Federal Judge Allows 21 Businesses to Sue Seattle Over Harms Caused by CHOP - "In his decision, Judge Thomas S. Zilly of the U.S. District Court for the Western District of Washington wrote, "Plaintiffs plausibly allege that the City's actions—encouraging CHOP participants to wall off the area and agreeing to a 'no response' zone within and near CHOP's borders—foreseeably placed Plaintiffs in a worse position.""
Seattle is due for an expensive lesson - The Washington Post - "The plaintiffs charge that the city “adopted a policy supporting the CHOP occupation, acting with deliberate indifference toward those suffering harms from it.” It is federal law that local governing bodies can be sued when “the action that is alleged to be unconstitutional implements or executes a policy statement, ordinance, regulation, or decision officially adopted and promulgated by that body’s officers.” This can involve the direct participation of local officials in a deprivation of a constitutional right, or the setting in motion of acts by others that the government knew or should have known would inflict constitutional injury. The city’s policy of “no response” by police within CHOP should itself suffice to establish liability, before tabulating the material and moral support the city government gave to this embryonic utopia. The injuries claimed by the plaintiffs include unconstitutional takings. The Fifth Amendment says private property shall not be taken “for public use, without just compensation.” The city, by enabling CHOP, deprived plaintiffs of protected property interests. The Washington Court of Appeals has held that “temporary takings are subject to the same categorical treatment as permanent takings where a regulation denies all use of the property.” Furthermore, the 14th Amendment says no state shall “deprive any person of life, liberty, or property, without due process of law.” The absence of law was a CHOP aspiration, one facilitated by the city providing CHOP with beds, medical equipment and barriers to seal off streets from public access. While a government’s failure to protect an individual from private violence does not constitute a violation of the due process guarantee, there is an exception when a local government acts to restrict the individual’s freedom to act on his own behalf. Or when there is a “state-created danger” — when a local government acts with “deliberate indifference” to a “known or obvious danger.”"
Will Seattle officials use the same lawsuit defense they want to take away from police? - "A year ago, Seattle was in the midst of what its mayor, Jenny Durkan, called a “summer of love” with the establishment of an “autonomous zone” called “Capitol Hill Occupied Protest,” or “CHOP.” Rioters took over a police station and were allowed to occupy an entire section of the city. At the time, I wrote that if someone sued over the resulting mayhem, Durkan and Seattle could find themselves clinging to the very legal doctrine they denounced in police brutality cases: immunity. That has now happened with a number of state and federal lawsuits. In the latest, a suit by the mother of a young man killed during the reign of CHOP, the city is likely to argue that it has immunity for its discretionary decision-making, including abandoning parts of the city to a mob... As Seattle council members and Durkan were praising CHOP, there also were calls by council members to defund the police, to fire white officers, and to repeal the immunity doctrine protecting police officers. Congresswoman Pramila Jayapal (D-Wash.), Seattle City Council President Lorena González, council members Teresa Mosqueda, Tammy Morales and Kshama Sawant, and other elected officials in the state all called for an end to the immunity defense for police officers. They are not alone. New York City's council voted to end the practice, and President Biden is pushing for the U.S. Senate to enact the George Floyd Justice in Policing Act, which includes the elimination of qualified immunity for police officers. The immunity doctrine protects government officials from lawsuits over their discretionary decisions and actions. In 1982, in Harlow v. Fitzgerald, the Supreme Court ruled that “government officials performing discretionary functions generally are shielded from liability for civil damages insofar as their conduct does not violate clearly established statutory or constitutional rights of which a reasonable person would have known.” How “established” is abandoning a whole section of a city to mob rule as a social experiment? A similar question could face a court if, as expected, Seattle claims it cannot be sued over deaths caused by Durkan’s decision to abandon the CHOP area. Fortunately for Durkan, no leader previously has been so open in ceding territory to a mob. And no one had reason to state the obvious — that the first obligation of a government is to actually govern... we have never encountered the likes of CHOP, or a city that wanted to imagine itself out of existence. This was not just some hostage-taking that lasted a few hours but a weeks-long self-proclaimed, government-recognized occupation by a mob. Trapped within that ceded zone were some citizens who labored under the quaint notion that the government is required to afford them basic protections and not choose between them and a popular mob. If Seattle gets chopped in court, it will be due not to a failure of government but to a failure to govern."
Andy Ngô on Twitter - "Journalist @BrandiKruse asks Seattle @MayorJenny directly: You down-played the autonomous zone (CHAZ). People were later killed there. Do you take responsibility?"
Escape The Echo Chamber - Posts | Facebook - "Inside the CHAZ/CHOP zone in Seattle, someone set a business on fire. When the owners detained the armed suspect, a mob showed up to protect the vandal. Over a dozen emergency calls to get fire response and police were ignored."
