August 9, 2011

Chaos in London.

And the police are utterly overwhelmed.
Despite 6,000 officers on the streets of London alone, many residents reported a lack of police while marauding gangs were a law unto themselves.

An 'unprecedented' number of police will be on the streets of London tonight with 'all able-bodied officers in the Met' out on duty, said Scotland Yard Deputy Assistant Commissioner Stephen Kavanagh.

Police confirmed that 525 people have now been arrested since rioting began on Saturday and over 100 have been charged.
It's not enough to say, we're doing all we can, we're putting all our officers out on the street. Obviously, they do not have enough law enforcement, and the government is responsible for achieving and keeping order. But what can good people do about that at this point? Go out in the streets themselves and protest, adding to the disorder? Huddle at home and hope the rioters go somewhere else?

114 comments:

LYNNDH said...

If it happen in my area (it won't), I would lock and load, and lock the doors.

MikeDC said...

It's almost as if there's a downside to years of disarming law abiding citizens and prosecuting them for defending themselves and their property.

Paddy O said...

Oh great, now Obama is going to invade England.

WV: tardsh. What London needs is the Doctor!

Sal said...

They sneer at our "gun culture."

Meade said...

Doesn't the UK have very strict gun laws? No right to bear arms for self-defense in England. I suppose they have no option but to huddle and hope.

At least they have universal health insurance.

Drew said...

Lileks on Ricochet this morning:

"Burgess pegged these yobs fifty years ago in “Clockwork Orange”: the end product of a state that excuses everything with the warm bath of sociological bromides, divorces itself from its cultural antecedents, anesthetizes the lower classes with payouts and a meretricious culture, and finds itself stuffed to the gunwales with pleasure-seeking sociopaths addicted to a life of sensation, both personal - and usually meaningless - and vicarious, which only fuels resentment for those having a better quality of sensory fulfillment. Theodore Dalyrymple’s close-hand examination of the pathology of the underclass in “Life at the Bottom” warned everyone years ago what sort of culture Britain had produced, adding something Burgess didn’t anticipate: the elevation of the thug culture by the upper classes and the artistic set, keen to show they were “authentic” by aping the demotic.

Add to that a political class keen to excuse the enthusiasms of youths, if it fits into the dead progressive template."

Dust Bunny Queen said...

This is what happens when the government monetarily supports a uneducated ignorant underclass of young men and women who have no jobs, (don't need no stinkin' jobs since they are on the 'dole')have nothing to do but hang out, drink and do drugs (at taxpayer expense). Bored ignorant hormonal youths with nothing but time on their hands....gee what could go wrong.

This is what happens when you have a government class of elites, teachers and media who tell these young men and women how mistreated they are and foment racial divides and racial hatred for their own short term goal of power.

This is what happens when the rest of the population sits back, gives up their rights, gives power to the government and refuses to protect their own persons.

This is what happens when you turn the population into sheep and the youths into ravaging packs of wolves.

Saint Croix said...

You can pass a 2nd Amendment.

Automatic_Wing said...

Looks a lot like the LA riots.

When do the welfare checks come out?

Meade said...

It's as if National Socialism won.

ricpic said...

"The way we police in Britain is not through water cannon. The way we police in Britain is through consent of communities."

--Home Secretary Theresa May

Superior to the end. Hey Terry, what do you think undergirds civilization? Not force, oh never never never force.

The Dude said...

You get more of the behavior you reward.

I am surprised it has taken this long for the mobs to realize that they have license to do as they please. Guns were confiscated years ago. There is nothing standing in the way of the mob now. Anarchy rules!

So long England, you were pretty good for a while, but you lost your way.

Fen said...

"When every second counts, the police are only minutes away..."

Ya know, law enforcement in this country started as reinforcement force. Citizens defending themselves until the police arrive on scene. It was never meant to function on its own.

Scott M said...

Too bad they sent Nick Angel off to a little sleepy shire in the country.

Anonymous said...

Remember what the feminist and sexual revolutionist have been telling you: fathers are optional and traditional families are oppressive and archaic.

