Teach In

John Stewart takes on another Big Q:  America's confusion over the meaning of socialism.  Also seeming like an appropriate enough teach-in topic given Cecily McMillan's association with Democratic Socialists of America.  If I hadn't read Rolling Stone, I would have missed this gem ..

The Daily Show
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Cecily

More information coming in about the OWS protester - Cecily McMillan - who had a seizure while in police custody.  Prior statements that she was beaten by police appear confirmed by more video that has surfaced, shown below - one police officer can be seen swinging a club;  also, a witness known only as "Anne" reports seeing her clubbed and kicked by the police at close range.  It also turns out Ms. McMillan has been targeted for police brutality previously, as reported in a November 10, 2011 Rolling Stone article, "Inside Occupy Wall Street," and when, after engaging in a attempt to "charge Wall Street," a police officer pepper sprayed her, then 'knocked her down, stepped on her head and snarled at her, "Shut up. You get what you deserve, cunt bitch."'  A former cheerleader, Ms. McMillan is Northeast regional organizer for the youth section of the Democratic Socialists of America.  She is a twenty-three year old graduate student at the New School, and she is also employed as a nanny.  The Guardian reports that she was transfered from the hospital to NYPD's midtown south precinct where she was kept in a 6' X 21' cell with twenty-one other women.  Cell mates say that she was so badly bruised, they tried to give her as much room as possible because it was too painful for her to be touched at all, and they just took turns holding her hand to try to comfort her.  "She was just crying hysterically and showed us all her bruises all over her body," stated Jennifer Waller who also saw her convulsing in the street.  "They told her at the hospital that she would be brought back to the precinct for 20 minutes and then she would be seeing her personal doctor.  Twenty minutes turned into many hours."  Ms. McMillan was eventually transfered to Bellevue with the extent of her injuries and treatment not yet released to the press.  Her attorney was unable to speak with her privately until shortly before a court appearance.  In court, Ms. MacMillan's face was visibly quite bruised and the attending police officer told people waiting for her to have pain killers immediately available.  The judge released Ms. McMillan after denying the D.A.'s request to have bail set at $20,000. and after confirming that a police officer elbowed by Ms. McMillan when her arm swung behind her was not even injured.

Here are the additional videos;  footage also shows her having the seizure, her head hitting the sidewalk repeatedly, and confirming numerous reports that police did not provide first aide - indeed, people even scream repeatedly for her to receive assistance, telling the police that she is having a seizure, and demanding that the police call a medic and an ambulance for her, but New York's Finest does not.  People also yell at NYPD:  "Shame!  Shame!  Shame!"  You can hear the earlier reported phone conversation to 911 made by the witness who said he telephoned, and that it did not appear from the conversation that the police had contacted paramedics at all.  Witnesses also time the appearance of an ambulance as taking 17 minutes.

*  Inset photo/Cecily McMillan via Facebook

Mediterranean Sundance

Another rare recording - the full video of Paco de Lucia and Al Dimeola's live performance of Mediterranean Sundance at Friday Night In San Francisco.

Livestream

Occupy Wall Street crowds presently marching in the nighttime streets of New York City with livestream coverage via Tim Pool reporting thousands outraged over the Florida police handling of a deadly shooting of an unarmed teenager, Trayvon Martin.  The identified killer has not been arrested. 

At the time of this posting, protesters were heard loudly chanting, "We are Trayvon Martin!"  and "Whose street?  Our street!"  Shortly before, marchers headed on to Brooklyn Bridge chanting, "Whose bridge?  Our bridge!"  NYPD followed them with paddy wagons, when the demonstration suddenly shifted direction and went another way.  Tim Pool reports that the protesters shifted directions several times very effectively as a unified large crowd, successfully eluding a number of attempted police interventions.



OWS also reports arrests at Union Square - where OWS appears to be relocating - with police telling demonstrators they are not allowed to have banners.

A couple of hundred energetic demonstrators marched yesterday as well, and via 1 Police Plaza, demanding Police Commissioner Brian Kelly's resignation, and in response to widespread incidents of police brutality and excessive force at the 6 Month Anniversary Celebration for OWS.

Also - Jason Leopold at Truthout is obtaining DHS documents on Occupy Wall Street the reporter previously requested through the Freedom of Information Act - still uploading now as the documents come in from the Department of Homeland Security.  Truthout is also seeking documents under the F.O.I.A. from the F.B.I. and N.Y.P.D.

