Out of Pod Experience

Unruly protests are not protests, they are mobs. We have a right to protest... peacefully. If the kiddies can't handle themselves like adults, then they should stay at home and keep whining about how hard their lives are when they've really come from a middle class background where everything was given to them.

There's video after video, which i assume you haven't bothered to watch, showing people peacefully demonstrating and abiding by the barriers police have erected in order to keep them from blocking traffic or anything, and the police walking up to the barriers and macing them for no reason.

You're at something of a disadvantage here, assuming how things are, and trying to argue with people who are actually monitoring the situation.

Who would you say is the aggressor in this situation? In order to have a leg to stand on at all here, you must justify the use of mace in that situation. I'll be patiently waiting.

And even if they are blocking traffic, is that really justification for outright violence towards people who pose no threat to anyone?

It's completely unnecessary violence in most cases. I understand the police are probably frustrated, but we should have people in those positions of authority who can restrain themselves.

Actually, i just remembered how that's part of riot police training: taking a person from a crowd and making an example of them to intimidate the rest. So i suppose it's not really a personal decision.

I actually don't consider pepper spraying to be violence, and believe police are justified in using some force. But please, continue with your fantasy. It was getting interesting.



Citation needed.[/quote]

It's not the kind of thing i can just find on google or something for you. If you don't believe me, that's fine with me.

I agree, and besides it's not a riot.
I edited out what you quoted but I was too slow.

I think this thread needs an interlude until there's some new developments, and with that in mind, i bring you Joey. It gets funnier the more you watch it.

Got reports last night that the police guided them onto a bridge, stopped them for a bit and then proceeded to arrest a few hundred for blocking the bridge

Odd that Tony Bliar stopped the right of the Freemen of the City of London to herd sheep across London Bridge. He did this for the exact same reason - to prevent the protestors doing something which would be visible.

One of my drinking chums has been asked, as a Freeman, to take sheep across the bridge but being a Townie hadn't a clue as to which end was which.

What happened yesterday in the New York protests was overractive by the police. But, then again, we expected this from the authorities; wherever in the world they are.

stoicfaux

- The protests aren't relevant or meaningful to enough people to warrant heavy media coverage. What is being protested? due to financial crisis and bailout, mortgage robo-signing fraud, the economy, banks still not lending money despite the bailout, etc.[ you answer yourself with your own words from the second paragraph]

-What injustice needs to be remedied? intentional fraud is still a crime isn't it? but, let's go arrest some hippies and ignore the large cash elephant in the room.

-What is the goal of the protest? to show that despite everything illegal being done by the financial community [wall street to main street] that it's the hippies being arrested and removed.

-How is interfering with traffic on wall street going to get the attention of law makers and/or voters who have the political will and money to fix the (unstated) problem with Wall Street? how has any protest been used to gather attention on a topic?

cynical realism: Plus, I think that the country is already burned out on Wall Street due to financial crisis and bailout, mortgage robo-signing fraud, the economy, banks still not lending money despite the bailout, etc.. It's easier for the masses suffering from a weak economy and unemployment to focus on "Blame Obama For Everything(tm)," "I'm not Romney(tm)", and the "Tea Party's Plan of Saving the Country by Destroying the Government Strategy(tm)" that's passing for political debate right now.

how do you think the economy got the way it is? too much cookies and milk?

do you really think that 'it's the tea party' tearing apart the u.s. right now? yoink. try this for a bit of light and interesting reading : http://www.truth-out.org/goodbye-all-reflections-gop-operative-who-left-cult/1314907779



fun quote: John P. Judis sums up the modern GOP this way:

"Over the last four decades, the Republican Party has transformed from a loyal opposition into an insurrectionary party that flouts the law when it is in the majority and threatens disorder when it is the minority. It is the party of Watergate and Iran-Contra, but also of the government shutdown in 1995 and the impeachment trial of 1999. If there is an earlier American precedent for today's Republican Party, it is the antebellum Southern Democrats of John Calhoun who threatened to nullify, or disregard, federal legislation they objected to and who later led the fight to secede from the union over slavery."

A couple of years ago, a Republican committee staff director told me candidly (and proudly) what the method was to all this obstruction and disruption. Should Republicans succeed in obstructing the Senate from doing its job, it would further lower Congress's generic favorability rating among the American people. By sabotaging the reputation of an institution of government, the party that is programmatically against government would come out the relative winner.

As long as you have some contract with the military, you can and will fall under the UCMJ. However, is the contract - to include any and all reserve time - has ended, then wearing your uniform for a non-political purpose is perfectly fine. I'll look up any and all relevant articles, just to be sure, but it seems like these guys may be in the clear.

EDIT: As much as I support these guys, sadly this Devil Dog still has a contractual obligation for another two years. Then may be put on "possible recall for life" due to his pay grade. FML. -.-