Pictured: Image of a 19 year old protesters beaten and bloodied during an Occupy Wall Street raid by the NYPD on Thursday.
END OF THE WEEK:
I have a friend's birthday celebration to attend in a few hours, so I apologize if this column is more half-assed than it usually is. As always, here are the best and most memorable people, stories and moments from the past seven days:
Divorce of the Week: Ashton Kutcher and Demi Moore
Whether it was because with Kutcher's infidelity or by Moore's bisexual urges, the fact of the matter is clear: the world's most famous old woman-young man relationship is done. At least now Ashton can have more time reading the news so that dumb tweets like these never happen again.
Stories of the Week:
-The Actual Story of the Week (Besides Occupy Wall Street): Silvio Berlusconi Out as Italy PM After Parliament Approves Austerity Measures
Bunga bunga parties for everybody!
- The Tiger Woods Saga of '09 Memorial Story of the Week: Natalie Wood Drowning Case Re-Opened
(cue people 25 years and younger trying to remember who Natalie Wood was)
This Week in OCCUPY: Well, my friends: it happened. After nearly a full two months and multiple "We are the 99%!" chants later, officials in the city of New York did something that many thought would've happened weeks prior: they finally gave the NYPD an excuse to put on the rioting gear! On Tuesday, police finally evacuated "Occupy Wall Street" protesters from the movement's center in Manhattan's Zuchotti Park, in an effort to finally clean up the damn joint from all those hazardous wastes and drum circles. The full-frontal evacuation by the police began roughly around 1 a.m., when they handed out a notice from the park's owners.Most people left peacefully, although there were some (including New York City Councilman Ydanis Rodriguez) that were arrested in the raid (which the media was barred from covering, so most of the news from it came from eye-witness reports). The police evacuation also sparked many additional raids by police, including ones over at good ole Occupy Oakland and also in Occupy Melbourne. And while we finally got to see the park all squeaky-clean and without any sight of the protesters, it would not mean the end of the movement...at all.
Hours after the evacuation began, a judge issued a temporary restraining order that prevented the owners of Zuchotti Park (in this case, Brookfield Proprieties) from continuing to evict protesters or from preventing them to come back along with tents and other property previously used before the evacuation (earlier that day, the city said that they were allowed to come back, but not with any of those things). However, while protesters did try to come back to the park, court ordered papers in hand, police would still not allow them in. As a result, for the first time ever, Occupy Wall Street was without a home.But, like "Community" fans signing petitions to save the show after it was announced that NBC bumped it off the midseason schedule, these protesters did not give up, deciding on kicking off a major day of action on Thursday with marches across Wall Street. Nicknamed "#N17," nearly 30,000 protesters marched across the streets of New York in an effort to stop traders from getting to the NYSE on time, with many of them gathering in and around Zuchotti Park, Union Square, Foley Square, the Brooklyn Bridge and even the many New York Subway stations around 3 p.m and the Verizon Building come nighttime..No surprise, fighting with the police came out of it.
New York wasn't the only site of the so-called "Global Day of Action." All across the country, thousands more joined in the cause as a showing of solidarity to their New York brethren, and all across the more arrests and clashes with police came out of it. Overall, there were 25 arrests made in Occupy Portland, 30 in Occupy Los Angeles, and 18 in Occupy Dallas, to name a few. In other related news, protesters over at Occupy Boston and Occupy Spokane were issued a restraining order of their own in case police wanted to prevent them from protesting some more, while Occupy Seattle protesters marched towards the University Bridge, blocking traffic and another case of violent police brutality occurred over at Occupy UCDavis.
The number of evictions may be increasing, but "Occupy" is still going. This begs the question: if those didn't stop the protests from ending, what will? Come back here next week for another quick recap of all these developments, and more.
(TO BE CONTINUED)
Video of the Week: "Best Door-to-Door Salesman Ever! Kenny Brooks"
This man both sells to you a useful cleaning product and gives you a half-hour stand-up special in five minutes. This right here, ladies and gentleman, is what I'd like to call a "national treasure."
Person of the Week: NBC Sportscaster Bob Costas
for having one of the finest hours for any broadcaster this past year. On Monday, NBC aired an all-new episode of "Rock Center with Brian Williams" featuring a segment in which Costas would discuss the sickening scandal at Penn State, one which saw the firing of one of college football's most recognizable figures in Joe Paterno. Originally what was planned would be for Costas to just interview Sandusky's attorney, Joseph Amendola, hours before the live airing of the show and nothing more. It wasn't until around fifteen or so minutes before the scheduled taped interview that Amendola asked Costas, rather surprisingly, if he would like to speak to the man/alleged monster himself. Costas, being the experienced broadcaster that he is, accepted the interview request despite not coming into the studio with that intention, and this fascinating yet chilling interview (the first major TV interview that Sandusky has given since these allegations broke) is what followed:
Visit msnbc.com for breaking news, world news, and news about the economy
Considering the short amount of time that he had, Costas was nothing short of brilliant in the interview. He was well-prepared, he showed no signs of a guy who was not planning to speak with this guy in less than ten minutes, and he basically downright destroyed Sandusky all while doing so in his smooth, cool-cut demeanor. He came on the offensive, with straightforward question like "Are these allegations true?" and "Are you a pedophile?," and he made Sandusky admit quite a bit of interesting information, including the part where he mentioned how he would shower with young boys and "horse around" with them (sadly, Costas did not let Sandusky specify what he meant). It was one of the finest hours by a man who is one of the most well-liked and respected in his profession. Just wish that some of his work on "Sunday Night Football" would be just as good
And that's the way it was! Enjoy the rest of your weekend everyone!
Sincerely,
Your pal: mj15
If you have any opinions on today's post, or if you just have any suggestions or tips for my next blog entry, e-mail me at: mj1599@aol.com. Your e-mails are greatly appreciated.
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