Monday, November 30, 2020

A bit more on the Great Oakland Walgreens Looting Fiasco of 2020

Michael Lumish


In a recent post, I talked a little about my first encounter with looting in my current city of Oakland, California.

There was some conversation around whether I needlessly brought BLM into the story of the Oakland Walgreens looting. I cannot prove direct causation between the examples set by BLM/Antifa and the looting, but it is clear that they popularized the sport.

BLM/Antifa has spent the greater part of 2020 looting large corporate retail box stores and small black-owned mom-and-pop shops throughout much of the country. That is when they are not tearing down statuary of virtually everyone because they have decided that virtually everyone is racist.

{I would be a little surprised if, say, Mark Twain statuary survived the idiocy.}

In this way, they made looting kind of hip and doubly so when BLM started arguing that looting is actually a form of spontaneous reparations for slavery and Jim Crow and the alleged current monsoon of "systemic racism" sweeping the land.

But what really made it work for those ransacking the various cities were the local and state authorities who tied the hands of the cops.

Neutering law enforcement taught BLM/Antifa that they could do pretty much anything they wanted to such as rioting, looting, burning Federal buildings, beating people up in the streets, and trashing retail outfits, including small black-owned restaurants and stores, with impunity.

{While black lives matter, it is not the least bit clear that black lives matter to Black Lives Matter. This is, after all, an international organization that never breathes a word about the enslavement of Africans today into the markets of the Middle East.}

In any case, there is no possible way that the gangs of Oakland did not acknowledge the obvious when it currently comes to looting.

Of course, they did.

The cops, however, wanted to do their jobs and Police Chiefs were fighting losing battles with the Offices of the Mayors and Governors in primarily Democratic Party-controlled states. This resulted in a large wave of early retirements from the force and other cops simply walking out the door. So, because the cops were not allowed to respond effectively to the violence in the streets local gangs learned that they could easily walk into a Walgreens and shake up the joint with no problems.

So, yes, BLM/Antifa brought looting into style in 2020 and hopefully I can be excused for not viewing my little encounter with it as a distinct anomaly.

24 comments:

  1. Dave Rubin is on fire.

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=23Fo2EWZ3Yc&list=PLEbhOtC9klbDG22n--rCDbv02-n8l6agL&index=1

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  2. Okay, Mike. Your friends, female J and male J, are in denial. Tell them of the undeniably predominant role of the radical left in current violence and the Democratic Party's acquiescence, cowardice, and tacit support for purposes of political gain, and they come up with the alleged counterexample. She is doing what Chris Wallace did in the 1st Trump vs. Biden debate, when Wallace wanted Trump and only Trump to denounce violence from only right wing groups, even though it's been a small fraction of the problem of political violence. It all reminds me of the anti-Israel nonsense I used to witness on Sproul Plaza. The technique was that when someone mentions all the terrorism, violence, racist rhetoric coming from "palestine," simply reply by mentioning some act by Irgun in the 1930's or some other singular act like the alleged "racist massacre" at Deir Yassin. The takeaway is that both sides are equally responsible (lie #1) but Israel is worse (lie #2). Same thing.
    Okay, someone plotted a kidnapping. That doesn't refute what we know about BLM and the irresponsible myths they promote amongst the black population or the fact that even educated white people will even gobble up there unscientific nonsense.

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    1. Julie and Justin. I have played many a poker hand with both of them.

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    2. I must say, that you acquit yourself quite admirably. It must be all that schoolin' you did. Ayup.

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  3. Some women I knew in Berkeley/Oakland put up a FB Post about about General Flynn courtesy of the Huff Post, a real cage liner, calling him a traitor who is calling for martial law, etc.

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    1. He is calling for martial law. Does that make him a traitor?

      https://www.washingtonexaminer.com/opinion/michael-flynns-call-for-martial-law-is-nearly-seditious

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    2. Randall,
      You need to supply hard news, rather than opinion pieces, unless you just want to show us someone's opinion.

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    3. To paraphrase the Reverend Wright, it looks like the chickens are coming home to roost. The ad by the group We The People Convention calls for the President to "invoke limited martial law" "if legislators, courts, and Congress do not follow the constitution." So, the call is not for full martial law or permanent martial law, and it is conditional on our institutions NOT following the law. Not quite what you presented.

      No, I don't think Flynn is a traitor nor do I think he is seditious, at least no more than we have seen from the Dems and fake media for the past 4 years (and longer, actually). And I think the Dems and the media have conspired to give us a messy election sown with confusion. Yes, I think they were trying to steal an election. And now they are all telling us to accept the results because they say so. I have been saying for years now that people are not going to keep putting up with bullshit and excess is coming, and the left is responsible. I have been saying that they are playing with fire. I was right. You might want to reflect on how things got this far. I think Flynn's been through hell and smells a rat. Perhaps you should give some thought to taking the clothes pin off your nose, Randall.

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  4. You supplied nothing. I did supply news, embedded in the opinion piece, which contained a link to American Military News.

    And yes, he did call for martial law. That's obvious sedition.

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    1. Nope. Calling for martial law is simply that. There is no seditious or traitorous intent against the government or its form.

      Actually, however, there seems to be martial law being imposed already, or a variant. For example, look at L.A., where one can be punished for walking outside or riding a bike by power hungry and often hypocritical politicians. Strange that most, if not all, are those Democrats, who threw liberal out the window.

