Will They Do the Right Thing?

Occupy Nashville continues to censor their facebook page.  The following comment posted by me this afternoon has been removed: 

"How 'bout maybe Jason was beat up because people don't like to be doxed?  Andrew was the fourth person a part of ON that was doxed by this crew.  I'm thinkin' it's likely that had a lot to do with why Jason got his butt kicked.  Between that and the $130 missing, I'd say it's quite a stretch for anybody to play Jason out as a victim because he was an occupier.  Let's get real here, ok?"

This was in the thread about the Daily Kos post which dishonestly gives the impression that Jason Steen was beaten because he was an occupier.  Interestingly enough, the lead "comment" after the article is a link to Jason's WePay account soliciting donations. 

To be clear here:

1)  Jason Steen and his boyfriend have recently doxed four Occupy Nashville participants and the most recent one of those is now in jail charged with attacking him.

2)  Doxing people is a violation of the Code of Conduct for Occupy Nashville.

3)  If the ON General Assembly reaches consensus to ban the attacker of Jason Steen for violating Code of Conduct (and they probably should), they must also do the same with Jason and "Joe."

4)  ON's current General Assembly has no integrity if they cannot act with uniformity in this matter and should be disbanded in favor of a new GA if they do not.

Occupy Thugs

Four people associated with Occupy Nashville have so far been doxed, at the hands of other members of the movement.  The first was Dorsey, the second was Trillian, the third was me.  Those have mostly been escapades akin to Keystone Cop capers, but the latest one has resulted in a reaction I'm not sure the people who are behaving like children by doing this expected.

The above photo is of Jason Steen after he was apparently assaulted by the fourth person this group of thugs doxed, an occupier named Andrew Henry.  Jason and his boyfriend, Joe A. Black (alias), spent Friday and Saturday night this weekend posting on fb that they were drunk, having sex, and talking about me.  (Yeah, I thought it all a bit distasteful myself, too bawdy for this blog, but somebody sent copies of it to me and I'll send them to anybody who doubts what a good time this crew is if they request by email.) And the dox on Andrew came out.

So, tonight, Andrew's in jail on $3,000 bond waiting for trial, and Jason has a black eye.  Occupy Nashville has a black eye.  Again.  This all breaking on the same day I watched the only person I've ever seriously considered might be a paid agent suggest I was one.  I'm tellin' y'all, this only gets stranger day by day.

Where and when does this insanity stop?  This isn't what democracy looks like.  This is what chaos created by thugs looks like and it's been sanctioned by Occupy Nashville in its to date unwillingness to hold people accountable for their behavior.

Occupy Nashville: The Drama, Act II

Only the very foolish double down on every card, but nobody's said Occupy Nashville is fulla rocket scientists, so there ya go.  My last blog entry here listed some of the nasty harassment that immediately followed the first of this series of entries and some people couldn't stop themselves from jumping hard and fast to prove my point for me.  Thanks, sorta, but it just means I have to stop a sec to relate a bit of that here before I can get to Act II of Occupy Nashville:  The Drama.

The guys made good on their promise of a dox on me, promised in their tweets as shown in my last entry.  Well, "good" is applicable if publishing private information like name of spouse, home address, business/employment history, education details, phone numbers and more of the wrong person is, uh, "good."  What they did was to publish that information about an unsuspecting couple from a nearby town, paired it with social web sites that are associated with me, and honey boom.  I have just a few questions.  Is a dox still a dox if it's on the wrong person?  Or would that make it a mock dox, maybe a  mox?  Is a dox that combines the info of two people as if it's one person just one dox, or is it a para-dox?  Lastly, is it still, uh, "bad ass?"

There have been some pretty special comments made on this blog too (by very brave anonymous people, of course), including one suggestion that my gene pool needed to be "exterminated."  They're mostly not clever enough that I can recommend them for their entertainment value, but they are demonstrative of the issue at hand. 

Matt Hamill and "Joe A. Black" also put out slander that I'm a methadone addict.

Joe A. Black shared a link via Matthew Hamill.
9 hours ago.WELCOME Buck10 ~ krhmajor ~ Jess25 ~ mahdeardixie ~ fascination
methadone.forumotion.net
I want you guys to welcome the following new members and let them know how glad we are to have them join our group: Buck10 from West Virginia ~ krhmajor from Te
Share.


Joe A. Black
10 hours ago.
Joe A. Black
Norma Jones (mahdeardixe) is a methadone addict

@Gaynonymous_247 on Twitt · 10 hours ago via Twitter.

This specialness to be found on Matt's page too:

And bragging about their dox that woxn't a dox:

Gaynonymous @Gaynonymous_247
Reply RetweetedRetweet
Delete
FavoritedFavorite · Close Open Details nothing like waking up in the morning to dubstep and a freshly completed dox.

Reminder:  It's Matt's and Jason's facebook pages and Twitter accounts that everyone's referred to for keeping up with Occupy Nashville.


I've also been contacted by two people whose identity I do not know, one through facebook and one through email, offering me information, in one instance, that there had been what could be a death threat against me posted by one ON member whose identity I do know but will not release publicly at this time.  It was a post on a fb wall and has been reported by the person who saw it.  The other communication I received was from someone claiming to have known one of the primary players in this drama for a long time.  This person advised me, and this is a direct quote, "be careful with this fucker..."

