This past Sunday Occupy Chicago held a march in solidarity with Occupy Oakland after Oakland police fired various crowd-dispersal weapons at them and arrested hundreds. They marched in the evening through downtown. Like other Occupy groups, they had a person live streaming the action, Keilah [@OccupieChicago], who was seized, had her camera confiscated, and threatened with felony arrest under Illinois’ egregious Eavesdropping Act. It’s a totalitarian’s dream.

Meet your government, ladies and gentlemen. Josh Fox, the Academy Award-nominated director of the fracking documentary Gasland, was arrested today on Capitol Hill for attempting to film a public hearing. The GOP Committee did not want Fox filming their latest witch hunt.

In the UC-Davis pepper spraying case, two unidentified police officers have been placed on administrative leave, and chancellor Linda Katehi announced some vague investigation into the incident. The President of the University of California, Mark Yudof, has now released a statement expressing shock and dismay at the events in Davis.

Leymah Gbowee is a Liberian activist and recipient of this year’s Nobel Peace Prize. Do you know why she received the Nobel Peace Prize? She led a protest movement against civil war and human rights abuses, and she and her fellow activists sat down in a soccer field near the Presidential palace in Monrovia and refused to move until they secured a meeting with the President, Charles Taylor.

I’ve heard legal theories that the city of New York has the right to impose restrictions on the time, place and manner of the exercise of free speech. This will obviously play out in a court of law. I don’t know how anyone can reasonably look at the laws and say that the wholesale shutdown of the press, not only from the ground but from the air, is in any way a legal exercise.

Members of the Occupy Wall Street movement said today on a conference call that the police action to evict protesters from Zuccotti Park will only amplify future efforts, starting on Thursday with a planned day of action that will occur at sites across the country.

Bloomberg’s cops cleared Zuccotti Park, arresting over 150 protesters who refused to leave, throwing their belongings in a dumpster, and preventing press from covering the event. The arrests included a New York Times writer, and a city councilman, who suffered injuries.

The Senate Homeland Security Committee, chaired by Sen. Joe Lieberman (I-CT), is holding a major hearing on whether the United States is safer ten years after the September 11th attacks. Homeland Security Department Janet Napolitano, FBI Director Robert Mueller and National Counterterrorism Center Director Matthew Olsen will be testifying before the committee.

The director of operations at Quantico Marine Base issued a “threat advisory” last weekend in advance of tomorrow’s rally in support of accused Wikileaks whistleblower Bradley Manning.

Hundreds of people are scheduled for a peaceful protest at the base, including Pentagon Papers whistleblower Daniel Ellsberg.

The streets of Egypt this “Angry Friday” are filled with people and police – tear gas and smoke.

Al Jazeera is reporting live – and you can view it at live streaming here http://english.aljazeera.net/watch_now/ or via Livestation.

Check here for more updates on conditions in Egypt.