Fuck its silent in here.......

[J. Walter Weatherman]

http://bostonreview.net/BR36.5/jeanne_mansfield_occupy_wall_street.php

The white-shirted cops are shouting at us to get off the street as they corral us onto the sidewalk. One African American man gets on the curb but refuses to be pushed up against the wall of the building; they throw him into the street, and five cops tackle him. As he's being cuffed, a white kid with a video camera asks him "What's your name?! What's your name?!" One of the blue-shirted cops thinks he's too close and gives him a little shove. A white-shirt sees this, grabs the kid and without hesitation billy-clubs him in the stomach.

At this point, the crowd of twenty or so caught in the orange fence is shouting "Shame! Shame! Who are you protecting?! YOU are the 99 percent! You're fighting your own people!" A white-shirt, now known to be NYPD Deputy Inspector Anthony Bologna, comes from the left, walks straight up to the three young girls at the front of the crowd, and pepper-sprays them in the face for a few seconds, continuing as they scream "No! Why are you doing that?!" The rest of us in the crowd turn away from the spray, but it's unavoidable. My left eye burns and goes blind and tears start streaming down my face. Frank grabs my arm and shoves us through the small gap between the orange fence and the brick wall while everyone stares in shock and horror at the two girls on the ground and two more doubled over screaming as their eyes ooze. In the street I shout for water to rinse my eyes or give to the girls on the ground, but no one responds. One of the blue-shirts, tall and bald, stares in disbelief and says, "I can't believe he just fuckin' maced us." And it becomes clear that the white-shirts are a different species. We need to get out of there.

Yes.  I believe they're called "lieutenants", no?

Lieutenants and above, yes. In this case (as I mentioned) a Deputy Inspector, two ranks above Lieutenant.

But your condescension is noted.

Then again, I suppose that your literalist PANK brain might not take for granted that she wasn't actually calling them a different "species".

Really, Huey, she just was looking to express in first person narrative the way that it became apparent to her, on the ground and in the moment, that the titled officers in white shirts had a generally different attitude towards the protesters than the rank-and-file in blue shirts, even if she didn't have Wikipedia readily at hand to look up their actual respective ranks.

The point was that the arrival of a "new group of police officers arrives in white shirts, as opposed to dark blue" who were "completely undiscerning in their aggression" represented a noticeable and irrevocable shift in status quo from her previous experience of the police presence at the protest:

All in all, it starts out as a pretty good time. There are police, but for the most part they are walking behind the group casually, just beat cops bantering and laughing, keeping an eye on things. There are around 30 of them.

Hope that clears it up. If you find yourself stuck on any other confusingly figurative uses of language that you need explained, please let us know.

[World's #1 Astros Fan]

http://bostonreview.net/BR36.5/jeanne_mansfield_occupy_wall_street.php

The white-shirted cops are shouting at us to get off the street as they corral us onto the sidewalk. One African American man gets on the curb but refuses to be pushed up against the wall of the building; they throw him into the street, and five cops tackle him. As he's being cuffed, a white kid with a video camera asks him "What's your name?! What's your name?!" One of the blue-shirted cops thinks he's too close and gives him a little shove. A white-shirt sees this, grabs the kid and without hesitation billy-clubs him in the stomach.

At this point, the crowd of twenty or so caught in the orange fence is shouting "Shame! Shame! Who are you protecting?! YOU are the 99 percent! You're fighting your own people!" A white-shirt, now known to be NYPD Deputy Inspector Anthony Bologna, comes from the left, walks straight up to the three young girls at the front of the crowd, and pepper-sprays them in the face for a few seconds, continuing as they scream "No! Why are you doing that?!" The rest of us in the crowd turn away from the spray, but it's unavoidable. My left eye burns and goes blind and tears start streaming down my face. Frank grabs my arm and shoves us through the small gap between the orange fence and the brick wall while everyone stares in shock and horror at the two girls on the ground and two more doubled over screaming as their eyes ooze. In the street I shout for water to rinse my eyes or give to the girls on the ground, but no one responds. One of the blue-shirts, tall and bald, stares in disbelief and says, "I can't believe he just fuckin' maced us." And it becomes clear that the white-shirts are a different species. We need to get out of there.

Yes.  I believe they're called "lieutenants", no?

Lieutenants and above, yes. In this case (as I mentioned) a Deputy Inspector, two ranks above Lieutenant.

But your condescension is noted.

Then again, I suppose that your literalist PANK brain might not take for granted that she wasn't actually calling them a different "species".

Really, Huey, she just was looking to express in first person narrative the way that it became apparent to her, on the ground and in the moment, that the titled officers in white shirts had a generally different attitude towards the protesters than the rank-and-file in blue shirts, even if she didn't have Wikipedia readily at hand to look up their actual respective ranks.

