Monterey Pop Festival 1967 San Francisco's Real Summer of Love-Not Antifa/BLM ?

On June 17-19 in 1967, the city was the venue of the three day Monterey Pop Festival. All the proceeds went to charity when all the artists (over 30 appeared), agreed to perform free, and the “Summer of Love” was born. Monterey became the template for future music festivals, notably the Woodstock Festival two years later.Show more

“Be happy, be free, wear flowers, bring bells,” read the advertisements which summoned the young people of California to a three-day party. The flower children, the wacky clothes, the ready availability of sex and drugs – it is hard to think it all took place 40 years ago.

The festival is remembered for the first major American appearances by Jimi Hendrix (who at this time had become a star in the UK but not yet in his native U.S.), and The Who, as well as the first major public performances of Janis Joplin (Columbia Records signed Big Brother and The Holding Company on the basis of their performance at Monterey). It was also the first major performance by Otis Redding in front of a predominantly white audience, who performed a sensational set, recorded for posterity in the film of the event, Monterey Pop.

The festival was planned in seven weeks by promoter Lou Adler, John Phillips of The Mamas & the Papas, producer Alan Pariser, and publicist Derek Taylor. The festival board included Mick Jagger, Paul McCartney and Brian Wilson.

Monterey was the concert that propelled The Who into the American mainstream. At the end of their frenetic performance of “My Generation”, the audience was stunned as guitarist Pete Townshend began smashing his guitar, amid smoke bombs and explosions. Frightened roadies rushed onstage to scurry expensive microphones to safety.

Rolling Stone Brian Jones who was seen milling around with his German girlfriend, Nico, introduced Jimi Hendrix to the crowd. Few people even knew who he was when he arrived on stage in a ruffled orange shirt and crotch-strangling red trousers. The guitarist played a blinding set which ended with an unpredictable version of “Wild Thing“, which he capped by kneeling over his guitar, pouring lighter fluid over it, setting it aflame, and then smashing it.

Other major acts who appeared included: The Byrds, Grateful Dead, Simon and Garfunkel, The Steve Miller Band, Canned Heat, The Mamas And The Papas, Jefferson Airplane, Moby Grape, Quicksilver Messenger Service, Booker T. & the M.G.s, Buffalo Springfield and The Electric Flag. Tickets cost $3.50–6.50 (£2–3.80) for the three days.

John Phillips, of The Mamas and The Papas, as one of the organizers, got it together enough to write ‘If You’re Going To San Francisco’ (Be Sure To Wear Flowers In Your Hair) specifically to promote the festival, the song becoming a hit for Scott McKenzie. The song ‘Monterey’, by Eric Burdon and the Animals, (who played on the first day of the festival) was written about their experience, and mentions several other bands/individuals who were there. It was released in November, 1967 (five months later.)

The Monterey Pop Festival embodied the themes of San Francisco as a focal point for the counterculture and is generally regarded as one of the beginnings of the “Summer of Love” featuring bands that would shape the history of rock and affect popular culture from that day forward.

An estimated 200,000 attended over the three days. Within 24 hours of the festival emptying, the local mayor drafted a resolution outlawing any gathering of more than 2,000 people on the field where the Summer of Love had flowered. I wonder if those who live there now, (there is a golf course on the spot and the hillside is covered with million-dollar condominiums), know the story of what happened at the birth of The Summer of Love.

Hundreds of BLM Rioters Charges Dropped after 2020 ‘Summer of Love’ Around this time last summer, hundreds took the to streets in protest of the killing of George Floyd, a time period which some members of the movement ironically dubbed the “Summer of Love.”

While they seemed honorable at first, these protests quickly devolved into riots which resulted in massive damage to many cities across the country.

To add insult to injury to the many store-owners whose businesses were destroyed during this time, a large percentage of those arrested in New York City have had their charges dropped as well as diminished to lesser sentences, according to an NBC report.

“I was in total shock that everything is being brushed off to the side,” stated Jessica Betancourt, whose eyeglass business was looted last summer.

“According to the data, 118 arrests were made in the Bronx during the worst of the looting in early June,” reported NBC.

“Since then, the NYPD says the Bronx district attorney and the courts have dismissed most of those cases — 73 in all. Eighteen cases remain open and there have been 19 convictions for mostly lesser counts like trespassing, counts which carry no jail time.” Capitol Hill rioters held indefinitely without bail in solitary while Portland and NYC rioters see their charges dropped. This isn’t a defense of any rioters but an argument for due process and one consistent system of justice. The above tweet displays the disparities between the Capitol Riot and the George Floyd Riots, in which offenders of the (significantly less destructive) Capitol Riot are being held in solitary confinement while George Floyd rioters are free to continue their lives.

