This past weekend, three LAPD officers responded to a call about a man with a 6" knife threatening women and children at the corner of 6th and Union in the Westlake district of Los Angeles near downtown. When confronted, the officers (all of whom were Hispanic) ordered the man, a Guatemalan national, three times in English and three times in Spanish to drop the knife. Instead, the man lunged at the officers with the knife and was shot dead. The man's own family has said that he had been drunk on the streets since 9 am. Result? The last two nights, the area has been hit with rioting.
And tonight, as I write, LAPD Chief Charlie Beck is holding a public meeting in the area to "discuss" the incident with members of the community. Present are the consul generals of Mexico, Guatemala, and Nicaragua, as well as the city councilman for the district.
Why? Don't ask me.
Decades ago, I used to work in that area. The LA DEA office was located on 6th Street. Today, the area is inhabited mostly by illegal immigrants and the 18th Street gang controls the streets while the LAPD observes the sanctuary city status of LA under playboy mayor Antonio Villaraigosa. The streets are clogged with street vendors operating without licenses but with impunity while in other parts of the city residents and business owners are harassed with every regulation and city fine you can imagine.
And now, after three Hispanic officers shoot an assailant who was threatening people with a knife and who lunged at them with said knife, the LAPD has to explain itself to the community and three consul generals.
Does it strain credulity to imagine that if in another nation, an illegal American community were carrying out such mayhem on that nation's streets, that the American consul general or ambassador might be called onto the carpet by that nation's interior ministry?
What has it all come to in cities like Los Angeles? And don't give me that crap about anti-Hispanic racism. Mexican-Americans have always been part of the landscape in Los Angeles and the SW United States. Mexican-Americans and illegal aliens themselves in Hispanic parts of Los Angeles are being victimized daily by the criminal elements. This hands-off policy by the politicians in LA is hurting everybody.
In other LA news, remember Rodney King? The last time we heard from him, he won a 4 million dollar award from a jury for the famous beating at the hands of LAPD. Well, it seems old Rodney is getting married and to guess who.....
juror number 5 in said civil trial.
And finally, there is this: A new middle school is being dedicated in LA. It is being named after environmental activist Rachel Carson and....Al Gore.
But it gets better. The school is being built on a toxic waste site!!
"Yee gads!"
Wednesday, September 8, 2010
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11 comments:
Well, maybe they should have been prepared to use a taser, or to crack the hand holding the knife with a billy club, IF they could do so without risking their own lives.
The "riot" needs to be put in perspective. I wrote an article for a reference work several months ago about the Rodney King protests and riots. It was very obvious from all available sources that both riots and protests occured, and that the riots mostly had nothing to do with Rodney King. I suspect the same thing happened here, and the police as well as the consuls need to get a grip on this.
The rioting at Florence and Normandie may arguably have been occasioned by the news of the four officers being acquitted. But by the next day, when riots swept large parts of the city, that had little to do with it. There was a vacuum, and people disposed to do so simply took advantage of it.
There was even a case of a white man and a Hispanic holding up a black-owned business at gun point, then walking out saying "F*** Rodney King."
Over half the looters arrested were Hispanic men in their early 20s with no family and no jobs, arrived in the past year.
Remember the incident in New York many years ago, when a motorist hit a young girl (not fatally) and got out to see how she was? He was mobbed and killed, by people who had no relationship to the girl, and didn't care. They were out on the street looking for where their money was coming from, and the whole situation was an opportunity. (Her family sent a wreath to the motorists funeral. Needless to say, his wallet had been taken).
This is something the LAPD needs to be able to articulate clearly. Police don't need to take a defensive, much less an obsequious stance, nor do they need to go back to the atmosphere of impunity cultivated by Darryl Gates.
This is the result of having a sanctuary city. If you notice those at the public meetings: Hispanic testators and those who will follow them for their promises.
Wow, I've never seen Gary go three whole days without touching his own blog. Not only no new articles, but no comment moderation either.
(This could, of course, be due to illness, family emergency, or other tragedy, in which case sincere condolences and best wishes are in order).
No such thing Siarlys, but thanks for the thoughts. I was in upstate New York for an Army reunion.
Bump,
Well, I am holding out hope that ceratin sects like Sufis and others are not so warlike as you describe. I also love to come across real moderates like Steven Swartz (a Sufi) and Zuhdi Jasser. Unfortuntaely, it seems most of the peaceful Muslims just keep their mouths shut out of fear or whatever. Then you have people like Rauf who in my view are wolves in sheeps clothing. They want to conquer, but peacefully.
"Then you have people like Rauf who in my view are wolves in sheep's clothing. They want to conquer, but peacefully."
We are in accord on that, Gary. I believe that Rauf doesn't like Osama because he thinks he has a better way to spread Islam in the US and Osama is going about it the wrong way. Same goal, two strategies.
Gary, any chance you saw Rauf's interview on CNN? I'm actually starting to like him (as much as I like any "holy man".) He also condemned Hamas, so you guys can't use that talking point anymore. I believe his exact quote was along the lines of, "I condemn anybody who commits terrorist acts, and Hamas has committed terrorist acts."
I'm sure you'll find a way to not give him any credit for that though. As for me, he struck me as a thoughtful person with nuanced opinions - something you folks on the right really hate.
No Lance, was the interview in Los Angeles by any chance?
Don't be swayed by his soft-spoken nature. Hell, Osama bin Laden is soft-spoken.
As for his "condemnation of Hamas", pls give me the exact quote in full context. The standard response of thse "moderates" is to condemn all acts of terror...then they start talking about Israel bombing babies.
If you really are interested in Rauf there is a lot of questionable stuff out there, most of which I've written about. This week it came out that one of his close associates is a 9-11 truther who says Bush did 9-11. Khan I think his name is.
I saw the entire interview, and he didn't go on to say anything about Israel or equivocate in any way. If my quote is off, it's off by a minor word or two. He was pretty clear.
And comparing him to Bin Laden is just nuts. Yeah, I've read all about the supposed "questionable" stuff he's said, and I've been extraordinarily underwhelmed. Now that I'm actually paying more attention, I really don't see what the hubub is.
As for a close associate being a 9/11 Truther, so what? One of my best friends believes that the World Trade Center went down in a controlled demolition. I told him that I think that's absurd. Do you agree with everything that everybody you know thinks?
Shoot, I comment on a right-wing blog, and I've even agreed with the writer on occasion! I must be a right-winger!
Anarchy reigns in Los Angeles... three Hispanic police officers... an undocumented immigrant from Guatemala... and this is all Feisal's fault? Its all because of a mosque being build in New York?
P.S. My latest foray to Scott Walker's google ad links, I clicked on a link concerning jobs and the economy. His own site responded "Page not found." Fitting.
Siarlys,
I think Bumps got crossed up on answering my posts. I did not raise Rauf in the original post.
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