Distorting The Narrative, part 4

Oct 2nd, 2011

An interesting piece of information has been brought to my attention. In the 20 minutes between the NY Times first publishing its reportage of the Brooklyn Bridge arrests and the subsequent alteration of that report (postings HERE, HERE and HERE), the original, solo byline crediting Colin Moynihan was expanded to include Al Baker. Al Baker is the NY Times Police Bureau Chief. Years spent by the NYPD brass allowing Mr. Baker access sure seems to have paid off. It may have also had something to do with Mr. Baker reportedly being the son of an acting Lieutenant with New York's police force.

Here's an update of the increasingly well known graphic depicting what happened yesterday.

One Of The Arrested Speaks

Oct 2nd, 2011

An interesting first person perspective from one of those arrested on the Brooklyn Bridge.

Distorting The Narrative, part 3

Oct 2nd, 2011

Image via Reuters

Business Insider's Joe Weisenthal has now reported on the deceptive tactics we highlighted HERE and HERE.

I think he goes a little too easy on the NYPD. Nevertheless, he does raise an eyebrow.

"Some have apparently claimed entrapment by the police (who encouraged them to walk on the road), but the people we talked to last night mostly suggested that the police merely stood by and watched, not encouraging them, but not stopping them either.

So far we've seen no evidence of police actually encouraging protesters to go on the road, but there are videos that show police walking in front of the protesters, as they go up onto the road.

This isn't the same as encouraging them to go on the road, but on the other hand, you could see why people in a crowd would think that going on a bridge is kosher if the police are calmly walking in front of the crowd as they go up the road."

Weisenthal also included new video from the Brooklyn Bridge

Chaos On The Bridge

Oct 2nd, 2011

The police led the Occupy Wall Street protesters into the Brooklyn Bridge roadway. It's on video. This was an old school set up of the kind that was once used against anti-war protesters in decades past.

What's notable in the video below is that, much like last week's violence, the more egregious behavior by law enforcement is from the commanders in white shirts, not the rank and file. What's more, some high ranking law enforcement officials can be seen clearly shouting down their more unruly counterparts (note the exchange captured at the 18 second mark). It's a mess.

Distorting The Narrative, cont...

Oct 2nd, 2011
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Earlier, we posted our take on the mass arrests yesterday in New York. We held that it was clearly the police who created the situation in order to split and harass the crowd and highlighted the obvious propaganda spin which the NY Times employed in its coverage. We are doubling down on this. The following video shows the NYPD actually leading marchers onto the Brooklyn Bridge roadway. No attempts are being made to stop them.

Distorting The Narrative

Oct 2nd, 2011
UPDATE 10:00am CST 10/02/11 There is video of the NYPD actually leading the marchers into the Brooklyn Bridge roadway.

From multiple sources, it seems clear that yesterday's mass arrests of at least 700 people who marched on the Brooklyn Bridge as part of the Occupy Wall Street movement was an event engineered by law enforcement rather than the result of intentional violations of ordinances.

The image below shows that this narrative was squashed almost from the beginning.