Lazy prosecution?
If the prosecutors ““are so overworked that they can’t handle the mission that they’re hired for, then maybe they should find another line of work,” said Wilbur Chapman, a former NYPD chief of patrol.

Chapman added that while NYPD is conducting follow-up investigations for individual cases, the federal prosecutors have decided not to.

“It allowed people who committed crimes to go scot free,” Chapman told the outlet.

The situation in Manhattan is not much better, where 485 arrests were made. Out of these arrests, 22 have been dropped, 73 have been convicted of lesser charges, and another 40 cases involving juveniles were sent to family court, according to NBC.

“For many of these commercial burglaries, you will be asked to reduce the initial felony charge to a misdemeanor and to dispose of the case … with an eye towards rehabilitation,” read an internal memo sent by District Attorney Cyrus Vance. Summer of Love (Looting and Murder) Burn it down or Build it Up: The Summer of “Love,” Looting and Murder Can somebody please tell Seattle Mayor Jenny Durkin to put down the crack pipe? After Durkan, who wrestled the title of worst Mayor in America from New York Mayor Bill de Blasio (not an easy feat), allowed a mob of rioters to take over six city blocks in Seattle, she defended her actions by calling the takeover the “Summer of Love.” Yeah, that happened. A casualty of this takeover was the police were forced to abandon their Precinct headquarters. Both Mayor Durkin and Washington Governor, Jay Robert Inslee, both Democrats, refused President Trump’s offer to send in the National Guard and retake the six-block area. Mayor Durkin quipped that she was in no hurry to wrest control back from the mob and said it would be the “Sumer of Love.” The mob first renamed the area they now controlled as “CHAZ” then changed it to “CHOP.” On Juneteenth of all days, a tragedy occurred. Why is this significant? Juneteenth is the oldest nationally celebrated day commemorating the end of slavery in the United States. It was on June 19, 1865, that the Union soldiers, led by Major General Gordon Granger, landed at Galveston, Texas with news that the war had ended and that the slaves were free. How did the people in the now police-free zone of CHOP celebrate? By committing heinous crimes. A 19-year-old black man was killed, and another black man was critically wounded in a shooting incident on a Saturday evening. The following day another person was wounded as a result of gunfire within the CHOP area. Seattle police said officers who responded to the former incident faced a “violent crowd” that denied them safe access to the crime scene to investigate the crime, or to remove the victims. These actions almost guarantee that the perpetrators of the murder and aggravated assaults will go unpunished.

Ignore the Democrats – America Needs to Reform not Defund the Police “Defund the police?” Really! This isn’t about making black communities safer! There needs to be mutual respect and trust between the black community and the police. President Donald Trump put measures in place to do just that. This will take time, and patience and diligence from the police and the black community. Everyone agrees, reform must take place soon. The idea of defunding the police is pandering at its most ridiculous level by liberals to appease the BLM Movement. Liberals need black votes, and BLM is their answer. The fact defunding police is gaining traction among Congressional Democrats and the fake news media tells you exactly how absurd they have become. Defund the police? Weaken their presence in the neighborhoods that need a police presence the most? How does this solve anything? A “community version” of police that is going to be in place in Minneapolis will lead to a lot of untrained individuals who will be patrolling the streets. This will lead to three things almost immediately: extortion, more crime, and death. Everyone agrees what happened to George Floyd was a horrific crime and the officers involved should be prosecuted to the fullest extent of the law. To suggest the way to make any community safer is to weaken or eliminate police altogether is sheer lunacy. The Democrats in Congress are not the answer. The Democrats are led by the Wacky Pack (Nancy Pelosi, Chuck Schumer, and Jerry Nadler) who will grandstand and wear stupid garb pandering to the Black Community. The Wacky Pack will rant and rave about change. They will author ridiculous “legislation” they know will not pass then they will blame President Trump and the Congressional Republicans when it doesn’t. They even named their “reform legislation” after George Floyd, except they all got his name wrong. The Wacky Pack is goofy, just goofy, and Nancy Pelosi may be the goofiest politician in America. How anybody can look at Nancy Pelosi and listen to her talk and take her serious is beyond me. She blatantly flaunts her hypocrisy and does not lose an ounce of sleep thinking about the damage she is doing to the country. Pelosi’s lack of support for law enforcement is a major part of the problem.

