That's him pepper-spraying Occupy protesters at UC-Davis. He was fired eight months later after a review board found his actions unwarrented. He's now appealing for worker’s compensation, claiming he suffered psychiatric injury from the 2011 confrontation. Poor baby.
Report: Richest 7% Got Richer During Recovery
WASHINGTON (AP) — A new report says the richest Americans got richer during the first two years of the economic recovery while average net worth declined for the other 93 percent of the nation'shouseholds. The Pew Research Center report says wealth held by the richest 7 percent of households rose 28 percent from 2009 to 2011, while the net worth of the other 93 percent of households dropped … Read More
Stephen King Goes Cujo On The 1 Percenters
Well, he's a pretty rich guy himself. Still, he has some thoughts on other rich people and taxes and he minces no words. An excerpt: I’ve known rich people, and why not, since I’m one of them? The majority would rather douse their dicks with lighter fluid, strike a match, and dance around singing “Disco Inferno” than pay one more cent in … Read More
OWS vs Tea Party
Fun infographic (click to enlarge). I think it oversimplifies both movements, and adds to the notion that they are competing movements (in my view, the two movements overlap in many important respects), but it's still interesting:
Sunday In The Park With Pepper Spray
Making the Internet rounds… Of course, the actual pepper spraying was atrocious…. And today, we learn something even more horrific: a pregnant protester named Jennifer Fox has miscarried after being pepper sprayed and hit in the stomach by Seattle police officers during a peaceful protest last week. Here she is: Seattle's The Stranger newspaper is currently waiting for Jennifer's medical records … Read More
Occupy Wall Street “Bat Signal”
Last night, tens of thousands of Occupy Wall Street protesters marched throughout New York City, many making their way on to the Brooklyn Bridge, carrying LED candles and chanting. As Occupiers took the bridge in a seemingly endless sea of people, words in light appeared projected on the iconic Verizon Building nearby: "99% / MIC CHECK! / LOOK AROUND / YOU ARE … Read More
When Right Wing Media Spin Meets Reality
The conservative Daily Caller, yesterday, continuing its ongoing demonization of Occupy Wall Street protesters: It took a huge media push to convince people the Tea Party was dangerous, but the huge media push to convince them OWS isn’t dangerous has failed. Occupiers are really nice until you get to know them. And again, the Daily Caller, earlier today: Here’s a live feed … Read More
Occupy Anniversary
Today marks the second month of the Occupy Wall Street campaign. Of course, the protesters have been evicted from Zuccotti Park, but hundreds of demonstrators are marching on Wall Street in a "Day of Action", taking over the Financial District with mass protests. There's a live video feed from the protesters, which I've put in the right hand column. As I … Read More
Tweet Of The Day
Salmon Rushdie, who knows from book burning and desecration, weighs in: Indeed. Whatever you might think about the rightness or wrongness of the eviction, destroying the "People's Library", which was comprised of 5,500 donated books, was an act of extreme dickish-ness.
Occupy Wall Street Popularity Fading Bigtime
These numbers from Public Policy Polling were taken before the big OWS eviction in New York (and other places): The Occupy Wall Street movement is not wearing well with voters across the country. Only 33% now say that they are supportive of its goals, compared to 45% who say they oppose them. That represents an 11 point shift in the … Read More
Sanitized Zuccotti Park
Compare to my video'ed walk-through three weeks ago: More pictures of Zuccoti Park today.
Zuccotti Park Vacated; Occupy Wall Street Over (Temporarily)
Here's how it went down in the wee hours this morning in lower Manhattan: When it became clear that the police intended to clear out the park, the protesters got on their phones and called friends. But police had blocked off about 16 sq blocks or so, completely surrounding the park. People responding to the calls were stopped by … Read More
Jesus And The OWS Movement
I've read some pretty bone-headed criticisms of the Occupy Wall Street movement, and laughed them off as mostly misinformed. But nothing — NOTHING — comes close to the recent piece by Bryan Fischer, the Director of Issue Analysis as the American Family Association. This is a glorious example of meathead-ary. Writing in Rightly Concerned, Fischer argues that the Occupy Wall Street protesters … Read More
1%
I saw a headline in which Michael Moore admits he is in the 1% (the top 1% of income-earners in this country). Of course, he's within the 1% in monetary terms only. He's with us 99 percenters in every other respect. "Wait", I thought. "Just how do you know what percent you are?" Ah, thank you Wall Street Journal. I'm … Read More