We have consolidated information on over 300 Occupy Wall Street events and Facebook groups at OccupyWallStreetEvents.com. It redirects to our comprehensive events map. So now you can just tell your friends, "go to OccupyWallStreetEvents.com."
Today was a day when everyone had something to say about Occupy Wall Street:
- House Majority Leader Eric Cantor says Occupy Wall Street is a mob:
- The White House sharply responded to Cantor, calling him hypocritical:
Uh, excuse me? White House Press Secretary Jay Carney said in the briefing today.
"I sense a little hypocrisy unbound here—what we're seeing on the streets of New York is a an expression of democracy," Cantor said. "I think I remember how Mr. Cantor described protests of the tea party—I can't understand how one man's mob is another man's democracy."
- House Democratic Leader Nancy Pelosi had some exuberant words of support for Occupy Wall Street:
"The message of the protesters is a message for the establishment in every place," she told reporters in a Capitol press conference. "The message of the American people is that no longer will the recklessness of some on Wall Street cause massive joblessness on Main Street.
"God bless them for their spontaneity," Pelosi added. "It's independent people coming (together), it's young, it's spontaneous, it's focused and it's going to be effective."
- Turning a clever phrase, Paul Krugman writes that Occupy Wall Street has become "too big to ignore":
When the Occupy Wall Street protests began three weeks ago, most news organizations were derisive if they deigned to mention the events at all. For example, nine days into the protests, National Public Radio had provided no coverage whatsoever.
It is, therefore, a testament to the passion of those involved that the protests not only continued but grew, eventually becoming too big to ignore.
- Nate Silver shows that clashes with the police were key in making Occupy Wall Street too big to ignore:
- While clashes with the police may have helped fuel media attention, at Daily Kos Labor, Mark E. Anderson neatly summarizes what is driving the sentiment behind Occupy Wall Street:
If someone wanted to know why the "Occupy" movement is growing all I would have to do is point them to three news stories I came across while perusing the news during my lunch on Thursday:
Reliance on government benefits even higher than during depth of recession
Dan Snyder paid around $70 million for a 224-foot yacht
Bold Mansion Owners Are Raising Prices
- Kentucky Senator Rand Paul echoed Cantor, tossing invective toward Occupy Wall Street as a "Paris mob" inflamed by President Obama's rhetoric:
"I see the president's rhetoric of envy inflaming the public and saying, 'Go get yours because rich people don't deserve it,'" Paul said on Fox Business.[...]
"I see it as inflaming this Paris mob that I hope doesn't result in a lawlessness where they say, 'Well, gosh, those nice iPads through the window should be mine and why don't I throw a brick through the window to get them because rich people don't deserve to have them when I can't have them,'" Paul said.
You better believe that opponents of Occupy Wall Street hope that it becomes violent, as that would be an easy way to discredit it.
- A new Republican talking point is clearly emerging around the term "mob." New York Representative Peter King piles on:
"The fact is these people are anarchists. They have no idea what they're doing out there," King said. "They have no sense of purpose other than a basically anti-American tone and anti-capitalist. It's a ragtag mob basically."
- Herman Cain apparently missed the "mob" talking point memo. Instead, he continues coming up with a new person or group for Occupy Wall Street to blame every day (except, of course, for Wall Street itself).
- New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg jabbed public sector unions for joining the protests, and thinks they should instead be more grateful to billionaires:
Mayor Michael Bloomberg took a few verbal jabs at the anti-Wall Street protesters on Friday, saying the demonstrators who have camped out in Lower Manhattan for nearly three weeks are "trying to destroy the jobs of working people."
Speaking during his weekly WOR Radio show on Friday, the mayor said it didn't make sense that municipal unions are supporting the protests since city government depends on tax revenues from the financial sector.
"Some of the labor unions that are participating, their salaries come from the taxes paid by the people they are trying to vilify," Bloomberg said,
- Laura Ingramm goes a step further than Bloomberg:
- On more a delicious note, Ben & Jerry's likes the taste of Occupy Wall Street:
We, the Ben & Jerry’s Board of Directors, compelled by our personal convictions and our Company’s mission and values, wish to express our deepest admiration to all of you who have initiated the non-violent Occupy Wall Street Movement and to those around the country who have joined in solidarity.
Fun game for the comments: come up with a new, Occupy Wall Street-themed Ben & Jerry's flavor.
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