7 Top Stories of the Week in Pictures II

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Another week has passed and here are the top stories for October 8-14, 2011

Occupy Wall Street heats up

Occupy Wall Street protesters capped a busy week with a showdown against New York City police, ending in more than a dozen arrests. For whatever reason — the catchy signs, the fears of violence, the rumors that demonstrators were being paid — the movement captured headlines all week as it spread to other cities. With conservatives mocking O.W.S., could it be the protests were making the super-rich nervous, because after all it’s hard to put the rich behind bars, or is it?

PHOTO: Julie Dermansky/Corbis

The dreaded NBA lockout begins

Sports Armageddon has arrived — again. In the latest big-league labor dispute, the NBA announced this week that the first two weeks of its 2011-12 basketball season will be canceled. That amounts to about 100 missed games, each costing even small-market teams $1 million a pop. The owners may weather the “clueless” lockout better than the players, who lose whole paychecks. But the real winners? The NFL and NHL. Personally I think all these jocks get paid way too much which makes me wonder: are they part of that 1%?

PHOTO: REUTERS/Robert Pratta

Obama fights to save his jobs bill

Senate Republicans blocked President Obama’s $447 billion jobs bill, with Democrats mustering just 51 of the 60 votes needed to end a GOP filibuster. But nobody expected the GOP to go along, and some political strategists reckon Obama just wanted to make Republicans go on record against the popular plan. It’s not dead, anyway. Obama says now he’ll try to push it through piece by piece. The Republicans of course have put forward their own ideas for fixing the economy.

PHOTO: AP

Herman Cain goes under the microscope

Herman Cain led the GOP presidential field in polls for the first time. And Tuesday’s debate was the first time dismissive rivals had to treat him like a frontrunner. They focused on Cain’s tax proposal. But the 9-9-9 plan didn’t bear up well under the scrutiny. Critics said it would hurt the poor and bankrupt the government — and looked suspiciously similar to a tax plan in the computer game SimCity.

PHOTO: REUTERS/Jonathan Ernst

Is Mitt Romney the inevitable GOP nominee?

In theory, Mitt Romney could have had a very bad week. Rival Rick Perry’s campaign unveiled a Hollywood-style ad slamming Romney’s “ObamaCare”-like health plan in his home state. But then came an endorsement from New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie. And Romney triumphed in yet another debate. By week’s end it was looking to many like Perry was “finished,” and Romney had established himself as the inevitable nominee. I suspect Perry was “finished” long before he ran for president. This guy is one serious loser.

PHOTO: TopNews

The iPhone 4S finally arrives

After a lackluster unveiling, Apple’s iPhone 4s set a record with more than 1 million pre-sales by the time it hit stores on Friday. Some fans appreciated the improved, 8-megapixel camera. Others praised its potentially “revolutionary” iOS 5 operating system, or Siri, the iPhone’s new voice-controlled personal assistant, and concluded that the iPhone 4S might be a “life changer” after all. I don’t know about this, so I think I’ll keep my well used Blackberry and wait for iPhone 5.

PHOTO: CNET

Netflix plans to split in two

Facing a customer outcry, Netflix ditched its controversial plan to split its once-beloved DVD-by-mail and streaming video services. Three weeks ago, Netflix said it was creating a new business, Qwikster, to handle its DVD rentals. Customers, still fuming over a 60-percent July price hike, went ballistic. Netflix just spent a fortune on CW programming. If apologies won’t undo the damage, maybe Gossip Girl re-runs will do the trick. Of course, I don’t want to be too hard on Netflix. After all I do subscribe to their streaming TV stuff and it’s not bad.

PHOTO: Getty Images Latam

MadMikesAmerica thanks with all humility The Week for their substantial contributions to this story.

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Professor Mike

Professor Mike is a left-leaning, dog loving, political junkie. He has written dozens of articles for Substack, Medium, Simily, and Tribel. Professor Mike has been published at Smerconish.com, among others. He is a strong proponent of the environment, and a passionate protector of animals. In addition he is a fierce anti-Trumper. Take a moment and share his work.

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