Damn white supremacy!
Jake Eakin - Posts | Facebook - "I spent a few hours inside Seattle’s ‘Capital Hill Autonomous Zone.’ Black Lives Matter and Antifa have taken over 6 blocks in an enclave they call “CHAZ” — located outside the Seattle Police Department now-deserted East Precinct. They have declared themselves to be a sovereign nation. Painted across city businesses are graffiti stating: “Destroy the police.” “Tear down all racist statues.” “Abolish Prisons.” “Fire all those who refuse to comply.” At one barricaded entrance there is a sign that reads: “You Are Now Leaving the USA.” They’re not wrong. Entering “CHAZ,” I felt like I was entering a third world country. "
Seattle loses almost 20% of police force amid year of nationwide protests: "We're not allowed to intercede" - "Officer Clayton Powell has served nearly 27 years on the streets of Seattle. He said it was his goal to stay on the force for 30 years, but even though he is three years away from that goal, he's retiring early. "The support that we had in my generation of policing is no longer there"... Last summer's protests over the killing of George Floyd led to violent clashes with Seattle police. Powell said the stress on officers was compounded by city leaders' decisions to abandon a police precinct and letting demonstrators, some armed, occupy an entire neighborhood for a whole month. As a result, Powell said he and other officers had rocks, bottles, and in some cases, cinder blocks thrown at them, and they had to "stand there and take it." "When you see businesses get destroyed and families lose their livelihood because of that destruction and we can't do anything about it. We're not allowed to intercede," he said. City leaders allowed the police-free zone after protesters were repeatedly hit by tear gas but closed it down after weeks of violence. City Councilwoman Tammy Morales voted for a 13% cut in the police budget in November — and $5 million of funding cuts are still on the table for the police department."
Over 200 Seattle Police officers quit citing ‘anti-police’ city council and climate - "morale on the force is at an all time low. Just this week, a Seattle police officer and trainee were refused service at a local chocolate shop. The incident revealed a pattern of behavior by employees of the chain at other locations. The same day, a female officer was walking her beat past a local public school when approximately 10 3rdgrade students raised their hands in the 'hands-up-don’t-shoot,' a reference to the Michael Brown incident in in Ferguson, Missouri. BLM activists claimed Brown was a victim of police brutality after he was shot but investigations revealed that Brown had attacked the police officers. According to SPD, there are only 1,080 deployable officers, a record low not seen since the 1980’s when the population of the city was less than half of what it is now... Despite the rise in crime following their defunding efforts, the City Council is considering more cuts to the police department’s budget... In an interview with NPR, Seattle’s former police chief, Carmen Best, who resigned last summer, said the cuts and anti-police climate left her feeling believing that her department was "destined to fail.""
Outgoing Seattle Police Chief Felt 'Destined To Fail' After Cuts And Public Backlash - "It's really interesting that people, they try to make it a strange dichotomy, that somehow being African American means you're anti-cop, or being a cop means you're anti-African American — and neither of those things is true. I think that's a very false narrative. I have ... a lot of family and none of them wants to not be safe in their neighborhood. It's not that they don't want policing. They just want to make sure that when policing happens, that it's fair and just. And that's what we're looking for." Rantz: Seattle City Dept. defends vicious all-staff email labeling cops white supremacists - "The Seattle Department of Finance and Administrative Services (FAS) sent an all-staff email calling police officers white supremacists. Seattle cops are livid, but the agency is backing the hateful, dangerous message. It’s the latest blow to a dwindling police force losing officers at an alarming rate. Under the heading “Black Lives Matter,” the email excoriated Seattle cops as serving “the false gods of white supremacy,” called them “mercenaries and zealots,” and argued they are “paid in the wages of white privilege.”... Daniel Holmberg, a senior management systems analyst with FAS, wrote the screed. It’s titled, “White supremacy thrives without consequences.” Holmberg is a member of the Change Team, a group of elected staffers tasked with helping the department reach its equity and anti-racist goals. FAS staff committed itself to a “daily call for us to embed race and equity into everything we do in our department.” To that end, they regularly share thoughts and resources that a department spokesperson says are meant “to stay engaged in hard conversations around race.”