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Subscribe to RSSAs the Occupy Wall Street movement comes out of hibernation, a day of protests are planned around the nation. MSNBC's Richard Lui reports.
Updated at 03:38 A.M. ET: Protesters across the world marched through the streets Tuesday toting signs, playing instruments and wearing costumes to rally against austerity measures, call for more jobs and seek greater immigrants' rights on May Day.
Marches turned violent in Oakland and San Francisco, where a protester was throwing what appeared to be bricks and metal rods from the roof of a building into the crowd of demonstrators, reporters, and police - injuring at least one person, according to NBC Bay Area.
In Seattle, protesters dressed in black smashed windows and police pepper-sprayed some in the crowds.
In the United States, the protests are seen as the biggest test for the Occupy movement since many of its camps were shuttered late last year. Occupiers in more than 100 cities across the country were expected to protest on the day that traditionally celebrates workers’ rights.
In New York, demonstrators held a “free university,” and a “guitarmy” led a march.
“It was a long, energetic day with scores and scores of events and protests that is another step in building a movement for economic justice,” said Bill Dobbs of the Occupy Wall Street public relations team. “Occupy has re-blossomed in over 100 cities."
Occupy Cleveland cancels protest, distances itself from alleged bomb plot
Earlier Tuesday, about 1,000 Occupy protesters gathered in New York's Bryant Park, home to the main city library, with hundreds assembling the “guitarmy” and making posters before they left to march downtown. Chanting "Out of the stores, into the streets" and "Banks got bailed out; we got sold out," they filed down Manhattan’s iconic Fifth Avenue.
“There's too much fear for the general public to actually want to strike. They don’t want to lose their job. ... We haven’t reached that tipping point where people are more frightened for some place to live," said Robby McGeddon, 47, a tech worker carrying a maypole for May Day. "It will get to the tipping point but right now we're just practicing."
Miranda Leitsinger / msnbc.com
A protester representing the Musicians Union in New York's Union Square calls for eliminating "sour notes."
Of the protest, Daphne Carr, 33, co-organizer of the Occupy Music Working Group, said: “We're trying to find new, positive community-building ways to engage and protest and be a part of the burgeoning civil dialogue about what this country should be doing."
She also noted that music making "has been eroded from our public sphere so we're taking and re-claiming the right to play music publicly together in the streets, in the parks, without permits.”
The crowd swelled to a few thousand later in the day in Union Square as immigrant rights groups and unions representing teachers, transport workers, nurses, musicians as wells as others joined in a lively afternoon of art and music.
But the day was not without its detractors: at least one man heckled protesters and another yelled “Get a job!” as he elbowed his way through the crowd.
That didn’t get the protesters’ spirits down.
"This is like the resurgence of the Occupy Wall Street movement," said photographer Joel Simpson, 65, of Union, N.J., as the "guitarmy" sang "This land is your land" nearby. Though most of New York City didn't know the May Day protest was going on, he said, the movement "touches public consciousness in a very broad way and politicians have to at least pay lip service to it."
The New York protesters then streamed downtown, in an early evening march heading past the former Occupy Wall Street home, Zuccotti Park, to Bowling Green park near the southern tip of Manhattan. Occupy sent out a text message saying 30,000 people were in the streets, though it was not possible to determine how many were and police do not give crowd estimates. At one point, the protest appeared to stretch about 15 city blocks.
“We’re not so fragile that a day is going to make or break things but this was you know, a great … step,” Dobbs said, noting that the “organizing that goes on day-to-day and week-to-week is just as important in building a long-term sustainable movement.”
New York police reported 15 arrests by late afternoon for disorderly conduct and resisting arrest, the New York Daily News reported. Several demonstrators were caught carrying hammers but there was little vandalism, police said. Later Tuesday, Occupy said more arrests had been made.
Elsewhere:
Oakland police and May Day protesters face off. Watch video courtesy of KNTV.
San Francisco: Police armed with non-lethal pellet or bean bag guns aimed them at a protester who was throwing objects from the roof of the building, located at 888 Turk St, according to NBC Bay Area. The protester, dressed in black with a handkerchief covering his face, was throwing what appeared to be bricks and metal rods into the crowd of demonstrators, reporters, and police. Police spokesman Sgt. Michael Andraychak told NBC News the individual threw several items off the roof for several minutes, including two bricks and pipes. One brick struck a person and hit them in the head. The injured person refused treatment from medical personnel. NBC News reported that the rooftop protester was arrested and taken into custody.
