Occupy Oakland According to the NY Times

I’ve been chronicling the Occupy fiasco since the original Day of Rage – which turned out to be more like the day of ‘Meh’. One city has led the pack in violence and destruction: Oakland.

The NY Times ran a piece on August 1st about Occupy Oakland. Probably quite a few missed it. I wonder if they missed it because the title didn’t contain “Occupy” but made it sound like a hippie-throwback piece? Maybe it’s because the article starts out interesting on page 1 and then moves to talking about a failed hip-hop artist turned militant that no one has heard of. Could be both. The NY Times has made it a special hobby of theirs to write articles praising and excusing Occupy. This one is long and no different. Here’s the title and link:

Oakland, the Last Refuge of Radical America

It’s very long and filled with lots of glorifying of Occupy wrapped in descriptive, gritty adjective laced paragraphs like this one on page 2:

It’s a dream that still exists in Oakland — that the world can be taken from the haves and delivered to the have-nots. Like all dreams that are on the brink of being extinguished, its keepers cling to it with a fierceness that is both moving and an extreme exercise in the denial of the reality that is at their door.

At the bottom of page 3, the story finally gets to Mayor Jean Quan, who by all rights should have been run out of town by her constituents for her active role in supporting Occupy Oakland:

Quan’s first instinct when the tents rose on Oct. 10 was to let the protesters stay. There were just a few issues that needed addressing: the illegal open fires, the unauthorized and possibly dangerous use of City Hall’s power outlets, the 911 calls reporting incidents of violence and sexual harassment inside the camp.

The article then goes on to paint Quan as a victim on page 5 – which is was not. She openly supported Occupy and enabled them. The story doesn’t have someone blaming her for two more pages beyond this section, on page 5:

Quan is not on the best of terms with her own Police Department. She was herself named in a police report shortly before she took office in January 2011 for her conduct at a police-brutality protest, and the police union spent thousands of dollars backing one of her opponents. “The theory among some of my left friends and among some members of my family was that I was set up,” she said. “You know, I was out of town, they closed down the camp a day early and then overreacted. Certain people in the police had tried to set me up before. I mean, my car got booted right after the election.”

“Why?” I asked.

“To send the message that they can do what they want,” Quan said. “That I better watch out.”

Dear Jonathan Mahler, here are some stories you should have read before writing your tribute article you tried to disguise as a hard look at “radical” Oakland via praise wrapped in gritty urban descriptions. Mind you, these are only a few of the 100+ stories I have links to for Oakland. You also left out the thousands of arrests and what Oakland has cost the tax payers – $3 Million and counting.

Occupy Oakland Protesters Arrested For Possessing Homemade Bomb

“If you try to evict us again, Occupy Oakland will make your lives more miserable than you make ours”

#OccupyOakland FTP March: Bottle Of Urine Thrown at Media, Flag Burning, Shouting Chant F*ck the Police! [Photos/Video] -Updated

300 arrested at Occupy protests in Oakland

#Occupy Oakland Murderer Arraigned in Court

Ⓐ Scenes from an Insurrection – #OccupyOakland Ⓐ

Occupy Oakland Protesters Seize and Burn American Flag at City Hall

Oakland Police Release Video of Occupiers Breaking in to City Hall

Occupy Oakland’s “F*ck The Fourth/Police” Frenzy: “Kill Cops” Vandalism At OPD HQ & Burning U.S. Flags [Photos & Video]

Three Mostly Peaceful Occupy Oakland Cretins Charged With Hate Crimes

Oakland Mayor Jean Quan sees hope amid chaos

Quan gets little backing from council