I called bullshit and Bullshit finally responded: “It’s bullshit.”
Naomi Wolf’s feverish article charging that the crackdowns of occupy locations were being coordinated by federal law enforcement agencies has captured the #OWS collective consciousness.
And, as it turns out, the sole basis for her article — Rick Ellis’s article in Examiner.com — was debunked by Ellis himself nine days before Wolf decided to feed her feverish fact-free article to the frenzied masses.
But let’s back up.
Naomi Wolf: Hunting for a scandal
As you may recall, Michael Moore tweeted on November 15 that the occupy crackdowns were being coordinated by DHS and greenlit by President Obama. When challenged, he pointed to journalist Rick Ellis’s article in Examiner.com. Moore then appeared on Current TV and ran with the crackdown rumor.
Wonkette picked it up and ran with it on November 16, also relying on Ellis’s article. I called bullshit on the 15th and again on the 16th, after which I assumed the issue was settled — at least until Ellis verified his story (as he said he would do in his last update to his article on 15th.)
Days later on November 22, in an error-riddled post on her personal blog, Naomi Wolf picked up the torch:
Now is the time to get cops on board with the OWS movement — especially now that Alternet has broken the story that municipal police are being pushed around by a shadowy private policing consultancy affiliated with DHS. [No, actually Alternet broke no source story, as Joshua Holland, Alternet's senior editor, explains here. -ed.] If you study any closing society decent people get handed monstrous orders and are forced to comply, and right now municipal police are being forced to comply with brutal orders from this corporate police consultancy, by economic pressure.
Three days after that, on November 25, Wolf wrote a post in the Guardian accusing Congress (with the greenlight from the White House, of course) of attempting to wipe the Occupy movement off the map out of fear over one of Occupy Wall Street’s demands.
You see, Wolf, frustrated (ironically so) that the media wasn’t reporting on Occupy Wall Street’s message, solicited occupiers online: “What do you want?” Of the hundreds of answers she received, one answer apparently shocked her so much that it sent her careening down Conspiracy Lane. This shocking OWS demand would “draft laws against the little-known loophole that currently allows members of Congress to pass legislation affecting Delaware-based corporations in which they themselves are investors.” (emphasis hers.)
Got that? Wolf asked a bunch of people on the internets “What does OWS want?”; a bunch of people responded; Wolf created some list of “agenda items” from these online responses; and then melodramatically declares, “When I saw this list – and especially the last agenda item – the scales fell from my eyes.” ::cue ominous music::
For the terrible insight to take away from news that the Department of Homeland Security coordinated a violent crackdown is that the DHS does not freelance. The DHS cannot say, on its own initiative, “we are going after these scruffy hippies”. Rather, DHS is answerable up a chain of command: first, to New York Representative Peter King, head of the House homeland security subcommittee, who naturally is influenced by his fellow congressmen and women’s wishes and interests. And the DHS answers directly, above King, to the president (who was conveniently in Australia at the time) [No. DHS is not "answerable up a chain of command. That is false. DHS is a cabinet-executive committee that does not have a "chain of command"; does not report to Congress (except for a few reports required by law); and does not "answer directly" to either Peter King or President Obama, as Alternet's Josh Holland explains here. -ed.]
In other words, for the DHS to be on a call with mayors, the logic of its chain of command and accountability implies that congressional overseers, with the blessing of the White House, told the DHS to authorise mayors to order their police forces – pumped up with millions of dollars of hardware and training from the DHS – to make war on peaceful citizens.
So what exactly does Wolf think would cause our elected officials to begin waging war on us? Greed, obviously — the need to protect their own economic privilege and to keep hidden information that, according to Wolf, would “surely reveal corruption on a Wall Street spectrum.”
But wait: why on earth would Congress advise violent militarised reactions against its own peaceful constituents? The answer is straightforward: in recent years, members of Congress have started entering the system as members of the middle class (or upper middle class) – but they are leaving DC privy to vast personal wealth, as we see from the “scandal” of presidential contender Newt Gingrich’s having been paid $1.8m for a few hours’ “consulting” to special interests. The inflated fees to lawmakers who turn lobbyists are common knowledge, but the notion that congressmen and women are legislating their own companies’ profits is less widely known – and if the books were to be opened, they would surely reveal corruption on a Wall Street spectrum. Indeed, we do already know that congresspeople are massively profiting from trading on non-public information they have on companies about which they are legislating – a form of insider trading that sent Martha Stewart to jail.
