As we all know, Baltimore is going through some interesting times. I sat down for a bit last night and popped on the news to watch the spectacle. One thing I noticed right away was the optics. I don’t want to get all crazy about the mayor saying it was OK for the cops to let the fine, upstanding citizens of Baltimore destroy their own city. Many, many others are doing that just fine. I wanted to comment on the optics of the situation and how bad they were. Here is the original press conference from a couple days ago (the “destroy” part is around the 7.30 mark)
What is she dressed in? Why is the pastor dressed with the odd black top and leather sleeves – and what in the world was he talking about? What on earth is the guy in the hoodie with “true religion” emblazoned across the chest doing there? To say that this doesn’t exactly instill confidence in being able to handle a situation of this sort would be quite the understatement. This is the mayor of Baltimore’s inner circle?
Here is the presser from last night, where the mayor announces the week long curfew:
Ah hah. Someone got a phone call. She now has make up on, jewelry, a nice top. Guys in suits and uniforms around her appeared later in the presser. The optics have certainly changed.
Then the governor of Maryland came on:
He is in a suit, tie and is surrounded by well dressed people (i.e. adults) and a person in a military uniform. He is decidedly overweight and looks pretty bad, but that is getting a bit off track. The Maryland governor stated later that he signed the emergency orders “about 30 seconds” after the mayor of Baltimore requested it. I imagine it was before that, but whatever.
Tonight is another night, and I assume the optics of that first presser won’t be seen again.
The situation in Baltimore actually fits the definition of that over-used phrase – “failed state”.
The Republican Governor just made himself a favorite for re-election in heavily Democratic Maryland.
He does appear to be one of the only adults in the room at this point, Trent.
Hussein has set race relations in the United Stated back 50 years. If he can set them back 60 years, maybe we can have our next President be Eisenhower.
Baltimore has a Black Mayor and Black Police Commissioner. The man the rioters are attacking is black.
The Democrat party owns this mess. It should be hung around their necks.
It is not only the Mayor and the Governor whose optics apply. The Mayor is not controlling the message from city government. At least one local politician has publicly apologized to the rioters for the reaction, and a City Councilman has stated that “Baltimore Councilman Says Blacks Rioting “Is Their Voice To Say … We Need You”… “.
That does not inspire confidence in their desire or ability to restore order.
I am not overjoyed at the curfew imposed. 10:00 pm to 5:00 am.
They need to have the streets clear before dark. If people are milling about and/or legally at 9:30 pm, then they have to be swept from the street in the dark with cover. Not a good tactical situation. Make the curfew 5:00pm to 5:00 am, in the restricted area under attack. Use a gradual lifting as a reaction to an end of violence.
The current curfew just means that the cops and national guard are guaranteed to meet mobs instead of individuals and small groups.
I understand that the city just spent a metric buttload [475–480 liters] of taxpayer money to gentrify the riot area to improve the city’s reputation and draw business/tourists. Anybody looking forward to visiting Baltimore in the future?
I think that in a normal time, or in the past, a mayor or elected official that could not meet the basic requirements of the office would resign in disgrace or be removed, (ok, maybe I’m forgetting Marion Barry, and a host of others) but we’re seeing a pattern here. I remember 1968, but I was a kid, more interested in baseball than the guys fighting the cops ten miles away, (although I was impressed by the bullet holes in the side of my Aunt’s green ’64 Fairlane, when she got caught on the wrong street) but this seems a bit more urgent. The Governor of Missouri also sat on his hands when he was needed, and to date I have not learned of any arson convictions, or lengthy jail bids for mayhem, etc. in that besieged town. Two more years of the Occupier-in-Chief with the Holder/Lynch gang at the helm, means that those who do business, own property or reside in Democrat controlled districts need to consider relocating permanently to zip codes where the rule of law isn’t so likely to break down as quick. That summer of 68 or 69 left it’s mark on our small city. To this day, there are still vacant lots that have never been developed, the burnt buildings razed and are now just grass and weed choked empty lots. That was a long time ago.
It is, alas, going to be a very long, hot summer — especially in Dem-controlled cities with a large and easily angered contingent of “feral yutes” and a police department hesitant to go after them because “raaaaacism!”
I’ve already read some of the stories in the British newspapers focusing on the small businesses which were looted or burned last night. Enough to break your heart … but I still keep wondering who they all voted for, in their local elections.
“those who do business, own property or reside in Democrat controlled districts need to consider relocating permanently to zip codes where the rule of law isn’t so likely to break down as quick.”
Remember that the Korean store owners in Los Angeles in 1992 defended their own shops with guns from the roof. I have read that O’Malley left Maryland with even more unfriendly gun laws.