Black Lives do Matter – Stop Destroying Your Community

I advocate for law enforcement because a very large majority of them are good people who put their lives on the line on a daily basis. To vilify those tasked to protect and serve us is completely unfair and despicable. Yes, positive changes must occur. Actions must be taken to eliminate the small yet corrupt and racist faction of police who give everyone in law enforcement a bad name. Police unions are a big part of the problem as they shield police from actions that come against them. This would be a good place to start with reforms. We cannot punish all the police officers who put their lives in harm’s way daily to protect our communities because of the bad officers. Bad officers of the law need to be identified, fired, and criminally charged and prosecuted. The sad thing is, most of the race-baiting and burning, looting, and destruction of BLACK-OWNED businesses and violence against black police and innocent people are occurring in predominantly low-income black neighborhoods. The mobs who are doing a majority of destruction are led by ANTIFA and other liberal white agitators. The interesting thing is, not only are these liberal hate groups not black, but they are intentionally targeting businesses in black communities and hence, when they leave, their own neighborhoods are not affected. So these liberal white agitators and Democrat politicians and the liberal media all go home to their nice comfortable gated and privately guarded communities and unaffected neighborhoods while innocent black families are left to scramble for a restaurant, grocery or clothing store, pharmacy, or protection from police who no longer even have a precinct in their communities. Who’s lives matter now? Certainly not the black lives who have to suffer through the carnage left behind.

If your assertion is that Black Lives Matter, then make all black lives matter. BLM should oppose abortion, because abortion is aimed at wiping out your legacy, your future and it is the needless barbaric slaughter of millions of innocent black babies in the womb each year. These babies are dying without a peep of protest.

If Black Lives Matter, then protect your neighborhoods and your businesses and the innocent black women and children who live there. Do not allow people OF ANY COLOR to destroy businesses, steal, or assault people of color. Do not allow rioters to exploit your protests and cause harm to people in your neighborhood. The people you live amongst of different races and nationalities are there to support you and your families and benefit businesses and/or have businesses that are vital to the black communities. Protect these communities and push back on those who seek to destroy or cause damage to anyone or anything located there. If Black Lives Matter, demand that the violence stops altogether and help to heal the country, because as it stands right now, the toughest obstacles to be overcome will be in the black communities, and the impact of defunding the police will be felt harshly in the black communities. Black communities have historically had issues with bad policing and that definitely needs to change, but the answer is in police reform, not defunding. Minneapolis is about to learn a hard lesson because of their actions to eliminate the police. This is not a victory for the black population. This is a major setback for the black community. None of you may believe this, and I blame the liberal media, but BLM is attacking the very President who has done more for the black community than any other President in our lifetime. He understands that the black communities need a strong reformed police presence, and he wants black families to be kept safe from crime. The trauma of being sexually assaulted can leave someone feeling scared, ashamed, and plagued with recurring and upsetting memories that can often last a lifetime. It is unfortunate that sexual violence continues to be prevalent in this country. January 6th ‘Violent Terrorist Insurrection’ and 2020 ‘Summer of Love’ Compared. Real Clear Investigations has a handy article and chart that compares January 6th Insurrection™ that was worse than Pearl Harbor, 9-11, and the cancellation of “Firefly” combined, to the “mostly peaceful” riots by Democrat surrogates during the summer of 2020 that were “the voice of the unheard.” Here are some of their takeaways.

The summer 2020 riots resulted in some 15 times more injured police officers, 23 times as many arrests, and estimated damages in dollar terms up to 1,300 times more costly than those of the Capitol riot.
Authorities have pursued the largely Trump-supporting Capitol rioters with substantially more vigor than suspected wrongdoers in the earlier two cases, and prosecutors and judges alike have weighed Capitol riot defendants’ political views in adjudicating their cases.
Dozens of accused Capitol rioters have been held in pretrial detention for months, where they have allegedly been mistreated.
In the summer 2020 riots, the vast majority of charges were dismissed, as they were in the Inauguration 2017 unrest. Prosecutors have dropped (only) a single Capitol riot case.
“But January 6th was so much worse. It was an assault on ‘Democracy itself,’ and the president encouraged it. A politician who encourages violence has crossed the line and forsaken his Constitutional Oath.” Yeah, about that…As is well demonstrated on this feed, some alleged conservatives parrot the rhetoric. Little Lizzy Cheney embraces it. Let us not forget. Ever.

