CNN | "Political expression deserves the highest level of protection and it was unacceptable for the state to suddenly shut down protesters' speech and forcibly oust them from Legislative Plaza that has long been used as a place for peaceful expression," said Hedy Weinberg, executive director at the ACLU of Tennessee.

The Intel Hub | Two dozen men and women from Occupy Vancouver and the Occupy the Vatican movement, most of them aboriginal, faced assaults and a human blockade from members of the Catholic Knights of Columbus yesterday outside Holy Rosary Cathedral, while trying to peacefully occupy it and enforce a legal eviction order against the Roman Catholic church for its murder of thousands of residential school children.

Extra Torrent | A few days ago, Ofcom, an independent regulator and competition authority for the communications industries of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, made an announcement, saying that starting with summer 2013 online file-sharers alleged of unauthorized file-sharing of copyrighted content will start receiving notification letters.
 

Russia Today | Finding a scandal within the ranks of the NYPD these days is like shooting fish in a barrel — or, to update the idiom, like pepper-spraying protesters in a pen.  Every hour it seems a new story emerges, and today we have a Brooklyn crack fiend to thank for our daily fodder.

Wall Street Journal |The move is a dramatic retreat following decisions by several rivals in recent days to drop customer tests of the new fees. SunTrust Banks Inc. and Regions Financial Corp. also said Monday that they will stop charging customers for debit-card transactions.

LA Times | Private equity firms are investing in chains of used-car lots, and auto loans are being packaged into securities much like subprime mortgages. They're attracted by the industry's average profit of 38% for each car sold

Black Agenda Report | Never in living memory has a Noble Peace Prize recipient gone on to cause more death and misery than Barack Obama, who now puts hits on U.S. citizens.   His foreign policy “successes,” as rated by his supporters, all involve assassinations – he is The Assassinator. Moammar Gaddfi is a singular victim, but so are thousands of Black Libyans and migrants

UCLA Newsroom | In Africa 140 years ago, David Livingstone, the Victorian explorer, met Henry M. Stanley of the New York Herald and gave him a harrowing account of a massacre he witnessed, in which slave traders slaughtered 400 innocent people. Stanley's press reports prompted the British government to close the East African slave trade, secured Livingstone's place in history and launched Stanley's own career as an imperialist in Africa.

BBC | US space agency Nasa has funded a study of "tractor beams" to gather samples for analysis in future missions.  The $100,000 (£63,000) award will be used to examine three laser-based approaches to do what has until now been the stuff of science fiction.

National Journal Underscoring widespread discontent with all political leaders, registered voters now divide almost exactly in half on whether President Obama and the Republican majority in the House of Representatives each deserve another term in power, according to the latest United Technologies/National Journal Congressional Connection poll.

Gigaom | Many internet users in the United States have watched with horror as countries like France and Britain have proposed or instituted so-called “three strikes” laws, which cut off internet access to those accused of repeated acts of copyright infringement. Now the U.S. has its own version of this kind of law, and it is arguably much worse: the Stop Online Piracy Act, introduced in the House this week, would give governments and private corporations unprecedented powers to remove websites from the internet on the flimsiest of grounds, and would force internet service providers to play the role of copyright police.

PennLive The Patriot News | The 42-year-old Black man also claims authorities didn’t return all the money they took after an arbitration board appointed by Dauphin County Court rebuffed the forfeiture request in March. He contends that nearly $43,000 was seized and that he received only $28,980 back.

Think Progress | The Oakland Police Department’s heavy-handed use of force — which included using flash grenades, rubber bullets, and tear gas — shocked the world as the city moved to crack down on Occupy Oakland.  But the harsh crackdown was not without a historical precedent. In April 2003, the department violently cracked down on raucous Iraq war demonstrations, attacking protesters with concussion grenades, “sting balls,” and other similar weapons...

Think Progress | Police across the country have been violently cracking down on the Occupy protesters, leading to the serious head injury of Iraq veteran Scott Olsen. As Salon Justin Elliot notes today, New York City police are trying a different tactic to “undermine the credibility of Occupy Wall Street.”

New York Times | Friends and relatives crowd into Su Zhen Chen’s small apartment in an East Village housing project, bearing food and solace for her and her husband. A community leader sometimes shows up to pay respects, or a military official arrives with papers to sign. Adults gather in the cramped living room for hushed chats in Chinese as children do homework at the kitchen table. For Ms. Chen, these are welcome distractions.

New York Times | "One reason Americans support Occupy Wall Street: Citibank sold a package of toxic mortgage-backed securities to unsuspecting customers--securities that it knew were likely to go bust--and, with the other hand, shorted the same securities --that is, bet millions of dollars that they would go bust."

