It got published on the WSJ opinion page, so you know it’s garbage. It turns out he’s a real chickenhawk…but we all knew that already.
The article begins,
Violent insurrectionists turned areas of Los Angeles into lawless hellscapes over the weekend, with anarchists setting fire to vehicles, throwing scooters and debris at police, and looting businesses—all while waving foreign flags.
We can stop right there. I’ve heard this before, about Minneapolis, another lawless hellscape
. There are people who still claim that Minneapolis was burned to the ground by rioters, but I can drive into the city and see it thriving. This is a common game played by the far right: take any protest against authoritarian rule, no matter how peaceful, and inflate it into apocalyptic chaos. It’s a contrived casus belli, where the the war is targeted against the poor, the working class, and non-white people. Don’t listen to Tom Cotton, the WSJ, or Fox News, and instead read what actual residents say.
The crowd in Grand Park, and at a handful of downtown hotspots on Monday, mixed intense anger at Huerta’s detention, the immigration raids he was protesting when he was injured and arrested, and the presence of National Guard troops at the Roybal Federal Building, with determination, pride and even joy. You could see mini-reunions break out in the crowd, people reconnecting to join in common purpose. (I had a couple of these moments myself.) Los Angeles has thus far emerged from four days of protest with a clear set of goals: driving ICE, the National Guard, and apparently now the Marines from the city and county. And there’s a sense of this as a beginning, a cross between an organizing kickoff and a backyard barbeque, complete with the ubiquitous bacon-wrapped hot dog carts, manned by migrants as well.
The spasms of defiance, impressive though they may be, are scattered. Practically the entirety of the city is going about its business, blissfully unaware of what’s mainly taking place within a five-block radius. Even from block to block you could encounter nothing, followed by a combination of cries of “¡Chinga la migra!” (“Fuck the border patrol!”) and Tejano music. And while lingering images of burnt-out self-driving Waymo cars continue to play out on television and social media, the mood and spirit on Monday was overwhelmingly peaceful. The tensest standoff was led by clergy.
I didn’t know hellscapes featured bacon-wrapped hot dog carts! I don’t eat either bacon or hot dogs, so maybe that’s the horror Tom Cotton is whining about. Fortunately, alternatives are available.
A crowd of a few hundred protesters had marched along the bridge over the 101 Freeway and toward the historic El Pueblo de Los Angeles, a public park featuring a gazebo and a statue of King Carlos III of Spain. Just as the protesters had taken root on the gazebo and begun chanting, a massive semi-trailer rolled up, with a five-piece Tejano band in the bed of the truck. The band, Los Jornaleros del Norte, is made up of day laborers; the lead singer had a “Fuck ICE” shirt on, while a man holding another hybrid U.S./Mexico flag hung off the back. And the entire crowd shifted its attention to cheer raucously along to the music.
Suddenly, the protest had transformed into a celebration of the culture of Los Angeles and the roots from which it came. People waved their signs in time with the music and beamed as they danced and sang their free expression. Representatives of Homeboy Bakery, a local business that employs former gang members and at-risk youth (“Nothing stops a bullet like a job” is their motto), started giving out scones and pastries. Others handed out water.
Tejano bands and free scones? That’s more like it. Tom Cotton wants to end that.
The solution now is the same as I said then: an overwhelming show of force to end the riots.
Here’s a slogan in response, painted on the Edward Roybal Federal Building:
When tyranny becomes law, rebellion becomes duty
Ironically given the situation, when the LASD set up shop around the protests Saturday with their fashy gear I was struck by the question of historic gang involvement within the LASD. Hmmm…:
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gangs_in_the_Los_Angeles_County_Sheriff%27s_Department
Maybe not entirely germane, but one wonders how many thugs are wearing uniforms and combat gear instead of the people proudly waving Mexican flags since California was once part of Mexico.
These horrible people always lie.
The violence was started by ICE who were confronted and immediately began throwing flash bang grenades.
A lot of the violence has been kept going by the LA police department, who have been attacking people standing around doing nothing.
Even the LA PD says we didn’t need those soldiers.
They are used to containing riots.
