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The Spectacle Blog
Disgraceful.
Steven Crowder, in the thick of the crowd in Lansing, Michigan, protesting the passage of a right-to-work law, asks some labor union guys why they oppose right to work. Within seconds they physically attack him. (Take a look here)
Crowder, just off the Hannity radio show, will be on Hannity’s Fox News TV show tonight to discuss.
A reminder of just how deeply dependent progressive politics — from the Ku Klux Klan to the Weathermen activists of Bill Ayers fame to Occupy Wall Street to these labor union thugs — are on physical violence to intimidate their opponents.
Take a long good look — and listen to Steven Crowder’s account of all this. Stunning… if not surprising.
View all comments (106) | Leave a comment
More Blog Posts by Jeffrey Lord
http://spectator.org/blog/2012/12/11/crowder-on-hannity-tonight-dis
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Pecos Pete| 12.11.12 @ 5:57PM
These folks voted for King O. Sure don't look like Tea Party people to me.
Oldefarte| 12.11.12 @ 7:16PM
They are thugs period! Always have been, and that is who/what re-elected this POTUS and who/what are no in charge of YOUR country! Every government worker in this country is a member of a municipal union, and collectively they voted for the KING! They might have been religiously anti-abortion, conservative etc but they voted for him because they were ordered to do so by these unions. Romney as president would have downsized government, and that is what the unions did not want....hence the word went out to their collective membership to vote only for the KING. If Americans are ever to regain control of their country, then primarily manicipal unions will have to become legislatively outlawed and eliminated!!!!
Dimitry_Aleksandrovich| 12.11.12 @ 11:15PM
I think Republicans need to be legislatively outlawed and eliminated. They're not true REPUBLICANS in the Websters Dictionary Sense of the word. They have no loyalty to America, much less the American worker. They serve their internationalist corporate masters. They are WHORES that's the word for them.
JmsA| 12.12.12 @ 12:36AM
Keep going you red diaper, dopper baby, your true colors are finally showing thru. I guess it's true what they say: You can take the commie out of Russia, but you can't take communism out of the Russian. I hear your buddy Assad just asked Castro if he could obtain asylum in Cuba. Two birds of a feather hang together, huh? Maybe the two aholes can sun together in Cienfuegos, after they go for a ride in one of those russky subs parked there. Unions are destroying this country by aligning themselves with the radical socialist democrat party. Go to hell you hypocrite commie bastard.
Dimitry_Aleksandrovich| 12.12.12 @ 11:55AM
Who you calling a commie or a doper you faggot. Who do you think you're talking to? I was born here a@@hole. I'm just as American as you and I've got news for you buddy the success of the American worker and the expansion of the Middle Class after WWII had everything to do with the American labor movement. So you can go to hell and take those globalist free trade corporate whores in the Republican Party with you.
JmsA| 12.12.12 @ 1:49PM
I know exactly whom I'm talking to. A hypocrite who hides behind his supposed love for his fellow Christians in Syria, to support the butcher, as was his father, Assad, for the sake of helping Russian imperialism in the Levant (Tartus) and elsewhere.
As to the unions, these are not your daddy's unions, sonny. These are not the same unions that built the country. They destroy businesses and forcefully make its members pay dues used to support the radical socialist/democrat party. Steven Crowder was not a plant. He was just reporting from the site and was attacked. I'm not a globalist. I support labor and helped thousands of injured workers through my med-legal business/work, with quite a bit of it on a pro bono basis. I stand by every word I wrote. I think you're an asshole, but don't worry, you have plenty of company.
JP| 12.12.12 @ 1:52PM
Dim,
You're wrong. The US was the only game in town from 1945-1955. Europe and Asia was in ruin. Once the unions had to compete they fell apart.
Dimitry_Aleksandrovich| 12.12.12 @ 4:21PM
Why should they have to compete with Chinese and Vietnamese workers? They shouldn't have to. In Germany management and labor sit together in the board room and Germany is still known for making many of the best products in the world and having on of the best work forces in the world. That workforce is unionized. So who's to say we cannot have that here. Why must we drink the economic kool-aid of globalist free trade?
JmsA| 12.12.12 @ 2:06PM
It's ironic, just as I wrote my initial comments regarding your nonsense last night, they showed on cable, "Blue Collar", a 1978 movie about union corruption, starring Richard Pryor, Harvey Keitel, etc. You should watch it and maybe learn from it. Though I doubt it, you seem as dense as they come, for you can't even see the obvious.
Furthermore, you insipid fuck, I tell you about unions. My mother, who worked until she was 83-years-old, belonged to a union. You know what they did for her when the school district she worked for cut her salary by one third and stole hundreds of hours of vacation and sick pay she had accrued? They told her they could not to anything and hung up on her.
JmsA| 12.12.12 @ 2:13PM
The above was addressed to the dimwit, Dimitry Aleksandrovich, but is also directed at any other union-loving aholes trolling about.
