground I said at one point, ‘I’m just covering this! I’m covering this!’  And the officer just said, ‘Come on, get up, get up,’ before pulling me up by my jacket.’” As ThinkProgress notes, The Daily Caller’s Occupy coverage has been negative, but protesters helped them anyway.  source

17 Nov 2011 21:09

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U.S.: Breakdown: Arrests today during Occupy “Day of Action” protests

  • 400 estimated arrests in “Day of Action” protests nationwide
  • 300 estimated arrests in New York City alone, where emotions run high
  • 99 estimated arrests at the Brooklyn Bridge, a symbolic place source

17 Nov 2011 20:42

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Politics: Romney response to story involves phrase “opposition research arm”

  • Under state law, a public employee may not provide services to a candidate or campaign during his or her work hours. Nonetheless, it is evident that your office has become an opposition research arm of the Obama reelection campaign.
  • Mitt Romney’s campaign manager, Matt Rhoades • Offering a bit of a rip with a FOIA request sent to Massachusetts Gov. Deval Patrick’s office, in response to a story released earlier today that claims that the former Massachusetts governor’s staff deleted e-mails before Romney left office. The key phrase in that statement above? “Opposition research arm.” Someone, please, make a T-shirt with that phrase on it. source

17 Nov 2011 18:51

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U.S.: Day of Action: Protesters arrested for sitting at base of Brooklyn Bridge

  • 80+ arrested at Brooklyn Bridge during today’s protests source
  • » The second notable set of Brooklyn Bridge arrests: In something of a return to its roots for the Occupy movement, a number of protesters got arrested while attempting to head towards the Brooklyn Bridge, which mimics a protest from during the early part of the Occupy movement, in which over 700 people got arrested by the NYPD for walking on the iconic bridge. But the tone during today’s “Day of Action” protests was different — those who got arrested did so for sitting at the base of the bridge, while many others stuck to the pedestrian path, staying off the road.

17 Nov 2011 15:16

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U.S.: Suspected White House shooter charged with “attempted assassination”

  • Oscar Ramiro Ortega-Hernandez, the man apprehended as the suspected source of the gunfire directed at the White House last week, will face a charge of “attempted assassination.” This is a curious case for reasons of proximity — President Obama wasn’t in the White House, or even on the East Coast, when the shots were fired. That said, whether or not this qualifies as an assassination attempt in a legal sense (we’re not lawyers, so any clarification would be helpful) may have to do with whether Ortega-Hernandez actually knew that, or believed the President to be sitting in the White House when he opened fire. source

17 Nov 2011 14:20

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U.S.: CA’s Prop. 8 proponents win State Supreme Court challenge

  • And The fight over gay marriage rolls on: The California Supreme Court has ruled that opponents of gay marriage may defend the state’s ban, better known as Proposition 8, in court proceedings. Typically the task of defending such a state initiative falls on officials like the governor or attorney general, but both Jerry Brown and Kamala Harris have refused to do so, voicing opposition to the marriage restriction. This is broadly viewed as a table-setting sort of ruling — there’s a growing air of inevitability that the gay marriage issue is bound for the U.S. Supreme Court, where a ruling could impact the institution all across the country. source

17 Nov 2011 10:32

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U.S.: Occupy Wall Street descends on Wall Street on two-month anniversary

  • 50+ people arrested near Wall Street this morning source
  • » An attempt to prevent trading: A number of protesters, many from Zuccotti Park, tried to prevent traders from reaching the floor of Wall Street, but trading started at the usual 9:30 a.m. despite this. Protesters held up signs that said such things as “Tear down this Wall Street” and shouted phrases like “We aren’t afraid of your nightsticks,” in reference to the NYPD. “We’re not going to go away,” one protester, Davie Field, told the New York Times. “You can slash our tents and kick us out of the park, but we’ll keep coming back every day.”