In an application dated October 24, the unincorporated association "Occupy Wall Street" applied for the trademark to "Occupy Wall Street." The trademark application says the group would like to use the phrase on merchandise such as clothing and bags, in periodicals and newsletters, and on a website featuring "photographic, audio, video and prose presentations" about the Occupy movement...
Amid of one of the biggest activist uprisings in the U.S. in a generation, it didn't take long for people to want to own pieces of it.
Typical socialists. "Some animals are more equal than others," and all that. Profits and corporations are bad until its their own pocketbooks.
Judge tells Tennessee to stop arresting Occupy protesters By Joe Sutton, CNN updated 9:02 AM EST, Tue November 1, 2011
Quote:
(CNN) -- A judge told Tennessee officials on Monday to stop enforcing new rules that have been used to arrest Occupy protesters in Nashville.
The decision was a victory for the fledgling movement and for the American Civil Liberties Union of Tennessee, which sought a temporary restraining order to block a curfew put in place last week.
U.S. District Judge Aleta Trauger issued the order, which state officials did not fight.
"Political expression deserves the highest level of protection and it was unacceptable for the state to suddenly shut down protesters' speech and forcibly oust them from Legislative Plaza that has long been used as a place for peaceful expression," said Hedy Weinberg, executive director at the ACLU of Tennessee.
"The state conceded that the temporary restraining order should be issued and we hope that this is the first step (that) the state is recommitting itself to safeguarding -- not thwarting -- public political expression," she added.
Efforts by CNN to reach officials in the state attorney general's office were not successful.
The order will remain in effect for 21 days. A hearing in the case is scheduled for November 21.
Demonstrators across the country are protesting what they consider to be corporate greed and corruption as part of the weeks-long "Occupy" movement. Many say the nation's wealthiest 1% hold inordinate sway over the remaining 99% of the population.
In Tennessee, protesters have gathered at Legislative Plaza in downtown Nashville since early October.
Authorities issued the new rules on Thursday, requiring protesters to have permits and restricting the times they would be allowed to gather.
In subsequent days, protesters were arrested, including more than two dozen overnight Saturday, after they defied the curfew imposed by the state's governor. Most received citations for trespassing, while two others were cited for public intoxication.
In an application dated October 24, the unincorporated association "Occupy Wall Street" applied for the trademark to "Occupy Wall Street." The trademark application says the group would like to use the phrase on merchandise such as clothing and bags, in periodicals and newsletters, and on a website featuring "photographic, audio, video and prose presentations" about the Occupy movement...
Amid of one of the biggest activist uprisings in the U.S. in a generation, it didn't take long for people to want to own pieces of it.
Typical socialists. "Some animals are more equal than others," and all that. Profits and corporations are bad until its their own pocketbooks.
Yeah, corporations and capitalism are evil. Unless they are donating to liberal/Democrat causes. Then they are suddenly noble and above reproach.
George Soros. Geoffrey Immelt/G.E.
Obama's wife was soliciting donations from a former Enron billionaire a few days ago, and when that was exposed, her appointment book was suddenly too full to meet with the guy. Imagine that.
A majority of the super-rich, particularly among Wall Street and Hollywood elite, as well as the larger insurance companies and HMO's, all donate to Obama and the Democrats.
Liberals who bemoan discrimination, intolerance, restraint of Constitutional freedoms, and promotion of hatred toward various abberant minorities, have absolutely no problem with discriminating against, being intolerant of, restricting Constitutional freedoms of, and directing hate-filled scapegoat rhetoric against conservatives.
EXACTLY what they accuse Republicans/conservatives of doing, is EXACTLY what liberals/Democrats do themselves, to those who oppose their beliefs.
Liberals who bemoan discrimination, intolerance, restraint of Constitutional freedoms, and promotion of hatred toward various abberant minorities, have absolutely no problem with discriminating against, being intolerant of, restricting Constitutional freedoms of, and directing hate-filled scapegoat rhetoric against conservatives.
EXACTLY what they accuse Republicans/conservatives of doing, is EXACTLY what liberals/Democrats do themselves, to those who oppose their beliefs.
These protests are funded and organized by far-left (Soros, MoveOn, SEIU, Code Pink) liberal front groups.
These protests are not spontaneous or specific to any real social issues in the United States, they were planned and orchestrated to begin simultaneously worldwide.
These protests are an assault on the U.S. free market system, intended to bring it down and replace it with a new socialist order, where the organizing front group organizations and their backers (Soros, etc. ) are the new establishment power, screwing the people they front to be benefiting. Like Obamacare, it will benefit the super-rich (who support Obama and the Dems) and reduce the freeedoms of average americans.
Liberals who bemoan discrimination, intolerance, restraint of Constitutional freedoms, and promotion of hatred toward various abberant minorities, have absolutely no problem with discriminating against, being intolerant of, restricting Constitutional freedoms of, and directing hate-filled scapegoat rhetoric against conservatives.
EXACTLY what they accuse Republicans/conservatives of doing, is EXACTLY what liberals/Democrats do themselves, to those who oppose their beliefs.
I love how you can't find a FAUXNews video that proves they're "Fair & Balanced", but can easily throw-up their normal Right-wing propaganda machine....
I love how you can't find a FAUXNews video that proves they're "Fair & Balanced", but can easily throw-up their normal Right-wing propaganda machine....
I love how you can't back up the notion that Fox News (or the other sources I cited) are just "right wing propaganda".
