Dark times ahead

Via Chuck Petras @Chuck_Petras:

Changes at a QFC store — apparently for security reasons — have some customers say the store is going too far. Some are worried about safety and exiting in an emergency.

Two Seattle QFC stores now have extensive plexiglass inside, directing traffic for shoppers and limiting how people can exit. The grocery chain told KIRO 7 the changes are “to maintain a safe shopping environment,” but customers believe the goal is to thwart shoplifting.

“It’s like shopping in a dystopian novel or something, it’s really bizarre,” said Chris Mobley, a shopper at the store. “Seems to be a way to annoy customers — it’s really hard to navigate the store,” he said.

A few days ago Barb was at a store (not QFC) not far from our home in Bellevue, a suburb of Seattle, and the clerk commented, “There goes one of our regulars. He comes in every day.” It was a shoplifter.

Also, The police aren’t coming, but now in Seattle, they have a name for that:

It’s well known that Seattle police are struggling to respond to 911 calls in a speedy manner. But the notion that “the cops aren’t coming” has become such a routine of city life that they’ve created a new way of tracking their nonresponsiveness.

It’s called the “Z protocol.”

I have to wonder how much of inflation is the result of “defund the police” and related nonsense.

My greatest concern is that at some point many people will to conclude they are stupid for not stealing whatever they want. That will bring some very dark times.

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5 thoughts on “Dark times ahead

  1. There is a song in here somewhere.

    Just set back, smile, grab the popcorn, and stay out of the stampede over the cliff into the dark of night while thinking we’ll be OK.

    Just don’t forget to have your trusty 44 by your side and your AR-15 within easy reach while you wait for your shift in the dark of night.

  2. I wonder how far back the ‘Z protocol’ term goes?

    The tabletop RPG Shadowrun had ‘Z zones’, which were basically urban areas where law enforcement (public or private) did not go unless they absolutely, positively HAD to. And when they did, they went kitted out like the military patrolling Fallujah.

    I always figured it was something the writers cooked up (based on urban decay), but I never thought it might be based on an actual real-world term.

    I hate when reality imitates fantasy.

  3. In case you have not seen this:

    “A letter posted to The Anarchist Library allegedly written by a Jane’s Revenge said the impending decision “is an event that should inspire rage in millions of people who can get pregnant.”

    “We need the state to feel our full wrath … We need them to be afraid of us.”

    “Whatever form your fury takes, the first step is feeling it. The next step is carrying that anger out into the world and expressing it physically. Consider this your call to action. On the night the final ruling is issued — a specific date we cannot yet predict, but we know is arriving imminently — we are asking for courageous hearts to come out after dark.”

    And now, the nation eagerly awaits the Supreme Court’s opinion that could overturn Roe v. Wade and spark a summer of unrest. “

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