OccupySTL to Protest Lowes

From an email:

[Join OccupySTL] this Sunday, January 22nd in Solidarity with the boycott of Lowes by the Council for American-Islamic Relations(CAIR: http://www.cair.com/) and Occupy Saint Louis (OSL: http://www.occupystl.org/) to protest Lowes bowing to pressure from southern hate-groups to divest millions of ad-dollars from the TLC program All-American Muslim, which was the first major offering on network television of a positive portrayal of the everyday lives of average American Muslims in Detroit....

Occupy Saint Louis Outreach is requesting that all recipients stand in Solidarity with our picket outside the Kirkwood Lowes, to join our mobilization and forward this message to further allies in the struggle against bigotry, xenophobia, and discrimination and ignorance so we all can show that the political forces of the 1% and the politics of division and hate will not be allowed to single out any-one population in our community. We implore you to spread the word and invite you to join us on the picket lines this Sunday, January 22nd.

You can read their full statement on Lowes here.

St. Louis 99% Head to DC to Take Back the Capitol

Press release:

Workers, students, jobless Missourians and members of Occupy STL will head to Washington, D.C., on Dec. 5 to join with thousands of protesters from around the country to Take Back the Capitol and send a message that Congress needs to represent the 99 percent, not just the 1 percent.

Over the past few months the country has begun to focus on the growing disparity between the 99 percent and the 1 percent, and its impact on our cities and neighborhoods. Thousands of Americans will converge on Washington, D.C., starting on Dec. 5 to participate in four days of protest to make the voices of the 99 percent heard and counter the influence of the 1 percent.

“I'm part of the 99 percent that politicians in Washington have been ignoring, and it is time that Congress listens to us, not just corporate lobbyists from K Street and their campaign contributions." said Jonathan McFarland. "We're going down there to the corridors of power to make our presence felt. We need good jobs and an end to foreclosures now.”

The situation for the 99 percent is dire. Nearly 14 million workers in the United States are without jobs; median incomes for most workers have fallen 6.7 percent in the two years since the recession of 2009; and income inequality is at its worst since the 1920s. And while the middle class and working people are suffering, taxes for the 1 percent are at an all-time low.

St. Louis City Violates Their Own Rules During Occupy Eviction

For a group that decided that all-of-a-sudden they needed to follow the precise dictates of every rule and ordinance, the Slay administration didn't do a very good job of following their own rules. Here's the text of the eviction notice they sent to OccupySTL:

PUBLIC NOTICE: The City of St. Louis has a policy in place for handling and storing unattended property in downtown parks. The parks dept will gather up the property, put it in bags, tag it and store it in a secure place. To retrieve any items you leave in a downtown park, go to 1212 N. 13th between 8 a.m. and 5 p.m, this Saturday Nov. 12th or Sunday, Nov. 13th. After that, you can call the Parks Department at 314-289-5300. You are responsible for securing your valuables and personal belongings. We will use our best efforts to return belongings you leave behind.

Yet during the raid they threw signs and tarps into a garbage truck to be crushed:

In fact, they even destroyed and trashed the media tent:


Lesson for the day: following the rules is really, really, really important... except when it isn't.

Video From Arrests at Occupy STL

I tried out UStream on my relatively new Android phone today. Here's some video of the arrests of the St. Louis Occupiers after Slay decided he wouldn't let them stay in the part anymore (for reasons that so far are still not entirely clear).





It really was pretty tame, in its own way. In contrast to a lot of other peaceful protests I've been at, the police were not wearing riot gear. And while there was a small group of people who wanted to antagonize the police, they were greatly outnumbered and didn't really have much influence on how things went down.

St. Louis Journalists Take Cheap Shots at Occupy STL

Just another day for the "liberal" media.

Craig Cheatham, reporter at KMOV:


And David Sheets, an editor at the Post-Dispatch:



To be fair, Sheets is a sports editor, so a bias (if there really is one) wouldn't exactly signal the ruin of the republic. Nevertheless, it's worth noting.

h/t to @Taunia_Adams, @jeffreed and @Trianglman for catching the Sheets tweets.