The point was that the arrival of a "new group of police officers arrives in white shirts, as opposed to dark blue" who were "completely undiscerning in their aggression" represented a noticeable and irrevocable shift in status quo from her previous experience of the police presence at the protest:

All in all, it starts out as a pretty good time. There are police, but for the most part they are walking behind the group casually, just beat cops bantering and laughing, keeping an eye on things. There are around 30 of them.

Hope that clears it up. If you find yourself stuck on any other confusingly figurative uses of language that you need explained, please let us know.

I'm sorry your granola friends got maced by the brownshirts, but there's no need to get SO asshurt about it, is there?

[Bort]

My favorite part of any thread is the inevitable pedant's pissing match between Huey and Tank.

[Tonker]

Maybe you've seen it already, but this is fucked up:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=moD2JnGTToA

Keep your eye on the officer in the white who comes into frame at the top right around 18 seconds in.

In slo-mo. The lead up to it from a different angle.

The aftermath:



And here he is again, giving a separate crowd a quick spritz of their own.

Context for both, starting at 2:40 in this video.

A job well done all around, Deputy Inspector Bologna.

I still haven't washed off the splattered milk from my shoes. We had to use milk to wash the pepper spray out the woman's eyes. I still hear her screaming in pain, I can't believe they pepper sprayed a deaf woman. Her sobbing, saying how much it hurt as we held her head spraying milk into her eyes and on her face. The last time I saw her, we had to flee from the police who were arresting everyone on 12th street. She escaped into a movie theater with the help of others because she still couldn't open her eyes. After witnessing how much pain she was in I will never forget what this man did on a physical and emotional level to many people on Saturday. He created a war zone. I don't want to think that all of the NYPD is like this because I also met some very fine members of our cities police force on Saturday. Officers who cared about people and the protesters. I looked around at the police officers who were holding the net around us right after the pepper spray was discharged and they were flabbergasted. Three policemen were in the line of fire and almost got hit. Many of them stared down with sad eyes, not able to let go off the orange barrier to help a human being. They had to do their job but I know concern was in their minds.

http://bostonreview.net/BR36.5/jeanne_mansfield_occupy_wall_street.php

The white-shirted cops are shouting at us to get off the street as they corral us onto the sidewalk. One African American man gets on the curb but refuses to be pushed up against the wall of the building; they throw him into the street, and five cops tackle him. As he's being cuffed, a white kid with a video camera asks him "What's your name?! What's your name?!" One of the blue-shirted cops thinks he's too close and gives him a little shove. A white-shirt sees this, grabs the kid and without hesitation billy-clubs him in the stomach.

At this point, the crowd of twenty or so caught in the orange fence is shouting "Shame! Shame! Who are you protecting?! YOU are the 99 percent! You're fighting your own people!" A white-shirt, now known to be NYPD Deputy Inspector Anthony Bologna, comes from the left, walks straight up to the three young girls at the front of the crowd, and pepper-sprays them in the face for a few seconds, continuing as they scream "No! Why are you doing that?!" The rest of us in the crowd turn away from the spray, but it's unavoidable. My left eye burns and goes blind and tears start streaming down my face. Frank grabs my arm and shoves us through the small gap between the orange fence and the brick wall while everyone stares in shock and horror at the two girls on the ground and two more doubled over screaming as their eyes ooze. In the street I shout for water to rinse my eyes or give to the girls on the ground, but no one responds. One of the blue-shirts, tall and bald, stares in disbelief and says, "I can't believe he just fuckin' maced us." And it becomes clear that the white-shirts are a different species. We need to get out of there.

Seriously, though - would it have killed that bird to buy a fucking bra?

[CBStew]

Maybe you've seen it already, but this is fucked up:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=moD2JnGTToA

Keep your eye on the officer in the white who comes into frame at the top right around 18 seconds in.

In slo-mo. The lead up to it from a different angle.

The aftermath:



And here he is again, giving a separate crowd a quick spritz of their own.

Context for both, starting at 2:40 in this video.

A job well done all around, Deputy Inspector Bologna.

I still haven't washed off the splattered milk from my shoes. We had to use milk to wash the pepper spray out the woman's eyes. I still hear her screaming in pain, I can't believe they pepper sprayed a deaf woman. Her sobbing, saying how much it hurt as we held her head spraying milk into her eyes and on her face. The last time I saw her, we had to flee from the police who were arresting everyone on 12th street. She escaped into a movie theater with the help of others because she still couldn't open her eyes. After witnessing how much pain she was in I will never forget what this man did on a physical and emotional level to many people on Saturday. He created a war zone. I don't want to think that all of the NYPD is like this because I also met some very fine members of our cities police force on Saturday. Officers who cared about people and the protesters. I looked around at the police officers who were holding the net around us right after the pepper spray was discharged and they were flabbergasted. Three policemen were in the line of fire and almost got hit. Many of them stared down with sad eyes, not able to let go off the orange barrier to help a human being. They had to do their job but I know concern was in their minds.

http://bostonreview.net/BR36.5/jeanne_mansfield_occupy_wall_street.php

The white-shirted cops are shouting at us to get off the street as they corral us onto the sidewalk. One African American man gets on the curb but refuses to be pushed up against the wall of the building; they throw him into the street, and five cops tackle him. As he's being cuffed, a white kid with a video camera asks him "What's your name?! What's your name?!" One of the blue-shirted cops thinks he's too close and gives him a little shove. A white-shirt sees this, grabs the kid and without hesitation billy-clubs him in the stomach.

