{"id":74269,"date":"2020-05-29T21:25:49","date_gmt":"2020-05-30T02:25:49","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.shotinthedark.info\/wp\/?p=74269"},"modified":"2020-05-29T21:25:50","modified_gmt":"2020-05-30T02:25:50","slug":"siege-2","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/www.shotinthedark.info\/wp\/?p=74269","title":{"rendered":"Siege"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

For those who might be curious, I\u2019m safe.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The neighborhood that has been my home for most of the last 33 years? Not so much. More on that later.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The cities that have been my home, and the place that I raised my family, for the last 35 years?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"
Lloyds Pharmacy, at Snelling in Minnehaha. My pharmacy for most of the last 30 years. Or what\u2019s left of it, anyway.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

We are in the worst possible hands.\ufffc<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Yesterday afternoon, I almost wrote that Mayor Frey\u2019s press conference was the worst train wreck I have ever seen in public.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I would\u2019ve spoken too soon.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The mayors 1:30 AM press conference last night\u2026<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u2026 Well, words fail me. I come up with words for a living, and a hobby, and I\u2019ve got nothing.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

There is literally not the faintest shred of leadership under that perfectly coiffed hairdo of his. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Asked why he ordered the third precinct evacuated, he prattled something about the building being just a symbol – human lives are the important part. Why no reporter thought to follow up by asking \u201cwhat about the lives that are being put in direct jeopardy by the complete turnover of the streets to the mob? What about the symbol you\u2019re sending \u2013 that the police protection that is one of the few legitimate reasons to have a government, is being pulled out at the height of the crisis? Do you want to talk symbols, let\u2019s talk symbols!\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"
The Menards, at University at Prior. There was apparently a minimal amount of looting, before police and security cleared the building. Front and loaders piled barricades made of lumberyard materials in front of the doors.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Naturally, nobody asked that.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

But a reporter actually DID ask an incisive question, something the mayor clearly isn\u2019t used to ever getting. \u201cWhat\u2019s the plan?\u201c. The mayor responded, initially, with five seconds of deer in the headlights silence, before asking the reporter \u201cplan for what?\u201d like a junior high kid who\u2019d forgotten this week was midterms, before starting \u201cthere\u2019s a lot of pain out there\u2026\u201c and another couple minutes of gibberish that didn\u2019t even address, much less answer, the question.\ufffc<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Forget about the facts on the ground \u2013 if you are a resident of Minneapolis, that press conference should have you howling with anger. The feelings of the mob – not people demonstrating against police brutality, but the roving mass of thieves and provocateurs – are more important than your livelihoods, your lives.\ufffc<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Call it the tyranny of low expectations, but when I saw St. Paul police chief Todd Axtel\u2018s press conference I found myself almost happy to see a police chief saying \u201cwe\u2019re not abandoning our city\u201c. In normal times, I would say, dumbfounded, \u201cwhat, do you want a cookie? That\u2019s your job!\u201c We\u2019ve seen today that you can\u2019t take that for granted.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Part of me wants to apologize for former New Orleans Ray Nagin for calling him the worst mayor in the history of America in the wake of hurricane Katrina. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\ufffcAnyway – curfew in effect. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"
This is how I curfew. Miscreants, take the hint.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

\u201cOne Minnesota\u201c my ass.\ufffc\ufffc<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u2014\u2014\u2014-<\/p>\n\n\n\n

If you think this would be an opportune time to slip some virtue signaling about the justification for the rioters into the comments, think again.<\/undefined><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

For those who might be curious, I\u2019m safe. The neighborhood that has been my home for most of the last 33 years? Not so much. More on that later. The cities that have been my home, and the place that I raised my family, for the last 35 years? We are in the worst possible […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[419,416],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-74269","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-2020-riots","category-covid19"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.shotinthedark.info\/wp\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/74269","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.shotinthedark.info\/wp\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.shotinthedark.info\/wp\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.shotinthedark.info\/wp\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.shotinthedark.info\/wp\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=74269"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"http:\/\/www.shotinthedark.info\/wp\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/74269\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":74270,"href":"http:\/\/www.shotinthedark.info\/wp\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/74269\/revisions\/74270"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.shotinthedark.info\/wp\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=74269"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.shotinthedark.info\/wp\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=74269"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.shotinthedark.info\/wp\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=74269"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}