It is past four pm central time. Four pm was the time that the Wisconsin DOA said they needed to have the capitol building cleared for cleaning and sanitation. And BOY does it need cleaning. From now on the capitol building is supposed to have regular hours.
Fox News just had a reporter assaulted there, while he was being shouted down by angry protesters.
I assume that there will be arrests. I think that footage of people being arrested, especially if it gets violent, will backfire in a huge way.
If they do not clear the capitol building, I can safely assume that we are now in an essentially lawless society and I will be taking some precautions for the safety of myself and my family. First and foremost will be not to have my wife and children anywhere near that building.
You really are in the middle of everything and thanks for going down there.
I think that the protesters will lose spine quickly once the cops start rounding them up. I think of that internet sensation where they guy is like “don’t tase me bro” and everyone else sits around while the cops drag him away.
But you are of course correct if big violence does go down then we will understand the meaning of union thugs.
And frankly after Walker gets done with the public sector unions that 100% vote democratic and campaign against him and businesses openly he ought to take it back to the University of Madison as the next step and put that bastion of liberals on the defensive, too.
It appears from what I am seeing that they protesters are staying. Let the arrests begin.
And you make a great point about the union people not voting for Walker anyways. Why would he give a hoot about the protesters, ALL of whom will and have voted against him anyway?
From what I can tell, the ground floor and top floors are all clear, and there look to be about five hundred or a thousand people on floor two waiting to get arrested. Good.
IMO at least a quarter, and quite possibly an overwhelming majority, of the people who won’t leave are from out of state. There is a large group of leftist quasi-professonial protestors who travel from state to state for these things.
A not insignificant number of them have an aversion to bathing.
There is definitely a group of protesters based in Madison who can be called on any day of the week to protest. I became acquainted with some of them a few years ago. They travel the country whenever the need arises and with their fellow travelers around the country protest without real conviction anywhere, anytime. Someone tells them what to protest and they oblige. Some of them are at least second generation professional protesters, having been carted around the country as children by their parents and perhaps their grandparents. I see them regularly protesting at the capitol…and their lack of conviction has been most troublesome to me. One week they will be dressed to protest Israeli settlements, the next week they will be protesting power plants, the next week they will be protesting some sort of food. I am sure that all of them have been lodged at the Capitol the last two weeks. It seems to me that they represent a soulless protest and I would guess that many of the professional protesters in the Capitol are quite similar. They seem like hollow shells to me, mindless and easily manipulated.
Sadly, nobody got arrested last night. They allowed them to stay. I guess if you get enough people you can violate the law with no worries.
“… Allowed them to stay.”
Terrible precedent.
“backfire in a huge way”
As it backfired on all those sixties’ protesters. I mean, really, who remembers Ayers an Dorhn these days? Didn’t they die in late nineties? Get real. The continued hope that somehow Nixon’s silent majority will waken to set the country back on course was false 40 years ago; it’s false now: 60+ years of education about racist, sexist, classist, fascist Amerikkka have seen to that.
“Terrible precedent” – my wife and I were talking about that last night. I guess if you get twenty (fewer?) guys with signs and a cause you can now stay the night in the capitol. I assume the Klan and other hate groups like that a@@hole reverend who pickets troops funerals will be first in line. If they don’t let them stay, lawsuit time.