occupyallstreets:

WikiLeaks Uncovers Homeland Security Report on Occupy Movement

The transparency organization WikiLeaks has published an assessment report from the Homeland Security Department (DHS) on the Occupy movement that was put together in October of last year. The assessment was attached to a Stratfor email, one of five million or so emails the organization obtained and has been releasing since February 27.

The release of the report is timely, as it is being released just as Occupy supporters are mobilizing for demonstrations against the suppression of the Occupy movement by law enforcement and political leaders in the United States.

Put together by the Office of Infrastructure Protection under DHS, the report seems to have put together with the following presumption in mind, which appears in bold at the top of the report:

“Mass gatherings associated with public protest movements can have disruptive effects on transportation, commercial, and government services, especially when staged in major metropolitan areas. Large scale demonstrations also carry the potential for violence, presenting a significant challenge for law enforcement.”

The report proceeds to break down the risks and threats the Occupy movement poses to “critical infrastructure” by looking at their “impacts” on financial services, commercial facilities, transportation, emergency services and government facilities. The breakdown relied on news reports from sources like the New York Daily News, CBS, Associated Press, CNN, Chicago Tribune, Reuters, New York Times, Boston Globe, etc.

In the report’s summary, DHS concluded:

“The growing support for the OWS movement has expanded the protests’ impact and increased the potential for violence. While the peaceful nature of the protests has served so far to mitigate their impact, larger numbers and support from groups such as Anonymous substantially increase the risk for potential incidents and enhance the potential security risk to critical infrastructure (CI). The continued expansion of these protests also places an increasingly heavy burden on law enforcement and movement organizers to control protesters. As the primary target of the demonstrations, financial services stands the sector most impacted by the OWS protests. Due to the location of the protests in major metropolitan areas, heightened and continuous situational awareness for security personnel across all CI sectors is encouraged.”

Much like the threat government officials might allege WikiLeaks releases pose to national security, the threat is, for the most part, hype. Though the protests had been “peaceful,” Homeland Security determined that the fact that more and more citizens were turning out to support the cause of Occupy posed a possible threat to critical infrastructure and public order. The presence of supporters of Anonymous, which the FBI has been investigating, led Homeland Security to believe “potential incidents” or “potential security risks” could transpire. But, while Anonymous has claimed responsibility for cyber attacks, it has absolutely no history of violence in the world of non-virtual reality.

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motherjones:

ninefiveeight:

love it.

If only a clear, simple explanation—or graphic!—led to rational thinking.

(via guerrillanetwork)

(via thebeautyofislam)

occupyallstreets:

Chrome Add-on Tells You When You’re Browsing A Site That Supports SOPA

No SOPA, an extension program for Google’s Chrome browser, warns users every time they visit a site owned by a company that supports SOPA, throwing up a red bar at the top of the browser that reads “SOPA Supporter! This company is a known supporter of the dangerous ‘Stop Online Piracy Act.’”

The plug-in doesn’t block those SOPA-supporting sites. But the tool’s creators, two Minneapolis programmers named Andy Baird and Tony Webster, have some suggestions about how users ought to proceed. “Boycott? Nasty letter time?” they write in the tool’s description. “You decide.” 

No SOPA takes its blacklist from media sources, and Baird and Webster say they’ll continually update it with suggestions from users to the tool’s page on Github, a platform for open source software. As of today, the add-on seems to flag 333 sites as SOPA friendly, from industry groups like the Motion Picture Association of America to the Business Software Alliance, to companies like Apple.com to Nintendo.com, to Newscorp-owned sites like Fox.com and Sky.com.

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(via occupyallstreets)

shortformblog:

You daily dose of visual evidence that some poor web producer had a frantic moment recently. Whatever opinion you may hold of Dunkin’ Donuts, nutritionally or by culinary quality, this is fear-mongering of the worst kind!

First they come for the Muslims, then they come for the coffee. *sigh*

(via shortformblog)

(via socialistexan)

ryking:

Ted Rall, “The Mitt-Bot 2012.2.”

(via socialistexan)

cognitivedissonance:

“He was an old-school gentleman, but in a kid’s body. If anyone was outside doing yard work or something, he was always the first one to ask if they needed help.”

- Alex Frye’s next door neighbor, Lindsey Power, on the boy she called a “smart, nice” kid. 

Alex Frye was a 13-year-old boy who went missing on New Year’s Eve in Cheyenne, Wyo. He was found dead this morning. Alex’s death was ruled a suicide by Cheyenne police.

Before I return to my regularly scheduled programming, I’d like to share these numbers with my followers and beyond. I didn’t know Alex, but that doesn’t mean his death didn’t affect me. I had planned to join the search effort tomorrow in Cheyenne, but hoped volunteers were not needed because he had come home. 

But not like this.

Please, if you are dealing with a burden that seems too difficult to handle, reach out to someone. Reach out to someone on Tumblr. I’m sharing several numbers for hotlines and resources specializing in helping people get through a multitude of crises. There’s even an online crisis chat.

Sadly, it’s too late for Alex. But it may not be too late for someone else. My thoughts go out to his family, and it’s in his memory I share this information with all of you.

Crisis Chat Online: www.crisischat.org

Crisis Hotline Numbers

Child Abuse: 

• Childhelp: (800-4-A-CHILD) 800-422-4453

Child Sexual Abuse: 

• Darkness to Light: (866-FOR-LIGHT) 866-367-5444

Family Violence: 

• National Domestic Violence Hotline: (800-799-SAFE) 800-799-7233

GLBTQ Resources:

• The Trevor Project: 1-866-488-7386
• GLBT Youth National Help Line: 1-800-246-7743

Grief and Loss:

• Grief Support: 1-650-321-5272

Help for Parents: 

• Nation Parent Helpline: (855-4-A-PARENT) 855-427-2736

Human Trafficking: 

• National Human Trafficking Hotline: 888-373-7888

Mental Illness: 

• Depression Hotline: 1-630-482-9696
• Eating Disorders Hotline: 1-847-831-3438
• National Crisis Help Line: 1-800-SUICIDE (1-800-784-2433) 
• National Alliance of Mental Illness: (800-950-NAMI) 800-950-6264

Missing/Abducted Children: 

• Child Find of America: (800-I-AM-LOST) 800-426-5678
• National Center for Missing and Exploited Children: (800-THE-LOST) 800-843-5678

Rape/Incest: 

• Rape, Abuse, & Incest National Network (RAINN): (800-656-HOPE) 800-656-4673

Substance Abuse: 

• National Alcohol and Substance Abuse Information Center: 800-784-6776

Suicide Prevention: 

• National Suicide Prevention Lifeline: 800-273-8255

Youth in Trouble/Runaways:

• National Runaway Switchboard: (800-RUNAWAY) 800-786-2929