UPDATE (7:22 am 10/14/11) – At 6:20am EST, NYC Deputy Mayor Caswell F. Holloway said, “Late last night, we received notice from the owners of Zuccotti Park — Brookfield Properties — that they are postponing their scheduled cleaning of the park, and for the time being withdrawing their request from earlier in the week for police assistance during their cleaning operation… Brookfield believes they can work out an arrangement with the protesters that will ensure the park remains clean, safe, available for public use,” Mr. Holloway said, “and that the situation is respectful of residents and businesses downtown.”
Occupy Wall Street (OWS) is a protest against the government infusion of taxpayer money to support the very financial institutions that helped wreck the economy. Over most of the last month, the demonstrators have camped in New York City’s Zuccotti Park turning it into a makeshift headquarters where protesters can organize, picket, play or rest 24 hours a day.
Enter New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg on Wednesday night to tell the protesters that they must clear out all their crap by 7am Friday morning so Brookfield Properties, the company which controls the park, can give Zuccotti a long-ovderdue cleaning.
Afterwards, the city police commissioner says the protesters can return, but they cannot set up camp again—a condition which basically threatens to end the protest.
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The protesters have banded together to clean the park in an attempt to hold off Brookfield. But the cops will likely haul off any protesters resisting removal. Some of the protesters have promised to leave and then peaceably protest if they cannot re-enter the property after the cleaning ends.
We’re on pins and needles wondering how it will all pan out. Especially since LGBTs and allies are among the protesters and possibly amongst the cleaners and cops who will soon visit the park.
Civil rights protesters have long used non-violent occupation of public and private space as a means of civil disobedience. The future of the OWS protest depends greatly on how both sides respond to this morning’s cleaning and its aftermath.
GOD (gay old dude)
Ladies and gentlemen, I give you . . . the Flea Party.
ewe
Mayor Bloomberg is going around implying that big names and powerful entities have influenced the Zuchotti park owners, Brookfield Office Properties by intimidating them into putting off the cleaning. When confronted Bloomberg said he was not privy to any such conversations but he was told all this throught the grapevine. Bloomberg is a LIAR planting deceit and deception through the age old news loophole and saving grace called “unnamed sources.” Bloomberg is a Skank.
ewe
Bloomberg and Kelly are plotting around their witches brew right this moment debating how they can use the tax funded street gang otherwise known as New Yorks 40000 city police force to squelch peaceful protest and lawful assembly.
ewe
@GOD (gay old dude): you mean gay old delusional dude? gODD.
GOD (gay old dude)
@ewe: That is soooooo funny! Stop with your insanely original humor! It’s making my sides hurt! Hoo hoo hoo, hee hee hee, ha ha ha, oh my.
Riker
@ewe: Tax-funded street gang? You mean the people who protect us from muggers, rapists, murderers and other assorted lowlifes? This isn’t the LAPD; New York City’s finest have a good reputation.
Beetlejuice
@Riker:
No. NYPD does not have a good reputation. This is the same police force that has killed and raped innocent men of color. The same police force where officers were just tried for raping a drunk woman. The same police force in which two cops were just arrested for planting drugs on innocent men to improve the cops’ drug bust stats.
While there are good cops, there are also bad cops.
However, the reality is that Bloomberg is a billionaire with deep connections to the financial industry. He is part of the elite against OWS is protesting. Therefore, every thing that he says has to be viewed with suspicion. OWS is putting a lot of scrutiny on the billionaire boys’ club that controls the country, whether that is Wall Street or the Koch brothers. Protests are taking place around the country. It makes those in control very nervous. Look at the response from those on the right whose knee jerk response is to deride the unemployed as lazy, ignoring the horrific economy. You have Glenn Beck warning that OWS protesters will come in the night and kill people because they’re all communists. It’s pathetic. When Tea Party protesters were gathering in large masses (organized by Fox News), the same pundits were cheering them on. They had no problem with Tea Partiers carrying guns or talking about violent overthrow of the government. In fact, the pundits co-opted that movement to push extreme right-wing legislation, especially in Republican controlled states (Michigan, Wisconsin, and Alabama, for instance).
