CHAZ->CHOP->Gone

The Capital Hill area of Seattle which was occupied by protesters since early June has been retaken:

Seattle police, under orders from Mayor Jenny Durkan, cleared demonstrators out of the Capitol Hill Occupied Protest Zone (CHOP) on Wednesday, after a series of shootings marred the ongoing protest movement.

City officers on bikes and in riot gear — with help from FBI agents and police from nearby Bellevue — began dispersing the crowd at about 5 a.m., authorities said.

Seattle Police Chief Carmen Best reiterated her support for the Black Lives Matter movement, which drove the protests, but said of the weekslong occupation of public streets: “Enough is enough.”

“I support peaceful demonstrations. Black lives matter and I too want to help propel this movement forward toward meaningful exchange in our community and meaningful change in our community,” Best told reporters. “But enough is enough. Our job is to protect and to serve the community.”

None of the reports I have been able to find have been negative. They have been surprisingly, to me, factual. Here is another example:

Police in Seattle have cleared out the city’s ‘autonomous zone’ and arrested over 30 protesters following an executive order from Mayor Jenny Durkan. ABC News reports that the “occupied” zone, which has been dubbed the Capitol Hill Organized Protest area, was cleared by police on Wednesday. The order from Durkan came after four shootings, two of which were fatal, occured in the area within the last month.

“Due to ongoing violence and public safety issues in the East Precinct/Cal Anderson Park area, Mayor Jenny Durkan has issued an executive order to vacate the area,” the Seattle Police Department wrote on Twitter. “Seattle police will be in the area this morning enforcing the Mayor’s order.”

And from Capital Hill Seattle:

UPDATE 9:30 AM: SPD now reports 31 arrests for “failure to disperse, obstruction, assault, and unlawful weapon possession.”

There were no significant injuries reported. Around 6:30 AM, SPD said that a woman was reported going into labor on the east side of Cal Anderson Park.

UPDATE 11:21 AM: More arrests and a large police presence was reported at Broadway and Pine after a clash between officers and protesters. Nearby Seattle Central announced its campus was locked down during the ongoing police activity.

Police said officers “enforcing today’s order” were wearing “a higher-level of protective gear.”

“Police are utilizing this equipment because individuals associated w/the CHOP are known to be armed and dangerous/may be associated with shootings, homicides, robberies, assaults & other violent crimes,” the update read.

SPD was also investigating reports of vehicles circling the area with officers reporting individuals “with firearms/armor” inside. The vehicles also did not have visible license plates, SPD reported.

The vandalism and mess are horrendous (from here):

From Joseph Suttner @josephsuttner:

Image

I still think my original suggestion that letting them take over for a while was the correct decision. They didn’t disperse on their own like I thought they would. But digging in and getting into a violent confrontation on day one or even day five probably would leave us in a worse situation that what we have now.

The children demonstrated to the entire world and themselves they can’t get along without adult supervision. That lesson would not have been learned had the police gone in and immediately “kicked ass”. To the best of my knowledge there were no serious injuries during the retaking of the area. The videos I watched showed people passively resisting arrest but there weren’t any outbreaks of violence. Had the police gone in when emotions were high private citizens and police probably would have been injured and I can easily imagine there being tremendous property damage.

As I read somewhere a few days ago, paraphrasing, “This is your free sample of socialism.”

Never try to appease terrorists

Last week T-Mobile tried to appease the terrorists.

This week new demands were made:

StopHateForProfit

It makes me sad when people have to learn a lesson the hard way.

Never try to appease terrorists.

Overreaching

I have long noted that progressives/socialist/communists are inherently violent (further elaboration here). The current riots and looting are just further validation of that observation. I really believe it is part of their nature.

This trait causes them to sometimes overreach. If their numbers are too small and/or they have insufficient influence over the existing government they can end up being arrested and/or removed from power and influence.

We get the details via Jake Whittenberg @jwhittenbergK5.

Seattle Mayor Jenny Durkan is so far to the left on the political scale that she said CHAZ/CHOP was more like a block party and “We could have the Summer of Love” than a illegal take over. Yet it appears the Seattle admitted Socialist Councilwoman Kshama Sawant has overreached the limits of Mayor Durkin. She has asked the city council president to investigate, punish, and possibly remove Sawant from the city council:

Image

Image

As Constitutionalist Selah 111 @111Selah said:

They are eating each other. Face with tears of joy

Nice of them demonstrate their faults for everyone to see.

