Before Occupy Wall Street, I had followed livestream news - you likely did, as well - except it was usually big breaking news on CNN, or MSNBC and a headline would say "Watch live here." Now there are at least as many livestreamers are there are occupy movements in the nation, and since I've been here at Crooksand Liars' OccupyAmerica site, there have been times when I've been keeping my eyes on up to six different streams simultaneously. The livestreamers are worlds apart from our msm's livestreamed news, there are no edits, no scripts, and you always see the truth in their news.
As our own Tina Dupuy writes in a new article at Alternet, "You can sum up livestreamers as those who came to protest and stayed to tell the story. They’re armed with a smart phone, an app and an audience of people at home watching every frame."
Dupuy points out that as Occupy has evolved, that caught in the middle of the debate over peaceful protests vs. diversity of tactics are the livestreamers. What you see on their livestreams are events exactly as they happen. You can't control what everyone is doing while you're filming. If police throw tear gas at protesters, you'll see it live, and by the same token if an occupier throws a bottle or a brick at police that's what you'll see as well. “People are tired of being lied to by the media,” Tim Pool tells Dupuy, and adds, “Transparency is paramount.”
The important moments - and they are countless - of the occupy movement that are captured by the livestreamers are what their new-found profession are all about. The moments that will become part of history, and re-told for generations to come. Events that might not even be believed if it weren't for the citizen journalists.
As long as we're jumping into seldom featured material on Newstalgia, I thought I would keep it going with a dose of, what is sometimes referred to as "Traditional Jazz", but at the time of this broadcast was known simply as Dixieland.
Pretty much faded from view as genres go, Dixieland (or Traditional Jazz) had a real spike in popularity in the mid-1950's and was considered something of a raucous cousin where serious Jazz was concerned. Certainly when compared to the Cool School, Dixieland got it's fair share of cringe worthy reactions. But, in all fairness, this was the basis for which a lot of Jazz sprang from - as evidenced by Louis Armstrong who is probably it's most well known figure.
Al Hirt was a fixture for Mardi Gras and was as much a part of the scenery in New Orleans as the proverbial Crawfish boil. Hirt achieved huge commercial success through a number of hit singles and popular albums and was, conceivably as instrumental in making Traditional Jazz a popular mainstream idiom as The Kingston Trio and The Christy Minstrels were in making Folk music a popular genre for mainstream consumption.
So tonight it's an episode of the weekly CBS Radio program Jazz Band Ball featuring Al Hirt and his band live in New Orleans from August 18, 1956.
A dose of Americana tonight by way of the King of Bluegrass, Bill Monroe. This is a tape made during a performance at New River Ranch in Rising Sun, Maryland on July 28, 1963 playing to an enthusiastic audience. Bluegrass staged a revival in the late 1950's/ early 1960's, right around the same time Folk Music dipped its toes in mainstream and gave us The Kingston Trio, The Brothers Four, The Christy Minstrels and a whole generation of others. But what it also did was give Bluegrass a boost and legendary practitioners like Bill Monroe were on hand to reap the rewards and adulation of a whole new audience of fans who had never been exposed to this slice of rural life before.
And maybe you haven't either. Bill Monroe left a long and rich legacy, and fortunately for many, these concerts were recorded and are, for the most part preserved. These tapes weren't broadcast and judging by the photos in the tape box, were recorded by a very dedicated engineer by the name of George B. McCeney. Anything beyond that, I really don't know aside from this being a pretty fast-paced half hour of some serious Bluegrass.
Ken Aden is the only progressive candidate for Congress Blue America has endorsed this year in a deep red district. Arkansas' third CD, in the northwest corner of the state, has always been Republican as far as anyone can remember. The last Democrat who almost won was Bill Clinton... in 1974. And Ken is undaunted. As Digby hopes to explore with him at the live chat here on Tuesday-- 11am (PT), 1pm in Arkansas-- Ken is running a startling grassroots effort that should be a model for working class candidates-- who the DCCC refuses to support (they exclusively pick rich candidates or candidates with access to big money; i.e., not school teachers or truck drivers or almost anyone who's undergoing the same financial straits as the rest of us).
One of the first times I spoke with Ken he was busy helping organize Occupy Northern Arkansas. "I am a staunch and proud supporter of the Occupy Wall Street Movement," he told me... This is a true grassroots movement made up of young people, veterans, students, and folks from across the middle class just like me who are sick and tired of irresponsible corporations buying politicians of both parties while many in the government stand idly by and give corporate America the keys to the proverbial candy store. It's truly nauseating to know that so many politicians can be so easily bought, and not even loose an ounce of sleep over the fact that they are destroying everything which we hold dear. I firmly believe that more people need to become involved, and stand up for what is right! Corporate greed is the new pandemic in this country. The ratio of CEO pay to that of the average worker is a prime example of the kind of reckless behavior that corporations in this country are exercising on a daily basis. Just look at how many politicians Koch Industries has bought over the last ten years alone. As the next congressman from Arkansas I would support an amendment to destroy the destructive influence of Citizens United. The last time I checked, corporations are NOT and will never be real people.
If you can, please drop by Tuesday and meet Ken for yourself. Tomorrow afternoon he's formally file to be on the ballot and he's doing a money bomb to collect the nearly $3,000 he needs. If you can help, you can do it at the Blue America page. As Digby wrote to our members this evening: "Blue America endorsed Ken with great enthusiasm and we are spreading the good word about his grassroots strategic vision to progressive challengers across the country. We believe that this kind of creativity and energy can pay off. But he needs all the help we can give him to keep the campaign funded. He won't be able to match a corrupt Republican incumbent, not even close. But he has a good chance to win if he can put this plan into practice and defeat him with sharp grassroots tactics and hard work. Please donate here if you can."
