Category: Public Order

Anarchy

When the dominant voices in the culture are telling us at 10,000 decibels that our country is a racist cesspool, that it routinely treats a large segment of its population with callousness if not cruelty, that its history is a stain and its promise a fraud, that is going to have consequences.  We are starting to see them.  One aspect of the display is the widespread, sudden and shocking increase in violence, documented in this post.  Another, related aspect is in the attack on the monuments to our history  —  and not just Confederate monuments, which were a bait-and-switch  —  but on monuments to Lincoln, Grant, and Fredrick Douglass, among many others.

There was another attack last night.  John Hinderaker has the story

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Of Mobs and Monuments

The present fad of monument toppling vividly illustrates the dangers of resorting to force rather than waiting for the process of government, which certainly can be agonizingly slow. Even when street action is initiated by people with good intentions, the forces unleashed inevitably spread beyond those intentions. There are no “controlled burns” in street mobs.

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Bail Reform at Work for Granny

“Bail reform” has been one of the most prominent of the innovations the Left has been pushing.  The theory is that no one should be held in jail simply because he can’t pay cash bail to assure his later court appearance.  That would be the “criminalizing of poverty,” to use one of their favorite phrases.  Moreover, it would interrupt (and often for practical purposes end) the defendant’s employment, such as that might be.  We need to overcome our class-ridden, knee-jerk punitive responses to embrace “real solutions” and compassion.

Heard that before?

OK.  Here, in a video that justifiably has gone viral, is what compassion looks like.

 

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The Supposed Distinction Between Peaceful Protesters and Bomb Throwers

We have been repeatedly admonished to distinguish between peaceful protesters, on the one hand, and rioters and arsonists, on the other.  For many of those in the Defund movement, my guess is that that’s a fair and needed distinction.  But many isn’t everyone.  As we now hear from a leading voice on the Left, Nation magazine, violence and looting are not the mere occasional incident, or a few hotheads or opportunists taking advantage.  Violence is integral to achieving their aims.

The beans get spilled here:  In Defense of Destroying Property

 

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Giving Irony a Bad Name

We have been relentlessly lectured of late that, even if “peaceful protesters” sometimes become rioters and hooligans, we need to remember that their initial motivation was to demand respect and justice for black people.  Too often, it’s said, those demanding “law and order” just ignore the sacrifices black people have made to achieve even the measure of equality America gives them.

Yes, well, that’s the lecture.  Continue reading . . .

Nothing Positive About Riots

Someone at the Fairfax County, Virginia Democratic Party tweeted on the organization’s account, “riots are an integral part of the country’s march towards progress.” The tweet was deleted, but not before it was noted by Josh Kraushaar of the National Journal. This is utterly abhorrent.

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Dr. Drew: Prop. 47 Is Murder

Mary Stringini reports for Fox 11 in L.A.:

Dr. Drew Pinsky is calling on lawmakers to modify Prop 47, which he says is enabling individuals with mental health issues to deny treatment.

“The fact is — (Prop) 47 is murder. It is murder,” Dr. Drew told FOX 11 during a Good Day LA interview Monday morning. Continue reading . . .