SWEET, SWEET SEIU IRONY: Union Trained For Wells Fargo “Flash Mob” Protest In Wells Fargo Theater

Published on May 29, 2012 by

Late last year The Daily Show found Occupy Wall Street planning their protests in the atrium of Deutsche Bank. Yesterday, a Colorado Peak Politics source found the SEIU planning their "flash mob" protest of Wells Fargo in…the Wells Fargo Theater at the Colorado Convention Center. Oh, the sweet, sweet irony!

From The Denver Post's Jordan Steffen:

More than 1,000 people gathered for a protest in front of the Wells Fargo Building in downtown Denver this morning.

A large group of demonstrators marched from the Colorado Convention Center to Sherman Street, demanding that the nation's wealthiest 1 percent pay "their fair share" of taxes.

…Many of the demonstrators are in town the for convention of the Service Employees International Union.

Today's SEIU protest, with its Occupy language of the 99% and directed towards a bank, further ties the labor union to the protest movement associated with violence towards police officers, public defecation and rape. 

It's not like the SEIU is even trying to hide it anymore, now that they're paying $4,000 a month for Occupy DC's office space.

Considering Occupy Denver has burned down their own squatter camp, it makes sense the SEIU is joining forces with them. What torches your message better than renting space sponsored by the same company you are protesting?


 

WHERE ARE THE HANCOCK POLL RESULTS? After Announcing Poll, Source Says Mayor Hiding Bad Result

Published on April 19, 2012 by

Last week, The Denver Post's Jeremy Meyer reported on a poll Denver Mayor Michael Hancock was fielding through a private non-profit that raised money to pay for it. A source tells us Hancock has received the results and is not disclosing them to avoid embarrassment over his low approval ratings.

Our source tells us Hancock's approval rating has dropped to 46% in Denver already, putting him more than 20 points behind Hickenlooper in the city, according to Hick’s numbers in the latest Ciruli Associates poll. The source also tells us Hancock is under 40% approval among women.

We should note that we have not seen an actual copy of the poll results, but the source has proven to be reliable in the past.

It's no wonder with results like those he didn't release the poll. But it probably wasn't smart to announce the poll in The Denver Post if you want to hide the results afterward. 

Without access to the full polling report, one can only surmise why Hancock would be doing so poorly among women, but we're guessing the hooker scandal that engulfed his campaign last year might have something to do with it. 

A misspelled version of the Mayor's name, Han(d)cock, showed up in a prostitution ring's appointment book. Hancock has never put the issue to rest, refusing to show the press his bank statements proving he had not withdrawn hundreds of dollars in cash on the days it was alleged he visited the prostitutes. The Denver Post backed off their investigation, though, after Hancock released selectively chosen cell phone records.

Hancock not only botched that scandal, but has had a stream of public relation disasters. When the Occupy Denver confrontations took place with police, Hancock was nowhere to be seen. 

He also took his staff on a swanky Beaver Creek retreat at a donor's mansion, tried to ban the press from recording his press briefings, and is paying his political appointees at least $1 million more than Hickenlooper did when he was mayor.

It's been a rough first year for Mayor Hancock. It may get rougher if it turns out Hancock has been hiding bad poll results. 


 

HEY, HEY, HO, HO: These Scabies-Ridden Occupy Protesters Have To Go

Published on April 4, 2012 by

Denver City Council held a hearing yesterday on a proposed new ordinance that would ban outdoor "camping" in unauthorized areas of Denver. Although no one associated with the city will actually say on the record what the ordinance is really about, everyone understands it's primarily aimed at trying to pre-empt an Occupy Denver resurgence.

Several sources within the city government have told the Peak their goal is to have this ordinance working its way onto the books before the weather prompts Occupiers to return, en masse, to Civic Center Park.  

The national Occupy movement is making noise about their resurgence hope. Reports The New York Times:  

The movement’s staying power will depend on the success of several events planned for the coming weeks. Despite recent actions that have fizzled, including an Occupy Corporations day in February, organizers are planning a strike and demonstrations on May 1, International Labor Day. But the response has been mixed, and activists now say that Americans could show sympathy for the cause in other ways, like not shopping that day.  

