The takeover of Capitol Hill in Seattle: Just one big happy family, according to the AP
[Hat tip: commenter “MBunge.]
AP stories get very wide circulation. And today, the takeover of a Capitol Hill neighborhood in Seattle by radical anarchists and other far leftists is covered by the AP as though it’s a party. The headline goes like this: “Trump fumes as protesters stake out festive zone in Seattle.”
If you don’t already know, please get up to speed on who this group really is and what they’ve done and what their goals are: see this as well as this.
If you Google that headline, you’ll get a host of articles (all the same AP piece) appearing in outlet after outlet: ABC, the LA Times, and US News, just to list a few. If it’s covered at all, that’s the way it’s covered. How many people even read past the headline? They get the message: it’s the Summer of Love returned to a “festive zone” that’s been “staked out.”
Please read; here’s the beginning [emphasis mine]:
Following days of violent confrontations with protesters, police in Seattle have largely withdrawn from a neighborhood where protesters have created a festival-like scene that has President Donald Trump fuming.
Trump taunted Gov. Jay Inslee and Mayor Jenny Durkan about the situation on Twitter and said the city had been taken over by “anarchists.”
Words are used there with great subtlety and economy. To those of us who are accustomed to looking for and spotting such things, the twisting of the truth may seem obvious. But it is unlikely to be the least bit obvious to the casual reader.
In the article, the police are the ones having the “violent confrontations” with protesters, not the other way around. The atmosphere of the occupation is light and happy, and yet mean old Trump is fuming. Maybe he just doesn’t like to see people having fun. Not only is he fuming, but he is “taunting” in his tweet, which suggests a nasty sort of teasing about something that’s probably petty. And oh, how silly he is, saying it’s been taken over by – scare quotes – “anarchists.” Pretend anarchists. What a taunting name-caller that Trunp is!
And that’s just the first two sentences, and they’re not especially long sentences at that.
The article goes on for some time, quoting the wonderful leaders of the festive group and criticizing Trump, and suggesting that it’s only an assertion by police that they were being assaulted with projectiles. The truth of that assertion is left unexplored, but the insinuation is that it probably didn’t happen.
It is really quite a document; I suggest you read it, and as you read it please recall that the AP sets the tone and the message and the narrative for nearly the entire nation.
The group’s actual demands? Nowhere to be seen. The article reads as a press release for the occupiers. Those who think an event like this takeover could serve as a wakeup call to America probably haven’t bargained on the propagandists of the AP.
[NOTE: Again, I apologize for my pessimism. But that’s the way I see it at the moment.]
[ADDENDUM: I want to add that the article barely mentions the fact that this is a residential area that has been taken over without the consent of the residents. The assault on liberty is ignored, except for a single sentence that goes like this: “[The police chief] said protesters have set up their own barricades, which are intimidating some residents.” Again, the trick here is that the authors don’t check out the truth or falsehood of the assertion. In fact, the entire story is treated as a “he said, she said” type of thing in which the happy peace-love statements of the occupiers are contrasted with the “claims” of the police, rather than about facts that could actually be verified. Reporters used to do things like actually go to the scene and see for themselves whether there are such barricades and such intimidation. But the AP story merely repeats, uncritically, the sunny descriptions by the occupiers (minus, of course, their actual demands, which would give the game away if the public were to know those), and contrasts them with the claims of the police. Local politicians quoted are on the side of the occupiers. The entire episode is treated as though the occupiers have merely set up a pleasant street fair.]
One is reminded, in considering the recent upheaval in Seattle and the rapper/warlord who seems to be orchestrating events, of the famous raid on the MOVE cult in Philadelphia ordered by Mayor Goode in 1985. Goode, who was black, ordered a raid on the black nationalist cult, resulting in a number of deaths, including children. Thus far, it seems as if Raz Simone, the leader in Seattle, is no more rational or reasonable than the members of MOVE.
In the first part of your article you have Capitol Hill as in Chicago. It is In Seattle.
Joan W:
Haste makes waste. Thanks. Fixed!
This attitude:
https://twitter.com/i/status/1271202015264161792
Policemen should have their wage doubled. These are heroes.
I’m so old I can remember when the Associated Press was considered the standard for sober, even-handed reporting. But it’s been 40 years, and now I suspect all of the judicious old hands are gone, replaced by 27 year olds who know little and understand less.
