Thread: Occupy Wall Street - The resistance continues

Originally Posted by AmateurFlix

However there have been many instances of a few bad apples commiting fairly serious crimes in the course of their work and keeping their jobs afterward.

Usually when it's fairly serious or even a gray area the officer is forced to retire due to conflict of interest.

Even state officials are being arrested all the time for DUI, Drugs, Abuse, CP and what have you. I think you just ate the bad seed of Glenn Beck one to many times if you believe they have impunity due to Unions. There may be some who get away with things by having the right connections. But those who are connected tend to be few and far between.

Idaho State Sen. Arrested For DUI And Grand Theft Auto | TPMDC

Police being arrested for DUI?

Let me google that for you

Bad apples being arrested for all types of crimes?

Let me google that for you

I didn't say that they weren't being arrested. What I'm saying is that a criminal conviction is often treated as something irrelevant to their career due to union contracts. Unless a conviction ends up leading to so much jail time that they can't show up for work because they're sitting behind bars for an extended duration, it's usually not reason enough to let them go, no matter how serious the conflict of interest is in comparing their actions to their duties. And I'm not referring to traffic incidents.

Erin Larkins, a Columbia University graduate student at who says she and her boyfriend have significant student loan debt, was among the thousands of protesters on the bridge. She said a friend persuaded her to join the march and she's glad she did.

"We were supposed to go up the pedestrian roadway," said Robert Cammiso, a 48-year-old student from Brooklyn told the Daily News. "There was a huge funnel, a bottleneck, and we couldn't fit. People jumped from the walkway onto the roadway. We thought the roadway was open to us."

Elsewhere in the U.S. on Saturday, protesters assembled in Albuquerque, N.M., Boston and Los Angeles to express their solidarity with the movement in New York, though their demands remain unclear. Occupy Wall Street demonstrators have been camped in Zuccotti Park and have clashed with police on earlier occasions. Mostly, the protests have been peaceful, and the movement has shown no signs of losing steam. Celebrities including Michael Moore and Susan Sarandon made recent stops to encourage the group.

700 arrested at Brooklyn Bridge protest - CBS News

was about to post that

Originally Posted by arock

was about to post that

The movement that started as a small, scattered group of disgruntled people on Wall Street, has become a national rally. As more people join in, the arrest count is rising and the message gaining traction.

"This is the liberal version of the Tea Party, especially for the young people who are getting mobilized and expressing their grievances," said Dorian Warren, professor of Political Science at Columbia University during an interview on NBC Nightly News. "I think this could potentially carry over into the 2012 elections and get people to the polls."

Occupy Together Movement Goes National, Arrest Count At 700 | Neon Tommy

October 1, 2011. Day 14. 700+ protestors are arrested after thousands march from Liberty Plaza to the Brooklyn Bridge.

Occupy Everything on Vimeo

http://gothamist.com/2011/10/01/brea...et_protest.php

I love these protestors. Sure I don't think their every act is worthy of celebration, but they have taken the initiative to disrupt business-as-usual. The downward spiral that defines the lives of most ordinary people will not be stopped without people like these protestors stirring things up. Without people demanding otherwise, the corporations and the politicians they hire will NEVER actually take the health and well-being of ordinary people into consideration. IMHO, these folks work for you and me.

Occupy Wall Street Activist Slams Fox News Producer In Un-Aired Interview

Well, here is an interview that Fox News filmed, but doesn’t want you to see. The segment was shot on Wednesday for Greta van Susteren‘s show, (though it looks like the same producer from this O’Reilly segment questioning Michael Moore‘s anti-capitalist agenda) though the decision was made to leave it on the cutting room floor. The reason should be obvious pretty quickly.

Video : Fox News Owned by 'Occupy Wall Street' Protester - Technorati Politics

Today thousands of protesters join with Occupy Wall Street to rally and show support for the movement. Some of those who join in protest are the very bus drivers who were forced to transport protesters to jail a few days ago. The union which represents the drivers is also suing the NYPD for what amounts to taking the bus drivers hostage.



A court hearing is set for today on the request, said Jim Gannon, a spokesman for the union, which represents 38,000 members, including about 9,000 city bus drivers. Drivers were ordered on Oct. 1 to convey some of the 700 demonstrators arrested over the weekend during anti-Wall Street protests in lower Manhattan.

“The actions of the NYPD on Oct. 1, 2011, amounted to a seizure of the bus drivers,” Arthur Schwartz, a lawyer for the union, said in court papers. The police department “deprived the drivers of their liberty without due process of law,” he said.

