May 1, 2012

"Occupy's May Day protests off to slow, soggy start in NYC."

Says Reuters.
Occupy Wall Street's call for a general strike to mark International Workers Day got off to a slow start on Tuesday, with sparse gatherings at a handful of spots around a rainy New York City.
Here in Madison... there's a noon deadline at the long-term Occupy site, as noted earlier today. My reporter on the scene says: The tents are mostly gone. No trouble and not that many people. Fewer than 25, and some are probably cops. People seem to be leaving, packing up.

59 comments:

Bruce Hayden said...

Need to gin up some protests. Fast. Otherwise, the protesters, and, more importantly, the politicians and unions who backed the protesters, last year will look silly. And, they all need these protests and protesters to gin up enthusiasm to counter that of the right who have the economy, unemployment, government spending and borrowing out of control, feckless foreign and military policies, rampant corruption, etc. to incite their base this summer and fall. They need something, some spontaneity, to counter the appearance that the movement of the 99% is funded and orchestrated by the 1% to take the focus off of the rampant failures of the Obama Administration and Dems in Congress.

Fen said...

"We have to show the 1 percent what democracy looks like," said Joycelyn Gill-Campbell

"Thurston, now that we've seen what Democracy looks like, I'm elated that we live in a Republic. Pour me another scotch, dear".

TosaGuy said...

"The domestic workers take care of their children, their homes, and they're treated like less than human beings."

Hillary Rosen could not be reached for comment.

vet66 said...

Fizzle in the drizzle...fair weather 99 per cent folks are running out of steam.

Mr. D said...

Not with a bang but a whimper.

edutcher said...

Where's Freder?

Where's Hatman?

Where's Alpha?

Where's all that asymmetrical warfare we were promised?

We should be receiving on-the-spot, saturation coverage of this momentous event from our men(?) in the field.

This could be a glorious moment for ANN and the Lefties are cowering in Mom's basement.

Or have they gotten a whiff of grapeshot?

chickelit said...

I blame dampened spirits

george said...

Things got off to more of a bang elsewhere as some OWS goons tried to blow up a bridge.

I assume it was one only used by the 1%.

Icepick said...

Even God wants those damned dirty Hippies to take a bath....

Peter said...

The problem with Occupy is, they're not entertaining. They have about as much humor in them as a Soviet commissar.

Unknown said...

The revolution was canceled on account of rain.

Note to Reuters: The day is long past when pics of some local kid with a bandana over her face is in the least bit exciting.

TMink said...

I like the idea that May 1 should be International Day to Remember Those Murdered by Communists.

It should take a month to do it right, but a day would be a beginning.

Trey

FloridaSteve said...

"Occupy Wall Street's call for a general strike to mark International Workers Day "

This is an oxymoron since most of the people "striking" probably don't actually, you know, work.

Toad Trend said...

"The problem with Occupy is, they're not entertaining. They have about as much humor in them as a Soviet commissar."

I am noticing a pattern here - yes, liberals display the same dour Debbie Downer disapproval you identify.

Humorless creatures obsessed with everyone's behavior, save their own.

Pitiful, really.

Jeff in Oklahoma said...

george said...
Things got off to more of a bang elsewhere as some OWS goons tried to blow up a bridge.


That'll get alot of attention in the mainstream media.

Rusty said...

I'm sure they're just cleaning up all the clutter in preparation to the parade later.
I'm going to put a couple of lawn chairs by the curb now so I have a good seat later.

leslyn said...

We're a peaceful folk.

Disappointing though that may be.

traditionalguy said...

Revolutions have political ideologies, such as the Democracy ideology that was sweeping the world's Kingdoms in 1848 and in 2011. It has been America's policy to spread that ideology under a rubric of "human rights."

But actual revolutions start every time happen when people are starving and have nothing left to lose.

That is why Obama has been carefully setting up an energy strangulation complete Fantasy Environmental reasons to artificially create starvation with $10/gal. gasoline within the USA to get a Revolution into gear here.

Scott M said...

But actual revolutions start every time happen when people are starving and have nothing left to lose.

There's got to be more to it than that. Neither Etheopia or Somalia had popular revolutions. Most of them would appreciate a Big Mac.

Alex said...

garage typifies that humorless socialist type. But then again if you viewed the world as in a crisis-mode at all times, how could you really crack a joke?

Alex said...

The thing about liberals is they want everything guaranteed in life. No fighting, no striving is to be allowed. Just everything mandated, guaranteed.