Dimitry_Aleksandrovich| 12.12.12 @ 4:26PM
That's a shame what they did to your mother. It's a betrayal. The union should have been held accountable and so should the school district that cut her salary and stole her vacation and sick pay. Now what does that have to do with stripping any power that labor unions (and thus the workers they represent) have in the great state of Michigan? So some unions are corrupt, so some don't do what they are supposed to does that mean we should get rid of the ones that do adequately represent their workers as well? That doesn't make sense. Following that logic if we have a grievance with our Federal government then we should scrap the entire union (meaning United States, not labor union).
JmsA| 12.12.12 @ 5:34PM
"Now what does that have to do with stripping any power that labor unions (and thus the workers they represent) have in the great state of Michigan?" Nothing, I suppose, other than the unholy alliance with the democrat party, many of whose members are outright socialists. I'm not against workers getting a fair shake. On the contrary. I've dedicated the last 27 years of my working life helping injured workers, though I also work on the independent and defense side. I've also seen many betrayed and left to their own devices by their unions. I don't live in Michigan, and as such I don't know what exactly is going on there. But this business that an individual cannot work unless he belongs to and pays union fees, simply seems unamerican to me. I never said the unions should be destroyed, as in the past they ostensibly appear to have served the American worker prosper and progress. That said, anyone but a blind man can see that, if not in the whole, at least a great segment of the present day union establishment is solely aligned with the democrat party. This creates unhealthy unbalance of power, which in itself has played a significant part in damaging the American economy and hurting the American worker.
JmsA| 12.12.12 @ 5:50PM
Continued:
That all said, both the republicans and democrats have vied to erode the well being of the American worker by allowing for seeming untrammeled illegal immigration. To wit: When I started out in the medical-legal business 27 years ago, out here in California, maybe one or at most two out of ten injury claims that came across my desk were those of individuals with Spanish surnames. By late 90s and early 2000s, 7-8 claims I handled were those of individuals with Spanish surnames, and by 2003-2004, many of the claims were filed under various Spanish aliases. It was then that the system was entirely overhauled by Gov. Schwarzenegger and the California Legislature. By then, however, great harm had been done to American workers, who had been undercut by the illegal labor force, whose social safety net needs or burden, on top of it all, was passed on to the over-burdened California tax payers.
In concluding, anyone and everyone has a right to openly express his or her diverging opinion, such as in this case with Mr. Crowder, but no one has the right to physically assault an individual, who by all appearances was just asking questions of those gathered there. Believe me, those unions members did not help their cause by attacking Mr. Crowder.
C. Vernon Crisler | 12.12.12 @ 10:16AM
Dimitry, the best way to help the American worker is not more Union power, but slowing immigration. Mass immigration is what takes away jobs from Americans and lowers their wages. It's simple economics.
Dimitry_Aleksandrovich| 12.12.12 @ 11:57AM
Slowing immigration would help as well. I saw the demise of the union carpenter and roofer here in California because they were undercut by non-union contractors using immigrant (maybe illegal immigrant) labor.
C. Vernon Crisler | 12.12.12 @ 12:47PM
Yes, it's a terrible situation, and it's why even Latino unionists like Cesar Chavez opposed illegal immigration.
Dimitry_Aleksandrovich| 12.12.12 @ 4:30PM
Many Americans of Mexican heritage are not in favor of illegal immigration either. NAFTA has a lot to do with it. Instead of growing industry in Mexico it ended up shipping a lot of industry to Asia and forcing farmers in Mexico to compete with giant agricorps based in the U.S.. Now you have an economy in Mexico where if you are an average Mexican there's only two ways to make a living for your family emigrate to America or get involved in the narcotics trade. It's a sad state of affairs.
Oldefarte| 12.12.12 @ 2:05PM
No, you are incorrect! Granted the labor movement in this country had appropriate grievences during the industrial revolution but not now, and the American workers within unions are being held hostage to their own stupidity [since these unions take their automatically deducted dues from their wages and use same to financially support these thugs of the DNC. Labor union wages are excessively above those rewuired by market forces and result in companies offshoring their operations and jobs overseas [ie loss of jobs in this country]. If labor unions were outlawed here, manufacturing jobs etc would return to this nation and our employment would increase substantially. Detroit's manufacturers would have been bought out by Japan's and their workers would have still had their jobs. The added cost to companies of labor union increments within wage scales is excessive and too costly to companies. Therefore in order to compete with China/India etc, they offshore their jobs to these countries. Without labor unions, goods could be profitably manufactured here instead!!!!
Oldefarte| 12.12.12 @ 2:06PM
No, you are incorrect! Granted the labor movement in this country had appropriate grievences during the industrial revolution but not now, and the American workers within unions are being held hostage to their own stupidity [since these unions take their automatically deducted dues from their wages and use same to financially support these thugs of the DNC. Labor union wages are excessively above those rewuired by market forces and result in companies offshoring their operations and jobs overseas [ie loss of jobs in this country]. If labor unions were outlawed here, manufacturing jobs etc would return to this nation and our employment would increase substantially. Detroit's manufacturers would have been bought out by Japan's and their workers would have still had their jobs. The added cost to companies of labor union increments within wage scales is excessive and too costly to companies. Therefore in order to compete with China/India etc, they offshore their jobs to these countries. Without labor unions, goods could be profitably manufactured here instead!!!!
