God directed Isaac to venture unto the heathen city of New Orleans, where the faithless shall be smited. Smote? Inb4fundies
More like sandbars. We haven't been directly hit by a hurricane for something like 40 years. Here's my take on the TPD/HCSO situation. Dismiss it if you want. Just a point of view. (EDIT: This isn't directed at you in particular, Anon Walker). We don't get major protests like this. Hell, our occupy shit had six people that only stayed half the day. And Tampa has some...unpleasant areas, so there's other issues more pressing to deal with. So you have a bunch of law enforcement officers who don't usually see protesters that are suddenly told "Hey guess what. Several thousand people might just turn up in the city next week. Several thousand people from out of town who aren't familiar with Tampa ordinances or Florida statutes. Several thousand VERY VERY angry people who already expect you to be evil evil oppressors and who therefore already hate you.Several thousand people who could quite easily get heatstroke, leaving you with several thousand unconscious or vomiting victims to get emergency care to. And of course, they'll still hate you after that. Several thousand people who might go violent at any second. And we've already recieved threats. And there's a bunch of highlevel politicians in town on your watch, one of whom might wind up President. And if something goes wrong, they'll hate you too. And just for the fuck of it, let's toss in a hurricane that may or may not hit." Basically, I suspect they're in over their heads a bit. And from what I can tell, they're TRYING to do this right. For instance, they're handing out pamphlets to protesters that were developed by the ACLU as tips for how to protect your rights while protesting. (dox: http://www.tampabay.com/news/politics/tampa-police-aclu-team-up-on-tips-for-rnc-protesters/1246589) But they're kind of in a shitty situation -- as is the rest of the goddamn city. Everyone in Tampa is stuck between a rock and a hard place with the GOP and the protesters, and they're all either bad guys for siding with the GOP or bad guys for siding with the protesters and apparently no one is allowed to just be a goddamn referee and make sure both sides play nice. And that's the goal. Just to be the referee and make sure neither side goes home with the crap beaten out of them. So for the love of god, show some fucking respect and treat them like human beings, because they've got enough shit on their plate to deal with without yet another bitchy protester who's mad just because the police had the audacity to do their fucking jobs.
I would truly love to see their poor quadcopter try to maintain position against even a Cat 1 hurricane wall of wind and water, and gyro-stabilized doesn't mean what he thinks it means. Winter is obviously the kind of Pointy-Haired Boss that causes his R&D staff to throw up a little every time he opens his mouth. He's a PR bullshitter worthy of a Scientologist.
Uhm, the hurricane already passed Tampa, guys. And I'm pretty sure the drone was able to handle some light rain just fine.
If the drones were there, which they were not. (I'm assuming that from the WTF?! reaction from the Feds.) Bossman Winter said his quadcopter drone could handle hurricane winds, which is so much bullshit, along with the rest of his PR stunt.
Summary of current RNC news reports (for tl;dr, read bold): RNC shouldn't have delayed a day, now they have to cram way too much into way too little time when the day they took off wasn't even close to hurricane conditions. Only about 500 of the 5000 protesters expected showed up. The TB Times blames Isaac. I blame pussy Occupyfags who run their mouths without backing it up. Protesters include Code Pink, Food Not Bombs, assorted Occupyfags, and Students for a Democratic Society. Tampa Police Chief says "Everything's going well" and "The officers are around to make sure everybody has a good time." RNC protest in nearby St Pete consisted of 200 Occupyfags with notably high numbers of old people. Chanting, snare drums, etc. Police (that would be, to my knowledge, the SPPD) blocked off certain streets, and mounted police were present. One protester attempted to get a "Fuck the police" chant going but was shouted down by the other occupyfags for being off-message. 200 protesters back in Tampa held an Occupy anti-Bank of America protest against the 1% etc. Protesters wrote with crayon and pasted stickers on the sidewalk and building (GODFUCKINGDAMNIT OCCUPY YOU BETTER CLEAN THAT SHIT UP I'M NOT PAYING FOR IT). Police blockaded the front door to the bank using their bikes as a wall. Assistant police chief Bennett instructed the protesters to move off private property, and when they did the police wall was moved up (to I assume the property line). Bennett was overheard reminding the officers to stay behind the bikes, and offering them a "good job" when the protesters moved away. He was quoted telling a Charlotte news team "It's finding the balance between expressive speech and...the criminal boundaries." After protesters left, city workers cleaned up the balloons and stickers left behind. One occupier was quoted as saying she wanted to be disruptive/annoying but avoid permanent damage and arrest. Salvation Army offered water to protesters, and police reported no arrests. One man was arrested earlier. Jason Wilson was seen by HCSO deputies carrying a machete strapped to his leg and was ordered to stop. He refused and told police he could carry whatever he wanted. Actually, in Tampa weapons are not allowed in designated "event zones" such as the location of large, planned protests. Police report that he resisted arrest but was subdued and transported to the HCSO. The protesters have established an encampment called "Romneyville" where anarchists (their word, not mine) are "holding court" from a media tent and members