It shows clearly the fact that most of the glitterati only went along with Trump and his supporters to maintain their power. It’s not dissimilar to how the GOP co-opted the TEA Party in 2010 and then sidelined them as much as possible. The GOP is happy to have any grass roots conservative movement vote for them, but only as long as they know their place (in the back with their mouths shut). Trump wasn’t that, but the GOP knew it had to work with him if they wanted any power at all…but the first chance they got to cut ties they took it. This is why we still get posts about how the Republican Party has to divorce itself from Trump or lose its credibility…when the GOP never had any credibility…only the ideology and the individuals have, or can have, credibility. If the GOP doesn’t advance conservative ideology…then what use is it? Go back to Reagan and look at every GOP President (Reagan, Bush, Bush, Trump) and tell me which ones said that they were Pro-Life? (All of them) How many of them actually worked to further the Pro-Life agenda? (Two, Reagan and Trump). How much did Federal spending decrease under any of those 4 GOP presidents? (None) How much immigration reform, border security, etc.? (None). Oh sure, the President isn’t everything and there is plenty that the Congress is responsible for as well. After all, Trump ran on building the wall and then Speaker Ryan squashed that with Leader McConnell’s help. Sometimes one has to look at the GOP as ask what their goals are, because they aren’t necessarily conservative’s goals. Notice how they always say an assault on our democracy. It’s never an assault on our constitution. Because they do not care about republicanism (small r) or our founding principles.

Democracy is a joke. The word has been so twisted, everyone thinks it means true liberal ideals and equal rights, western enlightenment and all that. It actually means tyranny of the majority. True democracies have a horrible historical track record. Look at any recent example in the Middle East where we flipped a Sunni/Shiite power structure in the name of democracy and it resulted in nothing but chaos. Why does every communist country call themselves “The Democratic Republic of” while their counterpart is always called “The Republic Of?”

Democracy is a nasty word. Our founders were classically educated in Greece and Rome and understood the evils of democracy. The parasites always outnumber the producers. The inferior always outnumber the superior. The low IQ always outnumber the high IQ. Two wolves and a sheep deciding on what to have for dinner. Summer of love in Seattle ends with gunfire, one dead. Seattle’s embattled mayor asked the protesters “occupying” the Capitol Hill area (CHAZ) to disband and go home after three people were shot there over the weekend, one of them fatally. Protesters have prevented cops from entering the area, declaring CHAZ an autonomous zone with no need for police.

“The cumulative impacts of the gatherings and protests and the nighttime atmosphere and violence has led to increasingly difficult circumstances for our businesses and residents,” said Seattle Mayor Jenny Durkan at a press conference. “The impacts have increased and the safety has decreased.” Durkan has been blasted by critics as she ignored the crime and chaos that has become increasingly apparent in CHAZ. Protesters moved in a few weeks ago, and the Seattle police abandoned the precinct, boarding up the windows. Since then, police have come under heavy criticism for ignoring calls about thefts, rapes, assaults and arson originating from the area.

Both Washington State Gov. Jay Inslee and Mayor Durkan have played ignorant, pretending they either didn’t know about the protests or downplaying the violence and chaos in CHAZ.

When asked earlier in the crisis by CNN’s Chris Cuomo how long the mayor would tolerate protesters occupying downtown Seattle and barring cops from the area, Durkan said “I don’t know. We could have the summer of love,” comparing it to the hippie movement in San Francisco in the summer of 1967.

But as violence spun out of control, Durkan has since decided that summer should end early, as least in CHAZ.

“It was doomed to happen from day one,” Matthew Ploszaj, an area resident, told KOMO TV. “No one wanted to say it, but I’m surprised it didn’t happen sooner.

“Clear it out, peacefully remove them, that’s fine,” Ploszaj concluded. “But start shuffling them away, they don’t need to stay here overnight.”

Other residents had similar concerns, texting the TV station video of protesters erecting barriers to authorities out of the area. Durkan says that she’ll negotiate with protesters to end the protest without the use of force.

