Tag Archives: OWS

Doggupy in Union Square, NYC

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Doggupy was a canine-themed protest that some New Yawk dog owners staged to protest inferior dog food. I don’t own a pup, but if one food appears inferior, simply don’t buy it. I’ve been in the pet food store and I know that good dog chow exists out there:

Anthony Rubio stands with his Chihuahua Kimba behind a placard during a ” Doggupy” event at Union Square in New York October 2, 2012. About 20 dog owners took part in the event calling for an end to inferior dog food and to demand for nutritious, real, whole food.

Although, I do like seeing dumb offshoots of the Occupy theme. It was ridiculous to begin with and this only makes OWS, by association, more so.

The Occupy Movement Checks In and I Issue a Retraction

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In my blogging career, I have received about 35 pieces of either hate-mail or angry comments. Mostly, they originated from the Operation Wall Street crowd, sending me grumpy-grams about something I had written. And although I respect civic participation in the government and politics, I am wary of the OWSers’ goals.

This morning, I got two angry comments about my Occupy Marine post. Well, one is angrier than the other. The gentler one:

Hydro said: Everyone is entitled to their opinion but it’s sad that you are talking trash about us. You should be ashamed of yourself

Achh- no harm, no foul. I did lay it on thick as I thought they were fake Marines. This one is a little harsher:

Sgt. Jason Christopher Leone said, in reply to Kurt P:

You calling me a TROLL, you fucking P***Y?

To the “Laid Back Jihadi” that wrote this heinous, DANGEROUSLY MISINFORMED ARTICLE?

Sup Bro? Wanna come down to Union Square and throw up on me?

Signed,

“The BROSEPH on the left”

You f****g Turd.

I hit a nerve. And I take it that (at least) the second gentlemen is a Marine. As for Hydro, I will give him the benefit of the doubt. I respect their service as I do all in the military. I emailed this response back to them:

Hydro and SGT Lee,

Both of you commented at my blog, the Mellow Jihadi. I take it you were active-duty Marines at one time. After reading your comments, I will issue a retraction calling you all out. I am a prior-enlisted naval officer and am very wary of the usage of military members (real or not) for political causes.

My wariness is not imagined. Unfortunately, certain political elements have relied on fake military participation to give them, and their various groups, credibility. The bogus Army Ranger Jesse Macbeth comes to mind, but there are many others.

I would like to engage you both on your group’s message or lack of one. What is it that you want? OWS has a fringe hooliganism and possesses a dearth of stated goals. I graduated from Berkeley and witnessed the anarchist movement firsthand. They are confounding even to themselves and the 99%ers give off similar confusion. Do you have a mission statement? What sort of organization, or the opposite, would you seek within the government or society to meet your goals? Are you aware of the fact that many folks think OWS is a tool of socialist (or otherwise extreme) causes? One concrete idea espoused by the OWS movement: the forgiveness of student loans. Why should a middle-class family suffer through tax hikes to fund some Ivy Leaguer’s debts? Does this not sound imbalanced? Money must come from somewhere, it does not magically appear.

Is it odd that the OWSers are using the term 99%? I have literally hundreds of friends and acquaintances and know of no one who supports the laziness and lack of civility that OWS engenders. I would put forth that society at large is the 99% and the OWS crowd is the real 1%. And before you label me some clueless Officer, know that I have held many menial jobs from washing dishes to being a bike messenger in NYC. And I was enlisted once, as you were.

On any given day, my blog receives between 2K and 12K in pageviews. And I will offer you both space to respond. I agree to post what you write, unedited and in complete form. I will, however, ****-out any four-letter words. I wish you would address the criminal element of OWS. As Marines, certainly this must bother you. And I am curious your stance on prior-military members showing up in uniform to OWS events. I have seen dozens of pictures of this direct violation of a clearly-known rule.

Lastly, I would be curious your stance on the Tea Party. They have no criminality in their ranks and advocate for a smaller, more responsible government. And despite what the media would like to present, they cut across a large swath of society. (Although, they do tend to tilt older, whereas OWS leans the opposite direction.)