Dimitry_Aleksandrovich| 12.12.12 @ 4:38PM
Oldefarte do you honestly believe that those past grievances that you say the labor movement justly addressed in the past wouldn't be issues again if there was no American labor movement left in the states?
American workers belonging to unions are not being held hostage. They can always work for a non-union shop if they are opposed to the union and just as large corporations bankroll conservative political action committees that support Republican candidates why shouldn't a union be able to use member dues to support political candidates that will have the union's interest at heart? It makes sense doesn't it. The unions aren't responsible for the corporations closing American factories and relocating offshore, that's just the nature of global free market capitalism. Believe it or not there was a time when working class Democrats supported more free trade to lower the price of goods while big business Republicans supported tariffs to protect American industry and to keep foreign competitors out of the market. Now many of those working class Democrats would be happy to have the big business protectionist Republicans back because at least that would mean that the jobs would be here in America.
Simon Templar| 12.13.12 @ 12:36PM
"They can always work for a non-union shop if they are opposed to the union and just as large corporations bankroll conservative political action committees that support Republican candidates why shouldn't a union be able to use member dues to support political candidates that will have the union's interest at heart? It makes sense doesn't it. The unions aren't responsible for the corporations closing American factories and relocating offshore, that's just the nature of global free market capitalism..."
First, it is not simple as just working for a non union shop as you say, many must join and do not have this option. Many currently in unions want out of them and DO NOT believe the unions are acting in their interest, that is the point. Furthermore, corporations typically give to both parties and buy influence and goodies from both, fact number two. The myth that corporations are Republicans or are conservative politically is laughable. Crony capitalism rules the day. The democratic party has been using the labor movements like a cheap whore for over a century.
No, they should not be participating in giving money to one political party against the wishes, values, and interest of the workers as they define those interest, values, and wishes.
Simon Templar| 12.13.12 @ 12:36PM
Yes, unions are not solely responsible for corporations closing factories, etc. The fact remains they contributed to the problem and helped support the very governments that have promoted this globalism, over regulation, and over taxation. Not too wise, is it?
Bob Grant| 12.11.12 @ 7:20PM
I love it. These thugs protesting opportunity and low unemployment.
Welcome to Obamaland.
Dimitry_Aleksandrovich| 12.11.12 @ 11:09PM
I didn't vote for Obama. I won't vote for a man who won't fight to get rid of NAFTA, CAFTA and GATT and get us out of the WTO. Obama just puts a black face on exactly the same kind of government that has been destroying the American worker and working class communities across this country with their full on embrace of free market globalism. I am no fan Barrack Obama, he was over rated from the beginning. A lot of talk he is, a whole lot of nothing. Just a black face for the Democratic Party to shore up the minority vote. That's Barrack Obama. The best thing he did was save GM, Chevrolet and Chrysler. Beyond that I'd say he's just another Goldman Sach's, Bloomberg Democrat.
Oldefarte| 12.12.12 @ 2:12PM
He didn't save GM etc, but instead provided a political payoff to Richard Trumpka, the UAW etc. If as Romney opined GM had gone through a managed bankruptcy, its unions would have been eliminated and its workers would have retained their jobs as a new GM exited bankruptcy. Alternatively, Japan's Toyota, Nisson, Honda etc could have bought out GM and taken over its operations, again with no loss of jobs required [but again the unions would have been eliminated from GM's operations]. It was only nothing but an example of these domestic terrorists' political corruption, and the sad part is that the American taxpayer is left hold the bill for his supposed bailout of GM!!!!!!!!!!
Dimitry_Aleksandrovich| 12.12.12 @ 4:40PM
So how much would non-union GM autoworkers make and I'm sure health benefits and a pension would be well out of the question?
AllAmericanAmerican| 12.11.12 @ 9:57PM
Estimate of blacks killed by the KKK: 2,000
Estimate of blacks (former slaves) killed by Progressive President Lincoln's WBTS: 60,000 - 75,000
Huh.
Sjccoach| 12.11.12 @ 10:02PM
The thuggery will continue until the right stands up for itself. Violence must be met with violence or it will continue. Shoot a couple of these thugs and they won't be so brave.
Dimitry_Aleksandrovich| 12.11.12 @ 10:49PM
How bout shoot some of the Wall Street whores trying to take the right of collective bargaining away from the American worker. I'm one union member who completely believes in taking advantage of my Second Amendment rights. If certain segments of this country want to take away our rights and then use violence against us when we stand up for ourselves and our families well sir I for one am ready for a civil war.
Sjccoach| 12.11.12 @ 11:03PM
Bring it on you idiot. Unions are part of the problem in this country. Workers need freedom not a union to tell them what to do.
Dimitry_Aleksandrovich| 12.11.12 @ 11:13PM
No your the idiot and you'll know your the idiot when your working 12 hour days 6 to 7 days a week for less pay than you make now and little to no benefits and I for one am ready for a war. I'm no bongo drumming hippie, I'm a red blooded American, a husband, a father and a family man with a Louisville Slugger and a .308.