Scandal! Outrage!
Naomi Wolf: Lionized
Over the past few days, Wolf has been lauded as some sort of progressive hero for revealing the shocking truth about the conspiratorial war that Congress and President Obama have been waging on peaceful citizens. Twitter has gone bananas in the wake of her post. Frankly, it has been appalling to see the left manipulated so deftly by those who likely have agendas that don’t square with Occupy Wall Street’s.
I tried to slow the roll of Wolf’s fact-free screed – The Shocking Truth about Naomi Wolf’s Journalistic Hackery — but to little avail. And, disturbingly, in response to my post on Wolf”s unfounded claims, people have accused me of trying to “silence” Wolf or of trying to “defend” President Obama. Some have argued nonsensically that I should stop being so hard on Wolf and try to find The Truth. These arguments are unavailing.
Naomi Wolf herself should have tried to find “The Truth” before going off half-cocked about the feds running point on covert nationwide ops to crackdown on Occupy locations (never mind that not all Occupy locations have devolved into violence), based upon nothing but speculation, supposition, her gut instinct, and the general truthiness of the purported facts as proffered by Rick Ellis on a site that is (I’m told by people who know such things) merely a collection of blogs with no editorial oversight. Oh, and it is owned by a Murdoch-grade wingnut, Philip Anschutz.
I can understand why so many have accepted Wolf’s claims as truth. After all, the source upon which her claims are based, Rick Ellis, lays out a case that has all the elements of a good conspiracy, one that occupiers already distrustful of the government would accept unquestioningly:
And according to one Justice official, each of those actions was coordinated with help from Homeland Security, the FBI and other federal police agencies.
The official, who spoke on background to me late Monday evening, said that while local police agencies had received tactical and planning advice from national agencies, the ultimate decision on how each jurisdiction handles the Occupy protests ultimately rests with local law enforcement.
According to this official, in several recent conference calls and briefings, local police agencies were advised to seek a legal reason to evict residents of tent cities, focusing on zoning laws and existing curfew rules. Agencies were also advised to demonstrate a massive show of police force, including large numbers in riot gear. In particular, the FBI reportedly advised on press relations, with one presentation suggesting that any moves to evict protesters be coordinated for a time when the press was the least likely to be present.
It feels true, right? I mean, it’s probably true, yeah. I bet it’s true. It’s definitely true — no doubt about it. We are under attack by our own government.
Naomi Wolf: Eating Crow
Except no, we are not under attack by our own government, or, at least, nothing substantiates Wolf’s claims that we are. And, incredibly, (and much to Wolf’s discredit) Rick Ellis debunked the story himself nine days before Wolf’s article was published in the Guardian. On November 16, Ellis writes in yet another article on Examiner.com,
Since I published my initial story about how several federal law enforcement agencies had been providing logistical advice to local authorities on how to handle the ‘Occupy’ protests, I have been attempting to get an official response from the Dept. Of Homeland Security (DHS).
I’ve spoken to several high-ranking DHS officials on background in the last 24 hours, and they stressed several things to me.
First, despite some press reports to the contrary, the only official DHS role in any ‘Occupy’ arrests took place in Portland. In that case, officers from Federal Protective Services (which is tasked with protecting federal buildings) assisted the Portland Police Bureau in clearing the federally-owned Terry Shrunk Plaza. Officers from FPS did make several arrests, although it’s not clear how many.
I was also assured that FPS officers only had jurisdiction on federal property and would only make arrests after the situation has been deemed unsafe or unsanitary by the General Services Administration (GSA). That agency is that is the permitting authority for protests on federal property.
When I tried to get a sense of how much involvement the department may have had in assisting local tactical plans, I was told DHS is not actively coordinating with local governments or police agencies on the ‘Occupy’ evictions.
What isn’t clear to me is what is meant by “actively” coordinating. That definition leaves a lot of room for advice, both tactical and otherwise.