I am all for participation in civic government and look forward to hearing your informed response.

R/

NavyOne

http://themellowjihadi.com/

Consider this post a retraction of my original observation that the three gentlemen were not Marines. Consider it also a challenge to Occupy Marines to put forth a cogent mission statement.

I would ask readers not to delve into the four-letter dictionary in response to any of their comments.

Gimme a Break: Occupy Marines, Really?

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This picture was taken late in March. I could be totally wrong, but none of these gentlemen look like Marines:

Occupy Marines at Union Square*

The guy on the right has a fake dogtag, it is too small and it appears to be on a leather necklace. The kid in the middle is flashing the peace sign, never a Marine Corps thing. And the Broseph on the left looks straight out of central NYU casting. As in, a Tisch School of the Arts drama student playing a Devil Dog. A freshman, sophomore max. (Cue crazy eyes. Look intense. Pretend you are returning from Sadr City. Perfect, hold that.)

Their website, alluded to in their lousy Occupy Marines sign, seems clownish. Lots of Keith Olbermann, OWS, and 99% schtuff. Keef, if you did not know, is Adam Gadahn’s and Osama Bin Laden’s favorite anchor:

I used to think that MSNBC channel may be good and neutral a bit, but is has lately fired two of the most famous journalists —Keith Olberman and Octavia Nasser the Lebanese—because they released some statements that were open for argument.

 I also found these nuggets interesting:

As was previously reported, the documents show that bin Laden ordered the assassinations of President Barack Obama and U.S. Gen. David Petraeus, but did not have the resources to carry out the killings.

“Obama is the head of infidelity and killing him automatically will make [Vice President Joe] Biden take over the presidency for the remainder of the term, as it is the norm over there,” bin Laden wrote in a letter to one of his top lieutenants. “Biden is totally unprepared for that post, which will lead the U.S. into a crisis.”

The Asst CINC is totally unprepared? I cannot, by my amateur interpretation of the UCMJ, comment on that.

* In a semi-related blog tidbit, I once almost threw up in Union Square when working as a bike messenger. And seeing that statue behind our brave Marine Corps brethren brought back memories. Thanks warriors, I’ve thrown up twice in sight of that statue. Once years back, and another time just ten minutes ago.

Update: This morning, I got two angry emails about this post. Well, one is angrier than the other. The gentler one:

Hydro said: Everyone is entitled to their opinion but it’s sad that you are talking trash about us. You should be ashamed of yourself

Achh- no harm, no foul. I did lay it on thick as I thought they were fake Marines. This one is a little harsher:

Sgt. Jason Christopher Leone said, in reply to Kurt P:

You calling me a TROLL, you fucking P***Y?

To the “Laid Back Jihadi” that wrote this heinous, DANGEROUSLY MISINFORMED ARTICLE?

Sup Bro? Wanna come down to Union Square and throw up on me?

Signed,

“The BROSEPH on the left”

You f****g Turd.

I hit a nerve. And I take it that (at least) the second gentlemen is a Marine. As for Hydro, I will give him the benefit of the doubt. I respect their service as I do all in the military. I emailed this response back to them:

Hydro and SGT Leone,

Both of you commented at my blog, the Mellow Jihadi. I take it you were active-duty Marines at one time. After reading your comments, I will issue a retraction calling you all out. I am a prior-enlisted naval officer and am very wary of the usage of military members (real or not) for political causes.

My wariness is not imagined. Unfortunately, certain political elements have relied on fake military participation to give them, and their various groups, credibility. The bogus Army Ranger Jesse Macbeth comes to mind, but there are many others.

I would like to engage you both on your group’s message or lack of one. What is it that you want? OWS has a fringe hooliganism and possesses a dearth of stated goals. I graduated from Berkeley and witnessed the anarchist movement firsthand. They are confounding even to themselves and the 99%ers give off similar confusion. Do you have a mission statement? What sort of organization, or the opposite, would you seek within the government or society to meet your goals? Are you aware of the fact that many folks think OWS is a tool of socialist (or otherwise extreme) causes? One concrete idea espoused by the OWS movement: the forgiveness of student loans. Why should a middle-class family suffer through tax hikes to fund some Ivy Leaguer’s debts? Does this not sound imbalanced? Money must come from somewhere, it does not magically appear.