I was born just a mile or two from the autonomous zone, and lived much of my life in the Seattle area. I believe many of the residents and business owners are supporting the radicals, at least for now.
But substantial numbers of them are quiet moderates or even conservatives who are keeping their heads down, as one must in this town. They have been disenfranchised and are victims of a hostile takeover. There’s credible information that extortion is happening. Imagine the reactions of clueless Gov. Inslee and that feckless excuse of a mayor, if the Proud Boys took over a Seattle neighborhood and barricaded out the SJWs. They’d be facing sniper fire and capital charges in a heartbeat. Local politicians would condemn them absolutely, and rightly so.
Depriving people of their freedom, civil liberties, and representation in governance is unacceptable, regardless your ideological excuse.
Gordon Scott:
Oh, they know one thing very well – how to write propaganda.
Remember, they voted for this stuff. My recollection is that it is not exactly Bellevue, so not a high value area. When they get to Lake Union or Bellevue, or Mercer Island, let me know. I seriously considered living there and owned 10 acres on Vashon Island for 15 years for a retirement home. Dodged a bullet there.
I would appreciate some facts about CHAZ. I’ve heard it called “3-4-5-6” blocks but then I’ve also heard that it runs E-W from Broadway to 13th Avenue and N-S from East Denny Way to Pike Avenue, totally including Cal Anderson Park. From Google Maps, that looks like 12 city blocks in a rectangle about 1000 feet E-W and about 1500 feet N-S. That’s a pretty good chunk of prime real estate in the middle of a city.
Can anybody confirm or correct this information? Thanks in advance.
I would also like to know how many people live there. The map shows a lot of businesses but I heard that there are several hundred residences mixed in. True?
And can we learn if the homeowners and business owners are happy with this new arrangement? Are they free to come and go? Are they being asked to “contribute”? What happens if they decline?
Owen,
I think you know the answers to your questions. If not you will know soon, as within 10 days.
I have a friend that works for the AP. In 1992 he hooked me up with work on election day answering phones to help tabulate the vote. It was like being in Clinton HQs. They cheered Clinton’s victory. “WE WON! WE WON!”. When I mentioned it to my friend his reply was “It’s even worse than you think.”
More and more, the MSM is indeed our enemy.
What to do?
I have wondered why they demand disbanding of the police rather than making a similar demand to the one of demanding black medical people to serve black patients. Why not demand black police officers serve areas where they majority of the population is black? Could it be that they think their black brothers on the force don’t share their world views?
But substantial numbers of them are quiet moderates or even conservatives who are keeping their heads down, as one must in this town.
This will only end when moderates and conservatives get the courage to speak out individually and collectively and declare that it must end. The principles are obvious, yet people are afraid to defend them. That way lies tyranny.
Francesca:
The only thing I’ve been able to think to do is to talk to a few liberal friends – relatively moderate ones – and try to prove it to them by showing a few examples.
I am just starting to do this again after a long hiatus. I used to do it many years ago but it didn’t lead to much, and after a while it was counterproductive. I plan to let people know if any good comes of it this time.
Enemy of the people.
RainCity: That should be Swedish Hospital. My son was born there – 1986.
I think many of the good people of Seattle (and elsewhere) are simply frightened to express their opinions. 5 or so years ago I visited Seattle and looked up a colleague who now has a very good consulting business. We worked together on the Metro Tunnel Project. He stayed on with Metro while I move to work on projects in Germany. We had a coffee on the waterfront: I stated I could not believe that laws were being passed to allow boys into girls bathrooms – a big issue back then. “Have the people of Seattle lost their minds” I said. He looked around nervously and said “Don’t talk like that here!” The sad fact is that if it were known he shared my opinion, he would never work in Seattle again.
Even this week the same; writing to relations and friends commenting about the insane situation there the replies have zero response to my comments about the spreading anarchy. The people are truly cowed. They are afraid of losing their livelihoods – or worse.
How this plays out in the election will be interesting.
AP sells their stuff to news outlets. So the news outlets must be satisfied with the product. I suppose an outlet could say that if there’s no other source for information you take what you get. But alternatives are available and the choice not to choose them says something. And it says it to, among others, the customer.
