Friday, May 1, 2015

Riot-Plagued Baltimore Is a Catastrophe Entirely of the Democratic Party’s Own Making

An excellent analysis of the turmoil in Baltimore by Kevin Williamson.



A few weeks ago, there was an election in Ferguson, Mo., the result of which was to treble the number of African Americans on that unhappy suburb’s city council. This was greeted in some corners with optimism — now, at last, the city’s black residents would have a chance to see to securing their own interests. This optimism flies in the face of evidence near — St. Louis — and far — Baltimore, Detroit, Philadelphia, Cleveland, Atlanta, Los Angeles, San Francisco . . .

St. Louis has not had a Republican mayor since the 1940s, and in its most recent elections for the board of aldermen there was no Republican in the majority of the contests; the city is overwhelmingly Democratic, effectively a single-party political monopoly from its schools to its police department. Baltimore has seen two Republicans sit in the mayor’s office since the 1920s — and none since the 1960s. Like St. Louis, it is effectively a single-party political monopoly from its schools to its police department. Philadelphia has not elected a Republican mayor since 1948. The last Republican to be elected mayor of Detroit was congratulated on his victory by President Eisenhower. Atlanta, a city so corrupt that its public schools are organized as a criminal conspiracy against its children, last had a Republican mayor in the 19th century. Its municipal elections are officially nonpartisan, but the last Republican to run in Atlanta’s 13th congressional district did not manage to secure even 30 percent of the vote; Atlanta is effectively a single-party political monopoly from its schools to its police department.

Read it all here at National Review Online.

21 comments:

  1. So what you're saying is... is that it's Bush's fault. Got it. ;)

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  2. Lewy, lol!!!

    Bush, Halliburton and the Koch brothers.

    They just announced charges against the 6 officers in the death. It will be interesting to see what leaks out. If they are responsible, I hope they are prosecuted to the fullest extent of the law. The Baltimore Police Dept. obviously has had - and continues to have - lots of problems. But I also pray that these men aren't scapegoated merely to appease the protesters and others.

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    1. As I have said before....Baltimore today is Detroit deja vu in almost every respect. Pray tell me how you have a black mayor, black prosecutor, black police commissioner and a population that is 64% black....and you still have all these race issues with police? Who is running things? Three of the officers arrested are black, including one woman. W.T.Flip?

      I know the answer because that is preciously the kind of mix, more or less, we had in Detroit for decades, finally culminating in the federal prosecution of Mayor Kwame Kilpatrick that got him 28 years. He talked taking care of "his people", but what he really did was take advantage of them. Once that happened Detroit turned a corner, the 85+% black population had had enough and elected two good black men as mayor, one a prior federal judge and the other a businessman and recently a white man with extensive executive experience. The old BS doesn't work here any more.

      Baltimore has a long ,long way to go...their "band-aids" of today won't fix squat. I wish them luck...it took us decades.

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    2. Oh, BTW...Mr Williamson may go screw himself with a hack saw when he tosses "Detroit" in to the mix of cities he cites as derelict. My guess is that he's never been here at all, and if he has not for more than a weekend. I'd love to take him for a walk through the central city core and then go for ribs at my favorite BBQ place, down the road in the darkest ghetto of Detroit. I'd even provide his punk butt with "Depends" for the trip. I'd recommend "blackface" is being a white guy in a black crown bothers him.

      I don't know about all those other cities he cites, so I don't talk about them...Detroit I know, and Baltimore just demonstrated on national television to be the Detroit of the 60's 70's, 80's and early 90's so I can say things about that with some vestige of knowledge. The mayor of Detroit in the 60's was Jerome Cavanagh , a white weenie who did just as the Mayor of Baltimore did when the riots began...sat on his hands, along with Cyrus Vance, George Romney, and LBJ (who I excuse because he was relying on their advice...all of of BS) for two days. I lived worked and went to college in the city in 1967 and I nearly hated Vance and Romney and Cavanagh....the morons who watched the city in flames and dithered politics. Anyone thinks any "Romney" is a conservative Republican is deceiving themselves....he's the guy who gave us a state income tax....followed by Republican who gave us a hidden VAT, the endorsed Jone Kerry in 2004. Spit.