Dave Workman also has things to say about the situation.

Surreal

There are times when it’s difficult to believe this is not some sort of slow motion dystopian nightmare:

Hundreds of protesters camped outside City Hall are demanding that lawmakers slash the New York City police budget by $1billion.

The ‘Occupy City Hall’ encampment began forming Tuesday following weeks of street protests sparked by the death of George Floyd and other black Americans killed by law enforcement.

The protesters are part of a national ‘defund the police’ movement seeking more spending on other needs like housing and education and say they won’t move until they see a budget cut.

It comes as violent crime in New York City skyrockets, with June now on track for the highest number of murders in a month since 1996.

30126422-8467361-Protesters_plastered_signs_and_artwork_on_a_subway_entrance_as_t-a-4_1593346906472

These cities are rapidly becoming uninhabitable. It’s a mass insanity which I can only see ending by either the adults taking charge or a culling of the herd as they, in essence, volunteer en masse for Darwin awards by destroying their own habitat.

It’s all so surreal.

There is an insight to take from this. Places outside of ground zero of this insanity will likely soon need protection from the mobs. There’s going to be a lot of experienced cops looking for jobs. And I’ll bet they are going to be friendly to gun owners willing to back them up.

Not a contradiction

Via Far Right Of Right@FarRightOfRight:

DefundThePolice

If you think this is a contradiction you probably made the mistake of thinking they were telling the truth when they said you don’t need guns because you have the police. As we have known for decades they have a culture of lies and deception.

With that established fact in mind we can generate hypothesizes and test them against the facts. If we include the newly established fact that they want to defund and abolish the police as we know it what can it mean?

The hypothesis which seems to best fit the data is our political opponents wish to harm us and/or take our property.

I’ve been collecting examples of “They want you dead” for some time now. The recent looting demonstrates the validity of the “they wish to take our property”. That they wanted us disarmed and dependent upon the police followed by defunding the police demonstrates not a contradiction, but consistency with this hypothesis.

Are there other hypothesizes which match the data? Are there other data points which invalidate my hypothesis?

Discuss. Then take appropriate action. Consider preparing for Boomershoot 2021. Sign up is here.

Quote of the day—Elizabeth Rogliani

Why do I even worry about some silly little statues coming down or some silly little street names changing? Why do I care?

It is because the last time I didn’t care about this, I was a teenager. I have already lived through this thing when I was living in Venezuela. Statues came down — Chavez didn’t want that history displayed. And then he changed the street names. Then came the [school curricula]. Then some movies couldn’t be shown, then certain TV channels, and so on and so forth.

You guys think this can’t happen to you, I’ve heard it so many times. But always be on guard. Never believe something can’t happen to you. You’ve got to defend your country and your society or it will be destroyed.

We didn’t believe it could happen to us. Most Venezuelans — Cubans warned us — and we were like, ‘This is Venezuela, we know about freedom. That’s not going to happen here.’ Yet it happened. And there are literally a lot of people wanting to destroy the U.S.

Elizabeth Rogliani
June 22, 2020

‘Statues coming down’ is a big deal, Venezuelan actress warns
[The high these thugs get from destroying statues and buildings will fade and they will only be able to obtain that same high by escalation. If they are not stopped soon mass murder will be soon be required to sate their desires.

If you think things are happening fast now, don’t ever forget that in Rwandan things went from moderate tension to mass murder in 30 minutes*. The murders occurred at an average rate of about 8,000 per day for about 100 days. This sustained rate exceeded that of Nazi Germany with their gas chambers.

Hutu militiamen boasted they could kill 3,000 people an hour.**

We live in extremely “interesting” times. Prepare yourself.—Joe]


* Rwanda’s Genocide 1994—Supplement to Lethal Laws by Jay Simkin, Aaron Zelman, and Alan M. Rice page 10:

The UN reports that, “less than half an hour after the plane crash occurred, roadblocks manned by Hutu militiamen, often assisted by gendarmerie or military personnel, were set up at which the identiy cards of passers-by were checked and Tutsis were taken aside and killed137.