How this plays out in the election will be interesting.
And how many votes are found in the King County official’s car trunk. Remember Gregoire in 2004?
There’s a problem with the US military now, as frontpage is writing about.
Plays out in the election… are people here assuming there is going to be an election?
Heh
Apparently America is in some kind of conflict?
Eh, this stuff isn’t that bad. Wait until June 13-16th. The Cabal is cooking something serious up, Empire strikes back style. My network of counter intel and intel, picked it up from a number of methods.
And as of this morning, HerHonor the mayor of Seattle stated that the citizens of CHAZ are patriots. No way she is going to do anything about the situation.
My fear now is that Trump may take the bait and move in. That would be a disastrous move on his part, and is exactly what the left wants.
I feel a bit sorry for the moderates/conservatives in Seattle. They now know what it is like to live on a college campus for the last 15 years. When you are in the extreme minority and the majority is intent on erasing you, there are few options except to get out. My other fear is that the left has now gained about 50% or more of the population given the obsequiousness we see from corporate America. We may be totally screwed.
What a place for the poor Mayor Dunkin(?) of Seattle to be in. The crocodile is after her (Anti Fay and Black Lying Marxists) and she has to count on President Trump doing something predictable and bad in order for her to survive. The people of Seattle may be all behind her but the businesses may be packing their bags to get out of the empire of CHAZ. Sad for her and for WA.
Now King Jay doesn’t see any problems beyond Orange Man Bad. It’s all Orange Man Bad as noted above, Doubly sad for WA.
@physicsguy:
By “take the bait and move in,” do you mean,
(a.) Cordon off the area, deliver supplies to the dictator of CHAZ for him to distribute to his subjects (but not enough to create stockpiles), cut off cell and Internet connectivity to CHAZ, and simply sit there preventing CHAZ from expanding its borders until the CHAZians get tired of being in there? or,
(b.) Cordon off the area, and then invade it, shooting any armed CHAZians in the head as quickly as possible?
Is it both (a.) and (b.) that you regard as “taking the bait,” or just one of them?
It’s almost as if they’ve taken the template and techniques they use to report on Israel and Palestine, and applied them to Seattle.
Oh, wait, that’s exactly what they’ve done.
Francesca: “More and more, the MSM is indeed our enemy. What to do?”
I’m just now reading Don Surber’s account of the 2016 media coverage of Trump’s campaign (“Trump the Press”).
Mostly the enemedia kept predicting that the wheels would fall off any time now. Charles Krauthammer grudgingly named Trump as his political winner of the year despite not liking Trump at all. Surber quotes him: “… the thing that probably tipped me over is when Trump, after a lot of hesitation, came out against the killing of journalists. That’s what sealed the deal for me.”
I think the history of “peoples park” in Berkeley (you can look it up in Wikipedia) is relevant to this situation. In particular note how as soon as the then governor of CA, Ronald Reagan, moved to disperse the lawless occupation of Berkeley property, the people running the university promptly sided with the rioting protestors. You can count on both local and state government doing the same if Trump invokes the insurrection act and shuts down CHAZ.
The smart move may be to let it fester for a while and then close it down closer to the election, for maximum impact and to disrupt whatever narrative the MSM is pushing.
“I think the history of “peoples park” in Berkeley”
This is what makes me doubt that propaganda is all that important. I checked out a New York sports blog yesterday and because nothing is going on, the regular commenters started yacking about Seattle and started defending the CHAZ when one guy criticized it.
Most of them are New York natives so it doesn’t really matter if they only read news reports that whitewashed what was going on in Seattle. They were witnesses to the degeneration of the “Occupy Wall Street” movement in NYC, including numerous reports of sexual assault against women in the “Occupy” protest zone.
These people have first-hand knowledge of how this stuff goes and they’re willfully forgetting it so they can shine up their virtue-signaling halos.
Mike
While sane people trapped in these areas have my sincere sympathy, I agree with D. Cohen … strategically, for now, Trump needs to let these blue island takeovers and no-go zones fester so long as local leaders are not actively requesting help. I absolutely believe for Trump to intervene is a trap.
Ymrskr:
When you write “the cabal,” I take it yo0u are referring to Nancy Pelosi and Chuck Schumer, or are you meaning someone else? I would be very interested in whatever information you can share with us.
