It remains true, as it has throughout history, that if one wants to understand an event or a series of events, look for a pattern. If there's no pattern, it was probably spontaneous and unplanned. If a pattern emerges . . . it was almost certainly planned, premeditated, scripted and directed, to at least some extent. It may not have been 100% intended - the "spark to the flame" may have been accidental or spontaneous - but the pattern will reveal those who were ready, willing and able to jump on a bandwagon or take advantage of the spark. They were prepared for it.
The same is true of the current riots across America. The pattern is now becoming much clearer, and anyone with two working brain cells to rub together can see it for themselves.
The clearly intended, pre-planned nature of the riots is itself a give-away. Sure, the tragic death of George Floyd was the spark that lit the fire. That could not have been planned, but the plans to take advantage of any such incident were laid long ago, and preparations were made. You don't think the riots were prepared in advance? You're deluded, to put it mildly.
- Riots in scores of cities, breaking out simultaneously?
- Pallets of bricks distributed in advance, and rioters advised of their location through megaphones?
- Activists handing out Molotov cocktails and improvised explosives?
- Identical signs printed, T-shirts worn, and slogans chanted across thousands of miles?
- Solemn, almost universal left-wing proclamations of white American guilt, black American innocence, and the need for "healing", "reconciliation" and "justice for all" - all while allowing the injustice of brutal, thuggish, indiscriminate riots to continue, to intimidate the electorate?
I have no doubt that racism exists in America. Anyone can see it in news reports from day to day. The recent, tragic deaths of Ahmaud Arbery, Breonna Taylor and (most recently) George Floyd are graphic illustrations of that reality. However, note the fuss that's been made about those three deaths in particular. What about the hundreds - literally hundreds - of black deaths at the hands of other blacks, in crime-ridden cities such as Chicago, Baltimore, and many others? They happen daily, with big "scores" almost every weekend - and no liberal or left-wing or progressive politician says a single damned word, or does anything effective to stop them. It's a strangely blinkered outrage that ignores the many tragedies for the few.
As Larry Elder, himself black, has pointed out:
In 2018, according to the FBI’s Bureau of Justice Statistics, there were about 600,000 nonhomicide violent black-white crimes each year, with 90% involving a black perpetrator and a white victim. According to economist John Lott, writing in 2014: “Based on the most recent available FBI crime numbers, black male teenagers were nine times more likely to commit murder than were their white counterparts. That’s right, nine times, and the gap in these urban areas is undoubtedly even larger.”
Blacks kill twice as many whites (500 in 2015) as whites kill blacks (229 in 2015). Blacks, at 13% of the population, commit 50% of murders, and 90% of black murder victims are killed by other blacks. The Wall Street Journal‘s Jason Riley wrote in 2014: “Blacks commit violent crimes at 7 to 10 times the rate that whites do. The fact that their victims tend to be of the same race suggests that young black men in the ghetto live in danger of being shot by each other, not cops.” The No. 1 cause of preventable deaths for young white men is accidents, like car accidents. The No. 1 cause of deaths, preventable or otherwise, for young black men is homicide. In absolute numbers, Chicago often has more murders than any other city in America. The population of Chicago is approximately one-third black, one-third white, and one-third Hispanic. Yet, blacks account for over 80% of the city’s homicide victims.
As to this narrative of blacks being “hunted,” several recent studies found cops more hesitant, more reluctant to shoot a black suspect than a white suspect. One such study was conducted by black Harvard economist Roland Fryer, who called his conclusion the most “surprising result of my career.”
There's more at the link.
Why aren't we hearing those facts from commenters across the political spectrum? Because they don't favor the politically correct narrative, that's why. Political capital can be made from white or police killings of black people, but not from black-on-black violence. It's the ultimate in cynical exploitation.
Sundance sees it that way, too. Bold, underlined text is my emphasis.
Once you see the strings on the grievance marionettes, you can never watch the pantomime without seeing them; thus the playbook is transparent. Team Black Lives Matter (BLM) and Team AME Church have again aligned, exactly as we expected.
. . .
All of the activist grievance leaders, in addition to the politicians, have been instructed to reign-in the protests in coordination with the 5:00pm Obama remarks. That timing allows the media to present the ‘healing Obama’ narrative; riots and looting stop etc.
Meanwhile, attorney Ben Crump will deliver the same healing message with the added demand that all police officers must be arrested by the time the first memorial takes place at 1:00pm tomorrow.