“There’s NYPD brass with guns on buses saying ‘Move the bus, this bus is now under the control of the NYPD,’” he said. “What room to protest is there? It’s not a transit supervisor you’re dealing with.”

Transit Union Says Police Can?t Use Bus Drivers at Wall Street Protests- Bloomberg

Transport Workers Union Local 100 spokesman Jim Gannon said the Occupy Wall Street movement, which denounces social inequities in the financial system and draws inspiration from the Arab Spring revolutions in Africa and the Middle East, has advanced issues that unions typically support.

"Their goals are our goals," Gannon said. "They brought a spotlight on issues that we've believed in for quite some time now. ... Wall Street caused the implosion in the first place and is getting away scot-free while workers, transit workers, everybody, is forced to pay for their excesses.

"These young folks have brought a pretty bright spotlight," Gannon added. "It's kind of a natural alliance."

http://www.cnn.com/2011/10/05/politi...y-wall-street/

It is unclear how many union members will in fact take to the street for the Wednesday afternoon march, which will proceed from Foley Square to Wall Street. Marvin Holland, political director of the Transport Workers Union Local 100, predicted to Mother Jones the participation of at least 10 public sector unions and estimated that between 3,000 and 5,000 would join the march. The TWU has already been supplying the protestors with food, and slammed the city's move to make bus drivers transport Occupy Wall Street protestors arrested during a march on Sunday.

Occupy Wall Street Rally Could Number in Thousands as Unions Join - International Business Times

Police Use Pepper Spray And Batons On Protesters - At Least Twenty Arrested



MYFOXNY.COM - While covering the Occupy Wall Street protests on Wednesday night, Fox 5 photographer Roy Isen was hit in the eyes by mace from a police officer and Fox 5 reporter Dick Brennan was hit by an officer's baton.

Officers, many wearing white shorts indicating supervisor rank, swatted protesters with batons and sprayed them with mace, video from the scene showed.

Fox 5 Crew and Protesters Hit by Mace, Batons

The white-shirt cop, most likely a supervisor, had stood next to at least a half-dozen other officers, including other department brass. The video shows the officer appearing to nudge a spectator out of the way, back up and raise his baton. He then gets off three swings before the crowd appears to surge toward him -- digital cameras and video recorders held high.

In another video posted to YouTube, an officer says: "My little nightstick's gonna get a workout tonight."

Occupy Wall Street: Video Allegedly Shows NYPD Officer Striking Protesters With Baton

Occupy SF is the local offshoot of Occupy Wall Street, a nationwide protest against economic inequality, an uneven tax structure, the bank bailouts and alleged corporate greed. Demonstrators have also cited unemployment, aggressive bank loan policies and high interest rates on student loans as part of the frustrations. Since materializing in New York in mid-September, rallies have spread to Boston, Los Angeles, Chicago, Seattle, Denver, Portland, Miami and other cities across the country



Occupy San Francisco Takes Over Downtown (PHOTOS, VIDEO)

About a hundred people from the group Refund California Coalition protested with chants, signs and horns outside the San Marino home of Wells Fargo CFO Tim Sloan Wednesday, in solidarity with the Occupy L.A. protests.



Occupy Wall Street Protesters To March With Unions, Others [LIVE UPDATES]

Well lets see my own home is almost upside down because of all the foreclosure bullshit. It was purchased in short sale at a good price so for that one can't complain. But after many thousands have been put into laminate floors, tile, new carpet, fresh paint, various upgrades and improvements there is nothing. If this house went up for sale tomorrow it would fetch less then what it's worth and the value continues to sink every month.

Local businesses are also closing left and right about the only thing left around here are big box stores along side big name banks that swallowed everything else up and a few restaurants. But very few mom and pop operations are left and property owners are getting huge write offs from the tax loopholes so they have little incentive to rent. Most of them own other more successful properties elsewhere and could really care less about the welfare or needs of the community.

I been trying to get space found a few places and in one case the guy said he only wanted a doctors office. That space has been empty for more then a year along with some restaurant space on the other end of the property that he wants to much for. Another wanted $2k per month for what was once a small house converted into a car lot that is almost ready to be condemned. You are lucky to find any commercial space around here for less then $1k per month. To some that don't sound like much until you realize people aren't spending enough to justify it right now.

Property owners have become like banks they just want to hold on to what they got and not a single county around here is doing much to make it any easier. I was told that Daytona has dropped it's license fees to almost nothing to bring in new businesses. However that does nothing when you look at the high rent costs. If you can afford a couple grand a month for a small space an extra hundred for the business license is not going to break you. We also aren't talking about brand new shopping plazas with big box stores that draw in shoppers and huge parking lots that can justify higher rent.