137. UN Documents, pp. 37-38.

** Ibid, page 1.

White people must wear masks

Via daughter Kim:

Oregon county issues face mask order that exempts non-white people

Lincoln County, Oregon, has exempted non-white people from a new order requiring that face coverings be worn in public.

That was on June 16th.

Yesterday they revised the order:

Facing a torrent of “racist commentary,” Oregon’s Lincoln County has amended its exemption of non-white people from a new order that requires face coverings to be worn in public, according to a report.

How could they imagine such an order would pass a legal challenge? What if it had been that only women must cover their faces? Or only black people? Haven’t these people heard of equal rights?

Or is it they think of Animal Farm as a guidebook rather than a dystopian novel where some people are more equal than others?

We live in interesting times.

Quote of the day—Mike Sievert, CEO, T-Mobile, @MikeSievert

We are making changes in the following areas to increase opportunities for People of Color across our business.

  • We are diversifying our pipeline of talent. 
  • We are funding new scholarship programs and launching an apprenticeship program for People of Color.
  • We are changing and expanding our talent development programs to ensure more opportunities and retention for Employees of Color to strengthen our pipeline of talent up to the executive leadership level.

Mike Sievert, CEO, T-Mobile, @MikeSievert
June 2020
Destroying Western Civilization’s History, one guilt trip on sin at a time.
[Some text has been removed for clarity. Please read the complete text at the link above. There is a lot more stuff of interest.

The post, written by howlingpuffin, outlines a set of concerns. I have a completely different set of concerns.

Did Sievert run this past the legal department? How in the world can it pass muster with either Federal or Washington State law?

For example, here are a few highlights from Federal law (emphasis added):

Prohibited Employment Policies/Practices

Under the laws enforced by EEOC, it is illegal to discriminate against someone (applicant or employee) because of that person’s race, color, religion, sex (including gender identity, sexual orientation, and pregnancy), national origin, age (40 or older), disability or genetic information. It is also illegal to retaliate against a person because he or she complained about discrimination, filed a charge of discrimination, or participated in an employment discrimination investigation or lawsuit.

The law forbids discrimination in every aspect of employment.

How does “making changes … to increase opportunities for People of Color“ or “funding new scholarship programs and launching an apprenticeship program for People of Color” not violate the law? If the company announced they were:

“making changes … to increase opportunities for white people“

… funding new scholarship programs and launching an apprenticeship program for white people.

Would this be legal? Isn’t this exactly what the law prohibits?

Okay. Let’s, just for the moment, ignore the illegal on the face of it aspect of these corporate changes.

Suppose neither the Federal government nor Washington State prosecute T-Mobile for this. Then, next year some dirt bag executive at some company creates a policy favoring white people in a nearly identical manner. Doesn’t the dirt bag have an air-tight defense in that they are not getting equal treatment under the law because T-Mobile wasn’t prosecuted?

Okay. Let’s pretend, for the moment, the legal aspects of this simply do not matter.

It appears this corporate initiative was in response to the protests, riots, and looting in the wake of the death of George Floyd:

These past few weeks have been both historic and heart-wrenching, as the protests for greater racial justice in the wake of George Floyd’s murder erupt all around the world.  As I shared in my statement last week to customers, employees, and shareholders, T-Mobile stands in solidarity with the Black Community and behind our belief that Black Lives Matter.

I get it that T-Mobile stores have been targets of rioters and looters. I get it that at first thought appeasing the beast seems like a good idea. But it doesn’t work in the long (or even medium) term.

Mr. Sievert, please look at the incentives you have created. Which is greater the incentive? To stop the looting and vandalism because T-Mobile sent some money and potential employment opportunities in the general direction of the looters? Or continue the criminal activity because it gives them attention, power, and a sense of satisfaction plus money and potential employment opportunities every time they do it? Haven’t you ever heard you should never appease terrorists or pay a blackmailer or extortionist?

Suppose we even discount the probability this was about appeasement. Hasn’t he or anyone on his staff heard of The Tyranny of Low Expectations?

Low expectations are one of the most subtle yet devastatingly effective forms of sabotage we can do to others and ourselves. Low expectations often masquerade as kindness yet they are the cruelest cuts because they deny an individual or an organization its opportunity for greatness.

