Warning – This article is long and link intensive, but I promise if you have followed Moral Monday in North Carolina, you need to stick with it to the end. You will not be disappointed.

Mountain Moral Monday Morphs To Moral Monday Coalition?

While covering the Mountain Moral Monday story this week, some tweets using the hashtag #MoralMondays caught my eye.

At first, it looked like they were part of the event I was covering, but when I tweeted a question about it I soon discovered these people were not in Asheville. They were in Chicago at the Palmer House Hilton being arrested for protesting an upcoming ALEC conference.

This group in Chicago was calling themselves the ‘Moral Monday Coalition‘ per the referenced ‘press release’. User @plussone tweeted to me a link that included this ‘press release‘.  Since these things have a way of disappearing, I uploaded a copy to Scribd.

A quick Google brought up a few articles on the event:

1. ALEC’s Impending Chicago Conference Incites Protest, Multiple Arrests (VIDEO) | Progress Illinois
2. Activists Descend On Palmer House To Protest Upcoming ALEC Conference: Chicagoist

The article at Progress Illinois had some video of the event:

A speaker of note was Rev. Marilyn Pagán-Banks, who appears to be rather radical including participating in Occupy events; a female version of NC’s Reverend Barber perhaps. For more information on the Reverend:

• Rev. Marilyn Pagán-Banks with members of Chicago’s Northside P.O.W.E.R.
• Activists Erect Shantytown In Federal Plaza To Protest Budget Cuts
• Morse Hellhole: Rev. Marilyn Pagan-Banks Defends “Pay-to-Play” in the 49th Ward
• Protestants for the Common Good

Moral Monday Coalition

From the articles and the Moral Monday Coalition ‘press release’, it became clear the organizer of the ‘Moral Monday Coalition’ was Greg Goodman (@gregrgoodman on Twitter).  Goodman was also one of the six who were arrested. From Progress Illinois, emphasis added:

“ALEC is one of the great nexi where money and politics meet in order to corrupt our democracy,” said Greg Goodman, protest organizer. “From attacking workers, to attacking the environment, criminalizing immigration, constructing for-profit prisons, attacking health care, promoting Stand Your Ground laws, ALEC promotes the interests of big business and the one percent.”

Chanting “No to ALEC,” Goodman, along with fellow members of the Chicago Moral Monday Coalition, such as Natalie Wahlberg, were arrested for linking arms on the steps of the hotel’s lobby, at 17 E. Monroe St. According to the Chicago Police Department, six protesters were charged with misdemeanor criminal trespassing for causing a disturbance and refusing to leave the lobby.

“It’s important to take a stand,” Goodman said, moments before he was taken into custody. – Progress Illinois

Progress Illinois also offered a photo of the six arrested:

Left to Right: Carl Gibson, @LordSecretariat, Natalie Wahlberg, Greg Goodman,? , ?

About Coordinator Greg Goodman

To be clear, Goodman is an occupier who has been arrested before. Goodman also helped orchestrate the ‘Block party to fight austerity at Rahm’s house‘.  Recently, he was involved along with Ms. Wahlberg in the Occupy CPS event at the Chicago Board of Education hearing. Video of that event here from Goodman’s own YouTube channel here. The video also has a transcript, since much of it was hard to hear.

Goodman also supports what I have termed ‘Occupy 2.0‘; the legit-looking storefront Social Justice outfits backed by Unions that push for higher minimum wages.  I suppose Moral Monday Coalition is now another facet of Occupy 2.0 given the Occupy backgrounds detailed here.  Link to Goodman’s Facebook page here.

Arrests Equal Attention

Occupy Chicago was one of the first to tweet out the arrests with Occupy WallStreet chiming in. The Occupy Chicago tweet was later retweeted by Goodman:

The partial list of arrestees was tweeted by @SamwiseEyes (below). Two of the replies were from Kit O’Connell who covered the event as it unfolded and who is a known Occupier from Austin with at least a few disturbing videos.

Another reply came from Natalie Solidarity (Natalie Wahlberg). Natalie Wahlberg aka Natalie Solidarity was one of the six arrested as was ‘Chapul’ aka @RealBabur who also replied:

The arrested that are known, as of this article, were:

• Greg Goodman (@GregrGoodman)
• Natalie Wahlberg (@ConstantNatalie)
• Chapul (@BaburRealer)
• LordSecretariat (@LordSeceretariat)
• Carl Gibson (@uncutcg)

I will update here if the sixth person arrested becomes clear.  Other participants included a radical preacher named

I think SamwiseEyes missed Carl Gibson (@uncutcg) who while on board the paddy wagon was taking video:

Myself and my fellow #noALEC arrestees managed to shoot video from inside the Chicago PD wagon while handcuffed http://t.co/WzZbG0bamU

— Carl Gibson (@uncutcg) August 6, 2013

They apparently going back for more today:

Hoodie march on the #ALEC conference today. Be at the Palmer House at 10 AM, hoodie up! #Justice4Trayvon

— Carl Gibson (@uncutcg) August 7, 2013

Carl Robert Gibson is very interesting.