The only industry exploding in my area is medical we have medical complexes popping up on every corner. We have an entire hospital floor filled with private doctors who want to operate through the hospital for billing purposes. The hospital is now working on a new medical facility larger then the hospital itself. I guess it makes sense when the population of sick people continues to grow as more and more wealthy people continue to move here for retirement.

The economy has an effect on us all in far more ways then we realize and one day we could very well become the poorest working class under China.

Originally Posted by NobleSavage

If the OWS protests are to be successful then they need to move from an epidemic of diffuse angst and on to specific and clear demands.

it's spread to my nearest big city. near as I can tell, they apparently want everyone to stop shaving and wear loose knit hats.

Originally Posted by NobleSavage

Toker, this is mostly a list of gripes, how do you want government to fix these problems?

Who asked the government to fix these things?

Last i checked it was Occupy Wall Street not Occupy the White House. Nobody is asking for government bailouts and free welfare cheese here. What the people want is for the banks to give us all a farking break. Those deep in water over their head should have their interest rates lowered or cut in half at the very least to help them out. Banks should not be coming up with all these new fees to bend us over. If you fight the fees aparently they wave them no problem so the only one getting fucked is those who bend over and accept it.

My family has five accounts we got together and threatened to close them all and Wells Fargo waved and all fees. go figure if you stand united and threatend to take your money out the banks back down. But to be safe i still have my account with the local credit union they just don't have enough ATM's and they cant do international wires. If i wont pay an extra $8 a month for Netflix i'm damn sure not paying $5 a month to let someone lend out my money.

These banks have so many houses sitting in foreclosure and in the end the banks will make up their losses while everyone else's property value is being dragged down. I could come up with so much other stuff but i'd settle for them fixing the housing market. If they fix the markets and the government closes the fucking loopholes it will allow more smaller people like me to go head to head with Walmart.

It's not so easy like everyone in DC likes to claim that it's a free market and everyone can make their own way in America. I can't even get a business license because i'm not in a commercial building that has been zoned due to the rent being stupid high. So instead many like myself are forced to run illegal businesses from our home. I should take my camera and snap pics of all the empty commercial space around here so you can see how bad it is.

The sad thing is my City never wanted to become commercial we barely had any restaurants around here because the city is not that big. But as more and more small business owners went under the city began to need money. So they started allowing more and more of those businesses they said would never be allowed. Now many people who are unhappy are SOL because like i said about property value half the nation is underwater as this point. Many of my neighbors have moved out and put their places up for rent hoping to sell when and if the market goes up again. This too destroys the property value for us all because once you get to many renters the crime goes up and the overall quality of the community goes down.

There is no doubt that all of these folks have some hard luck story, but the truth of the matter the government can do little to intervene on their behalf.

It appears that many of these foks were raised to believe that it is always somebody elses fault and not take responsibility for their decisions or lack thereof. I have seen this attitude first hand. Many parents raised their kids with blinders and with the belief that the world was this wonderful place where all wishes came true. This is evident in the little league fields where everybody plays regardless of ability. Well folks, the real world is most of us know is a bit different. Many of these parents shielded their children from the harsh realities that are all around us. Now these children have grown and are seeing reality. Bosses dont accept excuses nor does law enforcement.

Everybody that has bought a home signed a contract that made it clear what the consequences would be if you failed to make the payments. Everybody participated in the real estate meltdown, the buyers, the sellers, the bankers, etc. It was unsustainable and predictable. Many folks that were not qualified to buy a home bought homes with crazy mortgages that they could not afford in the first place. Geez they didnt want to miss out on the chance of buying a home that was going to keep appreciating for ever.

People were borrowing like crazy to obtain a lifestyle that was beyond their current means. Just look at the record numbers of bankruptcies in the last few years.

There is no government in the world that can afford to address all of the hard luck stories being told by these protesters. These folks made the decisions and are not willing to live with the consequences.

Time to suck it up. It appears that Obama is right, many Americans have gone soft.

The logic escapes me. If I own an 18 unit apartment building and tenants stop paying me I am within my legal rights to give them a 3 day notice and if they dont pay eventually evict them. I may if I choose be lenient with one or two but would only do it out of kindness. But how long would I be able to do it for? The fact is when you take the lenient approach before you know it everybody has hard luck story as to why they cannot pay the rent and then you are faced with foreclosure because you cannot pay the bank.

A business needs to make money in order to stay in business. Public corporations have a duty to make money for their investors. Most of this money ends up going to new investments or wherever they can get the best return. In my opinion what is making this recession linger longer is the uncertain regulatory environment in which we are currently navigating.