Marco2| 12.12.12 @ 12:29AM
Oooh, just read this one, and I am so scared. You 7%er's are the ones going bye bye, comrade.
Dimitry_Aleksandrovich| 12.12.12 @ 11:58AM
I'm not going anywhere Marco and whoever tries to make me go "bye bye" will be making that trip themselves. I'm no pacifist, I'm ready to fight. I enjoy a good fight.
spike59| 12.12.12 @ 5:43AM
spoken like a true THUG; bring it, Progturd; real American men chew up ignorant punks like you for breakfast and spit out the hairballs
Dimitry_Aleksandrovich| 12.12.12 @ 12:00PM
I'll chew you up for breakfast because I'm that real "American man" born and raised in the U.S.A. and a proud union worker.
spike59| 12.12.12 @ 1:36PM
unions: because every bolt needs 7 "bolt-checker crewmembers" to stand around scratching their arses
dumbass
Oldefarte| 12.12.12 @ 2:19PM
Nah you're what is known as STUPID apparently!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Sjccoach| 12.12.12 @ 9:06AM
You're a Red alright. Your also a wimp if you have .308 and Louisville slugger. A man carries at least a .44 special or a .45 ACP. But I'm sure you little girly hands couldn't hold one.
Dimitry_Aleksandrovich| 12.12.12 @ 12:04PM
I'm not a communist but if the Republican Party wants to radicalize the American worker they couldn't do better than they're doing now using right to work laws to deprive the American worker of the power of collective bargaining. As for my hands you wouldn't think they were girly if my knuckles made contact with your face.
spike59| 12.12.12 @ 1:38PM
"I'm not a communist"...so you're NOT a 'trade unionista?"
btw, the only thing your hands make contact with is the lardarse you scratch while drawing a check and watching other people work
Dimitry_Aleksandrovich| 12.12.12 @ 4:43PM
I'm a trade unionist 100%, but I'm not a communist. If I was I'd be calling for the Wall Street banksters and the corporate heads to be hanged or face a firing squad and for their industries to be seized by the state (nationalized).
I work hard a@@hole and I make money for the company I work for. You are a jerkoff Spike.
spike59| 12.13.12 @ 6:19AM
"I'm a moron 100%, and I'm a libtard."
==============================
there-fixed it for ya...you can go back to reading the paper in the union hall till it's time to go down to the factory and pick up your check
Sjccoach| 12.13.12 @ 8:57AM
Since when is featherbedding hard work. Union members are paid not work. You are a liar.
Oldefarte| 12.12.12 @ 2:17PM
Unions are not "part of the problem" but instead ARE THE PROBLEM! They only exist because of the stupidity of their membership in allowing their Trumpkas to walk all over them and steal their money in dues to these thugs. It's all part of keeping the average American as STUPID as possible. The exit our public educational system with all of the education of a bag of bricks and then the unions takeover and guide them through the rest of their demented lifetimes. Sad!!!!!!!!
Teflon93 | 12.12.12 @ 11:23AM
If you shoot as well as you write, fool, we'll take that bet.
Dimitry_Aleksandrovich| 12.12.12 @ 12:05PM
I learned to shoot in Boy Scout camp. Are you sure you want to take that bet?
spike59| 12.12.12 @ 1:40PM
I learned on the farm and in the woods, and reinforced those lessons on the ranges of Ft Knox and Ft Riley...i'll take my chances against your Boy Scout Red Ryder BB gun ANY day
Oldefarte| 12.12.12 @ 2:21PM
Hopefully you didn't have Old Massachusetts Barney for a BS leader!!!!!!!!!!!!
JP| 12.12.12 @ 1:54PM
Anyone can organize. But owners are no longer without options.
Occam's Tool| 12.11.12 @ 10:32PM
Do note the pictures of Mooch handing out gifts at Toys for Tots, glum as hell. Even when doing nice things for others with a perfect photo op ON OTHER People's Money, Mooch is sad because it isn't about her. And, because it helps poor people, whom she and her husband HATE.
Occam's Tool| 12.11.12 @ 10:35PM
Thuggery, thy name is Teamster's Union.
Dimitry_Aleksandrovich| 12.11.12 @ 10:44PM
"UNION THUGS?"...Kiss my ass. How about the WALL STREET WHORES in the Republican Party who are actively trying to purge the union worker from the Middle Class. The Republican Party has declared war on us so we must act in kind. We must declare war on them and take the fight to their doorsteps. We must make every policy maker in this country think twice about trying to f$@k over the American worker. The labor movement has gotten too peacenik. We need to become less Occupy and more James R. Hoffa, more Harry Bridges.
Lullabys Legends and Lies| 12.12.12 @ 12:30AM
Bring it on Fuck!! You'll be on the losing side, because the Union movement in this Country is dying, and for good reason too!! And I used to be one, with two strikes under my belt, totaling over five months on the line, and you know what I got for that, nothing, I just lost five months of my income!! Unions can kiss this Paratroopers ass, and I repeat again, bring it on Fuck, and we'll see who's still standing in the end!!
Dimitry_Aleksandrovich| 12.12.12 @ 12:09PM
So you used to be a union brother and now you're a scab. Real honorable paratrooper. I'm afraid of nobody on the face of this earth. My old man taught me how to stand my ground.