Then go get a gun and a fire extinguisher.

But don't forget: fathers are optional and traditional families are oppressive and archaic.

gerry said...

Freaking unbelievable.

A Clockwork Orange, indeed.

Well, at least the rioters can afford Adidas...

Sal said...

This can and probably will happen in our disarmed cities as well. Fortunately, rednecks will likely be unaffected.

Fred4Pres said...

It is good to have a few shotguns and rifles in the home. Just in case people. Just in case.

Rialby said...

Damn Tea Partiers.

Sprezzatura said...

"Chaos in London"

Presumably these folks are just like the chaotic mobsters of Madison that occupied so much of Meadehouse's attention.


At least those Euro mobs still have their AAA rating.



P.S.
Do the unarmed Brits have more violent crime/criminals than we do? I think that libs deny this. But, many comments here suggest otherwise. Do the folks advocating the BritRA, have statistics proving that our approach to the police state and self defense are more successful re violent crime?

Dust Bunny Queen said...

"When every second counts, the police are only minutes away..."

Ya know, law enforcement in this country started as reinforcement force. Citizens defending themselves until the police arrive on scene. It was never meant to function on its own.

That's the way it is in our rural area. No one counts on the police to be the first line of defense. Almost everyone is armed and ready to defend their own property not only from human predators but also the four legged kind too.

At night (after 8pm until morning) we have ONE sheriff patrol to cover something like 150 square miles.

They closed the local jail/holding cell/substation for cost reasons. Now, when they actually do arrest anyone, they have to transport them to the county seat which is a 90 mile drive, 180 miles round trip. At that time during the night or day, there is NO sheriff coverage.

Even during the day, when seconds count the police are at least 45 minutes away.

So, ask me again how much I would miss the government if it shuttered its doors?

We could keep our tax dollars and create a better more efficient local police and fire force. Thank you very much.

garage mahal said...

This confirms every preexisting belief I've ever had.

Ah Pooh said...

Riots did wonders for Detroit and LA. Can we survive the naive among us?

Anonymous said...

And here's a shout-out to the castle doctrine.

And to Texas' liberal application of it.

traditionalguy said...

They are tasting power and like man eating tigers will continue to assume power until they are stopped.

A mob riot has no conscience except the group's ideology that empowers them to do all unlawful acts with impunity. The Wisconsin State Fair had an exhibit of mobs on the attack.

Apres moi, le deluge said Louis XIV.

And that deluge killed and robbed RICH people on sight until one day a short Corsican artillery officer showed the mob what grape shot cannon fire could do to groups of men inside of a city.

Who will emerge as the next Napoleon? Will he use predator drones?

Scott M said...

This confirms every preexisting belief I've ever had.

Brought to you by Garage "You have a duty to retreat" Mahal, the letter mugged, and the number dead.

Hoosier Daddy said...

"...Doesn't the UK have very strict gun laws? No right to bear arms for self-defense in England..."

It's worse than that. You can be prosecuted for using any kind of force to defend yourself.

traditionalguy said...

And why has he Homeland Security Agency started to build concentration camps serviced by new rail lines, but with no prisoners to put into them?

Re-education takes time.

Rialby said...

"This confirms every preexisting belief I've ever had."

Well, you are liberal. Why would you start letting the facts on the ground overrule your belief in anecdotal evidence?

Insufficiently Sensitive said...

Let the great and the good now go on public record, whether a man's home is indeed his castle and therefore is defendable by any means necessary. And include his workplace for good measure.

Those who say not, ship 'em to Australia to study citizenship, beginning at manual labor.

Oso Negro said...

Quayle is right. Here in the Lone Star State we don't look for flash mobs of disaffected youth anytime in the near future.

Rialby said...

From the Beeb:

"A BBC journalist has spoken to two girls that took part in Monday night's riots in Croydon, who boasted that they were showing police and "the rich" that "we can do what we want".

The pair were drinking wine looted from a local shop at 09:30 BST the following morning.