By passing low expectations off as being nice or kind under the guise of going easy on someone, low expectations perpetuate another insidious myth: That discipline is mean. Discipline is simply a mental tool, a form of training that lets you develop the skills and abilities to make your life better. Like any tool, discipline can and has been misused at times but in general, discipline is an incredibly valuable, frequently overlooked tool to create extraordinary value in your life.

Low expectations often involve mental laziness on both sides of the equation. Holding someone (or yourself) accountable is a LOT of hard work. It is much easier to just slide by. Easier that is until the time of testing comes and those who are not prepared diligently fail miserably.

Maybe there is some “3-D Chess” game being played here. Maybe the legal department explicitly told them to clearly make the policy illegal beyond any shadow of doubt. Then later they can say they have to cancel the program because of “unexpected” legal issues.

It will take the Feds and Washington State a few weeks or months to tell them what they are doing is illegal and in response they can “regretfully announce the cancellation of their well intentioned initiative” and it’s all the fault of the evil Trump administration (or some such thing). By that time emotions will have subsided and the vandalism and looting will have stopped. T-Mobile will have gotten all the benefits of the illegal activity with almost none of the costs.

I don’t know what’s going on here. I just know I don’t like any possible scenario I can imagine here. I don’t like the illegal employment policies. I don’t like the appeasement. I don’t like the incentives of low expectations. I don’t like the possibility of it being a clever game of false appeasement.

I think this is on the same moral level as the terrorists, looters, and vandals. It’s despicable.—Joe]

Rhode Island to change state name

Via email from Paul K.:

Democrat Gov of Rhode Island Moves To Change State Name with Executive Order

The smallest state in the union has found itself in the crosshairs of the ongoing culture wars, as Rhode Island’s Democratic governor, Gina Raimondo, removed part of the state’s official name from several documents via executive order Monday.

While the Ocean State is known to the rest of the country simply as Rhode Island, it has had the official name “the State of Rhode Island and Providence Plantations” since it became the 13th state in 1790.

Detractors of the name argue that the word “Plantations” invokes the legacy of slavery. As demonstrated by her decision to sign an executive order to eliminate part of the state’s name from government documents, the governor agrees with that analysis.

Apparently these people don’t realize the enormity of what they are doing by attempting to appease the terrorists. The simple version is:

First they came for the Socialists, and I did not speak out—
Because I was not a Socialist.

Then they came for the Trade Unionists, and I did not speak out—
Because I was not a Trade Unionist.

Then they came for the Jews, and I did not speak out—
Because I was not a Jew.

Then they came for me—and there was no one left to speak for me.

Martin Niemöller
First they came …

But it’s far more complicated than that. There is a deadly psychology that goes along with this. Sociopaths have muted emotion responses.

The thugs and terrorists who beat people because of their skin color or political persuasion and vandalize buildings and monuments and loot stores get a thrill they don’t get and perhaps have never experienced before in their lives. The high they get from this requires greater and greater levels of violence and domination of others to recreate.

Read The Gulag Archipelago, 1918-1956: An Experiment in Literary Investigation, and/or Bloodlands: Europe Between Hitler and Stalin, and/or Hitler’s Willing Executioners.And read my blog post from nearly 13 years ago: Drawing a line in the sand.

What these history lessons demonstrate is that there exist people who, once they “taste blood”, are never satisfied. They will not stop when they accomplish what you might think, and even they think, is their end goal. As they acquire more and more power without significant resistance there comes a point where they become genocidal and murder millions. It feeds that hunger for power and emotional high which can no longer be achieved with mere rioting, looting, and beatings of innocent people.

As they run out of victims the “purity test scores” to avoid death become higher and higher. Those who were once favored supporters become victims to the almost unstoppable murderous thugs. They “eat their own” after leaving rivers of blood in their wake.

These people must be stopped now. They must not be appeased.

Quote of the day—Steve Mylett

Bellevue has seen many peaceful protests since Mr. Floyd’s death, and we welcome them all.  But the criminals who engaged in the violence are on notice; they won’t get away with it. We have dedicated extensive resources to investigate these crimes and will take as long as necessary to identify and arrest those responsible. I cannot emphasize it enough, the criminal behavior leading to these arrests has absolutely nothing to do with people raising their voices in opposition to Mr. Floyd’s death or demands to end systemic racism.

