This morning I noted that a judge had issued an temporary injunction against Mayor Bloomberg to keep Zuccotti Park open for demonstrations. I still don’t know what’s going on with that. According to the Daily News,
Manhattan Supreme Court Justice Lucy Billings signed an early-morning order temporarily barring cops from keeping protesters and tents out of Zuccotti Park.
But within hours, she was off the case as court administrators chose a new judge — and excluded Billings’ name from the list of candidates.
Billings’ biography notes that before she became a judge in 1997, she spent three years as a lawyer for the American Civil Liberties Union and also worked work community legal services.
And I’m thinking, WTF? But if you keep reading, it says,
Court officials used a computer program to pick a new judge for an afternoon hearing on the restraining order — and Billings’ name was not included because she usually handles real estate cases, court officials said.
The judge assigned to the case is Manhattan Supreme Court Justice Michael Stallman, an elected civil court judge who has been appointed to serve in the higher court for years.
OK, but … citing the same article, Little Lulu informs her readers —
Update: Hmmmmm….ACLU-tied judge who assisted Occupiers is ordered off the case:
No, she was not “ordered off the case.” She was never “on the case.” And her past association with the ACLU is irrelevant. But — Godwin’s Law can go hang — Malkin and her ilk really are Nazis at heart, aren’t they?
See Ian Welsh’s The Occupy Education Continues:
Maha, I’m a little perplexed by your post. I went and read Little Lulu’s blog – very, very obnoxious what she wrote, but the part that you quoted is about the least offensive thing she said. Everything else is foaming-at-the-mouth hysterical.
But putting aside Little Lulu – who would have been very much at home working for Goebbels in Nazi Germany (except they would have executed her for her race) – the big issue is this nationwide coordinated attack on the protesters. Just a coincidence, I suppose, that every city in America suddenly decided that OWS represented a “fire, safety and health hazard.” Or did the order come from the CEO of JP Morgan Chase, who is the real president of the United States?
http://www.addictinginfo.org/2011/10/03/jpmorgan-chase-buys-nypd-for-4-6-million/
I know you generally like to hold Obama blameless – no matter what happens, it’s always the fault of congressional Republicans, and Obama has no power at all. Not even the power to say anything, like “WTF are those storm troopers doing?” Not that I’m suggesting Obama ordered the evictions – after all, he’s been too busy raising funds for his re-election campaign, with Wall Street firms among his biggest donors. And appointing Wall Street banksters as his economic advisers. And appointing an attorney-general who is unwilling to prosecute banksters for bank fraud.
I’m sorry, but after the past two months of watching police across the USA commit one felonious assault after another, with their badges covered with tape (that is illegal!), and not a peep out of our hope-and-change president, plus the past two years during which time not a single Wall Street bankster was even charged with fraud, I’ve given up on our president completely.
The Republicans, of course, are worse than worthless. They don’t even try to hide their corruption. They even seem proud of their stupidity (ie global warming “hoax,” creationism, abortion is murder, etc).
I don’ t know what to suggest. I have no handy solution in my back pocket. The wealthy elites own the politicians of both parties. Peaceful protests obviously aren’t allowed in America anymore. I just wish this person was running for president:
http://www.correntewire.com/bill_black_at_ows_we_put_more_than_a_thousand_elite_bankers_in_jail
Gloomy weather where I am today. And I’m in a gloomy mood.
That’s hyperbole, but under our system of government, the President doesn’t have authority to order Mayor Bloomberg around. And municipal police departments are not under his jurisdiction.
IF a federal judge were to decide that the city of New York was violating the civil rights of demonstrators by keeping them out of Zuccotti Park, and the city failed to comply with the judge’s order, it would be within the President’s authority as commander in chief to send in federal troops to protect the demonstrators from the NYPD. But this is extremely unusual. The last time this was done was, I believe, when President Eisenhower sent troops to Little Rock, Arkansas to desegregate the schools in 1957.
Without an order from a federal court, I’m not sure there is any constitutional way the President could intervene officially. Even offering a personal opinion on the matter would be controversial. Of course, he could always call Mike Bloomberg and request he lighten up on the demonstrators. And the Mayor could honor the request, or he could tell the President to kiss his ass. But the President cannot order Bloomberg to leave Zuccotti Park alone.
This kind of action always backfires. People who were a little angry before become furious. the fact that so many illegal police actions occurred the same night pretty much proves that SOMEBODY– the Koch Brothers?– was pulling strings to orchestrate the assaults.
TPM reports Mittens ejected a Navy Vet from an SC rally because she had a shirt critical of his plan to hand veteran health care over to corrupt private-sector toadies.
Without an order from a federal court, I’m not sure there is any constitutional way the President could intervene officially. Even offering a personal opinion on the matter would be controversial.
Well, I wouldn’t want the president to say anything controversial. That might offend some of his corporate donors.