Croydon was one of several areas plagued by unrest on Monday night, on a third night of riots in the capital. There were also violent scenes in several other English cities."

Tea Partiers!!

laddy said...

How about a curfew and shoot to kill order. They are endangering lives.

traditionalguy said...

We can expect another flood of British educated upper middle class immigrants.

That is good for the economy.

CNN and other media have seen this trend. They are trying to correct us on our incomprehensible rustic views and raise us to see English views of morality.

Cedarford said...

Meade said...
It's as if National Socialism won.

-----------------
Except HAD National Socialism won in the UK, there would have been either no blacks or Pakis in Britain or a limited number that responded with "Yessir, master..the shoes are shined."

NO MultiKulti and mass Muslim immigration of the Continent, either.

===============
I wouldn't get too smug on America and the mighty private firearms owner keeping order.
They didn't during the 60s riots by blacks.
And thanks to Free Trade with China, wealth concentrating in the hands of a few, and mass hispanic immigration - the effective employment rate of young male blacks is under 50% in some American cities.
We're next!

Scott M said...

And why has he Homeland Security Agency started to build concentration camps serviced by new rail lines, but with no prisoners to put into them?

Can you link to a source that doesn't have ads or links to conspiracy or white supremacy blogs/websites? Serious question.

Saint Croix said...

"This confirms every preexisting belief I've ever had."

I actually thought that was pretty funny. Point for Garage.

Rialby said...

"We can expect another flood of British educated upper middle class immigrants."

Unfortunately they cannot get in because they haven't won the lottery that allows them entrance. If only Nigel and Alistair would change their names to Norberto and Andres and come in from the southern border, they'd have no problem.

Scott M said...

I wouldn't get too smug on America and the mighty private firearms owner keeping order.
They didn't during the 60s riots by blacks.


Inapt analogy. I'm betting the percentage of legal, private firearm ownership was much lower in the areas where riots occurred than in areas where the percentages were high.

Sal said...

"This confirms every preexisting belief I've ever had."

Confirmation is needed once in awhile or the belief would fade away.

Bayoneteer said...

See what happens when you don't have armed police? Where are the rubber bullets, tear gas and mass arrests? Or real bullets for that matter? If a state can't have peace and order within its border WTF good is it?

HKatz said...

But what can good people do about that at this point? Go out in the streets themselves and protest, adding to the disorder?

There are reports that Turkish Kurdish shopkeepers and their families and friends formed defensive groups of their own to chase after rioters and beat them with pipes and sticks; they also stood in packs on their streets to prevent rioters from getting at their businesses. Many businesses in their neighborhoods were able to stay open apparently. So that tactic had some effectiveness, at least in the middle of the chaos.

Mumpsimus said...

Megan McArdle notes:

"It seems nothing, not even a riot, can conquer the British queuing instinct." And "...it persists so strongly that people will queue up to commit a crime."

Strelnikov said...

Well, given the fact that their government has seen fit to disarm all law abiding citizens, huddling in the fetal position and awaiting a random act of violence on you, your family and/or your property does seem like the sole option. Fortunately, should the local populace where I live try this, we could always shoot a few of them. That tends to calm them down as a group.

KCFleming said...

Britain is a failed state.

A state has failed when it cannot fulfill its first directive, the protection of citizens from violence, whether foreign or domestic.

Detroit is a failed city. So too are Oakland and Philadelphia and Los Angeles.

Milwaukee and Madison are being tested by these selfsame forces.
Can they defend themselves? Will they?

ndspinelli said...

This should make for an interesting 2012 Olympics.

rhhardin said...

Belmont Club diagnoses it.

If you lose your good name, you need to rely more on force.

Overloading the system backfires in spite of good intentions.

Fred4Pres said...

Obama's Response: "We told you Chicago would have been a better choice, but did you listen IOC? Noooooooooo...."

chickelit said...

In related news, Roger Waters could not be reached for comment.

RonF said...

Cedarford said:

I wouldn't get too smug on America and the mighty private firearms owner keeping order.
They didn't during the 60s riots by blacks.