Occupy Louisville protesters are crying foul after a protest at a Chase Bank on Saturday. In the above video, you can see Louisville Police ask certain people to come inside the bank with them so they can talk. One protester, after refusing to go inside the bank is dragged by police into the bank, and a cameraman is kicked by another officer.Five arrests in all.
Occupiers have said that they believe the police needed protesters inside the bank in order to arrest them for trespassing.
It was a chaotic scene outside the Baxter Avenue Chase Bank in Louisville Saturday. The people outside the bank say they were protesting unfair foreclosure practices. It didn't start out violent, but conversation quickly turned into confrontation. One man came out with noticeable injuries.
"He went in with no bruises or anything on his face and when he came out he had a band-aid on his head," said protester David Barfield.
Louisville Police can be seen in the video asking individuals to accompany them inside the bank.
Allison Hill: "Can you stay out here and talk to me?"
Officer 1: "No we want to talk to you in here."
Officer 2: "No that way we don't here the banging and everything."
Hill: "I don't feel comfortable with that. Can everyone be quiet so they can talk."
Protesters allege it was a trap, because once there those individuals would be arrested.
Officer 1: "Okay well we're going to have to go inside. "
Officer 3: "Lay this down and come inside. "
Hill: "I don't have to go inside."
Allison Hill was later arrested.
Louisville Police say they had to take action because the protesters were blocking the bank doors. Those arrested face assault and disorderly conduct charges.
This incident is the first time a protester has been jailed during an Occupy Protest in Kentucky.
Once again, the best discussions on Sunday morning happen on Up with Chris Hayes. This is a 17 minute clip, and impossible to clip, because all of it is so much more intelligent than anything the other bobbleheads try to do.
It also exemplifies a very real schism within the left on how to approach the unrest in Syria. On the right, it's an automatic call for American intervention, but on the left, we tend to be more nuanced.
Former White House Director of Policy Planning Anne-Marie Slaughter wrote an op-ed last week for the NY Times which called for the "humanitarian" need to protect Syrians from slaughter by creating "no-kill" zones and arming members of the resistance:
Simply arming the opposition, in many ways the easiest option, would bring about exactly the scenario the world should fear most: a proxy war that would spill into Lebanon, Turkey, Iraq and Jordan and fracture Syria along sectarian lines. It could also allow Al Qaeda and other terrorist groups to gain a foothold in Syria and perhaps gain access to chemical and biological weapons.
There is an alternative. The Friends of Syria, some 70 countries scheduled to meet in Tunis today, should establish “no-kill zones” now to protect all Syrians regardless of creed, ethnicity or political allegiance. The Free Syrian Army, a growing force of defectors from the government’s army, would set up these no-kill zones near the Turkish, Lebanese and Jordanian borders. Each zone should be established as close to the border as possible to allow the creation of short humanitarian corridors for the Red Cross and other groups to bring food, water and medicine in and take wounded patients out. The zones would be managed by already active civilian committees.
Establishing these zones would require nations like Turkey, Qatar, Saudi Arabia and Jordan to arm the opposition soldiers with anti-tank, countersniper and portable antiaircraft weapons. Special forces from countries like Qatar, Turkey and possibly Britain and France could offer tactical and strategic advice to the Free Syrian Army forces. Sending them in is logistically and politically feasible; some may be there already.
Crucially, these special forces would control the flow of intelligence regarding the government’s troop movements and lines of communication to allow opposition troops to cordon off population centers and rid them of snipers. Once Syrian government forces were killed, captured or allowed to defect without reprisal, attention would turn to defending and expanding the no-kill zones.
But Jeremy Scahill, who has written some of the best and conventional wisdom-challenging journalism about the Middle East, thinks this is just more of the same short term thinking that gets the US in trouble again and again. And there's good arguments for both (though I fall short of Slaughter's op-ed. There's no evidence that Syria poses a threat to the US at all and the vague allusions to Al Qaeda is eerily reminiscent of Bush administration-era scare-mongering) and certainly, the desire to intervene against such horrifying examples of brutality is understandable. Nevertheless, as Spencer Ackerman writes:
Then there’s a more general problem with the Responsibility to Protect, as instantiated in Syria. The endgame of Slaughter’s proposal is a “regional, and ultimately national, truce.” Then what? Do the international forces go home? Do they still patrol the “no-kill zones”? Why, on the day after the truce, with Assad still in power, do both sides — and particularly Assad — bide time until a renewed attack looks advantageous? Do foreign forces stop arming the rebels after the truce?
Now, why do I say this is a broader problem with the Responsibility to Protect? Because it shows that the R2P is a military endeavor that still lacks actual, substantive objectives for militaries to achieve. If I am one of the Qatari SOF captains who has to aid the “no-kill zones,” I don’t know from Slaughter’s guidance how to design my operational campaign. I get that I have to help the Free Syrian Army clear out a “no-kill zone” of loyalist Syrian troops; I can presume that I must hold that zone. But what happens when I get mortar fire from the loyalists who’ve pulled back? Does protecting that zone mean I can push it outward? If it does, then I am escalating the objectives as Slaughter has described them; if it doesn’t, then I have failed to hold the no-kill zone. This is a military illogic that is all over the R2P. Advocates don’t want to concede that they’re actually calling for regime change — often, they don’t want to call for regime change — so they stop short of that, and call for separating combatants in the hope that a deus ex machina materializes. But the further they stop short, the more problems they hand off to the military commanders who must implement the R2P.
Bottom line: while there is nothing more horrifying than the violence we hear happening under Assad and I think Scahill is probably closer to the truth than Slaughter in terms of there being manifestly a civil war under way. But it cannot be the US interfering to decide the outcome for the Syrians. We cannot afford another open-ended, nebulous deployment that only causes resentment among the citizenry.