It's factual beyond question that Soros, MoveOn, CodePink, SEIU and other liberal front groups are organizing these protests.
It's factual beyond question that these protests required massive organization to "just happen" simultaneously worldwide, that these liberal front groups provided.
It's factual beyond question (that two polls I posted demonstrate) that the the major thrust of these protests is marxist/socialist/anti-capitalist, and even anti-American. With people defacating on police cars, violence against police and others, running around naked and having public sex and other assorted uncivil chaos that the Tea Party did not indulge in.
Liberals who bemoan discrimination, intolerance, restraint of Constitutional freedoms, and promotion of hatred toward various abberant minorities, have absolutely no problem with discriminating against, being intolerant of, restricting Constitutional freedoms of, and directing hate-filled scapegoat rhetoric against conservatives.
EXACTLY what they accuse Republicans/conservatives of doing, is EXACTLY what liberals/Democrats do themselves, to those who oppose their beliefs.
Liberals who bemoan discrimination, intolerance, restraint of Constitutional freedoms, and promotion of hatred toward various abberant minorities, have absolutely no problem with discriminating against, being intolerant of, restricting Constitutional freedoms of, and directing hate-filled scapegoat rhetoric against conservatives.
EXACTLY what they accuse Republicans/conservatives of doing, is EXACTLY what liberals/Democrats do themselves, to those who oppose their beliefs.
I love how you can't back up the notion that Fox News (or the other sources I cited) are just "right wing propaganda".
It's factual beyond question that Soros, MoveOn, CodePink, SEIU and other liberal front groups are organizing these protests.
It's factual beyond question that these protests required massive organization to "just happen" simultaneously worldwide, that these liberal front groups provided.
It's factual beyond question (that two polls I posted demonstrate) that the major thrust of these protests is marxist/socialist/anti-capitalist, and even anti-American. With people defacating on police cars, violence against police and others, running around naked and having public sex and other assorted uncivil chaos that the Tea Party did not indulge in.
Liberals who bemoan discrimination, intolerance, restraint of Constitutional freedoms, and promotion of hatred toward various abberant minorities, have absolutely no problem with discriminating against, being intolerant of, restricting Constitutional freedoms of, and directing hate-filled scapegoat rhetoric against conservatives.
EXACTLY what they accuse Republicans/conservatives of doing, is EXACTLY what liberals/Democrats do themselves, to those who oppose their beliefs.
For all the "take from the greedy rich" liberal talking points of the evils of capitalism, free-market capitalism has raised more millions out of poverty than any other social system or wealth-redistribution in human history.
In an application dated October 24, the unincorporated association "Occupy Wall Street" applied for the trademark to "Occupy Wall Street." The trademark application says the group would like to use the phrase on merchandise such as clothing and bags, in periodicals and newsletters, and on a website featuring "photographic, audio, video and prose presentations" about the Occupy movement...
Amid of one of the biggest activist uprisings in the U.S. in a generation, it didn't take long for people to want to own pieces of it.
Typical socialists. "Some animals are more equal than others," and all that. Profits and corporations are bad until its their own pocketbooks.
Yeah, corporations and capitalism are evil. Unless they are donating to liberal/Democrat causes. Then they are suddenly noble and above reproach.
George Soros. Geoffrey Immelt/G.E.
Obama's wife was soliciting donations from a former Enron billionaire a few days ago, and when that was exposed, her appointment book was suddenly too full to meet with the guy. Imagine that.
A majority of the super-rich, particularly among Wall Street and Hollywood elite, as well as the larger insurance companies and HMO's, all donate to Obama and the Democrats.
Liberals who bemoan discrimination, intolerance, restraint of Constitutional freedoms, and promotion of hatred toward various abberant minorities, have absolutely no problem with discriminating against, being intolerant of, restricting Constitutional freedoms of, and directing hate-filled scapegoat rhetoric against conservatives.
EXACTLY what they accuse Republicans/conservatives of doing, is EXACTLY what liberals/Democrats do themselves, to those who oppose their beliefs.
These are the shocking scenes that have led some people to accuse the Occupy Wall Street protesters living rough in New York's financial district of creating unsanitary and filthy conditions.
Exclusive pictures obtained by Mail Online show one demonstrator relieving himself on a police car. Elsewhere we found piles of stinking refuse clogging Zuccotti Park, despite the best efforts of many of the protesters to keep the area clean. The shocking images demonstrate the extent to which conditions have deteriorated as demonstrations in downtown Manhattan enter their fourth week. Further pictures seen by Mail Online have been censored, as we deemed them too graphic to show.
According to eye witnesses, when people ran to tell nearby police about the man defecating on the squad car they were ignored. Standing downwind of the piles of rubbish, bankers walking past the man did a double take before hurrying away.
Brookfield Office Properties, which owns Zuccotti Park, the site of the New York demonstration, have already railed against protesters, who they claim are creating sanitation problems. 'Sanitation is a growing concern,' Brookfield said in a statement.
INSIDE MAN: IS PRESIDENT OBAMA SUPPORTING THE PROTESTERS? Despite claiming to represent 'the 99 per cent', not all Americans are behind the Wall Street protests. But according to the Financial Times, the President himself is unofficially backing their cause. The paper wrote: 'While not endorsing the protests, Barack Obama and Joe Biden have expressed understanding of the movement that has spread rapidly across the country.