To be clear, I'm always careful.  That's why there's not ever much that's news to anybody on this blog; what's here is common knowledge and generally verifiable.  And that's a problem for them, so I'm gonna postulate that's why this strange dance of intimidation and threats.  So, let me just say that, of course, I expected you.  I am neither unaware of nor unprepared for the consequences of what I do.  You can confidently expect that.

Occupy Nashville has been on the plaza since October 7th, so how is it that four and a half months later we find ourselves with Matt and Jason as the front door for ON?  If you've read earlier entries here, you know there have been problems with the stream team pretty much from day one and that those problems have been confronted.  Repeatedly.  So, let's open Act II here by looking at those in supporting roles, those who have assured Matt and Jason retain their status as stars in this production.

Enter stage right and left, the ON tech crew.  Here are the guys that make it all happen.  Why tech?  Because they control ON media, that's why.  If you need something to happen on the ON forum or for the old stream channel or either of their fb pages, you need a member of the ON tech team to take care of it for you.  They control what goes up.  They control what comes down.  It really is that simple. 

I keep tellin' y'all there's no news here, folks, so feel free to check out right now if that's what you're looking for.  All I'm gonna do here is c&p their own words so you can see for yourself how they've controlled access to information and control over communication in ON since the beginning.  What you'll see here is that each time an issue with the stream team is brought up, they get support from tech to continue as they always have. 

I date my problems with ON stream to mid-November.  It was then that I witnessed several guys who are part of ON trash another occupier in the live stream chat, a woman who had been "taken in" by another ON person.  Although I was present in the chat room, I could not post because there were technical difficulties with the chat.  I watched as the ON person who had taken the young woman in told everybody in chat that she'd stolen drugs from him and that he'd had to "put her out."  What happened next was a chorus along the lines of, "oh, you're such a hero to have tried to help her and isn't she a horrible person?"  There were several who participated in this chat, naming the young woman by name, giving a physical description, and plans were discussed to have her "banned" from the plaza.  I don't recall exactly how many people were in the chat that night, but the number was probably high because it was before they had yet run off so many of their supporters with their shenanigans.  But I digress.

The next day, the guy who had started the conversation about the young woman in the chat room was carrying on about it on his fb page.  Once again, the young woman was not present as part of the conversation, allegations of a very serious nature were being made, and he was getting a lot of support for being such a good guy.  I posted in his thread that I didn't see anything heroic or courageous about trashing another occupier like that in a public manner.  The alleged incidents were not even being charged as having occurred on or anywhere near the plaza, the situation appeared to be of a personal nature, and I strongly objected to this public trashing of somebody within ON for it.

I made two posts, as I recall, in that thread.  Period.  That's important to note because of all that followed.  What happened next is that Phillip Schlicher fabricated a story about what transpired and then repeated it all over the internet for the past four months.  If you've read any of his blog or comments elsewhere, you know for yourself how he can go on and on.  Unfortunately, he repeated his fantasy of this until I'm almost convinced he mostly believes it himself.  And, as he was streaming then and a mod in the chat, he made sure to repeat it as often as possible.

The narrative created early on by Phillip was that I had challenged the situation because I and others are man haters.  Yeah, I know it's tired, but it's where he went.  Over and over again.  Not only man haters, but crazy trouble makers too.  It was the usual attack-the-messenger defense used when you have no other and could never have been so effective here had it not been adopted so quickly by the rest of the guys.

But enough of my rambling, let's just get to the quotes.  Pay attention to the theme here.  Geeze.  I don't know why I and Darlene and Dorsey and Eva and maybe others aren't locked up somewhere, if you believe how deranged and disturbed we've been portrayed.  But, let's get to it, shall we?  These are going to be direct quotes, taken out of context only to assure I'm not at this for a week getting it all here and you're not here for a month reading it all.  I'll gladly make available any email that's quoted from here.

In no particular order, from emails that in some instances went out to over 40 people:

(email December 7, member of tech team to Dar) 

...Grow up, Dar...

Frankly, you've been a petulant whiny brat...

(email December 17, from Phillip to multiple recipients)

Ah...Dixie. Otherwise known as MahDear. *deep breath* This one has been an issue in Livestream for some time.

For starters, she has some severe anti-male issues, and some form of internal vendetta with anyone that is a Livestream mod or streamer.

...she tantrums...

Now, we've been reeeeally nice to this one...

...this lady has a severe malfunction.

 I don't know what spaceship she got a ride on...but she's waaaaaaay out there.

She lives for the fight. She just wants a bit of chaos.

Yes, I know all about MahDear, aka Occupy Dixie.

no one -can- talk to her without her going off the deep end.

  

(from December 23 email, Seth/Spuff to multiple recipients)

I'm tired of the gender issues. 

(email December 30, Jason Steen to multiple recipients, after new PR team was announced)

Do we need an emergency GA to sort this out, before something crazy is released? do we want to take that chance?

(email December 30, Matt to multiple recipients)

it's hard for me not to be sarcastic when I wake up to 200 + emails of people telling me their controlling the movement. he or she who controls the media controls the movement... 

(email December 30, Phillip to multiple recipients)

I know how you were a counselor..and so you know a bit about how others work. So you can leave your lame attempts at manipulation at the door..and take your childishness elsewhere.

