Have you seen this video? That’s not a black guy breaking windows. It’s a white guy who’s concealing his identity as he methodically works his way down the street smashing windows. He’s clearly not part of the protest and when the people in the area start asking him why he’s breaking windows, he flees the scene. If he had some political message, he seems real uninterested in telling anyone what it is.
Whoever he was, he changed the narrative. It’s no longer people protesting another crime against black people; now it’s black people riot and loot big screen tv’s.
The people looting Santa Monica and Long Beach are for the most part not white. The rioters might be a bit whiter because of antifa and anarchist tendencies. The actual people protesting seem to be fairly well mixed.
The CTA officially shut down at 6:30 pm, but apparently that meant all operators were to finish their routes and return to their home bases by 6:30 pm, which meant most service actually ended well before that.
Evening PACE service is ended at 6:30 pm until further notice. No Metra service at all tomorrow.
Gee, I hope none of the essential workers actually need public transportation to get to their jobs. Not like there are, say, any major hospitals in Chicago that are a tad busy right now…
Santa Monica law enforcement are arresting everyone on the street after the 6pm curfew. Its alot of people. And in Long Beach an El Super market is being looted. Crazy times.
Show me even one responsible leader who is endorsing looting. None. Then compare that to the President refusing to condemn at all people carrying assault rifles to a state capitol. You know, you’re allowed to think something different than Trump. Try it.
Back to Seattle. The downtown is seeing large groups of protestors; it’s very tense now, but the lack of confrontations mean there has been little violence. In contrast, nearby Bellevue saw extensive downtown looting. Curfews are technically in effect for both cities, but the only arrests are token ones of looters. Interestingly enough, and in a sign the rioters are not real protestors, the very liberal and well organized college town/state capitol of Olympia has seen no violence.
We can too be serious. We (I live in the greater MSP area) have witnesses recording men in milita gear, driving vehicles with militia stickers or vehicles without license plates. The police have asked us to report any car that is driving without licence plates and to track them if possible. We’ve also been asked to keep yard lights on and report any movement in alleys, not just on the street and there’s rumors of arsonists setting up in alleys. Lotta young white men dressed in black and a few hawaiian shirts around. Many stores in suburbia never opened today but we were able to get lots of goods purchased yesterday to citizens who need them.
Please, if you are not from the Twin Cities, be safe and just go home. Especially if you are rightfully protesting police racism and brutality. We have enough on our hands with the real troublemakers and I don’t want you hurt in the fray.
All of Arizona is under a week-long 8pm - 5am curfew.
Which was news to me - here is a perfect use for those irritating smartphone alerts, and did they use them? No.
There has been rioting downtown and vandalism at one of the upscale malls in Scottsdale (Fashion Square).
Some of the smaller towns are saying that they will not enforce the curfew, which must tick our governor right off…
Oh come off it. There was systemic racism in the US before Covid and there will be after Covid.
Is protesting against racism a good thing? Yes. And it’s happened far too late for many. Is it less important on balance than the current immediate danger? Yes.
Well, the looters finally reached my neighborhood on the southwest side. I went around documenting some of the scenes. Our Target got smashed in and the looters were there for like two hours before police came (I was there when the police finally arrived). A strip mall a half mile up the street got hit, with looters hitting Ulta, Carter’s, Pet Smart, Shoe Carnival. Shoe Carnival was the most popular. I went back a little later, and the strip mall was finally under police control, but I still saw car after car after SUV pull up the street, ready to do their looting, only to be disappointed by the police presence.
The Target looting was like a fucking party. Vehicles continually were driving in and out, people were walking out with fridges, Playstations, flat screen TVs, toiletries, clothes, whatever. One looter dropped something and another, unrelated looter yelled back at him: “hey, you dropped your lotion!”
Then I drove around a little later and saw the Walgreen’s by my house got hit. Police were on top of the scene there. I arrived 15 minutes afterward and talked to the cops. Looks like they actually made arrests there, and some of the arrested were armed. She also told me to watch out, as they have also been dealing with armed robberies along Archer Ave.
I drove around until curfew (got home one minute before) and also saw some Dollar General with a lot of cops in the lot and a fire response, but all I saw there was a pried-open front door.
Seattle area got pummeled tonight. Seems like a mix of peaceful protesters with a separate significant contingent of those deliberately out to loot. My view of the footage is no agent provocateurs or alt-left/alt-right folks trying to start a riot, but criminal agents out to loot. My suburb of Bellevue had 3 malls trashed and looted. The Nordstrom Rack appears to have been looted over a period of about 6 hours but now has State (National gurads?) in the mall. Not to mention a strip mall that was also trashed and looted. Everyone seemed to go home around 10pm.
Also some other malls in the Seattle area got trashed and looted this evening.
Decades of squeezing the poor. Toleration, if not outright promotion, of racist and discriminatory policies. More interest in punishment than solving the root causes of crime, poverty, and dissatisfaction. Loosing their shit because a blackman dared to kneel during the national anthem yet looking the other way when a white man killed a black man by kneeling down. Threatening to release “vicious dogs and ominous weapons” on people lawfully assembling to protest.
Yes, I do believe the Republicans have some blame and responsibility here.
Not that I expect them to accept that - the Republicans are notorious for refusing to admit their mistakes or accept blame for anything. As you current leader so often demonstrates, it’s always the other guy’s fault.
I’m saddened but not surprised you are incapable of distinguishing between a lawful protest and the crime of theft.
I’ll just throw in that the white folks were assembly closely together during a pandemic without taking even the minimal safety precaution of wearing a covering over the mouth and nose, whereas the vast majority of the current protesters are doing that and many are also attempting social distancing while marching. Because the current protesters actually give a damn about other people whereas the folks marching on, say, the Michigan capitol only cared about themselves, to the point of blocking ambulances from getting to a hospital
Friends in Lincoln report there was a peaceful protest at the state capitol building and that protesters and police were keeping things calm, until counterprotesters (of unknown vintage) started throwing things at police, after which the original protest group went home and things got uglier.
The fact that people are looting at a friggin’ PetsMart should tell you some things. Not everyone is out to score fancy toys and overpriced shoes. When people are stealing cat food, you know your country has utterly failed itself.
Good on ya, looters, for watchin’ out for your pets, too.
Makes me think of this song - with the date conveniently in the title, to really whack you over the head that the more things change, the more they stay the same - especially the line about seeing a looter stealing Pampers. Nobody steals diapers for shits and giggles.
