Category: Power to the People

‘Appropriately’

~ susie ~ 6 Comments

Now that the videos have gone viral, the NYPD has come up with a rationale for why they used pepper spray on a group of young protesters for no apparent reason:

As the police arrested a protester in the street, an officer wearing a white shirt — indicating a rank of lieutenant or above — walked toward a group of demonstrators nearby and sent a blast of pepper spray that hit four women, the videos show.

Numerous videos and photos captured the aftermath: two women crumpled on the sidewalk in pain, one of them screaming. They were temporarily blinded, one of the women, Chelsea Elliott, said.

Ms. Elliott, 25, who was not arrested, acknowledged that “there were some rough people out there” at the protests. She and the other women were penned in behind police netting meant for crowd control. But, she said, neither she nor the women around her did anything to warrant having pepper spray used on them.

“Out of all the people they chose to spray, it was just me and three other girls,” she said Sunday in a telephone interview. “I’m not pushing against anybody, or trying to escape.”

The Police Department’s chief spokesman, Paul J. Browne, said the police had used the pepper spray “appropriately.”

“Pepper spray was used once,” he added, “after individuals confronted officers and tried to prevent them from deploying a mesh barrier — something that was edited out or otherwise not captured in the video.”

Notice the careful wording: “Confronted officers and tried to prevent them from deploying a mesh barrier.” Sounds like they’re saying these women simply expressed their opinion. Guess we’ll have to wait for the lawyers to figure this one out!

[…] Ms. Elliott was one of several protesters on East 12th Street who had been corralled behind the plastic netting, which was being held by a line of police officers.

Ms. Elliott said she spent part of the time trying to engage the police officer nearest her in a conversation about pensions.

“I’m just trying to converse with them in a civilized manner, and tell them I’m a civilized human being,” Ms. Elliott said. She remembered saying, “Stop! Why are you doing this?” in response to an arrest not far away, but doing nothing else to attract attention.

“A cop in a white shirt — I think he’s a superior officer — just comes along and does these quick little spritzes of pepper spray in my and these three other girls’ eyes,” she added. The officer’s identity was not provided by the police.

The scene around Ms. Elliott verged on the unruly on Saturday. The police made arrests in the area on charges not only of disorderly conduct and impeding traffic, but also of inciting to riot and assaulting a police officer. About 80 people were arrested; some spent the night in jail and were arraigned on Sunday.

Patrick Bruner, a spokesman for the protesters, said he believed that pepper spray was used several times on Saturday. “I think it is very fair to call it police brutality,” he said.

The Police Department rarely uses pepper spray as a means of crowd control. Although the police used it during a large-scale antiwar protest in 2003, it was not used with much frequency during the protests associated with the Republican National Convention in New York in 2004, although they were some of the largest demonstrations in the city in years.

“We don’t use it indiscriminately like other cities do,” said Thomas Graham, a retired deputy chief who until last year commanded the department’s Disorder Control Unit. “You’re not just spraying indiscriminately into a crowd.”

Police officers, he said, “have the choice between spraying the guy or struggling with the guy with the night stick,” he said, adding, “Get poked with a nightstick good and hard and you might have a cracked rib from that.”

Got that? For the crime of saying “stop, why are you doing this?”, they’re lucky it was “only” pepper spray — and not a cracked rib.

Taste and Compare

~ susie ~ 2 Comments

The NY Times, this morning, says the Occupy Wall Street protestors don’t know what they’re doing, or why:

“This,” presumably was the opportunity to air societal grievances as carnival. Occupy Wall Street, a diffuse and leaderless convocation of activists against greed, corporate influence, gross social inequality and other nasty byproducts of wayward capitalism not easily extinguishable by street theater, had hoped to see many thousands join its protest and encampment, which began Sept. 17. According to the group, 2,000 marched on the first day; news outlets estimated that the number was closer to several hundred.
[…]
That cause, though, in specific terms, was virtually impossible to decipher. The group was clamoring for nothing in particular to happen right away — not the implementation of the Buffett rule or the increased regulation of the financial industry. Some didn’t think government action was the answer because the rich, they believed, would just find new ways to subvert the system.

if you’re surprised that the write sounds like a sheltered, and quite comfortable, idiot, don’t be: it’s Ginia Bellafante, whose “writing has been criticized for its superficial treatment of gender issues”. Here, she proves she’s just a superficial when it comes to economic justice as well.