Oakland, Calif.: Protesters playing cat-and-mouse with police pounded on windows of banks and other businesses, SFGate.com reported. After surrounding a downtown Bank of America branch, protesters chanted, "Oakland is the people's town; strike, occupy, shut it down." they also gathered at a Wells Fargo bank branch. Police later confronted demonstrators marching through downtown. Video by NBCBayArea.com showed at least one protester being dragged away by police. Protesters hurled items including a paint bomb at police and windows out of a police van, NBCBayArea.com reported. Police fired tear gas and flash-bang grenades before the skirmishing crowd dispersed. Police arrested at least four people.
Jim Seida / msnbc.com
Police tape off a Wells Fargo Bank in Seattle Tuesday after protesters broke the banks windows during a May Day march.
Seattle: Windows were broken and police arrested a handful of protesters as about 100 marched in downtown, NBC station KING reported. Many marchers were dressed in dark clothes, wearing face makeup and carrying sticks, live TV video showed. Police pepper-sprayed several protesters as problems developed. KING reported numerous tires slashed and large amounts of glass on the ground from vehicles and buildings, including the federal courthouse, smashed by protesters. Peaceful protesters remained at the downtown Westlake Plaza, where speeches and concerts continued, KING reported.
John Brecher / msnbc.com
Trumpeter Opaulo Mekkelsen marched with the Movitas Marching Band in Seattle. He said he was motivated by immigrants' rights.
"Part of me, I want to understand where they're coming from and then they pull something like this," said Sam, who would not give his last name, as he saw the back window of his car smashed out by protesters. Sam was on holiday from his home in British Columbia. "I'm from Canada," he said, "imagine the impression this gives me of the United States."
At an afternoon press conference, Mayor Mike McGinn said a group known as the “Black Block” did extensive damage to the Federal Courthouse, then moved on to block traffic. The mayor signed a proclamation authorizing police to seize from protesters any items that could be used as weapons, KING reported. Evening marches and protests were planned.
A group of May Day protesters dressed in black clothes and wearing face makeup smashed windows in downtown Seattle. Video courtesy KING.
Photoblog: May Day protests turn violent in Seattle
San Francisco: Golden Gate ferry workers picketed ferry terminals in the North Bay, but union organizers canceled a protest on the Golden Gate Bridge to give support to the ferry workers, the Oakland Tribune reported. However, scores of California Highway Patrol officers with helmets and batons lined the bridge and gathered around the toll plaza just in case. Bridge traffic was not disrupted.
Albany, N.Y.: State police arrested two men who set up a table without a permit in Lafayette Park, where Occupy protesters assembled Tuesday, the Times Union newspaper reported.
Jim Seida / msnbc.com
Sam (who declined to give his last name), left, speaks to local media after protesters in a May Day march in downtown Seattle smashed out the rear window of his car on 6th Avenue. "Part of me, I want to understand where they're coming from and then they pull something like this," he said. Sam was on holiday from his home in British Columbia, Canada. "I'm from Canada," he said, "Imagine the impression this gives me of the United States."
Chicago: Protesters and union supporters held rallies and marches with little disruption to the business district, the Chicago Tribune reported. Police Superintendent
Denver: Nearly 200 people marched downtown before turning onto the 16th Street pedestrian mall, blocking mall buses and traffic as they walked. The marchers also stopped in front of the Federal Reserve Bank. Police did not interfere, and only one person reportedly was arrested.
Los Angeles: Several demonstrators were taken into custody during a protest on Century Boulevard near the entrance to Los Angeles International Airport as union members, workers, immigrant-rights activists and others demonstrated for better-paying jobs to changes in immigration laws, NBCLosAngeles.com reported. However, about 2,000 police officers prepared to deploy early at a staging area in Elysian Park before a ralliers were to converge downtown Tuesday evening. Los Angeles County activated its Emergency Operations Center.
Dorian Warren, an assistant professor of political science at Columbia University, said he thought Tuesday would be the “biggest test since the fall of where Occupy is.”