Meanwhile, Sen. Ted Cruz spoke for conservatives everywhere, who have witnessed the liberal nervous breakdown about cops and policing with incredulity, by tweeting: “This is exactly why our communities need law enforcement.” This can never happen again,’ ranking cop says in scathing inspector general report on Chicago’s response to summer riots
Officers were “outflanked, under-equipped and unprepared” and the Chicago Police Department “critically disserved both its own front-line members and members of the public,” says the report, which one alderman called a “complete shock.” After the first wave of protests and vandalism that paralyzed downtown Chicago last summer, a top mayoral aide and the police superintendent congratulated each other for how the city’s officers did their jobs.

“Thank you for all your incredible work last night — you made Chicago proud,” the aide told police Supt. David Brown, who responded, “officers made the city of Chicago and the police profession proud!!!”

Their email exchange came on May 30, the day after the unrest began on a Friday.

Over the rest of that weekend, though, Brown and his staff were caught off guard by growing civil disturbances downtown and in the city’s neighborhoods, according to a 124-page report released Thursday by the city’s inspector general, Joe Ferguson.

Officers were “outflanked, under-equipped and unprepared,” and the Chicago Police Department “critically disserved both its own front-line members and members of the public,” the report says.

Anti-police demonstrations were gathering strength across the country, but Brown said he “had not seen any reason for concern leading into that weekend,” according to the inspector general’s report.

And Mayor Lori Lightfoot said she didn’t assume there was a “potential for peaceful protests to turn violent,” the report said.

The damning report was based on 70 interviews with cops, city officials and protesters, most of whom aren’t named, along with more than 100 hours of videos from officers’ body-worn cameras and police data on arrests and uses of force.

“This can never happen again,” one unnamed command-staff member told the inspector general’s office. The disorder in Chicago between May 29 and June 1 stemmed from the May 25 death of George Floyd, the Black man who was asphyxiated — according to an autopsy — because a Minneapolis police officer had knelt on his neck.

No one had authorized overtime pay for officers to work downtown on the night of May 29 during the first protests, leading to a lack of manpower — an “Achilles heel” for the department — one unnamed commander said.

Police supervisors said the night was chaotic, with officers running from one crisis to another without a plan.

Brown has described the strategy as “leapfrog,” the report said.

About 1,000 people were arrested in connection with the protests and looting on May 30 and May 31, mostly for disorderly conduct and curfew violations, with about 50 people arrested for looting. But breakdowns in the mass-arrest process resulted in some suspects getting released without charges, the inspector general said.

In a statement, the police department said it conducted an internal review after the unrest, focusing on “accountability, planning and preparedness, command and control, training, and communication” during large-scale responses. “The results of this after-action review have since informed the department on how to best respond to similar situations while protecting public safety and the rights of all individuals involved,” the statement said. Police tried to keep the after-action review out of the hands of the inspector general, claiming it was subject to attorney-client privilege, but eventually agreed to turn it over on Feb. 3, according to the inspector general’s report.

Lightfoot’s office said: “The fact that CPD under the leadership of Superintendent Brown has owned responsibility for its challenges and embraced the opportunity to do better is noteworthy. There were a number of lessons learned ... that were put into place over the course of the summer and fall — notably in connection with the federal election.”

According to the inspector general’s report, many cops were told to report directly to Guaranteed Rate Field for staging during the unrest, but that meant they didn’t have body cameras, which were stored in their police districts. That could come to haunt the department later when it needs videos to defend officers’ actions or discipline them for misconduct.

Some commanders, who weren’t named in the report, said they had ordered officers that weekend to remove tape obstructing their name tags, which officers sometimes do to keep protesters from filing complaints against them. Officers also underreported their use of force, including the use of baton strikes, the report said.

The inspector general’s report documented numerous examples of chaos in the police department over that weekend. Among them, on May 31, the department tried to rent 150 vans for transporting officers because so many police vehicles had been damaged or destroyed the day before. But a rental company didn’t have that many vans, so police officials had to travel across Illinois to pick up vans from a dozen locations and drive them back to Chicago. The report also raised questions about two major logistical decisions by the mayor on May 30: raising the bridges on the Chicago River to keep rioters out of the Loop and stopping CTA trains from coming into the Loop.

Brown didn’t seem to understand that city transportation workers had to trek downtown to raise the bridges. He wondered “whether there was not simply one person who could simply press a button and raise a bridge,” the report said, adding that “during the protests at the 2012 North Atlantic Treaty Organization summit in Chicago, raising bridges had been discussed and rejected as an ineffective tool for emergency crowd control.”

The report also focused on the mayor’s decision to stop CTA trains from entering the Loop starting at 6 p.m. on May 30.

