June 5, 2020

A restaurant and a café are trying to be open on State Street — despite boarded up windows and with the help of some slap-dash painting.

Photographed by me yesterday...

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Look closely — it cries: WE'RE OPEN...

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The word "PEACE" is right next to a fist...

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97 comments:

Kevin said...

The word "PEACE" is right next to a fist...

Peace through superior riotpower.

effinayright said...

Their new expression of appeasment should be:

"Please eat here first, before you eat us last".

Carol said...

All the sloganeering is too vague. I have no idea what they mean.

They can kiss my ass, right on the crack.

Drago said...

"A restaurant and a café are trying to be open on State Street —...."

According to Inga, self-appointed Althouse Blog Topic Czar, this makes this restaurant owner a genocidal murderer.

Darkisland said...

OK, I'll bite.

Exactly HOW are they going to confront racism? Sound like empty platitudes to me.

I don't patronize Starbucks and their coffee flavored beverages anyway. This just give me one more reason to feel good about my decision.

I wind up getting dragged to a Starbucks every year or two. I've given up on getting a cup of coffee there. I just have a bottle of water. Even they can't screw that up.

John Henry

AlbertAnonymous said...

Oh for the love of God!

Starbucks has been claiming to be fighting racism for years now. Telling us they’re gonna have the baristas “start a discussion about race” and all that crap. That’s when I started boycotting Starbucks. I can get my coffee lots of places where it doesn’t come with their smug elitism.

And I always order it the same way... “black”.

Rabel said...

Workers of the world, unite!

Kevin said...


Just like the Pied Piper
Led rats through the streets
We dance like the marionettes
Swaying to the symphony
Of destruction

-- Dave Mustaine

stevew said...

I'm with Chad, find these signs to be disingenuous and self-serving. They are totally against all the bad stuff BLM says exists, now could you please just stop breaking their stuff, and buy some overpriced coffee?

Sprezzatura said...

We went to a Starbucks today. The car in front of us paid for our order.

My response to the employee who informed me was, “that’s weird.”

We were in a new S class, which they obviously would have seen in their mirrors. Sure, they were in a sorta ok car. A fairly basic looking Evoque with temporary tags and a license plate frame from a used car place. So couldn’t have been much dough.

Anywho, I paid for all the folks after us for however long nine bills would last (plus one for the tip jar). I always say that it’s good to keep a decent amount of cash on hand. You never know when something will come up where plastic isn’t the solution.

Especially weird because I took a wrong turn getting to the Starbucks such that I ended up circling a block, hence it was really odd that I ended up behind that particular car.

Kevin said...

Love
Peace
Unity
Fist

It's all right there, if you read bottom to top.

I can see where the presence of the National Guard might interfere with the plan.

n.n said...

"we stand"? The dark sarcasm.

The cognitive dissonance is in solidarity with a union of diversity and adversity.

Inga said...

Lovely, I like the blue sky with butterflies coming up over the brown ugly plywood. Symbolic of a renewal. Some people here just aren’t happy with people in Madison who are determined to keep on living.

rehajm said...

Corporate pigs say Please don't trash us we're on your side! we're on your side!

RBE said...

If it has a red fist...I'm not going in...or for that matter any color fist.

Bushman of the Kohlrabi said...

Act II: “But we’re on your side!”

tcrosse said...

“They make a desert and call it peace.” - Tacitus

Ann Althouse said...

I wouldn't go into a commercial establishment that had a giant fist in the window. To say peace and love and show a fist is very off-putting.

Now if I saw a coffeehouse with the name The Incoherent Café, I would be intrigued. I would definitely be inclined to go in there, based on that name. I'm not freaked out by incoherence, but I don't accept a fist in my face. If it's a place people go to fight, count me out.

Oso Negro said...

Free coffee for Negros! Cash is racism, straight up!

Bilwick said...

Sorry, "liberals" and other State-fuckers: you can't have peace as long as there's statism and coercion.

Not Sure said...

Thanks to all the Starbucks outlets in my area having shut down due to the virus, I've learned to live without them very well.

A Voice of Reason said...

There is no systemic racism. What people see are the effects of African American under-achievement in the economy, and over-achievement in the prisons. This is an 'effect'. These are the visible consequences. Consequences of what? Well, they would claim, without evidence (the consequences are not 'evidence' of a proposed cause), that it is something called systemic racism. Apparently, they have never considered that something else could be (and probably is) that actual cause of all these tragic effects.

