This is a big deal. Dan Siegel, legal adviser to Oakland, Calif. Mayor Jean Quan, resigned over the brutalization of Occupy Oakland protesters and says he now supports the Occupy Wall Street movement. Approximately an hour ago, he wrote on Twitter, “No longer Mayor Quan’s legal advisor. Resigned at 2 am. Support Occupy Oakland, not the 1% and its government facilitators.”
This came after he encouraged people to mobilize to Occupy Oakland late last night, where another raid resulted in upwards of 32 arrests, according to Occupy Oakland leaders. Police declared the park a crime scene Monday and forced media to leave.
If more high-ranking municipal officials have an attack of conscience and do the right thing, what then? It appears city and state governments are already a titch frightened of the Occupy movement. If their own people refuse to obey or resign in protest, perhaps it will be time to take this a little more seriously. Change from the bottom on up, folks.
(via stfuconservatives)
I wish I could say that the problems that the Occupy movement is having with infiltrators and agitators are new. But they’re not. In fact, they’re problems that the Old Hippies who survived the 60s and 70s remember acutely, and with considerable pain.
As a veteran of those days — with the scars to prove it — watching the OWS organizers struggle with drummers, druggies, sexual harassers, and racists brings me back to a few lessons we had to learn the hard way back in the day, always after putting up with way too much over-the-top behavior from people we didn’t think we were allowed to say no to. It’s heartening to watch the Occupiers begin to work out solutions to what I can only indelicately call the a**hole problem. In the hope of speeding that learning process along, here are a few glimmers from my own personal flashbacks — things that it’s high time somebody said right out loud.
Crooks & Liars posted a guest op-ed by Sara Robinson, from Campaign for America’s Future, this morning with some great insight and tips on how the various Occupy movements can distinguish the central movement from its fringe.
[Mitt Romney] said in the debate, the last debate, that he wanted everyone to be rich. That seems to be the line from the Republican Party, which, of course, is just a complete fantasy. Herman Cain, of course, famously said recently that “If you`re not rich, blame yourself.” This is what really bothers me, this idea that somehow we can all be rich…that is one of the stupidest things I`ve ever heard any politician say. I want everybody to be rich. First of all, if everybody was rich, who would do the things that rich people hire people to do for them? Rich people need poor people to work for them.
And this idea that Herman Cain said “If you`re not rich, blame yourself” — this is what bothers me about rich people. They don`t, first of all, as Elizabeth Warren said, they don`t cotton to the idea they wouldn`t be rich if they didn`t have this great country that provides the roads and the schools and all the other things that allow them to be rich. But also this idea, they never understand - it`s a FLUKE mostly, that what you do is something that made you rich. Yes, if you throw a baseball 100 miles an hour or even what I do — I mean, I`m not humble about some things. But I`m very humble about the fact that telling jokes is something that gets you a lot of money. That is a complete fluke — and so is owning pizza parlors.
Yes, Herman Cain was good at business. Great. He became very rich from it. But what about teachers and cops and firemen? You know those people we always say are our “heroes”. They`re such heroes that we pay them like crap. Well, they do what they do very well. It just doesn`t happen to be something that is ever going to make you rich. So, this idea that if you`re not rich, blame yourself — oh, it really bugs me.
"— Bill Maher on The Rachel Maddow Show - The Interview on MSNBC (10-11-2011)
(Source: youtube.com, via stfuconservatives)
Can you imagine the media circus that would ensue if police started treating conservative protesters as they’ve been treating Occupiers?
Really, can you imagine? If a cop so much as punched a Westboro Baptist Church wingnut while protesting at a gay soldier’s funeral, or if a cop even arrested a peaceful Tea Party protester, the media would be on fire with coverage decrying the police. Both sides would jump on it and make it a huge media circus.
But when liberal protesters (as well as peaceful, legal observers) get beaten, pepper sprayed, have their legs run over by police motorcycles, dragged out of crowds, and arrested for no reason, there’s little coverage of the brutality at all, and the protesters are made out to be a small fringe of insignificant hippies.
This double standard can kiss my ass.
I bet the thought of something like that happening makes Fox News’s dick hard.
I mean, you know, if it does that is.
I know there’s a few of these posts with this link to it floating around, but I like keeping it relevant and new. I mean, I know it’s not going to accomplish much else than perhaps annoyance or something like that, but it’s still fun.
I mean.
It’s always fun to troll Faux News.
From Reddit, where the comments are also worth reading:
Guys, listen. Here’s the deal.
I love you guys with every shred of my hard-left leaning heart. But I think you might be doing something wrong. Here is one thing that can help you.
Tomorrow, wear a polo and khakis
Seriously. polos and khakis. Every time you guys DO finally get some fucking press, it’s a scrawny dude with dreads in a ratty t-shirt. You’re going big here, dress it. Tomorrow, Polo shirt and Khakis.
Why? Because you need to get the right-leaning equivalent of me on your side. I’m 35 right now. I understand where the hippy thing comes from. I get it as well as a guy who’s 35 can. My Counterparts do not. They think you are scummy druggies on welfare and when they see on tv a bunch of people who they think are S.D’s on W, they root for the cops to hit you again.