Occupy activists fear becoming Democrats' 'pet'
“I think it’s still alive and thriving. I don’t think it’s going anywhere soon,” he said. “But I think after [Tuesday] we’ll know whether or not they were hibernating all winter and now they’ve re-emerged, or if they’ve died out.”
Occupy held protests during the spring on student debt and worker rights. They also have been working on a rollout of new versions of outreach web sites to facilitate coordination among different Occupy outfits. But a lot of effort has been focused on holding a May Day that will make a splash.
“Many activists have been working toward May Day for months and so they’ve decided to make it a test of strength,” said Todd Gitlin, a former leader of the 1960s-era group Students for a Democratic Society who has just published a book on Occupy. He added: “A lot of people in the larger society don’t think the movement still exists, so there’s some need to prove to them that it does exist.”
Occupy Wall Street has struggled during the last months without a camp, with some members starting their own groups while keeping a loose affiliation to the movement.
“It’s become fractured over time and I think people point a lot to that to the breakup of Zuccotti Park, and the natural disagreements that people had came more to the fore when people were separated and people formed their own circles upon which they continued. But it wasn’t the circle of great diversity that was right there at Zuccotti Park and people could grow from,” said William Johnsen, a 63-year-old veteran activist from Staten Island, N.Y. “It’s obviously a long-term process right now which will ultimately change into something else.”
Lefteris Pitarakis / AP
Workers and activists rally on May Day.
But Konrad Cukla, a 23-year-old graduate student who has been helping with Occupy May Day planning, said that since the park shut, occupiers have been engaging in key coalition building work, such as with immigrant rights groups in the city.
“All the labor unions have come together and for the first time are going to have a unified march with immigrant rights groups and Occupy,” he said as he walked with a musical band of occupiers -- the Rude Mechanical Orchestra -- dressed in green and black on Manhattan’s Fifth Avenue. “I think the movement is evolving, it's taking on more concrete allies and issues, engaging more with labor struggles -- also just expanding its horizons and bringing more people into the movement."
Rain City Superheroes: Midnight Jack, left, El Caballero, center, and Phoenix Jones relax Tuesday at a downtown Seattle Starbucks.
The Associated Press and msnbc.com's Jim Gold contributed to this report. Follow Jim Gold at msnbc.com on Facebook here.
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Remember Pelosi?
House Democratic Leader Rep. Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., said she supports the growing nationwide Occupy Wall Street movement, which began on the streets of downtown New York City in mid-September.
"I support the message to the establishment, whether it's Wall Street or the political establishment and the rest, that change has to happen," said Pelosi in an exclusive interview with ABC News "This Week" anchor Christiane Amanpour. "We cannot continue in a way this is not relevant to their lives."
http://abcnews.go.com/Politics/pelosi-supports-occupy-wall-street-movement/story?id=14696893#.T6Bl0FLleSo
Where is she now? She and the other Democrats haven't said SH!T about the OWS mob since this interview. WHY???
Occupy = Terrrorism
Occupy Protesters flying over to Iran... Where are they getting the money? What is in Iran, but maybe Terrorists... The 5 Occupy Protesters arrested by the FBI for trying to blow up a Ohio Bridge today... I wonder if they learned those techniques in Iran?
While I do not really see Occupy as a productive organization, it is their right to protest, and even though I don't support them, I support free speech, so they can go ahead and protest as much as they want. That is what is so great about living in America. However, when they start breaking windows and property damage occurs, I feel that police intervention is justified. Certainly not police brutality, but you won't see me whining about them getting arrested, and if force is required, so be it.
So if Occupy ups the anti, does that give Obama the authority to install martial law or start arresting anyone he wants? Can he start seizing the farms? These are his new powers that just got approved.
He doesn't need to wait for the right to snap. He can use the crazy left as the excuse to install his NEW emergency laws. He can whip them into a frenzy because they hang on his every word. Check and almost check mate?
"We haven't reached that tipping point where people are more frightened for some place to live. ... It will get to the tipping point but right now we're just practicing."
Leroy, I think the tipping point will come right around election day and I wouldn't be suprised if OWS, proteters, anarchists etc do all they can to give Obama a reason to declare martial law and at least postpone the elections...
Will they interupt and shut down the elections?
I think they will try. It makes sense for them to. A lot of them don't realize they're nothing but pawns to the DNC and Obama.