... Holmberg then ties cops to the Jan. 6 riot, which Holmberg says resulted from an unnamed “organized domestic white power terrorist cell (or cells).” The wokescold repeated the long-retracted claim that rioters “bludgeoned a police officer.” He chides the unstaffed Capitol Police for not using tear gas against the rioters while cops quickly use force against people of color who “protest their own extermination.” “Can any of us truthfully claim a Black person who did even a fraction of what these rioters did would not have left the scene in the back of a police cruiser, or more likely, a body bag?” Holmberg asks, apparently forgetting the Capitol Hill Autonomous Zone. “This is the cleansing power of whiteness: it turns pigeons into doves and terrorists into tourists.” Holmberg then pivots to the Seattle Police Department, noting that six officers attended President Donald Trump’s rally. None of the officers have been accused, let alone charged, of attending the riot. Still, Holmberg argues that white supremacy has infiltrated law enforcement and that “Seattle is not an exception.” “My wish is not to paint all police with a broad brush,” he argues before doing just that... Rather than acknowledge the email is over-the-line and offensive, a FAS spokesperson defended it in a way that a foolish person thinks will be introspective. But it’s mostly condescending and annoying... Staying comfortable is costing us lives! Thus, the email saves lives because some woke dude is making you uncomfortable with some harsh truths!... Holmberg’s email didn’t make me uncomfortable because it spoke to harsh truths. It made me angry because it’s vile, hateful trash that motivates Antifa thugs and other radicals to try to murder police officers... Several police officers weighed in to respond to Holmberg’s email. They didn’t hold back. One officer slammed it as “inappropriate, bigoted, and full of misleading inaccuracies and over-generalizations.” “This is a prime example of why officers are leaving the force in droves,” one officer noted. “There is absolutely zero support for SPD in this city. Now we have the people who work on our buildings and cars treating us like we are public enemy #1.” Another called out the double standard. “If any SPD employee made disparaging remarks about another group of people, they would be under a full bias investigation, yet this individual gets to spew this hateful rhetoric to an entire division of city employees with no consequences,” the officer said. “Articles like this one cause division and hate towards a group of people. To say they don’t mean to paint all officers with the same brush while at the same time painting all officers with the same brush is hypocritical and reckless.”"
Rantz: Rioters tried to burn Seattle police alive, sealed door during fire at East Precinct - "Seattle rioters used a substance suspected to be quick-dry concrete to seal shut the door to the East Precinct, the Seattle Police Department has confirmed. At the same time, rioters attempted to set fire to the building"
Antifa activists take over hotel near Seattle as owner begs authorities for help - "Homeless Antifa activists took over sixteen motel rooms near Tacoma, Washington on Christmas Eve and are refusing to pay for the lodging, demanding that local government pick up the tab and turn the motel into a shelter... "If you care about protecting empty spaces more than saving human lives, that says a lot about your ethics and values. We will not accept one more death on the streets!" the Twitter account later declared. The homeless residents have been pointed to as a source of spiking crime in the surrounding neighborhoods as well as vandalism and even arson at the hotels. The county has providing alcohol and other controlled substances to entice homeless residents not to leave locations being used as quarantine facilities... Shawn Randhawa, the motel operator, told KOMO News that if the cost of the rooms goes unpaid, it’s only a matter of days before he will have to shut down the motel, which was already devastated by the pandemic, and lay off his employees. Randhawa added that repeated protests in the parking lot have driven away most of the other paying customers... Randhawa told The News Tribune that he feels the group isn’t giving him a choice and he doesn’t feel supported by the police or the city. He said there was destruction of property when one of the doors was broken to a locked motel room."
FACT CHECK: Did Foot Locker Donate $200 Million To Black Lives Matter? - "In the picture, a banner hanging above the doors says, “Racism has no place here. We support the Black community.” The post suggests the damaged storefront is a Foot Locker store... The picture actually shows a Seattle Whole Foods, which can be seen in a Google Maps street view, that was damaged during protests in July 2020. The Seattle-based KOMO News published a photo taken from a slightly different angle of the Whole Foods’ damaged storefront in a July 23, 2020 article. Local Seattle news station KIRO 7 also reported about the Whole Foods and other nearby Seattle businesses being damaged during looting in July 2020."
So much for the virtue signalling
Addendum: Comment: "Communists don't accept your peace offerings."
