Editor's Blog: Rage Burning in Baltimore

April 29, 2015
Is one dead man the only cause of the riots in Baltimore? Oh, no. Don’t believe that for a second.

Folks, be advised: Some of this will be politically correct and reasonably professional; some of it, not so much.  What follows is MY opinion and MY opinion only and does not reflect the beliefs of Cygnus Business Media, Cygnus Law Enforcement Media, any other employee, owner, etc. of Cygnus or any of its sub-properties.  I and I alone am responsible for everything that follows in this blog entry. - - - - - - - - -

First off, I’d like to offer my condolences to the family of Freddie Gray.  No matter what kind of person he was; no matter whether his overall impact on society was positive or negative, every family hates to lose a family member and families grieve even if the person lost wasn’t of high value to anyone else.  Who knows what he may have gone on to do with his life?  We’ll never know.  I offer my sincere condolences to his family.

Second, to every person using Freddie Gray’s death – caused by a broken spine and mostly severed spinal cord, both injuries due to AN UNKNOWN CAUSE… to every person using this as an excuse to further commit crimes in the name of civil rights: Shame on you.  You do NOTHING to further the cause of civil rights. You do NOTHING to improve race relations.  You do NOTHING to earn respect or garner professional treatment.  All you do is feed your ego and leach off of the hard working members of our society.  DO NOT BE SURPRISED WHEN YOU GET ARRESTED.  And since so many of you have decided to announce your intention to murder officers (just search #Baltimoreriots on Twitter and look at what you get), don’t be surprised when you resist arrest and end up needing a trip to the hospital before you get to the jailhouse.

I just don’t get it – and maybe I never will.  I’m not African American.  I’m not any culture where I can claim I’m “black.”  I didn’t grow up a minority and have never experienced all of the prejudicial treatment some minorities claim they’ve suffered through.  I’m not poor – and although I feel I’ve been pretty poor at some times in my life, I’ve never been so poor that I asked the government – any government – for help to pay my bills or feed my family.  I’m not a drug user, dealer, manufacturer, etc.  I’m not a member of a gang, nor have I ever been.  I’m not a single parent and my stint as one was less than three years.  I don’t know what it’s like to have a child that’s a thug.  Mine are all contributing members of society who obey the law (except for maybe speed limits and stop signs on occasion).

I don’t get it.  Freddie Gray was a career criminal.  His list of arrests in the past three years wasn’t just one or two but ten plus according to what I’ve seen reported.  There is not a single shred of evidence to demonstrate that he was mistreated IN ANY WAY by the police officers who arrested him, transported him, resecured him and finished his transport.  There’s no witness statement indicating mistreatment even from the other arrestee that was in the transport van.  In fact, the only witness statements we have to do indicate that Freddie himself was thrashing around in the back of the transport van to the point where the officers were worried that he might hurt himself, the other prisoner, the van, etc.  The only video I’ve seen to date, of Freddie being leg-shackled and further secured, shows officers doing exactly that: putting on leg shackles and securing his movements.  No beatings.  No choke holds.  No kicking. No tasing. No OC Spray.

And what’s the result?  A man dead with an unknown-cause injury and a city literally burning as a result.  But is this one dead man the only cause of these riots?  Oh, no.  Don’t believe that for a  second.

These riots – the rage we see demonstrated was very carefully built and fed.  It started with similar riots in Ferguson, Missouri.  Where our country’s “leadership” had every opportunity to stand up and say something to calm people, instead they fanned the flames of discord and poured fuel on the riot fires.  People who suck money out of our society by spreading hatred – people like Al Sharpton – showed up to be in the lime light, talk bad about “whitey” and spur on those impressionable, often desperate, young people to commit further crimes.  Remember this if you remember nothing else: If there was no racial discord, Al Sharpton would disappear, forgotten in the annals of our history.  He exists for no other purpose than to increase racial disparity.

Even the Mayor of Baltimore went on national television and admitted that she ordered the rioters to be given room to commit their violence.  Of course, now she’s backpedaling and trying to say that’s not what she meant.  As I type this, fifteen officers are injured and one is comatose as the result of dealing with rioters that “civil rights leaders” and our country’s “leadership” have spurred.  Martin Luther King, Jr. must be turning over in his grave at the mere thought of this being called a fight for civil rights.