With the violence and in light of all the recent & new rendition bills that allow Obama to hold American citizens indefinitely & the bill that lets him assume control of American companies & utilities I have to believe that the riots are a gateway for him to become a dictator & install martial law!
Yes please turn up the heat. Government needs a lesson on what there doing to this country.
Media needs to stop lying in there reporting and actually get it accurate as to how many are no longer on unemployment.
Geesh that should be easy MSN. Adding and subtracting population. Those on food stamps, disability, jobs held by non-americans and SS. Total population minus all the above. Should show population vs jobs that don't exists.
Someone must have actually done this for the ocuppiers to be out there.
Anyone who says get a job. Has one. The rest of the population is in poverty and they are there only because we allow it.
Honest reporting from any news agency? You my friend live in fantasy land!!
LOL Jodi fantasy may be all we have left Sad
I remember when Bush started his War. People all over the world were protesting, marching and saying, Jobs not War. After all that, we still had war and no jobs. it seems like none of the protesting does any good at all. We try to vote the people out of office that we think are not doing their jobs and we just get new faces and the same old BS. I remember what Regan said,(The die has been cast and there is nothing we can do about it and if you think it is bad now you had better tighten you belts because it is going to get worse.) It seems like we have herd that one over and over and over. The young people want change and they will not give up until they get it. You can't blame them for that.
Don't throw all the young people in the same basket. Ambitous young people will see the opportunities this country provides them with and make something of themselves. Unfortunately, there is a contigency of people who prefer to sit on their ass and piss and moan. They would like you to think that they are the majority, they are not. They need to trade in their tatoos and face jewelry for tuition money and apply themselves.
News Flash: George Bush DIDN'T start that war all by himself.
Here are a few quotes from some people who'se names might be familiar. ==>
"Saddam Hussein has been engaged in the development of weapons of mass destruction technology which is a threat to countries in the region and he has made a mockery of the weapons inspection process." -Rep. Nancy Pelosi (D, CA), Dec. 16, 1998 ==>
"Hussein has ... chosen to spend his money on building weapons of mass destruction and palaces for his cronies." -- Madeline Albright, Clinton Secretary of State, Nov. 10, 1999 ==>
"There is no doubt that ... Saddam Hussein has reinvigorated his weapons programs. Reports indicate that biological, chemical and nuclear programs continue apace and may be back to pre-Gulf War status. In addition, Saddam continues to redefine delivery systems and is doubtless using the cover of a licit missile program to develop longer-range missiles that will threaten the United States and our allies." Letter to President Bush, Signed by: -- Sen. Bob Graham (D, FL), and others, Dec 5, 2001 ==>
"We begin with the common belief that Saddam Hussein is a tyrant and a threat to the peace and stability of the region. He has ignored the mandate of the United Nations and is building weapons of mass destruction and th! e means of delivering them." -- Sen. Carl Levin (D, MI), Sept. 19, 2002 ==>
"We know that he has stored secret supplies of biological and chemical weapons throughout his country." -- Al Gore, Sept. 23, 2002 ==>
Mission Accomplished---G.W. Bush
may 1st (today) they announce the protestors & rallies getting violent, last year on may 1st its announced osama bin laden was captured and notice its in bright (red) that its breaking news well red is an important color to the occult! you must visit this site and read about the important days to the occult and illuminati and the people involved with this and free masonry and you'll find out what other major things have happened on certain dates that are ritual dates. its very very shocking. dont be fooled by what the media feeds you. these rallies and riots and protesters are hired and setup, this entire thing was engineered by high powered people. dont you find it funny how in this article they mention "protesters dressed in (black) smashed windows"? when black is also a color used by the illuminati, look at so by them wearing black tells people they set this all up. look at the last 2 picture's shown, in one photo you see a guy wearing a white mask holding a flower, well the mask is a symbol the illuminati or "one's in power" use, the 2nd photo shows 3 character's with one of them having a mostly red mask with a "pyramid" on his forehead which is a symbol again used by free mason's & seen on masonic temple's, also seen on money, in music video's done by jay -z, it symoblize's "as above so below" which billion and trillionaire elite's believe they are god's & in control of everthing, they are the one's making the economy crash the way it is because they can, they control the money, they designed the start and outcome of the recession and the protesters to get like this and some of the protesters "they hired" to make it seem more amplified and out of control so they can enstate "martial law" just like they tried to do when hurricane katrina hit louisiana, when they used a technology called "haarp" to create that hurricane and they weakened the levy's so it would create a flood within the city and have to bring in "fema". people wake up, they are fooling you in every way possible. please check out the links.
