In the summer of 2011, 14 million Americans were unemployed and 16% of the country was officially poor. Student loan debt eclipsed credit card with over $1 trillion outstanding. One in five mortgages was underwater. Our leaders said the economy was recovering from the recession caused by the financial crisis, but their soothing pronouncements seemed to mock the evidence of our senses. On September 17, a group of activists converged on a small concrete plaza in lower Manhattan, determined to Occupy Wall Street.

Having witnessed brutal crackdowns on occupations in Oakland, Portland and New York, where Occupy Wall Street began and inspired citizens to launch occupations in their own community, legal teams are going to court to obtain court orders to protect occupations from being forcefully dispersed suddenly in the dark of night. Reporters tend to only report when there are arrests. Anytime there are arrests, it is said there were “clashes with police and protesters.” Rarely do reporters note how police escalate a situation to the point where force is likely to be used.

One of the themes of people like Mayor Bloomberg and Governor Cuomo as well as many other mayors and governors around the country is how things are so bad economically that the states must cut back in so many services, laying off teachers, first responders, cutting Medicaid eligibility, rolling back unemployment benefits, and generally destroying both the social safety net and wages and benefits for state workers. Yet here it is, New York City can incur millions of dollars in overtime costs going after unarmed, mostly peaceful protestors (according to this from WNYC it was over $5M by late October), yet city agencies are scrambling for funds:

So there I was this morning, having completed my daily check for jobs in my chosen field of Software Quality Assurance and Testing (I do wish it would take longer than five minutes as that would mean there are actually some improvements in the economy but such is life), when I reached the NY Times and saw this article with the headline from Mayor Bloomberg that “‘Tent City’ Goes Beyond Free Speech”:

The issue of the Democratic Party trying to co-opt the growing “Occupy” movement has become a topic of establishment media conversation. It is being discussed through the lens of whether this movement will do for Democrats what the Tea Party did for Republicans in 2010. It is also being discussed in terms of how to use the broad-based anger and energy to advance Democratic policy proposals in Congress.

The media is watching closely to see how this impacts the political landscape. For example, on “Hardball” on October 11, Chris Matthews focused attention on the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee’s email calling for 100,000 people to stand strong with Occupy Wall Street.

New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg, in his weekly appearance on “The John Gambling Show” on AM WOR710, addressed the persistence of those participating Occupy Wall Street in Zuccotti Park. It was an example of a member of the power elite voicing his or her contempt for protest. It was also clear that Gambling has scorn for the protest, too, as the discussion begins with the question, “How do you end that thing?”

Ray Kelly’s NYPD has treated the Occupy Wall Street protests in a manner glaringly different from how they treated a protest organized by Liz Cheney. Liz Cheney’s protest against holding terror trials in NYC was greeted with open arms, but Occupy Wall Street has been walled off and maced.

Oh this is rich. After NYPD Police Commissioner Ray Kelly got the residents and businesses surrounding the federal courthouse all ginned up with fear of holding the terrorism trial of Kalid Sheik Mohammed in NYC federal court, he has now brought a case to be tried in a NYS courthouse right next door.

Anytime a criminal defendant wanted to change the venue of his trial, all he has to do is arrange for a credible threat to the neighborhood around the courthouse. Yeah, that’s really smart.