So what else, IF IT WERE TRUE, would be causing the under-achievement effects we see so clearly and pervasively? How about a toxic culture, promiscuity, broken families, disdain for educations, glorification of criminals, be-basement of women, absent fathers, excuse making - a whole host of things would lead to these same visible effects that we all see.

But everyone is acting as if blaming 'systemic racism' is settled science. The cause-to-effect is established, etc.

But what if that isn't true. What if there are reasons that do include a blood libel against the non-Black races?

Spoiler alert: It is true that systemic racism does not exist, and therefore it is not the cause.

EFFECTS caused by something(s) clearly exist, but to conflate those effects with a non-existent 'racism', is becoming unconscionable.

William said...

As riots go, this looks like small potatoes. Broken windows and some inventory turnover. What you really need are blocks of burnt out buildings. That way lies social justice. I don't mean to disrespect the Watts riot of '92, but the Detroit riots remain the exemplar of what a riot can do. That riot took a giant step forward towards making Detroit the utopia it is today. Well, baby steps. Tonight is another night and perhaps they can do better next try.

Mike Sylwester said...

There must not be anything worth stealing in either place.

That's why the social justice warriors are not trying to break in to them in order to protest against racist police.

Sebastian said...

What racism is there to confront in Madison?

Since the whites living there are mostly left, presumably we're talking about prog racism.

cubanbob said...

They would better served by removing the progressive messaging and put on the plywood two messages. We are open. We shoot looters and vandals.

CJinPA said...

The cries of allegiance made by shop owners to prevent being targeted by violence is damn chilling. Really, that's not internet hyperbole.

It's the bros screaming "We're on your side! We're on your side!" but not as funny.

Mark said...

Painted sign on plywood says -

"We will confront racism to create a more inclusive and just world. We stand in solidarity with out Black partners, customers and communities. We will not be bystanders."

That same plywood (and other plywood over windows and doors) says by it very presence -

"We think that you might be violent thugs and we don't trust you not to destroy our store."

Todd said...

The emptiness of these slogans and platitudes is so depressing!

The journey of the mis-educated and mis-raised continues apace.

"Love Peace Unity" as they mob innocents, then loot and torch the remains. In mere weeks we will be uninitiated with stories on how these communities have been "ravaged" by "events" and now have no core, no markets, no businesses, no "community" left and we need, nar MUST help!

"If not NOW When?" but left unsaid is if not now when WHAT? The "perpetrators" of the initial crime (innocent until proven guilty) ARE being dealt with. What ELSE are "authorities" supposed to be doing that was NOT done? Yet still the wilding took place, still the village was pillaged and burned.

And then the obligatory renting of one's self with the "We will confront racism" declaration/apology. Who is this "we" of which you speak? The Democratic politicians under who's watch this ALL took place and the years of their oversight that lead to it? The educators that failed to educate? The parents that failed to parent? Those that never fail to live down to the worst stereotypes? Those that now ONLY live to destroy? Those that continue to ravage their own neighborhoods and neighbors?

Somehow I don't think that is what the authors were thinking, though it should be.

Dust Bunny Queen said...

While I understand the need to get back to work, all these signs say to me is:

Grovel, Appease, Fear, Grovel, Subservience, Pleading, Superficiality, Obsequious Groveling.

The mob has won. Violence rules the day. Law and order is no more. Independent thought is no more. Might as well live in a third world country

Sebastian said...

"To say peace and love and show a fist is very off-putting . . . but I don't accept a fist in my face."

But prog politics always comes down to a fist in your face.

You'll say, but abortion! OK, fine, let's leave abortion out of it. Everything else involves a fist.

Gotta create that New Man somehow, and cull the herd of deplorables.

Ken B said...

Get used to the fist.

Dave Begley said...

I guess Starbucks in Madison didn't see the "We're on your side video." Liberals get the bullet too.

Laslo Spatula said...

"I wouldn't go into a commercial establishment that had a giant fist in the window."

Especially if it was a proctologist office.

I am Laslo.

PM said...

1. 50+ years pretty good run for Smith & Carlos' fist.
2. If the fist means fisting, would not patronize.

BUMBLE BEE said...

Hey, they're going to put forth a far reaching program to deal with that very issue? They have been racist all along, by their own admission.

bagoh20 said...

Now I know why you vote so often for the incoherent party, which I thought was an incoherent choice, but now...? Nope. It still is.

NCMoss said...