Is it odd that the OWSers are using the term 99%? I have literally hundreds of friends and acquaintances and know of no one who supports the laziness and lack of civility that OWS engenders. I would put forth that society at large is the 99% and the OWS crowd is the real 1%. And before you label me some clueless Officer, know that I have held many menial jobs from washing dishes to being a bike messenger in NYC. And I was enlisted once, as you were.

On any given day, my blog receives between 2K and 12K in pageviews. And I will offer you both space to respond. I agree to post what you write, unedited and in complete form. I will, however, ****-out any four-letter words. I wish you would address the criminal element of OWS. As Marines, certainly this must bother you. And I am curious your stance on prior-military members showing up in uniform to OWS events. I have seen dozens of pictures of this direct violation of a clearly-known rule.

Lastly, I would be curious your stance on the Tea Party. They have no criminality in their ranks and advocate for a smaller, more responsible government. And despite what the media would like to present, they cut across a large swath of society. (Although, they do tend to tilt older, whereas OWS leans the opposite direction.)

I am all for participation in civic government and look forward to hearing your informed response.

R/

NavyOne

http://themellowjihadi.com/

Consider this post a retraction of my original observation that the three gentlemen were not Marines. Consider it also a challenge to Occupy Marines to put forth a cogent mission statement.

I would ask readers not to delve into the four-letter dictionary in response to any of their comments.

Wasting Nassau, Cedar, and Water Streets

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Working as a bike messenger, I remember some streets better than others. Broadway is one I can’t forget. Catch the lights just right on Broadway and you can sail downtown.

Nassau was another, mostly because we had a lot of deliveries at a building along it. In fact, checking the map now, Nassau only runs for a short while before turning into Broad Street.

Occupy Wall Street demonstrators dragged large quantities of human urine and feces in containers to an open-air plaza on Nassau and Cedar streets in Manhattan.

Still, I found this extremely disturbing when I read of Nassau Street, in the news for the wrong reasons:

The NYPD released surveillance video Wednesday night detailing some stinky business they say is linked to Occupy Wall Street protesters.

Surveillance image of an Occupy Wall Street demonstrator pouring human waste inside a Chase Bank ATM vestibule on Water Street.

Police said that on evening of March 14, a number of Occupy demonstrators dragged large quantities of human urine and feces in containers to an open-air plaza before pouring the waste down a flight of stairs.

The incident occurred at the corner of Nassau and Cedar streets in Lower Manhattan.

Authorities said that that same night, about 20 minutes later, one of the suspects entered a Chase ATM vestibule on Water Street and poured human waste inside.

Nassau is in the business-y part of town. And the poor folks who are probably going to clean the stairs and the ATM are the janitors. Congratulations Jordan Brooks Amos, you prove once again why OWS and the 99%ers are spoiled, entitled punks. . .

Wake Up

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Occupy Wall Street Oct 11, 2011

The New York Daily News has their yearly review of all the pictures that made 2011. The above shot encapsulated the OWS movement.

You have your mandatroy Che. And the bum sleeping, wrapped in the American flag. The Class War poster on the left. But it is covered up, so you can only partially read it. Oh and the 99%er playing guitar. I gave my love a cherry.

The one productive member of society: the businesswoman strolling to work in the foreground. . .

Remember That

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Ship that launched the Osama Raid? It’s deploying again.

Writer, Salman Rushdie? He’s got himself some female problems.

Soldier and his new girlfriend? She’s an ornery sort.

Pesky problem called sea-sickness? You can spray it away!

Bug that got into your house? Imagine if it had been this fella, a Weta.

Television show 24? Afghani censors blur out objectionable anatomy.

Peaceful Occupy Seattle movement? They assaulted someone, again.

Genius who played professional sports? Me neither.

Great roommate you had? He had nothing on this guy.

Gun you wanted to buy? You were not alone.

Russian spy ring? The FBI says they were succeeding.