The “Occupy Wall Street” movement ended when liberals/leftists realized Occupy was working against them. As George Will said:
Conservatives should rejoice and wish for [Occupy] long life [and] abundant publicity…”
Even Jon Stewart hammered Occupy after the police forcibly shut down the original OWS encampment in Zuccotti Park. In addition to the unpleasant OWS squalor, Stewart highlighted that Occupy was divided into the aristocrats, sipping their $5 lattes and running things with expensive Apple laptops, while downwind the poor people sat in cheap tents doing their drum circles.
http://www.cc.com/video-clips/5510me/the-daily-show-with-jon-stewart-occupy-wall-street-divided
Trump needs to let these blue island takeovers and no-go zones fester so long as local leaders are not actively requesting help. I absolutely believe for Trump to intervene is a trap.
KyndyllG: Agreed.
________________________________
–Star Wars, “It’s a trap!”
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4F4qzPbcFiA
My son lives a few blocks south of the area and he spent the morning wandering around the area. He didn’t see any firearms, or evidence of concealed weapons– though no doubt there are some.
The area could be cleared, but there would probably be significant property damage.
Contrast this to conservative ranchers occupying Malheur Wildlife Refuge in 2016. The held the facility for 40 days. The Bundys and Hammonds were allowed to leave the facility until a decision was made to arrest on of the Bundys and it ended in one death and Bundy being wounded.
I doubt any of the leaders of Seattle have given much thought how to end this at some point. I guess they’re just hoping the kids will get tired and go home, though like most of Seattle, there’s a lot of support for this sort of Marxist coup.
I would think the city will just let it marinate for a few weeks, and monitor whether more militant groups move in to reinforce the occupiers.
I don’t think it would be a smart move for President Trump to federalize this in the short term.
One big difference between this and the 60’s and 70’s antiwar protests is the almost complete capitulation of the media to the Antifa and BLM aims. It’s just old Marxists finishing the job the began when they were young– indoctrinating the youth to the narrative.
Brian, no one is finishing anything..
the number of the people and the actual support is small
it really is…
NYC has 8 million people in it..
what percentage do you think were actually out in the streets?
how many leftists with boutiques, and business, and artisan shops
had them destroyed with no recourse, then watched as the perps were let go?
you dont think that will affect them? when insurance says, we dont cover that?
no…
they are actually doing the best thing..
let them wall themselves up, and find out that without land, infrastructure, and more… you dont have much food, potable water, etc… it wont be long when the throng starts smelling to high heaven as they have had no way to have them all take baths and showers… then it wont be long when there isnt enough food… if you think its cruel to keep it from them, then give them the poor welfare delight (a block of cheese, lots of tunafish and pasta)… then see how long they can eat that without a change in diet…
the weak will leave first..
the strong will remain to the last..
then once sorted, it isnt too hard..
but the fun part happens when someone decides to hold that crowd responsible for loss of property, wages, and more… financially… they will not get a pass from CIVIL court… will they? under what law can they? you can let them go criminally… that’s a kind of prerogative… but civil? going to be interesting to say the least… (and all anyone has to do is call that people who supply them will share in the civil court torts as well).
but they are going to matter less than the past just because they are doing nothing about them… no martyrs, no heroes…
just smelly hungry tired losers will be what they will become…
Very technically wrong yet importantly correct comment:
“My other fear is that the left has now gained about 50% or more of the population given the obsequiousness we see from corporate America.”
The rad Democrats have been graduating from indoctrination colleges for decades. Some 50-80% of such grads are Dem supporters.
Only 5-20% of the workers in any big company are really “decision makers”. Almost all of these deciders are college indoctrinated grads.
Perhaps 60-80% of those who decide about other people’s resources are now Dems, even if 60% or more of the “population” are not Dems. The big 40% or more citizens who are not registered or haven’t voted, such folk are not Dems. But they’re not choosing the decision makers, so their influence is ignored.
Well over 50% of the decision makers support the Dems, who support leftists. But most who support Dems would deny supporting “the left”. We conservatives, including (very nice) Neo, all who call them “left” instead of “Democrats” are enabling this denial. The Dems are good with labels – we should be learning from their success. (Jon Turley also calls them “the left” to help himself separate from the Dems he supports from the anti-Free Speech left that he opposes.)