      Not hard to see how I was a Democrat in those days is it?

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    3. Dang it: "crown" should be "crowd".

      Unlike Jessie Jackson, I am often relieved when I see black guys behind me, not white ones. Depends upon the neighborhood, of course but their are some tough and rough white locales here, too (think Brightmore and a few others)...and we've all had f'ing enough to the politics of division. If I am wrong, then let me die here...it won't be because we've not tried hard. How many cities have black police chiefs who recommend that everyone be armed and carry every day? We do. His attitude is the punks need a deterrence and fear is a pretty good one. Seems he thinks his own people need protection as much more actually, as some suburbanites. Good for him.

      Hey, can you all tell this is a hot button issue for me? Detroit's my home town and I love it and the progress it has made, hard as it has been. WE went through bankruptcy and came out of it...the future is only up from here.

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    4. Ari, I admire your impassioned defense of your hometown. I hope it continues to climb back up from its near-death experience.

      In defense of my own city I would say this: the police have a very light hand, and when faced with a choice between allowing some violent property destruction vs heavy handed intervention, they typically go with the former.

      There are a couple reasons, I think:

      1) It just isn't personally worth the risk to themselves. They aren't going into harms way to save a few cars or storefronts.

      2) The demonstration the next day will be ten to a hundred times larger.

      The "black bloc" and their sympathizers here are not a big group and they do not enjoy the support of the people. Generally their conduct is condemned.

      But oh my god have the po po teargas or cudgel some cute street urchin and every gallant hipster wannabe anarchist dipshit takes to the street the next day. In their thousands. I've watched them.

      Not worth it. And yeah I'd say that even if it was my car. That's what insurance is for.

      Personally I see the tradeoff - a police force which was large and armed and willful enough to maintain "law and order" even in the face of massive popular unrest... is that a comfort, or a fear? It's more the latter for me.

      I'd rather the city continue to isolate the hardcore troublemakers than cement their popularity and legitimacy. The thousands of wannabe hipster dipshits are mostly harmless.

      Whereas a police force which viewed the bulk of the population as "the enemy"... that is not the city I want to live in.

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    5. Don't hold back, Aridog :-)

      As lewy said, I relate to your pride in your city. I don't understand your visceral reaction to Williamson's take on things. Or that you're "often relieved when I see black guys behind me, not white ones". Really? Why is that?

      I don't know if Kevin Williamson has lived in Detroit but he's entitled to write his take on cities with a large black population that have been steadily declining under decades of liberal policies. I don't think it's a coincidence. Charlie LeDuff has lived in Detroit. I believe what he writes about it. I looked a long time for an excellent article he wrote on the subject several years ago, it was lengthy but very, very good. Here's something he wrote in 2013 and here isA Beating in Detroit that he wrote a year ago. His recent book is Detroit: An America Autopsy.

      Some stats on Detroit speak for themselves:
      3rd most dangerous city in the US,Forbes lists it as 1st with a violent crime rate of 2,137 per 100,000 residents.

      Here are "11 depressing statistics about Detroit" published the day the city declared bancruptcy.

      Detroit's unemployment rate is 11.70% compared to the national average of 5.5% My link shows every quarter for the past 4 years. The good news is that the rate is down considerably from those last 4 years, which at a quick glance I'd guess hovered around 18% average. So that is positive and I hope other good things follow.

      On a personal note, I remember my folks driving us to Detroit (we lived in
      Mt. Clemens) to see all the Christmas lights on the grand houses. The first pro baseball game I ever went to was when our 6th grade teacher took us all to Tiger Stadium.

      I posted this link because I think Kevin Williamson is an insightful, fair guy. I believe liberal or "progressive" policies have failed blacks in major urban cities. Yes, I'm a conservative but I don't think republicans have all the answers either. But I do think they have a better "plan" to make sure everyone can achieve the American Dream.

