Via Tar Sands Blockade:

Updates:

UPDATE: 5:30 pm – Police pulled so hard on the barrel that one of the chains broke

Update from Glen in jail: the blockaders did not unlock voluntarily. Police pulled so hard on the barrel that the chain on his wrist broke. Glen doesn’t think anything is broken, but the extent of his injuries has not yet been determined.

UPDATE: 3:00 pm – Charges filed against blockaders

Glen Collins, Matt Almonte, and Isabel Indigo Brooks are all being charged with three misdemeanors: resisting arrest, criminal trespassing and illegal dumping. Show your appreciation for their efforts with a donation to their bail fund!

UPDATE: 1:30 pm – For more photos of the action, visit our Flickr page.

UPDATE: 1:00 pm – Third blockader arrested

Isabel Indigo Brooks, who was inside the pipe providing assistance for Glen and Matt, has also been removed from the pipe and arrested.

Demonstrate your support with a generous donation to the bail fund for these courageous blockaders.

UPDATE: 12:45 pm – Glen and Matt arrested and loaded into police van

Demonstrate your support with a generous donation to the legal fund for these brave blockaders.

BREAKING: 12:30 pm – Blockaders forcibly extracted from pipe

Police brought an ambulance to the scene and then began pulling on one of the barrels. The crowd surged onto the easement to protect Glen and Matt from this dangerous extraction, but they were chased away by the police. Both barrels and the two blockaders have been removed from the pipe.

Meanwhile, a team of blockaders are stopping a nearby excavator machine from digging the pipeline trench.

UPDATE: 12:05 pm – Two police officers enter the pipe, emerge a few minutes later

Glen and Matt are still locked inside the pipe; the police have been completely unable to extract them but continue to threaten various extraction techniques which would endanger the blockaders’ lives, such as cutting into the pipe.

Join the fight against Keystone XL by coming to our next Mass Action Camp starting on January 3, one month from today!

UPDATE: 11:20 am – Police attempting to block view of pipe and move supporters further from scene

Police have moved several trucks and vans in order to obstruct the view of the pipe in which Glen and Matt are locked. They have threatened arrest and forced supporters off the property immediately adjacent to the pipeline easement, despite the fact that the homeowner gave protesters explicit permission to be in her yard. Police are also forcing protesters to move further along the public road along which they were standing.

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Jake Davis, (aka "Topiary") one of the key figures of the '50 days of Lulz' and allegedly involved in the attacks on the CIA, the US Air Force, PBS, HBGary, Westboro Baptist Church and more plead guilty earlier this year, and is now on conditional bail – and barred from going online. In an article for the Guardian, he describes life without the internet; how he feels serene, and recharged.

The last time I was allowed to access the internet was several moments before the police came through my door in the Shetland Isles, over a year ago. During the past 12 months I have pleaded guilty to computer misuse under the banners of "Internet Feds", "Anonymous" and "LulzSec". One of my co-defendants and I have also been indicted with the same charge in the United States, where we may possibly be extradited, and if found guilty I could face several decades in an American prison. Now I am on conditional bail and have to wear an electronic tag around my ankle. I'm forbidden from accessing the internet.

I'm often asked: what is life like without the net? It seems strange that humans have evolved and adapted for thousands of years without this simple connectivity, and now we in modern society struggle to comprehend existence without it. In a word, life is serene. I now find myself reading newspapers as though they weren't ancient scrolls; entering real shops with real money in order to buy real products, and not wishing to Photoshop a cosmic being of unspeakable horror into every possible social situation. Nothing needs to be captioned or made into an elaborate joke to impress a citizenry whose every emotion is represented by a sequence of keystrokes.

Things are calmer, slower and at times, I'll admit, more dull. I do very much miss the instant companionship of online life, the innocent chatroom palaver, and the ease with which circles with similar interests can be found. Of course, there are no search terms in real life – one actually has to search. However, there is something oddly endearing about being disconnected from the digital horde.

It is not so much the sudden simplicity of daily life – as you can imagine, trivial tasks have been made much more difficult – but the feeling of being able to close my eyes without being bombarded with flashing shapes or constant buzzing sounds, which had occurred frequently since my early teens and could only be attributed to perpetual computer marathons. Sleep is now tranquil and uninterrupted and books seem far more interesting. The paranoia has certainly vanished. I can only describe this sensation as the long-awaited renewal of a previously diminished attention span.

Full article here.

Artist Alex Schaefer turns chalking into an act of civil disobedience against the collusion between banks and state.

Alex was arrested and charged with misdemeanor vandalism. His bail was set at $1,000.

British authorities have demanded that WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange present himself at Belgravia police station at 11.30am on Friday. According to the Guardian, "This is standard practice in extradition cases and is the first step in the removal process," and "Failing to surrender would be a further breach of conditions and he is liable to arrest." But if he complies, police may arrest him immediately, because he has breached the terms of his bail.

Reuters reports:

On Thursday, British police summoned Assange to a London police station, demanding he leave the embassy. But Assange later told BBC television in a telephone interview: "Our advice is that asylum law both internationally and domestically in the UK takes precedence to extradition law, so the answer is almost certainly not."