Chris Longenecker, 24, a member of the group who is helping to organize the strike and protests in May, said the lull in attention over the past few months was due to the group’s focus on building up capacity for larger events.  

“We are looking to late spring and summer,” he said. “We are reconnecting with our passive supporters who saw us lay more dormant in the winter. We have spent the vast majority of the winter laying roots across community organizations and labor and immigration.”

Denver faced several months of Occupy torment in the late summer and fall last year and even the lefties in the Denver city government realize the costs and negative press associated with an even more extended occupation this year would overwhelm the city. The sponsor of the ordinance, Councilman Albus Brooks, tried to couch the measure as one of compassion in his opening remarks today:

"It's inhumane to have people sleeping outside," said Brooks in his opening remarks before the council's Land Use, Transportation & Infrastructure committee.

Earlier this month, one of the people in the Occupy camp admitted to officials they were infected with scabies (think mange for people).

Those at the city know the highly contagious parasite could have infected a much larger population if it had started when the waves of Occupiers were sharing blankets and tents during the warmer months. If they are allowed to return for an even more extended period of time this year, the campers staying there for days without proper sanitation could create a critical health crisis.  

City officials can couch this proposed ordinance however they think will be most politically expedient, but at the end of the day, Denver has been dealing with a homeless population for decades and this ordinance is now proposed because the Occupiers are here.


 

ELI STOKOLS: American Bad A$$!

Published on March 22, 2012 by

It's no secret, the Peak prides itself on picking on the Denver press when they deserve a picking on.  

Some reporters — cough, cough, Allison Sherry, cough, cough — we have been especially tough on.  

Which is why we are excited to highlight the absolute annihilation of some rowdy bums masquerading as Occupy protesters by our favorite political reporter on TV, Eli Stokols. Stokols' performance makes him immediately eligible for the Peak's Man of the Year.  

While we mentioned this encounter last week, including the criminal record of the lead Occupier, after a much needed unplugging from the internets we feel the need to publish it again. It's that good. 

We will say that, if we weren't anonymous automatons, we would take Eli to an Irish bar and order him a (belated) St. Patty's Day car bomb as a thank you for saying what we have been thinking to the idiot protesters vagrants protesting the 1 percent.    

Speaking of car bombs, click here for Eli the Magnificent. You go Dog.

(Photo Credit: Eli Stokols’ Facebook Fan Page)

 

CAN’T COMMUNICATE WITH CRAZY: Occupy Denver Protester Who Harassed Eli Stokols Has Criminal Record

Published on March 14, 2012 by

Denver Westword's Kelsey Whipple reported today on Occupy Denver protesters harassing Fox31's Eli Stokols while he was trying to do a live shot. A group of protesters led by Caryn Sodaro tried to hold up signs behind Stokols saying "F*** the Police." Stokols was clearly not pleased with the protesters’ attempt to hijack a live television broadcast and gave them a piece of his mind.

Check out more about the incident in Westword here. They have a great video of the whole incident. 

A reader emailed us about the report to note something mentioned in the comment section. Turns out protester Caryn Sodaro seems to be mentally unwell and has a history of doing things like calling 911 with fake suicide threats.

From Private Officer News:

A woman arrested Friday for making 48 phony 911 calls to county police dispatchers was a volunteer firefighter in southeast Weld County, according to court records released Monday.  

Caryn Sodaro, 44, lives in Lochbuie, but she was a volunteer firefighter in Hudson. She told investigators that after she made the phony suicide and ambulance calls, she listened to the law enforcement responses on one of the department’s police radios.  

Most of the phony calls in the past few months were threats of suicide, and Sodaro told investigators that she is “depressed and thinks of suicide,” according to court affidavits.  

Following her arrest, Sodaro was booked into the Weld County Jail on charges of attempting to influence a public official, false reporting to authorities and resisting arrest.