Ellis also obtained an official response from DHS spokesman, Matthew Chandler:
“Any decisions on how to handle specifics situations are dealt with by local authorities in that location. If a protest area is located on Federal property and has been deemed unsanitary or unsafe by the General Services Administration (GSA) or city officials, and they make a decision to evacuate participants, the Federal Protective Service (FPS) will work with those officials to develop a plan to ensure the security and safety of everyone involved.”
Thus, as it turns out, Wolf’s article has no factual basis whatsoever and is, therefore, a journalistic failure of the highest order. Are various mayors and cities talking to one another? I’m sure they are. Are they receiving advice from the feds? I’m sure they are. But as Josh Holland writes,”[t]he difference between local officials talking to each other — or federal law enforcement agencies advising them on what they see as “best practices” for evicting local occupations — and some unseen hand directing, incentivizing or coercing municipalities to do so when they would not otherwise be so inclined is not a minor one. It’s not a matter of semantics or a distinction without difference.”
If Homeland Security, the FBI, and federal law enforcement officials were working in concert to violently crackdown on the Occupy movement, that would be a huge deal. If — as Naomi Wolf baselessly charged — the feds were being ordered to do so by Congress and the White House in order to protect their personal wealth, it would (and should) be a significant scandal. But, again, there is no evidence to support her claims.
Naomi Wolf: Outfoxed
Given the the gravity of the accusations made by Wolf against Congress and the White House, it was incumbent on her to fully research her claims and to provide facts to back them up. Moreover, the fact that Ellis made and then walked backed his claims — the claims which formed the sole basis for Wolf’s and other articles about these purported coordinated crackdowns — nine days before Wolf decided to provide more grist for the rumor mill suggests that truth-seeking is not her goal — narrative-creating is.
Yes, Ellis concluded his clarification (which reads more like a well-spun retraction) by claiming he was “left with more questions than answers” and that he had concerns about the meaning of “actively coordinated.”
But certainly Ellis’s original claims — that the FBI provided local authorities with specifics on amount of force, use of riot gear, time of day, and press relations — fall on their face. If Ellis’s original claims don’t constitute “active coordination” — the sort that DHS denies — then I don’t know what would constitute “active coordination.” (And furthermore, if the Justice official upon whom Ellis relied has knowledge of facts regarding these crackdowns why won’t he step forward? Why did he not provide such information to actual news organizations? Why did Ellis spend 24 hours in contact with Homeland Security but made no apparent effort to contact any other DOJ officials?)
The bottom line is this: Irrespective of Ellis’s lingering questions, Naomi Wolf assumed “violent federal coordination of crackdowns” as fact, and then spun a web of conspiratorial acts and nefarious deeds by individuals at the highest levels of the government. And based on what? NOTHING.
This is what Fox News does. This is what the right-wing does. This is not what liberals are supposed to do. We live in a reality-based world. In a world where Hawaii is a state, Africa is a continent, President Obama is not a secret Muslim, and anchor babies aren’t real.
We don’t live in a Teabilly Fox-infected world that thrives on fear of the unknown boogeyman hiding in the closet. We don’t live in a world where “journalists” spew bullshit designed to manipulate and play upon the fears of their readers. We don’t live in a world where “Well, I wouldn’t be surprised if Naomi Wolf’s made-up claims are true” constitutes critical thinking.
And if I’m wrong — if we do live in a world fraught with feverished paranoia? If this is what progressivism and liberalism has become, then we’re fucked. If we cannot rely on progressive and liberal journalists and bloggers to tell the truth and do their jobs, then we’re no better than the wingnuts. Should we take credible sources and concerns about potential federal involvement and investigate them? Absolutely. Should we draw conclusions from unsourced claims and tout them as The Truth. Absolutely not.
We can’t call out Fox News for this kind of crap while engaging in it ourselves.
This is just not who we are.