Lullabys Legends and Lies| 12.12.12 @ 8:51PM
Call me a Scab, huh? Ouch!
No, not a Scab! "Was" a Union Member, for over a decade, but then joined the Army "after" 9/11 (Psst, we don't have a Union in the Army if you didn't know that, and with good reason too, so therefore I couldn't be a Scab)! I have this feeling that you wouldn't know what real honor is, if your life depended upon it, my Commie Union Friend! Oh, by the way, did you ever serve? Or do you just serve your Union? Your Union that's bankrupting your particular Company, or your local City, or your home State? And they "are" doing that, and you know it! Talk about honorable! Or maybe you were like me, back when I was a Union member, the only way I could hold my job, was to join the Union, like it, or not! And I didn't like it!! But I needed my job, so I had to pay up, and keep my disagreeable mouth shut! Or maybe you're the guy who works for the Union, that holds the gun to his members' head, to pay up, or lose their job! Good gig, if you can get it, and live with yourself, huh? But that's exactly why Unions suck, you're forced to join them, like it or not, and if you can't see that, well then, there's no saving you from your Commie ways! If Unions are "so" good, why is it then, that when a State turns Right To Work, that a majority of the Union members stop paying their Union Dues? Explain that! Please see the Teacher's Unions of Wisconsin from last year as an example of this!
Dimitry_Aleksandrovich| 12.12.12 @ 9:32PM
I've never served nor had any intention of serving in this country's bullshit wars in foreign companies that are about as much in the interest of the average American as is outsourcing manufacturing jobs to China. Listen if my union ever turns its back on the rank and file I will be the first one to try to oust our leadership. I am not now or never have I ever been or will ever be a communist. I am a trade unionist...corporations have legions of lawyers lobbyists doing their bidding so why should the little guy go without representation. I can't speak for the Teachers Union of Wisconsin, I'm not a public employee. I'm in the private sector and my union brothers truly understand the stakes because our nearest competitor pays half the wages we make and no health care or pension or any other benefits. We know the stakes. We know why we're union and why we fight to keep our company a union shop.
JP| 12.12.12 @ 1:54PM
Actually, most of Wall Streeters (both Executives and the rank and file work force) are Democrats.
Dimitry_Aleksandrovich| 12.12.12 @ 9:39PM
That is true. I'm not a Democrat. With the exception of the Presidency (I voted for Ron Paul) I voted Democrat in the last election even though I have grave and nearly irreconcilable differences with the Obama administration and the Democrat Party in general, but the Republican attack on Labor over the past few years has been so "in your face" that I couldn't stomach voting Republican anymore. Maybe I will try to start a third party that represents the interests of a socially conservative American of the working class. Or maybe the socially conservative union members who have over the past decade returned to the Democratic Party will fight within the Democratic Party to take control from the filthy rich uptown liberal elite who control it now. Not long ago it was possible to be a conservative Catholic union member and a Democrat with the Republican assault on labor those working class Catholics in the Republican Party need to see the writing on the wall and either create a third party alternative or put forth socially conservative yet pro-labor movement within the Democratic Party.
Dimitry_Aleksandrovich| 12.11.12 @ 10:51PM
This guy was definitely a Fox News plant. If he took a beating he got what he deserved. F$%k Murdoch, may that Aussie f&%k rot in hell. God bless the American worker.
Marco2| 12.12.12 @ 12:23AM
Hey D_A, looks the old Sovietsky Unionetsky goonery has passed it's sell-by date even in the great State of Michigan. It's about time you thugs took one in the shorts. The rest of us have put up with your crapola for far too long. Michigan, fed up cradle of big labor, gotta love it!
Dimitry_Aleksandrovich| 12.12.12 @ 12:09PM
Will you love it when you're working for slave wages with no benefits idiot. Be careful what you wish for.
JP| 12.12.12 @ 1:56PM
Mmmm.... Hostess bakers and truckers were union. Now, they and the retirees have nothing.
spike59| 12.12.12 @ 5:41AM
F$%k you, and f$%k any other union thugs like you, Dumbitry
Dimitry_Aleksandrovich| 12.12.12 @ 12:10PM
F%@k you too Spike and f&@k scabs like you.
spike59| 12.12.12 @ 1:41PM
"F%@k me, too, Spike"...or at least, that's what your mama said
Dimitry_Aleksandrovich| 12.12.12 @ 8:05PM
Have to resort to bringing the Mama's into this huh, you piece of shit. I could finish you and sit down and eat a fucking sandwich without thinking twice about it.
spike59| 12.13.12 @ 6:21AM
the main difference between a "100% trade unionist" and a tick is that a tick has enough brains to fall off its host so as not to kill it
Teflon93 | 12.12.12 @ 11:23AM
Get your ass back to Russia, you Communist piece of crap.
Dimitry_Aleksandrovich| 12.12.12 @ 12:11PM
I'm American you dumb faggot! I was born and raised here. So you take your ass back to whatever land your ancestors hailed from.
