Nathan Leigh. He arrived with 20 other people representing the Puppetry Guild, or Peoples Puppets. “We use them interchangeably.” They made this Statue of Liberty back in October and have taken it to several Occupy events. “We wanted something that was unobjectionable,” said Leigh. “The things we stand for are the things America stands for … It is actually kind of devastating when you read the poem Lady Liberty is holding and see how revolutionary the language is. This is what we can be, this is what we say we are. America is supposed to take care of the huddled masses.”
Pictures from a demonstration, May 1, 2012

Nathan Leigh. He arrived with 20 other people representing the Puppetry Guild, or Peoples Puppets. “We use them interchangeably.” They made this Statue of Liberty back in October and have taken it to several Occupy events. “We wanted something that was unobjectionable,” said Leigh. “The things we stand for are the things America stands for … It is actually kind of devastating when you read the poem Lady Liberty is holding and see how revolutionary the language is. This is what we can be, this is what we say we are. America is supposed to take care of the huddled masses.”

Pictures from a demonstration, May 1, 2012

newsweek:

Tom Morello tweets his gratitude to the OWS “Guitarmy.”

It was quite an event!

newsweek:

Tom Morello tweets his gratitude to the OWS “Guitarmy.”

It was quite an event!

“I do strikes at work all the time,” she said. “Just personal strikes, like don’t do work for an hour or the whole day, you know.”

“I do strikes at work all the time,” she said. “Just personal strikes, like don’t do work for an hour or the whole day, you know.”

Huffington Post for the Occupy Crowd?

Behind the scenes of the launch of Occupy.com. [via Joe’s media lineup]

At the 7:15 mark, demonstrators see a Cecily McMillan having a seizure and scream at cops to assist her. [via Azi’s morning briefing]

NY TIMES: New York lawmakers to push for $8.50 minimum wage.

This is an amazing lede, actually, esp. from the Times: “The Occupy Wall Street encampment at Zuccotti Park is no more, but the focus it brought to income inequality is having an impact in Albany and beyond.”

(Source: inothernews)

Penn Badgley wears a “We are the 99%” t-shirt at a “Gossip Girl” press conference today, where Mayor Bloomberg defended NYPD police commissioner Ray Kelly and responded to questions about Greg Kelly and investigations into an alleged rape.

The protesters are gone, but Bloomberg says the bull remains caged for its own protection.
You don’t have a right, as a press person, to stand in the way just in the interest of you getting a story.

Mayor Michael Bloomberg thinks Representative Jerrold Nadler’s call for a federal probe into the NYPD’s conduct in clearing the Occupy Wall Sreet demonstrators from Zuccotti Park is “ridiculous.”

New Occupy Wall Street/holidays-themed banner art by the talented Trenton Duerksen at Capital New York.

New Occupy Wall Street/holidays-themed banner art by the talented Trenton Duerksen at Capital New York.

For a city to function effectively, our press must be allowed to bear witness to police action. Regardless of one’s opinion on Occupy Wall Street, all New Yorkers benefit from a vigilant and attentive press, just as we benefit from a vigilant and attentive police force. And when government intentionally hinders the press’s ability to view or report on events, we must demand more accessibility.
Reporters covering Occupy Wall Street protest outside Obama fund-raiser say police barred them

Meg Robertson, who works for MSNBC, said unreasonable interference is exactly what she found when she sought to cover the protest near the corner of 53rd Street and 7th Avenue, where demonstrators had been corraled into a “free-speech zone,” demarcated by police barricades, near the Obama event.

“I identified myself to a number of NYPD as a member of the press and they would not let me close to the penned in area,” she wrote to Capital in an email account of the events last night.

“I was told to stay in Maison restaurant or exit the restaurant to be escorted outside security fencing on Broadway and 53rd. NYPD outside of Maison refused to escort me to the street to speak with anyone from NYPD Community Relations, even after I identified myself as a member of the media.”