Zionist scum poster, stolen shopping cart, sleeping in at #OccupyDC

Sleeping bag in tent

Food lying on ground

Large rat trap and destroyed lawn

Well, I thought the squatters would have been cleared out of Farragut Square by now given the bill this lot is ringing up for us -- $300K in damaged public park land that no one else can use, out of control rats and other public health hazards -- but no, it seems to  be drawing ever more irrational aspects. Not only did I see a Wikileaks van driver communicating loudly from her van window with someone at the site, but also a guy holding a poster saying "expel all 5th column zionist agent scum and indict traitor US politicians."  Then I espied a "borrowed" shopping cart used by one of the squatters and despite this site purportedly being "a 24 hour vigil" which means it is NOT a campground where people are allowed to sleep overnight, it's clear there are sleeping bags in the tents and people are living in this park.  Living, not vigiling, that is, squatting now for months.  And the rats are still there too. Lots of large rat traps scattered about -- although I didn't see any rats today.  Although I did see lots of muddy torn up ground and food lying about that I am sure the rats will find tasty. I heard a passerby attempting to converse with another sign-holding man who whined "I have a Ph.D. in Psychology and I can't get a job, man," and when asked "Why don't you get another job or drive a cab or something?" he just answered "But I can't do that" and had a lot of excuses for why he wasn't going to take up anyone's suggestions for how to earn a living. A couple of hours later I passed the sight again and saw an unorganized crowd of people gathered at the doors of the nearby Sheraton hotel holding some hand-made signs.  A pedestrian informed me "they are from the park, you know, they are protesting something" and "the police said they had no permit and should stay on the sidewalk area but they keep crowding the front door area."  They were blocking the exit doors and looking it and it wasn't clear why they were there at all and I wouldn't be surprised to learn of some arrests.

Note shopping cart

Shoe Shine Men in Plain Sight

Outside the Starbucks store on K at 14th Streets NW I espied a shoe shine man waiting, apparently, for some customers with shoes that needed shining but to no avail as everyone was wearing flip flops, or open shoes or sandals where the toes don't need the shiny stuff he was selling. He sat there chatting with a friend glancing at the passersby in the morning sun as I sipped my coffee. Did he get any customers that 15  minutes I was there? No. Did anyone stop by and ask how much it cost? No. Did he try and get pedestrians to stop and have their shoes shined? No. Was there a sign about how much it cost to have one's shoes shined? No. So I came to the conclusion it might have been a surveillance unit of some sort, especially as the white truck behind the set-up was unmarked and I've heard they do surveillance in plain sight, whoever they is and there's certainly little need for shoe shine men on K Street on a hot August morning.

DC Slices in the Square

I was hurrying back from physical therapy the other day when I spotted this van parked in Farragut Square. At first glance I thought it was some sort of emergency van but it turned out to be a Pizza Van! I've never seen such a thing in DC before -- security trucks, ice cream trucks, hot dog trucks, Brinks trucks and even a green Cup Cake van in the same square the week before -- but not this. So of course I went up to the guy in the window to ask for a slice as I do like a good slice of pizza occasionally. Unfortunately, I was too late but I did find out that DC Slices is a new business and they show up in the square every Friday to sell pizza  for $4 a slice and you can buy a whole pizza if you get there before 12 noon. So I thanked the NICE YOUNG MAN who was counting up the proceeds in the front seat and who kindly answered my pesty inquiries and who answered the critical question of "What Type of Pizza is It? New York or Chicago Style?" And when he said "New York Style" I was delighted and told him I'd be back for a slice next Friday.