Friday, May 25, 2012

Nothing To See Here. Move On.

We have a long weekend coming up, so I’ll keep this mercifully short. Which is pretty much what the mainstream media, led by the New York Times, did last weekend when reporting on the anti-NATO demonstrations in Chicago. The city didn’t burn to the ground (Mrs. O’Leary’s cow likes NATO). So the boys and girls at the “newspaper of record” called it an uneventful weekend.

Now, I have to admit that compared to some of the Occupy nonsense in other cities recently, the Times had a point when it said: “On the final day of the NATO summit meeting here, Chicago was oddly quiet.” I’m sure they meant “disappointingly quiet,” but that’s just one man’s opinion. The obligatory comparison to the 1968 Democratic Convention riots wasn’t missed. “By Monday evening, after a few police/demonstrator clashes, some said they believed that the ugly scuffles would not overshadow what had amounted largely to an uneventful weekend.” Can’t argue with that.

There might also be something to be said for preparation and the successful tactic of “wall-to-wall” cops. The mayor, a big fan of leftist demonstrations, didn’t want major disruptions to upset his visiting buddy, Barack Obama, so he ordered all hands on deck. There were a few breakaway marches that did some destruction, but Oakland would consider that a mere trifle compared to their recent experiences. And there were the menacing marchers wearing anarchist masks. In many states, wearing a mask solely to hide one’s identity is illegal, but either Illinois doesn’t have such a law, or the police simply didn’t think it was worth enforcing.

In fact, the demonstrations were so lethargic that the Times felt it safe to report the fact that the usual suspects from the Occupy movement had shown up to demonstrate their solidarity with the other bums and creeps. Still, the streets were pretty full, and those few who actually had a thoughtful disagreement with NATO policy could scarcely get a placard or banner in edgewise.

So, it was indeed a relatively quiet weekend. That is, if you don’t count the ninety arrests and hundreds of detentions for everything from disturbing the peace, destruction of property, unlawful assembly (the breakaway groups), and lewd and lascivious public conduct. Mayor Rahm (“Rahmbo”) Emanuel praised the admirable restraint shown by the Chicago police. That might be simply because the police and federal authorities foiled a terrorist plot and seized incendiary devices (Molotov cocktails) which ostensibly were to be used on the mayor or Obama, or both. I suppose the difference between police restraint and police brutality depends on whose ox is about to be set on fire.

19 comments:

Tennessee Jed said...

"Days of Rage" - The Sequel - . . . .Not!

tryanmax said...

The fascinating thing about leftist protest, to me, is that they will just as easily protest their own as their foes. How this doesn't divide their house, I don't know, except that at present that vein goes all the way up to the Agitator in Chief.

I suppose there's a degree of that on our side, too. There's a strong tendency to come down on those who do what we want, but not fast enough. We just don't say it with Molotov cocktails.

Tehachapi Tom said...

Hawk
The Molotov cocktail is the name it's name sake, Vyacheslav Molotov, disliked very much.
Maybe we should do a name change on that device that is more appropriate.
The obama bomb would be fitting since he is inflaming most of the country, metaphorically speaking.
The two of them were almost polar opposites.
Molotov was a rather dull fellow outwardly, but had a very sharp mind and possessed great administrative talent.
bo is a contra polar to Molotov if ever there was one.

Unknown said...

Tennessee: Yeah, it was all pretty pathetic.

Unknown said...

tryanmax: I think that's part of what Abby Hoffman was getting at after the 1968 Chicago convention riots--"revolution for the hell of it." Or as Al Capp called the younger set--Students Wildly Indignant About Nearly Everything (SWINE).

Unknown said...

Tehachapi Tom" An Obama Cocktail would look efficient, have great promise, but would fizzle and fail each time it was needed.

AndrewPrice said...

These people are idiots. There's just no other way to say it.

T-Rav said...

Leftists and "law-and-order" types: Politics makes for strange bedfellows sometimes. I wonder what Rahm would have done if Obama either wasn't the president or wasn't in town.

rlaWTX said...

gah - a pox on them!

Unknown said...

Andrew: Or are they merely maroons? LOL

Unknown said...

T-Rav: Probably not much different. Several places were targeted by the amateur terrorists, including Obama headquarters and Rahmbo's home.

Unknown said...

rlaTWX: Amen. Another funny sidelight is that Obama stayed at a hotel rather than at his own home in Hyde Park because he was told that if he and his motorcade went to his house it would foul up traffic even more than it already was. Wasn't that thoughtful of him?

BevfromNYC said...

Lawhawk - I wish Obama was that considerate when he comes to NYC at rush hour...

Oh, and btw, did you know that the G-8 summit was actually was moved to Camp David, so they actually weren't in Chicago very long for the NATO Summit. Rahm-bo was not happy that his good friend Barack moved it.

Why don't we call the new Molotov Cocktail the "Obamanator" - it's much more destructive to those who try to oppose it, and it tries to suck the taxes right out of your pay check!

Unknown said...

Bev: In San Francisco, with its narrow, winding and hilly streets, it's always a traffic disaster when he shows up to raise another 10 or 11 million for his campaign (oop--I mean to make a major policy speech).

Individualist said...

Tyranmax

No we don't say it with Molotov cocktails. We say it with votes.

Just ask Senator Lugar

Individualist said...

Lawhawk

It is never an event when a leftist commits a crime unless it is needed for political propaganda. Then it is the most important event there is until the need for the propaganda comes to an end then the crime was not really a crime.

The truth of this came to me when I read the article in the Missouri Newspapar regarding the beating and hospitalization of Kenneth Gladney.

The journalist did not list any of the names of the four SEIU union workers however every single member of the Tea PArty that was arrested was named.

Orwellian principles run the day in the Associated Press.

K said...

@Bev: Very interesting WaPo article.

I sense a tremor in the leftist media. My guess is when the opponent has got more than a 50 50 chance, you start hedging your bets. An administration that doesn't like you can make things, difficult.

Unknown said...

Indi: Yes, we do indeed have a very "non-traditional" way of "rioting." LOL

Unknown said...

K: I think there may even be a little more than just that. The MSM is beginning to sense it has breathed its last gasp as kingmaker, but now they may also sense that they don't have the power to destroy the new king, a power they greatly relished in the past.

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