Trump is calling protesters 'terrorists.' That puts him in the company of the world's autocrats - CNNPolitics
At least 45 arrested after protesters throw explosives and rocks at police in Seattle, authorities say - CNN
Both were published the same day
What's Really Happening In America? - "We continue to lose our minds. This weekend, there was a protest by an armed black militant group, the self-titled Not F*cking Around Coalition, in Louisville, KY. One of these very stable geniuses shot a colleague by accident there as they were marching. The NFAC issued a list of demands yesterday. When backed up by men with loaded guns, this is mafia stuff. I hope no business owner in Louisville complies. But the fact that Louisville business owners now have to decide whether or not to defy a large group of men with loaded guns is insane. Did you hear about the black militant group shooting one of their own in a public protest in Louisville this weekend? If it hadn’t been from a friend of mine in Louisville, I wouldn’t have heard about it at all. At least they can count on police protection, unlike the merchants of Seattle, who received this letter from the city’s police chief... The Chief of Police told business owners that the City Council has banned the cops from using pepper spray and less lethal means of protecting property from violent mobs. She adds that starting this weekend, the police will be on “adjusted deployment,” meaning that they will not intervene to protect property now that the City Council has taken away from them the tools to do so without risking life. On Friday night, though, a federal judge issued an emergency injunction prohibiting the City Council’s rule from going into effect. Good thing, too
Weird. Liberals tell us that blacks protesting with guns are shot on sight
Christopher F. Rufo ⚔️ on Twitter - "Seattle is quickly moving forward with its plan to "abolish prisons." I've received a trove of leaked documents from within the King County Executive's Office claiming that the justice system is a "white supremacist institution" that must be dismantled. It's explosive. 🧵... during the meetings, King County legal staff repeatedly called the county court system a "white supremacist organization" and even declared that light-skinned emojis in emails are racist symbols of "white approval."... This is a plan emanating from the highest levels of county government, including the senior leadership of the Juvenile Division, County Courts, and the King County Executive's Office. They have embraced critical race theory as the operating philosophy behind "prison abolition." The result will be chaos: Seattle and King County are moving to cut the police department by 50% and the county jail capacity by at least 60%, which will lead to a collapse of public order—all in pursuit of a critical race theory utopia."
"Whites Go to the Back!" - Seattle Black Lives Matter Force All Whites to Back of the March - "Black Lives Matter held a protest march today in Seattle, Washington. The rally organizers forced all whites to the back of the march. And the rally organizers pushed whites to the back if they did not go willingly. What a great organization!"
Video shows white protesters inside Seattle's CHAZ being urged to give $10 to a black person
New poll finds majority of Seattle voters want a new approach in how the city handles 'demonstrations' | The Post Millennial - "90 percent of voters surveyed disapprove of looting, arson or property destruction by demonstrators. While vandalism and arson are against the law in the city, even if the law is not being enforced, 82 percent of voters support a prohibition on arson during demonstrations and 79 percent support a prohibition on property destruction during demonstrations with 85 percent supporting a prohibition on looting during demonstrations... Only 7 percent of African American Seattle voters held a "very favorable" view of the ongoing BLM demonstrations. That was the lowest of any racial group surveyed. More than half of Seattle African Americans, 52 percent, view the demonstrations unfavorably. Meanwhile 88 percent of Seattle voters think it is important to change course in how demonstrations are handled."
Seattle activists ring in New Year with protests and vandalism as City Council decriminalizes crime | The Post Millennial - "members of The Morning March and the Black Indigenous Coalition caused miles long backups by blocking area freeways including the I-90 floating bridge and the 99 tunnel... In the Capitol Hill neighborhood, near the former site of the Capitol Hill Autonomous Zone, another group held a “No Justice” for Tamir Rice protest and used the occasion to burn an American Flag and harass the Seattle Police Department, even though the Rice shooting was in Cleveland. They also launched fireworks at the King County Youth Services Center. Some activists were arrested and found to be in possession of molotov cocktails. BLM activists were photographed carrying communist symbols on signs during the protest. Multiple businesses were also vandalized in the area by BLM activists... Those who were arrested, will most likely be quickly released as part of Seattle’s revolving door justice system. On Christmas Eve, the office of the Seattle City Attorney released a prolific offender with a history of assault as well as other charges, after another assault arrest where he was not charged. The suspect then nearly stomped a 62 year old man to death just a few hours later with kicks “so forceful and loud” a witness heard it from inside a car. In response to spiking crime, the Seattle City Council will be taking up legislation to decriminalize misdemeanors, a plan back by the City Attorney. This will potentially decrease crime, as crimes will no longer be considered crimes and will therefore not be considered as such. With a massive spike in crime and Seattle’s number of homicides doubling from the previous year in the wake of the council defunding the police department, it is clear that activists, rioters and criminals have gotten the message that no one is going to do anything to stop them. Officials have instead decided to doubled down on the failed policies that caused the urban chaos which catapulted Seattle into national headlines."
Meme - Stefan Molyneux, MA @ @StefanMolyneux: "HEY Seattle communists! You don't like the existing system, so you used violence to colonize other people's lands. Congratulations, you are now Christopher Columbus."
