The Los Angeles Times now reports that one man, Eric J. Rosol, has been charged with conspiracy and an attack on a "protected" computer at Koch Industries, which caused damage.

Officials said Eric J. Rosol, 37, of Black Creek, Wis., participated in an Anonymous-organized shutdown of Koch websites www.kochind.com and www.quiltednorthern.com on Feb. 27 and 28 in 2011.

Rosol is the first and only defendant charged in the attack, a spokesman for the U.S. attorney's office told the Los Angeles Times.

The Koch site shutdown came during the height of pro-union protests in Wisconsin's state capital that winter, when the Koch brothers came under criticism for backing the state's union cutbacks. Under the hashtag #OpWisconsin, Anonymous members issued a statement accusing the Kochs of "political manipulation" and said, "We are actively seeking vulnerabilities."

Here is the full text of the indictment. Page 3 sums up Rosol's sins this way: "'Kochind.com' website crashed and was unavailable for legitimate traffic." Page 4 goes on to allege that Rosol "executed the LOIC program on his computer and transmitted from his computer information and various codes and commands, to a 'protected' computer at Koch Industries, the transmission of which damaged the Koch Industries computer by impairing its integrity and availability of data, programs, system and information."

I realize that it's all the rage right now for the government to try and lock up every member of Anonymous no matter who they are or what they actually did, but this indictment reeks of overreach. Reeks.

First of all, the attack on those servers was a "distributed denial of service attack". That means that more than one person participated, yet the indictment singles out one person, and according to the US Attorney's office, no others are targeted for similar indictment. Second, as the LA Times article points out, a DDoS attack is more like a sit-in than a break-in.

The first reports of an attack on Koch-related websites seemed to sound like Anonymous was targeting Americans for Prosperity. But in affidavit excerpts published by The Smoking Gun, it appears there were calls to target quiltednorthern.com and kochind.com, and it is these calls upon which the indictment is based.

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Wow, folks. Who knew chalk could be subversive enough to bring out the LAPD in full riot gear? Yet, that's exactly what happened tonight.

LA Times:

Police in riot gear and several dozen people squared off Thursday evening during downtown Los Angeles' monthly ArtWalk.

Law enforcement sources said there have been at least 12 arrests, mostly related to vandalism. It was unclear what prompted the confrontation, but it appeared to involve Occupy protesters and a plan to draw on sidewalks with chalk.

LAPD officers have blocked off streets in the vicinity of Spring, Main and 5th streets. There are reports of plastic bottles being thrown at police, and the LAPD has called a tactical alert.

No injuries have been reported.

Oh no!!! Chalk! Horror of horrors. While there may be more to the story, what I've seen on Twitter tonight seems to involve chalk. I've done some research and can't seem to find any updated laws making sidewalk chalk a crime.

The LAPD claims they were being pelted with bottles and rocks, which may or may not be true when it all shakes out. Based on the number of people I'm reading on Twitter willing to accept that chalk-armed anarchists set out to start a riot in the middle of "Artwalk", I'd be inclined to discount those claims until they're documented.

Chalk. Who'd have thunk it? And guitars, evidently.

Via KTAR:

One person with the movement doesn't believe the use of pepper spray was needed.

"A member of the Tohono O'odham Indian Tribe who was pepper sprayed was denied medical treatment," Diane D'Angelo, a media volunteer with Occupy Phoenix, said. "There is no reason to be pepper spraying American citizens who are trying to exercise their first amendment right.

"I think it is pretty typical of what happens to people who don't have money, or access to power in this country at present. You get turned away, arrested or pepper sprayed. Of course it was excessive."

Various organizations ranging from labor to civil rights groups were there to protest against the American Legislative Exchange Council's States and Nation Summit.

The protesters accuse ALEC of being a massive nonprofit body that brings corporations and legislators together to draft ``model'' legislation like Arizona's SB 1070.

That last line is a little bit vague. ALEC IS a massive nonprofit body funded by corporations that exists for one sole purpose: to draft right-wing legislation and push it forward via state legislatures. For sample legislation they've drafted, please visit ALECexposed.org.

In Arizona alone, there are at least 20 pieces of draft legislation which began with ALEC.

PRWatch.org:

The best-known Arizona ALEC bill, SB1070, is almost a carbon-copy version of the ALEC "No Sanctuary Cities for Illegal Immigrants Act," and was approved by an ALEC task force whose members included theCorrections Corporation of America and American Bail Coalition, both of which stood to benefit from immigrant detention. The role of the private prison industry in the bill (which became law in 2010) was documented by Beau Hodai at In These Times and Laura Sullivan at NPR. Not previously reported is that one year earlier, in 2009, a similar anti-immigrant bill approved by the same ALEC task force was introduced in the Arizona legislature, but failed to pass. SB1159 is a verbatim copy of ALEC's "Immigration Law Enforcement Act," and like SB1070 was sponsored by recently-recalled Arizona Senator Russell Pearce. Pearce also sponsored ALEC bills in the Arizona legislature that would circumvent the Naturalization Clause of the Fourteenth Amendment and mandate the use of the E-Verify system for Arizona employers.

