KEY WEST PROTESTS TONIGHT

So many protests. Are they organized?

Seem to be.

First the major cities. All beginning the same day. Last night, smaller communities. Tonight, the smallest of communities.

For the most part calm. When intended to be disruptive, fires, looting, bashing police cars, throwing pieces of concrete, throwing bricks, etc.

Last night was upstate New York’s opportunity to protest. Why did they not protest before? Why all on the same night?

Adds to my sense of someone behind the protests. The organizing portion. Would like to know. Interested whether good seriously intended or bad guys involved.

The protests went across upstate New York. From Buffalo to Albany. Followed the New York State Thruway. Buffalo, Rochester, Syracuse, Utica and Albany.

Buffalo had similar problems to those which occurred at the big city demonstrations. The other communities not so bad.

Governor Cuomo had earlier in the day sent a contingency of New York State Troopers to each of the cities.

Utica is my home town. Perhaps the calmest protest last night.

I checked it out on the internet. Photos. A huge crowd for a community of 50,000. No one raising hell. Speakers, signs and flags. An article written about the protest itself found it to be peaceful with none of the big city carnage.

Tonight may be the evening selected for the tiniest of communities. It is Key West’s turn. Key West’s time to protest.

Those protesting will meet at 6 pm at the pool in Bahama Village in the Martin Luther King Park.

The protest is labeled as one “against police brutality.”

Chairing the event is Clayton Lopez.  A community leader. Well respected for many years. A black man.

Bahama Village is considered Key West’s colored neighborhood. Not so much any more, however. Petronia Street runs right through Bahama Village. Petronia has grown commercially in recent years. Some of the finest restaurants and boutique stores.

“We got bricks!” The cry of certain protesters as they wandered the streets of the major cities. Protesters who came to complain, not do harm to person or property. Upon discovering the bricks lying in orderly fashion, the “why not” entered into the minds of some and they were off tossing them at store windows to begin.

The bricks raise the “organized” argument in my mind again. The bricks are delivered prior to a protest. Left well stacked in strategic locations on streets near high end shops. Delivered by “outsiders.”

After watching most of the protests, I have concluded the protests have a symbol. A burning police car.

I came across a terrible joke. However, it fits what has been going on: “How many cops does it take to throw a protester down a flight of stairs? None. He fell…..”

In the 3 1/2 years Trump has been President, I have developed a feeling which has grown with the passage of time. Trump has moved us closer to becoming a banana republic. In certain instances, we may have already arrived.

Visualize how governments change in banana republics. The “dictator” sitting in his office. Revolutionaries at the palace gates. They overcome the army/police. Break down the gates and enter the palace. Hundreds of them. They run to El Presidente’s office.

The end of El Presidente.

A similar situation could occur in the U.S. Could have occurred this past friday night.

A huge crowd demonstrating before the White House. Certain barriers were going down. Secret Service concerned.

Trump was taken briefly to the underground bunker in the White. The President, Melania, and Barron. They remained a little less than one hour.

Trump later claimed he felt “safe.” He lashed out at Washington’s Democratic Mayor who he claimed  refused to provide him protection.

Trump also raised the prospect his supporters would gather later in the evening in a place certain as a counter protest. They never showed up.

Trump reiterated again he could not have felt “more safe.”

He also advised dogs and weaponry were waiting inside the gate had the protesters successfully broken in.

Never one to fail in blaming someone else for his problems, Trump blamed Antifa and the “radical left” for the attacks at the White House. No proof was offered in support of his representation, nor for the one he made earlier concerning the Democratic mayor.

Some buildings should remain inviolate. Considered too sacred to suffer abuse.

Not this past weekend.

In addition to attempting to reach the White House, certain protesters set fire to the basement of St. John’s Church. St. John’s is across from the White House. Historically known as the “Church of the Presidents.”

About 2 weeks ago, I described the feelings of the American people as comparable to a “tinderbox.” Ready to explode into fire.

It happened this past week. Fires to buildings, police cars, and even a few persons.

