Super Committee may be deal-less

It's not entirely clear that we could get a better deal out of the Super Committee than the automatic cuts.  And as for the committee having "failed," never underestimate the Democrats' ability to cave at the last moment to save an even worse deal. Read the rest of this post...

If the UC Davis police were around in 1776...

Wow. Read the rest of this post...

NASCAR fans boo Michelle Obama and Mrs. Biden. Classy.

Classy.  And contrary to what ABC said, this isn't a reflection of how divided the country is.  It's a reflection of what we've always known about the south, and of how the GOP is now the party of nasty, intolerant, angry people.  Suggesting that the country is divided, when the only reason we're divided is because one party has been taken over by crazy people, doesn't exactly fully explain what's going on. Read the rest of this post...

President of Univ of California system: "I am appalled"

Bra-vo.  Though it might have been nice for him to have been appalled two days ago.

He's the boss of the UC Davis Chancellor. Oh to have been a fly on the wall to witness whatever happened behind the scenes to suddenly make these university administrators care.  The President didn't say boo on Friday, or Saturday.  And the Chancellor blamed the students on Friday. Read the rest of this post...

Shepard Fairey’s Occupy Hope poster—"Mr President, we HOPE you’re on our side"

Shepard Fairey is the man who did the iconic Hope poster that boosted the Obama 2008 campaign.

This is his latest, an Occupy Hope poster for the Occupy campaign. As you can see, his thinking seems to have evolved (h/t Amanda Terkel for the link).


Click the pic for a full-sized GIF image, suitable for reproduction. As Fairey said: "[F]eel free to share it." The rest of Fairey's statement is here.

You don't have to agree with his support for Obama — or his hope — to support his support of Occupy.

(Me, I live in Hope that Obama will Change, but I spend part of my day with fictional characters. Maybe that explains it.)

There's certainly no question that this great image stands on its own.

GP Read the rest of this post...

Wall Street dumps money into smear campaign against Occupy movement

Of course they're doing this. They have everything to gain by smearing their critics. Remember back to when the banks were all on life support, kept afloat only because of taxpayer bailouts and they still found money to dump into lobbying against reform. It's what they do. The worst part is that too many Democrats are afraid to embrace the reform that they know the public wants. Heaven forbid they support the dirty masses rather than the campaign contributors. The Democrats continue to provide much reason to vote for them other than "we suck less than the GOP."

A well-known Washington lobbying firm with links to the financial industry has proposed an $850,000 plan to take on Occupy Wall Street and politicians who might express sympathy for the protests, according to a memo obtained by the MSNBC program “Up w/ Chris Hayes.”

The proposal was written on the letterhead of the lobbying firm Clark Lytle Geduldig & Cranford and addressed to one of CLGC’s clients, the American Bankers Association.

CLGC’s memo proposes that the ABA pay CLGC $850,000 to conduct “opposition research” on Occupy Wall Street in order to construct “negative narratives” about the protests and allied politicians. The memo also asserts that Democratic victories in 2012 would be detrimental for Wall Street and targets specific races in which it says Wall Street would benefit by electing Republicans instead.

Read the rest of this post...

Two UC Davis cops suspended for attack on peaceful students, univ chancellor suddenly very concerned

UPDATE: Last night, UC Davis chancellor forced to walk through 3 block long line of students, sitting peacefully, glaring at her in silence. Brilliant. This is what democracy looks like. (I believe the video is from this person.)



CBS is reporting that:

Two UC Davis police officers have been placed on administrative leave following their use of pepper spray in Friday's arrest of protesters.

NYT's Brian Stelter tweets more:

UC Davis update: 2 cops suspended, I've confirmed; chancellor now wants investigation done in 30 days, instead of 90. Blog post coming.

Background on this story here.

And some people told me it couldn't be done. That the chancellor would never care about public outrage. Ha. She's singing a different tune now than she was two days ago. As are the cops.

Here's one story on this latest development, not much in it yet.

The chancellor is singing another tune now (remember, on Friday she blamed the students):

“I spoke with students this weekend, and I feel their outrage,” said UC Davis Chancellor Linda P. B. Katehi. “I have also heard from an overwhelming number of students, faculty, staff and alumni from around the country. I am deeply saddened that this happened on our campus, and as chancellor, I take full responsibility for the incident. However, I pledge to take the actions needed to ensure that this does not happen again. I feel very sorry for the harm our students were subjected to and I vow to work tirelessly to make the campus a more welcoming and safe place," said Katehi.

