the 2012 Democratic National Convention in Charlotte

Charlotte cops get expanded powers, including the random stopping and frisking of any person. Shit gonna fly.

The vote was met with shouts of "Shame!" from a packed council chamber, which prompted most of the council and Mayor Anthony Foxx to temporarily leave the dais. Protesters upset at the vote continued to shout chants, such as "Evict us, we multiply ... Occupy will never die," in the lobby of the Charlotte-Mecklenburg Government Center. No arrests were reported. The city has said the changes protect the First Amendment, though the American Civil Liberties Union has said some of the measures go too far, including giving the police power to arrest people carrying backpacks, satchels or coolers if they believe the items are being used to carry weapons.

http://www.charlotteobserver.com/2012/01/24/2953565/police-powers-during-democratic.html

including giving the police power to arrest people carrying backpacks, satchels or coolers if they believe the items are being used to carry weapons

Very clever, when you realize that "weapons" include almost anything you might throw, so that a cooler full of soda cans == a cooler full of weapons. Also, the arrest hinges on a belief in a police officer's mind, not on anything verifiable, so this power can be based on whether the officer thinks you look like a delegate or a protester.

Heck. They'll probably be handing out free tote bags to delegates by the bushel.

btw no effing way does underraero not play for Occupy the Convention

I've rewinded like 3 times and I swear that someone keeps yelling "Nooooo" when Obama says "let's end insider trading in congress" (during this SOTU address). Maybe they're yelling "Ayyy-OOO" and I'm just hearing things

this doesn't begin til Labor Day, cuz you know, Olympics + attention span

this and the rnc and the G8 in chicago are my most anticipated events of the year by far

what month is G8?

I got it, May 19-20

all planz to be there

I've rewinded like 3 times and I swear that someone keeps yelling "Nooooo" when Obama says "let's end insider trading in congress" (during this SOTU address).

Apparently a lot of people heard it and it may have been more than one person yelling "Nooo" and "Booo". That's pretty messed up. It's like if Obama has said "let's end corporate fraud and embezzlement" and got booed. This should be more or a news story :(

damn, where am I gonna get a room?

At this point, Wilmington?

plenty of good hotels in Durham, 'bout a two/three hour drive or a very pleasant morning train ride (+ cheap too, the train rules)

I will investigate

http://www.coloringpages365.com/coloring/tent-coloring-pages-1.jpg

i'm lyin, don't know where people from here are staying, should discover this

yurts y'all

http://www.instructables.com/files/deriv/FQA/53QK/F9053X5C/FQA53QKF9053X5C.MEDIUM.jpg

my lol college had a yurt & I took two classes that met in it. cosmic imo

otm

Occupy Charlotte members recently met with Occupy protesters from throughout North Carolina to prepare for the convention and are planning to provide housing, food and other support for those who come from out of state. An Occupy Durham member is now helping the legal team in a potential challenge as Charlotte officials continue to hold off allowing groups to apply for permits to protest at the convention.

Michael Zytkow, 25, an Occupy Charlotte member, said the May 9 protest at the Bank of America meeting could draw Occupy members from as far as Michigan and Washington State, as well as labor groups, others protesting the bank’s foreclosures and environmental groups focused on the bank’s financing of the coal industry.

http://www.nytimes.com/2012/04/24/us/politics/occupy-movement-prepares-for-democratic-convention.html

Sweatshop-style labor for the DNC

http://www.salon.com/2012/08/24/they_want_to_run_us_to_death/

“Ultimately, though,” she added, “I mean, President Obama and the DNC can’t change the law here. It’s the voters that can do that … that’s really our focus right now with our members.”

ooooh

http://occupywallst.org/article/march-wall-st-south-mobilization-info/

http://www.joemygod.blogspot.com/2012/09/protest-march-at-dnc.html

The Corner has complaints:

I can’t speak for the delegates or ther foreign dignitaries, but many of the journalists I have spoken with here are appalled at the accommodations in Charlotte to which they were assigned by the DNC. National Review was assigned to two Knights Inn properties. Everyone who saw them fled immediately across state lines to an available Marriott in South Carolina rather than stay there. As one of our political correspondents reported:

The Knights Inn was the worst hotel I have ever seen, and I’ve stayed in many bad motels in my life. Two guys were dealing drugs in the room next to me, and a prostitute was working out of the parking lot. And this was in the early afternoon. The room itself was dirty, full of other people’s stuff, etc.