It is going to be a very interesting summer, especially in Chicago.
One of the things that has made our country a melting pot is the demonstrated fact that once immigrants get past the first generation and learn the language, they can move anywhere and assume a rule of law and a degree of equal treatment that is at least better than in the old country.
You cannot assume the rule of law in any Leftist controlled area of this country. Nor can you you assume equal treatment.
With conditions as they are, a form of self-segregation is now a rational response; based on criteria not limited to race. Economic status and career, politics, and faith or lack thereof come to mind.
Y’all probably have never seen a major fight break out in a prison or jail. I have. There are no rules in such a fight. And the first thing that the inmates do is group up according to race, hoping at least that they will not be attacked from behind. Because in the absence of law, that is the only rational and safe thing to do.
We no longer have the rule of law in our country, and the government is intent on making things as arbitrary as possible. It favors some groups, and is at war with others. There is no organized political party that serves the mass of Americans or supports the Constitution and the rule of law. And we cannot vote ourselves out of this, for that reason. Sounds like a prison to me, absent borders that don’t allow us to leave.
Leaving hostile areas and separating from those who would attack you makes sense. Moving to live amongst those who would support you in resisting any attacks does also.
I don’t know how the businessmen in Baltimore West District voted. I would suspect that they voted hard Left. If so, they are not likely to move, except those few who can learn. The same for the inhabitants of Baltimore West. But those who can learn, should move. For given the politics of the area, the fact that it will not change, cannot change because there is no political alternative; staying there is masochistic and self-destructive.
“It is going to be a very interesting summer, especially in Chicago”.
We have some fun coming our way here in Madison as well. No big deal for us out here in farmland, however – where everybody has guns and have no qualms about using them and/or helping each other out.
My main hassle will be a delayed commute.
Stay tuned.
I think Will hit on something. These people are clearly unqualified to run a major metropolitan city, much less a lemonade stand. In times past they would have resigned instantly and/or been forcibly removed. Now, it appears as though the incompetence is a feature, not a bug.
I hope you’re wrong, Dan, but you may well have your ear tuned better than I do. What do you see? I had gotten the impression that Soglin was willing to let some of the liberal pieties go (e.g. restricting the homeless) in favor of making things work, but I freely admit that I haven’t been keeping close track of the YGAB crowd.
James – I am talking about the pending Tony Robinson decision. The Dane County DA has had the paperwork for a long time on whether to charge the cop or not – he should have made the call when the weather was cold and raining. Now, well, we will have an issue no matter which way you slice it. Which could be the objective – I don’t know.
Let see and hear this by US official about similler case
http://youtu.be/RY9l73Yo9Pw
Is that as whats happen here home?
Echos of the past from Wikipedia:
Tommy D’Alesandro is the father of HRH Nancy Pelosi.
The odds of businesses moving out may be changed by this, from FOX News:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=6L1PIpmCBSA
It’s early summer. This may be a hot one, at least in the blue cities like Chicago. I’m going to be there in early June. I wonder if North Michigan Avenue will be safe.
Tourism is a huge industry in Chicago.
“Since 2010, the tourism and hospitality industries have added 9,800 jobs, generating $13.7 billion in direct spending by visitors and $871 million in total tax revenue.”
Call that $2.7 billion annually.
A few dozen rioters on Michigan Avenue smashing windows and beating up a few people could make a lot of that dry up quickly — assuming it got on television.
Business travel and lodging would be much slower to respond to it, but tourists have lots of potential destinations, and if safety were perceived as an issue in Chicago that money could instantly go elsewhere.
“if safety were perceived as an issue in Chicago that money could instantly go elsewhere.”
I wonder if Mexico has learned that lesson ? Drugs are a bigger source of income, I fear.
Egypt must be devastated by the drop in tourism.
It will be interesting to see if Chicago can keep these kids off TV. The big mall near my sister’s house at 95th and Western is closing or closed already due to kids acting up.
I’m guessing folks have heard about “F*ck The Pizza Man” but figured I’d throw up the link anyhow. I’m heartened by his tenacity and wish him the best of luck, but unfortunately remain pessimistic. Today the Atlanta Public Schools cheating scandal was in the news again, as some sentences were reduced, but I could not help but feel strongly that the mess in Baltimore and this underreported saga, are directly correlated.
https://www.ijreview.com/2015/04/308632-baltimore-protesters-tried-to-light-this-pizza-shop-owner-on-fire-but-hes-not-giving-up/
http://www.ajc.com/news/news/judge-cuts-atlanta-teachers-sentences-in-cheating-/nk6cB/