Former St. Louis Police Officer To Make Statement In Support of OccupySTL

Press advisory:

Occupy Police Stands in Solidarity With Occupy St. Louis

Former St. Louis County Police Officer to Make

Public Statement of Support While Denouncing Brutality

What: A Public Speech delivered by a former St. Louis Officer, directed to both officers and citizens of St. Louis. Topics covered in short will be: The officers history with St Louis Police, brutal tactics used against protesters by some departments, and what can result from it, including the officers own firsthand experience with police brutality. Oakland PD's open letter to the citizens of Oakland where they openly state "We are part of the 99%" Bad department leadership in a time when true leaders are needed, and finally Occupy Police's mission and position in the Occupy movement, which in less than 10 words is that "Police are part of the 99% too" and communities across the nation are needing them to stand openly with the rest of the 99, now more than ever -

Goal: To call out Mayor Slay and put an end to the planned raid @3 - To let it be widely known that officers are part of the 99% and that they don not have to obey commands put forth by unstable leaders who represent the interests of the 1% and not that of the common man or woman. Lastly to let it be widely known that Occupy Police supports officers and entire departments who protect their communities without the use of brute force or violence.

When: Today, Friday November 11th at 2pm sharp - Before the impending raid @ 3pm

Where: The corner of Market and 7th on the stage at Kiener Plaza in St. Louis

-Occupy Police Team & Officers of the 99

KMOX reported on this development earlier today.

Rainford Won't Speak With Reporters But Will With Loesch?

Another interesting tidbit from the Post-Dispatch article on Occupy STL:

[Mayor Slay's Chief-of-Staff Jeff] Rainford said the city would not meet with occupiers Monday, nor would it discuss the issue with reporters.

But, of course, Rainford was willing to embarrass the city yesterday by appearing on Dana Loesch's hate-filled radio show.

Of course Loesch isn't a reporter or even a person who makes any attempt to accurately convey information, so there's nothing inconsistent about Rainford's action in relation to his statement. Still, it's rather curious that he's only willing to take questions on the issue from people like Loesch.

Macy's, Salvation Army Say OccupySTL Is Not In Their Way

From David Hunn at the Post-Dispatch:

Those involved in the upcoming holiday celebrations at Kiener said the occupiers were not in their way now.

A Macy's spokesman said the company had no plans to abandon its Nov. 18 celebration and parade, which leads from Kiener Plaza to its downtown store.

And a Salvation Army spokesman said the frame for the annual Kiener Christmas tree —actually a stack of 300 five-foot trees, said local Communications Director Will Becker —has already been erected without incident. The trees, he said, will be going up Wednesday.

"We have not had any problems with the Occupy St. Louis folks," Becker said. "They're protesting their own thing, and we're working around that the best we can."

Rainford Pushes Flawed Arguments Against OccupySTL on Dana Loesch's Radio Show

First, Mayor Slay's Chief of Staff Jeff Rainford copied Dana Loesch's inflammatory rhetoric against OccupySTL, ridiculously claiming that the group was "unruly" and falsely suggesting that they were relieving themselves all over Kiener Plaza rather than in the port-o-potty's provided by local unions:

Jeff Rainford, Slay's chief of staff, said the camps are getting unruly, the plaza is beginning to smell like urine, and a few were recently arrested for public intoxication.

Then, Rainford mimicked Loesch again by seemingly suggesting that the OccupySTL group might want violence:

"All I'm trying to do is to keep this from becoming Oakland," he said. "I'm trying to get this solved with no violence."

Still, he said, he understood that the occupiers may not have the same plans

So I guess it really should be no surprise that Rainford decided to appear on Loesch's radio show today to explain why the city has decided they need to kick the Occupy group out of Kiener Plaza. After all, Loesch has been trying to portray the campers at Kiener as filthy, violent, parasite-infested, astroturf, drug-crazed, sexual deviants from the very beginning, so it makes perfect sense that Rainford would help provide validation to St. Louis's Queen of Hate Radio.

You can listen to the interview here:


Rainford claims the city originally felt that OccupySTL was not hurting anyone, but "what changed" was that they no longer believed this was the case. However, his justification for the claim that OccupySTL is now "doing harm" is that the city has received complaints from people who "work downtown, live downtown, and have businesses downtown." Combine this with the previous revelation from the Post-Dispatch that Rainford refused to answer whether the city was now planning on cracking down on OccupySTL only because the Downtown Partnership complained at a meeting last week, and it seems like we have the makings of a very shoddy argument.

Previously, Occupy STL wasn't hurting anyone. But now, because a group with Peabody and Bank of America representatives on their board is complaining about Occupy STL, Rainford suddenly thinks that they are "doing harm?" Being angry at someone you wish would go away does not mean that person harmed you. Occupy STL could just as credibly claim that Bank of America was harming them with the stink eye. Furthermore, the idea that they're monopolizing the space isn't true either, as the group has been willing in the past to move tents to accommodate events. The city's sudden reversal without any evidence to now claim that Occupy STL is harming people seems like an incredibly tacky move. I hope they reconsider.