Nice video from last night of the students forming a three block long line that the chancellor had to walk through to leave a press conference. The report is from the local Fox affiliate, it's a bit biased, but still good video. More from the Sacbee:

Saturday evening, after holding a news conference to address intense nationwide media interest, UC Davis Chancellor Linda P.B. Katehi walked through a blocks-long gantlet of students, who stood silently as she passed to a waiting SUV. Katehi had stayed inside the building for more than two hours after the conference.

Read the rest of this post...

Cop defends UC Davis attack on OWS protesters, says female coed should have been beaten for moving her arm

AP interviewed a former cop who prepared Baltimore's use of force guidelines (Baltimore just happens to be one of the most violent-crime-ridden cities in the country). He says it's standard procedure what the UC Davis cops did to the passive protesters there, pepper spraying them in the face, instead of just arresting them, for simply sitting peacefully on a sidewalk. In fact, he says they could have beaten the protesters with batons too, for simply moving an arm or crawling up in a ball. First his comments, then a few words:

Charles J. Kelly, a former Baltimore Police Department lieutenant who wrote the department's use of force guidelines, said pepper spray is a "compliance tool" that can be used on subjects who do not resist, and is preferable to simply lifting protesters.

"When you start picking up human bodies, you risk hurting them," Kelly said. "Bodies don't have handles on them."

After reviewing the video, Kelly said he observed at least two cases of "active resistance" from protesters. In one instance, a woman pulls her arm back from an officer. In the second instance, a protester curls into a ball. Each of those actions could have warranted more force, including baton strikes and pressure-point techniques.

"What I'm looking at is fairly standard police procedure," Kelly said.

Yes, curling up in a ball means the cops get to beat the crap out of you.

First off, we know the problem of police brutality against Occupy Wall Street protesters isn't limited to UC Davis. It's been happening around the country. So it's no surprise that other police forces think it's a-okay what UC Davis did. That is simply more evidence of a nationwide problem.

Second, note how the cop contradicts himself in an effort to defend the UC Davis police. He says that "you risk hurting" people who are sitting down when you lift them to arrest them. So, it's better to pepper spray them in the face first and then lift them to arrest them anyway? That doesn't even make any sense. He goes on to suggest that they several of the students, including a young woman, deserved to be beaten with batons too, then lifted and arrested.

Are you seeing the larger problem here? We have a nationwide problem with police violence in this country, as evidence by this officer condoning the violence used in UC Davis, and suggesting the cops should have beaten a co ed to boot. Disturbingly similar response by police force after police force in city after city to peaceful protesters. So should we really be surprised that the AP found one cop in a crime ridden city who thinks the kids should have beaten too?

Just because lots of cop agree to the violence doesn't mean the violence was justified. It could also mean that we have a nationwide problem of cops who think unnecessary violence is a-okay.

PS AP repeats the UC Davis' police lie, about needing to use pepper spray to escape the seated students who had encircled them.

"The students had encircled the officers," she said Saturday. "They needed to exit. They were looking to leave but were unable to get out."

What a lie.

As I explained yesterday, with video and photo evidence, the cops didn't need to use the pepper spray in order to exit the circle of seated students. We know this because the cop who used the pepper spray simply stepped over the student circle and then pepper sprayed everyone in the face from outside the circle. He clearly didn't need to pepper spray the students in order to exit if he already exited first in order to better pepper spray them.

It's a lie. And sadly, from my experience working on crime issues in the past, I've seen lots of official lies come from police forces and cities. They think no one would dare challenge their lies, and they're wrong.  The police were "unable to get out" except the cop who got out quite easily and attacked peaceful students. Read the rest of this post...

Gingrich storms to lead in latest poll

How embarrassing for Romney, who just hasn't been able to win over the GOP voters. The "anyone besides Mitt" race continues.

Presidential candidate Newt Gingrich has roared into the lead of the Republican nominating race, brushing off concerns about his work for a troubled housing company, a Reuters/Ipsos poll showed.

Twenty-four percent of registered Republican voters would support the former speaker of the U.S. House of Representatives if the contest were held now, an increase of 8 percentage points from roughly a week ago, according to the poll, which was conducted on November 18-19.

Mitt Romney, the former Massachusetts governor who has stayed near the top of most polls, garnered support from 22 percent of Republicans, slumping 6 percentage points from the last survey conducted on November 10-11 and ending up essentially tied with Gingrich.

Read the rest of this post...