“Proponents of this decision within CPD believed that peaceful protesters had left downtown by this time, and that suspending train service would stop people from coming to vandalize and loot the area,” the report said. “One command staff member specifically mentioned stopping people coming from the city’s South Side as an objective.” But protesters said they found it difficult to exit the Loop because the bridges were raised and trains were bypassed.

Despite the widespread destruction and theft across downtown on May 30, there was apparently little concern among police higher-ups that the wave of criminality would ripple into the city’s neighborhoods.

“The superintendent reported that CPD had received no intelligence to suggest that looting would spread throughout the neighborhoods, and suggested that there were no events in other cities which might have foretold this,” the report states. “The department did not have plans in place to respond to the looting.”

Once the looting stopped, Lightfoot emailed the leaders of the police department and Office of Emergency Management and Communications to ask for statistics on how many calls for service were received May 31.

Lightfoot wrote that “we need to be able to demonstrate that in fact police were assigned to the south and west sides because the narratives that we saved downtown and let black neighborhoods burn persists. Of course, totally untrue, but it persists,” the report said.

The property damage and violence in the city that weekend reached historic levels. In the Near North police district alone, 86 businesses were either vandalized or looted on May 30. And 18 people were killed across the city on May 31, making it the single deadliest day in Chicago in 60 years. Garry McCarthy, hailed for his front-line leadership during the protests of the 2012 NATO Summit in Chicago when he was police superintendent, wasn’t surprised by the inspector general’s criticism of the police department’s performance during last summer’s unrest. But he didn’t think Brown deserves all the blame.

“I’ve been very disappointed in David Brown’s performance since he’s been here. But it’s unfair to castigate David as he walked through the door dealing with the pandemic, then at the same time getting hit with riots. He couldn’t have possibly been familiar with the disorder procedures that we had established way back in 2012,” McCarthy said.

He said the department is suffering from too much turnover and too few veteran leaders.

“I don’t know who’s running the show,” McCarthy said.

Ald. Chris Taliaferro (29th), the former Chicago police officer chairing the City Council’s Committee on Public Safety, said he was in “complete shock” after learning about the report.

“Given the nature of what this city dealt with — the riots and looting in the short time in which it came about — I thought, as it was reported by our police department, that they showed great restraint, No. 1, and did an overall good job in protecting the residents of this city,” Taliaferro said. “A report of this nature, as it’s been told to me, just completely tears the statements made by our superintendent apart.”

The inspector general’s report doesn’t offer any recommendations, but Taliaferro said, “I’m hopeful that this report will bring change about how we handle mass situations like riots and looting. They’re certainly going to happen again.” Remember the “summer of love” in Seattle after radical, anti-cop Antifa demonstrators set up an autonomous zone smack dab in the center of the city? Remember how the mayor wrote it off as nothing more than a summertime “block party?”

As The Blaze reported, it looks like Seattle Mayor Jenny Durkan is beginning to not only have some regret over letting Antifa anarchists take control of her city, but also because of a growing public safety crisis as a record number of police officers leave the police force.

A local media outlet reported on Friday that according to recently released budget reports, there appears to be an exodus of police officers from the Seattle Police Department. Since September alone, approximately 39 officers have “separated” from the force, with over a dozen more using accrued leave time likely as they wait to move on to new jobs.

Making matters worse for law-abiding citizens in Seattle is the alarming fact that the department is now staffed at levels not seen since the early 90s, when there were roughly 44 percent fewer residents living in the area. What that means for those law-abiding citizens who count on the police is longer response times for emergencies.

Durkan is reportedly “deeply concerned” over the matter. Turns out that her “summer of love” might not have been worth the political credit she scored with the woke, defund-the-police leftists she was pandering to at the time. She called the concerning situation “unprecedented,” even though it was the complete opposite. When cops aren’t allowed to do their jobs, naturally, they’re going to seek out agencies where they’re allowed to actually be cops.

“We are losing an unprecedented number of officers, which makes it even more critical that we recruit and retain officers committed to reform and community policing that reflect the diversity and values of our city,” Durkan said.

But in the same breath, Durkan had to appease her Antifa supporters, as she used the same tired liberal talking point of “reimagining” policing in her community.

“We will continue to improve policing and reimagine community safety in Seattle by shifting some responses to community-based alternatives and civilian programs like Health One or Community Service Officers,” Durkan said.

