It’s quite telling to watch the leftist hypocrisy in action. Especially during these troubling times.
But we can always count on the liberals to make matters worse. Consider these vastly different responses to the protest rallies in California.
Image courtesy: Voice of C
Sacramento.
May 1st: The Open-California Demonstrations at the State Capitol.
The California Highway Patrol dressed in full riot gear and armed with nightsticks forcibly shoved an entire crowd of pro-American demonstrators off of the State Capitol grounds and arrested 32 peaceful protesters.
In the most intense protest yet against California’s stay-at-home order, demonstrators crowded the Capitol on Friday and scuffled with California Highway Patrol officers who had ordered them to disperse.
Authorities said late Friday 32 people were arrested during the middle of the four-hour rally when tensions boiled over on the west steps of downtown Sacramento landmark.
The protest by roughly 1,000 people – some holding American flags and signs calling for the economy to reopen – started peacefully but quickly escalated when CHP officers ordered them to leave the steps of the landmark downtown Sacramento building or face arrest.
Image courtesy: The Sacramento Bee
The protest was in direct violation of both Gov. Gavin Newsom’s stay-at-home order, designed to slow the spread of the coronavirus, and a CHP ban on protests on state property, the latter prompted by a crowded demonstration at the Capitol a week ago.
The agency said 32 were arrested for “failing to comply with the lawful order to disperse” and for ignoring a health officer, both misdemeanors charges.
May 30th: Antifa/BLM Protests at the State Capitol.
The California Highway Patrol dressed in riot helmets and armed with nightsticks do not come close to agitating these protesters that were shouting obscenities and making vulgar threats on the Capitol grounds.
“Older black women are on their lawns giving us, the protestors, nods of approval and cool half-smiles indicating to us to keep going and it’s what we need to know that we are doing the right thing,” Williamson, who is 26, wrote. She noted that it was the first time out of her house in a major way after three months of social distancing.
“Everyone, for as far as I can see is masked and trying to keep their distance but as we become increasingly filled with the weight of the circumstance that brought us all here, the circles began to tighten. I can see the despair in folks’ eyes. It has been a long couple of months for the working class in this country.”
Protesters descended onto the state Capitol grounds Saturday morning before making their way down K Street to the Golden 1 Center.
From there, the crowd of several hundred people moved onto Interstate 5 and shut down the roadway Saturday afternoon.
What started out as a peaceful protest soon turned in a different direction.
The glass doors at the front of the Sacramento County Jail were also smashed sometime just before 4:30 p.m. Windows of abandoned buildings were shattered, fires were set, businesses like Macy’s, 7-Eleven, Sharif Jewelers and Kicx Unlimited were looted and buildings were covered in graffiti that read George Floyd’s name and “Black Lives Matter.”
Fresno
May 10th: Waffle House Protest.
As Americans became frustrated with the ‘Shelter In Place’ orders, yet unpaid bills continued to pile up, many restaurants began opening up in defiance.
The owner of the Waffle Shop had decided to reopen his business over the weekend in defiance of local leaders.
At least two people were hauled away by police after law enforcement officers tried to enter a diner that was illegally opened in Fresno, California.
The diners were waiting in line outside the Waffle Shop. Officers ordered the diners to step aside so they could enter the establishment. When they refused, the officers forcefully shoved aside patrons. It was during that confrontation that at least two people were taken into custody.
May 30th: BLM Downtown Protests.
Several thousand protesters descended onto Downtown Fresno, and did peacefully demonstrate, the looting came later that night. Except there were no police officers charging through these crowds inciting them further. Instead, Police Chief Andy Hall addressed the crowd with a penitent speech.
The community of Fresno is joining the growing list of cities protesting nationwide after the death of George Floyd.
Police say that over 3,000 people showed up outside of Fresno City Hall for the second day of protests.
Organizers said from the get-go, things had been encouraged to remain peaceful, like Saturday’s protests.
The Fresno Police Department says organizers had been communicating with police to make sure everything goes safely and smoothly.
Police Chief Andy Hall says that this wasn’t something organizers were required to do, but they wanted to keep police informed.
Chief Hall took a moment to thank the huge crowds that showed up for remaining peaceful.
San Diego
April 25th: Encinitas Open Beach Protest.