…After many of the calls, the caller’s phone number suddenly changed. Sheriff’s deputies and Fort Lupton and Lochbuie police found that the new telephone had been purchased at a store in Brighton. From that store, they traced the cell phone to Sodaro.  

On Friday, Lochbuie Officer Brock Williamson and Weld Sheriff’s Deputy Nick Armstrong executed a search warrant at Sodaro’s home. When they tried to arrest her, the court records show that she fought with the officers and they “brought her to the ground” and handcuffed her.

The Greeley Tribune reported that Sodaro was put on probation for 3 years for the calls and ordered to pay $11,000. 

Keen-eyed observers will note this is the same Occupier who tried to crash the BlogCon conservative blogger conference in Denver last November. 

Stokols understands that he can't communicate with crazy telling Westword, "I don't think anything makes much of an impression on those protesters, those who are in the news all the time for getting arrested and who are there all the time overnight now."

To take a tune out of the Occupy movement's song book, this is what Occupy Denver looks like. 


 

GOVERNOR TO BE DETERMINED: A List of Hick’s Missing Issue Positions

Published on January 16, 2012 by

As Governor Hickenlooper embarks on his new taxpayer funded polling operation “To Be Determined” listening tour, we think it's instructive to look at what issues Hick has already marked TBD. As a gubernatorial candidate Hick never really had to stick his neck out on any issues — why bother when running against Maes and Tancredo? 

But as Governor he's kept that TBD political persona intact to the point of believing it's ridiculous to even expect clearly articulated issue positions from him, the state's Chief Executive. 

When Tim Hoover of The Denver Post asked him about political players from left to right complaining about his TBD persona, Hick complained, saying "where is it in the rule book that you have to always take a side and be part of these divisional arguments?"

Where in the rule book? Umm…it's in the job description, your Excellency. 

“Rather than lead Colorado to economic prosperity, John Hickenlooper governs with his finger in the air to notice any changes in the political winds,” says Tyler Q. Houlton, President of Compass Colorado. “This is a governor who refuses to take a stand on every important and controversial issue.”

“To Be Determined is a perfect name for Hickenlooper’s gutless jobs plan – he simply doesn’t have one.”

To conservative commentator George Will, Hickenlooper declared that due to Colorado's political makeup, he didn't even have to wade into the big issues, saying "we are such a purple state, we can avoid the big fights."

That doesn't even make sense. If we're a competitive state, then that necessarily means we'll have more big fights, not less. 

On some of these issues, Hick made sure to avoid a determination before the sell by date, like Prop 103, while on others Hick waited until a position was safe before taking it, like supporting Tebow. 

1. Prop 103: Can you imagine a CEO not taking a position on their company's revenue stream? That's exactly what Hickenlooper did on Prop 103.

2. Olympics: A Blue Ribbon Commission must decide before Hickenlooper lets the "entrepreneurial spirit" dictate this decision…you know since so many entrepreneurs farm out decision making to committees. 

3. Redistricting: Hick was happy to let the courts decide this one, rather than wade in during the legislative session and force legislators, who are accountable to the people, to draw the lines.

4. Reapportionment: Like redistricting, Hick could have made a difference, preventing the process from devolving into a vindictive attack on GOP women and incumbent GOP legislators. Instead, he watched the process from the sidelines and only weighed in to lament what happened afterwards. 

5. Early Childhood Literacy: No position during his State of the State speech. Still waiting on "bipartisan legislation."

6. Drilling on Roan Plateau: For a Governor who likes to mention his oil and gas background quite often, it's strange he's avoided a position on an economic development issue that could make an enormous difference to a region of the state with unemployment surpassing 20% in some counties. 

7. Endorsing Obama: It's been 287 days since Obama filed for re-election. Hickenlooper has yet to endorse his campaign, and has said he doesn't plan on stumping for him in Colorado. 

8. Tebow as starting QB: When Hick invoked Tebow during his State of the State address, you'd think he was a fan all along. Not so. Asked by Eli Stokols of Fox 31 back in October about Tebow moving into the starting QB position, Hick hedged and said he supported whatever Coach Fox wanted. 