Urban property owners have been denied their Constitutional rights by tolitarian executive authority and compliant courts who think their idea of what the Constitution should have said overrides what it actually says. But more and more property owners are asserting their rights despite the laws. If you see any burning buildings in Chicago soon you'll see dead bodies next to them - many shot by the police, and others shot by the owners.

TWM said...

If anyone is interested in an excellent fiction book that will sort of lay out how this whole societal collapse thing will work ala rural, self-reliant conservative areas versus ubran liberal areas I highly recommend The Last Centurion by John Ringo.

While it is somewhat of a military read, it's so much more and it really does show the difference between how liberals react to any crisis (government will do it for me) and conservates will (I had better get up off my ass and do it myself).

Check it out.

Anonymous said...

@Dust Bunny Queen: That's the traditional American way. Take care of the problem yourself, and let the Sheriff come in afterward to remove the dead and start the paperwork.

pauldar said...

We just went out a few months back and got some pistols and a shotgun and loaded up on ammo - If rioters tried to take away what I have spent my entire adulthood building, well, I didn't buy those items for paperweights. I can tell you that I know of several folks who has never owned a gun in their life. They do now.

Hoosier Daddy said...

"...I highly recommend The Last Centurion by John Ringo..."

I liked it but it got a bit tedious with the in-depth farming stuff and I found myself flipping past that stuff like did when Clancy spent half a chapter discussing how sonar worked.

n.n said...

This is how it started and ended in Guyana. A cooperative which was capable of perpetrating violence in order to consolidate wealth and power.

If the British have been cowed (and disarmed), as most civilized people are, then they will compromise and submit to their tormentors.

The irony is that they have labored for their own demise. Unfortunately, civilization is an unnatural state and requires maintenance to preserve it. Even the presence of a small number of criminals and deviants is sufficient to induce perturbations which will create uncontrolled instability. Either the British are prepared to pursue the necessary measures to counter these forces or they will yield to those who are.

Titus said...

Panic on The Streets of London, Carlisle.

I love that Smiths song.

Hoosier Daddy said...

Actually this is a good description of the Eloi and Morlocks.

Sprezzatura said...

Love, peace and harmony ?
Oh, very nice
Very nice
Very nice
Very nice
...But maybe in the next world

Scott M said...

I liked it but it got a bit tedious with the in-depth farming stuff and I found myself flipping past that stuff like did when Clancy spent half a chapter discussing how sonar worked.

Ugh. Stirling is starting to do this too with post-Change cooking. Ditto for George RR Martin and his long lists of food that are completely (unless poisoned) irrelevant.

Scott M said...

Panic on The Streets of London, Carlisle.

How many DJ's do you suppose they've hung so far?

Titus said...

Hang the DJ, Hang the DJ, Hang the DJ....Hang the DJ.

Love it.

Scott M said...

My 7-year-old has heard "Every day is like Sunday" so many times she knows and sings the words without understanding much of it at all.

Note to self: really got to watch that...

Sure, it's not The Smiths, but what are the Smiths without Morrisey? He out-bummered Robert Smith by a wide margin.

dbp said...

Looting, it would seem to me, is somewhat self-limiting. After all, once you have a stash of valuables, then you need to stay around and protect it and this limits your chances to go out for more. Also, once you have burned down all the surrounding neighborhoods, it stands to reason that yours is next.

These riots are symptoms of malaise and troubling. I have little doubt though that the police will regain the upper hand in the end.

Peano said...

I liked it but it got a bit tedious with the in-depth farming stuff and I found myself flipping past that stuff like did when Clancy spent half a chapter discussing how sonar worked.

That's a common fault of wonkish writers and research bugs. Read the unabridged Les Misérables. Hugo devotes 60-odd pages to the history of the sewers of Paris, and God knows how much to the Battle of Waterloo.

The Dude said...

In "The Hunchback of Notre Dame" Hugo spent 40 pages writing about architecture and how literacy was the end of good, meaningful buildings. He had a point, well, several of them actually, but come on, get back to the gypsy girl and the rest of the cast.