'Mr Obama said people were angry because Wall Street had not been 'following the rules'. 'His vice-president even compared the movement on Thursday to the Tea Party, the conservative movement which has upended national politics in the past two years.' 'Normally the park is cleaned and inspected every week night. . . because the protesters refuse to cooperate. . .the park has not been cleaned since Friday, September 16th and as a result, sanitary conditions have reached unacceptable levels,' CBS News reported.
Although many of the protesters are understood to be making strenuous efforts to clean up after themselves, after three weeks of occupation, the strain of hundreds of people living on the street has begun to take its toll.
The authorities today warned of a dramatic crackdown on Wall Street demonstrators, as the protests spread across America.
NYPD Commissioner Ray Kelly has promised that if protesters targeted the police, authorities will respond with 'force.' Kelly blamed activists for starting the skirmishes with police that led to 28 arrests yesterday.
Most were arrested for disorderly behaviour, CBS News reported.
'They’re going to be met with force when they do that — this is just common sense,' Kelly said. 'These people wanted to have confrontation with the police for whatever reason. Somehow, I guess it works to their purposes.'
Mayor Bloomberg added his voice to the furor, accusing the Wall Street demonstrators of putting the city's economy at risk, the New York Post reported.
New York mayor Michael Bloomberg attacked protesters today, saying the demonstrations were harming the city. He said: 'What they're trying to do is take the jobs away from people working in this city.
'They're trying to take away the tax base we have because none of this is good for tourism.'
'If the jobs they are trying to get rid of in this city -- the people that work in finance, which is a big part of our economy-- we're not going to have any money to pay our municipal employees or clean the blocks or anything else.'
Protests against corporate greed and economic inequality spread across America on Thursday. The Occupy Wall Street movement, that began in New York last month with a few people, has now swelled to protests in more than a dozen cities. They included Tampa, Florida; Trenton and Jersey City, New Jersey, Philadelphia, and Norfolk, Virginia in the East; to Chicago and St. Louis in the Midwest; Houston, San Antonio and Austin in Texas; Nashville, Tennessee; and Portland, Oregon, Seattle and Los Angeles in the West.
Protesters have raged against corporate greed and influence over American life, the gap between rich and poor, and hapless, corrupt politicians. 'I'm fed up with the government, I'm fed up with the bailouts. If I fail at my job, I don't get a bonus -- I get fired,' said Tim Lucas, 49, vice president of a software company, who was protesting in Austin. Hundreds of people have been arrested in New York since the protests began last month. On Wednesday, the biggest crowd so far of about 5,000 people marched on New York's financial district, and police used pepper spray on some protesters. But protests for the most part have been non-violent.
Organisers predict momentum will continue to build, as labour movements join the growing numbers.
'This is the beginning,' said John Preston in Philadelphia, business manager for Teamsters Local 929. 'Teamsters will support the movement city to city.'
In Philadelphia, up to 1,000 protesters chanted and waved placards reading: 'I did not think 'By the People, For the People' meant 1 percent,' a reference to their argument the country's top few have too much wealth and political power. In Los Angeles, more than 100 protesters crowded outside a Bank of America branch downtown, while a smaller group dressed in business attire slipped inside and pitched a tent. Eleven were arrested when they refused to remove the tent. In Washington, protesters carried signs that read: 'Human Needs, Not Corporate Greed' and 'Stop the War on Workers.'
Foulness and chaos is not a political cause.
I could go all Sammitch here and equivocate saying "Hey, I can sympathize with some of these people too." I finally paid off my own student loan in Jan 2005 (much less quickly than I expected). And one of the photos here actually shows a guy with a sign acknowledging that "Obama dines with Wallstreet", apparently knowing that Obama's largest campaign contributors were the Wall Street investment firms. That's certainly a sentiment I agree with.
But among the crowd, you can see signs that are contradictory and polar opposite in message, standing right next to each other. Interpreting the meaning of these protests is something of a Rorschach test, that each pulls in the direction of their own agenda. While all-encompassing in a multitude of contradictory political directions, the thrust is marxist-socialist, wealth redistribution, social justice, fundamental transformation, anti-capitalist, and often blatantly America hating (see the guy with the desecrated flag).
And the usual lefties who are part of the problem such as Michael Moore, Susan Sarandon, Charles Rangel, Keith Olbermann, etc., are all there to pour their own special brand of kerosine on the fire.
Liberals who bemoan discrimination, intolerance, restraint of Constitutional freedoms, and promotion of hatred toward various abberant minorities, have absolutely no problem with discriminating against, being intolerant of, restricting Constitutional freedoms of, and directing hate-filled scapegoat rhetoric against conservatives.
EXACTLY what they accuse Republicans/conservatives of doing, is EXACTLY what liberals/Democrats do themselves, to those who oppose their beliefs.
SEE MORE PHOTOS FINANCIAL DISTRICT — Twenty-one restaurant workers lost their jobs last week because of the disruptions caused by the Occupy Wall Street protests, the cafe owner said Tuesday.
Marc Epstein, owner of the Milk Street Cafe at 40 Wall St., said he had no choice but to let nearly a quarter of his staff go last Friday after he saw his sales drop by 30 percent in the six weeks since the protests started.
"What are [the protesters] trying to accomplish here?" Epstein asked Monday. "The end result is that I and all the wonderful people who work for me are collateral damage."
Epstein said he supports people's right to protest, but said the biggest problem is the police barricades that have lined Wall Street since Sept. 17, making it difficult for people to see his restaurant and cross the street to get to it. Epstein has also had to contend with closed subway entrances, police checkpoints and frequent Occupy Wall Street marches, which he said have dampened the Financial District's formerly thriving street life.