[cross-posted at Balloon Juice]
RELATED POSTS:
- About that DHS Coordinated Crackdown at Zuccotti Park by ABL
- More on that #OWS/DHS Coordination Thing: We’ve Been Had by ABL
- Are Federal Officials Pushing a Nationwide Crackdown on the Occupy Wall Street Movement? by Joshua Holland
- #OWS: The Shocking Truth about Naomi Wolf’s Journalistic Hackery by ABL
- Naomi Wolf’s ‘Shocking Truth’ About the ‘Occupy Crackdowns’ Offers Anything but the Truth by Joshua Holland
- How Bullshit Magically Turns Into Fact by karoli
- Updated: The Shocking Truth About Naomi Wolf’s Factless Assertions by karoli
- Naomi Wolf Apologists Still Lack Facts by karoli
- Homeland Security Rumor Debunked — Days Ago! by Bob Cesca
It may not be who *we* are, but it is MOST DEFINITELY who firebaggers are.
Get used to it. Next year’s elections are (Democrats + sane people) AGAINST (firebaggers + teabaggers). Plain and simple.
There will be more of this made up bullshit coming. Much, much more.
Very nice timeline!
You’ve probably seen this already, but just in case you haven’t, here’s @theriaultpdx details on what happened in Portland, the only known case of “direct Federal involvement in the arrests”:
http://blogtown.portlandmercury.com/BlogtownPDX/archives/2011/11/25/more-questions-about-city-hall-the-feds-and-occupy-portland
Wolf? Lion-ized? Out-foxed? I’m not sure I can *bear* any more Cub Scout puns. ;-)
We’re fucked.
Great article ABL
Now, will these fucks take it all back?
Will Mikey Moore go back on Countdown and rescind his claim?
Will Keith O offer a correction and an apology for allowing that bullshit to get on the air?
Will Naomi retake her article and offer an apology for her bullshit story?
I’m gonna guess no, because this wasnt about truth, it was putting out the narrative that Barack Obama declared war on peaceful protesters in order to keep the Democrats from co-opting the OWS, but then letting themselves getting co-opted by the likes of these rumor peddlers with a whole other agenda then helping the 99%
Which make me iffy about the OWS even more, as Barney Frank put it, where the fuck were you in 2010?
Now you feel all butt hurt?
I really hope these people get called out and put in their place.
Seriously, if the unions left you, your organization would fall apart, if the media ignore you, it would all fall apart, so either come up with a phase 2, get some spokesmen, or leave the saving of the nation to those who actually want to save it and do the work
Arrogant demon:
You have asked four questions – which I presume are rhetorical – the answer to all four questions will turn out to be : No.
Several years back, during the 2004 primary, I was a heavy Dean supporter. Almost fanatical about it in fact. So much so that when Wesley Clark decided to enter the race I became especially sensitive to any story that suggest that he was doing so at the behest of the Clinton’s (with whom he was politically connected). I even leaped on one particular story that seemed to confirm my worst fears and posted about it on my blog.
Within 24 hours of further research I realized that I had been had. I had allowed my distrust of the Clintons to open me up to believing any story that seemed to conform to my prejudices. I quickly retracted my previous story and then started a campaign to get other bloggers to sign on to a pledge to not let our partisan desires blind us to a rational approach to political analysis. I didn’t want the Dean campaign to be undermined by people who might plant false stories to get us to attack each other.
I see the same thing happening today. People want so much to believe that their personal understanding of “what is really going” is true that they will bypass their natural skeptical instincts and leap on any story that confirms their beliefs. By doing so they are opening themselves up to subversion by the very forces that they most want to defeat.
Big Dean and Edwards supporter here and all I can say is that I can’t believe that I was on the same side as these people for the good part of a decade.
That portlandmercury article that was linked to above, is the closest to showin evidence of federal involvment that I have seen produced.
If there is ginvolvment no one has found proof.
What I find especially infuriating about Wolf’s falsehoods is that obsfuscates actual problems. Instead of shedding light on militarization of the police and excessive force, she wastes time conspiracy theories that are easily debunked. It’s not just her credibility on the line, her statements make all liberals look like histrionic kooks.
Good for you calling Wolf (and others like her — (cough, cough)Michael Moore (cough,cough)) out. People need to know that she’s not interested in truth and justice.
Very nice timeline, ABL. Only a fool would continue to believe the likes of Wolf and others after seeing this.
