And who was the Police Chief in Boston who oversaw the "First Amendment Zones" during the DNC? Kathleen O'Toole.

Someone needs to paint over the names of those ships to something more accurate, like Polar Poisoner and the Vulgar Discoverer. :)

I hope Foss drosp tear gas canisters in little pool floats like this.
http://www.amazon.com/Fun-Express-IN-34-…

Blowjob.

I wonder how many of these protesters drive gas powered vehicles, heat their homes with gas, use many other petroleum based products. Hypocrites.

Long way home:
So what you're saying is: if people arent living athe 19th century lifestyle,, they don't have a right to complain. But if they were, you'd be ridiculing them for being anachronistic hippies who won't get in the real world. Sorry, but you're the hypocrite here.
Global warming won't be solved by everybody who feels compelled to do so giving up fossil fuels while other people drive gas guzzlers. It takes policy to deal with it. For instance, as long as we're subsidizing oil with our military protection, infrastructure and outright subsidies on exploration and taxes ("deplection allowance") then oil will remain artificially cheap and we'll continue to burn it. As long as the effects of burning coal such as lung issues, acidifying oceans and climate change can be off-loaded onto the public, rather than factored into the cost of the coal, we'll keep burning it. Our "free market" system is loaded with subsidies and externalized costs. Protests like this are a factor in changing that system.

@1:

Do you think O'Toole is our local Coast Guard Commander? Or are you just into lazy theories?

@5, fuck your Puritanism! It should also be pointed out how solutions and alternatives have been blocked at almost every turn by business and government. Our fuel needs have been exasperated by bad land use policies.

I've seen the light. Protests are now only holograms to me.

I think that there are a bunch of activists that are about to discover that the Coast Guard as a variety of administrative/regulatory powers that they never anticipated and the ability to draw in enforcement resources from across the region. Perhaps they should review how things went out in Neah Bay when the Makahs went whaling in the nineties. I'd recommend on playing nice.

@10: Exactly. The author's statement about doing whatever you want despite the zone is just encouraging people to get themselves hurt. These are large vessels with other large vessels guiding them in. The biggest threat is physical harm, not arrest. Irresponsible "journalism."

@6 Well said.

@5, don't forget about launching protest blimps using a very scarce gas that is produced via radioactive decay and all we have is what has been trapped underground and not floated off into outer space yet, helium.

Yes, some oil use is unavoidable, but wasting helium is sort of like carving your "free the woodland park elephants" message into the fleshy sides of an endangered black rhino to "get your message out".

I guess I'd rather be called a hypocrite and do something than go nameless and do nothing.

Right? If you follow your wholesome belief and act on it then someone is bound judge you for it.

@14:

Right? Better to call out society via Youtube for glorifying flashes in the pan than to live a life serving others or some nameless crap like that.

@13 Helium's not rare, dipshit.

@16:
We capture it along with natural gas. It's rare, and we're running out. Sooner, if we stop domestic natural gas extraction. That said, protests must realistically use available technology and resources, so you're responding to a stupid criticism.

@16, helium isn't rare in the universe, but it's pretty rare on earth in quantities where it's efficient to extract.... much like oil or diamonds.

https://www.google.com/search?q=helium+s…

@18:

@16 will use the Care Bear Stare to transcend your "science" to fit a narrative where overall presence in the universe translates to presence on Earth. This is also known as the Stranger News Story.

Freedom! Wait, what?

All your freedoms are belong to Putin

my what an edifying comment thread.

All aboard teh shitpost train!

Will there be Food Trucks, er..Kayaks there?

@ChefJoe: their airship isn't a helium aircraft. doesn't use an once of helium.

@bayou,
you're a moron who probably thinks it's full of unicorn farts and the uplifting spirit of eco-friendliness. I've dealt with gas canisters of helium for years

http://www.aerialproducts.com/blimps/hea…
a manufacturer specifies helium for these blimps

http://jkelety.com/2015/04/04/environmen…
Here's Jack Kelety's photos of the launch... you can enlarge the photos to notice the tanks with the green "non reactive" sticker which means you're talking helium or something like nitrogen, but that wouldn't float a blimp very well.

And, just to beat the science into your head instead of accepting your flat "you're wrong" bs statement - 20 lbs of lift is about a 24-25 ft helium blimp... and hindenberg-flammable hydrogen (which would have a red sticker on the tank) is the only other gas possible for that lift with the dimensions in the photo.

http://www.thestranger.com/blogs/slog/20…
Carlo Voli, Bill Moyer, and Lisa Marcus unload the blimp from the truck. It has a 20-pound lift, Eric Ross explains, which means a small child could ride on it.

http://www.giant-inflatables.com/inflata…