Speaking of the cops, Who do you think they’ll mace first? SD’s on W, or a guy in khakis and a polo? Seriously, it’s fucking cop camouflage. And if they DO come for you. When people at home see PEOPLE THAT LOOK LIKE THEM getting abused by police… That’s when shit changes.
Seeing protesters get beat up means nothing because protesters get beat up all the time. Therefore, don’t look like a protester! This connects you to the person watching and opens them to your side!
So for serious. Do it. You’re almost about to tip this thing over. Polos and khakis. Cop Camo + target audience = Shave, shower and polos and khakis.
TL;DR: Polo shirt and Khakis = dress code for nyc protests tomorrow.
Do it.
Edit: Going to bed soon, one more thing before I turn it over to all of you.
Please spread this as much as you can. Professionalism will help push this thing over the edge. You have labor pushing you. National Media is starting to wake up to you. You’re almost there. Keep pushing.
Think: Business Casual Friday. Don’t play it up like the Billionaires for healthcare. You’re just a guy, going to work in this big office building here.
Even if you don’t think that you SHOULD be judged on appearances (which I do agree), You have to realize that you ARE. Fight the appearance fight another day. Polos and khakis.
Do it.
I tend to agree. Is it right that we are judged on appearance? - no, Should we be judged on appearance? - no, BUT we are, it happens, and in this case we can use that to our advantage.
The entire idea behind a protest is to be seen, to get people talking, to get your message across.
If we can be more effective by looking like the people we are trying to get the message across to then we should use the means we have to do so.
(via sanityscraps)
Even if you’re not able to attend, or anywhere near this city, please signal boost for us.
— Howard Zinn (via cultureofresistance)
(Source: liberationfrequency, via socialuprooting)
Ha, what a crock of shit. I knew there were some editors that worked for The New York Times who were incredibly manipulative with their information, but this rash re-edit by Al Baker deserves some extra attention. While it was clear the NYPD were tasked with herding the protesters to the bridge with the intent on arresting them, Colin Moynihan wanted to make sure this was known by the public. But in Al’s world, things were somehow different.
I understand edits, that is why we underscore them, or nest them at the bottom of our original posts. The language presented appears to present the protesters as a rowdy group looking to challenge authority WITHOUT acknowledging the fact that the NYPD were herding them onto the bridge just to arrest them.
Crooked media is crooked.
Ladies and gentlemen, your “liberal” media. First hand accounts fit with the first piece written.
Why the edit?
(via thatqueerchick)
The “Free Market” suffers from the same flaw that makes Communism impossible…
they both deny the innate human desire to screw someone else over for personal gain. To succeed at the expense of someone else’s failure. Honestly I don’t think it’s the worst thing in the world either, within reason. The biggest problem we have right now (and really the heart of the Occupy Wall St movement) is that too few are extremely succeeding at too many people’s extreme failures. We do need to modify our system but any solution can’t exist under the delusion that everyone is going to play nice. There will always be haves and have nots but we can’t continue with so many have alls and have nones.
-Joe
And this folks, is why we need regulation!
(Source: stfuconservatives)
Stop spreading Anthony Bologna’s personal information around.
What Anthony Bologna did was awful. It was wrong. He’s a douche canoe of epic proportions. I am in no way supporting what he did. He should be fired, at the very least, and rightfully punished for what he did.
But I have to wonder how on earth anyone rationalizes putting his safety and well-being at risk by leaking all of his personal information out onto the internet, when in the same breath they are condemning him for his act of hate and violence?
People are furious about what happened—that’s understandable. But because of this extreme anger and emotion circulating, the man is in danger. He is referred to as “the Target.” This is not okay.
It even gives a list of his family members. His wife lives with him, along with their 13 year old son. YOU ARE ENDANGERING THEM. THEY DID NOTHING BUT BE MARRIED OR RELATED TO HIM.
Fucking THINK about what you are promoting, encouraging, or enabling others to do.
Seriously.
This is not okay.
OccupyWallStreet needs to turn violent
You cannot fight police brutality with idle passive-aggression when the state supports violence against the citizens it swore to protect.
You cannot fight class oppression with the non-compliance of a minority when the majority conform, consent and comply to the capitalist Ponzi scheme.
Do not conform. Do not consent. Do not comply. Fight back.
Somehow I don’t think encouraging violence while calling out brutality is an entirely rational thing to do.
That seems like the worst idea possible. And they are fighting back, non-violently. Whether or not you agree, that’s realistically how India broke free from the British, and how King was able to march to Washington. It doesn’t have to be a repeat of the American Revolution. It’s a wake-up alarm, not some ‘V for Vendetta’ romance where we can change the world in a few days. And if it’s going to take time, why should it take our blood, too? All that violence would accomplish is to gain media coverage, and the worst kind at that. But I’m not going to pretend like I know what’s best for the movement… I just don’t think you do either.
Yeah, violence isn’t the answer, exposure is. This needs more coverage than it’s getting in the main stream media.
If it turns violent from the side of the protestors, it will blow their cause all to hell and they’ll just be seen as a bunch of low-life thugs starting shit.
