Protesters have been arrested in Grand Central Station for the grievous crime of… protesting indefinite detention without charges in a public place. What do you want to bet that they’re going to be detained indefinitely without charges?
occupy wall street
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Casual Pepper-spray Cop and the Christmas Miracle
Via Copyranter, possibly the only Christmas sweater I’d ever consider buying and wearing.
The casual pepper-spraying cop meme
Dana linked a picture of a campus cop by the name of John Pike casually spraying a line of seated Occupy Wall Street protesters with pepper-spray. This video went viral. Then, like most viral things do once they reach a certain level of critical mass, it mutated. In some cases rather drastically. Here’s some pictures I’ve found around the intertubes, proving that there’s a lighter side to a violent fuckwit attacking peaceful protesters with damaging “non-violent weaponry”. Images link to the sources.
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An anthem for the minority
We keep forgetting, in the Occupy Wall Street movement, the minority’s rights. Kris Kitko wrote them an anthem of their own.
Teachers and Students Occupy Wall Street
Don’t mind the repeating — it’s not ritualistic chanting, it’s a technique to allow the people at the back to hear the speaker. It’s completely necessary in these protests because megaphones or speakers or other volume amplification techniques require city permits.
Heh. That last guy doesn’t know how to work this crowd-based megaphone very well, does he? Still, their stories are important and the 13-year-old girl was great. Schools shouldn’t be privatized. The more for-profit you make something, the more it benefits the rich and detriments the poor. Shoring up education benefits the country in question’s economy, though it explicitly does not benefit one particular side of the political spectrum ideologically.
One new OWS photo meme that broke my heart
Those other OWS memes can’t hold a candle to this one. A US Marine posted this picture on Reddit describing his metaphorical brother-in-arms. The tear in this man’s eye choked me up.
Click to zoom.
For context, see this video.
Police in Oakland disperse crowd using a flashbang while they try to rescue Iraq vet
Way to go, you jackbooted thugs, you fascist assholes. I hope you feel really big now. These people were trying to rescue the 24 year old two-tour Iraq War veteran you just shot in the face with a tear gas canister — fracturing his damned skull, by the way — and you have the gall to toss a flashbang at their feet. The lack of empathy is staggering. I hope the 1% is willing to bring you into their ranks, because taking orders from them and oppressing peaceful protesters in such a violent manner is simple cowardice. Cowardice that should be rewarded monetarily, because you’re part of the very 99% whose throats you’re stomping otherwise.
Every protest that fights the establishment will have casualties. I hope this guy pulls through, because he’s given his body for his country three times over. It would be beyond sad if the assholes who took his life happened to be countrymen fighting for the rich.
Cuttlefish wrote a lullaby about these events. If I could find a tune, I’d use it to cry myself to sleep.
Hot Chicks of OWS dude: “rape jokes are legitimate!”
I paraphrase only slightly.
Via Feministe, it seems Stephen Greenstreet, the one-man brain-trust behind the Hot Chicks of Occupy Wall Street tumblr (no link this time — not even a nofollow), thinks he’s contributing to the movement by attracting dudes with erections. Erections that legitimize rape.
To protect the privacy of people who are Steven’s Facebook friends and because I just don’t feel like digging my heels in on this one, I’ve taken down the screenshot of Steven’s Facebook page. On that page, Steven linked to his “Hot Chicks of Occupy Wall Street” video, and added, “The way me and [a colleague] contribute to the movement.” A friend of his comments, “Way to legitimize the movement, Steve.” Steven replies, “An erection legitimizes anything.” His friend replies, “Even rape?” Steven Greenstreet says, “It probably wouldn’t be rape without one.”
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Occupy Wall Street photo memes
A number of great photos from or about the Occupy Wall Street protests have gone viral. Figured you’d like to see some of them. Below the fold, obviously.
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On the Role of the Middle Class in Occupy Wall Street
I’ve been involved in a conversation with Juniper Shoemaker these past few days about the Occupy Wall Street movement, the worry that the middle class will eventually co-opt it, and that the concerns of the less-privileged will be subsumed into returning the middle class to the status quo. It’s also been a conversation largely about language, and it’s covered a good deal of territory that we’ve already been over. At the same time, I think the conversation exposes a lot of nuance that we haven’t discussed, so it’s worth continuing in a new post. I’m answering this comment primarily, but there are other bits of the conversation in the “Clue this dude in” post and it touches on something martha said as well.
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