Anti-NATO demonstrations are now entering full force in Chicago, after Monday morning saw arrests of demonstrators at President Obama’s campaign headquarters. Tuesday night marked the beginning of the ugly scene Chicagoans have been preparing for, mentally, for months, as a masked mob of angry, violent protesters took over Halsted Street on the south side of Chicago.

Wait, did I say violent? I’m sorry… I forgot: they are supposed to be called “non-violent, mostly peaceful” demonstrators. At least that’s how the Chicago media still refers to them. Even when the demonstrations turn violent, injuries and arrests, the old guard media still sees it fit to point out that none of those occurrences were actually intended by the protesters.

The protesters began their self proclaimed FTP (F*ck the Police) march Tuesday evening by startling unsuspecting residents. The demonstrators were a roving mob, covered in black, head to toe. Most, of course, donned face-concealing bandanas and carried red and/or black flags (communist and/or anarchist, respectively).

I interviewed several neighbors in the area who had no idea what was going on.; some thought there were fights in the street. One area resident said, “It was scary.”

Other residents found common ground with those protesters who were marching against police brutality. However, when informed that the protest consisted of a large group of communists and anarchists, only a few neighbors remained comfortable with the group marching through their neighborhood.

One woman I interviewed said her son had joined the march “against police brutality,” unaware of who the group was, and “wanted to go get him” after she found out.

After marching 20 blocks, the protest arrived at the Chicago Police Department 9th Precinct headquarters to “peaceably assemble for a redress of grievances.” Although this time I’m being sarcastically polite with my description, as they were really taunting and ridiculing the police with vulgarity and profanity.

It was here that the community residents of the Bridgeport neighborhood reached their boiling point with the mob, after an altercation occurred between one of the anarchists and an 80-year-old man. Both claimed the other hit the other first–and in the blink of an eye, Bridgeport residents were demanding the protesters leave their neighborhood with hard fists drawn.

Once the sun was gone completely and light rain started to fall, the march continued through an unscheduled pathway of streets and alleys. It was then that the march turned into a game of cat-and-mouse between demonstrators and the police.

The police, in this instance, were mainly trying to keep protestors on the sidewalks and to allow traffic to move again. The mob, meanwhile, stormed the Halsted Street Orange Line Station in an attempt to hop on a train towards downtown Chicago and lose the police escort. But after nearly every single protester–including an observer from the National Lawyers Guild–jumped the turnstiles or passed through a propped open handicapped gate, the Chicago Transit Authority stopped the trains.

The demonstrators continued through the streets of the near south side after failing to board the train, and began to employ their “non-violent direct action tactics” on the police officers. They created a barricade of road construction horses, forcing the police to leave their cars to clear a way for traffic. Later, demonstrators dragged dumpsters into streets and knocked over dozens of garbage cans in alleys.

This, of course, is all no surprise. We have all been told for months and months, that “this is what democracy looks like”; this is the peaceful protesting we were promised during the NATO summit in Chicago.

We were also told for months and months–by Occupiers, unions, anarchists, communists and other left-wing radicals for “change”– that “this is only the beginning.”

And, indeed, it looks like Tuesday night was in fact the beginning of what’s in store over the coming NATO Summit weekend, as dozens of busses have been delivering hundreds, and perhaps even thousands, of protesters to Chicago, “the belly of the beast.”

Source: http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/BigGovernment/~3/XCamTheuuqY/Anti-NATO-Protest-Rampages-Through-Chicago-Neighborhood-Taunts-Police

Daniel Inouye Israel House Dems Recovery Angry Iraqi throws shoes at Bush U.S. projects record $1.2 trillion deficit Sept. 11

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/china-state-run-businesses-invest-350-billion-yuan-082518892–finance.html

Palin campaign trail Kelly Ayotte GOP warned Emanuel God Dean Heller Jeff Bingaman

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/u-marks-150th-anniversary-homestead-act-offering-free-234341912.html

How U.S. should respond Claire McCaskill Pat Roberts embrace technology or face suicide Begich claims victory over Stevens in Alaska Mike Johanns Palin ethics law

Source: http://ac360.blogs.cnn.com/2012/05/17/does-new-evidence-change-trayvon-case/

Lamar Alexander Ben Cardin Nuclear Power GOP, not conservatives, lost election Franken seated Herb Kohl Jon Tester

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/york-citys-most-senior-openly-gay-official-weds-235552476.html

war in Afghanistan the spirit of change Democrats Election features White House reviews plan Jim DeMint Democracy

We try to get to grips with exactly how the news is made, the decisions and challenges that are overcome in order to deliver it on the World Service.