A bayonet is sharp? You say you punched a hole in your television?

Game Angry Birds? Apparently, it is addicting.

Large serving of Burger King Fries you ate? Try the new ones!

Thing called a Blog? This pro shares his wisdom acquired over 10 years.

Knock on your door at 0300 in the morning? The guy only needed a push.

Scourge known as elder abuse? Pam Anderson (below) engages in some.

Elder abuse: Pam Anderson kisses Bob Barker for Peta

Anne Hathaway Versus Deployed Army Soldiers

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Ah, the babied class are getting into the act. The Princess Diaries’ Anne Hathaway, a talented actress to be sure, was sighted down at the Occupy Wall Street protest waving around two different signs. The first read Blackboards Not Bullets. And then she switched it out for one that read Blackboards Not Banks. What do you think:

Anne Hathaway, OWS, Blackboards Not Bullets

Okay, so I understand dissent. Somewhat. And participation in a peaceful protest, sure. It’s not me, but should you feel passionate, exercise (and exorcise) your First Amendment rights.

Per the article, Anne is worth $58,000,000 or 58KK. She earned more money in five days (during the filming of Bride Wars) than I have in my entire ten-year military career.

If she is not part of the 1%, I don’t know who is. Our pals over at wacky-pedia, inform us that her father was a lawyer and her mother an actress. Just your typical working-class upbringing.

Is this penance for bombing at the Oscars? Perhaps she is feeling guilty for the fact that she dated a con-man for years:

Anne Hathaway, Clueless

Earlier this year, Raffaello Follieri settled a lawsuit filed by Los Angeles billionaire Ron Burkle, who accused him and the Follieri Group of “systematically misappropriating” at least $1.3 million of more than $55 million that Burkle’s company had contributed to a joint venture. . .

Burkle’s suit said Follieri used the money to fund an extravagant lifestyle that included private jet travel for himself and Hathaway, as well as for loans of hundreds of thousands of dollars to the foundation.

Or that her ex-boyfriend Raffaello boldly claimed he spoke on behalf of the Vatican:

Raffaello Follieri and Anne Hathaway, the Grifter and the Protester

Follieri was arrested in June 2008 on fraud charges for allegedly fleecing investors out of millions of dollars in a scheme in which Follieri posed as the Vatican’s point man on real estate investing.

It was reported that the FBI confiscated Hathaway’s private journals from Follieri’s New York City apartment as part of their ongoing investigation into Follieri’s activities

Princess Diaries indeed. What Anne should really be protesting is her atrocious taste in boyfriends! Her ex-beau actually collected money for “charities” which he claimed helped third-world development.

Guess where the money went?

Anne Hathaway, Catwoman, The Dark Night Rises

Does she not realize she has a potential blockbuster coming up, The Dark Knight Rises? How do you think director Christopher Nolan or Warner Brothers view her extracurricular protesting hobby?

Undoubtably, the movie will gross several hundred millions of dollars. And a lot of the money will wash through the very hands Ms. Hathaway is demonstrating against. 

Or am I totally off-base? And Anne is not the naive little princess she appears to be and this act is a charade designed to get publicity. I think I would respect her more if this were the case. After all, Kanye West and Russell Brand already stopped by. And Jay-Z’s Occupy All Streets T-shirts attempted to ring up some bills. Of course:

She covered her face with a red checked pattern scarf to hide her identity and the people with her became more agitated.

Anne Hathaway and Adam Shulman, “undercover”

Her boyfriend, Adam Shulman, became annoyed when people started taking pictures of the The Devil Wears Prada actress.

Adam, who is also an actor, repeatedly stuck his hand out in front of his girlfriend’s face as a passersby attempted to get a picture of her.

Seriously? You are famous and you go to public event. What do you expect if not publicity?

Let’s change climes and move a little east, shall we? Take a look at our Army brethren over in Bagram:

Occupy Bagram, the Army in Afghanistan, Quit your bitchin’ and get back to work

I love it. Quit your bitchin’ and get back to work!