"Now, Wall Street is deserted," Epstein said. "The only people who walk down Wall Street are people who have to walk down Wall Street. It's transformed from a beautiful pedestrian mall to a police siege."
Epstein just opened the 23,000-square-foot Milk Street Cafe in June, marking the first expansion of the eatery and catering business with the same name that he and his wife opened in Boston 30 years ago. Using loans and private investors, Epstein poured $4 million into the project and said he was proud to be part of lower Manhattan's revitalization.
On the restaurant's first day in June, former Deputy Mayor Stephen Goldsmith helped ring an "opening bell" and praised Epstein for creating much-needed new jobs in the city.
The restaurant's sales grew steadily over the summer, and Epstein said he was on track to break even by October or November at the latest.
But now, Epstein said he isn't sure how much longer he'll be able to keep his doors open. In addition to laying off 21 of his 97 workers last week, he also cut back the restaurant's operating hours and now closes at 3:30 p.m. Monday through Thursday, rather than 9 p.m.
"If we don't get these barricades down, we will be out of business," Epstein said Monday. "I give myself three weeks."
Epstein said he is frustrated that he cannot get anyone at the city to return his calls, and he said he would never open another business in New York if this one fails.
On Monday, Epstein did manage to speak on the phone to Donald Trump, his landlord, and Trump said he would try to intervene with the city to get the barricades removed, Epstein said.
Marc LaVorgna, spokesman for the Mayor's Office, said the city wants to help Epstein.
"We have been working closely with the community to address the issues caused by the Occupy Wall Street protesters and will continue to do so," LaVorgna said in an e-mail.
Mayor Michael Bloomberg criticized the Occupy Wall Street protesters in October for negatively impacting local businesses and said they are "trying to destroy jobs."
Occupy Wall Street released a statement Tuesday saying that the blame for the barricades rests with the NYPD, not the protesters.
"The NYPD makes the decisions on the part of police barricades," the statement said in part.
"This is not our choice and we would never want businesses to have to deal with inconveniences that may reduce their business traffic."
The NYPD and Trump's spokeswoman did not immediately respond to requests for comment Tuesday.
The issue of the Wall Street barricades has come up at recent community meetings, and NYPD officers have repeatedly said that the security barriers must remain in place because the protesters do not give advance notice of their marches and routes.
Epstein said he supports people's right to protest, and is proud to have participated in a massive 1987 march on Washington to free oppressed Jews from the Soviet Union.
But he said he couldn't condone Occupy Wall Street's tactics.
"This movement is not serious," Epstein said. "If it was, they would not want small businesses going out of business."
I love how you can't find a FAUXNews video that proves they're "Fair & Balanced", but can easily throw-up their normal Right-wing propaganda machine....
Originally Posted By: Prometheus
Meanwhile, none of this has changed...
Originally Posted By: Prometheus
The protestor, Veteran of the Iraq war and Marine Scott Olsen, was standing still when shot, unprovoked, in the head with a teargas canister. He is currently in the hospital in a coma, and has a very real chance of dying from his injuries. This man made it safely thorough a war, to be struck down by a fellow American. I hope all those that stand against The Global Occupy Movement are proud of yourselves, and of your law enforcement. This makes me sick, and so does anyone who thinks this is acceptable behavior by the Police. There's no other way to spin it. It is exactly what it is.
Oh, and I dare anyone to scream "Olbermann!" I could give a shit who's on the screen. The facts are still facts.
Originally Posted By: Prometheus
Originally Posted By: The Shills
DIRTY HIPPIES!! How dare they worry about their homes and families! Don't they know these corporations are JOB CREATORS!!
Originally Posted By: Prometheus
Glad to see there's still a honest judge out there...
Originally Posted By: Prometheus
Judge tells Tennessee to stop arresting Occupy protesters By Joe Sutton, CNN updated 9:02 AM EST, Tue November 1, 2011
Quote:
(CNN) -- A judge told Tennessee officials on Monday to stop enforcing new rules that have been used to arrest Occupy protesters in Nashville.
The decision was a victory for the fledgling movement and for the American Civil Liberties Union of Tennessee, which sought a temporary restraining order to block a curfew put in place last week.
U.S. District Judge Aleta Trauger issued the order, which state officials did not fight.
"Political expression deserves the highest level of protection and it was unacceptable for the state to suddenly shut down protesters' speech and forcibly oust them from Legislative Plaza that has long been used as a place for peaceful expression," said Hedy Weinberg, executive director at the ACLU of Tennessee.
"The state conceded that the temporary restraining order should be issued and we hope that this is the first step (that) the state is recommitting itself to safeguarding -- not thwarting -- public political expression," she added.
Efforts by CNN to reach officials in the state attorney general's office were not successful.
The order will remain in effect for 21 days. A hearing in the case is scheduled for November 21.
Demonstrators across the country are protesting what they consider to be corporate greed and corruption as part of the weeks-long "Occupy" movement. Many say the nation's wealthiest 1% hold inordinate sway over the remaining 99% of the population.
In Tennessee, protesters have gathered at Legislative Plaza in downtown Nashville since early October.
Authorities issued the new rules on Thursday, requiring protesters to have permits and restricting the times they would be allowed to gather.