This coming election may be the current Free America’s last chance to actually stay free, by voting Trump and GOP for Congress, including RINOs & GOPe. “House Cons” who accept fighting Dem actions with words, sometime strong words, but not much else than words. RINOs better than Dems, lesser of two evils. But wimpy.
Can’t even get liar McCabe indicted for lying … how actionless impotent is the current Rep power (-less) structure today?
It’s long past time to stop giving tax-exempt status to colleges that discriminate against hiring Republicans.
Tom Grey:
Did you read my previous explanation of why I say “left” instead of “Democrats”? It’s not to be nice. It’s because I was criticized heavily for using a euphemism for “left” when I said “Democrats.” That “Democrats” made them sound less leftist and less extreme. So I use “left” now for “Democrats.”
Hard to decide which thread to put this on — but since it mostly addresses cluelessness, that’s related to “where do you get your news?” because the AP is not the best source anymore.
https://www.breitbart.com/politics/2020/06/04/counter-terror-expert-feds-unaware-of-antifa-black-lives-matter-communist-connections-objectives/
Okay – this is interesting. I looked at this post a couple of days ago (the title is accurate) and thought I would save it for a comment, but it’s no longer there.
(FWIW to some people who think my excerpts are sometimes a tad lengthy — that’s one of the reasons: the text at the link might not be there the next time we go looking.)
https://gulfcoastcommentary.blogspot.com/2016/07/black-officer-exposes-black-lives.html
“Sorry, the page you were looking for in this blog does not exist.”
Very disingenuous – it does not say, more accurately, “the page…was removed” but implies you got the wrong URL or something.
But the Wayback Machine comes to the rescue.
Caveat: this is a post of an alleged Facebook post; maybe it was removed because it was incorrect or misleading — the internet is full of fake news and “first person reports” — but that addresses a point I made somewhere else, which is that the Left is out to erase anything outside their narrative, including very old posts that are relinked during their current operations (see the Orwell quote on the “demands” thread).
https://web.archive.org/web/20191102123907/http://gulfcoastcommentary.blogspot.com:80/2016/07/black-officer-exposes-black-lives.html
Saved 2 times between April 1, 2019 and November 2, 2019.
Here’s a commentary by a black police officer that is more credible and less histrionic. I’m not too worried about it disappearing, since it’s from a news outlet.
https://www.baltimoresun.com/opinion/op-ed/bs-ed-op-0603-letter-cop-protester-20200603-vzznpesjw5fu3p3fwrkxhja3cq-story.html
An open letter to a protester from a Baltimore County police officer | COMMENTARY By SETH TEMPLETON FOR THE BALTIMORE SUN |
JUN 03, 2020 | 4:35 PM
Neo, for similar reasons i dont say ‘right’, i say not left… the most important reason is that i do not want to think like the KPD and antifa, who follow the commiterm in that regard – anything that was not left became fascist right…
The headline goes like this: “Trump fumes as protesters stake out festive zone in Seattle.” – Neo
The headline from the Associated Press is a textbook case for this blog post on recognizing fake news (or at least partisan spin). I don’t think the AP story is what Evie contributors and readers usually consider “fake,” but the article is actually pretty even-handed (theoretically), contains good observations, and the main points are spot-on.
https://www.eviemagazine.com/post/how-to-tell-if-youre-reading-fake-news-or-real-journalism/
How To Tell If You’re Reading Fake News Or Real Journalism
BY JULIA SONG·May 22nd 2020
Okay – I take it back – Evie is curiously centric — maybe even slightly conservative — although it’s odd to find an article like this in a magazine devoted to fashion and relationships.
https://www.eviemagazine.com/post/police-brutality-is-a-symptom-of-a-society-that-has-forgotten-the-value-of/
Police Brutality Is A Symptom Of A Society That Has Forgotten The Value Of Life
BY MOLLY FARINHOLT·Jun 11th 2020
PS It seems to pass all the “tests” in the previous post that were cited to define opinionated click-bait.
More about Evie’s mission — They seem to have put into practice the much-repeated mantra “why don’t conservatives just create their own publications instead of always responding to the leftist media?”
https://www.eviemagazine.com/about/
I hope they aren’t next on the list for Cancel Culture mau-mauing.