Reuters | U.S. State Department spokeswoman Victoria Nuland told reporters the United States had no choice but to halt funding because of U.S. laws passed in the 1990s, saying Washington would not make a planned $60 million transfer that was due in November.

Atlanta Journal-Constitution | Still, enough evidence exists to prove that some laborers were victims of murder, not disease, according to historians Frank and Bill Watson. And while it's likely the unrecovered bones may have been too degraded to yield testable DNA, one set of remains found apart from the main ossuary might still be positively identified and returned to Ireland.

Courthouse News Service | AT&T Mobility faces another federal class action involving its iPhone and iPad services. This one claims that "AT&T's bills systematically overstate the amount of data used on each data transaction involving an iPhone or iPad account," and bills customers for data transactions even if they disable their phones and leave them untouched - as the plaintiff's experts did.

WIRED | Against all the odds, Andrea Rossi's E-Cat cold fusion power plant passed its biggest test yesterday, producing an average of 470 kilowatts for more than five hours. (A technical glitch prevented it from achieving a megawatt as originally planned). The demonstration was monitored closely by engineers from Rossi's mysterious US customer, which was evidently satisfied and paid up.

Reuters | A member of the Saudi royal family has pledged $900,000 to a bounty offered by a prominent cleric to any Palestinian who kidnaps an Israeli soldier, according to comments aired on a private TV station Saturday.

Janet is the de facto name for a small fleet of passenger aircraft operated by defense contractor EG&G. Their aircraft currently serve mostly the Nevada Test Site (most notably Area 51) from their terminal at Las Vegas' McCarran International Airport. The origin of the word "Janet" is obscure and, while it is used as a radio callsign, it is not known whether the name is an official name, code word, or acronym.

Palestine Telegraph | Adham Abu Silmiya, medical emergency spokesman, said that the two victims identified as Sami Abu Sabet, 21, and Suleiman Abu Fatima, 25, were transferred to Abu Yousif al-Najjar hospital as dead bodies after being attacked by Israeli missiles.

WSWS | They provide further evidence of Britain’s lead role in the seizure, “rendition” and torture of opponents of Gaddafi’s regime. They expose as lies the claim that the seven-month US-led NATO bombing of Libya had anything to do with humanitarian concerns over the Gaddafi regime’s abuse of democratic rights.

Boing Boing | On Friday, the law firm of Steven J. Baum threw a Halloween party. The firm, which is located near Buffalo, is what is commonly referred to as a “foreclosure mill” firm, meaning it represents banks and mortgage servicers as they attempt to foreclose on homeowners and evict them from their homes.

GQ Magazine | Five years ago, a relatively unknown (and unhinged) director began one of the wildest experiments in film history. Armed with total creative control, he invaded a Ukrainian city, marshaled a cast of thousands and thousands, and constructed a totalitarian society in which the cameras are always rolling and the actors never go home

Time | A wave of CIA drone strikes targeting al-Qaeda figures in Yemen is stoking widespread anger there that U.S. policy is cruel and misguided, prioritizing counterterrorism over a genuine solution to the country's raging political crisis.

Forbes | Former President Teddy Roosevelt  returned to Harvard for his 30th reunion and graduation in 1910– and  as he entered the proceedings all his classmates including fellow Porcellian Club members turned their backs on him in unison. TR’s latest biographer Edmund Morris believes this shocking snub in public of a former President was due to TR’s strong belief in regulating Wall Street, breaking up monopolies and not allowing a few wealthy men run the nation.

Huffington Post | "We received a request from a local law enforcement agency to remove YouTube videos of police brutality, which we did not remove," Google wrote in its Transparency Report. "Separately, we received requests from a different local law enforcement agency for removal of videos allegedly defaming law enforcement officials. We did not comply with those requests, which we have categorized in this Report as defamation requests."

Miami Herald | A Miami Police officer was arrested at gunpoint and charged with reckless driving after allegedly leading the Florida Highway Patrol on a seven-minute chase in his squad car at speeds that reached 120 mph on Florida’s Turnpike in Broward County earlier this month.

The Houston Chronicle | An international group of online hackers is warning a Mexican drug cartel to release one of its members, kidnapped from a street protest, or it will publish the identities and addresses of the syndicate's associates, from corrupt police to taxi drivers, as well as reveal the syndicates' businesses.

Although the ability to submit petitions directly to the White House is a noble and welcome new feature of the current administration, the first round of responses makes blatantly clear the White House intends to just support its current stances and explain them with responses everyone who has done any research already knows.

The Guardian | Oakland's independent police review body will examine the clashes between riot officers and protesters that left an Iraq war veteran in a critical condition as Occupy protestors prepare to rally at the same spot for a third night of protests.