And I thought I sounded CRAZY. I only believe Barack is Malcolm X's son, BARI SHABAZZ.
Sounds like a conspiracy nut to me. But what do I know?
what a bunch of pathetic losers!
I couldn't agree more!
its a self invention fair, a carnival for elitist thinkers and performers who never realized that genius has nothing to do with the simplicity and humility of common man labor work and the providence of making money. bravo for their creativity but if people really want a revolution it just does not come peaceful they have to fight for it, the only real revolution is that of Christ our Lord Maker and Savior the One True God who walked with mankind to bring us hope despite the worlds decay and fallen schemes. This is a pagan rant, been there done that , its all been done before......they pass with the erosion of time come and go...Kudos to being yourself, well, acting, well the arts, well art imitating life, I mean you have a serious protest here, right? I cannot help but think of a good friend who always uses the phrase "ass clowns" .. its not a hate thing, its just life aint what you thought it was thing so do what you got to do, make a living enjoy your freedoms and stop complaining money is not everything anyway, and ordinary is ok. Only the losers win , for poverty you people are way too pretentious, but you got your rights , praise God for that.
I never condone violence. Last year the OWS protesters were peaceful and the Oakland, Califrnia police thugged them. The police in New York went alittle too far in clearing the park in a cold early morning raid with water hoses. I was raised on a farm and learned early in life that if you ef with a bull you get the horn. Early in these demonstrations peaceful tactics were used and many people said if violence starts in retaliation than this could escalate into Americas own Dawning. Alot of people believe that the core message of OWS is true and alot more people will join the ranks if it gets ugly. I can recall 20 years ago the Rodney King deal and the Black folk took over L.A. and nobody could do anything about it. If it gets hot enough the handful of cops will be overrun. If America trys to become a police state every fire arm in this country and they are millions will be turned against the government. People better take this alittle more seriously than they are. Government had better start singing a different tune real fast. The people had better start getting the representation instead of the banks and corporations. Spring Dawn in America, we were warned last year.
Cowardly statement.
The tree of Liberty needs to be refreshed with the blood of Patriots every so often. T. Jefferson(?)
Always has been that way and always will be. Leroy2112 you should read some history. And just because it is the 21st Century does NOT mean it can't happen again.
The French nobility was just as blind before the revolution as I'm sure England was before the American Revolution. And who would have thought women and blacks would EVER be allowed to vote and be considered an equal to white males??? And children NOT have full time jobs by the time they were 8 years old (approx.)?? Protest is the only way things change.
But True, Seems that ( Truthhurts) is telling you what he has seen, How is that being a Coward? Leroy learn how to look at both sides. I have no insults for you, just want to communicate.
I keep reading about "free this" and "free that" and a lack of jobs for college graduates and a call for a bailout for student loans...all of which the OWS people are for...but why is their free stuff and bailouts ok but they are against the bailouts of Wall Street and Banks?????
When I graduated college the country was in recession and it took me months to get a job and years to pay off my student loans...but I did it...I never asked no one for nuttin' - didn't say I deserved a chance or a position or that I'd been denied my rights as an American: I got a job and went to work!
Yes, it was an entry level (that's what I was qualified for) position, had to have roommates to afford an apartment and drove an old smashed up Honda Civic for years until I could afford to move up in life. No one owes you squat so quit being a bunch of sissy metro-sexuals, find your balls, be a man or adult woman and get to work -
If you're unemployed - go volunteer somewhere! Get your eyes off of yourself, find someone worse off than you and help them...that is how America works! Protest! What has this country come to? And vote against every entitlement program that started the downward spiral beginning with the original socialist: FDR!
Volunteering is actually a great way to end up landing a legit job. It would be a more productive way of creating change than these protests and a better use of their time too.
Because banks got the bailouts, they didn't. Banks are super rich and they are living in poverty.
When you graduated was the country in debt 17trillion?
I am sure many of them do volunteer, but that doesn't put food on the table now does it?