      I hope my links came out ok, I posted a lot of them and can't preview.

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  3. My 3rd paragraph contains 2 separate links, I didn't space properly.

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  4. BTW, Charlie LeDuff is also the guy that posted that interesting youtube video many years ago of Monica Conyers getting pwned by an 8th grader.

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  5. floranistaL said/aske...[I'll take it line by line, ok?]

    I don't understand your visceral reaction to Williamson's take on things

    Because it is no longer true of Detroit and he's just carelessly tossing "Detroit" in to a mix it no longer belongs to in typical Hollywood fashion, which is home base. He is out of date by a dozen plus years at a minimum.

    ...you're "often relieved when I see black guys behind me, not white ones". Really? Why is that?


    Simple enough. The city is 85% black and they are the ones who care more now. Of course it also has to do with my own demeanor and expression as I walk along. However, that is true anywhere. I do not fear people who are different than me, black, yellow, or brown. I've killed before and am very capable again...but oddly in 40+ or so years since my time in war I've not found the need or impulse to do so.

    His [Charlie leDuff] recent book is Detroit: An America Autopsy.

    "Autopsy?" Interesting....biased much? He does NOT live in Detroit, he lives in Pleasant Ridge, a suburb. Again I will say, he is out of date by a dozen plus hears...still yammering on about "the bankruptcy"...which is not now. My kid lives at Grand River & Woodward, [Google that intersection just for giggles] and walks to work daily, further, she is looking to buy there....compare to the suburbanite? Talk is cheap and he is in the "talk" business.

    The good news is that the rate is down [to 11.70%] considerably from those last 4 years, which at a quick glance I'd guess hovered around 18% average.

    Yes, that is a positive, and guys like Le Duff will never cite it...ruins their narrative, just like Williamson. Sounds more to me like a resurrection than an autopsy. And you are quite right...what McDuff writes is based upon "many years ago." While Monica's (who is an idiot) husband was my Congressman [John Conyers Jr] I voted for him every election...because he stood up for me when I needed it in a serious way...e.g., he "represented" me not some political narrative even though he knows and I know we disagree on most things political. In short, he did his job as a "representative," even for me.

    Finallyh, and most importantly vis a vis the past couple weeks and riots every where...where has there NOT been a big riot? DETROIT. An ICE officer, with some DPD police shot a man dead this week....yep we had a protest of about 100 in front of the McNamara Building (where I worked for years) and as usualy it was peaceful, noisy yes, but not buildings got burned, not one was shot again...we have changed here and it is about damn time the ":popular" press and population knows it. Yes it is a tough town...so of you're of the wobbly knee kind, don't come here. We need more of the strong who will continue our progress....not demean us by "news" from 10 or 20 years ago.

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    1. Lewy14....it was not "near death", we were once upon a time, very dead. The resurrection has been surprising when a populace of a vast majority minority finally decided to reject the idiots who took advantage of them and harmed them....and I include both white and black in that criminal mix....although the recent imprisonment of Kwame is the jailing of a black jackass criminal of the first rank....and a turning point to be sure. Finally "Yawz boy" [his moron congresswoman mommy's term) no longer rang a bell. She's just lucky she didn't join him in prison as his daddy did....she absolutely deserved to be there.

      Way back when I was born and was a kidlet, Detroit was the "Arsenal of Democracy" and we can still be....noting the location of TACOM in the nearby Warren subdivision....even if production moved to Lima, Ohio....as a young skilled tradesman type I help build the M60;s and later worked on the development of the M1A1's.

      Henry Ford is not arise her by accident, among others he saw opportunity and among others, today, such as the firms locating in the city core, others do as well. My kid works down there and is paid well (v-e-r-y well) so I'm guessing the city is on an upswing...I'd just like to see some credit given for the changes. We might fail again, but it will not be be because of lack of trying...nor from the appraisals of schmucks like Williamson or LeDuff. When either of those guys builds a new building or starts a new industry, y'all let me know..but I strongly suggest you do not hod you breath...talk has nevet built a damn thing.