Brian E’s son’s report sounds about right.
I’ve lived in Seattle for 17 years, and in Tacoma for 13 years before that, and the goth nightclub I’ve been going to regularly for 21 years (when there’s not a pandemic) is literally a block outside the CHAZ (or “CHOP” now, apparently).
I’m very familiar with Broadway and Capitol Hill and that section of Pike/Pine Streets.
There are plenty of high-priced condos in that 2×3 block area (plus a couple of city blocks worth of park). But the focus of that zone is that it is Party Central East, much like the much older Party Central West in Pioneer Square. The streets are lined with one bar, nightclub, or restaurant after another, punctuated by skateboard shops, upscale furniture stores, and t-shirt sellers. It’s full of drunk twenty-somethings every weekend night year-round. That’s the reason the police had a precinct right there in the first place.
In the last thirty years that I’ve been visiting Broadway, the demographic has changed. There used to be a lot of the flamboyantly-gay subculture still hanging on from the ’70s and ’80s, but as the years passed they hooked up with stable partners and moved out, probably to gentrify some unsuspecting ethnic neighborhood. Over time, and as the economy has improved and real estate values have gone up, they’ve been replaced by highly-paid tech workers. (The constant has been the “alternative” types — alienated punks, sundry goths, musicians, etc. — and the street people, from runaways to the hardcore homeless.)
So I know lots of people — fellow goths — who live in the area. They are almost universally leftists, but they’re not the hardcore revolutionary types who would conspire to hide the truth.
They are all reporting by posting on Facebook more or less the same thing: there are no armed guards, there are no checkpoints, people can come and go unhindered, there’s no arson or wanton property destruction. One person was asked by an out-of-region friend what was going on and she responded “woke flannel Burning Man”. As far as I can tell from the photos and videos I’ve seen, she’s not really wrong.
Now, it’s possible that just around the corner Antifa thugs are beating up wrongthinkers and condo residents are being looted for food and supplies, but I rather doubt it.
The Seattle PD walked back a claim that there had been numerous complaints of extortion coming from the local residents, and a statement from the Chief about “how will we respond to calls reporting rapes and robberies” was taken out of context to infer that she was saying that there were calls reporting rapes and robberies. On the other hand, the SPD is clearly so politically dominated by the city government that I can’t really trust anything they’re saying.
(Aside: the protestors claimed the SPD initiated violence unprovoked several times; the SPD claims that rocks, bricks, bottles, etc. were thrown at them. The only videos I’ve seen have been from high vantage points. Surely the cops have videos, why haven’t we seen them?)
There’s a Twitter thread that I found off an Instapundit comment, from a guy who doesn’t seem like he’s totally on board with the movement but seems like he’s passing, and is regularly posting videos. There have clearly been some scuffles, like when two white people and two black people marched through flying American flags and got chased off to cries of “white supremacist” (!). But overall, it looks like a lot of political haranguing and virtue signaling, or what you would expect from one of these things. So “festival atmosphere” isn’t really that far off, for certain values of “festival”.
I would consider this not too different from Occupy Wall Street. As much as their sophomoric demands make me roll my eyes until it causes a headache, I think Durkan and Inslee are probably right to just ignore them for now.
Most likely they’ll eventually get bored and start to wander off until it’s just the hardcore remaining. If the lockdown eases enough, I expect that the bars, nightclubs, etc., will — virtue signaling the entire time — start to lobby the politicians to clear out the riffraff so they can get back to selling overpriced drinks to brogrammers and woo girls. Otherwise, I’m actually okay with them stewing in their own idiocy and providing a horrible warning to the swing voters (in other states; Washington is solidly blue majority).
It’s possible it will all go downhill — OWS certainly did. But the filth and disease and petty crime and rape tents and so forth didn’t happen for quite a while.
TL;DR: What you’re seeing on Fox News and the internet rumor mill is largely false. Remember Gell-Mann Amnesia. This is a bunch of dimwit leftists LARPing La Revolución; it’s not a guerrilla insurgency Fallujah-style.
Oh, I forgot to point out that Party Central East was pretty clearly the city’s idea. There have always been bars and clubs there, but the number of them shot way up about ten or twelve years ago, and that’s when the police precinct went in too.