I can't believe it's not a democracy!

They are all the same:

Police corruption: Criminals 'give officers steroids'. I recall reading during the occupation of Zuccotti park by the peaceful Occupy patriots that some people speculated that the reason the cops were so vicious was due to "roid rage." If we had a real media, someone would have been looking into this already. I guess we shall have to wait until the scandal breaks in a big way in the UK for the inevitable "did/could it happened here" story.

Here's another one who made it through the NYPD screening:

NYPD officer charged with plotting to kill and eat women. Something is seriously wrong with the process by which teh NYPD screens its applicants, no? The rot must be at the top, but the bottom isn't looking good either. Sigh.

Not a joke:

Police Taser blind man mistaking his white stick for a samurai sword. In England. Of course, had it been in the U.S. the blind man would have been killed or in jail for resisting arrest.

Now I know why they called them pigs:

NYPD Arrests Veterans Reading the Names of Afghan War Dead. The post relies on the tweets and livestreaming of the people who were there to record the protest. The "regular" media? Apparently too busy uncovering dirt on the Kardashian sisters or whatever.

Meanwhile is Europe:

Spain steps up more austerity amid protests. And the Catalans, who have yearned for independence for hundreds of years, rallied 1.5 million strong in Barcelona alone just last week. Bet the rightwing prime minister of Spain, Mariano Rajoy, will find the money to crush this movement. But will there be enough money and bullets this time? Rajoy is no Franco (or is he?).

Athens clashes as Greek police fire tear gas. I've heard that about 500,000 protested (the protest was union led). Of course, the usual "small group of youths dressed in black" showed up and threw a molotov cocktail or two which, no doubt, allowed the police to show the peaceful protesters what violence really looks like. How come the cops never seem to arrest the small group of anarchists who always seem to show up at the right time (for them)? Just wondering. I also heard that the peaceful protesters responded to the cops brutality by calling them traitors and "Merkel's pigs." This is a very good sign. Amazing how cops everywhere look and act the same, no?

Have hookers give out free donuts.

So I got off the ferry this morning and knew not to walk near Wall Street to go to work, because the cops were going to be thickly planted around the area to intimidate the Occupiers exercising their first amendments rights. Straight away I could see more cop horse trailers than I've ever seen at any time--they like to use cops on horseback to intimidate a crowd. I wonder if the cop hierarchy realizes that one of the most significant things the Occupy movement has done is make people like me suspect cops and actively despise them. In fact, this weekend my nieces had me watch "The Hunger Games," and I was happy to see that the kids are being taught how ugly fascism is and that the film showed the thug cops for who they were--a bunch of faceless thugs in uniforms, crushing the people for the benefit of the powerful. It's an important lesson.

The very next day, my brother came across this great story about a man who expressed his disgust with a traffic ticket in the most exquisitely fabulous way: Man folds cash payment into origami pigs, gives to cops in donut boxes. Hats off to you, Bacon Moose.

Finally, disgusted at seeing my tax dollars being spent by assigning legions of cops sit on their (increasingly) fat asses when not actively intimidating my fellow citizens, I thought to myself, hey, what could one do to distract the cops at a protest? A: See the title of this post.

No, really?

NYPD 'consistently violated basic rights' during Occupy protests – study. The subhead reads: Report by NYU and Fordham law schools found 'shocking level of impunity' and department that acted beyond its powers. What would be really shocking is if the proper punishment were meted out to those evil filthy bastards who abused the Occupy patriots. Not holding my breath. Instead, I am waiting for Police Chief Kelly to extend his wrist for a soft rap.

Here and in the UK, hell everywhere, cops are not our friends:

Riots may be controlled with chemicals. Anyone who thinks using these filthy weapons is justified is a traitor who doesn't deserve citizenship. Kudos, police forces, you have radicalized this middle-aged woman who feels like she wasted three fucking years getting a fucking law degree. Why was it a waste? Well, the law is a lie--there is no justice. Now back in the day when I thought jsutice actually existed, I wasn't exactly a blind supporter of the police, but I didn't think they were all thugs either. Now I do. And I'm not the only one. Remember when W et al. talked about Saddam "gassing his own people." Apparently it's not a fucking crime any more. Not when the thug cops do it.

Stupid fucking cops fucked with the wrong broad:

Filthy pigs try to arrest Ellen Barkin for walking. Ok, they were actually trying to intimidate the Occupy folks who were engaged in various Occupy New Year's Eve events, including protesters at 13th and 6th Avenue. Ellen Barkin was walking in that area (near Union Square) and was targeted by the filthy monster cops. Read the story to see her tweets of righteous outrage. But the best bit was that the asshole fucking thug cops didn't realize that her boyfriend, the director Sam Levinson, was recording the whole thing including Barkin "getting pretty badass when a cop touched her patronizingly: 'Take your motherfucking hands off of me,' she growled."

Creative people, particularly famous ones, like living in New York City because people don't bother them. But no one likes living in a fucking police state. If the cops' filthy criminal behavior is not ended soon, I wouldn't be surprised if a bunch of actors and writers, musicians, etc. just pick up and move. And that will kill much of the energy in this city. Thanks, Bloomberg. Or as Ellen Barkin tweeted: "Fuck all of u,Bloomberg & every1 goose-stepping behind u.I cannot believe what I am seeing.U protect nothing.U ARE the violence in my city."

Thanks to John for the link.