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    2. Lewy .... I haven't been to Portland in well over a dozen years, when I last spent a week there on a project. At that time I found it very pleasant....I'm guessing it was in the time beer pubs bloomed, seemed to me like everyone had their own brand, even our hotel...something we'd not have here for another decade.

      The part I recall most, oddly enough, is that there were no strip joints downtown...all of them were across some river in a suburb...that and unlike the "rumors" of your locale, it was sunny every day. I nearly took a contract to telecommute and also work there on site a week or two per month, but the underwriting cost for travel and expenses (as a contractor you wait to get reimbursed, not in 72 hours like for the Army) was just too much unless advanced...which DOD does not do.

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    3. All what I have said, it is possible that we'll still have a long hot summer. The national media seems to delight in dwelling on "if it bleeds, it leads" issues. Some fool, or group of fools, here could raise hell and wreck the progress made, but I certainly hope not....not because I mind so much being 'wrong" as I do mind having to once again to fight somebody else's war. It would be difficult this time, first securing Judi in our home then Kim in her's in the city central core. For some reason I can't even elaborate on I do not believe it will happen again here.

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    4. Ari, you missed the strip joints on the west side. They're there. Never been in them. The wife has. True. Long story.

      You must understand: Kevin Williamson has a business model. There is no room in the narrative for the actual situation in Detroit. Nuance is not profitable.

      Neither is it revolutionary. Any sustainable grass roots movement has to be self funding, and outrage is both selective and lucrative. And, the human condition being what it is, sometimes transformative.

      Portland is reduced to a joke and a meme in the anti-lefty-fuckwit* narrative all the time. It's just business.

      There is a lot to this city which works, and it challenges my libertarian ideals somewhat. Urban planning makes for some nice neighborhoods. I like Texas, but the truth is I don't want my city to look like Texas.

      But if it's necessary to slander my town to restore some sanity in the country... slander away. So be it.

      * I'm not a conservative, just an ALF. That's it... ;)

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    5. lewy14 said ...

      Ari, you missed the strip joints on the west side.

      Apparently so, but I've never been a fan of strip joints. I was asked once by an acquaintance why I didn't care or even think about them? Simple answer: " If I can't take it home and play with it...why bother?" Real answer: I never had much difficulty in finding cool women to meet...start with the museums and work out from there.

      You can get a beer anywhere, but, when otherwise unencumbered, a bright companion takes a bit more "looking" than leaning on a bar drooling over some biker's momma who has more tattoos than a 40 year sailor. :D

      To each his own I guess....I really did not know Portland had strip joints in town.

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  6. I'm glad to hear your and lewy's comments about the matter. I may not always agree but it's thought provoking and I guess that's what counts.

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    1. Actually, you make a very good and relevant point. Just as we left another blog long ago due to acrimony, I've left three more since then...one of them just last week. There's always the possibility that my sometimes less than charming disposition is the problem, but in the most recent case it was topic diversion, pejorative casting, and general domination by staccato drive by one liners by regulars. In short, what is there to discuss , agree with or not? Eventually when the subject is RFRA or LBGT all the time, attached by a commenter, not the topic posters, even it is originally about a subject totally different...it just becomes boring.

      So, yes, a place we can come to the actually covers the subjects posted, including music and comic relief...makes it a very nice place to stop by.

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  7. Aridog - Man, shhhhhhhhh!!! Goddammit, dude! Haven't Lewy and I told you never to spill the beans about Portland not being rainy all the time and actually quite pleasant? We tell the rain story to keep people away! Get with the program! Do you want us inundated with *more* California refugees?

    I mean, I am one myself, but I distinctly remember pulling the ladder up once I crossed the Siskiyous

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    1. Go Eagles! I promise to keep y'alls' sekrit.

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  8. Another good point made...if you ever find yourself "agreeing" with me all the time...seek help promptly. :-)

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