Aside from a few protesters who reportedly threw things at police (they were arrested), there was no violence, and cops ultimately let encampment stay. Demonstrators chanted “We won, we won, we won!” as the police left.
Having spent much of Sunday surfing the web for Occupy Wall Street t-shirts and mugs for a birthday gift for my father—a lifelong champion of the 99%—my first thought was that I wish I had known about the fleeces, it would have made a much nicer gift. But then I looked a little more closely and saw that it wasn’t an Occupy fleece, but one that read “OWS Capital Management.” A few passengers looked at me when I laughed out loud.Meet the hedge fund with the unluckiest name: OWS - The Term Sheet: Fortune’s deals blog Term Sheet (via felixsalmon)
Backstory and nuance: Joe Nocera is the reporter who, late last month, broke the story of the “Homeless Halloween” party that the firm held in 2010. A couple of days ago, the head of the firm, Steven Baum, sent Nocera an email, saying that “there is blood on your hands for this one, Joe;” today, the firm announced that it’s closing its doors, citing “the loss of so much business.” While it was likely negative publicity surrounding the photos that caused the firm’s demise, it’s important to keep in mind that the firm had faced multiple legal battles in the past over the legitimacy of its foreclosures, a fact noted by Nocera in his original piece.
As Chancellor, I take responsibility for everything that happens on this campus. At the same time, our campus has policies, and—the only reasons we have those policies in place is to make sure the 32,000 students who are using our campus are safe.UC Chancellor Linda Katehi • After refusing to resign due to the events at UC Davis last week, wherein UCPD Lt. John Pike pepper sprayed a line of seated, peaceful protesters. During the same KQED interview, she also that she needs to “understand what went wrong…why things went so wrong,” which seems to be obfuscating the issue. Isn’t it clear what what wrong? Anyway, the UCPD police chief, along with Pike and another officer, have all been placed on “administrative leave;” 60,000 people have signed a petition calling for Katehi’s resignation. (Note: this interview wrapped up earlier the hour; we’ll let you know when a transcript is available.) source (via • follow)
“You know what my least favorite movie is? Rocky III. Now I know what you’re going to say. ‘Oh its because of Mr T’s character’s name, right?’ WRONG. Its because the narrative fell apart in the second act and just became so trite and deliberately oblivious to the true nature of the Rocky Balboa canonAAAUUAUAUUAAAUAUAAAGGAGAGGHHHHHHH”
Single-Serving Tumblr of the Day.
OK, this is pretty great.
Timely, politically-tinged and effective: What’s not to like about this meme?
An analysis by the Pew Research Center’s Project for Excellence in Journalism indicates that the movement occupied 10 percent of its sample of national news coverage in the week beginning Oct. 9, then steadily represented about 5 percent through early November.
Coverage dipped markedly, to just 1 percent of the national news hole, in the week beginning Nov. 6, supporting Ms. Shepard’s assertion that it had “died down” before the early morning eviction in New York last Tuesday. It has since rebounded strongly.
But really, the key line of the story is this one: “Newspapers and television networks have been rebuked by media critics for treating the movement as if it were a political campaign or a sideshow — by many liberals for treating the protesters dismissively, and by conservatives, conversely, for taking the protesters too seriously. The protesters themselves have also criticized the media — first for ostensibly ignoring the movement and then for marginalizing it.” The lesson from this? You can’t please everyone, but you can annoy everyone all at once.
Over the last 90 days, the Digg...
#FMMDI (at 30 Rockefeller Plaza)
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Don’t worry about it, I’m going to spray these kids down.Lt. John Pike (according to a pepper-sprayed protester at UC Davis) • Speaking to fellow officers before the infamous pepper-spray incident on Friday. According to the protester, who spoke at length anonymously to Boing Boing, the pepper spray he used was military grade, and it still hurts, two days later. “It’s supposed to be used at a minimum of 15 feet,” the protester told Xeni Jardin. “But he sprayed us at point blank range.” Highly recommend you read Boing Boing’s photo-heavy account of the incident, which is very informative. source (via • follow)
sictransitvir says: I think the ABA said earlier it was unsolicited and they rejected it. Still a valuable look behind the scenes at how this kind of operation might work.
» SFB says: You’re right, and we modified the story to reflect that … but still, the mere existence of the document is pretty fun. — Ernie @ SFB
Hey, would you look at that? The American Bankers Association’s lobbying group, Clark Lytle Geduldig & Cranford, came up with talking points against Occupy Wall Street. Fortunately, MSNBC got a hold of it. According to the memo, if Democrats campaign against big banks, “This would mean more than just short-term political discomfort for Wall Street. … It has the potential to have very long-lasting political, policy and financial impacts on the companies in the center of the bullseye.” Click here for the full document, which it’s worth noting that the ABA claims to have rejected (as it was unsolicted). EDIT: Updated with details.
megan-elizabeth-deactivated2012 asks: Yesterday I heard someone complain about OWS costing them a "future job." This person is a college student who was planning to get a job as a police officer upon graduation. I believe he had already begun the hiring process. He claims that the police force is not hiring any new officers for a while because they can no longer afford it, thanks to the amount of overtime paid as a result of OWS. What do you think? Is this credible? Is this the fault of OWS, or a problem with the NYPD?
» SFB says: The protests are certainly a factor, at least in NYC. From this Reuters article: “About $226 million in police overtime was added for this year, and $240 million more a year after that, Turetsky said. The Police Department will have a hiring freeze for civilians; the Fire Department will cut 44 civilian jobs through attrition this year and 29 people next year.” While there have been other reasons — the year’s heavy snow and weather issues are also cited — the extra police presence at Occupy is part of the reason the city went $1 billion over its budget this year. As to who to blame, let’s face it: That comes down to your political views. Many find ways to credit or discredit the movement as they see fit. Plenty would be quick to put the blame with Bloomberg; others would certainly look at the Occupy movement. Ultimately, though, it’s been a difficult year all around for NYC’s budget, with many unforeseen circumstances coming out of nowhere, and Occupy was one factor of many. — Ernie @ SFB (It’s our Office Hours! Shoot us a question over here.)
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