And the soldiers are mostly doing nothing since there is nothing for them to do.
This is just Cruelty Theater from the fascist GOP.
Apropos of protesters burning Minneapolis to the ground…NOT: I saw a post yesterday of a map of LA …it’s an enormous city…with a tiny circle in the area where the protests are going on. The poster wanted his friends to know that despite the way the news is reporting events, only a tiny part of LA is involved and yeah, even there things aren’t so bad.
I saw another post last night where the person…don’t know who…talked about things the news media needs to stop doing. The one that caught my attention is catastrophizing. That caught my attention because catastrophizing is a common behavior in people with social anxiety disorders.
The LA Police Department have been the ones creating a lot of what violence there has been.
Among other things, they’ve been shooting “rubber bullets” directly at people at close range. Most of these people are alone, isolated, and doing nothing. They aren’t even protesters.
There are a lot of videos of this on the internet
.1. At least three reporters have been hit, including an Australian woman on camera in day light.
.2. One woman was hit in the head.
Last I saw of her, she was unconscious, bleeding heavily, and they were trying to get an ambulance in. She could die from this.
.3. There are more. How many people have been hit is unknown but a lot.
To put this in context.
“Dec 19, 2017 — About three in every 100 people injured by rubber bullets died as a result, according to a review of recorded casualties published Tuesday.”
Those so called rubber bullets can kill, It is around 3% of people injured. Dozens have died this way.
They aren’t really rubber bullets.
They are steel spheres, with a thin layer of hard rubber, fired from shot guns.
The police are supposed to shoot at the ground, so they bounce and hit people at a slower velocity.
In the videos, the police are shooting straight at people at close range.
They know this can be fatal and they do it anyway.
Chicago said “Hold my beer and brat!”:
The array of protestors dishing it out deepens.
“…so maybe that’s the horror Tom Cotton is whining about.”
Do they ever STOP whining?
^ Nope.
Buckle-hatted Calvinist Cotton is cos-playing tough guy from the safety of his private security.
Overwhelming force won’t be the end of the “riots” but it will be the start of the Resistance.
Listen to those who live there. Listen to those who know what they are talking about is always sound advice.
@ StevoR: Exactly. For the most part, Things in LA are peaceful. They just keep showing video of a few bad incidents over and over.
The reason fascists think that overwhelming force is the answer is because they themselves are cowards afraid to stand for any kind of principle in the face of minor inconvenience.
Tom Cotton, Hmm. if you listen to a lot of what he says (distasteful an idea as that is) his last name describes what he has in his skull instead of a functioning brain.
Also, cotton’s lies are obvious if you look at the LAPD memo stating the protests started out as peaceful. It is the magat and his chickenhawks unilaterally sending in the military to inflame things, and if you look at the maps that show that the protests only encompass a few blocks in a city that is many peaceful square miles in size.
All these magat cult members should just crawl off and die!
Free scones? That’s OLD-EUROPE SOCIALISM! CALL THE MARIIIIIINES!!!
Name one positive thing Spanish speakers have given Los Angeles.
The question rattling around Cotton’s brain probably.
Unfortunately the fascist gambit of starting shit and then blaming the chaos on the left/current scapegoat WORKS. This is why the protest movement must remain 110% peaceful. To the point that protesters must give up their right of nature, self-defense
Tacos?
Actually, in Realityland, Los Angeles is one of the power houses of our national economy.
Los Angeles county is 49% Latinx.
It ranked first among all U.S. counties for gross domestic product.
The GDP of LA is higher than most Red States. It is 4 times that of Alabama.
“In 2025, Alabama’s Gross Domestic Product (GDP) is estimated at $257.5 billion.”
LA county is roughly the same as the LA Metro area.
The reports from LA I’ve read all mention “hundreds of protesters.”
My sincere question: why not (tens/hundreds of) thousands?
Pierce, my sincere answer: because there were hundreds of protesters?
(duh)
Raven at 4
I saw one video that shows a cop firing at a demonstrator and the cop beside him then grabbed the barrel of the shooters gun and pushed it down. The second cop appeared to be angry at the cop that fired the projectile.