The fist in the last picture looks like it will pound anyone not maintaining the 6 foot distancing order.

Jim Gust said...

I wonder if the long-term damage to Madison will be as bad as the damage to Minneapolis?

Probably not. Minneapolis has been on a suicide slide for years.

bagoh20 said...

Businesses here in Vegas suffered no riot damage, and from what I'm seeing will not be doing much of the mitigation theater either. They do what they have to to stay out of legal trouble, but nobody else (customers) seem to want anything to do with the bullshit of the last three month. We want to put the whole fake drama behind us completely.

We wanna work, and we wanna play, and we don't want no damned "abundance of caution" in our way. That's not how we roll in Sin City.

Tina Trent said...

450 injured police, several on life support. 4 murdered recently. Dozens shot and firebombed, maimed. Add that to 14 murdered by BLM and Antifa in recent years.

Arrest the animals. Hold the politicians responsible. Enter establishments like this and loudly read the names of the murdered police. Sue for emotional abuse and anti-white racism if you work for them.

Fight the thug power.

mikee said...

Giant corporation uses stock images to promote their commonality with the public, from whom they want money, money, money.

I don't see anything else in these images.

Laurel said...

That black fist?

That's Black Power symbol.

Not a symbol of unity, y'all.

BUMBLE BEE said...

I find it interesting that today's democrat party draws directly from the SDS well. IIRC the weathermen, (sexist, no?), were trust fund babies. Likely living in the Hamptons with that Soetoro kid now. Everything they do is 60s'. Like their weenie Woodstock II.

Yancey Ward said...

Because nothing says, "We are open," like plywood and graffiti style painting.

Paul Zrimsek said...

Whatever Elvis Costello might think, peace, love, and understanding can be downright hilarious.

Chris said...

Corporate virtue signaling is the worst.

WWIII Joe Biden, Husk-Puppet + America's Putin said...

I wouldn't go into a commercial establishment that had a giant fist in the window. To say peace and love and show a fist is very off-putting.


Agreed. Plus - Not understanding that your coffee house is a capitalist enterprise. Incoherent indeed.

I want my coffee free of politics and leftwing preaching.

Narayanan said...

Darkisland said...
OK, I'll bite.

Exactly HOW are they going to confront racism? Sound like empty platitudes to me.
-----------================
not confusing at all - like looking in mirror

confront(passive verb) racism or Abyss - racism or Abyss (active verb)confronts you

Achilles said...

These shop owners are just the Jews in Germany in 1939.

Remember who stopped the Nazi's then too?

That is why Tom Cotton's editorial struck such a cord.

Lucien said...

“But if you go carrying pictures of Chairman Mao, you ain’t gonna make it with anyone anyhow”. (No hot monkey love)

Howard said...

Very triggering. Time to move back to Mayberry.

FullMoon said...

"We're attacking big, known businesses like Apple, Boost ... Target, Walmart, Best Buy, all that s--t, Gucci ... Whatever the f--k you all like, you better lock your doors!" one protester tells him in the video. This protester calls the looting "slavery money ... So when we take it back or we burn it down, yeah. We're getting back what's ours. You won't give it up? Okay, you ain't having it no more."

SEE IT: Reporter talks to rioters who want to kill cops, stops beating of man

tim in vermont said...

I think that this is the most violet presidential election campaign in the history of the US. Botha used these kinds of tactics to get elected in the ‘30s in South Africa. That turned out great, didn’t it?

Biden’s tweet implies that if you vote for him, this will all stop, suggesting that his people are behind it in the first place. When my dog dies, and when COVID is all over, I am moving to Europe. Going back where my people came from. I can take a hint. Accept what you cannot change.

Temujin said...

There's a lot on display there, but it just screams white, liberal guilt to me. I half expect to see a line of baristas parading down the streets, self-flagellating with long whips made of organically grown hemp, still in uniform, green aprons showing the brand logo, while honest wails pour from their mouths.

Gusty Winds said...

Ahhhh... The new normal has arrived. Awesome!

D 2 said...

You cannot, and ultimately will not, be counted out. You must go in and agree. To not do so, is to be unsupportive. Your lack of support is a form of silence. Silence is violence.

I remember when all the smart people said Bush 2 was a bleeding idiot because he used the phrase “with us or against us” in a speech about a few nations aiding terrorists using planes as missiles. Less then a month after 9/11. What a simpleton.

The smart people are here to tell you what to say, and when it is stupid to think for yourself, and when it is not.