I have never requested a hotel change in 3 years at NR. This was the first time I felt absolutely compelled.

It’s not as if the DNC couldn’t have figured out something was wrong with the properties. TripAdvisor had these recent comments on one of the Knights Inn properties: “wouldn’t recommend it to my worst enemy,” “scared to death,” and “pimps and prostitutes at night.”

Nor was National Review singled out. Staff members from Politico and the Hill abandoned their assigned hotels, too. Staffers from the Hill found refuge in a cheap Microtel and considered it a comparative oasis.

Tucker Carlson, editor of The Daily Caller, told me that the Quality Inn his staff was assigned to was “the worst hotel you can imagine.” TripAdvisor carried these recent reviews: “barely a Bates Motel,” “scary area and parking lot,” and “the worst.”

Some of the scarcity of good hotels is due to Charlotte’s relatively small size. It is the least populous city to host a national convention since the GOP held theirs in New Orleans in 1988, and the Big Easy had lots of hotels because of its popularity with tourists.

But there really is no excuse for anyone, especially women, to be assigned to hotels that are beyond dingy and in some cases clearly unsafe.

"The Crack Hotels of the DNC"

Isn't the DNC hemorrhaging money right now, and for a long time prior to this convention? Sorry you have to stay at a flea hotel.

a friend of mine who is a Democratic fundraiser posted a picture of James Taylor playing at one of the stages at the convention and it literally took every fiber of my being not to write "man, Democrats really love them some James Taylor huh" on it in response (his Facebook page is tied pretty closely to his work; I will totally say this to his face next time I see him though)

Democrats should consider My Life With the Thrill Kill Kult imo.

I can't describe it, but one of the funniest bits Letterman did in one of his 90s monologues (where he supposedly goes "rogue" from the script) was about Bill and Hillary, sailing around Martha's Island with James Taylor serenading them from the bow.

oh man Knights Inn is so harsh

enjoy grade-A chump Cory Booker

the tribute to ted kennedy video (currently on at the convention and playing on all the cable channels) included a lengthy clip of romney debating kennedy during their senate contest, in which romney declares that he is pro choice and talks about his health care plan, kennedy smacks him down

nicely done dnc

how emblematic of the republican party that NRO doesn't believe the government should be spending money right now, except when it comes to putting them up at nice accommodations. (um, why aren't news orgs paying for their own hotel rooms to begin with???)

Working Mitt into the Kennedy tribute was pretty funny. Romulus Parsnip is upset:

http://talkingpointsmemo.com/archives/2012/09/whine-mentum.php?ref=fpblg

That lady and her braces killed me.

Kathryn Jean Lopez ‏@kathrynlopez

Go head, Obama volunteers, knock on doors with enthusiasm for abortion, see how that goes #NARAL #2012DNC

tammy duckworth is cuet

how emblematic of the republican party that NRO doesn't believe the government should be spending money right now, except when it comes to putting them up at nice accommodations

Er, the Democratic party isn't the government, to be 100% fair!

Great speech

Man I LOVE Tammy Duckworth. Good person afaik. I also saw my congressional rep in the audience smiling. She was the keynote speaker at my school's 2012 graduation ceremony.