Guacamole

courtesy of wikipedia

photographer:  B.navez

avocado fruit and foliage

quick guacamole (or, easy avocado dip)

appliances

small knife

tablespoon

fork

mixing bowl

ingredients

about 3 ripe avocados of any variety

1 tablespoon non-fat plain yogurt (alternatively, greek yogurt)

2-3 tablespoons olive oil

the juice of 1 lime (alternatively, 1 lemon)

a few tablespoons of pico de gallo

courtesy of wikipedia

photographer:  Prosthetic Head

lime and blossom growing in south spain

procedure

1.  slice your avocados in half around the pit.  separate the two halves, remove your pits, and make a number of criss-crossing slices into the inner fruit to ease removal.  then scoop out the flesh with your tablespoon into the mixing bowl.

2.  mash the avocados with a fork, then add your yogurt and other ingredients and mix well.

Enjoy!  Serve in a plate of your choice with chips or raw vegetables on the side for dipping.  Garnish with cilantro and an olive or two.

 

courtesy of DHD Multimedia Gallery

photographer: Bruno Girin

avocados in a market in santiago atitlan guatemala

variations

1.  chop and add small pieces of kalamata or canned black olives.

2.  chop and add small pieces of green olives.

3.  in lieu of pico de gallo, add a couple of diced tomatoes, chopped cilantro to taste, a few slices of chopped onion, a crushed and chopped garlic clove, sea salt and freshly ground black pepper to taste, a few dashes of tabasco sauce. 

courtesy of wikipedia

photographer:  Ethel Aardvark

"Persea americana" (Avocado) flowers and foliage

discussion

the earliest evidence of human avocado use dates back to 10,000 B.C. found in a cave in Coxcatlán, Puebla, Mexico.  human populations were collecting wild avocados at that time, with evidence suggesting avocados first domesticated around 5,000 b.c. and avocado seeds first documented in writing in Oaxaca around 1,200 b.c. 

avocado trees held a sacred significance to the mayan comparable to cacao (as blogged in the recipe for decadent hot cocoa).  along the sides of the artistically famous sarcophagus for Mayan King Pakal, his ancestors are depicted sprouting from several trees important to that region, including the avocado and cacao plants. 

courtesy of wiki

pacal the great

reigning July 29, 615 – August 31, 683 CE

(he ate avocados)

the word 'avocado' (by the way) comes from the Nahuatl word for testicle  - ahuacatl - refering to the fruit's shape and (I guess) the way it hangs on a tree (see top photo) - and with the earliest English reference to the word, "avocado," in a 1696 index of Jamaican plants by one Hans Sloane.  avocados were known to the aztecs as a fertility fruit.  In the pre-incan city, Chan Cha, anthropologists found a water jar dating 900 a.d. shaped to resemble, they say, an avocado. 

spanish conquistadors brought avocadoes to europe in the 16th century, and thanks to mr. sloane, we know it was growing in jamaica by the 17th century.  the fruit was introduced to Indonesia in the 1700's, and over the centuries, was making its way to Brazil, South Africa, and Australia, among other locales.  avocadoes were brought to Florida and Hawaii in the early decades of the 19th century, and California, in the 1870's.  500-1,000 varieties are reported today from 3 types - Mexican, Guatemalan, and West Indian.

avocados are loaded with nutrition, including more potassium than bananas, and more protein than any other fruit.  Here is a clear web page on avocado nutrition facts, along with a video on ripeness and cutting.  i prefer to use a small knife for guacamole (but cannot make safety recommendations - the host discusses knife safety) - and as she describes, a ripe avocado will open (or twist open easily after you cut it around).  to remove the pit, I squeeze that side a little and it pops or pushes easily out. 

courtesy of wikipedia

posted by Krish Dulal

tomatoe baskets in Nepal

Union Square

Courtesy of Forgotten Delights

George Washington, by Henry Kirke Brown, dedicated 1856.

South side of Union Square, facing 14th St. between University Place and Broadway. 

Occupy Wall Street reports that a number of demonstrators have moved from Liberty Square to Union Square where several OWS protests have previously converged.  About 70 protesters have slept overnight at Union Square without tents, but blankets and sleeping gear, some calling it "The New Occupation."

The OWS website is providing directions to get to Union Square and a message to NYPD: 

Squash us in one park, we will reappear in another! You cannot evict an idea whose time has come!

Protesters should go to the south side of the park, on the concrete part by the steps.

General Strike

CBS news and The Wall Street Journal report that OWS activists, apparently at a news conference today at Liberty Square, have called for a May 1st general strike over the newspapers' arrest count of 73 individuals. 

I don't see any announcement yet at the OWS website.  However, Union Square - according to Wiki - has "historically been the start or end point for many political demonstrations" in New York City.  Below, a photograph from a 1913 May 1st demonstration from the Library of Congress Prints and Photographs Online:

Courtesy of Wikipedia

Posted by Goldsztajn

Crowd gathered in Union Square, New York City during the May Day parade, May 1, 1913.

Signs in Yiddish, Italian and English. 

