This is my fifth installment of the Occupy report on Sex And Politics on WBCR, Brooklyn College radio. It is broadcast live via the internet starting at 7 PM (go here). I usually come on at 7:30. And if you miss it, you can check out the podcast here.

There’s a lot to talk about tonight–

* The Cleveland Four now await sentencing, having pleaded out to charges that they were attempting to blow up a bridge over the Cuyahoga River. These were young men disaffected by the lack of ‘radicalism’ in the Occupy Cleveland movement, and there’s some argument as to whether they were entrapped by an FBI informant trying to net a big catch so that he wouldn’t go to jail for a check kiting scheme. There’s a great story on the case here. You can go to the support website here. These folks are facing prison sentences in the multi-decade level for an attempted crime that was encouraged and facilitated by an FBI informant every step of the way. And BTW, if I can brag on myself, I have an article from early July about this case and the case of the NATO protesters on my own blogspace here. My article includes information about the increasingly worrisome behavior of law enforcement officials acting as provocateurs in an attempt to get protesters to do things that can get them arrested.

* Did you know the NYPD partnered with Microsoft to create surveillance camera/software hookups that allow facial recognition of people in a given area (say, Union Square during a protest)? The news came out during the National Conventions but hasn’t been mentioned much since. Here’s a link you should know about.

* and then there’s Leah Plante, sentenced to 18 months in prison for refusing to talk to a grand jury about the Occupy movement. She has been charged with no crime, and the subpoena strikes many as a ‘fishing expedition’ by prosecutors trying to convict someone in the Occupy movement of a crime. Plante has stated that her house was raided by police whose main interest was anarchist and protest literature. Authorities stated that they are trying to find the ‘organizers’ of Occupy Seattle’s May Day ‘vandalism’, which resulted in broken windows and vandalism there, but neither Leah nor her housemates had been in Seattle on May 1. And an attorney working for Civil Liberties Defense Center found that the Grand Jury that subpoenaed Leah had been empaneled in March. There are support organizations coming around to help Ms Plante as she tries to get the contempt charges overturned.

UPDATE: Great article about the demonization of dissenters here–includes some animal rights activists as well. And if you want to send Leah a shout-out, here’s her prison address:

Leah-Lynne Plante
#42611-086
FDC SeaTac
PO Box 13900
Seattle, WA 98198

Anyway, back to my show.

Lots to think about and discuss. And if you think I’m missing something important about Occupy, get in touch with me (either here or on the Sex and Politics website).

UPDATE: Leah has been let out as of 10/18. Details still sketchy, will change if needed.