Obama to Bring G-8, NATO Summit to Chicago Next Year

I'm gonna puke if I see any more pictures of Obama, after his policies accommodating the wall street, big-bucks segment.  Go back and see his speech accepting the nobel peace prize.  Make me puke.  I am post-nationalist. I want the USG to dissolve in some way, nonviolently.  The Soviets did it.  We can do it MUCH better; they are such dumb asses. We can do it way better.

Note to self: Secure all necessary licences and permits required to operate mobile patchouli oil vendor cart prior to May 2012.

I'm gonna be rich!

This will be an unmitigated disaster on so many fronts... you can take that to the bank!

One of the most awesome things I ever saw were all the riot police years back during the anti-war protests. Can't even remember what year that was...

I'm not saying I'm looking forward to anything like that. Nothing like that. Just saying, it was impressive seeing what must have been 3/4 of the police force all decked in in practically brand new riot gear. Hundreds of them. It was a cool sight.

That would've been the 2002 rallies against the Transatlantic Business Dialogue. Along with every local news outlet running headlines leading up reading things like "THE ANARCHISTS ARE COMING!!! HEAD FOR THE HILLS AND HIDE YOUR NEWSPAPER BOXES!!!," the city chose that as the event to purchase brand new riot gear for the whole police force. From what I remember, some officers were still pulling the plastic off their batons.

I believe there was only one arrest. No confrontations, starbucks windows smashed or dumpsters lit on fire.

Yes, but the police looked like they worked inside the Deathstar. It was kuhl.

Very true. I did have the Empire's theme music stuck in my head as we were marching down Washington.

Good to know that whole idea of organized assembly and political protest directed at organizations which direct policies that negatively effect the majority of the population are now little more than rioting.

Nobody equated the whole idea of organized assembly and political protest directed at organizations which direct policies that negatively affect the majority of the population with rioting. Rioting, on the other, is little more than rioting, and there are plenty of examples of that happening in association with G8 summits. There are a million youtube videos. There is no peaceful protest with these things.

That depends on how you're framing it. That's exactly what people have done here, including your reference. "There are plenty of examples of that (rioting) happening in association with G8 summits." There are also plenty of examples of peaceful rallies surrounding G8 summits throughout the globe. Saying that is basically saying that there's no such thing as a peaceful street celebration after a college football or soccer match, because there's also tons of footage of rioting.

The same could be said of anti-war rallies, the rallies against the WTO, all the way back to civil rights demos, which weren't always peaceful either. Unfortunately, riots and violence that break out at demonstrations isn't always so clear cut the fault of X person or Y person. Yes, there are plenty of idiots who show up with intent to chuck a trash can through a Starbucks window or agitate a cop. But for every one of those people, there's a law enforcement officer somewhere itching to club and cuff someone or with an itchy tear gas trigger finger.

It's always a tense situation, and it doesn't get any better when the automatic assumption is that every demonstration or action will turn into an automatic riot. That kind of mentality only makes it easier for a violent situation to erupt.

It is an unfortunate truth that any demographic--bicyclist, cop, Taste of Chicago attendee, G8 protestor--is going to be judged by their least favorable representative. It is also true that you can have as many peaceful protests as you want in connection with a G8 summit, but the unavoidable fact is that these summits in recent years have almost always resulted in at least one destructive riot. It's really hard to find a G8 that hasn't. Now, we might have days and days of peaceful protesters, and I'm all for that. Go for it. But one riot still means we've had a riot, and that's what people will remember. The damage is done. And I would be willing to bet large amounts of money that this event will result in at least one riot.

It's kind of like getting pregnant. You can have sex once every hour of every day for two weeks, but if you get pregnant one time, you're still pregnant. (Also, you'll be really sore.)

For the right amount of money I can *ensure* that we have a riot. What are we talking here?

Now you've gone and ruined my whole plan. Thanks a lot!

Start buying 1" thick plywood to cover up any windows if you're in that area!

Obama is an idiot if he thinks the rioting here will help re-elect him!

Wonder how the same police department that can't handle an overcrowded beach are going to handle professional rioters. 

Soooo...where's my vacation request form?  I'd prefer to watch the WGN coverage from a beach somewhere.

The whole world is watching! The whole world is watching! It's a police riot! Oh the humanity . . . wait, that's something else.

Looks like Rahm called in a favor. That's certainly one way to bolster a flagging expo industry - once.

Not sure how this should be seen as good news for Obama, though. Nothing says "Support my re-election bid, business leaders!" like bringing an excuse for a downtown riot to your campaign headquarter city.

Oh my freakin' God.

This is the way the world will end. Not with a bang, but with Navin tossing a rock through a downtown 7-11 window.

ROFLX

Rioting, the unbeatable high! Adrenaline takes your nerves to the SKY!