Seattle Pride Charge “White Allies and Accomplices” a “Reparations Fee” to Enter Public Park Event - "The event, named ‘TAKING B(L)ACK PRIDE’, will feature a prize raffle, “art healing spaces,” a COVID-19 vaccination clinic and a “Hoevid 19 Ball.” As outlined by the group’s Facebook page, the event will be focused on “black and brown queer trans centred, prioritized [and] valued” persons... White punters, “allies,” and “accomplices” attending the event on June 26th will be expected to pay a $10 to $50 “reparations fee depending on one’s ability to pay,” a program which the non-profit organization, who state their mission as striving to “create unity, honour diversity, and achieve equal human rights,” says will enable persons of “black, brown, trans or queer” backgrounds to attend the event for free. The event, however, was met with opposition from other Pride organisations within the city. Writing to the Seattle Human Rights Commission (SHRC), Charlette LeFevre and Philip Lipson, the organisers of the Pride march in the Capitol Hill area of Seattle, said the reparations fee represented “reverse discrimination” and constituted a violation of local and federal anti-discrimination laws. However, the SHRC defended the scheme, urging LeFevre and Lipson to “examine the very real social dynamics and ramifications of this issue.”... Seattle City Council president and mayoral candidate Lorena Gonzalez mirrored the SHRC’s rhetoric. Stating that she would no longer attend Capitol Hill Pride, the mayoral candidate lambasted the sect for “trying to stop Black people in the LGBTQ+ community from celebrating Pride in the manner that they choose.” Attacking LeFevre personally, the organisers of TAKING B[L]ACK PRIDE proceeded to accuse the Capitol Hill Pride march organiser of employing her “power and privilege as a white-passing woman to elicit an emotional response and dangerous reaction from people like herself in order to create unsafe and potentially life-threatening conditions for Black and Brown LGBTQIA folks.”"
Seattle Police Oversight Board Decides Abandoning East Precinct Amid Riots Was A Good Decision - "A police oversight committee has announced that its investigation has determined that Seattle Police Department (SPD) brass hadn’t violated department policy or broken any laws when they ordered officers to abandon the East Precinct station house during the riots after George Floyd’s death... Police struggled for more than a week to keep the East Precinct safe but protesters removed the barricades they erected on a nightly basis... Seattle Mayor Jenny Durkan ordered police to remove the barricades around the police station. The next night, officers were ordered to abandon the East Precinct... The move led to complaints that the police department had abandoned the community in the Capitol Hill area... There were multiple shootings and reports that residents and business owners were being extorted by extremists in the cop-free zone. Critics complained that police had abandoned the area after activists manning barricades around the area refused to allow police and ambulances into the area after the shootings... On July 24, 2020, at least 59 law enforcement officers were injured when rioters blew a hole through the wall of the East Precinct, looted and destroyed nearby businesses, and set occupied buildings aflame."
CHAZ: farce followed by tragedy - "CHAZ appears to be a cacophony of various political outlooks. The Black Collective at Capitol Hill published a list of demands on Medium on 9 June, but this is only one group of many within the zone which has stated interests and demands. Strange ideas and practices – from racially segregated gardening to demands for reparations – have littered social media. Over 50 flag designs have proliferated on the zone’s Reddit page, demonstrating the lack of centralised power... A wave of misinformation and misconceptions infested social and mainstream media. But even CHAZ ‘residents’, despite being there in person, were uncertain about the zone’s approach to law and order. Shortly after CHAZ was formed, some residents volunteered to patrol the zone to ensure safety, led by professional rapper Raz Simone. Surreal footage of Simone patrolling the border with an assault rifle has led to allegations that he was acting as some kind of ‘warlord’ in the area. But this appears to be as muddled in fact and fiction as CHAZ’s own political purpose and direction. Contrary to the anarchists’ claims that the CHAZ is a ‘cop-free zone’, the Seattle Police Department initially said that its officers were still responding to calls within the area. But on 20 June, a 19-year-old man was shot dead and one was critically injured within the zone. Seattle police then claimed that a ‘violent crowd’ prevented officers entering the area. When homicide detectives eventually got to the scene, they were abused while collecting evidence. The suspect is still at large. CHAZ’s own voluntary security force has so far been unable (or perhaps unwilling) to apprehend the assailant. The murder is hardly a ringing endorsement of life in a ‘cop-free zone’. Many Black Lives Matter demonstrators are calling for the police to be abolished or defunded. This incident offers a stark illustration of the consequences – it would mean a regression into strongmen governance and an explosion of serious opportunistic crime... In Ashville, North Carolina and Portland, Oregon, protesters attempted to create sister Autonomous Zones, but the police in both areas acted quickly and quashed any possibility of these zones emerging. Where power refuses to exercise itself, something else fills the vacuum and CHAZ – even in all its incoherence – is the result. In fact, the collapse of traditional state authority in Seattle long precedes the formation of CHAZ. Local news network KOMO News has documented the city’s exploding problems of homelessness and heroin addiction as well as the lack of law enforcement in downtown Seattle in a series of documentaries. The most recent documentary, Seattle is Dying , was broadcast in 2019. It contained memorable segments which go a long way to explain the current loss of power and purpose in local state institutions. Over the past five years, Seattle has experienced a huge surge in property crime – eclipsing the growth rates of places like Los Angeles and New York City. Even during the coronavirus lockdown, property crime has increased in the city, including in the east precinct which includes Capitol Hill. Many feel that Seattle has fostered permissiveness towards serious social problems and that has led to the state of the city today. It is therefore no surprise that radicals within the city saw an opportunity to push the state institutions further by forming CHAZ."