Steve Mylett
Bellevue Washington Chief of Police
Residents’ video clips lead to looting arrests
[Also from the same post:

Bellevue police have arrested 23 people connected with the looting and destruction in downtown Bellevue and have recovered more than $50,000 in merchandise.  Detectives have also identified nearly a hundred other suspects and are continuing those investigations.

Last Friday, Bellevue police served a warrant on a looting suspect in Renton.  A 26-year-old man, seen driving the red truck in the video, was arrested on charges of Burglary 2nd, Possession of Stolen Property, Possession of Methamphetamine, and Dangerous Weapons. Investigators recovered $19,000 worth of suspected stolen merchandise, alcohol, and tobacco products.  Detectives also confiscated an AK-47, a 10 mm Glock, stockpiles of ammunition, drugs, and cash.

We are just beginning to make arrests in these cases.  The public has shared at least 10-thousand pieces of video and photographic evidence of the looting and violence. The public’s assistance has been a tremendous help. We will continue to work with our regional and federal partners to hold these individuals accountable.

Barb read the blog post to me over dinner. She has a very high opinion of the Bellevue police. This is especially true when compared to her opinion of the Seattle police department (“They don’t do anything.”). The blog post quoted above further bolstered her opinion of Bellevue.

It’s a good start. I hope they are able to follow through to convictions and non-trivial sentences for the guilty. These people need to pay a heavy price for their crimes.—Joe]

Quote of the day—Juanita Broaddrick @atensnut

[A little bit of lightness after so much darkness the last few days.

There would be a long line for that opportunity. But, I’m pretty sure nearly everyone would let Ms. Broaddrick take whatever position she wanted in that effort.—Joe]

Quote of the day—Frank J.

We don’t need democracy, we just need to trust angry mobs. Who can ever get the biggest mob and makes them the angriest should make the rules.

Frank J.
Random Thoughts: JK Rowling and Angry Screaming
June 17, 2020
[SCOTUS dropping (almost) all of the 2nd Amendment cases on Monday made the truth of the quote above all the more clear.

Monday was extremely depressing for me. I’ve been donating thousands of dollars per year to SAF and FPC to pursue these court cases, I write letters to representatives, I follow the rules, and urge others to do the same. And what are people going to learn from current events?

The lesson to many is going to be exceptionally clear. You are a fool if you follow the rules. The proper way to get your way, no matter how delusional you are, is to riot and loot. This will not end well. And all I will be able to do is say I tried and failed.

I still have a tiny sliver of hope. And that is Trump wins in landside this November, Republicans continue their hold in the Senate and another 2nd Amendment supporting SCOTUS justice or two are appointed by the end of 2024. By that time I will have been fighting this fight and following the rules for 30 years.—Joe]

I know her

From The State of CHAZ:

On June 10, with the goal of building consensus and designating leadership for the movement, protesters organized the first CHAZ People’s Assembly. After setting up a stage and PA system, one of the initial speakers raised the question of legitimate authority, asking the audience: “What’s the structure, how are we going to achieve some sort of communal hierarchy that we all feel comfortable with?” The audience booed and insisted that the movement should remain “horizontal” and leaderless. At the end of the People’s Assembly, racial-justice activist Julie Chang Shulman conceded that no leadership had been established but that the group had settled on the ideological principles of an “abolitionist framework” and “commitment to solidarity and accountability to Black and Indigenous communities.”

I’ve known Julie since she was a toddler when I worked at the same company with her parents. Julie is within a few months of being the same age as my oldest child. We are Facebook “friends”. We occasionally message each other back and forth on Facebook.

I taught her father to shoot in the late 1990s. I taught her mother to shoot in 2009. Then, in 2012, I taught Julie to shoot.

Insanity?

Via email from Jeremy N. we have this:

In the hours leading up to the violence Monday, protesters faced off with members of an armed group that calls itself the New Mexico Civil Guard and counterprotesters toting “All lives matter” signs.

One group sought to tear down a monument to Oñate, a 16th-century despot who massacred indigenous people. The other set out as self-designated protectors of the statue, creating a heavily armed presence at the park in Albuquerque’s historic Old Town. Aside from a few scuffles over signs near the monument, the protest had largely been peaceful, although tense at times.

