Bloomberg Cleans Occupy Out

Hundreds of police officers, some in riot gear, descended on Zuccotti Park overnight in a surprise sweep of the Occupy Wall Street headquarters that Mayor Bloomberg said had become an "intolerable situation."

Hours later, a judge granted a temporary restraining order prohibiting the city from enforcing rules of the plaza -- like a ban on tents and tarps -- that she said were published "after the occupation began."

[Note that, from a particular angle, a judge has violated Private Property Rights to allow folks to continue camping on private property]

Bloomberg said at a City Hall briefing that the city had planned to let people back into the park at 8 a.m. but decided to keep it closed while officials evaluated the order.

In the overnight raid, many protesters in the two-month-old occupation left peacefully, but some refused to go, chaining themselves to trees and to each other. They chanted at police, "Whose park? Our park!"

All protesters were cleared from the park by 4:30 a.m. Tuesday, according to NYPD spokesman Paul Browne. Browne said there were about 70 arrests inside the park overnight and another to 30 to 40 arrests on Broadway as protesters tried to stop the evacuation.

To one side of this, the letter of the law - Living in the park isn't peaceful assembly, it's camping out on someone else's property. If the cities had followed the letter of that law in the first place, which they very much didn't, they would have been allowed to assemble, go home, and come back the next day. But the 'occupy' means and clearly is trespassing. But no one in their political right mind would have or did clear them out the first day for trespassing. Bloomberg tried a month ago with his "clean up day" and failed miserably. He didn't have a political leg to stand on to force the movement out of the park. 

But then, after the murder in Oakland, all the mayors had their excuse to end the drum circle - to let the police enforce the laws. Now they have a legitimate excuse to crack skulls and fill the paddy wagons. And if they don't, you know there were going to be lawsuits against the city for not protecting the protesters.

New York's mayor defends clearing of camp

Occupy Oakland site cleared, but protest lives on

Assaults raise concerns about crime at Occupy L.A.

Now, let's take this to the illogical final end -- yes, there's going to be an act two. They'll probably build sheds this time. UPDATE: OWS returns to Zucotti Park, Judge strips police of powers to enforce park rules. But at the same time there's now a 'legitimate' reason for the mayors of all the "occupied" towns and streets to shut them down. "We're cracking your skull in for your own safety!"

So, even as the gang comes marching back with their North Face tents and Birkenstocks, what does everyone think the end game is? Are you ready? Here it is: Are they ready to pop Quadaffy? What? 

No, really. That's what the Libyans just showed the Occupiers how this game ends. It's not Modern Warfare 3 on the X-Box - This game ends with real bloodshed. Are the kids camping and banging their drums ready to die, and to kill, to get the boot off their necks?

Maybe we can all just call it a day, and pat them on the backs for bringing up the issue of income disparity, and reminding us who loosened the banking regulations so their fraternity brothers in Wall Street could make fortunes building a house of cards, then made a phone call so that their friends in Congress could also make a fortune. A prime example: Rahm Emanuel Dumped Tons Of Freddie Mac Stock Days Before It Collapsed. When the cards came tumbling down, the only ones left with the bill were the people who didn't understand what was going on. AKA the 99%. Thank you for bringing that up, Occupiers.

Now, I understand you're still pissed. You and your buddies are the ones getting taken out of Wall Street in zip tied hands. That blows your mind, and pisses you off even more than you already were. Well, there is a solution. You go to the polls. You Vote! It's something your Egyptian, Syrian and Libyan brothers were ready to kill for. You have that right, right now. And what will you do there? I'll tell you -- you dump the incumbents!

The Incumbents are the Actual Occupiers!

Few things in life are more predictable than the chances of an incumbent member of the U.S. House of Representatives winning reelection. With wide name recognition, and usually an insurmountable advantage in campaign cash, House incumbents typically have little trouble holding onto their seats—as this chart shows. [Open Secrets for the Graph]