Meanwhile, there’s another bit of misinformation circulating the Internet regarding the National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2012: https://secure.aclu.org/site/Advocacy?cmd=display&page=UserAction&id=3865&s_subsrc=fixNDAA
I looked into it myself and found information to the contrary:
http://macklyons.blogspot.com/2011/11/homeland-is-part-of-battlefield.html
I haven’t really been following along (so thanks for the recap) but I just want to applaud your use of lionize. It was on my GRE test, and I swear I never saw it used before that. And now, I have! :-D
Keep doing what you do ABL. It makes us all proud.
Hey JP- I did go a little nuts with the wolf puns, didn’t I?
Crooks and Liars has picked up the story…..
http://crooksandliars.com/karoli/shocking-truth-about-factless-assertions
One of the craziest things I read from Wolf in all of this is the following.
“And the DHS answers directly, above King, to the president (who was conveniently in Australia at the time).”
President Obama was “conveniently” in Australia at the time. Because you know, he scheduled his trip around the Occupy crack downs. Yep, sure Naomi. LOL
Excuse my language, but with that all that he was on his plate, why should Obama give a fuck about OWS?
Because they’re his “base”
You know, the same below 20% of libruls who feel he shouldnt get reeelcted
Motherfucking word, ABl. If we liberals cannot be better than this, then we are, indeed, fucked.
thank you ABL. for detailing the Wolf ridiculousness, and for not backing down.
Adding my thanks, ABL. This case is distinguished by the high profile perpetrator, but I see the same phenomenon over and over on Democratic/liberal discussion boards: first the Dire Scenario is formulated, and then there’s the wild competitive scrum to agree with it and dire it up some more. It’s a kind of display of ideological machismo, requiring you to throw away not only logic and facts, but also taste and psychological judgment. (Wolf’s prose is an offense to the former and should be a red flag to the latter.) And any counterarguments are met with attacks on your motives: if you don’t believe, you must be an “Obama apologist” or a “PUMA” or a “shill” for whoever. Its not about politics anymore; it’s about professions of faith.
Wolfs article — an oped piece, not reportage — was odd and over the top. But so is your response. It is equally unresearched and full of untethered opinions. I think it very likely that local police sought help from federal authorities. Doesn’t make it a conspiracy. Ellis clarified his own story with more sources but I wouldn’t call it a ‘debunking.’ You seem driven more by a personal desire to discredit wolf to defend Obama — and that is definitely a tactic of the Right.
This is why the Left always loses. You tear yourselves apart over minutae. Wolf is not the enemy; billionaire bankers are. Can you remember that please?
Actually, OWS is following the lead of the Right. It is emulating the Tea Party. It is becoming the liberal version of the Tea Party. Hence, it’s heading in to firebagger territory (although many thought it was already there). Thanks but no thanks.
It’s pathetic movements like OWS that are the reason why the left always loses. You may say ABL’s defense of the President is irrational. I disagree. She backed up her arguments. I have yet to see the same level of rationality coming out of OWS. On the left, defense of a sitting Democratic President (regardless of how rational it is) is usually deemed irrational. It would be nice if this pattern would stop.
Yes, billionaire bankers may be the enemy, but Wolf and the majority of OWS don’t seem to know that. They shun politicians (and probably billionaires) who may want to help and are in good positions to do so in favor of failed tactics. Thanks but no thanks.
Thanks for the advice, no have yourself a good day and let us liberals and pragmatic progressives fight amongst ourselves
I’m sure the tea party and the establishment Republicans are getting along just fine to coalesce around Mitt Romney….oh wait
I can understand what you’re saying, but I completely disagree. The accusation, that the Democratic WH, in collusion with a radical right wing Congress, used non-existent authority to force municipal police departments to attack peaceful protesters, is not minutiae. It’s an example of the ritual cannibalization which takes place when we actually manage to get into positions from which we can make actual progress rather than merely dreaming about utopia. It’s also an example of how and why a portion of the slumbering population thinks that “both parties are the same,” because we have people on the left flank hysterically insisting, without a shred of evidence, that there’s nothing to distinguish Dem versus Republican periods of governance. That delusion was costly in 2010.