This is all very interesting political theater. Sit back and enjoy the show.
Riker
@Beetlejuice: Of course there are bad cops. There are also bad lawyers, bad doctors and bad janitors. Every single profession in existence has crooked people in it. However, the department as a whole does a good job of protecting and serving, and every single officer i’ve ever met has been kind and respectful.
There are bad cops, sure, but they are hardly a “tax funded street gang”; that statement implicates the entire police force.
Politically Incorrect Thug
@GOD (gay old dude): Good one. A fact: There has never been an arrest at a Tea Party movement, but OWS has resulted in dozens of arrests due to civil disobedience. And yet OWS claims it’s a passive, peaceful protest, and that it’s the cops who are looking for a fight.
@Riker: I think you’re probably wasting your breath. These “protesters” have no logical processing centers in their brains, as is evidenced by the fact they don’t even know what they’re protesting. They say they’re protesting corporate greed, and yet every second of their lives is spent sucking at the tit of corporate America (phones, social networks, etc). They say they’re protesting against the rich, and yet they embrace multi-millionaire celebrities to their cause—celebrities who claim to be anti-capitalist, and yet have an army of accountants to see to it they get as much $$$ as they can, and that they pay as little as possible to Uncle Sam at the end of the year. Such patriotism—especially from angry, radical tweens with daddy issues—always makes me warm and fuzzy (literally—I’m getting hot and growing body hair watching these clowns).
Politically Incorrect Thug
@Beetlejuice: Fact-check: It was CNBC’s Jim Kramer who started the first Tea Party protest, not Fox. I know, I know, that doesn’t fit your view of NBC and its affiliates being super-liberal, or of Fox being the ultimate evil, but sometimes the truth just hurts.
CBRad
@GOD (gay old dude): Actually, that was pretty good.
ewe
@GOD (gay old dude): well i can say the same about your flea tea. lol
CBRad
@GOD (gay old dude): But, just to clarify, I think a certain percentage of these protestors might be hipply unwashed malcontent types, but there are some very legitimate people and groups joining these protests. Just like the Tea Party groups, which have a percentage of loons but a lot of legitimate people.
ewe
@Riker: Depends on who you talk to. Have you ever been inside a courtroom to hear all the wrangling and plea bargaining going on? “We will drop all these unwarranted false charges if you plead guilty to the one false charge.” yada yada yada. Go bother someone else with your idealistic crap? I am sticking to the facts which are “state funded tax paid gang of thugs picking and choosing who will be afforded the civil rights they themselves take for granted.”
ewe
@CBRad: Putting people down for being dirty is no different than Bloomberg trying to clear out the park for offensive odors. It’s a red herring. It’s blowing something out of proportion. If anyone stunk so bad you can rest assured that the people in the park would find a way to bathe and clean the “culprit.” The criminal culprit all because of smells. Give me a break. Is that the best the authorities can come up with? YES! Any derogatory commenters remarking on this topic should get off their couch and shut off corporate media coverage, specifically the Faux News Network. OWS is magnificent, long overdue and inspirational.
ewe
@Riker: That is correct. The entire police force will, does and always has succumbed to the blue line. Except of course when it effects them individually. Then they have their union rep file a suit on their behalf. That is better known as “too little, too late.” Listen, the police have a job to do and the job is to protect and serve the public. Public employees need to just do their job and stop expecting the citizenry that pays them to endlessly award them brownie points. It’s annoying. Stop catering to that.
CBRad
@ewe: I’m not against them. I just thought Flea Party was a rather clever moderate insult, if one wants to take that point of view. Same as “Teabaggers”.
ousslander
@Politically Incorrect Thug: I agree with all you are saying. just to nit pick I don’t think it was Kramer but another guy whos name begins with an S.
Jakey
@Politically Incorrect Thug: “A fact: There has never been an arrest at a Tea Party movement, but OWS has resulted in dozens of arrests due to civil disobedience.”
Who cares? The real Tea Party (you know, from way back) was committing felonies. You don’t judge the legitimacy of a protest on whether it breaks a crime.
Jakey
@Politically Incorrect Thug: Oh boy, and I didn’t even read the rest before replying.