Teflon93 | 12.12.12 @ 2:22PM
Vasha mama rabotayet ulitsya.
You're a Commie little douchebag who doesn't have the balls to stand in the workplace on his own. You're weak and pathetic---which is why you walk around with a sign demanding handouts instead of working.
Get a real job and support your family, you wussy little loser.
Dimitry_Aleksandrovich| 12.12.12 @ 4:55PM
Ya up tvoy mat suka.
Dimitry_Aleksandrovich| 12.12.12 @ 8:08PM
You're a pathetic faggot piece of shit Teflon.
spike59| 12.12.12 @ 5:44AM
as always, the MSM has been FURIOUSLY ignoring yet another example of union thugs lashing out with predictable violence
Jim Adcox| 12.12.12 @ 7:13AM
Ah, beating and attacking people in public. . . Look for the union label!
Dimitry_Aleksandrovich| 12.12.12 @ 12:12PM
Like I said I think this was a Fox News plant.
JP| 12.12.12 @ 1:58PM
Crowder is not a Fox employee. But, he is a conservative. He had just as much right to be there as those aging union thugs. Did you notice how old most of them were?
Dimitry_Aleksandrovich| 12.12.12 @ 8:08PM
It's clear to me he was sent by Fox or Heritage or American's for Prosperity to provoke a confrontation. Same with those that set up the American's for Prosperity tent. They want to provoke a fight and when you threaten the livelihoods of men you are stirring up a hornets nest and like Crowder and the others then deciding to go into the hornets nest that THEY riled up and crying when they get stung. I have no sympathy for them. They get what they deserve.
JimH| 12.12.12 @ 8:32AM
Where are the Pinkertons when you need them?
Dimitry_Aleksandrovich| 12.12.12 @ 12:14PM
Thanks to the US Constitution and the 2nd Amendment I guarantee you that the American worker in Michigan is as well armed as any Pinkerton types.
JP| 12.12.12 @ 1:59PM
Yes, all they're missing on jack-boots and brownshirts.
Dimitry_Aleksandrovich| 12.12.12 @ 6:38PM
That is the Pinkerton type...jack-boots and brown shirts and Murdoch's Fox News would be the envy of Josef Goebels.
C. Vernon Crisler | 12.12.12 @ 10:25AM
Dimitry, I understand your concerns. But Unionism got its start primarily because of mass immigration in the 19th century. Workers had to find a way to protect their jobs against the oversupply of foreigners. We still have a problem with mass immigration and unfair foreign competition (gov't subsidized products), so I sympathize with the plight of Union workers.
I do believe, however, in the right to work. Americans who want jobs -- and I emphasize the term Americans, as opposed to cheap foreign labor -- should be able to get them without having to pay a large sum to Unions, who may not even share their political views.
I would also be more supportive of Unions if they were more reasonable, but see the recent demise of the Twinkie because of an arrogant union. The market will rule in the final analysis, and unions who fail to adjust to the market only fail their own members.
There was a day when Americans could be proud of their Unions. That day passed us by many years ago.
Simon Templar| 12.12.12 @ 12:33PM
Very well written and interesting response to this Dimwitry.
If I may and I will, I would like to add to that.
Perhaps, Dimitry, can control himself and give me an answer to some of the contradictions that he seems to hold. First, he obviously supports unions but seems to not grasp that the unions were largely responsible for getting this fraud and as he said 'wall street something another' democrat elected, but elected twice. Second, the GOP, or at least a few governors have largely been targeting public unions, not private unions. As far as I can tell most conservatives and the GOP are not in a War with Unions per se, but the public government unions which should have never come into being in the first place. Now that same party that he seems to be welded to is also very well connected and in bed with the same Wall Street he rails against and he holds responsible in some way as destroying unions. Does he happen to notice any of this or is he just another stooge spitting out the latest sound bites he picked up by the democrats?
Simon Templar| 12.12.12 @ 12:42PM
Oh, and the same party that is fighting tooth and nail to keep those union busting illegals coming over the border and also through New York on H1B visas. The same bunch that he probably thinks of as "fighting for the working man." Odd, in a way, he seems to have more in common with those Republicans and Tea Party people than he would or could ever admit. He rails about second amendment rights and his little gun but seems to forget that the great democratic party wants to take away that right and that little gun. The NAFTA thing...same party..in fact one of their big shots by the name of Clinton helped put that in place.
Simon Templar| 12.12.12 @ 12:54PM
Of course, no recognition of the rampant corruption in these unions and how many, not all of them, have destroyed whole industries let alone single companies. Are they solely to blame? Of course not, but he refuses to see the big picture.
Of course, he will not recognize that these public unions are bankrupting his state and others and feeding the exact culprit, the government, particularly the DNC, for most of what he is railing about and is for which it is responsible. Is the establishment GOP clean and not involved in this mess, hell no. They have been willing enablers and participants from everything from the illegal invaders, lack of immigration policy, to corrupt business practices and foreign lobbyist.
Simon Templar| 12.12.12 @ 1:04PM
So, Dimitry has some things to think about and consider.