SPImmortal said...

I might say that the occupy movement died, but in fact it never lived

Chip S. said...

They need a giant Bullwinkle balloon.

Rusty said...

Chip S. said...
They need a giant Bullwinkle balloon.




OOOoooh.

Giant paper mache heads!

Yes. That's what is called for in this instance. Giant paper mache heads.


wv andertio islit

Andertio started early

Penny said...

My favorite line from the article:

"Although labor unions rejected Occupy pleas for a general strike..."

Unions don't like their tactic of last resort, a strike, being usurped my non-union workers, even though it surely can be.

It makes unions feel less powerful, but more importantly, workers might feel that they don't need to pay union dues for protections they already have without a union.

Scott M said...

The Cleveland occupiers released a statement (after much twinkling I'm sure) that admitted the wannabe bombers were "associated" with but not "representative" of the Occupy Cleveland group.

I'm waiting for a follow-up press release from them saying they now realize that someone in a large crowd of Tea Partiers yelling "nigger" isn't representative of the entire Tea Party movement, but I'll not hold my breath. In related news, the late Mr. Breitbart's offer for cash-money to anyone that has video of that little incident actually happening is still woefully unclaimed.

Blue@9 said...

At least you got the lazy Occupiers. Here in SF they rampaged through the Mission last night, breaking windows and vandalizing cars (predictable official line: "Wasn't us! It was black-bloc anarchists! Agents provocateur!").

What's really sad is that the Mission is one of the most left-wing neighborhoods in all of SF, and the businesses they wrecked are almost all locally-owned small shops.

You would not believe how much Occupy is hated by Missionites right now. Those geniuses managed to alienate the people who should be their core supporters.

garage mahal said...

Plants.

Blue@9 said...

Plants.

An apt comment by someone whose head is always in the ground.

Methadras said...

Seattle wasn't so lucky.

Thorley Winston said...

This is an oxymoron since most of the people "striking" probably don't actually, you know, work.

I’ve never understood what the difference was between a student going “on strike” and just ditching class. If I were a professor and a bunch of my students decided to ditch class the same day, I’d have a pop quiz worth 25 percent of their final grade.

Anonymous said...

occupiers hate water.

Anonymous said...

...and slayer

Amartel said...

Blue@9, funny how it's always someone else's fault, some infiltrator, some "agent provocateur" (sounds so much better when ya say it en Francaise), some fiendish PLANT. In addition to random agents of provocation, the Occutards are blaming (wait for it) the police because the police were (wait for it) seen in the area and yet no one got arrested. (Which is SOP for the SFPD where Occutards are concerned.) But of course!

YoungHegelian said...

@Blue@9,

You would not believe how much Occupy is hated by Missionites right now. Those geniuses managed to alienate the people who should be their core supporters.

It seems like moderate lefties just have to learn over and over the hard lesson that they are the first targets of the hard left.

The Righties all have guns and are in no mood to left the OW circus get out of hand to begin with.

Rusty said...

Driving home tonight I heard on the radiio that there were more speakers on the platform than there were people in the audience for the great May Day speeches in Chicago today.

leslyn said...

Alex said...
"The thing about liberals is they want everything guaranteed in life. No fighting, no striving is to be allowed. Just everything mandated, guaranteed."

The thing about conservatives is that they think they know everything about everyone, so their minds are already closed.

leslyn said...

Don't Tread said,

"[Liberals are] Humorless creatures obsessed with everyone's behavior, save their own.

"Pitiful, really."

Oh gee, Tread, you're such a funny guy all the time.

Sydney said...

The bridge they were planning to blow up in Cleveland goes from one suburb to another across the Cuyahoga River Valley National Park. The bridge carries a state highway over an area of hiking paths and a scenic railway. Desipicable. Details here.

Sydney said...

Also, the Cleveland Occupiers didn't just plan to blow up the bridge, they actually went through with their plan:

The alleged plotters researched explosives and obtained what they thought was C-4 explosives. The material, in fact, was harmless and the public was never at risk, because the men got it from the informant, officials said.

The men planted the fake explosives at the base of the bridge, armed them, went to a remote spot and "entered the codes that they thought would blow up the bridge with innocent people traveling over it," Dettelbach said.


Thank God the FBI is still competent.

Paco Wové said...

"We're a peaceful folk."

Except for the bombs. Just disregard those, ok?

garage mahal said...

Thank God the FBI is still competent.