Rainford Refuses To Say If The Downtown Partnership Pushed Slay Into Telling OccupySTL To Leave

Occupy St. Louis earlier accused the Slay administration of asking them to leave Kiener Plaza and coming up with a list of grievances based on pressure from the Downtown Partnership:

Occupy St. Louis is one of many cities that exist as a solidarity movement with the Occupy Wall Street movement, which formed to publicly attest to the fact that corporations control far too much of our economy and political life. This movement has received vast support across the country. How ironic, then, that Mayor Slay has decided to stop listening to the complaints of the people and instead heed the complaints of the corporate groups who control the city. This week, Downtown Partnership met with the mayor’s office and told him to shut us down. He responded to their call. No more fitting example could illustrate who is pulling the strings. (For a list of who voiced the words behind the Mayor’s blog: http://www.downtownstl.org/AboutUs/PartnershipforDowntownStLouis/PartnershipBoard.aspx)

David Hunn of the Post-Dispatch followed up on this question with Jeff Rainford, Mayor Slay's Chief of Staff who previously made ridiculous accusations about OccupySTL, and tellingly Rainford refused to answer the question:

Jeff Rainford, Slay's chief of staff, refused to say if the city met with the Downtown Partnership last week, but insisted that the complaints are coming from many, not only the Partnership.

"There are lots of people complaining. I'm not going to point at one versus the other," he said. "I'm not going to get into it. What I would prefer not to happen is to have this personalized."

The city, he said, would not meet with occupiers today, nor would it discuss the issue in the press.

So Rainford won't just say that the decision was not based on pressure from a business group? Seems pretty telling. And how many of the "other complaints" are coming from Dana Loesch's rabid followers, who have been whipped up into a frenzy based on repeated lies about the group? Rainford continues:

"We're gonna cool off," Rainford said this morning. "It's probably going to get inflamed anyway."

"All I'm trying to do is to keep this from becoming Oakland," he said. "I'm trying to get this solved with no violence."

Still, he said, he understood that the occupiers may not have the same plans

Is Rainford implying that the protesters want this to "become Oakland," where the situation escalated to violence and several protesters were seriously wounded by the police? I sure hope "the same plans" was intended to refer to something else.

Jeff Rainford Demonizes Occupy STL in Anticipation of Kicking Them Out of Kiener Plaza

In case you haven't noticed, Occupy St. Louis has been camping out in Kiener Plaza since the beginning of the movement. Kiener Plaza has an official curfew of 10 PM, so technically occupying the park after 10 is illegal. The members of Occupy St. Louis believe that their First Amendment rights entail that they should be able to occupy public space, and they disagree with the curfew. This is what civil disobedience is: explicitly violating laws that you disagree with but being willing to gracefully accept the consequences of breaking the law as a way of raising awareness. Thus, I respect Occupy St. Louis's decision to stay in the Plaza.

On the other hand, I can understand why city officials might be conflicted about enforcing the rule. I'm sure they feel that it's their job to enforce the laws whether they agree with the laws or not, and this is not not an unreasonable position. In fact, you might argue that democracy wouldn't work unless police and public officials respect laws they don't agree with. Of course, as with anything, this is not a black and white issue, and there's a substantial grey area that allows for some wiggle room. My preference would be that city officials look for a way of working with the occupiers to find a compromise that allows them to continue staying in the plaza.

However, while I can understand the city's decision to enforce their laws (even if I disagree with them), what is absolutely not cool is their attempt to use overcharged rhetoric to try to demonize the occupiers. And this is precisely what Mayor Slay's Chief of Staff Jeff Rainford has done:

Jeff Rainford, Slay's chief of staff, said the camps are getting unruly, the plaza is beginning to smell like urine, and a few were recently arrested for public intoxication.

For anyone who's visited the plaza, the idea that it's "unruly" is ridiculous. They have an explicit policy against drugs and alcohol. And as far as the organizers know, the only "public urination" was from people who weren't occupiers (after all, the occupiers actually have to live there). So Rainford is trying to wage a nasty PR war against the group, which I assume he thinks will make it easier for them to remove the group without causing a controversy. It's too bad he can't just stick to the facts and say they want to enforce the curfew, rather than resorting to tea party-like smears.