9. DPS endorsements: During the Denver school board elections, Hick went out of his way to praise a slate of candidates, but refused to endorse them. Observers wondered why he didn't have the guts, or intellectual honesty, to just come out and endorse. 

10. Dealing With Occupy Denver: After much public lamenting about a supposed lack of legal recourse, Hick eventually shut down the squatter camps, but not until Senator Greg Brophy and talk radio bludgeoned him into doing so. 

11. Bill to make it harder to amend the state constitution: During the last legislative session, Hickenlooper refused to weigh in on a bill that would have made it easier to amend the state constitution. As the leading spokesman for many a ballot initiative, it's something Hick has had plenty of time to consider his position on, yet he stayed silent. Shocking. 

12. Unionization of state employees: There was vague talk of changing outdated personnel rules during the State of the State, yet on a defining issue when it comes to state personnel, Hick has been nowhere. That may change soon, as we hear talk of bills designed to force him into a position.

13. PERA reform: While State Treasurer Walker Stapleton was forced to sue to try to figure out where the problems reside on this massive public pension boondoggle, Hick has been nowhere. 


 

EAT MY FREE MARKET DUST: Americans Still Prefer Economic Freedom Over Economic Occupation/Bondage

Published on January 5, 2012 by

The Occupy squatter movement has been trying hard to turn the word capitalism into a curse word. A new poll released by the Pew Research Center last week demonstrates their failure in that effort, with Americans still preferring economic freedom over a market controlled by government bureaucrats.

From The Hill write up on the poll:

The Pew Research Center found that half of U.S. adults reacted favorably to capitalism, while 4 in 10 responded negatively.  

Meanwhile, 6 out of 10 adults disapproved of socialism, while 31 percent endorsed it.  

All those responses, Pew said, are largely unchanged from April 2010, the last time the group checked on those words.

In a not-surprising-at-all crosstab, Pew found that nearly half of 18-29 year olds had a positive view of socialism. The poll found that as respondents got older, and thus had to spend more time in the real world without their parents' credit card, they became increasingly opposed to socialism and more favorable towards a free market. 

That views towards capitalism haven't soured during the worst economic depression in generations speaks volumes about the enduring ideal of a free market economy in the American ethos. As much as the Occupiers demand their right to take dumps in public parks, in a protest of the economy that pays for their feces to be disposed of after riot police clear them out, they are not succeeding in getting Americans to adopt their warped view of the world. 

Fear not, conservatives. The Pew poll lets us rest easy, knowing that the best cure for leftist economic ideals is simply a cold, hard dose of self-reliance. 

Socialism, it appears from the Pew poll, is only popular when it's someone else's money. But as Margaret Thatcher once said "the problem with socialism is you eventually run out of someone else's money."

Chew on that, socialists. You suck. We rock. 


 

Even hard core Leftists getting disgusted with Occupy Denver

Published on December 16, 2011 by

Over at the hard-core lefty site Squarestate, they have a diary up titled The Ugly Truth About #OccupyDenver.  

Fong, Squarestates head honcho and the diary's author pretty much confirms all of those dark rumors about the Occupy movement that have been going around.

A few quotes from the article:

“I've been on the PR team of Occupy Denver for about two months now and that involvement has shown me the underbelly of the beast. Keep in mind that everything I write below is just the the tip of the iceberg and understand that I write this because I'm tired of witnessing the consistent reckless behavior that puts innocent people at risk”

“Occupiers would set up tents during peak crowd hours with the intention of bringing in the cops to crack heads, in an effort to show the world that the police are brutal.”

“And then there was talk about a plan to burn cars for the Walmart blockade Monday morning.”

“So far I've seen ass-kissing, fear-mongering, death threats, theft, fights, using innocent people as a shield, lies about union endorsements, ulterior motives, lots and lots of messianic bullshit, and of course, shirking responsibility.”

and finally:

“I wish I could say good things. When people corner me about my involvement in OD, I feel bad that I don't have good things to say.”