of the San Francisco Rainbow Coalition are serving meals in front of an old school bus. About sixty protesters are living here, and they report 600 more from NY are expected to join them. A separate news report specifies that the land for the encampment was formally rented by the protesters, not appropriated. The Democrat mayor of Tampa reports the protesters have been given additional space and access to toilets and water, but reminds that police plan to respond quickly to anyone who breaks off from the group to damage property. Occupy Tampa and Chicago protesters were in the audience when Wisconsin Gov Walker took the stage at the RNC and chanted "Walker hates workers." The Republicans responded with a chant of "USA! USA! USA!" and Tampa police escorted the protesters back outside and issued trespassing citations. A less than two dozen member protest occurred outside for dog lovers, started by the Dogs Against Romney group. Sources (roughly in order): http://www.tampabay.com/news/politics/article1248149.ece http://politicalticker.blogs.cnn.com/2012/08/27/did-the-rnc-jump-the-gun-by-delaying-convention/ http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/08/26/rnc-protest-st-petersburg_n_1832086.html http://www.kansascity.com/2012/08/27/3780968/early-rnc-protests-focus-on-bank.html http://www.washingtonpost.com/natio...8d466a-efc6-11e1-b74c-84ed55e0300b_story.html http://www.thenation.com/blog/169571/hundreds-activists-protest-republican-national-convention# http://www.newser.com/article/da0tp...s-organizers-blame-isaac-police-presence.html http://www.tampabay.com/news/politi...conomy-at-tampas-gaslight-square-park/1248012
LOLOL. http://www.rawstory.com/rs/2012/08/...protestors-outside-the-republican-convention/ Occupy activists clash with Westboro Baptist church protestors outside the Republican convention EDIT: omfg a sea of hippies
In all seriousness, those are some snazzy photos. Props to the photographers. Also, intriguing, I didn't realize they had called in state troopers.
YES NO MORE RNC THANK ALL THE GODS. Now, someone get these fucking protesters AND the fucking GOP out of my city. Also, I'd like to thank the Republicans for giving several million dollars to a primarily Democrat city, I'm sure we'll enjoy that while we're voting for Obama. http://www.huffingtonpost.com/huff-wires/20120831/us-cvn-tampa/
Did you see our fancy billboard? Everyone who flew into the Tampa airport had to drive past it. Trolls trolling trolls, and all that. (edit: iirc this was a shoop of the billboard because the original poster of the article couldn't get a clear shot of it or something like that.)
Let's see... A calculated insult and conspiracy by the democratic party. Some wet-behind-the-ears kid grabbed an image off of a Google search, and no one with a brain looked at it carefully during production. Which seems more likely?
More like a forever alone permavirgin moonbat trying to stir up other fellow moonbats who are also doomed to never get laid. This floof of never-gonna-get-laid moonbats are trying to make a conspiracy to the Republicans over something completely benign and easily explainable.
i agree about it being a careless mistake and not a conspiracy but if they are THAT careless about their big showpiece national convention (and support of the armed forces) how careful are they going to be in office etc? Especially when any current or ex navy guy and many others could be expected to spot it in a second. Especially when it is the centrepiece of their tribute. Dumb national Democrats. Wonder how much they paid for that footbullet? Unlike the Tampa democrats - now that billboard Six posted was worth every penny lmfao
I'd be very careful about ripping the Democrats. 612 is a Democrat (I think...) and will rip you a new one if you talk poorly about them. Take it from the voice of experience... Now, I think that most people who are not familiar with flags or military traditions/protocols aren't going to give a fuck. Not because of standing behind/against the Dems or any thing like that, but mostly out of lack of knowledge of what happened. More or less, the fault could lay solely on the boat captain for their oversight. I seriously doubt anybody that arranged this wanted to speak poorly towards the military service they were trying to honor.
Six has every right what she wants to write. As do I. Six and I mostly agree and sometimes clash - such is life! I appreciate the friendly warning but if they produce footbullets like that they deserve to be pointed out and laughed at and NOT censored by anyone under any guise. And it was a careless, expensive, insulting footbullet and democrats should be as insulted by that as anyone. They made hay (rightfully so, as i also pointed out in my post) with the Tampa billboard and if ya can dish it ya should be able to take it. Btw do you have any idea of what my political leanings are?
At least the Dems don't have Romney, Ryan, Akin, or Congresscunt Steve King. If this was a footbullet, those four are walking footnukes.
My general impression: who gives a shit? The pretty photo wasn't the important part of the convention and if that's all you can harp on, your opinion on politics clearly doesn't matter.
oh i agree totally - tho I do wonder why saying Democrats have footbulleted appears to be placing me in the Republican/antiDemocrat party? Should not mistakes be openly discussed so that they don't get repeated?
Well, I am going to take a guess and say "towards the Right". I don't think this is much of a footbullet though. I mean, if you want to talk about footbullets... Nothing on either side of the fence can top that one!
http://pointofinquiry.libsyn.com/rss Chris Mooney - The Republican War on Science http://traffic.libsyn.com/pointofinquiry/1-27-06.mp3 Chris Mooney - The Republican Brain http://traffic.libsyn.com/pointofinquiry/POI_2012_04_09_Chris_Mooney.mp3