The Seattle City Council made waves earlier this year after voting, in a radical and dangerous move, to defund the city’s police department. Durkan hesitantly vetoed the measure, but the council was too strong, eventually overriding the veto, which will undoubtedly leave the department financially crippled.

It won’t take long for residents in these poorly-run liberal cities to feel the effects of a reduction in police funding and manpower, as criminals will flock to those areas by the thousands so that they can do their bidding without much worry of being apprehended by police.

We can only hope that as crime inevitably increases, the Democrats in power begin to see the error of their radical ways. Psy-Op Much? Antifa Stages 'Love' March in Portland Neighborhood it Just Trashed – and Attacks ICE HQ Antifa showed up in a Portland neighborhood it had trashed just days before to share “love” with angry residents by staging a “clean up” march while, in another part of town, others were massing to trash the ICE headquarters. It was a display of psy-ops, disinformation, and misdirection from the well-organized group.

Saturday night in the Pearl District of Portland, the black-bloc outfitted, masked antifa members blocked streets while marching with a banner which read, “antifa loves you.” Mobsters broke off from the crowd to “wash windows” of alarmed businesses and pick up trash, while at the same time distributing paper flyers accusing Portland police officers of murder. Marchers blew bubbles.

It was certainly a more brazen approach from the violent anarcho-communist mob, whose main job is breaking windows, not washing them.

Antifa-approved media member Grace Morgan accompanied the mob, which came at about 9 p.m. local time for what she called a “community beautifying event.” Portland police officers broke up the party as best they could about 40 minutes later by issuing a call for “credentialed media” to meet them at a nearby street where they would be released “one at a time.” That was new, too. There were probably very few, if any, “credentialed media” at the event.

Antifa has beaten multiple independent journalists, live streamers, and others – Andy Ngo and Mike Strickland to name two – if they fail to swear fealty and fail to issue reports from anything other than the anarcho-communist group’s perspective.

Saturday night’s “love” march looked like a psy-op and acted as a way to decoy the Portland Police Bureau officers. And at least one antifa ally thought it looked that way, too. Earlier that day, Turning Point USA members held a rally in Olympia, Washington, about 90 minutes north of Portland. Antifa mobs targeted the rally and threw objects at them. Antifa justified the attack by calling TPUSA “fascists.” The Washington State Patrol refused to arrest antifa assaulters, according to Turning Point’s Katie Daviscourt. Meanwhile, antifa piled in their cars back to Portland to let the residents of the Pearl District and all of Portland know that after months of destruction, rioting, vandalism, looting, lasers, and IED’s they “love” them.

And just ten minutes from the Pearl District “clean up,” other antifa members collected to trash the ICE building where windows were smashed, someone burned an American flag, and a non-approved antifa media member tried to livestream the activity. Rocks and bottles were thrown at the media member’s vehicle after his or her cover was blown and the vehicle sped away so the journalist could avoid injury. Portland Mayor Ted Wheeler says he’s sick and tired of antifa trashing neighborhoods and frightening neighbors. He announced in the past few days that he supported the police tactic of “kettling” protesters, basically blocking them in one confined space, such as a city block with large buildings on each side, to prevent rioting.

With antifa’s obvious disinformation and decoy campaign on Saturday, combined with its ongoing efforts to embed members in government and community groups, Portland had better watch out or it will end up like Gaza with antifa taking on the role of Hamas. On Saturday night, a mob of antifa rioters ravaged the Pearl District of Portland, smashing windows and spray-painting anti-police messages on businesses, including a Safeway, a Starbucks, and a Chipotle, among others. Police resources to deal with the riot had been strained by multiple shootings in the city that same evening.

Rioters terrorized at least one person still inside the Chipotle when they attacked the building. Rioters spray-painted “ACAB,” which stands for “all cops are bastards,” on the location. The Portland Police Bureau (PPB) explained that few officers were available to deal with the rioters due to multiple shootings across the city.

“Police response was constrained by multiple shooting incidents happening across the city, limiting the officers available to address the criminal behavior in the protest. Still, officers responded to the criminal behavior and made two arrests. Items that could be used as weapons were seized, including a large bat,” PPB reported in a news release.

The riot began at about 9 p.m. Pacific and lasted over two hours. Police warned the rioters over the loudspeaker with this message To those marching in the Pearl District: Officers have observed and community members have reported members of this group have damaged buildings in the Pearl District. Immediately stop participating in criminal behavior including damaging property. Failure to adhere to this order may subject perpetrators to detention, citation, arrest, or use of crowd control agents, including, but not limited to, tear gas and/or impact weapons. Immediately stop participating in criminal activity. The news release went on to explain that “while tear gas use is currently restricted, state law requires that warning be given.”