GatorNavy said...

Please crocodile, eat me last

GatorNavy said...

To Kevin

More like Ronnie James Dio belting out “Mob Rules” with Tommi Iommi shredding like the Lord he is

Narr said...

Starbucks has always been an overrated status symbol to me--I'll go if someone else wants to, but spend as little as possible. Gas station coffee is just as good, and much cheaper.

Narr
I doubt the signage will make much difference to the local Looter-American community

PluralThumb said...

Love and fist. Not a long term relationship.
Peace and fist. Maybe peace after first and a friendship.
Unity or else fist. Yeah, that worked for Communism in Russia.


I'm Not Sure said...

"Silence is violence."

"But everyone wears the ribbon. You must wear the ribbon!"

Drago said...

bagoh20: "Businesses here in Vegas suffered no riot damage,...."

There are some very good reasons for Inga's and Howard's Heroes "overlooking" rioting and damaging Las Vegas property......

That would be a death sentence.

I'm Not Sure said...

"Silence is violence."

"But everyone wears the ribbon. You must wear the ribbon!"

gilbar said...

we're Open... for take out, and delivery?

Serious Question
Of the towns with Rioting....
How many were STILL in lock down?
How many allowed Dine In Dining?
Did ANY allow bars to be open?

hmmm.... Questions, Questions, Questions

Drago said...

What's really quite telling is how Howard's Heroes and DeBlasio's minions are targeting orthodox Jewish funerals and even playgrounds where moms and kids are playing.

DeBlasio literally sent in his goons to break up a mom and kids playtime at the playground just this last week while lefty hero rioters were burning buildings.

And this was after DeBlasio and his minions broke up a funeral with armed force....while the rioters were given the keys to the city.

We see this same dynamic in Great Britain and France where the leftist antifa's are working with the islamics to target churches and synogogues.

The Alliance of the dems/antifas/left with islamic supremacists, along with China, is now complete.

walter said...

Get a groovy corporate cafe to go with some nasty ass pizza.
Find a clean bench and watch the woke girls walk by in their summer shoos.

Francisco D said...

Howard said... Very triggering. Time to move back to Mayberry.

Ah, you are that Howard ...

... at least on your good days.

MadTownGuy said...

Laurel said...
"That black fist?

That's Black Power symbol.

Not a symbol of unity, y'all.
"

If it were a light blue fist on a darker blue background it would be a Recall Walker fist. Also, it's a left hand. Dog whistle!

gilbar said...

William has a point, when he said...
the Detroit riots remain the exemplar of what a riot can do.

SO TRUE!
What is WITH America? WHY are our best days behind us?
Is there ANYTHING from '60's,that isn't head and shoulders Greater than what we do now?
riots? seriously; you call That, a riot?
Spaceshots? seriously; you call That a spaceshot? low earth orbit? TRY to beat Gemini, at least
Wars? seriously; Afghanistan is your idea of a war?

rehajm said...

No Sorry, we're open ☹️ sign?

Jim at said...

Stinkfist

WWIII Joe Biden, Husk-Puppet + America's Putin said...

Tim said...

Biden’s tweet implies that if you vote for him, this will all stop, suggesting that his people are behind it in the first place.

You bet they are. Why he will pick Hillary as his running mate.
Remember when Harry Reid was black and blue - claimed it was an 'at-home treadmill accident'.
uh huh. sure.

Drago said...

In another episode of Howard's Heroes, we find our lefty rioting "heroes" destroying a black man's home and work truck while killing his dog.

Erika Erickson@FOX2Erika

"Detroit father of five loses home he’d been fixing up & work truck after raging blaze: “I’ve done everything right. How am I gonna tell my kids?”

https://twitter.com/FOX2Erika/status/1268647697613033473

Gee Howard, what do you think? Do these lefty rioters/destroyers of dreams rate an Order of The Inga, or how about a Howard Meritorious Award with gold star (lets give them full credit for destroying the house AND the truck separately, after all, they've earned it, haven't they?)

Wince said...

I'd be tempted to go into the Starbucks with the picture of the fist while dressed in crotchless leather chaps and a ball-gag and claim "hey, that's false advertising!" just to see their reaction.

Ingachuck'stoothlessARM said...

at Starbucks, that tightly-clenched fist has money in it.

How do you take your lives that matter?

"Black"

Ingachuck'stoothlessARM said...

that's not plywood, it's 'oriented strand board' (OSB)

...er, "Asiatic" strand board.