The “all we want is an arrest” approach, comes directly from the BLM/AME playbook as executed in Orlando/Miami (Trayvon Martin), Ferguson (Mike Brown), and Baltimore (Freddie Gray). Now that both networks have come back together and aligned, all of the coordination is much easier.
. . .
The actual goal is far less about racial healing and more specifically about how to obtain political benefit and paint President Trump as the problem ... Everything within the strategy is coordinated and planned carefully. The script is how the political value is maximized. In the larger background the goal is activism based on race for 2020 to avoid the problem that was encountered in 2016. Joe Biden, and the DNC apparatus writ large, are the intended beneficiaries.
There's more at the link.
The drumbeat of anti-Trump, anti-police, anti-establishment rhetoric is constant, incessant, and almost identical across platforms and people. Open, blatant lies are disseminated without blinking, and without correction. The same talking points are being parroted by politicians, clergy, community leaders - anyone who can command a microphone for a few moments to hammer home the agreed talking points. They don't criticize the rioters, except in the most general terms. Instead, they criticize the system that has produced the conditions that engendered the riots, and blame everything on President Trump. It's all his fault.
(No-one ever seems to add up the number of years in political office of all the Trump critics, and compare the total to the President's number of years in political office - three, to be precise. Have you ever wondered why all those critics - including former Presidents - didn't manage to fix the problems they're currently bewailing, after all those years when they were in positions of authority and could have done so? Nobody seems to want to ask - let alone answer - that question. Funny, that . . . )
These riots are being used to obtain the maximum political advantage. That's why Democratic-Party-controlled cities and states are not cracking down on them, are not using the National Guard and/or federal government assistance to control them, and are wringing their metaphorical hands and bewailing the evil Trump administration instead of doing something effective. That's why even some anti-Trump Republicans are doing likewise. It's all a setup. They want more chaos and destruction, because in it they see a path to electoral victory in November 2020. They are relying on their allies in the mainstream media to see to it that a majority of voters blame President Trump for the chaos, and vote against him (and for them) in the elections. This is nothing more or less than an attempt to tear down the entire country.
We need to draw a sharp, clear distinction between the righteous anger of many people at institutionalized racism and police brutality on the one hand, and the thuggery and nihilism of the rioters on the other. I have no problem standing against the former issues: indeed, I'll gladly join any public demonstration against them, and demand investigations and answers. However, I will have nothing to do with any attempt to excuse, tolerate or justify the riots, the destruction being wrought by gang-bangers, thugs and looters in the name of racial justice. They need to be brought to heel, as quickly and as expediently as necessary. If violence is necessary to accomplish that, I believe it's fully justified. They've brought it upon themselves.
What many of the liberal, left-wing and progressive commenters are missing, I think, is that a great many Americans in the "silent majority" - Democrats as well as Republicans - are thinking along those lines too. I'm hearing from many of my contacts in other cities and states that there's a growing groundswell of anger, resentment and determination among "average" voters - a determination to vote for law and order in November, irrespective of the party concerned. If President Trump can capitalize on that, particularly if he can find a way to crack down on the violence despite all the obstacles put in his way by his political opponents, I think he may benefit from it.
In many ways, current domestic US politics reflect 1938 European politics. In that year, Hitler at last took the mask off his aggression and naked ambition and demanded compliance from his opponents. Cravenly, they caved in. Appeasement was the order of the day. Neville Chamberlain came back to Britain from Munich waving a piece of paper and proclaiming "peace in our time". September 1939 proved how misguided and foolish he was. In the same way, we have appeasers trying to persuade us that only by knuckling under to the forces of violence and destruction can we stop them. If we do, we're rapidly going to find that they'll be back for more, taking advantage of our weakness to wreak yet more havoc on our society. Appeasement won't stop them. Only determination and the reimposition of the rule of law will do so.
It's long gone time the riots, and the rioters, were stopped. If the government won't do it, it'll be up to ordinary Americans to do so. I don't think the rioters have figured that out yet . . . and certainly the politicians, activists and agitators who are using them don't appear to have taken that into account. In particular, they don't seem to realize how many Americans are now ready and willing to do that, if it becomes necessary. As Kim du Toit asks: "What if we - we, the suffering middle classes who form the backbone of this nation - just say, 'F*** you, and your conversation'."
By demonizing ordinary Americans, accusing them of racism, deriding them as "bitter clingers" and "deplorables", and characterizing them as "vigilantes" if they dare to protect their livelihood and property against rioters, the left is making them angry enough to turn them into activists. Perhaps that's overdue.
Peter