WV: coturine - obviously French.

cubanbob said...

What is the Army for if not for these types of circumstances? Contrary to what C4 said, an armed citizenry makes for a huge difference. In the 1980 riots in Miami, the rioters burned large parts of Liberty City but not an inch of Hialeah or any white part of Miami.

The Cubans to the west of Liberty City made it very clear they would kill any rioters on sight crossing in to Hialeah and not one of them did. The National Guard troops lined on US1 on the east bordering Liberty City were instructed to shoot to kill any rioter attempting to cross over to Miami Beach and not one rioter did.

The point being a clear line was drawn and the consequences were laid out clearly and there was no doubt in anyone's mind that rioters would be shot dead on sight in any attempt to cross the lines. The UK PM has failed his leadership test. He should have called out the Army and issued shoot to kill orders. That would have stopped the rioting almost immediately. Rioters and looters are a cancer cell on the political body and just like cancer cells in the human body the only good ones are dead ones.

dbp said...

I like the so-called tedious diversions if they are well-written. I think my favorite chapters in Moby Dick were the ones about the ins and outs of whaling.

Sometimes authors are just being wonkish but other times the detail is essential to the storyline. If you don't have a thorough understanding of sonar, then much of the drama in The Hunt For Red October will be lost. The same kind of thing is almost always true in Neil Stephenson's works. He doesn't give technical details unless they play a dramatic role later in the story.

The Dude said...

I used to work with a large guy who loved the riots in Liberty City - he used to head towards them just to pound on people. He was a large man, the kind of guy Jim Rome calls "Likes to fight guy" - truly a rough individual who looked at a riot as a place to practice his love of beating people with impunity, and his fists. Good times...

WV: morth - like a morth to a flarm.

Chennaul said...

So last night there was this from their Home Secretary:

*****

Initially she appeared to open the way for their use when she said it was right to look at “all options” and that using them would be a police “operational” decision.
But within 24 hours, she backtracked and told MPs: “I don’t think anybody wants to see water cannon used on

the streets of Britain because we have a different attitude to the culture of policing here. We police by consent and it depends on that trust between the police and the public.”

The Home Office last night insisted that there were no plans to approve the use of water cannon.
“Water cannon are not approved for use on the mainland by the Home Office,” a spokesman said. “A range of measures is available to the police to tackle disorder and we do not believe water cannon are needed.”

A Scotland Yard spokesman said officers did not have any water cannon. If their use was approved, they would have to be brought over from Northern Ireland.


telegraph.co.uk

******

Now let's see what about the public jumping from the burning buildings, or getting randomly beat-what about their "consent"?

What do you owe them Madame Home Secretary?

Anonymous said...

As Chekhov would have said if he'd been into science fiction: If an Illudium Q-36 Explosive Space Modulator is seen on the mantel in Act I, it must demolish a planet before the end of the play.

Chennaul said...

And of course de water cannon are good enough for the Irish it's just that -

we never use them on the mainland..

I read that in there somewhere too.

Gawd.

Tut tut and all that-cherio!

Chennaul said...

Oh cripes it was right there in what I copied-

Water cannon are not approved for use on the mainland by the Home Office,” a spokesman said.

I'm Black Irish which probably means I'm good for a double dousing.


Piss off you kenneggets!

Robert Cook said...

Hey, lovers of freedom and America! We fought a war to rid ourselves of the British overlords...why aren't you cheering on the people still trapped there in their efforts to do the same?

Have you all become Tories?

(Trick question: you never were anything other than Tories.)

Hoosier Daddy said...

"... If you don't have a thorough understanding of sonar, then much of the drama in The Hunt For Red October will be lost..."

Granted, but Clancy did do a lot of overkill with the tech talk. Sum of All Fears was similar in that a decent chunk of the book read like a how to manual for making a nuke.

It's a balancing act, like good sci fi. Deal with the tech but not to the point where the novel turns into a manual. That's why I can't read a lot of Niven's stuff.

Robert Cook said...

