Blaska is torn twixt and ‘tween

Still undecided whether to attend and/or speak at Madison Common Council meeting tonight (07-02-19).  On the Council’s agenda is Cops in Schools. It’s Item 37.  Wondering whether any other pro-cop citizen will dare to speak. Otherwise, will watch on cable or on-line here.

Freedom Inc., BLM’s Young Gifted & Black, Progressive Dane, the International Socialists, and Amelia Royko-Maurer’s Community Response Team will be certain to dominate the public comments. The question is whether they will disrupt the meeting and intimidate speakers.

We are told that Ald. Barbara McKinney is the council’s sergeant at arms and that “she will not suffer fools.” In my experience, McKinney has, indeed, demanded civility at public meetings. Ald. Paul Skidmore tells me “If  I don’t feel safe, I’m going to call ‘Point of order’ to restore order.”

This is not an idle concern; these same groups have shut down (or abided the closing down) of a county board and school board meetings and have forced several other school board meetings behind closed doors. Police and security forces stood flat-footed (or sat on their hands) both times. 

The irony is that the anti-cop contingent is undeterred despite gunfire  and injuries at the Shake the Lake event at Monona Terrace Saturday (06-29-19). (Apparently, the “No Firearms” signs were out of order.)

If Freedom Inc. and Co. feel free to chant their slogans, why should Blaska be reticent to shout his? Goose and gander and all that, y’know.

‘Otherwise peaceful’ except for the bloody brawl

Speaking of standing idly by, that’s what the gendarmes in Portland, Oregon did as the Antifa pummeled a conservative (and gay) Asian news commentator. 

National Review observes that the Portland Oregonian chose the headline,

“Portland mayor, police come under fire after right-wing writer attacked at protest”

— a classic of the “conservatives pounce” genre. [Blaska: CNN is doing the same thing: “Conservative journalist blames Antifa for attack at rally.”] But the story they’re [actually] reporting is

“Gang of masked assailants beat man in park as police watch.” 

The Oregonian/OregonLive reports that it caught the attack on video, “though the video doesn’t show what precipitated the attack.” The implication, National Review comments,

is that somehow Andy Ngo provoked the crowd of angry masked men into punching him, kicking him, throwing objects at him, and dousing him with some sort of liquid. This is a parody of journalistic objectivity: “We don’t want to take sides between the person who’s being punched and kicked and the group of people doing the punching and kicking.”

Deeper in the story, National Review continues, we’re treated to the “It could have been worse” paragraph:

“While the demonstrations on Saturday did feature a few isolated flashes of intense violence — aside from Ngo’s attack, a number of protesters engaged in a bloody street brawl later in the day and police declared a civil disturbance before protesters dispersed — the event was still more peaceful than the riots that plagued downtown Portland last summer.”

Blaska’s Bottom Line: A certain amount of journalistic arms-length (skepticism but not cynicism) is appropriate except, in this case, we got video and there’s no tuna sandwich that miraculously survived the beat-down. 

For extra credit: “When did it suddenly become acceptable to advocate for the death of police officers?” — in Law Enforcement Today.