Petition

In response to NYPD violence against Occupy Wall Street protesters, YourAnonymousNews is circulating a petition calling for" full, independent investigation by the state Attorney General into the active suppression of the movement by the New York Police Department including, but not limited to:

1. The use of taxpayer funds to infiltrate and monitor peaceful Occupy protest planning

2. Departmental practices that lead to, or allow for, the violent dispersal of crowds and the violent arrest of protestors

3. Civil rights violations of protestors by the police"

Editor's Note:  Revision.  This post incorrectly reported earlier that some protesters had moved to Union Square, with 70 sleeping overnnight without tents at Liberty Square.  The 70 protesters, however, stayed overnight at Union Square.  So this blog is understanding that OWS is, indeed, moving to Union Square, and other news reports since initial posting confirm OWS announcements for a May 1, 2012 General Strike (for example, here).  I suppose developments in the days to come will provide further clarification one way or another about locations and events.

Bearing Witness

Information being exchanged about March 17th-18th developments at Liberty Square where protesters were celebrating the 6 month anniversary of the movement when police moved in to stop peaceful freedom of assembly.  Occupy Wall Street reports 100 arrests in New York, 4 in Los Angeles on felony charges and requesting bail donations,  and 14 in the Midwest.  Occupy Boston protesters set up tents in the Boston Commons, protesting the arrests.  I am not seeing further reports on the fate on those tents.

Numerous witnesses are describing incidents of police brutality and excessive use of force, with youtubes documenting incidents and stories.  In the video below, the police drag a woman protester across the street while her skirt is pushed above her buttocks.  They then leave her lying there in the middle of the street, exposed.  One officer can be seen glancing over and smiling as if it were funny, and you can see officers inappropriately touching her upper thighs as she lies handcuffed in the gutter.



In the next video below, police can also be seen roughly shoving and arresting people, and an officer holding one woman down on the street with his knee in her neck so that she can't breath.




In the following video, witnesses describe (among other accounts) an arrested woman having a seizure and being left on the sidewalk by police in the midst of this seizure with no first aide.  A witness who telephones 911 describes a conversation indicating that the police may not have even contacted paramedics at all.  Another witness in the video recounts how the woman who had a seizure was first reportedly dragged across the street by police, her skirt lifted;  so perhaps it is the same woman in the first video.  A witness also states that she was beaten.



In the livestream clip below at 3:40, via OWS, police can be seen smashing a medic's head into a window with so much force that it shatters the window.




In the second video, one protester extensively confronts police off-camera while they film,also stating that they are recording badge numbers.  The following is a transcript of some of her statements to police, with some officers appearing sympathetic, and one even nodding in apparent agreement with her about crooks on Wall Street, at the end:

Peaceful protest! Everybody’s been peaceful!  Nobody’s been violent except for NYPD – why is that? We know your pensions are up for grabs by Wall Street.  You should be on our side. We’re fighting for your kids, your future – you should not be brutalizing and terrorizing protesters!

This is a peaceful protest. No one was here to do any harm. The use of force today was completely unjustified. It is just plain wrong! Just plain wrong. Protect and serve the people not Wall Street – you know that already. What happened to courtesy, professionals, and respect? All these people from out of town – is this what we show them New York City is about?  Is this what New York’s finest wants to show America and the world that’s watching what we’re about? When people came here to speak up for justice – for your futures and your kids? Our civil liberties and rights and the constitution?  I don’t know who’s giving you your learners – is it Bloomberg, a billionaire, who does not understand the suffering of the working people?

(Another woman protester off camera) They ARE the working people!

(Protester continuing) You ARE the working people! You should be on our side protecting these kids who came to fight for justice! Not terrorizing them and throwing them to the ground and beating them up! Yes, we got it all on videotape and it will be on youtube, of course!  What did you think?  We did get everyone's badge numbers and there will be accountability, so be careful what you do today and be careful who you hurt! People came here for a very noble cause! Why are you here? Just for a pay check? A pay check?

(Policewoman then approaching camera and protester speaking)  Open the street up!  Anyone in the street will be arrested!

(Protester continuing)  I saw an incredible amount of police brutaility today. a completely unjustified level of use of force. I myself was pushed around for simply standing here, simply video taping, simply exercising a constitutional right

(Another policeman gesturing to move away) Get out of the street, ma’am – get out of the street – get out of the street -

(Protester continuing) This is my home town

(Policeman) All right – but get out of the street – you should be standing on the side walk

(Protester continuing) We survived terrorism here – why should we be terrorized here today – we’re paying for you with our tax dollars – we pay you to protect us – not to beat us up –

(Another protester calling out off camera) These streets are so dangerous, I need a helicopter to watch it!

(Protester continuing) If you want someone to arrest – there’s plenty of crooks on Wall Street!

(Police man nods in agreement)

(Protester continuing) Plenty of crooks!

So .. who are we protecting?  Who are we serving?