"The way we police in Britain is not through water cannon. The way we police in Britain is through consent of communities."

A refreshing difference from the American method, where we cheer as the police abuse us with ever greater ferocity.

Hoosier Daddy said...

"...Hey, lovers of freedom and America! We fought a war to rid ourselves of the British overlords...why aren't you cheering on the people still trapped there in their efforts to do the same?.."

Last time I checked, they have elections in England, something the American colonists didn't get to participate in.

You really aren't a bright person you know that?

Hoosier Daddy said...

"...A refreshing difference from the American method, where we cheer as the police abuse us with ever greater ferocity..."

Yep. Looks like that's working out well for them. Not surprising you take the side if the rioters, looters and pillagers.

Steve Koch said...

"...the government is responsible for achieving and keeping order. But what can good people do about that at this point? Go out in the streets themselves and protest, adding to the disorder? Huddle at home and hope the rioters go somewhere else?".

Lefty impotence and lack of common sense is so funny (especially the Althouse version). What you do is buy weapons and learn how to use them. Work out and know how to defend yourself. Know your neighbors. If necessary, strengthen your home's security. Be prepared to survive for awhile without grid power, grid water, and grocery store food.

The big challenge for conservatives is to limit the power of big city government because big city government is usually lefty (i.e. screwed up). The easiest way to avoid oppressive lefty big city government is to not live in big cities. At the state level, conservatives need to make it difficult for cities to expand and easy for neighborhoods and communities to secede from a big city.

Michael K said...

This is why so many middle class British are moving to France for their retirement. There are so many that some French towns are totally English speaking now. It has been a drain on the FRench health care system because these retirees refuse to go back to England to the NHS for care and are signing up for the French plan that was intended for the poor.

dbp said...

I think that all the people in Britain, even to the extent that they may not actually pay any tax, are represented in Parliament.

That is to say, their concerns are not related to the concerns of American colonists.

Also, this should be needless but a colonial Tory is not the same thing as the Tory (officially Conservative)party in the UK.

Chennaul said...

I dunno Cookie le cannon de l'eau can be- how shall we say it-

Quite refreshing!

Joe said...

(The Uncredentialed, Crypto Jew)

Hey, lovers of freedom and America! We fought a war to rid ourselves of the British overlords...why aren't you cheering on the people still trapped there in their efforts to do the same?
Have you READ The Declaration of Independence , either lately or at all, Cook? Get back to me on the quartering of troops by Cameron and the taxation without representation by Cameron, or the Stamp Tax and Peter Ghent, or the “Boston Massacre.” Your ignorance is stunning or alternatively, your belief in OUR ignorance borders on hubris.

Mary Beth said...

In one of the news articles about the rioting, it said that the insurance companies whose clients suffered damage can make a claim in the policyholder's name with the police to recover their losses - Riots (Damages) Act 1886. The taxpayers are going to have a hell of a bill to pay for all of this.

Chennaul said...

And by the way Robert Cook-

Ken Livingstone is all for the water cannon and other measures-

He's the ex-mayor of London-happen to know his political persuasion?

Want to take a guess?

damikesc said...

Not having access to guns IS a panacea to all problems since one can ALWAYS rely on police, right?

Joe said...

(The Uncredentialed, Crypto Jew)

He's the ex-mayor of London-happen to know his political persuasion?

Want to take a guess

He’s Nuthin’ but Da Man….A Sell-out…Got It Made, Up Da Ladder, Jack I’m In-Board….kinda like John Cleese, who now feels London isn’t an “”English City” and lives in Bath. Funny what happens once you get older and have something to lose, Ken and John spent the 1970’s raging against the machine, and now the crop they sowed is coming to fruit and they recoil from its bitter taste.

Chennaul said...

Robert Cook

Here:

Ken Livingstone: Considered to be on the left of the Labour Party, Livingstone describes himself as a socialist, and his mayorship was characterised for its support of social liberalism. A controversial figure, Livingstone has been criticised for his support of leftist world leaders like Fidel Castro and Hugo Chávez, extending official invitations to Islamists and over disputed allegations of anti-semitism.
(wiki)

But actually it's well known -his nickname is "Red Ken".

