Society's ChildS

Dollar

US: Bank Dumping Days Begin!

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© Robyn Beck/AFP/Getty Images

New York -- Customers are dumping their banks in droves ahead of the nationwide "Move Your Money" and "Bank Transfer Day" movements this Saturday.

Given the recent spotlight on attempts -- and ultimate failures -- by some of the nation's biggest banks to tack on new debit card fees, thousands of disgruntled consumers have already either left or pledged to leave their current bank for a community bank or credit union, which are known for having fewer and/or lower bank account fees.

At least 650,000 consumers have already joined credit unions since Sept. 29, the day Bank of America (BAC, Fortune 500) announced plans to impose its controversial $5 debit card fee, according to a nationwide survey of credit unions by the Credit Union National Association.

Megaphone

US: New York, Sott Exclusive: Freezing OWS Protester says "Bring It On!"

Just prior to the big Snowstorm at the end of October 2011, the NYPD infiltrated the Occupy Wall Street movement on Liberty Plaza to find out where all the power generators were located, in order to remove them by raid.

All generators, including inflammable, environmentally safe bio-fuel generators were confiscated just before the snow storm hit.

An unconscionable action on the part of the NYPD. But they didn't plan on the creativity of the movement:

Handcuffs

UK, London: Journalist's Arrest Adds to Woes of Murdoch's British Empire

The Sun
© Martin Argles / The GuardianThe man arrested by police is believed to be Sun journalist Jamie Pyatt.
A journalist at the tabloid The Sun was arrested Friday on suspicion of making illegal payments to police officers, a sign that a scandal has spread beyond The News of the World to other papers in Rupert Murdoch's British media empire.

The suspect, a 48-year-old man, is the sixth person to be arrested in Scotland Yard's investigation into illegal payoffs by newspapers to police officers in the wake of the phone hacking scandal at The News of the World. He was arrested outside London "in connection with allegations of corruption," the police said, and taken to a police station in southwest London for questioning.

The police would not identify the man, but News International, the British newspaper arm of Mr. Murdoch's media conglomerate, said in a statement that he was a News International employee, and people at the company have identified him as Jamie Pyatt, a senior journalist at The Sun, the Murdoch-owned tabloid that is the most popular daily newspaper in Britain.

The arrest suggests that payoffs to the police may have extended beyond The News of the World, which was closed by Mr. Murdoch in July in an effort to contain the scandal, to other parts of the Murdoch newspaper stable. Mr. Pyatt is the first journalist not employed by The News of the World to be arrested in connection with the police corruption case; he has been at The Sun for more than 20 years and has never worked at The News of the World.

Bizarro Earth

Nazi-saluting nationalists march through Moscow in 'Take back Russia' protest over Muslim migrants

5,000-strong mob chants 'Russia for Russians'

Thousands of far-right Nazi-saluting nationalists marched in Moscow today in a 'Take Back Russia' protest at Muslim migrants.

Resentment is growing over the migrants from Russia's Caucasus and the money the Kremlin sends to those troubled regions.

Chanting 'Russia for Russians' and 'Migrants today, occupiers tomorrow,' about 5,000 demonstrators, mostly young men, marched through a working-class neighbourhood on the outskirts of the capital.
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© ReutersDefiant: Russian nationalist protestors march in a Moscow suburb today in a street lined with police

Che Guevara

Fed-up consumers planning for 'Bank Transfer Day'

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© The Associated Press / Paul SakumaIn this Nov. 2, 2011 file photo, a protester sits in front of an ATM machine as a customer gets money at a Bank of America branch in Oakland, Calif. The spirit behind "Bank Transfer Day" caught fire with the Occupy Wall Street protests around the country and had more than 77,000 supporters on its Facebook page as of Friday, Nov. 4. The movement has already helped beat back Bank of America's plan to start charging a $5 debit card fee.
It's moving day for bank customers.

A grassroots movement that sprang to life last month is urging bank customers to close their accounts in favor of credit unions by Saturday.

The spirit behind "Bank Transfer Day" caught fire with the Occupy Wall Street protests around the country and had more than 79,000 supporters on its Facebook page as of Friday. The movement has already helped beat back Bank of America's plan to start charging a $5 debit card fee.

It's not clear to what extent the banking industry's about-face on debit card fees will extinguish the anger driving the movement. But many supporters say their actions are about far more than any single complaint.

"It's too little, too late," said Kristen Christian, the 27-year-old Los Angeles small business owner who started "Bank Transfer Day." She already opened accounts at two credit unions in preparation for cutting ties with Bank of America this weekend.

"Consumers are waking up and seeing that they have options," she said.

Even with its public support, however, it's not likely that any account closings that take place on Saturday will make a big dent with industry titans such as Chase, which is the largest bank in the country with some 26.5 million checking accounts.

But the call to action shows just how incensed consumers were at the prospect of a debit card fee at a time of so much economic uncertainty. Even those who were appeased by the industry's reversal may have tapped into a new sense of empowerment.

That's the case for Dan Blakemore, a Bank of America customer for the past 10 years. He said he no longer plans to close his checking account now that the debit fee has been scrapped. But he'll be on the lookout for any other changes that might hit his wallet.