In subsequent days, protesters were arrested, including more than two dozen overnight Saturday, after they defied the curfew imposed by the state's governor. Most received citations for trespassing, while two others were cited for public intoxication.
Liberals who bemoan discrimination, intolerance, restraint of Constitutional freedoms, and promotion of hatred toward various abberant minorities, have absolutely no problem with discriminating against, being intolerant of, restricting Constitutional freedoms of, and directing hate-filled scapegoat rhetoric against conservatives.
EXACTLY what they accuse Republicans/conservatives of doing, is EXACTLY what liberals/Democrats do themselves, to those who oppose their beliefs.
I love how you can't find a FAUXNews video that proves they're "Fair & Balanced", but can easily throw-up their normal Right-wing propaganda machine....
I love how you can't back up the notion that Fox News (or the other sources I cited) are just "right wing propaganda".
It's factual beyond question that Soros, MoveOn, CodePink, SEIU and other liberal front groups are organizing these protests.
It's factual beyond question that these protests required massive organization to "just happen" simultaneously worldwide, that these liberal front groups provided.
It's factual beyond question (that two polls I posted demonstrate) that the major thrust of these protests is marxist/socialist/anti-capitalist, and even anti-American. With people defacating on police cars, violence against police and others, running around naked and having public sex and other assorted uncivil chaos that the Tea Party did not indulge in.
Liberals who bemoan discrimination, intolerance, restraint of Constitutional freedoms, and promotion of hatred toward various abberant minorities, have absolutely no problem with discriminating against, being intolerant of, restricting Constitutional freedoms of, and directing hate-filled scapegoat rhetoric against conservatives.
EXACTLY what they accuse Republicans/conservatives of doing, is EXACTLY what liberals/Democrats do themselves, to those who oppose their beliefs.
Agreed. That's also assuming that the actual reason is because of The Movement. But, I'm sure they would have no reason to lie or exaggerate such a thing...
the article seemed to suggest it coincided with the movement but didn't offer enough to draw a direct correlation. again, that's assuming the article is completely honest, but that'd just bring us right back to the old selective skepticism...
the article seemed to suggest it coincided with the movement but didn't offer enough to draw a direct correlation. again, that's assuming the article is completely honest, but that'd just bring us right back to the old selective skepticism...
It seems clear that across the board, local businesses are hurt by the movement.
(Updates with CBO report in sixth paragraph and Oakland arrests under ‘Not as Tolerant’ subhead.)
Oct. 25 (Bloomberg) -- Occupy Wall Street protests assailing income inequality, joblessness and big banks may have some unintended consequences. They’re hurting nearby merchants as police barricades deter shoppers.
“If this doesn’t stop soon I will be out of business,” said Marc Epstein, 53, president of Milk Street Cafe on Wall Street, less than a block from the New York Stock Exchange.
Sales have dropped about 20 percent since the protests began last month and the 103 jobs created by the cafe’s opening in June are now at risk, said Epstein, who is not alone. Caroline Anderson, general manager of Boutique Tourbillon, a Wall Street jewelry store, said customer traffic is down about 20 percent, and Vincent Alessi, a managing partner at Bobby Van’s Steakhouse on Broad Street, said his lunch business has been cut in half.
The Occupy Wall Street movement that began in New York with about 1,000 people on Sept. 17 has spread to cities on four continents as demonstrators from London to Rome and Chicago to Sydney have pitched tents in public spaces. Police, whose displays of force also may be hurting business as they block access to tourist destinations, have arrested hundreds.
“These protesters don’t understand the consequences of their actions,” Epstein said. “Who’s going to create the jobs they’re banging their drums for?”
INCOME INEQUALITY
Participants say they represent “the 99 percent,” a reference to Nobel Prize-winning economist Joseph Stiglitz’s study showing the richest 1 percent of Americans control 40 percent of U.S. wealth. A Congressional Budget Office report released today shows that from 1979 to 2007, after-tax income grew by 275 percent for the top 1 percent of households, compared with 18 percent for the bottom 20 percent.
As Wall Street banks reported earnings this month, financial executives made little or no mention of the protests’ impact on their business. Firms including Bank of America Corp., JPMorgan Chase & Co. and Citigroup Inc. have their main New York offices in Midtown, about three miles from the protest epicenter in Lower Manhattan’s Zuccotti Park.
At Kenjo, a watch retailer adjacent to Milk Street Cafe, the barricades have killed the lunch-hour rush, Artice Jones, the manager, said yesterday as he looked around a store devoid of customers.
“If it stays this way for the rest of the month, it’s not going to look good going into November,” Jones said.
SALES PLUNGE
Sales have plunged 40 percent at Paternoster Chop House near the London Stock Exchange, said manager Gerhard Jacobs, whose waiters greet customers at the metal barricades and escort them through the square that police have cordoned off.
“Not only is it affecting my general trade, it’s also affecting my future business,” Jacobs said. “We’ve got inquiries for weddings and exclusive hirings who are now considering taking their business to other restaurants because of the uncertainty of how long this may carry on.”
Alessi, the steakhouse manager, said customers are “fed up” and are seeking out more convenient places to eat.
“We’re tired of being herded through barricades like cattle,” he said.
Paul Browne, a spokesman for the New York City Police Department, didn’t respond to e-mails inviting comment on how the barricades have hurt businesses in the area.
TOO EARLY
It’s too early to tell whether the protests are damaging the real estate market in New York’s Financial District, where pending apartment sales have slumped 26 percent in the past month, compared with an 8.8 percent decline for all of Manhattan, said Noah Rosenblatt, founder of UrbanDigs.com, a real estate data and consulting firm.