“They say they’re protesting corporate greed, and yet every second of their lives is spent sucking at the tit of corporate America (phones, social networks, etc).”
Yeah, that’s kind of the problem. You ever try to live in America WITHOUT doing that? Since when is that an immutable aspect of plain old everyday life?
“They say they’re protesting against the rich, and yet they embrace multi-millionaire celebrities to their cause…”
The only people who say the OWS protesters are “against the rich” are those who can’t fathom a reason for their taxes to be increased except spiteful punishment. Needless to say (I hope), that is not the only actual reason, or even a real one.
What they’re against are the policies that let the rich keep too much of their money–too much for the economy to function, I mean–and outside influence upon the government that helps keep those policies in place. No individual rich person can be blamed for using the system to their advantage in the form of totally legal tax breaks and loopholes; as you said, that’s why they hire accountants. But no rich person is a hypocrite for simultaneously wanting to see those breaks and loopholes closed. Most of these wealthy individuals are smart enough to realize that nothing will change if (a) they alone decide to cough up more money at tax time as a purely voluntary thing, or (b) they knock on every other rich person’s door and try to convince them to do the same out of the kindness of their hearts. The rules are what need to change.
ewe
@CBRad: I agree with you. To compare OWS with the separatist Tea Party is insulting. Glad it was a joke.
Ian
@Politically Incorrect Thug: Actually, I think you’re totally wrong in your assessment of the Occupy WS protesters. There’s been some good reporting on it in the alternative media/blogs and commentary by people like Chris Hedges and others. Check out truthdig.com or alternet.org. Also, Terrance McNally and Ian Masters have both done multiple interviews with various protesters. They may be mostly young and have a broad array of grievances, but in the interviews I’ve heard the protesters are pretty articulate. Unless you’re truly in the top 1% of this country’s income/wealth bracket, you should be supporting any movement toward economic justice and rule of law. IMHO. Cheers.
ewe
@Politically Incorrect Thug: Rest assured that nobody would ever mistake Jim Kramer for a liberal.
ewe
@Politically Incorrect Thug: RE your statement: I think you’re probably wasting your breath. These “protesters” have no logical processing centers in their brains, as is evidenced by the fact they don’t even know what they’re protesting. They say they’re protesting corporate greed, and yet every second of their lives is spent sucking at the tit of corporate America (phones, social networks, etc). They say they’re protesting against the rich, and yet they embrace multi-millionaire celebrities to their cause—celebrities who claim to be anti-capitalist, and yet have an army of accountants to see to it they get as much $$$ as they can, and that they pay as little as possible to Uncle Sam at the end of the year. Such patriotism—especially from angry, radical tweens with daddy issues—always makes me warm and fuzzy (literally—I’m getting hot and growing body hair watching these clowns).
SEAN HANNITY WILL BOOK YOU WITH THAT CRAP YOU GOT GOIN ON INSIDE YOUR CUCKOO MIND. THEN YOU CAN GO MAKE A STOP AT ANY EVANGELICAL CHURCH AFTER THAT. THE WELCOME WAGON WILL BE ON A RED CARPET FOR YOU.
ewe
@Politically Incorrect Thug you may want to consider changing your username to Politically Correct Drone.
the crustybastard
@Politically Incorrect Thug: There has never been an arrest at a Tea Party movement, but OWS has resulted in dozens of arrests due to civil disobedience.
So your point is that law enforcement is selectively arresting politically liberal protesters but not politically conservative protestors?
Yeah, I think I’d agree with that.
Beetlejuice
@Politically Incorrect Thug:
Fact check, douche bag! I never said that Fox started coverage of the Tea Party. Here’s a nice YouTube video showing a Fox News producer whipping up the Tea Party crowd.
As for your rant about NBC affiliates, Jim Cramer works for CNBC. Did you forget the NBC in CNBC.
Now flutter along and poop your pathetic conservative nonsense elsewhere.
And yes, I do agree that you are a “Thug.”