Demand Progress | The rumors were true: The new Blacklist Bill could effectively destroy YouTube, Twitter, and other sites that rely on user-generated content by making the sites' owners legally responsible for content their users post.  It also includes provisions that would make it a felony to stream unlicensed content -- including cover band performances, karaoke videos, video game play-throughs, and more.

Navy Times | Cmdr. Jay Wylie, 40, who commanded the Everett, Wash.-based ship until he was fired April 27, is scheduled to appear in a courtroom at Naval Base San Diego and has been charged with one count of rape, two counts of aggravated sexual assault, two counts of abusive sexual contact, one count of sodomy, two counts of maltreatment, three counts of conduct unbecoming an officer and four counts of violating general orders, according to the charge sheet.

The Atlantic | It's easy to miss the Podponics headquarters on Ponce de Leon Avenue. We breezed right by before company co-founder Dan Backhaus came out to the curb to wave us in. To look at their setup--six rust-colored, graffitied shipping containers tucked between a Cactus Car Wash franchise and a halfway house--you'd never suspect this was one of Atlanta's flourishing young startups. But behind the padlocked doors, an urban farming operation is in full swing.

Tru TV | Conspiracy theories have surrounded the Occupy Wall Street movement since the moment protesters hit the ground. From ties to George Soros to cries of censorship and anti-Semitism, the Occupy Wall Street movement seems to have done more to fuel rumors than it has to end corporate greed. But they have some conspiracy theories of their own...

Amarillo Globe-News | An Amarillo man has been sentenced to five years in federal prison after pleading guilty to one count of copyright infringement, according to court records.  A federal judge on Tuesday sentenced Richard Kevin Gilbert, who confessed to selling pirated DVDs at his home, and ordered him to pay a $2,400 fine, the court’s judgement said.

Infoshop News | Indeed, we are now in many ways involved in the same struggle. What most pundits call “The Arab Spring” has its roots in the demonstrations, riots, strikes and occupations taking place all around the world, its foundations lie in years-long struggles by people and popular movements.

Think Progress | Texas is now joining over 15 states that have introduced bills to guard against the non-existent threat of Islamic Sharia law. In proposing legislation to ban state courts from considering foreign religious or cultural laws like Sharia, Texas state Rep. Leo Berman (R) — the bill sponsor — said, “We want to prevent it from ever happening in Texas.”

Tamps Bay Online | The decision by the 2nd District Court of Appeal in Lakeland to decline the appeal of the Islamic Education Center of Tampa sends the case back to Hillsborough County Circuit Judge Richard A. Nielsen. Nielsen's decision in March to allow the case to proceed under "ecclesiastical Islamic law" drew national attention when the ruling was criticized by conservative bloggers.

The Washington Times | Word has leaked out that in its new budget, the Obama administration intends to terminate NASA’s planetary exploration program. The Mars Science Lab Curiosity, being readied on the pad, will be launched, as will the nearly completed small MAVEN orbiter scheduled for 2013, but that will be it. No further missions to anywhere are planned.

OccupyMarine.org | We were asked today by a Naysayer to explain what OccupyOMC are doing for OWS. We replied with a more accurate question to ask is what OccupyOMC are not doing. OccupyOMC are not sitting on our asses watching the 1% rip out the heart of America.

Physorg | A navigation system making use of something called "True3D" technology has won the top prize in this year's European Satellite Navigation Competition in Munich, Germany. The ESNC is an international innovation contest that awards the best ideas for applications in satellite navigation. There were 401 proposals from almost 50 countries

KTVK AZFamily.com | Dr. Erin Carr-Jordan, a mother of four, started recording and posting videos of trashy playgrounds, and quickly built an international following.  Her lab tests, which revealed dangerous bacteria on the equipment, have been featured on network broadcasts and in major national newspapers.

Business Insider | Marines around the world are outraged by the injuries inflicted by police on Scott Olsen at Tuesday's Occupy Oakland protests. Olsen is in a medically-induced coma after getting hit in the head by a police projectile.

Death and Taxes Magazine | In addition to speculation about a new Apple TV, Jobs told Barack Obama his economic policies would doom his presidency and accused Google of “grand theft” for developing an iPhone competitor, Isaacson’s tome includes Jobs’ fascinating recollection of a meeting with fellow businessman Rupert Murdoch.

New York Times | The Intellistreets system comprises of a wireless digital infrastructure that allows street lights to be controlled remotely by means of a ubiquitous wi-fi link and a miniature computer housed inside each street light, allowing for “security, energy management, data harvesting and digital media,” according to the Illuminating Concepts website.

The Independent | Specialist detectives from the Metropolitan Police have discovered the existence of a secret mobile phone within News International's east London headquarters that was used in more than 1,000 incidents of illegal hacking.