Oh yes, our annual mayhem and depravity followed by weeks of outraged punditry. The really sad part is, this fills a void in young people and makes them feel empowered. It's going to be really awful this year I'm afraid.

The SPD needs one of those tanks with the high powered water cannon for occupy bowel movement fucks. I'll donate.

@1: Yeah, workers and immigrants have it so fucking easy in this country, how dare people try to make things better for them! Next they'll want a living wage, like $15/hour!

So, in other words, a giant clvsterfvck

@4: I wasn't referring to wages. I was referring to broken store windows.

The good news is that this year the police on the street will know that the mayor will do everything he can to delay and reduce punishment for any violations that occur responding to the protestors. Break some skulls coppers!

So long as the Berlin 1987 Reenactment Society holds their tiny parade well away from the immigrant rights demonstration again, and the police department doesn't stray too far from the script the cosplayers have written for them, everyone involved will probably be able to tell exactly the kinds of stories they're looking for, once they all get home.

Well, except for the immigration rights activists. But you know, eggs, omelettes, all that.

*jerking-off motion*

They probably still wouldn't cost as much in damage as the 12th Man Rioters did after the Super Bowl.

Most riots are police riots, instigated and perpetuated by cops.

@11 is, sadly, correct

Escalation of force by police leads to bad results

I see that the FBI's Black Bloc project has succeeded in having the police and politicians confusing them with real anarchists. Great work, FBI tools!

@11: For the sake of argument, let say that is totally true. Does that mean that after the first instigation by the police, such as using pepper spray or a push and somebody falls down, that all the burning and smashing that follows is somewhat justified?

And of course the answer is obviously no. But to the detriment of everyone, too many think 'yes'.

"Being an anarchist, last I checked, doesn't make you a criminal or automatically qualified to be pepper sprayed by police."

Were that it legal for anarchists to be pepper sprayed by fellow citizens -- I'd probably quit my job and do nothing else.

Ansel says that May Day is traditionally "a day of protest." As most of us know the tradition of May Day relates to wondrous celebrations of the Spring season by Celtic, Nordic, and other groups dating back several centuries.

But that's ugly white man stuff, let's forge on celebrating cops, anarchists, immigrants, riots and hate.

The whiny shitheads pointlessly marching while babbling useless slogans could always smash the fuckheads who show up in bandana masks and provide some tiny shred of legitimacy and purpose to their otherwise insignificant day.

Do something useful on the pathetic march to nowhere this time folks - tear the mask off of every shithead who puts one on.

They aren't there for you, they aren't there for politics, and they aren't there to help anyone. If they want to make a statement, let them make it with their faces proudly on display with the rest of us.

Again, if you want to make a difference, if you want to make your point, and you're not afraid to speak your mind - when you see the shitheads mask up TEAR THEIR STINKING MASKS OFF.

Your supposed commitment to a free speech democracy demands nothing less.

I just wish these two groups of douchebags could take their silly little fight somewhere else.

May Day is slowly turning into "ass kicking day" for the anarchists in Portla... er Seattle. Come on folks, pick out your black jacks and be very very quiet, its masked moron season!

So once again the trust fund "anarchists" will do everything they can to draw as much attention from the actual immigrant rights activists who demonstrate peacefully, and never seem to get pepper sprayed.

Funny how that works.

Now remember everyone, broken window on a store the Stranger likes = horrible act of vandalism, broken window on a store the Stranger dislikes = act of protest...

For the love of god can we just call the people smashing windows what they are, stupid dumb thugs.

"Most riots are police riots, instigated and perpetuated by cops."

Give me a break. These "anarchist" punks are going to riot and cause trouble whether the cops are around or not. In 2012, the police stayed back and tried not to engage, but businesses along 6th Ave downtown still got paint-bombed, windows were broken and cars parked along the street were vandalized all before SPD stepped in. The "anarchists" want to cause trouble and want attention. If there were genuinely out to simply protest and not cause trouble why in the world do they still show up with their faces covered? Riddle me that.

I agree that most anarchists are basically annoying entitled white kids, but a lot more people and groups participate in May Day activities that don't espouse anarchist views: labor unions, immigrants, unorganized workers, environmentalists and civil rights organizations (the non-profit I work for participate in May Day every year and we certainly don't endorse the tactics of the militants). But the press tends to ignore those people in favor of photogenic "anarchist" destruction. People see the damage on tv and then proceed to characterize the whole thing as a trustafarian uprising. The so-called anarchists and the media have a wonderfully symbiotic relationship that essentially reinforces the status quo by making average Americans believe that all assembly is stupid and pointless.

This is the kind of childish side-debate anarchists love to create. And by that, I do mean most anarchists, not just the criminal ones. No matter how wholesome their day jobs may be, a true anarchist believes "we're all criminals," as they said in France in May '68. They are also likely to adhere to a code of silence when they know their comrades have committed a crime. To this extent, they are at least ethically culpable in what their comrades do, though not legally. Not all anarchists join in Black Blocs, and some may find them pointless, but you can't repudiate Black Bloc tactics and property destruction and still maintain cred with your anarchist comrades.

Cops have the tough job of identifying and apprehending who among the crowd is inciting a riot, and most of these people happen to be anarchists. I think everyone gets that being an anarchist in and of itself is not a crime. Saying "anarchists who commit crimes" or "criminals who happen to be anarchists" is a good habit, if only because anarchists and those they influence will raise a stink about it every time. The fact is, people who have zero intention of criminalizing anarchism will sometimes use "anarchists" as a shorthand.

No, being an anarchist is not a crime. But after over 100 years of anarchism in the U.S., we know that anarchists generally acquiesce to criminal activity within the movement. No one can be genuinely shocked when people generalize a little; this is no where near the ethical lapse that anarchists make it out to be. If you still think it is, you probably should consider that you've allowed petulant anarchist rhetoric to influence your thinking.

*sigh*

@7 Actually, we don't know WHO those masked "anarchists" are, because they somehow never arrest any of the masked "anarchists" and bring them to trial. Whenever anyone talks to not-masked anarchists, they seem like people of ordinary intelligence to me, but somehow we are to believe that these same people, once they have their masks on, are such criminal masterminds in the interest of vandalism that they never never get caught doing, let alone convicted of, vandalism in a mask - anywhere in the country.

I posted video of the relevant portion of yesterday's meeting with clickable index.

@27--Thank you. Usually when I point out that the "Black Bloc" provocuteurs are really FBI agents working out of the Salem office, at least three people denounce my post. This time it hasn't happened. But I see you have noticed the same thing I have--The first round of window-bashers are never, ever arrested or charged. That's because they're on their way back to Salem, because the FBI hates to pay overtime.

@1 to "Phoebe in Wallingford" Yes ok, it makes youth feel empowered. Is that saying something about the young people, or their society? i hope you see what im saying.