Skeeter; FDR--Don't even think That SSI is a free program, My Grand father, and Father both died at 59, never collected SSI, I am 65 and still working. WE PAID INTO A SYSTEM THAT WAS RAIDED BY CONGRESS, How many people died before they even got 20% of the money they paid in. SSI is not welfare,
Does anyone here understand what would happen if the banks were to fail? Jammajam, that's why we've got to get Obama out of the white house. This is a sink or swim country. It always has been. If we keep heading in the direction that we are going, we will become Greece. Funny thing happen at my office. The company started buying lunch every Thursday because we had meetings. Then one Thursday that stopped because it got too expensive. You talk about people throwing a fit. It can happen to the best of us, but lets not go there in the first place. Lets have some self respect and earn our own way.
The banks needed to fail. Bush would not let them fail but that is what is supposed to happen in a free market society. It makes no difference obama or bush they would do the same policy and artificially prop up these banks after they did bad business. That one move was the beginning of the destruction of the US economy. 9/11 took away our freedom and TARP took away the fundamentals of our economy now it is just a matter of time.
what do you think will happen? these men and women are mad....mad at the fact we were forced to have a non American Muslim that hate's American's and our country and is just slowly and systematically taking our rights away and reforming America for Big Businesses, so i think it will and can get much worse then this.
Take a poll of these rioters, looters and just plain distruptive people. They all vote democrat.
Some of them are probably too young to have ever voted, but they probably will vote Democrat when the time comes...losers.
Occupy is not part of the 99%! They are part of the less than 1% and are loosers! Stupid stupid loosers! Get off you lazy butt and get a job and pick up your trash!!!!
Dont say you werent warned. Things are not projected to get any better. Serious change is needed and all of you are turning a blind eye and dismissing them as roaches. Mark my words: If nothing changes you will be in their shoes in just a couple of short years
Amen jammajam!
If Obama wins then I expect you are right things will suck, rotten lemons for all, The more liberals in office the worse it will be you are correct! But how does occupy plan on changing things by destroying honest hard working peoples property? If you were at retirement age would you get excited that OCW caused your stocks to plummet especially if you were just getting by and you had little time for them to rebound? Would you be a proud member if some of the vandalism was done to your car or your Grandmothers? How is leaving trash all over the streets helping? I hope these vandalizing idiot's get tazered and then beaten senseless then put in jail and fined and when they cant pay their fines because they are to lazy to get jobs they can do community service and clean up the messes they make and more!
It isnt Obama. It is the whole government. 17trillion in debt was not done by one president. There is a major underlying element controlling this excessive spending. Nobody is going to vandalize my car because I am armed and ready to protect my possessions and my family. I suggest you do the same. Their targets are the banks and big corporations so get out of their way and let them do what they do. But the police gets in their way and forces the issue which leads to collateral damage. The govt needs to focus on why these people are protesting in the first place and try to solve that problem instead of responding with force.
Hey Jam, I realize that the irresponsible spending did not start with Obama. The debt has been in place through out many different presidents and congress's, I also realize that both parties are corrupt and irresponsible but find it hard for anyone to dispute that Obama, Pelosi and Reid etc etc are leading this country into the ground by spending an obscene amount making all predecessors look like mere armatures and the economy is still in piss poor shape!!! I am with you on protecting your family and possessions as I am well armed myself. I do disagree with getting out the the way of a stupid reckless group which acts the way the occupy idiots act. I have no respect for people who act like cry babies, litter, vandalize, rape and other violence. This is a poorly run organization who mostly hurt the average Joe with there actions. I hope they get what they deserve by way of pepper spray, tazers and billy clubs along with jail time and when they act like idiots and get pepper sprayed please dont cry about it act like a man accept your punishment. America is still the land of opportunity where anyone can make something of themselves at-least for the time being and I feel that in the next election the Proud, Honest, Hardworking American people will fire these destructive politicians, set a budget and spend responsibly for a change and keep it the land of opportunity!
I did the same thing!
all of those condeming the OWS protestors are shooting themselves in the foot-unless they are one of the 1%. The cries of socialism are hilarious-
the banks demanded socialism for themselves, while the rest of us got nothing at all-not even free markert capitalism-we all got burned, while they got bonuses.
the idea that these kids should all just get jobs is equally hilarious-
they are few jobs for anyone, let alone kids just starting out.