***
BLACK LIVES MATTER ...but only during election cycles
see graph

stevew said...

"Silence is Violence"

I'm pretty sure they don't want to hear what I have to say.

Jupiter said...

There is only one important question. How are sales?

buwaya said...

Fighting is good. People need practice doing that.

A cafe where mano a mano live arguments are hosted SHOULD be popular, in a perfect world. And universities should be designed so as to encourage the students and faculty gnaw on each other, to sharpen their teeth.

And then there is the idea of "fight club". This is a good idea. Everyone should learn to fight, and get lots of practice doing it.

The trouble with a fist as a symbol is that it does not encourage fighting - it is meant to suppress opposition. Shut up, or you will get this.

buwaya said...

But these signs evoke nothing but pathos.

These are weak, pathetic people, with no pride or honor. Victims.
I respect the looters more. They are useless louts otherwise, but they are predators, they are still men.

Fernandinande said...

A criminal OD's while being arrested and 10 to 15% of the population starts worshiping blacks. Or pretends to.

This country is so fucked.

Fernandinande said...

If you want a vision of the future, imagine a fist emoji ✊�� punching a human face emoji ☺️ - forever.

I'm Not Sure said...

"And then there is the idea of "fight club". This is a good idea. Everyone should learn to fight, and get lots of practice doing it."

First Rule...

Jon Ericson said...

Drago said...
bagoh20: "Businesses here in Vegas suffered no riot damage,...."

There are some very good reasons for Inga's and Howard's Heroes "overlooking" rioting and damaging Las Vegas property......

That would be a death sentence.


From The Maf... um... Organized Crime.

Did I ever tell you about the time they murdered my dad?

Fernandinande said...

Fake news headline:

"Expert: Drug Toxicity Had No Bearing on George Floyd's Cause of Death"

They did actually say there's no evidence that he was strangled or asphyxiated (but that doesn't mean it didn't happen! they make sure to tell you) and they do say that his heart was bad enough to have died from a heart attack and do say that his fentanyl level was high enough to have died from a drug overdose if he hadn't developed a tolerance to it, which they didn't know.

Here's why they're pretending it's a murder:

"Even if someone with severe heart disease died of a heart attack during a purse-snatching, “we’d still call it a homicide,” [Dr. Stephen Nelson, chairman of Florida’s medical examiners commission] said."

But they have that wrong: a purse snatching is a violent crime, but arresting someone isn't a crime, just as they don't call it a murder if someone with a bad heart dies of heart attack or from an overdose during an ambulance ride.

etbass said...

Minneapolis plans to do away with police. I don't see a problem at all with that. Minnesota just needs to pass a law that blacks cannot be arrested and nothing they do is a crime. They can do what ever they want to do. Walk into your house and take your jewels, rape your daughter, whatever. It is not a crime for blacks. That being the case, why do we need a police force?

Openidname said...

Havel's grocer.

bagoh20 said...

"From The Maf... um... Organized Crime."

The mafia doesn't have much to do with Vegas anymore, but I've never been anywhere where so many people carry guns on a regular basis. Some openly, but a lot more concealed. People here do expect they will have to defend themselves, which is true everywhere, but people here seem to take that responsibility for themselves and their families more serious.

Bunkypotatohead said...

Madison needs a restaurant called LOOTERS with a wait staff full of POC's. You go in, they take your money, then kick you to the curb.

Ingachuck'stoothlessARM said...

"Fight Hyperdactylism!"??, or "Hyperdactyl Power!" ??

...the vestigial 6th finger on that fist is confusing

FullMoon said...

Minneapolis plans to do away with police.

All they gotta do is break it down by zip code. Let each zip vote on it and respond accordingly. Black neighborhood gonna have highest percentage against eliminating police, I guarantee it.

n.n said...

Diversity and exclusion... and a fist bump in solidarity with witch hunts, warlock trials, and violence.

Ann Althouse said...

"...the vestigial 6th finger on that fist is confusing"

Not in Wisconsin. We know it's Door County.

BUMBLE BEE said...

Saw Al Sharpton sat that Floyd's experience was America's black experience. Seriously? Violent ex-con, meth head, fentanyl doper, passing counterfeit paper? A true recipe for a hero. With all this money rolling round to "confront racism", can ACORN be far behind?

JAORE said...

Starting today, Starbucks will ONLY serve Black coffee. We will not be silent!

JAORE said...

Sometimes the dane-geld begins with plywood and paint.