At this point, the crowd of twenty or so caught in the orange fence is shouting "Shame! Shame! Who are you protecting?! YOU are the 99 percent! You're fighting your own people!" A white-shirt, now known to be NYPD Deputy Inspector Anthony Bologna, comes from the left, walks straight up to the three young girls at the front of the crowd, and pepper-sprays them in the face for a few seconds, continuing as they scream "No! Why are you doing that?!" The rest of us in the crowd turn away from the spray, but it's unavoidable. My left eye burns and goes blind and tears start streaming down my face. Frank grabs my arm and shoves us through the small gap between the orange fence and the brick wall while everyone stares in shock and horror at the two girls on the ground and two more doubled over screaming as their eyes ooze. In the street I shout for water to rinse my eyes or give to the girls on the ground, but no one responds. One of the blue-shirts, tall and bald, stares in disbelief and says, "I can't believe he just fuckin' maced us." And it becomes clear that the white-shirts are a different species. We need to get out of there.

Seriously, though - would it have killed that bird to buy a fucking bra?

And that upsets you because...?

[Quality Start Machine]

Fuck Dallas.

[MikeC]

I wonder what MikeC and his fellow brother cops think about this one...

http://www.universalhub.com/2011/court-says-state-law-banning-recording-police-offi
http://www.theagitator.com/2011/08/26/first-circuit-panel-says-theres-a-clear-constitutional-right-to-record-cops/

Your a public officer and you assume your being recorded at all times anyways. Only if you think your doing something wrong would an officer want to stop a recording.

[morpheus]

Thanks, Dick.  Like no one could have seen that coming.

[R-V]

Thanks, Dick.  Like no one could have seen that coming.

Funny, but no one's handed us a free Slurpee yet.

What are these guys doing working for the Trib Editorial Board? They should be writing a humor blog!

[Chuck to Chuck]

In essence, this strips money from banks and hands it to retailers, who will pay sharply lower fees. There's no guarantee that retailers will pass the savings on to customers.

There's no guaranty they won't, either.  In fact, a smart retailer could try to gain market share by offering a discount for those paying with a debit card over a credit card.  Eventually, all retail stores could offer that.  Interestingly, those savings to the consumer would be offset by the charges the bank imposes for use of the debit card.

Net effect: Nothing.

[morpheus]

In essence, this strips money from banks and hands it to retailers, who will pay sharply lower fees. There's no guarantee that retailers will pass the savings on to customers.

There's no guaranty they won't, either.  In fact, a smart retailer could try to gain market share by offering a discount for those paying with a debit card over a credit card.  Eventually, all retail stores could offer that.  Interestingly, those savings to the consumer would be offset by the charges the bank imposes for use of the debit card.

Net effect: Nothing.

No.

While consumers are seeing the impact of the change in their bank accounts, any potential savings benefit at stores is likely to be muted. "I don't expect there to be any visible effects at the cash register," said Aaron McPherson, practice director for payments at IDC Financial Insights. When similar caps were put in place in Australia, he said, merchants there didn't pass along savings, so it's unlikely that will happen here either...  That's because, retail groups say, stores aren't going to benefit as much as they had originally hoped under the new cap, and some merchants may actually pay higher fees.

Bottom line: government yet again interferes in something that wasn't broken, having unintended consequences that at a minimum offset any benefit to the intended beneficiaries.  Moreover, Durbin's response to the easily predicted attempts by banks to recoup their lost revenues has been nothing short of breathtakingly stupid, yet unsurprising, I suppose.

[World's #1 Astros Fan]

Mike C.!

[Chuck to Chuck]

No.

While consumers are seeing the impact of the change in their bank accounts, any potential savings benefit at stores is likely to be muted.

Not, "No." Probably.  As I said.

Bottom line: government yet again interferes in something that wasn't broken, having unintended consequences that at a minimum offset any benefit to the intended beneficiaries.  Moreover, Durbin's response to the easily predicted attempts by banks to recoup their lost revenues has been nothing short of breathtakingly stupid, yet unsurprising, I suppose.

Now, that is true.

[Brownie]

No.

While consumers are seeing the impact of the change in their bank accounts, any potential savings benefit at stores is likely to be muted.

Not, "No." Probably.  As I said.

Bottom line: government yet again interferes in something that wasn't broken, having unintended consequences that at a minimum offset any benefit to the intended beneficiaries.  Moreover, Durbin's response to the easily predicted attempts by banks to recoup their lost revenues has been nothing short of breathtakingly stupid, yet unsurprising, I suppose.

Now, that is true.

Aw, just behead the bankers!

[J. Walter Weatherman]