The End of Chaz - "Black Lives Matter and Antifa-affiliated activists hoped to create a new regime based on familiar social-justice principles of recent years: they established a social order based on a “reverse hierarchy of oppression,” implemented race-based segregation in public spaces, and maintained a “police-free zone” that they believed would protect “people of color” from the depredations of the state. As it turns out, however, maintaining public order is a complex undertaking and can’t be replaced by academic symbolism. BLM activists might despise George Washington, Thomas Jefferson, and James Madison, but a regime based on the principles of Nikole Hannah-Jones, Ibram X. Kendi, and Robin DiAngelo doesn’t work too well. As CHAZ’s experience demonstrates, when left-wing radicals shift from protest to governance, things fall apart. Ultimately, the problem of violence—and a dangerously naive understanding of policing—doomed the CHAZ. Over its 24-day history, the autonomous zone saw two gun homicides and four additional shooting victims. All the identified victims were black men—precisely the demographic for whom the CHAZ had claimed to offer protection. In the absence of a legitimate police force, armed criminal gangs and untrained anarchist paramilitaries filled the void. Almost every night, gunshots rang through the streets. The first homicide victim was killed in an outburst of gang violence; the second, reportedly unarmed and joyriding in a stolen car, was gunned down by the “CHAZ security force.” In the end, the homicide rate in the CHAZ turned out to be 1,216 per 100,000—nearly 50 times greater than Chicago’s... By instituting a “police-free zone,” the CHAZ didn’t become peaceable; it became lawless, brutish, and violent. As the national media conducts its autopsy of the CHAZ, one tragic detail has escaped notice: the police department’s East Precinct building, which radicals saw as a symbol of “white supremacy,” was originally constructed under the leadership of Seattle’s first African-American city councilman, Sam Smith, who wanted to provide faster response times to the city’s Central District, where black residents had demanded greater police protection. The irony is cutting: Smith, who grew up in the Deep South during Jim Crow, saw policing as a public service; today, college-educated, white radicals see policing as an evil that must be abolished, whatever the consequences for African-Americans. What are the ultimate lessons of the CHAZ? Don’t be fooled by rhetorical premises of radicals and don’t cave to mobs. For more than three weeks, Durkan insisted that the CHAZ was a “block party” or a “Summer of Love,” and entered negotiations with activists and armed gangsters attempting to capitalize on the cultural cachet of BLM. In the coming weeks, when the barricades are cleared and the graffiti is washed away, the true legacy of the CHAZ will be the memory of two black men who died under the false promise of utopia: Lorenzo Anderson Jr., 19, and Antonio Mays Jr., 16. When the television cameras disappear and the bourgeois-radicals go home, who will remember them? Who will say their names?"
