Posted on 06/02/2020 4:26:07 AM PDT by EyesOfTX
The inevitable outcomes of this past week of rioting in the major, Democrat-controlled cities are very predictable. The abject refusal by Democrat mayors and governors to make any effort whatsoever to protect the citizens and small businesses from the excesses of Antifa- and BLM-led burning and pillaging will have consequences for those cities for decades to come.
The first two decades of the 21st century have seen a revival of the central cities in America, as the Baby Boomer flight to the suburbs has given way to a move back to downtown and mid-town areas by Gen-X, Gen-Y and Millennials wanting to avoid being trapped into a life of long commutes they watched their parents endure. Life in high-rise and mid-rise condominiums within walking distance of office and shopping centers has become the new norm for these younger generations of Americans, and hundreds of thousands of small businesses have sprung up on the ground floors of those condo buildings to serve them.
When I first lived in Houston in 1980, no one lived in the downtown area, and the thriving area called mid-town was a slum. You didnt want to linger downtown past dark because it was too dangerous to be caught there. Most other large cities in America were in similar shape after all of the white flight to the suburbs that had taken place since the 1960s.
That all began to change in the mid-1990s, after mayors like Rudy Giuliani had taken charge of the security situations in those downtown areas and city governments and business leaders invested in invested billions in urban renewal projects designed to make those areas attractive places to live. College graduates of all races, colors and creeds, having grown up watching their parents spend 2 to 3 hours a day in stop and go traffic saw the advantages of living a few blocks from work and seized the opportunities to do so.
From Seattle to Portland to San Diego to Phoenix to Denver to Dallas to Houston to Miami to Boston, and many points in between, downtown/mid-town neighborhoods that were basically hellholes 40 years ago were turned into great cultural melting pots of our society. It was a stunning success story of 21st century America. But then came Barack Obama and Eric Holder and Loretta Lynch and the policies of hands-off policing, policies that order the police to stand down and watch helplessly during riots as the bad actors vent their rage at the expense of residents and small businesses.
The last week is simply the inevitable result of those progressive policies.
Thousands of young-ish New Yorkers who moved to Soho because it was a cool place to be woke up Monday morning horrified by the reality that Bill de Blasio had allowed the neighborhood they had believed to be safe and secure to be looted and burned during the night. Thousands more New Yorkers are waking up to similar realities in other Manhattan and Brooklyn neighborhoods this morning. Residents and business owners in downtown and mid-town areas of Minneapolis and Chicago and Philadelphia have seen their lives and livelihoods destroyed by city leaders who couldnt be bothered to do anything to stop all the mayhem.
The worst thing about it is that that mayhem the looting, the burning, the shattering of doors and windows was largely committed by their neighbors, egged on by BLM and Antifa organizers from out of state.
If you are a young mother or father who has just seen half of the buildings surrounding your home vandalized, burned and looted by people who live just blocks away, how will you ever feel secure in that home again? If you are a small business owner who has just had your storefront windows shattered and your store looted while your citys leaders sat safe in their mansions and did nothing, what will be your incentive for reopening? You may do it for awhile, try to get back on your feet while putting bars on your doors and windows, but how long can you last as you watch half of your customers flee back to the suburbs where they were raised by their commuting parents?
The Democrat mayors and inner-city councilmen wont care, because the captive population left behind will only lean more strongly in their favor. Their lives of grifting in positions of political power will have been secured.
For the people left behind, life will become grim. Sadly, most of them will have no understanding of the fact that the re-created downtown/mid-town hellholes to come are the result of their own actions.
Lifes a cycle, and when you just keep mindlessly voting for Democrats, you get what you ask for.
That is all.
Here in Texas these thugs are joining forces in Plano, just north of Dallas. Plano is a vibrant, semi-affluent, neighborhood with Texas’ version of Rodeo Drive passing through the town (Preston Road). Upon leaving the town, heading northbound, we saw a large gathering of ‘folks’, at several intersections,with signs (BLM) awaiting nightfall. This is not even similar to downtown areas. Fields on both sides of the highway, with various retail stores, eateries, and other business types intermingled. Near the hospital district of Collin county. Not many blacks, but a number of Hispanics, and some whites. Not many of a ‘mature’ age. Most were (ummm) perhaps in their 20’s. Not that informed when attempting to guess the age of any.
Hope those Texas chiggers find themselves some mighty fine snacking in the next few days. So happy we came across this in the daylight hours. After dark it would not have been so interesting..just FRIGHTENING!
Be it fact or fiction, but did hear from a neighbor that Whitesboro (another small Texas town) did have a goodly number of protesters this week, but heard nothing re the looting and such.
Thanks for the first hand report, V K. This is very concerning stuff.
What amazes me is how this Antifa pandemic has spread, how organized the terrorists are.
The saving grace is that at some point the rioters will run out of designer handbags and soda pop bottles to steal. At that point, Soros will stop the money flow and wait for another day.
I actually worry about when they run out of stores to loot.
These people are so criminal they’ll likely move on to houses.
These people are so criminal theyll likely move on to houses.
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And this is why guns and ammo sales are going through the roof.
For what is was worth, I wrote him, suggesting his ads show the rioting, overlaid with the Mayors' and Governors' lames excuses for the rioters and then, at the end, ask "And THESE people want to run the country?"
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