Tammy Duckworth is rad as hell.

oh rahm emanuel, cool

isn't he at the wrong convention

mitt romney would fire the reindeer and outsource the elves lmao

btw totally recommend watching this shit on PBS where they actually show the speeches

rahm is kinda a ninny

Won't somebody feed Al Sharpton?

skinny sharpton is no cool

Whos on the speaking sched tonight?

dang xp

context tbf which i did not provide

― lag∞n, Friday, September 7, 2012 2:52 PM Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

FACT CHECK

"President Clinton made the case in the way that only he can," Obama told supporters in New Hampshire. "Somebody e-mailed me after the speech and said, 'you need to appoint him Secretary of Explaining Stuff.'"

"That is pretty good. I like that," Obama said, before adding more emphasis. "Secretary of 'Splaining Stuff!"

― lag∞n, Friday, September 7, 2012 2:14 PM (40 minutes ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

oh wait actually

idea: we should start an ilx post FACT CHECK thread where we write FACT CHECK style rejoinders to posts

agree

lol

"flag post" should be replaced by a "fact check" button where we ask mods to cross-reference the claims made in a post and correct them if they contain lies or misinformation

give the mods something to do besides police perfectly innocent grill talk

shit lagoon you are reappointed DO YOU ACCEPT

people of ilx, i vow to take THIS SHIT SUPER SERIOUS

There's still this rivalry between those two alpha presidents. Having Clinton blow away the entire convention with that speech and then Obama saying, Oh yeah Bill -- he should be the "Secretary of 'Splaining Stuff'!… it's right up there with this co-worker of mine who always posts comments on the blogs I write on our company's websites "Great story! You should write more!"

http://gifsoup.com/webroot/animatedgifs7/2944936_o.gif

yeah, Bill's whole "he did the best anyone could with this mess" was also bordering on faint praise, even though it's something that needs to be said right now

There's still this rivalry between those two alpha presidents.

Not entirely unhealthy

ugh "alpha"

Alpha, President Sotosyn

Alphabet and Arithmetic, fighting crime… and each other!

http://comicmastersonline.com/shop/images/alpha%20flight.jpg

Wait, how is "he did the best anyone could" faint praise?

it's what you say about losers

WTF do you say about winners?

they won

"he fixed this shit when we thought no one else could"

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZvzIw7fyA2k

^ could be said of obama & healthcare for instance

xp

do they have the prom in scotland

lol edward before that xpost i had some questions

Biden not only looks like my wife's great uncle but totally has the same vibe as him .... nobody really gets mad at him.

Maybe people wouldn't come in their pants over Lovable Uncle Joe if they remembered we have him as much as anybody to thank for Clarence Thomas being on the Supreme Court.

Biden voted against Thomas. He has been attacked by both the left and the right for his handling of the Thomas nomination when he was chair of the Judiciary Committee and Anita Hill testified. Do you think he could have handled the hearing differently in such a way that Thomas would have either withdrawn or been voted down?

yep

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dF8r3DhudHM

Jane Mayer's book on the Hill-Thomas hearings is essential reading; and, yeah, Biden, obsessed with being fair to the Bush administration four years after Bork, does not come off well.

Sadly my wife's great uncle, a California HVAC repairman and avid sportsman, had a lot to do Scalia getting on the court

i hope the missing word in that sentence makes it sound MORE like he had sex with Scalia and not less

unrelated to anything, is it bad that the last line of sandra fluke's speech made me think of dennis duffy

"he did the best anyone could with this mess" was also bordering on faint praise, even though it's something that needs to be said right now

per Paul Krugman, he didn't remotely do the best anyone could.

But Krugman also wants Obama to win.

nobody's perfekt

Pick and choose

he did the best that he did

Really liked this, couldn't find anywhere else for it:

http://www.esquire.com/blogs/politics/whitewater-flash-pass-12403562

omg wut

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=b4FJIP-eZCA

would have smashed.

yes

She was the Democratic guvner of my home state after (R) John Engler and before the currently rightwing douchebag guy took power

i like at 2:20 when she laughs and then almost falls off the stage

bachelor #3 is harrison ford's older cousin

skinny tie makes an appearance! good luck power pop USA

she looks like a lumberjack