Carl Robert Gibson hails from Madison, Wisconsin it would seem, or at least according to his Facebook Page. He is the founder of US Uncut — more about US Uncut later on. His LinkedIn says he is also a managing partner at Gibson Group, LLC:

•Independent public relations and new media consultant for Progressive causes and Democratic candidates
•Speechwriter, Ghost-writer of opinion-editorials for elected public officials in hometown papers
•Develop email and social media campaigns, design webpages and engage lists using CRM software
•Use SEO techniques to increase search engine visibility, develop and launch online ad campaigns

Ghost-writer. Interesting. Not ghost writing for Michael Moore though.  Note: I found no corresponding website for ‘Gibson Group, LLC’. Another source lists Gibson as the founder, not managing partner and the website mentioned (www.gibsongroupMS.com) is defunct.

Oh, and Carl is a professional agitator that is either employed by or just real chummy with the SEIU.

Gibson’s US Uncut was a presenter at the 2012 SEIU National Convention in Colorado. That seems odd, considering Gibson was ‘confronting’ Andy Stearns‘ just the year prior. Gibson sure does travel a lot.

Check out all the various Occupy protests he’s traveled to and likely been arrested at in his Facebook photos.

Gibson’s Twitter timeline is also littered with support for the Fight For 15/minimum wage groups I mentioned previously as backed by Unions. One example of such a tweet here.

Of note: Gibson was arrested at Moral Monday in Raleigh, which he bragged about on his Facebook page.

So, there might be more outside agitators that previously thought at Moral Monday in North Carolina it would seem. Professional ones too.

I’ve included several tweets from Gibson’s timeline which relate to the Raleigh arrest.

Joining the #MoralMonday protests at the NC statehouse tomorrow! Gonna be rockin a light blue shirt and everything

— Carl Gibson (@uncutcg) July 21, 2013

Amazing experience getting taken to Wake County jail at #MoralMonday and standing alongside my fellow revolutionaries. Will never forget it

— Carl Gibson (@uncutcg) July 23, 2013

Apparently someone named ‘Ryan’ bailed Gibson out of lockup in Raleigh:

@Mcbyrne is ‘Melissa McByrne’ according to Action News, who links her Twitter handle to that name.

McByrne was an organizer for Occupy in Washington, D.C. but apparently was or is in North Carolina now.  She claims not to be SEIU, but color me skeptical at this point. There is little else on her with a basic search, indicating McByrne is not her real last name. Unsure of who ‘Ryan’ is but he apparently had cash to spare.

More about US Uncut

US Uncut bills themselves as an anti-tax dodging movement, but the instructions to getting started seem more like occupy style lawfare.  From their own FAQ:

Q: Who is the leader? A: The structure of the group is similar to the hacking group Anonymous in that there isn’t clear-cut leadership. Each branch of US Uncut does its own thing, though they adopt similar themes (targets, slogans, signs, etc.)

Well, we know Mr. Gibson is at least one of the heads.

According to their website, they have an ‘infrastructure partner’ called The Other 98%. So, Uncut and 98% are apparently money partners in so much as 98% funds Uncut it would seem. Clicking on their donate link takes you to DemocracyInAction.org where “Your tax exempt donation will show up on your credit card as Democracy in Action and you’ll receive an acknowledgement letter via email.” From the US Uncut Support Us Page:

While US Uncut remains an action-oriented movement, we recognize that an infrastructure, even one as lean and mean as ours, requires financial support. The Other 98% has been responsible for the bulk of this type of development to date, from graphic design and website maintenance to research and professional media outreach. The Other 98% is a project of the Institute for Policy Studies – Program on Inequality, a tax exempt 501c3 organization. Donations to The Other 98% will make US Uncut’s work possible.

I confirmed the Institute for Police Studies (IPS) affiliation with The Other 98% via their website. The IPS address is 1112 16th St. NW, Suite 600, Washington DC 20036 and that matches the 501(c)3 look up details for EIN: 52-0788947 – (IPS). I wonder if the IPS was ever given a hard time by the IRS for their tax status. 990’s I located:

• 2010 Form 990
• 2006 Form 990

The staff of The Other 98% are a lovely collection of agitators, former MoveOn.org, former ACORN and Occupiers.  Related Read: The Other 98% Launches Campaign to Acquire Tribune Co.

Bye Bye To Moral Mondays Already Feeble Legitimacy

Professional agitators, Unions, Social Justice front groups and Occupiers. This is who is aligning themselves with Moral Monday in North Carolina.  Congrats, Moral Monday. You’ve just been co-opted by the organized Left.