My terrifying 5-day stay inside Seattle's 'autonomous zone' - "During five undercover days and nights in the zone, I witnessed a continuing experiment in anarchy, chaos and brute-force criminality. In order to avoid being exposed as a journalist — several reporters have been barred or expelled — I slept and showered outside the zone. (Those inside have no showers but they do have portable bathrooms.) I took meals, and most of my water breaks, elsewhere because I was reluctant to remove my mask and risk being recognized. Every day I entered the zone twice through its semi-porous borders — once in the early afternoon, and again after sundown, staying until the wee hours... police arrested Robert James after he left the CHAZ. He is accused of sexually assaulting a deaf woman who was lured inside a tent. The same day, former city council candidate Isaiah Willoughby was arrested on suspicion of starting the arson attack on the East Precinct on June 12... CHAZ occupants, ranging from several hundred to 10,000, depending on the day, with many openly armed, control all of the Capitol Hill neighborhood near downtown. The neighborhood is the heart of Seattle’s gay and counter-culture district, and is densely filled with businesses and apartment buildings. The CHAZ now claims all of it. Before the takeover, violent clashes between rioters and police defending the East Precinct resulted in dozens of officers injured by rocks and other projectiles. Protesters and rioters complained of police brutality, leading Seattle Mayor Jenny Durkan and Best to ban cops from using tear gas, pepper spray and flash-bangs for 30 days... In Seattle, as soon as police evacuated from the station nearly two weeks ago, masked protesters stole city property — barricades, fencing and more — to create makeshift barriers. These barriers became the official border checkpoints in and out of the CHAZ. They were later fortified with additional layers of security: more blockades and 24-hour guards. A large team of volunteers assembled to designate themselves “security” for the CHAZ. Many of them wear patches signaling they’re part of the Puget Sound John Brown Gun Club, a far-left militia-type organization named after the radical abolitionist. Last year, one of the group’s members carried out an armed attack on an Immigration and Customs Enforcement facility in Tacoma, Wash. Police said Willem van Spronsen tried to ignite the 500-gallon propane tank attached to the facility. He was killed by police. Despite the group’s link to violent extremism, its armed members were celebrated in the CHAZ for “protecting” the new denizens. The head of the CHAZ’s security is a short female named “Creature.” She and the rest of her team communicate with walkie-talkie devices and earpieces. Some of them openly carry rifles, handguns, batons or knives. Their operating base is in the open-air eating section of the Rancho Bravo Tacos Mexican restaurant. Signs posted all over their base declare: “NO PHOTOS. NO VIDEOS.” Another sign lists Venmo names for donations. Though the CHAZ claims to have no rules, it quickly developed a complex code of conduct that varied from zone to zone and even the time of the day. For example, those in the garden area, who are mostly white, need to make sure they do not “recolonize” the space. Mainstream media reports have focused on the “block party” atmosphere of the occupation, repeating a talking point from the Seattle mayor. She, along with Gov. Jay Inslee, a fellow Democrat, have gone to great lengths to emphasize the “peaceful” nature of the occupation. For media crews that arrive during the day, that is certainly what they will see. People have barbecues in the street. Many bring their children to make street art. People walk their dogs. But at night, a whole different side of the CHAZ emerges. Lacking agreed-upon leadership, those who have naturally risen to the top have done so with force or intimidation. For example, rapper Raz Simone, real name Solomon Simone, patrols the CHAZ on some nights with an armed entourage. Simone, originally from Georgia, has an arrest record for child cruelty and other charges. He usually conducts his patrols carrying a long semi-auto rifle and sidearm. Last weekend, a livestream recorded Simone handing another man a rifle from the trunk of a car. Not everyone in the CHAZ recognizes Simone’s police-like presence, but no one is willing to stand up to him and his group. There have been consequences for those perceived as challengers or threats. Independent Los Angeles-based journalist Kalen D’Ameida recorded Simone and his crew in the early hours of Monday. He was spotted by one of Simone’s men, who manhandled him and demanded he turn over his mobile device. Simone’s team chased D’Ameida and tried to drag him to the security tent. He escaped by hiding in a construction site outside the CHAZ until police responded to his 911 call. Those unfortunate enough to have homes or businesses within the CHAZ — an estimated 30,000 residents — have no say over their new overlords. Residents have discreetly voiced their concerns to local media. Gunshots and “screams of terror” at night have been reported. A resident of an apartment building came out twice to ask protesters to leave the alley where the entrance is. They brushed him off. Every business and property inside the CHAZ has been vandalized with graffiti. Most messages say some variation of “Black Lives Matter” or “George Floyd,” but other messages call for the murder of police. Most businesses are boarded up. “ACAB” — “All cops are bastards,” an Antifa slogan — is written over them. Businesses outside the CHAZ are also suffering. Last week, the Trader Joe’s in Capitol Hill announced it was closing immediately and indefinitely because of “safety and security concerns.” Then last Sunday night, around 100 angry protesters sprinted toward a nearby auto repair shop to “rescue” a comrade who had been detained. All it took to sic the mob on the business was one man yelling into a microphone inside the CHAZ. According to the police report, the store’s owner, John McDermott, stopped Richard Hanks after he allegedly broke into the business, stole property and tried to start a fire. The owner and his son said they called police “multiple times” but cops and firefighters never responded... Left-wing political groups have capitalized on the opportunity to recruit new members. The Democratic Socialists of America features prominently in addition to the Seattle Revolutionary Socialists. But in the absence of any vetting, perhaps intentionally, extremists have also set up shop. One station that operates off and on distributes extremist anarchist-Communist agitprop — the political ideology of Antifa. In one manual titled, “Blockade, Occupy, Strike Back,” instructions show how to use human shields against police, and make rudimentary “bombs” using light bulbs and paint. Another booklet is titled “Against the Police and the Prison World They Maintain.” It features short essays on why police, capitalism and the state must be destroyed by any means necessary, including through violence. One section explains how the media are enemies used to “pacify” revolutionaries. “Our contempt for the media is inextricable from our hatred of this entire world,” the booklet reads. Attacks on journalists who are accused of not toeing the line have become commonplace. On Monday, a masked Antifa militant pointed me out to her comrades and tried to assemble a mob. I left before I could be injured. The following day, a Fox News crew was forced out of the zone... Despite the pleas from those who live and work inside Capitol Hill for law and order to be restored, Seattle’s city council has determined that the CHAZ should continue. On Tuesday, the city even provided upgrades to the CHAZ, including street blockades that double as graffiti canvases, along with cleaning services and porta-potties. It is difficult to decipher what CHAZ occupants want. Each faction, whether liberal, Marxist or anarchist, has its own agenda. But one online manifesto posted on Medium demands no less than the abolishment of the criminal justice system. What will happen if demands aren’t met? Jaiden Grayson, a young black woman who has developed a large following in the CHAZ, told a filmmaker: “Respond to the demands of the people or prepare to be met with any means necessary. … It’s not even a warning. I’m letting people know what comes next.”"