I applaud anyone with the balls to stand up for a movement, for their country. Where would America be without protestors exactly like the OWS ones? We would still have slavery, segregation, and no women's rights, and on and on. And the people who derided those movements and protestors back then (who all sound like lunatics today) sounded exactly like the right wing nutjobs posting on this forum. Saying similar things and making fools of themselves.
The OWS movement has teeth because they are on the side of what is right. And the ONLY way for anything to change is for it to get violent. polite marches controlled by over militarized police forces are no better than a parade. This needs to get real, and it needs to be inconvenient to force people to pay attention.
But what do they want?
I agree. But I don't agree with the violence. Maybe it does have to get violent, seems like nothing gets accomplished without it...
Protests and change is what changes things for the better in the long run. Always has, always will.
Squash the cockroaches.
Would any sane man hire any of these punks. The ones on t.v. looked like thugs (wearing masks) afraid to be recognized. The cops should load the water cannons with the same dye used by banks then they can spot the hoodlums no matter where they crawl too to hide.
would any sane man hire anyone when the economy is tanked?
I believe in the Occupy Movement, I believe the majority needs to be heard. But I also believe that the violent people within the Movement are just not helping anything, they are just along for the ride and it is a good excuse, to them, to destroy and cause mayhem.
What exactly is the movement about? What is the goal?
Forment unrest.
anybody surprised that oakland went violent. I thought that was just oakland.
Bash the city . Don't bash the team.
I have no idea what good comes from OWS. They are wasting taxpayer money, disrupting the lives of people in general and what good comes from it? The problem in this country is in Washington not on Wall Street or Seattle or Oakland or a bridge in Cleveland. The "leaders" in Washington never solve any problems and are about as effective as OWS. We need to shake this country up by voting all incumbents out, every last one. Maybe the new people might see that if they aren't solving problems they won't be there long. Get rid of the "lifers". Look at the shape this country is in and tell me any of these people deserve to be reelected. The founders are either rolling over in their graves or laughing at our incompetence This country was built by people with ideas, guts, determination and ideals and we are letting it deteriorate. I just watched a report on the problem of newborn babies being drug dependent because their mothers were using drugs while pregnant. What is Washington or OWS or anyone doing about this and don't tell me about any new program sombody has dreamed up to be funded by the gov. This problem shows how pathetic our society has become. I just hope we are not too far gone to save our country.
Occupy Protesters have moved from $hitting in public parks to blowing up bridges. NICE!
The President will wait until they kill a bunch of people and make up some lame excuse of why they didn't do anything.
They also had a volunteer to Drive a truck bomb into the federal reserve buiding. So they have become lethal. Check Yahoo news. They give way more facts.
You're really stupid if that's what you think, because you clearly don't know and understand what is going on. You only know what Fox "News" tells you and all your fellow unamerican Nazis.
For all you morons who think this is about free handouts, IT'S NOT!! It is about receiving what you have EARNED though hard work....which I thought was considered American, but you Nazis are calling this American value Socialism.
How many of you have even had a job? How about taking it up with your individual employers instead of throwing a hissy fit?
Can you elaborate. How are they not receiving what they earned? Is this about being underpaid?
Aaron, when you work you get paid. And if you don't like what you earn and want to earn more, you can pay to go to college, get an education, and earn more money. Trashing places and giving the cops a hard time is not the way to "earn" anything...especially not respect or have anyone think you are more than just thugs.
Or are you suggesting that graduating from college somehow entitles people to an automatic high paying job?
aaron you can try to spin it anyway you want...you just sound like a fool
You can't receive what is earned if you don't work for it. Simple concept.
Hey aaron. I hate to tell you this but the majority of these people have most likley earned nothing. My wife and I own a business. We started with nothing and we have worked extremely hard to get where we are. Although we will never make the 1% we will be in the top 5% in a very short time. If you think me or any other hard worker out there owe them anything, you are the one that is stupid.
Sean from Boston, I don't believe graduating from college guarantees you anything. But an education can get you a better job most of the time.
To the person carrying the Mexican flag today in the Los Angeles protests - Take your god damn flag and go back to Mexico.
LMAO! Wow.
Mexicans belong in Mexico. Why is that so hard to figure out. Sup. Crt. Is gonna bust that azz too.
Thats some funny business right there. Funny because he is waving the flag and I totally agree he should be waving an american flag but also funny because it pissed you off so much. It just isnt worth it getting all worked up over that
Jose needs a GPS