You love to fight. You love to disrupt the chat, and complain..and go off to god knows where about things

Most of your stuff seems to involve some severe hate

(Matt in email on December 30, to multiple recipients)

in light of the new p r group taking control over the occupy nashville movement I will be hosting a march today at 3 o'clock. we will be meeting at the plaza and marching to each of the p r members houses who's addresses I have obtained through anonymous donations of information...

we will not be co-opted by 2012

And ONward we go

We are legion
we do not forgive
we do not forget
you should have expected this

 Again, these quotes from email are out of context for a reason.  But if you suspect anything other than what the entire threads would show is the pattern of attacking the messenger as a means to avoid the issue, please do contact me so I can forward the threads intact to you.


A great deal of the show has run on some Occupy Nashville pages too.  Consider these bits:

(January 28th post by Phillip on ON's group page)

The point is, these two are poisonous.

"crazed rantings" 

she just follows the leader on the second one...whom is probably one of the biggest sources of Misandry in Occupy Nashville.

Its the same bullies

And norma...holy cow thats one that should have got banned forever ago

I DID say awareness, and shunning. And that they are venomous

"Hey hey, ho ho...Occubullies have go to go!" 

I have seen *many* a time where the terms of mysogyny, and related are used just to smear someone that a particularly rude person doesn't like..and *that* needs to stop. 

I just see way too many male bashers and oh this is misogyny

These folks need to get some serious help
 
And yes, there are women that just hate males. The word in Greek, in itself means "Those whom hate men." 
 

Hey, well..I just get tired of..everytime it is a woman saying something, we have to pay attention and do something otherwise we're all knocking on women. However, when a guy has an issue it is "Well, what about them?" If a guy says something, suddenly it isn't an argument..shouldn't be discussed, and/or is a waste of time. Or they just don't understand..which is a really sexist attitude in itself. In some cases people don't realize they are doing it..in others..its pretty obvious. That attitude only furthers the cycle of hatred. 

And let me tell you, if we have to hear about how Occupy is so rampant about female abuse..then you're going to hear about the other side of things too

Actions speak louder than words. I am tired of being made to feel bad because of being a male..or having to second guess myself because if I disagree with a woman I could be a misogynist, woman hater..etc. The bullying needs to stop..and it is there. Has been there..and will continue to be there unless folks step up and say otherwise.
 

(Debra Carter (Grits) on ON's group fb page)

Until people let go of their preconceived personal ideations, ego's and "I have a vagina I'm superior" and "ON is filled with misogyny". ON will self-destruct before the 6 mth mark... this shit been going on for 2 months now. It's time to get out of the pull-ups and put real undies on. 

"Ohio" is a mod for Matt's stream channel.  Well, ON's stream channel, apparently, if you go to their web site and look for media.  Try to find anybody who will tell you otherwise if you're looking for Occupy Nashville stream.  "Wolfy" is the former member of ON tech mentioned previously and to be addressed more fully later.  Here, an enlightening snippet of control:

8:58 Ohio4OWS: I miss your passion Wolfy
8:58 Ohio4OWS: =(
8:59 Wolfy1619: I miss being there. I knew it would hit me hard, but its been really bad. I watched a video yesterday that was a compilation of the camp activities.
8:59 Wolfy1619: And I cried.
8:59 Wolfy1619: It feels like I abandoned everyone.
8:59 Ohio4OWS: =(
8:59 Ohio4OWS: your personal safety is at risk i think if you were to be on site....
8:59 Ohio4OWS: i prefer you to be safe
9:00 Wolfy1619: Yeah, I can imagine it would be at risk. But so would the safety of a particular woman.
9:00 Ohio4OWS: certain people need to stfu and stop making lives hard
9:00 Ohio4OWS: i'm with you Wolfy.....
9:00 Ohio4OWS: i have my own list ....
9:01 Wolfy1619: Funny how they make these accusations AFTER I leave.  -_-
9:01 Wolfy1619: Oh well. Life goes on. Time passes.
9:01 Ohio4OWS: fear not my brother....there are people working to shut certain folks up on your behalf...behind the scenes
9:01 Wolfy1619: And I still do what I can from here.
9:01 Wolfy1619: Aye, and I appreciate that.

Oh.  Before I forget...in case you don't know and this is by chance news and you don't know what the "accusations" are...Wolfy was recently featured prominently on a web site that tracks pedophiles and cooperates with law enforcement.  They have a pretty impressive record for the past six years.  One of the site's team is also a part of Occupy Nashville, so when the news broke about Wolfy, all hell broke loose.  No, no, no, not outrage about Wolfy.  Outrage about...yep, let's play attack the messenger again.


Jon Louis (the name he has used at Occupy Nashville) is a member of ON's tech team.  Here's a bit of what he sent to the messenger:

Jon Louis

Nah, its just funny

How someone that loves to spread lies about some people

all of a sudden has so much dirty laundry?

What is it now... people in glass houses? ...

I do believe that site said something about abuse of a daughter? ... Serious serious stuff

Trillian Dent
10 February
Trillian Dent

funny how you enjoy that bit of info. the pedos do too.

Jon Louis
10 February
Jon Louis

About how you allegedly abused your daughter?

Trillian Dent
10 February
Trillian Dent

nope, even they weren't bad enough to make shit like that up. good for you, you're better at making fucked up shit than the pedos are. you win!