Seattle’s Summer of Love - "the Democratic mayor of the city, Jennifer Durkan... who is an experienced lawyer, endorsed an unusual school of American constitutional jurisprudence. The First Amendment says that Congress shall make no law that abridges “the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the Government for a redress of grievances.” There is no mention of the right to fight street battles with police, to annex and occupy city blocks, and to vandalize buildings including a police station, effectively suspending law enforcement. This is not protecting free speech, still less “balancing” the public safety. And, apropos the signs on the barricades that surround the CHAZ which declare “you are now leaving the United States,” the First Amendment also does not protect secession from the union. Last time that was attempted things did not go too well. Durkan did say that she will “restore” the status quo ante, but her description of the occupation as a block party rather undermined any intended resolve... I suspect that this situation has come about because of a years-long history of leniency to far-left protestors in cities like Seattle, where mayors often share the protestors’ ideology, or are duped into thinking the protestors are moderate... The incendiary situation that now exists might well have been avoided had the city administration—like others across the country—enforced the law consistently before now. It is perhaps pertinent here to note that Best has said it was not her decision to withdraw from the precinct, adding “ultimately the city had other plans for the building and relented to severe public pressure.” She bluntly called the decision an insult to her officers and the community. In the meantime, the occupiers have issued a series of demands (they always demand, a red flag for the authoritarian nature of their politics)... [many] betray childishly utopian thinking:
Abolition of the Seattle police force (including, just to add a sting of malice, existing police pensions) and the “attached court system.”
Abolition of imprisonment. (The authors are at pains to make clear that “abolition” in these demands really does mean “100 percent of funding.”)
Retrials for people of colour (no mention of others) currently serving a prison sentence for violent crime.
Replacement (presumably wholesale) of the current criminal justice system by restorative/transformative accountability programs.
Nothing here has been thought through. A measure of the activists’ recklessness is that the first and fourth demands I’ve quoted above from their list would appear to annihilate the entirety of the criminal law, an institution that can be traced through its English origins as far back as the Norman conquest. There is not any detailed analysis of the sources of police misbehaviour and of how it might be reduced. There is no detailed examination of the actual results of actual policies to try and find out what works and what does not... I suspect that the bad actors who are inevitably attracted to leadership roles in such movements—which officially have no leaders, but of course always do—are perfectly aware of the unrealistic nature of their demands. They are not serious and are not intended to be. By confronting authorities with ultimatums which cannot possibly be met, they entrench the revolutionary posture indefinitely. At the same time, by maintaining that the demands are the only way of correcting pervasive and systemic racism, they assume an air of high and urgent idealism. This attracts the support of the young and the liberal-minded, and makes the authorities, even those most sympathetic to the cause, appear to be the intransigent representatives of a corrupt and racist establishment. By contrast, the appeal for careful analysis and policy-making can be painted, at best, as cavilling or delay, or worse... At the leadership level the ideology (and perhaps personnel) of BLM starts to blur into that of groups like Antifa, whose extremism can only put the cause of racial justice backwards. If their demands seem to say, in effect, that society should be torn down—well, that is indeed the stated aim of movements like these. Their goals are not reformist, they are revolutionary—they seek conflict not peace, and they have given scant thought about what they wish to build from the rubble of what they destroy. Since they are quite open and vehement about all this, we should probably take them at their word"
Maybe liberals make impossible demands precisely because they are impossible - so they can blame any dysfunction and failure on a failure to meet them totally
Meme - "Welcom to CHAZ CHOP
Racist free zone
Build bridges NOT walls
Say NO to voter ID
"I need to see some ID. Whites pay $10.00" - Man with gun
Capitalism sucks
Ban Guns!
Mom send $$$, food, and sunglasses
BLM
Antifa
Hammer and sickle"
