The video below sums up the worsening situation in Baltimore. Protesters have been sabotaging fire hoses to stop the Fire Department from saving buildings. The CVS in this case was first looted and then burned (as have other business and cars). When the Fire Department showed up, this man punctured the hose to frustrate efforts at putting out the fire. In the meantime, Baltimore Mayor Stephanie Rawlings-Blake denounced the “thugs” in the streets of her city. She however added another mangled quote after her earlier assurance that the police would give protesters “space” to destroy. For the riots consuming the city during the afternoon and in the early evening. The mayor objected that the city is being “destroyed by thugs who in a very senseless way are trying to tear down what so many have fought for.” People immediately asked if there was a sensible way to tear down the city.
The mayor was clearly trying to convey the pain of watching this great city being destroyed by thugs who cared little for its history or its people:
MAYOR RAWLINGS-BLAKE: What we see tonight that is going on in our city is very disturbing. It is very clear there is a difference between what we saw over the past week with the peaceful protests, those who wish to seek justice, those who wish to be heard, and want answers and the difference between those protests and the thugs who only want to incite violence and destroy our city. I’m a life-long resident of Baltimore and too many people have spent generations building up this city for it to be destroyed by thugs who in a very senseless way are trying to tear down what so many have fought for. Tearing down businesses. Tearing down and destroying property, things that we know will impact our community for years. We are deploying every resource possible to gain control of the situation and to ensure peace moving forward.
The man puncturing fire hoses sums up her point vividly.
Bam bam, it goes beyond color, it’s a divide between the classes. Poor people, no matter what their color are disenfranchised in any society.
Inga – so poor people have the right to riot?
Did someone say they have a right to riot?
Inga – poor people are NOT disenfranchised in any society. Do they have the right to vote? Do they have access to school? To the government? To their elected officials? In OUR society they are not disenfranchised.
I have a feeling that the Mayor is the Thug in Chief.
I never saw the National Guard. When you call firemen, you call National Guard to protect them. Earlier, before it gets dark.
The mother following her son was the best way to keep him out of it. No one wanted to be near him!
Last Summer, two daughters and two granddaughters spent a day in Baltimore. Having lived in DC several years, they knew what it used to be, and now will be again. They ate lunch near the water and shopped in many fun places. They were really impressed with how improved it was. Tourists appreciate improvements. These idiots, who probably don’t have jobs, have taken jobs away from their neighbors.
And I am tired of the whiners here that think society is to blame. The people throwing rocks are to blame. The guy cutting fire hoses should spend the rest of his life behind bars!
Uh bam bam our Governor here in MD released the National Guard. When asked what took him so long he stated that he could not find the Baltimore Mayor to coordinate. LOL.
50 Years After Historic Riots, Watts Still Suffering From The Same Ills</a
Well, no sh*t, Sherlock.
Riots routinely kill the neighborhoods where they occur.
So Shepard Smith is an idiot.
We hear about the lack of black representation in positions of authority. If only there were more minorities in these positions, the minority communities wouldn’t feel so disenfranchised and all problems would dissipate. Look no farther than Baltimore, whose leaders, pictured in the news briefings, are all black. I saw no whites. This just proves that the race of the leadership in these communities is irrelevant. Does the mayor’s race make an ounce of difference? Same narrative in Ferguson, which just held elections for city council positions. Some blacks won seats. Hooray. No more problems.
THE BALTIMORE RIOTS:
Shades of Watts 50 years ago
April 28, 2015
http://www.skyvalleychronicle.com/FEATURE-NEWS/THE-BALTIMORE-RIOTS-br-Shades-of-Watts-50-years-ago-2101509
(BALTIMORE, MD.) — It was a war zone in Baltimore Monday. Burning, looting and young rioters throwing with bad intentions rocks, sticks, bottles, chunks of concrete and other potentially deadly items at police.
With the exception of the looks of the this century’s cars and trucks and the way young rioters were dressed, the scene in Baltimore played out eerily like the infamous Watt riots in Los Angeles in 1965.
Back in August of 1965 the tipping point to the Watts riots – a powder keg that had been simmering for decades – was nothing more than a black motorist being arrested for drunk-driving.
That turned into a roadside argument that suddenly turned into a riot and from there into six days of looting and arson, especially of white-owned businesses.
Community leaders at the time said anger and frustration had been brewing in the mostly black community for a very long time, partly due to police racism during the 1960’s’ and heavy-handed policing of blacks by white police officers.
Some 4,000 national guard troops were brought in to help restore order. When it was all over the tally was 34 people dead, burned out buildings and over $40 million in property damage.
Fast forward to Monday in Baltimore.
The tipping point there appeared to be the funeral of Freddie Gray, the young black man who died of a broken neck while in police custody — an event police have yet to explain fully to the young man’s parents or the community at large. …
Ken, the police violence is merely the other side of the black violence coin.
Not cause and effect, which Shepard Smith erroneously concluded, but the same problem manifesting in two ways.
I predict:
1. The white population of Baltimore is about to decline rapidly.
2. The vast majority of damaged/destroyed businesses will not re-open (se: ‘food deserts’).
3. Crime will increase and go unpunished, to avoid the appearance of targeting blacks. No-go areas will swell.
4. Taxes will rise as the city’s wealth falls, followed by a death spiral.
Detroitization.
Rinse, repeat.
@ JT
Fox News’ Shepard Smith brings a little rationality to the coverage of the Baltimore scene:
http://www.dailykos.com/story/2015/04/28/1380829/-Fox-News-Shepard-Smith-smacks-down-cohosts-covering-Baltimore-
Everyone keeps showing the video of the woman smacking around a young man. Are we to believe that it’s supposed to reveal a mother, allegedly angry with her son, over his criminal behavior? I see no evidence of that. Objection. Move to strike. Where’s the foundation?