Jon Louis
10 February
Jon Louis

I'm just going by what I heard... Apparently it was on the site somewhere

Trillian Dent
10 February
Trillian Dent

apparently it wasn't. like i said, i saw that site years ago when the pedos made it.

but hey, if that's what gets your rocks offf...imagine whatever you want, it's your nasty brain.

Jon Louis
10 February
Jon Louis

I'll have to dig around again and check my source

I wonder about anyone so obsessed with pedophiles... In the investigation do you actually look at child porn?

What's being referenced in the above exchange is a web site the tech guys thought it would be cool to post as a way to discredit the person they associated with the allegations about their friend.  A really nasty piece of work, it was put together and posted online a few years ago by some pedophiles who had their own issues with her.  It included graphic and explicit information about childhood abuse and identifying information for the victim.  Classy, huh?  Another example of how tech team has tried to control the message and communication within ON, to silence anything they don't want to hear.  Again, make it about her, right?  Because that will at least momentarily stop the conversation about our former tech team buddy, Wolfy.

Jason Steen (one of our stars) musta drawn the long straw, because it fell to him to post the disgusting page created by the pedophiles...

Jason Steen
wow you think you know someone that's helping the movement, then you see this! http://xxxxxcensoredxxxxx - aka Trillan Dent

Jason Steen ?Phillip Schlicher now it's out there :)
5:03pm (16 minutes ago)Reply

Phillip Schlicher Yep, and gee...THIS is what we support. Oh, but they are feminists...um..no, like most else of what they claim, that's a lie too.

Part of a group that actively smears others and accuses them of being pedos without any real proof..with no care as to whom they hurt. And this group speaks for you? HA. Great job, folks. This is what you allow to run wild.
5:06pm (13 minutes ago)Reply

Linda Jackson omg! wtf???
5:10pm (23 minutes ago)

For those not paying attention, the above transaction occurred right after the "let's take the group down" chit posted here yesterday.


Almost two in the morning and so much more to cover.  But, what's this?  Something new?  Ok, I know I said no "news" here, but this just in:

Well.  I checked the comments and see some of you are impatiently clamoring for more.  Hey, I hear ya.  But this seems as good a place any to stop for the evening.  It's late and I want to shift gears and turn to contemplating a universe where people imagine you call employers on jobs they imagine they have.

P.S.  I might not be having as much fun here as it appears I am, but, then again, I really just might be after all.

And So It Goes

Response to the blog entry I posted here about 24 hours ago has been swift.  It's, unfortunately, also been predictable because it's true to form for this crew, nasty, and plentiful.  I'll share some of it with you here.

Some member of Occupy Nashville's tech or media team yanked the link to this blog from their fb Wall and reported it to fb, resulting in my receiving an official warning from fb.  (Not the first time, btw, ON yanked something I posted on fb.)

The boyfriend, Joe A. Black (alias), of one of the people discussed (Jason Steen) in that piece posted the following on his fb Wall:

Joe A. Black
6 hours ago
Norma Jones, congrats, you're a dumb bitch.
• Jason Steen and Amanda Grace like this.

"Joe" also sent me this message through fb:

9 hours ago

Joe A. Black

• you've done fucked up lady.

One can only hope "Joe's" screenwriting vocabulary is more expansive than his communications today would indicate.

 (Photo from "Joe's" fb page.)

There have also been plans to "dox" me celebrated on Twitter by some of ON's people.  Here are a few tweets from today:

OCCUPYCARLISLE RT @jasonashville: kids don't try this @ home. OP #DoxOccuTrolls engaged. @TANGELL0 @OCCUPYCARLISLE @AnonSikko @TheReallyRick @Gaynonymous_247 #OccupyNashville
about 6 hours ago

TANGELL0 RT @jasonashville: kids don't try this @ home. OP #DoxOccuTrolls engaged. @TANGELL0 @OCCUPYCARLISLE @AnonSikko @TheReallyRick @Gaynonymous_247 #OccupyNashville
about 7 hours ago

jasonashville kids don't try this @ home. OP #DoxOccuTrolls engaged. @TANGELL0 @OCCUPYCARLISLE @AnonSikko @TheReallyRick @Gaynonymous_247 #OccupyNashville
about 8 hours ago    

jasonashville @TANGELL0 cause i think MahDear(aka Norma Jones) has quite the crush on ya :) #OccupyNashville
about 9 hours ago    

owsNashvilleBot RT @jasonashville: wow... some folks need a life, Trolls have descended on #OccupyNashville - someone offered bugspray to @TANGELL0 i about spit out my drink
about 9 hours ago

TANGELL0 RT @jasonashville: wow... some folks need a life, Trolls have descended on #OccupyNashville - someone offered bugspray to @TANGELL0 i about spit out my drink
about 9 hours ago    

jasonashville wow... some folks need a life, Trolls have descended on #OccupyNashville - someone offered bugspray to @TANGELL0 i about spit out my drink
about 9 hours ago

There's also been the ever curious spectacle of Phillip writing tomes, with four (yes, four, at least the last time I saw) l-o-n-g blog entries of his own that he seems to consider a sort of "rebuttal" to my blog.  I hope he's been able to get some rest.  I haven't even written about the bit players yet, so I can only imagine what tangent that will set him off on when I get there.