When you have a doctrinaire lefty like Fong cutting loose like this on the movement, you have to wonder what makes anyone think that anything positive was ever going to come out of the juvenile and illegal antics that were part and parcel of Occupy right from the start.

Here is a clue for those on the left that supported Occupy Denver.  When you start out with no regard for the law, why the hell should you be surprised when all there is around you is lawlessness!


 

TIPTON AIDE TO OCCUPIERS: Unemployment Payment Fraud Exists, Now Take A Shower You Smelly Douchebag

Published on December 9, 2011 by

"Our friends" at Colorado Pols this morning reported on an alleged incident between a staffer for Congressman Scott Tipton (R-Cortez) and some smelly Occupy squatters during their SEIU-sanctioned partisan stunt in DC on Tuesday. The story was based on an account written by an Occupy squatter on another liberal blog, Crooks and Liars.

Congressman Tipton was gracious enough to speak with the malodorous crowd, telling them he is pondering whether to vote for an extension of unemployment payments. Unemployment payments are currently extended to 99 weeks, and the program has been under fire for massive amounts of fraud and improper payments. 

After Tipton left, a staffer for Tipton continued to meet with the group, telling the squatters something they weren't prepared to hear: the issue is complex, fraud in the system is a concern, and not showering doesn't help your employment prospects. 

From the Occupier's account:

When we asked him again about if Rep. Tipton would vote to extend the unemployment insurance, he told us he had to listen to both sides and then he told us a strange story. He heard about a disheveled guy going in for an interview and purposefully not getting hired just to get an unemployment check. We all sat there for a minute in disbelief…

One might paraphrase the Tipton aide's parable this way: unemployment insurance fraud exists, now take a shower you smelly douchebags.

We say, Hoo-rah to the Tipton staffer for telling it straight to the stinky little Occupy bastards.


Remember: Denver police officers have expressed similar sentiments about the Occupy squatters' struggle with hygiene.

On the substance of the exchange, the Occupier account shows just how truly ignorant the squatter horde is of basic facts and reality. Have they not read the copious amount of stories in Colorado media recently about the "hundreds of millions" of improperly paid unemployment claims? From 9News only two weeks ago:

According to estimates by the Colorado Department of Labor and Employment, last year 276,000 Coloradans collected a total of $900 million in benefits.  

The Labor Department estimates that $158 million of those payments were considered improperly paid.

 

Colorado Pols painfully tried to spin the exchange as an attack on all unemployed people. 

Spare us the faux liberal outrage. 

But give us more of people telling it like it is to the Occupiers. Their selfish drum circle occupation is getting old. Either figure out the facts or go away. 

 

TEXT MESSAGE TRUTHS: Denver Police On Occupy Denver Squatter Horde

Published on December 8, 2011 by

UPDATE: You can read the full public release of police text messages here (PDF) courtesy of 9News.

See: Occupy Denver is just like the Tea Party. We were constantly worrying about the threat of urine bombs at Tea Party rallies. Can’t say we remember having to worry much about projectile excrement, though.

Oct 13: im bored up here but i have a bad feeling these protesters have been working up their urine and sh– bombs!

———————

Denver Mayor Michael Hancock says he is embarrassed about how police talked about the Occupy Denver squatter horde over recently released text messages. We take an opposing view. We love their blunt spoken text message truths. The Denver Post printed a selection of the released messages. Here are a couple of our favorites:

Oct. 13: I bet if you guys dropped a box of skunks in the middle of them .. they would probably scatter real good

Oct 30: It is nuts down here i have costume freaks yelling at protesters who are yelling at police who are yelling at transients. 

Nov. 12: This occupy sh– has got out of hand because this liberal administration has allowed them to

We're betting if any of our readers had to put up with standing in the freezing cold at night dealing with a bunch of whiny, "dirty hippies" you'd all have some even more colorful things to say. 

Michael Hancock may be trying to earn the good graces of the skunks, but he is apparently less than popular with his police force.

 
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