As you and I both seem to agree and many conservatives as well, is that the right of workers to unionize and bargain for better 'whatever' is not a bad thing, it had a had a positive place in American history but it has also been fraught with some serious corruption and in the case of public unions, more problematic and even dangerous to our Republic. Can Dimitry concede that at least? Probably not.
spike59| 12.12.12 @ 1:43PM
"fraught with some serious corruption "
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owned and operated as a subsidiary of the Mafia, to be more accurate
C. Vernon Crisler | 12.12.12 @ 12:44PM
Well said.....
Dimitry_Aleksandrovich| 12.12.12 @ 4:53PM
They started targeting the public unions with Scott Walker in Wisconsin and then in Indiana. Now they are going after the private unions trying to destroy any political clout they have. I told my union pals who supported the Republicans against the public unions that we the private unions would be next and with Prop 32 that went down in California (thank God) and now these right to work laws for the private sector in Michigan I am absolutely proved right. Also like I said the Republican party has driven many conservative leaning (at least social/religious conservative) union members out of its ranks with its war on organized labor and those workers have returned to the seemingly labor friendly (all though just as equally full of shit and pro-free trade as the Republicans) Democratic Party. So its the anti-union stance of the Republican party that is responsible for Barrack Obama getting elected if anything.
Dimitry_Aleksandrovich| 12.12.12 @ 5:01PM
I am all for responsible unionism. It's all give and take. As a responsible union member I can't break the company and sometimes I have to be willing to make concessions, but we must also understand that there is a difference between a company that absolutely needs its workers to make concessions and corporations that are just waiting an excuse to close their operations here in America and relocate out the country so they can pay foreign workers pennies on the dollar for the same product.
I firmly oppose the so named "Right To Work" legislation. For one its a misnomer. If you don't want to pay union dues or having your union dues maybe going to support political parties and candidates you don't like then go work for a non-union shop. Right to work is just union busting because it allows employers to water down union strength within the shop and eventually get rid of the union all together. It completely strips the union of any power.
Slacker| 12.12.12 @ 1:29PM
This is the best comment thread in some time. I love it when you folks get ruthless.
I grew up in Michigan. You have no idea how much amusement I get from watching these goons squeal.
To you union members: Enough crying. Grow a pair. It’s time to go Hoffa. Start some fires and crack some skulls. Show us your rage.
This is going to be grand entertainment. I love it.
JP| 12.12.12 @ 2:02PM
I live in Indiana, and I've seen the decay of even the smaller villages and towns in Michigan. Check out Three Oaks or Three Rivers, or Schoolcraft. They're ghost towns - boarded up and empty town squares, decaying sidewalks, abandoned and foreclosed homes. And everyone has an empty industrial park, where union auto shops or suppliers once thrived.
Slacker| 12.12.12 @ 4:10PM
I am not old enough to remember anything thriving. For my entire life, it has been one revitalization plan after another. Various Governors and legislatures come and go. Various mayors from Detroit go to prision. Various plans are made and bomb. Things only decline.
Which is why I say right to work will not make any difference. The fundamental problem is the union culture, and the legislature can’t move the culture. It’s hopeless for at least a generation. I'm sad to say people like Dimitry will never be worth a shit as workers. Sad because some of my own family members are of similar mindset. Texas and Alabama have a better culture. They just do.
And Detroit…problems way beyond the loss of manufacturing. It never recovered from the 1960’s upheaval. That mess can’t be fixed by anything less than a meteor impact.
Sit back and enjoy the spectacle.
Dimitry_Aleksandrovich| 12.12.12 @ 8:00PM
You don't know me slacker. Maybe you're the one who isn't worth a shit as a worker but you're just trying to convince yourself that you are.
Jim Adcox| 12.12.12 @ 3:55PM
I too grew up in Michigan, and this takes me back to the days of my youth, seeing Detroit's economy toileted by strikes, sickouts, walkouts, picket lines, and the inevitable attack on the "scabs", and all for pennies-an-hour raises for the workers. All of these events were gloriously heralded as what was needed for the dignity of the working man, to raise the rank and file's standard of living ever higher, and it was never enough. Meanwhile, thousands of the negotiated wages went into the pockets of the union boss grifters.
Dimitry_Aleksandrovich| 12.12.12 @ 4:17PM
After listening to some angry conservative union members on Hannity I am convinced this will come back to bite the Republican Party in the ass. They don't understand how their war on organized labor is alienating many rather conservative union members in places like Michigan, Missouri, Ohio and Wisconsin. It is very likely that Barrack Obama defeated Romney because many of the white Catholic union members left in the Midwest and Northeast who had voted for Reagan in the 80's have returned to the Democratic Party precisely because of the Republican Party's war on organized labor in America.
Simon Templar| 12.13.12 @ 11:53AM
What you seem to fail to grasp is that these unions exist solely and only because of the workers and THEIR decision to have one or not have one, not the other way around. If you fear that many workers will not want to be a part of a union or stop paying dues and drop out, you need to recognize that and respect that, as it is about workers not the union and its payed "leadership."