Apparently, the thrill of continuing to prove my point that there is a problem element within Occupy Nashville is too much for some of these guys to pass up.  Far be it from me to brag about their self control, in any event.  As we've seen time and again, whatever's not cheerleading for them is attacked, they're only escalating now.  But it's not new.

In the meantime, I'd planned to write tonight about the supporting cast for ON's "stars," but I felt more inclined to stay abreast of today's current events, so that will be it for tonight.  It doesn't pass my notice that some of the people the next blog entry will focus on felt compelled to jump in so early.  For the rest of that nonsense, I'll just say they can "hearsay" to Hell all they want, but the truth is I'm not posting much of anything that's not already in the public domain.  Already streamed live when it happened, archived and ready to view on demand.  Discussed in GA.  In blogs authored by others associated with Occupy Nashville.  Done to death on one facebook page after another by some of the ones protesting this series, including two Occupy Nashville pages, the forum on their official web site, and more "Walls" and emails than any of us has toes and fingers to count on.  Together, probably.

What they don't like is that I'm doing it here where they can't shut me up.

I'm not done.

Occupy Nashville: The Drama, Act I

Keeping up with Occupy Nashville news lately is a bit like watching slowed down footage of a really bad train wreck, if you were in The Twilight Zone.  Or, trying to moderate an argument between Tweedle Dee and Tweedle Dum(b).  A circus as metaphor occurs as appropriate too, as does imagining oneself to be zoo keeper in the monkey house.  While the state of Tennessee proceeds with legislative action that will almost certainly result in the end of 24/7 camping on Legislative Plaza in a matter of days, some persons associated with Occupy Nashville continue to demonstrate, at minimum, questionable judgement in ways that put the future of ON in jeopardy of losing more public support and that's what this blog entry is going to be about.  ON has important decisions to make, critical work to be done if it's to be able to effectively continue operations after the camp on the plaza is gone.  It's time to cut the cancer out before it kills the body that is Occupy Nashville.

Cancer?  That's exactly the analogy that occurred to me after watching the GA of February 14th.  With tears streaming down my face, more than once, I saw women and men of ON speak passionately about the very things that brought me to this movement.  In awe of their dedication, I also experienced disgust knowing that at the same time these brave souls were speaking, there were others in this movement involved in malicious attacks on these same people.  Even in the midst of the darkest hours for Occupy Nashville in terms of its very survival as a physical entity, the people who have been responsible for so much of what's been a problem with ON for months have not been willing (able?) to stop putting more energy into maintaining their own egos than into Occupying anything.

It's past time to mince words, folks.  A major problem continues to be that certain people have positioned themselves to be the public voice and image for Occupy Nashville.  There's a rather extensive cast of characters in this drama, but I want to begin by first looking at the major players, the stars, if you will.

Matt

If you go to Occupy Nashville's official web site and click on the "media" tab at the top of the main page, you can choose from two things...both will take you to Matt.  You can go to his Ustream channel or to the station where he does a radio show.  That's it.  End of story for anybody who visits the official site for ON seeking information on ON media.  There's no denying that Matt is represented on their site as a voice for ON.

The problem with that is, well, Matt.  While it's true he's put in more hours in recent months than anybody else to stream ON related events, it's also true that he often conducts himself much like an adolescent who got into his parent's liquor cabinet and now doesn't know what to do with his drunk self.  His lack of self control while in the spotlight for ON does damage to ON's image to the public at a time when it needs all the support it can get.

 (Photo a public post on fb with a "share" button.  I'm sharing.)

Like what, you ask?  Well, after the GA three nights ago, Matt (aka Tangell0/Tangello) was front and center as the stream guy who created an incident in front of a bar on Broadway, in the heart of Nashville's tourist district.  Worse, he then edited footage of what he shot and participated in a call to boycott the small business involved.  Matt's fans and supporters obliged him by slamming the facebook page of the bar owner (most of those posts have now been removed) and making enough annoying phone calls to the bar that they had to change their phone number.  Never mind that Matt repeatedly shouted dumb stuff like "you fucking douche bag" in the middle of this.  Never mind that Matt tried to get some of the ON people to invade the bar with him (thankfully, another ON person talked him down from that, also streamed live).  This became a huge brouhaha with Matt, once again, at the center of it all.  (Some footage of this is still on Matt's Ustream channel.)

That was Thursday, and the last time that he streamed a GA.  Matt tweeted on Saturday that he was not going to be able to stream the GA that day.  However, he was available to stream a jam session on that Ustream channel that links off the ON website.  He was also, apparently, unable to stream the GA today, but that didn't prevent him from tweeting that he was "hammered" by noon two days in a row and being in a video chat talking about it all.

Who cares if Matt is "hammered" at noon (or any other time, for that matter)?  Well, mostly, not me, f'sure.  The problem, again, however, is that everything Matt does seems to have a distinct air of self promotion to it and, again, he's positioned as an "official" representative of ON.  Every time someone from the press or another Occupy comes to a chat or forum or fb page looking for a contact person, Matt is one of the two people whose names (and Twitter, Ustream, and fb info) are given.  That's the problem.

