This one goes out to the one percent
Look, I think you’re mostly a bunch of rubes who think that the world owes you a living, healthcare and free high speed internet. I think you’re coming down on the wrong side of the equation in the whole who’s responsible for this mess. And you probably bought all this hope and change nonsense. I would say that’s cool but it’s not. Still, you’re entitled to express your beliefs even when you’re wrong.
In Tennessee, the governor decided to change the rules for the protesters use of state land. And then, apparently, did it again. A round up here. And the video in Oakland of the police using flashbang grenades and rubber bullets looks like it could have been recorded in some country ending in -istan and not the US. We don’t do that here.
Sure, I yammer on about hippie punching and other such silliness but only in the abstract. When it comes to actually senselessly beating on hippies, that’s a sign of petty tyranny.
Update: And police apparently arrested a journalist and lied about it.
October 31st, 2011 at 10:03 am
I think you mean to the “99%” that’s what the protestors are calling themselves.
The “1%” are those making over 300k-ish.
In my city the protestors are getting trolled by the homeless, it’s a bit amusing.
October 31st, 2011 at 10:10 am
Well, sure, but that’s not going to evoke the proper REM song image.
October 31st, 2011 at 10:15 am
What concerns me is that the likely response isn’t to stop protecting non-violently but to stop protesting non-violently. Not that group necessarily, but all others as well. Who’d want to show up without a sniper over-watching AND counter-snipers to keep police honest?
October 31st, 2011 at 10:22 am
@2. I assume you were nancing about like Stipes as you typed the title.
October 31st, 2011 at 10:55 am
I love how the Sean Braisted on Knoxnews thinks that since the Democrat mayor of Nashville sent in the cops to bust heads, this is an obviously because “the Republicans are tired of riff-raff out there opposing their policies”.
October 31st, 2011 at 11:43 am
If the Hippies pay the permits and stay in their Drum Circles, I have no problem with having a Carnival Freak Show getting into the Political Elites Craw. Notice how they aren’t being Hassled by the Ordinary John and Jane Does, but by the Gooberment? Must be annoying to those City Councilmen to hear “Boom,Boom, Boom” when one is trying to call a Crony for a Kickback.
October 31st, 2011 at 12:33 pm
I enjoy the fact that the liberal strongholds of gun control, also happen to be the places where hippies are on the receiving end of the most police brutality.
This is the world you created for yourselves ass hats. I tried to warn you.
October 31st, 2011 at 1:12 pm
Wow, cops telling lies to protect themselves?
UNHEARD OF!
October 31st, 2011 at 1:38 pm
Hmmmm.
If the hippies refuse a lawful order to leave, and some anarcho-asshats start throwing bricks at the cops, what then?
The Oakland PD did not start this ruckas. They gave the crowd a lawful order, and then were attacked by black-bloc agitators in the crowd.
October 31st, 2011 at 1:41 pm
Oleg: After the first week or so, it’s time to move on.
They had their protest.
They then tried to turn it into an unlawful taking of real property from the local government. They did not have a lease on that sidewalk and park, so they got treated exactly the same way they would treat a bum that set up a cardboard shack in a park, and resisted eviction.
October 31st, 2011 at 1:41 pm
“I yammer on about hippie punching and other such silliness but only in the abstract. When it comes to actually senselessly beating on hippies, that’s a sign of petty tyranny.”
Still fun,though.
October 31st, 2011 at 2:18 pm
@Phelps: While I really want to agree with you, the fact that I am not a liberal compels me to point out something that is against my political interests:
It was the State Police removing/arresting folks on State property. The mayor of Nashville didn’t have anything to do with it (that I can find).
The Governor and both legislative chambers are Republican.
October 31st, 2011 at 2:23 pm
And the video in Oakland of the police using flashbang grenades and rubber bullets looks like it could have been recorded in some country ending in -istan and not the US.
In the “-stans”, wouldn’t it have been live ammo?
I’m far more on Kristopher’s side on this one – though I’m with you that cops lying to protect their own skins when they do wrong should be punished even more severely than civilians.
Power, responsibility, all that.
October 31st, 2011 at 4:25 pm
Saw a great comment regarding this vs the Tea parties. Had to blog about it as it was one of those blinded insightful statements.
Why doesn’t this happen when Tea Partiers have their peaceful rallies with their guns on their hips.
—
Well duh. Do you think jut maybe, just maybe that 2nd Amendment is there for a reason?
October 31st, 2011 at 6:00 pm
Kristopher,
I have no liking for the occupiers, merely commenting on the lessons they’ll take from this event.
October 31st, 2011 at 6:32 pm
I am not taking sides. But throwing rocks at the police outside of the US and UK can get your head beat in and you will end up buried in a wall. The response by the police in Oakland was measured and justified. Rock throwing leads to vandalism which leads to looting which leads to arson. The police in the recent UK riots erred by letting a demonstration turn into a riot and then it became a rampage.
The other Occupy protests have been treated properly by police.
November 1st, 2011 at 12:42 am
Boy, you young whippersnappers ain’t seen nothing yet. 1968 Chicago DEMOCRATIC presidential convention, now that was a protest! A**hat on a**hat violence to the max. Or the big DC anti-war (Vietnam)protest, thousands beaten arrested and herded into a stadium.(https://secure.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/wiki/List_of_protest_marches_on_Washington,_DC) This occupy sh*t doesn’t even merit a passing nod.
Interestingly (or not) The most violent get togethers all seem to focus on or around the Democratic party.
November 2nd, 2011 at 2:35 pm
Like it or not, ultimately we are all on the same side with these protesters. They are the face of a nation that has had enough of the bullshit that the government has been ramming up our asses for decades. You might not agree with their politics, but they represent you when they march on the streets and get shot in the face with tear gas and stun grenades.
We need to stop pretending that just because someone has long hair, smells bad and wants to smoke pot all day that they are not your brother.
First they came for the hippies, and I didn’t give a fuck. Then they came for the students, and I didn’t give a fuck. Then they came for anyone with a contrary viewpoint, and I didn’t give a fuck. Then they came for me, and there was no one left to give a fuck.