Of course, he could always call Mike Bloomberg and request he lighten up on the demonstrators. And the Mayor could honor the request, or he could tell the President to kiss his ass. But the President cannot order Bloomberg to leave Zuccotti Park alone.
True, though I bet a federal indictment over his selling of the NYPD to JP Morgan Chase would get Bloomberg’s attention. It’s time to dust off the RICO laws. If that was done, the whole OWS movement wouldn’t even be necessary.
Maha, I know you like to read Paul Krugman. I’d like to suggest that you add Bill Black to your reading list of knowledgeable economists – he covers a lot of ground that Krugman doesn’t. Lately, he’s been getting a lot of video interviews. Just to whet your appetite…
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=faHcCalkSag
cheers,
Candide
Actual intervention on his part would also be illegal, without a court order.
It’s extremely unlikely there would be enough evidence even to seek an indictment, let alone obtain one. However, if I were lawyers working on behalf of OWS, I’d be putting together a civil rights case right now.
Yes, Godwin be damned, Malkin and her ilk are all Nazi’s at heart.
The only difference is that they found brown shirts too limiting for their fashion options.
Barbara, I think this is happening right now, from what I am hearing.
Personally, I’m glad Obama isn’t trying to co-opt the OWS movement. This is an inequality issue, not a liberal v conservative one. To try to turn this into an exclusively liberal protest defeats the purpose of its inclusive message: We are the 99%.
Could be wrong, of course, but seems to me the mayors most likely got together and decided to simultaneously remove the protesters in the belief that this would send a strong, united message; the added benefit being that they’d dilute criticism by spreading it around, and nobody would be singled out to take a direct hit.
If one of Bush’s top advisers (a lawyer) can be believed (or even correct) the President has a right to do anything which he is not strictly forbidden to do in the Constitution. It worked for Bush. Why couldn’t it work for Obama.
My personal favorite over the last few years is that police forces were doing absolutely NOTHING as right-wing clowns were walking around and openly brandishing semi-automatics in the same streets where the President was speaking.
Nope, not a thing. Police said they were ‘monitoring’ the situation.
But, when the oligarchs finally get pissed off at the OWS, and ‘cans stands it no mores!’, their lackey Mayors send out their police Stormtroopers to crack a few skulls and make mass arrests because the kids in the steet’s had the temerity to haul out their pup-tents.
Anyone else see a problem here?
“I suppose, that every city in America suddenly decided that OWS represented a “fire, safety and health hazard.†Or did the order come from the CEO of JP Morgan Chase, who is the real president of the United States”
Once again mis-informed from far away. I’d wager that the cities where the OWS folks where uprooted (not every city in America), did have a talk and decide to evict them all at once, less media bashing that way. I for one agree with evicting them. If they want to demonstrate they can but establishing a permanent encampment in a public space aint gonna fly. We all have the right to demonstrate and use public spaces, but we do not have the right to turn a public space into a camp, we have laws in this country (and public camp grounds) and the OWS folks would do well to start abiding by the law. Protest, the go home, next shift. As Maha pointed out from the get-go this aint gonna work without some organized structure in place.
cund – Curious that people brandishing weapons don’t frighten police whereas kids with pup tents do. Could be because police live in and therefore understand a ‘gun culture’whereas they definitely don’t live and therefore don’t understand a ‘free culture.’
In fact, too many Americans these days are operating out of or from fear, almost a phobic fear – how else to explain their irrational support of the demigods posing as candidates for the presidency.
90%+ of the time people on blogs bring up RICO, it’s a sign that they’re a crackpot. This isn’t an exception.
“90%+ of the time people on blogs bring up RICO, it’s a sign that they’re a crackpot. This isn’t an exception”
You got that right!
When they did so, they did so lawfully (they were in right to carry jurisdictions). So your complaint boils down to: “why is it that the teabaggers didn’t get in trouble for not breaking the law?”
This.
I don’t think Obama had anything directly to do with the crackdowns, but obviously there was some national coordination; my suspicions of its origins lie with some Federal level law enforcement, perhaps the Dept of Homeland Security or FBI. I think mayors of these cities were involved to varying degrees but the level of coordination and knowing-what-to-do is beyond the people local to each encampment.
OT, do see Tom Tomorrow, The Not-Romney Candidate.
OT – some funny takes on today’s politicians as comic book superhero’s:
http://www.dailykos.com/story/2011/11/16/1036642/-Washington-DC-Reboot?showAll=yes&via=blog_1
“Curious that people brandishing weapons don’t frighten police whereas kids with pup tents do.”
The cops aren’t STUPID– they are bullies. They would not want to accost an armed person (tea party) vs beating up a defenseless school teacher (OWS). Also, the TP was known to be totally phony by everybody– it absolutely did NOT pose any threat to the GOP power brokers.