Then a white man in a blue T-shirt appeared to rile the crowd, according to video obtained by KOB4. People erupted in shouts, and the man took a few steps back.

The man in the blue shirt, identified as Baca, seemed to be protecting the statue in a bystander’s video, police said in the criminal complaint. An undercover police detective saw protesters pursuing Baca, who used pepper spray on them, the complaint adds. “The group appeared to maliciously pursue” Baca, hitting him with their hands and legs, police state.

In the video obtained by KOB4, a masked protester swung what police identified as a longboard and struck Baca in the shoulder. The man backpedaled out of the crowd but continued to exchange shouts with protesters.

Someone in the video encouraged people to follow the man and get his license plate number. Several people followed him, and one tackled him to the ground.

According to the complaint, Williams – the gunshot victim, dressed in black – can be seen on bystander video retrieving the board and swinging it toward Baca’s upper body and head. Then, the complaint says, Baca fired several shots. The crowd scattered.

Baca was arrested. Albuquerque Mayor Tim Keller and the governor said:

The shooting tonight was a tragic, outrageous and unacceptable act of violence and it has no place in our city,” Keller said in a statement. “Our diverse community will not be deterred by acts meant to divide or silence us. Our hearts go out [to] the victim, his family and witnesses whose lives were needlessly threatened tonight.”

State leaders have denounced the armed civilian group that gathered in the area. Some of its members were taken into custody, police said. The group says it is not affiliated with the shooting suspect.

“The heavily armed individuals who flaunted themselves at the protest, calling themselves a ‘civil guard,’ were there for one reason: To menace protesters, to present an unsanctioned show of unregulated force,” New Mexico Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham, a Democrat, said in a statement. “To menace the people of New Mexico with weaponry – with an implicit threat of violence – is on its face unacceptable; that violence did indeed occur is unspeakable.”

The article describes the person shot as the victim. I can find nothing in the article that indicates he was anything other than the perpetrator. Everything indicates Baca had a valid reason to fear for his life, used non-lethal force without success then as a last resort used lethal force. So why is he considered the bad guy?

If “protestors” can attack, maim, and potentially kill those who stand in the way of their destruction something other than peaceful solutions will be implemented.

This is insanity.

Update: I understand now. We are reliving The Gulag Archipelago. Criminals are the natural allies of the political left.

The story of how CHAZ was created

Read the whole thing. This is just how the terrorists won the last battle and created CHAZ.

A Shocking Eye-Witness Account Of What’s Really Happening During The Seattle Riots

SPD must have had some really good intelligence, or they were anticipating Antifa’s response from Durkan’s concessions. They installed permanent metal barriers at the intersection of 11th St and Pine St. A second line of barriers was also in place in between us and the initial barriers at the intersection. Everything kicked off per usual, with the “protesters” trying to provoke us with their words, umbrellas, and signs. This time, though, we didn’t give them an audience. We all stayed inside the East Precinct, as they did their normal agitation methods at the first barrier.

Suddenly, we were told the “protesters” began jumping the first barrier, heading towards us. We rushed out to the road and staged roughly 1/3 of the way up the block from the intersection of 11th St and Pine St, creating a large safety buffer between us and the “protesters” who had jumped the fencing. They were warned to return over the barrier, which they didn’t. They then began disassembling the barrier. They were warned not to disassemble the barrier, but they continued. They then walked towards us. They were warned to stop, but they didn’t. They continued walking towards us. They were warned again, but they continued. They reached the second barrier.

We later found out they brought a plasma cutter (blow torch) to cut through the barriers… (not that they are the provocateurs, or are planning to escalate, right?!)

They began cutting barriers so they could be used as weapons against us. They were warned about cutting the barriers, but they continued. They then picked up the second barriers and began walking towards us. They were warned again not to move the barriers, but they continued. They then jumped the last barrier. They were warned again to turn back, but they continued towards us. As they continued to approach, they were continuously warned. HOW MANY WARNINGS DOES IT TAKE?!

It started to get dark… The portable lights were turned on. The “protesters” then produced foil covered signs and were trying to blind the Officers and Guardsman. They were warned again, but they continued. They then threw a glass bottle at a Guardsman, the glass bottle shattering on a riot shield. They were warned again, but they just booed at us. They continued to walk slowly towards the Officers until they were within 2-3 feet. They then started using their umbrella’s and other objects, putting them in the face of the Officers. They were warned again to not do that.