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    3. Well, which one is, Randall, "nearly," or "obvious"? Both are opinions. Is it more or less seditious than turning over our streets to left wing militias for months who pulled down statuary, attacked federal buildings, burnt, looted, murdered, and called for the dissolution of the country? That's seditious.

      I'm not trying to defend Flynn, his remarks, or opinions, I'm just going after those whom I believe have what Lumish calls 'ideological blinkertude'.

      I supplied nothing? Perhaps go back and re-read.

      How about we wait for Flynn to speak, rather than have opinion piece writers speak for him. Maybe some intrepid reporter will interview him whenever the press is finished talking about Biden's puppy's or "diversity."

      At least he is now able to speak, since he is no longer being shut up by the authorities.

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  5. A must read by David Horowitz (especially you, Randall):

    https://www.frontpagemag.com/fpm/2020/12/where-we-are-david-horowitz/?fbclid=IwAR2NxyPOUrk9Hm8X2l972_B5Z3fUSO1ehI-qvHvfJhAOZekLNO4Isu4C0rk

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    2. Read that several days ago, and saved it to share, but is anyone really listening anymore?

      “Radical Son” was re-released recently, an excellent read about transformation, and the destructive left wing, under any name you want to call it.

      What a lot comes down to is that progressives want to tear down America, not build it, because it is the bastion against the globalism, advanced by these elites that think they are better humans. This negative desire and their hubris spawned a cancer that has metastasized, to big tech overlords, media, and mainstream Democratic politics. Many bluster about science and preach morality, then practice blatant hypocrisy as if they don't even care.

      On matters of race, progressives are the reactionaries, and should be considered as such. Pushing ideas of white privilege is akin to Southern segregation, supportive of Plessy, not Brown. As Trump is in the head of some, race and identity also become preoccupation, the context to determine all things.

      Things have come full circle. It’s now the "equity" crowd that spits at civil rights, and divides like Jim Crow. Further down that path is the Klan.

      When a nation uses race over merit, it does not serve the best interest of all. It will fail in the end because merit brings prosperity for the many, not demographics. It’s sad that we turn our backs to equality and practice identity politics, often to avoid being called a racist or censored by woke Karens or Michele Obama, or big tech “fact” checkers.

      Maybe resistance will commence, and become a movement. Not one to tear America down, but build it up. 1620 and 1776, not 1619. Reject globalism and identity politics. Harness the power of technology and social media in a positive way. Diversify thought in places like media and the university. And reject "truth over facts" in all its forms, replaced with actual tolerance. One can hope.

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  6. Algorithm. A word and idea to banish. For all the good it brings, the bad far outweighs. Social media to manipulate and poison the mind, and create division among us under the Orwellian guise of bringing people together. Counting systems that cannot be trusted to provide full and accurate results, controlled in actuality by just a few. No transparency whatsoever. A recipe for abuse, even if there are piecemeal benefits and conveniences. Crumbs. Alexa is not there to help, but to enslave.

    Can't help but feel that the lords of big tech, working for the altruist government of China, developed these algorithms. After the 2016 election, feeling devastation that they had not done more, the lords offered it up to their progressive brethren. They would use big tech to create undue influence on the process, in conjunction with their progressive cohorts in media and political circles. Typical human behavior. Take something designed for good and use it for bad. In this case, done behind the curtain.

    The CCP way to success is easy. It is the norm of human existence. The American way, based on consent of the governed, is hard. In terms of human development, as set forth in the UDHR and material measures, the American way has never been surpassed, and maybe never will. Thanks to the big tech lords, and their corrupt progressive partners, reversion to the norm is occurring. They will be the beneficiaries. In a generation they will destroy the very system that gave them unfettered opportunity to do so. History will show they could not maintain their legacy. They will cry when they discover they cannot get it back.

    Hopefully, there will be a great awakening. This has been occurring at least since self-serve gas. Back then, when people could think for themselves and knowledge was learned, not fed, it was understood that merit equality mattered, rather than identity and equity. No wonder we are on a path to self-destruction. The sooner that big tech is broken to pieces, in all its variants, the better the chance we can redeem our heritage.

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    1. You sound pessimistic. Can't say that I blame you.
      Equality based merit vs. equity from identity. A good distillation of a debilitating social disease. Someone needs to say the obvious. You cannot unite the country by dividing it.

      This election is big tech's big gambit for absolute power. It's first and foremost a fraud for all the plotting and scheming in the run up, years in the making. They even announced what they were up to. That makes it rather funny to hear people say there's no evidence. They are now in the White House. They played their hand against a captive, covid compromised public. It is fundamentally anti-American, anti-freedom, anti-liberal. Smash them, I say. Smash them.


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    3. A pessimist, under it all, is an optimist.

      Let's just say that Biden and the Democrats give hope. They will not only make things worse, but overstep. People will get fed up. There will be a different resistance, not the manufactured by activists. When these resisters finally take to the streets, peacefully yet forcefully, it will be overwhelming.

      Irrespective, time to break big tech in little pieces, and develop ways to help future generations prepare their food rather than have it catered.

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    4. Better to have said, a pessimist, under it all, is an idealist.

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    5. Pessimists are those that sometimes show up here, that accept and rationalize illiberal behavior, or pretend it does not exist, or look the other way. Perhaps better to describe them as cynics. Injustice and racism so prevalent among themselves, so they must perceive it in others.

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    6. Expect a speedy recovery for "anti-Zionist" speech all over the place. It's already started.

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