Beth Bogart, 55, a documentary filmmaker from New York’s West Village who has volunteered at the Zuccotti Park press table for the past three weeks, said she has encouraged occupiers, visitors and journalists to help local businesses.
“It’s a fairness issue; this cart was here before we were here,” she said, pointing to the food and apparel vendors that line the park’s south border. “We have to make sure that since we are here he doesn’t go out of business. That would be an incredible injustice.”
TEASHOPS, TENTS
Some businesses have benefited from the influx of protesters and curious tourists.
A teashop that faces about 100 tents pitched in front of London’s St. Paul’s Cathedral has drawn lines of customers stretching to the door as people converged on the area to witness the protests, said waitress Zanete Cakane.
Some merchants near the European Central Bank headquarters in Frankfurt, where protesters have pitched about 80 tents, are benefiting from the movement.
“If anything, we are getting more business from the demonstrators,” said Isabelle Baelly, 54, who runs a newsstand across from the ECB. “They are very peaceful and we have been letting them use our bathroom facilities and Internet.”
Sales are up as much as $1,000 a day at the Pret A Manger sandwich shop a block and a half north of Zuccotti Park, said Shamirah Dillard, a store manager.
“It’s been good, definitely,” she said in an interview. Weekends and days with scheduled marches bring the greatest peaks in extra sales, especially for hot drinks, which more than cover the increased costs of toilet paper and maintenance to keep the two bathrooms clean, she said.
NOT AS TOLERANT
About four in 10 Americans say they support the Occupy Wall Street movement, according to a Pew Research Center/Washington Post poll released yesterday. Almost as many, 35 percent, say they oppose the protests. The telephone survey of 1,009 adults was conducted Oct. 20-23 and had an error margin of plus or minus 4 percentage points.
While New York’s protesters are being allowed to stay at their encampment, officials in other cities haven’t been as tolerant. About 4:30 a.m. local time today, police in Oakland, California, arrested 85 protesters who’d been staying in a park near City Hall, said Sue Piper, a spokeswoman for Mayor Jean Quan. Demonstrators in Denver and Trenton, New Jersey, have also been evicted.
Protesters initially struggled to build momentum, drawing a fraction of the 20,000 participants that organizers such as Adbusters, a group promoting the movement, aimed to lure to lower Manhattan last month. Prior to the Occupy Wall Street movement, Adbusters gained attention for what critics called an anti-Semitic essay published in 2004.
Amos Winbush III, a Wall Street resident, said he has stopped frequenting a local Thai restaurant and started ordering groceries for delivery.
“I’m super passionate about the movement, but the frustration is feeling like you’re in a war zone with barricades in front of my apartment and cops with big guns standing around,” Winbush, 28, said inside a Brooks Brothers store across the street from Zuccotti Park. “We were okay being a little uncomfortable for a couple of weeks, but after six weeks it gets to be a little much.”
--With assistance from Namitha Jagadeesh in London, Alex Webb in Frankfurt and Katie Spencer in New York. Editors: Peter Eichenbaum, Dan Reichl, Mark Schoifet
To contact the reporters on this story: Charles Mead in New York at cmead11@bloomberg.net; Esme E. Deprez in New York at edeprez@bloomberg.net
To contact the editors responsible for this story: David Scheer at dscheer@bloomberg.net; Mark Tannenbaum at mtannen@bloomberg.net
In fairness, it lists a few businesses in Franfurt and London near protests that are seeing an increase in business, such as sandwich shops and streetside tea shops.
But any nicer restaurant that offers cuisine and atmosphere is seeing a loss of business. Interesting was a Wall Street resident who favors the OWS protests, but won't go to his favorite restaurant because of the protests he favors!
Liberals who bemoan discrimination, intolerance, restraint of Constitutional freedoms, and promotion of hatred toward various abberant minorities, have absolutely no problem with discriminating against, being intolerant of, restricting Constitutional freedoms of, and directing hate-filled scapegoat rhetoric against conservatives.
EXACTLY what they accuse Republicans/conservatives of doing, is EXACTLY what liberals/Democrats do themselves, to those who oppose their beliefs.
Poorest poor in US hits new record: 1 in 15 people
WASHINGTON (AP) — The ranks of America's poorest poor have climbed to a record high — 1 in 15 people — spread widely across metropolitan areas as the housing bust pushed many inner-city poor into suburbs and other outlying places and shriveled jobs and income.
New census data paint a stark portrait of the nation's haves and have-nots at a time when unemployment remains persistently high. It comes a week before the government releases first-ever economic data that will show more Hispanics, elderly and working-age poor have fallen into poverty.
In all, the numbers underscore the breadth and scope by which the downturn has reached further into mainstream America.
"There now really is no unaffected group, except maybe the very top income earners," said Robert Moffitt, a professor of economics at Johns Hopkins University. "Recessions are supposed to be temporary, and when it's over, everything returns to where it was before. But the worry now is that the downturn — which will end eventually — will have long-lasting effects on families who lose jobs, become worse off and can't recover."
Traditional inner-city black ghettos are thinning out and changing, drawing in impoverished Hispanics who have low-wage jobs or are unemployed. Neighborhoods with poverty rates of at least 40 percent are stretching over broader areas, increasing in suburbs at twice the rate of cities.