Controversial San Diego County Sheriff William Gore brought full force upon beachgoers. While the State was releasing harden criminals in droves, the Governor fresh off a legal victory, was pushing local enforcement to implement his will even if it contradicted the policies of local government.
Even though some beaches are set to open on Monday, the rally cry for protesters in Encinitas on Saturday was they want them opened immediately. Some walked beyond the yellow caution tape before either being warned or arrested by deputies and escorted off the beach.
Frustrations to get in the ocean boiled over despite many beaches in the county set to reopen soon.
Chanting “This is our right” and “Open our beach,” protesters clashed with San Diego County Sheriff’s deputies at Moonlight Beach.
Law enforcement surrounded the rally using patrol cars, motorcycles, and a helicopter.
Protester Crista Curtis didn’t back down. She chanted “Let him go,” each time someone was arrested.
Curtis organized the previous weekend rally in Encinitas, and deputies recommended charges against her to the county district attorney.
Lifeguards got in the water on jet skis to make sure no one was in the ocean.
Over the intercom, deputies announced: “You are gathering in violation of the public health order,” to which the protesters shouted obscenities.
May 21st: San Clemente Open Beach Protest.
A month later just up the road on I-5 in San Clemente. Orange County protesters were angry about being exempted by Governor Newsom from being allowed to reopen their beaches. During several protests Orange County law enforcement cracked down on demonstrations.
At this protest, demonstrators were compliant with most of law enforcement instructions, not looking to create an incident, nor cause serious trouble. However, Orange County Sheriffs’ Deputies arrived on the scene in full force with riot squad, SWAT, and read a proclamation threatening to use “Deadly Force” by order of “The Governor!” Then proceeded to start making several arrests, including a retired police chief.
Protesters gathered Thursday morning, May 21, at San Clemente’s Pier Bowl in a rally against the statewide stay-at-home order.
The event was organized by Alan Hostetter, a San Clemente resident and a former police chief in La Habra and a former Orange County Sheriff’s Department deputy.
The city installed the fencing when it closed its beaches and the pier amid concerns over the spread of the coronavirus. Though it has since reopened beach and pier access for limited active use, some lots remain closed to discourage large numbers of visitors.
Image courtesy: OC Register
As the group mobilized, Sheriff’s Department deputies moved in on motorcycles and on foot as a drone broadcast orders to disperse.
As Hostetter began unscrewing bolts connecting the fencing, deputies told him over the drone and in-person to stop. Then, three deputies surrounded him and asked him to stop. When he didn’t, he was taken into custody.
Councilman Gene James was standing among the group of protesters as deputies began moving the crowd down the street toward the Pier Bowl.
“This is not San Clemente,” James said. “We have riot batons and shields in the icon of our city at the Pier Bowl, and next to the Marine Corps monument.”
Looters ransacked through Downtown San Diego unabated for much of the night. Downtown is the home of Horton Plaza, the Historic Gaslamp Quarter, and Petco Park; three key destination spots. Although all of which are being set for redevelopment, destruction was the only thing on the minds of these thugs.
Police tweeted that peaceful demonstrations would be “facilitated,” while violent and destructive acts would be “addressed.”
This isn’t our first rodeo, and we are doing our very, very best and that’s our commitment.”
NBC 7 headed back to the downtown area early Monday morning to look at the aftermath of the protests.
A 7-Eleven store on Fourth Avenue and E Street, across from Horton Plaza, had been among the businesses that had been broken into and looted. Windows were shattered and an employee – who said he had been there since midnight – worked to clean up the mess.
Throughout downtown, doors and windows to businesses were broken and boarded up. Graffiti with messages related to the protests was sprayed on walls. Signs – including one that read “Black Lives Matter. No Justice. No Peace.” – were strewn in some areas.
Over at a nearby physical therapy clinic, an owner also spent the morning cleaning up. A rock had been thrown through the window of his business and graffiti was sprayed on the wall outside the entrance.
Sadly, the nearby community of La Mesa was allowed to burn. Maybe someone should have told the Sheriff that there were beach protesters.
Bay Area.
February 2, 2017: Milo Yiannopoulos Riots at UC Berkeley.