In other words, Portland’s laws require that police warn rioters that officers may use tear gas against them, even though Portland’s current regulations prevent the use of tear gas.

Police arrested one adult and one teenager. “The adult was issued a criminal citation and released (due to current COVID-19 restrictions for booking at the Multnomah County Detention Center). The juvenile was released to his parents and will be given a future hearing date,” the release explained.

Last June, the Portland City Council voted to cut at least $15 million from the police budget, eliminating 84 positions.

On February 27, when police faced three separate shootings and a violent antifa riot, the department’s resources were stretched too thin to protect private property and keep the peace in the Pearl District, where Mayor Ted Wheeler once lived before antifa pushed him out. The Black Lives Matter movement demanded the defunding of police, and Portland complied. As a result, antifa violence has gotten worse, not better. Funny how that works. It’s almost like appeasing the mob is a bad strategy for law and order. If Black Lives Matter, then why are you allowing anybody to attack black police officers or any police officer who is tasked with protecting your neighborhoods who are not directly involved in the attacks on black people. Do you realize that many of the innocent black families who live in these neighborhoods depend on the police for protection? Let’s begin with the destruction that is being caused now. How much more would have been destroyed if not for the presence of law enforcement. There is obviously a major disconnect between some of the bad element in law enforcement and these communities, but removing all law enforcement is never the answer, in fact it is absurd to even think it much less work towards accomplishing it. As of now, the greatest strength the black population has is their ability to effectuate change because of the outpouring of support for their cause due to the tragic death of George Floyd at the hands of a very bad man with a badge, and as blacks, you are allowing the rioters and agitators to destroy it for you. On Thursday, antifa agitators who gathered to protest against Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) burned American flags, broke glass, and set fire to the plywood at the federal courthouse in Portland. Federal officers with the Department of Homeland Security under President Joe Biden responded in much the same way they did under Donald Trump, but DHS has yet to release a statement about the incident.

“Anti DHS/ICE and [Stop Line 3] protesters gather,” local reporter Garrison Davis tweeted with a video. “A few of the remaining uncovered windows have been broken. An American flag burns in front of the door.”

As agitators clad in the trademark antifa black bloc smashed the door and spray-painted obscenities and the indigenous “Land Back” slogan, police launched pepper spray at the rioters. “A group of around 50 are gathered at the federal courthouse building. Some people set a small fire near the entrance & others are spray painting the building with graffiti,” KOIN News reporter Jennifer Dowling tweeted with a video. Rioters continued to set the structure ablaze and federal officials repeatedly responded, putting out the fire multiple times.

Under Trump, DHS would defend its actions with press releases after antifa riots like this. Yet as of Friday morning, the DHS had yet to release a statement on this response to the violence. Earlier on Thursday, antifa agitators attempted to break into a Chase Bank location, where a security guard pulled a firearm on them. These agitators had reportedly targeted the bank in order to stop the funding of an oil pipeline between the Canadian province of Alberta and Superior, Wisconsin.

The Portland Police Bureau did not respond to the attack on the federal courthouse — which falls under federal jurisdiction — but the department announced it has been preparing for demonstrations over the weekend.

“We are aware of events planned tomorrow and this weekend in which people plan to gather and demonstrate. Demonstration Liaison Officers (DLOs) are available to work with community members organizing these events,” the bureau tweeted.

Over the summer following the death of George Floyd, antifa rioters besieged the federal courthouse for more than 100 consecutive nights, firing commercial-grade fireworks at the building, setting it ablaze, and throwing Molotov cocktails toward it. In January, antifa rioters engaged in violence yet again.

After the January violence, White House Press Secretary Jen Psaki insisted that “President Biden condemned protests and violence on the far right and the far left before he was president,” Biden often singled out groups like the Proud Boys while only once explicitly condemning antifa. “Peaceful protests are a cornerstone of our democracy but smashing windows is not protesting and neither is looting, and actions like these are totally unacceptable,” Psaki said.

Despite the violence, the Portland City Council voted to cut at least $15 million from the police budget last June, eliminating 84 positions. Last month, when police faced three separate shootings and a violent antifa riot, the department’s resources were stretched too thin to protect private property and keep the peace.

Show less