Steve Evans, BBC World Service’s Berlin correspondent joins me from Oslo, where he has been covering the unfolding tragedy there. Steve talks me through what makes this a uniquely Norwegian crisis, and how this affected coverage of it.

Phone hacking scandal

It’s been the biggest media story of the year and is showing no sign of abating, but has the News of the World phone hacking scandal received too much coverage on the World Service? A listener puts this question to Andrew Whitehead, editor of news and current affairs on the World Service.

Better relations

In the mailbag we have a response to last week’s special edition with World Service commissioning editors Jeremy Skeet and Steve Titherington. Listener Piet Boon shares his thoughts and ideas about how to improve listener relations.

That’s it in a jam packed programme this week, as always please post you thoughts on the blog.

Rajan Datar is the presenter of Over To You.

Over To You is your chance to have your say about the BBC World Service and its programmes.

Broadcast times can be found by clicking here.

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Send the team your feedback by email (overtoyou@bbc.co.uk), telephone (44 144 960 9000), SMS (447786 202006) or by leaving comments on this blog

Source: http://www.bbc.co.uk/blogs/overtoyou/2011/07/news_coverage_on_bbc_world_ser.html

Obama threatens veto Franken, Coleman attacks Daschle Thursday Debbie Stabenow Ron Johnson Who is voting early

Source: http://www.realclearpolitics.com/articles/2012/05/18/europes_fate_and_obamas_may_ride_on_g8_summit_114196.html

GOP warned Emanuel God Dean Heller Jeff Bingaman Jeanne Shaheen Lieberman keeps powerful post

Less than three weeks remain until the June 5th recall election in Wisconsin that will decide whether or not Governor Scott Walker remains in office. Recent polls have been trending in Walker’s direction after showing a dead heat last month. Most of this seems to be the result of sky-high GOP enthusiasm. Dave Weigel reported this week that the enthusiasm is visible on the ground and should be worrisome to both Walker’s opponents and to President Obama.

There are other signs that suggest a groundswell of support for Walker. Today, the Hudson Star-Observer published a letter from Gerry Lancette, a longtime union man who is backing Scott Walker:

Dear Editor,

Scott Walker supporters are repeatedly accused of being “anti-union.” This union member of 45 years, son of a union organizer and supporter of Gov. Walker and his policies, is not anti-union. The real anti-union sentiment, which is opposed to the genuine, bottom up, pro free-market type of unionism that the Greatest Generation produced, is coming primarily from the corrupt and illegitimate leadership of the national union organizations. Leadership gained through deception and outright union election fraud.

Marxist factions within the labor movement were soundly defeated in 1955, when the recently merged AFL-CIO formally banned Communists from holding office within the union. It didn’t deter the Marxists and their fellow travelers in academia, they just stayed low and kept advancing their revolution. Leftist author Paul Buhle, in his book “Taking Care of Business” confirms that “…many ordinary Communists and Socialists acted heroically…to bring new blood into a tired labor movement.” And that they did.

In 1995, the “New Voices” stole the AFL-CIO national election. Buhle, matter-of-factly reports the theft: “…more than twice the usual number of delegates registered to attend the October AFL-CIO convention….these were not, in large part, ordinary union members or even chosen by union members, but…counted nevertheless.” The newly elected Marxist leaders promptly rescinded the bylaw that banned Communists from holding office.

The bottom line, as Mr. Lancette sees it, is not about union or non-union. “It’s about whether we defeat those who conspire to ‘fundamentally transform the United States of America,’ or whether we choose to be ruled by ‘muscular Socialists.’” 

Source: http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/BigGovernment/~3/SvkUBlEUftw/WI-Union-Member-Supports-Scott-Walker-Over-Marxist-Union-Leadership

Sherrod Brown hunt for bin Laden Mike Lee Health Care Chuck Grassley Jerry Moran Bernie Sanders

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/suicide-blast-kills-13-eastern-afghanistan-135930070.html

Biofuel / Ethanol Big risk in Obamas economic stimulus plan Economy Max Baucus Jack Reed Iraq Frank tweaks to bailout

As we ponder the pros and cons of whether directly elected mayors represent an advance in democracy for local government, it’s worth remembering that only 55% of those who voted were in favour of the idea in Torbay. And those who voted accounted for only 32.1% of the electorate. And last year Gordon got the job with just 25.7% of the vote.

Source: http://www.bbc.co.uk/blogs/grahamsmith/2012/05/after_the_lord_mayors_show_1.html

Scott Brown Obama threatens veto Franken, Coleman attacks Daschle Thursday Debbie Stabenow Ron Johnson