I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again:  Peaceful protesting is exactly that: Peaceful.  It’s marching, arm in arm, hand in hand, or merely side by side.  It’s chanting whatever your message is so that people have to hear it.  It doesn’t involve destruction of property, stealing property, assaulting others or attacking the police officers assigned to protect YOU the protestor from citizens you might anger.

What’s going on is not a protest.  It has nothing to do with protesting.  It has nothing, in fact, to do with Freddie Gray.  The death of Freddie Gray – as yet unexplained in any way – is merely an excuse for those already criminally minded to go out and commit their crimes mixed in amongst so many others doing the same thing that there simply aren’t enough police to deal with them.  What happens? The National Guard is called out.  Unfortunately, the National Guard will likely have Rules of Engagement (ROE) that prevent them from taking action except in extreme instances.  I’d be willing to bet that several Guardsmen will be injured; many will be attacked. Hopefully no one will be killed.  Will we see it on television? More than likely not.  Operating under military information release controls, unless someone gets a private video of a Guardsman being attacked or injured, you’ll never hear about it.  And when the criminals rioting finally exhaust themselves – or move on to the next riot location – some credit will go to the National Guard for its efficient control of the situation.  Don’t get me wrong: I’m not being critical of the Guard in any way. I used to be a guardsman myself.  But the info released by the Guard command staff won’t be released until it’s well filtered and presents the message they want us to hear.

What SHOULD happen, in my opinion, is this:

A warning should be given well prior to dusk or sundown.  Everyone should be alerted via the state’s Emergency Alert System and announcements should be made via loudspeaker and public announcement systems.  The announcement should go something like this:

To all citizens of Baltimore or any visiting from other locations: This is a public announcement regarding the safety and welfare of all people in this city.  A curfew is in effect from ten pm to 5 am.  If you’re on the street between those times you will be stopped by the police, identified, checked for open warrants and then cited before being released to continue home.  Outside of those times, as always, if you are observed committing a crime you will be arrested and charged accordingly.  If a riotous incident occurs, the general area of said riot will be saturated with a crowd control irritant to disperse the crowd.  Those who cover their mouths and eyes to remain in the riot area will be engaged with less-lethal weapons, subdued and arrested.  Those who resist arrest risk a greater level of injury due to the very nature of a fight.  Save yourselves the trouble and just abide by the law.

Repeat that for an hour from four or five pm on.  Then DO IT.  Without pause. Without worry. Without checking to see if the Mayor’s PR team thinks it’s a good idea at the moment or not.  When a riot breaks out, lob in a few dozen canisters of OC Spray.  For those who cover their mouths, nose and eyes as they leave, great. For those who do that just so they can stay and continue to riot, start unloading on them with rubber bullets, pepper balls, etc.  If you say, “You’re under arrest,” to someone and they don’t immediately follow your orders, TASE them and get them cuffed.  Have the paddy wagons standing by.  They’re going to fill up quick the first few iterations of this plan.  After that it will start to dwindle.

For all those law abiding citizens in and around Baltimore, please be careful and be aware of your surroundings.  The criminal element, which is apparently quite large as compared to the general population, is running rampant, enraged with the fuel of self-righteousness, based on the statement of a few idiots mouthing platitudes about civil rights.

To the criminals: There is nothing civil or righteous in what you’re doing.  Your actions DO NOTHING to support or pursue justice.  Burning down an old folks home will not change how someone gets treated when they’re arrested and it certainly won’t make the police watch you commit a crime without any response; although apparently that’s what your Mayor wants to have happen.

If crap like this doesn’t stop, we’ll soon reach a point where there won’t be any saving a city.  When riots like this start and criminals starting burning down buildings, a general advisory will go out telling the law abiding citizens to evacuate the city – and the criminals can keep what’s left after the city has burned itself out.  There will be no victims to attack.  The police and National Guard will simply surround the city and watch it burn, offering no aid or comfort to the criminals who have put themselves into the situation.  You want anarchy? (and some of them obviously do)  You’ll get it.

It gives me visions of New York in the movie “Escape from New York;”  a city run by the smartest and most powerful criminal without any structure, law, infrastructure, etc.  Just survival of the strongest, day to day.  That’s what the criminal element would create with their actions.  That’s not what any member of a civil society thinks is a good idea.

Stay safe.

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