Monday, November 7, 2011

Occupy News

by Kevin Surbaugh

As the Occupy Movement continues, I thought today we would take a look back at the news from around the movement.
New York
The New York Post reports, that a campsite of Occupy Wall Street protestors has become so overrun by sexual predators attacking women in the night that organizers have set up a female-only sleeping tent to keep them away. The tent can sleep as many as 18 at a time. The article led to Donald Trump Jr to link to it on his Twitter account asking what does this say about the movement?
“This is all about safety in numbers,” said Becky Wartell, 24, a protester from Portland, Maine.

“When you’re in a large group of people sleeping, you will, of course, feel a lot safer than if you were by yourself,” she added.
- New York Post

Dallas

Similarly in Dallas, Texas A 24-year-old convicted sex offender was arrested after he was accused of having sex with a 14-year-old at the Occupy Dallas campground near City Hall. Dallas police said Richard Wayne Armstrong (who had been convicted of raping another 14-year old girl previously) was arrested Sunday on suspicion of having sex with a 14-year-old runaway.

Police located and questioned Armstrong and discovered he had failed to register as a sex offender after he recently got out of prison in Big Sandy.

Armstrong was convicted of sexually assaulting a 14-year-old girl in Coppell in 2009.
- MSNBC

This is not good. Two cities, both having problems with sexual assaults and predictors in their midst. What else is happening in the movement?

Austin

According to media reports, there were approximately 100 Occupy Austin protesters who gathered at City Hall on Saturday morning (Nov. 5, 2011) and marched to the Wells Fargo branch at Congress Avenue and East Riverside Drive to participate in National Bank Transfer Day. A few weeks ago they did the same to Bank of America. According to organizers the action Saturday, 11 customers reportedly closed their Wells Fargo accounts.

According to the Washington Independent there were more than 47,000 Texans who left banks to join credit unions for Bank Transfer Day.
Over the weekend, members of the Occupy Texas movement in cities like Houston and Austin marched to their banks, closed their accounts and put their money in credit unions, joining demonstrators across the nation on Bank Transfer Day.

In protest of rising bank fees, hidden charges and profit-driven business motives, occupiers are making a collective effort to transfer their money into what they see are more ethical and trustworthy institutions.

About 47,000 Texans have joined credit unions in the past month, moving some $326 million by November 2 – four times the usual growth rate, reports the Texas Credit Union League. And as our sister site the Colorado Independent reported, 650,000 people across the nation have opened accounts in the same period. Post-Bank Transfer Day, that number is edging closer to a million customers.
- Washington Independent

There you have it. A brief summary of the Occupy Movement over the weekend. I will be looking at this movement more as it continues.
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My name is Kevin, and that's what I think. What do you think? Agree? Disagree?

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