Once-booming Sun Belt metro areas are now seeing some of the biggest jumps in concentrated poverty.
Signs of a growing divide between rich and poor can be seen in places such as the upscale Miami suburb of Miami Shores, where nannies gather with their charges at a playground nestled between the township's sprawling golf course and soccer fields. The locale is a far cry from where many of them live.
One is Mariana Gripaldi, 36, an Argentinian who came to the U.S. about 10 years ago to escape her own country's economic crisis. She and her husband rent a two-bedroom apartment near Biscayne Bay in a middle-class neighborhood at the north end of Miami Beach, far from the chic hotels and stores.
But Gripaldi said in the past two years, the neighborhood has seen an increase in crime.
"The police come sometimes once or twice a night," she said in Spanish. "We are looking for a new place, but it's so expensive. My husband went to look at a place, and it was $1,500 for a two-bedroom, one bath. I don't like the changes, but I don't know if we can move."
About 20.5 million Americans, or 6.7 percent of the U.S. population, make up the poorest poor, defined as those at 50 percent or less of the official poverty level. Those living in deep poverty represent nearly half of the 46.2 million people scraping by below the poverty line. In 2010, the poorest poor meant an income of $5,570 or less for an individual and $11,157 for a family of four.
That 6.7 percent share is the highest in the 35 years that the Census Bureau has maintained such records, surpassing previous highs in 2009 and 1993 of just over 6 percent.
Broken down by states, 40 states and the District of Columbia had increases in the poorest poor since 2007, and none saw decreases. The District of Columbia ranked highest at 10.7 percent, followed by Mississippi and New Mexico. Nevada had the biggest jump, rising from 4.6 percent to 7 percent.
Concentrated poverty also spread wider.
After declining during the 1990s economic boom, the proportion of poor people in large metropolitan areas who lived in high-poverty neighborhoods jumped from 11.2 percent in 2000 to 15.1 percent last year, according to a Brookings Institution analysis released Thursday. Such geographically concentrated poverty in the U.S. is now at the highest since 1990, following a decade of high unemployment and rising energy costs.
Extreme poverty today continues to be prevalent in the industrial Midwest, including Detroit, Grand Rapids, Mich., and Akron, Ohio, due to a renewed decline in manufacturing. But the biggest growth in high-poverty areas is occurring in newer Sun Belt metro areas such as Las Vegas, Riverside, Calif., and Cape Coral, Fla., after the plummeting housing market wiped out home values and dried up construction jobs.
As a whole, the number of poor in the suburbs who lived in high-poverty neighborhoods rose by 41 percent since 2000, more than double the growth of such city neighborhoods.
Elizabeth Kneebone, a senior research associate at Brookings, described a demographic shift in people living in high-poverty neighborhoods, which have less access to good schools, hospitals and government services. As concentrated poverty spreads to new areas, including suburbs, the residents are now more likely to be white, native-born and high school or college graduates — not the conventional image of high-school dropouts or single mothers in inner-city ghettos.
The more recent broader migration of the U.S. population, including working- and middle-class blacks, to the South and to suburbs helps explain some of the shifts in poverty.
A study by the Joint Center for Political and Economic Studies found that the population of 133 historically black ghettos had dropped 36 percent since 1970, as the U.S. black population growth slowed and many blacks moved to new areas. The newest residents in these ghettos are now more likely to be Hispanic, who have more than tripled their share in the neighborhoods, to 21 percent.
Just over 7 percent of all African-Americans nationwide now live in traditional ghettos, down from 33 percent in 1970.
"As extreme-poverty neighborhoods emerge in more places, that is shifting the general makeup of those populations," said Kneebone, the lead author of the Brookings analysis.
New 2010 poverty data to be released next week by the Census Bureau will show additional demographic changes.
The new supplemental poverty measure for the first time will take into account non-cash aid such as tax credits and food stamps, but also additional everyday costs such as commuting and medical care. Official poverty figures released in September only take into account income before tax deductions.
Based on newly released estimates for 2009, the new measure will show a significant jump in overall poverty. Poverty for Americans 65 and older is on track to nearly double after factoring in rising out-of-pocket medical expenses, from 9 percent to over 15 percent. Poverty increases are also anticipated for the working-age population because of commuting and child-care costs, while child poverty will dip partly due to the positive effect of food stamps.
For the first time, the share of Hispanics living in poverty is expected to surpass that of African-Americans based on the new measure, reflecting in part the lower participation of immigrants and non-English speakers in government aid programs such as housing and food stamps. The 2009 census estimates show 27.6 percent of all Hispanics living in poverty, compared with 23.4 percent for blacks.
Alba Alvarez, 52, a nanny who chatted recently in Miami, said she is lucky because her employer rents an apartment to her and her husband at a low rate in a comfortable neighborhood on the bay. But her adult children, who followed her to the U.S. from Honduras, are having a tougher time.
They initially found work in a regional wholesale fruit and vegetable market that supplies many local supermarkets. But her youngest son recently lost his job, and since he has no legal status, he cannot get any help from the government.
"As a mother, I feel so horrible. There's this sense of powerlessness. I wanted things to be better for them in this country," Alvarez said. "I (recently) suggested my youngest go back to Honduras. It's easier for me to help him there than here, where rent and everything is so expensive."
The veteran, 32-year-old Kayvan Sabeghi, underwent surgery on Friday for a ruptured spleen. Before he went into surgery, Sabeghi told his sister that he was walking to his home near Frank Ogawa Plaza when he was stopped by police, hit in the abdomen four times and then arrested and taken to jail where he could not receive medical treatment.