Other ALEC legislators introduced ALEC-inspired bills to privatize the state prison system, oppose public financing for political campaigns, create new barriers to voting, and thwart federal efforts to implement environmental regulations that might exceed weak state environmental laws, according to the report(pdf).

President Obama headed to New Hampshire to promote the next prong of his jobs initiative with voters there. At the very beginning of his speech, he's mic checked by a group of OccupyWallStreet protesters.

Compare and contrast his response to them with Newt Gingrich. Or Karl Rove.

Instead of mocking them or villifying them, he tells them "they're the reason he ran for office in the first place."

Chancellor Katehi made an appearance and spoke briefly to students. In a somewhat backhanded way, she apologized for Friday's events, but it was by no means direct.

O ne of the things I love about college students is their fresh creativity. That photo at the top asks students to make tents from wire as a way of honoring the "occupiers." I love it.

Their tweets are below, in chronological order. Be sure to click through to the media.

Update: Lee Fang has a post with all the details here.

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If you've been watching the live stream today, you know things are moving fast and furious in New York, LA and elsewhere. Police in riot gear are doing their best to shut down the press and the protesters, and aren't very discriminating about who they hit.

Tucker Carlson's Daily Caller is no fan of the Occupy Movement, but that might change after today's police assault on their videographer and reporter:

While covering Occupy Wall Street’s “Day of Action” Thursday morning, Daily Caller reporter Michelle Fields and videographer Direna Cousins were struck by NYPD officers as police tried to clear Wall Street of protesters.

“The police officers were beating the protesters with batons, and were also beating the media,” Fields told TheDC. “They hit Direna and me with batons. They hit other members of the press in order to get them to move out of the street.”

Both were struck, but neither sustained injuries that required hospitalization.

Clear indications that Fields and Cousins were members of the press didn’t stop the NYPD beating.

“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.’”

“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,” Fields added.

It's shameful to see these thuggish police actions against the press and public in this country. As much as I dislike the Daily Caller, I certainly don't think there was any cause for police to throw them to the ground and hit them like that. Perhaps they will reconsider the harsh treatment they've given the Occupy movement in light of what these two went through.

[h/t ThinkProgress]

Via Eclectablog:

Cantor's speech was full of typical Republican talking points. In a nod to the 1%, Cantor created a straw man saying that there are many who want to "redistribute their wealth" and that this is the wrong thing to do. What we need, he said, is for the 1% to be generous to the rest of us.

Oh my. Here's a little more from the speech:

Through his example, you can see that America needs more than just a jobs plan. We need a "Steve Jobs Plan". In a Steve Jobs Plan, whether you're a Republican or a Democrat doesn't matter. In a Steve Jobs Plan, no American, regardless of their condition, believes that they are unable to rise up. And in a Steve Jobs Plan, we don't believe that those that succeed somehow take away from those still working their way up the ladder. Why? Because those that earn their success not only create good jobs and services that make our lives better, but they give back and help everyone move just a little bit further up the ladder and everybody can win.

I just finished reading the Walter Isaacson biography of Steve Jobs. For the record, it's worth noting that Steve Jobs was able to rise because he had help in his early years -- help he never, ever forgot. His first foray into electronics and computing was made possible because he reached out to Bill Hewlett for some parts to a device he was making. Hewlett gave him the parts and a job. Steve Jobs never forgot that, nor did he ever suggest he earned the right to Bill Hewlett's attention.

But I digress. Here's the reception Eric Cantor received from some members of the audience:

After his speech, over a dozen protesters stood up, removed their jackets to reveal shirts with various pro-99% slogans on them and then, one by one, turned their backs to Cantor and remained this way during his entire 30-minute question and answer session.

I guess they made a statement! Ann Arbor, of course, is right in the heart of Betsy and Dick DeVos-land, where I'm certain Mr. Cantor expected a warm and happy reception. I'm so glad some ticketholders were ready to make a statement instead.

For all the lofty rhetoric, Eric Cantor and his buddies are trying to remake America in a thin mold of feudal failed states. He would do well to take another lesson from his hero, Steve Jobs, as expressed in Jobs' sadness over the decline of the once-great Hewlett-Packard:

But getting back to Jobs' criticism. You don't build a great company by dismantling it and then trying to clone the strategies of other, less-successful companies. Certainly not if you're HP. Let's hope HP's board is smart enough to see Jobs' rebuke for what it is: good advice.

For the win. Via owsnews.org:

Just days after Ruth Murman came to OccupyMN seeking help to win two weeks to move before her home is foreclosed upon, U.S. Bank and GMAC have contacted her to settle the dispute. Ruth had sought legal counsel and asked U.S. Bank to delay the eviction while she makes other arrangements, and until today U.S. Bank had refused to budge. This morning, U.S. Bank and GMAC called Ruth and agreed to give her the two weeks she had requested, and are currently negotiating a payment to help with moving costs.

