Video: Rainford Dodges Request for City To Divest From Bank of America

As an update to my previous post, here's video of the exchange where OccupySTL asked the Mayor's staff about divesting from Bank of America.

Here's the initial question:

And here's Rainford's non-response response:

Notice that, despite saying he didn't want to give a "mealy mouthed answer," he didn't actually explain why they need to keep their money in one of the worst banks in the country rather than a local credit union or even to a bank like Commerce or Pulaski which doesn't have the same horrible track record as BoFA.

Wagman Blames Occupy For Hacking That Took Place A Month Before Occupy Movement

Update: Wagman's post has now been corrected, though without noting that it was corrected, as is standard practice.

Someone hacked Mayor Slay's website yesterday and claimed to do so in support of Occupy St. Louis (which seems pretty ridiculous considering that Occupy St. Louis is currently negotiating with Slay's office). This was clearly a counterproductive move, and as far as I can tell was done with absolutely no consultation of the people who are involved in the Occupation.

However, leave it to Post-Dispatch reporter Jake Wagman to invent new facts that make the story better right-wing link bait. Wagman claimed in the post that Anonymous's hacking of the Oakland BART system was "linked" to the Occupy movement:

The poster claimed affiliation with the hacking network Anonymous, which has taken credit for infiltrating the computer network for the transit system in Oakland, a move also linked with the Occupy movement.

But, as Trianglman on Twitter points out, the hacking of BART took place on August 14, a full month before the Occupy movement even started. Nothing in the article Wagman linked to in order to support his claim mentioned anything about Occupy, which makes sense given that Occupy didn't exist then.

By the way, in my opinion David Hunn has being doing a great job covering the Occupy STL movement, and in general has been much less of a uncritical mouthpiece for the Slay administration than Wagman was when he covered City Hall. It's not clear why Wagman took the day off from his usual job of butchering stories about statewide politics to write about this story.

Jeff Rainford Declares That St. Louis Won't Move Money From Bank of America

I guess Mayor Slay's Chief-of-staff Jeff Rainford isn't a big fan of consensus decision-making. Or even that Far Left, touchy-feely process known as "consulting with others." From the KMOX report on the meeting between Slay's office and Occupy St. Louis:

Rainford refused the idea of moving city funds out of big banks, saying the banks provide revenue to the city and fund services downtown. He also refused to provide a building for the protesters to occupy.

Bank of America is one of the most unethical financial institutions in the country. Shouldn't Rainford at least provide an opportunity for the residents of St. Louis, or his fellow staff members for that matter, to weigh in?

Update: After seeing the video, Rainford does mention that people can introduce a bill to the Board of Aldermen regarding divestment.

Rainford Won't Speak With Reporters But Will With Loesch?

Another interesting tidbit from the Post-Dispatch article on Occupy STL:

[Mayor Slay's Chief-of-Staff Jeff] Rainford said the city would not meet with occupiers Monday, nor would it discuss the issue with reporters.

But, of course, Rainford was willing to embarrass the city yesterday by appearing on Dana Loesch's hate-filled radio show.

Of course Loesch isn't a reporter or even a person who makes any attempt to accurately convey information, so there's nothing inconsistent about Rainford's action in relation to his statement. Still, it's rather curious that he's only willing to take questions on the issue from people like Loesch.

Macy's, Salvation Army Say OccupySTL Is Not In Their Way

From David Hunn at the Post-Dispatch:

Those involved in the upcoming holiday celebrations at Kiener said the occupiers were not in their way now.

A Macy's spokesman said the company had no plans to abandon its Nov. 18 celebration and parade, which leads from Kiener Plaza to its downtown store.

And a Salvation Army spokesman said the frame for the annual Kiener Christmas tree —actually a stack of 300 five-foot trees, said local Communications Director Will Becker —has already been erected without incident. The trees, he said, will be going up Wednesday.

"We have not had any problems with the Occupy St. Louis folks," Becker said. "They're protesting their own thing, and we're working around that the best we can."

Rainford Pushes Flawed Arguments Against OccupySTL on Dana Loesch's Radio Show

First, Mayor Slay's Chief of Staff Jeff Rainford copied Dana Loesch's inflammatory rhetoric against OccupySTL, ridiculously claiming that the group was "unruly" and falsely suggesting that they were relieving themselves all over Kiener Plaza rather than in the port-o-potty's provided by local unions:

Jeff Rainford, Slay's chief of staff, said the camps are getting unruly, the plaza is beginning to smell like urine, and a few were recently arrested for public intoxication.

Then, Rainford mimicked Loesch again by seemingly suggesting that the OccupySTL group might want violence:

"All I'm trying to do is to keep this from becoming Oakland," he said. "I'm trying to get this solved with no violence."

Still, he said, he understood that the occupiers may not have the same plans

So I guess it really should be no surprise that Rainford decided to appear on Loesch's radio show today to explain why the city has decided they need to kick the Occupy group out of Kiener Plaza. After all, Loesch has been trying to portray the campers at Kiener as filthy, violent, parasite-infested, astroturf, drug-crazed, sexual deviants from the very beginning, so it makes perfect sense that Rainford would help provide validation to St. Louis's Queen of Hate Radio.

You can listen to the interview here:


Rainford claims the city originally felt that OccupySTL was not hurting anyone, but "what changed" was that they no longer believed this was the case. However, his justification for the claim that OccupySTL is now "doing harm" is that the city has received complaints from people who "work downtown, live downtown, and have businesses downtown." Combine this with the previous revelation from the Post-Dispatch that Rainford refused to answer whether the city was now planning on cracking down on OccupySTL only because the Downtown Partnership complained at a meeting last week, and it seems like we have the makings of a very shoddy argument.

Previously, Occupy STL wasn't hurting anyone. But now, because a group with Peabody and Bank of America representatives on their board is complaining about Occupy STL, Rainford suddenly thinks that they are "doing harm?" Being angry at someone you wish would go away does not mean that person harmed you. Occupy STL could just as credibly claim that Bank of America was harming them with the stink eye. Furthermore, the idea that they're monopolizing the space isn't true either, as the group has been willing in the past to move tents to accommodate events. The city's sudden reversal without any evidence to now claim that Occupy STL is harming people seems like an incredibly tacky move. I hope they reconsider.

Bulldozers, Bats, and Bayonets: Gateway Pundit's Followers Call For Violence Against OccupySTL

Gateway Pundit is excited that the people he calls "goons" at OccupySTL aren't leaving Kiener Plaze. And, unsurprisingly, his followers are thrilled at the prospect of violence.

Here's a sampling of the comments from his post:

...
Send in a bulldozer. Or an Acme steamroller. Meep! Meep!

...
I hope they use dogs! A good bite on the butt would convince these clowns to move on down the road.

...
Jim, Why don’t you get your good buddy Albert P. to take his bat down there and show them some of his greatest hits?

...
Where is the 75th Ranger Regiment when you need them.
Fix Bayonets!!!