Sabeghi is a former Army ranger who served two tours in Iraq and Afghanistan. Sabeghi's sister Shoole Sabeghi said her brother dedicated his life to serving his country and that he did not deserve the treatment he received Wednesday night.
"I am absolutely furious," Sabeghi said. "I'm absolutely furious at the way they treated my little brother. I'm so mad. They hurt him and then they refused to help him."
Sabeghi underwent surgery at Highland for about two hours. Doctors tried to repair his spleen, which was apparently ruptured after Sabeghi was beaten and arrested.
"Just because you have the power to do so does't mean you have the right to do so," Sabeghi said. "You can't treat people that way. If someone is injured...you have to take care of them."
His sister said Sabeghi spent the night in a jail cell and was refused medical treatment for nearly 24 hours.
"At one point he asked for assistance and they told him to stop taking heroin," Sabeghi said. "Another time they told him he was an alcholic and a diabetic, neither of which are true."
It's the second time in two weeks that an Iraq war veteran has been injured in violence between protesters and police.
Sabeghi was suffering from internal bleeding and vomiting. Sabeghi's sister charges Alameda County deputies with not helping him and said they have not heard back from authorities.
In a statement to ABC7, the Alameda County Sheriff's Department said they have heard claims that Sabeghi didn't receive medical attention and are launching an investigation, which will include reviewing video from Wednesday's incident.
The Oakland Police Department said they are also launching an investigation.
Sabeghi is out of surgery and is recovering in the intensive care unit.
Originally Posted By: The Shills
"Sabeghi"? That doesn't sound Merican OR white! Scum deserved it!
Even between salivating over every oh-so-heroic action of the protestors, they still manage to let slip through some of the realities of what the officers have to deal with:
Quote:
Some demonstrators set the barricade aflame. Firefighters doused it. A police statement later said protesters had hurled rocks, explosives, bottles and flaming objects at officers.
and
Quote:
Three protesters were hospitalized and several officers received minor injuries after Occupy Oakland protesters took over a downtown office building and police in riot gear fired tear gas at them
Several dozen people were arrested in the clash early Thursday morning in the Oakland protests that had drawn thousands of participants.
Hours later, the office building had been cleared and workers were boarding up other damaged structures at the Civic Center.
If they were "boarding up damaged structures" that would tend to indicate some considerable damage from the protests. And while it is whitewashed as peaceful protest, and how protesters condemned police action, it is clear there definitely were attacks by protestors on police.
Virtually no media reportage is given to the injuries of officers, who are continuously attacked with rocks, bottles and molotov cocktails. Downplayed as "minor injuries" in this article.
This could be a Kent State situation where innocent people were erroneously fired on. But there certainly are many attacks on police --and injuries of police-- as endless articles are written propagandizing these protestors, virtually nominating them for sainthood.
What I see is this: Police repeatedly ask crowds to disperse for long periods before advancing on them with tear-gas and so forth to make them disperse and make arrests. And former military persons, of all people, should know how to read the advance signs of danger and fall back. These guys were active participants in the protests, and my initial impression is that for all the propaganda otherwise, these guys were on the front lines looking for trouble, and got it back in spades.
Still waiting for a decent article about the Oakland officers who were injured just doing their job.
Yeah I know. It's almost as if those poor policeman's stories were exaggerated or not covered because of their fictional status, huh? Hmmm. Weird. Meanwhile, there's plenty evidence of this going on...
The veteran, 32-year-old Kayvan Sabeghi, underwent surgery on Friday for a ruptured spleen. Before he went into surgery, Sabeghi told his sister that he was walking to his home near Frank Ogawa Plaza when he was stopped by police, hit in the abdomen four times and then arrested and taken to jail where he could not receive medical treatment.
Sabeghi is a former Army ranger who served two tours in Iraq and Afghanistan. Sabeghi's sister Shoole Sabeghi said her brother dedicated his life to serving his country and that he did not deserve the treatment he received Wednesday night.
"I am absolutely furious," Sabeghi said. "I'm absolutely furious at the way they treated my little brother. I'm so mad. They hurt him and then they refused to help him."
Sabeghi underwent surgery at Highland for about two hours. Doctors tried to repair his spleen, which was apparently ruptured after Sabeghi was beaten and arrested.
"Just because you have the power to do so does't mean you have the right to do so," Sabeghi said. "You can't treat people that way. If someone is injured...you have to take care of them."
His sister said Sabeghi spent the night in a jail cell and was refused medical treatment for nearly 24 hours.
"At one point he asked for assistance and they told him to stop taking heroin," Sabeghi said. "Another time they told him he was an alcholic and a diabetic, neither of which are true."
It's the second time in two weeks that an Iraq war veteran has been injured in violence between protesters and police.
Sabeghi was suffering from internal bleeding and vomiting. Sabeghi's sister charges Alameda County deputies with not helping him and said they have not heard back from authorities.
In a statement to ABC7, the Alameda County Sheriff's Department said they have heard claims that Sabeghi didn't receive medical attention and are launching an investigation, which will include reviewing video from Wednesday's incident.
The Oakland Police Department said they are also launching an investigation.
Sabeghi is out of surgery and is recovering in the intensive care unit.
Originally Posted By: The Shills
"Sabeghi"? That doesn't sound Merican OR white! Scum deserved it!
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