And, it's not new.  Recall, please, that it was Matt back in November with the open wallet on live stream openly taunting people with "fuck you if you don't like it."  It was Matt who streamed in December about wanting to "fuck with the state police" when he and another ON protester pitched a tent in the middle of the night outside Governor's office on the capitol grounds.  Matt who suggested in an email that members of ON go to the homes of other ON participants they disagreed with to protest.  (I'll gladly forward a copy of that email to anybody who requests it.)  Matt who interviewed the woman beater who lied about his military service and was kicked out of his own party caucus without even asking the perp about it.  Matt in this picture on his Twitter account, captioned:  "who is that masked man stealing power from the lamp post? Its @tangell0 #occupynashville now has power."

If you're happy about the public face "Tangello the Great" (his own sobriquet, btw) gives to Occupy Nashville, perhaps you're also happy to donate to his WePay account that you can find linked to on his Ustream page.  Before you decide to do that, however, allow me to point out a few relevant facts:

• Occupy Nashville pays for two hot spots to be used for streaming of ON related activities and events.  That is not an out-of-pocket expense for the person streaming.
• The accounting of funds collected that's presented on the beg page does not jive with what Matt has reported more than once elsewhere.  The total reported donations as of this writing on that page is $100, although Matt streamed while in D.C. about one day getting "a ton" of donations and has stated online elsewhere since then that he's averaging about a hundred dollars per month.
• Matt is indicating online in more than one place that he's leaving Occupy Nashville when the camp closes to head to Occupy Oakland.

I think it's time for Matt to go to Oakland or anywhere that's not Occupy Nashville.  Oakland may, in fact, be a good fit for him.  If you want to help make it happen, then, by all means, consider donating as much as you can afford to give.  On the other hand, if you want to help Occupy Nashville in a more direct way even than getting rid of Matt Hamill, I'm suggesting that you visit the Occupy Nashville site and donate through the Nashville Peace and Justice Center.

Of one thing we can be sure:  Matt's had a sweet gig here.  Just days out of jail, as noted on his blog, he landed in the bosom of Occupy Nashville and by not long into November, he'd made the decision to quit the job he'd had for a few weeks so he could move to the plaza.  As he explained to me from the backseat of my car one night when I drove to Murfreesboro to pick him up from his job before he quit it, "All my needs are met there.  If I want cigarettes or pizza, all I have to do is tell the people in the stream chat I want it and they send it."  "I can snap my fingers and get anything I want."  I'm not sure, however, that even Matt knew he'd be able to position himself as the voice and face of ON, on their dime, and collect donations to his private WePay account for his trouble.  I don't even care what he was in jail for, though there is online indication that he's telling the truth that he was.  Unfortunately, the face he's put on ON is not one that's contributed to public support for the movement.  There is no regular viewer of Matt's stream who hasn't heard his frequent comments to every new person he meets that he's "the main guy" for ON media contact.  Let's be clear.  He's not worth the trouble.  It's time for him to go.

Jason

Jason Steen, aka DrTweeker in a number of places online, is the other star of this Occupy Nashville drama, as the other person besides Matt who streams and is consistently cited as an "official" contact for ON.  In the earliest days of ON, Jason was the person who most often streamed ON occasions, but just because that's now fallen to Matt, it would be a mistake to think Jason is any less a public face for Occupy Nashville.  Again, it's Jason and Matt who are consistently referenced as contact people when people want to contact ON about just about anything.  And, again, check the ON fb page if you think it's happening in any other way.

Unfortunately, laying out the issues with Jason's involvement with ON are a bit more problematic for me because I can't do it without noting some information that's rather messy, but we're going there anyway, because some of it's already public knowledge and has even been discussed in GAs that were live streamed to anybody who wanted to see it.  That can still be viewed in archived footage on Tangello's Ustream channel.  Of course, we're talking about stealing.  Stealing money from Occupy Nashville.  Money intended to buy food and run the camp on for a week.  Occupy Nashville that he's positioned himself as the public face of.

Whether Jason actually stole the money or not, he, at minimum, behaved recklessly with funds he was entrusted with.  By his own declaration, he left the money unattended in a tent, without telling anybody present at the time he was going to do so, and he did it shortly after a meeting he was part of in which it was clearly stated that nobody was to do that because there had been an earlier problem with missing money.  Then he left town to go to D.C.

Jason being interviewed by local media.  (Photo a public post on fb with a "share" button.  I'm sharing.)

You can, of course, decide for yourself what you think happened there.  You can, also, donate to Jason's personal WePay account.  But, if that's how you're inclined, let me point out a few things relative to this beggar's operation:

• Jason promises to use any donated money for "bail" or "streaming," but he mostly never streams any more and hasn't for many weeks.  
• It's unclear how much bail would be even if Jason decided to get arrested.
• It's unclear whether or not ON will have money to bail anybody out of jail, if needed.  There are, perhaps, a half dozen people who have indicated a willingness to get arrested, certainly no more than that.
• Getting arrested is a choice, in this instance, not a requirement.
• Again, Occupy Nashville pays for hot spots and this is not an out-of-pocket expense for Jason.

Frankly, if I had extra bucks to give to somebody right now and Jason was my recipient of choice, I'd give the money I had to donate directly to the woman whose money came up missing when he "left it in a tent,"and I'd give it to her in his name.