The funny thing about military bases is that many of them have the same little rocks, identical benches, and boxy structures. I thought I had perhaps visited that base, so familiar did it look. But no. Not Paper or Plastic Bagram for me. . .

Hand Salute: Theo Spark

OWS T-Shirts and Frank Miller’s Holy Terror

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Smug 99%er Protests Capitalism by Selling T-shirts. 8 Bucks a Pop. Pre-shrunk

Occupy Wall Street, New York City.

The misnamed 99% crowd are working to promote their brand. By patenting their various names, they hope to capitalize on the movement.

T-shirt sales are being looked at as one possible revenue stream. Kinda ironic, no? The scoop:

In recent weeks, the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office has received a spate of applications from enterprising merchandisers, lawyer and others seeking to win exclusive commercial rights to such phrases as “We are the 99 percent,” ”Occupy” and “Occupy DC 2012.”

Organizers of the protest centered in Manhattan’s Zuccotti Park went so far as to file for a trademark of “Occupy Wall Street” after several other applications connected to the demonstrations were filed with the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office.

Jay-Z and Rocawear. No OWS, 22 dolla (holla) t-shirt

Nothing like having your cake and eating it too. Protest it and practice it.

And just yesterday Mr. Z (first name: Jay, Mr. Put-a-Ring-On-It-I-Did, Mistah Beyonce) backed out of his shady plan to make money off the protesting hippies. Oh no, Jay-Z got owned:

After a perceived attempt to cash in on the Occupy Wall Street movement by hawking T-shirts with the slogan “Occupy All Streets,” the $22 shirts were suddenly removed from the “Otis” rapper’s Rocawear website Saturday with no explanation (not yet, anyway.)

So, what went down?

Jay-Z reportedly came under fire after word got out that Rocawear didn’t plan to donate any of the proceeds from the sale of the shirts to the Occupy Wall Street movement (which was later confirmed by a rep for the clothing company.)

Frank Miller’s Dark Night

My guess: 95% of us fall into the 1%, the group the Occupy folks are protesting. I do not know a single protester. Actually, I don’t chat up any bankers or stock traders on a daily basis either. To me, this whole affair simply reeks of charade.

Guess who else is onto the game and fed up with the Occupy crowd? Mr. Frank Miller, the brilliant artist behind Sin City, 300, and The Dark Knight Returns. He had this to say on his personal blog:

Everybody’s been too damn polite about this nonsense:

The “Occupy” movement, whether displaying itself on Wall Street or in the streets of Oakland (which has, with unspeakable cowardice, embraced it) is anything but an exercise of our blessed First Amendment. “Occupy” is nothing but a pack of louts, thieves, and rapists, an unruly mob, fed by Woodstock-era nostalgia and putrid false righteousness.

These clowns can do nothing but harm America.

Frank Miller, Comic-Con

“Occupy” is nothing short of a clumsy, poorly-expressed attempt at anarchy, to the extent that the “movement” – HAH!

Some “movement”, except if the word “bowel” is attached – is anything more than an ugly fashion statement by a bunch of iPhone, iPad wielding spoiled brats who should stop getting in the way of working people and find jobs for themselves.

This is no popular uprising. This is garbage.

Please read the rest. I have increased respect for Mr. Miller. I always thought his Dark Knight work was too dark, and not enough knight, for my tastes. But him standing up and writing what he did, he gets the MVB (B = blogger) trophy. Spoiled brats indeed.

Holy Terror, Frank Miller’s New Counter-Terrorism Comic

Out of curiosity, I searched for Frank’s latest project. Guess what? He is drawing a counter-terrorism comic titled:

Holy Terror, which launched the comic and publishing imprint of Legendary Pictures, was originally conceived as a Batman story and was a response by Miller to the terrorist attacks of 9-11. (The hero is now called the Fixer and features a female cat burglar who is not named Catwoman.)

The early reviews from the usual elitists are brutal. All the right tools are outraged. It just may be good. . .

New York City Snow Storm Scatters Flakes on Wall Street

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New York City in Winter: A Cold Lion

New York City weather can be nasty nasty. I know, I worked as a bike messenger through one tough winter.