The Ruling Class links arms—Journalist suspended from National Press Club for asking tough question of Saudi prince

This is a story of the New Untouchables, the Top 1% of the 1%. That's the top 0.01% if you're following at home. (For more tales of the Ruling Class and their arms, try this.)

At the level of these guys, it's all one club, whether in government or out, nominal Democrat or nominal Republican, nominal American or nominal Not. Their feet never touch the ground, flowers are strewn before them when they walk, and the rabble allowed in their presence are slapped if they don't know their place.

Who enforces those rules? In a kingdom (say, the Saudi Kingdom), it's the Retainers, the Top 0.5%, who work to keep the overlords in their place.

In the U.S., apparently, it's the National Press Club.

Here's a perfect example. Via Jeremy Scahill comes this report of how the Elite protects the Elite — in this case, how the Power Press covers for the Powerful.

Remember, the National Press Club is the press organization, and their meetings are real press conferences, not just buddy-boy (and girl) lunches — though they are that too.

The whole story is here. The journalist who got in trouble asked this question of that day's guest, Saudi Prince Turki (my emphasis, links in the transcript):

Husseini: There’s been a lot of talk about the legitimacy of the Syrian regime, I want to know what legitimacy your regime has sir. You come before us, representative of one of the most autocratic, misogynistic regimes on the face of the earth. Human Rights Watch and other reports of torture detention of activist, you squelched the democratic uprising in Bahrain, you tried to overturn the democratic uprising in Egypt and indeed you continue to oppress your own people. What legitimacy does you[r] regime have — other than billions of dollars and weapons?

Strong stuff, but perfectly fair. And accurate — check the links.

The very same day Husseini was suspended. At issue was "House Rule 4." From the letter Husseini received (my emphasis):

“House Rule No. 4 states: ‘Boisterous and unseemly conduct or language in or about the Club premises or in connection with any Club-sponsored event is prohibited. ... “This matter will be review ed [sic] by the Club’s Ethics Committee. A meeting will be scheduled prior to the end of your two week suspension to discuss your conduct and the violation.

That sounds like "Repent in two weeks or you're out" to me, but I'm not in that club, so I don't know their code.

Perfect, isn't it? Bush holds hands with Saudi princes as president, and they invest in his private-citizen schemes in return. Obama picks up the torch (if not the strolling palms), as did every other president before him who had the chance.

And when someone asks the prince an obvious question — one that would have been applauded had it been directed at one of our current Tabloid Demons (Chavez, for example, or anyone else it's OK to hate) — he gets slapped down. By whom? By his own press club. For the crime of being ... the press.

Their check is in the mail, I guarantee it — good for twelve more units of access and a two-step jump in career advancement. Retainer food.

GP Read the rest of this post...

The Beat - Mirror in the Bathroom

Perfect autumn day over here today with lots of sun out there. I had a great ride along the Marne yesterday along with all of the walkers, joggers, roller-bladers and even rowers on the river who were trying to slip in some exercise while the weather is still nice. A pot of espresso is brewing and then it's off for a longer ride today. Read the rest of this post...

Two dead, hundreds injured in latest Cairo protests

The Egyptian military will not go down easily, but we've been here before. The US-supported military has been so bad lately, that the US has openly complained and told them they need to turn over power to civilians. The longer the old guard clings to power the greater the risk for radicalization by the protesters. If things take a turn for the worse, let's remember that point. The Guardian:

Egypt has been hit by another wave of major violence ahead of parliamentary elections after security forces opened fire on thousands of protesters demonstrating against the military junta.

Two people were reported dead and more than 600 injured in central Cairo after riot police sent volleys of tear gas, rubber bullets and "birdshot" pellet cartridges into the crowds. The clashes put further pressure on the ruling generals and cast doubt on the ability of police to secure the poll, scheduled to begin on 28 November.

"All options are on the table, but right now – given the state Egypt is in – nobody can see how the military council can pull off these elections," said Mahmoud Salem, a prominent blogger who is running for parliament but who has now frozen his campaign. "I'm at the international eye hospital at the moment with my friend Malek Mustafa, who has been shot in the head by police with a pellet cartridge and looks likely to lose his eye. How can I continue?"

Read the rest of this post...

Gaddafi's son Saif al-Islam taken into custody

Send him to The Hague.

Saif al-Islam was arrested near the town of Obari in the south of the country, the officials said.

The former leader's son is the last key member of the Gaddafi family to be captured or killed.

Saif al-Islam is wanted by the International Criminal Court for alleged crimes against humanity during the uprising against his father.

Read the rest of this post...