It’s interesting to me that someone approaching 50, someone who’s worked her whole life as a journalist, just doesn’t get it. But taste and compare: here in Philly, young people barely half Ginia’s age know EXACTLY what’s going on:

With a degree in economics, Yevgeniy Levich, 23, may understand better than most why so many people his age are out of work.

He blames the lack of jobs on a myriad of reasons: the lack of regulation in banking that led to this economic crisis; a failed theory that lowering taxes leads to investment; a proposal for infrastructure jobs that doesn’t do much for someone who doesn’t work with his hands – that’s all the macro stuff.

Microeconomics is this: Levich, a Central High School graduate with degrees in economics and journalism from New York University, is still living with his parents in Northeast Philadelphia and hoping that he’ll land a job as a nightclub office assistant.

His interview was Friday.

On Thursday, the U.S. Census Bureau released figures showing that one in three young people, ages 20 to 29, were unemployed in 2010. In Philadelphia, the situation is worse, with barely more than one in two on a payroll.

“The jobs aren’t there,” Levich said. “Everyone wants experience that we don’t have, because no one is offering us the jobs to get the experience.”

So, who’d like to call up the Times on behalf of Mr. Levich, and suggest that they dump a hack like Bellafante, and hire this promising young man who seems to actually understand how the system has broken down/

NYPD Beat Unarmed Protestors on Wall Street

~ susie

they’re on day four of the Occupy Wall Street protests, and the police are beginning to use violence. Not surprising, although the cognitive dissonance the boys and blue have to shoulder is astounding, as they protect the very wrongdoers who have put their livelihood and retirement in jeopardy.

And still, nothing in the the print edition of the New York Times, nor in any of the main sections online. Just a cheap entry in their blog, read by no one.

Unions to Occupy Wall Street: We’re in

~ susie

What great news. I’m feeling more hopeful about our country these days:

Some of the biggest players in organized labor are actively involved in planning for Wednesday’s demonstration, either directly or through coalitions that they are a part of. The United Federation of Teachers, 32BJ SEIU, 1199 SEIU, Workers United and Transport Workers Union Local 100 are all expected to participate. The Working Families Party is helping to organize the protest and MoveOn.org is expected to mobilize its extensive online regional networks to drum up support for the effort.

“We’re getting involved because the crisis was caused by the excesses of Wall Street and the consequences have fallen hardest on workers,” a spokesman for TWU Local 100 said.

Community groups like Make the Road New York, the Coalition for the Homeless, the Alliance for Quality Education and Community Voices Heard are also organizing for Wednesday’s action, and the labor/community coalitions United New York and Strong Economy For All are pitching in as well.

Signs and chants will likely call for an extension of the so-called millionaires’ tax and a roll-back of state budget cuts. They will also likely show support for New York Attorney General Eric Schneiderman’s position that a proposed settlement between banks and attorneys general over troubled mortgage pools is too lenient.
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Three Begs in Three Days

~ susie

After I received a beg for loser David Weprin yesterday, I received two more in less than 24 hours: guess it’s true that the DCCC is panicking that they are going to lose Anthony Weiner’s seat. Oh well…

And you know, everytime I get an email from the DCCC, I remember how badly they fucked Alan Grayson, another loudmouth who liked to embarrass Republicans: they hung that dude out to dry. And you know, I get mad. I get mad that Kirsten Gillibrand is begging me for money for a loser candidate. I get mad that the DCCC turned their back on a wonderfully charismatic Democrat who took the fight to the Republicans, and made fun of them on a daily basis.

Well, Grayson’s running again, and his campaign called tonight. And you know what? I’m unemployed, and have no money to spare, but I ponied up $5.25 for Alan Grayson.

I don’t have a single dime for the DCCC though. Not one thin dime.