Jason, aka Dr.Tweeker, is problematic for another reason and here it gets even more sticky because I have to now talk about what is rumor and not able to be proven by me.  The issue of drug use on the plaza has been a sticking point, but usually when  people talk about it openly, they want to only discuss those "homeless" people on the plaza.  Except that, privately, for months, and from more than one person in a position to know, I keep hearing that Jason is part of a group using bath salts on the plaza.  For the uninitiated, bath salts are a street drug that acts as a central nervous system stimulant.  Think speed.  Crack.  Meth.  Think all the nasty character traits that often manifest themselves in people who do CNS stimulants.  While you're at it, ponder this definition of "tweeker" from the Urban Dictionary:

A methamphetamine user. Tweekers are known for their extreme paranoia, flagrant dishonesty, and lack of non-tweeker friends. A tweeker will steal your stuff and then help you look for it.

You can use Google search for yourself to determine that Jason has been calling himself DrTweeker for a lot longer than he's been associated with Occupy Nashville.  Hear his own words about that here.

In my professional life, I was licensed as a clinician and trainer in the field of addictions, so my perspective on the issue of Jason as DrTweeker and the current problem of him being accused of stealing and using drugs on the plaza is coming necessarily influenced by that perspective.  I will cop to some embarrassment that I had to google "bath salts" myself when I first heard the rumors, but I'll also cop to an "aha" moment when I did, because the classic personality and behavior associated with those who are actively using CNS stimulants is present in the behavior I've seen recently come from Jason.  I've seen him, over and over and over and over again, look straight into the camera and tell one bold faced lie after another, about anything from the number of tents on the plaza, the number of people in those tents, even about whether or not he was streaming events when questioned by a security guard.

Just like Matt, Jason needs to go.  To rehab?  I dunno.  Maybe.  But, like Matt, it needs to be just about anywhere other than Occupy Nashville.

More

Matt and Jason are the anointed stars in this production, but they could never have maintained their star status without a lot of help from others within Occupy Nashville.  All along, there has been a cast of co-stars, primarily ON tech team members...Spuff, Overkill, Eric, Jon Louis.  There have also been the bit players from the sidelines, the peanut gallery, if you will...Phillip, Grits, Ohio, and others.  The next blog entry will introduce you to more of the cast that produces the drama that is Occupy Nashville.

Occupiers Turned Away From Nashville Bar?

If you follow Occupy Nashville news, you're probably aware that a group of ON protesters were denied entrance to a bar on Broadway last night.  Since the incident, facebook has been lit up with numerous threads full of outraged comments posted by ON supporters expressing condemnation of the owners of the establishment for discriminating against the occupiers.  You can find the threads on the bar's facebook page, ON's public page , and their group page as well, for starters.

I've read a great deal of it while smirking.  When I wasn't snorting.  Smirking and snorting because I was watching the live stream as the incident occurred and I submit that the feigned outrage from ON is just that...feigned.  Well, feigned and misplaced.  Perhaps the most regrettable piece of it all was the silly comparison of ON people being denied entrance to a bar in the middle of one of their actions to blacks being denied their civil rights during the 60s.  Yes, idiots actually had the nerve to present such a position.  Good grief.

Isn't anybody wondering how the people at the door knew the group were occupiers from ON?  Do you think it might have anything to do with the fact that they were armed with Occupy Nashville fliers and flowers they'd been passing out to patrons on the sidewalk outside the bar in question?  Before they stopped to try and go in?  Do you think they noticed, too, the guy doing the talking was also live streaming the action?

Now...you're the proprietor of a bar in arguably the hottest tourist strip in Nashville.  Would you instruct your employees to not allow protesters into your establishment?  I would.  It was peak business hours for these people; they should invite an almost guaranteed disruption into their midst?  Would you?

I understand the recorded footage of this has been edited and linked to as well.  Cool.  Did the part where the Occupy Nashville guy streaming the footage was loudly and belligerently calling the bar employee a "fucking douche bag" make the cut?

The irony, or, perhaps, tragedy, of this all is that it's not like Occupy Nashville doesn't have plenty of fights to put energy into.  It's not like the state of Tennessee isn't poised to evict them, probably next week.  How smart was it to create a public incident like this?

Whose Plaza?

Anyone who even occasionally aspires to put into words something they don't want to acknowledge will understand when I say this blog entry is the most difficult I can recall ever undertaking.  This piece has been "written" a hundred times in my head, considered for hours over days and weeks.  I've assigned "deadlines" for myself more than once in the past week for when I was sure I'd get it done, even assuring others that it was forthcoming and promising when that would be, efforts to push myself to overcome my reluctance to say what I knew in my gut needed to be said.  Today, I've had the tab open to begin writing for three hours because I still don't want to do it.

I'm not the only one with a dilemma today.  This afternoon, the Tennessee House of Representatives Judiciary Committee will hear arguments relative to proposed legislation that could potentially lead to the sooner rather than later eviction of Occupy Nashville from Legislative Plaza.  HB2638, introduced by Republican Representative Eric Watson from Cleveland, would make law specific to the issue of using publicly owned property as a place of residence.  This bill and its sister bill in the Senate (SB2508, introduced by state Senator Delores Gresham, Republican from Somerville) have already been reviewed by Fiscal Review Committee and found to not represent a significant increase in either expenditures or revenue for the state if enacted.  Sponsors of the legislation have publicly declared the Tennessee Attorney General's office has given the green light about the constitutionality of it all and there seems to me no reason to expect this won't pass and become law relatively easy.

