... 1968 - across America - the death of Martin Luther King touches off rioting in several cities after the media broadcast (Elapsed time: less than 3 hours)....
A bit more information on these riots which occurred in 110 cities...all should pause and think about that number, especially the younger folks here.
MLK Jr was assassinated April 4, 1968, a Thursday, in the late afternoon. In Washington DC instigated by Stokely Carmichael rioting started in the Howard University area at 9:30 PM. The exact time established by police radio calls. That's the three hours cited above. The neighborhood was almost exclusively black. Thursday night the rioting and looting and burning of local stores remained confined to that neighborhood. The evening news on the only three networks reported this local riot and the growing number of riots in American cities.
Almost all residents of the city believed that the riots would be contained despite the number of previous riots across the country. I lived in the northern part of DC on the border with Prince George County MD. On Friday morning I drove to work as usual, driving west and then down to Key Bridge into Rosslyn, VA. The offices overlooked the Iwo Jima Memorial on one side and with panoramic views of DC on the other sides. There was no news of continued rioting during the drive.
Don't recall the exact hour, but an hour or two past lunch we noticed a thick column of black smoke rising in the center of DC soon followed by three or four more. Radio started reporting on the spread of rioting and fires. The president federalized the local National Guard units and mobilized Third Infantry. Then we learned that The Washington Beltway was the cordon sanitaire, blocking traffic into and out of the city. I was stuck in Virginia for an unknown and undefined period of time. I was fortunate to have friends in Alexandria who took me in.
So, from first event to almost total shutdown and blockade of the city was 18 plus or minus hours.
Phone lines were busy, trying to locate family and friends was a bit frustrating for awhile.
OK, that was then and this is now, so what's different?
Let's start with local municipal governments. Almost all are controlled by minority and far legtlleft mayors. Baltimore recent reaction is emblematic of what can be anticipated. The let them riot response sadly will be the template. Do not expect the same cordon sanitaires to be implemented until too late. Couple that with the now larger suburban populations once confined by economics and the realization comes that the riots cannot be contained as in the past.
Communication. Increased mobility, cellular and social media make flash mobs inevitable, reducing defensive reaction time significantly. At the same time coordination by rioters disseminates intelligence as to LEO responses and locations. Keep in mind that the increased firearms sales weren't confined to conservatives.
Obviously there are more points to consider and I hope to see more posted here.
my two cents....
The feds should have the list of "Obamaphone" numbers (they have to, they're paying for them).
I would think they have an arrangement with the phone companies, in the vein of "If we give you the word, shut down this list of phones so they cannot send text messages to a list of people, nor can they access the internet". The next level would be "shut down all functionality except for the ability to call 911".
I do not doubt that Obama's DOJ has a list of conservatives (or at least registered Republicans), and could instead do the same to us.