Take Riverside Drive, 11th or 12th Avenue, any of those streets that hug the Hudson River. The wind is vicious down there, it simply whistles off the water. And there are few buildings to block it.

I learned my lesson the hard way. It was December and I was riding south, midtownish. A gust of wind tickled my side and then pushed. Me. A good ten feet diagonally. As if I was a wind-surfer.

I skidded across a long metal grating and down along the edge of a curbed sidewalk. Shaken, I got off my bike, my heart beating in my ears. Somehow, I locked up my steed and sat in the lobby of an unknown building. No one said anything to me. New York is funny like that.

Occupy Wall Street Protestor Hard at Work

So when I read this, I think- those Occupy Wall Street clowns (the 99%ers) are in for a rude awakening:

It’s a record!

New York City broke it’s top snow mark with 1.3 inches at 2:11 p.m., the National Weather Service told the Advance.

The old record was 0.8 inches and was set in 1925.

The Weather Service just upgraded its forecast and is now predicting that 8-9 inches of snow will fall here by the time the storm winds down overnight.

Russell Brand, obnoxious British clown

More than 11,690 customers are without power, half of them in the Tottenville (Staten Island) area, according to Con Edison’s Storm Central website.

“We have a new record already,” said meteorologist Joey Picca.”We knew the moisture would be there, but the switch-over was sooner.”

Earlier in the week, annoying comedian Russell Brand even stopped by for a look-see.

Mr. Brand is better known on the these shores as Mr. Katy Perry. (I wonder if he purchased any of those special Occupy Wall Street t-shirts?) He had this to say of the protestors:

“The sense of cohesion and civic duty in the square, which many call Liberty Square, its former title, was something I found appealing. Protesters took the time to educate me on the matters that had brought them to the square.”

The first flakes:

Occupy Wall Street Snow Storm, Zuccotti Park

The above picture is from the NY Post. My favorite quote from the article:

“I got my blanket, I got my sleeping bag and I got my girl,” said 25-year-old protestor Rene, who came from Occupy Miami to Occupy Wall Street, “so it’s not hard to stay warm.”

Somewhere, somehow, George Gershwin is turning in his grave. . .

Update: I received a nasty comment which I am not approving for publication, but rather posting partially here. I cut out the insulting sections of it, aimed at another commenter. Dissension I understand; heck it is patriotic, right? But I leave my blog for stretches of the day and I can’t police squabbles. The part I can post:

“Spoiled Brats” and “Entitlement” ≠ “Sleeping on City Concrete in Snow”

Personally, I am not in agreement. This is how I see it:

“Spoiled Brats” and “Entitlement” = “Snoozing in sleeping bags on mattress pads in tents, with bathrooms around the corner. Not to mention the donated food or the shady $500,000 in the evil bank. Or the lack of a job. And the demand of free student loans. Or whatever it is that this movement demands.”

Or, how about this:

“Spoiled Brats” and “Entitlement” ≠ “Al Anbar, Argonne, any battle the US military has fought. . .”

Update II: Ah, nothing like the OWS folks to bring out a little unity. I also received the below comment, again aimed at another commenter. As per usual, I will not approve it, but post it here for your guffawing pleasure:

Your ignorance is astounding.

Here is the funny thing, the above commenter was only on the site for two minutes before posting the above screed. (I happen to be on-line at the same time, thus the successful sleuthing.) Usually it takes me a full ten minutes to be able to determine someone is astoundingly ignorant. Perhaps this genius has special powers?

I am

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Mid-flight, yelling Allahu Akbar, but not a terrorist.

Not brilliant, but at least I say it aloud.

An adult baby, living on your tax dollars.

Lazy, for refusing to get out of bed to do an interview.

European, and would ban reality if I could.

Not Caesar, but will still mangle quotes by him.

A crazed killer, with man-boobs.

Stupid, for spitting on the hand that feeds me.

Anti-military, for not accepting a ROTC program.

Revolutionary, and not the poser, 99% kind.

Upside-down, and still beating you.

Learning sign-language.

A Ferrari, with two wheels.

Home.