Thank you President Obama for keeping us safe.

chickelit said...

garage mahal said:
Thank you President Obama for keeping us safe.

And thank you, President Bush for keeping us safe, too.

[hearts swell in unity]

Cincinnatus said...

Obama's attempts at running Federal law enforcement has resulted in the Fast and Furious fiasco ( 100's of murdered Mexicans from ATF supplied guns) and the Secret Service who can't protect themselves from outraged whores while protecting the President.

Great job, Obama.

Blue@9 said...

One of these days a group of dumb anarchists/Occupiers will pick the wrong business to fuck with, for instance a Korean-owned shop, and then it'll be interesting to hear whether Occupy claims the corpses as one of theirs.

garage mahal said...

One of these days a group of dumb anarchists/Occupiers will pick the wrong business to fuck with, for instance a Korean-owned shop, and then it'll be interesting to hear whether Occupy claims the corpses as one of theirs.

President Obama is in Afghanistan taking care Taliban terrorists, otherwise he would take care of that. He can't be in all places at once. Sheesh!

Fen said...

Thats rich. Obama declares the War on Terror is over, then shows up in Afganistan to "fight" said non-war?

taking care Taliban terrorists

Well, at least Garage finally admits the Occupiers are terrorists, else he wouldn't differentiate them from the "Taliban terrorists"...

garage mahal said...

Fen
Just thank your lucky stars who we have as POTUS, and lets hear a hearty THANK YOU for POTUS keeping you and your family safe. You're either with OBAMA, or you're with the TERRORISTS. Pick a side.

Unknown said...

I feel lately when I see these highly organized theatrical protests that I just want them to end.

Is that a bad thing?

Were protests in the '20s and '30s and on more spontaneous and thoughtful? Or do these protests serve some purpose, like reminding us all to sharpen our opinions on politics?

madAsHell said...

The local TV news has sent Danger Boy (reporter Jim Foreman) down to Westlake Center. Right now, it's bunch of people milling around in the rain. He's trying to make it sound ominous "We don't know how this will end tonight."

This is actually a pretty good assignment for Danger Boy. They usually send him up to the top of the Space Needle during a storm.

Oh...yeah, and you can't forget his fist fight during the WTO riots. He was the last man standing!! Go Danger Boy!!

Most of the excitement was this afternoon, and they broke the windows at Starbucks, Niketown, and a couple of banks. They break the same windows every couple of years. I think they have a list.

They also doodled with spray cans on private cars parked on the side of the street. Most of the time, we find that the anarchists are recruited from Olympia, Portland and Eugene.

Our current mayor, Mayor McGinn has cancelled his speech at Westlake Center, and he has returned to the Emergency Police Situation Room. He's not going to be re-elected either.

Currently, Eric Holder's justice department is investigating Seattle police for civil rights violations. Yeah....I have a lot of faith in that!!

Fen said...

PatCA: I feel lately when I see these highly organized theatrical protests that I just want them to end.

Is that a bad thing?


No. When I see them now I want them napalmed.

Fen said...

Garage: You're either with OBAMA, or you're with the TERRORISTS. Pick a side.

Sharia doesn't look so bad afterall.

And you've mangled the quote you are mocking. When Bush said you were either with us or against us, he was talking about nation states, not individuals.

I'm not a nation state last time I checked.

garage mahal said...

Fen
I'll put you down as a terrorist sympathizer until you can clear it further for us. Hey, it's a free country. But Obama seems pretty rough on terrorist sympathizers. Just sayin.

Penny said...

"And thank you, President Bush for keeping us safe, too."

Bush always worked for me too, chicklit.

Penny said...

And I'm not winking at you either!

I'm wearing my sunglasses.

At night, even.

Trashhauler said...

The best comment I've heard about Occupy crimes:

"Whenever an Occupier commits a crime, he’s not really an Occupier. All Occupier crimes are completely unrelated incidents, because shut up."

Scott M said...

because shut up

Almost dripping with awesome.

Fen said...

garage mahal: Fen, I'll put you down as a terrorist sympathizer until you can clear it further for us.

It remains unclear why you would call me a terrorist sympathizer.

However, its already obvious from you many posts here that you sympathize with the Occupy terrorists. Try not to buy any C4 from undercover agents, Garage.

Rusty said...

President Obama is in Afghanistan taking care Taliban terrorists, otherwise he would take care of that. He can't be in all places at once. Sheesh!



The funny thing is that you're serious.

Bombs. Freedom of speech, right.