And just for further documentation-

Mercer described the use of water cannon in Northern Ireland, in his experience, as extremely effective. Ken Livingstone, the former Labour mayor of London, also suggested water cannon could be very useful.

The high-pressure hoses, which fire jets of water or vapour, have been used in Northern Ireland since 2001.


guardian.co.uk

The title of that article in The Guardian of all places is:

Use of the Water Cannon on Rioters Backed Across the Political Divide

Joseph of FP said...

Some will choose to defend themselves and their property rather than retreat. How many will be prosecuted for it as a result?

Chennaul said...

Joe

The irony it's rich...

How about Joschka Fischer?

That's a particular beta noire of mine.

TWM said...

"Not having access to guns IS a panacea to all problems since one can ALWAYS rely on police, right?"

Well, it certainly gives you an option other than just watching animals destroy what is yours.

Chennaul said...

Beta is an interesting typo-I wish he was "beta".

Robert Cook said...

"And by the way Robert Cook-

Ken Livingstone is all for the water cannon and other measures-

He's the ex-mayor of London-happen to know his political persuasion?

Want to take a guess?"


I don't even know who Ken Livingstone is and couldn't care less. Is he the dude who said those words?

I hate to be blunt--and I usually try not to be--but you people are really dumb.

I don't accept the quote at face value and I assume any modern government is more than happy to use force on its subjects. I was merely sort of charmed at the difference between the purported meaning of the words--at least they pretend to some degree of restraint and to a governance by consent--and what we have here, where not only are the authorities more than happy to threaten and use brute force without hesitation, but most Americans, rather than being appalled or angered, are happy to hear it!

As I said, you're all Tories.

Hoosier Daddy said...

"...and what we have here, where not only are the authorities more than happy to threaten and use brute force without hesitation, but most Americans, rather than being appalled or angered, are happy to hear it!..."

I believe when thousands of rioters are burning down private property and looting, brute force to put a stop to that is called for.

Not a word of condemnation for the rioters from you. Huh.

Robert Cook said...

"Not a word of condemnation for the rioters from you. Huh."

I'm not talking about them; I'm talking about us.

Hoosier Daddy said...

"...I'm not talking about them; I'm talking about us..."

I see, so Brit scumbags are rioting and destroying private property and you take the opportunity to trash the US and Americans.

Well I suppose it wouldn't be you if you didn't have a shitty comment or thought about the country you live in.

Chennaul said...

OK Robert Cook maybe you should hazard describing yourself.

You're not of the "Red Ken" persuasion?

Chennaul said...

And Red Ken's position is well documented by multiple sources but if you can't accept The Guardian as a reference on Livingstone than...we really don't have much reference points for a discussion-other than you find the colonists-

charmant.

I take it you're from-where exactly?

Paul said...

They can try that in Texas and they will see a gun behind every blade of grass.

We Texans don't like looters, ok?

Chennaul said...

Wait...

Cook is a Tory....

"us"?

You condemn yourself and put yourself in the same "pool" as "us"?

Baby steps Cook, you might not want to sacrifice yourself by jumping blind into the deep end.

Anonymous said...

""We can expect another flood of British educated upper middle class immigrants."

Unfortunately they cannot get in because they haven't won the lottery that allows them entrance. If only Nigel and Alistair would change their names to Norberto and Andres and come in from the southern border, they'd have no problem."

-----------
they can just fly to Mexico City, take a bus north to the Rio Grande, then walk across like the other 12 million. Why fill out all that paperwork, wait for years, take citizenship classes??

Mike said...

The right response was the one taken by the Korean community during the LA riots--arm and defend themselves and their livelihoods from the racist mobs. Of course, watching the police run from the rioters encouraged this attitude.

We had an early indicator of how useful the police were in halting mob violence in Seattle as well. Gil Kerlikowske's police department watched while a young man was beaten to death...

Jamieson said...