On Sunday, Ecuador's ambassador to the UK left London to return home for talks on Assange's application for asylum. Assange remains under Ecuador's protection while it considers the application, and is "beyond the reach of the police" while he remains in the building.

Earlier this week, a letter signed by leading US figures in support of Assange's application for political asylum in Ecuador was delivered to the country's London embassy. Among its signatories were Michael Moore, Oliver Stone, Noam Chomsky and Danny Glover. Others who put their names to it included the author Naomi Wolf, comedian Bill Maher and Daniel Ellsberg, the former US military analyst turned whistleblower, who leaked the Pentagon Papers in 1971 and has been a long-standing supporter of Assange.

Amy Goodman of Democracy Now! speaks with Occupy Wall Street activist Cecily McMillan, and Meghan Maurus, McMillan's attorney and mass defense coordinator at the New York City chapter of the National Lawyers Guild.

McMillan suffered a seizure when New York City police officers pulled her from the crowd and arrested her as hundreds attempted to re-occupy Zuccotti Park on Saturday, to mark sixth months since the launch of the movement. In her first television interview since her arrest, McMillan says she has decided to speak out because of an outpouring of public support. "I have received so many emails, Twitter messages and phone calls. People are just horrified about what happened to me." McMillan has a black eye and her body is covered in bruises, at least one in the shape of a handprint. She says she was not allowed to contact an attorney while she was taken to the hospital and transferred to a jail cell along with some of the 72 other detained protesters. Facing charges of police assault and obstructing governmental administration, she was released Monday after a judge denied a request that her bail be set at $20,000. McMillan is northeast regional organizer for Young Democratic Socialists of America, and a graduate student at the New School for Social Research.

More video of McMillan's arrest and treatment while she was suffering a seizure during Saturday's police brutality:

Here at about 7:20 into the video, and remember these may not be suitable for work due to language and graphic nature.

Video Here.

Here.

Here.

Coming up on April 28, a nation-wide march against the War on Women.

Occupy Wall Street is urging a May 1st General Strike in response to the police brutality during the arrests of 73 people in New York over the weekend.

Nick Sorrentino says that this video explains why you have crushing student debt.

Occupy Wall Street protesters and their legal advisers were surprised yesterday to learn that the size of their bail was being affected by whether defendants were willing to have their irises scanned and logged into a database.

Rogers’ “Cybersecurity” Bill Is Broad Enough to Use Against WikiLeaks and The Pirate Bay.

Oh my. A second former Goldman Sachs employee has come forward to blast the firm and the "commercial animals/jerks" working there, and says that others have left because they couldn't “sell the crap they were being asked to create."

A new memo lists 31 advertisers who requested ‘not to be scheduled in any Rush Limbaugh program."

Also, a song in honor of the Occupy Wall Street protesters.

“It would have been like throwing popcorn,” said Sweet Grass. “They hardly weigh anything, and can’t travel very far.”

For this gesture, Govinda is facing eight felony charges. None of the seedpods had made contact with an officer, but eight officers “felt assaulted.” Each of the eight wrote up a separate felony indictment for the same act, along with a misdemeanor charge for wearing a black bandanna around his head.

Officers refused to identify themselves on paper, choosing instead to sign each individual citation as “John Doe.” An officer has written across each indictment form the word “SERIOUS.”

“Where’s the evidence? Where’s the accuser? There’s something so rotten in Denmark in this,” Sweet Grass said.

The bail resulting from these eight felony charges has been set at $50,000 each. All told, that leaves the bail for Govinda – whose full name is Ahimsa Govinda Wind-Thunder – at a staggering $400,000. Eight separate charges for the same accusation.

Govinda's family believes he was targeted by police, because they made of point of letting him know they knew where he lived, and seemed to keep track of his activites. Police cars were also seen sitting in front of the family's home, and would follow Govinda seemingly waiting for him to make a wrong move so that they could issue him tickets, which they did repeatedly.

The family hopes that they'll have an opportunity in court to present their evidence, the seed pods, which they believe would lead to the charges being dropped. In the meantime, Govinda spends 23 hours of each day in solitary confinement, in maximum security at Oakland jail.

[Photo of the teepee that led to Wednesday's Occupy Oakland raid - via @geekeasy]

Khali Johnson was arrested for "basically littering," which could somehow turn into his third strike and a lifetime in prison.

You may recall that I told you all about the situation with Khali last month, after his arrest during a December 16th Oakland Police raid. There was great concern because Khali had been held in detention unusually long, appeared at each court hearing severely bruised and didn't have access to his prescribed psychiatric medication.

