Following the actions of the cities of Portland and Oakland which moved to end / evict the Occupy protesters, early this morning the NYPD sent in hundreds of officer's to clear Zuccotti Park after Mayor Bloomberg had determined the “health and safety conditions became intolerable”. Nearly 200 protesters were arrested as the park was cleared just 2 days before their 2nd month anniversary. The Mayor said the protesters would be allow to return to the park after it had been cleaned, but that they would be prevented from reestablishing their tent city.
Just hours after this, a NY Judge sympathetic to the OWS protests, issued a temporary restraining order to allow the protesters to return immediately to the park with their tents. The restraining order effectively prohibits the private owners of Zuccotti Park from asking the NYPD for assistance in enforcing the park rules and regulations. As JammieWearingFool notes, the Judge issuing the order was a long time ACLU lawyer, and as a judge earned a reputation as being a hard left activist.
UPDATE - NY Judge, Justice Lucy Billings removed from the case....."But within hours, she was off the case as court administrators prepared to randomly choose a new judge — and excluded Billings’ name from the list of candidates." A different Judge will preside over the hearing. Mayor Bloomberg is refusing to honor the restraining order pending 'clarification'.
How will this effect the plans of the OWS movement to 'celebrate' their 2nd month of activism by taking action to shutdown the NY Stock Exchange on Thursday, November 17th? Prior to the decision of the Mayor to close Zuccotti Park to the protesters, OWS defined the 17th as an 'Official Day of Action' - with the effort to shutdown the Exchange to take place between 6am and Noon.... (Full day, eh?)
UPDATE #2 - OWS Creator calls for 'tactical retreat' by the movement. Says that the conservative media now owns the OWS narrative - focusing on violence, crime, drugs. An admission of failure to astroturf the Tea Party Movement?
We've been told, ad nauseum, by the mainstream media that OWS is just like the Tea Party movement. Except for the anti-capitalism, the rioting, the defecating / urinating in improper places (police cars, banks, streets), the vandalism, the theft, the drug sales / overdoses, the murders, the rapes, the amount of trash tossed about, etc, etc etc.....
Cartoonist Michael Ramirez has an excellent depiction which compares who really represents the 99% - the Tea Party or the collection of Marxists, Fascists, Communists, Anarchists, and others who comprise the OWS.
President Obama continues to take heat both domestically and from Canada for his decision to delay any decision on TransCanada's Keystone XL pipeline. This pipeline, an expansion to an existing pipeline, would increase the capacity of bringing oil from Alberta to the US refineries along the Gulf Coast. Environmentalists oppose this pipeline because of the route (risk to the Midwest aquifers) and the increased supply of oil / fossil fuels would slow the movement to 'green energy'. Unions want the project to proceed as it means at least 20,000 direct jobs and perhaps as many as 1,000,000 connected jobs - many of which could be union jobs.
By punting this decision, President Obama has again taken steps to alienate a traditional ally of the United States. Canadian Prime Minister Harper said that with the delay until 2013, Canada is being forced to look to other markets to sell its oil and natural gas resources - focusing on Asia (China, Japan, South Korea).
In an effort to break the impasse, TransCanada has proposed a different route for the pipeline to avoid the Midwest aquifers, but the US State Department, which has to approve the route, said today that it would take them until the 1st Quarter of 2013 (at least) to review the new route.
Meanwhile, the Obama Administration continues to press on creating a red tape tsunami of regulations which are negatively impacting businesses and the economy. This report shows that the Administration is moving down this path significantly faster than previous Administrations.
The President also announced his plan to unilaterally spend up to $1 billion to promote new jobs and hiring in the Healthcare industry....one of the few areas of the US economy that is already expanding. This decision does give the President yet another chance to define the 'Republican Congress' as dysfunctional and that 'they force' him to 'do it myself'.
Roger L Simon of PJ Media hearkens back to the 1992 Presidential campaign and makes a strong case that one of the key memes for the 2012 Presidential campaign is, It's the Foreign Policy, Stupid!
With the SCOTUS taking on the Obamacare case this session, one of the big questions prior to the oral arguments in March 2012 will be if Justice Elena Kagan will recuse herself. Prior to her appointment by President Obama, Justice Kagan served as the Solicitor General of the US and was extremely active in developing the legal justification and case for the Individual Mandate and Healthcare Reform legislation. On the day that Obamacare was rammed through Congress, emails show Kagan celebrating its passage. Her recusal will remove a far left vote that is certain to vote to rule the Mandate / Law fully constitutional. Expect the left to fight her need to recuse herself very hard.
Big Peace's World View for 14 November, 2011 wonders if the new governments in Italy and Greece will actually accomplish anything or stop the deterioration of the European Union.
The World View for 15 November 2011 shifts its attention towards the turmoil in Syria where violence and the Arab League suspends Syria.
No comments:
Post a Comment