Here’s a nice article about an NYPD cop running over a protester and charging him with crimes that he did not commit. Thank God for all the video cameras there are this poor man would be facing jail. (Irony is that he wasn’t a protester. He was just a lawyer sent to observe the protests.): http://tpmdc.talkingpointsmemo.com/2011/10/legal-observer-under-arrest-after-being-injured-by-nypd-police-scooter.php?ref=fpb
Conservative gays are just pathetic. You embrace a party that uses anti-gay rhetoric and oppressive laws to get out the vote. You have no concern that your political bed buddies happily would deny children from protection against bullies. Instead, you’re just desperate to be one of the in-crowd.
ewe
@the crustybastard: Exactly. I could not have said it better myself.
Politically Incorrect Thug
@CBRad: Very good point. Both groups have their fringe elements, to be sure. Not a fan of the Tea People myself—I like their message but not their style—but the OWS protests seem to be just a hodgepodge of various causes gathered in one place to make noise about . . . well, I don’t really know what. They say they want jobs, but they also want to end capitalism, and this gross contradiction is where they lose me.
@ousslander: Thanks for the correction—I thought it was Kramer (it’s been a while since it happened).
And thank both of you for being civil in our discussions, as it’s not always so easy around here when one voices an unpopular opinion.
Beetlejuice
@Riker:
I didn’t agree with the statement. However, I also don’t agree with your reputation that the NYPD has a good reputation. The NYPD has a reputation of being corrupt and violent.
GOD (gay old dude)
@Beetlejuice: Beetlejuice! Beetlejuice! Beetlejuice!
@Politically Incorrect Thug: There you go, Thug, I sent him back to the underworld for you.
Beetlejuice
@Politically Incorrect Thug:
Actually, there is a list of concerns that has been published. It’s hilarious how people like you try to turn OWS into an anti-capitalist movement when it isn’t. This whole socialist and communist meme the Right has been pushing since Obama took office is a joke. Based on the litmus test that people like you have, Ronald Reagan, who raised taxes, supported unions, and thought millionaires should pay more in taxes than the working stiffs would be the left of Obama. (Hello, federal tax rates under Obama are the lowest in decades. He decreased taxes on the middle class).
OWS is a protest against corporate socialism or crony capitalism. Why do you think the protests have spread across the country? Look around you. The middle class is dying. As the middle class goes, so goes societal stability.
I also love the class warfare meme the Right pushes. It’s OK for millionaire executives to make huge salaries but how dare a teacher expect to have his retirement contract honored!
Politically Incorrect Thug
@the crustybastard:
@ewe:
A couple of libs who are also cop-haters? There’s a shocker. Better call Ripley to file this one under “not believed” because I could never imagine such a notion as liberals who . . . who hate cops?!? Say it ain’t so!
Beetlejuice
@Politically Incorrect Thug:
Actually, there is a list of concerns that has been published.
Sadly, people like you try to turn OWS into an anti-capitalist movement when it isn’t. No one has said that. It’s about fairness. The U.S. went through the same phase when the Gilded Age was ended (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gilded_Age) . It’s a shame that you know so little about American history. Do you know anything about Republican Teddy Roosevelt, the Trust Buster? http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Teddy_Roosevelt#Presidency_1901.E2.80.931909
This whole socialist and communist meme the Right has been pushing since Obama took office is a joke. Based on the litmus test that people like you have, Ronald Reagan, who raised taxes, supported unions, and thought millionaires should pay more in taxes than the working stiffs would be the left of Obama. (Hello, federal tax rates under Obama are the lowest in decades. He decreased taxes on the middle class).
OWS is a protest against corporate socialism or crony capitalism. Why do you think the protests have spread across the country? Look around you. The middle class is dying. As the middle class goes, so goes societal stability.
I also love the class warfare meme the Right pushes. It’s OK for millionaire executives to make huge salaries but how dare a teacher expect to have his retirement contract honored!
Jakey
@Politically Incorrect Thug: “…the OWS protests seem to be just a hodgepodge of various causes gathered in one place to make noise about . . . well, I don’t really know what. They say they want jobs, but they also want to end capitalism, and this gross contradiction is where they lose me.”
They don’t want to end capitalism, they just don’t want it to be regulation-free and lack consequences (much less provide rewards) for those who abuse the capitalist system, for reasons that should be obvious. Yay, contradiction avoided!