As expected, objects were then thrown at us. They amplified things, this time. Instead of throwing glass bottles containing urine and other bodily fluids, they began throwing glass bottles full of gasoline. They then lit and threw fireworks at us, trying to light us on fire.

FINALLY the SPD Administration gave the green light and LESS LETHAL forms of riot control were deployed. As objects were continued to be thrown at us, SWAT finally deployed CS gas. The “protesters” proceeded to start vandalizing everything in the area. They smashed business windows, burned U.S. flags, lit dumpsters and other items on fire, and threw things on fire at us. We pushed them back in all directions about half a block but for some reason, we stopped pushing them back. They then regrouped and continued to vandalize the area with spray paint, breaking windows, and lighting things on fire. Around that time, the Guard was pulled back and we left East Precinct.

My big takeaway from this is also an observation made by, IIRC, the Bellevue Chief of Police after the Bellevue looting a couple weeks ago. The terrorists are well organized. This is not some impulsive, spontaneous, outburst of rage.

The organizers, in particular, must be tracked down and punished.

CHAZ characterization

Via daughter Kim:

123_1

From my visit there this seems somewhat overstated. But not by much.

Quote of the day—Thomas Sowell @ThomasSowell

People sometimes ask if I have tried to convince black “leaders” to take a different view on racial issues. Of course not. I wouldn’t spend my time trying to persuade the mafia to give up crime. Why should I spend time trying to convince race hustlers to give up victimhood?

Thomas Sowell @ThomasSowell
Tweeted on June 7, 2020
[See also Reality is difficult.—Joe]

Quote of the day—Lauren Footman

The disease of racism spreads in an America where justice, fairness, and the rule of law do not work for everyone. The system is not broken — it is working exactly the way it was designed to. This is the same system that first enslaved Blacks, then segregated Blacks, then imprisoned Blacks, and now blatantly kills them.

Lauren Footman
May 2020
CSGV Responds to Unrest in Minneapolis and the Arrest in Killing of George Floyd
[What? Please show me where, in the U.S. Constitution and/or Federal law, it is “designed” to spread “the disease of racism”.

One has to wonder what color the sky is in Footman’s universe. She’s working for CSGV (Coalition to Stop Gun Violence) and, as we know, delusions are common in the anti-gunowner crowd so it wouldn’t be too surprising to see the delusion extend into this context as well.

But more likely than Footman being delusional, is that she is deliberately trying to destroy our country. Anti-gun as well as insisting the country as designed is fundamentally at odds with equality before the law can only mean one thing as far as I can tell. She wants a completely new design for our country. And the quickest way to accomplish that is to destroy it.

Fanning the racial tension flames, without evidence to support racism was even an issue in the precipitating event, is worse than actual racism. It’s deliberate deception which directly lead to the deaths of dozens of people and 100s of millions of dollars in property loss. It’s easy to conclude this is by design.—Joe]

Capitol Hill Autonomous Zone (CHAZ)

There has been some blog and reddit posts about Antifa taking over part of the Capitol Hill area in Seattle:

There are a few conventional media stories but not many:

As I reported some of the links people have been sending me and what I have read on the blogs Barb kind of rolled her eyes.

25+ years ago Barb lived on Capital Hill. For another 20 years she worked not far from there. She describes the people who live there as “in transition”. “They’re mostly young and trying to figure out who they are.” That some people moved some barricades isn’t all that much out of character for that demographic. They think of themselves as revolutionaries but it’s more of an extended teenager rebellious phase they are going through.

Today I visited CHAZ. It’s kind of a nothing burger. I half expected checkpoints with masked armed people and snipers in windows and on the rooftops. I brought my telephoto lens and planned to take pictures from a block or more away. I worried about someone seeing me, multiple people flanking me, taking my camera, and/or hurting me. I hid my camera under my loose fitting flannel shirt.

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Timely

Once a week my kids (all adults scattered among three different states) and I have a video call over dinner. After dinner we play some Internet games or watch a movie together. Weekend before last we watched Back to the Future.

That made this tweet from HollyCabot @HollyCabot all the funnier:

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