Lee Haywood
Well, once again Los Angeles is home to rioting and protests. This time it is being hosted by the feckless Mayor Karen Bass and aided and abetted by their incompetent Governor, Gavin Newsome.
I’ll get back to them shortly. For your reference, below are some examples of some similar riots that have taken place in my lifetime:
The Watts Riots began on August 11, 1965. Marquette Frye, a 21-year-old black man, was pulled over for drunk driving. After he failed a field sobriety test, officers attempted to arrest him. Marquette resisted arrest, with assistance from his mother, Rena Frye; a physical confrontation ensued in which Marquette was struck in the face with a baton. Meanwhile, a crowd of onlookers had gathered. Rumors spread that the police had kicked a pregnant woman who was present at the scene. Six days of civil unrest followed, motivated in part by allegations of police abuse. Nearly 14,000 members of the California Army National Guard helped suppress the disturbance, which resulted in 34 deaths, as well as over $40 million in property damage.
The Rodney King Riots of 1992 took place over six days in Los Angeles. Widespread looting, assault and arson occurred during the riots, which local police forces had difficulty controlling. The situation was resolved after the California National Guard, the United States Military and federal law enforcement agencies deployed more than 10,000 of their armed responders to assist in ending the violence and unrest.
When the riots including multiple shootouts had ended, 63 people had been killed, 2,383 had been injured, more than 12,000 had been arrested, and estimates of property damage were over $1 billion, making it the most destructive period of local unrest in US history. Much of the blame for the extensive nature of the violence was attributed to LAPD Chief of Police Daryl Gates (sound familiar?) who had already announced his resignation by the time of the riots, for failure to de-escalate the situation and overall mismanagement.
More recently, The Black Lives Matter Protests were held at several locations throughout the Minneapolis- St. Paul area. The situation escalated the nights of May 27 to 29 where widespread arson, rioting, and looting took place, which were noted as a contrast to daytime protests that were characterized as mostly peaceful events. The unrest, including people overtaking the Minneapolis third precinct police station and setting it on fire the night of May 28, garnered significant national and international media attention. After state officials mobilized Minnesota National Guard troops in its largest deployment since World War II. The violence by early June 2020 had resulted in two deaths, 604 arrests, an estimated $550 million in property damage to 1,500 locations. About 60% of the local financial losses were uninsured.
So, as you can see, it is perfectly normal to mobilize the National Guard and military in this kind of situation. The difference being that Trump wisely did it to avert a catastrophe, not contain one.
Those riots involved Americans protesting what they felt to be serious civil violations and excessive force used by law enforcement. The current mess L.A. finds itself is caused by migrants and professional instigators protesting the arrests of violent criminals who have entered this country illegally. Some of them are convicted murderers and child molesters.
Thankfully, my President Trump is a student of history, and he remembers what happened in the past when the National Guard was called in too late to avert full blown riots. This time around he was able to call in the troops and avert what was sure to be a repeat of Watts or BLM.
Attorney General Bondi has pledged to prosecute these miscreants using federal laws. But unfortunately, they will stand for trial in California by Tie Dyed, Birkenstock wearing judges. Incredulously, Mayor Bass and Newsome are protesting the very presence of these peacekeepers claiming they are stirring up resentment amongst the protesters. You can’t make this stuff up.
Except for Senator John Fetterman, the Democrats are all in on supporting the rioters. I guess they won’t be happy until they see flames rising from downtown L.A. You can’t fix stupid.
The good news is that Trump has forced Newsome to show his hand one more time.
I wish him luck on his presidential campaign.
Lee Haywood is a franchise owner for Winzer USA, an MRO supply company based in Plano, TX. He services industrial and government accounts across NC. Lee and his wife Brenda reside in Summerfield, NC and have been married for 39 years. He was born on the cusp of Scorpio and Sagittarius. He is partial to the color red and his lucky number is 3.
Incompetence Personified