Seriously dude, if you don’t know what they want and find it confusing, the thing to do is not to say “well I don’t know what they want” and close the case there. Look it up, listen to what they’re saying. There’s no end of information on this.
Politically Incorrect Thug
@Jakey: I appreciate your opinion, but I personally haven’t seen any form of organization within any of these protests, and I watch all the news channels. Nor does there seem to be any singular, coherent message resonating, other than “We want rich people to give us their money.” I’m not a big Tea Party fan, but at least they have a singular message of smaller government. These OWS folks seem to be all over the place.
JayKay
The Tea Party has a few things the OWS morons don’t: Jobs, showers, a purpose, permits…
GOD (gay old dude)
@JayKay: Amen to that.
ewe
@Politically Incorrect Thug: Radicals are extreme. The only extreme behavior comes from conservatives. So repuglykunts are the radicals. Liberals are well rounded people who are able to think beyond themselves. So Liberals have honor and self respect.
ewe
@JayKay: lol. hahaha. Now that’s a hoot and a holler. Don’t make such bizarre generalizations about all tea party pop tarts. There are plenty of unemployed squirrel soup eaters that have been foreclosed on continuing to support the rich because they think someday maybe someday they will get there. Tea Party idiots are stupid ignorant people (for the most part) that would rather blame others less fortunate to make themselves feel superior. It is beneath contempt. Additionally i got some news for you girlfriend, there are no tea party assholes that are LGBT supportive and that is NO generalization.
ewe
@GOD (gay old dude): Keep your twisted delusional warped belief systems out of this conversation. No one is interested in your gODD.
Politically Incorrect Thug
@ewe: Two words, friend: anger & management.
the crustybastard
@Politically Incorrect Thug:
As usual:
The point ——–> .
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You —————> : (
ewe
@Politically Incorrect Thug: Go bother someone else. I am not your friend or your bro.
ewe
@the crustybastard: As usual:
The Brain ->
The Heart->
The bellybutton->
THE CRUSTYBASTARD-> Stinks of ignorance
The Legs->
The Feet->
ewe
@the crustybastard: I am only joking. Love ya lots.
ewe
@the crustybastard: sorry, when i make a mistake i always apologize. i apologize. I meant that for politically correct thug.
ewe
@Politically Incorrect Thug: And you are politically correct thug because nothing out of your mouth takes risk. I hear your shit everyday via mainstream news.
ewe
@ewe: you are a paper tiger tyrant that screams victim and then goes off about anger and management like a college freshman know it all excelling in Psych 101. Please. Enough.
ewe
politically incorrect thug: you are a paper tiger tyrant that screams victim and then goes off about anger and management like a college freshman know it all excelling in Psych 101. Please. Enough.
Ian
@JayKay: Really?? Jobs, showers, purpose and permit?? Thanks for your cutting insights. We’d be lost without your wisdom.
ewe
The topic on this thread is and originally was about Mayor Bloomberg pushing his propaganda police state.
Steve
The right-wing “conservatives” have taken the advice of Joeseph Goebbels to heart: “If you tell a lie big enough and keep repeating it, people will eventually come to believe it.” They have repeated the lie that Corporate Capitalism is the one true economic system, through every main-stream media channel, for many years.
But, the right-wing “conservatives” didn’t read Goebbels next sentence: “The lie can be maintained only for such time as the State can shield the people from the political, economic and/or military consequences of the lie.”
The great majority of people have been made poor. The great majority are worried about the roof over their heads, and feeding their family. The great majority now know that our “elections” are rigged, and that their votes are not actually counted. The great majority now know that our “homeland security” is really about protecting those who are in power. The 99% of people, are suffering the consequences of the lie. Only the 1% are reaping the benefits.
The Lie has now been exposed for all to see. The beauty of our “democratic” system is that we can have a revolution without violence or bloodshed. But, if the powerful and wealthy do not allow honest elections, I am afraid that the alternative might become necessary. Violence is to be expected, unless the “elected” officials heed the warning and start governing “for the people”.
There are four boxes to be used in the defense of liberty. The Soap Box, the Ballot Box, the Jury Box, and the Ammo Box. They should be used in that order.