What’s more likely occurring is that this woman is beating up the kid cause he stole some of her Pampers, sneakers, liquor and toilet paper, which she worked so very hard to steal. What we’re witnessing is a little sample of some very tame ghetto justice. That’s all.
Ya know, nothing quite says revolution like a bottle of Mad Dog 20/20 and some Charmin.
bam, Come on. Some folks here are telling us they need MORE liberal/progressive love. What are you, RACIST??? To amend your comment just a bit. What these cities need are a Rudy like mayor. But, he would be VERY helpful if that tough love mayor were black. There are some tough love black, Democrats, but they get defeated in elections by white, enabling, liberals. The mom we see in that video Harry just posted represents MANY hard working, responsible, black parents. They are the silent majority. They despise the Al Sharpton/Jessie Jacksons of this country.
This mayor is doing exactly what she is ordered to do, as she is taking her orders from the Department of Justice. The same thing occurred in the City of Ferguson, as police were more or less ordered to stand down and allow the inmates to take over the asylum. This particular mayor is, however, not articulate enough to hide what she is permitting these so-called thugs to do in her city by admittedly allowing them the opportunity to destroy. Why not declare an immediate curfew? That’s what is needed. And while they’re at it, bring in Rudy Giuliani. Problem solved. This city needs someone with b@&&s and a total lack of deference to what is politically correct.
LOL!! The Democrats are really scrambling. They are disowning their own. Yeah, what US cities need are REALLY LIBERAL DEMS. LOL!! This is making my day. Any normal person knows what US cities need is balance, these liberals here think they need LESS balance. You can’t make this sh!t up. I’m glad for the fact that this disowning of their own party will be archived.
Angry mom goes nuts on protesting son. She should be promoted to police chief with a salary bonus.
I thought that JT said that the majority of the protesters were peaceful. It looked real peaceful to me.
Note the switch from Liberal and Conservative to Democrat and Republican in the label driven arguments. There is a pretense that it’s the same, but it’s not.
As an easy example: Chicago, U.S.A. We’ve had plenty of Democratic mayors, but anyone believing that Richard J. Daley, Richard M. Daley, or “non-partisan” Rahm Emmanuel, are liberals simply doesn’t know what they’re talking about.
From the Coates article:
“The case against the Baltimore police, and the society that superintends them, is easily made:
Over the past four years, more than 100 people have won court judgments or settlements related to allegations of brutality and civil rights violations. Victims include a 15-year-old boy riding a dirt bike, a 26-year-old pregnant accountant who had witnessed a beating, a 50-year-old woman selling church raffle tickets, a 65-year-old church deacon rolling a cigarette and an 87-year-old grandmother aiding her wounded grandson ….
And in almost every case, prosecutors or judges dismissed the charges against the victims—if charges were filed at all. In an incident that drew headlines recently, charges against a South Baltimore man were dropped after a video showed an officer repeatedly punching him—a beating that led the police commissioner to say he was “shocked.”
The money paid out by the city to cover for the brutal acts of its police department would be enough to build “a state-of-the-art rec center or renovations at more than 30 playgrounds.” Instead, the money was used to cover for the brutal acts of the city’s police department and ensure they remained well beyond any semblance of justice.”
Nonviolence as Compliance
Officials calling for calm can offer no rational justification for Gray’s death, and so they appeal for order.
by Ta-Nehisi Coates Apr 27, 2015
http://www.theatlantic.com/politics/archive/2015/04/nonviolence-as-compliance/391640/
“The people now calling for nonviolence are not prepared to answer these questions. Many of them are charged with enforcing the very policies that led to Gray’s death, and yet they can offer no rational justification for Gray’s death and so they appeal for calm. But there was no official appeal for calm when Gray was being arrested. There was no appeal for calm when Jerriel Lyles was assaulted. (“The blow was so heavy. My eyes swelled up. Blood was dripping down my nose and out my eye.”) There was no claim for nonviolence on behalf of Venus Green. (“Bitch, you ain’t no better than any of the other old black bitches I have locked up.”) There was no plea for peace on behalf of Starr Brown. (“They slammed me down on my face,” Brown added, her voice cracking. “The skin was gone on my face.”)
“When nonviolence is preached as an attempt to evade the repercussions of political brutality, it betrays itself. When nonviolence begins halfway through the war with the aggressor calling time out, it exposes itself as a ruse. When nonviolence is preached by the representatives of the state, while the state doles out heaps of violence to its citizens, it reveals itself to be a con. And none of this can mean that rioting or violence is “correct” or “wise,” any more than a forest fire can be “correct” or “wise.” Wisdom isn’t the point tonight. Disrespect is. In this case, disrespect for the hollow law and failed order that so regularly disrespects the community.”
The Brutality of Police Culture in Baltimore
Years of abuses are every bit as egregious as what the Department of Justice documented in Ferguson, Missouri, and as deserving of a national response.
by Conor Friedersdorf Apr 22, 2015
http://www.theatlantic.com/politics/archive/2015/04/the-brutality-of-police-culture-in-baltimore/391158/
“There is so much I haven’t included (example), and I’ve just trawled through the archives of The Baltimore Sun for a two-year period. They cover most police-involved deaths, but no newspaper covers more than a minuscule subset of use-of-force incidents.
“So no wonder protestors are out in Baltimore after this latest death.
“No wonder that a meeting on police brutality this week had to be moved to a bigger venue because so many Baltimore residents are concerned enough to come out in person. “Dozens of residents—most of them black—inundated federal officials with their assertions that city police have been brutalizing residents with impunity,” a just-published Baltimore Sun article reports. It includes a quote from a 35-year-old who asked the feds, “When are you all going to help us?””