What should Occupy Nashville's response be to this?  Supporters of ON have been engaged in writing letters, meeting with lawmakers, and will gather to Occupy the meeting room when the Judiciary Committee convenes this afternoon.  Their position might be best presented by their own open letter to Governor Bill Haslam, members of the Tennessee state legislature, and the Tennessee Highway Patrol.  In short, ON is (rightfully) making the case that this law will have impact on much more than the physical occupation of the plaza by people affiliated with the movement.

Occupy camps have been evicted all over the country since the first tents went up for Occupy Wall Street on September 17, 2011 and Nashville has enjoyed relative immunity from any such attempts since their legal counsel successfully petitioned the federal court for an injunction after the state attempted to evict on the grounds of hastily drawn up new rules governing use of Legislative Plaza last fall.  The proposed legislation, however, potentially broadens the scope of what the legal issues are, and while there are arguments on both sides of how effectively the new law might be implemented in face of the currently in place injunction, common sense should dictate the reality that ON will not "occupy" the plaza forever.  What remains to be seen is how they will leave.

The issue of homeless people and Occupy camps has been one of much discussion and I've had a bit to say about it on this blog as well.  I'm not sure any aspect of the overall issue has been more picked over than that of who is an "occupier" and who is "just" homeless.  This is a distinction that has always seemed artificial, at best, to me and one that, at worst, perpetuates the very system and its abuses that we've proclaimed our opposition to.  In ON, for example, I've repeatedly seen the numbers of occupiers represented to the public to be inclusive of anyone who's physically on the plaza for any reason, while all the while seeing the same people who declare and repeat those numbers complain to a different audience about who gets to eat food first on the plaza.  Over and over again, the clear message from some in ON has been that the homeless count when they're needed to show large numbers presumed by the presence of their tents and bodies on the plaza, but not so much when they should go to the end of the line to eat because someone deems their participation on the site not valid enough to eat the same and when others do.

Here's what I'd like to see.  I'd like to see some honesty and transparency about who exactly is "occupying" the plaza these days.  For starters, let's acknowledge the truth that there are basically no occupiers on the plaza now who have homes to be in elsewhere.  By that definition, they are, in fact, all "homeless."  The small group of people on site now who earlier in the occupation could have been said to have homes have quit their jobs since the movement began and either abandoned or otherwise lost their places of residence.  In effect, those "occupiers" need the plaza because it has become their home and they need the support of the ON community in order to have their daily needs (like food) met.

As I've contemplated what it might mean for Occupy Nashville if they were to be evicted from the plaza, I keep coming back to the same place, which is to ask myself if ON is even still on the plaza now.  I'm not sure that it is. The simple truth of the matter lies in looking at who's in GA meetings.  Whose faces are those?  Most of them don't stay on the plaza.  Who are the people behind the scenes making things like the action to save Ms. Bailey's home from foreclosure happen?  Who are the volunteers that have helped the group with their finances and legal issues?  Again, these are mostly supporters of ON, not ON people who are staying on the plaza.

For me, the question has certainly arisen over just what is the value of a physical occupation in Nashville in the first place.  Going back to last fall, I was in favor of occupying and most specifically in favor of occupying Legislative Plaza.  The symbolism of taking over public land in the shadow of the state capitol and holding it in such an in-your-face manner is powerful.  The location also has made it a very visible instrument of public relations, with its high pedestrian traffic and proximity to TPAC.  As many of us have noted, it's a photographer's dream too; I defy anybody to find a more visually attractive Occupy site than Nashville's.  When I walked the perimeter in the wee hours of the morning one late October morning looking for signs of the Tennessee Highway Patrol about to swoop in for another night of arrests, it seemed terribly important to me that the camp be maintained.

Since that time, I've seen camp conditions deteriorate.  Emails circulating internally this week make it clear that the problems with things like stolen personal property, misappropriation and/or theft of camp funds, physical assaults haven't improved.  Even the issue of food and its availability is a source of contention, with an almost farcical episode of what I'll call "The Great Kitchen Caper" being streamed live last night.  With increasing frequency, I hear from supporters of ON that they're no longer feeling safe to come to the plaza.  To borrow from another vernacular, Houston, we have a problem.

The bills before the Tennessee legislature are bad law because they're one more step in the ongoing process of making it illegal to be poor or homeless in this country.  I'd hope that Occupy Nashville can be an active part of a successful process to oppose it on those grounds.  But, I'd also like to see them use this as an opportunity to take a look at just how revolutionary they are here.  It's one thing to giggle giddily about the thrill of being in camo while tooling around town in street theater, it's quite another to take a stand and declare with public honesty that those who do not have homes to be in have a right to exist and not have their very being outlawed by legislation that makes it impossible to live on public land when they have none of their own.  If ON wants to be truly revolutionary here, perhaps they'll take a stand that says they support an occupation of the plaza by anybody who needs to be there because they have no other place to be, and that includes people who are "just" homeless, as well as those who abandoned the homes and jobs they had in what could otherwise go down in their personal history as the chapter in which they got to play revolutionaries.  As I've noted here before, the laws that have been used to harass Occupy camps all over the U.S. are the same laws used to harass the homeless before the first Occupy tent was ever pitched.  If nothing else, can we not make a stand that assures change for them after the last Occupy tent is gone?