There is a large section 8 apt complex about a mile from my house. When the welfare checks stop coming (and they will) what are the chances of a London or Greece style mob forming here? I'm so thankful I have the right to own a gun to defend my family.

Bryan C said...

The Daily Mail story linked above now states that the police are warning that they might use plastic bullets. I'm sure the rioters will tremble at the horrible prospect of moderate to severe localized bruising.

Do plastic bullets even make sense as riot control? Seems like you get all the risks of actually shooting someone, while accomplishing nothing at all. Water cannon and tear gas at least grant the cops some leverage when they're so vastly outnumbered.

Revenant said...

But what can good people do about that at this point? Go out in the streets themselves and protest, adding to the disorder? Huddle at home and hope the rioters go somewhere else?

Wish they lived someplace where firearms and home defense were legal?

Chennaul said...

Bryan C-

Ya I saw that bit about the plastic bullets not sure how that is more "civilized" than water cannons....

Maybe it's the "photo ops" aspect...

Unreal when you consider they've actually debated this while London literally burns.

Don't know if we should sent them Jack Daniels or Charlie...

Joe said...

(The Uncredentialed, Crypto Jew)

states that the police are warning that they might use plastic bullets
They’re THINKING about using “rubber bullets”…but most likely they’ll break out the Comfy Chair instead….I would imagine that it would be well worth someone’s while to get a ruling from the European Court of Human Rights as to the legality of using rubber bullets OR the Comfy Chair, and the liability that follows either’s use.

Lava said...

PM Cameron "vows victory." There's any other outcome???

Palladian said...

"Some will choose to defend themselves and their property rather than retreat. How many will be prosecuted for it as a result?"

The British authorities are already setting it up. What do you think all those CCTV cameras are for?

Anything, anything to deflect blame from their impotent, power-hungry selves. And the British public will comply, just like they always do.

Lather, rinse, repeat.

Palladian said...

I've read that some people are positively freaked out that there was even the possibility of the police using rubber bullets.

Clyde said...

I read this morning on The Telegraph that their Home Secretary Theresa may (their version of Eric Holder, I guess, in more ways than one) said something about not using water cannon on the rioters, but rather using "consent of communities" or some such blather.

Here is her quote: "The way we police in Britain is not through use of water cannon," she said. "The way we police in Britain is through consent of communities."

How brilliant! Walk up to the rampaging "youths" who are pillaging and burning and ask them for their consent to be policed! What happens when they say, "How about 'no'?" you stupid bint?

Theresa May is the perfect distillation of the problem that Britain faces: Clueless lefty P.C. hacks running their country into the ground. God save Britain, because it's apparent that the feckless fools in charge of their country will not.

William said...

The British have a National Health Service and formidable rates of taxation on the wealthy. Can we, therefore, extrapolate that these measures will not resolve society's problems.....I don't even think the rioters know what this is about. The Gordon Riots were ostensibly about Catholics, but mostly it was rioting for the sake of rioting. These current rioters are demanding their right to riot. Up Manchester.

Kirk Parker said...

Fen,

"Ya know, law enforcement in this country started as reinforcement force. "

That's how it started in England, too.

Bartender Cabbie said...

A Colt .45 is a bit old school and boring but is still pretty good. Kind of like Badger football.

HT said...

Theresa May is the perfect distillation of the problem that Britain faces: Clueless lefty P.C. hacks running their country into the ground. God save Britain, because it's apparent that the feckless fools in charge of their country will not.

8/9/11 3:15 PM

_____


Theresa Mary May (née Brasier, born 1 October 1956) is a British Conservative politician who is Home Secretary in the Conservative – Liberal Democrat Coalition government. She was elected to Parliament in 1997 as the Member of Parliament for Maidenhead, and served as the Chairman of the Conservative Party, 2003–04. Appointed to the Privy Council in 2003, she became Shadow Secretary of State for Work and Pensions and Shadow Minister for Women before being appointed Home Secretary and the Minister for Women and Equality in David Cameron's Cabinet on 11 May 2010.