To be frank, I have a pretty unpopular opinion of ows amongst the netroots: what good does it do to sit idly as Republicans captured the purse-holding House only to sit on a corner and scream about jobs a year later when of course that chamber is doing so much to put the kabosh on a recovery. Makes no sense at all. And then to allow ows to become a vehicle for the sorts of fact-free wingnuttia which characterizes firebaggers and does so much to discredit the left is just plain old lacking in common sense. Pointless and rapidly heading into counterproductive territory.
Lastly, Wolf discredited herself, ABL merely pointed it out.
So what is the endgame for these emoprogs/firebaggers? Is it all just about keeping the outrage machine $$$ and spigot flowing full throttle? How does losing governing power and screaming from the sidelines get us closer to their “progressive” nirvana?
Because if it is just about $$$, they should realize that unlike the Bush years, a virulent Citizen United turbo-charged wingnut govt. will ruthlessly shut down ALL dissent & net neutrality. Wolf, GG, M Moore, Hamsher et al will not find a single media platform to even gain a toe-hold, let alone speak/be heard,
These narcissists have no idea and zero political instincts about what the Kochtopus would like to do to us. I have seen this airheaded complacency before in other countries where ordinary folks let powerful fascist forces overrun them. This current repug fundamentalist orthodoxy is not compatible with a modern democratic society. We have to rally to crush it and its neo-feudalist designs before it destroys us, for Pete’s sake!!!
But…but..PURITY! Worse than Bush! Aaaaahhhhhh…the sound of dying illusions!
(snark, if you have to ask)
I found this page while searching for a Naomi Wolf article and as a retired journalist I have to say that I have mixed emotions as I sit here pondering what I’ve just read. I’ve never heard of you before and probably never will again. The headline caught my eye because it led me to believe I’d come across someone with proof of some sort that Wolf’s allegations are bullshit. You implied that author Rick Ellis had “debunked” his own story and then made a huge mistake – you included text from Ellis which shows exactly the opposite. What I see is Ellis reporting he contacted DHS and they denied they were doing anything wrong! Shocking, huh? and it makes your entire article nothing more than a joke. You apparently believe that if the gov. says it is not doing anything wrong, then thats the end of the story. No need for any research, analysis, investigation and all that silly crap. You are an idiot.
If you were a journalist, isnt the first thing you know as one is to cite the sources, and the correct ones that can be backed up?
ABL and the other contributors have sited their sources, backed up their claims, and debunked the irrational storyline Naomi Wolf was going for
Your first line came right out of a comic book, man
That came off the same script trolls use to call up liberal radio stations claiming they’re independents, but conveniently coming up with the opposite view of the article……..
C’mon man
So you posted: “…as a retired journalist” as part of your opening sentence.
Credentials?
How amusing. You’ve entirely missed the point and then call me an idiot. It’s probably a good thing that you’re a “retired journalist” since you see nothing wrong with what Naomi Wolf did, which is make shit up and pass it off as the truth.
Run along now, Ron Gardner.
Best,
ABL
A needless ad hominem. Hmmm. Makes me wonder whether you practice what you preach, ye beacon of rationality and impartiality.
Hardly an ad hominem. “Ron” made claims (retired journalist, for one) that we are questioning or disputing. Sometimes in life, when you assert something you get called on it.
Some day you may understand that.
Note well that he has not returned to defend them.
Ron Gardner seems to be the only intelligent thing on this whole page.
Anyone who thinks the goverment and the elite does not want OWS to disappear is living in cuckoo land…
What the goverment say, and what they do are vastly contrary.
and where did anyone make such a claim?
run along ron 2.0.
-ABL
Hi there. I found your website through the Guardian. There’s an article there about the online response to the Naomi Wolf article. I just wanted to say that your article is really wonderful. I especially love the bit about Fox News. Your penultimate line – “We can’t call out Fox News for this kind of crap while engaging in it ourselves” – should be a slogan for every liberal or radical on the left.
thanks very much!
seriously, ask yourself this: would you be so quick to say a story was “debunked” simply on account of some govt official’s say-so, if that official was serving president bush instead of president obama?