More Via:

The threat of life imprisonment looms for Occupy Oakland activist Marcel Johnson - better known by his alias, Khali - after a third-strike arrest during the demonstration. Having spent about 15 years incarcerated already, 38 year-old Khali said he was trying to turn his life around by distributing food to the needy at the Occupy Oakland encampment, where he was a frequent, vocal, sometimes endearing presence. On December 16 he was arrested outside City Hall for violating anti-encroachment laws — namely, for a dispute about a blanket — which normally wouldn't have warranted more than a few hours jail time. Since Khali was in fact violating his probation terms for a different case in Sacramento, he was taken to Santa Rita and made to serve some jail time in lieu of going to trial, his attorney Dan Siegel explained. There, Khali was held in solitary confinement and not given his psychiatric medications, which might explain why he got into an altercation with a peace officer — the exact circumstances of which are still widely disputed. Now, Khali faces a felony assault charge in place of his original misdemeanor. As of Friday, December 23, Khali's bail was set at $580,000, according his attorney, Dan Siegel.

Siegel won't be representing Khali in the assault case, but luckily was able to convince a judge to order a medical evaluation that hopefully will explain the altercation between Khali, and the officer in Santa Rita. The next scheduled court date for Khali is January 9th in Pleasanton where he will face that potential "third strike," and bail that would be completely out of reach as Khali is homeless, with no money or possessions to his name.

Take This Book: The People's Library at Occupy Wall Street - A project is underway to rebuild the The People's library, and the project to fund that and the online library is about half-way to the fundraising goal of $10,000. Read about the project here and donate if you wish.

Oakland mayor Jean Quan - who backed Occupy Oakland until she decided not to - is under fire, and there's talk of a recall.

Oh, and Occupy Oakland re-established their encampment...for about 30 seconds.

Wall Street tourists say free the Wall Street bull: "Woe is the Wall Street Bull, who just can't catch a break these days: he's been on police-enforced lockdown since October thanks to Occupy Wall Street protestors, who've been known to paint his balls with anarchy symbols, amongst other things. Now, lower Manhattan community members are complaining that business is down because the tourists are being scared off by the bull's barricade. How long until Shepherd Fairy screens a limited-edition "Free The Bull" poster?"

Mayor Bloomberg tells the tourists "No bull, no way."

The Occupy Wall Street general assembly has proposed setting aside a chunk of their remaining funds for bail money for arrested protesters. At last read, it didn't seem the idea was getting much support from fellow occupiers, possibly because of jerks like this?

An occupy geek squad is building their own better, and more private version of Facebook.

Blue Shield of California has agreed to a $2 million settlement of a suit to end a probe into over 1,000 cases of the health insurer dropping patients from their insurance coverage after they become ill and actually need to use their insurance.

Occupy Washington D.C. (formerly known as "Stop the Machine") have extended their stay at Freedom Plaza.

No one is talking, but another wooden structure was built and then destroyed by park police at McPherson Square.

Last but not least, look at all the big banks contributing thousands upon thousands to Mitt Romney's presidential campaign.

After a Dec. 16th police raid on Occupy Oakland ended with 3 protesters arrested and carted off to jail, occupiers grew concerned as one of them was detained in jail longer than the others, and is still being held. Concern quickly turned to fear for his physical, and mental well-being:

Bail, however, was set and Occupy Oakland immediately began the process of posting it. With all paperwork ready to go, we waited for Khali to be transferred back to Santa Rita Jail so his bail could be posted. Shortly after 8pm, we were notified that Khali could no longer be bailed out because he was now being charged with a felony count of assaulting a correctional officer. We have since found out that this alleged incident occurred upon his arrival back at Santa Rita Jail (at the very time we were placing numerous calls to staff at the jail regarding posting his bail). Khali’s bail for this case has now been set for a staggering $580,000.

We don’t yet have all the details about this alleged incident of assault at Santa Rita, but do know the following:

- Khali was originally arrested on minor misdemeanor charges but because of a violation hold he was incarcerated for 4 days before any charges were formally filed.

- While most people would have been released from jail and asked to appear for a future court date given the minor nature of the misdemeanor charges, the DA extended Khali’s incarceration because of the county’s assertion that he is homeless.

- We are concerned for Khali’s health and physical well-being. He has shown up for every court appearance with severely bruised, swollen eyes and it’s evident that he is suffering physical abuse.

- We are also concerned for Khali’s mental health. He is on medication prescribed by a psychiatrist and we have learned that he has not been given his meds, nor even received medical evaluation since his arrest. It is clear during his court appearances that he is suffering enormously from having his medication withheld.

- We have learned that the alleged assault occurred upon his arrival back at Santa Rita when guards were placing him in solitary confinement. It is unclear why the decision was made to place him in solitary confinement (prior to any alleged assault) given that he was only being charged with minor misdemeanors and was in the process of being bailed out.

Khali’s situation is a particularly brutal example of OPD’s targeting of Occupy Oakland. He was picked up on minor charges which, after four days of incarceration and withholding of his medication, have morphed into a violent felony charge that could now lead to a long prison term. They are sending Occupy Oakland a message, and they’re doing it at the expense of Khali’s health and freedom. As a community, we need to stand by Khali and show police and the District Attorney that we will not allow them to continue to target and brutalize us.

Oakland has become rather infamous for its violent treatment of Occupy protesters, following the October 25th eviction and use of tear gas, flash bang grenades, and rubber bullets on peaceful protesters. That same Oakland Police raid also critically injured Iraq war vet, Scott Olsen, who was struck by a tear gas canister and only recently regained his ability to speak and was released from the hospital.