Protests that erupted at UC Berkeley ahead of a planned Wednesday appearance by right-wing commentator Milo Yiannopoulos caused $100,000 worth of damage to the campus, the school said Thursday.
The university blamed “150 masked agitators” for the unrest, saying they had come to campus to disturb an otherwise peaceful protest.
Two Berkeley College Republicans “were attacked while conducting an interview” on the campus on Thursday, UC Berkeley also said in a prepared statement. The attackers, who were not affiliated with the university, were taken into custody by UC Berkeley police.
Administrators decided to cancel the Wednesday event about two hours before the Breitbart editor’s speech. UC Berkeley said it removed him from campus “amid the violence and destruction of property and out of concern for public safety.”
Black-clad protesters wearing masks threw commercial-grade fireworks and rocks at police. Some even hurled Molotov cocktails that ignited fires. They also smashed windows of the student union center on the Berkeley campus where the Yiannopoulos event was to be held.
At least six people were injured.
May 29th: On Hwy 101, San Jose.
Hundreds of “protesters” took over Hwy 101, a major artery freeway through San Jose and Silicon Valley, by blocking traffic and tried dragging people out of their cars. Miscreants then rushed helpless commuters and began vandalizing people’s cars and threatening drivers.
Police and CHP had their hands full in Walnut Creek Monday evening after a group of protesters splintered off of a larger peaceful march, blocking traffic on I-680 and damaging property downtown.
Authorities in the North Bay and on the Peninsula were also busy early Monday evening as protesters blocked lanes of U.S. Highway 101.
It appeared a splinter group of protesters split off from an earlier, largely peaceful march of about 1,000 people through downtown Walnut Creek. They entered I-680 at the North Main Street exit and spread out across all lanes of the freeway. Police and CHP officers were seen confronting the demonstrators and using flash-bang devices.
The peace protest was in contrast to the closure of Highway 101 in San Jose on Friday, when some protesters smashed windows of vehicles that were stuck in the traffic gridlock the marchers created that afternoon.
Say What?
Official responses to the differing events was also drastically different.
The protests have been, of course, a largely white phenomenon. Despite black and brown people being disproportionately impacted by the destroyed economy and the virus itself – protests against state government actions to protect the most vulnerable among us were overwhelmingly made up of white people.
If these protests were truly about the economic impacts of government action, it is more than odd that Latinos and Blacks were nearly impossible to find in these protests. A recent report from the California Latino Economic Institute showed that the industries impacted by the pandemic are overwhelmingly staffed by Latinos. In addition, recent California polls show that it is lower-income residents that are most supportive of shelter in place policies – 78.7 percent of low-income Californians support shelter-in-place policies for “as long as needed,” according to an April survey conducted by the California Healthcare Foundation.
There is also a clear partisan component to this politics of white identity, anger and destruction. It has found a home in the Republican Party, with its personification of angry despair in President Trump and its pernicious adherence to Trumpism.
In a clear illustration of just how partisan science has become, when legislators in Sacramento convened on the first day after the easing of shelter-in-place orders, Democrats wore masks while Republicans did not.
No, this isn’t about the economy at all.
Likewise, Governor Newsom during his press conference did not condemn the violence in the State, nor call out many of the groups, such as Black Lives Matter or Antifa, who are at the root of the chaos.
Newsom, known for a wonky speaking style that favors terms like “through-put” that are more fitted to a Silicon Valley board room, responded on Friday the way he sometimes does when he wants to convey his feelings on a difficult subject: He talked about his family. At times, his voice quivered and it seemed he was holding back tears.
Two years ago Sacramento was roiled by protests over the fatal police shooting of a young black man. No officers were charged.
Last year, Newsom signed a law that was influenced by the Sacramento killing. It changing the standard for when police officers can use deadly force and when they can be prosecuted for abusing it. The new law is among the nation’s most comprehensive governing police use of force.
Newsom said change is needed beyond just the criminal justice system and includes public health. While blacks make up about 6.5% of the state’s population of 40 million, they have accounted for 10.1% of the state’s coronavirus deaths.
Newsom urged protesters this weekend to express themselves “thoughtfully and gently — but forcefully” so that “we, collectively, can not only hear your voice but we can resolve to do something with the lesson that we learn.”