Our children sometimes get into trouble. Could be something we want to kill them for. Or, something that made us proud.

New York City’s Mayor de Blasio has a 25 year old daughter. Chiara.

She was protesting over the weekend and was arrested.

Chiara was charged with unlawful assembly. She was arrested after she and other protesters refused to unblock a Manhattan Street.

Amazing how things work. Drug store chains have been erecting new drug stores like crazy the past few years. Seems the more the better.

CVS for example has several in little Key West.

CVS announced over the weekend it was closing stores in 20 states. Exact number and locations not provided. It was suggested customers contact CVS to see if a particular store was on the to close list.

Feeding America National Food Bank announced that more people are going to go hungry over the next year. The pandemic will leave 54 million with insufficient food. To help, food banks, food stamps and other aid will be required.

The group described what will occur as “food insecurity.”

Added to the insecurity is the increased cost of food. U.S. food prices keep going up. The increases this year described as “historic jumps.” Food cost has “skyrocketed by the most in 46 years.”

Meat and eggs were recently described as the primary items having gone up and would go up even further. Added to the list recently were potatoes and carrots.

This day a big one in Key West. Key West reopens! With some continued restrictions, of course.

The weekend will tell to what extent business will immediately return.

I believe Key West is reopening too early. The coronavirus tragedy is not behind us. Nowhere behind us. I worry that the fine controls exercised by Key West and Monroe County will be for naught 4-6 weeks from now when because of the increased numbers of people more will be infected.

Enjoy your day!

14 comments on “KEY WEST PROTESTS TONIGHT

  1. I agree with you about these protests being less than organic local events. There is more to it than that.

    The past “open up” protests in at least Michigan and Wisconsin, were also the same way. Word was that Betsy DeVos (sister to Eric Prince, the private Army guy) money was behind those and I for one wouldn’t be surprised if that turns out to be behind these riots too.

  2. One thing, the crowed of protesters is a lot more balanced than years gone by. Mostly in their 20 to 30’s and equal numbers of Black and White kids– all fighting/working together for a cause. A good sign of good race relations for the upcoming generation of leaders.

    • Sandy is a well known troll of this blog, and often posts unsubstantiated garbage and other misleading information, including racist and vulgar rants he openly admits is intended to create arguments.

        • Where is Sandy? He’s making up more bullsh*t that makes no sense and posting it on somebody elses blog!

          Where’s Mitch McConnell, Where’s George Bush, where’s anybody?

          Stop being an agitator just trying to start fights and start asking where those brick’s are coming from.

          Opera will call Trump and help him out of the bunker, when the time comes. Maybe he should stay there and we get Obama back to fix things.

          • The bricks , we know were they are coming from–George.
            And the looters–Gang members.
            The drugs—RED CHINA
            But the daylight protesters are the future of America. Support them.

        • I can tell you where these people YOU list were not – they were NOT having ordinary U.S. Citizens, peacefully and legally protesting, g@ssed and shocked bombed in a church parking lot across the street from the White House, so that he could have a photo op holding a bible (upside down), where HE was not invited and technically tresp@ssing.

        • Well, at least those people weren’t holed up in some safe bunker, five stories below ground like some scared cat, like Trump was. They were all probably doing something important to help quell violence while still protecting everyone’s first amendment rights to free speech

  3. The media is now beginning to report on random pallets of bricks that are appearing on city streets ahead of scheduled demonstrations. The cities include NYC, Baltimore, Boston, Savannah, Kansas City, Fayetteville and Dallas. The palletized bricks are left in locations where protesters are likely to gather, and not near any construction sites. What is going on here? Who is doing this?

    • That’s crazy wrong and it should be fairly easy to find out. String them up and no exceptions, even to the people who sold the bricks and those who delivered the bricks.

  4. I saw a tv news video of protestors grabbing a rioter who was tearing up pavement to throw and turning him over to the cops.

  5. In NYC there must be a lot of carpenters as so many young rioters are carrying hammers and crowbars in addition to cement tools.

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