Wow, now we’re gonna have OWS Truthers out there now?
The person who made the article walked his claims back, and the one use of DHS people is when they was near a Federal Building in one of the cities
Sorry, there are no grand conspiracies about Obama, Peter King and the DHS
If the fact this article was completely wrong on how cabinet level departments work, and thinking they report to Peter King, in collusion with Barack Obama, the mere fact you accept Peter King would willingly work on anything with Barack Obama gets the clarion call of uber bullshit
But, if you want to be truthers on the left, go right on ahead
“there are no grand conspiracies about Obama, Peter King and the DHS”
cheers, i’ll sleep much better now i know that for sure :)
this is a birther response. use your damn head.
thanks for not evading the question, and remaining civil while answering :)
it’s not a question worth responding to. but for the record, i don’t countenance lies from either side. if you do, that’s your business.
As the blogger who broke the news that this “story” was a flaming pile of dog shit (see here: http://www.dailykos.com/story/2011/11/15/1036770/-REAL-Update-this-time-Homeland-Security-is-(still-probably)-NOT-coordinating-Occupy-Crackdown!?via=search) , on the same day that it was all over Daily Kos and Michael Moore was blabbing about it on Olbermann, and was summarily raked over the coals for it and called everything from an apologist to a paid shill for Obama and much much worse, all I can say to you motherfuckers is I TOLD YOU SO YOU STUPID HEFFERS!!!!
Dear ABL,
XKCD had a comic the other week that seems very appropriate to this whole DHS conspiracy theory citation cycle. Not sure if you’ve seen it. Enjoy: http://xkcd.com/978/
Matteo’s Mom? Is this Tyler Perry’s blog?
Wolf and Moore reflect the feeling on the left that ows has been brutalized in all regions of the country by a “militarized” police force that resembles a national army more closely than it does civil police. When something that looks uncomfortably like a police state emerges, the natural impulse is to blame the state…in this case, the federal government. Silly, I know, but there it is.
I have no idea if federal agencies are involved with the police violence in some secret way. By refusing to acknowledge it, by remaining silent about the injustice, they are OPENLY in collusion with it.
It really doesn’t get worse than that, and proving the untruth of this one article will do nothing at all to change the fact that Obama remained silent while American citizens were being brutalized.
As did much of America while other Americans were being brutalized for decades. It just hadn’t been happening, with some rare exceptions, in view of the press. And don’t you think that being President of the US means he does have a few actually pressing things on his daily agenda?
(I’d have said “centuries” above except that I’m limiting my part of the discussion to my own lifetime.)
We are not talking about “everyone.” We are talking about the PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES. What can be “more pressing” for him than his own citizens being brutalized by his own police force?
Nothing is “more pressing” than that. Again, there might not be a “covert” collusion between the feds and the militarized police force. The president’s silence is evidence of open collusion, whether you like it or not.
So, we went from blaming the President, putting him in this conspiracy with Peter King, the mayors and DHS, to know why isnt he saying anything about how the cops handled the OWS, in less then 20 cities, out of hundreds, which guess what, does not garner the status of a national crackdown.
How do you not want the Democrats and the President to not co-opt, or be involved in the OWS, then want him to speak on it when shit happens?
Confront the mayors and governors of these states
Confront the senators of these states, the local congressmen
And President Obama is doing the very policies to try and help middle class Americans, while most of you sat home and pouted in 2010 and left us with this even more dysfunctional Congress
One of the things people seem to need to learn over and over again is that civil disobedience sometimes bears a price, and if you’re going to engage in it, that price occasionally has to be paid. Are you so completely ahistorical that nothing from the past registers? Really?
Reflect on the very real fact that the victories won by the civil rights movement, to name one, happened in courtrooms and even more importantly, legislative chambers. Unless and until OWS (a) learns that, (b) internalizes it, and (c) acts accordingly, they’re nothing other than a bunch of people milling around in parks and plazas with no direction and even less chance of achieving anything meaningful.
America as a whole is a bigger concern than even a few hundred people being pepper-sprayed. That’s just a fact. Inconvenient for you, to be sure, yet a fact nonetheless.
Your hysteria is pointless and so is your paranoia.