Right to work exist in 24 states and many others want to adopt it. These so-called conservative union members never were conservative and have been voting democratic all their lives, nothing really lost there. Reagan was not big on unions and they hated him as they hate all those that would question their corruption and strangle hold on workers and their companies. No one is calling for collective bargaining and unions to be abolished. Unions will continue to exist because WORKERS will decide to have them or not have them and workers will determine if these unions are still worth having and whether these unions are serving their interest.
Simon Templar| 12.13.12 @ 12:05PM
You have said that when men's livelihoods are at stake, they seem to have the right to use violence and any measure that will insure protection of that livelihood.
Yes, the citizens, workers, and the general public's livelihoods are not only at stake but their entire life savings, their culture, and their essential freedom is at stake. Do you not understand that Tea Party people and the mass of the public are concerned about their economy, their potential to work, have a livelihood, and their freedoms? Do you see them using violence and intimidation and threat to get their livelihoods? In many ways these unions are just like the big governments that they ally with...they now believe they exist solely on their own, for their own benefit and demand whatever they want from the rest of us and essentially turning us into slaves.
Simon Templar| 12.13.12 @ 12:19PM
Furthermore, a worker is not only a worker but also a citizen. It is a damn shame that these union workers, or should I say leadership, would make a bargain with the Demoncratic party to protect those paychecks, forced participation, and ever ending concessions over their own culture, the lives of 38 million babies who were aborted, the over taxation, horrendous spending and debt, the reckless waste, and the corruption of a smothering and invasive big government... all of which the Democratic party has largely brought us. Union Catholic workers? Union or Catholic?
Mike in N.C.| 12.12.12 @ 6:14PM
The ladies and gentlemen at Fox are hard and moist.
spike59| 12.13.12 @ 6:24AM
"The ladies and gentlemen at Fox are hard and moist."
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and utterly out of your league! stick to your 'candy crowley and a 5 lb bag of flour fantasies'
Mike in N.C.| 12.13.12 @ 2:38PM
5 lb bag of flour. Why do you always bring your mother, wife and daughter into the discussion?
Tina Trent | 12.13.12 @ 7:46AM
Yes, well.
Once again, the fisty cuffies on the Right are making the story about themselves.
That's not good. When you act childishly by challenging someone to a fight, you diminish the real issue, which is the lawlessness of the union protesters. Crowder (really, his editor) should have called for authorities to act and gotten back to reporting. Now it's a sideshow: the Great Breitbartian versus CIO Stooge. Boring. Podcast whining commences.
And when you release an edited video of the altercation, you open yourself up to accusations of manipulating the material, even if you didn't. What part of this is hard to understand?
I'm getting sick of the wails of self pity and endless breathless recounting of media scuffles. Grow up. I spent three years decertifying a thug union. You're not helping real workers by making the story about yourself.
What do you want? Hero status among the cool boyos, or a real discussion about union force, NLRB problems, and threats of violence from the Left?
Breitbart brought a lot of energy to the table, but his tactics were tactics. Not reporting. So when he failed to do the homework on a subject and resorted to sensationalism, the subject he was trying to publicize became a lost cause for anyone to report on. Can we afford to lose this one to the chest-pounders?
Believe me, I have no love for unions. I lost my job and more by fighting them. But this stuff is self-serving. There's work to be done.
JP| 12.13.12 @ 10:43AM
Well said.
Simon Templar| 12.13.12 @ 11:40AM
You are essentially correct. However, I do not think it is accurate to take that wide brush and paint Breitbart, the man, as you did. I suggest you read his last book, Righteous Indignation and perhaps you will understand that his tactics were not just tactics and he did accomplish a great deal when alive. The liberal establishment hated the man and FEARED him because he knew how to play the game and do exactly what you would like to see. The media were the sensationalist and not doing their reporting, and that was the problem. He was attempting to break through their control and overwhelming propaganda wall.
The fact of the matter is many conservatives are new to this and have a lot to learn about it. You, yourself, have been fired and, it seems, have lost some battles.
Your point is well taken, we better learn how to control the images and our messages, and learn it fast, and learn from our mistakes.
Tina Trent | 12.14.12 @ 8:20AM
You're right. I respect Breitbart for what he accomplished. He punched through the curtain of deceit of the MSM.
If he had done nothing else in his life, that would be enough.
I'm also not trying to minimize the threats of violence visited on Patterico/Breitbart folks and their families. But if we don't respond to these things by simply demanding the rule of law, we lose something more important than a battle of the headlines.
Unfortunately, on the Right, leftist biases in the courts have been conflated with other issues. Many new journalists want it both ways -- they want protection from thugs but lack the willingness to see things through legal channels.
We have to play harder and smarter. We have to demand our rights in courtrooms.
I wasn't called into a federal courtroom until years after I filed charges against ILGPNWU. By then I had moved on, but I was too outraged by the union's lies to act effectively on the witness stand. I didn't know how to use the media. I was up against the AFL-CIO -- legal, extralegal, and anonymous threatening letters on my porch.
I was also 24 and naive. Looking back, the only reason we won anything was that other unions wanted our work. Nobody was on our side. Conservatives need more rights lawyers.
I've lost a lot of battles since then. But I've won in losing: I get my point across. It's a very unfair playing field. But the walls can still fall.