Info

US, Minnesota: Ventura, Miffed by Court, Says He's Off to Mexico

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© The Associated Press / The Star Tribune / Bruce BispingFormer Minnesota Governor Jesse Ventura speaks to the media about the court dismissing his suit against the TSA for the pat downs at the airport, outside the St. Paul Federal Courthouse on Friday, Nov. 4, 2011
Former Minnesota Gov. Jesse Ventura is so upset by the dismissal of his airport security lawsuit that he threatened Friday to apply for dual citizenship so he can spend more time in his beloved Mexico - or run for president of what he labeled "the Fascist States of America."

Ventura, also a former wrestling star, sued the U.S. government in January, alleging that airport scans and pat-downs amounted to unreasonable search and seizure. A district judge threw out his lawsuit Thursday, ruling it should have been filed in a Circuit Court of Appeals.

Ventura has said a titanium hip implanted in him in 2008 sets off metal detectors and that agents previously used hand-held wands to scan his body. He said he was subjected to a body pat-down after an airport metal detector went off last November. Ventura said he hasn't flown since and won't fly commercially again.

Outside the federal courthouse in St. Paul, with a crew from his Conspiracy Theory cable TV show filming, Ventura said he hadn't decided whether to continue pressing his lawsuit. He said he wanted to make his case before a jury, not a panel of judges.

Arrow Down

Colombia: Top FARC Rebel Commander Killed in Military Raid

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© The Associated Press / The Canadian Press / Scott Dalton In this Feb. 2, 2001 file photo, rebel Commanders Alfonso Cano, left, and Ivan Rios, right, spokesmen for the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia, or FARC, give a news conference in San Vicente del Caguan, in the rebel controlled area in southern Colombia. According to Colombian military authorities, Cano, the top FARC commander, was killed in a military operation on Friday Nov. 4, 2011.
The top leader of Colombia's main rebel group, the bookish ideologue Alfonso Cano, was killed Friday in combat hours after his nearby camp was bombed, authorities said.

The death was a major victory for President Juan Manuel Santos and comes just over a year after the military killed the rebels' field marshal. It is anything but a fatal blow, however, to the nearly half-century-old peasant-based Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia.

Cano, 63, was killed in a remote area of the southwestern state of Cauca along with four other rebels an hour before dusk about 200 yards (meters) from the bunker he apparently fled after the 8:30 a.m. bombing raid, said Adm. Roberto Garcia, the navy chief.

He had shaven off his trademark beard and his thick glasses were not found with him, Garcia said. Officials said he was positively identified by fingerprint.

Officials did not say whether Cano was armed when he died or how many bullet wounds he had or where. Garcia said five rebels also were captured.

Santos called Cano's killing "the hardest blow to this organization in its entire history" and cheered "Viva Colombia!"

Light Saber

US: Police Tell Banker To Move Out Of The Country If He Objects To Protesters' Right To Free Speech

freedom of speech
© Unknown

This Saturday has been decreed "Bank Transfer Day" by 99 Percent activists. On that day, Americans are encouraged to move their money from the nation's large banking institutions to community banks and credit unions - a way to both strike at the political and economic power of the nation's megabanks and empower local economies.

Over at DailyKos, user marvinborg recounts how he was handing out flyers about moving money at a local Bank of America branch. Soon after he arrived there, the branch's manager came out and started to suggest marvinborg worked for a credit union or that he was unemployed and should "get a job." Before long, two police officers arrived, after being called by the Bank of America.

Stormtrooper

US, Occupy Oakland: second Iraq war veteran injured after police clashes

Occupy Oakland clashes
© Noah Berger/APPolice used teargas to drive back protesters following an attempt by the Occupy supporters to shut down the city of Oakland.

Kayvan Sabehgi in intensive care with a lacerated spleen after protests in Oakland, a week after Scott Olsen was hurt. He says police beat him with batons

A second Iraq war veteran has suffered serious injuries after clashes between police and Occupy movement protesters in Oakland.

Kayvan Sabehgi, who served in Iraq and Afghanistan, is in intensive care with a lacerated spleen. He says he was beaten by police close to the Occupy Oakland camp, but despite suffering agonising pain, did not reach hospital until 18 hours later.

Sabehgi, 32, is the second Iraq war veteran to be hospitalised following involvement in Oakland protests. Another protester, Scott Olsen, suffered a fractured skull on 25 October.

On Wednesday night, police used teargas and non-lethal projectiles to drive back protesters following an attempt by the Occupy supporters to shut down the city of Oakland.

Sabehgi told the Guardian from hospital he was walking alone along 14th Street in central Oakland - away from the main area of clashes - when he was injured.

"There was a group of police in front of me," he told the Guardian from his hospital bed. "They told me to move, but I was like: 'Move to where?' There was nowhere to move.

"Then they lined up in front of me. I was talking to one of them, saying 'Why are you doing this?' when one moved forward and hit me in my arm and legs and back with his baton. Then three or four cops tackled me and arrested me."

Sheriff

A Giant Awakening: US County Sheriffs Stand Tall for the Constitution

Here are eight county sheriffs from Northern CA and Southern OR speaking on at panel at the Defend Rural America event October 22, 2011 in Yreka. Despite the low media coverage there were about 700 people in attendance from all over California, Oregon and as far away as Wyoming. The sheriffs made it perfectly clear that they are the last line of defense for their citizens and given authority by the 10th Amendment. YOU will be a source of information beyond the lame stream media by forwarding this link!