“I got about 6 calls from U.S. Bank and GMAC yesterday,” explained Ruth. “Its amazing how desperate they were to get in touch with me all of a sudden, after they have ignored my calls and refused to help my father and I for months.”

As an added bonus, jobs were saved. Go read the whole article. She was a small business owner who was in danger of losing her business and putting employees out of work, too.

I haven't seen many reactions to the arrogant Baum Halloween party photos that argue for full-throated support of their horrible business practices and their even more horrible attitudes. At least, until I visited Oliver Willis' blog and found this comment from Moonbat Monitor:

If the people can’t pay their mortgage, and the investor will not agree to modify the loan, or the mortgagor doesn’t qualify for anything…..what do you expect to happen? Free houses for everyone? Yay!!! Banks don’t *want* to foreclose on homes. It costs them on average about $40,000 to do so. But at some point, the people that just can not afford these houses need to GTFO, or this market will NEVER recover. If I can’t afford my car, it will get repossessed. That’s the way the real world operates. I’m not very inclined to argue with anyone here about this, because you’re all ignorant in regards to this subject and how this works, where as I am an expert.

Anyway, we make fun of these losers where I work too. It’s awesomely hilarious. Especially when I get an escalation, and I jokingly act like Commodus from Gladiator, and give the thumbs down, thus making another putz that never should’ve had the house in the first place homeless. Go rent an apartment. Losers. A lot of these people have been sitting in these houses for years without paying a damn thing, or bothering to contact their mortgage servicer.(particularly in judicial states) We can’t go to their houses and FORCE them to fill out paperwork. Then foreclosure time finally comes, and THEN they want to complain about getting kicked out. Sorry, that isn’t the way it works. And I see it every day.

Sad that so many here are completely ignorant of the ins/outs of this industry.

Oh, isn't that all so personal responsibility-ish and everything? Only, the first condition in that commenter's sentence ignores people like this homeowner, who tried to catch up on her mortgage payments but was refused, told to modify her loan, and when that didn't work, One West foreclosed on her. Foreclosed on her, even though she had the money to catch up the loan payments. I wonder what Moonbat's explanation is for that?

Just to refresh our memories, here's a good description of what foreclosure mills like Baum do.

Foreclosure mills cut costs for banks by cutting corners—when they can’t compile the documentation needed to push families out of their homes right now, they simply fabricate the documents. Still worse, these guys illegally withhold documentation from borrowers seeking to negotiate loan modifications with their banks—effectively forcing borrowers out of their homes instead of allowing them to cut a deal with the bank. When borrowers actually do straighten things out with foreclosure mills, the scumbags slap them with huge illegal fees. Kroll details a foreclosure mill that erroneously tried to evict a Florida couple who had been paying their mortgage on time. When it became clear that the couple could not be kicked out of their home, the foreclosure mill tried to charge them $18,500 in fees for mistakes committed by the foreclosure mill and the bank. The foreclosure mill even invented two new people who it said lived in the home in order to demand four sets of legal processing fees instead of two.

Maybe this is just me, but I wouldn't be out on blogs bragging about being an expert in these things.

Rachel Maddow hit on something in this segment with Glenn Greenwald that dovetails with this excellent Matt Taibbi piece about the Occupy Wall Street movement. It's a message that isn't widely reported in mainstream media reports, and because it isn't reported, it plays nicely into conservative criticisms that this movement is all about class warfare. It isn't. What it is about is justice.

Taibbi writes of a conversation he had with someone at a party the night before:

Oh, Christ, I thought. He’s saying the protesters are hypocrites because they’re using banks. I sighed.

"Listen," I said, "where else are you going to put three hundred thousand dollars? A shopping bag?"

"Well," he said, "it's just, they're protests are all about... You know..."

"Dude," I said. "These people aren't protesting money. They're not protesting banking. They're protesting corruption on Wall Street."

"Whatever," he said, shrugging.

These nutty criticisms of the protests are spreading like cancer. Earlier that same day, I'd taped a TV segment on CNN with Will Cain from the National Review, and we got into an argument on the air. Cain and I agreed about a lot of the problems on Wall Street, but when it came to the protesters, we disagreed on one big thing.

Cain said he believed that the protesters are driven by envy of the rich.

"I find the one thing [the protesters] have in common revolves around the human emotions of envy and entitlement," he said. "What you have is more than what I have, and I'm not happy with my situation."

But this isn't about envy and entitlement. I can understand the misunderstanding in some ways, but it's just not about that. The people out there in Zucotti Park are there because they have to live by different rules than the 1 percent. It's really that simple. If they default on loans, they lose everything. If the 1 percent defaults, they get government bailouts. If they commit crimes, they go to jail. If the 1 percent commits crimes, they aren't even investigated.

Glenn Greenwald points all the way back to Gerald Ford's pardon of Richard Nixon as evidence that there are two justice systems in this country: One for 99 percent and another for the privileged 1 percent.

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